Napishtim is designed around the limitations imposed by Backtracking.

One of the best additions to this version of Napishtim is Savepoint Warping. However, Savepoint Warping breaks Napishtim's already dicey balance by circumventing backtracking -- effectively, Savepoint Warping is not properly integrated into Napishtim's design.


With Savepoint Warping, all Savepoints can be thought of as being adjacent to town (warp to town, warp back).

Without Savepoint Warping, the process of getting back to town looks something like this:
1. Escape the Dungeon.
2. Travel the Overworld to Town.
3. Travel the Overworld back to the Dungeon.
4. Travel back to the Savepoint.

Total Rooms Traveled (From Savepoint to Town, then back to Savepoint):


You've reached the Midpoint of a dungeon. Do you:
a) Go back to buy / upgrade items?
b) Push onward to the Dungeon Boss?

Going back to town and returning to the Midpoint save was originally a lengthy backtracking grind. However, the additional resources obtained from this backtracking is the difference between having or not having the correct level, equipment and items necessary for the next area. Incidentally, the Thief's Glove and Emel Hammer were primarily for improving Resource Yields during these grinds.

You've reached the End of a dungeon. Do you:
a) Go back? It's a long way to return....
b) Fight the Boss?

How many healing items were used to get to the boss? A realistic possibility is that all but a single Healing Item remains in Inventory. This is why nearly all Bosses are balanced around having only 1 Healing Item, not 3.

You've reached the Wyvern Corridor. You have not yet gone back for the Emelas Armor and remaining Level 10 Sword Upgrades (didn't have the necessary resource by the Midpoint Save). Do you:
1. Go back for the Emelas Armor and Sword Upgrades?
2. Option 1, but Salty?

It's a backtracking marathon to get all the upgrades and then return to the Wyvern Corridor. This and the Point of No Return encourages exploration of previous explored areas to obtain items that have not yet been obtained. The Pikkard also encourages a more systematic search (since the Pikkards could be anywhere). This means that due to backtracking, there was a fairly reasonable chance of stumbling upon the Optional Bosses guarding the Emelas Accessories.

Backtracking is the only reason the Late-Game Optional Bosses made any kind of sense.

The Goal: Properly integrate Savepoint Warping into Napishtim's design.

This will require:
1. Rebalance and update Bosses around 3 Healing Items.
2. Rebalance Healing Items to make Task 1 more reasonable.
3. Rework Optional Bosses so that they make sense.
4. Solid Barriers as opposed to Level Barriers and Distance Barriers.
5. Rebalance anything designed for Majunun so that it won't be OP for everything else.
6. Relocate certain Accessories to facilitate the Tasks above.
7. Build out Backtracking from Dungeons, ideally with minimal changes.
8. Other tweaks and changes as required.

Method:
Played through Nightmare [Standard] and recorded the amount of Gold and Emel obtained by different points of the game. This is to get an idea of what values to set Gold and Emel prices to (as well as what additions need to be made to reach expected conditions).

It's not possible to Balance Bosses around 3 Healing Items and simultaneously Balance Bosses around No Healing Items without something to replace the HP deficit. And it's not just Bosses that would have this issue. Moreover, there are several mechanics that are dependent on having Healing Items in Inventory, mechanics that would be broken without them.

Effectively, Healing Items are a fundamental part of Napishtim. Rather than try and remove them, embrace them and make them better.

With that said, a Catastrophe Difficulty (basically Inferno Difficulty) would make significantly more sense.

1. Remove 'Zero Damage Limiter' (attacks deal at least 1 HP of damage to enemies).
2. Add Glowing Enemies (Red, Blue, Yellow) on all difficulties.
3. Adol can take Critical Damage in Normal Mode.
4. Adol cannot take Critical Damage in Easy and Very Easy.

Since areas are blocked by solid walls (rather than due to levels), this means that Easy and Very Easy are viable as difficulty settings.

Catastrophe difficulty is basically Inferno difficulty in this case.

Very Easy, and Catastrophe difficulties are "Nice to Have".


1. Make sure all Major bosses have a Savepoint.
2. Savepoint Warping is not allowed on the Romun Fleet.
3. Savepoint Warping is not allowed form The Ark of Napishtim.


Savepoint Warping from the Ark of Napishtim is a Nice to Have. Additionally, the design changes proposed here make it far more likely that players will reach the Ark with all of the equipment they need.

Add a Strong Warning Message before each Point of No Return (Romun Fleet, Wyvern Corridor). Something like the following:


Will probably require slightly different wording for each Point of No Return.

By reducing the potency of Healing Items and giving Adol the Emelas Crown early, the Healing Items become far less overpowered.

By significantly reducing the capabilities of Capla Water and making it available for purchase, Capla Water can be built directly into the balance of the game, providing 1 more tier of end-game Healing Item.


1. Capla Water is purchasable from Kevin and Croix.
2. Magic Talisman is no longer sold. It is found in a chest.

Under Napishtim's normal balance, accessories provide a huge stat boost when equipping them, and a huge stat deficiency when removing them. The only way to prevent this flip-flop from being too severe is by reducing the stats of the accessories.

