How to Join the Game
Joining Aether Curtain is a snap - simply contact tempestvermilion on Skype about joining Aether Curtain, and you'll immediately join the game. Nothing else needs to be done!
Basics of Combat
When you join Aether Curtain, you'll start as a Level 1 fighter with nothing but a Rusty Sword and a Healing Salve to your name. Nonetheless, you'll receive a full profile of the Skills, Items, and Weapon that your carrying on you at all times. Your goal is to advance through the castle by defeating the opponents in front of you.
This is done by engaging in turn-based battles! At the start of each turn, each player will submit the action(s) they want to make in that turn. Then, these actions will be processed, and your results will be returned, with the players' actions being done first, then the actions of any allies traveling with the players, then the actions of the enemies. Defeating all the enemies will let you advance to the next stage!
Most of the time, each player is limited to exactly one action, a singular movement or ability that could be described in writing with just one verb phrase. Because you'll be limited in what you can do, plan with your fellow allies to figure out how to split tasks among you. Communication is key!
There's a lot of information that's given with each character in the game, in terms of battle. Here's how to make sense of it all:
Level is a rough approximation of your overall strength. A character with a higher level is most likely more powerful or dangerous than one with a lower level - pay attention to levels to help you gauge which opponents to focus first. You can gain levels by obtaining XP, which is granted for contributing to the fight.
HP is an abbreviation for Hit Points - a measure of your vitality, and how much punishment you can take before you fall. If it drops to zero, you'll be knocked out cold, and you'll need an ally to revive you and pull you back to your feet to keep going. It's a good thing to knock an enemy's HP to zero, but don't let your allies hit that mark!
Skills are representations of your abilities and techniques, unique actions that can have strong effects on the flow of battle. Use these wisely to take the upper hand! You'll gain and upgrade skills as you level up, which themselves will be tailored to your own preferences. Each player can only know a limited number of skills at a time, so make sure you pick a set of skills that'll let you contribute to the needed of your allies as much as possible. There's also a special type of skill that can really make an impact...
Items represent your inventory, your tools on hand that you can use to get an upper hand. You can equip one of your items as your Weapon, the primary instrument by which you'll be doing your work in the heat of battle. Like with skills, each player can only have so many items at one time, so manage your items accordingly.
And finally, but most importantly, Morale. Unlike most other stats, this is shared between all players. It rises when you're giving the opponent a hard time, and when it goes over 100%, you'll start feeling bonus effects such as increased power and XP gain! But if the opponent gains the upper hand by knocking players out, Morale will drain. Don't ever let Morale hit 0%, because if it does, game over!
This is done by engaging in turn-based battles! At the start of each turn, each player will submit the action(s) they want to make in that turn. Then, these actions will be processed, and your results will be returned, with the players' actions being done first, then the actions of any allies traveling with the players, then the actions of the enemies. Defeating all the enemies will let you advance to the next stage!
Most of the time, each player is limited to exactly one action, a singular movement or ability that could be described in writing with just one verb phrase. Because you'll be limited in what you can do, plan with your fellow allies to figure out how to split tasks among you. Communication is key!
There's a lot of information that's given with each character in the game, in terms of battle. Here's how to make sense of it all:
Level is a rough approximation of your overall strength. A character with a higher level is most likely more powerful or dangerous than one with a lower level - pay attention to levels to help you gauge which opponents to focus first. You can gain levels by obtaining XP, which is granted for contributing to the fight.
HP is an abbreviation for Hit Points - a measure of your vitality, and how much punishment you can take before you fall. If it drops to zero, you'll be knocked out cold, and you'll need an ally to revive you and pull you back to your feet to keep going. It's a good thing to knock an enemy's HP to zero, but don't let your allies hit that mark!
