Hello, brave soldiers of Ashird!

My name is Izumi, but I go by Horie. Today, I have the honour of presenting an update—so, um… I'll try my best to explain what I do on War of Ashird. Before I start, though, I have to be honest: it's my first time writing this kind of message for so many people; it's a little stressful, but I hope you enjoy reading it all the same~!

Anyway, I'm a passionate designer with five years of experience working for game companies. Two years ago, I teamed up with Kumiho Soft—specifically as a concept artist and UI designer; in fact, you probably saw some of my older work during the Kickstarter campaign! A lot's changed since then, so I'm really excited to share the updated versions of things with you!



First and foremost, we updated the UI for story scenes. Now it's more legible, and there are even variants for event CGs!





As you can see, we darkened the dialogue and name boxes so that text is easier to read. We also added characters' faces to the bottom left during normal scenes—but they aren't there during events, so you can enjoy the wonderful illustrations in full!



The menu was also rebuilt from scratch. Our main reason for this was that, even toward the middle of the game, you might have ten or more characters in your party. The new layout will make navigation even more efficient than before!



Above, you can see the inventory menu—which has tabs for potions, weapons, armor, and so on! In the middle are the items' names, and to the right are descriptions.

If you're eagle-eyed (and I know a lot of you are), you can see that each item has a quality level ranging from 0 to 3. You're probably asking yourself "Horie-san, what does all this mean?" Well, store-bought items have a quality of 0 or 1; higher-quality items require crafting.

As for how quality affects an item's power or stats, though… Well, that's a secret! Since we're still in the balancing stage, we'll explain it in a future update—after we've made more decisions.



Next up is the Equipment screen, which is where our team spends most of its time. To be honest, we had a really hard time deciding on this menu's layout—so much that I think it's been rebuilt five times… In the end, though, we decided on a design that's console-friendly!

On the left, you can see pretty standard options like weapons, armor, shoes, and accessories. Please note, however, that some characters will only have one accessory slot early on; others will have two.



Using each character's skill tree, you can open up new equipment slots. For example, Deegan can gain one additional accessory slot—and two slots for gems. More about gems will be revealed in our next update, by the way! I'm sorry for saying that so much, but… well, if I tell you everything now, it'll ruin the surprise. Plus, our next update might be boring, too!



Finally, we have the Group menu!

As you know, our game has two types of battle systems: grid-based and turn-based. In the former, the amount of characters you can deploy on the battlefield depends on Group Capacity (also called Command Points). Above, you can see that Group Capacity is five—but what does that mean? Well, main characters cost two points, some unique characters cost three, and generic characters only take one.

So, let's do some quick math together. As examples, a player can deploy:

• Two main characters (4 CP) and one generic one (1 CP) for a total of 5.
• Or one main character (2 CP) and three generic ones (1 CP each; 3 total), which comes out to 5.

It all depends on how you want to deploy your army's resources in battle.

Oh, and you shouldn't worry about CP at all! As Deegan's level increases, so do they; plus, you can get even more from the skill tree if you want!

That's the end of my update for today—but I can't wait to tell you more next time. Let me know what you think!

In keeping with tradition, our team would like to present another 3D model, too. Today's reveal is none other than…

Battle Mage Hestia!







As always, we'd love to hear your opinions!

Q&A

Q: Will there be a fast travel option—like an airship or something?

A: You won't need such an option, since you'll be able to go anywhere via the world map. From there, all you have to do is select the place you want to visit.

Q: Can you still visit old places you've been to later in the game?

A: Yes, you can go anywhere you've already unlocked at any time; however, please keep in mind that some characters' events and quests have time limits—so if you go too far into the main story, you might miss them.

Stay safe, thank you for your continued support, and see you all soon!

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