Cross of Auria News

This post will serve as the permanent house for all events in this game which do not fall under the canon main story. As of today - December 27, 2021, the current mini-games/events in Cross of Auria and currently being developed are the following:
- Hall of Challengers
- Battlefront
- Battle Series X/#
- Battle Tower
- Halloween Event 2021

Over time, this post will be updated with new information for each of the events as they grow and should serve as the permanent reference point for learning about any of these activities as they exist currently today, whatever today is, at all points moving forward.

* indicates a reminder to myself to edit once it is finalized.

Yuelslain's Village
- Yuelslain's Village is a location somewhere outside of Revan, nestled deep within a snowy forest. It's inhabitants are few and are in desperate need of outside intervention.
- Quests obtained in the village appear in the Quest Log and reward various tools used to help resolve the threat of the area.
- This location uses a reputation system. Doing more quests for the villagers will result in the ability to buy or craft better items.
- Battles are set at Lv. 50 or higher. These enemies are Ice and Soul type. Additionally, Normal, Poison, and Dark enemies also appear.
- Gear which can be crafted or dropped starts at 400 points and goes as high as 600. All gear offers some resistance to Ice and associated debuffs.

Battle Series X & Battle Series I-V
- The Battle Series DLCs are dungeon-style battle events accessible from the Veil. Their respective DLCs must be downloaded to enter the zone.
- Battle Series X (BSX) will be available first and for free.
- Subsequent numbered Battle Series events will have a price tag.
- In these areas, the menu and save functions are fully accessible.
- Expect the most challenging of enemies to appear, relative to the level of the content.
-- BSX will be level 50.
-- BSI-BSV levels are TBD.

Battle Series Rewards
- Full custom gear sets are created for each Battle Series DLC.
*- Currently, the Zodiac Set for BSX is 260 points. 40% DEF / 40% MDF / 15% HP / 5% MP. This may change once we are closer to deployment.
*-- BSX set also has a 325-point, 350-point, and 375-point variant, each of which are color indicated for rarity.
*-- 260-point gear can be purchased from the corresponding shop with Astral Tokens, 325-point gear with Astral Coins, and 350+375 point with Zodiac Coins.
*-- Most of the higher tiered gear cannot be purchased, but is instead dropped by the bosses in the area.
*-- Weapons are included in the Zodiac Set.
-- The creation of the Zodiac Set birthed the use of the Disassembly, multi-tiered set, and weapons as part of a set systems. Additionally, this is where the "Ring" was discontinued, leaving only the "Band" and "Signet" ring-type items.
-- All gear from the Zodiac Set can be disassembled into Astral Tokens, Astral Coins, or Zodiac Coins.
- For full details of drop rates and enemies included, see the DLC page when BSX goes live (link will be posted here instead of all the detail).
- Rewards for BSI-BSV are TBD.


Battle Tower
- Game data for this event exists in Agartha to the East past the hole in the ground. Currently inaccessible.
- Battle Tower is meant to be a maze-like ascending battle challenge with different themes.
-- Ex: Player can choose An'ura to challenge An'ura themed enemies all the way up the tower, or Scarlet, Mech, etc.
- More data will be added to this section later if it ever enters development or is finally officially canceled.




[h2]Legacy Events[/h2]

Battlefront
- The Battlefront was an exploration combat mini-game where Ruby controlled nameless mercenaries to set up fortifications on behalf of Lvell in the forest area North of the city.
- Regular teammates were removed from the party.
- Ruby donned her Exploration outfit and class which did not share EXP or gear with the Lightning Warrior class.
- Ruby's allies would flee in combat if they were KO'd at the end of the turn. A new copy of that merc type could be hired at level 1 from the vendor who originally issued them.
- Due to the focus of development shifting toward completing the Orc War campaign, setting up the Battle Series DLCs, and finishing the winter holiday DLCs - the concept was officially scrapped on December 27th, 2021.

The Gauntlet
- Due to an issue with the coding of the Gauntlet event, the concept has been scrapped.
- Development on the Gauntlet was officially terminated on December 27, 2021. Most associated data was also removed at this time, including zones, enemies, and troop data.

