This week, we deepened the gameplay of Ephemeral Tale through the addition of a skill tree. These changes went through a good 3 weeks of testing, but you guys will easily eclipse that amount in the first day of playtime under this system, so I’m sure there’s going to be hiccups and bumps along the way with regards to balance. Feel free to tweet at me, email me, ping me on Discord, or post in the forums with feedback! As of today, you should find that there’s a new balance feedback thread up for these sorts of things, if that's more your style. Now, shall we hop straight into the juicey-juicey?

• You now level up in a more traditional manner
  
• There is now a skill tree that spans from Lv. 1 to Lv. 50 (cap)
  
• You can acquire skill points from the Keeper
  
• You can spend these skill points at any bonfire
  
• The Mute Mountains are now available for exploration once all three major companions have been unlocked
  
• As such, there's new gear to be found and enemies to be fought
  
• Adjusted the color grading of different item rarities to improve legibility for the colorblind players out there (I gotchu, boo)
  
• Fixed an issue where Shelldon's quest could reset during certain combat encounters
  
• Adjusted drop rates for Shell Fragments during Shelldon's quest to improve consistency between post-battle reports and final results
  
• Fixed an issue where players had 15% lower hit rate if they were by themselves
  
• Fixed an issue where Darune had a significantly higher hit rate than intended
  
• Fixed a bug where the game could crash if this._footSteps was instantiated incorrectly on legacy saves
  
• Lowered Bouldercrash damage output by 5% per hit (from 0.25 damage multiplier to 0.2)
  
• All enemy weaknesses are now set to 150% (was 140%)
  
• Freeze now has a chance to fall off on damage taken
  
• New methods for rendering critical hit texts and Arcane Bolt’s attack animation, these should be significantly less resource hungry on legacy hardware
  
• Changes to window assets to improve contrast
  
• New graphic for the smol-gurl fairies in the Forgotten Forest
  
• New graphic for the skully-bois in the Corrupted Castle
  
• Another round of balance & gameplay adjustments for the Lost Caverns
  
• The primary trio of companions have gotten a significant buff to their health pools (roughly ~25%)
  
• Further changes to address pixel size discrepancies (I see your feedback, ”7th Guest.” Working on it!), mostly in the following regard:
  
• A bunch of revamped & replaced animations
  
• NOTE: I’m not done changing animations yet, but there’s a lot that goes into the process. This will continue to occur intermittently for at least a few more weeks. Feel free to point out any that I miss!
  
• Changes to passability settings throughout various areas
  
• Yet another sound effect pass
  
• A handful of minor bug fixes

There’s a lot of tech behind the new skill tree that I wrote about a couple of weeks back-- lots of loading new files, attaching them to the save file, stuff of that nature. While wrapping up this patch, I began to experiment with a re-instantiation method, as I wanted to test out what would realistically happen if I had to change the skill-tree in a future patch. This experimentation part of development is always crucial, as it helped me learn a number of things:

1.) Tweaking the skill-tree in a "live-fire" fashion causes issues
While hypothetically tweaking the skill-tree should be as simple as swapping out the file behind the tree, in practice this causes pretty substantial crashing. However[/b]...

2.) If we let the tree live on the character itself, we can just "reset" the character
I'm not gonna lie, this one surprised me! Turns out, you can have multiple versions of the skill-tree living in harmony by having the characters data hold the tree, rather than just holding a reference to it. Then, if you need to update the tree, you just treat it as a new tree entirely by re-instancing the player character! re-instancing the player character is a lot easier than you'd think-- granted, it still has its caveats.

