Cross of Auria News

[p]It has come to my attention that the snake pet can return to the party earlier than intended via Dojo Cerberus. I'm working on fixing this but many save files are probably already affected. Realistically, this will only cause a minor continuity error in the story but will otherwise have no lasting negative effects. However, it does make the beginning of the game significantly easier than intended since Snake has basically level 15 stats at level 3.[/p][p]Today I'm releasing some stuff that was currently in the pipe for 6.8.2. My kids being home for summer break threw a huge wrench in development speed, but I'm still chugging along. If you want to come talk about the game with other players, join us on Discord @ https://discord.gg/wTbquRqWZv - this is the best place to ask questions and submit bug reports.[/p][p][/p][p]My goal is to have the game in a finalized state by the end of the year, DLC and all. There's so many things I want to add to the game but I'm limited by the inexperience I had when I created it. The best thing for us to do right now is move on to a brand new CoA2. Before we do that, we're going to wrap up here and give you all something cool to do with your 'endgame' items! It is likely that the story ending for CoA1 will be rather abrupt - those of you who were here from the very beginning may remember this game's original name: "Cross of Auria Chapter 1: The Awakening". That is still what this concept is even today. So... let's wrap it up. We've got 6 months to go - wish me luck! [/p][p][/p][p]6.8.1.4 \[Build #182, Release Date: June 28, 2025][/p][p]Fixes: [/p][p]- Changed the condition for KO'ing eggs, preventing 0 exp battles where the Drahkin doesn't spawn.[/p][p]- Fixed a Grand Library NPC repeat function.[/p][p]- Fixed the Bolt Cutter not accurately reducing Electric Power.[/p][p]Updates & Changes: [/p][p]- Changed the way Elite and Boss enemies are handled. Instead of baked in stats, it will be done through an auto passive state which directly applies percentage based stat buffs.[/p][p]- Scaled BSX enemies to non-Elite stat sheets and applied the Elite passive state.[/p][p]- Hive Mind, Flame Titan, Frostbrood Titan, Blood Queen, Hive Queen, Corrupted Queen now have the Boss state in addition to their current stat sheets.[/p][p]- An'rim Operant, Catermoth, Overcharged Dissector, Rockfist Ursid now have the Elite state.[/p][p]- Heart Strike now deals significantly enhanced piercing damage to targets who are bleeding.[/p][p]- Crush Armor is now Physical.[/p][p]- Doublehand Stance attack combo changed to add one attack per 10 levels, currently up to level 40+. Swing now occurs before Attack. Beginning at level 20, Lucky Strike, Disabling Slice, Silencing Slice, and Airstrike have an equal chance to be used last. [/p][p]- Singlehand Stance attack combo changed to add one magic per 10 levels, up to 40+. Airblade + Arcane Shock are granted by default, then ArcaneShock/Airblade at 10, ArcaneShock/Airblade/Gust/WindBuffet at 20, ArcaneShockII/AirbladeII/Gust/WindBuffettII at 30, and Magick Shock at 40.[/p][p][/p]

During playtests today, I discovered several bugs in the Zodiac Overwatch. Ideally my goal is to only make one of these posts per week, but whenever something is truly broken I have to fix it right away. The only problem was - I discovered the broken things after adding a new thing, and I want to post every time something new rolls out.

So here we are at 6.8.1.3, just a few hours after 6.8.1.2.

Capricorn, and the associated achievement, are now available in the first wing of Zodiac Overwatch.
This wing has been downscaled from level 25 to level 15 due to changes in development planning moving forward.

6.8.1.3 [Build #181, Release Date: May 18, 2025] New:
- Capricorn is ready for battle!
Fixes:
- Fixed broken and impassable tiles in Zodiac Overwatch.
Updates & Changes:
- Battle Series X wing 1 enemies have been scaled to level 15 Elite.
- After the Orc War events in Lvell, Mystery Shop Gizelle has moved to Port Reception for more mystery coin trade ins! A higher tier chest is available for purchase for 5 coins! This chest will always yield 15 of each essence, 1 of each tier 2 flask, 1-3 tool kits of varying tiers, and one of twelve Special items such as Veil Crystals of Dusk Armor Parts.
- The Mystery Box - Silver no longer grants a Tiny Coin Purse.
- Added a sell price to Zodiac and Astral Coins.

A bug was reported within the last 24 hours regarding a transition from the world map to the new Snowdrift Area zone. This patch fixes that and also populates the new location with some level 7-12 enemies.

The other part of this which I intended to hold back and release with 6.8.2.0 is the addition of Learn Skills for all classes at level 20! Ex: if Ruby as a Stormchaser has reached level 20, you should see the new skill in the Skills or Class menu!

6.8.1.2 [Build #180, Release Date: May 18, 2025] New:
- Most classes now have a level 20 Learn Skill, available from the Skills or Classes menu.
Fixes:
- Fixed a world map passability issue preventing return to Snowdrift Area.
Updates & Changes:
- Soul and Psychic abilities now have a 25% Bypass Barriers effect.
- Most MP-cost-only magick attacks now generate TP.
- Kinetics is now Piercing.
- Chaotic Healing now casts all three spells on random targets, adds a fourth area of effect spell, has a cooldown of 5 turns and reduces MP cost by 5 per level, up to free.

