New demo version! Patch notes to go with it!


It's been a long while since the demo was first released. I have worked heavily on the game in the meantime, mainly making content for other realms, but some changes have been made to Capricorn's area as well and now an updated demo should better reflect the current state of the game.

Some bugs were fixed and feedback listened so that this experience feels better for everyone!

After some consideration, the game went through a philosophy change in regards to damage in combat. I believe my initial idea for stats and qualities didn't quite match what players understood and in fact it never made much sense to begin with.
Virgo should be first and foremost a game where your defense is active rather than passive, so stats passively reducing damage only harmed the game's balance and philosphy.
I believe the Quality Triangle should be the most important mechanic when deciding damage and it's quite frustrating when enemies didn't exactly follow that. Due to how stats worked before, it was rather confusing as to how double-quality foes would react to damage. If Ambition reduces Cardinal damage but Mutable damage is 'weak' against Cardinal, Ambition shouldn't reduce its own Quality and instead work against Mutable. Also foe that's both Mutable and Cardinal received both increased and decreased damage from Fixed, making it virtually have no weaknesses.
The old comparative system doesn't work if the player cannot see enemies' stats such as in most SRPGs. I believe this change will help the game's experience become more clear and non-obtuse.

PATCH NOTES
Revamped the Damage Formulae

Now damage calculations are made differently: Ambition, Patience and Versatility no longer passively reduce Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable damage respectivelly. As you increase your main stats, you'll only see an increase in damage done. All enemies' damage outputs have been adjusted accordingly to provide a more concise challenge between different builds and strategies.
In doing so, all enemies take naturally more damage than before and have been adjusted with resistances matching the Quality Triangle to better reflect what's strong and weak against them.

Passive Damage reduction has been added to some items, such as Armors and Shields, and to "Stat Up" states (Ambitious, Versatile and Patient), to maintain the same functionality as before. Ambitious, Versatile and Patient will increase your damage output for the respective Quality by 40% and respective damage reduction by 20%. The slight debuff to other stats while those states were active has now been removed.

A similar damage vulnerability have been added to "Stat Down" states, respective to the Quality Triangle. Unmotivated, Immutable and Impatient now decrease the afflicted battler damage output by 40% and makes them take 20% extra damage for the respective Quality.

>To not turn Quality attributes completely useless for builds that don't use a certain Quality's offensive abilities, new roles for primary stats have been added:
  • Ambition now slightly increases the damage of all Purge abilities
  • Versatility increases the damage of Counter-Attacks
  • Patience increases all Weapon base attacks
This will ensure no Quality is useless in the long run, to avoid harming players who decided to change main-quality roles midgame.
  • Some enemies have been completely rebalanced according to feedback and observation. 
  • Capricorn should no longer OHKO Virgo if her health is full. That wasn't intended in the first place and now it should now be fixed.
  • Ashigarus won't heal while breaking your guard anymore. They're already annoying enough to do that.  The battle against the two of them in the Engine room should be more manageable now.
  • Deneb Algedi won't attack while stunned anymore.
  • Claudios still hate you the most
  • Enemy damage variations should be slightly smaller, to provide more stable results and avoid unwanted damage spikes on certain occasions.

Changes have been made to several other areas of the game and are cited below:

  • Increased the damage dealt by [Smite], so that it justifies its' Purity cost.
  • Increased base [Reckoning] damage.
  • Increased damage dealt by the [Triangular Riposte] (Heresy Protector's Counter-attack) slightly.
  • Decreased maximum Tachi damage; improved its' timing window.
  • Decreased base heal for the Aged Hoplon.
  • Decreased the damage from Critical Hits all around. Enemies who crit shouldn't deal more than 70% bonus damage.


  • Adjusted all tutorials and Daily Horoscopes to reflect the changes done to the basic stat system.
  • Fixed some issues with Portraits flashing when a character turns around mid-conversation.
  • Fixed the Shopkeeper's dialogue section not opening the store automatically once you sell them a Parcel.
  • Fixed the infinite Heresy Count on Cookies at the Database Center. You may only increase your Heresy Count once if you eat cookies. 
  • Fixed the long delay before issuing a Shield command and the Guard effect actually showing up.
  • Fixed the disappearing base for Star Memories inside the Supernova.


  • Added new animations for some Cardinal skills.
  • Added Weather effects to outdoor maps.
  • Added a purchaseable Mutable Ribbon at the Engine Vendor. This Ribbon grants the use of [Silverlight], a skill that reduces the accuracy of a foe.
  • Reduced the price for several vendor items
  • Added a new skill to Pig Ears: [Frontier], which reduces Cardinal damage for a few turns.
  • Added a new prompt in the Database Center once Musashi isn't sleeping by the entrance to the Garden anymore (after you collect the Blueprints)
  • Added a new interaction with the noisy Ambitious Cart at the Storage 1 if the player posesses a [Soap].
  • Added new options on the menu for Difficulty, Fullscreen, and added a few optional Window Skins. (Thanks Sumrndmdde!)
  • Added a new Dynamite drop from the second group of Saboteurs at the Storage 2. This should make the 'blow up that door' puzzle less cryptic.
  • Added a sound effect to the computers in the Storage 2 when they're activated for the same puzzle.


  • Removed the randomization on stats gained through level up. Unlucky players won't be forever gimped by bad design choices now!
  • Lucky players will find that their stats are a bit lower on later levels. All enemies were adjusted with this change in mind.
  • Removed some battle item drops from certain locations, especially in the Storage 1 and 2. 
  • Removed the huge desk in front of the blind Salarygoat at the Storage 1.


  • Changed the rewards received from the thirsty Salarygoat at the Reception. Players will receive an extra stat point for the Quality chosen.
  • Changed text to reflect that Pisces' Halberd isn't used as a weapon by Virgo at the Supernova.
  • Changed how the Rank Up functions as a whole. Destiny, Cycle and Cuteness won't increase per rank (but their values on equipment have been increased).
  • New help text after a Rank Up will show both previous and new Stat values.
  • Changed the layout of the Storage - now the Storage 2 room is completely optional, players may chose to speedrun straight to the engines after the first Storage.
  • Added a new reward for cleaning the Storage 2, a Scepter weapon complete with a new combo skill [Betelgeuse].


Items Renamed
For the sake of consistency with later developed items, some equipment changed names. These are:

  • Tachi -> Tachi of Binding (all '... of Binding' suffix on items should have them grant Exorcism)
  • Rusty Hoplon -> Aged Hoplon ('Rusty' prefix is now exclusive to +Poison chance items)

These changes are meant to address the upcoming Crafting System and how items will be made through it.

Visual Changes were made to:

  • Capricorn Battle Sprite
  • Ashigaru Battle Sprite
  • Storage 2 computer puzzle tiles
  • Vendor desks
  • Updated Battle HUD with new Face graphics


AND that's all! Please report any bugs to abductedious@gmail.com or o any social media you prefer!

Files

VvtZ_v0.1.7.rar 101 MB
Sep 23, 2017

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Comments

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(1 edit)

Hello!
I really love the art for your game, and I was wondering if you had drawn it yourself?

I was wondering if you would like to help me, someone who can't draw, with some art for a visual novel I'm creating about the Zodiac! Let me know if you're interested, it'd be working for free since I'm flat broke, and it'd just be a few pictures of characters and some expressions, so please consider it!

Thanks!

this looks so cool! are all the zodiacs going to be represented in the final game?

Yes, all Zodiacs will be featured in the final game, there's also the Zodiac Memories were Virgo re-visits her memories with each Star!