Hi everyone! I know it's been forever since I've posted any updates for the game, but I've got some exciting (to me) stuff to talk about today!
So, I'm sure I've mentioned in the past, and if I haven't I've ranted at some of you, about how I hate grinding as a mechanic. If it's for something secret, or extra, it's cool, but when a game pads its difficulty by requiring you to kill Mudcrabs until you're able to swing your sword right, that, to me, is just tedium at its worst.
I've always strived to ensure that Who Hunts Monsters can be played with a minimal amount of grinding necessary. In fact, my goal has always been that, as long as you're fighting and not running, and exploring the areas, the difficulty progression will make sense with each encounter.
That was...except for the Class system. Due to the way the Class system worked, you'd eventually have to grind, because even the Dress Card's credit couldn't catch those classes up to the others.
As of tonight, I've officially got several new things up and running that will streamline things even further, without removing complexity.
New Leveling/Experience System
New with Chapter 3 is a completely new take on the leveling system. It may seem a little confusing at first, but I'll break it down so that it makes sense.
Experience to Level Up: New with Chapter 3, Angela and other Party Members will only require 100 Experience to level up. As an example, this will work like Paper Mario where whenever you hit 100 Exp, you level up. No more random numbers that get shrunk and bloated as balance dictates. NO MORE! Now, if you hit 100 exp, you will level.
Dynamic Monster Experience: To accommodate this new system, and to aid with balancing in the future, experience gains from Monster Girls has been standardized. All Monster Girls now give a Base Experience upon defeat, which will then be altered based on Angela's level versus the assigned level of the Monster Girl.
Base Experience: 12
Difficulty Bonus: 50% per level
Difficulty Penalty: 30% per level
What this means:
If Angela is Level 5 and she fights a Level 5 Monster Girl, she will gain 12 experience.
If Angela is Level 5 and she fights a Level 6 Monster Girl, she will gain 18 experience (12 * 0.5 = 6 so 6 bonus experience)
If Angela is level 5 and she fights a Level 4 Monster Girl, she will gain 8 experience (12 * 0.3 = 4, so a penalty of 4 experience)
The bottom limit for experience is 1exp, which is reached at a 4 level penalty. There is no cap to the experience bonus.
If you proceed at the recommended leveling path (3, 5, 7, 10 for the Prologue, Ch1, Ch2, Ch3 respectively) you'll receive the following bonuses:
Mini-Boss Monster Girls (Grizzly, Red Oni, Blue Oni) will give a 100% experience bonus (Their level is 2 over the level range)
Boss Monster Girls (Hobgoblin, Kitsune) will give 150% experience bonus (Their level is 3 over the level range)
Hardcore Bosses (Titania, Mytha) will give 250% experience bonus (their level is 5 over the level range)
What this does NOT mean:
I know some of you might see "Enemy Level" and have flashbacks to Tower of Gargalesis. Rest assured, Enemy Level has no affect on the enemy's stats and is only tied to how its Experience is calculated.
Updates to the Class System and the Dress Card
With the changes to the leveling system, I've finally decided now is a good time to nix one of the...least favorite aspects of the game. Angela's level will no longer reset when changing class. This means no more grinding your Rogue for Titania after you leveled your Warrior and Mage to deal with Jinko and Kitsune! Changing Class is still unlocked in Chapter 1, after speaking with Morrigan and receiving the Bitterbug Woods quest.
As a result of this change, the Dress Card is going to get an update.
It is now called the Soul Card and can no longer be used to level Angela herself up. Instead, the Soul Card gathers Credit upon defeating Monster Girls, which can be exclusively used to level up Angela's "Passive Skills."
In addition to this, the progression in cost for the Passive Skills has been smoothed out. Passive Skills start at 20 Credit for Level 1, increasing by 20 each level to a maximum of 200 credit needed to unlock Level 10 of that skill.
Credit gain will be very slow, but is granted in every fight, including bosses now. I may have to turn up Credit gain, but for right now I'm erring on the side of caution because Passive Skills are extremely powerful and I don't want people maxing them out in just an hour or two.
Changes to Equipment
I don't quite remember if I've mentioned this in the past, but I wanted to bring it up now. Any class can now use any piece of equipment. And, in fact, you can even change your Weapon and Off-Hand while you're in combat! Your Head, Body, and Accessory are, unfortunately, locked for balance purposes, but now you have the option to change things up with your equipment. About to get nailed by a big hit as a Wizard? Equip a shield!
Due to these changes, some equipment does now come with penalties, and equipment has been made a bit more extreme. Cloth Armor, for example, gives significantly more Magic Resist, while giving much less Physical Resist. Heavy Armor reduces your Agility, and Shields lower your Magic Attack.
Still, I feel this will provide greater freedom to the player, and will make one of the biggest rewards of Chapter 3 worth it.
Spoilers???
Upon completing Chapter 3's main quest. There will be a hidden sidequest that you can take part in. At the completion of this quest, you will be given the Demon's Tear. This item will allow Angela to change class in the middle of combat, absolutely blowing open the options available to you! Now, Angela will be able to take advantage of all 40 of her current skills, in the course of a single fight.
With great power comes great adversity though. If you pick up the Demon's Tear, be prepared to master it to take on the challenges that lie ahead.
And that's all I have for now! Let me know what you think! Love the new system? Hate it? Want me to shut up about the game and just put out more porn? Let me know!!!!!!!~~~~