Skills are representations of your abilities and techniques, unique actions that can have strong effects on the flow of battle. Use these wisely to take the upper hand! You'll gain and upgrade skills as you level up, which themselves will be tailored to your own preferences. Each player can only know a limited number of skills at a time, so make sure you pick a set of skills that'll let you contribute to the needed of your allies as much as possible. There's also a special type of skill that can really make an impact...
Items represent your inventory, your tools on hand that you can use to get an upper hand. You can equip one of your items as your Weapon, the primary instrument by which you'll be doing your work in the heat of battle. Like with skills, each player can only have so many items at one time, so manage your items accordingly.
And finally, but most importantly, Morale. Unlike most other stats, this is shared between all players. It rises when you're giving the opponent a hard time, and when it goes over 100%, you'll start feeling bonus effects such as increased power and XP gain! But if the opponent gains the upper hand by knocking players out, Morale will drain. Don't ever let Morale hit 0%, because if it does, game over!
Clearing Stages
Aether Curtain plays out through a series of stages, where you'll face a particular group of enemies in each one. Each enemy has their unique powers, weapons and quirks that you'll need to gauge carefully and quickly. To finish a stage, defeat every last enemy in front of you, whether that's by knocking them out by hitting them until their HP is at 0, or by finding some other way to take them out of the fight. But ultimately, this is a matter of strategy that'll require you to cooperate with your allies and think carefully!
While you'll want to defeat your enemies, your enemies will want to do the same to you. They'll try to do this by knocking you out, sending your HP to 0. Doing so will deal a big blow to the party's Morale, and if you leave a player downed instead of helping them back up, the Morale will fall at an accelerating rate! Keep your friends on their feet to make sure it never hits the game-over threshold of 0%, and when it gets low, make sure you turn up your performance to build that Morale back up!
In every stage is an enemy that's more powerful than most: a leader of the Castle Low guard. You'll be warned when they enter the battlefield. Taking on this boss provides significantly higher rewards like more XP, more Morale and enhanced items; in some cases, you can even clear the entire stage just by taking out the leader and/or some other crucial enemy. But remember, they're leaders of the guard for a very good reason; no matter who you are, a fight with the leader will be very tough to defeat.
When you clear a stage, you'll get a brief one-turn respite from the battlefield to get ready. During this time, you're still limited to the number of actions you would normally be able to take per turn, but you'll receive a full health recovery, your Morale will stabilize at a full 100%, and you'll be able to act with a guaranteed success rate. This is also the only time you can switch around what Skills you currently know: more on that later. Either way, use this rest period to prepare however you can: craft new items, train your abilities, inspect the environment, engage in conversation... Just don’t overdo it, or you might go into the next battle tired.
While you'll want to defeat your enemies, your enemies will want to do the same to you. They'll try to do this by knocking you out, sending your HP to 0. Doing so will deal a big blow to the party's Morale, and if you leave a player downed instead of helping them back up, the Morale will fall at an accelerating rate! Keep your friends on their feet to make sure it never hits the game-over threshold of 0%, and when it gets low, make sure you turn up your performance to build that Morale back up!
In every stage is an enemy that's more powerful than most: a leader of the Castle Low guard. You'll be warned when they enter the battlefield. Taking on this boss provides significantly higher rewards like more XP, more Morale and enhanced items; in some cases, you can even clear the entire stage just by taking out the leader and/or some other crucial enemy. But remember, they're leaders of the guard for a very good reason; no matter who you are, a fight with the leader will be very tough to defeat.
When you clear a stage, you'll get a brief one-turn respite from the battlefield to get ready. During this time, you're still limited to the number of actions you would normally be able to take per turn, but you'll receive a full health recovery, your Morale will stabilize at a full 100%, and you'll be able to act with a guaranteed success rate. This is also the only time you can switch around what Skills you currently know: more on that later. Either way, use this rest period to prepare however you can: craft new items, train your abilities, inspect the environment, engage in conversation... Just don’t overdo it, or you might go into the next battle tired.
