Version 0.0.285

Version 0.0.285

Today’s update focused on school systems, Zack content, skill menu fixes, UI stability, save/load reliability, class-based combat growth, new equipment, and several battle fixes.

School and daily life

• Overnight sleep now reduces tiredness properly, so characters no longer act exhausted while already asleep.
• School now has clearer consequences and rewards. Zenas gains responsibility for attending class, can get punished for skipping, and may lose gate and Orion privileges until he completes a full later school day.
• Party school behavior was expanded so some companions can leave for class on their own, while others now follow the same punishment flow for skipping.
• A parent ask option can now grant Zenas and his active party a limited no-school day if he has earned that privilege.
• Late arrivals now have escalating consequences.
• Added school reminders for both 9 AM and the start of afternoon classes.

Zack updates

• Added Zack skill lessons so active party members can learn Bite or Defender for selca and a skill point.
• Zack now has relationship tracking with daily talk progress, first buy/sell gains, shop income from lessons, and a shop reserve.
• Added new Zack apology and parent-ask topics tied to relationship progress and conversation flags.
• Fixed Zack’s presence text and room checks so he appears in the correct location.
• Zack’s shop and skill access now stay open after lunch wherever he is trading.

Skills, UI, and load fixes

• Added a main action-panel skill window that shows each party member’s learned field-usable skills and clear empty states when none are available.
• The skill window was reworked so it now opens more reliably.
• Fixed a cached-script issue affecting the skill menu and improved UI asset cache busting so updated files load properly.
• Both Load buttons now use the same save-system-owned entry point so they stay in sync.
• Save/load was fixed so Zack-taught battle skills now persist after reloading.
• Removed legacy status-screen stat spending, so skill points can no longer be used to raise base stats manually.

Battle and gameplay changes

• Wild enemy battle names were shortened and limited so swarm encounters fit more cleanly in battle UI.
• Defender was fixed so defending party members intercept attacks correctly, and defenders now only protect allies on their own side.
• Added the Wisdom battle stat. Healing and Protect now scale from Wisdom, while offensive magic, Blind, and Poison still scale from Intelligence.
• Zenas now uses a symbiote-owned battle stat path and can summon Central in battle with free-spell use, auto-crit control, and round-end MP upkeep.
• Removed combat stats from non-combat characters so only the active battle-capable roster and Orion keep combat data.
• Permanent party membership and active adventuring status are now tracked separately.
• Fixed enemy-target battle spells so Hagen’s Defender redirects them correctly.

Classes and equipment

• Fauna now follows her own healer-class growth path and now properly starts with Cure.
• Faxan now follows his own scout-class growth path.
• Rin now follows her own wizard-class growth path, has rebalanced starting stats, and now always begins with Fire.
• Hagen now follows his own tank-class growth path, starts with Defender, and has class-specific growth rules.
• Maya now follows her own brawler-class growth path with starter Bite, a DoubleAttack trait, and two-hit normal attacks.
• Added explicit class structure for Zenas, Fauna, and Faxan.
• Added new class-specific equipment for Fauna, Faxan, Rin, Hagen, Maya, and Zenas, including robes, scouting gear, wizard gear, training gear, and brawler restrictions.
• Added a Faxan/Zenas BB gun with guaranteed-hit normal attacks, zero crit chance, and clothier shop support.
• Added the first shield and armor-piercing boot mitigation system in battle.

Other fixes and cleanup

• Level-up skill points now give 1 point each.
• Orion’s magic lessons now also require spending a skill point alongside selca.
• Forced the status screen to use the updated script and removed leftover legacy styling hooks.
• Centralized UI asset versioning and added repo rules to keep future cache busting consistent.

This update lays a lot of groundwork for the class-based direction of the battle system while also cleaning up school flow, Zack progression, and several menu and save/load issues.