xREL.v3

Update 4:
What's New:
Added friendly NPC interactions with a number of new characters, many of whom are locked away behind insidious challenges that can only be accessed by powering a Materia Modus to lower the local water level.

New main quest to find and free the Outcast Fane, who will provide a hunting guide for the Eidolon and Animus. (He then sets up as a vendor in the Saurian camp, as added in Update 3.)

New Faction quest to find and free The Shambler Meridian, who will open The Bazaar of The Arcane in Marcaul and offer high level magic items for sale.

New Faction quest to find and free the Outcast Dahlia, who will teach the player several Rune Formulas.

New Faction quest to find and free the Deep Elf Severn, who will provide a map location for a hidden area.

New Faction quest to find and free the Expedition dwarf Quater, who will provide a map location for a hidden area.

Series’ mainstay Rawstag the Troll -- who really has a lot to say -- has taken up residence in The Bazaar of The Arcane

Several new enemies added:

The Bellum, a blind “headless” charger w/ tongue ranged attack

The deadly Poison Bellum

The stealthy Shadow Beast

Updated Fixes:
Combat tuned to be more strategic, with the addition of a shove attack (which can interrupt some enemy attacks or push them off ledges) and fan-requested combat music, which reinforces when enemies are aggroed on you.

Updated in-world loot pass, added new weapons, armor, and gear items to increase the variety of loot and further reward exploration.

Added Rune formulas and increased the Runes found in-world to encourage deeper exploration of magic. New Fehu (Beast) Rune added, increasing the number of spells players can craft, such as Create Beast (which spawns a Deep Slug with a flammable trail), Create Bellum, and Harm Beast.

Improved tutorial sequence and smart hint system to teach elements that players were missing (such as advanced combat attacks and bow zoom) or unclear about (status effects like hunger and exhaustion).

Updated UI/UX elements, such as:

? Improved map icons and readability.

? More prominent notifications when you unlock a new Rune or enter a new region.

? The Rune Wheel now has additional commentary regarding target and use of the currently-crafted spell, along with UI styling to make it clearer that you can click on spell names in the Spellbook to ready them.

? The tooltip for the Rune Bag now includes the Spellbook name (if available) of the currently-readied spell.

? The Doom Counter now properly shows itself on the HUD when its value changed.

? Tooltips in the Trade screen now show the resale value of items in your inventory, not just those in the “Your Offer” area.

? Improved readability of inventory annotations for stack counts and Rune Formulas.

Many other improvements, fixes, and additions, such as:
Improved load time and frame-rate optimization. Try turning up your quality settings!

Improved controller support.

The Join a Faction feature now unlocks at gaining 50 Favor, allowing purchase of Faction specialty stock.

Reduced the strength of the standard stone arrows, but added two new arrow types available from vendors. Steel-tipped arrows are roughly comparable in damage to the prior value for stone arrows. Sniper arrows add a bonus to Adroit damage for those with Stealth skills.

Enemies will be less inclined to equip bows if the player is close by.

Reduced the force applied to carried objects (like crates) if the object encounters obstacles. This will make things noticeably more controllable when, for example, holding objects up against doors.

Reaching the Vault of Nyx will now enable the New Game Plus option in the main menu. As long as you have the autosave file from this point in the game (or any save game made from a “New Game Plus” game afterwards), choosing the “New Game” option at the main menu gives you the option of starting your game already in Marcaul, with a starting allowance of silver, skill points, starting runes and basic gear.

Fixed the accounting for several Feats that were not being granted properly, such as Firestarter, Meteoric Demise, and Weaponized Slug.

Nether Caps were not set to be a potential food for Deep Slugs, as intended.

Aelita will have more cash on hand for making purchases in the late game.

Rune Formulas branded on wands with the Focus Mastery skill are now preserved in saved games.

High-level Ehwaz Rune (Movement) spells were knocking creatures down, but not applying forces as intended. Now they can really throw them around.

In cases where there are no hostile targets available, harmful spells will now target any available non-hostile NPCs in preference to targeting the caster themselves. Remember: be careful what you wish for!

The 5% speed penalty for the Left-footed Boot was confusing to describe, because it came on top of the 5% penalty all leather boots carry (if you don’t have the Fleet Feet or Unseen Dash skill). Changed it to a flat 10% penalty even if you have skills. That’s what happens when you wear just a Left-footed Boot.

Chests are now opened and closed by interacting only with their lids, not their whole bodies, to help avoid unintended interactions while gathering loot.

Fixed a scale error when the interaction outline effect was applied to certain characters, such as The Mana Leech.

Spectral Knights now sport a variety of fearsome helmets.

Adjusted damage applied when the player-character falls on enemies; the Pounce skill will now be needed to get really good damage in this case (as intended). Also fixed Pounce skill’s eligibility for bonuses that apply to Adroit damage.

Many graphical fixes to the environment.

Various metal doors that were difficult to open have had their hinges oiled.

Arrow traps now actually hurt.

Fixed an edge case preventing the completion of side quests that require finding specific items in chests.

Weapon skills now call out which weapons they apply to.

Various text fixes.

Subtitles are now properly spaced over the closing cinematic.

Pendulum traps now swing smoothly. Tick. Tock.

Respawn points have been added to Pluto’s Gate and Marcaul so new players don’t have to retrace their steps if experiencing an untimely demise.

Fixed an issue preventing New Game + from consistently unlocking for players who complete the game.

Amount of awarded skill points and silver now grows with subsequent New Game + playthroughs.

Enemies should no longer dip through the ground when getting up from a knockdown.

Players hands no longer jitter when moving on stairs.

Cabirus’ death mask now appears during the [redacted] ending sequence.

Quest rewards no longer fall off of their pedestal before the player can claim them.

The game no longer hitches when the player equips water arrows for the first time.

Players can now pick up stackable items if that stack isn't full yet while the rest of the player’s inventory slots are full.

Player hunger state now persists across level and save game loads. Bring a sandwich!

Arrow traps now cause damage to the player.

Vases make sounds when smashed.

Pressing "i" will now open and close your inventory.

Fixed an issue where if the player saved their game with certain timing they would not receive the Sun Key quest reward. This fix is retroactive, meaning it will fix previous save games with this issue.