exciting syrup 2 changes tonight

syrup 2 has been in early access for a while now, but i'm only working on it in the background atm... (because i got distracted by timber...) BUT! it's good to take time away from big projects! because it means i can come up with solutions to design problems i couldn't figure out before!

namely, the title system... originally, i added them as fun bonus effects, but you could only equip one at a time. and the main problem was, usually during a playthrough you'd forget the titles even exist. so you'd set one and never change it, until you realize you could've been getting some nice boosts all along... sad...!

a few weeks ago i realized i should just make it like final fantasy IX's ability system, because i really loved trying to choose the optimal abilities in that game!!! letting you equip a bunch at once makes it feel better as like a “set and forget” kind of thing, and it's nice to feel like syrup has access to all these cool stacking bonuses the farther you get into the game...

here is the before screenshot:

and after!!!! (sorry this save has so many more unlocked)

the resource you use to equip them is the hearts you have with your friends. i think i'm gonna need to adjust the amounts a lot, because right now you can pretty comfortably equip everything without needing to pick and choose. trying to work within limitations is what makes it fun... wah...!

also... when i explained my plan to my housemate, they were like "nami this is just evilities." THEY'RE RIGHT... I MADE DISGAEA EVILITIES.......... i was just thinking of ffix cuz of how the list is presented....... but in the first place, the reason i gave syrup a title at all is because they're such a thing in disgaea. in disgaea 3 it's even part of the plot, but i always think about how if you beat the prism rangers in disgaea 2 adell's title changes to prism black... ah, by the way, the “Battle Maniac” title is a disgaea 2 reference!

anyway, once this build is generally stable i will update the debug build on steam so others can play around with the beta version! you can check the changelog to see what other stuff i've been fixing. (the titles are the most exciting part tho...!)