IJI v1.6
Game copyright Remar Games 2004-2010
www.remar.se/daniel

LEGAL STATEMENT FOR 1.6
Iji (including its soundtrack) is freeware, with the following definitions: the game is illegal to modify, distribute for profit, or bundle with adware or install programs. It cannot be hosted on the Internet or otherwise distributed without my expressed permission. The game contains modified sound effects used without permission, and a cover of a copyrighted song. Coupled with my respect for my testers, voice actors/actresses and musicians who all worked for free, neither I nor anyone else can make any money on the game. If the game enters a competition any prizes would go to humanitary aid. yoyogames.com may host a copy of the game following a private communication that assured the above statement will not be broken, and if the original holder of the sound effects or VNV Nation wish it, the game will be immediately removed from their site.



================
|   CONTENTS   |
================

 1. Introduction, system requirements etc.
 2. Credits and thanks
 3. Background
 4. Controls
 5. Difficulty levels
 6. Sectors and saving
 7. Health
 8. Nanofields, Nano and leveling
 9. Stats
10. Special traits
11. Weapons
12. Nano Overloads
13. Cracking interface
14. Know your enemy
15. The road less traveled
16. Hidden skills
17. Questions and answers
18. Version changelog



=================================================
|   1. INTRODUCTION, SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ETC.   |
=================================================

ABOUT THIS MANUAL:
The manual will explain the game in more detail than the help/info section in the game's pause menu, but it's not necessary to read in order to understand the basics. The first part of the game has a tutorial designed to introduce it in a more methodical fashion, while this manual is more of a reference guide. See the Questions and answers chapter at the end if there's something you're still wondering about.

IJI REQUIRES:
Windows 98/NT/2000/XP/Vista (may run slowly on Vista)
1 Ghz CPU
32 MB graphics card
200 MB working memory
Note that even such a computer can experience slowdown in the game. You are recommended to play it on a more modern, powerful setup for optimal performance.

TECHNICAL NOTE ON SAVING:
Iji will likely not be able to create a savefile if you run the game from within the zip archive. You need to extract it to play it. Also, do not attempt to run the game from a slow USB drive or similar, or you may not be able to save the game.

TECHNICAL NOTE ON ALT-TABING:
If you choose the fullscreen option, Iji will run in 800*600 32-bit dedicated fullscreen. This allows it to use certain special effects and improves running speed. If you Alt-Tab out of the game (or another running program interferes), all graphics are dumped from video memory, causing flickering graphics, "black boxes" and stuttering framerate on slow computers when you Alt-Tab back. To fix this, select "reload graphics" from the in-game pause menu after Alt-Tabing back into the game. This also reloads sound effects and other resources which may have disappeared along with the graphics, but there may still be bugs depending on your system. It's recommended that you do not Alt-Tab the game in the first place when running it in fullscreen.



=============================
|   2. CREDITS AND THANKS   |
=============================

Game design, script, programming, graphics, SFX/voice edit: Daniel Remar

The Iji soundtrack: Chris Geehan and Dan Byrne McCullough

Music also by: Tom Mauritzon (Boss theme), Captain Goodnight (Hero3D theme), LifeForce (Ending theme (not specifically made for Iji))

Voice acting: Anna Ashabova, Annette Nielsen, Birgitta Johansson, Camila Dalence, Henrik Engström, Johannes Helgesson, Lisa Lenkel, Louise Stigell, Monika Mikucka, Ola Holmdahl, Miguel Nalvarte, Erik Sjöstrand

Testing: 2005 Ultimortal community, 2005 MaSu community, Eo community

In-depth testing: Anders Davallius, Annette Nielsen, Anton Grundvall, Audric, Bag, Beoran, Berra, Cactus, ChevyRay, Chris Laviolette, Erik Sjöstrand, Grashaboras, Henrik Engström, Linus Nordgren, Ola Holmdahl, Oscar Aludden, Pondwater, ReallyJoel, Srehpog, Thomas Ahlström

Special thanks: Beoran, Blender 3D, Mark Overmars, Trollis

Also: Carl Christiansen (voice acting), Tau (voice acting), Jay Stevenson (alpha demo music), Potatismos (music), Radiczor (music), Simone (voice acting) and SoulEye (music) for their demos, work and concepts which did not make it into the final game for various reasons



=====================
|   3. BACKGROUND   |
=====================

Waking up from a long coma, Iji finds herself trapped with her brother in a remote military complex. As the only remaining survivors of a local alien space-to-ground bombardment, they must find the leader of the sudden attack force, discover their motives, and what it takes to make them leave the complex and return to deep space.