Gaining a single Level provides approximately the following:


[QUESTION]: How is a game supposed to have a fine-tuned balance when accessories can cause the balance to swing drastically in several different directions?

[ANSWER]: Reduce the degree to which the balance can be changed.

[UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE]: Underutilized accessories become more viable -- non-Emelas accessories aren't so overpowered that they can't be swapped out for something with a situational advantage.

This has been adjusted based on the following methodology:
1. All 3 Swords at the Same Level before a Boss Fight.
2. Not enough Emel to Overlevel a Single Sword.


It's better to have the Sword Element and Magic abilities available from the get-go. In particular, it's better to get early practice with the timing of the Wind Element rather than practicing the down-thrust.


Fast Magic Regen:
Only works in Majunun's Boss Room.

Spirit Walk:
1. Press and hold jump to briefly walk along the air.
2. Extends jump to Dash-Jump distance.
3. Sword at the appropriate level must be equipped.

All of the changes noted in sections above are to ensure that at no point is the player too overpowered or too underpowered for any encounter.

[Healing Items]:
Only provide about 1 extra HP Bar worth of HP, but Savepoint Warping allows obtaining new Healing Items before any encounter.

[Sword Tempering]:
Rebalanced so that it is no longer possible to overlevel swords without a fair bit of grinding.

[Accessories]:
Stats of well-hidden accessories have been reduced. This means that even if they are missed, they won't make any encounters (normal or boss) insurmountable.

Assuming all bosses get a Savepoint and Optional Bosses are mandatory, the Boss Distribution could be changed up as follows:

All bosses with a Time Attack entry (except Majunun) will be treated as Major Boss Fights. Treatment of Mini-Bosses will also be covered here. Majunun doesn't fall into either category of boss, and will be treated uniquely.

Major Boss:
1. Cannot Escape the Boss Room.
2. All Magic Gauges are Reset.
3. Boss Music is Played.
4. Spawned enemies do not drop items.
5. Spawned enemies do not drop emel.
6. Spawned enemies do not provide gold.
7. Spawned enemies do not provide experience.

Mini-Boss:
1. Can Leave the Boss Room.
2. Magic Gauges are Maintained.
3. Normal Area Music is Played.

Track 07: Mighty Obstacle

Changes:
1. When Demi-Galba swipes at Adol, at least 3 Gilcha (small bugs) spawn in (at-level).
2. At lower HP, more Gilcha will spawn in with each swipe.
3. At lower HP, Demi-Galba's Flame attack tracks more quickly towards Adol.

Difficulty Differences:
Demi-Galba's Flame attack tracks towards Adol on all difficulties.

Track 07: Mighty Obstacle

Changes:
1. Tougher since Wind Element is already available.
2. Boss Music plays when the Fight Starts.
3. Mythos Path music plays when the Fight Ends.

Track 07: Mighty Obstacle

Boss Room:
1. New Boss Room
2. Located just after the Grana-Vallis Mountain Entrance Savepoint.

Changes:
1. Piana-Pius can be damaged while in the air, requiring the player to attack while dodging the Stingers and Bees.
2. Piana-Pius will remain on the ground longer with low HP. This is to give more opportunity to directly attack Piana-Pius with Wind Magic and Down Thrusts.

Track 07: Mighty Obstacle

Changes:
1. New Attack: Throws exploding rocks at Adol. Similar to throwing Seeds. Attack can be used at any time. Attack happens about as frequently as throwing Seeds.
2. When spraying Spores, white slithering beams track towards Adol. Movement pattern is similar to Galba-Roa's Gut Worm attack. Effectively, standing still as far from Zonplas is no longer enough to dodge the Sport Attack. Alternatively, the white beams behave similar to Majunun's Red beam attack.

Treated as a Mini Boss.
Unchanged from the original fight.

Difficulty Differences:
1. There are 3 Mini-Gaposdhala on Hard, Nightmare, Catastrophe.
2. There are 2 Mini-Gaposdhala on Normal.
3. There is 1 Mini-Gaposdhala on Easy, Very Easy.

Track 20: Armored Bane

Boss Room:
New Boss Room just after Ruins of Lost Time: Entrance savepoint.

Phase 1:
Looks like a Shadow Geis.

Attacks:
1. Jump Slash (Geis Attack). Unlike Geis, this attack sends out a horizontal air pressure wave -- same attack as Cedollon enemies (Canaan Plains).
2. Horizontal Slash (Geis Attack).
3. After Guarding, Birandi Geis will fire purple bolts around itself and teleport (like a normal Birandi).
4. Drops Shadow Eggs after teleporting (only at 1/2 HP or lower).
5. Shadow Eggs spawn at-level Birandi Mimics (Adol Mimics), up to a maximum of 6.

Phase 2:
Looks like a slightly larger Birandi.

