Ascend from Nine Mountains
A downloadable game for Windows and Linux
Details
The heavens call. Will you answer?
Ascend from Nine Mountains throws you into a world where the impossible becomes inevitable. Where mortals shatter their limits and the heavens tremble before those bold enough to seize their own fate. Experience your metamorphosis from dust to divinity.
Begin as a mortal. Ascend through nine realms of power, each more profound than the last.
Feel your meridians burn as celestial energy floods through them for the first time. Watch reality bend as you form your spiritual core. From opening your first meridian to commanding the very forces of creation, every breakthrough transforms both body and soul in ways you never imagined possible.
Your choices shape your destiny. The cultivation path you follow determines which ancient techniques respond to your call, which legendary treasures deem you worthy, and ultimately, which form of immortality lies within your grasp. Some cultivators fall at their first tribulation. Others stagnate for centuries. But you? You'll face threats that could annihilate mountains and emerge even stronger.
How far will you climb?
Combat is poetry written in blood and lightning.
Turn-based battles become tactical puzzles where every decision matters. Switch stances to adapt your strategy. Chain techniques into devastating combos. Each of the six schools offers a completely different approach to combat, with unique mechanics and playstyles that reward mastery.
- Fist School: Your body becomes the ultimate weapon. Every punch cracks reality
- Weapon School: Steel sings with spiritual power in your hands
- Cloud School: Command storms that heroes of old could only dream of
- Celestial School: Balance light and shadow, creation and destruction
- Blossom School: Beauty and death intertwined in nature's most elegant fury
- Blood School: Embrace corruption, and the unstoppable power that comes with it
Mix and match techniques from different schools, or discover new hidden styles. Forge synergies that elevate each strike high above the last. Create a fighting style that's uniquely yours.
Crafting is an art form where risk and reward dance on a knife's edge.
Every session challenges you to balance stability against ambition. Push for that perfect quality result, but reach too far and watch your creation crumble to dust. Each crafting technique you master opens new possibilities, and combining them in unexpected ways can yield miraculous results.
Forge weapons that thirst for battle. Brew pills that raise your strength to unassailable heights. Inscribe talismans that bend the laws of nature. Your creations become extensions of your cultivation path, each one potentially the key to your next breakthrough.
The difference between a master craftsman and a mere artisan? Knowing when to play it safe, and when to risk everything for perfection.
The world of Nine Mountains lives and breathes around you.
Explore ancient sect fortresses carved into mountain peaks. Trade in bustling cultivation cities where pills and treasures change hands for astronomical sums. Delve into ruins where demonic beasts guard treasures from forgotten ages. Each location offers unique opportunities, resources, and challenges that evolve with the passing seasons.
Time matters here. Yearly festivals celebrate new beginnings with cultivation tournaments after overcoming the beast tides that test every cultivator's mettle. Autumn auctions see legendary items sold to the highest bidder. Every season brings new challenges that separate the weak from the strong.
Join the Nine Mountain sect and rise through its ranks. Build relationships with merchants, scholars, and warriors. Make enemies of rival cultivators who covet your treasures. This world doesn't pause for anyone. Opportunities come and go, and timing can mean the difference between glory and obscurity.
In the world of cultivation, relationships hold power beyond measure.
Form sworn brotherhoods with fellow cultivators and share breakthrough insights. Romance companions whose presence strengthens your dao heart. Find a cultivation partner whose techniques complement yours perfectly, unlocking abilities neither could achieve alone.
Choose your allies carefully. In this world, the bonds you forge are as important as the power you cultivate.
Step onto the path of cultivation. Master ancient techniques, forge legendary treasures, and build lasting bonds as you climb from mortality to divinity.
Ascend from Nine Mountains awaits. Your journey to immortality begins now.
