Cross of Auria News

I've been putting in some work over the last few weeks and rather than hold it back, I've decided to push it out to get some feedback. Without spoiling anything, the short version is that there's some new stuff to discover! For current players (as opposed to new save files), a Talisman cycle had to occur to update Eurus for a new level 1 skill. It occurred to me that he doesn't have a good enough early game TP dump, so hopefully the new skill fixes that. There was also a situational bug where Eurus would leave the party and never come back if he was encountered too early in the game. If you encountered the part of the game where Eurus leaves and doesn't come back, go into the Veil and enter the costume change Halloween event portal, then leave from there back to the Veil. The party reorganization code should add him back. If it does not, please let me know as a comment to this post.

Also, I've changed the location and DLC names surrounding what was formerly "Yuelslain's Village". I was having pretty severe writers block when I came up with it and was locked out from thinking of anything else. Moving forward, YSV area is now "Snowdrift Village", and the enemies are being scaled down to the 20-40s area instead of sitting in the 50s. Leveling scaling is not yet complete, but only enemy stats and exp/gold are affected. Loot drops are not affected.

Below is the full patch notes which explicitly outlines what was added to the game, but keeps vague data that was already planned but not yet released. Continue reading at your own peril! - Oh, and I made a candy bag so you can more easily farm the Halloween events in the Veil.

6.501 [Build #151, Release Date: December 06, 2024] Bug Reports:
- The fastest way to report a bug is on Discord @ https://discord.gg/7GehvwKGCv.
New:
- A new foe has appeared alongside the Headless Horseman in the Challenge of the Headless DLC! Unlike the repeatable Horseman, this foe may only be fought once in this location and its loot is guaranteed.
- Both the DLC and non-DLC arena for the Headless Horseman now offer an additional level 30 challenge which has flavor text for wins, losses, and refusal to challenge.
- When first met, Eurus now knows a unique Special ability - Obliterate.
- Eurus may now apply Reave with Normal Attacks (3%).
- Enemies afflicted by Reave take 500% damage from Obliterate and have 15% reduced Defense.
- Added the key item Candy Bag which allows players to carry more than 99 Sour, Sweet, and Blazing candy at a time. Candy may be added to or removed from the bag at will. Since only 99 of an item can be held at once, functionality has been added to withdraw at most 99 of any candy at once. Players can either deposit all candy or withdraw up to 99 candy depending on available space. Fractional deposits and withdrawals are not programmed in. All players can collect the Candy Bag for free near the Veil portals to the related Halloween events.
- Under certain conditions, Ruby can discover a new class!
Fixes:
- The following items have been changed from Talisman to Accessory: Hallow's Scarf, Hallow's Earrings, Hallow's Scabbard, Hallow's Strap, Jelly Scarf, Jelly Earrings, Jelly Scabbard, Jelly Strap.
- Added the correct controls for handling Eurus in the party before the events at Scarlet Cavern. If you have a save file that has collected Eurus but is past Den An'ura, entering the Halloween event in the Veil - the one where the party changes costumes - and then exiting will re-add all out-of-party friends back to the party.
- While Rose is in the party, Ruby won't go back into her house.
- Fixed an issue where An'ura Archer wasn't dropping the Green Insect Gland.
Updates & Changes:
- Yuelslain's Village (the zone) has been renamed to "Snowdrift Village".
- Yuelslain's Village (the DLC) has been renamed to "Eyes in the Frost".
- Yuel's Castle renamed to "Shadowfrost Citadel".
- Yuelalin's Monarch (upcoming DLC) has been renamed to "The Frost Queen".
- Eyes in the Frost DLC level downscaling has begun. Level 50 mobs outside the castle are being reduced to 30, 30's reduced to 20, 40-55 reuced by 20 flat.
- Minor adjustments to the opening dialogue.
- Fixed the issue where Eurus's "Scythe" category would appear twice for new players.
- +0.5% passive MP regeneration to all talismans.
- All talismans given names.
Other:
- The Quest Log has been removed from the menu manager code. While the plugin is still lurking in the back-end, the ability to access the log has been removed. To summarize the issue - in the period of transferring data from one PC to another then adding to the game, some quest detail was lost altogether and would need to be recreated from scratch. At this point in the game's development, given where we are without having moved forward in a very long time, there is no time left to recreate the missing pieces. While I was able to restore functionality to some main story questlines, I also can't control when the menu starts to break, become invisible, or handle any of the other issues that arise as a result of this plugin. If we're ever going to move forward, we have to shed the things weighing us down. This was one of those things.
Notes:
- The level scaling in Snowdrift Village is not yet complete, but will hopefully be finalized in the next update.

Hello, quick note today
- An issue was reported on Discord for Eurus permanently disappearing from the party if he was acquired before the events of Scarlet Cavern. A fix has been created for players who have not yet encountered Eurus but also have not passed Scarlet Cavern.
- For players who have already past this point of the game but have been unable to pick Eurus back up, please return to the Veil and activate the Halloween event where the party changes costumes. Then, exit the event. Triggering the event exit portal will re-add all party members who have previously joined the party but have been marked as "in-waiting".

