Greetings, heroes who journey within the Veil!
Ever since the game Demo launched, we have been diligently gathering your gameplay feedback, suggestions and critiques. Following four minor updates released over one month, we have spent two months starting from June delivering major overhauls to the gameplay experience. Changes include: adjustments to combat items; the Core and Gnosis systems with the addition of the in-run Echo progression system; revised procedural map generation and exploration mechanics; reworked Threat and Clue Value systems; updated, adjusted and expanded camp NPC functionalities; and revamped exploration scoring rules. With all these revisions, the current Demo now delivers a highly polished gameplay experience.
Update Content
1. Optimized acquisition methods for combat items. Previously, players needed to purchase blueprints from merchants and craft items once at the workbench to permanently unlock them, with items automatically restocked upon returning to camp. However, sharing the same crafting station with Core and Gnosis crafting caused considerable confusion. Combat items are now unlocked by spending Will at a dedicated camp NPC instead.
2. Revised the Core system. Previously, Core had the exact same acquisition methods as Gnosis: dropping from combat encounters or player-crafted after purchasing blueprints from merchants. Cores no longer drop during official exploration runs. Crafting recipes unlock automatically as party level increases. The crafting material (Pure Dew) drops heavily in the final exploration stage, ensuring players can update their Cores promptly after leveling up.
3. Revised the Gnosis system. Previously, Gnosis recipes had to be purchased from merchants; now they are obtained via random draws by spending Will at a dedicated NPC. Once a recipe is unlocked, Gnosis can be freely crafted with materials at no Will cost, and Gnosis can also drop during exploration. Note that Gnosis now features durability. Each combat encounter consumes 1 durability point of the equipped Gnosis, and it will be destroyed once durability reaches zero. Rest assured, crafting materials drop plentifully throughout exploration.
4. Brand-new Echo System added! To fill the gap in in-run progression, we have designed a growth system that only takes effect within the current instance. After entering the instance, finishing combats, or resolving exploration events, explorers may pick one Echo out of three randomly-rolled quality variants to empower a party member. Numerous synergies exist between Echoes, as well as between Echoes, Gnosis and characters. Explorers can freely combine them according to the situation to achieve effects greater than the sum of individual parts. There are currently 40 usable Echoes in the Demo. New Echoes can be unlocked by spending Will at a dedicated NPC.
5. Exploration Map Update. Exploration maps no longer feature large, medium or small size classifications. Instead of the former square layout, maps are now rectangles with fixed width. Maps are divided into several sectors based on combat event positions. Players can only proceed to the next sector after clearing combat in the current one. Moving across the map and triggering exploration events raise Alert Level. Rising Alert Level activates specific negative alert traits. Once Alert Level is maxed out, further exploration of the fog-of-war becomes unavailable. Alert Level resets upon finishing combat within the current sector. During exploration events, explorers can gain substantial Will and crafting materials, alongside Echoes, temporary positive map traits, and negative map traits that last for the ongoing exploration run.
6. Revised the Threat and Clue Value systems. Explorers gain a certain amount of Threat Value and Clue Value after every exploration. Each time Alert Level is fully filled, future explorations will become more difficult. Whenever Clue Value is maxed out, a special NPC will join the camp, through whom players can boost their combat power.
7. Updated, revised and refined the functions of camp NPCs. Four new functional NPCs have been added to the camp, responsible for Gnosis unlocking, Echo unlocking, combat-item unlocking and camp upgrading respectively. Players can achieve massive combat power boosts through these four NPCs.
8. Revised the exploration scoring mechanism. Completion status of combat events greatly impacts the score, as does the number of character defeats. All other factors no longer affect scoring.
Final Notes
Following this update, there will be no further large-scale updates for the game Demo. We will fully devote ourselves to the development of the full release. We look forward to your anticipation, brave explorers!