Hey everyone!

This is the next big chapter for Of Blades & Tails, which expands on the story, world map, and adds a lot of new content to the game.

Please refer to the last preview post to learn more about the new content and how the added mechanics work.

Changelog v0.14.0

Story & Quests

• The story quest Of Rats & Ferrets has been fully added.
• You can now become a member of the Adventurers Guild.
• A secret has been added that reveals more lore about the human history.
  

Game World

• The game world has been expanded to the east.
• A new region has been added: The Haunted Forest
  This region also features a new mechanic where you will get haunted by spirits the longer you walk into the forest.
• A new region has been added: The Southern Swamp
• 2 new dungeons have been added.
• An overworld encounter has been added: Ancient Sentinel
• A new faction with unique enemies has been added: Cultists
• New locations have been added: Cultist Camps
• A new faction with unique enemies has been added: Spirits
• New location has been added: River Crossing / Guarded Bridge
• New location has been added: Twisted Twig Inn
• New POI has been added to several areas: Altar of Fortune
• New POI has been added to several areas: Sprout of the Golden Tree
  

Items & Equipment

• Upgraded items can now get downgraded again using the newly added Orb of Modesty. This also returns the spent Orb(s) of Magnificence.
• A legendary treasure map has been added.
• New legendary items have been added.
• New consumable item added: Potion of Elemental Resistance
• New consumable item added: Potion of Magical Resistance
• New consumable item added: Juice of the Golden Tree
• New consumable item added: Cheap Swill
• Other items have been added.
  

Talents & Abilities

• New abilities have been added to One-Handed, Ranged Weapons and Polearms.
  (They require expertise to learn them.)
• Shield Block is now instant, but damage mitigation has been set to 75% and it now has a 2 turns cooldown.
  

UI, Controls & Accessibility

• Skill bar has been reworked: You now have access to 2x5 skill slots and they are swapped based on your current weapon set.
• An additional quick item slot has been added.
• NPCs/enemies that are not visible will mostly complete their action instantly now, to avoid unnecessary delays to the global turn system when enemy factions are engaging with each other.
• Defeated sentinels are tracked in game statistics.
  

Balancing

• A reset at the Shrine of Oblivion now always requires an Orb. It's not possible to just have it reset your level experience anymore.
  Additionally you can now find 2 Orbs of Oblivion at the first shrine you visit.
• Traps are now harder to detect, but do slightly less damage.
• Reduced the amount of restored stamina for One-Handed and Polearms training perk.
• The amount of exp required for leveling up on higher levels has been slightly increased.
• The amount of exp you receive for defeating enemies on a lower level than yourself has been reduced.
• Increased the stamina cost of the Grappling Hook.
  

Achievements

These 5 achievements have been added:

• The Good Stuff
• Diminisher
• Lore Master
• Fearless Adventurer
• Fearless Cult Buster
  

Fixes

• Fixed an issue with 'Hold to Move' option and instant skills that cause movement.
• Fixed an issue when player wants to sell an item but has no money stack in their inventory yet.
• Several smaller fixes.
  

Savegame Compatibility

Savegames from version 0.13.x are largely compatible.
This is what you need to know:

• Your abilities will be reset. You need to redistribute them.
• The Quest Of Rats & Ferrets will be reset.
• The bonfire near the Church Ruins has been removed. You will spawn in the top left corner of this area, if this was your last save spot.
  

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What's next

I'm already working on the Beastmastery and Engineering talents! So that's something that will most likely be ready in March as well. Besides other QoL improvements and smaller features that I can implement along the way.

If you enjoy your time with Of Blades & Tails and the new contents, then please consider writing a short Steam review. It really helps the game to grow and reach more players :)

Until next time, take care everyone!

Felix

[ 2023-03-01 12:59:16 CET ] [Original Post]