Glitches (Sonny 2017)

This page lists the glitches that is found in the latest available version of Sonny (2017):
*iOS: 2.0.20
*Android: 2.1
*Steam: 1.6.7
==Game-Locking Glitches==
These glitches can make the game unplayable by locking out the player, preventing them from making any progress. Most of these can be fixed by simply restarting the game.
===Black Screen Hub Softlock Glitch===
When exiting to the zone hub or entering the world map, the player is sometimes greeted with a black screen instead of the zone hub. The buttons in the hub/map can be interacted with despite the black screen, and doing so will sometimes remove the black screen. One such example is pressing the "Options" button (Gear icon at top left), which will both remove the black screen and open up the options menu. However, this will not fix the glitch as pressing any button after the black screen disappeared will make the game unresponsive.
As soon as the black screen effect appears, there is no way out of this glitch except for quitting the game, either through force or by pressing the "Quit Game" button in the options menu. Note that the "Quit Game" button will only work if the player presses the "Options" menu during the black screen effect, and presses "Quit Game" right after. If the player presses a different button than "Quit Game" while in the options menu, then the "Quit Game" will become unresponsive as well. In this case, the player has to force quit the game. The game autosaves every time the player returns to the zone hub, so there's no risk of losing a lot of progress.
This glitch is confirmed on the Steam version of the game. There is no record of this glitch happening on iOS or Android, so it's assumed that it doesn't happen there.
===Mini Menu Softlock Glitch===
Similar to the "Black Screen Hub Softlock" glitch, this one occurs rarely when exiting to the main menu. Instead of a black screen, the player is instead greeted with a minimized version of the options menu, with all buttons unresponsive. The only way of escaping this glitch is to force quit the game.
This glitch is confirmed on the Steam version of the game. There is no record of this glitch happening on iOS or Android, so it's assumed that it doesn't happen there.
===No Save Softlock Glitch===
Some players have experienced a glitch in which they're unable to create a new game while having no save files stored. Normally the game should play the intro cutscene instead of showing the save file menu when no save files are stored, but when this glitch happens, the cutscene doesn't play at all. The player will be unable to skip the cutscene as well, meaning they can't play the game.
The intro cutscene can be skipped if the player uses a brand new save file created by a different player. Since the game detects a save file, then it will show the save file menu, allowing the player to load the file instead of starting a new game. The save file is available here.
This glitch is confirmed on the Steam version, but not on the iOS and Android version.
===Save Limit Softlock Glitch===
Note: This glitch only occurs if the player makes manual save backups outside of the game
The game has 3 save slots, each connected to a save file. These save files are named "SN#_", where # is a number between 1-3. If the player makes a save backup (i.e. copy the file), names it "SN#_XXX" where XXX is any text, and stores it in the same folder as the save files in use, then this glitch happens. The game will not be able to connect some save files into the save slots. This is because the game thinks the "SN#_XXX" backups are legit saves, and attempt to connect them to a save slots, most of the time unsuccessfully. In most cases the third save slot becomes inaccessible if the save folder contains 4 save files, since the game will only read the first 3 files, the exception being if the backup is named "SN3_XXX".
This glitch can be avoided by storing the save backups in a different folder than the save folder.
This glitch is confirmed on the Steam version, but not the iOS and Android version. The Steam version is also the only version were the player has access to the save folder without the need of modifying the playing device (confirmed on Windows 10).
===Strain Learning Hardlock Glitch===
Some players may experience a glitch where they're unable to learn their second strain (and presumably their third strain as well). When they click on the "LEARN" button after picking the strain, nothing happens, when the game should normally take the player to the world map. The same thing will happen if the player tries to go back and pick a different strain, and as such they're unable to proceed. Furthermore, after clicking the "LEARN" button the game thinks that the player has learned that strain, and as such won't let them select the strain again. Reloading the save file will simply put the player in the same spot, with some strain portraits already greyed out due to having tried to pick them before. The save file is then broken at this stage and the game cannot be continued unless you create a new save file.
