Cross of Auria News

Before you start reading, keep in mind that what lies ahead contains battle related spoilers! If you want to be completely surprised by what's coming in this new Colosseum event, leave the page now!



Are you still here? Cool, let's talk about it.

The Colosseum has been a place I've made huge plans for a long time ago, but was never really able to execute them due to the lack of level progression given by casual play of the game's story. As we move forward, it gets easier for me to test new encounters. After all, if I can't know exactly what kind of gear you'll have access to when you encounter a certain enemy, how can I know the battles are balanced? I'm still up in the air with whether or not the 'Enemy Class 2.0' system is the most effective system for fast creating enemies... but we'll talk about that another time.

So, what's coming in 6.0.1.2?
The next rift in the Colosseum opens to an area instantly recognizable as the Scarlet Cavern! Unlike the version found in Revan, there are no missing connecting points from center to side - the entire thing is completely explorable! Before we talk about what bosses and loot to expect, let's go over some key notes:
• There are no random encounters. All encounters are by visible unit on the map only.
• There is no escape from encounters, and Game Overs are not possible. Loss of a battle will put Ruby's party at 1 HP in the entrance of the Colosseum.
• For a few updates from now, saving will be restricted. This will allow me some extra time after release to make changes to things that won't involve moving this map to Timelost status.
• Unlike the An'ura rift, the enemies in this rift have their natural elements. Prepare yourself for Fire and Earth enemies, with some additional surprises from the bosses.
• Progress through the dungeon is blocked the same way as the An'ura rift. Regular battles give +1 to the counter, boss battles give +5. For now, I won't reveal how many points the counter has to have in order to progress to the next area. However, I can tell you that not every boss needs to be fought to progress to the next area.


Now, onto specifics!
• This area is set to level 30. To clarify this statement: based on the Enemy Class 2.0 generator I created last year, the enemies are set to level 30 of some class type. This doesn't necessarily translate to 'Ruby must be level 30.' This, in essence, is the issue I'm trying to resolve when evaluating a potential Enemy Class 3.0 system.
• Unlike areas in Revan, progress through the dungeon does not go in a beginner to intermediate to expert level. Generally speaking, every dungeon is created with a theme that slowly escalates until the boss of the area (like end-of-turn attacks in Hell's Gate for example). The Scarlet Cavern Colosseum Rift is the first area to truly not build up using the 'BIE' system. The remaining rifts to be added to the Colosseum will also be like this.

Enemies
• Regular enemies are typically Fire and Earth themed for this location.
• There are 7 bosses in the dungeon. Each boss has its own unique set of challenges to watch out for.
- Yunashia, the Den Mother (Fire/Normal)
- Scarlet Wyrm (Fire)
- Earth Titan (Earth)
- Garm (Dark)
- Phoenix (Fire/Flying)
- Ligma, Earth Dragon (Earth/Flying)
- Scarlet Golem (Fire/Earth)

Loot
• In addition to the gear listed below, loot from enemies and bosses in this location includes
- Restorative Items
- Elemental Flasks
- Elemental Essences
- Scarlet Tokens, a currency used to purchase Scarlet and Emberguard gear.
- Blaze Gems, a currency used to purchase Emberguard and Elite Emberguard gear.

Gear / Shop
• Gear may be purchased from the Warden in the Colosseum.
• A single set with ascending values has been added.
- Scarlet: 325 points. (Head, Glove, Feet, Shield)
-- Scarlet gear reduces Fire damage and chance to be Burned by 10% each.
-- Scarlet shield additionally reduces Earth damage and chance to be Petrified by 10%.
- Emberguard: 350 points. (Chest, Cloak, Ring, Buckler)
-- Emberguard gear reduces Fire damage and chance to be Burned by 25% each.
-- Emberguard ring and shield additionally reduce Earth damage and chance to be Petrified by 25% each.
- Elite Emberguard: 400 points. (Two Select Items)
-- Elite Emberguard gear reduces Fire damage and chance to be Burned by 50%, and reduces Earth damage and chance to be Petrified by 15%.
• For those of you who happen to remember how points are distributed through a set, all three sets use the following breakdown:
- 3% ATK, 50% DEF, 0% MAT, 33% MDF, 10% AGI, 0% LUK, 2% MHP, 2% MMP
- However, the Emberguard gear benefits from 124% total instead of 100%, effectively making it worth even higher than 400 points.
- This set does not contain any weapons.

