The Witch's Wall

Before, there were six Fundamental affinities - Zenith, Dawn, Clear, Dusk, Nadir, and Eclipse.  Each corresponded with one or two aspects.  However, that’s been cut down to three far more clear-cut options - Solar, Stellar, and Lunar, corresponding with their appropriate aspects.  Adepts, in their most basic form, will only be able to use that one aspect - so a Stellar Venus adept uses Stone.  But what if you want a venus adept who uses both Stone and Plants?  Or even an adept who uses all three aspects - Stone, Plants, and Crystal?

That’s where the changes to the djinn system come into play.  Now you can customize and fine tune not only the elements they wield with the class system, but the aspects they wield and the forms their spells take as they upgrade.  It all begins with the djinn...

The djinn tab has changed quite a bit from before.  The stat boosts and abilities djinn posses in vanilla have been divorced from one another.  The new system has a set of Gems - their own kind of artifact, created to house elemental spirits within them.  It’s through these gems that the djinn system now works - the gems grant the stat boosts, while the djinn grant the abilities.  The first step is to tune the gems to one another.  There are 36 gems in a set that must have stats distributed among them.  The values and ranges are based on vanilla stats.  In order to help with the tuning, tooltips have been added, giving instruction for what ranges are available and what totals they must reach.

In addition to the tooltips, there is also a set of long form instructions, as well as an in-universe reason detailing the setup.

Unlike the v0.4α version, there’s not a strict total you have to reach for each stat.  Instead, there’s a set of totals you have to reach based on combined values - total offenses, total defenses, total auxiliary stats, and an overall stat total.  This lets an element be tuned to favor certain stats over others, allowing a set of gems to reflect the character sharing their element, or to make up for that character’s weaknesses, depending on what the desired effect is.

In order to use a gem, it first has to be assigned to one of the character’s gem slots.  First select the slot...

Then pick the gem from the dropdown menu.  Any name changes you’ve made to the gems will be reflected here as well (though it’s recommended to keep gems named based on on an element’s colors.  A gem called Bob isn’t obvious about what it is, after all, and the difference between it and one named George wouldn’t be readily apparent).

As each gem is assigned to a slot, the values associated with that gem will be automatically filled in, so long as the spirit within is Set.  From there, the next step is to create the djinn to fill the gem.

The Djinn section can be found below the gems.  Here, the first step is to name the djinn. 

Next, pick which type of djinn it is from the dropdown menu.  This is to help filter out the list of abilities to make them much more manageable.

Finally, select the ability itself from the dropdown menu.

That’s all there really is to it - name, type, ability.  However...

Djinn are not the only type of spirits out there.  Many spirits are weak, mindless spirits without any real sense of purpose.  Gems can easily attract ambient spirits, and when attained and first set, they will.  Each element has a generic spirit option, representing a gem that has no djinn set into it.  Generic spirits can be used in the class system, and can be channeled to summon and use overdrive classes like Sveta’s Beastform.  However, they do not have any abilities of their own, and when used in battle, simply toggle into standby phase.  What's more, they cannot affect the fundament system...

...which djinn can.  Like adepts, djinn have a fundamental affinity.  There are four affinities for djinn - Solar (shown as a golden color), Stellar (shown as a green color), Lunar (shown as an Indigo color), and Neutral (shown as a grey color).  Solar, Stellar, and Lunar djinn add their fundamental strength to the adept, contributing to a sort of “fundamental class” on top of their elemental class.  Neutral djinn work by boosting an adept’s own innate affinity instead - so if the Adept is Stellar, they boost stellar.  If the adept is Lunar, they boost Lunar.  There are 9 slots for each aspect for each element, allowing up to 144 different djinn to be chosen from.  However, it doesn’t have to be fully filled out - so long as there are nine from each element to be distributed across the party.

But first, the djinn has to be assigned to the gem.  After equipping a gem, a dropdown will be able to be selected from containing all the djinn created for that element.  Any gaps between entered djinn are condensed for the sake of convenience.

When selected, the abilities and affinities for djinn are auto-filled...

