Hostile spells

[Bipbipbopbop]

One thing that's been bothering me in the games I've played so far is that my characters keep learning these massive amounts of hostile spells or abilities (but especially spells) and never have a reason to use them. The only real use I've seen for them so far is in duels, and it's so difficult to start a duel (at least for me) that the spells just don't seem worth it. (Though part of this may be a bug, since I used 'Declare Vendetta' on Philippe Marchant with a -10 relationship and nothing happened to start a duel, not even an adventure. I'm not sure what was going on there.)

 

What benefits do characters get from casting unfriendly spells that decrease the skills of other students or hurt their relationships? There are so many of these spells in the game that you'd think they would be a really important part of the Academagia experience, but so far I've never had a reason to use any (and when I did anyway, it didn't appear to affect anything relating to my character at all). Since the other students don't appear to go on Adventures, explore or so on, many spells that decrease their skills don't seem to have an effect on what they do, either.

 

I think it would be great if hostile spells could be used in Adventures as an alternative way to get out of problems. That student needs intimidating, but your character can't intimidate? Just blast them with a spell that decreases their courage! Is that thief in the market about to get away, but you don't have the skills to stop them? No problem - just trip them up with that spell you learnt that deals 2 points of damage to their vitality!

 

Another thing that would make sense in light of hostilities in the real world is if the player's character gained some benefit simultaneously. For example, bullies often bully because it makes them feel better about themselves, or more powerful. What if a hostile spell not only afflicted the target, but also gave your character a boost to a skill like confidence or intimidation? Alternatively, perhaps casting a negative spell would imbue the caster with a positive emotion (unless they had a high ethics or character skill and felt guilty about it, probably).

 

Of course, more duels would also make sense.

[Legate of Mineta]

Bipbipbopbop;

 

Hostile Spells are primarily for messing with your foes and for general use in Combat. That said, we are putting the finishing touches on a system which will enable you to use Spells (not just Hostile) in Stories for Year 2.

 

It's amusing suggestion to to tie Confidence and Intimidation expansions with those Spells, though- and not too far off the mark.

[Mumbles]

About the dueling, I only used it once and that was awhile ago, so this is from memory.

 

After declaring your vendetta, you must select Adventure. You'll find an adventure (can't remember what it's called) about the duel. During that adventure, the combatants set up a place and time (mine was in 2 weeks). The event is marked on your calendar. When that day arrives you'll go to the duel screen.

 

Note: Make sure you check out the spells you want to use and the necessary phemes. You will need to add each pheme to your palette before you can cast the spell. There was no description for phemes or spells at the time I went through this, so it was pretty rough. Maybe roll-overs have been added since. I should check that out one of these days.

[Legate of Mineta]

Mumbles;

 

No Roll-Overs in Duels yet. Patch 8, 7 if we can help it.

[Ranielle Limeleaf]

Hostile spells overrepresented? Magic is for burning stuff to death, freezing stuff to death, disintegrating stuff to death and generally being a zombie moving slowly towards an unprotected sunflower.

 

I for one support the casting of spells in adventures in year 2, and will hope for more death and destruction unicorns and flowers.

[Bipbipbopbop]

About the dueling, I only used it once and that was awhile ago, so this is from memory.

 

After declaring your vendetta, you must select Adventure. You'll find an adventure (can't remember what it's called) about the duel. During that adventure, the combatants set up a place and time (mine was in 2 weeks). The event is marked on your calendar. When that day arrives you'll go to the duel screen.

 

Note: Make sure you check out the spells you want to use and the necessary phemes. You will need to add each pheme to your palette before you can cast the spell. There was no description for phemes or spells at the time I went through this, so it was pretty rough. Maybe roll-overs have been added since. I should check that out one of these days.

I know about the Adventure part, since I managed to start one other duel earlier. However, in the Philippe Marchant case I wrote about above, no Adventure about a duel came up in the list - I tried all of them one after the other, just in case it had an unintuitive Adventure name. That's why I think it might be a bug. (I also used Declare Vendetta again, to make sure the message got through. )

[Mumbles]

I know about the Adventure part, since I managed to start one other duel earlier. However, in the Philippe Marchant case I wrote about above, no Adventure about a duel came up in the list - I tried all of them one after the other, just in case it had an unintuitive Adventure name. That's why I think it might be a bug. (I also used Declare Vendetta again, to make sure the message got through. )

 

Well, drat. It took me a bit to check the Adventures for my first duel. Maybe Philippe is just a coward?

 

Seriously, it does sound like a bug.

[Legate of Mineta]

Bipbipbopbop;

 

I've tested Phillipe Marchant's Adventure, and it appears to work correctly. Using a Relationship of -10, I Declared Vendetta which revealed his Duel Adventure 'Sevart Honor'. Embarking on that formalized the date of the Duel, which was two Days later.

 

Is it possible that you scheduled the Duel, but then missed as you had future Actions scheduled? If you can provide more details on any circumstances relating to this issue, we'd appreciate it!

 

Thanks.