Tree
Green Slime
Recently a friend and I played through, all the way to Tai Ming. I've been mulling it over for a while now and I think there were a few areas that could be improved or a bit of looking at.
Crafting:
My impression of crafting was that it was genuinely really fun, and one of the big things keeping my playing once we'd cleared any given story segment and my friend was taking a break. Since the combat is really fun, and most crafting requires that you kill things, the system feels naturally integrated as a part of what makes the game fun anyway.
I did notice that post flying fortress that my incentive to craft things sorta went down. Most of the gear that I was using were mob drops or stuff looted from chests, and while that's not bad per-se it did make what recipes were available feel less desirable. Mount Bloom sort of helped on this end by making chests with unique rewards gated behind fun and challenging content (fml that gas room), but most of the recipes still felt overshadowed by regular loot.
For context, I was playing pure magic, and notably was looking for wands that I could craft. My friend was getting all these cool swords and I was stuck with basic magic equipment for a good long while. Since wands were updated along with the skill rework, I think the game would benefit from having more unique wand recipes scattered throughout the game, much like other weapons are.
Enchantment skills:
Tbh the problem I have with enchantment skills is the same problem I had with the old potion system: it's just a stat increase. A stat increase can be really cool if it's tied to some sort of equipment you worked to get, or has some kind of story behind it that makes wearing it feel good. Maybe they just need more noticable telegraphs/animations to feel more satisfying?
Also, I don't feel like these skills have the same depth as something like barrier or stasis in terms of raw mechanics. They don't necessarily have a situational use that would require the support using their judgement as to which skill's more practical in the context of a situation. If a teammate's hitting something, then it's better to use an offensive buff. And if you need to choose between the two that affect damage output, whether it's more efficient to increase their attack speed or raw damage to get a higher dps can be kind of nebulous. While casting barrier on an ally can outright negate damage, the defensive buff as a support skill feels very iffy and weak, since most of that damage is still going to go through.
Quests and Secret Areas:
My favorite moments in the game were when we found something that didn't seem to have any purpose. The ruins above west evergrind had us talking for a while, and all the optional puzzles in Mt. Bloom did a lot to make the world feel less linear. I'd like to see more of these around the world, but I haven't got any clue if this is a good idea for the project as a whole given the effort that goes into making new graphics.
Quests are sort of in the same vein. They give us little stories that the main questline can't really address, and add new content in old areas. Maybe adding new quests in pumpkin woods after Tai Ming's been beat isn't high on your agenda. But gosh,, that's the kind of thing that makes a world like this feel alive. That you could go through half the game and come back and find that these people are still doing new things, and you can keep interacting with them for more story and dialogue. Also: are the collectors sending people to study the flying fortress? If the Fae are getting more interested with interacting with Humanity, is that curiousity mutual? Are Humans from old areas taking a look around Santa Fae at any point? I love how much of this stuff is already in the game. Kinda interested how far it can be taken, but it'd be at the expense of content that probably people are more interested in seeing than this.
These were the Big Points that kept coming up in my head-and while I'm not sure if any of this is helpful? from the perspective of a game dev?? At all? It's been really fun to think about your game's mechanics and looking at it's taught me a lot! Keep frosty and all that ᕕ-ᐛ-ᕗ
Crafting:
My impression of crafting was that it was genuinely really fun, and one of the big things keeping my playing once we'd cleared any given story segment and my friend was taking a break. Since the combat is really fun, and most crafting requires that you kill things, the system feels naturally integrated as a part of what makes the game fun anyway.
I did notice that post flying fortress that my incentive to craft things sorta went down. Most of the gear that I was using were mob drops or stuff looted from chests, and while that's not bad per-se it did make what recipes were available feel less desirable. Mount Bloom sort of helped on this end by making chests with unique rewards gated behind fun and challenging content (fml that gas room), but most of the recipes still felt overshadowed by regular loot.
For context, I was playing pure magic, and notably was looking for wands that I could craft. My friend was getting all these cool swords and I was stuck with basic magic equipment for a good long while. Since wands were updated along with the skill rework, I think the game would benefit from having more unique wand recipes scattered throughout the game, much like other weapons are.
Enchantment skills:
Tbh the problem I have with enchantment skills is the same problem I had with the old potion system: it's just a stat increase. A stat increase can be really cool if it's tied to some sort of equipment you worked to get, or has some kind of story behind it that makes wearing it feel good. Maybe they just need more noticable telegraphs/animations to feel more satisfying?
Also, I don't feel like these skills have the same depth as something like barrier or stasis in terms of raw mechanics. They don't necessarily have a situational use that would require the support using their judgement as to which skill's more practical in the context of a situation. If a teammate's hitting something, then it's better to use an offensive buff. And if you need to choose between the two that affect damage output, whether it's more efficient to increase their attack speed or raw damage to get a higher dps can be kind of nebulous. While casting barrier on an ally can outright negate damage, the defensive buff as a support skill feels very iffy and weak, since most of that damage is still going to go through.
Quests and Secret Areas:
My favorite moments in the game were when we found something that didn't seem to have any purpose. The ruins above west evergrind had us talking for a while, and all the optional puzzles in Mt. Bloom did a lot to make the world feel less linear. I'd like to see more of these around the world, but I haven't got any clue if this is a good idea for the project as a whole given the effort that goes into making new graphics.
Quests are sort of in the same vein. They give us little stories that the main questline can't really address, and add new content in old areas. Maybe adding new quests in pumpkin woods after Tai Ming's been beat isn't high on your agenda. But gosh,, that's the kind of thing that makes a world like this feel alive. That you could go through half the game and come back and find that these people are still doing new things, and you can keep interacting with them for more story and dialogue. Also: are the collectors sending people to study the flying fortress? If the Fae are getting more interested with interacting with Humanity, is that curiousity mutual? Are Humans from old areas taking a look around Santa Fae at any point? I love how much of this stuff is already in the game. Kinda interested how far it can be taken, but it'd be at the expense of content that probably people are more interested in seeing than this.
These were the Big Points that kept coming up in my head-and while I'm not sure if any of this is helpful? from the perspective of a game dev?? At all? It's been really fun to think about your game's mechanics and looking at it's taught me a lot! Keep frosty and all that ᕕ-ᐛ-ᕗ