=DF= Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (Full Version)

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Laeon val Observis -> =DF= Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/28/2024 22:47:47)

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[image]https://www.dragonfable.com/images/DF/author/Verlyrus.png[/image]
Friday, June 28, 2024
Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2)
Hey there heroes!

This week... The Book 3 finale has finally arrived!

[image]https://cms.battleon.com/DF/images/2024-06-28-ENDOFMAGIC2dn.png[/image]

As your allies attempt to weave a spell to contain the Mana Core, you and your dragon must face one final foe: A massive creation, a manifestation of the will of the heart of Lore.

If you can succeed, maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to buy enough time to save the world.

Head over to Outpost Yeden to play Book 3's finale: The End of Magic (Part 2).

(Note: The Hard mode of the battle does not give anything extra)



Now for some words and things.

First of all, thank you, everyone, for playing DragonFable. Book 3 has been through many ups and downs, but we wouldn't have been able to navigate them without your support. It's truly thanks to all of you that we've been able to come this far.

And with that said, this isn't the end of DragonFable— your adventures will continue on!

Going forward, we will have an Epilogue for Book 3 in July, and in August, we'll take a bit of a lighter month and give ourselves some room to breathe after going so hard on the final quests for so long.

While we don't have everything set in stone yet, we are planning to have a small war in the month of August.

We're still working on where Book 4 will go, and we definitely want things to be planned out more smoothly than Book 3 was. Expect a slow start, maybe some loose ends from Book 3, before we fully dive in.

We also have a few open side stories to finish up, as well as Book 2 Reimagined! Once we're back into the swing of things (and not making insanely massive quests), you can expect those projects to be picked up once more.

We've learned a lot throughout our time in Book 3, and we hope that, with your support, we can turn what we've learned and gained into the next great chapter in DragonFable's story!

Once again, whether old or new, thank you for playing DragonFable. We hope you'll look forward to your next adventures in the world of Lore (and maybe beyond!)



Also this week, to celebrate Book 3's finale, we have two new cosmetic item Dragon Coin packages available!

[image]https://cms.battleon.com/DF/images/alteonamadeuspromo.png[/image]

The Alteon's Regalia and Valen's Remnants cosmetic item sets can now be purchased with 2000 Dragon Coin bundles for $9.95 each. These sets each include a cosmetic weapon and cosmetic helm that can be clicked to change appearance, as well as a cosmetic cape!

And as a reminder, we currently have a 50% bonus on select Dragon Coin packages (including Alteon's Regalia and Valen's Remnants)!



Also this week, the DragonRider class has received some small changes and fixes.
  • DragonRider now has updated tooltips.
  • DragonRider's Dragon Eye skill now applies -All and +Health instead of -Element res.
  • DragonRider's Siphon skill now applies 90 Block/Parry/Dodge, up from only 80 Block.
  • DragonRider's Dragon Strike skill now applies 70 Crit, up from 35.
  • DragonRider's Rend skill's effect has been renamed Dragon Rend, instead of Bleed.
  • DragonRider's Sunder Armor skill has been renamed to Sunder Arms, and the effect has been renamed Sunder Arms, instead of Bite.
  • DragonRider's base damage range has been tightend, from 600-900 to 700-800.
  • Anything else I may have forgotten!


And that's all for this week! After so many years, it feels a little bit strange to be on the edge of closing Book 3. But thanks to your support, there's more DragonFable to come, and so much more to explore in the future!



Paw printed and tagged! ~Gingkage




Deni3000 -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/28/2024 23:18:59)

Great job guys - on the release and in general. Can't wait to see what the start of Book 4 has in store!

spoiler:


One tiny thing that might be worth considering: during the titan fight, it may be worth using a slightly lower detail background - the drop in frames make the fight pretty slow. That being said, I don't know much about how Flash works, so if it's not possible that's fine. It was fun to get to do a titan fight with all the new customizations, and Aequilibrias lil' blinking and third eye animations are strangely cute.

Absolutely love the final design of the helm, clicked and unclicked. I had a massive gut laugh when I saw it had 10 all resist, since I had just spent way too long last weekend beating Inevitable Equilibrium for a 10 all helm.

