[Version] LF2: Story of HongBa v2.1 - Readme, SSID update

[rewlf2]

Introduction
LF2: Story of HongBa is the remake of my previous game: LF2 Hetero Clash.
This game is aimed to provide new system and content with minimum disturbance to game balance in original LF2.

The name "Story of HongBa" means: Although he does not really show up most of the time, everything you've done... have troubled him.
So, story-wise he is the main character of the game.

Official website (Chinese): http://blog.xuite.net/rewlf2/wretch/

Current Status
All data changing on characters are finished.
Interface and non-character graphics are complete.
Stage mode is fully completed.
Two survival modes can be selected.

Elites have roughly the strength of fighters.
All moves of every character are completed.
Balance of all characters is generally tested.

Final testing is completed.
The game is ready for release.

Update log

Update log (Click to View)

v2.1
Features a completely rewritten readme, which greatly speeds up searching for maps and characters, and fixes plenty of missing information and inconsistencies.

SSID and SSD are adjusted towards typical armor, and SSID character has a new vulnerable state that replaces stun when MP runs out.

v2.0:
This update features reworked SSD, SSID which greatly heightens its stability, and added a method to break its defense.
Apart from that new character Winnie has been added, along with completely reworked GodBat which is transformed into 3-phase battle. 3 new backgrounds have also been added.

Note: English readme incorrectly states GodBandit is revamped to have 3-phase battle. Actually GodBat is revamped.

v1.8:
This update improved a few graphics and largely strengthened Sore.
Updates will be much less frequent later on since I am planning to make a new version: Road to Fighter.
If I find something useful in RoF I would possibly add it to LF2HongBa as well.
Please continue to support my game creations.

v1.7a patch:
Strengthened defense of GodBat, had some balance and moveset changes.

v1.7:
Added 1 background from KOF 99, and fixed a few balance and system issues.

v1.6:
Added 7 backgrounds revamped from LFE fileplanet:
Deck, Freaky Lab, Hame House, Prison Plant, Long Bridge, Stone Bridge, Shuttle Hall
Many backgrounds are slightly improved.

v1.5patch2:
Fixed a major bug in Star Barrier for Sore.
Fixed a major bug that causes Stage 2 to end after 2-6 and Stage 4-2 to malfunction.

v1.5:
Massive bugfix including persistent ones
Final adjustment of stage difficulty:
1. Difficulty of early and late substages are brought closer
2. Stage 4 should now have difficulty more near to between Stage 3 and 5
3. Adjusted difficulty specifically for multiple players in stage mode
4. All bosses in new survival mode are now God versions
Added GodBat, a color variation of Sore, and performed a large balance revamp of Sore

v1.4:
All elites now have unique color themes and new names
Added function to skip dialogue by pressing D
Further debugging of stage mode
Rearranging Stage 3-1 to 3-4
A few important overpowered moves adjustment

v1.3patch2:
Fixes stage 5-9 to be playable

v1.3patch:
Fixes two character problems

v1.3:
An all-around bug fix was carried out in this version, also one new boss, one very complicated background are added.
Balance and input keys for move list are revised, AI and backgrounds are improved.

v1.2:
A few balance and stage issues, along with hidden problems are fixed.

v1.1:
Final adjustments:
All necessary moves of every character are completed.
Game balance
Stage
Interface (mainly clarifying words)
Long-ranged combat AI
Specific effect for most backgrounds
Document issues (wordings and readme)

Added a few moves
Added 6 backgrounds and arranged some

v1.0:
The difficulty of stage mode is overhauled,
Added a second survival mode,
Adjusted strength of elites to more resemble fighters,
Did final amendments on game interface.

v0.5
Completed Stage 3-5.
The stage mode underwent a few polishes
Fixed a few bugs.

v0.4:
Missions and talks for Stage 1-2 are added.
Some minor error are fixed and some backgrounds are slightly improved.

v0.3:
Added battle part for Stage 1-3
Since in-game instructions are unavailable in v0.3, all stages can be done by taking down the seemingly strongest enemies first.
After enough in-game instructions are added into game, I will put missions that differ from typical battles into Stages.

v0.2:
Added all elite characters and two versions of HongBa
Added and revised some backgrounds
Some character move and balance adjustment

Description
The combat system:
First thing first, those messy systems in last game: Retaliate, SSID and difficult stages will be used sparingly.
All weapons in original LF2 can be used.

Combat system (Click to View)

1. AI reinforcement
By data changing and assembly AI can use more moves, but their behaviour are different from generic AIs.

2. Retaliate system:
Can only be used by boss characters.
2.1. Auto retaliate - Defending a blow when close to an enemy
2.2. Manual retaliate - Defending a blow and pressing D again after it hits

3. Character balance:
Elite soldiers with strength near fighters are added.
Several new bosses are added.
LouisEX and Firzen have more moves while Julian has MP cost increased.
Bat has an alternate boss version, GodBat which is built upon his moveset and serves as a 3-phase battle.
The AIs for bosses would rarely use the moves and they should be very similar to that in original LF2.

Every fighter get 0-2 extra moves and some moves are altered.
New moves are either usable after an original move, while catching other or very similar to original move.

4. Single-Sided Infinite Defense
Purely done by Data changing, this system is installed in Boss characters (and a knight)
Character can block blows when attacking or walking.
Single-Sided Defense as a weakened system is used on some characters,
they may sometimes not block blows and characters may actually break their guard.

