Hey everyone!
So, let’s talk about the secrets in DefQ1. I don’t want to spoil the fun for you guys, but I DO need these things tested to make sure they work. So I’m going to make use of our brand new spoiler tag so you can spoil yourself as much or as little as you like in testing this thing out.
To Begin:
[spoiler]On the title screen, if you’ve already gotten the facebook/anonymous books, a new button titled “secrets?” will appear. It tells you DefQ2 is out and that you should visit the defendersquest2 site. Same as before, whether you go or not you can get the prize, which is the “Book of Secrets.”[/spoiler]
Afterwards:
[spoiler]The Book of Secrets starts off the whole scavenger hunt. There are a lot of secrets hidden in DefQ1 since it was first released. The Book of Secrets does 2 things: it reveals a new location on the map, and it will cause small visual effects and sounds to play when you’re in certain places in the game[/spoiler]
Then:
[spoiler]The new location is pretty easy to find if you have the Book of Secrets equipped. It’s a “strange monument”, on the lower half of the map after you exit the underground fortress. It’s currently available in both NG+ and regular game.[/spoiler]
Furthermore:
[spoiler]You’ll notice that certain parts of the monument are interactive.[/spoiler]
Also:
[spoiler]As you probably guessed, this is a place you can enter secret codes and such that you find throughout the game, and the Book of Secrets is your hint guide for when you’re in the presence of a hidden secret[/spoiler]
Next:
[spoiler]When you enter a code correctly, you will receive a prize – a special kind of skull.[/spoiler]
Then:
[spoiler]These skulls can be redeemed at the monument alone, and are used to purchase new books – The Book of Plagues, and The Book of Blood.[/spoiler]
Of course:
[spoiler]Rumor has it that there is a THIRD super-secret book to find[/spoiler]
Jump in here if you want to avoid spoiling the secrets but still be very helpful:
[spoiler]I’m still working on what these books should actually DO.
(You can cheat yourself these books easily – level 13 & 14 for blood/plague, and 16 for the super-secret book)
The Book of plagues applies the new “toxic” status to enemies, which is a variant of poison. It’s kind of a huge gift to permanently poison enemies, so it needs a drawback – so far, I’m making “toxic” cause these enemies to do some small splash damage to defenders on their death, and I’m making the book apply the “disease” status to defenders, which cancels their regeneration. Will need some ideas on balance.
The Book of blood applies bleed to enemies and defenders. It think I need to make defenders bleed at a higher rate than enemies for it not to be ridiculously OP.
The last super-secret book is “The Valley of the Forgotten,” which started as a placeholder but has kind of grown on me. It’s a representation of Azra’s Journal. Currently it does absolutely nothing.
The last big part of the secret, is that all four books you get in the scavenger hunt (Secrets, Blood, Plague, VotF), all have a big hint that you should “bring them with you on your next adventure.” This hint means that you should import your save file with these books into DEFQ2, upon which you’ll get some cool hidden item (haven’t decided what just yet).[/spoiler]
I’ve put in some basic safeguards to keep the secret-hunt from being IMMEDIATELY short-circuited:
[spoiler]For instance, when you export the data files in a mod, it redacts all the information from the monument’s setup, so that it doesn’t spell out what the answers to the codes are.[/spoiler]
That said, it’ll still be pretty easy to cheat, especially once the secrets are found out. That I don’t mind so much, and I think it’ll still be a lot of fun for people who are into this sort of thing.
Some people have suggested what I really need to do is:
[spoiler]Add a super-secret hidden final battle. Which would be cool. I might do this, but I’m really not sure… I need to get this update out and I’m not sure I’m up for balancing a whole super final battle.[/spoiler]
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