===================
|   4. CONTROLS   |
===================

Left and Right: Move
Up: Jump
Down: Duck / turn pages when reading text

Z: Kick
X: Fire
C: Use
Enter: Abort cracking / view detailed stats
Escape: Pause / skip chats / skip cutscenes
Keypad: Move the view

1: Weapon 1
2: Weapon 2
3: Weapon 3
4: Weapon 4
5 or Q: Weapon 5
6 or W: Weapon 6
7 or E: Weapon 7
8 or R: Weapon 8

A: Previous weapon
D: Next weapon
S: Change to super-weapon

Hold F2: Return to Main menu
Hold F4: Retry Sector/boss
Hold F12: Quit game


You can change the keys for kicking, jumping and firing in the options in the Main menu. You can also change the weapon cycling keys, and the four extra keys for weapons 5-8 (so that they are placed directly beneath the numbers 1-4 on your keyboard).



============================
|   5. DIFFICULTY LEVELS   |
============================

Normal:
You can gain 5 levels per Sector
Cracking time is normal
Some enemies may dodge/reflect projectiles
When failing to crack a security box:
 there's a 25% chance its Security will increase by 1
When failing to crack a door:
 there's a 25% chance its Security will increase by 1
Red nanofields recover 2 HP
Bosses are of normal difficulty
Some enemies are slower compared to all higher difficulties
There are less enemies compared to all higher difficulties

Hard:
You can gain 4 levels per Sector
Cracking time is decreased by 2 seconds
Certain enemies attack at a faster rate
Certain enemies dodge/reflect projectiles more often
When failing to crack a security box:
 it has a 25% chance of breaking
When failing to crack a door:
 there's a 50% chance its Security will increase by 1
Red nanofields recover 1 HP
Bosses are more difficult

Extreme:
You can gain 3 levels per Sector
Cracking time is decreased by 4 seconds
Certain enemies attack at a very fast rate
Certain enemies almost always dodge/reflect projectiles
When failing to crack a security box:
 it has a 25% chance of exploding
When failing to crack a door:
 there's a 75% chance its Security will increase by 1
Red nanofields recover 1 HP
Bosses are very difficult
Nano Overloads do not exist

Ultimortal:
Same basics as Extreme, with the following additions:
Each Sector has a time limit
Only Health can be upgraded
Red and green Nanofields do not exist
Most enemies are faster

Note: the security of a door cannot increase on a failed cracking attempt if its security is 1.



=============================
|   6. SECTORS AND SAVING   |
=============================

The military complex is built of Sectors. At the end of a Sector, you can save. If you quit the game without saving, all progress in the current Sector is lost, with the exception of unlocked Posters and Hidden Skills.

Around the middle of most Sectors, you'll find a Checkpoint. Activate it by walking into it. If Iji dies, she'll be revived at the Checkpoint - but only once per Sector! Particularly long Sectors may have more than one Checkpoint, in which case activating the second will deactivate the first. The game will notify you when this happens.



=================
|   7. HEALTH   |
=================

Like the Tasen, Iji's body is surrounded and maintained by a personal Nanofield, a layer of Nano so thin it appears invisible. The Nanofield doubles as a shield to protect her from harm.

You have a health bar and an armor bar. A full armor bar equals one point of health, so if an armor-damaging weapon drains your armor to zero, you lose one hit point and the armor regenerates to 100%. Whenever your health is damaged, you will be invulnerable for a short while.

If you're hit by a particularly powerful attack, you will instantly lose a hit point regardless of your armor, and the armor regenerates to 100%. Some attacks, like enemy rockets, will deal more than one hit point of damage in a single blow.

To recover armor, assimilate any kind of Nanofield. To regain health, you must find Red Nanofields. You cannot recover past 100% armor.



========================================
|   8. NANOFIELDS, NANO AND LEVELING   |
========================================

Nanofields are free-floating gatherings of Nanomachines, and are the essentials of Nanotechnology.

BLUE Nanofields recover armor, but also add to your total Nano. When you reach a certain amount of Nano, you will level up and get a "point". Points can be spent at a Cyborg station, which will upgrade one of your seven basic stats. Leveling up does not make you stronger unless you spend the points you get at the Cyborg stations!

RED Nanofields recover both health and some armor, but don't help you level up. These are essential to stay alive.

GREEN Nanofields only recover armor. They don't help you level up.



================
|   9. STATS   |
================

 HEALTH
Your maximum hit point total increases by two for each Health level.

 ATTACK
The power put into all your Nanoweapon attacks (not your kick). A maximum Attack level effectively means that you deal double damage.

 ASSIMILATE
Determines how much armor you regenerate when assimiating any kind of Nanofield, and increases ammo capacity for all Nanoweapons.

 STRENGTH
Your physichal strength. Determines what enemies you can successfully kick back, and how far they'll fly. Also used to kick down Shield doors.

 CRACK
Determines how secure computer/nano systems you can crack, and how well you can combine the technologies in your Nanogun. Also used to open Security doors.

 TASEN
Determines what Tasen weapons you can wield (weapons 1-4). If you try to pick up a weapon you can't use, you'll see a small text where the weapon is, telling you what level you need.

 KOMATO
Determines what Komato weapons you can wield (weapons 5-8).

 JUMP
Determines the maximum height of your jump. Can only be upgraded by picking up unique Jump upgrades.

 ARMOR
Determines how well you absorb Armor-damaging attacks. Can only be upgraded with unique Armor upgrades.



