If you took a look at the beta testing article linked above, a lot of active beta tests and tests that were recently made fully public have some influence *wink wink* in foreshadowing *wink wink* the big update we received today. Let me take a shot at this idea.
Contents
- 1 Beta Updates as Predictions for 26 July 2023
- 1.1 The Puppet Master's Appearance Change
- 1.2 Level-Based Area Restrictions
- 1.3 Elemental Area Quest Updates
- 2 The 26 July 2023 Update
- 2.1 Logging In
- 2.2 Arrival at the Academy
- 2.3 Against the Shadow Elemental Bosses
- 2.3.1 Shadow Elemental Boss Stats
- 2.3.2 Dialogue
- 2.4 Against the Puppet Master
- 2.5 A Happy Non-Ending
- 2.6 My Take
Beta Updates as Predictions for 26 July 2023[]
Some beta tests are more indicative of today's update than others, so I'll give a list of what I believe to be the most to least convincing arguments.
The Puppet Master's Appearance Change[]
The 2 June 2023 update that changed the Puppet Master's appearance to rasterize and "chibify" his look also gave him elemental-colored markings on the front apron of his robe. These small, lozenge-shaped dots of color are (from left to right) light green, pale blue, medium gray, bright red, and deep blue—shaped and colored just like the Warden Keystones. The order of their placement is also pretty convincing towards how the gems are placed on the Academy's pedestals.
Not to mention the long, golden bar in the middle of the apron surrounded with dark indigo coloring—how I see it is that this is an emblem made after our antagonist's staff-like wand. This large image, placed higher on the garment than the little dots representing the keystones, appears to symbolize the Puppet Master's belief in Shadow magic supremacy.
Whenever Prodigy Education gets artists to make changes to the appearance of an item or entity in Prodigy Math Game, it's highly likely that there will be an update related to that item or entity that will add additional features to it besides just it's physical changes. Remember:
- When the appearance of playable wizards changed to get a smoother appearance, we received the 2023 Battle Update a few months later
- When the battle results screen was updated, we also got minor changes to battle backgrounds, more distributions of Conjure Cubes to older student accounts, etc.
- When the appearance of newly-released pets looked closer to the now fully-fledged rasterized art style of the game (e.g. Tortice, Magmayhem, and Gatorain), we solely received smoother-looking pets from then on
- When regular evolution lines of common pets became rasterized, we could expect Ultimate Member Box variants of such pets to be released
- When our battle gear became rasterized, we got changes to their stat bonuses soon afterwards
Level-Based Area Restrictions[]
Also, a pretty convincing but simultaneously frustrating beta test that came out recently had to do with new restrictions on different parts of Prodigy Island based on the protagonist's adventure level. This update came out in May of this year, locking some areas to extremely high levels to force players in a more straight, less loose quest line. In the many years prior to this update, players could complete quests and pretty much travel almost anywhere without problem (with the exception of a few areas like the now rashly-removed Harmony Island and Arena), working on helping out different quest-giving non-player characters (NPCs) at the same time. A new student account born fresh at level 1 will now have to endure a not-so-creative, highly restrictive road to unlocking the whole island.
The new restrictions are as follows:
- The player is locked out of their own house during the tutorial
- The player must complete the tutorial, and upon doing so they only have access to Firefly Forest&mdahs;just Firefly Forest
- Lamplight Town, the commercial capital and home of most in-game wizards is locked to wizard players under level 12
- Shiverchill Mountains, the player's house, and the Academy are locked to players under level 15. To be fair, the Academy has been inaccessible between the game's public free-to-play release in 2015 and the Academy's reintroduction in 13 September 2018
- Bonfire Spire is locked to players under level 25
- Shipwreck Shore is locked to players under level 40
- Skywatch is locked to players under level 50
- Dyno Dig Oasis and Tower Town are locked to players under level 60
Without freedom to choose which keystones a player would like to hunt first, some players that game to the Prodigy Game Wiki shared their disgust with the game's new process of pigeonholing quest routes when there was absolutely no need to do so. The higher the level threshold of an area, the more the game forces its players to remain in the previous areas. If a skilled low-level player defeats a boss in an area quickly, they'd be stuck in the small ring of areas they do have while continually fighting the same species of monsters until they get bored and inevitably quit. By the way, bosses in elemental areas exhibit level scaling, so it isn't that hard to obtain a keystone soon after reaching the minimum level.