Notes
This game is still in development, containing the first 5 of the planned 9 realms in the game. As a result, any feedback on the gameplay, visual direction, performance, or anything else will greatly aid in shaping the rest of the game.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Version 0.6.506 days ago
- Version 0.6.4913 days ago
- Version 0.6.4720 days ago
- Version 0.6.4626 days ago
- Version 0.6.4533 days ago
- Version 0.6.4346 days ago
- Version 0.6.4249 days ago
- Version 0.6.4153 days ago
Comments
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This games incredible, I tried it out a few weeks ago and then 90 hours passed as I caught up to where the developments at. I'm back in too, cause I wanted to give a weapon/formation run a go, Unlimited Craftworks and all that. After I get some income I'm gonna pay for this again (I like that itch lets ya do that). Maybe grab it on Steam? I've been tryna get my friends in on it too.
I think the only 2 things I could say are like A) More encounters with that Gian kid, I hate him and need more chances to hurt him in a meaningful way[not serious]. B) I kinda didn't like having to max out almost every root because of the build I was running coupled with the path I chose (I wasn't using clouds or weapons during my first run, it's not an issue every player'll run into and is only a setback of a couple years, of which you can do other things while you wait and have 400+ to spare). I understand why I hadta though, and it plays in thematically after the fact. Maybe C) The ability to get mastery traits on DC techs, like you can with crafting. Dual cultivation is pretty barebones right now and doesn't help that much for how often you end up drowning in qi (this could also be a personal experience, as my first run condensed it differently). The gay sex is fun though, even if she's laughing at me cause this's the 4th time I fumbled the DC in a row. This's still early access though, so that was probably already planned.
Anyways, the games great, I'm gonna be keeping up on this!
Good game and honestly this can be a lot better and games like Hero's Adventure has this kind of bad artstyle before they changed the character character desgins and portrait artstyles to become much better and eye-candy.
Games with romance are very good to play as it makes the plot and gameplay not so boring and players are always looking for good artworks especially if it's slightly revealing.
I hope the dev can expand the realms more, stronger enemies, more skill choices, more gears, more enemies, more characters and so on, and needs a little bit polishment on homescreen designs.
There's actually better and cheap graphic designers on linkedIn and most of them are students yet very talented, I suggest to visit that app.
God Bless and stay healthy ;)
Really good game, just i wish it has mobile port
Does the game have romance?
Yes
lyeeedar: I don't know if this is a bug, but when I click on locations that are considered nearby with screen reader mode active no matter how many days away the new location is the game doesn't advance the days on the calendar. For example, I can stand at the Nine Mountain Sect, click on The Cross Roads, witch is 7 days away, and no time will pass. I have noticed it does this so long as it doesn't put up a screen that requires me to click travel. I hope this made sence.
lyeeedar: I thought you'd like to know that turning off Screen reader mode allows the game to play combat sound effects. When screen reader mode is checked no combat sounds play.
WHAT? Now you have all stances premade for you ?! Where have it been when i started a game month ago ? That's such a low kick, i had to manage every sequence myself, for hours :c
Please open the breakthrough for the top 3, and it should tell you what condition you are missing.
Im not sure what you mean. You CAN'T slot all 3 greater meridians. Only 1.
Can you come to the discord and share some screenshots?
Unfortunately, my Discord isn't working. I mean, I have Meridian Goldshards installed in the eye, heart, and core slots. All three. However, all three best methods remain locked, indicating that the last requirement—the one with the Meridian Goldshard—isn't met.
It hasnt been possible to slot all 3 since 0.6.19 (almost a month ago). So I assume you are playing an outdated version of the game.
You need to pick only one to install big shard, all others must be installed with small ones. And each of three methods gives different stats of outcome, depends where you put the big shard, so pick one method you prefer, and install goldshard where it says. Also using all 3 slots with big shards did nothing special, you sill get same reward as if choosing only 1 of them, so no difference here after updates.
I can confirm the issue: when breaking through to Stage III, the three most powerful methods don't unlock. If I insert a Meridian Goldshard into the Great Meridian slot, this requirement simply doesn't count. I only use one goldshard, but it doesn't help. If it matters, the golem that drops this item was defeated in a team battle. I'm playing on version 0.6.17.
Ive just tried on 0.6.23 (the latest version) and slotting the greater shard works fine. Can you please update to 0.6.23 and try again. If it still doesn't work, can you share some screenshots of the issue in the discord so I can debug please?
Hmm, im curious, is there alchemy quality, higher than sublime planned ?
