**Part 2 of Huge Game Update 5/28/12**

[Kimimaru]

The area of effect attacks go a distance around your character, so if the range was 2 it would hit enemies 2 spaces around you in every direction, including diagonally.

I've tested the damage rate of the Poison Cave previously, and anything lower than 1 second is too fast and anything higher than 1 second is too slow. It's completely optional anyway, so if you really need HP then I suggest equipping badges that give a lot of it. I'm actually glad it's been as hard as I intended it to be. I don't expect someone to complete it on his/her first try.

Finally, hydra will work on fixing some bugs soon, so hopefully everything will be fine soon.

[Penguin4478]

I forgot that the poison cave was optional, and the only reward is that new passive effect.
Hmm... I suppose that means the tutorial will take another few days to be fixed? I know another player is having trouble with that too.
Can you give me any hints on the new recipes? Jdaster and I found these ones out:
Super Soda
Rock Candy
Yellow Cake
Yellow Candy
Ultra Nuts
Memory Cake
There are 3 unknowns... I'm considering trying poison shroom and cake mix, but it's real hard to come by cake mixes in the beanbean kingdom (I'll refer to it as BBK). I know that paratroopeas do drop them, but I think only a couple maps actually have those enemies. Also, why are most of the cards uncommon? Poison bones is common, which I don't get since I think it's one of the hardest cards to get since you have to be in the poison cave, and it's the highest level enemy in this update. I also think the badge in HnS should be buffed a little more (possibly +4% to both luck-based stats?) Since practically every single special badge pales in comparison to "Right on!"
There is also ONE specific area I am totally at a loss as to how to reach it. It's that area with the red pipe and the bean spawn point surrounded by a gate in the top-left corner of a map, and I've tried practically everything I can in order to reach it, but to no answers.
Another thing is the beans: There are 4 types, that I'm aware of, but I only see uses for 3 beans (2 for the 2 different peppers, and 1 for the defensive badge). Is the 4th bean possibly for cooking purposes?

There are a LOT of things I like in this update though:
Heal Power-I'm devising a wonky heal-looping build with this
Area-effect specials: Right now I'm spamming bomb-tosses with the elite shy guys, who were unfortunately nerfed in both stats and EXP reward D:(I'm confused as to which specials affect an area. Can you possibly say whether or not the specials do area damage in the description?)
Those secrets: That hidden life shroom really was something, as well as that badge right at the entrance of EBB (east beanbean) Pity Flower is also a nice badge, but does it also effect healing?
The new minigame: This minigame is possibly one of my favorites, although some balance really should be done in terms of time the seekers get. I used up all 2 minutes looking for 1 person, and I was only able to get about 3/4 of the way through. This was BEFORE I learned that you needed to attack the person in order to tag them, so I'm thinking that an extra minute would be great for seekers.
No boss: I like how there's practically no boss, except for the armored koopa, and the poison cave, which by themselves are EXTREMELY DIFFICULT (I wouldn't expect anyone to actually finish that without 5 tries. I was only able to do it more quickly because boshi told me how to get past the 1st troubling area, and that I have 125 max HP and 75 FP to heal-spam with). The prize you get from the armored koopa really is something neat, though.
Passive effects: I LOVE this new implementation. It can really make lower-leveled players enjoy the game more with a mix up, but I was hoping there would be a separate thing on the special attack list for passive effects, because some of the passive effects make sense (Ex. +1 attack passively when you learn "muscle growth" for Wario), but sometimes it's just weird, like gaining 5 max HP when you learn weak yoshi bomb.
Those new thingies in the coding: As SMBO progresses, so does the complexity of the badges. Before SMBO had really simple badges, such as HP and FP Plus. Then, it was upped a little more with attack speed badges such as power rush, and exp badges like EXP boost. Finally, it's at a really interesting point where you get some really unique badges like heal power and pity flower.

[jdaster64]

All in all, I really enjoyed the update as well.  I've still only got about half the recipes, but I've finished almost everything else.  Looking forward to trying out the new PvP area as well; it looks like the best-designed one yet.

Just a few things I think could be touched up:
- As Peng said, card rarities don't make any sense (Poison Dry Bones should be Uncommon, if anything)
- Perhaps a more appropriate name for Pity Flower?  It doesn't do anything remotely similar to its PMTTYD namesake, nor does it suggest its actual use that well.
- The Beanies' HP values are ridiculously high for their level; the slightly lower DEF doesn't make much difference.

Also, why the heck isn't Nuts + Cake Mix = Nutty Cake a recipe?  There's already an item by the name in PM, lol.

[Kimimaru]

The Poison Bones Card is Common because Poison Bones are unique to the Poison Cave. If the drop rate was even lower it would be fairly frustrating (if it isn't enough already) to get the card.