...and affinities are the crux of this system.  The more an adept uses affinities other than their own, the more options they have - from more forms for their spells to take, to different aspects their spells manifest as.  This even effects buffs and debuffs - for instance, changing a buff from upgrading in a standard manner, such as Impact to High Impact, to upgrading in a different one, such as Impact to a spell with similar effects to Himi’s Weapon Grace.

It's the affinities the djinn grant to an adept that make this possible.  What’s more, the new system allows an adept to actually change out one djinn for another, giving very good reason to have more than just the minimum of 9 djinn. 

The core idea behind the gem/djinn system is to have options - if you want to set an adept up with djinn abilities in mind, you can focus on that and let the aspects and manifestations fall where they lie.  Or, you can spec a character out to get a specific set of skills and abilities, and select djinn from within that setup based on the abilities you like.  This effect also works across classes.

When changing classes, swap out the gems with those of another element.

However, due to limitations of Excel and a desire to have compatibility with other programs such as Open Office, I am unable to script things to automatically clear out.  As such, when you change a gem when a djinn is equipped, an error message will pop up indicating you have done so.

The solution, of course, is simple.  Simply select djinn from the new element.

In this way, you can see the aspect and shapes available for your spells for each element that class has access to.

Note that if you change your mind about what fundamental affinity you want an adept to have, it will have a notable impact on what spells they have available to them.

So, that’s the update for October.  Having finally finished the djinn module, the next step is either going to be Weapons or Spells.  I don’t think I’ll have such a massive step by step instruction as I did this time, not until I finish the next module.  I do think it’s most likely to be Spells I work on next.  After all, I’m sure all of you are wondering what the heck those “+Power” “+Range” and “+Effect” things are.  Well, that’ll be explained as I give details on spell creation.  v0.5α is turning out to be a much more massive update than I had originally anticipated, in large part because I’ve learned how to do a lot of things I once couldn’t figure out (that auto-fill stuff shown off above, for instance).  Spells are going to be more about spell creation, so that’s gonna be a hell of a lot of formulas I’m going to have to work in, and that’s gonna take a bit of time to figure out.  I hope you’ll be patient.

Anywho, that’s it for now.  I’ll be sure to sere you in the next update!

Let's go over the changes my system has made, shall we?

1:  Casting and Warding added to act as stat support for spells.  This can be argued to be an evolution of the GS system, and is fine. 2:  Fundaments introduced.  There's no hiding it - this was caused purely by Dark Dawn, and was simply a way to justify the existence of the Fundaments.  It's been a constant source of confusion, and I have never liked having to deal with it.  Here, GS is interfering with my system. 3:  Weapons given different roles based on type.  This can be argued to be both an expansion of the GS system, as well as a justification for weapon type separation (ex: Staves vs Ankhs).   4:  Weapon types added based on presence within GS: Spear, Scythe.  Both exist already in GS, but weren't playable weapons.  Spear made Physical, Scythes put in similar category to Staves and Ankhs.  Here, GS and the system serve one another. 5:  Summons overhauled.  Here, the system overrules and overwrights GS, completely changing an entire mechanic. 6:  Character Roles adopted from D&D 4e.  This makes team creation easier, and allows teams to better emulate the synergy of the TBS teams (Team Isaac's classes clearly follow something similar to this.) 6:  Full character separation instated - teammates no longer share classes.  This directly opposes what GS does.  Here, the system overrules GS to not only allow for greater team flexibility, but also to help retain each character's core identity (in my version of Team Isaac, Garet is always going to have slower classes, but will also always be the most durable.  His support skills would always follow a similar bolstering theme as well).  This can be argued to be the first notable departure from GS.

Apart from this, the only "changes" have been new additions to the system (generally new spells and categories).  These would all basically fit within GS itself.

So two things in particular have been bothering me for a while.  The first thing is a smaller thing - Fists vs Claws.  I've always had problems figuring out what the hell to do with Claws, since there's no real clear thing for them.  However, it'd be an easy thing to merge them with Fists, as I can see them having a similar purpose (the fourth physical slot would be replaced then with Warhammers).  Here, GS is holding my system back in a way that's hard for me to work around.