It seems like there suppose to be, but maybe in future versions ?
Also, game is amazing, 10/10, spent hours figuring optimal combinations to not being one-shotted by my own realm enemies, not even talking about higher realm, and then found upgrades for skills, and spent even more time adjusting skills with new upgrades, also 0 guides on game fighting is makes you either think smart, or quit xD
Currently no plans for over sublime. Quality fills that gap. But who knows where the game will end up going!
Glad you're enjoying it :D
I do for sure :D
![my game time :>]( "my game time :>")
Oh and i'm asking because there is one quest, or, rather interaction, that suggest there is *something* there, that we haven't reached yet, but its might be possible in future.
Like, opening sublime was a game changer, and it feels like there is level above sublime as well, somewhere, just because this interaction. Since you are literally game creator (if im not wrong), you probably know better where things are heading, so, any hints, where Lingxi Gian experimental pill recipe quest heading ? She says, she already included all flaws needed into the recipe, but even sublime result is not enough to make her elixir work as intended.
So, its just my personal thoughts, but i assume, its either new quality level, that surpass sublime, that can make miracles out of medicine, or some special technique that isn't above sublime, but, perhaps exactly opposite, makes elixirs less perfect, adding own imperfections into elixir, adding some "cost" to be paid, to enhance the effects to make it work, just as with toxicity itself (according to game lore)?
Any thoughts on subjects, any plans ? I only hope this interaction is not meant to be farming crafting points by purpose, and not suppose to lead anywhere at all in future too :>
Of course every character will 'eventually' get their own full questlines. Like what is happening with Pi Lip's puppets, Jiaohua's keys, etc etc. So don't worry, eventually they will all have full stories on where it ends up.
As for hints on the specifics, for that you'll just have to wait and see! :D
Lovely game, can't wait for new updates! Just a small suggestion: please check the screen sizing in windowed mode. Some parts, like the cultivation room, lack a scrollbar, making it impossible to reach certain buttons.
Glad you enjoyed it! Im always looking to fix scrollbar issues, can you be specific of which dialogs need fixing?
Sure! In the Training Grounds, on the screen to select a tier, the "Begin Challenge" button is only available in fullscreen mode, or it will be completely hidden.
In the Disciple Room (and similar rooms), the Condensation Chamber has the same problem; the "Condensate" button is barely visible, and there is no scrollbar to make it fully accessible.
I also remember the same thing happening during the last breakthrough when entering Core Formation, but it's been a while, so better to confirm it >_<
Please fix the tutorial part we can't pass it
What part of the tutorial are you stuck on?
Especially for the blind people. We have a gaming forum for blind gamers i'm gonna send you the topic link and if you can take time and register that would be so nice and so many other problems would be fixed especially for screen readers. https://forum.audiogames.net/topic/57795/is-ascend-from-nine-mountains-fully-acc...
Hello. Ive been searching around for an i tem called "Core Demon pill". Where can i get that?
You can get the recipe for it in the sect recipe library
Hello.
I am a blind player using a screen reader.
I am stuck during the tutorial quest Learning The Ropes.
The quest does not progress after I master a technique.
I restarted several times and had this problem each time after a mastery.
I suspect the tutorial blocking the quest from triggering, but I cannot fix the problem.
What can be done about that?
Hello, i'm not a game developer, but i was curious if i can help with bypassing your problem.
First, can say that, i played more than 70 hours in this game, and its not easy. Even with both eyes and my brain working, sometimes its overwhelming, its very heavily rely on pressing buttons, sounds in the game would not help much, if you can't see, mostly you would have to rely on memory, and reading each button description before pressing it, and on some menus, there's dozens of buttons like, literally 90% of gameplay is that. Its a good game, but its not easy to play as enjoying it this way.
So, you are stuck at quest Learning The Ropes, after mastering the technique ?
Just to make sure, ill describe sequence of actions needed to master the technique, until whole sequence ends and next step of tutorial starts.
First, you open window with stances, techniques, etc (button "S" on keyboard by default).