==========================
|   10. SPECIAL TRAITS   |
==========================

For every stat that reaches level 10, you gain a Special trait. These will permanently enhance your abilities in a number of ways.


 HEALTH: SUPPRESSION
Iji's personal nanofield gains extreme resistance to nano-based attacks. If an attack deals more than 1 HP damage in a single hit, the damage taken is lowered by 1 HP. For example, an attack that deals 3 HP damage now deals only 2.

 ATTACK: IMPROVED AUTOLOADING
Lowers the reload time of all non-rapidfire weapons by 20%. (Weapons that fire so fast that they don't affect the blue reload bar in the lower left of the screen are rapid-fire weapons, such as the Machinegun and Pulse cannon.)

 ASSIMILATE: ADVANCED RECOVERY
Assimilating a red nanofield will recover 1 more HP, and assimilating a green nanofield will recover 1 HP instead of none.

 STRENGTH: CYBERNETIC ENDURANCE
The invulnerability time after being damaged is increased by 50%. You are no longer knocked to the ground when firing the MPFB Devastator.

 CRACK: ELECTRONIC MASTERY
When you fail to crack something, no adverse effects occur (enemies don't notice you, security crates don't break/explode on higher difficulty levels, and the security of doors cannot increase etc). Additionally, the "Ice nodes" no longer flicker while cracking, and a few bonus seconds are added to the cracking time limit.

 TASEN: VENGEANCE
+1 to all Tasen ammunition you pick up.

 KOMATO: GLORY
+1 to all Komato ammunition you pick up.



==================
|  11. WEAPONS   |
==================

Iji carries a Nanogun, a Tasen weapon capable of shapeshifting its interior to fire any Nanoweapon it is programmed with. At first it contains only the Shotgun, but by assimilating additional Nanoweapons, your arsenal increases.

If you find a Nanoweapon station, you can attempt to combine two of your Nanoweapons into a new "super-weapon". Super-weapons are selected by pressing a weapon's key twice.

To obtain more ammunition for your Nanoweapons, you need to assimilate ammo packs - simply walk into them.

Below are the basic Nanoweapons you'll encounter, and their corresponding weapon keys.


 1. SHOTGUN
A low-end, short-ranged Nanoweapon with infinite ammo, the Shotgun is still capable of causing severe damage in close combat. Hardly anyone uses it anymore, as the development of other weapons soon made it redundant, but it shouldn't be underestimated, especially with a high Attack stat.

 2. MACHINEGUN
A rather accurate long-range Nanoweapon, the Machinegun is effective even against larger enemies. Most Tasen are equipped with one, though few higher-ranking ones rely on it as their primary weapon. Due to Iji's unique Nanogun, her version of the Machinegun is special; it's more accurate and deals more damage compared to the Tasens'.

 3. ROCKET LAUNCHER
This deadly Nanoweapon launches self-propelled rockets that explode on impact. Very powerful, and able to knock enemies flying.

 4. MPFB DEVASTATOR
The MPFB Devastator launches three massively concentrated crystals, capable of causing spontaneous nuclear fission upon contact with any object. These crystals even violently react to the air around them, making them glow in a light blue and severely enlargening the area of impact. It's part of the Tasen Elites' default equipment - the only troops able to fire the Devastator without flying back from the recoil.

 5. RESONANCE DETONATOR
A weapon stolen from the Komato race, it can be powerful in the right hands. It uses the personal Nanofield of the person firing it to create a shockwave around her. This can knock back enemies and send them flying, depending entirely on the strength of the holder. A good estimate is that it's exactly as powerful as if the person had kicked her enemy, except the shockwave of this weapon enables the user to extend her reach. It uses no ammunition, either.



==========================
|   12. NANO OVERLOADS   |
==========================

These rare, concentrated gatherings of Nano give Iji a temporary special ability when assimilated. The abilities will only last for 20 or 40 seconds, depending on the type of Overload. You will have to discover and understand these abilities on your own. Tasen research suggests that the more aggressive the user is, the more her Overloads will be geared towards offense and destruction rather than survival and stealth.

Note to explorers: No Nano Overloads can help Iji reach areas she couldn't without their aid.



==============================
|   13. CRACKING INTERFACE   |
==============================

(Cracking is learned in a short tutorial in Sector 2, and doesn't appear in the Pause menu help section until that time.)

Press the Use key to touch things and crack them. The cracking interface is simple: press the Use key to get started (or Enter/Escape to bail out), then move your green dot around using the arrow keys, until you reach the red dot. Avoid the flickering dark blue "Ice nodes". If you hit an Ice node or the time runs out, the cracking attempt fails. (It also fails if you take damage, or the object you're cracking moves too far away.) The length of the puzzle depends on the security of the object. Note that if you press Enter or Escape to bail out of an ONGOING cracking attempt, it counts as a failure.