This glitch is confirmed on the Steam version, but not the iOS and Android version.
==General Gameplay Glitches==
===Blend Reload Glitch===
The ability Blend, from the Shadow Strain, normally reduces the cooldown of the target's previous ability by 3 turns and applies the buff Haste. If the player reloads a save file with Blend learned, the cooldown reducing effect stops working (it will apply the buff as normal). This glitch persists until the player re-specs and re-learns Blend, in which it will work as normal until the player exits to the main menu or quit the game.
This glitch is presumably created because the "loading save" mechanism works slighty different than the "ability learning" mechanism.
This glitch is confirmed on all platforms.
===Double Team Wipe Glitch===
If both teams die during the same turn and the player is not on the last wave of the stage, the game will not show the "Defeat" screen right away as normal. Instead, the next wave will appear, and the new enemies will start generating Focus as if the player's party is still alive. After an enemy unit has finished their turn, mostly by skipping it, then the game properly recognizes that the entire party is dead and shows the "Defeat" screen. The reason this glitch happens is simply that the game performs the "Wave clear" check before the "Party wipe" check, and completely ignores the latter if the former happens to be true. The game performs these checks after an unit ends their turn, hence why the glitch stops after the an enemy has skipped the turn (or used an ability on their teammate).
This glitch is confirmed on the Steam version, but not the iOS and Android version.
===Even Page Selling Glitch===
When the player sells an item from a page with an even number (2, 4, 6, ...), the cash the player will receive isn't the same as that item's stated selling price. The amount they'll actually get is the selling price of the item that is currently residing on the same slot, but on the previously visited page, which is always an odd numbered (1, 3, 5, ...) page. In other words, on the same row and column. Selling an item from an odd numbered page will earn the player the correct amount of cash. This glitch occurs when both selling from the "Items" menu and the "Shop" menu.
The reason this glitch happens is that while the player can see up to 16 items per page, the game actually loads up to 2 pages worth of items, namely 32 of them, while the player is viewing a page. Of these 2 loaded pages, one of them is used exclusively for odd numbered pages and the other for even numbered pages. When the player accesses an inventory page that isn't a loaded page, the game will replace the currently loaded odd numbered page with the accessed page if that page is also odd, and similarly will replace the loaded even numbered page if the accessed page is even. The player is only able to sell items from the currently viewed page, and if they perform this action, the bug causes the game to only look at the odd numbered loaded page when retrieving the selling price. Regardless of what page the player is on, this specific part of the code thinks that they're selling an item from the odd numbered loaded page, hence why selling from odd numbered page will work as normal, but not when selling from even numbered pages.
The code that specifically handles the item removal when selling does work as intended, and will remove the item that player just sold. If the player sells an item while on an even page, this code will remove the same item, not the item on the odd numbered page, on the same slot. The only parts of the code that is bugged is the part that fetches the selling price. This is the reason why this glitch can be hard to detect, the only way to do this is to look at the player's current cash before and after selling an item. While this glitch can cause the player to get less cash than normal if the item on the same slot on the odd numbered page is less valued, it can also be exploited to gain more cash than the item they just sold. Potentially it can be used as an infinite source of cash, all the player has to do is to buy cheap items, sell them on an even page, and make sure that the item on the odd numbered page slot has a very high selling price.
To make an example, let's say that the player loads a save file that has exactly 4 pages of inventory slots completely filled. The player:
*Opens the "Items" menu, which loads and views page 1. (Pages loaded: 1, _)
*Presses the right arrow, which loads and views page 2. (Pages loaded: 1, 2)
*Presses the right arrow again, which views page 3 and replaces the loaded page 1 with this page. (Pages loaded: 3, 2)
*Presses the right arrow one final time, which views page 4 and replaces the loaded page 2 with this page. (Pages loaded: 3, 4)
*Sells the item that is located in the bottom right corner of page 4, let's say its stated selling price is 100$. (Pages loaded: 3, 4)
**The game will fetch the selling price of the item that is on the bottom right corner of the currently loaded odd numbered page, which is page 3. This page also happens to be the player's previously visited page as the player is only allowed to visit pages one at a time, without the ability to skip over some pages. Let's say it's stated selling price is 10$.