The second thing is the ongoing problem with Fundaments.  The most common question I get is "what is Fundamental Affinity", and it's kind of a pain in the ass.  All this to basically justify the existence of the Fundaments... And it's basically a way to say "pick one or two sets"... but then other questions have to be asked - why would you pick one over two?  Why specialize at all when picking two would seem to be the better option?  I've had to shoe-horn this thing in from the very outset, and every single time I've not been happy with it.  But here's the thing... I actually like the idea of the fundaments and fundamental affinity.  But the way I'd want to do it would be counter to how GS does it - in fact, doing things my way would result in each and every character in GS not being possible - not in the way GS does things.  What I would want to do would be a full and complete separation from GS... and it'd make Fundaments make god damned sense.  Basically, I'd make things far simpler:

There are only three fundamental affinities - one for each fundament.

Solar - Crystal, Explosive, Astral, Ice Stellar - Stone, Flame, Wind, Water Lunar - Plant, Corrosive, Lightning, Steam

You'd basically be locked into the forms from your affinity.  There wouldn't be dual-affinities any more, so these would be clear and concise.  However, there would be other things to consider - namely the fundamental affinity of djinn (and/or their analogue).

Djinn that are based on the Solar forms or themes of Light would add Solar affinity to whoever's equipped them (Crystal, Aurora, Sleet, etc) Djinn that are based on Stellar forms would add Stellar affinity to whoever's equipped them. (Flint, Ember, Gust, etc) Djinn that are based on Lunar forms or themes of Darkness would add Lunar affinity to whoever's equipped them (Vine, Squall, Shade, etc) Djinn that are not based on any of the forms add the affinity of an adept's innate affinity (Echo, Fugue, Lull, etc.  If given to Rolina, would act as Lunar affinity.  If given to Evelyn, would act as Solar affinity.)

Basically, not only would the element of the djinn affect your classes, the fundament of the djinn would affect what form your spells take.  Give Rolina enough Solar aligned djinn, and her spells would act as though she was a dual-fundament adept (similar to how dual-element classes work), in this case mixing both Lightning and Astral spells.  This would also allow for spells to grow differently.  Here's an example...

Rolina normally learns Bolt → Flash Bolt → Blue Bolt.  However, when given a small influence of Stellar djinn, it may grow as Bolt → Flash Bolt → White Bolt, going less damage in the final tier, but striking a wider area.  If going with Solar, it could go Bolt → Bright Bolt → Spark Bolt, having less power but having a chance to inflict debuffs.

In doing this, everyone is mono-fundamental by their nature, but can branch out and do other things depending on the affinity of the djinn they have equipped.  It'd be possible to use all three aspects of an element this way, if you had your djinn laid out properly (ex:  Evelyn with 5x Water based djinn and 4x Steam based djinn would have spells representing all three aspects of Mercury).

Of course, this isn't Golden Sun at all.  I really like the idea, but to implement it I'd have to have a hard divorce from calling this a GS system.  Would it still work to make GS characters?  Yeah.  I think it'd work well.  However, you'd have to make small tweaks and adaptations to get it to work.

Locked Element Slots

The form now has a tab for each element.  To create an adept, you have to first go to the tab for their element and fill that out.

Tooltip support

I’ve received many questions about the GSCC that were flat out answered in the info tabs.  As such, I’m going to start relying more on in-line tooltip style info to make things easier to understand

These exist alongside the greater info tabs, not in lieu of.  Some things, like detailing Tri-Element roles, cannot be done via tool tips due to how... complex some of it can get.

Full Party Statistical Auto-Generation for all classes.

You heard me.  I’ve got this done - finished it a couple days ago and have been testing it against both canon stat values as well as some RP teams.  They look about what they’d be like they would in-game, which was the goal.

Biggest hurdle was figuring out how to handle tri-element classes, which my system hasn’t really offered any real support for until this version.

Skeletal support for full spell generation

The plan is to have a heavier implementation of drop down menus and autopopulation for spells.  Ideally, you can change what the stats and spells you have are on the profiles simply by changing the djinn, just like in the games. 