Attacks:
1. Fires purple bolts around itself and teleports.
2. Drops Shadow Eggs after teleporting.
3. Fires Red Energy Beams (like Majunun's).
4. Guard, after taking continuous damage, will guard and take zero damage, followed by an attack.

Track 20: Armored Bane

Changes:
1. While in the air, Gadoc enemies (the hopping enemies in Ruins of Lost Time) will drop into the arena from Ud-Meiyu.
2. Over time, Gadoc will spawn in to the limit.
3. New Attack: Fire a Stinger Missile at Adol (similar to Piana-Pius Stinger attack).
4. Zenus will spawn in glowing Blue and Red (alternating).

Difficulty Differences:
1. At the beginning, 6 Zenus (Laser Turrents) will spawn on Hard, Nightmare, Catastrophe.
2. At the beginning, 4 Zenus (Laser Turrents) will spawn on Normal.
3. At the beginning, no Zenus (Laser Turrets) will spawn on Easy, Very Easy.

Track 07: Mighty Obstacle

Boss Room:
Original Boss Room, but beside a room with a Savepoint.

Changes:
1. Spawned enemies are at-level (possibly slightly lower due to being limited to using the Herb).

Track 07: Mighty Obstacle

Boss Room:
1. New Boss Room.
2. Located just after Limewater Cave: Midpoint Savepoint.
3. Similar to the original boss room.

Changes:
1. Dollon spawned by Noodollon are invisible and take 1 HP damage when Rainbow Fragment is not equipped. However, Noodollon is visible and can be damaged.
2. Possibly some Mini-Noodollon minions (they attack the same as Noodollon, but do not spawn Dollon).

Track 20: Armored Bane

Boss Room:
1. Original Boss Room, but beside a room with a Savepoint.
2. The path leading to Piana-Pullus is only accessible through the Limewater Caves.

Changes:
1. Piana-Pullus will fire a second stinger after the first stinger, requiring 2 stingers to be dodged in succession.

Track 07: Mighty Obstacle

Boss Room:
1. Original Boss Room, but with a Savepoint above it.
2. Boss Room is reached by falling into it.

Changes:
1. Dollon spawned by Deadollon are invisible and take 1 HP damage when Rainbow Fragment is not equipped. However, Deadollon is visible and can be damaged.
2. Deadollon's attacks inflict a Status Ailments, depending on the colour of the attack.
3. Deadollon's upwards attack fires 3 volleys in quick succession.
4. Possibly some invincible Mini-Noodollon minions (they attack the same as Noodollon, but do not spawn Dollon).

Status Ailments:
1. [Green] = Poison
2. [Blue] = Heavy
3. [Red] = Confuse
4. [Yellow] = Curse
5. [Black] = All
6. [White] = None, but Higher Damage

Track 20: Armored Bane

Changes:
1. Orjugan will start attacking immediately (doesn't require HP to be down).

Track 07: Mighty Obstacle

Unchanged from the original fight, just tougher.

Track 20: Armored Bane

Boss Room:
1. New Boss Room.
2. Located between the Quateran Woods: Glade Savepoint and Windseeker Heights.
3. Bigger than the original Boss Room to accommodate changes to Gaposasura.

Changes:
1. Has 3 at-level Mini-Gaposdhala minions.
2. Seeds will respawn Mini-Gaposdhala minions (up to 3 max).
3. Seeds will spawn Bundaghar (Exploding Rocks) if not dealt with quickly.

Track 07: Mighty Obstacle

Kishcarin 1: Major Boss.
Kishcarin 2: Mini-Boss.

Kishcarin 1 is just after the Midpoint Save.
Kishcarin 2 is guarding the room with [80,000 Emel], [Accessory Slot], and [Emelas Shield].

Boss Room:
The Boss Room for Kishcarin 1 is modified to account for arriving from the Midpoint Save.
The Boss Room for Kishcarin 2 is modified so that it is not possible to be knocked out of the room.

Changes:
1. After taking 2 Down Thrusts, Kishcarin will guard and be invincible briefly.
2. Shortly after guarding, Kishcarin will start punching at Adol.
3. Kishcarin's main attack fires an attack in a line towards Adol.
4. Only Kishcarin 1 (Major Boss) will spawn Giron.

Difficulty Differences:
1. Kishcarin spawns 3 White Glowing Giron on Hard, Nightmare, Catastrophe.
2. Kishcarn spawns 2 White Glowing Giron on Normal.
3. Kishcarin spawns 1 White Glowing Giron on Easy, Very Easy.

Track 20: Armored Bane

Phase 1:
1. Galba Roa is more aggressive than the original fight.
2. Spin attack inflicts Confusion.
3. When Galba-Roa lands, the impact causes AOE damage in proximity all around Galba-Roa (not just the shockwave along the ground). This forces the player to stay back from Galba-Roa when it lands.
4. After jumping, Galba-Roa can only be damaged by a certain type of Sword. The sword that damages Galba-Roa changes per jump.

Phase 2:
Galba Roa will be able to do the following additional attacks:
1. Spray Fire.
2. Spit out a Gut Worm.