Halloween Event - 2021
- Free-roam battles in the newly created Sha'ri Desert from Oct 31, 2021 to Nov 15, 2021.
- Introduced the first craft-able skill book.
- This event permanently moved to the Colosseum Basement on Nov 15th, 2021. The guidebook for the ability "Enraging Flames" remains available.

Halloween Event - 2020
- Currently can be found in game in the Colosseum main lobby after the third story visit to the Veil.
- Introduces a costume change for the main party, complete with new classes and skills.
- EXP and learned skills are not carried over from the event classes to the permanent classes.

No concrete date yet, but event enemies will be scaled down to level 30 in the next update where they will remain until November 15th. Get your event ability while it lasts!

Fun fact about me as both a developer and gamer - I don't actually care for limited time events. I'd much prefer the games I play to constantly add over time, not add then take away. This event was added as a little challenge during the lull in development, but uses a zone that will be permanent and forever accessible. All of this to say - the guidebook for the new skills will eventually come back in the base game when I feel it's right to stick it in. If you miss this event, you won't miss the skill forever.

As you can see by these and the previous notes, I've been working on the Item Synthesis plugin which is changing how I can do some of the crafting. One thing I can't do because of the game's base values is use armor or weapons in the crafting recipes. In the future, if I decide to have an upgraded weapon that costs the base weapon, it will have to be at a crafting table using Common Events instead of the new Crafting menu. I tampered with it already and discovered that changing from individual weapons, which is what it is now, to stacked weapons will cause immediate crashes to current save files. Keeping in line with a promise I made a few months ago, I will continue development without forcing new game starts, especially not for something as small as this. It's just one of those things that you learn and hopefully think about ahead of time in your next project. However, I can make as many Crafting recipes as I want which use only Items as ingredients. Weapons and Armor can never be 'ingredients' for the Crafting tab in Cross of Auria.

Note: The game version in the info section of the title screen still reads 5.0.7x.

5.0.8 [Build #104, Release Date: November 05, 2021] Event:
- The divide between Revan and the Veil thickens. All event enemies lose 10 levels and an additional 25% HP.

New:
- Guide Book: Tier I Potions can now be found in Ruby's House in place of the mixing station.
- Guide Book: Tier I Flasks can now be found in The Rabbit's Foot in place of the mixing station.

Updates & Changes:
- The recently added Synthesis station event in The Phoenix Ash has been removed. The design of the area remains but no longer functions.
- Mixing stations in Ruby's House and The Rabbit's Foot have been removed.
- Research Shack mixing station has been disabled.
-- The crystal pylon for elemental enchantments and the Oros-Bane / Duskfall Synthesis table in this location remain unchanged.
- Schematic related items and gear have had their Synthesis information updated and will be able to be crafted from the "Crafting" tab in the main menu once the corresponding Guide Book has been obtained.
-- All Guide Books are Hidden Items which cannot be viewed or sold.
-- Schematics may have slightly different crafting recipes than Guide Books and will continue to drop in their respective locations. Moving forward, no new Schematics will be programmed into the game in favor of the menu crafting system.

The Gauntlet:
- The Gauntlet no longer features a string of back to back floors. Instead, each round must be chosen individually at the Gauntlet Host.
- A challenge must be completed before the next challenge can be started.
- Challenges can not be forfeit. Enemies can not be escaped and the Host will not let you leave until the challenge is completed. Failing a challenge results in a Game Over.
- Menu access is restricted while a challenge is in progress.
- The prize in each challenge can only be claimed once. However, each available challenge can be repeated as many times as you want.
- The Current Consecutive Battles part of the Record Book is still available but capped at the number of battles per floor. This will change when the final floor or an endless mode are added, or may be removed entirely from the code before that time.
- All enemies now approach the player, rather than Ruby having to chase them down.
- Floor 2 (level 11-20) is under construction, but is not ready to deploy with this update.

