Demon Healer Naberius: Volume One — Update Patch Notes
Hello, dear reader!
As promised, I’m back with a hot new update regarding Demon Healer Naberius! I’ve been hard at work wrapping up work on my latest manuscript, and with that done, I’m happy to announce that DHN has been upgraded to its Volume One version! This comes with some changes, both big and small, so in the interest of transparency, I’ve prepared this article to break down everything that’s been updated. I’ve also included the reasoning behind each decision, but please feel free to comment or email me if you have any questions or concerns.
Ready? Then let’s talk Volume One.
VOLUME ONE
The most obvious change is that Demon Healer Naberius is now subtitled “Volume One”, transforming it into Demon Healer Naberius: Volume One. This might not seem like anything major, but—beyond requiring me to register a whole new set of ISBNs—the implication here is a notable one:
There will be a Volume Two.
I normally prefer to not reveal such plans in case things go awry, but I’ll be open here and admit that the manuscript I just finished was for DHN’s sequel. I originally released DHN without a subtitle or anything that might imply there could be a sequel on the off-chance I wasn’t happy with the final product or if it received severe backlash that indicated a sequel was not in my best interest. However, not only was I quite happy with DHN, it has received solid reviews on Amazon, leading me to follow through with my arrogant dreams and ready the sequel. Obviously, DHN is not perfect, and I have thankfully received some criticisms on how to improve, but I can at least say I’m comfortable enough with my work that I’ll gladly continue the story.
And truth be told, I’m overjoyed that I get to feel this way. I really like Nabby and Bosa, so getting to share more of their antics warms my heart. I suppose this also implies that the series can go even further, but we’ll cross those bridges when we get to them.
As far as Volume Two goes, the earliest I can see it releasing would be late December, but I’d estimate an early January drop is most likely. I only finished the manuscript a week ago, and seeing as I follow the King’s Cooldown, that means my work on it won’t resume until November. I then typically do five or six redrafts, followed by formatting and stuff, and when you consider that the lovely Tostantan might be busy, there’s no easy way to determine when it’ll be ready at this point.
But you can be assured that I’ll keep you posted. Lord knows I get too excited when I’ve got a new project ready for the public eye, and I’m more than happy to create another introductory article. Stay tuned—I’ll have more info as soon as I can.
PHYSICAL COPIES NOW AVAILABLE
As part of the Volume One update, Demon Healer Naberius is now available in paperback print! You can pick up a copy via Amazon for $9.99, and just like the eBook, it features the same beautiful artwork Tos has provided. You’ll also find a little bonus Nabby on the spine, so please consider picking one up if you enjoyed the story and would like to further support me or just prefer paper books (I know I do). You can also freely assume that all my future novels will include a physical release right off the bat as I now have a basic understanding of how to create a cover, at least through Amazon’s systems.
You can find Demon Healer Naberius: Volume One for Kindle and paperback via the button below:
(Fun fact: Amazon won’t allow you to publish any books on their platform if it will yield you no royalties, even though they would still make a profit themselves. Because of that, DHN is marked up ¥35 for the Japan marketplace just so I could receive a ¥2 royalty per purchase and allow publication. My deepest apologies to any potential Japanese readers.)
CHANGES TO BOOK CONTENT
Some changes have been made to DHN’s content. Not in any form of censorship—I will fight to the death to keep my curse words and titty jokes—but primarily in attempts to improve story cohesion and flow. Two major alterations have been made.
SANSEI-SAN CONTENT
The most notable change is the removal of the Sansei-san informational pieces. These were included between chapters and explored details about the world of DHN. I apologize to anyone who enjoyed those skits, but I have chosen to remove and discontinue them in order to both ease the creation process and avoid limits in storytelling.
As pathetic as it might seem, drawing even those child-level doodles puts a real strain on me. I don’t have the equipment/software to properly create decent artwork, and those pitiful attempts at making something that looks halfway decent stresses me. I’m hoping to relieve myself of some of that while simultaneously preventing more cursed imagery from entering this world.
More importantly, I decided that plainly stating the world’s rules and details like that risked writing myself into a corner. Although I meant for the information provided in those pieces to be supplemental and non-essential, clearly explaining things can limit what you can do down the line. And since my plans for DHN have now expanded, I felt it would be best to cut out such content before it presented boundaries I’d have to hypocritically cross.
Again, my sincerest apologies to anyone who liked those bits. I plan to put them up here at a later date with some commentary so you can at least take solace knowing my awful drawings of Sansei-san as Nabby and Bosa will live on forever. They will be considered non-canon now, but they’ll be there if you want ‘em.
You will now find the Sansei-san comics placed in between chapters instead of at the end of the novel. The comics have also been given a small visual upgrade, but their content has not changed. Comics like these will be included in Volume Two, with current plans to follow a four comics per volume system. Although I also find it hard to draw such things, I’m at least comfortable proceeding with the comics as they are intentionally subpar and unfunny. It also doesn’t hurt that a running gag paints Nabby as a fan of Sansei-san, so it’s my desire to keep them in.
