Prometheus
Green Slime
I'd like to preface this post by saying I've put in a comparatively paltry 8 hours into this game, compared with many others. Enough to run through the story and experiment w/ 1H and 2H builds. I also played with my friend who ran a mage build so I've seen a variety of the magic the game provides.
Current 1H Abilities: Piercing Dash (Dash forward w/ weapon), Blade Fury (Attack a bunch in front of you), Spirit Slash (AoE), Shadow Clone (Summons a clone that copies your attacks), Dodging Strike (Dash back, then forward dash attack)
Current 2H Abilities: Heroic Slam (Jump forward and smash the ground), Whrilslash (AoE), Titan's Throw (Line attack, need to pick up weapon at end), Smash! (Frontal cleave, knockback), Berserker Style (15% more damage done/taken, atks grant +atk speed)
From a cursory look at the abilities it seems the intent of 1H is to allow for quick and agile strikes, while 2H allows you to gauge the situation and use the appropriate spell.
The issue, as I perceive it, is that the desire to make both trees distinct has resulted in some unnecessary siloing of abilities. Both Shadow Clone and Berserker Style could function as 1H or 2H skills. Whrilslash and Spirit Slash both fill the AoE niche and though the differing implementations are interesting, there's no reason why they couldn't be available to both types; just utilizing different speeds/damages depending on what's equipped. I'm not sure what switches are available on the abilities themselves so that may be difficult.
Heroic Slam, Titan's Throw, Smash!, Piercing Dash, Blade Flurry, and Dodging Strike fit into their respective types, faster, lower damage vs slower, higher damage.
Regarding the actual weapons themselves, I felt the 2H weapons I encountered were rather lacking. The shop weapons, which were the only weapons I encountered outside of the carrot 1H, were reasonable for 1H. However the 2H weapons were comparatively lacking. The Club, despite being buffed in Alabama, will end up on par with the Steel Sword. All it has is a range advantage but overall DPS is lower since it swings slower. Perhaps there were better 2H drops that I never encountered, but it seems silly to run anything buy 1H if the weapons have the same damage. Maybe allow holding of 2H swings for increased damage/power/knockback? Something to differentiate them a bit more.
Perhaps different weapon types? A 2H spear would be cool. You lose the cleave but gain range. Maybe a staff that consumes the sword and shield slot, allowing for faster blocking? I don't know if there's a list somewhere with all the stuff that's eventually planned and I could just be parroting it, but if it exists I was unable to find it.
In my opinion 1H is in a pretty good place as it stands. Grabbing attack debuffs and maxing out shadow clones ended up being a really strong combination, specially when pairing with lightning attacks. However I think a Dual Wield (DW) option would be cool. DW tends to be difficult to balance if it's just utilizing two 1H weapons. However I think it could be done by removing use of the shield while DW and instead having a weaker parry option where you take reduced damage, don't have to worry about shields breaking, and get to attack faster.
You could introduce more generic melee abilities and then have a couple of weapon-type specific ones (1H, 2H, DW). This would add more flavor and variety to melee, akin to what casters have now with their four elements.
I, personally, felt the controls were a little clunky (precision was an issue, specially when encountering brambles or wind). The perfect shield mechanic was cool but I never felt I could get it out in time while attacking. My roommate played a mage which resulted in tons of spell effects so I may have missed clearly telegraphed moves, but I tended to get knocked around during combat.
The last point I have is health regen. I found myself letting bosses kill me on first encounter just so I had full HP going in. The random mobs on the way to the boss would always whittle me down and since I had no way to replenish my HP it just felt silly. Maybe a slow health regen option while out of combat (VIA talent?), letting players rest at an inn, or (my personal favorite) lifesteal/spell vamp. It'd be nice to be able to wail on an enemy and play a bit more offensively since my attacks would restore my health.
These are just some thoughts, I'm hoping to get some more game time in (Arcade Mode looks.... interesting) and I love what you guys are doing. The game's way fun!
Current 1H Abilities: Piercing Dash (Dash forward w/ weapon), Blade Fury (Attack a bunch in front of you), Spirit Slash (AoE), Shadow Clone (Summons a clone that copies your attacks), Dodging Strike (Dash back, then forward dash attack)
Current 2H Abilities: Heroic Slam (Jump forward and smash the ground), Whrilslash (AoE), Titan's Throw (Line attack, need to pick up weapon at end), Smash! (Frontal cleave, knockback), Berserker Style (15% more damage done/taken, atks grant +atk speed)
From a cursory look at the abilities it seems the intent of 1H is to allow for quick and agile strikes, while 2H allows you to gauge the situation and use the appropriate spell.
The issue, as I perceive it, is that the desire to make both trees distinct has resulted in some unnecessary siloing of abilities. Both Shadow Clone and Berserker Style could function as 1H or 2H skills. Whrilslash and Spirit Slash both fill the AoE niche and though the differing implementations are interesting, there's no reason why they couldn't be available to both types; just utilizing different speeds/damages depending on what's equipped. I'm not sure what switches are available on the abilities themselves so that may be difficult.
Heroic Slam, Titan's Throw, Smash!, Piercing Dash, Blade Flurry, and Dodging Strike fit into their respective types, faster, lower damage vs slower, higher damage.
Regarding the actual weapons themselves, I felt the 2H weapons I encountered were rather lacking. The shop weapons, which were the only weapons I encountered outside of the carrot 1H, were reasonable for 1H. However the 2H weapons were comparatively lacking. The Club, despite being buffed in Alabama, will end up on par with the Steel Sword. All it has is a range advantage but overall DPS is lower since it swings slower. Perhaps there were better 2H drops that I never encountered, but it seems silly to run anything buy 1H if the weapons have the same damage. Maybe allow holding of 2H swings for increased damage/power/knockback? Something to differentiate them a bit more.
Perhaps different weapon types? A 2H spear would be cool. You lose the cleave but gain range. Maybe a staff that consumes the sword and shield slot, allowing for faster blocking? I don't know if there's a list somewhere with all the stuff that's eventually planned and I could just be parroting it, but if it exists I was unable to find it.
In my opinion 1H is in a pretty good place as it stands. Grabbing attack debuffs and maxing out shadow clones ended up being a really strong combination, specially when pairing with lightning attacks. However I think a Dual Wield (DW) option would be cool. DW tends to be difficult to balance if it's just utilizing two 1H weapons. However I think it could be done by removing use of the shield while DW and instead having a weaker parry option where you take reduced damage, don't have to worry about shields breaking, and get to attack faster.
You could introduce more generic melee abilities and then have a couple of weapon-type specific ones (1H, 2H, DW). This would add more flavor and variety to melee, akin to what casters have now with their four elements.
I, personally, felt the controls were a little clunky (precision was an issue, specially when encountering brambles or wind). The perfect shield mechanic was cool but I never felt I could get it out in time while attacking. My roommate played a mage which resulted in tons of spell effects so I may have missed clearly telegraphed moves, but I tended to get knocked around during combat.
The last point I have is health regen. I found myself letting bosses kill me on first encounter just so I had full HP going in. The random mobs on the way to the boss would always whittle me down and since I had no way to replenish my HP it just felt silly. Maybe a slow health regen option while out of combat (VIA talent?), letting players rest at an inn, or (my personal favorite) lifesteal/spell vamp. It'd be nice to be able to wail on an enemy and play a bit more offensively since my attacks would restore my health.
These are just some thoughts, I'm hoping to get some more game time in (Arcade Mode looks.... interesting) and I love what you guys are doing. The game's way fun!