Security doors and multi-colored Security boxes must be cracked, but you can also crack enemies - it's best to do it when they're standing still, and their back is turned against you. If you successfully crack an enemy, you'll often disable its most powerful weapons, and if you're lucky, you'll heavily damage it as well. If an enemy tries to fire his malfunctioning projectile weapon, the projectile explodes in its Nanogun's barrel. If the enemy survives, it'll resort to whatever lesser Nanoweapons it knows will still work safely.

Some enemies have a very large amount of health or rely almost entirely on high-powered weapons, and are thus particularly vulnerable to cracking. Cracking an enemy will also make it guaranteed to drop some ammo upon its death, even certain enemies that never drop ammo otherwise.



===========================
|   14. KNOW YOUR ENEMY   |
===========================

Iji will have to face several kinds of Tasen troops and their defenses on her way to Krotera. Stay away from the more powerful foes or attack them from a distance.

 TURRET
These defense turrets were set up by the Tasen to specifically protect the complex from humans. They target anything that doesn't have the proper subroutine programming in their personal Nanofield, like Iji. The Tasen are by no means subtle when it comes to dealing with humans - some turrets wield absolutely devastating Nanoweapons, and will only stop firing when they have no more targets in their field of view, or when they are destroyed. Normally, the ammunition being pumped into the turret makes it highly volatile, making it explode when shot. If knocked off its support pole, however, it becomes completely harmless.

 TASEN SCOUT
Armed with a burst Machinegun and plain green armor, these grunts usually patrol new areas in search of threats before the rest of the Tasen follow. Having not reacted entirely well to the drugs the Tasen use to boost their senses during combat training, the scouts sometimes appear slow and dull, and most are incapable of dodging projectiles or performing similar feats that require quick reaction. Therefore, they're more often relied on as sentries than actual warriors.

 TASEN SOLDIER
The shock troops of the Tasen, clad in blue armor. The Soldiers use both Machinegun and Rocket launcher Nanoweapons, making them a versatile foe. They are not very strong and are easy to overwhelm with more advanced weapons, but their agility allows them to dodge incoming projectiles, if they see them coming.

 TASEN COMMANDER
Commanders are red-armored cyborgs fitted with an enormous claw, which can smack their opponents clear across the room. They prefer explosive weaponry, and don't go down easily. The Commanders are usually the ones giving orders on the battlefield, but while their strength is respected by the lesser troops, they're too large to dodge projectiles.

 TASEN ELITE
These walking death machines in golden-yellow armor use an advanced nanotechnology that literally pins to them to ground. Upon taking damage, their nanofield uses gravitational forces to lock them in place, making them impossible to knock back - even with the most explosive of weapons. As the most powerful type of Tasen warrior, the Elites fear no enemy, and even boss around the Commanders on the battlefield. The only way to stop an Elite in its tracks is to hit it repeatedly with powerful weapons, so that it has no time to react. Luckily they are too big to dodge incoming projectiles.

 BLIT
Blits are a strange breed of parasite, consisting entirely of Nano, and resistant to all forms of weaponry. These pesky slug-like bugs infested the Tasen spaceship, and spread like wildfire when they landed at the complex. Alone, they're hardly a threat, but a large group of Blits can drain the Nano-armor off their victims at a frightening rate.



==================================
|   15. THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED   |
==================================

Your actions in the military complex may change chat sequences, characters' reactions, Tasen computer terminals and logbooks, Iji's personality, access to restricted areas, or the fate of those around you. The Tasen are not oblivious to what you do.

Killing five or less enemies per Sector to make Iji more of a pacifist is an example of a way to affect dialogues and logbooks. The game does not immediately reward or punish you for sparing your enemies, but not assimilating their Nanofields makes progress more difficult. Note that the game does not count the destruction of completely mechanical enemies towards your kills, nor do enemies dealing the final blow to themselves or each other.

Note too that the game does not have a "moral slider" and won't punish aggressive behaviour, nor will it immediately tell you when something has changed or has multiple possibilities. Play the way you like!



=========================
|   16. HIDDEN SKILLS   |
=========================

Iji is a versatile cyborg. While still mostly human, the new powers she possess are largely unknown to her. Make sure to read the enemy logbooks to learn about new techniques and abilities. You can also discover new combinations for creating superweapons there, or strategies to use against enemies or bosses.



=================================
|   17. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS   |
=================================

This section that should answer some questions the game does not.

Q: The game doesn't start, throws an "Unexpected Error" or hangs suddenly and/or the full-screen gamma effects don't show. Can you fix these?
A: Sorry, there is nothing I can do about Game Maker compatibility errors like these. But you can try using the "Special effects" option on the Main menu to remove most polygons, lines, stretched/transparent sprites and lower the overall detail if the game suffers from slowdown, since these things usually cause issues on some graphics cards. Also try turning off the full-screen gamma effects or play in Windowed mode.

Q: Is there a high-quality soundtrack available?
A: Yes, on the game's homepage, www.remar.se/daniel

Q: I can't save the game, I don't hear music and it keeps telling me the savefile is corrupt eventhough it's my first time playing.
A: You can't play Iji from within the Zip archive; you must extract it to your hard drive or another fast read/writable place. If you play the game from a slow USB stick or similar, it'll likely be choppy to save and when a piece of music plays or restarts, or the saving may not even work at all. 