5. Background effects
Each background has unique effect that is triggered as time passes.

Graphics:
Aside from a Psuedo-transparent orange interface,
I designed over 10 new backgrounds. Some of them are also ripped but I also credited them.

Stage mode:
Five stages with each including at least 9 substages are included.
Stages are all implemented.
Tested to be not tedious, with moderate difficulty, and (I hope) rewarding.
Full story is included inside the stage mode.

List of systems in Stage mode (Click to View)

1. Mission system
In every sub-stage, on top left corner the mission criteria is shown

2. Talk system
Player can choose to initiate or skip talk
Each sub-section of talk lasts 3 seconds
Some talk can only be triggered under certain conditions

3. Branching system
In each stage, there is at least branch installed
To unlock hidden content you must clear stages under certain conditions
Multiple game endings are also installed, reached by player choice

Dialog trigger bubble
Perform basic actions: Attack or Defend at bubble to initiate talk
If the bubble has ignore option, you can leave it alone, which then disappears after 5 seconds

4. Arsenal system
Artiller can be used in stage mode.
Apart from auto and manual weapons, players will learn to destroy enemy weapons as well

Survival mode:
Two survival modes are available:

New survival:
Some fighters are replaced by elites, some old bosses are replaced by new bosses.
Everything else is unchanged.

Old survival:
Identical to survival mode in original LF2, no new character will show up.
Be careful that old characters will use new moves and are slightly adjusted.

Other notices:

The complete movelist and character properties are included inside Readme files.
Credits are given in Credit file.
Both files are written in HTML, including a Chinese and English version

Screenshots

Screenshot (Click to View)

Download

v2.1

Mediafire
Baidu
Google Drive
Mega

Online readme
If the bundled offline readme has incorrect information, refer to the online readme for updated data.

Lore

This is not necessarily the truth of the game at all (Click to View)

The Story of HongBa, is uprising of the overlord outside the region of Little Fighters.

After the Julian War, Fighter City has been recovering from its damage and has become stronger than ever,
including a powerful force, the union developed from the inferior citizens of the City.
The union rivals the fighters in strength and under cooperation, they successfully subdued the remaining followers of Julian.

However, HongBa intends to unbalance the status quo and he is suspected to band with Bat, the second-in-hand of now-deceased Julian.
The fighters are suddenly facing a serious threat as the unions have rebelled for an unknown cause, creating weakness in the whole city.

As they start to investigate, the mystery intensifies when Bat strangely gives an hand to the fighters...

Credits
Credits are given in Credit file.

Also you can see below:

Credits (Click to View)

Hong Ba by Kan
Sword pictures of Hong Ba has been used.
(I fused Firzen and Freeze to make HongBa sprites all over)

BanditEX made by Freezen, Youejeen, Kaworu, Minggg, Kasper
The character pictures (without hoe) has been used.

Forbidden Tower Top by Dexploed
This background with some changes has been implemented.

Volcano background by Conrad Leung
The ground with some changes has been implemented.

Dark City by Lo Chiu Chun
This background with some changes has been implemented.

Free graduation-clock Clipart by FreeClipartNow.com
The clock image with changes has been implemented.

Blue box elimination inside Champion mode – Hex editing by Surik
The editing technique is provided by Surik and implemented by me.

Snow land, cloud picture
by http://freebigpictures.com/
The Ice mountain background uses a modified version of snow land and cloud picture.

The northern Palmyrene mountain belt
This image was originally posted to Flickr by james_gordon_losangeles at http://flickr.com/photos/79139277@N08/7436033890
The image used in this game has been resized and cropped.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Tree, Palm trees, forest gif from bestanimations.com
Dusk Palm Trees background reuses and remixes the gif file.
Deer in Forest background reuses and remixes the gif file.
Tranquilty background reuses and remixes the gif file.

Deck background from Marshall and Sam2003
This background with some changes has been implemented.

Freaky Lab, Prison Plant and Shuttle Hall by TinoX
These backgrounds with some changes has been implemented.

Kame House and Stone Bridge by MH-Razen
These backgrounds with some changes has been implemented.

Railway by VGkitten Aeris
This background, renamed Long Bridge with some changes has been implemented.

This game uses intro brass 01.wav created by Klankbeeld, the sound was amplified and used
The original sound file is hosted on https://www.freesound.org/people/klankbe...ds/254644/, provided by freesound.org
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

This game uses disco ball images created by producedan, the images were split, cropped, resized and had noise suppressed.
The original gif is hosted on http://imgur.com/gallery/ntECfYG, provided by imgur.com

Winnie used modified versions of sound files below:
Stormy Wind created by Gingerpasta, hosted on https://freesound.org/people/Gingerpasta/sounds/245829/
Slap Gun » Big Splash.wav created by Bird_man, hosted on https://freesound.org/people/Bird_man/sounds/316744/
Polivoks » Rough Wind.wav created by Gingerpasta, hosted on https://freesound.org/people/dsp9000/sounds/76404/

Leaf and Yuan
They provided instructions about using assembly to copy AIs inside the LF2 executable

STM1993 (in LF-Empire forum), GGBear/Flying Kicker
for game testing and feedback

Gad, Amadis (LF-Empire Forum)
They provided assistance on improving background.