Washed Ashore

v0.2.3 This is the largest patch since the 0.2 rework. The story now opens at sea, Mili's route begins, chapter 4 gets its first night event, and combat and the economy got a full rebalance. There was no public 0.2.2; everything planned for it is included here. New story content A new opening. The prologue now starts on Willy's boat, where you meet Jennifer and fight off an Angry Mermaid before you ever reach the island. Willy and Jennifer fight alongside you on their own. Jennifer's night on the boat. An adult scene with 10 CGs. With adult content off, the night cuts to the next morning. A new past for the protagonist. He was accused of attacking a politician who hurt himself on purpose to win votes. Proving it is the open question. Mili's route begins. In "Delivering the Contract" you spend a night at her house over her map table, with three choice points and an adult segment. In "The Ruin After Dark" she takes you to a ruin that only opens at night, and you face a fight you aren't meant to win. The Sealed House (chapter 4). Four days after the ruin you can sneak out of town to an abandoned cabin and find a notebook called Atlas, but you aren't alone in there. If you run, the story continues with the notebook in your hands. If you stay and fight, you get a new bad ending with 7 CGs. Yarrow's dream. A short scene with 2 CGs the first time your party is defeated. Injuries. A badly hurt companion sits out for a few days, with a lower HP cap and a wounded portrait. Around 100 wording and continuity fixes across every scene after the landing, in both English and Portuguese, plus a Codex entry for Jennifer and rewritten lore entries for the cast. Combat and balance Tougher bosses. The Bone Warden, the Ember Tyrant and the Bandit Lord have more HP, new skills and a pattern per phase. Each one announces a signature attack (Grave Toll, Caldera, Gallows Call), and you'll want to Defend when you see it coming. A well-prepared party at the expected level should win about a third of its attempts. Physical skills scale at 1.5x STR, Defend halves the damage you take, a stunned boss can't be stunned again for 2 turns, and dungeons open in order. Enemies have base levels and grow stronger inside deeper dungeons. XP drops off against much weaker enemies, so farming goblins no longer prepares you for a boss. Every monster has its own drop table. Bosses drop unique materials, and the tier 3 upgrades at the tavern and the forge need them. Crafted items now sell for more than their ingredients. Several easy gold loops were closed, and losing a fight costs you half of the loot you were carrying. Mili's order is always offered and gives you 5 days to deliver. New items: items with an element, the Spore Pouch, and Phoenix Ash, which revives a fallen companion. Sorrel now sells potions and herbs, and Hilde sells ore, sea glass and ink, 3 of each per day. The Rusty Flagon's level 4 unlocks in chapter 4. Mili learns Deadline and Dead Reckoning. Sleep and MP drain join the status effects. Battle presentation Heroes appear as chibi sprites in a two-row formation, and attackers leap to the center of the field to strike. Every skill has its own effect, and each element looks different: fire, ice, arcane, shadow, holy and the new lightning. Hits kick up debris and leave marks that match their element, and each location has its own weather behind the field. Most enemies now breathe and move while idle. The Dream Eater, the Angry Mermaid and the new white creature have full animation sheets, and the Dream Eater enters a second phase below half HP. Falls, knockouts and boss intent warnings are animated, and a new end-of-battle panel shows gold, XP and level-ups. Combat audio was rebuilt so that important sounds cut through and the music ducks under big moments. Systems and UI The Almanac. A permanent progression tree with 25 upgrades in 5 branches, paid in gold and Insight. You open it from the tavern. Gathering and the apothecary. Gather ingredients, brew at the apothecary with a short minigame, and take what you make into the dungeon. Perla starts working the island's mine from day 3. The dockside moneylender is gone. Special orders and supply contracts are now a single Orders list. Companions screen. Party and equipment share one screen. Each level gives 3 points to spend, and no stat can go above your level. Luck, which used to do nothing, now has an effect. Gallery. Redesigned as a wheel of characters. Click one to see their scenes by name, then their CGs. Story CGs that belong to no one in the cast are kept under the protagonist. Relations. The relationship screen is now an animated graph you can drag and zoom, with lore scrolls and family members around the cast. Reading like Ren'Py. Save slots with thumbnails, skip for text you've already read (remembered across new games), Ctrl to skip, Tab or H to hide the UI, a clickable backlog, a pause menu on Esc, and saving anywhere in the prologue. The default window is now 1920x1080, portraits stay crisp at common resolutions, and the remaining screens support ultrawide. A map of the island appears when Mili talks about its biomes. Art and audio New visual-novel portraits for Jennifer, Zely, Hilde, Rhel and the protagonist, and a new default image for Noxie. Cleaned-up portrait backgrounds for Mili, Carol, Hilde and Willy. New music for Mili's night and for the chase in the woods, plus sea and gull sounds on the boat. Dedicated icons for the shop's materials and consumables. Fixes The pause menu no longer opens off-screen. CG files were reorganized, and older saves keep their gallery unlocks. Draft notes that could show up in dialogue were removed. v0.2.1 - Bunch of bugs fixed - New Chapter of Zely storyline - New UI for Gallery and Store v0.2 - New and reworked companions - Rewritten opening and first meetings, more island lore - Music Room, ambient sound, tighter one-way daily flow - Combat polish, bug fixes v0.1 - Initial release