The Sha'ri Desert will be home to Halloween themed enemies until mid November. Until then, enemies with fire attacks in this zone will drop Blazing Candy which can be used to forge a powerful new magic ability for the team.

Skill highlight: Enraging Flames
"Unleash a radical fire burst. Cooldown: 2 turns."
Detail: Three-hit fire combo. 30MP.
Skill Power: (MAG * 5) per hit.
Learned by: Guide: Enraging Flames - synthesized in the Crafting menu once the boss of the area has been defeated.

Notes:
- Due to the lack of high powered weapons and armor available for the team, the event enemies have 1/10th the HP they would have normally had at level 50.
- Additionally, the event enemies will be scaled down in stats starting on Nov 5th, reducing the overall difficulty until it falls in line with Ruby's expected power at the Orc War's beginning.
- Defeating the boss "Bones'n'Knives" multiple times is possible, but will not yield useful items. The item required to access the Crafting menu only needs to be obtained once and is hidden so it can not be sold.
- Enemies respawn by leaving the area and coming back. There are 52 total enemies placed on the field including the boss.
- Permanent fixtures to Sha'ri Desert are currently unavailable. Some of the landscape is also not yet properly configured. Therefore, saving is restricted in this zone.
- There are no dramatic changes since 5.0.7 besides the event, so this version of the game will be referred to as 5.0.7x. When the event is over on Nov 14th, the version will once again display 5.0.7.
- The Gauntlet is under construction and is currently blocked off pending tests.


5.0.7x [Build #103-x, Release Date: October 31, 2021] Event:
- Level 50 Halloween themed enemies inhabit the newly opened Sha'ri Desert until November 14th, 2021.
-- Defeat the enraged enemy atop the central cliff for a new skill guide!
-- Once obtained, the guide can be created as many times as you need. However, the Blazing Candy will leave with the level 50 enemies on Nov 14th.

Known Issues:
- The Gauntlet is under construction and is inaccessible at this time.
- The level 50 Halloween enemies were created with the new level system which has already revealed a problem in its design. Between now and November 14th, the stats of these enemies will continue to be adjusted.
-- The problem is not the stat spread themselves, but rather the current access to high stat weapons and armor. Even at the highest levels, these enemies should prove extremely challenging.

Elvir comes from the mysterious pyromancer tribe of Sha'ri known as the Umvi. Every mage who would become Umvi dedicates their life to meditation and perfection of pyromancy. Blessed by the Great Statue of Hephaes, the Umvi have received their powers on loan from the Fire God himself. Unlike monsters found in the wild, they are not controlled by the elemental infusion and thus retain their free will.

Elvir has just completed his First Meditation at the Great Statue of Hephaes and returned home to find Sha'ri under siege by Oros and Dusk orcs. He is eager to put his new powers to the test.

Sha'ri is not fond of Lvellan or Aurian travelers. Since the scourge, Sha'ri has yet to receive visitors from Castalia.

Elvir: Class - Pyromancer Obtained at: Level 15
Skills learned by level-up:
Lv. 1 - Flame Shock (0MP/0TP) - 4x MAG ability with 10% chance to burn. As opposed to it's counterpart Arcane Shock II, Flame Shock does not add "Normal Attack" and therefore does not benefit from other elements and statuses equipped to Elvir.
Lv. 1 - Dualblaze (???MP) - Casts tier 1 Fire magic at a single enemy two times for one cost in a single action. 3 turn cooldown.
Lv. 1 - Firebolt (20MP) - Tier 1 Fire Magic (MAG * 4) - 30% burn chance, 7 TP gain
Lv. 1 - Fireball (30MP) - Tier 2 Fire Magic (MAG * 5) - 50% burn chance, 10 TP gain.
Lv. 1 - Eruption (???MP) - Area of Effect fire magic, dealing tier 1 (MAG * 4) fire damage to all enemies.
Lv. 18 - Pyrokinetics (???TP) - Adds Fire element and 25% ATK to a single ally or self.
Lv. 20 - Pyrocycle (100% MP, 100 TP) - Expends all MP to deal massive damage to a single target. Elvir is then removed from combat and replaced with the next character in the Formation line. Elvir must be at max MP to cast this.
Lv. 22 - Lava Burst (50MP) - Tier 3 Fire Magic (MAG * 6) - 76% burn chance.
Lv. 25 - Engulfing Flame (???MP/TP) - Charge for 1 turn, then deal damage on the next turn. 3 turn cooldown.
Lv. 30 - Searing Mana (100% current MP) - Spend all current MP to do damage multiplied by that number.
Lv. 33 - Explosion (???MP/TP) - Massive damage to a single target. Applies Knockout (KO) to self. 30 turn cooldown.
Lv. 43 Inferno (PREP) (70% Max MP, 100TP) - Mag Berserk to self. Freecasts Inferno (DMG) every turn until end of combat. Does not gain TP while freecasting. Additional damage based on luck (specific formula TBD)
Lv. 75 - Triblaze (???MP/TP) - Cast tier 2 power fire magic (MAG * 5) three times at a single target.

