Big Balance Patch Chapter 5 Released to Patrons!

That’s right, it’s out, suckers. You know how I thought it’d be out in early February? Well, bugs kept popping up and god damn.
If you’re a patron, you should go over to Patreon and get the game and then play it. Do I need to explain how to play video games?
I’m tired.

If you’re not a patron, we accept poems, haikus, pictures of your dog/cat/goat/nearby animals, or heartfelt essays about what the game means to you.

As usual, the BBP goes public later. Because I really thought it’d be out in early February, the public launch day is going to be March 15th.
There will also be a very important 5$ patron poll next week, in addition to the usual feedback poll. This poll will determine what our next objective as a team is. Should we do the big UI update, the big mechanical update, the big editorial update, or discard that all and plow straight on to chapter 2? You* decide!

*Offer valid only to $5+ patrons, some restrictions apply. Send a lot of cat pictures and I might consider letting you vote anyway but that cat had better be REALLY cute.

So what the hell is new in the BBP?

Chapter 5’s Big Balance Patch now provides jobs for Christine and 55. Each of Christine’s forms (except Doll) has a set of abilities that all hew to certain themes, just like chapter 1’s forms for Mei. Much like Florentina, 55 also has some jobs, though hers aren’t optional. SX-399 only has one job, to represent her inexperience.

Christine’s forms make use of some new mechanics, such as Positive/Negative electric charges for Raiju and Electrosprite forms. Golem can both repair and also deliberately take hits for her party members. All of Christine’s forms also have a purchaseable “Aura” skill that provides a buff to the entire party!

55 is a much more damage oriented character, with a few support options and far less healing than the previous version. 55 is so tactically flexible, she can change jobs in combat at any time and it doesn’t cost anything, not even an action!

All of the enemies have been rebalanced and have much better progression. All equipment has been rebalanced and there are several new pieces for you to find. Catalyst counts are now set correctly and the game’s UI will even update when you reach the biolabs so you know you’ve found them all.

All of the bosses have been updated. Some of them are going to kick your ass, unless you pay attention to your job abilities and figure out synergies to deal lots of damage.

The Tellurium Mines has had its loot and enemy tables updated. HOWEVER, the generator itself has NOT been updated (that’s part of the Mechanical Patch) so there are likely still bugs where enemies will spawn in walls and whatnot. For this reason, the debug options for the generator are still in place, so use them if you absolutely have to.

Naturally, some minor bugs have been fixed. Typos, misalignments, incorrect sprites, all that stuff. There’s still a lot of small things that will get fixed later in the Mechanical and Editorial patches.

I will be posting a poll next week, initially available to patrons, later to the public, to provide some feedback on the balance and enjoyability of the game. For now? I’m going to go not work because I’ve been busting my ass for like 6 weeks straight.

Curious Questions