Author Topic: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!  (Read 4267 times)

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2012/07/avww-post-release-1115-story-of-jinsiek.html

This one is our fourth release candidate for 1.2, meaning that if there's nothing majorly wrong with it then this will be the 1.2 official version on Monday and we'll then continue working on 1.3 instead.

There actually aren't any bugfixes in this one, but a last bit of content that we've been meaning to get integrated into the game for weeks: a new mystery!  This one is long, too: 41 clues, whereas the other two mysteries in the game are each 10 and 18 clues, respectively.

Like the other two, this one is written by my wife Marisa, and I think this is the strongest of the lot by far (and the others were pretty darn cool).  It goes into more of the story of what happened to the earliest glyphbearers of the first continent's settlement (before you came along), and also explores the nature of the monsters of the world, among other things.

It's... definitely very dark.  But given that it's a given that all the characters are dead (since you inherited the glyph from them, it's not possible for any of them to be alive; aside from the fact that in the intro mission you saw the graves of most of them), I suppose that's to be expected.  Not all of the mysteries will be this dark, but I think this one is particularly poignant.

By the way, in the last version I forgot to mention in my blog post just how much has changed in terms of the in-game help and documentation thanks to the tireless efforts of Josh.  A lot of tooltips and help popups and stuff in the Tips & Advice section were woefully out of date given recent mechanics changes, and he's gone through it all and gotten it up to scratch.  So that was new as of 1.114.

For now we're in major-bugfix/balance-only mode until Tuesday or Wednesday next week, and then we'll be fully committing to work on 1.3, which will be the next evolution of the game.  Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 0.500 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.  If you don't have 0.500 or later, you can download that here.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline nanostrike

  • Full Member Mark II
  • ***
  • Posts: 168
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2012, 02:17:56 am »
Is there any way to get clues other than the frustrating Puzzle Rooms?  I don't remember seeing any mention of alternatives in any previous updates.

I'd love to read the lore, but I really, really, REALLY hate the Puzzle rooms.

Offline Misery

  • Arcen Volunteer
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,109
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2012, 04:19:46 am »
Is there any way to get clues other than the frustrating Puzzle Rooms?  I don't remember seeing any mention of alternatives in any previous updates.

I'd love to read the lore, but I really, really, REALLY hate the Puzzle rooms.


I've been seeing them pop up as potential Secret Mission rewards.   With this funky white icon that looks a bit like a windmill.

I think my last 3 secret missions were entirely those for rewards.

Offline Misery

  • Arcen Volunteer
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,109
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2012, 05:52:01 am »
Ok, brief feedback time:

I havent had enough time with the newest build to properly judge all of the new features, but I can point out a few things that I definitely already like:

1.  The sunken whatsits in the ocean.  These are really cool.  Huge, mysterious structures just floating there for who knows what reason..... and a place likely to get the Sea Essences, which is one of those items I'm always after (because Tidal Pulse is super useful).   Recent updates have made the Ocean regions into a very interesting, fun area to explore.  Really like going into those now. 

2.  The dispatch system, the more I use it, the better it is.   I thought some of the explanations for how it works were a little confusing, but after messing with it a bit, it's pretty easy to grasp.   There's alot of important & difficult choice-making with this system, I'm finding.  Who to use books/gifts on, who to send out.... very nice.

3.  The NPC bonuses are a nice touch.  Makes choices of NPC types much, much more important.



Also, Clinging Fetor still isnt working for me.   Doing damage, but..... it SAYS it's doing around 200 DPS, but the ACTUAL damage is like, 2.   Mantis here:  http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=8837


Other than that, no bugs so far!

Offline BobTheJanitor

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,689
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2012, 02:34:32 pm »
Hey I'm sure I'm weeks behind the discussion, but I thought I'd try out the latest changes and it's all quite nice. Except one thing. What's the point of the spell modifier 'only works during the day'? That's just annoying. When I saw it grouped together with the bonuses I thought it was implying that I would only get the bonus effects during the day, and the spell would do its standard damage during night hours. Not that it just wouldn't work at all. I already incinerated my original copy of the spell too.  :(

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2012, 03:35:30 pm »
Believe it or not, the day/night thing was requested by players a lot.  It's a negative modifier that is paired with extra bonuses, though; so you get a net gain at the right time of day, but can't use it at the other time of day.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline BobTheJanitor

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,689
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2012, 03:44:43 pm »
Oh I believe it, I guess I just don't understand it. You'd have to keep two copies of the spell around and constantly be swapping your inventory. Or have the day/night swapping spell always handy I suppose. Well, now I know to avoid them in the future at least.

