Wooden Ocean News

7/31/2020
v5.0.4 Talent Tree

New Features:
Talent System added into game with 48 talents to learn.
(entrance is in your ghost town courtyard with new talents
listed in the game manual on steam)
Added rare return crystals in Infinite Hotel.
All positive holy spells now cause blessed. (blessed is 3
turns of +25% luck and healing received)
Faster animations for most AoE buffs.
Playing Rakenize now awards secret career points that slow
enemy tech speed. (this amount is infinite and tied to tier,
but it's still rather negligible)
Merchant added to Northern Katis that sells infinity bombs.
Tech Level now slightly increases your town's brightness.

Balancing:
Increased enemy health by 10-15%.
Randomly created bosses now have +25% health.
Randomly created bosses now have -12% recovery.
Increased leveling exp penalty by 33%.
Enemy tech speed is now 20% faster.
Enemy tech speed is now 33% slower in some story sections.
Increased most random Rakenzie rewards by 1-2 tiers.
Some ice walls are now 10-25% stronger.
Some earth walls are now 10-20% stronger.
Earth and staff walls now last 1 more turn.
Carbon walls now last 2 more turns.
Most metal walls have been entirely redesigned.
Fortress and Spearwall now last 1 more turn.
Divine Fortress and Spear Fortress now last 2 more turns.
Fortress status protection increased from 25% to 35%.
Divine Fortress status protection increased from 30% to 50%.
Slighty buffed Scythe's Reap and Rapture skills.
Increased Drain Mana spell by 50%.
Increased Scythe's Drain Mana skill by 100%.
Increased Blood Shield buff from +25% to +50%.
Blood Shield now halves healing received.
Dagger's Hamstring now also lowers evasion.
Increased effect of hamstring from 20% to 25%.
Increased Cripling Strike debuff from 15% to 20%.
Increased Hemorrhage attack DoT from 75% to 125%.
Increased Plague Strike magic DoT from 150% to 250%.
Increase Dagger's Smoke effects from +10% to +12%.
Spear's Remorse damage reduction increased from 25% to 35%.
Cursed now lowers spirit by 25% instead of 10%.
Cursed now lowers healing recieved by 25% instead of 10%.
Cursed now lowers luck by 25% instead of 50%.
Freezing now lowers agility by 25% instead of 20%.
Freezing now lowers chance to hit by 10%.
Freezing now increases water damage taken by 150%. (was 125%)
Wet now increases lightning damage by 150%. (was 125%)
Wet now increase cold damage by 150%. (was 125%)
Frozen now doubles blunt damage taken.
Increased confusion chance of Mercy from 35% to 40%.
Increased Cadmium defense DoT from 35% to 50%.
Increased Arsenic defense DoT from 150% to 250%.
Cadmium and Arsenic can now cause sickness.
Fire debuff effects are now 1 tier stronger.
Ice debuff effects are now 1 tier stronger.
Shortage now reduces mana by half.
Blackout now reduces mana by 75%.
Earth debuff effects are now 1 tier stronger.
Cement now also lowers evasion.
Wind debuff effects are now 1 tier stronger.
Redesigned holy debuffs.
Gravity debuffs are now 1 tier stronger.
Buffed Recharge Life's target mana aspect by 33%.
Buffed target defense aspect of gravity heals by 50%.
Buffed luck aspect of thread heals by 50%.
Brain Tumor now also reduces mana regen by 1%.
Dark debuff effects are now 1 tier stronger.

Misc:
Game now launches in fullscreen.
Fixed hunting quest in Lampless from being repeatable.
Fixed pathing issue on Island of Sand's mountain.
Fixed MP cost to Mass Life.
Fixed MP cost to Spirit of Life.

