Symphonic Ensemble

This week, I worked on creating a "Chain Attack": a massive attack on an enemy with all characters. I wanted all characters work together during the ending, so I've implemented all animations into a single spell for Viola to use. It's named the "Symphonic Ensemble" in-game.

Click the "Read more" line below to see a little more info on the thought process of the chain attack.

Early on during Viola's creation I wanted Viola to use an "Active Timed Battle" system, similar to Final Fantasy 4 and Chrono Trigger. The main reason for that system was so the characters could do Chrono Trigger style "Combo Techs": spells executed with more than 1 character, taking up turns for all characters involved.

I wanted these "Combo Spells" to make the budding friendship between party members a little more tangible during combat. The reason they ended up not being in the game is simply because it was gonna be too much work. Because of that, there was no longer a reason to use the ATB system, so Viola now uses a simple turn-based system.

I still liked the idea of the Combo Spell, so I decided to copy more recent anime-esque RPGs like Persona 5 and Xenoblade and create a "Chain Attack": all characters in the party attacking all at once. The player can now use it as a final attack in the final battle, but only in the true ending (which requires max friendship with all characters recruited).

A few GIFs showcasing the visual effects work for the Symphonic Ensemble.