**The game removes the bottom right item on page 4, but returns only 10$ while the item on page 3 is still on the inventory. The player will have effectively lost 100$ - 10$ = 90$ because they sold an item on an even page.
To make an another example, let's continue from the above situation. The player:
*Presses the left arrow, which views page 3 which is already loaded. (Pages loaded: 3, 4)
*Sells the item that is located at the top left corner of page 3, let's say it has the selling price of 200$. (Pages loaded: 3, 4)
**The game will fetch the selling price of the item that is on the top left corner of the currently loaded odd numbered page, which is also the same page the player is on, page 3.
**The game removes the top left item on page 3, and returns 200$ since the item was located on an odd numbered page.
**The game then automatically shift all items located to the right of the recently sold item one slot to the left, meaning that the item that was on the top left corner of page 4 before the selling is now located at the bottom right corner of page 3.
To make a last example, let's continue yet again. The player:
*Presses the left arrow yet again, which views page 2 and replaces the loaded page 4 with this page. (Pages loaded: 3, 2)
**Sells the item that is located at the bottom right corner of page 2, let's say it has the selling price of 50$. (Pages loaded: 3, 2)
**The game will fetch the selling price of the item that is on the bottom right corner of the currently loaded odd numbered page, which is page 3 yet again. This item used to be on page 4 before the player sold an item in page 3 in the previous example. Let's say it's stated selling price is 1000$
**The game removes the bottom right item on page 2, but returns 1000$ instead while the item on page 3 is still on the inventory. The player will have effectively gained 1000$ - 50$ = 950$ because they sold an item on an even page.
To summarize, the player should be extra careful when selling items on even pages. It should be noted that it's possible to sell an item on an even page and get the correct amount of cash back, if the item at the previously visited odd numbered page happens to have the exact same value as the recently sold item.
This glitch is confirmed on the Steam & iOS versions, but unconfirmed on Android version.
===Infinite-ish Turns Glitch===
Evolving Frost Charge with Diffuse, and using said ability, will heal allies and grant 100 Focus to them, but apply the Clarity buff and the cooldown refreshing effect to self only. If both of Sonny's allies are alive, Frost Charge will strike each party member once for a total of three times. Due to how the game works, if a unit strikes with an ability, that ability will count as the last ability used. Hence the additional strikes gained through Diffuse will refresh the cooldown of Frost Charge itself, as the first strike made this ability the last ability the unit used (except for the very specific case where the player uses Frost Charge, waits 8-9 turns and then uses it again). Furthermore, if the entire party has 100 Focus, the game will let the allies act first, and Sonny last. To summarize, using Frost Charge with the Diffuse evolution will grant an "extra turn" to the entire party, and fully refreshes Frost Charge itself if both allies are alive, resulting in an infinite-ish amount of turns if the ability as used consecutively. It's not completely infinite as the enemies does gain a small amount of Focus between each cast of Frost Charge, about 1-2 depending on their Focus generation. That said, this glitch can completely trivialize the game.
The bug that causes this glitch is rather simple, the code for this ability tells the game to apply the cooldown refreshing effect on the caster. This is normally not a problem, but Frost Charge specifically has a Focus gaining effect that applies to the target, which is what breaks the game.
This glitch only works on the iOS version of the game, as the Steam and Android version has received patches that fixed this. Now Frost Charge applies it's cooldown refreshing effect on the target, not the caster. When not evolved, this doesn't make a difference, but when evolved with Diffuse, it does.
