manga battle side story - basic information
Sup guise! Were you wondering about that CRYPTIC POST I made earlier? Well, wonder no more!
I'd been wanting to make a "lighter" type special challenge for this community - something less SRS ICONTEST than the previous two, while keeping the iconing/voting part. A game of sorts, where the objective isn't really to win, but to reach a goal before the deadline. No eliminations unless people stop submitting, no negative votes, only optional critiques... that sort of thing.
Hopefully what I came up with is interesting enough for you guys, so! Here goes! I hope you've at least heard of Persona 3 since I totally based this off that game. :(
about
manga_battle's side story is a special challenge that doesn't follow the model of the previous ones at all. The intention isn't for a single person to emerge victorious, but to achieve a goal by the deadline.
67 days
The side story lasts for exactly 67 days, from the 25th of May to the 31st of July. It will end then regardless of whether someone has already achieved the goal or not.
100 floors
This side story takes place in a dungeon, based on Persona 3's Tartarus. This dungeon has 100 floors total, and the goal is to reach the 100th floor by the deadline.
For every 10 points you earn, you'll move up a floor. You'll need 1000 points total to reach the 100th floor.
You can earn points by defeating enemies (making icons) as well as bonuses for fighting well (through popular vote).
If you stay on the same floor for three consecutive weeks, Death will come for you, and you'll be eliminated from the game. The only way for this to happen is to not submit anything at all for three weeks, though, so don't worry!
over 50 enemies
Over the course of the game, over 50 different enemies will appear. Each enemy has its own strengths and weaknesses, represented by iconing guidelines; to maximize your points, you should always equip the appropriate persona, and make your icon so as to strike at its weaknesses.
For more about battling, see here.
For more about how skills work, see here.
21 personas
There are 21 different personas you can collect over the course of the game. Each of them has its own set of abilities, which you can use to strike at the enemies' weaknesses. Each persona is based on one of the Major Arcana tarot cards (with the exception of The World, which isn't available).
You start the game with one weak persona of your choice, and you can acquire new personas either through the card shuffle (see below), by fusing two personas together, or by buying one.
Fusion is the most effective method to maximize a persona's power, since the new persona will inherit some of the previous personas' powers (it can't, however, know more than six moves). And since you can only equip one persona per battle, it's to your advantage to have as many powers at your disposal as possible!
If you draw a persona you don't want, you can sell it.
You can only equip one persona.
cards
For each enemy you defeat, you have the option of drawing one out of three cards. These cards may contain money gifts, bonus points, or new personas. The amounts are random, and the chances of a persona being drawn depend on their rarity - the higher the rarity rating, the more unlikely it is that it'll be drawn. Note that "fusion only" personas can't be drawn and can only be acquired by fusing other personas together.
There's a small chance that the card you draw will be "cursed" - if you happen to draw a cursed card, you'll still get what's in the card, but you'll lose the points and money from that battle!
submitting, voting & results
Just like the previous challenges, there'd be a 5-day submission period, followed by a 2-day voting period. All icons submitted under each enemy would be put together and people would vote on their favorites, et cetera. Once voting closes, results go up, and people can check their progress on the game for that week, and the next batch of enemies come by, rinse and repeat.
Unlike previous challenges, critiques will be fully optional, and there will not be elimination votes. So it may not be ideal for those looking for critique (although some critique will definitely come by), but if you just want to play the game and have fun, then it's definitely for you. /o/
Oh yeah, and obviously, this being MANGA battle, you still have to make 100% manga icons. |D
prizes
idk, my bff jill?
Seriously, I dunno. D: Since this isn't a game with set winners, making prizes is a little difficult. Participation banners saying which floor you reached if you make it to the end of the game, maybe? D|
sign-ups
Sign-ups for the side story will open on the 15th of May (tomorrow!) and close... sometime after the 25th, so there's plenty of time to familiarize yourself with the workings of the game and ask questions. So! If you have any questions, I'm all ears!