Had to redefine several shorthand abbreviations for spell types to do this.  They’re now 3-letter abbreviations compared to the two-letter from before.

So yeah, that’s just the things that have been done so far.  There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done, especially in regards to the spell creation tools.  I hope to implement equipment creation tools as well by the time it’s released, but I may need to push that back to v0.6α if it proves too time consuming.  The biggest hurdle, though, is going to be figuring out how to get some basic database functionality to work in Excel - specifically I need to make sure it will auto-populate cells based on selections made in a dropdown menu.  That’s... easier said than done.  However, once I figure that out, not only can I auto-fill your class spells by having you change class, I can make it easier to fill out the djinn table and should I get things done in a rather nice timely manner, maybe even weapons and armor as well.

All and all, things are looking rather up.  I hope to be able to provide monthly progress updates for this, so stay tuned in February.  And if you wanna get in on the development, pop by over into Golden Sunrise, where they often help me test my pre-release versions for bugs and the like.  Until next time, tootles~

Style 1:  Blink Assault

Rolina is mainly about a full force offense, completely embracing the philosophy of a blitzkreig. Her circuit spell allows her to close in on an enemy quickly and start up an unrelenting assault. This is very powerful, but also incredibly costly - she burns out quite quickly in battle, and is at a severe disadvantage in prolonged fights. In game, this is reflected by the Blink set of skills. It's a passive effect, allowing her a decent chance to counter priority moves, a near-zero chance to counter physical attacks, a low chance to counter spells, and a high chance to counter summons. This style has two main weaknesses - durable foes, and fast foes. Durable foes are able to simply outlast the assault. She burns through PP reserves like it was nothing, after all. Anything faster than her will actually cause her abilities to trigger less, to the point that a for who's Ivan-fast may very well drop her summon-counter chance to as low as 40%, putting her at a disadvantage.

Blink Assault revolves around the Circuit field spell.  Ordinarily, this spell works similar to the Grip spell in Dark Dawn in terms of functionality - teleporting the caster from point a to magnetic point b.  In combat, though, a lesser form of this known as "blink" can be used.  That technique is how this style works.  Here's the associated abilities:

Blink Cancel - Medium Chance - When an enemy uses a priority move, there a chance for the adept to take their turn instead, cancelling the priority status of the enemy's turn.  In this manner, things such as quick attacks, healing, or barriers can be delayed, and not only can the caster get in their turn first, but all allies faster than the target can strike before it as well.  This can only work on one foe at a time, so if two foes have a priority move, this can only steal the priority of one.

Blink Counter/Attack - 0 Chance - When an enemy uses a physical attack or a power spell (ex: Ragnarok) on the adept, there is a base zero chance that the adept will blink, causing the attack to miss.  They then retaliate with a standard physical attack.  This attack can critical, but it cannot trigger an unleash.  This can only occur once per turn.

Blink Counter/Spell - Low Chance - When an enemy uses a base attack spell (ex: Gaia) on the adept, there is a low chance that the adept will blink and the spell will miss.  They will then appear behind the enemy and will cast their strongest base attack spell, but will only hit the target they're retaliating against with it.  This can only occur once per turn.

Blink Counter/Summon - High Chance - When an enemy moves to use a summon (both in the Mk1 and Mk2 systems), the opening they present allows the adept to punish their action.  The adept has a high chance of blinking, causing any actions the summon does to miss them, and will then retaliate with the strongest power spell in their arsenal.  This has no limit to how many times it can happen in a turn.

The success rate of blink skills is based on two things - the base chance, and differences in agility.  The faster the adept is compared to the target, the more that gets added to the base chance.  The lower it is, the more that gets removed from the base chance.  This is done on a percentile basis, and the highest one can expect is an additional 25% chance to trigger the blink.  Furthermore, blinking cannot occur if the caster does not have the PP to preform the action.  Blinking in and of itself also casts PP, equal to that of the cost of the Circuit spell (2PP).

Style 2:  Artificer's Arsenal

Robert Joe is a crafter, and one of the people leading the big push to integrate psynergy into technology. This premier forger of magitech gear not only has the ability to make artifacts, but to also modify them to magitech versions of themselves, and even modify them to change and enhance their properties. These skills aren't all that much for combat, but that's why he builds drones to assist him in battle, and is able to make a decent variety of them for whatever situation comes up.

While there are many artifacts in the world of Weyard, there are also too many people who make these artifacts.  These are known as Artificers, those whom have the ability to craft wonderful pieces of equipment.  Their skills revolve around item creation and modification, and have interesting effects in battle as well.

Forge - the art of creating an Artifact.  This is typically done by taking a mundane item, adding a base material, and adding an enhancing material.  Through this, a wide variety of artifacts can be made, from arms and armor, to even special items unique to the artificer.

Convert - converts a piece of equipment into a moddable form (think magitech).  This gives arms and armor slots that allow an artificer to add interchangeable tweaks and enhancements - two for weapons, and one for each piece of armor.  This usually has a material cost associated with it based on what is being Converted into moddable form.  Converted weapons retain their unleashes, though mods can override their element and effect. Converted armor tends to simply get additional effects via mods.

Modify - installs a forged mod into a slot on any given weapon or armor.  The psynergy cost depends on the mod being installed and the artifact it's being installed into (ex:  Modding a Sol Blade would be quite pricy indeed).

Mods - a type of artifact unique to artificer use.  By using the Modify ability on a converted artifact, mods can enhance or changer the attributes of the artifact.  For example, installing a Celestial mod into the Sol Blade would cause Megiddo to drop a miniature star onto the enemies instead, dealing jupiter damage instead of venus.  Added a Stone mod onto Excalibur could cause it to do venus damage with the Legend unleash, essentially sending 1-3 ragnaroks into the enemy.

Adds - a type of artifact unique to artificer use.  Adds are miniature drones that an artificer can send into battle by using them as an item.  Up to three drones can be active at once (using another will deactivate the first one), and each will give a slight passive buff to the party (ex:  Buff a stat by 10%).  Ordinarily, that's all they do.  But when an unleash is triggered by the adept, the adds will open fire as well, causing a small multiplier in damage to the attack (10% per add).

Artificers are all about item creation, and are basically the way to go if you want to have a more magitech-themed golden sun character. 

Style 3:  Blaze Burner

Kale is a fire mage, and a pretty good one. Having been to an area like Magma Rock and learning Blaze, he felt it initially useless... but inspiration struck as he tried it out in battle. He's now able to direct the blaze spell to increase the radius of his spells, cause them to focus down on a single target, or even linger around a bit longer than normal. It's all about killing things with fire for him, so by utilizing this spell into his fighting style, he's able to expand on anything and everything flame based to take down his target. Of course, the obvious downside to using blaze as often is that it'll drain him faster, so he practices a healthy doze of strategy in his application of it.

So, Blaze.  That useless spell that Jenna got at Magma Rock, right?  Well, this style puts that spell to good use.  A blaze burner learns to cast blaze to enhance their own flame-based spells, giving them more power. 

Blaze Extend - Extends the radius of any flame aspect spell by one size.  This can apply to bestowed unleashes, power spells, base attack spells, anything that uses the flame aspect.  As such, spells that once strike 3 enemies now strike 5, spells that once struck 5 now strike 7, etc.  The magnitude of these spells is unchanged, though.

Blaze Focus - by lowering the magnitude of a spell, the actual power of the spell is enhanced by 20%.  If the spell's magnitude is already Low (ex:  power spells, bestowed unleashes), then the range is reduced by one (minimum of 1).

Blaze Burn - by lowering the power of a spell by 20%, the caster causes the area to catch aflame, causing damage equal to 25% of the spell's strength over four turns.  This does not stack - additional spells will overwrite the effect.

Blaze only works on flame aspect spells - acidic and explosive spells are unaffected.  As blaze is an active-use skill, it also will not work on howling unleashes.  When selecting a flame aspect spell, the option will be given to cast it normally, Extend it, Focus it, or Burn it.  The additional cost is equal to the cost of blaze times the number of default targets that a spell has (ex:  Blaze costs 2 PP.  using Blaze Extend on Inferno will cost an extra 10 PP to cast).