Fallen Wings

To better explain some of the changes going on in Version 2.0, I've decided to create individual blogs for groups of changes, as I approach them in the game. This is the first change that I'll be attempting to make, so its the first that I'll tell you about. This will be updated when the change has been fully made.

I received a lot of comments, some good, some bad, about how unbalanced some of these characters were, specifically Artys. I thought about it for a while, and decided to recreate her character altogether, to add another dynamic layer to the battle system.
Artys' skills now consist of several groups, the most basic are these four: Minors, Majors, Dynamics, and Tales. The Minor skills deal damage to enemies, and apply debuffs, the Major skills heal the party, and apply some HoTs. Tales are buffs to the party, or debuffs to the enemies. Dynamics are the biggest change. These skills actually affect the strength of Artys' skills. Using the Chrono Cross Color Field script, found here on RMN http://rpgmaker.net/scripts/29/, there is a small bar of icons in the top right corner of the battle field. Minors skills will add one minor symbol, increasing Artys' damage, and Major skills will add one major symbol, increasing healing. Tales don't add much, but the Dynamics use this feature to change gameplay entirely. Dynamic skills follow real dynamic markings in music (Crescendo, Forte, Decrescendo, etc.). They then increase the power of certain types of Artys' skills, while decreasing the power of others. For example, Forte would create a large bonus to the Minor skills, causing Artys to deal more damage, however it would become more difficult to heal as a result. You have to play your dynamic markings carefully in order to efficiently win a battle.

Another large change in Artys is her instruments. There are several instruments, of various levels, that you can choose to have Artys use, and each one provides certain bonuses:
Harps: Lull and Lust - All Minor skills have a chance to inflict Sleep, all Major skills remove mind oriented status effects. The sleep infliction is nice, but its not what harps are all about. The beauty of these instruments is that as they get better, they remove more and more status effects. This is great, because Artys doesn't get many chances on her own to remove statuses.
Lutes: The Bard's Ally - Major skills heal for more health. This is the simplest instrument for people who want Artys to heal. Every tier that the Lute goes up in (For example Bronze to Steel) Their is an additional 2.5% healing boost. That may not seem like a lot at first, but by the final instrument, it is quite useful.
Ocarina: Nature's Scale - Some Minor skills are nonexistant, some Dynamic skills are nonexistant, all major skills add a Mana Over Time and you get a new Major skill: Cadence Major: Heals the party and clears makes the entire Staff (Field of symbols) Major symbols. The Ocarina is only for the hardcore healers, no one else should use it. Its great that you get Mana over time from everything, and that you can make the entire staff be Major, giving your heals a bonus, but is it really worth giving up many Minors and Dynamics? Always ask yourself that before buying an Ocarina.
Flute: Beautiful Medley - All Minor and Major skills add Dynamic bonuses to the Staff. This bonus is huge! It means that you no longer have to use Legato to increase the power of your heals, using a Major skill can do it for you! This makes it much easier to balance the use of strategy and healing/damage.
Horn: War Cry - All Minor skills have increased damage and decreased Mana cost. There you have it, the best instrument for people who want to defeat enemies using Artys. All Minor skills now deal more damage, and are easier to use! What more could you ask for!
Timpani: Atonal Beat - Every Minor skill that you use provides you with an additional Minor symbol in the staff, increasing Minor damage by more, but decreasing Major healing. In addition, at higher levels Artys gains the skill War March: Boosting all allies attack power by 50% for 3 turns. This is also useful for people who want Artys to Nuke everything in sight, however you need to ask yourself if you really want to risk the decrease in power to your Major skills.

Of course, just like all characters, Artys is getting a remade weapon and armor set. However, she is also getting a completely redone skillset (Only three characters in the game are getting that, and they'll be the first things I take care of). Under the Minors and Majors, there are several levels of skills:
Chords: The first skill in both sets, hits one target.
Phrases: More powerful, but still only hits one target.
Refrains: Inflicts a two turn HoT or DoT on the target.
Ode: Inflicts all targets for small Damage/Heatlh.
Rhapsody: Inflicts all targets, Medium Damage/Health and applies a Dot/Hot.
Coda: The ending piece of a movement, heals one ally massively, or damages one enemy massively. Requires the progression of three Rhapsodies, Odes, Refrains, Phrases, or Chords to use (Of that type, Major or Minor), and resets the counter.
Finale: The ending piece, heals the party massively, or damages all enemies massively. Requires two Codas to use, or Six Rhapsodies, Odes, Refrains, Phrases, or Chords (Of that type, Major or Minor)and resets all counters.

As I said earlier, Dynamic markings create bonuses for Minor or Major skills, and some even allow you to reach Codas faster. The final dynamic marking is D.S al Coda, allows you to instantly use your Coda in the next turn. However, this skill has a one time use per Finale set. Each Finale will reset the use of D.S al Coda, but you can only unlock one Coda that way before each Finale.

Tales are really only huge buffs and debuffs. Some of them are Tonal though, meaning they affect your song skills. For example, Minor Tone Tales will add a Minor symbol to the staff, and vice versa with the Major ones.

I understand that the new Minstrel policies are a lot to wrap your head around, they are for me too. But don't worry, I'll get started on them as soon as possible and I'm sure they will become easier with time :) After I finish completely updating Artys, I'll move onto the next character.