First Impressions 2.0

[Prometheus]

We did. I ended up going 1H and maxing out Shadow Clone which resulted in absolutely insane single-target damage. My roommate went chain lightning + pets which ended up working out well. We're caught up w/ the story so dunno what we're gonna do now.

 

[The G-Meister]

Arcade mode?

 

[Prometheus]

Opened it up, wacked a few things, then shut the game off. Felt a little dissatisfied as my story character w/ all the stuff I've worked for was unplayable. :S

 

[The G-Meister]

From what I've seen on this forum it seems like the RPG and Rougelite communities don't mix very well xD Yes, it's difficult. For most, rage-quittingly or "I really don't have time for this" difficult.

 

[GarlicJelly]

From what I've seen on this forum it seems like the RPG and Rougelite communities don't mix very well xD Yes, it's difficult. For most, rage-quittingly or "I really don't have time for this" difficult.

Hmm I wonder why (staring at you, Furious Red Giga Slime in Arcade)......

 

[Prometheus]

The red slime challenge is hard enough. I'm waiting for a few more levels before coming back to it.

 

[subaru313]

To mark the occasion of me finally reaching Flying Fortress in Arcade mode, I'll post my first impressions on the arcade mode

As I never played a roguelike arcade game before, my first reaction was quite similar to Prometheus

Opened it up, wacked a few things, then shut the game off. Felt a little dissatisfied as my story character w/ all the stuff I've worked for was unplayable. :S

Plus, as a newbie to this kind of game, I completely missed the point of it!
I wondered why I couldn't get back to the town after clearing the first floor LOL.

So I went back to story mode, grinding for missed items, cards, and so on.
When the next stable beta was released, I highly excited played it through to the end in light speed.
And then... Nothing?
No, after finishing the stable beta it told me to try out arcade mode again and that was what I did!

This time I just kept going in there out of boredom (and getting slaughtered by Rabbies mostly ) until my score unlocked the first town improvement.
Suddenly the mindless dying made sense to me!
Building up a little town in the mountains seemed so much better the dying, and dying, and ... dying for a mere highscore. So, yeah, this is what keeps me (a typical RPG-player, I guess^^) going throughout the arcade mode and actually made me come to like it very much.
I can't wait for the housing to be implemented btw.

So I'd like to suggest a kind of optional mini-tutorial or how-to-explanation for the Arcade mode
(just for us who are unfamiliar with this kind of game). I'm sure the mayor and bishop are explaining something about it already but it just wasn't enough to make me understand in the beginning.
I've read about an idea to add Muffin and Candy to Arcade mode to make it possible to vary the difficulty. Perhaps one of them could give the player a little introduction on the mechanics of the game? My other idea would be to add an optional explanition to the very first highscore screen (the first time you die). There you could show outlines of all the nice thingies you can unlock and promote the idea of building up your own town a little. It could also be an easy quest in the beginning of the arcade mode (slay a slime- get an explanation)

I hope my feedback might help to get more people to understand the awesomeness of Arcade mode

 

[GilVallus]

This game. THIS GAME! I am absolutely hooked. Between the combat, the art style, the characters, and the premise, I am so glad with my impulsive decision to buy it despite my budget. My first character was a critical hit spammer who used the Shadow Clone ability, and since I've made a Berserker and Summoner to try out other styles of play.
My favorite mechanic of this game is the grinding system, which actually throws you a bone and will increase spawn and item drop rates if you stick around a single area. It gives an incentive to the urge to idly defeat foes repeatedly, which the game's 2D Zelda-esque feel will definitely evoke.
My least favorite part of SoG is Hard mode, but only Seasonne-onward. The Bossling was only defeatable (when I tried) when stuck next to a tree and pummeled through the tree (yes I know I'm a dirty cheater), and my first post on this forum was to vocalize my grievances toward the Summer and Autumn fight, which is loaded with stunlocking. Otherwise the Dark Souls level of difficulty made battle competency feel much more well-earned and victory so satisfying.

I may or may not have been typing this to the Pillar Mountains music, because the game is running in the background. Grabbing the Bee card for completion's sake!

 

[Zaggitz]

Been putting a lot of time into arcade mode. If you want to make it slightly more single player friendly I would recommend adding a few perks that let you guarantee you will only get a certain type of weapon. Going all out into a one handed build with all the skills and then getting nothing but wands from drops is pretty disheartening.

This perk can also be single player only just to make sure you don't ruin the fun for others in multi mode.

EDIT: Also its a bit too easy to break the leaderboards with cheat engine, You might wanna look into making the variables for the scores harder to get at.

 

[Wizblizz]

Hello! first post and I gotta say I love the game! How fluent the animations are, the limitless potential and the diversity of what this game could become is astounding. One of my favorite parts of the game is how many references to things I saw as I went through story mode. This game easily became one of my favorite games instantly because to be honest, if I were to make a game it'd look (almost) exactly like this.

I do however unfortunately see many issues with the "meta" (and yes, this game has a meta I think) and so I'm going to suggest what I think should be changed here. Like I said it's my first post so if I'm posting this in the wrong spot please tell me.

Spoiler: My thoughts

- Combat -

-Two handed weapons-
I'm just gonna come out and say it, there is no real reason to pick two-handed weapons. Sure, they hit harder and the arc of the swing is a bit larger, but DPS wise a wooden sword can out-damage a squire's claymore. I'd also like to point out that the arc swing being larger is only a marginal difference, you can still hit many enemies with a 1-handed weapon. With burn/chill chance being a thing and consecutive/debuff damage scaling being available to you along with crit chance and crit damage, there are MANY ways that one-handed weapons can out-do a two-handed weapon in almost every aspect. Alright so I can do 1,000+ dmg with Heroic Slam, but with 3 basic attacks I also could still do that 1,000 damage but do it more safely. Two of the five two-handed skills are gimmicky while none are from the one-handed side of things. To me it's a high-risk high reward thing VS low-risk higher reward.

