Cross of Auria News

Expected to be live within the next few hours, provided there are no hiccups during testing. If there is a Mac issue, The Veil and Black Forest will have to be completely reskinned (yeah, crazy, I know).
So, crossing fingers.

3.2.1 [Build #72, Release Date: April 27, 2020]
Changes:
Warning - This update will cause larger than usual download sizes. However, the grand total file size will be reduced.
- Renamed all in-use sound files.
- Removed unused sound files from game folder.
- Deployed game folder with encryption as per asset use requirement.
Note: If any areas of the game give an error immediately upon entering, then a sound file issue has been detected. Please report it immediately @ www.facebook.com/CrossOfAuria or as a comment to this patch note. A picture of the error with the background helps greatly.

Edit: 2:18PM APR 27
-- Errors may occur saying a “.m4a” or “.ogg” can not be found. These can be cleared by going to any zone which triggers new music to play, saving, exiting the application completely, then reloading. If this error persists, please report it ASAP – as that file will need to be re-added to the game files.

This one is kinda huge, so I'll let the patch notes mostly speak for themselves. There is one major thing I will add though - The Orc War (or whatever I'll end up calling it at release) is officially in development! This build introduces 11 extra zones (3 new, 8 reskin for war purposes) in the background and functionality for one event in the Alpha Ruins. All of these will become available once the Orc War properly launches.

Note - It may be possible in some way to slip yourself into one of the new zones. If you do, I strongly recommend backing up (or reloading from before then) - because you will be stuck there. The Orc War events will prevent other quest progression for the duration of the event. Aka; Rabbit's Foot and Phoenix Ash quests won't be complete-able until after. So if you find yourself triggering one of the new Orc War things, please let me know ASAP so I can patch it out until it's ready.

Note - An incredible amount of background maintenance went into putting this one together, so things are bound to break. If anything breaks, the fastest way to reach me is through Facebook @ www.facebook.com/CrossOfAuria or through my personal discord in the CoA channels @ https://discord.gg/j4pZKuv.


3.2.0 [Build #71, Release Date: April 26, 2020] New Skills! – If your character has missed their chance to learn the skill, talking to the Delivery Boy in Auria will let the skills be learned.
- Alex has new skills between levels 3-16!
- Ruby has new skills between levels 9-17!
- Alex, Ruby, Miles, Riley each have a new level 22 skill!

Fixes:
- The Lighthouse is now accessible once the quest is obtained through the Shoreline zone and now exits to the corresponding area in the same zone instead of onto the world map.
- Fixed drop rates for An’ura Taskmaster, An’ura Larvae, Cockatrice Minion, Cockatrice Menace, Spheria, and Oros tribe units.
- Fixed some passable tiles in the Restaurant set to now be impassable.

Changes:
- All enemies with luck over 15 have had their Luck reduced by 75%.
-- This was done in an attempt to change the formula for determining successful escapes, but due to a plugin issue, luck cannot be factored into the equation. This might be solvable with a plugin update, but so much has the potential to explode that it is not worth the risk. Therefore…
--- It is now significantly easier to escape after each failed escape attempt. The base chance to escape remains the same.

