Fusion
One of the core mechanics of Cassette Beasts is fusion. They consist of the combination of monsters. Fusions are present as enemy encounters and can be created by the player as well.
Gameplay
- See also: Stat#Fusion
Fusions gain the moves of both monsters they are derived from, combines statistics of both members, and gain 4 AP per turn. However, playing as one character instead of two also means that only one move can be made per turn.
When a fusion ends, either by willfully unfusing or through taking fatal damage, each status effect instance will be randomly distributed into one of its components.
Cassette Fusions
Both players and NPCs can fuse. When doing so, the resulting fusion will inherit all status effects its components had, adding up the total duration of similar status effects if possible.
Once the fusion takes fatal damage, it is dissolved and both of its components tapes are broken; each instance of a status effect is randomly distributed to one of the two characters.
The passive move Cold Fusion will activate when a Cassette fusion is formed.
Players
- See also: Fusion Power
The game has a fusion meter which accrues power every time the player takes damage in a battle, and later upgrades bought from Ranger Wilma allow for other triggers to fill the fusion bar, such as winning a fight or landing a type advantaged attack. Once the bar is full, the player and their partner can fuse each of the monsters they play as into a combined form. Pear Fusilli can be consumed to instantly fill the fusion bar without spending a turn, which allows the player to fuse on the spot.
Players can fuse once they reach Relationship level 1 with a partner. Prior to doing so, the player is forced to experience fusion with their partner during certain quest-related battles. Once the player is at least relationship level 2, the fusion-exclusive move Fusion Power becomes available. Fusion Power requires 10 AP to use, is often powerful and induces a status effect. Its exact nature (base damage, status effects, physicality, and if it hits a all enemies or only a single target) depends on the components, coming in many varieties, such as Spike, Bomb, Sword, Axe, Wheel, Beam, Meteor, Wheel, and Smash.
The fusion must be performed during the turn of the main player, as it is not possible to select a move with the main player's monster and then fuse during the partner's turn. Fusions are temporally and battle only, and it is not possible to enter a battle pre-fused. Prior to Version 1.5, the act of fusing triggers status effects and causes their timers to go down[1].
The player is free to unfuse, safely breaking the fusion, starting on the turn after fusing. It is not possible to unfuse immediately after initially fusing. Unfusing does not use up any turns, so both components will be able to act upon voluntarily unfusing.
When unfusing, both monsters will have the same proportion of health as the fusion had left. This effectively means that their remaining health can change from what their original components had left, even if they received no damage while fused, as their HP pools will balance out.
It is not possible to record with a tape while fused; the player must first unfuse before they are able to record.
Fusion Meter Mechanics
The fill level of the fusion meter is stored by the game as a fraction which maxes out at a value of 1. For clarity, the fill level here will be expressed as a percentage, with 100% being a full fusion meter.
There are two separate formulas used. The first one is used whenever the player or partner takes damage but does not take overspill damage. This damage adds to the fill level by an amount proportional to a sixth of the percent health lost. Mathematically,
where is the tape's max HP, and is the number of Fusion Meter Mod upgrades bought.
If the character's tape breaks from the incoming damage, or is untransformed, it instead is based on the remaining overspill HP after taking damage:
Because this scales with the current overspill HP and not the Max HP, this means that untransformed characters taking damage fill up the fusion meter faster the lower their current health is.
Some examples:
- The player receives 30 damage and their current tape has a max HP of 500. The fusion meter will fill up by 30/(6*500) = 1%. If the player purchased 5 Fusion Meter mods, this fills up the fusion meter by 1.25%; with 20 Fusion Meter mods, the fill amount is 2% instead.
- The player is untransformed with 120 HP left and takes 70 damage, surviving with 50 HP overspill. the fusion meter will fill up by 70/(6*50) = 23.33% before accounting for upgrades. With max upgrades, this goes up to 46.67%.
- The player is healthy at 500 Max HP for overspill and their current tape only has 70 HP left. They receive 300 damage, and because this breaks the tape, 210 HP is dealt in overspill damage, meaning the player survives with 290 overspill HP left. This fills up the fusion meter by 300/(6*290) = 17.24%.