Assembly / Disassembly
• In addition to the above gear, Scarlet Tool Kits are also available for purchase which grant +20% to the disassembly chance. These tool kits are single-use.
- Scarlet Tool Kits cost 10 Scarlet Tokens and 1000 gold.
• Scarlet gear disassembles into Scarlet Tokens and has a chance to also give Blaze Gems and Burning Essences.
• Emberguard gear disassembles into Scarlet Tokens and a single Blaze gem, with an additional chance for Blaze Gems and Burning Essences.
• Elite Emberguard gear cannot be disassembled.



ETA?
• The Scarlet Cavern Colosseum Rift is currently in development and expected to release before 04/17/2022.
• You will know if you are on the correct version of the game if your game version is "6.0.1.2". You'll also notice a slight difference to the Colosseum area.
• Considering the length of this post, it's unlikely that I will include any of this information in the official patch notes. It will simply say something along the lines of "A new rift has opened in the Colosseum".

In fact, that's exactly what it will say.


If you made it this far, thank you for reading! If you do end up taking on the challenges, post some videos on youtube! I do occasionally search the game title to see if anyone's doing anything on it, and I would LOVE to see how players interact with the game as it happens.

//hardytier

My pet project over the last few days has been to spice up the Colosseum. Since the map was already made, I thought it best to change the Rift An'ura event to the expanded map instead. There's not much I can say that the patch notes below don't include, but I'll give you one tip here that isn't in the game: for the blockades, regular field enemies are worth +1 point, wing commanders are worth +5. Blockade objects will disappear when a certain amount of points have been gathered in a single run. Points reset to 0 upon leaving.

Oh, and there are now five boss style battles in Rift An'ura instead of one. Have fun!

Note: The save restriction isn't a rule of the event, it's a tool to prevent forcing save restarts in the event that something on this map changes. When I'm comfortable that the area won't be changed, the save restriction will be permanently lifted.


6.0.1.1 [Build #136, Release Date: April 01, 2022] Bugs to look for: Report them as a comment to the most recent patch notes.
- Progress is blocked in Rift An'ura.
- At any point, main story progress is impossible.
- Random encounter happens somewhere within Rift An'ura.

Rift An'ura Makeover:
- Multi-map version has been Timelost and will be removed from the game files shortly. Loading a save file in one of these maps will eject Ruby's party to the Colosseum entrance unless they have yet to pass the Rift Titan event.
- Saving is now restricted.
- Now uses the expanded Proto An'ura map. Unlike the regular Den, the buildings in the Encampment section can not be entered.
- Progress to different wings is still locked by amount of battles. However, the zombie NPCs are no longer included.
- There are no random encounters. Enemies seen on the field may be fought one time each per event. This also includes wing bosses.
- A game over scenario from any of the field battles will expel Ruby's party from the Rift instead of giving a game over. Loot will be kept, but progress through the dungeon will be lost.
- Progress through the dungeon is still on a attempt by attempt basis. Leaving via game over or telepad will reset progress.
- Items found on the ground function the same as enemies and can be looted once per dungeon run. However, many of the items are invisible.

Fixes:
- Removed an outdated texture from upstairs in the Grand Library.

PS: I don't believe in April Fools, so all of this is for real.

If you follow these updates, then you may know that I did not intend to put this update out yet. While working on my new save file test run, I came across a gamebreaking bug that required an immediate fix. Put simply, the new version of Auria/Entrance put players directly into the 2nd version of Auria/Market Town, which means that any player just coming back from Hell's Gate wouldn't be able to progress the main story unless they first entered one of the Market Town buildings and then came back out. I don't know how long this bug has existed, but I imagine it's been causing problems for a while.

I can't hold back the other updates, so 6.0.1 is officially live with all the element core changes and the fix to this gamebreaker. For players who have been unable to progress their save file, simply leave and re-enter Market Town from any direction to be brought to the 2.0 version. The original map has been timelost and will be removed on May 1st with the rest of the pending deletion maps. The new version now has the story progression events originally only included in the first version.


6.0.1 [Build #135, Release Date: March 26, 2022] Bugs to look for: Report them as a comment to the most recent patch notes.
- Inability to progress the story at any point in the game. If anything seems confusing like you do not know where to go, please let me know the last thing you did in game and I'll look into it!

Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where the events to progress the story in Market Town were not available in the extended version of the map.

