In the last few days, I went a little bit crazy with making some big internal changes to the game. The patch notes you're about to read are kind of long, so here are the highlights:
- Revamping multi-zone areas to be single zone big areas
- Mastery and Learn Skill menu updates
- Earlier access to "prestige" classes, though the details are still classified
- New quest in Port Reception
- New item "Essence Box" which can hold more than 99 of each of the 12 types of essences & allows customized amount withdrawal.
- "Gift Pack" DLC overflow fix - bulk essences now deposit directly to the Essence Box
- Various skill updates and changes, especially for the Swordsman class
- New learn skill for White Mage at level 10
My tentative public release date for this build is going to be January 3rd, 2025. However, I'm still in the process of squashing bugs and making changes. If you are interested in also squashing bugs and reporting them to me, you should join us on Discord @ https://discord.gg/7GehvwKGCv and follow these instructions to get on the Beta development branch of the game:
Right click Cross of Auria from your Steam games menu
Click "Properties"
Navigate to the "Betas" tab
Write in the code: sdnuorgnitset
Press Check Code
After it succeeds, make sure to select "testingrounds - dev test only" from the drop down selection box
Please note that you should Start a new save file to participate in the public beta. I will not tackle bugs to current save files based on errors during the beta, though you may still report them.
This will serve as the first half of the patch notes, with the official second half coming when the build goes public on Jan 3rd.
BETA6.600 [Build #161, Release Date: January 03, 2025]
New:
- A new quest is available from Elena Katali in Port Reception!
Fixes:
- Fixed a lingering issue with Atropos repeating dialogue in the first visit to the Veil.
- Fixed an issue where the Talisman cycle would occur on new accounts.
- Fixed Phoenix Ash quest log data when embarking on the Day 1 quest.
- Both Phoenix Ash questgivers will add their most recent quests to the quest log by talking to them again in Port Reception if the quest has already been completed.
- Added an Essence Box to the Veil, near the center Gift Pack DLC warp. This item will hold more than 99 of each type of Essence and allow you to withdraw up to 99 essences at a time for use in crafting!
Updates & Changes:
- Downscaled the resolution of some currently unused files to reduce space requirements.
- Challenging the Headless Horseman in The Veil now requires completion of the neighboring Halloween event without the Challenge of the Headless DLC. DLC encounter remains unchanged.
- A prize for completing the Headless Halloween event now appears in the Veil for the party's main cast.
- A vendor in Port Reception now carried Frames and Patterns for a steep price.
- Talking to Elena Katali in Port Reception after completing the first quest will add its data to the Quest Log if it was missed previously.
- Talking to Lvell Hunter in Port Reception after completing his quest will add its data to the Quest Log if it was missed.
- Reverted Sparkstrike line naming convention due to the deprecation of other + elemental skills.
- Raphael's Tower world map location has moved to north of Lvell Forest. It is no longer accessible from the Veil.
- Increased the bonus damage done by Slash from 50 to 125. Reduced the Variance from 50% to 25%.
- Increased the bonus damage done by Cut from 25 per hit to 50. Cut now has a 2 turn warmup.
- Swordsman now can learn Double Slam, Lucky Strike, Disabling Slice, Silencing Slice, & Breath of the Dying.
- Swordsman amplifies Physical damage by 200%, up from 50%.
- The following items are no longer considered timelost: Frames, Patterns, Metal Chips, Metal Shards, Metal Plates, Iron Bars, Steel Bars, Leather Strips, Coarse Hide, Beast Hide, Thick Hide, Heavy Hide.
- Several items have had Chips or Strips added to their disassembly pool.
- Oros-Bane and Duskfall armor now have Pattern requirements.
- Gift Pack DLC essences from the red chest now deposit directly to the new Essence Box even if it has not yet been collected. The amount received remains unchanged.
Classes & Skills:
- Double-Strike now has a max mastery level of 5 with 12% bonus damage per level and -5 TP cost.
- Poison Cut now has a max mastery level of 10 with -2MP & -1TP cost per level.
- Triple-Strike now has a max mastery level of 10 with +5% damage and -3 TP cost per level.
- Flamecutter now has a max mastery level of 25 with -2MP, -1TP, & +2% Damage Per Level.
- Double Slam and Lucky Strike are now Physical element.
- Return Spirit can now be learned by the White Mage class starting at level 10!
- Electrogenic class renamed "Sparkwraith". Available to Ruby after Stormchaser reaches 50 and Lightningwalker reaches 25, or by other story progression means.
- Lightningwalker class renamed "Electrogenic". Available to Ruby after Stormchaser reaches 25.
Timelost Zones:
The following zones have been merged into a single zone amongst themselves to reduce the amount of resources used by the engine overall. Freeing up Maps will allow more zones to be created in the future. All Timelost Zones have saving Disabled and will not receive updates after today. On March 1, 2025, all zones marked Timelost will be removed from the game files. If you still have a save file from inside a Timelost Zone come March 2nd, you will need to create a new save file as the data from the original will be corrupt. The safest places to save during this time are all zones where this conversion has previously occurred and will not occur again: Lvell, Auria, Agartha, Colosseum, Raphael's Tower, Frost Forest, Nexus Waterway, etc. If the map is a single map and it's huge, it's safe to save there.Saving is now disabled in all Timelost Zones and all previous Save Crystals have been removed from these locations.
- The Veil (first pass - saves 7 maps)
- The Veil (second pass - saves 5 maps)
- The Veil (third pass - saves 2 maps)
- Hell's Gate (saves 12 maps)
- Shoreline (day 1 - saves 1 map)
- Den Anura (first pass saves 10 maps)
- The Black Forest (first pass - saves 23 maps)
- First iteration of the world map "Revan" (1)
- Third iteration of the world map "Orc War Planet" (1)
- Lvell Forest first map (1)
Notes, Known Issues & Other:
- All "Fixes" apply to new zones only. Timelost Zones will not see fixes.
- All current timelost zones will be deleted in a future update to allow time for current players to exit those areas. After their deletion from the game files, if a player would try to load into them, the game will immediately crash.
- It is not possible to save in Timelost zones outside of Save Points from this point forward, and most of those save points should be removed. If any remain, please reach out.
- In total, 63 zones have been flagged as Timelost in this update.
- Most timelost zones now exit to non-timelost areas, especially exits to the World Map.