- Consider the previous example but this time the current tape has 200 HP and the player takes 410 damage. This breaks the tape, still leaving the player with 290 HP in overspill. This time, however, the fusion meter fills up by 410/(6*290) = 23.56%. Even though in both examples the player has the same amount of overspill HP, this case results in a higher fill level.
If the player has acquired at least one Chemistry Mod, whenever the player or partner lands a type-advantaged hit, the fusion meter fills up by 5% times the number of owned upgrades, which is also boosted by the number of Fusion Meter Mods. Specifically,
As an example, if the player has all 5 Chemistry Mod upgrades, landing a type-advantaged hit fills up the fusion meter by 5/20 = 25%, and with 20 Fusion Meter Mod upgrades this increases to 50%.
Similarly, if the player has acquired at least one Critical Mod upgrade, whenever the player or partner lands a critical hit, the fusion meter fills up by 5% times the number of owned upgrades multiplied by the number of Fusion Meter Mod upgrades:
If the player has purchased at least one Victory Mod upgrade, winning an encounter automatically fills up the fusion meter by 5% multiplied by the amount purchased, which is also affected by the number of Fusion Meter Mods:
With all 20 Fusion Meter mods purchased, winning a battle fills up half of the fusion meter.
Once the fusion meter goes above 95% it automatically gets filled up to 100%. While fused, the fusion meter will not fill up.
NPCs
Certain Cassette NPCs, notably Ranger Captains during rematches, will also use fuse when down to their last two tapes. Other NPCs such as trainees and challengers from the Ranger Noticeboard will also fuse under similar conditions. They will not unfuse voluntarily, and will be unable to fuse if there are not enough tapes for the second NPC character to use. NPC Fusions have access to Fusion Power.
Because of this, it is possible to manipulate the timing of the fusion and what tapes they will fuse with. For example, NPCs can be tricked into fusing when one of its components is under the effects Gambit or Ghostly (which some Captains utilize), which will cause them to knock themselves out sooner. The player can also choose to leave one member's tape at low health and only focus on attacking the other, so that by the time they fuse the fusion already has a lower HP.
Wild Fusions
Fusions can also be encountered in the wild. They can be found across New Wirral, serving as minor boss encounters. Upon approaching them, the player will be prompted to fight them. Since Version 1.6, interacting with a fusion will now show the fusion's name, typing, and appearance in a menu before proceeding to battle.
Wild fusions cannot be recorded, but once the fusion's health is depleted it will split into its components, which may be recorded. All fusions have a dramatically increased chance of including bootlegs as one of their components.
Because Wild Fusions are encountered already fused, Cold Fusion will not activate when facing them, as the move demands a fusion to take place during battle to trigger.
Unlike cassette-based fusions, wild fusions will dissolve after taking lethal damage, but their components will be at full HP. They gain Flinched for the next turn and each instance of a status effects is randomly given to one of the two components.
Wild fusions appear as a black, horned creature in the overworld, obscuring their real nature until interacted with. Once the player obtains the Fusion Radar after becoming a Ranger and clearing the first task board, all fusions can be tracked on the map. They are indicated by a black outline of a monster, and all look the same on the overworld regardless of the monsters fused. There are 4 different types of fusions, each one being registered separately by the Fusion Radar.
Rogue Fusions
Rogue Fusions are common boss encounters spread all over the map. The fusion will be typically made from monsters encountered in the area where it's found, though they have a 1% chance to instead be a species randomly chosen from the list of "Seen" species in the Bestiary. They also each have a 10% chance to be remastered if they can be remastered. The fusion might be accompanied by an additional monster, but this isn't always the case. Rogue Fusions have a 2% chance of including a bootleg monster as one of their components.
Rogue Fusions that spawn in certain locations can cause flooding in its vicinity. This flood can be lava, liquid poison, or water. The type of flood indicates that one of the monsters in the rogue Fusion is natively a Fire, Poison, or Water type respectively, randomly selected from a list of all monsters that are natively of that type. Prior to Version 1.6, this also allowed monsters exclusive to DLC to spawn in flood fusions[2]. The fusion component that shares the flood's type instead has a 5% chance of being a bootleg.
