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Moar TriAnna and Affinities

In the last blog post, I only touched on how characters in LoTL learn their abilities, and covered some of the classes, but I'd like to go in-depth today.

You will remember that I mentioned that I am trying to tie in character abilities with their personality, but I'm going to expand on that today. By adding in Character Affinities. So I'm going to just go over that quick-quick.

Character affinites:

What are they, you ask? Well, affinities are tied to natural elements such as earth, air, fire and water.

Each affinity grants a special parameter bonuses as well as elemental reduction. If you are into astrology ( each character has a zodiac sign, after all ), you'll be able to guess which elemental affinity a character is tied to ( since the 12 zodiac signs are all divided into four elemental quadrants ). Actually, when designing the cast of LoTL, I used the astrological signs to give them a 'base' personality, and just took it from there.

For those of you who don't dabble in it, here are all 12 characters zodiac sign and affinity:



Tristian/Ira - Capricorn/Earth
Ianna - Pisces/Water
Percival - Cancer/Water
Edmund - Leo/Fire
Bedivere - Virgo/Earth
Darcy - Saggitarius/Fire
Trabant - Aries/Fire
Lance - Pisces/Water
Ronin - Gemini/Wind
Laine - Capricorn/Earth *
Siglud - Leo/Fire *


* Yes, they will appear as playable units here, given that the game worlds of Enelysion and LoTL are linked.

If you really are into zodiac compatibility, you'll realise Capricorn/Pisces make er... great bedmates :D.

Now then. How does this affect them in battle? Let me cover the basics:

Earth characters take less damage in battle ( being sturdy, stoic, rocklike personalities ) and half damage from all earth-based damage.

Water characters are a little more fragile, taking more damage ( being emotionally sensitive and almost otherworldly ), but are actually healed from all water-aligned attacks. It does however, make them vulnerable to thunder magic.

Fire characters deal more damage in battle ( being impulsive, rash individuals ) and take half damage from all fire-based damage.

Wind characters tend to evade more attacks and deal more magical damage ( being swift-thinking individuals who pride themselves on their intellect ).



I'm not too sure about giving them elemental-based attacks without distancing it from game lore ( had magic been a concrete part of Eridanus' world building, it would have made more sense for my characters to be fire-flinging, ice-freezing elemental gods ), but it is not the case. I suppose I could tie the skills to the Crysali orbs which grant new skills, but being more restricted; aka Earth-aligned characters can only equip Earth-based orbs. After all, you either have the option to bolster character stats with the Crysali, or wait until you've got about 5 of them so it can be manufacted into a Magi ( yes, I decided to use Dyhalto's suggestion there XD ).



Ok, so enough of gameplay for now. I want to discuss something else, something that concerns our two lovely heroines.

As someone who takes a lot of inspiration from blueperiod's LINUS, I thought it would be an excellent idea to show flashbacks of how TriAnna met as youngsters, and how their growing friendship stagnated due to Tristian's military duties, which explains why Tristy is so rigid to Ianna in the beginning of the game; they've grown apart, until a rather heart-wrenching scene early in the game, when they both drop their restraints, how alone Ianna felt after Tristian's departure or how Tristy herself copes with the rigors of her training ( there's a reason her base stats are so incredible, after all ).

The flashbacks are quite valuable in a character-driven narrative, after all. The game is also meant to take place over a period of about three years.


Young Tristian. blueperiod did the sprite for me. ^^ Yeah, she clearly has no muscles at this point. Skinny little thing.

Not to sound biased or anything, but I really can make a whole game centered around the Trianna relationship-dynamic. I'm more attached to them now than what I ever was to Lainey and Co.

As for other stuff, I've been mapping the first town in the game too. I've taken to researching how towns are structured from the 16-bit CPRG era, but I also know how cramped medieval towns can be. This should not necessary translate into gam-mak. After all, no-one wants to navigate their players through one-tile wide streets, which could be further aggravated by an NPC that just refuses to move.



The pool in the above image is actually a water resiviour since Eridanus as a whole receives lots of rainfall. Which is why it's so green, but also because its based off medieval England. The town has crafted canals to distribute clean water to the residents, but there are 'water-bearers' who take the freshwater to higher-lying areas of the town ( hence those large, terracotta jars ).

I could go on at length about Trianna, their game world and everything tied to it, but as always, I don't want to get ahead of myself and post stuff that I may not even implement. XD But I'm quite sure you can tell, I have as much fun as writing these blogs as I do making the game itself.

And yay. 180 Subbers! 20 more to break 200! :D :D :D I'm very chuffed, given that the game is still in its demo phase. You guys are great!

Posts

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Sounds really cool. I love when a character's traits carry over into combat. It makes an otherwise by the book job class into something unique and one of a kind. On a somewhat related note, I hate it when an NPC gets in your way and doesn't move.
manufacted into a Magi ( yes, I decided to use Dyhalto's suggestion there XD )

My 15 minutes of fame begin now >:D
Holy shit! Are you telling me that Laine and Siglud are going to be playable in this game? Holy shit…! :O

Well – I know who I want on my team! :D

And, hey, Darcy and I share the same sign, so I guess that makes her party member four by default. :P
@macblo: Yes, an NPC obscuring a one-tile path is a pet-peeve of mine. One the one hand, I like to keep my towns fairly compact, but not to the point that the player will be suffering from a mild case of claustrophobia.

@Dy: I still want to work with you one day on your favourite engine. XD Maybe for the next McBacon Jam.

@Addit: Seems we share the same star sign, lol. Laine and Siggy were scheduled to appear in the older demos, but I decided to hold it off until now. After all, Tristy needs all the allies she can get. Especially now that she's an ex-Knight of the Order.


Addit's friends. XD May edit Lainey though.
You're just trying to cheer me up ;_;

I will continue my solitary journey, and eventually bestow upon this world the biggest indie TRPG ever seen.
Or certainly the biggest Fire Emblem "inspired" TRPG, anyway.
That RMN has ever seen.
@Dy: Then I'd definitely want to help you on that. =) After all, LoTL is sort of what would had happened had FE been a true RPG. Since Ianna is a different take on the usual blue-haired Lord, and Tristy would be that Jeigan-type figure.

Oh wait. Tristy isn't a Jeigan. She's a Sigurd. XD
LoTL will be on a brief Hiatus while I Jam with the rest of my team-mates ( unity, Red_Nova and JosephSeraph ) but will resume sometime during September. Just giving a heads up.
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