3.) Re-instancing the player causes minor inconveniences
This isn't actually that shocking, to be honest. Considering what re-instancing a player character means, minor inconveniences are kind of anticipated. In lay-mans terms, here's the whole process:

• Remove all companion party members
  
• Save the players most important information (their name, and level) in a drawer somewhere
  
• Additionally, save how far they were in the skill-tree
  
• Un-equip the players gear, sending it to the inventory
  
• *Remove the player* from the party
  
• Re-add the player to the party as a new version of the player, like if they started the game fresh
  
• Go to that drawer, grab their old level and slap it on the new character, same with name
  
• If this is a future patch that involves changing the skill-tree, grant skill gems equivalent to how far they were in the skill-tree (since as it's a new character, the tree is reset)

All of this ties into the biggest revelation:

4.) Through this method, we can actually maintain compatibility with legacy saves
Yes, it's true! I've tested this across several of my own saves, and saves from the community. I've had a 100% success-rate in being able to get these up and running under the new patch, so the previously announced save-file breaking is officially cancelled.

Yep, your legacy save files will continue to work! I didn't think that they would (hence my saying as much a few weeks ago), but I was able to get it functioning. There will still be sore spots, of course-- for those who are pretty deep into their runs, you may find that Scrolls of Power are now a fantastic way for you to put a dent in the skill tree.

TIME FOR CHANGE

We're finally at what I believe to be a major turning point in the development of Ephemeral Tale-- the major gameplay systems have continuously been improved & iterated upon over the past several months, and I'm now able to buckle down and develop side content to continuously deliver fresh items and gear on a more regular basis. Next week will bring another new quest, and I presume balance changes as well.

So, if you would be so kind, leave me some feedback! What you like, what you dislike, what you wish for, and I'll see what I can do! Until next time, stay safe and have fun!

-- Ryan
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/jpStbUf

In this update we've add the Endless mode for the Arena. Rather than facing a series of fights like in the regular Arena Challenges, the Endless mode will continually add in more enemies for you to fight, and weapons for you to fight with until you die. Your goal is to survive as long as you can, but the timer will slow down if you aren't actively killing enemies so you'll need to engage to beat your top score.



More powerful weapons are available for purchase if you manage to make enough gold from kills, as well as health and other powerups. This is a challenging mode that will test your combat abilities, but we will be making some tweaks and improvements to this mode over time so the difficulty will change slightly going forward.

You can access the Endless Arena from the new mode option in the Arena menu. The Endless Arena is not available in multiplayer.

Since releasing the Beneath multiplayer in version 0.11.0, we've been more closely monitoring issues and adding new ways for players to easily log crashes and general bugs which has been very beneficial. So far we've fixed dozens of common and rare bugs causing issues from the very minor to crashes and freezes. We'll be continuing to monitor bug reports and crash logs and will resolve the remaining issues as quickly as possible.


Version 0.11.7

• Added the Endless Arena mode
  
• Improved colour grading on Beneath levels
  
• Fixed Smite not working on some Beneath enemies at range
  
• Fixed incorrect scale on shelves prop in the Level Editor
  
• Fixed bug when exploding some enemies with very high voxel counts

Version 0.11.6

• Fixed being able to attempt attack while charging a throw causing some weapon issues
  
• Fixed some bugs causing the Trickster boss to be unbeatable after using certain powers on him
  
• Added additional error handling around Necromancer boss shield state
  
• Fixed bug with clients not properly recognising when another client disconnects in multiplayer
  
• Fixed some asset streaming bugs in the Ruins
  
• Fixed miscellaneous errors and exceptions

Version 0.11.5

• Added Charger, Leaper, Teleporter, The Deceiver, Statue, The Golem, Giant Mage, The Beast, Interceptor, Bore Worm, The Centurion, Minion, The Pyro, Floating Head, Crystal Entity, Observer and Hydra to the Level Editor
  
• Fixed extra low frame rates on The Islands when a client in multiplayer
  
• Fixed guns breaking and being recreated incorrectly in multiplayer
  
• Fixed Floating Heads popping up when first approached
  
• Fixed bug preventing Smite firing in some situations
  
• Fixed bug causing missing collision on enemies in some situations
  
• Fixed guns visually breaking on clients when changing to melee versions

Version 0.11.4

• Added an in-game Bug Reporting menu to easily send us a screenshot, info and game log
  
