Starters and Battlebacks.

For much of this week I've been working on battlebacks since I was not liking how the gameplay looked with the minimalistic battlebacks. Here are a few of the new battlebacks that'll be present in the game.

At the start I was planning on making the battlebacks feel more like Coromon's artstyle where the battleback is detailed but at the same time cartoony enough to fit in with the battlers. However since RPG Maker already had premade battlebacks for usage then I used them as a base to build these new battlebacks. The general feel I'm getting from them feels more like the GBA remakes of the SNES Final Fantasy games rather than what I originally wanted but I've decided to settle with this art style since it contrasts fairly well with the battle sprites.

Now let's talk about starters. During the prologue the player will have the choice of selecting one of four Anima. They've all been designed to be at the same power level so there will be less of a consensus meta pick and the main thing that should drive the player's choice will be either aesthetics or the Anima's playstyle. And here they are.

#001 - Terrakot

The first one is the Earth-Elemental starter, Terrakot. The Terrakot line was designed as the more offense oriented physical sweeper of all of the starters. However rather than being a pure sweeper, Terrakot, Caracrust, and Tigracore are fairly capable of taking taking hits which makes them more like lightning bruisers rather than glass cannons. In addition due to this line's Element combination they are immune to both Thunder-Elemental and Logic-Elemental attacks, making them an ideal switch-in to a fair number of match-ups even though that ideally you should build them by minmaxing their offensive potential. Physical Attack-wise, Tigracore is in the top quartile of Perfect Stage Anima and is the Anima with the 7th highest Speed stat out of all Regular Anima, and with a Haboob on the battlefield they can even give Mjoltnir a run for their money.

#004 - Aqupole

The second one is the Water-Elemental starter, Aqupole. As it can be inferred from the stats and their Innate, the Aqupole line was designed as the bulky magical sweeper with a side focus on being a magic wall. Their Speed stat at their Perfect Stage is only high enough for it to outspeed other bulk-oriented Anima like Zvongelus and Gemstropod, so they should focus solely on offense and survivability. Utility skills are okay on the Aqupole line, however it's ideal for its user to capitalize on their strong Magic Attack stat. Finally, Frognami has the 6th highest Magical Defense line out of all Regular Anima, and with rain pouring down that would make it hands down the Anima with the highest Magical Defense.

#007 - Manticlaw

The third one is the Wind-Elemental starter, Manticlaw. Manticlaw is a physical and more offensive-oriented counterpart to Aqupole. While they can take hits, they were primary designed more as a physical wallbreaker that can eviscerate anything that isn't resistence to them during a hurricane. They lack speed and have plenty of weaknesses due to their type, but when if they do manage to survive the hit or even move before their opponent, then they better expect a world of hurt. However, unlike Frognami I can theoretically see a world where a Speed-oriented Manticlaw work due to their access to Jetstream. When it comes to Physical Attack, Mantodeath has the 3rd highest Physical Attack out of all Regular Anima, and this can still be further boosted in a Hurricane.

#010 - Puppyro

The last one is the Fire-Elemental starter Puppyro. Puppyro is roughly the magic counterpart to Terrakot due to their focus on offense versus defense, though while slower than them they both deal more damage and have slightly more bulk. In addition to their naturally high Magical Attack they also gain a boost during Heat Waves whereas The Terrakot line gains only Speed during a Haboob. Ultimately for general offensive usage I'd rank Puppyro higher than Terrakot despite that Puppyro's line lacks much of the utility and Elemental immunity that the Terrakot line has. Finally Wolcano has the fifth highest Magic Attack out of all Perfect Stage Anima, and sixth out of all Regular Anima.

In short, as you can see the starters all have similar BSTs and similar innates. As I said previously I don't want tiering to be made where a starter becomes the consensus best pick and causes the rest of them to be ignored. However while the stats are mostly finalized I may tinker with their Innates in the future. Puppyro and Manticlaw's Innates are arguably a step above Aqupole's and Terrakot's being that at a certain point you don't need the extra speed and offense is usually better than defense, though it's not necessary urgent to me being this problem with innates won't be that present unless the player's focusing on making a weather-based team.