Once again, thank you for all the work you guys have put into the game.




Sumbrosus -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/29/2024 3:41:18)

This was a genuinely exciting end for the chapter. It had a good - even great - boss battle (once I figured out the optimal path to take), and it has a more or less hopeful ending, which was not guaranteed after everything that came before.

Thank you, creators of Dragonfable, for chapter 3. :) I look forward to chapter 4 -- in due time.

spoiler:

All of that said, I feel a bit nervous about those mini-rifts we saw opening all over Lore. We have no idea what all managed to squeeze out before Warlic, Alexander and Jaania sealed Aequilibria up.
There's also the Water invasion of the Deadlands, so that'll be fun to find out more about, next chapter.

I find myself disapproving of Alteon's choice here. He lumbered Victoria with a job she never wanted but that he was always pushing her to take instead of finding a successor who wanted it, he just watched while she struggled and blamed herself for everything that went wrong in spite of her best efforts, and now he won't even face her and goes off to be an adventurer and reinvent himself. An adventurer ... which is what Victoria / Robina wants to be. This feels like a slap in the face to one of our oldest friends in the game, and an undeserved one.

Alexander has really changed for the better, and I liked the advice he gave. Through his long suffering, he has gained wisdom, without losing that bit of chaos that sets him apart from other mages.
I wonder whether Nythera will step up to fill Warlic's position.
I wonder whether Hansa will be able to consolidate control over the Rose and make it a force fully for good in the world.

I guess I'm just looking forward to chapter 4 - when the creative team gets around to it. Chapter 3 was epic, especially towards the end, and they've more than deserved a rest.




spirit of greed -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/29/2024 5:43:14)

Ok wow, that just happened.
Again i can't say enough how nice we got to fight the main boss as dragonrider. I always hated that the dragonrider boss fights were put aside because it was deemed as outdated and boring. If anything it's more fresh and fun to sometimes just go and have a fight as Dragonrider.
For a moment the battle started i thought we get to fight with both controlling our titan dragon and the hero.
I would've loved if there was a difficulty option for that at the start of the fight rather than just the enemy having more health and damage:
Easy:You fight both as your titan dragon and hero separate. Your dragon shields you from damage often.
Normal:You fight as Dragonrider, your dragon sometimes neutralize damages with his wings.
Hard:You fight as only the hero, your dragon rarely shields you from damages.
Similar to the mechanic where your ally shielded you from Caitiff and Remthalas, i always thought that was cool. But that's just me rambling, it was a nice, challenging but fun fight. The animations were also really nice, the staff made a good work about this final fight.

spoiler:

I have to say though no matter how much i tried i couldn't be much enthusiastic about Equalibria being the main bad guy. It was just so sudden and we barely know anything about it. I guess the rifts causing the fissures on Lore will be a important problem later on.

I was expecting some sneek peak about what's gonna be the next main issue and when we didn't i was let down, only to read later we still get the epilogue so my bad. I guess the way it ended i was sure this was the epilogue also.

Ouch losing 3 powerful ally even with the fact the Rose is in now disarray and Akanthus is gone still a huge blow to us. It's not like it wasn't the hero who almost always ended Armageddon level of treats at the end but still 3 powerful mage gone could make things complicated later on.

Sounds like August and maybe even a bit of September will be chill with August having a small (probably joke) war. I'm ok with that things need to calm down, let our hero (devs) rest and drink some moglinberry juice (coffee), tomorroww is another exciting day but let's rest and heal a bit now. In fact if we're talking about easy releases for awhile i would hope we would get more strange requests. I loved those releases, they weren't a complicated quests and it was nice to see new kind of mysterious monsters roam around in the wild (the Hidebehind, Drop bear,Tizheruk,Black Shuck). I don't even think it was answered where those monsters were coming from so i guess it's still an ongoing side storyline? I hope so.
The one where we had strange requests about feelings was also really interesting (i think it was written by Verly or maybe somebody else? I don't remember it) just like visiting Celestia's monument the other day. I don't know how others feel about them but most of the times no matter how small they are i love Lore quests even more than main story releases (not that i want to sound like someone who don't.