Q: The music is garbled / I still don't hear any music eventhough it's turned on in the Options and I have no other programs running. What do I do?
A: Try updating Windows Media Player, setting it to be the default music player, or updating your sound card drivers. If all else fails, you need to try the game on a different computer.

Q: There's too much text. How do I know what's important?
A: If you're following the story, only reading the cutscenes and chat dialogues should give you the basics to understand everything. If you want more backstory and discover secrets and hints about the game, you need to read the enemy logbooks. If you don't care for the text at all, you can skip most dialogues and cutscenes with Escape, although you may miss alternate dialogues and texts if you skip them when replaying the game.

Q: I'm stuck in a Sector, where should I go next?
A: The chat dialogues will tell you what to do. If you don't remember or skipped them, you need to go exploring places you haven't been, or look for doors, terminals etc. After getting a Jump upgrade, you should also look for high ledges you couldn't reach before. Sometime Iji will tell you outright that you're going the wrong way.

Q: I'm stuck on a boss, what do I do?
A: After losing to a boss and restarting the boss room, Iji will give you a hint on how to beat it during the introductory chat. This chat is unskippable for a few seconds, to make it hard to miss. Note that restarting the boss room manually before dying doesn't give you the hint. Some hints also don't show up immediately when the boss fight begins, this is the case with the final boss - although it gives you a lesser hint immediately.

Q: I moved a lift out of the way, can I still beat the Sector?
A: As of version 1.6 all Sectors have been confirmed to be beatable no matter how you move the lifts and use the Checkpoints.

Q: I noticed that the requirements for "Immortal" rank was getting zero damage, and "Skilled" was 100. Does that mean I must take zero damage to achieve "Immortal" rank?
A: No, it means that you must take LESS than 100 damage to get "Immortal". You don't have to get zero (phew!).

Q: Will there be translations of the game to different languages?
A: No, since it's far too much work for me to implement at this point. The game should have supported it from the start if it were to be a realistic feature to implement now, but wasn't considered back then.

Q: What are the "Remar Games" speedrun times on the Records screen?
A: They're my personal records, and they're all beatable with skill and some luck. Doing so doesn't unlock anything and doesn't lead to any secrets, however. It's unfortunate that luck (such as randomized enemy and boss behaviour) plays a role in speedrunning Iji, but in the end the support for speedrunning didn't become top priority.

Q: Must the game music be placed in the "music" subfolder?
A: Files from the "music" subfolder are checked first, but if the game doesn't find a file there, it looks in the root game directory instead - it's a precaution in case you extracted the files incorrectly.

Q: How do you pronounce "Iji"?
A: Like "ee-gee" or "ii-dji".

Q: Can I suggest something for a future update?
A: Sorry, no new features will be implemented, only bugfixes.

Q: Will you release this or any of your other games on XBLA, Wiiware, Steam, PSP etc.?
A: No, even in the cases where it's technically and legally possible I don't want to do it.

Q: Is Iji based on any specific real-life war or conflict?
A: No.

Q: I thought I heard an enemy speak a language other than English, is this true?
A: No, everyone speaks English words and sentences (with the exception of names like Iosa and Ciretako), but their distorted voices may sound like something else.

Q: I heard names like "Iji" and "Tasen" mean something in some languages, was this intentional?
A: Nope, it's inevitable for short words to mean something in one language or another.

Q: Why are three actresses credited with Assassin Ansaksie's voice in the ending?
A: Her voice is the combination of three separate people to achieve the "warped" effect.

Q: Can you really play as a Tasen Soldier?
A: No, that was a hacked version of the game that replaced Iji's sprite.

Q: Can you really meet Mia in the game?
A: No, she dies in the opening cutscene. Iji was supposed to find the bodies of Mia and their father in Sector 2, but this was cut early in development.

Q: Why is there no MP3 of "½fabrikat" and why doesn't it appear in the high quality soundtrack?
A: This song is not an MP3, but pitched sound effects being played back in realtime, which allows it to change instruments, tempo etc as you progress through the level. It can only be played back by the game itself.



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SPOILERS BELOW - REWARDS AND SPEEDRUN QUESTIONS
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Q: (SPOILERS) I've unlocked everything on the Extras menu, but the Records screen still says "Extras and features: 11/12". What is the last feature?
A: Entering Sector Z, which adds it to the Single Sector Play option.

Q: (SPOILERS) Is there a reward for beating Sector Z without shooting any of the enemies in there?
A: No, this is just a forum rumor. Nothing happens if you do.

Q: (SPOILERS) Are there any rewards for beating the Maximum Charge final boss?
A: No, it's just for fun and an extra challenge.

Q: (SPOILERS) Is there a reward for beating Hero 3D 242 times?
A: No, it was meant as a joke. There are no rewards related to Hero 3D at all, it's just a bonus game.