Track 21: Ernst

Unchanged from the original fight, just tougher to properly account for 3 nerfed Capla Water and the Daylight Stone.

Track 23: Black Ark Unveiled (Phase 1)
Track 24: The Depth Napishtim (Phase 2)

Phase 1:
1. The Zeparos (flame turrets) are at Level 50 and will do significant damage.

Phase 2:
1. The Black Pillar and Octagonal Bipyramid enemies have proper HP and Defense. Now, they will take several hits to die.
2. Attacks by the Black Pillar and Octagonal Bipyramid are more damaging.
3. Napishtim's Electric Wave attack does significantly more damage per second.
4. The colour of Napishtim's Laser Cannon is different each time it fires (changes randomly):
- White: Napishtim's eye can be damaged by any Sword.
- Blue: Napishtim's eye can only be damaged by Livart.
- Red: Napishtim's eye can only be damaged by Brillante.
- Yellow: Napishtim's eye can only be damaged by Ericcil.

Difficulty Differences:
1. The Zeparos spawn on Normal, Hard, Nightmare, Catastrophe.
2. The Zeparos do not spawn on Easy, Very Easy.

Track 20: Armored Bane

Boss Room:
1. Can Leave the Boss Room.
2. All Magic Gauges are Reset on entering the Boss Room.
3. Boss Music plays on entering the Boss Room.
4. Ruins of Lost Time music plays on leaving the Boss Room or beating Majunun.
5. Majunun is invincible until the Treasure Chest is opened. Alternatively, Majunun doesn't appear until the Treasure Chest is opened.

Changes:
1. All of Majunun's Nightmare-level attacks are present on all difficulties (Super Boss may as well be a Super Boss on all difficulties).
2. After being attacked with Magic, Majunun will start glowing Blue, Red, or Yellow.
3. Majunun will change colour each time Majunun is attacked by Magic (this can be to the same colour as the current colour).
4. There is a 3 second delay before Majunun changes colour so that Majunun will be fully damaged by the current Magic attack.
5. Majunun's attacks inflict Status Ailments.
6. Majunun scales with Player Level.

Status Ailments:
1. [White Energy Bullet Ring]: No Status Ailment
2. [Red Energy Beams]: Confusion
3. [Airquake]: Curse
4. [Flame Trail]: Poison
5. [Pulse Laser]: Heavy

Level Scaling:
[Majunun Lvl] = [Adol Level]
[Majunun HP] = [Fixed HP]
[Majunun STR] = [Adol Base DEF] + [Fixed STR Offset]
[Majunun DEF] = [Adol Base STR] + [Fixed DEF Offset]

It might look something like:
[Majunun Lvl] = [Adol Level]
[Majunun HP] = 9132 (Nightmare)
[Majunun STR] = [Adol Base DEF] + 280
[Majunun DEF] = [Adol Base STR] + 80

Assuming identical equipment per level, Majunun will always damage Adol by the same amount per level (e.g. 181 HP at Level 2, 181 HP at Level 52). Conversely, Adol will always damage Majunun for the same amount per level for identical equipment. This is because Leveling Up doesn't change the gap between Adol's Strength and Majunun's Defense and Vice-Versa.

There are only 2 ways the player can close this gap.
1. Better Equipment
2. More HP

Adol's Actual Stats look something like this:
[Actual HP] = [Max HP] + [Equipment HP]
[Actual STR] = [Base STR] + [Equipment STR]
[Actual DEF] = [Base DEF] + [Equipment DEF]

Equipment doesn't change Adol's Base Stats, but does improve Adol's Actual Stats. As such, Equipment benefits Adol, but doesn't benefit Majunun. However, the Seed of Power and Seed of Defense adds to Adol's Base Stats, and therefore provides no benefit to defeating Majunun.

Leveling Up increases the amount of HP Adol has. The Seed of Vitality adds to the HP that Adol has. Get enough HP, and Adol will be able to take more attacks.

The current In-Game Help pages are very lacking. Too many things condensed together, not enough detail on the unintuitive elements. Additionally, the pages are very cluttered and difficult to read. This makes it easy to overlook things.

The In-Game Help needs to be a minimum of 4 distinct pages:
1. Basic Controls
2. Elemental Abilities (includes Magic)
3. Equipment
4. Status Effects

Ideally, there should be a fully fleshed-out in-game manual with pages that unlock as progress is made. However, expanding the current in-game help pages into the 4 pages noted above will add the most value with the least effort.

The extra room will allow Lunge Attack and Dash Jump to be better explained:
1. [Lunge Attack]: Tap the Movement button, and then press the Attack button.
2. [Dash Jump]: Perform the Lunge Attack, and then press the Jump button. Jump can be pressed at any point during the Lunge Attack. For maximum distance, press the Jump button just after initiating the Lunge Attack.