Once defeated, Rogue Fusions will award the player with 1 
Fused Material or 1 
Cyber Material if done as a multiplayer raid.
Fusion Swarms
Fusion Swarms begin as sequential fight of 3 monsters, which are then joined by 2 additional ones as they get knocked out (for a total of 5). Once at least 4 of them are defeated, the fusion will appear.
One part of this fusion will be one of the monsters in the swarm (or a remaster of it), but the other part can be a different monster from the area. The fusion can also be made of the same monster twice. Unlike other Rogue Fusions, the monsters that make up this fusion have a 50% chance to be remastered.
Fusion Swarms appear from the beginning of the game, albeit they are less common than Rogue Fusions. It's not recommended to engage them too early, as the large number of monsters that must be fought in succession makes them a difficult fight before team hitting attacks and fusion are available to the player.
Once defeated, Fusion Swarms will award the player with 1 Fused Material or, if done as a multiplayer raid, 1 Cyber Material. The fusion in these battles has 10% chance of containing a bootleg monster.
Unstable Fusions
Unstable Fusions are fusions where one monster is Anathema, which appear after reaching level 3 in the Ranger Noticeboard. Defeating one is the first step of the Here Comes The Sun quest, after which they will naturally spawn over the map.
Unstable Fusions are drastically harder than regular Rogue Fusions, as Anathema is a naturally very powerful monster and it will always have Fission Power, which it will quickly attempt to use, doubling the already massive damage output of the fight. Additionally they always have a Random Starter, giving it an extra move instantly (which can include Fission Power). The Anathema component always has Self-Destruct as well, meaning that several explosions will take place over the fight, particularly if the split Anathema is also to use Fission Power. A copy created by Fission Power will not divide further, when its HP is depleted it will use Self-Destruction and die immediately.
The Anathemas fought as part of Unstable Fusions always have Self-Destruct, Random Starter, Fission Power, Pustule Bomb, Bite, Bloodlust and Desperation. All of these moves are inherited and available to the fusion.
Once defeated, Unstable Fusions will award the player with 1 Fused Material or, if done as a multiplayer raid, 1 Cyber Material.
Orb Fusions
Orb Fusions are the most powerful form of fusions. They are unlocked after reaching level 6 in the Ranger Noticeboard and completing Here Comes The Sun. Orb Fusions are styled as proto-Archangels, and the fights with them include the Archangel musical theme Same Old Story and glitch effects.
When engaged, the fusion is protected by an Orb, which obscures the monster (albeit its components can be deduced based on its name and types). The player must first break the Orb, serving as an entire additional health bar. Whilst enveloped in the Orb, the fusion will use Archangel mechanics: its AP won't be consumed by moves, and once it hits a full bar it will attempt to use Fusion Power. The Orb also provides Archangel immunity to certain debuffs such as Petrified and Sleep. Once the orb breaks, the Fusion will be exposed and it will start to consume AP normally and lose archangel immunity, but it will be unharmed and able to fight immediately.
Orb Fusion fights are by far the most difficult as they have a much higher base Max HP and they conserve their AP like archangels to use Fusion Power, on top of being a debilitating battle of attrition as the player has to whittle down four whole health bars to win (Orb, Rogue Fusion and each of the components), but they award 5 times more Fused Material.
Once defeated, Orb Fusions will award the player with 5 Fused Materials or, if done as a multiplayer raid, 3 Cyber Materials. Orb Fusions have the highest odds of containing a bootleg monster, at 20%.
Story
Fusion is a mysterious phenomenon unique to New Wirral. It is hard to do, and even the Ranger Captains are impressed by the player's mastery of it. Post-game, the player discovers more about the origins of fusion when undertaking Helia's quest Here Comes The Sun.
External Links
References
- ↑ ByttenStudio (October 3, 2023). "Cassette Beasts - Update 1.5". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1321440/view/3754370207781487387. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
- ↑ ByttenStudio (June 25, 2024). "https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1321440/view/4182236270516996189". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1321440/view/4182236270516996189. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
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