Vagrus - The Riven Realms News

[h3]Hey everyone,[/h3]

This week’s update addresses several issues that we’ve been aiming to fix since our last patch. It also adds several new small Quality of Life features that further streamline UI and UX elements across the board. Alongside this, we are continuing to work hard on our coming DLC, and will endeavor to share more about it as we move closer to the end of the development cycle.


As has become a habit, Vagrus is currently taking part in Steam’s Turn-Based RPG Fest, which marks the occasion of our final sale before price increases come into effect for Sunfire and Moonshadow and the Season Pass. So, if you’ve been on the fence about jumping into our newest content or have a friend who you want to introduce to the Riven Realms, you can make it happen for the old price with a discount to boot.

The detailed patch notes are below, as usual.

Important Note: Considering the extent of the improvements, there is little to no chance that we broke nothing in the process. Assume that we did not want to make anyone's life harder. If you see something amiss, please flag it to us using the usual channels, like the inbuilt reporting tool (F1 button), forums, and our Discord server.

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[h2]Patch 1.176[/h2]

[h3]New or Updated Features :gift:[/h3]

• Improved the particle effects on the campaign map.
  

[h3]User Interface Improvements :pencil:[/h3]

• From now on, Perk category Event choice dependencies also indicate whose Perks are required (vagrus only, whole comitatus) just like in Tests.
  
• Changed the display of Quality dependencies without an added Quality level requirement so that they are easier to understand (the tooltip will no longer refer to a 0 requirement).
  
• When starting a new game, the dialogue options of Agos can now be navigated by using number keys on the keyboard. We also added hover highlighting to them.
  
• Removed the redundant X button from the Hunting and Foraging Results window.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes :bug:[/h3]

• Fixed an issue that caused Companion Combat Skills that forced the target to move (for example, Javek’s Hypnosis) to have no effect when the target was surrounded by other entities. Now the target can swap places with every eligible character when forced to move.
  
• Fixed a rare issue that caused the Ahskulite Retinue not to disembark, blocking players from passing through Realmgates and in general causing a lot of headaches. Ahskul disapproved, though He is sated now.
  
• The right side Character Sheet in Companion Combat that is supposed to be empty when no enemy is selected will no longer display Renkailon’s stats (sorry Ren!).
  
• Fixed an issue with controllers (including Steamdeck) that caused Events happening upon leaving a settlement/point of interest to immediately activate entry into that place.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the Game Log to display the wrong information (stat changes) related to Camping if it was canceled.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the Character Sheet to be missing its background when opened during Hero Select.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused overwatch-type attacks to not trigger when an enemy is force-moved into the overwatched position.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused players to be unable to switch between summoned entities or close the window on their Character Sheets when using a controller.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the radial menu to be open when returning to the campaign map from the Main Menu.
  
• You can no longer softlock the game during the Deputy tutorial.
  
• You can no longer accidentally (or intentionally if you knew how) skip the Outrider tutorial.
  
• Fixed an issue that allowed players to move farther in Forced March than they had MPs for if using double clicking.
  

As ever, more is coming, so stay tuned, and conquer the wasteland!
- The Lost Pilgrims Team
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Hey everyone,

This week we’d like to broach a matter for the sake of transparency. Reality in the context of global gaming industry trends has set in, and the result is hard times for everyone. We are no exception and, since we have an insatiable desire for creating quality DLCs, this has left us in a rather precarious situation.

Financially, our DLCs need to break even for it to make sense for us to produce them. Indie game development is a passion, that’s true, but it’s also a business that needs to sustain itself and the developers. To that end, we have decided to increase the price of our Sunfire and Moonshadow expansion (SaM), along with the Season Pass, which will of course only affect future purchases.

[h3]A Little Background[/h3]

We were halfway through the development of SaM when we knew that its scope had grown far beyond what we had originally planned. We were, however, happy with the path it had taken, and wanted to keep a consistent quality throughout as well as enough “bang for your buck”.

Player feedback has vindicated its length and quality, with some saying that the expansion’s breadth encompassed hundreds of hours of additional gameplay. We are happy for it to have had so much good feedback, but there remains an issue.

[h3]Sales[/h3]

Our revenue predictions were spot-on, but due to the increased scope of the expansion, our costs were far higher than expected. With inflation ravaging our studio much like it has most of the world’s economy, the expansion was very expensive for us indeed. This is why we will be increasing its price.