I hope now that the Rose in disarray members of it will go berserk and defect and become an ongoing threat. Jaania cleraly started something big and just because she, Akanthus and Amadeus is gone it doesn't mean other powerful members will just leave peacefully and accept things.

After this whole end of magic story is over and we had a nice rest i hope the Shadowscythe and the ongoing threat they will cause in the future will be put as the main focus sooner later than later. To be honest i'm much more interested about the Shadowscythe rather than Equalibria at this point. They were one of our earliest most biggest threat, they are trying to invade Lore but unable to manifest in this "polluted" world,even a lesser being as Caitiff almost ended Lore. This is not confirmed but the crown of Veyna's (a member of maleurous) makes it seem like she had a deal with one of the Shadowscythe, which would mean they could fuse and make deals with humans which would also make things more interesting. There''s an unknown number of "sleeping agent" doom weapons scattered all around Lore and now the unknown Doom device was probably released so who knows what that would mean in the future?

I also hope (yes i say i hope in every sentence lol) we see Kathool in the (near) future, he's one of my favorite Artix Entertainment villain. It's a shame they get to rarely use him because how powerful he is. Imagine if the Shadowscythe could infect him with Doom, a normal Kathool is bad enough but what about one who spreads Doom all over on Lore?




Sumbrosus -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/29/2024 5:47:55)

Uh... Uh-oh. *gulp*

spoiler:

Having just played through a second time, I can't help but notice... those new rifts are still there, aren't they? Just sealed.
Does this mean Lore's structural integrity has decreased?
What if one of those things opened somewhere populated?
What if more Core chunks have been blasted to the surface?




Laeon val Observis -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/29/2024 8:01:25)

Quite an eye candy even though it feels like fighting as a SWoT at HD graphic settings. Otherwise, a throwback to the Book 1 days wherein the penultimate confrontation was more brutal than the mortal vs godlike foe encounter. A flaw likely born of having to balance a fight to a very specific class unlike the significantly commonplace "foot" battles.

Not sure if it's a bug or related to the details in the cutscenes, but
spoiler:

The Aspect's Primal Suppression passive seems to have not affected my ability to engage Primal Bacon, thus halving the time and burden needed to immolate the bossfight.




Flabagast -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/29/2024 8:43:39)

And with that, Book 3 is over...

What a journey it's been. Dove, Verly, Dracelix, and everyone else that's contributed to the game for Book 3's long duration; you should be immensely proud of what you've managed to achieve. Truly.

spoiler:

First off, I really liked the bossfight. Certainly not the biggest enemy we've faced on dragonback, but I think the hard version of the fight is easily the best designed Titan fight in the game. It felt satisfying to be forced to use Dragonrider strategically, which I can't say I've done since SMUDD (and the game has changed a lot since then) and beat it on my second try. The helm is awesome too!

The more I think about Jaania's question, the more uncertain I am. The truth about the Avatars is already a bit of a bombshell (especially where Uaanta and Notha come from) but how would the people of Lore react to the knowledge that they're one true god and creator had sentenced everything they know to oblivion in the name of Order? Perhaps it's a truth better kept hidden, or at least warped.

As for our magi friends, they'll certainly be down there with only each other for company for a good while. Maybe they'll finally be able to talk it out and get some closure? Aequilibria knows it would certainly do them some good, heh.

Lore undoubtedly faces an uncertain future. An insatiable Shapeless still roams Azaveyr, and the people of the Shapeless Empire have much to fear if the Magesterium fails to reestablish itself... and much to fear if they succeed. The Deadlands Rift remains open, with a supposed army on the other side readying its offence. The Avatars still lie dormant, yet to be reshaped by Lock and Key however they see fit, Fluffy's reincarnation is still missing, a number of new Fissures mark Lore's surface, The Rose is without it's ideological backbone, and Greenguard has a new queen.

Book 4 ought to be a real doozy.


I look forward to seeing what the future holds! In the meantime, a slowdown in terms of releases sounds ideal. Y'all have more than earned some downtime.




spirit of greed -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/29/2024 9:02:06)

Ouch i forgot how many messy unfinished threat and situation is out there.

