Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch News

Hello Tacticians,

This is Jin Sang Kim, Creative Director of Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch. Today I’d like to answer some common questions about the game, specifically relating to character customization, game structure, and language support.

[h3]Character Customization[/h3]
One unfortunate drawback of how the first Lost Eidolons approached its story was the inability to customize the protagonist, Eden.

While Veil of the Witch won’t offer full character customization, I can confirm players will be able to choose between male and female character models, as well as lighter or darker skin-tones.



Looking ahead to the franchise’s future, I can say that full character customization is a major wish-list item for us, on future projects in the series.

[h3]Game Structure[/h3]
In Lost Eidolons, chapters followed a simple pattern: pre-battle cutscenes, battle, post-battle cutscenes, camp section, repeat. Veil of the Witch makes significant changes to that basic play-loop, bringing in elements of the roguelite genre.

In Veil of the Witch, the player embarks on expeditions from their Base Camp, and undertakes heavily randomized battles and events, punctuated by repeatable story-driven bossfights.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

When they’re defeated in battle, the player is returned to their Base Camp, where they can undertake a variety of activities, including promoting characters’ classes, engaging in dialogue between party members, exploring unlockable story content, and unlocking new upgrades at the Altar of Fire.

In terms of character growth, players can expect a mix of temporary and persistent elements. During expeditions, players will come across various items, skills, etc that improve their party’s abilities and stats. When they die, these single-run upgrades are lost. However, they’ll also be gathering various currencies they can spend in camp to unlock persistent upgrades, steadily improving their party’s strength over time.

We look forward to players getting to try out these systems for themselves during Early Access.

[h3]Language Support[/h3]
In terms of language support, we’ve seen various questions and requests for specific languages, so I’d like to clarify where our plans stand at the moment.

During Early Access, we plan to focus on English and Korean. Other languages will be added once the game is a little closer to release, as we believe that’s more efficient and leads to higher-quality localization.

With regards to which specific languages we plan to support, that question is unfortunately still up in the air. Players can expect more information on that at some point down the road, during Early Access.

Jin Sang Kim, Creative Director

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2530490/Lost_Eidolons_Veil_of_the_Witch/

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Tacticians,

Since announcing Lost Eidolon: Veil of the Witch at PAX West this year, our dev team has been working very hard to present a playable game to you. But truth be told, we’ve been on this breakneck speed for much of 2023 as we hope to put the game in your hands in 2024.

As we sit here now, planning the rollout of betas, demos, and Early Access, we can't wait to have you play and give us feedback. For those of you who played the original Lost Eidolons and gave us feedback--when you finally get to play VotW, we hope you'll see that we learned from what you said about the original game and applied them to Veil of the Witch.

We hope to introduce you to a playable build soon. But until then, please WISHLIST and FOLLOW us right here on Steam to keep up to date with our dev logs.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays!
Onward to 2024!

-ODS Team

DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | TWITCH

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2530490/Lost_Eidolons_Veil_of_the_Witch/

In the world of Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch, there are 9 playable characters, each with a unique class. As the game progresses, players can promote their characters twice into more powerful roles.

The 9 character-specific starting classes are Hermit, Initiate, Librarian, Mercenary, Wanderer, Swordsman, Outcast, and Oracle. In this post, we'll take a closer look at one character, Evie, and explore how the weapon system, classes, and skills have evolved in Veil of the Witch.

[h3]Evie’s Party Role[/h3]


Evie starts as an Initiate, capable of fulfilling the roles of a healer and combat support, with some supplementary offensive options. She wields a Tome as her main weapon (our new name for light magic spellbooks), and primarily serves as a healer, using spells to restore allies’ health or dispel harmful status effects.

However, she is not limited to healing alone. Evie can also enhance attacks using Light Magic or utilize her secondary set of arms, a sword and shield, to help in combat. As her passive skills progress, she gains new ways to damage enemies and heal allies simultaneously. Upon obtaining the required materials in combat and promoting her at the party’s base camp, she can advance from Initiate to Priestess, and eventually to Lightbringer. Each promotion unlocks three new skills, granting additional options in battle.

Though skills are acquired on a run-by-run basis, classes are persistent. One you unlock a new class, it stays unlocked, and the skills that go with it join the rotation of skills you can choose from any time you level up.

[h3]Acquiring Class Skills[/h3]


Our current plan is for each character to have a total of around 20 class skills. At the start of the game, each character has two basic skills. As players undertake battles, characters gain experience with every action, and level up right in the middle of battle, whereupon the player will be offered a randomized selection of upgrades. This includes 12 additional skills, as well as higher-tier versions of skills the player has already gained via class promotion.