Skill Changes:
- Sticky Slap now receives a 0.25* bonus from Luck, down from 1.00*.
- Slap, Shot, Cut, Slash, Chop, Wing Slap, Ground Smash, Cutter, Double-Strike, Blade Shot, Charge, Gear Grind, Triple-Strike, Sting, Bloodfeast, Throw, Cleave, Swing, Cleave+, Insatiable Ravager, Rush, Disabling Slice, Silencing Slice, String Shot, String Scattershot, Swift Kick, Rapid Shot, Wicked Strike, Volley Shot, Suppression Blast, Slice, are now Physical type.
- Razor Wind is now Wind type.
- Rockbreaker is now Earth type.
- Point Laser, Laser Sweep, are now non-elemental.
- Poisonbolt no longer adds +6 to the damage formula.
- Frostbolt no longer adds +9 to the damage formula.
- Firebolt no longer adds +3 to the damage formula.
- Cost of Firebolt reduced to 10MP, down from 20MP to be in line with other tier 1 “bolt” spells.
- Cost of Fireball changed to 20MP, changed from 10MP + 20TP to be in line with other tier 2 “ball” spells.
- Details for Wild Charge (S:119) filled out.
- Poison Cut, Poison Chop, Poison Shot are now Poison type in addition to having a chance to inflict poison.
- Icefall no longer adds +3 to the damage formula [non-enraged only].
- Frostspike no longer adds +10 to the damage formula [non-enraged only].
- Lightning Rage’s “Attack” renamed “Spark Shock.”
- All Lightning Rage abilities now add +1 to Electric Power.
- Tooltip for Expose Weakness now accurately explains the effect.
- Expose Weakness now lasts for 5 turns and adds +5 to speed during use.
- Triple-Strike now costs 50 TP, up from 45.
- Arcane Missile now has a 2 turn warmup.
- Uppercut now has a 2 turn cooldown.
- Ruby no longer learns Triple-Strike at level 15.
- Insatiable Ravager now always inflicts a special attack-based bleed. Additionally, the chance to apply the other bleeds has been increased significantly.
- Cost of Insatiable Ravager reduced to 50 TP from 100 TP. Additionally, this skill now has a 3-turn cooldown.
- Bloodthirst now gives Riley a chance to apply the Shatter debuff with basic attacks and other skills, which makes enemies more likely to be inflicted with various bleeds.
- Bloodthirst now has a chance to apply the new Insatiable Ravager bleed in addition to the 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5% bleeds at varying rates.

Plugins:
- Updated the BattleEngineCore, ActSeq1, ActSeq2, ActSeq3, X_AnimatedSVEnemies, BattleAICore, BattleStatusWindow, ItemCore, ItemUpgradeSlots, SkillCore plugins. With any luck, this should not affect current game files. This was done because at one point in time, my engine was automatically updated from 1.5.1 to the current build, which was not intentional. Reverting the engine itself may make the entire project unstable.

What I Learned…
- The good news is, the Quest Log plugin works again. The bad news is, I already completely stripped all the related QL plugin code from the game, and it would take weeks to replace all of it. There may come a time in the future where I activate it moving forward, but it would not be worth anyone’s time for me to go apply it retroactively. The missive system will have to do.
- The TurnOrderDisplay is still broken no matter what I try to do with it. It broke right around the time the engine updated to 1.5.1 and never was able to come back since then. I think I can safely say – I am completely abandoning this idea for now until I can commission a custom display to be made.

As I continue my playtest, it's becoming apparent that there will be several more patches rolled out over the next day or so. I obviously can't keep posting new announcements for every single one, so from now on, this thread will serve as the master list. Always check in game what version you're playing to know where you sit on this list and what might be different since last time you booted up.

Since I already have a thread housing all the information from 3.1.4.4 and before, this will serve for everything after that.

If you notice any issues with the game, this thread in addition to the usual places is where to post them. I'm tackling bugs hard this week!

Note: Each new build will serve as the "safezone" due to the nature of some of these fixes until we finally get a truly stable build going.
Note: Additions to this thread will be added to the bottom and will be marked with what time on what day they were added. With any luck, I won't have to make any more emergency build updates.

3.1.4.5 [Build #69, Release Date: April 21, 2020] Fixes:
- Veil Chests no longer drop Deprecated Items.
- A chest in Frost Forest no longer drops Deprecated Items.
- Fixed an issue with unresponsive Orcs in Obscurite.
- Fixed vendor stock for the vendor in Frost Forest.
Changes:
- Minor terrain change to Auria/Castle Grounds East.
- Orcs in Frost Forest now trigger battle on contact.
- Some Orcs in Frost Forest now approach Ruby.
- Minor terrain changes to Frost Forest.
- Some Orcs in Obscurite now trigger battle on contact.
Enemy Skills:
- Soulfire I now costs 20 MP, down from 25 MP + 15 TP.

