冬の鎮魂曲~Reworked Pt VIII

Well, originally I planned to do more for this post and release it after Easter. Then something happened. Boro lost 2-1 against Wolves at home and El Spirito's celebration didn't go down well with the home crowd. I'm not going to up the link, but let's just say that people do have emotions and we tend to do crazy things because of that. Say for example Pep ripping his pants due to euphoria. Just don't ask me whether El Spirito will do a Stephen Irish (i.e. Superman. No links from me, though).

Thankfully, the dynamic duo of Barnsley and Sunderland did us a massive favour. I'm not going into the specifics, but let's just say I'm a human being like El Spirito. Hence, I tweeted my thanks to them. For today, I'm gonna up this post in the hope that it'll console my fellow Boro-thers-in-arms. Then again, I truly doubt so unless the whole of SGH from doctors to nurses to radiographers ends up calling Kuok Minghui the best boyfriend material in Singapore. Not that this is going to happen anyway.

Anyway, my original intention was to refrain from posting anything on my blog until Good Friday is over. So yeah... it's pre-Easter Saturday now.

http://glaive-d-barde.blogspot.com/2017/10/blog-post.html

http://glaive-d-barde.blogspot.com/2017/11/reworked-pt-ii.html

http://glaive-d-barde.blogspot.com/2017/11/reworked-pt-iii.html

http://glaive-d-barde.blogspot.com/2017/12/reworked-pt-iv.html

http://glaive-d-barde.blogspot.com/2017/12/reworked-pt-v.html
http://glaive-d-barde.blogspot.com/2018/03/reworked-pt-vi.html
http://glaive-d-barde.blogspot.com/2018/03/reworked-pt-vii.html

Additional info: Inventory

Okay, I'll need to add some things to the inventory (section). Firstly, opening up the inventory can only be done outside combat. Secondly, the usage command for the selected inventory item for direct usage is R2/RT. Please note that this command can only be done outside combat. As for L2/LT, it is now used to bind the selected inventory item to any of the four direct usage slots. Shaped in the same manner as the D-pad, the direct usage slots interface enables the player to use the items during combat. There are two types of inventory items which can be used this way: Potions and thrown weapons.

To use potions, the player only needs to press the relevant D-pad button. For the thrown weapons, however, the attack button needs to be pressed after the relevant D-pad button.

For example, using an inventory item allocated to the upper part of the direct usage interface requires the up button of the D-pad. If that item is a thrown weapon, then the player must press the up button of the D-pad first, after which the player must press the Triangle/Y button.

Additional info: Durability

Plenty of items and gear have such a thing called durability score where the number of points indicates both the expiry period and how close the thing is in being unusable. There are three types of items affected by the durability points system.

1. Gear. This includes armour and weapons. The durability points will decrease with usage during combat and exposure. Armour has the highest durability while weapons have the second highest.

2. Crafting ingredients. This includes things like leather, cloth, and iron. The durability points will decrease during exposure.  Crafting ingredients have the lowest durability

3. Thrown weapon. This counts as a weapon due to its sole purpose. Because thrown weapons are partially/totally concealed before use, durability decrease during exposure will be significantly lower unless used. Thrown weapons like bombs and flaming potions are considered destroyed upon usage, but their durability won't be affected in any way otherwise.

Crafting, brewing, and gear repair

Out of the three types of items affected by durability, only gear items can be repaired. Gear reparation can only be done via a craftsman. There are three types of craftsmen.

1. Blacksmith. This craftsman type deals with metal armour and all weapon types.

2. Leatherworker. This craftsman type deals with leather armour.

3. Fuser. This craftsman type doesn't deal with gear repairing. Instead, a fuser deals with augmenting any gear with the relevant chaotic residue the player has.

For crafting, this means the creation of new gear. Unlike most, if not all, RPGs, newly acquired gear must be crafted in Winter's Requiem (yes, that's the name of the game). The quality of crafting ingredients used will decide the quality and durability of the gear (i.e. common, rare, and epic in the ascending order). Any higher end gear requires a fuser and one other craftsman together with specific rare or epic grade crafting ingredients.

Brewing is the creation of potions. While the common healing potion can be purchased in a supplies store, brewing allows the player to create other potion types which are more potent. There is only one type of brewer. Namely, goblins. At the same time, goblins also sell contraptions known as bombs, thrown weapons which can deal damage ranging from insane to abysmal. Needless to say, throwing a bomb is like throwing a die.

