Hey there everyone! Today we’ll be talking about a sort of…energy field…that surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together…no I’m not talking about The Force, I’m talking about LUCK! And by association, I’ll also be telling you about the nine “hidden” attributes. Fans of the meta rejoice, because this is one post you’ll be glad to have read! So, what purpose does luck serve in VoltAge:Genesis? To understand that, we’re gonna have to talk a little bit about a screen we don’t see a lot of in my posts:
As you can see, there are a total of nine “attributes” presented…these are the stats a character has other than the traditional Strength, Agility, etc. that we generally talk about. While a lot of weapons, armor, and accessories can have an impact on these nine attributes, they aren’t really “advertised” in the way those other statistics are. These nine attributes are things you’ll just have to experiment with and check on frequently, and if you see a piece of gear that seems a LITTLE too valuable for what it does, check those attributes! You may be surprised at what you find.
SO: what do the attributes actually do? I’ll tell you!
Hit Rate Hit Rate affects how likely you are to successfully connect with an attack. The player character’s Hit Rate and the target’s Evasion (explored below) are calculated together to determine your “actual” chance to hit an opponent, and depending on their size enemies can have anywhere from a 2.5% to a 20% Evasion rate, so the higher your Hit Rate is, the better! While some gear does offer slight benefits to your Hit Rate, some weapons (such as SMGs) actually have a significant negative effect on your accuracy, so if you can’t seem to hit those smaller enemies (like the Deathwasp) in combat, check your Hit Rate! Please note that all party members have a “base” Hit Rate of 95%.
Crit. Rate A character’s Crit. Rate determines how likely they are to get a critical hit in combat; a critical hit ignores resistances and deals a massive amount of bonus damage, even against bosses. As such, weapons which offer even a slight (1-2%) bonus to a character’s Crit. Hit Rate should not be ignored. Keep in mind that most (but not all) Kinesis and Burst abilities are unable to get critical hits, no matter how high this stat is. Additionally, please note that all party members have a “base” Crit. Hit Rate of 4% (Corbett's passive ability "Dragonslayer" grants him an additional +4%, for a base of 8%).
Counter Rate When a character gets a “counter”, they negate all damage from an incoming physical attack and get a free hit on their opponent. While this can be a rare occurrence, it is always a welcome one. It should be noted that Delphine’s “passive” ability grants her a bonus +5% to her Counter Rate…all other party members have a “base” Counter Rate of 0%.
Evasion Rate Evasion Rate is how likely you are to avoid an attack. As was stated in the description of “Hit Rate” above, this attribute is directly affected by an attacker’s Hit Rate and vice versa. Take note that not all attacks and abilities can be evaded, however! All party members have a “base” Evasion Rate of 5%, however this stat can be heavily affected by the use of shields and certain weapon types.
Crit. Evasion Rate A character's Crit. Evasion Rate reflects how likely they are to be able to convert what would otherwise be a "critical" hit into a "normal" one. Therefore, if a character has a Crit. Evasion of 10%, there is a 10% chance that a confirmed critical hit will be reduced to a normal one...clearly, this is an important stat to boost, since a poorly timed critical hit can easily turn a battle against you.
Men. Evasion Rate Men. Evasion is probably one of the hardest attributes to increase, and with good reason…this stat allows you to completely avoid those highly damaging Kinesis attacks utilized by many of the toughest foes in the game.
So now that we’ve got THAT out of the way, let’s talk about LUCK! The first six attributes on the list above are affected directly by a character’s “Luck” stat…for every 100 points of Luck a character has, their Hit Rate, Crit. Hit Rate, Counter Rate, Evasion Rate, Crit. Evasion Rate, and Men. Evasion Rate will ALL be increased by 1%! This may not sound like much, but when you think about how low the “base” is for so many of these attributes, you quickly realize what an impact luck can have…for instance, Stark may not be the strongest fighter in the game, but at higher levels all of the aforementioned stats will be 3-5 percentage points higher for him than his less lucky allies. Keep this in mind when picking gear for certain characters…also, it's important to note that a character's "Luck" stat affects how likely they are to resist being affected by negative status effects in combat.
The three remaining attributes are normally set at 0%, and can only be increased using skills (in battle) or the rarest of equipment. For completeness however, we’ll discuss them briefly here.
HP Regen Rate HP Regen Rate indicates whether a character will automatically heal some lost HP at the end of each round. The % reflected is the amount of the character’s maximum HP that they will regain, so if a character has a +2% HP Regen rate, they will regain 2 HP for every 100 in their maximum. Note that if a character is unconscious this attribute will have no effect.
AP Regen Rate AP Regen Rate indicates whether a character will automatically heal some spent AP at the end of each round. The % reflected is the amount of the character’s maximum AP that they will regain, so if a character has a +2% AP Regen rate they will regain 2 AP for every 100 in their maximum. Note that if a character is unconscious this attribute will have no effect.
Men. Reflect Rate Men. Reflect Rate is a character’s chance of “bouncing” a damaging Kinesis or Burst attack back onto the user. Skills and equipment that boost this attribute are among the rarest in the game. Unfortunately, players will have an opportunity to experience the “flip” side of this attribute right from the start of the game…Dwearians and Deisols both have a passive “Men. Reflect” ability that can be a nasty surprise for parties which rely heavily on Kinesis abilities.
That’s all for now…thanks for reading, and STAY LUCKY OUT THERE…the Deadlands are a dangerous place, so you’ll need all the help you can get!