3.1.4.4.1 [Build #68-A, Release Date: April 20, 2020] Changes:
- Revoked access to the unfinished Alpha Ruins Orc event which was accidentally added in 3.1.4.4.
-- Note: If you are still on this build, do not intentionally activate the event. It is unfinished and activating it early will result in enemies with no attacks and the game not knowing you've completed it once it's over. This is what happens when I have to drop an emergency patch while I'm working on something else >.>



Edit: 9:40PM APR 21
3.1.5.6 [Build #70, Release Date: April 21, 2020] New:
- The An’ura Encampment now has it’s own theme!
Fixes:
- Fixed a transfer issue in Frost Forest.
- Added battlebacks for all Encampment subzones.
Changes:
- Bundle of Enchanted Wood is now a Key Item.
- More Orcs in Frost Forest now chase Ruby and trigger battle on contact.
- Battle Shout, Bulk Up, and Ferocious Shout now add 10 to Speed on use. (At the same level, these skills may occur before a basic Miles attack which is usually the fastest.)
- Arcane Missile now subtracts 5 from Speed on use. (Alternatively, a skill that takes away from speed may occur after characters who are usually slower.)
- Uppercut is now a Wind type attack.
- Blitz now additionally benefits from luck in the damage formula and is considered a Physical attack instead of non-elemental.
- Fury Strikes is now considered a Physical attack instead of non-elemental.
- Arcane Shock is now considered non-elemental instead of a “normal attack.”
- Poisonstrike now costs 5MP & 10TP, up from 1MP & 10TP.
Save Restrictions:
- Saving is now restricted in “Auria/Castle Grounds East” pending potentially major terrain changes in a future update.
Timelost Zones:
- The three sub-zones of Market Town have had their versions 1 and 2 collapsed. Players who saved inside the no longer used zones will see “Timelost Zone” now. It is no longer possible to enter the Timelost Zones. This change should restore progress to the Hephaes quest chain regardless of when it was completed and the Displaced Citizen questline. Some NPCs have been removed from these zones.
-- Note: It is possible to talk to the displaced citizens more than once until the end of the questline is triggered. Doing this should not impact the quest negatively.
An’ura Recon:
- Random encounters now occur in the Encampment.

Edit: 10:51PM APR 21
Known Issues:
- It is not currently possible to get to the "Lighthouse" to progress the Rabbit's Foot quest. This will be addressed in the next update.

I was tacking these on as edits to the 3.1.4 announcement, but it became emergent to let you all know that the post Scarlet Boss crash has been resolved.

3.1.4.4 [Build #68, Release Date: April 20, 2020] Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where after the Scarlet boss, code was removing the now defunct Soul item type from Jack, resulting in a crash.

3.1.4.3 [Build #67, Release Date: April 20, 2020] Fixes:
- Fixed a terrain issue inside Auria/Visitor District/Armorsmith.

3.1.4.2 [Build #66, Release Date: April 20, 2020] Fixes:
- Alex can no longer gain the Arcane Missile skill from the Delivery Boy until level 6 for players who haven’t updated since Arcane Missile was added.
- Added a battleback for the Hell’s Gate/Entrance zone.
- Changed world spawn Orcs to only spawn after UsingWorldMap has been triggered (after Inn scene).
-- This change may have an indirect effect on some other spawns, so I’ll be testing diligently throughout the week to see what else was impacted and dropping updates accordingly.
- Cross of Auria Demo build now available from the Steam Store!
Changes:
- World spawn enemies now trigger battle on contact.

3.1.4.1 [Build #65, Release Date: April 20, 2020] New:
- Data for the new 75 point Phoenix Feather Set has been added (5% ATK, 38% DEF, 5% MAT, 37% MDF, 15% MHP). A vendor will be made available in an update soon.
Fixes:
- The Frostfire set’s details have been fixed.
- The Frostfire set now provides resistances to Fire and Ice as originally intended.