Maximizing XP Gain
You need to gain XP in order to raise your level, which is how you get stronger. Building up your power as efficiently and/or as quickly as you can is crucial in Aether Curtain, where the challenges and enemies only get tougher and tougher!
The fastest way to gain XP is to defeat the enemies in front of you. In general, defeating a run-of-the-mill minions yields less XP than defeating a proper member of the Castle Low guard, which yields less XP than defeating a leader of the guard. In addition, higher-level foes yield more XP than lower-level ones, and the further you are into Castle Low, the more XP you'll gain from defeating enemies in general. XP earned this way is universal: every player and every ally will receive the amount of XP the enemy yields upon being defeated. This gives you the freedom to smartly divide your forces to handle the enemies in front of you!
But there's also ways to boost the amount of XP you would gain from defeating enemies! The easiest method is to keep your morale high: for each percent of morale you have above 100%, any XP you gain will boosted by that amount! Maintain dominance and keep your morale high so you can take advantage of this bonus. You can also gain multipliers to the XP gained with your prowess in battle: for instance, try defeating multiple enemies without suffering a single knockout on your side, or defeating multiple enemies in a single turn. There's plenty of bonuses you'll need to discover!
There's also all sorts of special events and opportunities that will yield bonus XP as well! These are hidden, but if you know where to look or take a particular opportunity, you might be able to trigger special conditions! These can be found both directly in battle and just outside of it, so keep a sharp eye for anything of interest, or a chance to swing the momentum around. This will not only yield further opportunities for game play, but they'll also provide you an exclusive boost to your XP!
The fastest way to gain XP is to defeat the enemies in front of you. In general, defeating a run-of-the-mill minions yields less XP than defeating a proper member of the Castle Low guard, which yields less XP than defeating a leader of the guard. In addition, higher-level foes yield more XP than lower-level ones, and the further you are into Castle Low, the more XP you'll gain from defeating enemies in general. XP earned this way is universal: every player and every ally will receive the amount of XP the enemy yields upon being defeated. This gives you the freedom to smartly divide your forces to handle the enemies in front of you!
But there's also ways to boost the amount of XP you would gain from defeating enemies! The easiest method is to keep your morale high: for each percent of morale you have above 100%, any XP you gain will boosted by that amount! Maintain dominance and keep your morale high so you can take advantage of this bonus. You can also gain multipliers to the XP gained with your prowess in battle: for instance, try defeating multiple enemies without suffering a single knockout on your side, or defeating multiple enemies in a single turn. There's plenty of bonuses you'll need to discover!
There's also all sorts of special events and opportunities that will yield bonus XP as well! These are hidden, but if you know where to look or take a particular opportunity, you might be able to trigger special conditions! These can be found both directly in battle and just outside of it, so keep a sharp eye for anything of interest, or a chance to swing the momentum around. This will not only yield further opportunities for game play, but they'll also provide you an exclusive boost to your XP!
Managing Your Skills
By default, each player has 3 skill slots, which means that they’ll only be able to call upon 3 skills at any given time. While a player can learn as many skills as they want and as strong of a skill as they want, they’ll be limited to being only able to use three of them at any time. This restriction means that you’ll have to coordinate and figure out what skills the party needs with every battle, so coordinate carefully!
You’ll be able to change which of your skills are in your skill slots freely in two ways:
When you gain enough XP, you’ll gain a Level, and each Level you gain will award you with 1 SP. You can spend this SP at any time to gain new skills!
There are three ways to spend your SP:
Whenever you learn a new skill, you can substitute it with any skill in your skill slot for free - although, you won’t be able to actually start using the skill until the turn after. For this reason, you might want to save your SP until you need it in battle to get a new edge on your opponent!
There’s also a very special type of skill that takes up its own separate fourth skill slot, and commands power like never seen before...
You’ll be able to change which of your skills are in your skill slots freely in two ways:
- During the turn between stages, where players get to rest and repair, you can set the skills in your skill slots to any combination of skills you’ve learned so far, so long as the size of the set is equal to the number of slots you have.