Additional info: Parry

There are two types of parry. Instant parry and stance parry. Instant parry requires pressing the Square/X button once just before the enemy attack hit. Failure results in damage taken per normal, but a successful instant parry will halt the Focus gauge depletion for a short while. This, in turn, results in the Focus gauge increasing instead for the duration. Either way, instant parry will not cause additional depletion of the Focus gauge.

Stance parry requires holding down the Square/X button. Unlike instant parry, stance parrying will continually deplete the Focus gauge at a flat rate. In other words, other sources of Focus gauge depletion won't be applied. However, stance parrying cannot be done if the Focus gauge falls below 30%. For the duration of the stance, all attacks will be parried automatically. However, there will be a 3 seconds cooldown between each parry. So no, you can't spam it. There, I've said it.

Additional info: Dodge, Block, and Dash

Dodging and blocking requires pressing Circle/B once. Dashing requires holding down Circle/B. Using the left analogue stick will decide which direction the character will be facing when dodging/blocking/dashing. For dashing, the direction can be controlled accordingly. For dodging and blocking, however, the direction has to be decided at the same time the button is pressed.

Dashing takes up stamina for the entire running duration while dodging eats up a fixed amount of stamina per execution. Blocking requires a higher fixed amount of stamina when executed, but it can be maintained afterwards at no stamina cost. However, prolonged blocking can easily cause the character to be attacked either from behind or the flank. Damage taken this way will be increased. Again, no broken mechanism intended in the first place. So please don't whine like my fellow S'poreans.

Gauging Stamina

Stamina gauge exists. This is both a #fact and #realnews, unlike the reason why Facebook got trolled by a Tesla guy named Elon Musk. Stamina is used for two purposes. Namely, the Circle/B button and weapon damage bonus. On the first glance, this means both aspects of the gameplay requires stamina usage. Actually, it is only true for the former and quite the reverse for the latter. Yes, Circle/B button requires stamina. The damage bonus, however, is dependent on how much stamina the player's character has. Once the stamina gauge drops below 60%, this bonus will be lost. The amount of bonus given this way can go as high as 40%.

New info: Crosshair generator

Hopefully, the c-word won't generate unwanted attention. Recent events involving assault firearms are nothing to laugh about. If you think the loss of lives is funny business, I have every reason to suspect whether your sanity is at the level of Uryuu Ryuunosuke and Gilles de Rais.

Coming from someone who is broken like Kiritsugu, this should say a lot. Mental illness is a social issue that needs to be addressed, the same goes for assault firearms. I'm never a fan of putting one social problem under the microscope at the expense of the rest because it's a very efficient way to breed self-righteousness and hypocrisy. I don't deal with varying standards, I only deal with absolutes.

Enough of my complaining and digressing, let's continue. The crosshair generator will appear whenever the player character is facing the target, be it in melee reach or from a distance. The crosshair is a blue hollow circle with four small red triangular points. Once any target comes within the weapon attack range, the crosshair will be automatically generated above the head. Apart from indicating which target is eligible to be targeted, the crosshair serves no other purposes.

New info: Thaumaturgy reach

Thaumaturgy powers are always AoE based. This is to fit into the concept that the art of thaumaturgy is a controllable form of Chaos. But because no one can truly control Chaos entirely, partial control is the best one can hope for. As a result, thaumaturgy powers reflect this concept via a focus on area effects rather than a highly potent single-target effect.  However, there are two aspects of the AoE range involved.

1. AoE shape. This indicates whether the AoE range is conical, circular, or cylindrical.

2. AoE extent. This indicates the positioning of the AoE range, whether it is surrounding, frontal, rear, or universal (i.e. covering the entire battlefield).

At the same time, certain thaumaturgy powers act like a trap. By that, I mean such powers require the command to be executed twice. The first execution is to "lock" the power for usage. The second execution is to decide the placement via the right analogue stick. Camera zoom will be disabled during this phase.

When executing any thaumaturgy power, there's a chance of creating a chaotic surge. Chaotic surge happens when a thaumaturgy power goes out of control upon activation. The probability scales with the thaumaturgy power's chaotic level. The chaotic level indicates two things.

1. Chances of triggering a chaotic surge.

2. How powerful the specific thaumaturgy power is.

Chaotic surge will result in mass casualties. In other words, everyone will take considerable to high damage. No discrimination between self, allies, and foes. If this sounds like the concept of a natural disaster, it's because that's where the inspiration hails from.

Next: Hopefully the runes and a reworked Aeravor profile.