Don't forget
spoiler:

the Atrea people are without their leader, the shadowscythe is planning to take over Lore,Seccundus is using Tomix's brother and it looks like he's already got permanently damaged,Jacek's dad is still frozen (after what 5-6 years now?),Kathool is still a ticking time bomb in the ocean,Seppy's undead draconic corpse is still underwater who knows what damage causing by it, Raven is now a werewolf. There's still so many interesting plot for Book 4

About telling what happened. I don't know it's harsh but i feel like not telling the truth would be the worst option. I'm sure over time people would know the truth and it's better to hear it from the hero. Maybe tell it carefully and with time tell the whole thing. I'm sure some people wouldn't, couldn't accept the truth though.




Deni3000 -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/29/2024 12:53:59)

Sumbrosus, you bring up some good points - all the points you mentioned about the various characters I feel set up some real interesting scenarios writing wise for the quests tying up the loose threads. I'm excited to see what direction the team decides to take
spoiler:

especially regarding Victoria's reaction to all that has been revealed.




Vaalirus -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/29/2024 17:52:17)

Ah what a glorious end to this saga, once again the devs have outdone themselves and delivered upon the culmination of twelve long years of work since Book 3 began. As for this release's contents...

spoiler:



Based on how both our companions and the Aspect of Order itself spoke of it as being as a separate entity from the Aequilibria, I believe we can safely say that it was a piece or fragment of the Aequilibria that makes up the greater whole of this entity. The reason I bring this up is because I believe it might cement the idea that Sk'aar truly was a part of the Aequilibria, given they share the same dragon head design and all. Which might mean that Aequilibria might have more of these "aspects" to enact their will and if so that would mean the Elements likely have even more tricks at their disposal even though now they're indisposed for the time being. As for the actual boss fight, I liked it well enough and do rather enjoy that this was a much more evolved version of our final battle with Wargoth in his titan form since here the main body is the actual threat this time around instead of one of the arms. Also, loved the little detail of the Aspect have a rune affiliated with the Infernals when it shifted to destruction, it's a small thing but a nice detail, nonetheless.


Moving on after the battle, I have to say I didn't expect such last words of wisdom to be granted to Hero by Xan of all people and yet at the same time it makes so much sense for him to be the one to warn us about the perils of obsession. It has been brought up numerous times now that the hero sort of struggles with their, well, heroism to the point their health has been brought into question by their loved ones and a fear poked at by their enemies. As it stands now, they're going to be piled on with an unimaginable amount of work to keep the Elements from destroying Lore and face whatever new threats lay on the horizon and while they won't be alone while they do a lot of it I suspect the constant of pressure of this new threat might weigh on them heavily if they don't learn to kick their feet up more often and lean on their friends more in the coming conflicts.

As for the beloved mage trio, it's good to see them more at peace with each other and their current fate, or at least its good to see Jaania, out of three, come to a level of acceptance with this outcome. I suspect the rest may do her some good.

Curiously, I didn't expect Alteon to head to Azaveyr. Not coming back to Swordhaven to reclaim the crown was expected but straight up leaving for the Shapeless Empire was not on the bingo card. I suppose the idea makes sense in theory, have someone with our perspective, alongside those from the Magesterium who we were able to connect with, help move their empire into more benevolent and ethical paths but I'm not sure how that will play out if most of their people still go along with this "at any cost mentality" and his daughters are unlikely to be pleased with this news. Wonder how Tara will take this news.

Ah, but I've gone on long enough. There is still the epilogue to come, and we still have plots to finish in Book 3, in addition to Book 2's reimagining. However, when those are done, Book 4 has many places it can go and I can't wait to see what's in store for us next.


...Also...um...was Cysero about to nuke us or fix all of our problems at the end there because that button looked a little too familiar for my liking....


@Flabagast
quote:

The more I think about Jaania's question, the more uncertain I am. The truth about the Avatars is already a bit of a bombshell (especially where Uaanta and Notha come from) but how would the people of Lore react to the knowledge that they're one true god and creator had sentenced everything they know to oblivion in the name of Order? Perhaps it's a truth better kept hidden, or at least warped.


