Hey everyone!
It may have cost me a huge amount of work, time and money, but I can now proudly present you the next Chapter of the Donnerwald Experiment series!
Initially planned to be released for Halloween 2021, I took my time to further adjust it as I felt there wasn't enough content yet.
Some things are still "placeholder" like Nikita's skill icons, which I plan to replace over the following weeks and months.
This time, I unlocked the Chapter Selection feature. While I advise to play the game from the start again, as there are many smaller and bigger changes, I can understand that not everyone wants to see the same stuff over and over again. So this time you can simply simulate your choices from the previous Chapters and directly start at Chapter 2 or 3.
Here's the changelog:
Note: I see a lot of games updating to be more compatible with Steam Deck. I will work on this for TDE once I get my own hands on one.
But right now I'm ultra poor so this has to wait a bit.
Bugfixes
-If Johanna is knocked out while in the Robot, the sprite no longer glitches out.
-The demon choke attack no longer shows "block" ... I don't know how that ended up there. I'm sorry for that one!
-Fixed the softlock that happens after defeating Nimarus on Day 4.
Story
-The Bonjavelin+Erika event in Chapter 2 now can also happen in the evening (4th slot), before it was just early night (5th slot).
-The "play game" option after the Treasure Hunt (NonPact Route) now properly tells you that you'll get the chance to ask someone out on a date.
-In the rare case you were not going full flirting with Marx during the crimson dream: Added something in Chapter 3 that progresses the "Talk with Erika" choice tree for Marx.
System
-Made Ralf playable (Chapter 3)
-Made Luka playable (Chapter 3)
-Made [Redacted] playable (Chapter 3)
-Made Nikita playable (Chapter 2, Day 3). Note that her icons and balance are not finalized yet.
Gadgets
-Added "Enhanced Wrench" which increases the base damage for Wrench Strike and Wall Shadow by 1.
-Added "Muscle Stimulator" which increases the SP Sink damage for Wrench Strike, Hammer Strike and the Earthquake ability by 1.
Overworld
-Crimson Dream: Alentura now laughs after hitting Johanna in Chapter 2.
-Eleno: There's now something in the top right corner
-Added a Rat in Eleno that gives you cheese once per day.
-Added some items to Geisterkueste. Plz visit the empty beach house.
-Geisterkueste: Added background music.
-Increased Erika Friendship Points from Cookie and from initial talk from 1->2. (So overall 2 more friendship points)
-Increased William Friendship Points from talking to him in Chapter 2.
Menu
-Love Battle options should be more clear now.
Battle
-Buffs that get removed upon taking damage no longer ignore Armor damage.
This means that Bussekater's Good Night buff gets removed even if only the armor was attacked.
-Crows can now target the back line.
Johanna
-Nerfed Earthquake: Now you need 2 SP for each increased damage point. Initial stats from 5DMG-3SP to 3DMG-2SP
-Swapped the position of the robot icons with the "normal" icons (since Johanna is above the robot, it makes more sense that her abilities are also on top)
-Added a sound effect to Robato's Woy Reload skill.
-Wall Shadow: Is easier to hit now
-Mare Noctem Skills: Strength no longer depends on Mare Noctem, instead more Woy can be invested.
-LOVE->LUST: Renamed to LUST due to popular demand. Now heals 3HP and 2SP for each invested Woy Point and drains an enemy's health.
-GUILT: Deals 3- damage for each invested Woy Point. (- means enemies in the backline receive 1 damage less per distance, capped at 1).
-HATE: Wrath duration is now invested Woy Points +1.
-FEAR: Fear duration equals to Woy Points spent. Hits more targets with -1 duration each if it's still greater than 0.
Earthquake is not intended to be always better than the normal hammer attack, hence the changes. It still has its uses against multiple ground enemies.
The Mare Noctem skills felt a bit underwhelming and weird to use, as it promoted the player to play "badly" by losing days in order to get stronger.
And there wasn't a real reason to upgrade Max Woy until now, either.
William
-Stick Smash now deals 3 damage when fully charged.
It also stuns now even if it's not fully charged.
-Stick Throw now deals 3 damage.
He can now one-shot Wuselrats.
Erika
-Now starts with only 7 HP.
-Rainbow Potion now cures Apathy Debuff instead of being prevented by it.
Increased Potion Sickness duration from 3 to 4 turns to balance this out.
-Woy[5] ability no longer KOs her teammates, only herself and deals 64 damage to all enemies.
Erika is strong, so strong that she's not available yet except by savefile modding.
By giving her the least amount of HP and slightly modifying her self-heal, she becomes closer to the cute blonde glass-cannon the I envisioned her to be.
Marx
-Railgun now can charge all 5 Woy Points instead of only 4.
Just a minor oversight that fixes things in future chapters.
Montgomery
-Chili P Buff now prevents being Frozen (might be important in Chapter 3)
-Chili P now grants Well-Fed Buff for 3 turns after it ends.
Personally I felt the Chili could use some more extremly minor buffs, to make Montgomery more of a supportive character.
Sir Hennryk
-No longer gains ALP by using his main attack or Axe Throw.
-Axe Throw now deals +1 damage (-> 3).
Hennryk was a bit too strong in the previous iteration and this felt like the most reasonable change, as it still keeps his good HP pool and potential for explosive damage, but it's less controlable now as the ALP generation now fully depends on him taking damage.
-Stuns & Freezes can no longer be "refreshed" (affects permastunning enemies like the Donnernatter).
Known Issues
-The following things use placeholder art:
Golden Wire (item), Freezing (Debuff), Muscle Stimulator (Gadget), Wrench Enhancer (Gadget), Luka's 4th skill, Diving Gear (gadget), Nikita's skills.
-There's no "no-hat" version of Alentura's faceset yet.
-The underwater cavern currently has no enemy encounters, thus might feel a bit empty.