• Added the ability to send a Crash Report from the main menu that will send us the previous session log
  
• Fixed a bug with voxel mesh generation in some cases leading to missing triangles and errors on enemies
  
• Fixed bug with Minions being sometimes inaccessible in the the Necromancer boss fight
  
• Fixed some enemy target selection bugs in multiplayer
  
• Fixed Level Editor logic not being able to play built-in music properly
  
• Fixed various minor issues

Version 0.11.3

• Fixed missing sound effects when other players punch or get hit by non weapon attacks
  
• Fixed a number of potential error cases in multiplayer

Version 0.11.2

• Fixed bug allowing early access to Fire & Blood in Beneath
  
• Fixed various miscellaneous errors potentially affecting network packet processing

Version 0.11.1

• Fixed some potential freezes and sync errors in multiplayer

07月01日（水）10:00～13:00メンテナンスのご案内

＜内容＞
プリセットシステム
スキルバランス調整
ハートエルパズルミニゲームイベント
アバター：ハートエル（Ver.スイッチング）
スキル演出：ハートエルスキル演出（Ver.スペシャル）

詳細は▼
https://jp.elsword.com/Information/View/3294

Release Date: Jul 3rd 2020 12:00am PDT
Platform: It is expected that the full platform is completed in 2020 to 2021: PC（Steam）、PlayStation5、Xbox Series X、Nintendo Switch
Genres: Survival Horror, Adventure, Puzzle



“Paper Dolls 2” continues the game style of the “Paper Dolls Original” horror survival adventure. Yang Ming Yuan will continue his adventure in the high floor of Yin Mansion. Compared with “Paper Dolls Original”, “Paper Dolls 2” will have more grand scenes, more detailed plot animations, and more challenging gameplay. It may take about 10 hours for players who experience for the first time.



There are four difficulty mode in the game, among which the most advanced nightmare mode needs to be unlocked after the game is accomplished once, we hope you can get the highest rating on the nightmare difficulty mode.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1334040/Paper_Dolls_2/

We will be doing a hardware migration to improve the game performance.

You can check your local time here:
http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/event?lid=2643743%2C524901%2C6325494%2C4140963&h=6325494&sts=26558160&sln=8.5-16.5&a=show&euid=4f1a96ae-4f80-2d04-3164-6acc876cb706

Remember that scheduled tasks of your heroes will be done even if the servers are down (that's the magic of asynchronous games!)

Thank you for playing with us!
Virtys

1 added text dialogue
2 if you feel that CV is not good, you can close the dialogue. There will be groans instead
3 added English
4 can be full screen
5 we have the setting function. We can adjust the sound size [tear eyes]

Attention, Chasers!

Please check the weekly maintenance schedule below.

The following patch note pertains to contents that will be updated during the (UTC+0) July 1st,2020 Weekly Maintenance.
Maintenance will happen during the following times:


(*Above time periods are subject to change. In case of schedule change, we will update this announcement.)

• Scout Mission & AI Deathmatch Reward Revamp


• Tome of Knowledge Revamp
- Dye and Item & Karma Option Change UI Revamped




- Dye Color Reset Option added


- Item Option Swap Function moved to 'Tome of Knowledge'


• UTC Clock added In-Game with a function for timed event notification


• Not enough resources sound effect changed

• Fixed the incorrect countdown time for the upcoming tournament

• Fixed the graphical error where the cast bar wasn't showing up when you used the spell in a row

• Fixed the bug with Ruler of Darkness not being able to attack after dying with full special resources

I forgot to upload the newest version of the game before releasing. If you have installed the game then you will have to uninstall and reinstall, this version has tons of new features.

As we mentioned last week, we're currently working on the 3.11.1 update with improvements to Harvest. We're currently aiming to deploy this patch by the end of this working week. In the meantime, we've prepared a preview of its patch notes to give you an idea of what to expect.

Please note that the patch notes listed below are still subject to change prior to release of 3.11.1. This update will be deployed on consoles as soon as possible after its deployment on PC.