===Quick Cast Evolution Glitch===
Attempting to cast an ability directly after evolving said ability, while the evolution animation is still playing, causes the game to not execute it at all and skip Sonny's turn. The player has to be very quick, as evolving an ability automatically closes the Combat Action Bar. The bar still exists for a few frames after evolution, which enables the player to select the ability.
This glitch is confirmed in the Steam and iOS version of the game, but not the Android version.
===Reverse Evolution Effect Glitch===
Evolving Amplify or Iron Will on an healing ability (an ability that has negative scalings) will reduce the healing output instead of increasing it. Similarly, evolving Diffuse on an healing ability will increase the healing output instead. These evolutions will work as normal on damaging abilities (positive scalings). Furthermore, Blaze Aura, Ice Wall, and Disrupt has positive power scaling, and therefore count as damaging abilities in this situation. As such these abilities will also work normally with the before mentioned evolutions.
This happens because scaling modifications from evolutions are additive. For example, Amplify will increase the Power scaling of the evolved ability by +30%. When applied to abilities with negative power scaling, i.e. healing abilities, the +30% will end up reducing the "amplitude" of the negative power scaling.
This glitch is confirmed in the Steam version of the game, but not the iOS and Android version.
==Multi-Trigger Glitches==
These are a group of gameplay glitches that work in a similar way: An ability or buff's reaction triggers multiple times when it should normally only trigger once.
===Critical Aura Glitch===
Evolutions or weapons that adds an additional reaction to abilities will cause auras/buffs with the "Critical Hit", "Killing Blow", and "Die" condition to trigger more than once. This is caused by a bug in the code that handles ability strikes. All abilities have by default 1 "Mechanic", and each added reaction will also add a "Mechanic" to the ability. The game will loop over the list of "Mechanics" when an ability strikes, to check their conditions if they have any. While this bit makes sense, for some reason it will also check all auras/buffs acting on Sonny for met conditions each time the game checks a "Mechanic". Not all aura/buff conditions are controlled during the time the game loops over the "Mechanics", hence why only the above mentioned conditions are affected. Sonny only has access to auras with the "On Crit" condition, Phoenix Soul and Frostbite. A maximum of 3 "Mechanics" can be attained using an evolved Basic Attack, equipped with a weapon which enhances them, meaning the player can trigger these auras a maximum of 3 times per strike.
This is confirmed in the Steam and iOS version of the game, but not the Android version.
===Emblem Buff Glitch===
Auras/Buffs with the condition "Die" triggers twice, due to a bug in the game code. This effect is only noticeable on Emblem of Defense and Emblem of Power, since they apply buffs with the condition "Turn End", meaning buffs applied from them loses their extra charge. Emblem of Healing is unaffected because the buff it applies, Regen, doesn't gain an extra charge normally. Phantom's Revenge isn't normally affected either since the first trigger kills it's target, meaning the second trigger doesn't have a valid target.
This is confirmed in the Steam and iOS version of the game, but not the Android version.
===Pre-Strike Calibration Glitch===
Some abilities with a "Pre-Strike" reaction phase will actually trigger an additional time before the first strike, when the game is calibrating the ability. In other words, the reaction will trigger as many times as it strikes + 1, where the ability triggers twice before the first strike. Reactions with the "Increase Damage/Healing Dealt", "Increase Crit. Chance" and "Increase Crit. Bonus" effect are additive, so abilities with them tend to be significantly more powerful than what their descriptions states.
The following abilities are affected by this glitch:
*Claw: Has +100% to +180% increased Crit. Chance against enemies with a Physical buff. This means that it has 100% Crit. Chance already at level 1, so any upgrades have no effect at all, with the exception of the element power bonus.
*Drill Strike: Deals +100% increased damage, instead of the stated +50%, against targets below 35% HP. Additional strikes from Fury or Diffuse adds +50% in each strike that isn't the first one, as long as the condition is met.