Notes:
- The name Elvir is a spin from the real person it's based on, whose online handle where I met him was "Elflord", "Elf" for short.
- Pyrocycle's coding is only usable for Elvir. No other unit in the game will have access to this ability.
- Pyrokinetics, Englufing Flame, Searing Mana, Explosion, Inferno, Flame Shock, Dualblaze, and Triblaze were all created specifically for Elvir's introduction. However, the programming of these skills allows them to be used by enemies in the future.
- If all allies are KO'd when Pyrocycle is used, a Game Over will occur during the moment where there is no 4th team member in Elvir's place.
- Details are subject to change before release.

Lore
- Elvir, like other Umvi, receives his fire-based powers on loan from Hephaes and does not naturally learn skills or magic of any other element.
- Like the other characters, Elvir can learn how to control other elements to a limited degree with the help of an item. This type of magic is classified with Flasks as "monster magicks". Monster magicks are kinetic in nature, as opposed to the Hephaes blessing which gave Elvir pyogenesis.

5.1.0 Preview
- Elvir is expected to be released with the 5.1.0 version of the game, following the introductions of Sha'ri Desert and City of Sha'ri.
- Sha'ri Desert will function like Shoreline and be accessible from the beginning of the game up to the current version. Sha'ri Desert is set to have a level 11-16 range in addition to the level 20-30 Oros & Dusk orcs. Before and after the Orc War events, the zone itself remains strictly level 11-16.
- Captain Reynolds in Shoreline/Port Reception will initiate the quest to head toward Sha'ri when this version is live.
- Sha'ri Desert will be the first zone in the game to feature unique enemies who do not have level variants. Only one of each type of enemy will be available.
- As of now, there are 12 enemies undergoing the creation progress to fill the Sha'ri Desert which will span across no more than 25 different battlegroups. These battlegroups will be used to fill wave 11-16 of the Gauntlet's floor 2.
- Like The Black Forest & Frost Forest, Sha'ri Desert's size will be relative to the amount of tiles it appears on the World Map. Additionally, like the former two zones' second versions, Sha'ri Desert will be released as a single enormous zone rather than the small screen-to-screen style of Den An'ura and other earlier dungeons.

This patch is 99% back-end information. For players, notable changes are:
- Shoreline now open during Orc War with 4 repeatable field troops. (Returning to the World Map triggers the respawn of these types of enemies)
- The first Tool Kit can be found inside Shoreline/Port Reception. This tool kit is not consumed on use and is required to break weapons and armor down into reusable parts. Weapons and armor obtained before their back-end information was updated to allow for disassembly can not be broken down. You can tell if an item can be broken down by going to your inventory (NOT the equip screen!) and selecting a piece of gear. "Upgrade" means you can add gems, "Disassemble" means it can be broken apart using a Tool Kit.
- Synthesis stations are now available, though are relatively unusable. It is possible to collect enough Oros Weapon and Armor parts from the four troops in Shoreline, but more troops will be coming with the next part of the Orc War story. The Oros-Bane set is a significant upgrade over anything the party could be wearing at this time. The purchase menu of the synthesis shop is visible even without the required materials - go check it out!