I don't think lying or warping the truth would be advantageous given that its kind of been a recurring theme in stories that eventually the truth or the consequences of truth come to light and have major drawbacks that likely could have been avoided had certain parties not relied on falsehoods to stabilize or keep the peace between people. The truth sucks but not confronting the gravity of a situation can have dire consequences.




Flabagast -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/29/2024 21:05:57)

@Vaalirus
quote:

Based on how both our companions and the Aspect of Order itself spoke of it as being as a separate entity from the Aequilibria, I believe we can safely say that it was a piece or fragment of the Aequilibria that makes up the greater whole of this entity. The reason I bring this up is because I believe it might cement the idea that Sk'aar truly was a part of the Aequilibria, given they share the same dragon head design and all. Which might mean that Aequilibria might have more of these "aspects" to enact their will and if so that would mean the Elements likely have even more tricks at their disposal even though now they're indisposed for the time being.


Oooh I hadn't thought of that! It makes a lot of sense that Sk'aar may be a much older, more chaotic aspect of Aequilibria that has somehow been imprisoned within dreams. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of them, in any case.

@Vaalirus @spirit of greed
quote:

I don't think lying or warping the truth would be advantageous given that its kind of been a recurring theme in stories that eventually the truth or the consequences of truth come to light and have major drawbacks that likely could have been avoided had certain parties not relied on falsehoods to stabilize or keep the peace between people. The truth sucks but not confronting the gravity of a situation can have dire consequences.

quote:

I don't know it's harsh but i feel like not telling the truth would be the worst option. I'm sure over time people would know the truth and it's better to hear it from the hero. Maybe tell it carefully and with time tell the whole thing. I'm sure some people wouldn't, couldn't accept the truth though.


You two make a good point. Even if the truth is grim, as Alteon said, a lie is even more unfair. It is braver to give the truth and accept the consequences. Besides, I think it would be a little out of character for the Hero to simply lie to the people they've worked so hard to save, even for their own protection.




chaoticBrain -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/30/2024 13:58:09)

A great way to wrap up Book 3. I'll try to not say what's already been said. Previously posts have gone into detail with speculations on how Book 4 may continue.

spoiler:

The only thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is when the hero and dragon return to camp and the dragon states that he feels "overcharged". Is this hinting at something? It's been a hot minute since the dragon evolved and the experience fighting Aequilibria seems like an excellent opportunity to reach a new stage.




Vaalirus -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (6/30/2024 17:53:57)

^

quote:

The only thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is when the hero and dragon return to camp and the dragon states that he feels "overcharged". Is this hinting at something? It's been a hot minute since the dragon evolved and the experience fighting Aequilibria seems like an excellent opportunity to reach a new stage.


Hmm ya know that's a good point. At first, I assumed their comment was little more than a reference to the fact that they simply had more energy at their disposal when absorbing mana from the Aspect of Order, in addition to the fact that the pressure of the mana core was no longer bearing down on them, and while I'm still positive that's the case I can see this moment being a prelude to Draco unlocking or developing new powers from this encounter.




Sumbrosus -> RE: Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (7/1/2024 15:12:13)

That's an interesting possibility.
Our dragon is the Destroyer, avatar of Chaos in a way. Now he's absorbed Order-energies... what more might he become?


There's one more thing I want to say about the grand finale of Chapter 3. *ahem*
spoiler:

(Character) Cysero is a scary, creepy guy. =_= The ending of the Eclipse War was terrifying enough, but this? Would any of us have liked the results of Cysero's breakfast-related solution to the whole impending apocalypse? I hope that going forward, Dr. When keeps Cysero on a tight leash. I'd almost wish it was him stuck in the core instead of one of the others, except I'm not sure even Aequilibria could stop him from turning it into a haddock.




DexZeng -> RE: =DF= Friday, June 28th Design Notes: Book 3: Finale - The End of Magic (Part 2) (7/6/2024 15:48:55)

that was a very hard fight, bacon primal saved the day




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