The official fix for this won't be released until progress is made in other areas to deploy alongside it.

Thank you for the read,
//hardytier

Earlier today, I posted a minor patch about opting into the Beta to fix the Grand Library hiccup. Shortly after that, other bugs were discovered that arose from swapping between the default and beta branches of the game. Because of this, all betas have been terminated and the current beta has been set as the default public branch. How this affects you: some quests may not appear or progress correctly in the quest log and there may be other unforeseen issues. If the game is doing something wonky you think it probably shouldn't be, let me know ASAP as a reply to this!

If there is any part of the game that you cannot pass, please let me know. However keep in mind that we ran out of time for development and progress during the Orc War campaign is still halted, especially until other earlier in the game bugs have been squashed. I intend to allocate some time this week to rectify all of this.

6.500 [Build #150, Release Date: Nov 02, 2024] Long Term Goals:
- To condense the player experience into a cohesive storyline and eliminate unused assets from the game files.
- To wrap up the main story in a way that both makes sense and is satisfying to the player.
- To finalize the Quest Log, undo Class introduction, and remove other scope-broadening systems which can not be completed in a meaningful way.
- Introduce the reserved mechanic instead of actor companions.

Bug Reports:
- The fastest way to report a bug is on Discord @ https://discord.gg/Ur4GdaKxPD.
Fixes:
- Restored Quest Step Progression in Grand Library, Levell/Soldier's Outpost, Rabbit's Foot, Hell's Gate/Monster Trail, Auria/Entrance, Auria/Entrance/Outpost, Auria/MarketTown, Auria/VisitorDistrict/Inn, Lvell Forest, Frost Fortress, FrostbroodLair/Treasure, The Veil #1, and to the Toxic Core event.
- Fixed a potential issue where the Rabbit's Foot man could be progressed without accepting the quest. If you have already rejected the quest and progressed beyond the point of accepting it, reach out.
Updates & Changes:
- Minor dialogue and function changes in the intro.
- Actors now have Talisman equipment and equip General Accessory by default. The update module remains in place in case the initial fails or an event removes them.
- Minor dialogue changes to the first instance of the Veil.
- (!) bubbles no longer appear to indicate the next steps in the Grand Library (required for the fix).
Notes & Known Issues:
- Many of the scripts which allow Quest Log progression are broken or missing. A quest may appear in the log in incomplete even though you have completed it. Please keep in mind that rewards happen via the dialogue and are completely separate from the Quest Log which is visual only. A fix for the broken QL may come at a later day.
- A temporary fix has been added for the Rabbit's Foot questline Quest Log display. By completing all of their quests and talking to them, a script will run displaying and activating the final step of each quest and then marking it as Complete. You must do this for both NPCs.
- I'm undoing the change in numbering patches & builds.
Other:
- I very rarely look at FaceBook anymore as a whole. If you want to get in contact with me about a CoA bug, use either the Steam Forums or the Discord linked above.

The Grand Library bug has been in the game for over a year at this point with me chasing my tail and applying small fixes to chip away at the problem. Today, a user with a save at that location helped me run through it and figure out what was broken. This goes back to to the June 17th, 2023 build #148 update w here the Grand Library quest had new events to show (!) bubbles to indicate the next step. It appears that the (!) controlled by a separate event when paired with a (!) controlled by an interaction text event which used the "wait to finish" would cause it to wait forever for the other event even if it was no longer playing. This caused the game to freeze in place forever.

A fix to this was deployed along the "testa" branch. The same fix will be deployed to the public branch either tomorrow or Monday. In the meantime, if you are affected by this, follow these steps to circumvent it for the duration of the GL quest before swapping back to the default branch:

To opt into a beta, right click Cross of Auria from the games list
Click Properties
Click the Betas tab
Enter, without the quotations: "coatest001glib"
Press "Opt in"
Let the update download.


EDIT
- Very shortly after posting this, a new bug was found that required me to disable the testa and devtest beta builds, leaving only the default branch.
- This puts us in a very weird situation where half the quest log has been gutted and progress won't be adequately tracked. I'll be attacking this in the coming days and attempting to apply fixes to the global update controller based on already completed quests. At some point, there will be an announcement that this is finished and we'll swap to bug squashing mode.

Quick update for everyone - as soon as the change is approved, the Founder's Packs will change from paid to free. Thank you everyone who helped fund the project. Updates are still planned, but there is currently no timetable.

The Founder's Packs will be renamed "Gift Pack" as soon as the pricing change is approved by Steam. By this time next week, it should be done. I likely won't post an update about it a second time.

I'm still looking into the Grand Library bug, but am coming up empty. If anyone else can replicate it, please let me know.

//hardytier