- During battle, you can sacrifice your turn to make a single change to any one of your skill slots, changing the skill in it with any other skill that you’ve learned, but aren’t already placing in a skill slot.
When you gain enough XP, you’ll gain a Level, and each Level you gain will award you with 1 SP. You can spend this SP at any time to gain new skills!
There are three ways to spend your SP:
- Learn a brand new skill! This will grant you a brand new skill at Rank I, the weakest tier of skill. The kind of skill you will learn in this way depends on your character: what kinds of actions you’ve taken, what kinds of interactions you’ve had, what kinds of preferences you hold, and so on. It’ll start as a pretty weak ability, but with further investment, it can become a force to be reckoned with! This costs 1 SP.
- Learn an upgraded skill! Select any skill that you already know; it will be replaced with a version that’s one rank higher than it. It might accentuate the previous skill’s strengths, mitigate its weaknesses, or even provide a brand-new utility if the rank is high enough. This costs SP equal to the rank of the new skill (e.g. upgrading a Rank II skill costs 3 SP).
- Combine two skills! Select any two skills of equal rank, and you’ll learn a new skill that combines the attributes of the two selected skills into a new one of the same rank. While it’ll have the strengths of both skills, it’ll also share their weaknesses. That’s not mention the possibility of new effects as well! This is a good way of fitting the functionalities of multiple skills into a single skill slot. Unlike with upgrading, the two skills selected for combination won’t be removed and can be used again. Note, however, that combined skills can’t be combined themselves; the two skills you choose the combined must be either brand-new or upgraded. This costs SP equal to the rank of the skills selected (e.g. combining two Rank IV skills costs 4 SP).
Whenever you learn a new skill, you can substitute it with any skill in your skill slot for free - although, you won’t be able to actually start using the skill until the turn after. For this reason, you might want to save your SP until you need it in battle to get a new edge on your opponent!
There’s also a very special type of skill that takes up its own separate fourth skill slot, and commands power like never seen before...
Aether Skills
Aether Skills are an all-new addition, and stand out as your ultimate trump card. They are a new class of ability that derives its power from a rather mysterious energy that's been observed throughout Castle Low. These unique skills usually can't be used, but when you do use them, you can make a huge impact on the flow of battle!
Each person has a special fourth skill slot that's reserved specifically for Aether Skills - it can't hold regular skills, and Aether Skills can't fit in any other skill slot. In addition, unlike with normal skills, you can't change your Aether Skill mid-battle - you have to wait until the end of the stage.
When you have an Aether Skill in that slot, you'll also see a new statistic: your AP. AP determines the amount of this mysterious power that you've managed to accumulate in battle. AP is gained in small quantities with each personal success you have, and at the end of a stage, it resets to zero. However, you can spend AP to fuel and use your Aether Skill!
Aether Skills each have a listed cost, the minimum amount of AP you need to spend to use the skill. Most Aether Skills will also specify a maximum limit to the total amount of AP you can have. When you use an Aether Skill, you'll spend the minimum amount of AP needed to activate the Skill; some Aether Skills will allow you to spend additional amounts of AP for additional bonuses. The effects of these Skills can be devastating, but the AP costs mean that you'll need to be conservative about when you actually use them!
Aether Skills are highly unique and draw a lot from the identity of the character they belong to; no two Aether Skills are the same, and only the owner can use their own Aether Skill. Aether Skills also follow their own line of progression: every tenth level awards one ASP, which can be spent to learn Aether Skills in the same way that SP can be spent to learn normal Skills. Note that Aether Skills can only be combined with Aether Skills, and normal skills can only be combined with normal skills.
Each person has a special fourth skill slot that's reserved specifically for Aether Skills - it can't hold regular skills, and Aether Skills can't fit in any other skill slot. In addition, unlike with normal skills, you can't change your Aether Skill mid-battle - you have to wait until the end of the stage.