At various specific levels, players will also be given the option to choose from a randomized selection of stat boost cards. As with many roguelites, if you don’t like the skills offered, you can spend a resource to reroll. This process allows the player to shape the character’s growth and build within a defined spectrum, for each new run.

In Evie’s case, for example, players can choose whether to build her as a highly powerful and specialized healer, or more of a generalized support that can also mix it up with enemies.

[h3]Class Skills[/h3]

Here’s a look at the skills a character like Evie will be using over the course of the game, and upgrades that can be unlocked for those skills.

Healing Magic:

• Healing Touch: Uses the power of Light to heal an ally.
  
• Hymn of Healing: Encompasses one ally in an aura of Light, greatly healing them.
  
• Binding Healing: Heals an ally with the power of light, while also restoring the caster for 70% of the total.
  ○ Can be upgraded to 100%.
  
• Healing Surge: At the start of the turn, if there is at least one ally adjacent, this unit regains up to 20% of max Health (caps at +20).
  ○ Can be upgraded to 30% with a healing cap of +30 HP.
  

Offensive Magic:

• Radiant Arrow: Fires a holy arrow, inflicting Light damage on a single target.
  
• Holy Ward: Calls down the heavens, inflicting Light damage on a single foe. If the target is defeated by this ability, target tile and adjacent tiles become Sanctified ground for 2 turns. All allies standing within a Sanctuary regain +20 Health at the start of the turn.
  ○ Can be upgraded to a 3x3 area.
  
• Wrath Divine: Unleashes a burst of radiant power, inflicting Light damage on an enemy. If the target is a Fallen unit, it has a 50% chance of being destroyed instantly (excluding bosses and monsters).
  ○ Can be upgraded to a 75% chance.
  

Support Skills:

• Purification: Channels the power of Light to cleanse all status effects on an ally, granting +15 Health for each effect removed.
  ○ Can be upgraded to +20.
  
• Tree of Life: Summons the Tree of Life for 2 turns. At the end of the Allied Turn, the Tree inflicts 10 damage on enemies in a 3x3 area. If an ally interacts with the tree, they recover 40 Health, and are cleansed of all harmful status effects.
  ○ Can be upgraded to a version with a 3-turn duration, 15 damage, a 5x5 area, and a +60 heal.
  
• Sacred Prayer: Channels the power of light to cleanse all status effects on the target and allies in a 1 tile radius, granting +15 Health for each effect removed.
  ○ Can be upgraded to a 2-tile radius and a +20 heal.
  
• Heaven's Call: Teleports a distant ally to an adjacent tile, and gives them +1 Movement for 1 turn.
  ○ Can be upgraded to +2 Movement.
  
• Divine Protection: Surrounds an ally with light, granting Divine Protection for 2 turns. When an incoming attack would reduce a unit with Divine Protection to 0 Health, the damage is negated, and they instead regain 30% of max Health. Effect only triggers once.
  ○ Can be upgraded to a 3-turn duration and a 50% heal.
  

Other Passive Skills:

• Healing Aura: At the start of the turn, if there is at least one ally adjacent, this unit regains up to 20% of max Health (caps at +20).
  ○ Can be upgraded to +30% Health with a cap of +30 HP.
  
• Tranquility: When receiving a critical hit, reduces the final damage taken by 20% and doubles the healing amount of 'Healing Touch,' 'Hymn of Healing,' 'Bonded Healing,' and 'Wind of Healing' on the next use.
  ○ Can be upgraded to a 30% damage reduction.
  
• Radiance: When the amount recovered from a healing spell exceeds this unit's max Health, 50% of the surplus is converted to a Shield as temp HP.
  ○ Can be upgraded to 75%.
  
• Lightfooted: Decreases likelihood of being targeted by the enemy.
  
• Radiant Rage: Holy spells restore 50% of damage inflicted as Health.
  ○ Can be upgraded to 75%.
  ○ As a fun side note, this ability also triggers in response to Tree of Life’s damage-over-time effect, producing a very strong synergy.
  
• Divine Weapon: Imbues an equipped weapon with holy light, increasing physical attack Power by +5. If the target is a Fallen unit, Critical Hit is increased by +20.
  ○ Can be upgraded to a +8 boost and +30 Critical Hit.
  
• Second Wind: Dealing Physical Damage restores 50% of the total to all allies as Health.
  ○ Can be upgraded to 75%.
  
• Decisive Strike: Whenever this unit lands a Critical Hit on an enemy, their next Combat Skill or Spell does not trigger a cooldown.
  

Anyone who played Lost Eidolons will probably notice immediately that these skills are a lot stronger than they were in the first game, and the upgraded versions are pretty substantial, offering huge boosts in range, utility, and power. This is in line with our general goal in VotW, to make combat faster, more fun, and more dynamic.