Q: (SPOILERS) Is there a reward for finding all Supercharges?
A: No, they are undocumented in the game for that reason, and because they can be considerably harder and more far-fetched to find than the Posters. There are usually no hints to finding them, either. Think of them as gameplay rewards for impressive achievements rather than secrets you're meant to actively search out.

Q: (SPOILERS) Are there gameplay rewards (as in pickups, secret areas etc) for doing some things differently during a playthrough?
A: Yes, in some cases, especially involving pacifism or with the aim to save peoples' lives.

Q: (SPOILERS) What's the absolute minimum number of Total Kills when beating the game, and is there any reward for acheiving that number?
A: As of version 1.3 it is now 0, but there are still no unlockables related to kill count. There is an in-game reward for 0 kills however. NOTE: This reward is not obtainable on the Ultimortal difficulty, as the lowest possible kill count on Ultimortal is 1 rather than 0.

Q: (SPOILERS) Do I need to change my speedrun strategy in version 1.3 and above?
A: No. While there is now a reward for 0 kills that potentially makes a small part of the game faster, the unavoidable 10 minute penalty for obtaining 0 kills in the first place means that it's not worth it. In short, speedruns on earlier versions can still compete with higher versions, and it is not efficient to change to a 0-kill strategy.

Q: (SPOILERS) Exactly where is this 10-minute penalty and how can I avoid it?
A: Reach Elite Krotera after breaking the Tasen truce, or without having formed a truce at all. You will get 1 kill for Krotera but no time penalty. This also ensures that you must deal with Krotera as you did in the previous versions of the game if you want a faster speedrun, that is to defeat him in battle.



=============================
|   18. VERSION CHANGELOG   |
=============================

1.6 (6 March 2010)
SERIOUS
-Added a "special effects" option that removes lines, polygons and stretched sprites as much as possible, plus lowers effects like debris and smoke puffs, to prevent slowdown on some computers. This greatly degrades the apperance of some graphics, in particular the bosses.
-Reflected projectiles no longer count as your kill, providing that you were not the one who fired the original projectile. In other words, the game keeps track of who initially fired the projectile rather than who last reflected it. This does not count with Elite Krotera, as pointed out in the game, to keep speedruns comparable between versions.
-Added a pacifist modifier to Sector 4: if Vateilika killed Krotera and Iji is pacifist, she won't call for the Komato. They attack anyway, but this opens the Tasen defense base at the end of Sector 9 if you're still pacifist by then.
-Berserkers now have a 1.5 second cooldown before they can use the Resonance detonator again.
-Fixed pausing while using Retribution.
-You can no longer get stuck in Sector 2 by increasing a certain door's security by failing to crack it, and then teleporting back from the Elite room. Dan will lower the security to 1 for you if the door has not been opened when you use the teleport.
-You no longer lose cracks by repeatedly performing Nanofield Reboot and restarting a Sector.
-Fixed the total time sometimes jumping forward one second when restarting boss rooms.
-Timer stops correctly in Iosa battle.
-You no longer get Jump 3 and Armor 3 when entering boss rooms in the Single Sector Play and Sudden Death Sector modes.
-Asha2 no longer freezes when facing him for a third time.

MINOR/COSMETIC
-Enemies entering a teleporter with a trapmine will not die; the teleporter explodes as usual but without the enemy appearing. This should mean that it makes more sense why you don't get a kill during a certain in-game cutscene.
-Massacre reloading time halved and power increased.
-If you met Ansaksie, she appears again at the end of Sector X.
-Tasen Elite idle animation fixed.
-The timer displays an "x" when it's not counting, to make it easier to see when it's paused. You'll notice that time stands still for a short while after cracking something; I didn't fix this since it would make speedrun times not comparable between versions.
-Cutscene pics updated.
-Logbooks and chats updated. Some details of the story have been modified or further explored.
-The boss music now restarts correctly if you reach Krotera after breaking the truce.
-Ansaksie now uses her Massacre, and her teleportation speed is no longer dependant on the difficulty level.
-Added Yukabacera and Ansaksie to the main menu enemy info.
-"Killer" rank changed to "Pacifistic" to make it more clear than getting less than 50 total kills or less still counts as being pacifistic when it comes to kill-related modifiers.
-Added an alternate startup pic that has a 1 in 3 chance of appearing.
-Modified part of Sector 7.
-Annihilators can no longer fire the Splintergun through walls.
-Iji no longer says "damnit" when using the Nuke while low on health.
-The position marker no longer permanently disappears when entering areas not shown on the map.
-My Normal speedrun time is now listed as 27:18, a recording of which as of writing this is featured on www.speeddemosarchive.com

NOT CHANGED
-A very rare bug with unknown cause lets Iji move while cracking or riding an elevator.
-A very rare bug with unknown cause makes enemies freeze in place.
-I still don't consider the Annihilators destroying themselves with the Shocksplinter an error, since it suits their nature.
-Troopers sometimes running the opposite way is not a bug, but their way to put more distance between themselves and their opponents, since Shocksplinter deals more damage but can't be fired in close quarters.
-While additional ending pictures for the pacifist path were planned, they still haven't been made. Maybe for the next version.