The extra room will allow the unintuitive Wind Element to be better explained. Additional details of other abilities can be included:
1. [Wind Element]: After the regular 3-hit combo, press the Attack button 5 more times at half the speed of a regular attack. If the timing is correct, the 3-hit combo will be extended with 5 additional Wind Element attacks.
2. [Flame Element]: Hold the Attack button to charge the Flame Element. While charging, Adol will be unable to move. Use the Movement buttons to aim the attack. When fully charged, the Flame Element will fire along the ground.
3. [Thunder Element]: Continuously attack to charge the Thunder Element. After attacking enough times, Adol will charge through enemies with the Thunder Element attack.
4. [Magic]: Damaging enemies and receiving damage will charge the Magic Gauge. When the Magic Gauge is full, press the Magic button to unleash a powerful Magic attack unique to each sword. Adol is invulnerable to damage while firing Magic.

The extra room will make reading the descriptions significantly easier.

The extra room allows descriptions of how to deal with Status Ailments:
1. [Removing Status Ailments]: Certain items will remove Status Aliments.
2. [Preventing Status Ailments]: Certain Equipment will prevent Status Ailments.
3. [Equipment Ailments]: Certain Equipment will inflict Status Ailment. If a Status Ailment cannot be removed with Items, check the descriptions of current Equipment.

The room just before the Fountain of Prayer Savepoint now contains 'Albholg', the rare enemies that the Birds sometimes drop. This is to slightly increase the difficulty of this area as well as get more use out of these underutilized enemies.

[Nice to Have]: When Chief Ord gives Adol Livart, he explains some of the mechanics of the Sword since the Wind Element is fairly non-intuitive:
1. Attack as you would an ordinary sword, then swing again at half-speed to call forth the Wind Element.
2. Swing 5 additional times at half-speed to perform a powerful finisher. Unlike powerful strikes, finishers deal smaller but rapid damage, for much greater damage overall.
3. When excess wind element has built up within the sword, release that energy to unleash a devastating maelstrom attack. This attacks also acts as a shield from all forms of attack.

The barrier blocking off the way to Windseeker Heights is more extreme, and cannot be passed normally. When Largo is asked about the barrier before Ud-Meiyu is defeated, he will no longer say that it can be jumped over (because it cannot be jumped over).

After Ud-Meiyu is defeated, the barrier is moved since Olah has gone to Windseeker Heights. When Largo is asked about Olah, he will mention where she went and will also mention that the barrier should be open at the moment because of this. He will still recommend that Adol wait for Olah to return.

The Path leading to Windseeker Heights is changed up in several small ways:
1. New savepoint before the Gaposdhala Boss Room.
2. New Boss Room for Gaposasura between the savepoint and Windseeker Heighst.
3. Gaposasura will not appear until Lanaluna is defeated.

Remove the unfair design of having Level 21 Ghargil (Big Bugs) at the end of the Mythos Path, and replace them with Level 9 Ghargil that will provide rewards appropriate for the level.

It would also be worthwhile to use this as a way to introduce Birandi Geis:
1. In the last room of the Mythos Path, Birandi Geis will be standing there, but then suddenly teleport away.
2. The way south will be blocked by shadow.
3. The Ghargil (Big Bugs) will drop down as normal.
4. The Ghargil will be at-level (or maybe 1 level higher), and will drop appropriate items, emel, gold, experience for this level (Honey, 5 Emel, 10 or so Gold, 20 or so Experience).
5. After defeating the at-level Ghargil, the way south will be unblocked (shadow will disappear, and light will appear in the room).

After completing the Grana-Vallis Mountain, the Mythos Path changes in a few ways:

Port Remorge Coast:
1. The South Exit of the Blue Door Room is blocked due to a cave-in. It is not possible to go south from within the Blue Door Room.
2. From the Fountain of Prayer: Entrance savepoint, it is not possible to get to the Blue Door Room as the doorway is blocked due to a cave-in.
3. This forces the player to go through the Mythos Path via the Port Remorge: Coast savepoint (as per Napishtim's original design), which in turn forces the player to encounter the side-quest for the Thief's Glove.

Ghargil:
1. After Grana-Vallis Mountain, the Mythos Path is now filled with Level 20 Ghargil as well as Level 20 Gilcha (Small Bugs).
2. The Ghargil and Gilcha provide appropriate drops, experience, gold, emel for the level.
3. The Ghargil and Gilcha provide just enough experience to get to the level required for Birandi Geis.
4. The Ghargil and Gilcha are here as practice for the Flame Element (basically Flame Element tutorial). There is nothing in Ruins of Lost Time against which the Flame Element is particularly effective (except for Ud-Meiyu).

Birandi Geis:
Possibly have another scene where Birand Geis is present in the Red Door room:
1. Birandi Geis is there, then teleports away.
2. But Level 20 Birandi Mimics appear behind Adol (Adol turns around to face them).
3. Then more Level 20 Birandi Mimics appear from the other side. Adol is surrounded.
4. Adol can't activate the Red Door until all Birandi Mimics are defeated.

Piana-Pius is in a new Boss Room just after the Grana-Vallis Mountain: Entrance savepoint.

Piana Pullus and the original Boss Room is accessible only through the Limewater Caves.

