As the release date of the game approaches, SEGA has gradually revealed more features of their upcoming tactical RPG game, Unicorn Overlord, including battle stages and more.
And for today, SEGA has revealed more details on the new battle stages in Unicorn Overlord, as well as its mechanics.
Battle Stages
Battle stages in Unicorn Overlord are fields of combat where ally and enemy forces wage war in real-time, each battle stage will have unique victory conditions that must be fulfilled in order to complete it.
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Unit Deployment and Movement
Ally units can be deployed from any base with a blue flag. Once deployed, you can use the cursor to move them across the battle stage.
When deploying units, a resource called Valor Points will be used, and these can be replenished by defeating enemies, liberating towns, fortresses, and more.
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Battle Menu
When an allied unit encounters an enemy, the battle menu will appear, and players can select Battle to enter combat.
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Swapping Positions
When there are two allied units in the proximity, you can have them swap places before engaging in battle. This allows players to adjust their units based on the enemy’s weaknesses when necessary.
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Waiting and First Strike
Upon losing a battle, the defeated unit is knocked back and enters a waiting state. If it is attacked during this state, the attacking unit will be granted First Strike. The unit executing First Strike will always act first, regardless of Initiative.
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Stamina and Resting
Stamina is consumed every time you engage in battle, and units with 0 stamina will be unable to move. You can restore a unit’s stamina by commanding it to rest. However, if an enemy engages a resting unit in battle, the unit will be unable to act and completely defenseless.
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Hallowed Corne Ash
A Hallowed Corne Ash can be used to avoid a game over when the time limit expires or the command post is claimed by the enemy.
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Valor Skills
Valor Skills are skills that can be activated by consuming Valor Points. Each class has access to different Valor Skills, such as offensive and recovery skills. Valor Skills can play an important factor when deploying troops, so it’s best to try and make good use of them.
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Stage Objects
In a battle stage, there is a variety of objects and sites that can be used to turn the tides of battle, such as divine effigies that can summon cyclones, campsites that restore the stamina of your allies, and catapults that are able to launch boulders.
The Flow of Battle
During battle, your units will automatically engage enemy units and use skills according to the tactics that have been set for them. The battle will end when either all combatants can no longer act, or when all combatants on one side have been defeated.
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Active Skills
The turn order within battle is based on the Initiative of the combatants. When a combatant’s turn arrives, they will use one of their Active Skills.
Using an Active skill consumers AP, which is represented as a red jewel. Once both sides are out of AP, the battle will end.
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Passive Skills
Passive Skills will trigger automatically when certain conditions are met, such as being hit with an attack. Using a Passive Skill will consume PP.
PP is represented as a blue jewel, passive skills cannot be used when PP is low.
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Tactics
Tactics can be set for your characters, and it will determine when and what skill a character uses, and also who they will target. Each skill can be assigned up to two conditions. In these cases, both conditions must be met for the skill to be used. If no tactics are assigned to a character, they will simply target the enemy in front of them
As such, it is important to assign tactics to your characters to have them fight more effectively.
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Example
One of Alain’s active skills, Lean Edge, allows him to recover HP if he defeats an enemy with it. If you set him to target the enemy with the Lowest HP, he’ll be more likely to defeat the enemy and trigger the healing effect.
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Tactics and Priority
You can also assign different priorities for Tactics as well, characters will use the highest skill on their Priority List when the conditions are met, so vital skills such as healing magic should be given higher priority.
For instance, if you set up the Priority List as such, the character will always cast Heal if an ally is under 50% HP, and they will attack with Slice otherwise.
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Optimize
You can use Optimize to automatically configure your tactics and equipment. If you’re unsure of how to best set these, you can try using it for some assistance.
Aside from sharing the new battle stage details, a new Commander’s Guidance video has also been released, providing insight into how you can strengthen your forces.
Unicorn Overlord is slated to release on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on the 8th of March, 2024.