It has come to my attention that there are not enough essences floating around in the ecosystem. Here's a temporary fix for that - an enemy you can beat on! The squishy fella doesn't do so much in the way of fighting back, but if you use your elemental skills on him, you'll surely beat the essence-stuffing right out of him! Each element caps out at 5 hits for maximum effectiveness, but each battle can only run for ~10 turns before his barrier gives out.
Each victory rewards 2 Essence of Life and 2 Essence of Magick, plus up to 5 conditional elemental essences dependent on how many times he's been struck with that element before the battle ends. This effectively marks the first time Thunderous, Midnight, and Daylight essences can be obtained and stockpiled for later.

I originally planned to hold this update back until some more stuff was finished, but the bug with the old Halloween event needed to be addressed immediately. Full notes below.

The next update may take a while longer to release. For more pre-release insight, join us on Discord @ https://discord.gg/Ur4GdaKxPD and make sure to select the CoA role on your way in!


6.8.1.1 [Build #179, Release Date: May 13, 2025] Event:
- A new event is running in the Veil until June - The Essence of Essences! Challenge this enemy as many times as you like and beat the essences out of it!
Fixes:
- Fixed the boss encounter in the 2021 Halloween event which did not properly trigger. It is unknown how long this bug existed as it was never reported.
Updates & Changes:
- "Elite" enemies now reference the 2nd generation character sheets, but have +5 to all stats and give 2x "group" exp. "Boss" enemies now reference 2nd gen sheets, but have +10 to all stats and give 2x "single" exp. This only affects future changes and new creations and is not applied retroactively.
- Snowdrift Village DLC enemies have been scaled down to level 20, from 20-45. It should now be possible to collect the Frostslayer class during the events of the Orc War.
- Snowdrift Village, both DLC and non, now exits to the "Snowdrift Area". Access to Snowdrift Village requires travel through the Snowdrift Area.
- Adjusted the way Halloween event 2020 and 2021 process victories and escapes, hopefully leading to less double encounters from the same visible field unit.
Skill & Mastery Effects:
- Halloween event skills now require 10 uses to level up consistent through all 10 levels.
Notes, Known Issues & Other:
- Removed leftover Battlefront maps from the game files.
- Removed 67 "Timelost Zone" map files from the game data that were originally noted in patch 6.6 on Jan 2, 2025. Any remaining transfers to these defunct zones will cause game crashes - please report them immediately!
- Removed 7 additional unused maps.

Let me tell you a quick story about my time developing this update. I started at level 20 - the minimum required level to pick up The Orcs of Lvell quest from Captain Reynolds in Port Reception. I designed the encounters while testing them, picking up from where I had left off months ago. The first segment took me a solid 40 minutes, but to make sure everything was functional - I could not have save points along the way. The second segment, having more moving parts and crazy battles, took another 30-40. I did this at least 15 times, starting from the very beginning at Quest accept every time. Then I got sidetracked on the concept of the update earlier this week - introducing a legendary scythe. So I spent hours and hours fine tuning that and making sure it worked. But I made the boss too difficult. So I had to ask myself if the enhanced difficulty was a bad thing, or should I just gear up to fight it. So I geared up. For close to 6 in game hours, I completed the entire Hall of Challengers and picked up several Rift An'ura weapons from the Colosseum. With these in hand, I completed the Scythe requirements, moved on to the new Orcs of Lvell story and knocked it right out of the park.

I tell you all this to highlight something I didn't consider would ever happen with Cross of Auria - the difference in preparation for me between level 20 to level 25 plus the Challenger gear and legendary scythe turned what was originally an hour and a half update to the story down to nearly 15 minutes.

For the first time ever in CoA, this update delivers you a new challenge that is difficult but able to be overcome at lower levels and really shines when you've done adequate side content.

The Orcs of Lvell quest isn't the only thing rolling out today. I've finally created a use for Dojo Cerberus in Lvell - Class Trials! Effective immediately, after day 1 and before the start of the Orc War, level 15 class trials are available for White Mage, Black Mage, Swordsman, Knight, and Pyromancer - allowing you to try them out before committing to leveling them! Oh, and conditions for obtaining Pyromancer are now baked in! They are incredibly steep but for this class in particular, a story event will grant this class in one of the next few segments to be released.

Speaking of class trials, for players who have not downloaded Eyes in the Frost (which you should, it's free), Snowdrift Village hosts a single class trial for the Frostslayer class. I won't cover too much about what that class has today - the important part is the Ice-Killer element typing, which does reduced damage to most elemental enemies but 2x damage to Ice enemies.

The important thing about classes is... you keep the skills, magic, specials, and everything else even when you change back to your main class!

