This week, I was brainstorming on how to implement a new skill into the game. It would be a skill that would allow you to scan enemies to view information such as their remaining HP, weaknesses, etc. While looking up how to create such a skill, I ended up diving deep into adding new plugins for the game, and boy are there a lot of great quality of life changes coming to Crimson Veil!

Let's start with this screenshot since it embodies much of what has been changed with battles.

Let me break down what's new. First off, weather effects in certain battles will now occur, such as in the rainy mountainside area before the library. Secondly, the UI's color scheme has been changed. Red for HP, Light Blue for SP, and a light Yellow for LP. These colors have also been changed on the overworld UI so now they both look consistent. Third change is on the left where you have your commands. Battles will now default to this menu, so if you want to flee a battle, just hit the back key first. I should also mention that text in the battle log that is redundant, like miss text and failure text have been removed to streamline the battles. Fourth change is where the red arrow is pointing. It may be hard to make out in the picture, but there is now a small number next to the debuff on the ghoul to show how many turns the debuff (or any states) will last. This change also applies to you, so any buffs or debuffs can be better planned around.

The fifth change to battles  can't be seen in this last picture, but when you are fighting an enemy you have already defeated once, an HP Gauge will now be displayed underneath them! This makes some parts, like the villager horde battle near the end of chapter 2 easier to plan around. The bar will only be displayed for the selected enemy in a case where you are fighting multiple at once.

Be aware however, that repeated enemies such as the ghouls have different enemy IDs, so just because you beat one ghoul, doesn't mean that all ghouls will have their HP displayed going forward. For example, A ghoul with black hair, and one with red hair, while being the same enemy statistically, are not considered the same enemy type in the game's database. The same goes with higher level versions of the same monster. Basically, if it doesn't have an HP bar after you've already beaten it, consider it a new enemy type.

The new skill that you will earn in this update will allow you to view the enemy's information and display their Health Gauge for the remainder of the fight! Useful for boss fights!

There's still more changes to go! Next, let's cover the new save screen!

This is the new save screen! It displays much more useful information now, particularly where you have saved and how many contracts you have completed! Additionally, you can now have a max of 30 save files! With this change, it should be easier for you to save at your favorite points in the game and replay them whenever you want without having to load a save and see if its the one you wanted to play! You can also load your save file directly from the game's menu without having to return to the title screen!

Speaking of Contracts...

I have finally managed to add a quest journal to the game!

This was a pain to set up and is what took me nearly the whole week to get done, but the effort has paid off! As you can see in the picture, quests are divided between Main, Side, and Contracts. Instructions are laid out for you every step of the way, so you hopefully shouldn't need to consult my walkthrough as often on where to go! The objectives won't give you puzzle clues, but they will tell you where you are in a quest in case you forget! As of now, there are officially 19 quests of varying length in the game. I'm sure this requested feature will be greatly appreciated! 

The journal will become available after accepting the first contract in chapter 1. It is unavailable during the Vampire Route and Bianca's Diary

There are some other miscellaneous changes here and there, but they are relatively small and are mostly fixes to areas that became incompatible with the new plugins. I have said it before and I will say it again, you will need to use my included save files or begin the game over for these new changes to work. 

 One last helpful feature for those who have played the game a dozen times is that I've also included a Super Fast Forward feature! Before, holding down the Space or Enter key would skip dialogue pretty quick, but with this new plugin, you can simply press Page Down to blast through scenes like never before! It was certainly useful when I was testing the myriad of bugs this week, that's for sure!

Is that enough info for one update? Yeah... Yeah I think so too...

See you next week!