Second Stellar v0.2: Ocean of Storms

Major Additions:

Difficulty System Rework:

A new difficulty system has been implemented, the Surge system. Each stage has a set of default Surges and their own personal Surges which can be selected to add challenge to a run. Each Surge selected will also amplify the amount of Mnemoria and Aptitude gained at Voyage end. Additionally, each stage has new unlockable Memories which are obtained by reaching a certain threshold of Surge Level. More difficult Surges are worth more Surge Level.

New Main Story:

Chapter 2 of the Main story has been implemented, including 6 new Main Story scenes. This transition chapter leads the Starfarers to the Whalers in search for a way to gain access to the Pillar, as well as introducing some new characters to the story.

New Stages:

Added 2 new stages.

The Southstop: This derelict trading hub marked the Pillar's southernmost point ere the Divide first began to rage. Foes arrive from below in dangerous hordes, supported by rallying enemies that provide area buffs.

The Cygnus Loophole: The Great Divide lives up to its moniker, but the lethal storm is at its weakest here, near where the old Pillar was sundered. Lightning will still scour these asteroids, damaging friend and foe alike, but you may yet survive to tell the tale.

New Weapons:

Added 2 new weapons.

Beast of No Nation: Control the battlefield with this jet-powered spear. Special is a Dash that can execute weak foes. Burst inflicts Fear. During Burst, defeating foes with Fear will Charge active weapon's Special.

The Briarchord: Conjure Bloomsong summons to attack foes, even when off-field. Weave random Blooms and consume them with Special or Burst for unique effects.

New Skills:

Each character has been given new skills.

Asphodene:

Rampart: 3 cost. Gain 15% Defense.

Collector's Heart: 3 cost. Gain 2 Grab Range. Heal 2% HP when collecting items.

Starwall: 4 cost. When taking damage, damage taken can not exceed 30% Max HP.

Pure Power: 4 cost. Gain 2 base damage.

Astral Alignment: 5 cost. When gaining a buff that can stack, gain one extra stack.

Eridani:

Pierce the Veil: 3 cost. Gain 15% Defense Penetration.

Tactics in Tandem: 3 cost. On Swap, Activate a random Memory. 12 second cooldown.

Ascended Potency: 4 cost. Gain 25% Effect Duration.

Swift Specialist: 4 cost. On Dash, gain Specialized for 1 second.

Mystic Incision: 2 cost. Add Defense to Crit Damage. (Reworked effect.)

Garridine:

Kinetic Transfer: 3 cost. When a Summon attacks, lower Dash cooldown by 0.1s.

A Wolf's Acumen: 3 cost. Gain 0.2 Movement Speed.

Master Machinist: 4 cost. Increase Summon damage bonus by 25%.

No Time For Caution: 4 cost. Lower defense by 15%, but lower Burst cooldown by 25%.

Avebury:

Reflective Merit: 3 cost. When a Memory Activates, Heal 1% HP.

Applied Arsenal: 3 cost. Gain 15% Memory Damage.

Even The Odds: 4 cost. Damage over Time effects deal 250% more damage to Elite foes.

Decay Theory: 4 cost. On hit with Special, immediately trigger all Damage over Time effects.

Expert Deduction: Adjusted to 5 cost.

New Character, Nemo:

A new character is available after completing Chapter 2. Nemo's kit revolves around dashes, survival, and elite-slaying.

The Whaler Captain: Innate Ability. Nemo's Dash is replaced by an Invincible grapple that targets the nearest foe to the cursor, dashing through them while dealing 100% Primary damage. On Dash End, gain Swiftness for 1 second.

Battle Spirit: 1 cost. Gain Fortified for 2 seconds when taking damage or On Dash End.

Quickstep: 1 cost. Swiftness grants an additional 0.3 Movement Speed.

Coyote Time: 2 cost. Invincibility from Innate Ability is extended by 0.5 seconds.

Reinforced Hookshot: 2 cost. Gain a Dash Charge.

A Fight To Survive: 2 cost. Gain 2% Lifesteal.

Dire Straits: 2 cost. When taking lethal damage, gain Last Stand for 5 seconds, preventing HP from dropping below 1. Once per Voyage.

Giant Slayer: 2 cost. Deal 20% more damage to elites.

Unending Pursuit: 3 cost. When dealing damage to Elite foes, deal an additional 1% Max HP. (3 second cooldown.)

Heart of The Hunt: 3 cost. When taking damage, lower all weapon cooldowns by 15%.

Captain's Command: 4 cost. On Dash, Activate partner's On Dash effects.

Adrenal Force: 4 cost. Crit Damage is converted to Memory Damage. Crit Chance is converted to Defense Penetration.

New Memories:

Added 12 new Memories. Added a new type of Memory, "Rare Memories." These are 25% less common, and are denoted by a golden name.

Basketworld Ambrosia: Gain 1 Max Health. 15 second cooldown.

Reach Observatory Level 5.

Book of Few Shadows: When taking damage, gain Swiftness for 2 seconds. Gain 0.2 Movement Speed.

Reach Observatory Level 5.

Dream of Ascension: On heal, deal damage to nearby foes based on health restored.

Reach Observatory Level 6.

Shepherd's Sunstone: On Special, conjure a blade of light per Special charge to strike nearby foes, dealing 30% Special damage. 8 second cooldown.

Reach Observatory Level 6.

Cyclic Diagram: On hit with Special, Activate Special. 30 second cooldown.

Unlocked by completing a Voyage in the Forgotten Outskirts with Surge Level 8 or higher.