[h3]Old Acquaintances[/h3]

This DLC took longer than we expected, but by this point, we had already learned our lessons from the previous expansion. Again, we put in a great deal of extra time and added many additional features, as it would seem we cannot help ourselves. Thus, we set a realistic price – one that we intend to keep the same. Unfortunately, however, sales on this DLC were not as high as we would have hoped.

[h3]The Future[/h3]

Our next big release will be our upcoming region DLC, which – like all the others – has already been enriched by a large scope and a wealth of ideas. Again, it seems that this is just what we do. The number of art assets, NPCs, questlines, and stories in the Riven Realms is growing larger by the day, and we want to do our best to bring you as much added value as possible.

To help pay for all this, we will be selling this third DLC at a slightly higher price.

Lastly, we are considering adding some cosmetics for sale to those who may be interested; these would be alternative sets of clothing for Companions and would be marketed as supporter content. If you would be interested in these sorts of additions, please let us know – as always we are eager to hear from you. You can join our Discord and interact with us directly if you so wish.

[h3]Conclusions[/h3]

And so, to summarize:

• The price of Sunfire and Moonshadow will go up to $19.99
  
• Old Acquaintances will stay at $8.99
  
• The Season Pass’s price will increase to $34.99
  

The price of the third DLC (in the works and included in the Season Pass) is yet to be determined, but it will better reflect our production costs.

We are considering putting Companion cosmetics on sale and would appreciate your feedback about this idea.

Of course, the decision to increase some prices did not come about easily and we understand that this is not good news. However, we also believe in transparency and sometimes unfortunate things happen, too – but there’s a silver lining: we will have one more sale before these new costs come into effect. So, if you haven’t grabbed what you’re interested in yet, now might be the time to do so! That’s a wrap for now, so we’ll say goodbye and wish you luck out there, as we always do. Stay safe, stay vigilant, and conquer the wasteland!

– The Lost Pilgrims Team

[h3]Hey everyone,[/h3]

As we’ve alluded to in recent posts, the recent release of Old Acquaintances has set the creative part of the team into action on our next DLC, but what have our programmers, UI, and quality assurance people been up to?

Why, improving the game, of course. This is why we’re happy to present some impactful quality of life (QoL) changes that will help make your Vagrus experience all the smoother.



[h2]Companions and Character Sheets[/h2]

The first complaint we’ve received multiple times – and for which we’ve been trying to find a solution for a while – is related to the information available for Companions’ Skills. Currently, it is possible to use the arrow indicated on the right-hand column below to view the next Skill level above your current one by clicking on it. In the screenshot, you can see this is possible for both Suppressing Shots and Defensive Cut.



Now, you will be able to view all levels of the Skill. This means if you have Poison Arrow I. on Criftaa then you will also be able to see the statistics of levels II. and III.

But that’s not all: previously obtusely presented Skills – like Criftaa’s multi-phased Suppressing Shots – will now allow the player to toggle between their phases; the first phase is for the overwatch portion of the Skill, like in the picture above, while the second phase indicates how much actual damage it will do when it is triggered by an enemy.

Toggling between the two phases can be done simply by toggling the brown box just to the right of the Skill’s name.



We’ve also got changes coming for summoners. Previously, the issue was simply that one could not know what creature is going to be summoned and what its stats are. The below mockup – put together by our wonderful UI designer – illustrates how the player will be able to bring up information about the summoned creature from the character pane.



[h2]Campaign Map[/h2]

The next serious QoL change we’re making is to campaign map movement and it’s simple: you will be able to double-click on the node you wish to move to and you will go there. No more clicking on the node then on the footprint icon, which some have decried as a finicky waste of time (it probably was).

As we continued working on these features, however, another crucial element loomed large: key bindings. They needed to be revamped to make some of the game’s controls more intuitive and logical. Thus, we set ourselves to the task of not only streamlining the handling and navigation of the comitatus, but also overhauling the default key bindings. One of the main goals here was to dramatically reduce the amount of clicks or keys the average sequence of actions takes and create a more modern, intuitive user experience. We’ve mapped out the changes below so you can take a look for yourself.



For some, the commands here will be nothing new but there is one entirely new addition: the “Comitatus Tabbing” command. This will bring up the default comitatus menu and allow you to move – or tab – between different panes within that.

We’ve worked hard on these changes and we’re very excited to deploy them. As usual, let us know what you think! Below you can check out the whole inventory of changes.



Important Note: Considering the extent of the improvements, there is little to no chance that we broke nothing in the process. Assume that we did not want to make anyone's life harder. If you see something amiss, please flag it to us using the usual channels, like the inbuilt reporting tool (F1 button), forums, and our Discord server.

