Story Mode
Story Mode is a major single player mode in Petal Crash. The player character ventures throughout Florea, collecting Sacred Blossoms so that they can make a wish, and along the way they enter Tug-of-War matches with the rest of the cast. The writing for Story Mode was done by Zack Morrison, who is also known for creating the webcomic Paranatural.
Story Mode comes in a variety of difficulty levels, and winning matches will further increase the challenge level of the AI opponents that you will face. On the other hand, losing and using a continue will lower the challenge level. The difficulty levels are as follows:
- Easy starts at 1.0 and may reach 3.2
- Medium starts at 2.0 and may reach 6.2
- Hard starts at 3.5 and may reach 7.7
- Expert starts at 5.0 and may reach 9.2
- Master starts at 7.0 and may reach 10.0
- Grand Master starts at 10.0 and may reach 15
The increase in challenge level after each stage is affected by your performance; losing fewer stocks to your opponent will make the challenge bar increase faster, as will winning consecutive matches. There is additionally a final boost after beating the last stage, but this only affects the "Final Challenge Level" statistic and the clear bonus for the final stage (see below).
For most characters, the order of opponents will be equivalent to the order of the characters on the character select screen, with the exception of the character chosen by the player; that is, Lilibri, Strelitz, Penny and Deony, Ore Kid, Daize, Yosoti, and then ending with Rosalia. If the player chooses Rosalia, the order of opponents is reversed, such that Yosoti is the first stage and Lilibri is the last stage.
Score calculation
After beating an opponent, you will receive a "time bonus" calculated as 5000 - (floor(ClearTimeInSeconds) * 10) and a "clear bonus" of PostGameChallengeLevel * 100. If you lose, you will receive zero points. Your total score will be shown after each stage as well as at the end of the run (along with the sum of the in-game time for each stage).
As such, performing a score attack of Story Mode entails defeating each opponent as quickly as possible while losing no lives.
Unlockables
There are two unlockable stages in Story Mode, which can be attained if you are playing on Medium difficulty or higher. The first can be unlocked if you perform a 7-chain or longer within the first five stages (i.e. before fighting Rosalia, or if you are playing as Rosalia, before Lilibri). If performed, the player will fight Arlet before the usual next opponent, so long as they have not lost a match up to that point. Defeating him unlocks him for use in other Score Attack modes, Versus Mode, and the editor in Puzzle Mode, but he does not have a Story Mode of his own.
If the normal final opponent (again, Rosalia, or Lilibri if playing as Rosalia) is defeated and the player has not lost any matches up to that point, then another fight is unlocked. If playing as Lilibri, this final opponent will be a faster version of Daize (unofficially known as Final Daize). If playing as any other character, it will be a faster version of Lilibri often known as Hyper Lilibri. Winning this match will unlock Hyper Lilibri as an alternate costume for Lilibri in Score Attack modes, Versus Mode, and the editor in Puzzle Mode.
Note that until version 1.1, losing to Arlet does not cause the player to have to use a continue to progress onwards, but the true final stage is no longer unlockable. As a result, the player could earn 1-credit clear achievements while only beating six opponents by unlocking and then intentionally losing to Arlet, significantly reducing the maximum difficulty. In version 1.1, losing to Arlet is equivalent to using a continue, though the fight will not be retried.
Grand Master difficulty
Grand Master difficulty was added in Petal Crash 1.1, and can be unlocked by clearing Story Mode with a score of at least 100,000 points. This requires you to be playing on Master difficulty and unlock both extra stages. If no lives are lost, it translates clearing with a total in-game time of 19 minutes and 10 seconds.
Nightmare difficulty
Nightmare difficulty was also added in Petal Crash 1.1. If you have Grand Master difficulty unlocked, you can access it by selecting Grand Master difficulty and then pressing or clicking right 5 more times. In this mode, the background is darker, you have always one life, and turbo mode is active. Additionally, the Arlet fight will always be present regardless of whether or not you get a 7-chain, and it is not possible to use a continue at any point.