Next, go to Techniques tab. Then you select technique, Advancing Fist. Then it comes tutorial window with text, Click anywhere on the screen to close it. After that, pressing Attempt mastery. Another tutorial window, close it again. Then comes tutorial window with pointers to press the button, which upgrade the rarity of effect that you rolled, by mastering the skill. Pressing that button, then tutorial window again, that teaches about button, right next to upgrade one, with reverting the upgrade option. Pressing anywhere to close tutorial window, then another window, close again, then confirm. Then closing window of Advancing fist mastery. Closing again window with tutorial, after it closed, it asks to head to "crafting actions" submenu, to pick Simple Fusion option, and attempt mastery on it too. New window with tutorial, close it again, press confirm. Close window of menu. Close window of techniques. Now this part of quest is finished. Can press on learning the ropes button again, to progress the quest. After that, you talk to character, and progress the story. If you can point on exact step where the progression is stuck, i can look into it and see what could be wrong. Also, game is updates from time to time, so it might be a bug in older version of the game.
Hello.
Thank you for your answer.
The problem happens if the screen reader does not read the tutorial text and there is no way to dismiss it.
I no longer have that save file.
I will have to start again when I want to play.
I did not try on the newest version.
Screen reader not always reads the tutorial text for some reason.
This is not the first case of getting stuck because of the tutorial.
This is just the latest itteration.
In this case the problem is probably that I am unable to read the tutorial text when it appears and close it.
I can only read the window with techniques and mastery.
That blocks the quest progression,even when all possible techniques, crafting and fighting, are mastered.
If it doesn't read all the text on the screen, sadly, there is no much can be done, if problem is not fixed in screen reader. Some parts of tutorial require to click specific button on screen to proceed, and this can't be closed by clicked anywhere on the screen, only specific button or after doing specific action. I think i described each step of the sequence where you might got stuck. If you need more pointers, feel free to ask, but i honestly think there is better games to play as blind player, game itself is good, but not really designed to be played only with screen reader i assume. Also, good luck gamer, stay strong (heart emoji)
Do you have any plans for a mobile version?
No. Mobile would require far too much reworking to be viable. Sorry!
No problem mate
This game is an absolute blast. Though I am wondering what happended to the sounds that played during battles. Thay all stopped playing maybe 2 updates ago. Also lyeeedar just to let you know, it has become harder for a blind player to make their way through the mystical regions. I don't know why that is, but after selecting a key it is no longer possible to tab into a list of choices for that region. Thankfully for now there is a work around for the blind, so this isn't urgent.
Glad you're enjoying it! I'll look into those bugs you have reported, thank you for raising it.
Not a problem. I'm still having lots of fun.
Man, i have dumped an unholy amount of hours in this game, one of the best xianxia games I've played. I hope this gets put on steam. One small gripe, i dont understand the pillars creation breakthrough. Is there a guide anywhere?
Its coming to steam very soon! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3992260/Ascend_From_Nine_Mountains/
As for Pillar Creation, no guides yet as its still being tweaked / iterated on. Once that is completed, I'm sure there will be more guides and information available.
Purchased on steam, keep it up man.
I put like 19 hours into this game in the last two days. This is the best cultivation game I've ever played, im looking forward to its future. Also i think itd be neat if blood path techniques were more difficult to come by. You shouldn't be able to get them from anywhere public like the sect/ town market. Also it'd be interesting if it was something you need to hide from people. Sorry I've been reading too much reverend insanity
This game is much better then the majority of xianxia games on steam. I believe it has an incredibly bright future, when 1.0 is out
How do you beat the Bifang Manifestation? I've tried everything I could think of and still the most I can do is get it down to the 50,000 HP range.
If you want build advice I would suggest coming on the discord. We have a lot of people willing to help, and sample builds to look at to improve your own.
Thank you a lot. I'll try and farm some fruits and give it a last try, if it doesn't work out I'll pop up on discord
waiting for the version 1.0 :D
Does anyone have any news about the developer? I hope he's okay and hasn't given up on the project.
No, I'm just taking a break due to work. I should be back working on the game in a week or two.
This game is awesome. I've spent every day of the past week and a half playing it. Here's my five bucks. You deserve it.