5.0.7 [Build #103, Release Date: October 18, 2021] Note:
- This patch is being released due to the changes in items which can now be disassembled. Weapons & Armor obtained before this patch will retain their previous properties. However, newly acquired gear will conform to their new database information. In short, a Basic Blade obtained before can't be disassembled, but one obtained now can.

Development Changes
- The way enemy stats are determined has been changed. The short explanation is - the old model used a fixed stat value based on a dice roll for each stat of the 10 enemy class designs and the new model uses a new dice roll every time a new enemy is added to the game. The result that players will see is that enemies of the same class and same level will have different stats moving forward to give enemies a more dynamic feel in their own level range.
- In addition to the new way ATK/DEF/MAG/MDF/LUK/AGI are handled, HP receives a boost on every 20th level up to level 100. The maximum HP the game is prepared to handle for an enemy is 999,999. Enemies whose HP exceedes that will begin battles with shields to make up the difference. There is a fair chance that we never get that far in development where we have to break the HP limit - and not all enemies who use shields have max HP. However, just like the other stats, HP per new enemy is rolled on a case by case basis using a new variable formula instead of a fixed point, so enemies of the same class at the same level but of a different species will have different HP, whereas previously they did not.
-- If the new system causes too many problems instead of making battles feel more dynamic, it will be removed. The time to remove the system will be significantly faster than the time it took to create as information from the previous system has been retained. All class data is contained in a Google Sheet outside of the game, and enemy stats are not rerolled in the engine or during gameplay. The change is as simple as referencing an already made Sheet and changing 7 numbers in the engine.
-- All enemies currently programmed into the game will retain their current stats.
-- New enemies level 20 and over will use the new dynamic system for a probationary period which will become permanent if I feel the system works and makes sense relative to the team's projected stats for each given level bracket.

New:
- Forging stations have been added to Lvell/Phoenix Ash, Auria/Research Shack, and Shoreline/Port Reception. This system will be used to create gear from enemy drops. For now, all forging stations will allow access to the same Synthesis menu.
- Oros-Bane (225-point) & Duskfall (242-point) are now available for Synthesis! Required items come from level 20+ Oros and Dusk orcs.
- Though the next step of the questline is not yet ready, Shoreline and Port Reception are now open during the Orc War event.

Changes:
- "Unremarkable" now means that a piece of gear has no extra hidden parameters, such as target rate, regeneration, damage types or resistances, etc. Specifically, it means that an item has exactly 0 extra properties besides it stat boosts. However, items which do not say "Unremarkable" but also do not specify what their perks are does not imply that they do not have perks, but rather the text space for filling in what the perks are is too small or that the perks are hidden.
-- Example: Flamewind Cloak increases Hit Rate and Evasion Rate by 1% each, adds 20% Fire and Wind resistances, and reduces Ice and Poison resistances by 5%. Some of this information can be found on the Elements page of the Status menu on any given character, but the Hit Rate and Evasion would be considered hidden as it is not visible in any of the menus.
-- Only new gear obtained will be affected by this change. Already owned gear will show the previous tooltips.
- Shatter no longer adds chance to land bleeds - this debuff was removed in a previous patch. Instead, shatter now does 3x atk dmg (up from 2x) and is considered Stone-Killer type instead of Earth type. (-killer type attacks are considered non-elemental to all types other than their intended targets. Intended targets take 200% damage instead). The tooltip for this skill has been fixed, but may only be visible to new save files or players newly acquiring the skill.
- The following items can now be disassembled: Flamewind Set, Tattered Set, Tattered Gray Set, Bone Band, Snow Band, Oros Band, Coal Band, Sticky Gloves, Rusty Set, Torn Set, Mech Shield, Snow Shield.
- Weapons and Armor will no longer disassemble into Frames or Patterns. These items can instead be purchased at a new vendor inside Lvell/Cafe Lvellan and the vendor on the right in Auria/Market Town.