Hello! Today's 30XX 0.19 patch takes a swing at revamping Ace's Energy system, gives him a punchy new Weapon, adds limited level choice in Standard, and more!
Full notes below - thanks for playing!
GAME CHANGES & FIXES:
- Experimental/work in progress: Ace's Energy system has been reworked!
- Ace no longer has two Energy points that regenerate over time.
- Instead, Ace starts the game with four Energy points that regenerate as enemies die near Ace. (In co-op, his partner's kills will also restore his Energy.)
- Ace's basic Techniques now all cast for free. They don't consume Energy, but still obey their other restrictions (short cooldowns, Zen Ascent can only be used once in midair, etc).
- Ace can spend his accumulated Energy on empowered Surged versions of his Techniques by double tapping the Power button used in the Technique. For example, to Surge Raijin Call, Ace presses Down-Y on a controller as normal, then presses Y again (in total, down-Y-Y), which will charge the first lightning bolt and spawn two additional bolts to the sides of the first.
- Each Technique has a different Surged effect, and costs 4 Energy. (We'll probably adjust this and make some abilities cost different amounts.)
- Ace now makes use of changes to his Maximum Energy as Nina does (instead of it converting to "style regeneration"). Effects that allow free casts, like Owlhawk's Focus (Head Core), apply to Ace's Surged casts.
- Unleash Blade can be Surged for any "weapon-throw" version of the ability (Saber, Tonbokiri, Lara). Lucavi and Grandmaster (see below!) have melee versions of Unleash Blade, and can't be Surged.
- This means that, by default, if Ace loses any Maximum Energy, he can't Surge his abilities. (We might adjust this.)
- We're keeping a close eye on the control input involved (the double-press) and the actual Surge effects of each Technique - they're both good iteration candidates.
- Surge visuals and SFX will be updated once we're confident this rework fits the game well.
- Added Grandmaster, a new Ace Weapon!
- Grandmaster builds up charge while punching enemies instead of being charged manually - while charged, basic attacks deal double damage. Basic attacks don't consume a built-up charge.
- A built-up charge can be spent on a powerful finisher Unleash punch for massive damage. Enemies slain by an Unleashed Grandmaster punch go flying backwards into any nearby allies!
- Ace can still Unleash a big punch without a charge built up, but its damage will be much lower.
- A built-up Charge naturally decays if Ace runs out of enemies to punch. Dracopent's Fang (Head Core) slows this decay rate.
- Zen Ascent and Dolomite Link now chain with Ace's attacks against bosses. (If Ace uses a basic attack combo on a boss followed immediately by Zen Ascent, Zen Ascent will now deal damage instead of being prevented by invuln frames.)
- Added the Recon Network, a Standard Mode upgrade purchaseable via the Memory Index. Once unlocked, you'll be able to pick from up to three stages to tackle next when finishing a stage.
- Updated Standard Mode stage-end teleporters to show where they go.
- The "Hysteria" blessing (doubled Aug pickups) no longer applies to picked-up Prototypes. This also fixes a bug where Hysteria would apply to the Prototype that granted it.
- Maker Mode's unlock condition is now completing a run (instead of being unlocked via the Memory Index). Maker Mode will remain unlocked for players who've already purchased it via the Memory Index. A menu prompt now appears when unlocking it for the first time.
- Changed how Mega Mode map data is handled - the map data used in a given Mega Mode run is now saved alongside the user's Mega Mode save file so Mega Mode runs won't be messed up as we continue to change map data from patch to patch. (This'll also come in handy later when we more robustly support custom player campaigns.)
- Changed the default controller controls slightly: swapped the default functions of B and LB (Circle and L1 on a PS4 controller). B is now Power 2 by default, and LB is now Interact/Activate by default. This shouldn't affect existing save data.
- Corrected a few places where backgrounds were transitioning in the wrong places.
- Adjusted Ace's thrown Lara wall-collider hitbox so it doesn't sometimes instantly hit a slope Ace is walking up.
- Normalized Osafune's attack damage. (It no longer scales on the equipped Primary - looking at you, Lara/Osafune bustedness.)
- Fixed an issue causing the Autotank to fail to trigger as the client in online co-op. (Also fixed the client being unable to see how full their subtank was.)
- Permanent progress unlocks are no longer gated so you can only buy the next few at once.
- Fixed a bug that could cause Unleashed Tonbokiri to "skip" enemies it travels through if it travels through several in a row.
- Prototypes can no longer offer "damage taken decreases max HP" and "heal to full after each level" together.
- The "you've finished our EA levels!" popup when finishing all levels in Mega Mode now properly only appears when entering HQ (instead of each level).