*Blast: Has a +120% to 240% Crit. Damage Bonus, instead of the stated +60% to +120%. Additional strikes from Fury or Diffuse adds +60% to +120% in each strike that isn't the first one.
*Acid Slash: Has +100% to +156% increased Crit. Chance against enemies with a Nature buff. Works the same as Claw.
*Arc Flash: Has a +300% to +404% Crit. Damage Bonus, instead of the stated +150% to +202%, when having a Lightning buff. Additional strikes from Fury or Diffuse adds +150% to +202% in each strike that isn't the first one, as long as the condition is met. Otherwise, the bonus is kept constant until the ability ends.
*Bloody Claw: Deals +160% increased damage, instead of the stated +80%, against targets with a Physical buff.
*Trislash: Deals +280% increased damage, instead of the stated +140%, when below 100% HP.
*Snipe: Deals +220% increased damage, instead of the stated +110%, if having taken no damage before attacking this turn.
*Alternate: Grants +100% increased damage/healing, instead of the stated +50%, if the previously used ability had a different element. Additional strikes from abilities that multi-strikes or has "AoE" keeps the bonus, but it doesn't increase since the first strike counts as having used an ability.
*Final Hour: Deals +200% increased damage, instead of the stated +100%, against targets below 50% HP. Additional strikes from abilities that multi-strikes or has "AoE" adds +100% in each strike that isn't the first one, as long as the condition is met. Otherwise, the bonus is kept constant until the ability ends.
*Opening Gambit: Deals +200% increased damage, instead of the stated +100%, against targets with full HP. Additional strikes from abilities that multi-strikes or has "AoE" adds +100% in each strike that isn't the first one, as long as the condition is met. Otherwise, the bonus is kept constant until the ability ends.
*Overwhelm: Deals +100% increased damage, instead of the stated +50%, against targets with less than 50 Focus. Additional strikes from abilities that multi-strikes or has "AoE" adds +50% in each strike that isn't the first one, as long as the condition is met. Otherwise, the bonus is kept constant until the ability ends.
*Static Potential: Deals +100% increased damage, instead of the stated 50%, when having a Lightning buff. Additional strikes from abilities that multi-strikes or has "AoE" adds +50% in each strike that isn't the first one, as long as the condition is met. Otherwise, the bonus is kept constant until the ability ends.
Furthermore, while Shatter and Chaos Wind are functionally similar to Claw and Acid Slash, these abilities doesn't gain it's reaction effect bonus twice. Shatter always has a +50% Crit. Chance, while Chaos Wind has a +50% to +90% Crit. Chance depending on ability level. The reason this happens is currently unknown, but it has to do with these attacks having the "Projectile" animation and the "Increase Crit. Chance" reaction effect at the same time. Since Claw and Acid Slash has the "Melee" animation, they're affected by this glitch,.
This is confirmed in the Steam version of the game, but not the iOS and Android version.
==Audio and Visual Glitches==
These glitches only affect the audio and the visuals, in such a way that the game is still fully playable.
===Bleed VFX Glitch===
The Bleed VFX (red, pulsing glow) will sometimes not dissapear after the buff which has this VFX expires. This will only happen if the target has other buffs on them, and presumably when these expire at the same time.
This glitch is confirmed on the Steam version of the game, but not the iOS and Android version.
===Locked Tilt Glitch===
When playing the smartphone version of the game, flipping the screen 180 degrees will not flip the game window. Instead, the window will stay locked to the tilt it started with.
This glitch is confirmed on the iOS and Android version of the game. Obviously, this glitch doesn't happen on the Steam version.
===Permanent Battle Music Glitch===
If the player disables the music in the options menu, and enter a fight stage, the music is re-enabled. Essentially, this means that the fight stage music is always on regardless of the music options. The sound options will work as normal however, i.e. it stays off when it was turned off before entering a stage. Furthermore, since training stages doesn't switch tracks when entered, the music will stay off when training. However, exiting a training stage will re-anable the music.