• Tier 2, Tier 3, Tier 4 and the Heart of the Grove monsters and bosses now have a chance based on their rarity, with higher-tier seeds having a higher chance, to drop a new plantable "seed". This can be placed in the Sacred Grove and will affect planted seeds around it, granting nearby seeds additional properties on being Harvested.
  
• The area around the entrance portal in the Sacred Grove now has stairs, creating 180 degrees of pathway.
  
• Storage Tanks are now unlocked when your Raw Lifeforce plus any additional Condensed Lifeforce exceeds 250.
  
• Added a confirmation warning when attempting to uproot fully-grown Tier 1 seeds as well as Tier 2 or higher seeds with any growth.
  
• Adjusted the colours of planted seeds and Harvest art assets to help better distinguish them from one another.
  
• Added text hovers over various Harvest Infrastructure to more clearly display what it is connected to.
  
• Your progress towards respawning the Heart of the Grove in the Sacred Grove is now displayed in the Sacred Grove.
  
• Namharim, Born of Night now becomes invisible during its Prowl skill.
  
• Added additional preloading for the Tier 4 Harvest bosses and Heart of the Grove.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Tier 4 Harvest Bosses could endlessly spawn monsters during their immobile phase.
  
• Fixed a bug where the displayed number of seeds in your Seed Stockpile didn't update correctly after auto-planting seeds.
  
• Fixed a bug where Oshabi could say multiple voice lines at once when auto-planting large amounts of seeds.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Horticrafting Station's minimap icon was visible from outside the Sacred Grove.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Sacred Grove had the wrong icon in the World Map information panel.

• The growth times of Tier 1 seeds is now uniformly 3 growth cycles, with the exception of the rarest seeds: Wild Hatchling Seed, Vivid Thornweaver Seed and Primal Cleaveling Seed.
  
• The "Exchange a Resonator for a Fossil or vice versa. Rare outcomes are more likely with rare inputs" Harvest craft is now much more likely to give rarer outcomes based on rarer inputs.
  
• Harvest Crafts can no longer be used on Itemised Beasts.
  
• The use of the "Reforge a Rare item with Lucky modifier values, keeping all Prefixes (or Suffixes)" Harvest Craft is now prevented if it will be unable to change any modifiers.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Scarab Harvest Crafts would consume a stack of Scarabs if that was the input, rather than just a single Scarab.
  
• Fixed a bug where the "Sacrifice a Weapon or Armour to create a Ring with similar modifiers" Harvest Craft instead created an Amulet.
  
• Fixed a bug where destroying a stored craft from the Horticrafting Station prevented further use of a connected Collector for Harvest Crafts.
  
• Fixed a bug where the 'Change a Divination Card into another random Divination Card' didn't work if a stack of Divination Cards was used. It will now just remove a single card from the stack and give you a random Divination Card.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Harvest Crafts which changed a modifier from one element to another didn't work on modifiers that were the first explicit modifier on an item.

• We're currently working on fixing various bugs in this fight. Full patch notes will be revealed later this week.

• Medium and Large Cluster Jewels will now drop with an additional enchantment effect that grants them 1 and 2 Jewel sockets respectively. These replace the modifiers that previously granted additional Jewel sockets, which can no longer appear on Cluster Jewels.
  
• Selling any existing Medium and Large Cluster Jewels without this new enchantment to a vendor will remove any existing Jewel socket modifiers and add the new socket enchantment. This does not include Unique Cluster Jewels.
  
• When creating multiple Brands at once, excess Brands beyond the limit are now all removed at once.
  
• Clarified that "You lose Rage 20% slower" only applies to natural Rage loss over time.
  
• Clarified the description of Enduring Cry to make it clear that the buff grants Elemental Resistances, rather than all Resistances. This is a solely a description update.
  
• Elemental Focus Support can now support skills which inflict elemental ailments.
  
• Added the Law of the Wilds unique Hellion's Paw to the Unique Collection Tab.
  
