Currency implementation continues on schedule. In fact, most of the main system is done, at this point, much of what’s left are things like as negotiation changes related to currency, new player “suggestion” updating, testing, and balancing.

The new Transmutations button replaces the old Training button. It provides access to advanced relic functions, which include all of the ones that use currency.

In the first pass of this system, you will find:

Copy Ability: Copies an ability from a demon to another demon, or to the player.

Delete Ability: Permanently deletes an ability from a demon. You don’t get anything for doing this… but, it can serve as a way to “adjust” the behavior of demons, so long as you’re alright with it being a permanent adjustment (or requiring use of Copy Ability to fix )

Fuse Demons: Sacrifice one demon to give a modifier to another, just like Silver and Gold Matrices used to do. I say “used to do” because they’ve been removed from the game. Fusing Demons is somewhat expensive, but you will no longer need to rely on the RNG to give you access to one of Demon’s most interesting progression mechanics.

Restore Demon: Revives a previously slain demon, replacing the functionality of Spirit Chimes, which have also been removed from the game. Restoring demons is also very expensive, but provides a method by which you can claw back from what might otherwise be a catastrophic loss of a key ally. In a slight change from before, you can no longer Restore a demon that was used in fusion.

Delete Demon: Nothing much to say here, this simply allows you to delete a demon if you find some reason you wish to do so. Like Delete Ability, you don’t get anything out of this.

We’re closing in on the release point for currency. I can’t deny it is likely to prove to have changed things significantly, nor can I deny it is likely to require some tweaking to get the balance right. But, I wish to reiterate that my goal here is to make the game and the choices it asks you to make more interesting *without* making the game easier. Cheers!

Have a screenshot, and below it, a brief explanation.

Currency, found throughout the Tower, is in part being used to replace some older under performing or troubled systems. Two such systems are the “training point” system used to transfer abilities between demons and the “ability teaching” system used by the player’s main character to learn abilities from demons.

These systems were good first passes, but time and feedback had exposed some flaws in them: training points tended to accumulate both too slowly and too quickly. Players often felt obligated to keep demons around for a significant period of time just to transfer their abilities around, and yet also, well-used demons tended to end up with tons of excess training points that could be used to game the system by teaching an ability to them from a demon with only 1 point, then using their much larger pool to spread it around as desired

The new system of simply buying training directly with currency is much more straightforward. Generally speaking, you have much more control over ability copying now (since it is no longer tied to individual demons’ training point pools)… but counterbalancing that are the facts that currency is a shared resource with other systems, and that training has been priced such that the total number of ability copies available will be less than before. Fewer, but better, ability copies, is the outcome.

You may notice the main character has a training cost listed as well: direct purchase of training has also replaced the “ability teaching” system. However, one old rule still applies: while the main character can be taught by demons, they cannot teach demons. This allows starting abilities and abilities learned by defeating heroes to remain semi-restricted and powerful, since they still cannot be immediately copied around to an entire party just because the main character learned them.

More details about these systems, as well as information about the other things currency will be useful for, will be coming soon. Cheers!