The path leading to the Piana Pullus Boss Room now leads to an area filled with bees and a chest containing Honey.

Piana-Pius is now blocking the Entrance to Grana-Vallis Mountain. A new Boss Room is required to support this.


Ur gives Adol the [Wing of Alma] immediately after being saved -- the Wing is something Ur found while traversing the mountain.

Beating Ud-Meiyu without seeing this cutscene breaks the game.

To prevent this, remove the Port Rimorge - Coast savepoint from the Savepoint Warp List after beating Zonplas. This forces the player to traverse town in order to reach the savepoint. The savepoint gets added back into the list after reaching it again.

The change to Mythos Path (see Mythos Path section) makes it impossible to reach the Ruins of Lost Time except from Port Rimorge. The temporary removal of the Coast savepoint from the Savepoint Warp List makes it impossible to enter Port Rimorge except from the Canaan Plains. As such, the cutscene with Raba becomes impossible to avoid, and can play out unchanged from the original.

With the changes made to overpowered accessories, every accessory in the Ruins of Lost Time could be skipped without being of great impact to the balance of future sections. However, missing the Accessory Slot will make it impossible to wear the [Emelas Crown], [Silver Armlet], and the [Rainbow Fragment] at the same time, which will cause the latter part of the Limewater Cave to be a problem.

In order for there to be a Savepoint before Majunun, it either has to be inaccessible until Ericcil is obtained (since it changes the dynamic of the dungeon), or a Midpoint Save is added to the dungeon. As a general rule, there should be at least 6 rooms (with enemies) between savepoints. In order to support a Midpoint Save, add switches and doors to existing rooms in the Ruins of Lost Time to meet this condition. Add extra rooms as needed. Modify existing rooms as needed.

Entrance:
New Boss Room for the New Boss, Birandi Geis. Include a cutscene where Adol's shadow stretches and then Birandi Geis appears from it (like all proper self-respecting shadow monsters).


Part 1:
Switches and doors added before the new Midpoint Save room. A few additional rooms also added to support this. Dash-Jump to the Accessory Slot chest has been made impossible since this would provide a path to bypass the Midpoint Save room.


Majunun:
Path to Majunun is only accessible after reaching the Midpoint Save. There is a maze of Rainbow Platforms leading to the switch opening the door leading to Majunun. There is a new room just before Majunun. This new room has direct access to the Midpoint Save, but only after entering the new room and opening the pathway from within.

Possibly add some Item Chests to the Rainbow Platform Maze and the Fall Room below it (currently not covered in the Treasure Chests section). Possible Items:
1. Honey
2. Herb
3. Oroi Fruit
4. Limurian Shroom


Part 2:
There is a new switch that can only be accessed via the path leading to the Accessory Slot. This is the most critical change to the Ruins of Lost Time as it makes the Accessory Slot chest next to unmissible.


It would be good if all (or some specific) enemies had to be defeated in the Final Room before the Depths Save in order to open the way to the Depths Save. Otherwise, this room is mostly just a rush to the Savepoint.

Capla Water can be sold for a balance-breaking amount of Gold. The earliest the Capla Water can be obtained without causing any kind of balance issue is after Gaposdhala is defeated and the Rainbow Fragment is obtained.

To facilitate this, the Capla Water chest is now guarded by Viddun, the glowing eyes enemy that guard the Black Tabula chest.

The Viddun are significantly more high-leveled than before, and will take only 1 HP of damage until way later in the game.

Alternatively, the Capla Water chest is invisible until the Rainbow Fragment is equipped.

A new room is added just after the Entrance Save. This room has no enemies, and blocks progress into the Limewater Cave.

After Gaspodhala is defeated, there will be talismans around the cave (placed by Geis to reveal the entrance), and the entrance to the Limewater Cave will be opened.

After Ruins of Lost Time (but before Gaspodhala is defeated), an optional cutscene where Geis is examining the back of the cave. Geis could then provide clues to progress by talking to himself. Adol overhears. When Geis realizes Adol is there, he gets annoyed.

All Dollon (except Noodollon and Deadollon) are invisible and take 1 HP of damage without the Rainbow Fragment equipped.

Limewater Cave is designed around backtracking. This is why it's relatively easy to reach the Midpoint Save and then use that as a platform to explore the remaining areas of the first section of the cave. With Savepoint Warping, it should not be so easy to reach Savepoints.

Part 1:
Change 3 pathways into directional paths by using elevation. Doing this will mean players will be required to traverse most of the first part of the Limewater Cave in order to reach the Midpoint Save.

The direct path to the Midpoint Save should be blocked by Deep Water. An additional high-platform path allows for going South (away from the Savepoint). However, it is not possible to go North by jumping on the platform as the platform is too high. A similar design would be used for the other 2 directional paths. Maybe the pathways are broken down to the water level, and only one side has a gentle slope up.

A new chest is added to the same room as the Galba Armor chest, though on the main path. This is to make this effectively blocked-off side-path worthwhile to explore.