Oh, and one more thing to mention: in addition to upgrades mid-combat, skills can also be upgraded by training at campsites throughout the journey. Unlike the first game, which had some dry spots in the character progression, here a substantial stat boost or skill upgrade is always just around the corner.



[h3]Enhancement of Equipment and Acquisition of Powerful Equipment Skills[/h3]

In Veil of the Witch, characters equip main weapons, secondary weapons, and armor.

As mentioned, Evie uses a tome as her main weapon, a sword and shield as secondary weapons, and wears cloth armor. These items can be upgraded to better versions in the course of gameplay.

During battle, defeating enemies yields special items, including Enhancing Stones of various grades. After the battle, players can attach up to three Enhancing Stones to a specific piece of equipment for party characters, boosting their stats and sometimes unlocking unique skills. Combining these enhancements with class skills allows players to gain a significant advantage over enemies in battles.



Today we discussed two sources of character progression – skills and upgrades. However, there are other progression systems we haven’t even shared yet, including Relics and the Altar of Fire. Our hope is that with all of these richly interlocking systems, players can look forward to a game that’s sleek and streamlined, while still maintaining a high degree of customization and strategic depth.

Jin Sang Kim, Creative Director

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2530490/Lost_Eidolons_Veil_of_the_Witch/

Hello Tacticians,

I'm ODS Roy, Localization Manager at Ocean Drive. Today, I want to talk to you a bit of the Localization Team's role here at our studio. I'll give you a brief look into what localization is, how it affects the game, and discuss how our contributions helped to shape Artemesia, the world of Lost Eidolons. Specifically, the names of characters and locations.


What is Localization?

Let’s say you’re on an epic quest to save the world from tyranny. You might not get very far if none of your allies can speak the same language! That’s where localization comes in. Localization is the magic spell that transforms our game from an experience designed for a specific audience, to an experience accessible to players worldwide.



When most people hear the word localization, if they even know what it means, they tend to just think of translation. And it's true, that's a big part of what we do — but it's also more complicated than that. Localization is about capturing the essence and culture of a game for new audiences, and language is only one piece of that. It's one thing to translate the content of a joke from Korean to English; it's another to make that joke actually land effectively and get a laugh.

In many cases, a team developing a game doesn't fully consider how the choices they make for their own audience will be received by someone who speaks a different language or has a completely different cultural background. Maybe they want a strict character limit on a text box, but haven't thought about the fact that German tends to be much longer than Japanese. Maybe they haven't considered how a particular word or name might carry different connotations in their own region than somewhere else, or vice versa.

That’s where localization steps in. We focus on the style and tone of translation, and strive to ensure that the final effect will be the same on a player no matter where they're from. In an ideal world, when we do our job right, no one can tell the game the game was translated at all. That’s our goal: avoid becoming somebody else's meme.



How Localization Shaped Artemesia

By the time our team first got involved with the original Lost Eidolons, the game had already been in development for over a year. As a result, most of the early high-level concept work was done by Korean developers, with characters and places named based on a Korean team's judgment of what a fantasy name should sound like in English. As a result, there were a few rough edges. The story was rich and the world had amazing potential, but we felt some aspects of the presentation might detract from the intended tone and experience.

Early on, we had endless questions. Why was this character named this way? Why were these cities named like that? And behind them all, the biggest question: As a player, would this approach make self-evident sense to me? We had characters named things like Ethan, Rancis, Teo, Gary, and even Boromir. We had locations with names like Brendale, Centel, and Loftale. None of these were horrifyingly bad on their own, but we felt that to properly immerse our players into the game's world, it needed a stronger sense of cohesion. The developers had provided a framework and foundation, and now it was our job to build on it.

One of the first things we looked at was the naming conventions of the world map itself.



We knew fairly early on that we wanted all the voiceovers to use a pretty neutral American English accent across the board, diverging only if it felt right for an individual character. So we knew we wanted to avoid rooting any of Artemesia's provinces in a 1:1 approximation of real-world cultures (or even worse, stereotypes).

But when it comes to place-names, you sort of can't avoid linguistics creeping in. A reader's brain looks for patterns of spelling they recognize. If they don't find them, or if you mix them too much, everything just sounds slightly off and fake, even if the audience can't articulate why.

So we went to work.



A lot of our efforts focused on nailing down the feel of each region, choosing a linguistic reference base that matched, and then selecting names from that base that had the right feel for the region’s role in the setting.

"Brendale", the homeland of our hero, inspired by the Italian countryside, became "Benerio".

"Centel", the walled capital of the empire, became the more French-sounding "Floriant".

The Germanic grassland "Grasbia" became "Lamprecht".

The mediterranean coastal region "Kallion" became "Corsarinda". And so on.