The Cards in the Beanbean Kingdom (with the exception of Poison Bones), go by tiered enemies. Beanbean Spinies and Sworms are the lowest tier enemies and appear everywhere; as a result, their Cards are Common. The enemies unique to each section of Beanbean Outskirts are all Uncommon.

I'm thinking of reducing some of the stats on Right On! because it seems pretty overpowered, but I'm not sure yet.

The names of badges don't necessarily have to correspond with their counterparts in other games. The Beanies' lower Defense actually does make up for their high HP. Remember that you're intended to enter this area at around level 40. At that point, you'd be able to hit the Beanies and train on them, but unless you're Wario it'll be quite a task to kill the Troopeas. Also, I forgot about the Nutty Cake recipe in Paper Mario, otherwise I might've put it in.

I'm glad you guys like the update!

[Penguin4478]

Right on! Really isn't OP for the higher levels *Levels 65+*, but it can really boost the stats of the level 50 characters (particularly the low defense ones)

IMO the attack of all enemies hsould be slightly increased (by around 2-3) and their exp reward also increased for compensation (probably another 5-10%) This is because, according to jdaster, practically all enemies except for like 2-3 have 20-ish attack power, so 19 defense would be sufficient for training a character. Luigi's acquired defense from equips is:
+3 (cap)+6(shirt)+2(Legs)+2(right on)+3(multiple defensive badges that are possble) meaning that a character would only need to level up defense about 4 times to deal with most enemies. This is definitely a problem, because lower level-players may feel like they need more defense, and then they gain like 30 defense by the time they reach lvl 75. If someone already knows that 24 defense would be the max to take 1 damage from every single enemy in the game (as far as I'm concerned), practically all those characters would be extremely unprepared for PvP unless they have around 100HP, giving those power-focused characters a great advantage in which they can practically one-shot anybody in PvP with damage up and, if necessary, an attack buff.

[jdaster64]

Wow, I didn't realize how much the new update polarized stats.  Including just base stats, passives, and char-specific equipment:

Toad has 55/65 HP (unranged/ranged), everyone else 15-20
Yoshi has 45 FP, everyone else 0-15
Mario has 58 SP, everyone else 32-38
Wario has 15/16 ATK, everyone else 4-7
Luigi has 12 DEF, everyone else 7-9 (lolwut, Wario and Toad are the same now)
Mario has 8 SPEED, everyone else 0-3
Waluigi has 13/14 STACHE, everyone else 1-4
And everyone's SR is in the 34-38 range, with the outermost being focused on SPEED/SP and STACHE, explaining the difference.

Not that the super-strengths are a bad thing; however, I liked it when everyone had two or three strong stats.  Now it seems that all of the other stats are sort of averaged out, and everyone but possibly Luigi is geared towards very limited types of builds.

[Kimimaru]

Penguin, keep in mind that the enemies are only around Level 40. Each character has advantages and disadvantages; in Luigi's case, you won't need to increase Defense as much as another character. The same can be said for every other character with their respective stats. There is no problem with a player increasing more Defense; this makes that player stronger in PvP and in future updates. Power-focused characters are countered with things like Damage Down, Defense-boosting Special Attacks, Attack-reducing Special Attacks, HP, and Defense.

jdaster, most characters still have 2-3 strong stats; their strongest stats are just more noticeable now.

[Penguin4478]

This is just a simple question: does Pity Flower also boost the power of heals?

[Kimimaru]

Nope, it only affects damaging Special Attacks. Also, I added a change with Experience Point Plus and Speedy Dash on the first post.

[Kimimaru]

Sorry for double posting, but you don't need to target yourself to use Special Attacks marked as "Self." They will automatically be used on yourself.

[Penguin4478]

How many new items are there EXACTLY? I want to total them all up to see how many recipes are duplicates and how many aren't

[MG2123]

Are you supposed to do the poison caves with multiple persons? I cannot figure out how you are supposed to do this on your own.

I can't get past that second section with the 3 wall breaker blocks, when I go past the second one the game sets me back and I have to do it all over again..

[Penguin4478]

Yes, that part's quite tricky... after a few tries though, you'll find a way to solo through that area with ease.

[Penguin4478]

Well, just in general a LOT of badges have been changed. Block and Crit rush's effects were doubled, and Flower up a now gives 15 FP instead of 10. There are probably more altered badges, but I'll have to look around

I'll just make a list of the things that were changed...(The list will get longer as I advance my character more into the game)
Weapons:
Toad's Spear-Now gives +1 stache and +5 HP
Badges:
Flower Up A-Gives an additional +5 FP now
Block/Crit Rush-Gives 10% chance of their stats