Greetings all,
It’s been a week since our last look at Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven, where we gave you all some more details on the characters found in the game. We hope you enjoyed getting to know Luchs and the mystical fairies he encounters and befriends!
Before we get started with this weeks instalment, we’d like to announce that ON THURSDAY 28th MAY at 18.00 BST we will be hosting a Livestream of Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven. You’ll be able to talk to our team directly, ask us any Lord of Magna related questions and most importantly, you’ll be able to see the game in action! All you need to do is follow this link!
Anyway, on with business as usual!
Today’s look into the game is slightly more granular, as the focus is on key combat features. There are many aspects to the combat that play a large role in creating a diverse system, with many possibilities for the player to explore. Without even mentioning the vast amount of unique abilities each character possesses, there is plenty for us to talk about surrounding the general combat mechanics and what you need to master in order to succeed.
Before we move onto the meat of the article, we promised another video last week, and here we can deliver just that. Soak it in!
Spectacular! I’m sure you will agree. This trailer showcases just three of the unique features that make up the combat system, with many, many more subtle systems coming into play as well.
Firstly, as seen in the trailer, Action Points, or AP, make up the primary consumable that allows characters to use abilities in combat. The more powerful the ability, the more AP that ability will cost to use. Players gain more exciting and destructive abilities as the game progresses, which keeps battles fresh throughout the duration of the game. AP generally increases once per turn, unless you choose to spend it! This means that sometimes you’ll need to strategically place a character out of harm’s way in order for them to build up AP points.
Second is the emphasis on support abilities during combat. These support abilities come in many variants, some increasing base stats, others augmenting characters. An example of such an augmentation is providing an instant full-stack of action points – an absolute lifesaver when a big move is needed! Some abilities provide straight up bonuses and others provide a bonus in exchange for a negative, such as increased attack at the cost of defense. Player choice is at the heart of Lord of Magna, and so it’s up to you, the player, to decide how you use these abilities.
Next, we have the ‘bowling’ mechanic. Characters will earn an extra turn if they are able to defeat 10 or more enemies in a single move, which is essential to gaining the upper-hand in combat. To encourage this, the bowl mechanic comes into play. Defeating a ‘henchman’ or ‘trash-enemy’ will send them flying backwards in the direction of the killing blow, knocking them through his allies and taking them down along the way. This then racks up a higher combo kill bonus if positioned correctly. The skill here is taking your time and ensuring that your attack is placed in the right position for optimum destruction!
Skill Chips are equipable items that provide characters with offensive, and support-based abilities, as well as other changes to base stats like movement, and range. Each Skill Chip has a cost in “Memory” when it is equipped, and that cumulative cost of Memory cannot exceed the total allowance that each character possesses. If you cannot equip a Skill Chip, check your Memory capacity to make sure it isn’t exceeding the total!
Another side aspect of the combat system is the elemental system. This lies at the heart of the combat, and dictates the hierarchy of weaknesses, strengths, abilities and character attunements.
Finally, Consumable Items are often used in turn-based combat systems to replenish health or remove detrimental effects on party members. In Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven however, more emphasis is placed on using battle items in combat. Using the crafting system that is present in the game, the player can increase the power of these battle items for even more damage and special effects. This is key to exploiting the weaknesses of your opponents, as different enemies are susceptible to different battle items.
We hope you enjoyed this brief and exciting look at the combat system of Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven, due out on June 4th exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS.
As always, make sure to follow us on Twitter & Facebook for even more updates, exclusives and musings!
Bye for now!
All update assets are available from here - Asset pack
The new trailer is here - LOM Combat YouTube trailer