All,

I'm not sure what spurred me to make this post, but I felt like doing so anyway. I want to go over some of the new content in the update and my reasons for 𝘸𝘩𝘺 I decided to do it. I felt like I should clarify some things as I don't want people's expectations to be unrealistic. With that being said, I do think it will be worth a replay, but I don't want people to go in thinking the entire 60 hour experience is entirely different. Let me explain. I'll be posting images throughout to dictate my reasons.

Obviously the main draw to this update is the craft system. I've stated this previously that I think the game really benefits from it like no other fnafb game [to my knowledge] really does. I've always personally enjoyed being able to adjust your strategy by your equipment, and that wasn't changed here. However with how much equipment there was, most of them weren't especially viable once you got far enough into the game. I really think this mechanic helps by the famous saying: "Turning shit into sugar". I wanted people to be able to turn those no longer useful items into something with tangible value that gets stronger as you progress and face harder content. While I have not thoroughly tested the game yet, I have already adjusted stats to compensate. I can assure you that I do not intend on making it public until the testers and I are satisfied.

I do, however, recognize that some may be worried about the game being ridiculously grindy due to all the new items and materials that can be obtained. To rectify that, I decided to do an entire overhaul of not only the price of items, but also the drop system and shop setups. Item costs are lower, enemy drops are more common, and item/gold stacking is now a thing, and you are able to go past the normally capped double drop rates. I do want to emphasize that 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰. While I certainly expect people to interact with a core game mechanic or the balance will be more difficult, you should never feel forced or obligated to make absolutely everything you see. Trust me, you will drive yourself insane doing that. You guys know my style, I tend to add a LOT of options for you, and that is the case here, with over 250 new equipment and weapons already made and counting. I'm a big fan of Terraria if somehow the players couldn't tell, so there's a massive selection that should stay interesting for the entire runtime.

It should be a very interesting mechanic for you all to play around with and figure out ways to optimize your setups. I have overall made fights a little bit harder to compensate for the highly increased power the player can obtain, but if you dip into the system even occasionally, it should be a fun time.

The second point I want to get into is the Battle Hud and various battle changes I've made to the base game. While I think the old hud style is 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦, I was very much inspired when a good friend of mine made a battle hud concept and they were very kind to help me out with doing it. I know some people may say the hud doesn't feel like "it fits the fnafb atmosphere", but that was never the intention of this game to begin with. I always desired to make the game something more than that. I decided to try a new approach, and I am very happy with it.

Another huge change I'd like to go ahead and put forward. A big criticism [rightfully so] is that for quite a few skills, it was impossible to determine if the skill was physical, magical, or something else. The damage displayed in the skill damage will now be a different color depending on the damage type. Physical is Red, Magic is blue, and certain hit skills are green. For the people who asked for something like this, I'm glad to finally have this for you.

Other battle changes include more damage amplifiers [which stack up to 100% bonus damage, so you can equip multiple accessories which increase a damage type] and more damage absorptions and repels. Bosses will also have more of these as well, so some should be really interesting challenges. I have reworked a few skills that allow you to apply breaks or give yourself absorptions, with more potentially on the way.

Here's an image of damage amplifiers being utilized. [without other setups like critting damage or using Omni Break on targets, or super optimizing my build]

Defensive equipment will be also important, as enemies themselves will also get access to moves and abilities that increase their damage. Stay dilligent!

Less of an essential change but one I think people will like. I've decided to add achievements for the game. You'll be able to login and obtain them like other games now. I have around 60 ish achievements but I could definitely add more. If you have ideas, let me know. :)

...Now I'd like to get into something else, which is... 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 *𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵* 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?

As much as I'd like to say the entire game would be getting new stuff, I simply don't have the drive to continue adding tons of new areas and bosses to the base game, because it's so large already. I am currently adding a new area to the Satori Scenario, but it'll be lucky if I even have the motivation to fully finish it. I'll try to commit when possible however. Aside from that, some areas will be receiving reworked maps like the original iteration of the Sister Location Maps from Sivelos. I've remapped them to fit my own personal taste in map design [and caring more about maneuverability over accuracy]. I'll also be remapping that tiny little forest Ennard gets in before Night 3, it's really bland and I'd like to rework that area a bit. I want people to be excited for the new content, but don't expect an overwhelming amount of it. It's not a full game do-over if that's what you're thinking.

There will of course be a couple new boss fights, and most of them have received a slight tune up to a full on rework as some of them were more like uninteresting meat sponges than anything else. Most of that effort went towards the boss gauntlet in the Dark Route, as most of them were just free wins as they couldn't really harm Ennard whatsoever. Rest assured, you'll be powerful, but so will the enemies you encounter there. I hope you're looking forward to it!

My last desire for the update was to focus on performance related issues. It's no shock to anyone that the game ran a little sluggish once you got far enough into the game, or just outright started crashing due to memory issues once you got into the late game and started battles. I have now patched the game with a memory expander, which will let the game application utilize more memory. So far I have experienced no crashes due to memory during my current testing, the same going for the infamous movie crashes. I can't promise that performance for everyone will be flawless; I will have a better understanding of it closer to release.

Another discovery I found was that the number of save files could also negatively impact game performance. As much as I'd like to give the players more save slots, I valued game performance over accessibility of saves. I have lowered the total amount of slots to 40, down from 99. I know some will be disappointed, but I hope you can understand my point of view. Thank you.

To close out, I'd like to formally apologize for some of the rude comments I've made over the years to both the official games and other devs. I definitely had a giant ego and thought I was some game design master when in reality my viewpoint was very narrow. I hope we can continue to grow this community and become more accepting of all devs and their talents to make the game they desire, no matter how others may share their opinions. There is a place in this community for all game types, not just modern or "balanced" ones. I've never truly showed my appreciation for the fan works, games, and art people have made for EVE. All of those mean the world to me.

Please look forward to the update. It will be quite some time before I think I will feel ready to release it, but I don't anticipate it to take me all year. Most of the work is really just gameplay related, which I will do extensive testing for. As always, everyone is free to leave a comment about their thoughts or an open discussion. I'll hopefully have some more info to share in the coming month or two. See you around folks!