6/21/2020
v5.0.3 Improved Town and Status Infliction

New Features:
All stats now slightly affect status chance. (details
below)

Balancing:
Every 50 Max MP increases status infliction by 1%.
Every 50 Current MP increases status infliction by 1%.
Every 100 attack increases status infliction by 1%.
Every 100 magic increases status infliction by 1%.
Every 100 defense increases status infliction by 1%.
(defense is currently infliction only)
Every 100 dexterity increases status infliction by 1%.
Every 100 dexterity increases status protection by 1%.
Every 100 Spirit increases status infliction by 1%.
Every 100 Spirit increases status protection by 1%.
Every 500 Max HP increases status protection by 1%.
Every 500 Current HP increases status protection by 1%.
Doubled weight of luck on status infliction and protection.
Panic is now its own hidden status effect. (this status
effect lasts 2 turns, reduces accuracy and spirit by 25%,
doubles chance to be knocked down, and increases dexterity
and damage taken by 25%)
Slightly increased construction speed. (this does not
activate until a town level up or new game)
All town levels give +1 additional happiness and economy.
All art levels give +1 additional economy and +2 happiness.
Divine Tower being online now provides +10 happiness.
Divine Tower being online now provides +10 economy.
Arena fame now gives a small hidden bonus to economy.
Reduced fame gained from arenas by 10-50%.
Scam Religion now increases crime by 50% instead of 100%.

Misc:
Fixed puzzle 18.
Fixed unleavable house in Lampless.
Removed placeholder NPCs from Island of Sand's bar.

6/19/2020
v5.0.2 Improved Warnings

New Features:
Northern Mining Camp can now be permanently protected.
(this requires destroying the boss in Devil's Forest)

Balancing:
Buffed player HP growth by 5%.
Buffed enemy HP by 2%.
More enemies can now become sick.
More enemies can now panic from burning. (panic currently
has the same stat reductions as sickness)
Improved knockdown resistance on some enemies.
Reduced knockdown resistance on a few enemies.

Misc:
Fixed DoT bug.
Tripled warning ghosts throughout game.
Improved warning ghost dialogue to help with directions.

6/14/2020
v5.0.1 Hotfix

Misc:
Fixed golem from following you at tech level 3.
Fixed Forgotten Dungeon's entrance.
Fixed Island of Sand's pathing.
Fixed puzzle 24.
Fixed puzzle 25.

6/10/2020
v5.0 Vanilla 2

New Features:
True ending added to game. (no one has yet to beat the true
last boss)
Added additional conversations throughout game.
Added a few more enemies to game.
Puzzle 25 added.

Balancing:
Buffed HP growth on main characters by 10-25%.
Slightly buffed dexterity growth on main characters by 5%.
Bitter Candy now increases max hp by 3 instead of 2.
Guarding now also grants +25% knock down resistance for 2 turns.
Enemies that observe now get +25% to accuracy for 2 turns.
Enemies that are sick now get a 25% stat reduction for 3 turns.
Enemies that are sick have twice the chance to be knocked down.
Buffed Getting Up's 3 turn knock down resistance from 25% to 50%.
Angry Monster now lowers healing received by 25%.
Angry Monster now doubles chance to be knocked down and confused.
Angry Monster now halves chance to be stunned and frozen.
First Northern Cave Boss buffed back to original HP.
Reduced number of encounters in Divine Tower by 25%.

Misc:
Faster title screen.
Improved lighting in Frozen Cavern.
Fixed PoB bug involving the attack stat.
Fixed Omega Seed Tree in Buried Ritual.
Fixed Catacombs when intro was skipped.
Fixed Katis Bridge when intro was skipped.


Extra info from the dev:
Some may ask themselves why this update is called Vanilla 2 as opposed to just Vanilla. Or why it's v5.0 instead of just 1.0. The reason to that is kind of complicated, but does make sense...

The game was originally released in June 4 years ago. However, instead of making a sequel, a massive overhaul and expansion was made to the entire game, tripling its size, story, and just about everything else. Every year following the original 1.0 release, the game was changed to 2.0, then 3.0, then 4.0, and now it's at 5.0. I hope this explains any confusion some may have.

As for future content, one large free DLC will be released this November involving a frozen area and the end of the Valez questline. As for other future content section, they will depend on the feedback, sales, and overall stability of the game.

I've spent years making this, and I hope you enjoy this perfectly flawed indie rpg that is tragically prone to random crashing every now and then.

Good luck, save often, and don't die too much.