The only criticism I have is quality-of-life stuff, like the amount of clicking it takes to do things. My carpal tunnel is killing me lol, and I already know whatever creature has "fallen before me" because I just spent the time to kill it .
And some others:
That's all I can think of right now, but otherwise this is a great game. Very imaginative. I look forward to seeing how it all comes together.
Hello i am wondering how do you get the qi vessel to breakthrough to core formation?
You can get one from the core altar in any Mystical Region that contains a core altar (look on the key to check, but its the purple and red keys).
Really glad you're enjoying it!
If you hop onto the discord I'm more than happy to chat more. Theres actually a mod framework if you want to try to make something, if that works out / you want to come onto the project deeper then we can discuss that!
For the realms, I mostly only have vague ideas for realms except the current one, so not fully.
How many core compression altars are there? I only found nine and its troublesome to wait for another 6 yrs to become pillar creation.
There are 9 in the game
you only need to compress nine times tho? It should only lock you out of the compression alter for like three months if you fail.
I meant 8 instead of 9. I have no idea why I input nine. I already found the ninth at the Gate of Slaughter. I went all the way to the wastelands risking my life in hopes of finding the ninth. Then realized it was at the Gate of Slaughter the entire time. I wasted my time.......
waiting for full release of this game Love it..
Maybe I'm just suck at this game, but the difficulty spike from first realm to second realm is too much for me. Everything is too hard to craft now, and I can't even accept sect mission of previous realm.
Yeah currently it can be kinda hart when changing realms because all missions and such are now for the new realm.
Though I reported that to the DEV and suggested to make the missions transition slowly based on your stage in the new cultivation. So with future version this will probably change and you won't have that big difficult spike in the beginning (later on the difficulty doesn't spike at much from realm to realm, it's more noticeable early on).
If you got a strong build later on going up a realm won't even be challenging, I actually made a build that I could fight weak creatures of the next realm pretty easily
Not sure if this is just me but I have gotten stuck with the remembrance of power recipe.
I assume I should have gotten it from the first elder but he just talks about the remembrance of fist and blossom...
I thought that perhaps my crafting skill is too low, but at this point its already at 49 so I doubt its that.
Is this a bug or am I missing something here? I accidentally skipped through a line or two of his dialogue so I'm a bit worried I missed something big...
Note: IIRC I started and progressed the Forge spirit body quest before this, maybe that bugged it?
When you first spoke to him he should have given you the recipes (they should be in your inventory). If they are not, please do share your save and I can investigate.
Haha, it was actually just in my inventory all along 😅🤦. Sorry for the false alarm and thank you for the swift response
No worries, hope you enjoy the game!
Hi, basically everything is fine, but there are a couple of comments on quality of life.
Need to add a "Buy all" button in the store. Optionally add the ability to customize "Buy all" by item level and/or by item type.
Also, what really gets in the way is buying fruit longevity at the auction, you need the ability to grow this fruit or create an item, because now the kingdom is very limited, and it is very easy to reach the peak of lifespan. This can be introduced as a temporary measure until new kingdoms appear, whose lifespan is difficult to exhaust.
Google translate)
On the topic of lifespan, currently the highest age player (from my analytics) is less than 1/5 of their available lifespan (and they've spent a very long time grinding on some challenges). As a result, I don't think it's an issue beyond the perception of it going down. The time it would take to actually run out of lifespan is so long in real life I doubt anyone will hit it without actively trying to.
I approached this value in 66 hours 0.21 of the maximum lifespan and this was my first save. The second save 0.15 in 28 hours. So it is exhausted quite quickly. Considering that there is no stable method of increasing lifespan, it can be exhausted in 300-400 hours based on my first save. The lower limit without taking into account fruits, the upper limit taking into account fruits. If you take the second save 186-286 hours and this is without the goal of doing everything quickly. The second point that irritates is the instability, you want to buy a fruit, but it is not there. You also need to concentrate so as not to forget to buy it. Here you need to either bring the fruit to a stable receipt or not add it at all because the game is not configured to focus on certain things at the moment. Except for example tournaments for achievements, but there you did one cycle and that's it, and so you can appear there at your own discretion. As a result, excessive micromanagement over a long distance (with an uncertain result, which is also annoying) given that you will not have time to craft everything for sale in a year, and you will have to interrupt each time. You underestimate the speed with which you can exhaust your lifespan.
