8/176 players who submit score have beaten Arcade Mode.

Own

Own

Moderator
That seems pretty great to me. :D Though I would be curious if anyone has actually gotten the double S-Rank fairy item.

Arcade Mode seems like it's something you can't even cheat your way to success in, because while you can cheat tons of levels, you're probably still going to tank your damage-taken rank.

I wonder if it's even possible to Double S-Rank the final two floors. The score values for damage taken aren't listed anywhere. I assume Winter alone will put you well over the D-rank limit.
 
The G-Meister

The G-Meister

Giga Slime
Although it might seem pretty great, if more floors are to be added with more updates and we're only ~1/2 way in... it's gonna be a lot of effort to get anywhere on the top of the leaderboard :/

I guess I'll try to survive with my mage build again
 
Own

Own

Moderator
I imagine things will get easier in Arcade as one of several things happen:

- New equipment is added to Story and therefore Arcade. Currently Blue Flower Garland, Purple Flower Garland, Blue/Red Earrings, the Health Amulet and the Flower Sword - all powerful items - aren't in Arcade. I don't know if that's intentional or an oversight. @Teddy ?

- Cards get their bonuses. Gift/Present/Yeti/Frostlings/Ice Slime/Season Wizards and Knights all don't have bonuses. They can easily help improve your character, I hope.

- Arcadia gets expanded with new NPCs to get upgrades from, or Bishop offers new perks.

- Gold Charge skills are added in, which seem capable of doing immensely more damage.

- With new floors added, current endgame Arcade bosses get their health reduced. They're immensely powerful at the moment because they are the current endgame.

Any one of those being changed will make the game easier. :)
 
The G-Meister

The G-Meister

Giga Slime
True, but when the majority of players barely get past floor 3... I spose that's to be expected :p

Also, those cards are gonna be a killer I reckon. Winter might actually become completable without an excess amount of potions in story mode (well, for me anyway :3)
 
Own

Own

Moderator
I struggled to beat floor 3 for a little while too. I figure those people just need to experiment with skills, figure out a build they're good with. It takes a little practice on each area to go deeper and deep.

Chances are they tried 1-2 times to beat floor 3 and gave up, dying because they didn't know you're supposed to shield Gigaslime's spin. :p
 
GarlicJelly

GarlicJelly

Friendly Moderator (Formerly known as GoodStuff)
Own said:
I struggled to beat floor 3 for a little while too. I figure those people just need to experiment with skills, figure out a build they're good with. It takes a little practice on each area to go deeper and deep.

Chances are they tried 1-2 times to beat floor 3 and gave up, dying because they didn't know you're supposed to shield Gigaslime's spin. :p
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Well, my runs end at the zoo boss or once I get to the Jumpkin Forest floors because 1h skills have short range. I've tried to get comfortable with slow and big hitting skills like the Spin2Win build and mge spells like the Lord of the Flies build but it's just not my playstyle. I'm fairly efficient with my shield but that's not enough to get through the 5-6 floors. Being ranged is such a good advantage in Arcade. :(
 
Own

Own

Moderator
To survive the jumpkin woods you really need to diversify your skills with 1-hander, I find.

Something that hits up close (Flurry/Shadowclone) and something that hits at a safe distance (Dash/Spirit Slash). I always switched gears into Spirit Slash whenever I hit Pumpkin Woods.
 
The G-Meister

The G-Meister

Giga Slime
My mage build is great for range, but it's a little hard to adapt to it in arcade. It can involve a lot of kiting and sometimes perfect guarding too to get those instant silver charges.
 
Akira

Akira

Rabby
Phew, I just managed to get #25. I had to switch strategy too, I actually prefer fast builds but with the 1H-skills I couldn't go far so I switched to 2H. You indeed have to try the best strategy which also suits you well and experience ways to beat certain monsters (best example the Boar) without taking damage. Just today I learned how to beat the Terrorweed and Jumpking easier (or beat them at all :D ).
 