This glitch is confirmed in the iOS version of the game. The Android version doesn't have this glitch. As the Steam version has a different options menu than the smartphone versions, this glitch isn't present in it either.
===Re-appearing Buff Icon Glitch===
Sometimes after killing the last enemy of a wave who has buffs on them, the buff icons (under the HP and Focus bar) from the recently killed enemy re-appears on the enemies of the next wave. They're actually not affected by those buffs, it's only the icons that for some reason re-appear. If they are applied with a buff in the "proper" way, these re-appearing buff icons will disappear.
This glitch is only available in the Steam version of the game, as the iOS and Android version don't make use of buff icons under the HP bar.
===Repeated Achievement Unlock Glitch===
If the player has unlocked any of these achievements;
*The Art of Combo (Vileclaw),
*Watch the World Burn (War Lizard),
*Spellbreaker (Inquisitor Leon),
and they kill the (mini)boss related to the achievement they've already unlocked again in a new save file, the achievement unlock pop-up will show up even if the achievement is already unlocked. This happens regardless of whether the requirements in the achievement in question is fulfilled or not. For example, if the player has already unlocked The Art of Combo, every time they beat Vileclaw in a new run, the achievement unlock pop-up will show up even if the player has used Quick Strike against it.
The achievement data is stored on a separate file, which all game saves has access to. The game uses an "achievement flag" to determine if the player has fulfilled the requirements of an achievement. This flag is reset each time the player beats a stage, and only triggers if the player breaks an requirement and the achievement is locked. For example, if the player has used Quick Strike on Vileclaw, the game changes this achievement's flag so that it says that the player hasn't fulfilled the achievment's requirement, and therefore will not unlock the achievement if it's locked. The flag remains untouched as long as the player doesn't use Quick Strike on Vileclaw. If the achievement is already unlocked, the flag will remain untouched regardless of what happens.
The achievement unlock pop-up however, doesn't check if the achievement is unlocked at all. Instead, it only checks the achievement flag, and whether the player has been beaten the stage or not. Because the flag remains untouched if the achievement in question is already unlocked, regardless of how the stage was beaten, the game simply thinks that you have fulfilled it's requirement. As such the achievement unlock pop-up will show up even if the achievement is already unlocked.
This will only happen to certain achievements, namely those that has their requirements checked after beating a stage, not during a stage or outside of it. In addition to the three (mini)boss achievement mentioned above, Physiotherapy and Adamant also belong to this group, where the glitch appears every time Sonny defeats an enemy wave after the credits.
This glitch is confirmed in the Steam version of the game, but not the Android version. On iOS, The Art of Combo has been confirmed to trigger this glitch, but not the others.
==String Glitches==
The following glitches are related to the string objects of the game, i.e. those that display text. Most of them is simply a case of a typo in the code.
===Damage/Healing Increase Glitch===
The "Next Level: " label shows the wrong value if the ability's upgrade type is "Damage/Healing Factor". This can be seen by spending 5 skill points on a single ability while not exiting the ability window. The label value will increase as the ability's level gets higher. However, the actual damage/healing increase will actually stay the same. This is because the scaling factors are evenly split between levels, such that the difference between two "neighboring" levels is always the same. Hence the damage/healing increase should always be the same unless Sonny's Power value changes in-between the ability leveling.
This is confirmed on the Steam and iOS version, but not the Android version.
===Skill Points Label Glitch===
Re-specing will cause the skill points label in the bottom left to read "SKILL POINTS : " (extra space before the colon ":") instead of "SKILL POINTS: " (no extra space). Additionally, upgrading abilities to level 2 and above will have the label state "Point : " instead. These glitches are simply caused because the game functions that handles the mentioned actions are coded with different strings. This glitch can be fixed by switching strains using the buttons at the bottom of the strain tree, or exiting and re-entering the "Skill" menu.
This is confirmed on the Steam and iOS version, but not the Android version.
Category:Game Mechanics
Category:Sonny (2017)