I repeat, one of the problems in this aspect is lack of consistency, since the game sets such strict time frames almost in the middle of the game, without giving such situations before. Also, at the moment, this is a constant task, which also brings tension out of the blue where it could be done without it. As an example, I will give the Hero's Adventure: The Road to Passion, there are events that are tied to strict time frames and they begin from the very first locations, due to which the player gets used to such rules and it no longer knocks him out of the flow.
The second point is instability.
You cannot consistently get fruit. Sooner or later you will have to stop because you understand that you cannot compensate for the spent lifespan or continue in the hope that you will be able to come out on top.
Pay attention to the same Tale of the Immortal, there the duration lifespan is useless because you can reach the peak in a year, maximum in several years, but it is still possible to exhaust the lifespan, but you can extend the life for a year, and it is known that within a year you will definitely find at least one more such item. But here, if you have reached the limit of 5 years, there is no guarantee that you will come across/you will have funds at that moment/you will not miss the auction.
I do see your frustration, I certainly didn't plan around people playing 100's of hours!
I'll see what I can do to add a renewable source of lifespan. My main concern is if its too easy to get, then logically the world of the game would be full of immortal characters, which wouldn't make much sense. So got to figure out something that makes it work within the lore.
The first point I think is that the needs of the gameplay are more important than the lore, otherwise it would be a book, not a game.
The second point I propose is to introduce this stable way of increasing lifespan as a temporary mechanic until you finish the game and in the full version of the game open it only at the peak (if your last stage does not have an infinite lifespan), so it will not break the need for a reasonable speed of development in the early stages, if this is so contrary to your plan for developing the lore.
you could add a story item that allows you to revive in some way, potentially even getting some buff, though it might be hard to balance it to where it isn't simply a annoyance.
wow this game is a nice hidden gem . i love it already
p.s. i wish i can swap places for forename and surname to chinese order (Surname Forename). its little awkward to read otherwise
Glad you're enjoying!
Do you mean to swap the text you put in forename / surename?
Or just to swap the order anywhere your full name is shown in game?
shown in the game. so it will become a "Feng Tidao", "Ma Aei", "Liang Zi" and so on everywhere in dialogs and ui
btw found a bug. if Aei Ma at early II realm and i press "aid breakthrough" button its open aid dialog with Pi Lip
Thank you for reporting that bug! It'll be fixed in the next release.
And i'll put in a request for the option to swap the name order. Not sure when I'll get to it but its on the list now!
嗨，您能再次向我发送 Discord 邀请链接吗？旧的过期了。
This link should be a permanent one: https://discord.gg/gnyjqwxzC7
where are the saves located ?
i cant find AppData\Roaming\AscendFromNineMountains\saveBackups,
im on pc windows 10 i beleve
Do you mean that you can't find the AppData folder? Or that the AscendFromNineMountains folder isnt in there? Or that theres no saveBackups?
i can find user\appdata
but can only find local and no roaming or AscendFromNineMountains
Interesting. Is AscendFromNineMountains from in local folder (or LocalLow if you have it)?
I got banned from the discord server when my account got hacked and the hacker started posting virus links. Is it possible to get unbanned?
Whats your discord username?
Is there something wrong with my discord or am I still banned?
You have now been unbanned. Do not get hacked again!
I'll try, thank you!
havent tried it yet but can tell its gunna be great dev is very active helps people and people in comments love the game so exited to play this i have had an itch that needs to be scratched and i think this might do it
Thank you! If you're looking for more interaction we have an active discord. Come join us :D
This game is awesome! The gameplay is easy enough to figure out, but complex enough to keep it interesting. The characters are fun and personable and I've been enjoying raising my friendship stats.
I really appreciate the difficulty levels. There's always some boss or challenge that's just~ out of reach, so my motivation stayed pretty consistent. I've played 8 (?) hours so far and I haven't hit any progress plateau yet.
Personally I wish there was more character aesthetic customisation options, but the little pre-made chibis you can select from are cute as hell anyways, so who really cares.
