This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature-Chapter 79: You Still Have to Pay to Risk Your Life?
"Divine Grace Continent" is a traditional RPG adventure game with a bit of simulation and roguelike elements.
Since it’s an adventure, there have to be monsters and dungeons.
There are over 100 kinds of monsters!
Although that sounds like a lot, many of these 100-plus monsters are in the same major category.
What does that mean?
Skeleton Soldiers, Skeleton Knights, Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Mages, Skeleton Shield Guards...
That’s already five types of monsters, but these five are essentially variations of "Skeleton Soldiers," even sharing the same base template and only differing in weapons or mounts.
Ordinary Skeleton Soldiers, when dressed in a Magic Robe, become Skeleton Mages, when armed with a bow and arrow, become Skeleton Archers, when holding a Shield, become Skeleton Shield Guards, and when riding a Warhorse, become Skeleton Knights. The changes aren’t very significant.
With monsters comes combat.
"Combat employs a pseudo-turn-based system with an action bar, where characters or monsters take turns based on agility attributes."
Chen Ba has a special fondness for turn-based systems, and "Divine Grace Continent" isn’t suited for real-time combat, so it could only be made into a turn-based combat system.
Turn-based combat emphasizes decision-making and rhythm while also relying on team cooperation.
This aligns with the core gameplay of "Divine Grace Continent," which is about training teammates and not promoting individual heroism.
"The Hero, due to the trait of infinite resurrection, is more suited for roles like Holy Knight—a tank in front of teammates, taunting monsters and absorbing damage..."
Chen Ba twirled the pen in his hands and continued, "Of course, the game’s class system isn’t that rigid; the Hero can also be trained as the main damage dealer."
It all depends on the player’s choice.
The simplest method is for the Hero to stand in front, protecting other teammates, letting them focus on dealing damage—which is also a highly recommended team formation.
You can also train an NPC to be the tank, let them stand upfront, while the Hero focuses on dealing damage...
The existence of the class-changing system makes character roles not that clearly defined.
For example, with the Elf, due to its potential for high intelligence and agility growth, training as a ranged Mage or Archer is the most resource-saving and hassle-free path.
But there’s no rule saying Elves can’t be tanks or healers!
However, due to the limits of attribute potential, if trained in that direction, it may require a lot more resources and may only reach a mediocre level even at the limit.
"The Hero is special!"
"No matter in which direction the Hero is trained, the ultimate potential is always at the top tier."
Lu couldn’t help but laugh and said, "As a tank, it’s the best tank; as a Mage, it’s the scariest Mage; as a healer, it’s also the one with the largest chest."
"You’re not wrong."
Chen Ba nodded and said, "The reason the Hero is so named is that their attribute potentials are all top-tier, and it all depends on how the player utilizes them."
"However good the Hero is, after all, it’s just one person, which is why the Hero needs to recruit teammates and jointly fight the Demon King."
What if there were more than one Hero?
Then the NPCs could really go away, since a team of five Heroes with MAX potential attributes would leave no room for the Demon King.
We might not even need five Heroes.
With the Hero’s training potential, one Hero can stack defense attributes, and another can focus on offense. In simple difficulty, just two Heroes can clear the game.
Of course, this is in simple difficulty.
The game is divided into three difficulty levels: simple, difficult, and hellish. The higher the difficulty, the more the monsters’ attributes, NPC recruitment difficulty, and training costs significantly increase.
In the most elite hellish difficulty, it’s estimated that if you’re not grinding for a hundred hours, there’s no hope for clearing it.
After all, in hellish difficulty, never mind tank classes, even healer and Mage classes might die or be severely injured just from a single hit from a monster.
"Oh, by the way!"
Seemingly thinking of something, Yang Dong asked from the side, "How are we going to balance the prices in our game?"
The game’s price balance is quite important.
If the prices are too low, various divine equipment items become overly devalued, greatly speeding up development. It may be interesting in the early stages, but it gets boring in the late stages.
That’s a common issue in many RPG adventure games.
In the early stages, you need to be careful and count every cent. Every resource is hard-earned. Buying just one extra potion might feel wasteful.
But once you get to the late game, you have so many Gold Coins that you can’t spend them all, and resources can be squandered with no sense of tension.
"As for equipment, normal and excellent gear isn’t hard to get and can be casually obtained, bought from stores, or dropped by defeating monsters."
"But once you reach the Epic level and above, equipment can only be produced through crafting, and the materials and Gold Coin costs drastically increase with each rank."
Chen Ba explained, "When the Hero sets out to fight the Demon King, they’ll have at most one or two pieces of Divine Artifact..."
Divine Artifacts cannot be overabundant!
Even in the game’s late stages, when the Hero and their partners are fully developed and ready to challenge the Demon King, top-tier equipment like Divine Artifacts shouldn’t be widespread.
This also ensures playability.
Otherwise, in the late game, there’s nothing left to play, and no one has any more goals in the game. Who would still open "Divine Grace Continent" then?
Divine Artifacts are extremely powerful, and just having one or two is enough to challenge the Demon King.
After clearing the game, players can continue soaking in it, collecting materials and striving toward being "fully equipped with Divine Artifacts."
"Control the output of Gold Coins as well, so the Hero can’t achieve financial freedom too easily."
Chen Ba smiled and said, "The most reliable income source for the Hero, besides defeating monsters and doing dungeons, should be the income turned in by teammates."
"Ah? Turning in income?"
Before Yang Dong could say anything, Lu, next to him, blurted out, "The NPCs are risking their lives for the Hero, and not only do they not get a salary, but they also have to give money to the Hero?"
Under normal circumstances.
When the Hero recruits teammates to fight the Demon King together, shouldn’t the Hero pay the teammates? How does it make sense for teammates to pay the Hero?
"Ahem!"
Chen Ba cleared his throat and then said, "But the Hero needs to spend a lot of money training these NPCs; otherwise, where would their combat power come from?"
It’s not unreasonable to pay a bit.
If they don’t pay, then the Hero becomes a big lapdog, giving but not receiving anything in return.
Compared to the money the Hero spends on teammates, the resources used, what they pay back is trivial.
For example.
NPC teammates turn in 50 Gold Coins to the Hero periodically, but is this money enough? The resources that the Hero spends on teammates, when converted to Gold Coins, are at least in the tens of thousands.
Paying serves to show appreciation, helping players feel better about not cultivating a bunch of ungrateful wolves.
As for the amount...
It all depends on status! If the Hero has connections with the King or Duchess, then each time they turn in a considerable amount of Gold Coins.
However, the problem is that NPCs who pay more might not have high growth potential. Does the Hero want money or highly potential teammates?
"Only kids make choices; adults want everything! Is it possible to rely on rich women in the early stages and then ditch them for newbies later?"
Chen Ba: "..."
