After months of work, I am happy to announce that I have released version D0.40 (codename "Arcane Steel"). This version of the game comes with a ton of quality-of-life changes, re-works, and the overhauled Northbridge Platform. Although, there's still work to be done, the new foundation will allow me to further refine the game.

Game

• Added a new side-mission.
• Updated renderer to 0.62.
• Balancing changes to the characters:
  • Maria
    • The "Wish" skill can be learned. Sacrifices half of the remaining HP in order to heal an ally (2 X sacrificed HP).
    • "Cure" and "Mega Cure" skills were transferred from Zero to Maria.
    • If Maria heals an ally, the spare HP is given to Maria.
    • Raised the Pharmacology and Recovery Boost to 20% (items and skills heal 20% more health).
  • Elena:
    • The "Mana Burst" skill can be learned. Grants unlimited mana, boosts MAT, and nullifies cooldowns for a brief time (at the cost of damage received from mystical arts being boosted as well).
    • The "Mana Claw" skill can be learned. Part of the damage is converted into MP damage.
    • The "Overturn" skill can be learned. Flips the buffs and debuffs of everyone.
  • Zero:
    • The "Super Guard" skill was replaced by Iron Guard. Part of the damage is converted into MP damage.
    • "Healing Aura" skill can be learned. Can heal multiple allies over time, at the cost of MP (for upkeep).
    • Replaced "Provoke" and "Cover" with a re-worked version of "Guardian Angel". When active, the damage to allies is redirected to Zero instead (also grants higher defense).
  • Rick
    • Damage now scales based on how much HP is missing.
    • Received the "Provoke" skill.
  • Jena:
    • Will receive the "Adrenaline" state when DP is max. Boosts her stats but loses DP until it reaches 0.
    • The "Life Drain" skill was replaced by "Blood Drive". When active, all attacks steal some of the HP.
  • Axel:
    • The "Pure Might" skill can be learned. For a few turns, the user cannot do anything. Once that time passes, the damage that he has received is returned two-fold.
  • Sierra:
    • Added the "Corrosive Ammo" skill. For a brief time, Sierra's attacks can corrode the enemy's armor (reducing their defense for a brief time).
    • The "Accurate Shot" skill was re-tooled into "High Impact Shot" (reduces physical defense for a brief time. Can Stun). This skill requires a rifle to be equipped.
    • Added the "Rapid Fire" shot. Reduces the cooldown of Combat Arts skills, alongside a boost of agility and evasion. Requires pistols to be equipped.
    • Removed the "Armor Break" skill as it was redundant.
    • He's more likely to be targeted by the enemies if he has a rifle equipped.
    • The "Assassin's Gambit" skill can now be learned. Any excess damage dealt when the enemy is killed is transferred over the next attack (within one action).
  • Gus:
    • "Lifeline" skill can be learned. Adds a state to the target, where if he/she's healed, Gus will also receive some of the heal (also applies in reverse).
    • The "Assault" skill has been replaced by the "Morale Boost" skill. Provides a boost to attack and defense stats.
    • The "Goddess' Embrace" skill was replaced by "Burden Transfer". Pulls all of the negative status ailments to the user. Heals his allies (depending on how many of them had).
    • Removed "Nightmare" from the learnable skills.
• Enemy Balancing changes:
  • Strikers' damage scales depending on their missing HP.
  • Strikers can no longer use Titan's Blessing.
  • Mana Drain was replaced by Mana Siphon.
  • Re-tooled the behavior of the Enforcers (including their skill set).
• General Balancing changes:
  • Pistols can be dual-wielded.
  • Most weapons now have a piercing percentage (varies per weapon, applies to enemies too).
  • Boosted Mana Regeneration per turn to 3%.
  • Mana Recovery (activates when a Liquified Mana Fragment is used) now grants 10% Mana Regeneration per turn for 3 turns.
• Added the option for Full Screen.
• Added AutoSave.
• Added achievements.
• Changed the Loading Screen.
• Fixed misaligned choice boxes.
• Fixed some issues with the text.
• Fixed an issue where the deleted save would still be selectable from the Save/Load menu after deleting it.
• Improvements to memory management.
• Fixed an issue where the states counter wouldn't render properly on actors.
• Brought back the fix where the armor and the weapons were stored as separate entries in the inventory when they shouldn't.

Northbridge

• Overhauled Northbridge Platform:
  • Simplified the main UI.
  • Re-worked the backend of the Platform, utilizing Prism.
  • Re-worked code into modules.
  • Improved the reliability of the diagnostics system.
  • The startup of the game and the save/settings backup of the engine have been moved to a separate executable.
    • Allows easier startup while skipping the launcher.
    • The package manager's unpack/cache update progress is shown here.
  • Platform settings now save on the same folder as the game saves and settings.
• Support for Long File Paths (Windows 10 (Version 1607) and newer).
• Package Manager Improvements:
  • Improved performance of the package manager.
  • Added the option to re-build the cache for the Package Manager.
• Improved the reliability of the Backup System.
• Added code to prevent the launcher from launching multiple times.
• Added a link to this board.
• Updated to .NET 6.
• Fixed a bug where it referenced the wrong path for WebView2 Runtime.
• Removed the following settings, as the newer version of the renderer has removed the necessary flags:
  • Show FPS. Press the F2 key to show it instead.
  • Force 60 FPS.
  • VSync.
• Removed Discord Rich Presence as it was pointless.
• Temporarily removed the Restore option from the Backup and Restore Menu. It will return after an overhaul in a later update. Until then, use the Import option from the Save Manager.