CHANGES TO RANKING SYSTEM
Along with removing the Sansei-san piece that goes over the in-world adventurer ranking system, mentions of Parti ranks have been altered. Originally, the story used an intentionally obtuse series of ranks that referenced RPG loot and gacha game rarity systems (eg: an SSR Heroic Paladin). However, while using this system made for a good joke about video game content, it also obfuscated characters’ assumed power levels and was difficult to keep track of.
As such, it has now been simplified into a cliché but easy-to-understand letter system, ranging from Rank F to Rank S, with a special “Master Rank” sitting at the very top. Ideally, this will be easier to follow and help readers identify a character’s expected competence at a glance. This could also be considered a different sort of video game reference, as Granblue Fantasy Versus uses this as their online ranking system, but I apologize if anyone was particularly fond of the previous system.
OTHER CHANGES
No other major content changes were made, but I would like to mention there were some minor text fixes, notably one that stated Nabby had orange (instead of red) eyes. The story was also passed through three machine editors again, allowing me to find and fix a couple punctuation errors.
In preparing the physical copy manuscript, the font was changed from Cambria to Garamond for easier reading on paper. The Kindle version does not reflect this change as Kindle uses its own fonts, but other eBooks may present this change in font. Furthermore, headers were added to most pages for a cleaner, more professional look.
Lastly, a proper table of contents was created for all versions. eBook versions utilize hyperlinks to their associated chapters, but you will need to turn the page for physical copies.
CHARACTER-SPECIFIC CHANGES
NABBY
Decreased the startup of Drain by 2 frames
Nabby is now projectile invulnerable once Drain connects with its target
Despite being Nabby’s signature move, players would not use it as it put them at risk of being punished and would often burn meter on using Consume instead. We’re hoping these changes will improve Nabby’s function at midrange.
Slightly shortened midair hurtbox
Slightly increased the size of crouching Heavy’s hitbox
It was noted that Nabby was both easier to hit midair and had more trouble anti-airing her opponents. These changes have brought her closer in line with the rest of the roster.
Increased HP recovered and meter gained when eating a hamburger
Reduced the distance that Consume’s cinematic version will trigger
Following the changes to Drain, we are hoping to encourage players to rely less on using Consume as a comeback mechanic. The attack will still deal its maximum damage in the vast majority of scenarios it sees use, but it will now be a more situational reversal.
Mana bar has been adjusted to clearly display remaining mana
Many players found it difficult to gauge how much mana Nabby had left as her bar did not seem decrease after usage of any spell. Nabby now has a unique mana bar that clearly illustrates that you cannot exhaust her mana supplies within a 90-second round.
Fixed a bug where Nabby’s eyes sometimes appeared orange instead of red
Fixed a bug where Hellfire’s damage would ignore low-health scaling
Fixed a bug where Dark Return would not consume a portion of its target’s soul
BOSA
Reduced the amount of startup on Lullaby by 3 frames
We noticed that, despite Lullaby’s range, players had difficulty landing the move, even at fullscreen. Our hope is that this change will allow Bosa to take advantage of the sleep effect more consistently.
Streamlined the song selection mechanic
After inputting Bosa’s Sing command, you can now quickly select your song by holding its respective slot in the eight directions and pressing any attack button.
Reduced the damage of Bosa’s daggers from 400 -> 300
No real reason behind this change. We just thought it would be funny since her melee attacks were already trash.
Sonic Blast no longer deals damage to Bosa, but she cannot use it more than once per round
Players discovered a powerful combination by having Bosa repeatedly use Sonic Blast while recovering all recoil damage through Nabby’s Back Assist. We’re hoping this change will encourage players to try more assist variations and remove an oppressive strategy from the meta.
Fixed a bug where Bosa’s headphones would disappear when switching sides
Fixed a bug where Bosa’s hoodie would clip into her tentacles
Increasing curse word usage by 20%
Player feedback has indicated that they feel Bosa’s mouth is not foul enough. While her vernacular was already the most crude among the cast, our playtest team conceded that some additional F-bombs could spice up online play.
SOKOSHA
Spur Blitz now activates 1 frame faster and recovers 4 frames faster
Whiffing Spur Blitz often left players vulnerable longer than desired. This change is expected to improve Sokosha’s reactivity.
Extended the hitbox of standing Medium and crouching Medium
Fixed a bug where Sokosha was able to block, causing the game to crash
Despite being hardcoded to be unable to block or dodge, players discovered that pairing Sokosha with a tank-style assist member would allow him to enter a block state when the controller was pressed back for exactly one frame during the assist animation. This issue has now been resolved.
DAVID
David has now been removed from the game
We needed the space. Nobody was picking him anyway.
REESE
Reese has been added to the game
She is available for play within the following mode for all players: Training, Mission, Quest, Event (Reese-centric events only)
She is available for play within the following modes for only those who have purchased either the Season Pass or Reese’s individual DLC: Local, Online
We have intentionally made her overpowered to simultaneously make a quick buck off competitive players while completely destroying the current meta. Enjoy.
Following this, please expect her to be nerfed into the ground after you guys flood our Twitter with complaints.
And that about does it for the patch notes. All the new changes should be live now on Amazon, and please let me know if you run into any issues in these updates or if you have any questions. But if all’s good, then I hope you can enjoy this update and will look forward to Demon Healer Naberius: Volume Two!
Until next time, dear reader.
Umbasa.