Game is very entertaining so far and i can appreciate the variety in paths you can pursue. Im interested in seeing more content related to Liu Bin since the main quest in the temple, celestial on top fr.
Будут новые языки добавляться? Хотелось бы увидеть в игре русский язык или хотя бы сделанный на быструю руку руссификатор)
Not planned any time soon, alternative languages would be a post-full release feature (a couple years off).
Honestly, this is one of the best xianxia games I've ever played! And I've played quite a few! Great work! I'm really looking forward to what you come up with in the future! I started playing it yesterday and ended up spending twelve hours in one sitting!
Since I'm a person who loves crafting, I did notice a bug others might not! I was trying to use Control Pills during crafting and while opening the menu when you hit the pill space works, I black screen with the white "Loading" text every time I tried to click on the item! With the effect not going off. It's pretty frustrating! So, I've been trying my best to craft without any support items which is very hard with how high the requirements are for high quality crafting!
Glad you're enjoying yourself! That bug should be fixed in 0.5.16, would you mind trying the latest version and confirming if you still see it?
Looks like you patched it while I was still playing it that day! I tested it out while I was playing a few hours ago and it works now! Thanks!
Just a side note, I played through the Fist Tournament when I was in Stage III and got one shot in the second round of the first preliminary. And I've consistently got the highest cultivation type every time I've gone up a cultivation stage. Are the tournament fighters overtuned? I'm not hyper-specialized in combat, but I've been fighting pretty consistently. I thought I'd at least make it past this preliminary match of the festival tournament! XD
Firstly I'll say tournaments are some of the hardest fights, as its the best cultivators of that school of techniques in the realm!
Fist is a very bursty, so you sort of have to out burst your opponent in tournaments. The other approach is leaning heavily into barrier to survive the burst rounds.
On that subject, I actually do lean heavily into barrier! But, I've found that the "Max Barrier" stat is really...weird. Like mine is currently 188,000. I haven't gotten close to that in the many, MANY hours I've played this game so far! Enemies just tear through barrier I build using Tornado Kick and such like tissue paper in the same round I'm building them! I think the highest I've built was something like 40,000-50,000 and that was because I was just farming some lower realm monsters. I personally don't think it's tuned well. I've even got extra barrier on my techniques!
On the subject of Fist being bursty specifically, I guess I can see why it would be from one side with the Flow --> Massive Hit pipeline. I build something entirely opposite, though! I fell in love with Ripple Fist. Don't ask me why, I just love that and acupoint-style combat. Always have! My xianxia fantasy is the acupoint badass doctor! So, I tried to go a different direction with barrier and Ripple Fist generation into Deadly Force buffing for kind of like "outlasting" fights? Similar in style to how a xianxia doctor would fight. I do with Ripple Fist had more support in the movesets, though! I keep opening crystals hoping to see something and it's usually just more Flow support. Makes me a little sad since Ripple Fist does seem like a really cool path to go down!
Oh! Quick question! Can we make multiple characters? Or will the data of our original get erased? I didn't see a "Load Game" in the main menu or "Save" options in the game itself, so I thought I'd ask! I wanted to go back and try out a different type of cultivation from the beginning with what I know now, but I don't want to lose my original character! I don't want to risk it and try without asking and lose the 40 hours I've easily put into my first character already!
You can make multiple characters, just click new game and then when you click continue in the future it'll so all your created ones.
As for fist specific help, come onto the discord. There's always people willing to help with stances. Barrier can get stacked really high when you start combining various multipliers, like buffs to power, fist boost, and crit. In fact late qi condensation you should be able to max out your barrier each round. Again, how to get there requires all sorts of optimisations. Ripple Fist is also a very strong buff, hence it doesn't have a huge amount of techniques that can build it. But you can get it on masteries, which can help with stacking it fast.
The main increase in power for the player is good stances, so if you are finding things tough then optimise that. Also look into good masteries and good gear. And finally, the game is balanced around using pills, so not doing so is nerfing yourself.
Also, most cultivators you can fight are the strongest of the realm, not standard weak enemies, so they should be a challenge.