The first part of Lvell's expansion is here! It's taking quite a bit of time to fill up with goodies, but some of the main parts are already available for the low levels. The focus of 3.1.5 will be expanding the functionality of Lvell/City especially the forest event, the hunter lodge, and activating the Dojo and Inn.

I'm not going to lie, the Final Fantasy VII REMAKE played a huge part in the development slowdown this week.


3.1.4 [Build #64, Release Date: April 19, 2020] & 1.0.1 [Demo Build #2] Notes:
- All these changes directly affect the Demo build but are also available at all points in the game.
- This build will be the new safezone moving forward due to the addition of zones. Previous safezone 3.1.1.1 will be saved just in case, but no longer be accessible unless an emergency arises.
New:
- A new section of Lvell is available.
-- It is not possible to save inside any of the Lvell/City subzones. As they become more finalized, the save restriction will be lifted.
- Parts of the Replica Set are now available from various vendors in Lvell/City.
- The Phoenix Ash and the other structures are open on an introductory basis. More will be added as time goes on.
- The first quest of the Phoenix Ash takes Ruby to a new zone! This quest is meant for level 5 or below players but can be completed once Miles and Riley have joined as well. To get the most out of the event, opt not to use M&R in the battle.
Fixes:
- Fixed an issue with the Sticky Glove chest in Den An’ura.
- Fixed an issue with Bats, Slimes, & Rats on the world map dropping Deprecated Items.
- World map Rats now give 4 EXP and 1G per kill, up from 0/0.
- Rift An’ura enemies now properly drop restorative items at the same rates as before.
Changes:
- Changed text in Info screen from “Cross of Auria – The Awakening” to “Cross of Auria – Episode 1”. The ‘final’ version of the name before moving to episode 2 has yet to be decided.
- Removed the “Charm” equipment slot.
- Added Scarf, Earring, Scabbard, and Hilt equipment types to fit inside the Accessory equipment slot for Ruby, Alex, Miles, and Riley respectively.
- Enabled the Formation menu command, which will allow players to re-arrange the party and set who is active for battle if the party contains more than 4 characters.
Other:
- A new trailer and several new zone screenshots were added to the Cross of Auria Steam Store page on April 9th. This trailer is also available on CoA’s YouTube.
- On April 12th, a demo playable up until just after the Hive Mind with Jack was submitted for review. As of this post, the demo should be live, though I am having trouble locating a download button for it. More on that later.

Edit: 12:12AM APR 20 - Emergency fix for Frostfire Set.
3.1.4.1 [Build #65, Release Date: April 20, 2020] New:
- Data for the new 75 point Phoenix Feather Set has been added (5% ATK, 38% DEF, 5% MAT, 37% MDF, 15% MHP). A vendor will be made available in an update soon.
Fixes:
- The Frostfire set’s details have been fixed.
- The Frostfire set now provides resistances to Fire and Ice as originally intended.

Edit: 10:36AM APR 20 - Emergency fix for Orc Spawns (which may prevent progress in Hell's Gate)
3.1.4.2 [Build #66, Release Date: April 20, 2020] Fixes:
- Alex can no longer gain the Arcane Missile skill from the Delivery Boy until level 6 for players who haven’t updated since Arcane Missile was added.
- Added a battleback for the Hell’s Gate/Entrance zone.
- Changed world spawn Orcs to only spawn after UsingWorldMap has been triggered (after Inn scene).
-- This change may have an indirect effect on some other spawns, so I’ll be testing diligently throughout the week to see what else was impacted and dropping updates accordingly.
- Cross of Auria Demo build now available from the Steam Store!
Changes:
- World spawn enemies now trigger battle on contact.

Edit: 11:55AM APR 20
3.1.4.3 [Build #67, Release Date: April 20, 2020] Fixes:
- Fixed a terrain issue inside Auria/Visitor District/Armorsmith.