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2012, 03:46:23 pm »
Well, you'd have to occasionally switch between that and some other spell, yeah.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline BobTheJanitor

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,689
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2012, 04:04:44 pm »
Another 'I haven't played in a while' dumb question. I just noticed that wind shelter missions can now be used on storm tiles or non-storm tiles. Great! I thought. Then I used one on a non-storm tile and it actually made the storm extend over that tile, and a few more nearby. That's kind of counter-intuitive... and painful. Those missions are quite a bit harder than I remember from the last time...

Edit: I do see that in the description now actually. So, intended but painful. Still not sure why it made some other tiles stormy. That could theoretically cut you off from your settlement if you had the right arrangement of islands.

Edit edit: Ok so they're not that bad. I think I just got unlucky with one. First area was dark and very twisty and full of those super-rhino whatever they're called and they kept coming out of the darkness and hitting me for 150 damage a pop. Once I left and regenerated it I made it thought without much difficulty. Carry on!
« Last Edit: July 08, 2012, 04:15:35 pm by BobTheJanitor »

Offline TechSY730

  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,570
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2012, 04:38:57 pm »
I just noticed that wind shelter missions can now be used on storm tiles or non-storm tiles. Great! I thought. Then I used one on a non-storm tile and it actually made the storm extend over that tile, and a few more nearby.

Edit: I do see that in the description now actually. So, intended but painful. Still not sure why it made some other tiles stormy. That could theoretically cut you off from your settlement if you had the right arrangement of islands.

As you noticed, the making the tile it's on stormy is intended, to prevent sidestepping the difficulty of these missions by always placing them on non-stormy tiles.
However, spreading the storm to other tiles as well sounds like a straight up bug. May be one for Mantis.

Offline BobTheJanitor

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,689
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #10 on: July 08, 2012, 04:54:40 pm »
Just tested that again to be sure, and yep it made a water tile next to the mission I generated go stormy as well. I reported it like a good little bug hunter.

Offline Mánagarmr

  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,272
  • if (isInRange(target)) { kill(target); }
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #11 on: July 08, 2012, 07:02:47 pm »
Just tested that again to be sure, and yep it made a water tile next to the mission I generated go stormy as well. I reported it like a good little bug hunter.
Good boy! Want a twinkie?
Click here to get started with Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports.

Thank you for contributing to making the game better!

Offline timtim

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 53
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #12 on: July 08, 2012, 07:40:29 pm »
Just thought I'd post this here instead of making a whole new topic. I've been catching up on the new updates which obviously contain a lot of fundamental changes to the game, and I've looked through the encyclopedia and can't quite understand a few things...

1. So the strength of magic now goes up in line with the Overlord level? All my magic seem to be level 8, and I can't see any way to increase that - but notice it is the same as the Lieutenants on my continent. Once I defeat the level 8 Overlord, my magic will increase? I understood getting materials to craft better magic from before, but now I'm not sure how it's done (I understand I can get magic with perks from completing missions, but the actual strength of the magic seems to be roughly the same).

2. When a character dies, which one of mine did last night, is there any limit on the characters left to choose from? I thought, obviously incorrectly, that when you died, the people you can be next are the settlers you have saved - which gives some kind of limit. But I saw last night that I was able to 'reroll' over and over again, and it seemed that dying has no limit at all and there is no real consequence to it?

It seems skipping some of the updates has left me a little lost!

Offline Misery

  • Arcen Volunteer
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,109
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #13 on: July 08, 2012, 11:15:08 pm »
Just thought I'd post this here instead of making a whole new topic. I've been catching up on the new updates which obviously contain a lot of fundamental changes to the game, and I've looked through the encyclopedia and can't quite understand a few things...

1. So the strength of magic now goes up in line with the Overlord level? All my magic seem to be level 8, and I can't see any way to increase that - but notice it is the same as the Lieutenants on my continent. Once I defeat the level 8 Overlord, my magic will increase? I understood getting materials to craft better magic from before, but now I'm not sure how it's done (I understand I can get magic with perks from completing missions, but the actual strength of the magic seems to be roughly the same).

