Build 5

**Build 5** is the fifth Alpha release of Apex. The build primarily added Jul'far, Amon Desert, and Murmur Tower, stopping near the beginning of Chapter 2.

Build 5 is the first major build to use the current patching system, whereby patches are not standalone.

## Changes

#### Additions

* Added new maps for the story
* Added overworld trainer sprites that were missing from Build 4 and properly assigned overworld sprites to all trainer classes
* Added new trainer classes for the new maps
* Excess EXP earned (i.e. by a Pokemon that has reached the level cap) is now tracked. I have no idea what I’ll do with this statistic yet.
* New Item: Galestone
* New Item: Ambrosia Crystal
* New Item: Antlion Ball
* New Item: Camerupt Dung
* New Item: Tyranitar Dung
* New Item: Tower Key
* New Item: War God's Hammer
* The Hidden Move animation has been redesigned and repurposed (there are no HM’s in Apex).
* New battle UI. The entire messages window, including actions and moves, has been redesigned to match the status bars. Each move now has a custom icon beside it based on its type.
* Critical hit and super effective texts are now colored orange and red, respectively
* New NPC’s have been added to Acacia Town
* Acacia Town now has an intro cutscene
* New Music: Wild Battle
* New Music: Jul'far
* New Music: Bandits
* New Music: Desert Battle
* New Music: Amon Desert
* New Music: Victory Jingle
* New Music: Puzzle
* New Music: Siegfried
* New Music: Nascene City
* More examination events have been added to the protagonist’s apartment.
* Nascene High now plays the Market/Inn theme instead of nothing
* More examination events have been added to Nascene High
* Examination event added to first fusebox in factory
* Added an examination event to the book on the table in the Thornwood Inn
* Added tile shading on buildings in Acacia Town
* Grass tiles now play a rustling sound effect when walked into
* Dark Sand is added, slowing the player and allowing wild encounters
* A splash sound now plays when exiting a hot spring
* Overworld sprites for the Calaveras’ favorite pokemon have been added
* New item graphic for the Crimson Jewel
* New items have been added to Build 4 areas for use with item found late in Build 5

#### Balance

* Sweet Scent now lowers the target’s Special Defense instead of Evasiveness
* Golduck is now Water/Psychic
* Psyduck and Golduck now learn Psychic (lv 39 and 43, respectively), Psych Up has been moved to lv 55 and 65, respectively.
* All starters have had a huge buff to their base stats. First-stage starters have a BST of 350 and Second-stage starters have a BST of 550.
* Croagunk now evolves at level 36 (down from 37)
* Croagunk and Toxicroak now learn Drain Punch (lv 60 and 70, respectively)
* Cacnea now evolves at level 36 (up from 32), Cacturne now learns moves later to compensate
* Cacnea and Cacturne now learn Sandstorm at level 30, Sucker Punch at level 34, and Spikes and level 58 (order switched around)
* Cacnea and Cacturne now learn Night Slash instead of Energyball (lv 42 and 48, respectively)
* Baltoy and Claydol now learn Earth Power at level 36. Claydol now learns Hyper Beam at level 40.
* Baltoy and Claydol now learn Recover (lv 60 and 70, respectively)
* Baltoy and Claydol now learn Substitute instead of Explosion (lv 46 and 61, respectively)
* Prize money from trainer battles halved

#### Tweaks

* Player is no longer allowed to go to Nascene Downtown before speaking to the Rival for the first time
* Background music fades out when Dad gets sappy in the cutscene in the lab.
* The Rival now sits one tile up on their bed during Smash Bros cutscene
* Additional examination event added to Abandoned House for better feel
* Player can no longer enter other classrooms on the first day of school
* The Mart in Nascene City now plays the Inn/Market theme instead of generic mart theme
* Map names are now suppressed when entering Sagaxis Forest for the first time
* Holly now says “centuries” instead of “milennia” during her speech to better fit lore
* The book on Sagaxis Forest in the Thornwood Inn now is updated to display the name of its temple
* TM’s pocket in bag now just says “TM’s”
* Items pocket in bag changed to “General” (c'mon, they’re ALL items)
* The bottom tile of the beds in the Thornwood Inn can now be interacted with
* The itemget sound effect now plays when a phone number is registered
* Descriptions of starters have been tweaked slightly to better describe their intended roles
* The urn puzzle in the Catacombs is now a bit more clear
* Sagaxis Forest secret cave entrances are now slightly easier to spot
* Protagonist/rival unconscious sprites now have their eyes closed
* The Foongus balls in Jagged Cavern now hop twice when interacted with, to match Gen V
* Changed how overleveled pokemon are handled in the party. The player can now use pokemon whose levels are

#### Balance

* Needle Arm power increased (60->80)
* Baltoy and Claydol now learn Mud Bomb instead of Selfdestruct
* Croagunk and Toxicroak have Gunk Shot and Double Team switched in their movesets (45<->50, 54<->62)

#### Fixes

* Player can no longer walk into the roof of the Jul’far Town Hall.
* Erroneously repeating story events no longer do that.
* The game no longer crashes when the Sandstorm Warning cutscene plays in Jul’far.
* Baltoy, Claydol, and Cacturne now have their stat buffs that were supposed to be added in Build 5 (seriously, I still have no idea why that didn’t happen).

#### Tweaks

* Sayaka now uses her own battle sprite. She was intended to switch from the Spelunker sprite to her own unique sprite after the cutscene in Granny’s House, however she ended up not being battleable after that point, so her gorgeous battle sprite was going to waste.
* Note “Assiah and Gehenna” is now called “Assiah and Gehenna (0)” to match other notes in series
* Map “Jagged Tunnel Secret Cave” renamed to “Jagged Secret Cave” since it isn’t accessed from the map “Jagged Tunnel”.

#### Fixes

* Sayaka now disappears from Jagged Cavern and Jagged Pass South if her questline has not been advanced when you end the bandit siege.
* Granny’s House can now still be entered after the end of Chapter 1, provided you have at least triggered the cutscene with Sayaka inside.
* Sayaka no longer appears at the Old Jul'far Ruins if you have not seen the cutscene in Granny’s House, and disappears if you end Chapter 1 without talking to her.
* The barrel beside Bandit Patches can no longer be walked through.
* Fixed a secret cave entrance in Amon Desert not revealing properly, causing players to get stuck on their way out of the cave.
* Merchant Scabs no longer crashes the game when trying to view his shop.