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[h2]Patch 1.175 - Codename: Conrectus Ligaturae [/h2]

[h3]New or Updated Features :gift:[/h3]

• You can now double-click to move on the campaign map.
  
• Revamped key bindings: defaults have been changed to be more intuitive and grouped by topics or UI categories, and new hotkeys have been added.
  
• The Leadership Perk “Command” has been reworked: it now unlocks all advanced Crew Combat actions passively and when Resourcefulness is spent, it raises Combat Strength and Defense by 15% as well as turns Critical Failure rolls to Failure.
  
• The effects of multiple “Terrifying” Perks no longer stack. Stacking caused Skills that target multiple positions with characters with the Perk to be close to useless.
  
• You can now butcher Beasts and Mounts directly at your Outpost instead of having to move them to the comitatus.
  
• You no longer lose Mounts when Fighters leave you during Events (ie. Outriders do not take their Mounts) for narrative reasons.
  

[h3]User Interface Improvements :pencil:[/h3]

• Combat Skills with multiple phases are now displayed differently (better communicating these Skills) on Character Sheets. You can switch between the effects and stats of the different phases.
  
• You can now check the stats and Skills of creature(s) that “summon” type Combat Skills spawn. Details are on the Character Sheet.
  
• Improved the visuals during an Evade sequence in Companion Combat so that players will have an easier time understanding what input is required from them in cases where the target position has to be interacted with.
  
• Evade is now displayed as a percentage on the Character Sheet.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes :bug:[/h3]

• Fixed an issue that caused the erroneous display (and only the display) of framerate in Options.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Renkailon’s Caltrops Skill to cause a lock in Companion Combat.
  
• Ironed out the discrepancies in Renkalion’s Loyalty changes caused by player choice after his storyline is concluded so now they should work as was originally intended.
  
• Companions now lose less Loyalty from becoming Severely Wounded, as was originally intended.
  
• Fixed a rare issue that prevented Javek’s ending slide from appearing despite his quest being completed in that playthrough.
  
• From now on, hiring the forces of Dragonlands factions to defend your Outpost actually costs money, as advertised by the choice. No more freebies, sorry.
  
• Fixed a glitch that caused Mount/Dismount to not always work as intended in Crew Combat, especially in relation to ambushes.
  
• Fixed the wrong tooltip display of Impervious Ward in Crew Combat.
  
• All relevant Factions purchase Salt from your Outpost more often, making it much rarer for it to pile up.
  
• Players have encountered further issues with the Wazirhai Curse quest, so we have attempted to fix some outlying problems that may have arisen from old scripts; we’re crossing fingers that we won’t have to return to this again.
  
• Reworked the Aid tutorial: it now only activates when it is the player’s turn after a character was Downed and it also provides enough Resourcefulness to use Aid. These changes prevent any locks that could have happened previously.
  
• Fixed a bunch of offset and oddly displayed tooltips.
  
• Multiple text-related improvements, as usual. Thanks for all the reports and feedback!
  

As ever, more is coming, so stay tuned and conquer the wasteland!
- The Lost Pilgrims Team
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If you like Vagrus, please consider sharing our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). It is much appreciated!

Website | Youtube | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Patreon | Discord

[h3]Hey everyone,[/h3]

This new patch brings with it one really important and big change and some other fixes we applied since our last update. The large change in question is the altering of how victory works in a campaign. Previously, you were able to win the game, then choose to continue playing. This caused a lot of consistency issues with Ending slides, as you were unable to check them later on and so even if something changed (like a major questline that has its own slide was completed) after the victory, players would miss them. And so from now on, once you retire as part of a victory, you will not be able to continue playing afterward. You can complete the victory condition and then play indefinitely until the time comes you decide to conclude the playthrough and then retire to experience the Endings. Of course, you can also save the game, retire to check the slides, and then load to play more.

Because this will affect savegames where players have already retired but kept on playing, we have reset the Ambition quests in all such savegames to the point where you only have to retire to finish the playthrough. Doing so, you will be able to see the (now up-to-date) slides again.

Important Note: Considering the extent of the improvements, there is little to no chance that we broke nothing in the process. Assume that we did not want to make anyone's life harder. If you see something amiss, please flag it to us using the usual channels, like the inbuilt reporting tool (F1 button), forums, and our Discord server.

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[h2]Patch 1.172 - Codename: Victorious [/h2]

[h3]General Changes :pencil:[/h3]

• Reworked several old generic Events to be more in line with current quality and style.
  