Fragmented Form (Rare): Summon a crystal that tracks foes. On Primary, the crystal attacks, dealing 15% Primary damage in an area while inflicting Vulnerability for 4 seconds.

Unlocked by completing a Voyage in the Forgotten Outskirts with Surge Level 22 or higher..

Sovereign Sea (Rare): Blast the highest HP enemy with churning water, dealing 550% Burst damage. (50 second cooldown.) Cooldown lowered by 1 second per HP loss or increase.

Unlocked by completing a Voyage in Dozmary, Lochworld with Surge Level 18 or higher.

Veilstruck Macrochip: When a Memory Activates, fire a homing beam that pierces 5 times, dealing 30% Primary damage.

Unlocked by completing a Voyage in The Neon Veil with Surge Level 12 or higher.

Phantasmal Inkwell: Gain Burstsurge for 8 seconds. (80 second cooldown.) Cooldown reduced by 1 second when defeating foes.

Unlocked by completing a Voyage in Phantasmal World Inkmarch with Surge Level 8 or higher.

Phantom In The Mirror (Rare): When Invincible, gain 1 Movement Speed and 40% Crit Chance. Invincibility after taking damage now counts as true Invincibility and scales with Effect Duration.

Unlocked by completing a Voyage in Phantasmal World Inkmarch with Surge Level 22 or higher.

Rogue's Last Resort: On Dash, consume 10% HP to gain Lifethirst for 3 seconds. On hit, consume a stack of Lifethirst to Heal damage dealt.

Unlocked by completing a Voyage in The Southstop with Surge Level 12 or higher.

Storm Eternal: Burst additionally counts as a use of Special. On Special, lower all weapon cooldowns by 1 second.

Unlocked by completing a Voyage in The Cygnus Loophole with Surge Level 18 or higher.

Additions, Changes & Fixes

Added Observatory level 5 and 6.

Added new achievements.

Yet There Is Gravity's Burst cooldown has been reduced to 18 seconds.

Fixed Garridine's drone dealing held weapon's Primary damage instead of its own damage. Adjusted tooltip to reflect its damage (100% base damage) Passive items that automatically trigger weapon abilities no longer consume a charge. Keyword changed to Activate.

Marble Over Oath's upgrade that lowers Primary cooldown on heal has been reduced to 0.2 seconds.

Adjusted sorting of the tutorial book.

Innate skills have a different colored icon in the Constellation.

When tracking projectiles have no targets, they'll disappear.

Added "common" titles to the regions of the map. Consolidated the two early regions into one region (they will continue to share bosses, etc.)

Added the next region of the game, "The Pillar." While the stage "Cygnus Loophole" takes place within the new region, because the boss of that stage is static, there is no new boss pool yet.

Added some more flavor locations in the Pillar.

Fixed modifiers being unable to bring weapon cooldowns negative.

Replaced the "Bonus Experience" and "Bonus Mnemoria" stats with Bonus Memory Damage and Bonus Summon Damage.

Avebury now innately has 15% Bonus Memory Damage and Garridine now innately has 15% Bonus Summon Damage.

Fixed Blossom Hilt activating on all Specials even when on cooldown.

Rerolls now get more common as the Voyage progresses, from a 1% drop rate to a 5% drop rate per enemy.

Fixed pause menu only showing Character 1's equipped Memories.

Hopefully addressed the issue wherein the pause input would not work under certain conditions.

Added new VFX when the effect for Bloodbloom's Perfusion triggers.

Each character now has innate Defense:

Asphodene 20%

Eridani 15%

Garridine 10%

Avebury 5%

Nemo 10%

Enemy scaling has been reduced- original enemy scaling has been moved to a Surge.

Healing now counts even if HP is at full for the purposes of memories and weapons.

Added a close game button to the title screen.

Added new menu dialogue, and removed dialogue based on Observatory progression (To be reworked)

Changes included after beta testing:

• Added extra checks to dashes to hopefully prevent dash collision bypassing problems.

• Briarchord Special cooldown increased: 2.5 -> 4.

• The skill Swift Specialist now has a 4 second activation cooldown.

• The skill Chain Stratagem should now correctly share the crit rate bonus to both characters.

• Surge Levels above 30 now grant the correct amount of bonus Aptitude and Mnemoria.

• Removed info about scrapped mechanic on the Cygnus Loophole stage.

• Enemy aura buffs can never buff enemy defense above 50%.

• Addressed certain Southstop enemies from persisting into the stage boss.

• Fixed an error that occurs when a sword attack is cancelled (for instance, when exiting gameplay)

• Addressed characters in story dialogue from being positioned in the wrong place.

• Fixed incorrect music hit after Cygnus Loophole stage boss.

• Adjusted the new boss's HP to match the HP of other stages bosses. (originally set lower due to the way the boss hitbox functions)

• Additionally, removed the ability to deal damage to the boss through attacking the guns.

• Fixed a bug wherein Meridian Ripple's Burst hitbox persisted, causing lag.

• Fixed a bug wherein completing the Forgotten Outskirts with 30+ Surge Level also granted the achievement for doing the same on The Southstop.

• Fixed issues with Korean translation display.

• Fixed formatting with negative stat values in certain places.

• Fixed Roguethirst buff icon.

• Adjusted descriptions to use "Max HP" instead of "Max Health"

• Fixed missing Health Regeneration from Prime Cut Level 2.

• Fixed Cyclic Diagram not firing properly.

• Fixed error that occurs when healing HP with a heart pickup after the voyage ends.

• Adjusted widescreen dropdown and fixed FPS settings not applying correctly. Removed default vsync.

• Resolution dropdown is much cleaner and only has resolutions instead of refresh rate.