When you have an Aether Skill in that slot, you'll also see a new statistic: your AP. AP determines the amount of this mysterious power that you've managed to accumulate in battle. AP is gained in small quantities with each personal success you have, and at the end of a stage, it resets to zero. However, you can spend AP to fuel and use your Aether Skill!
Aether Skills each have a listed cost, the minimum amount of AP you need to spend to use the skill. Most Aether Skills will also specify a maximum limit to the total amount of AP you can have. When you use an Aether Skill, you'll spend the minimum amount of AP needed to activate the Skill; some Aether Skills will allow you to spend additional amounts of AP for additional bonuses. The effects of these Skills can be devastating, but the AP costs mean that you'll need to be conservative about when you actually use them!
Aether Skills are highly unique and draw a lot from the identity of the character they belong to; no two Aether Skills are the same, and only the owner can use their own Aether Skill. Aether Skills also follow their own line of progression: every tenth level awards one ASP, which can be spent to learn Aether Skills in the same way that SP can be spent to learn normal Skills. Note that Aether Skills can only be combined with Aether Skills, and normal skills can only be combined with normal skills.
Loot and the Reserve Inventory
Like with Skills, there's a limit to the number of Items a person can hold at any given time. By default, each player has one item slot for their currently equipped weapon, and three more item slots for anything else they want to hold. But you'll be accumulating a lot of different items over the course of Aether Memorial, and there's no way you can keep it all in your inventories. Where do all the extra items go?
Any items you can't hold onto for the moment will be placed into the Reserve Inventory, a special inventory that is shared between all players! Unlike a player's inventory, the Reserve Inventory can hold an unlimited number of items, without restriction. If you ever receive an item, such as by searching the area, stealing from an opponent, or looting the enemy's inventories, but you don't have any free slots in your inventory to keep it, you can freely send any item in your inventory to the Reserve Inventory to make room. You can also retrieve any one item from the Reserve Inventory during battle, but doing so will sacrifice your turn, so make sure that you actually have the time for it!
Of note is that the Reserve Inventory is also the place where end-of-stage loot goes. When you clear a stage, you and your allies will automatically ransack the surrounding area for useful items, some of which might have been dropped by defeated or fleeing opponents. These items are automatically deposited into the Reserve Inventory. During the turns between stages, you're free to place items in and take items out of the Reserve Inventory as much as you like; use this time to plan out what you're taking into the next fight!
Because the Reserve Inventory is shared among all of you, make sure you coordinate with how to use all those items! Although you'll without a doubt accumulate a large array of items, you'll need to think carefully as to what exactly each of you will carry into battle, as switching items once you're in a fight is difficult. If you think you'll need it, make sure somebody's carrying it!
Any items you can't hold onto for the moment will be placed into the Reserve Inventory, a special inventory that is shared between all players! Unlike a player's inventory, the Reserve Inventory can hold an unlimited number of items, without restriction. If you ever receive an item, such as by searching the area, stealing from an opponent, or looting the enemy's inventories, but you don't have any free slots in your inventory to keep it, you can freely send any item in your inventory to the Reserve Inventory to make room. You can also retrieve any one item from the Reserve Inventory during battle, but doing so will sacrifice your turn, so make sure that you actually have the time for it!
Of note is that the Reserve Inventory is also the place where end-of-stage loot goes. When you clear a stage, you and your allies will automatically ransack the surrounding area for useful items, some of which might have been dropped by defeated or fleeing opponents. These items are automatically deposited into the Reserve Inventory. During the turns between stages, you're free to place items in and take items out of the Reserve Inventory as much as you like; use this time to plan out what you're taking into the next fight!
Because the Reserve Inventory is shared among all of you, make sure you coordinate with how to use all those items! Although you'll without a doubt accumulate a large array of items, you'll need to think carefully as to what exactly each of you will carry into battle, as switching items once you're in a fight is difficult. If you think you'll need it, make sure somebody's carrying it!