Hello everyone!
If you've been hanging out on the Discord, you've probably picked up a lot about what we've been working on since the Early Access release. We also dropped a few notes about our plans at the end of the last patch notes, but just in case you missed all of that, we'd like to summarise what you can expect soon.
There will also be some new information in here for those of you who do keep up with our Discord.
Rebindable Mouse Inputs
On mouse and keyboard, you will soon be able to rebind Select, Move, and Interact inputs separately, and you are allowed to bind any of them to the same button so you can set up the controls exactly as you please.
Party Size
One of the main pieces of feedback we've received is that people miss the 6-person party from the previous games. After trying it out, we do agree that the 6-character party is a more comfortable size - it means you can cover all your main combat roles and still have space to bring another couple of companions just because you like their vibes.
Not every level will allow a 6-person party: generally, you can expect to still bring 4 people to smaller levels such as castles or manors, but most levels will allow 6 characters.
Stealth Tweaks
Stealth gameplay is still not quite where we want it to be. Your feedback has helped us hone in on what changes we need to make. Some highlights:
Enemies will enter combat more readily when they see you attack their allies.
Characters will stay in sneak mode when executing a stealth takedown.
Ranged sneak attacks will get a cooldown.
Sneak attacks against aware or alert enemies will not deal bonus damage.
Overall Game Balance
You have pointed out that the game is very easy in general right now. We want to make sure that Story mode remains easy while increasing difficulty on all other settings. These changes are being made at the same time as enemy numbers are being increased to account for the larger party size in most levels.
Trade Screen Updates
The trade screen will show the actual value of each side of the proposed trade, to make it easier to reach a satisfactory deal.
Worldmap UX Improvements
Some improvements will be made to the user interface of the world map; most importantly, all discovered paths between locations will be displayed, making it easier to understand where you can go and how much of the map you've discovered.
Using Companion Skills in Dialogue
Where it makes sense narratively, we will let you select companions to interject in dialogue on your behalf if they have applicable skills. This is already possible in some world map events, though the implementation in regular dialogue will be slightly different.
More Character Creation Options
We have several new face and hair options incoming for player characters. We also have new head and hair models coming in for NPCs, creating more variation in their appearances.
Other Bits and Bobs
Update 1 will add multiple new outfits, including a new Ronin outfit for Kage.
Kage and Piet have both received face and beard updates to make them look better and match the detail level of other characters.
Some weapon models have been scaled down, notably daggers and pistols.
We have some VFX changes coming in, including better gun smoke effects for pistols, arquebuses/tanegashima, and the guns of De Albatros.
In a similar vein, some of you have noticed that the visual effect that plays when you regain an action point in combat was the level-up VFX from Rome. That was a placeholder! We'll be re-implementing that VFX as a level-up effect and adding a new, subtler effect for regaining an AP.
A few dialogue choices in the beginning of the game that previously only offered a quippy option or a rude option will receive a new option for players going for "polite but serious".
Performance slightly improved across the board.
And of course, many little fixes and usability improvements will also be included in every update moving forward. Thank you again to those of you who have reported issues in Discord or through our Redmine!
We are planning another small patch soon, which will contain the rebindable mouse inputs in addition to other fixes. The rest of these changes are slated for Update 1 near the end of September.
In case you want a quick refresher on our roadmap for Early Access, here it is for your convenience:
