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Magic System

  • Ramza
  • 11/18/2009 01:39 AM
  • 1004 views
The magic system has now officially been implemented into the game, don't expect to see it in a demo anytime soon though, the actual system isn't actually encountered in the game for a long time. The system is pretty unique and quite different from the first Mana Conquest, so I will describe it here.

Most characters in the game will not start with any sort of magical aptitude, while some are clearly less physically inclined, their usefullness won't truly be realized until the party finds a way to utilize the Mana Stones to teach those characters magic.
After a way to use them has been discovered, a black mana stone can be used to unlock black magic in a character, and a white mana stone can be used to unlock white magic. The stone is used up in the process.
Immediately after unlocking either black or white (or both) that character will begin to accumulate 'Essentia Points'. Those points stack up on maps that have enemies on them (perhaps the imminent danger speeds the growth of their magical abilities?). Before the points can be used, however, the character must set a base element.
The character is given a choice of eight elements, the one he chooses is the one that character is stuck with until he can afford the 100 EP cost to change elements. Setting an element determines which black magic spells you will learn, and which abilities you can raise through the 'Train' screen.
After the element is set, the character can then spend their EP on the learn or train screens. The cost of the spells varies by how strong it is, the cost of training goes up exponentially if you keep buying ranks in the same stat.
If a character changes elements, he will keep all the spells he already learned, as well as all the training ranks he already had. If he switches back to that same element afterwards, he will pick up right where he left off. Through this system, any character in the game can learn all of the spells in the game. The training system can be used to further customize characters (turning a middle of the road type character into a powerful fighter, or a strong mage, for example).
Despite this customizability, some characters are still more predisposed to certain tasks. Strong Mage-type characters can usually only wear light armor, which doesn't generally give the stats that a strong fighter would need, so you wouldn't be able to (easily) switch those roles. The reverse is also true, Eidan's low MP pool make him a pretty lousy mage, if you beef up his MP using EP, he still can't use light armor, which hurts his MAG stat compared to a pure caster.
below is a video of the system in action (it seems a bit confusing at first, mostly because of the speed at which I run through it)


My hope with the way this system is set up, is that people may have to choose between learning all the spells or making their characters stronger. While magic provides a strategic bonus to the battles, some characters have such low MP that they wouldn't provide the same benefit as using their EP to increase their ATK or SPD.

Posts

Pages: 1
That is awesome, can't wait to see this in the demos!
Pages: 1