Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you're all having a great end of 2023 so far.

I've just launched a brand new update for 8-Bit Adventures 2, and this is a fun one! Since our porting company partner Ratalaika Games is still working on the console versions, and the Free DLC is still in development, I wanted to do something special for everyone this Holiday Season.

So in addition to the usual bug fixes, and finally restoring the April Fools' Day boss (info on finding him is below), I've also added a new post-game side-quest. To access it, speak to the Traveller in the game's Dev Room, and choose to visit the Secret Map.

Yep, those Christmas presents can finally be opened! And they start you on a new quest to hunt down Glitched Monsters - all of which have unusual mechanics, and can take you by surprise if you're not prepared! Collect seven pieces of Glitchite, forge a very special new weapon, and tackle a more powerful version of the Experimental Titan with a special mechanic!

This idea was inspired by the Mushroom Heartless side-quest in the original Kingdom Hearts - albeit significantly streamlined and without the grind. I love the idea in JRPGs of having to hunt down monsters and make a powerful new piece of equipment. And this new weapon will have a specific use in the Free DLC in future as well!

Additionally, since some people found the original Titan too easy, I wanted to take the opportunity to make a harder variant. He's now faster, stronger, and has 1 MILLION HP 🤯 I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous for 8BA2, but the unique mechanic of this fight means it's not an insanely long battle - just one that requires a different focus and strategy (especially during the first phase of the battle). It's designed to be a little more overwhelming than I'd normally make a boss, but in the context of a post-game challenge, I hope it's fun (it's also totally fair to come back to it after the Free DLC is released and your party is stronger) 😅 Good luck to everyone in figuring out a winning strategy!

This new content is permanent (it's not time limited like the April Fools event), and should take around an hour to complete without a guide.

But if you want to get me a present, then please consider leaving a review (if you haven't already). If we can get to 500 Reviews and an Overwhelmingly Positive rating, Steam will give the game more attention. We only need less than 1/8th of the total playerbase on Steam to leave a review to reach this milestone, so please consider it 😊

Have a wonderful end of 2023 everyone!
~Josh

Update for the 14th of December 2023

• Added a new post-game side-quest which becomes in the Dev Room. Speak to the Traveller, visit the Secret Room, and open your presents. After doing this, you'll be able to hunt down Glitched Monsters, create a new weapon, and ultimately face a Million HP Super Boss version of the Experimental Titan!
• Added the bonus April Fools' Day boss back into the game. He can only be fought after beating the game (like before), and is hidden in the Dev Room. Speak to the Traveller and explore the Pheopolis Castle development maps to find him ;)
• Fixed a bug where the Captain's sprite vanishes just before the tutorial battle near the start of the game.
• Fixed a bug where the cursor wouldn't appear correctly spaced in the Character Naming Window.
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't walk under a certain part of a roof in the Merchant District of Pheopolis.
• Fixed a collision issue on the Floating Continent where you could walk onto one of the east-most waterfalls.
• Corrected inaccurate text in the game's final city. When you opened the chest which contained the Instant K.O. Attack Augment, it stated a 20% chance of success. Whereas the Augment actually offers a 10% chance of success.
• Created ways to fix a potential bug where, around the time of Emma's end-game side-quest, the player's walking animation can be abruptly disabled. These fixes trigger after the opening cutscene in the Stonecrest Ruins, the preamble to the Final Dungeon cutscene in the Factory, and (for a manual solution) if you talk to the little girl at the entrance of Anbu City.
• Fixed a bug where the Poison Dart ability could fail to inflict the Poison Status on the CRUSH!! enemies on the Mountain Pass. Even though I'd tried to make sure that Poison wouldn't fail on these enemies (since they tutorialise status ailments), the RNG still meant that there was a small chance of failure. So I took a new approach to fix this bug and make the Poison Status 100% successful on these enemies.
• Raised the minimum AP threshold on Charlie's "Everything!!" ability to 50 AP. I also made an enemy's Defence stat play a larger role in this ability's damage calculation, in preparation for the Free DLC. Don't worry though - this ability is still the powerhouse attack it was meant to be!
• Fixed a typo on a tutorial window regarding Emma.
• Fixed a couple of typos in the Sky Forge, and a visual issue in the first Airship Journey opening cutscene.
• Implemented the intended animation for the Locust Jar item (it previously used the animation of the Stopwatch item instead).
• Fixed a targeting bug and visual bug on the Experimental Titan boss.
• I think I've finally found and fixed the cause of the Arena Clockwork Controller bug! So hopefully no one else should encounter a softlock in this battle.
• Fixed a minor display bug with the Auto-Haste Augment.
• I made adjustments to the speed and flow of several instances of NPC dialogue in Pheopolis Castle at the start of the game. Many NPCs spoke slower here than they would in the rest of the game. I also adjusted some dialogue at the start of the combat tutorial, to make it move just a little bit quicker.