The game worked just fine without such restrictions for years after the last of the five elemental areas, Shipwreck Shore, popped up on the game's map. These level restrictions came in the middle of changes to the quest details in elemental areas that retconned the lore of the game to nearly-unrecognizable proportions.
In fact, soon after the entire five elemental areas received complete quest lines ready for players to grind through, there was a different established, implied order to how wizards were to go around the island and collect their set of five huge gems: Firefly Forest, then Shiverchill Mountains, then Skywatch, then Bonfire Spire, then Shipwreck Shore. The massive change to this paradigm, switching around the three final elemental areas, inevitably locked some players out of their favorite quest lines and areas before they could complete them simply because they were of a low level.
Such changes, since they caused huge upset in both the main player base and me myself, inevitably proved jarring when the 26 July 2023 update came along and the keystones and boss battles took place according to this new order; that is, I placed the Bonfire Gem and fought the Fire-element final boss before I placed the Shipwreck Gem and fought the Water-element final boss before I placed the Skywatch Gem and fought the Storm-element final boss.
Elemental Area Quest Updates[]
These beta updates, despite being released gradually and sometimes separately, changed the dialogue between NPCs during the protagonist's introduction to each elemental area, the order and tasks that would happen while progressing through each area, and what would happen at the end when the wizard finally receives the keystone for the area.
In said updates, wizards would be immediately greeted with a storybook-style monologue where an NPC shows several rasterized illustrations of how the land and its native monsters thrived until the Puppet Master set his sights on controlling the minds of every monster and every bit of magic to come from the area. However tacky the area's guardians were in acting as distressed and in need of the wizard's help as all the rest, the repetition of this introduction would be satisfying enough for younger players.
Some quests in the elemental areas affected by beta testing have changed alongside the dialogue, order of minibosses the wizard's team encounters, and what kinds of fetch quests students would have to deal with before finally reaching the tanky boss in the end who could be defeated easily with a good choice of equipment and well-trained pets. What got significantly worse about questing in elemental areas, though, was that wizards would no longer be informed when the guardian slipped them a new relic ring to wear as a result of their progression and that the personalities of some of the NPCs changed with the new lines they were provided; for instance, Flora, as timid and sprightly as she was before the changes, seems far more moody and/or sassy now.
Such changes to the quests and details NPCs revealed made less sense if they were played out in the same world we were in in the years before the beta updates. Florian appearing in the middle of the Firefly Forest quests just as he decided to go out for a stroll (or, more accurately, a flight) would be nonsensical if he was trapped in his own office as the wizard would adventure throughout the island to prepare to rescue him and the other wardens. It would be inevitable that the entirety of the game would change at this point in spite of the community's flaming disgust.
These updates were coming all along, just under our noses! What we didn't expect, however, was that all of it could culminate in what happened today.
The 26 July 2023 Update[]
Today's major update itself is quite detailed: our wizard gets news that they can place all of the keystones down at once and expect to have to defend the Academy immediately afterwards because adding them back would likely catch the attention of members of the Order of Influence. Here's how the entire plot of this leg of the wizard protagonist's journey went down, in detail.
Logging In[]
When a student logs in and joins a world, if they are lucky enough to receive the update released today they are immediately greeted with a screen showing our new ability to place all of the keystones. If we've already beaten the bosses Shadow Gerald and Shadow Glacias and freed the wardens Florian and Ada, this entire part of the plot disappeared due to Prodigy Education's decision to retcon this part of the plot.
The voice lines played for this part of the wizard's quest saga are the following:
- Noot (gleeful): I have some great news, young wizard! We can FINALLY use all the keystones!
- Noot: Let's hurry to the Academy and teach the Puppet Master a lesson!
If the player chooses to teleport to the Academy immediately, they will not be able to change their gear or pets before they begin one of the first boss battles. To avoid being locked into a battle with a non-optimal loadout, especially when wearing low-bonus equipment for aesthetic reasons, do not proceed immediately to the Academy and instead prepare for battle with the best equipment and team possible.
Wizards were not locked to the area they logged back in before they proceeded up to the Academy. After every incoming boss battle, wizards can take a break and explore areas where danger is less impending. However, a small pop-up banner at the top of the screen would tell the player that their next quest lies at the Academy anyway, spurring those who've logged in to get through all of the battles the plot has in store for them.
Arrival at the Academy[]
When the wizard arrives at the Academy, Noot uses his guide hand to point the player inward towards the pedestals located north of the entrance to the school's great hall. Before our goody-two-shoes prodigy and their fairy guide can thank Gale for fixing said pedestals, though, a newly-rasterized Pippet arrives to fight them off and prevent them from taking further steps against the Order of Influence's wishes.
The following is how the scene plays out:
- Pippet (frustrated): No, I won't let you use the power of the keystones against us!
A battle ensues between the wizard protagonist's team and Pippet and his Mimic and Member Mimic teammates. Compared to the next battles, this team does not put up much of a fight at all especially since they have a higher chance of fumbling their spells. Defeating Pippet's team rewards the player's team with stars and gold.
- Pippet (distressed): Oh no, the Puppet Master will not like this!
Exit Pippet, who runs north to call on the devil himself. The wizard and Noot carefully summon the remaining keystones and place them on their pedestals by levitating them downwards. Soon afterwards, the Puppet Master slowly descends to where Pippet and his minions once stood.
- The Puppet Master: You didn't think I'd let you use the keystones, did you?!?
The Puppet Master immediately challenges the wizard to a battle, albeit indirectly. None of the regular battle UI load immediately except for the wizard's spellbook. He sends off the wizard's team through a teleportation spell that lands them in battle against their first shadow-variant elemental boss.
Against the Shadow Elemental Bosses[]
When the player faces off against Shadow Gerald and any proceeding bosses, their team is at full health. The following is some information about each of the bosses that come after Pippet:
- Shadow Gerald, unlike the other bosses, is fought immediately. Players do not have the ability to catch a break between Pippet's team and him, but between any other bosses they may change your gear and pets if they wish.
- The dialogue Noot and the associated elemental guardians have when communicating with the wizard in battle is different between the first five elemental bosses. Only Noot is beside you to provide you help when you fight the Puppet Master at the end.
- All elemental guardians have a once-per-battle assist spell they launch to assist the wizard. Against the fifth boss, both Benni and Broccolina have different assist spells, where Broccolina casts hers before Benni.
- Each boss, when defeated, yields a minimum of 333 stars to each member of the player's team.
Shadow Elemental Boss Stats[]
| # | Name | Health | Boss's Strengths | Helper Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Boss | Shadow Gerald Level 75 Plant | 2500 | Strong defense | Flora can attack Shadow Gerald once, dealing damage to it |
| Second Boss | Shadow Ice Wyrm Level 80 Ice | 2000 | Invincibility bubble | Bok breaks the Shadow Ice Wyrm's invincibility bubble but deals no damage |
| Third Boss | Shadow Cebollini Level 85 Fire | 3000 | Large health pool | Slurpy can heal the wizard's team once when their health is low |
| Fourth Boss | Shadow Old One Level 90 Water | 2000 | High speed stat | Eve provides the wizard enough Magic Points and energy to cast an All Out Attack on the first turn |
| Fifth Boss | Shadow Nasty Cloud Level 95 Storm | 1500 | Invincibility bubble | Broccolina cracks the Shadow Nasty Cloud's bubble so that the wizard's team can deal small amounts of damage at the end of the first turn. Benni eventually breaks the bubble at the end of the second turn |
Dialogue[]
The Puppet Master always has a line to say prior to sending the wizard's team off to battle one of his great shadow constructs. In the case of Shadow Gerald, he says the following:
- The Puppet Master: I have a... shadowy surprise for you!!!
He teleports the wizard to Shadow Gerald's shrouded forest clearing.
Roughly halfway into defeating Shadow Gerald, dialogue between Noot and Flora appears:
- Noot: Gerald, is that really you?
- Flora: No, it's not! It's an illusion that we'll brush aside with Plant power!
Flora casts her assist spell to deal damage to Shadow Gerald.
If the wizard proceeds to defeat it and chooses to challenge the Puppet Master again, the player triggers the following:
- The Puppet Master: What happened?!? Did you somehow trick pooooooor Gerald?
- The Puppet Master: Hahahaha
The Puppet Master engages the wizard's team in battle again.
- The Puppet Master: Come, Wyrm, and chill their bones!
The Puppet Master decides to teleport the wizard's team to an icy cave where a purple, draconic beast similar in appearance to Makalu lies in wait.
After the wizard's entire team takes a crack at the Wyrm's invincibility bubble, dialogue between Noot and Bok appears:
- Noot: It's no use! A shield fully protects the Wyrm from all damage!
- Bok: Haha! Bok know just the thing to help wizard.
Bok casts his assist spell to permanently break the Wyrm's shield.
If the wizard proceeds to defeat it and chooses to challenge the Puppet Master again, the player triggers the following:
- The Puppet Master: Persistent, aren't you? Well, you won't like this main course!
The Puppet Master engages the wizard's team in battle again.
- The Puppet Master: Cebollini, show them what's for dinner!
The Puppet Master decides to teleport the wizard's team to a tropical location where a very violet, very violent version of Cebollini and his giant sentient soup pot can't wait to attack.
After the wizard's team suffers sufficient damage at the grubby little hands of the disgraced, purple-faced slime chef, dialogue between Noot and Slurpy appears:
- Noot: This is one tough cookie...
- Slurpy: Not to worry, my tired sidekick! Slurpy the Talented has just the snack that will pick you right up!
Slurpy casts his assist spell to completely restore the wizard's team's health.
If the wizard proceeds to defeat him and chooses to challenge the Puppet Master again, the player triggers the following:
- The Puppet Master: You're still here? How... FRUSTRATING!
The Puppet Master engages the wizard's team in battle again.
- The Puppet Master: The Old One gives even me the creeps, so I'm sure your quest will end here, little wizard!
The Puppet Master decides to teleport the wizard's team to the sea floor by a shipwreck where the Lovecraftian horror strikes again, but this time in purple.
Before the wizard begins their first turn, Eve interrupts their battle with a little bit of help:
- Eve: Hold on a minute, kid. During all my sailing, I found something that should prove useful here.
- Eve: Ever wanted to cast the All Out Attack right away? Well now you can!
Eve casts her assist spell, bringing the wizard's team's Magic Points up to full capacity and allows the wizard the ability to use their strongest neutral spell they know on the first turn of battle.
If the wizard proceeds to defeat it and chooses to challenge the Puppet Master again, the player triggers the following:
- The Puppet Master: THIS. IS. UNACCEPTABLE!
The Puppet Master engages the wizard's team in battle again.
- The Puppet Master: You won't be able to defeat what you can't hit... will you?
The Puppet Master decides to teleport the wizard's team to Skywatch right next to a collection of belligerent clouds with scowling faces. They aren't too pleased.
After the wizard's first unsuccessful turn in attacking the clouds due to their invincibility bubble, Broccolina steps in.
- Broccolina: Ugh, not this cloud AGAIN. I wonder if I can get rid of its shield...
- Broccolina: That didn't work, did it?
Broccolina casts her support spell. It did a little damage to the point where each successive turn will allow the wizard or one of their pets to deal one point of damage greater than the previous turn, but it's far from enough. After another turn of battle, Benni provides advice to her sister.
- Benni: Broccolina, that's not how you do it! Don't you remember what gramps taught us?
- Benni: Check this out, champ!
Benni casts her support spell. It finally breaks the boss's shield.
If the wizard proceeds to defeat it, they will return to the Academy once more.
Against the Puppet Master[]
After the wizard defeats all of the elemental bosses, all five Warden Keystones will receive strong magical charge. Interacting with the pedestals again will call over the Puppet Master, who in a fit of rage will directly challenge the wizard's team to battle.
- The Puppet Master: That does it! I guess some things you just have to take care of yourself!
The Puppet Master agrees to battle.
- The Puppet Master: Prepare yourself, wizard! I have a few tricks up my sleeve that will leave you amazed!
The Puppet Master sends the wizard's team to his pocket dimension with a platform made of cold, purple stone engraved in a way that shows a stained glass Shadow symbol (
) in the middle of the rotunda. All five charged keystones remain on their pedestals in the back of the battleground. The entire atmosphere is dark purple, but not completely dark—some stars appear in the background.
The Puppet Master has the 4000 health, is of the shadow element, and has a healing spell, so the battle will take quite a long time to finish. He and Noot occasionally make quips as both the wizard's team and the antagonist exchange blows. After each consecutive turn, parts of the background become damaged, and the rotunda becomes increasingly more unstable. The Puppet Master has the ability to cast ranged shadow damage using dark fire, use portals to sap Magic Points from the wizard's teammates while dealing damage to them, etc. However, for the first time each of the Puppet Master's special tricks are revealed, he himself will have something new to say.
The Puppet Master's most unique skill he uses is mind control. If the wizard has a pet, one of his shadowy hands will grab onto the pet, teleport it to his side, and hold it hostage while controlling it to attack the wizard's team.
- The Puppet Master: Ahahaha, try not to hit your own friends too hard!
If the wizard's team gets exceptionally low on health, Noot has a counterspell to completely heal and/or restore the team's Magic Points. However, Noot is still incapable of reviving defeated teammates.
- Noot: What your shadow magic destroys, our astral powers can restore!
The Puppet Master also occasionally provides unoriginal one-liners, including the following:
- The Puppet Master: Fancy spells won't save you now!
- The Puppet Master: Gah, I don't understand how a puny wizard like you keeps fighting!
- The Puppet Master: Give up! My shadow magic is just too powerful!
- The Puppet Master: You are strong, but not strong enough!
Noot also provides words of encouragement.
- Noot: Yeah, right! You're on your last legs, Puppet Master!
- Noot: Wait... are there even legs under that robe?
- Noot: You're getting close! Just keep casting!
If the wizard's team defeats the Puppet Master, he will not instantly disappear.
- The Puppet Master: Nooo, I was so close to getting all that magic for myself...
He "dies."
A Happy Non-Ending[]
Defeating the Puppet Master is no easy task, especially since some gear pets are simply not good selections for a team, and a lot of strategy needs to be put into making sure each turn won't leave a teammate defeated. However, getting this far is still not the end. A scroll containing an illustration of the Puppet Master's remains appears.
- Narrator: The Puppet Master was finally defeated, leaving behind just his staff and clothes.
- Narrator: But as the young wizard looked into the elemental keystones, images of the missing Wardens mysteriously shone through...
- Narrator: There was no time to investigate, though. The gates to the Academy burst open, and the wizard's friends were ready to celebrate!
The wizard's battle against the main antagonist is over and their team gains stars, gold, and the four legendary pieces of the Puppet Master's gear.
- Flora: Well done! I knew you'd be able to win!
- Benni: According to my calculations, the outcome was never in doubt!
- Bok: Haha, wizard beat Puppet-guy! Bok proud of wizard!
- Eve: Good job, kid. I can once again sail The Seven Seas!
- Slurpy: Slurpy the Wise did a great job teaching his loyal sidekick - just look at the results!
- Noot: Yes, Slurpy, we totally couldn't have done it without you...
- Noot: Aaaaaanyway, the Puppet Master might be gone, but the fight against darkness is not over!
- Noot: The Wardens are still missing, hidden by the same shadow that gave the Puppet Master his power.
- Noot: We must continue bringing light to the world, and get rid of the darkness once and for all!
- Noot: But for now... it's time to CELEBRATE!
The wizard is teleported to the Town Square of Lamplight Town where the skies rain down with confetti.
My Take[]
I'm just going to say it—it's just what I expected out of the developers. A (hopefully) temporary cliffhanger to the story made possible through a few weeks of the development team's effort; that's all it is. It might be satisfying to have somewhat of a semi-unresolved canon ending to the Puppet Master's life (even though there's a 50% chance he just vanished and didn't die), but it's certainly met the level of thought I knew the storyboard writers were going to put into it.
What are your thoughts, though? I'd like to see you all state your opinion in the discussion thread I linked at the top of this post.
— Rueful Seraph