2. When a character dies, which one of mine did last night, is there any limit on the characters left to choose from? I thought, obviously incorrectly, that when you died, the people you can be next are the settlers you have saved - which gives some kind of limit. But I saw last night that I was able to 'reroll' over and over again, and it seemed that dying has no limit at all and there is no real consequence to it?

It seems skipping some of the updates has left me a little lost!

For point number 1:

The magic/levels/whatever system isnt THAT much different from the tiers.   With the previous system, you had magic of a certain tier, and the continent (and thus the monsters/bosses) had a tier as well.  As a rule, you could get spells that were one tier higher than the current continent tier (so, at tier 1, you could go for tier 2 spells.  But you could not go for tier 3 spells unless you advanced the continent tier to 2).    The current levels system is very similar.  You cannot have spells that are more than 1 level above the current world level.   You raise this level by defeating lieutenants;  defeat one, and the world-level rises, just like how the tier system was working after the "continent points" system was removed.   Defeating those guys also lowers the level of the Overlord by a certain amount;  generally, you're going to want to defeat all 4 leiutenants on a continent before even thinking of taking him on.     With the new citybuilding system in place though, depending on it's settings, JUST defeating lieutenants is not enough to weaken the Overlord to a manageable level;  you need to also be using NPCs on missions (that you send them on) to weaken the Overlord.

For point number 2:

The new re-roll system was put in place for one simple reason:  Because players were doing it ANYWAY.  If they died, and the character set they were given to choose from didn't contain anyone they thought was useful (depending on stats or type or whatever), they'd just pick one at random, and go drop him in a lava pit or something, die there, and force a "re-roll".   This was extremely idiotic and really broke immersion, so the new "re-roll" system was put in place.  Now you just click "re-roll" until you find someone you can work with.    As for the character TYPES, it's dependant on what types you've unlocked, not who you currently have in the current settlement.  For example, once you rescue a Skelebot character for the first time, they will be unlocked, and from then on when you die and are choosing a new character, you will have Skelebot characters available as choices.   This is the case even if it's a new continent where you havent rescued anyone yet;  unlocks are carried over and do not need to be unlocked a second time.

Now, that being said, that's JUST for what happens when you die.   There are now alot of reasons to choose certain character types to be NPCs in the settlement (AKA, ones you WONT use as Glyph-Bearers).  On any new continent, you'll have to work for them.   Finding rescue missions, or using a scroll that generates them, in the type of areas they are associated with.   For example the skelebots are pretty useful as NPCs since they dont consume food, so on any given continent one of the first things I'm gonna wanna do is get a couple of them if I can, since they let me add to the population without using up food.   Stuff like that.  There's definite consequences when NPCs are killed in missions, because they are simply gone for good, and you do NOT automatically get  a replacement.  You'd have to go rescue more to replace lost ones.

There's still consequences from losing your actual controlled character, though.   The stats are heavily randomized, so you might lose someone that had a particularly useful stat set.   Maybe, say, Air attacks tend to be your element of choice, and your current character had an innate bonus to air-type spells, and maybe some extra Deflection as well.... this could be pretty useful.  Lose them though, and there goes that nice combo that you had, and it could take you a bazillionty re-rolls to get that back (or more likely, you'd just end up using a character with a different set of stats, which may not be as nice).   I for one haaaaaaaaate re-rolling a bazillion times to find the right setup, so that's a nasty effect of dying;  usually I might click it a few times, just to go past characters that seem particularly un-useful, but that's about it.  I'd end up having to just go with one rather than search for it for 20 freaking minutes.

Offline timtim

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 53
Re: AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!
« Reply #14 on: July 08, 2012, 11:41:59 pm »
Misery, thanks a lot for that - understand it much better now.

I always hoped that the saved survivors would be the only people you could control when you died, as I hate random-reroll type characters - I lose immersion in the sense that, I'm saving survivors because of the world ending, but when I die there's a infinity amount of survivors I can choose from suddenly. It always seemed much more natural that death = you transfer to one of the saved survivors back at the home base (with all equipment and magic). But that's just me, I guess...

Magic-wise, cheers - so it seems closer to Final Fantasy VIII (where the enemies and the world levels up at the same rate as your character) than Final Fantasy VII (where you can level up to 100 by grinding at the beginning of the game, making the rest of the game very very easy)?