1.5 (10 July 2009)
SERIOUS
-The game can now be run in windowed mode, but you cannot change between fullscreen and windowed mode in-game. Gamma effects will not work in windowed mode. I apologize for not wanting to implement this before and saying that I couldn't do it neatly; I considered the drawbacks of windowed mode, and the inability to chance modes in-game, not to be worth it before.
-Fixed a serious pausing bug.
-Fixed being able to "Use" a weapon combination station and an enemy at the same time.
-Deep Sector is not as dark as before (only applicable in fullscreen with gamma effects turned on).
-Fixed a bug with Nanofield Reboot which prevented your total cracks from lowering while possessing cracked weapons.
-Made it possible to toggle the Scrambler in the Extras part of the Main menu.

MINOR/COSMETIC
-If you haven't saved your game on the Sector Clear screen, the message "Go to next sector?" will be replaced by "Continue without saving?", and "Quit to main menu?" will be replaced by "Quit without saving?".
-Fixed Annihilators dropping ammo inside walls.
-You can no longer pause to dislocate doors when entering boss rooms.
-Endgame screen tweaked for when gamma effects are turned off.
-Fixed a discrepancy in a Ribbon chat and edited some other text.
-Changed requirements for "Killer" rank to 1 kill and "Destroyer" to 51 kills, since these mark the lines of certain content at the very end of the game. Note that there are still no unlockables related to kill count, so this change is only cosmetic.
-If the detail level lowers in the final battle when the game notices slowdown, the "black polygon explosion" will be less detailed as well.
-Added heights to the unlockable enemy information.
-Moved a Shield door in Sector 7 so you can't kick/destroy it through the nearby Security door.
-Added subtitles for the voices in the Sound Test.
-Updated the FAQ section of this manual.

NOT CHANGED
-A very rare bug with unknown cause lets Iji move while cracking or riding an elevator, but it may have been subverted in 1.3.
-A very rare bug with unknown cause makes enemies freeze in place.
-Saving before boss rooms is still not possible due to the fact that you can enter one with no stats, making it very hard to win, thus nearly impossible to continue if you decided to overwrite the save slot you used for the beginning of the Sector. It's unfortunate I didn't plan such situations better from the start, and I apologize for abandoning this feature after promising it in an interview.
-I still don't consider the Annihilators destroying themselves with the Shocksplinter an error, since it suits their nature.



1.4 (9 May 2009)
SERIOUS
-Fixed being able to trigger the "wrong way" message in Sector 7 if you die after opening the floor hatch, but before reaching the second Checkpoint.
-Fixed getting stuck at Sector 5 end lift if you blow yourself up at the top. Note: some players think Sector 6 becomes unbeatable after moving the main lift out of reach, but you have never needed it to beat the Sector.
-Being knocked down from firing the MPFB Devastator or Nuke no longer refills your armor.
-Detail level in the final battle lowers sooner if the game notices slowdown.
-Iji automatically switches to the Resonance reflector whenever you lose and retry the final boss.
-Berserkers know how to destroy obstacles with the Resonance detonator again (they forgot in version 1.2).
-Turrets no longer fire instantly when idle and shot by the Velocithor V2-10.
-Null driver-assisted stats can no longer be reset when entering Sector 3.

MINOR/COSMETIC
-Altered the final two cutscene pictures of the "killer path" ending (over 50 kills), and the final picture on the "pacifist path" ending, to make them more different. The picture of a certain boss character's helmet remains, as his final logbook implies that he ended it himself if you managed to skip his return fight.
-Blocked some remaining lift shafts from enemies.
-Fixed spelling errors and altered certain logbooks and dialogues.
-Massacre now drains 50 Armor instead of 1 HP.
-Updated the FAQ section of this manual.
-Null driver altered.

NOT CHANGED
-There will not be an option for windowed mode. Due to limitations in this version of Game Maker this is too difficult to implement neatly on all systems.
-A rare bug with unknown cause lets Iji move while cracking or riding an elevator, but it may have been subverted in 1.3.
-A very rare bug with unknown cause makes enemies freeze in place.
-Saving before boss rooms is still not possible due to the fact that you can enter one with no stats, making it very hard to win, thus nearly impossible to continue if you decided to overwrite the save slot you used for the beginning of the Sector. It's unfortunate I didn't plan such situations better from the start, and I apologize for abandoning this feature after promising it in an interview.



