The upcoming MMORPG Chrono Odyssey recently held the first limited-time Closed Beta test on Steam, and the first impressions weren't exactly lavish in praise. The game featured several performance, balance, and polish issues, all of which are being addressed by South Korean developer Chrono Studio.
This morning, the developer posted the second part of its CBT Notes. Earlier this month, they had addressed some key concerns regarding animation and combat responsiveness and performance, promising the addition of popular upscalers like NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR.
Today, though, the studio addressed in great detail the changes coming to most of the systems seen in the Chrono Odyssey beta. For combat, input responsiveness is being significantly improved through several tweaks, including better client-server packet transmission and optimized network performance. Hit reactions will occur more frequently and include knockback effects, making them easier to recognize; the duration of crowd control effects (CC) will be increased to 2-4 seconds, allowing more opportunities for follow-up attacks. Damage feedback is also being enhanced, with new hit reaction animations added based on the type of enemy attack, improving the visibility of effects like stagger and knockback, and sound and camera effects introduced to improve the feeling of impact. Weapon sweeping will feel faster, too, thanks to a shortened buffer window.
The skill system is also changing. Each weapon will support four combat styles, and skills across different weapons will synergize. A skill tree node system called Matrix will be added to provide different progression paths for all these playstyles. Needless to say, all classes in Chrono Odyssey will have to be rebalanced following this change.
Monster AI will be improved to ensure monsters respond more effectively to ranged attacks, and Chrono Studio is also planning to smooth those frankly ridiculous difficulty spikes that players ran into during the Closed Beta.
Even the game world is changing. Visually, region-specific features such as swamps, misty forests, wildflower fields, and grasslands will strengthen visual identity, and a dynamic grass system will be implemented, and the wind system will be improved to create immersive environmental interactions.
To make exploration more rewarding, the team plans to increase content density and introduce new exploration elements, such as themed caves, narrative encounters, and gathering opportunities at points of interest (POIs). New Dynamic Quests and Chain Quests will also be added, with hidden rewards such as rare achievements and exclusive titles as incentives to explore.
Beyond the main questline, meaningful events and quests are being introduced to Chrono Odyssey with unique, memorable characters tailored to each region. Certain quests will even offer player choices that influence their progression and conclusion.
Expedition Dungeons will include randomized elements to make each run unique. Depending on the path taken, players may encounter different bosses, treasure chests, and other events, creating a more dynamic experience. Replayability will be encouraged as well with the introduction of additional rewards for completing the same dungeon multiple times.
There's also a veritable mountain of smaller tweaks to the user interface, crafting system, tutorials, and social systems. While it's fantastic that Chrono Studio has addressed the user feedback in such amazing depth and is willing to improve the game in many core areas, the downside of that is the near-inevitable delay. Chrono Odyssey is currently still slated for 2025, but with all these changes on the way and the prospect of future beta tests to evaluate them, it seems obvious that the game won't be released this year. Still, better to wait for a solid product than rush something out.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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