Building of the World

With the geography itself nailed down, we now had a solid footing to approach the rest of the world.

Like Westeros, Artemesia is a land full of noble houses, each with their own rich history and character. The developers already had a few ideas for these (banners, animal heraldry, etc), so it was up to the Localization Team to combine that info with our new naming conventions and find a happy medium.

For the noble family of Benerio, whose standard was a phoenix and whose role in the story was a fiery rebellion, their original name was House Fenix. We felt that was a little on-the-nose, and also a little too close to Gears of War’s Marcus Fenix. So we opted for “House Feniche” (from the Italian for phoenix, “fenice”, but with a slight spelling tweak to fantasy it up).

For the noble family of Lamprecht, represented by a wolf, we nixed “House Adolph” (a bit weak, and has some unfortunate connotations) and opted for the more regal-sounding "House Sigewulf" (a contracted version of the German for “victorious wolf”).

And so on, and so forth.

Once the family names were in place, we were better positioned to start revisiting character names, ensuring the sound lined up with the developers’ intended impact.

“Ethan” became the more heroic and less anachronistic “Eden”.

“Michelle” became “Marchelle”, to match the French feel of her homeland, Floriant.

“Karen” became “Karin” (because what kind of fantasy world has somebody named Karen running around)?

“Boromir” became “Balastar”, because we thought it sounded cooler, and so we wouldn’t get a letter from the Tolkien estate. (And, funnily enough, led to some problems down the road, because it turns out the hangul for “Balastar” and “ballista” are really similar.)

I could go on for a while.



We have many, many tables and lists of these. While it might sound tedious to some, these kinds of finicky, granular considerations about spelling and language are what localization is all about.
Some of our changes were pretty minor, while others were fairly significant and required a lot of discussion. But in the end, we were able to align on a world we felt was cohesive and made sense.

That gave us a good starting point when it came time for the thousand other decisions that go into localizing dialogue. Is this character an educated noble or a hardscrabble commoner? Outgoing or shy? Respectful or cocky? And once those decisions were made for the English translation, we were better equipped to aid localization partners working on the game's other languages, to ensure that no matter where a player was from, their experience of the game was the same.

How Players Can Help the Localization

There are lots of things to consider when localizing a game, and many different approaches to take. Our team's philosophy prioritizes inclusivity as the #1 goal. We believe everyone deserves to experience the joys of this hobby, and we strive to make our games available, cohesive, and immersive for anyone who wants to play them.

But at the end of the day, we're only human, and we depend on player feedback, both to gauge interest and to do our work better in the future.

Want one of our games in a language not yet supported? Speak up!

See an issue with a translation? Shoot us a message on Discord!

Our studio welcomes players into the development process with open arms, and the Localization Team is no exception to that.

On behalf of everyone on the Localization team,
ODS_Roy

DISCORD | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | TWITCH

Hello everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving! 2023 went so fast and I can’t believe it’s already November.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
2023 was exciting for everyone at Ocean Drive Studio! We started Early Access for Blackout Protocol, released Lost Eidolons on PS5 and Xbox Series, dropped the Dropkick Navvy demo, and of course, we announced Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch.

All of us working on these various projects are grateful for the ongoing support from everyone and hope to deliver something even more meaningful to our community in the upcoming months.

To share our plans going forward:

[h2]Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch[/h2]

As Lost Eidolons is a very important franchise for us, we are going to keep investing in the genre and IP. For Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch, our plan is to share regular updates via our Dev Logs, and plan to stream and showcase development progress. We are hoping to share the demo build with everyone early 2024—that is, unless we find critical issues during internal playtests! Please follow our social channels and Steam community hubs for more updates. All links below.

[h2]Blackout Protocol[/h2]

It was busy 4 months after we released Early Access in July! We learned a lot from the community feedback and have been working to improve the foundation of the game, pivoting from the content roadmap we announced at release. As we hope to have addressed most of the improvement points of the core gameplay, we think we can start adding new content again. If you haven’t tried out the game yet, now is the perfect time to give it a go since you will see the much-improved version of Blackout Protocol thanks to our community feedback. And it’s on Autumn Sale!

[h2]Dropkick Navvy and Unannounced Title[/h2]

Right after PAX West, we released an early demo entitled Dropkick Navvy: First Step! We are collecting feedback and reading the reviews for the game to better plan the development roadmap for the full game—Dropkick Navvy. If you haven’t tried the demo yet, please give it a try especially if you love physics based, sandbox games!

We have also been working on an unannounced title for quite a while! This unannounced title is one of the biggest development projects which we plan to officially announce in late 2024. So keep an eye out for future announcements.

Again, thank you so much for all the support you have given us and have a fantastic Thanksgiving Weekend!

Best,

Jungsoo Lee