• Crime and criminality received an entry in the Glossary to explain how it works.
  
• You can no longer play after completing a victory condition and retiring. This change was necessary because playing after this point caused several issues with Ending slides and their states in a continued game. You can still play indefinitely but once you commit to retiring to “win” a campaign and watch the Ending slides, you are returned to the main menu. NOTE: We have reset the last step of the Ambition Quest for every player past that point in current saved games, so they can simply complete that last step to retire or go on playing as long as they want before that.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes :bug:[/h3]

• Each ending slide now resets scrolling to the top.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented sending reports via the built-in Bug Reporting Tool (though note that there are still pending issues with it we are working on).
  
• The Kal-rish enemies now have all their Skill art assets straightened out (they were missing one and used another instead).
  
• The Black Moloch enemy is visible again! The trickery of Demons is truly nefarious.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the game to lock up when an enemy using the Skill “On Guard” was defeated by a multi-phased Skill.
  
• The Skill “Taunt” on the Manumitteris hireling is now Incorporeal, as was intended, meaning it cannot be Evaded or Blocked, but Mind Resist can still neutralize it.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Faction Offers to be generated at a higher (unreachable) tier than intended
  
• Fixed an issue that caused some players to be unable to trigger “The Curse of Wazir” quest even after prerequisites are met (completing “The Expansion of Wazirhai”, defeat Undead threatening the settlement, and waiting a couple of in-game months). The fix is retroactive, so you can now return to trigger the quest if you haven’t already.
  
• The Skill of the Evocator Mortis hireling “Raise Dead” is now Enervating (preventing it to be used multiple times in a Round).
  
• Repositioned the legend box of the Chart on Steamdeck and other 16:10 ratio displays so that it’s always visible now.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused certain settlements to be impossible to highlight on the Chart. NOTE: This issue might have other, separate reasons, so please report to us if it still keeps happening.
  

Stay tuned and conquer the wasteland!
- The Lost Pilgrims Team
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If you like Vagrus, please consider sharing our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). It is much appreciated!

Website | Youtube | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Patreon | Discord

[h3]Hey everyone,[/h3]

Hot on the heels of last week’s Old Acquaintances release, today we’re deploying a hotfix to ameliorate the issues that players have reported. We are happy to see that there were no big problems, and even happier with the great feedback we’ve received from the players currently enjoying the DLC.

This hotfix also includes further use of DeepL technology in the machine translation of Vagrus's vast text base, notably adding translations for the contents of the 'Clandestine' Update and the Old Acquaintances DLC itself. Additionally, the update incorporates improved translation quality across the board (for most of the machine-translated languages in the game) due to the recent improvements of DeepL technology.

As always, we will be closely monitoring feedback from our Discord, the Steam forums, and all other channels. In the meantime, we hope you are enjoying the new content and wish you luck out there. Stay resilient, stay vigilant and conquer the wasteland!

Now let's jump into the patch details:

Important Note: We tried our best giving you a polished product, but given the game's complexity it might happen that something slipped under the radar. If you see something amiss, please flag it to us using the usual channels, like the inbuilt reporting tool (F1 button), forums, and our Discord server.

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[h2]Patch 1.170.0618W [/h2]

• Fixed an issue where controllers brought up the radial menu in the wrong place when interacting with nodes out of March range.
  
• Fixed an issue with Event text scrolling speed when using controllers and setting the scroll speed either on the minimum or maximum value.
  
• Changed the default Movement direction with Combat Skills involving movement. Now the default is staying in the same line (instead of the topmost line), though all valid positions are still available, of course.
  
• Fixed a rare crash caused by opening Price History in settlements.
  
• Bonus Resourcefulness is now granted the first time a Companion is Downed during the Tutorial if there is not enough to use Aid to prevent a softlock due to the Tutorial prompt.
  
• All Companions’ Prowess can now be reset in Dissonance Mode (including Eylani, Vorax, Sedarias, and Javek).
  
• In most Events where you needed fighters for a choice, but Outriders and other armed crew made sense, now those fulfill the requirements, too.
  
• Various (mostly minor) spelling, grammatical, scripting, and stylistic fixes in Events, especially in Old Acquaintances.
  
• Machine translation was added to the new content of Clandestine Part I. as well as Old Acquaintances.
  

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If you like Vagrus, please consider sharing our pages and posts with your friends through your favorite social media channel(s). It is much appreciated!

Website | Youtube | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Patreon | Discord