Finally, this patch includes a finalization of all tiered elemental abilities (Firebolt, Firebolt II, etc) as it relates to their Learn requirements and Mastery effect. Because this is a brand new introduction, the specifics are not saved in the patch notes at the bottom of this post, but the general ideal is as follows:
Reference info: Firebolt I = Tier 1 Stage 1, Lava Burst II = Tier 3 Stage 2
- Tier 1 Elemental abilities now require 10 Essence of Life & 10 Essence of Magick, + 10 of the related elemental essence to be learned when available from the Skill/Class Learn Skill screen.
- Every additional stage per tier requires 5 extra elemental essences, plus a character level of +5 to learn.
- Tier 2 abilities require 20 Essence of Life & Magick, and Tier 3 require 30 of each.-
- Learn costs can be avoided by using skill guides or leveling classes to the point where they would learn these abilities naturally. The learn cost effectively exists to allow you to get higher potency skills earlier.
- ALL elemental abilities affected by the above changes also now have a maximum mastery level of 10 with the mastery effect of -1 MP / -1 TP / +25 Damage per level.

So, let's show a brief overview of tiers and stages for abilities.
Tier & Stage Differences
Emberstrike I: 15MP/30TP
Emberstrike II: 10MP/20TP/1CD
Emberstrike III: 5MP/10TP/2CD
As the STAGES increase, the cost to use is reduced and the cooldown increases. The damage output however is the same across all three stages.
Flamestrike I: 30MP/50TP/STRIKES TWICE
Flamestrike II: 20MP/35TP/1CD/STRIKES TWICE
Flamestrike III: 10MP/20TP/2CD/STRIKES TWICE
As the TIERS increase, the number of hits increases with no loss to the damage per hit. This effectively makes Flamestrike I by default exactly twice as powerful as Emberstrike I.
Lavastrike I: 50MP/70TP/STRIKES 3X
Lavastrike II: 35MP/50TP/1CD/STRIKES 3X
Lavastrike III: 20MP/30TP/2CD/STRIKES 3X
Lavastrike III (Level 10): 10MP/20TP/2CD/STRIKES 3X/+250DMG per strike
At max level (where levels are earned by usage), abilities can do more damage or cost less to use depending on what their Mastery perks are. In this case, all elemental skills that follow a 3 tier 3 stage format have level 10 max, -1TP/-1MP/+25damage per mastery level! Elemental magick on the other hand has the same level cap, but has -1MP/+50damage per mastery level.

Without further ado...

6.8.1.0 [Build #178, Release Date: May 4, 2025] New:
- It is now possible to accept and complete a new quest - The Orcs of Lvell!
- In Snowdrift Village, the Frostslayer class is available for non-DLC owners for a brief trial battle.
- Dojo Cerberus is now available before the events of the Orc War to offer level 15 class trials for White Mage, Black Mage, Knight, Swordsman, and Pyromancer.
Fixes:
- Fireball II, Fireball III, Lava Burst, Lava Burst II, Lava Burst III now strike the correct amount of times.
Skill & Mastery Effects:
- Finalization of Elemental skills is now effective, with permanent learn costs, required levels, and required learned skills.
- Hailstorm: Level 10, -1MP/-1TP/+100dmg per level.
- Blizzard: Level 10, -1MP/-1TP/+100dmg per level.
- Eruption line: Level 10, -2MP/+250dmg per level.
- Waterfall line: Level 10, -1MP/+200dmg per level
- Icefall line: Level 10, -2MP/+33%dmg per level
- Swarm: Level 10, +33 dmg per level.
- Gust: Level 10, +25dmg per level.
- Psycho Shield: Level 10, -1MP per level.
- Elemental II skills & magic now have a 1 turn cooldown.
- Elemental III skills & magic now have a 2 turn cooldown.
- All elemental skills (except electric): Level 10, -1MP/-1TP/+25dmg per level.
- Snakelashing: Level 10, -1TP/+100dmg per level.
- All elemental magic (except electric): Level 10, -1MP/+50dmg per level.
- Freeze: Level 10, -1MP cost per level, cooldown 3.
- Shatter: Level 10, -1TP/+125dmg per level, warmup 1, cooldown 3.
- Infect: Level 5, +250dmg per level, cooldown 2.
- Spark Storm: Level 10, -1MP/+50dmg per level, cooldown 2.
- Arcane Cannon: Level 10, -1TP/-1MP per level.
- Arcstorm/Thunderstorm: Level 10, -1MP/+250dmg per level, warmup 2, cooldown 5.
- Barricade, Spellshield, Resurrection, Avoidance: Level 0.
- Curse: Level 10, +5%dmg/-1MP per level.
- Magick Siphon: Level 10, +20%dmg/-1TP per level.
- Backstab: Level 10, +10%dmg per level, reduced level 0 damage output.
- Knife Twist: Level 20, +33%dmg/-1TP per level, cooldown 3.
Notes, Known Issues & Other:
- A quest is added to your Quest Log after The Orcs of Lvell is completed, but its details are unfinished pending a future update. The addition of the quest to the log now will make it easier in the future update to process what to do next without requiring a vague NPC interaction.