Quick tour of an improved maze

Hi,

In the following weeks, I'm going to roll out small updates, each giving a specific girl access to the next growth stages (up to level 10) alongside a storyline. The first one will be Beryl later this week, as per a previous poll. While I'm not showing what it looks like just yet, this also means you need a way to gain enough experience to reach that level.

With that next update also comes an enhanced maze, here's the gist of it.

The maze power trait finally comes into play. This one isn't unlocked with shards. Once you've beat the final boss of the maze, you'll unlock the next tier for it (maxes out at rank 2 this update). If you're loading a save from a previous version, it'll be unlocked if you've beaten the main story thus far.

What does it change? Well basically, everything is scaled up. Stronger monsters, better items, better rewards.

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While monsters don't change drastically for the most part, the cast is remixed and adapted for fresher gameplay. Overall buffs, some new attacks and interactions, former bosses having elite variations, some new versions, brand new bosses, and an improved look for the whole cast as well. (I intend to add sexy interaction in the future, both in fight and with NPC)

The main point of trying higher maze power is for better rewards. As trait and exp requirements increase, it would become very grindy without a more challenging alternative, so those rewards are a lot higher (I'm still balancing rewards, but it should be around 3~4 times more than power 1).

I would also like to add more NPC and encounters as the maze progresses, and give them their own growth and interaction. While there may be a couple new encounters, there won't be much this time around, but it'll come.

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Not only challenge increases, but the tools you are given to take it on are scaled up as well.

While cards scale based on your traits, relics, potions, and encounters scale up based on maze power. Not all get a change, but those that do not scale naturally are given a boost in power.

While we're on the topic of relics and potions, I also wanted to address the fact that not all generic items scale the same for all characters. A mana bonus is much more impactful for a high level Amber compared to a high level Beryl. To compensate for that, I am introducing item variations.

For some characters, generic items are replaced by a variation with a slightly adapted effect to better fit the character. Beryl's mana potion for instance scales with maze power, whereas the other characters are limited to the generic mana potion. Energy capsule is another example; while it doesn't scale with maze power, conserving mana is a much less impactful effect for Beryl who already does that naturally, so her version of the relic is buffed. (variations are limited to Beryl for now, but the other girls will receive some in the future).

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Some other creatures may help you out on your journey. From maze power 2 onwards, you may meet companions!

Companions are helpful allies following you in the maze. They offer help in two ways:

• Possible helpful actions at end of turn. They can deal damage, give you block, buffs, etc... You have no agency over them

• A once-per-fight skill unique to them for you to trigger.

They don't have HP and can't be knocked out, so don't worry about them!

There are two types of companions. You can find pets from the get-go, and friends need to be unlocked through story. All are unique to your character. (Admitedly I'm still working on friends, as I want to improve story and sexy interactions, not sure it'll be a thing right away)

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So here you go, that's what should be coming later this week alongside Beryl. While I've been late on the release, I gave myself a few more days to polish system and balance, releasing a bit of stuff last week.

I'm still working on balance, a few bug fixes, tuning companions, making them able to be brought to story fights, tuning events for maze power 2, a couple scenes, and card arts for upgrades.