• Added art icons for many hideout decorations added in 3.11.0.
  
• Fixed a bug where new Cluster Jewel Notables were inheriting the bonuses that are only meant to apply to Small Passive Skills.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Witchfire Brew unique Stibnite Flask didn't grant the Despair Curse Aura if you were immune to Curses.
  
• Fixed a bug where the "1% increased Chaos Damage per Level" modifier was accidentally removed from the Edge of Madness unique Etched Greatsword in 3.11.0.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Skin of the Lords unique Simple Robe granted a Keystone named "Sacred Bastion". This keystone is meant to be named Imbalanced Guard (as seen on the passive skill tree).
  
• Fixed a bug where the "+25 to Maximum Rage while wielding a Sword" modifier from Rigwald's Savagery unique Royal Axe didn't work when using a One-hand Thrusting Sword.
  
• Fixed an unintended change introduced in 3.11.0 causing the Xoph's Nurture unique Citadel Bow to have its "x% increased Physical Damage" range lowered.
  
• Fixed a bug where the "Exerted Attacks deal 30% more Damage per previous Attack Exerted by this Warcry" stat from Seismic Cry didn't show up in the skill's tooltip.
  
• Fixed a bug where General's Cry removed all existing Mirage Warriors, even if they had not yet completed their attacks. This included persistent duration-based ground effects, such as Spikes from Earthshatter.
  
• Fixed a bug where Mirage Warriors (created by General's Cry) that used Dominating Blow could not summon Sentinels of Dominance.
  
• Fixed a bug where Mirage Warriors, Mirage Chieftains and Mirage Saviours were unable to deal damage when you had allocated the Ancestral Bond keystone passive.
  
• Fixed a bug where Warcries displayed a Cast Time in their tooltips, rather than Use Time.
  
• Fixed a bug where, when using the Eternal Youth keystone passive, Life Recharge wouldn't appear to begin when specific things that should cause it to begin occurred (although it actually did begin).
  
• Fixed a bug where Purifying Flame would attempt to hit a target a second time if it had missed the first time due to the target dodging the spell.
  
• Fixed a bug causing the Rank 4 and Rank 5 Life as well as the Rank 1 and Rank 2 Block Crafting Recipe unlock locations to be inversed.
  
• Fixed a rare bug where the minimap wouldn't be rendered.
  
• Fixed a bug where The Basilisk's Stone Gaze skill could be interrupted by using Seismic Cry.
  
• Fixed a rare bug where, when entering Dunes Map, you would spawn in the boss arena.
  
• Fixed a bug introduced in 3.11.0 where The Karui Fortress couldn't spawn Vaal Side Areas.
  
• Fixed a bug where hovering over the Dexterity or Intelligence hovers on the passive skill tree always displayed the benefits of Strength.

• Fixed a rare bug where trying to go to your Hideout or the Menagerie could fail to join but continue attempting to join indefinitely.
  
• Fixed a client crash that could occur when mousing over a gem that was socketed into an Abyssal socket. This state was only possible to get into due to a previously-fixed bug.

In this updated version, the framework of the entire game has been changed, the old building system has been completely transformed, and the operation interface has become very comfortable. The whole navigation system was re-made, and now the navigation system will display map navigation according to different situations.



In addition to the rework of old things, a lot of different objects have also been added, such as the transportation system. You can use the transportation system to instantly reach very far places.



The protagonist increases the amount of blood, hunger, thirst and other values. Once these values ​​become zero, you will continue to withhold blood until death. In the current version, you cannot restore health. Therefore, you must collect a lot of food and water in the city to maintain your life.



The special effects of the game are also improved in this version. The special improvement is the horizontal plane, as shown in the picture, with underwater vision. The combination of underwater and air is also very real.



This update completely replaces the old map, so the work you made earlier [temporarily] cannot be seen. After the game plot is finished, a nostalgic mode will appear, which is the V1.3 version of the building, and will not do it. Any changes, this is only temporary to make the map disappear.