The G-Meister

The G-Meister

Giga Slime
It could be a bug, but I'm pretty sure it's another feature to set it apart from halloweeds and the helloweed (the others being the variable hit length and the spawning of spikes)
 
Akira

Akira

Rabby
The G-Meister said:
It could be a bug, but I'm pretty sure it's another feature to set it apart from halloweeds and the helloweed (the others being the variable hit length and the spawning of spikes)
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I'm not sure, Terrorweed digging through you would make it undodgeable and unblockable. Just fought it again and as long as I take care not to stay too close to it or too close to the border of the room I don't have any problems blocking its dig attack with the shield. Edit: With a good shield of course :p

Btw #13 now, yay! Phaseman and GUN-D4M aren't that hard, just dodging their attacks is a bit complicated. Died at Marino. Maybe I make a video over the weekend.
 
Teddy

Teddy

Developer
Staff member
We'll be keeping an eye on the Arcade Mode as time goes by! As Own said, things will get naturally easier when Temple of Seasons isn't the end of the game. Also Winter is a fair bit harder than he's "supposed" to be, since he's currently the final boss of Arcade Mode!

I imagine we'll see quite a few changes and additions made to the mode as it grows longer, to get a good balance between being hard enough to let people really master the game, but not so hard it's pushing 99 % of the players away right off the bat.

The optimal scenario in my mind would be that the roguelike addiction factor keeps people playing until they instead get hooked on being rewarded for their increased skill. My biggest fear is that runs will get crazy long when all the floors are in, which might be bad for the "one more try" mentality...

Regarding the Terrorweed, his dig is more of a teleport, honestly. He'll pop up at the exact location his target was at when he began digging. In other words, either walking backwards while shielding, or just running around are viable options for avoiding damage. I might change him a liiiitle bit, though, so that he'll aim a few pixels in front of the character so that shielding in his direction when he digs will block him consistently.
 
Own

Own

Moderator
I love the fact that Terrorweed will murder you if you aren't retreating backwards with the shield, it's a mechanic that sets him apart from all the other flowers. I died a few times to him, trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, until I realized he was popping up behind me. Retreat-shielding felt particularly clever. Without that the battle would be a bit less impressive. :p

You could add Astrid to the Arcade Mode, allow the player to pay her Essence to unlock hints on how to defeat various bosses. That or have her show up on floors at random, pay gold to learn a tip for defeating the boss on the floor. Arrows in the beehive boss battle, bait the Helloweeds swipe out with a quick retreat, shield Gigaslime's spin attack, the square next to the one you're in in Marino's fight will always be the safe one, Block jumps two times before superpounding & Boss needs to be shielded after he targets you in red.

I loved discovering these things for myself, though. :D
 
Akira

Akira

Rabby
The G-Meister said:
#25 to #13 in a single evening...

It takes me a week to be able to get to the next floor -_-
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To be fair I played quite much yesterday and at my #25 run I died at Phaseman when he was already nearly down because I found the strategy to beat him a little bit too late :( So on the next run I already knew how to defeat him.

Personally for me it's just the more you play the better you get. Though, Terrorweed & Jumpking took me a long time.
Anyway, good luck :)

Teddy said:
Regarding the Terrorweed, his dig is more of a teleport, honestly. He'll pop up at the exact location his target was at when he began digging. In other words, either walking backwards while shielding, or just running around are viable options for avoiding damage. I might change him a liiiitle bit, though, so that he'll aim a few pixels in front of the character so that shielding in his direction when he digs will block him consistently.
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Thanks for the information. That also explains why standing at the border of the room (where you can't walk backwards while shielding) isn't really helpful.
 
Tylerthedragon

Tylerthedragon

Boar
Frankly, I suck at arcade mode. My main gameplay mindset is to just take hits for days while dealing as much damage as possible, sadly that's going to have to go very soon because as a future speedrunner of the game and someone who wants to get EVERYTHING in both Arcade Mode and Story Mode, I'm going to have to do a lot of things where I can't take a hit no matter what.
 
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