Remove the Nirva (Hard Shelled Enemies) from along the path towards the Galba Shield and Galba Armor. It's very possible to be killed by these before there is even a chance to realize they cannot be killed. It's also not a very fair design to lose a good deal of progress to an enemy that is both unkillable and cannot be defended against.

For similar reasons, a Breakable Rock formation blocks the path to the Yellow Tabula. The formation can only be destroyed when the Bell of Silence is equipped.


NOTE:
Upon review, having a place where the player can drop-down and lose fairly major progress seems unfair. Better for the raised platform near the Galba Armor chest to either be permanently blocked off, or blocked by a breakable rock formation.

Part 2:
Rearrange and modify the second area so that there are effectively only two paths:
Path 1 - Consists only of the right path, and leads to Piana-Pullus.
Path 2 - Consists of the left path. The left path leads to the center path. The center path leads to the Depths Savepoint, and then Deadollon.

Part way into the Left Path, there is a Rock Formation that needs to be destroyed using the Bell of Silence.

Remove the Nirva guarding the Accessory Slot. Might as well make the Accessory Slot part of the Piana-Pullus expected conditions rather than leaving it as something that can used to gain an advantage over Piana-Pullus.


NOTE:
Upon review, having 3 places where the player can drop from and lose major progress seems unfair (not counting the Dash Jump chest). Better to make it impossible to fall from those areas, and only have falling possible along the path just after Deadollon's boss room.

Piana-Pullus:
Beating Piana-Pullus is required in order to obtain the Bell of Silence. The Bell of Silence is required in order to destroy Rock Formations that are blocking Progress.


Deadollon:
Deadollon blocks passage to a Rock Formation that needs to be destroyed in order to proceed to the lake.

Before the Rock Formation is destroyed, the room leading to the lake is dark like the rest of the Limewater Cave. After the Rock Formation is destroyed, the room leading to the lake is brightly lit. This is to indicate that the Rainbow Fragment is no longer needed.


Orjugan:
Several new rooms separate the Depths Save and Orjugan. While this is strictly not necessary, it serves the following purposes:
1. Create a proper gap between Deadollon and Orjugan.
2. Allows for more underwater combat (this was severely lacking).
3. Allows an interesting way to obtain the Emel required for Level 9 Swords.

Some of the new rooms may be populated with non-boss Mini-Noodollon, enemies that will respawn when re-entering an area. The Mini-Boss version of Deadollon seemed like a good final barrier before getting to Orjugan.

In order to have Kishcarin as a Major Boss Fight (balanced around 3 Blue Potion), the fight needs to be moved to after the Midpoint Save. The second fight against Kishcarin can be moved to guard the 80,000 Emel, the Accessory Slot, and the Emelas Shield.

Possibly add a third Kishcarin mini-boss after the Mid-Point, so that the one-off Kishcarin's are mostly responsible for reaching Level 48.

Since the Kishcarin rooms are no longer present, they can be replaced with some new rooms with normal enemies.


The biggest issue with Ruined City of Kishgal is the Midpoint Save. Because 80,000 Emel is so close to the Midpoint Save, Savepoint Warping makes it trivial to get upgrades earlier than intended. To mitigate this, several new rooms should be added between the Midpoint Save and the original rooms after the midpoint.

Add a cutscene that forces the player to encounter Kevin -- this way, the player knows to stop here to shop. It might happen something like this:
1. As Adol is passing by, Kevin calls out to him.
2. Adol proceeds to Kevin.
3. Kevin talks to Adol.

Some additional things Kevin might talk about during this scene:
1. [Buying and Selling]: Not everything can be used to full effect early on. Sell the things you don't need so you can buy the things you do.
2. [Equipment]: Equipment can provide a variety of benefits. However, some equipment may have detrimental affects when worn. If you find yourself with some kind of unexplained status that won't go away, check your recent equipment.

When Olah is encountered at the fountain of Prayer, there is an extra event:
1. As Olah goes to leave, she sees some Gilcha (small bugs) near the Savepoint monument.
2. Olah says that the best way to deal with them is by attacking from above.
3. When looking back, the bugs seem to be gone, so Olah leaves to find Isha.
4. After Olah leaves, some low-level Gilcha appear on the Boss platform for the player to deal with.
5. Player has to deal with the Gilcha on the Boss platform before being able to proceed.

This basically condenses the "down thrust" tutorial of the Mythos Path into a small event, leaving Mythos Path available as practice for Wind Element (or down thrust if the player wants).

Have a flashback sequence where Adol and company escape from the Romun Army. This would act as a tutorial sequence for basic attacks including down-thrust (making the early Gilcha sequence unneeded).

Event would go something like this:
1. Starts immediately after the Animated Opening sequence.
2. Adol, Dogi and Ladoc break through the wall of a bar (instead of the door right beside the newly formed hole).
3. Adol and company get surrounded by Romun soldiers.
4. Player takes control and fights the soldiers.
5. After the fight, Adol gets separated from the rest, and has to hide in the sewers.
6. The sewers have a few bugs in them to fight, and a few other small tutorial things.
7. After escaping the sewers, Adol ends up surrounded by Romun soldiers.
8. Ernst is there and walks menacingly towards Adol.
9. After silently building some tension, the sequence ends with Adol waking in the Rhedan village.

After picking up Brillante, a minor tremor.

After defeating Birandi Geis, a minor tremor.
After reaching the ROLT Midpoint Save, a more severe tremor.
Just before Sara says that the first seal has been undone, a lengthy tremor.

The idea here is that the tremors are signs that the first seal is being released.

In the Noodollon boss room, Jue appears and summons Noodollon (the Dollon King) as revenge for Zonplas. But Noodollon lands on her, requiring her to be saved. Noodollon doesn't die after being beaten. It jumps to the ceiling and disappears. Jue is grateful for being saved, but also calls Adol a fool for saving her.

The Bell of Silence is out in the open (like the Mirror fragments). Upon picking it up, Sera appears and says that she is grateful for what Adol had done for Jue. But despite this she will not allow anyone to interfere with her master's plans. She offers Adol a chance to walk away, which Adol declines. Sera then summons Piana-Pullus. After Piana Pullus is defeated, Sera says gives Adol a warning, stating that this is Adol's last chance.

After dropping into the Deadollon boss room, Noodollon drops in, and then transforms into Deadollon.

After the Mirror of Zeme is repaired and the seal is released, a new cutscene showing Geis at Windseeker Heights looking out at the island:
1. Geis sees the glowing from the island.
2. Geis loudly says "Fool."
3. Geis uses his "Wing of Alma".
4. The ground starts shaking.
5. Optionally show some distressed NPCs in the towns.
6. Trigger the cutscene where the Vortex of Canaan dissipates.

The Romun Fleet is guarded by Attack Dogs.
There is a Romun that is willing to sell Healing Items.

Basically, if the player doesn't come prepared, the player can grind for another level (a time-consuming endeavor) as well as buy Healing Items.

After the Romun Fleet is destroyed, the Romun Flagship Hold Savepoint is available for savepoint warping. Warping here leads to the destroyed Romun Ships.

The Romun Ships are dark and badly damaged. The Rainbow Fragment would be the only way to illuminate the darkness. Ghostly Romuns could guard the ships (invisible and only take 1 HP of damage without equipping the Rainbow Fragment).

This would be a completely optional area and would act more as an Easter Egg than anything useful. It would provide enemies closer to Gasposasura's level to grind against, as well as providing a way to access the Romun Fleet treasure-chests after the fact.

Allow Savepoint Warping until Ernst is defeated.

There are a few things that need to happen for this to be viable:
1. Previous Napishtim events won't retrigger (e.g. Won't ride the Wyvern a second time).
2. A Warning Message after defeating Ernst that Savepoint Warping no longer functions.
3. Cannot continuously pick up and Sell the Capla Water left by Geis.
4. Balance Majunun around the Daylight Stone.

An additional change for point 2 would be to show Ernst absorbing energy from Adol and Geis, implying that he is also draining the power of the Wings of Alma.

Add a new mini-dungeon between Galba-Roa and Ernst. Dungeon would be populated with the minions that Napishtim spawns (among others). Also, environmental hazzards. The mini-dungeon would allow obtaining Experience, Gold, and Emel (and Capla Water from chests). This means that there should be no need to have 3 Capla Water on the floor of the Throne Savepoint before Ernst is defeated (though they would still be required after Ernst is defeated).

Additionally, if Fast Magic Recharge only works in Majunun's Lair, then Ernst and Napishtim can be balanced around the Level 11 Swords -- chests in the mini-dungeon can provide much of the required Emel.

If the following conditions are implemented:
1. Napishtim Savepoint Warping
2. Fast Magic Recharge only works in Majunun's Lair
3. Ernst and Napishtim balanced around Level 11 Swords

Then, as a bonus for also beating Majunun, add a True Final Boss of some kind?

Unlike any other changes noted throughout this document, this is likely the least feasible.

Capla Water remains balance-breaking even with reduced capabilities. To prevent any balance-breaking scenarios, obtaining Capla Water must be restricted. The adjusted Seed of Vitality is a good choice for replacement of Capla Water in chests since it has a very minimal impact on overall balance.

Bosses and enemies are balanced around specific STR and DEF stats. This is why changes in these stats can result in drastic differences in balance. As such, making sure the Seed of Power and Seed of Defense are both limited and part of expected conditions is important.

The Daylight Stone is balance breaking when no Boss is balanced for it. If a Boss is balanced around it, then it must be possible to obtain it from a non-Sidequest source. If the Daylight Stone can still be obtained from Emilio, then it could potentially be obtained twice, resulting in one being used to break the balance of a different Boss. This can only be prevented by having 1 source for the Daylight Stone.

Since Emilio is giving a "charm", the only other item that matches this description is the Winged God Emblem. August also has to give something in place of the Winged God Emblem. The only other accessory that kind of makes sense for August is the Starlight Medal.