This huge patch completely overhauls many aspects of the game and is the underlying foundation for the 'Finale' DLC. What you see in this update will closely reflect gameplay elements of the DLC, and we are very happy to bring it to you all earlier than we anticipated! And with that...
We are pleased to announce the Rune Battle System!
We have been working on this for a very long time, and are so happy to bring the original vision for the battle system and the Dawning Rune to reality!
Featuring a Action Turn Based Battle System, with both active time and wait modes, with amazing visuals and special effects, and new battle mechanics. With the Dawning Rune, foes and allies turn times will rotate around the face of the clock, and when it gets to twelve, it's action time! Battles are as smooth and engaging as ever, and it makes The Dawning Clocks of TIme one of the top RPGs to play right now!
Alongside the battle system, you'll also see the revamped Life Bar (previously ECG). It's effects are linked directly to the battle system and, while on the field, you also see your status effects, especially useful on Aether and Proxima where you will take overheat and thermia damage as you walk around. Surviving just got that bit more challenging!
Even better graphics than before!
We have gone through the game with a fine tooth comb. You'll see new window colors, new story narration boxes, new tutorials and a brand new, animated and immersive titlescreen. We've also updated key cinematics and sequences for more realism, added special effects and tied up some loose ends with the adaption from novel to video game. We can not wait for you to try out these changes!
A Finalised, Robust engine.
The engine of The Dawning Clocks of Time is complete, which makes it quicker for us to add exciting gameplay features and story additions with quality. Part of this effort, as per usual standard, is eliminating those pesky bugs. With the engine overhaul, we've improved core stability, performance and future proofed the engine so it can be enjoyed for years to come, no matter what changes with PCs. With the usual bug fixing procedure, we've eliminated the following important bugs;
-We've fixed the crash that could happen when entering battles. The old battle system has been removed and replaced with the Relic Battle System. You won't experience these types of crashes anymore.
-We've upgraded the culling methods for deep space exploration, the game will now be able to show more on screen at one time instead of being culled out quickly.
-We've fixed a very annoying bug with controller input that could cause the UI to act up, this will not happen anymore and we gaurantee super smooth play.
-We've fixed a bug when Game Over occurs, which could result in glitches. We've changed behaviour so that it will automatically load your last save so you can continue where you left off.
-Improved AI for foes, they will detect 'threat' and more likely to counter attack as a hive mind against the most threatening for that turn.
We would list more, but there has been countless changes to the game in preperation for the final DLC, so we won't bore you with the details!
We look forward to your gameplay experience!
Final Notes
The demo has not yet been updated to reflect all these changes in the full version and does not include the new Rune Battle System, but it will at some point.
Also, previous save files before the 5.0 update will not work due to the scale of the changes to the game's engine. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Your old save files will still be in the folder. AppData\Roaming\The Dawning Clocks of Time\Saves. Future save files are stored in the 5.0 folder to avoid conflicts. We have managed to maintain compatibility with saves right from the Day One release two years ago, but unfortunately we need to progress with establishing our final vision for the game and dropping support for old saves before 5.0 patch was a last, but needed resort.