Hello Monster Keepers, as promised in our Early Access Roadmap, we have released our first content update for Monster Sanctuary today. This content update primarily brings a couple new features to the game, some of which have been highly requested.

Female Character choice

Probably the #1 feature that has consistently been requested the most for a long time, we've added a female character choice to the game. When you start a new game, you now choose between the male and the female character sprites. If you load an older save file, you will also be allowed to choose if you want to swap to the female character sprites (as well as change the name of your character, if you wish). Please note that this is a one-time choice. Along with female character sprites, we've also updated the male character sprites. Enjoy!

Mouse support

We're also addressing one of the major criticisms that we've received since the EA launch: The game now also supports mouse controls (for people who want to play the game using keyboard & mouse). For example, you are now able to navigate the menus using the mouse. It's a first implementation and we're looking for feedback on it.

Combat Rating changes

We've given the Combat Rating system a small overhaul. The "Overkill" category has been replaced by two new categories: "Buffs / Debuffs" and "Execution". "Buff / Debuffs" add points based on how many Buffs / Debuffs the player applied throughout combat and how many DOT (damage over time) effects enemies received. This was already present before, but it was added to the "Overkill" category, so it wasn't clearly communicated to the player before. "Execution" does multiple things: first, it grants points for the first two acting Monsters based on their combo counter - so for every hit / heal / Buff that your first two Monsters land, your "Execution" rating goes higher. Secondly, "Execution" rewards the last acting Monster based on how much damage it deals relative to the enemies' health. Lastly, "Execution" grants additional points whenever any of your Monsters exploit an enemy's weakness. The other categories of the Combat Rating system are now slightly less important for getting good ratings. We hope it should be clearer now how to get better ratings, and these changes should also give the player more freedom when it comes to assembling your Monster teams.

Mountable Monsters

You can now mount Aurumtail and Qilin to get faster across the Monster Sanctuary. You just need to collect either one of them, select them as your following Monster and then press the "exploration skill" button. There's also a new treasure in Sun Palace that can only be reached by using one of these two Monsters. In the future, there will be more mountable Monsters and also new areas that can only be accessed with these Monsters.

Two new Monsters

We have added two new Monsters to the game: Kanko and Tanuki. Kanko is a hidden optional Champion in Sun Palace. Tanuki is a rare Monster that can appear all across the Monster Sanctuary (starting after you have completed Old Buran's training and become a proper Monster Keeper). Tanuki looks like any other Monster in the game - it only reveals its real form after you've initiated combat with it. With each encounter in the game, there's a 3% chance that one of the Monsters is actually a Tanuki. Tanukis prefer the Sun Palace though, so the chances of a Tanuki encounter are increased to 15% while you are there.

Chinese Localisation has been added

The game is also available in simplified Chinese now.

Steam Cloud Saves

Support for Steam cloud saves has been added.

Patch Notes

There are also many smaller changes of course, which we divide into "Minor feature updates", "Balancing changes" and "Bugfixes". Minor feature updates

• Added a fourth Keeper Duel challenge to the Keeper Duel trainer; the reward is another shift stone
• There are two new puzzles in the Sun Palace, one requires a mountable monster and another requires Koi
• There are two new accessories: "Coat" and "Ornate Pipe"
• There are new items available in the shops once you reach the Keeper Ranger rank (+3 Katar, +4 Ribbon, +4 Cape, Mango, Almond)
• You can now buy Crystal shards in the shop once you reach Keeper Lancer rank
• Paging functionality when the player has too many monsters

Balancing changes

• Heroic Defense damage reduction increased to 4% (from 3%) per buff
• Protector damage reduction increased to 7,5% (form 5%)
• Age-stacks now increase damage and damage reduction by 5% (instead of 3%)
• Precision crit chance bonus reduced to 20% (from 25%)
• Reduced the gold the player gains from wild monsters & Champions (especially on higher levels)
• Disease control damage reduction calculation changed (for multiple Debuffs the damage reduction values will multiply with each other and result in slightly less damage reduction)
• Toxic Reaction trigger chance reduced to 40% (from 50%)
• Infinity Arena buff stacks no longer reduce poison damage, instead poison damage is now reduced by 60% by default in Infinity Arena (going for multiple multi-poison monsters was currently far stronger in infinity arena then other setups. The goal is to have multiple viable team setups that can reach similar high levels. We need to observe if this nerf is enough, too much or too weak. Of course things will shake up more in the future with new monsters and Tier5+ skills)
• All skill that have effects that count buffs/debuff (like Heroism) now count additional Buff/Debuff stacks of the same type beyond the first only as half.
• Goblin warlock now has only one "Disease control" skill node
• Regeneration effects on wild monsters are now only half as strong
• additional buffs & Debuffs applied by Buff Mastery & Debuff Mastery now take up their own slots. Other monsters may still apply one normal stack of those buffs/debuffs afterwards.
• Sidekick (Buff) and Shock (Debuff) damage reduced to 40% (from 50%). Both are very effective in the new combat rating by providing points to both the 'Buff / Debuff' rating and the 'Execution' rating.
• Breakable ice platforms stay now a little longer before they break.
• Damage multiplier in keeper battles reduced to 30% for both sides (from 50%)
• First keeper battle (against Will) is now slightly easier
• Medallion's Mana Regeneration slightly increased

Bugfixes

• Mystify & Exploit now trigger abilities that should be triggered when applying a buff (like Buffing Shield)
• Double Impact now also works for both weaknesses for monsters that have two weaknesses
• 'Holy Presence' no longer applies the extra buff to enemies for attacks that deal damage and apply a buff to the caster.
• Fixed multiple stacks of Shock not triggering additional damage
• Multiple stacks of Agility, Spellshield or Channel now work properly (additional stacks had no effect prior)
• Fixed issue where the game was not able to create savegames for some players
• Fixed several localisation errors

That's all for now

Hope you'll enjoy the new features we've added to the game. The next content update will add a new area to the game with several new Monsters and a new story arc. We are eager to hear your feedback on the new features and balance changes, here on the Steam forums or on our Discord channel: Come say hi!

[ 2019-10-14 14:08:03 CET ] [ Original post ]