Updates & Changes:
- The following disassembly items have been removed from the disassembly pool of newly acquired gear and from the synthesis requirement to craft: Metal Chips, Metal Shards, Metal Plates, Iron Bars, Steel Bars, Leather Strips, Coarse Hide, Beast Hide, Thick Hide, Heavy Hide, Straight Blade Frame, Curved Blade Frame, Projectile Frame, Wood-Carver Frame, Metal-Spike Frame, Basic Cloth Pattern, Basic Leather Pattern, Basic Mail Pattern, Basic Plate Pattern, Basic Jewel Design. It is now safe to sell these items. Their price has been increased as compensation.
- The following items have had their drop rates reduced, sell price increased, and disassembly pool removed: Basic Sword, Basic Short Axe, Basic Great Axe, Basic Bow, Basic Dagger, Basic Rod, Basic Crossbow.
- Other weapons and armor have had general crafting materials removed from their disassembly pool and replaced with more of the regional or species specific items. Some low-level gear has had the disassembly pool removed entirely.
- Sticky Gloves can no longer be purchased.
- Auria Street Vendor now sells Fire Shard, Ice Shard, Mech Blade instead of Frames and Patterns.
- Fruit Vendor is now another "Street Vendor" who sells Herb, Salve, and Patch - items that heal Poisoning, Burns, and Bleed respectively.
- Herb no longer has an item cost associated with its price.
- Removed zoom effect from: Sparkstrike, Lightningstrike, Bolt Cutter, Wing Slap, Crush Armor.
- Greatly reduced the drop rate of Green Insect Weapon & Armor Parts.
- Greatly increased the drop rate of Green Insect Parts.
- Mildly increased the drop rate for Green Insect Fragment on Warriors, Knights, and Brutes.
- Mildly increased the drop rate for Green Insect Gland on Archers, Knights, and Seraphs.
- Added a gold cost to An'ura and Green Insect gear crafting.
- The concept of "vents" is going away. Elemental essences will instead be included in enemy loot tables and gear disassembly pools.
- Changed the Frostbrood Lair exit to a climbable vine instead of a telepad.
- Newly purchased Stalwart gear has 2 slots instead of 0.

Character & Skill Changes:
- The way hybrid elemental attacks works has changed. Unless otherwise noted in a tooltip, an attack with multiple elements will now multiply the damage done to the enemy. Example: Enemy has 2x weakness to fire and 2x weakness to water. A hybrid fire/water attack will do 4x damage. On the other hand, if the enemy has a 2x weakness to fire and an immunity to water, a hybrid fire/water attack will do 0 damage.
- Skills with their element in the tooltip will not inherit damage types from equipped gear. The current possible elements are: Physical, Fire, Water, Electric, Ice, Earth, Wind, Poison, Dragon, Psychic, Holy, Dark, Soul, Ghost, Bird-Killer, Arcane, Stone-Killer, Ice-Killer, Machine-Killer. Additional damage types for skills are "Normal Attack" which will inherit the elements of equipped gear, and None which is simply non-elemental. Skills whose element is "Normal Attack" will not have any element listed in the tooltip. Elemental and non-elemental attacks will say that in the first line of the tooltip.
- Riley can now equip One-Handed Axes and Shields, but can no longer dual wield most axes.
- Ruby can now equip Two-Handed Swords.
- All character classes can now equip "General Accessories" in addition to their specific ones. As of this build, there are no obtainable General Accessories.
- Warpspark is now Arcane/Electric.
- Short Circuit is now electric/machine-killer.
- Increased the damage done by Seraph Strike.

Known Issues:
- Save files in the newly Timelost version of Market Town won't be able to return to that version of the zone.
- Players who could not progress the main story after Hell's Gate may now return to Auria/Market Town and encounter the scene.

On April 1st, 2022, the 6.0.1 build of the game will become the default branch of the game. For a short while, 5.1.9 will remain in case we discover any game-breaking bugs and to recover save files in timelost zones. What this means for you:
- All zones marked as Timelost before March 1st will be permanently deleted from the game files. This includes Campsite, Scarlet Cavern (all maps), Frost Forest (all maps), and Frost Forest (single large map). In total, 37 maps will be removed with this update. If your save file is currently in any of these timelost zones, you will need to revert to 5.1.9 then move to the world map or the veil to save, then reselect the default build. Detailed instructions will be included with the 6.0.1 release notes, but can also be found in one of the 6.0 prerelease details threads.
- It will no longer be possible to enter the multi-map version of Den An'ura.
- Bugs may appear from the addition of the new plugins.
- Proto An'ura event will end.

On May 1st, 2022, the 5.1.9 build will no longer be accessible and save files located in Timelost Campsite, Scarlet Cavern, Frost Forest, or Den An'ura will become unrecoverable.