1.3 (25 December 2008)
SERIOUS
-Additional weapon keys customizable in the Main menu, to allow Xpadder/Joy2Key users to easily change weapons with a gamepad. By default, the A and D keys cycle the base weapons, and S changes to the currently selected weapon's super-version.
-New pacifist modifiers. It is now possible to get 0 kills, by fulfilling certain requirements where the story previously demanded that Iji was responsible for the deaths of certain bosses. Note that there are still no post-game extras/unlockables for kill count.
-Nearly all logbooks that were previously near enemies have been moved. If there are enemies present (other than ones that do not award kills), the logbook does not have any pacifist or other modifiers to its text, and is still intended to be reached only by players with aggressive playstyles. Logbooks explaining Hidden Skills have not been moved.
-Fixed various kill count-related bugs; enemy pulse cannons, Iji's Plasma cannon and Tasen Shredders now count kills correctly.
-Kicked turrets and dismounted Shredders that hit enemies only award kills within half a second of Iji kicking/dismounting them. While this may lead to intentional but unawarded kills, it's better than unintentional but awarded ones.
-Getting hurt by a Beast now adds 1 to your damage counter.
-Weapons no longer jam when using Retribution while they reload.
-Stats no longer reset when entering Sector Z, and you keep the ribbon as well.
-Suffering a warpback (due to a very rare elevator bug that may have been subverted) now resets the Ultimortal "time to live" timer.
-Skysmashers now check collisions with explosions correctly.
-When teching while the "bouncing on the floor" animation is playing, such as after firing the MPFB Devastator and teching another explosion as you hit the ground, Iji is no longer momentarily pushed into the floor.

MINOR/COSMETIC
-"Innocent" is once again listed as needing at least 0 kills rather than 2.
-Some enemies removed/replaced throughout the Sectors.
-Tweaked and rewrote many cutscene, chat and logbook texts.
-Maximum Charge Tor now only drops one Red Nanofield.
-Some logbooks now make it more clear that defeating regular Assassins does not increase your kill count.
-Boss hints are now only unskippable once per boss room.
-Ambient sounds are no longer heard in the Pause menu.
-Fixed Iji's outfit temporarily changing back to default in a boss room.
-The Iosa battle now has a better camera.
-Iji now sits for a longer time after a very high fall, but the animation can still be cancelled by jumping.
-New weapon and other secrets.
-Moved Null driver.
-Many graphical tweaks.

NOT CHANGED
-There will not be an option for windowed mode. Due to limitations in this version of Game Maker this is too difficult to implement neatly on all systems.
-A rare bug with unknown cause lets Iji move while cracking or riding an elevator, but it may have been subverted.
-A very rare bug with unknown cause makes enemies freeze in place.



1.2 (10 October 2008)

SERIOUS
-Added gamma effects to Main menu options due to incompatibility with some graphics cards or drivers. The Turbo mode and Sound test unlockables have been moved to the new "Extras 3" submenu.
-If the final boss detects consistent slowdown during the battle (some graphics cards don't like how Game Maker handles polygons and line drawing), the polygon and particle count will be automatically reduced in an attempt to make the game run faster. The threshold is at least 15% framerate drops for 10 seconds, and also applies to Turbo mode.
-Berserkers must now briefly charge their Resonance detonators to fire them.
-You can no longer glitch the Asha2 fight by firing certain weapons just before he appears.
-Made Krotera slightly easier on Normal and Hard (fires less rockets, kicked Turrets deal more damage).
-Fixed a glitched chat trigger in Sector 5.

MINOR/COSMETIC
-"Innocent" is now listed as needing at least 2 kills, not 0, since 2 is the absolute minimum.
-Reaching Krotera with the truce intact, dying and restarting no longer causes Krotera to act is if the truce was broken.
-Made the final boss's Rage burst weapon (tall green energy spikes) slower.
-The explosive barrels now have yellow and red warning tape instead of just yellow.
-Fixed an old mistake by removing the "metal butterfly" logo from the Security boxes, since they're Tasen technology and have nothing to do with the human facility.
-Fixed some typos, triggers, chats and cutscene images.
-Scrambler updated.
-Null driver.

NOT CHANGED
-There is yet no option for windowed mode. Due to limitations in this version of Game Maker this may be too difficult to implement neatly.
-There is still a rare bug where Iji can move while cracking.



1.1 (10 September 2008)

SERIOUS
-Enemy Plasma cannon shots killing a Tasen no longer award Iji the kill if she attacked them first.
-Fixed being able to fall outside the intended route in Sector Z.
-The game now correctly gives 10 or more kills the "Killer" rank, instead of 5 or more.
-When rebooting your Nanofield, your number of Total cracks are now decreased for every weapon combination you had. This prevents you from repeatedly rebooting in order to get a lot of Total cracks.
-Getting killed by a Komato Trooper and being revived at the Checkpoint no longer breaks the truce in Sector 3.

MINOR/COSMETIC
-Fixed various logbooks and chats.
-Fixed the Shredders typing numbers to the game window caption (only visible when Alt-Tabing).
-The Enemy Information in the Pause Menu, when viewed from Sector Z, now displays correctly.
-Added a logbook at a critical point to explain that defeating an Assassin does not increase your Kill count.
-Fixed the spelling of Machinae Supremacy in the music text file.
-Fixed the background color remaining blue if you fell out of the ship in Sector 7 but died, returned to the checkpoint and fell out again.

NOT CHANGED
-There is yet no option for turning gamma effects on/off or entering windowed mode. The other issues were considered more important to fix quickly.



1.0 (1 September 2008)
-Game released.
