Reworking Winter's Requiem

It's official: John needs to rework whatever he's done on the gaming design for Winter's Requiem. The reason being that creativity is ever moving forward. It is a force justified by momentum, its life one of moving forward. And speaking of moving forward...

"He never ceased moving forward. 'Tis the only life he knew, the very life I could not give him. I could only let him go. His name was Jinn el-Gilgam. His name was Gandr de Morte. It is my wish you won't have to meet that 'him', Ineis. But should that day arrive, let go like what I did before. Choose pain over regret."
~Claudea von Stormhearth

So what is John going to do?

John needs to reorganise everything to see which aspects need to be tweaked and which aspects can stay untouched. At the same time, John needs to do some minor tweaking for A Requiem From Winter Past. Nothing much, just some little details here and there.

Retweak of parameters and stats

The whole primary-secondary system remains the same (i.e. primary=parameters; secondary=stats). However, certain things will change.

List of parameters:

Strength

Mobility

Awareness

Determination

Source of change

List of stats:

Attack damage

Hit points

Defence

Critical damage chance

Critical damage

Movement speed

Attack speed

Potency

Magic resistance

Critical impact chance
Critical impact

Stamina regeneration

Adrenaline buildup

Levelling up and how the parameters affect the stats

Whenever levelling up, the character won't experience an increase in the parameters or stats. However, the character would be able to gain access to better gear. At the same time, every level up gives one technique point and one power point. More on that later on (or in a later post). As for parameters, they affect the relevant stats as listed below:

Strength (+1% Hit points per parameter point; +1% Attack damage and 0.5% Stamina regeneration per parameter point above Strength score of 10; +0.5% Attack speed and 1% Critical damage per parameter point above Strength score of 12)

Mobility (+1% Critical damage chance per parameter point; +1% Movement speed and Attack speed per parameter point above Mobility score of 10; -1% Stamina usage per parameter point above Mobility score of 12)

Awareness (+1% Critical damage per parameter point; +0.5% Defence per parameter point above Awareness score of 10; -1% Adrenaline usage per parameter point above Awareness score of 12)

Determination (+1% Adrenaline buildup and +0.5% Critical impact chance per parameter point; +0.5% Critical impact per parameter point above Determination score of 10; +1% Potency and Magic resistance per parameter point above Determination score of 12)

Controlled by a controller

This part is about the controller interface.

Left analogue stick: Character movement

Right analogue stick: Camera angle adjust

D-pad: Open and browse inventory (outside combat); sellsword command (during combat, more on this in a later post)

Triangle: Weapon attack (tap to execute standard attack; hold and release to execute heavy attack)

Circle: Magic (tap to execute thaumaturgy; hold and release to execute metallurgy); confirming Yes for dialogue box involving inventory items.

Cross: Inventory item usage (only during combat); selecting an inventory item for direct use or to place it into the usage slot (only outside combat)

Square: Signature move/Overdrive/Grail trigger (hold and release for Grail trigger); confirming No for dialogue box involving inventory items.

L1: Parry/Block

R1: Dodge/Sidestep

L2: Guard stance

R2: Dashing

Usage: Adrenaline and Stamina

Adrenaline builds up over time during combat while Stamina by default always starts with a full gauge. After combat, Adrenaline will gradually decrease to zero while Stamina will gradually replenish. If Adrenaline remains above 70% after combat, it will reduce at a slower rate while Stamina will replenish at a slower rate when below 30%. This is very important both during combat and after combat where another mob/enemy may attack anytime.

Usage of Stamina involves R1, and R2 while Adrenaline is used for L1 and L2. At the same time, certain  Signature moves and Overdrives require either Adrenaline, Stamina, or both.

L1 and R1

Depending on the character used, either Parry or Block will be used when pressing L1 while the same goes for R1. Characters using Parry as L1 will use Dodge as R1 while those using Block as L1 will use Sidestep as R1.

Parry comes out faster than Block but lasts only for a brief moment while Block is slower to come out but can be sustained by holding down L1 at the cost of 5% Adrenaline used per second.

As for Dodge, it covers a certain distance during which the character cannot be hit. However, 10% Stamina will be used as the result. Sidestep, on the other hand, costs only 3% Stamina but lasts only for a brief moment. However, Sidestep can be executed 3 times in a row before entering a 10-second cooldown with each execution costing 1% more Stamina on an accumulative basis (i.e. 3%+4%+5%=12% Stamina used in total this way).

After a successful Dodge, the character will move 5% faster for the next 3 seconds while every successful Sidestep will give a fixed 1% bonus in Defence for the next 2 seconds.

L2 and R2

Guard stance can be maintained so long L2 is being held down. During Guard stance, Parry/Block cannot be done. However, the character will gain a 30% chance to do so automatically. Once released, the character is able to automatically launch a single counterattack with his/her weapon if any target is within striking range. Using Guard stance will cost Adrenaline on a 2% usage per second. Once Adrenaline reaches below 40%, Guard stance cannot be used.

As for Dashing, it can be used so long Stamina has yet to reach zero. Dashing involves moving around with increased movement speed. Dashing costs 5% Stamina per second.

Next up: Buttons control. At the same time, John discovered that more than 53 social influencers, this video actually gives him a much better feel.

P.S: Come to think of it, if the last name Majere is the Dragonlance equivalent of Singapore, then everyone else is Caramon while there can be only one Raistlin. Anyway, here's a happy 53rd birthday to House Majere. From your Raistlin Majere, no less.