6.0.1 for those who did not opt into the prerelease build of the game will be comprised of the three updates included with 6.0.0.X plus any additions made in the next week or so. For the full scoop on what has changed, please go back and view the 6.0.0.X patch notes:
6.0.0.1 Notes - https://steamcommunity.com/games/764180/announcements/detail/4971416741015839462
6.0.0.2 & 6.0.0.3 Notes - https://steamcommunity.com/games/764180/announcements/detail/3113682430670419791

Change highlights (6.0.0.0 - 6.0.0.3)
- Multi-elemental weapons and skills are now possible.
- Elemental absorption is now possible.
- Tiered elemental skills now have the same damage per hit, but cost less per level and hit multiple times per tier.
- Psychic physical attacks do magic damage, psychic magic attacks do physical damage.
- Modification to armor types.
- Added distinction between one and two-handed swords and axes.
- Changes to data on the Save screen.
- Changes to the Equip screen.
- Flame Titan now solid Fire type, no longer weak to Ice.

Final Note - Any changes made to the prerelease build between now and April 1st will do so without version changes or patch notes. All updates will be included in the single patch note release on April 1st.

Highlights:
- Proto An'ura event ended, map moved to permanent location in the world and filled out with appropriately leveled enemies.

Note:
- After I get through testing a new save file going through all the changes listed below, I should be good to start working on BSX, Sha'ri, or Terra Anatis. Currently unsure of which I'll get to first.
- Try to break it. These updates focus on the integration of the new Den An'ura zone, so it should not be possible to enter the old multi-map version which are now marked as Timelost.

6.0.0.2 [Build #133, Release Date: March 20, 2022] Bugs to look for: Report them as a comment to the most recent patch notes.
- Game crashes at any time for any reason - report when and where it happened, what skill caused it, or what transition from map to map - any additional detail

Event:
- The Proto An'ura event has ended.

Updates & Changes:
- Miles & Riley no longer get a free level up upon entering Den An'ura.
- Changed dialogue for Ice/Poison decision in Den An'ura.
- The Flame Titan in Hell's Gate now has typical fire-type defenses and is no longer weak to ice.
- Fury Strikes now does significantly more damage and has a 3 turn cooldown.
- Fury Strikes now requires Swords to use.
- Blitz now requires Daggers or One-Handed Swords to use.
- Uppercut now requires Axes to use.
- Lore-setting text before Ruby appears in the Veil has been moved to the computer in the first Veil room. Transition is now direct from the intro to the Veil.
- Removed the equip requirements for Healing Wind.
- Eurus now has a branching dialogue for if Jack is in the party when he joins the team.
- Minor changes to the displayed Save details. Removed "power" which did not fit in the text box from Electric and Psychic. They are now colored based on their in-game colors. Removed "consecutive wins" which was left over from The Pit. Added Challenge Lv, which will be used later. Instead of "Hunts", the text now says "Lodge Quests" to be specific about what is being tracked.

Known Issues:
- In the new Den An'ura, if Ruby has already defeated Azrael, the chest will be there with the reward again.
- The gate requiring the Pristine Arrowhead will be locked in the new Den An'ura if it was unlocked without obtaining Ares afterward. It will not be possible to obtain Ares under this condition - revert back to previous version.


6.0.0.3 [Build #134, Release Date: March 20, 2022] Bugs to look for: Report them as a comment to the most recent patch notes.
- Game crashes at any time for any reason - report when and where it happened, what skill caused it, or what transition from map to map - any additional detail

Updates & Changes:
- Eurus now leaves before the boss in Scarlet Cavern and can be found again shortly after in Den An'ura.
- Ruby can no longer walk south of the intended area in Den An'ura after Riley's comment.
- An'ura Slasher now has a slashing animation instead of a hit.
- The unfinished Den An'ura now has random encounters and more field encounters, and is now finished.
-- There are now two types of field encounters in Den An'ura designated as group 1 and group 2. Group 1 can be any of the following: Archer (x2) / Warrior (x2) / Warrior (x2) + Archer / Seraph + Warrior / Brute + Seraph / Knight. Group 2 can be any of the following: Brute (x2) / Mantis / Slasher / Brute + Seraph / Warrior + Seraph + Toxic Bubble (x2) / Warrior + Archer + Seraph + Toxic Gazer. Random encounters also occur at varying rates depending on location within the Den.
- Rarely, Vine Snappers may appear in the Encampment area as a random battle in addition to their fixed field battle positions.