My sugggestion to fix this is further improving the arc of two-handed weapon swinging, increasing attack speed or even adding a sort of "attack chain" to the swings. An attack chain would allow different variations of damage/attack speed to melf and even help smooth out the issue I have with the weapon type. Basically I'm saying that I don't feel strong swinging something so potentially devastating.

-Monsters-
What I noticed here isn't really something too serious, just a small list of things I either found to be strange or unbalanced. Remember this is just my opinion on things and my first impression of what problems (or what I think are problems)

-Rabby monsters attack before the actual animation of their bite, making it seem like they're hurting you with their chin more than anything in my opinion

-Red slimes show up in Arcade but not in story mode, I don't know if it's an arcade-only monster or if it's a spoiler towards what will be in the story mode of this game. But to me it's strange seeing them.

-Bees ruin Arcade grades in Arcade mode, their AI suggests that waiting for the right time to strike is the best method, however in Arcade mode you're graded on time, so currently if you're fighting any bees you won't be getting an S for your floor grade.

- Vilya boss fight in Arcade mode too soon/too strong. The first time you fight her in arcade mode reflects the first time you fight her in the story mode. However in the story mode her 2nd fight happens AFTER you basically go through 80% of the current beta (or ~40% of the actual whole game it feels like). In arcade mode you fight her again almost 10 minutes after you defeat her the first time, a HUGE jump in difficulty in my opinion and to me one that can be avoided. Once I started arcade mode my first impression was "this game is in beta for a reason, many balance problems indeed" which is not something I wanted to think so early into my experience.

-Monsters sometimes spawn behind you in arcade mode. If and once they do they can easily get a hit off on you before you can see your character on the screen. It really doesn't make sense to have this happen in my eyes, when I noticed it I thought "seems legit, RIP A rank, thanks Rngesus" and it's not a happy thing to think about. This is especially bad when you have really low HP or you accept a deal with death to not take damage in the next room.

-Shops in Arcade mode rarely sell anything magic related.

-Other-

-Replayability-
Unfortunately I do not see much replayability in this game. Once I know all the secrets, it just feels like Grindea (if you get what I mean). The story could really go for some deviation, a way to open up the storyline and add hours into the single-player aspect of the game besides Arcade mode. Maybe multiple choice decisions that alter the game and the path you walk could be added? Maybe a Story+ mode or a daily challenge system added in would help players stick to this game a bit longer

I'll be updating this one post regularly (hopefully) and I really want to see this game grow! I hope my input and feedback is... Well... Good stuff

 

[GarlicJelly]

I hope my input and feedback is... Well... Good stuff

You called me? XD

 

[Props]

This game has tons of potential, just like people have stated. After playing it, to the point of boredom, I find that just about every magic spell in the game is bland. I have to say, that's my biggest gripe to date: the skills & magic.

On the other hand, everything else is perfect. I love the enemies, story, items, menu's, artwork and overall feel of the game. I just wish they'd reconsider the magic / skills. While it borrows aspects from Legend of Zelda & Diablo, I feel like they're trying to hard to create something new/different...which isn't always better.

Please, I beg of you, re-work the magic!!!



***Additional Notes: I worked in the retail aspect of video games for a long while (don't even start, trolls; I'm not implying that it makes me special or better than anyone) and having relations with all ages, interests with the public, I can honestly say, that this games popularity right now, is due to it being a WiP. The final product is unknown, as so, people can't get enough, so they keep checking in and playing (myself included). However, I can honestly say, that the talents (skills & magic, whatever you want to call it), unless changed, will limit the overall enjoyment, hence killing the replayability. I really do hate saying that, as I LOVE this game right now. Having completed everything that's available within the current Frontline release, I don't have any desire to give it another go. This is more or less due to the lack of complimenting talents, limitations to equippable gear when dealing with melee skills. Do you guys know what I'm saying? It just feels like the whole talent aspect are just slight variations of one another.

 

[Thursagan]

Just finished my playthrough on hard, so I wanted to post my overall thoughts.

First of all, amazing game, I love the gameplay and the use of mechanics, very very well done, I'm actually really frustrated with how long the development cycle seems to be, but the effort you guys are putting in really shows.

The bosses are particularly great, season hydra was beyond anything I thought possible in this kind of game, I really hope you will be able to continue making bosses with clever mechanics like that instead of just "dodge everything". The occasinal bullet hell is fine, but innovative mechanics are what can make a boss really rewarding.

The hard mode is very well done, I would sort of like if bosses had even more complex mechanics on hard mode, but as it is it is still great (my WoW history might be showing at this point). I like that you also made the bosses scale with the party size, though in many cases the scaling is a bit too hard, many bosses are much easier with fewer players, so that is something to be looked into, but still great job on the scaling overall.

The diversity and balance of spells and skills is very good, I would complain that insect swarm and summon plant are a bit garbage at this point, but it is possible I am just missing out on how to use them properly. For the most part I like the fact that when I play with friends we cannot agree what is the strongest skill, it means they all have some use, but we pretty much agree that those two from earth magic are bad.

I would like to see an easy mode for arcade. I do love how hard arcade is overall, and if I could only have one difficulty I would want the one you have, but some of my friends don't like how hard it is, and it would be easier to get them to play arcade mode a bit if there was an easy setting.

The room where you can fight old bosses has fallen behind, as I am sure you are aware, I would like to see it updated. Really though, what I would like to see there was an option to have the bosses scale to your current level. I know this might be a hard thing to add, but it would be really great to have old bosses be able to scale with you and give you a new challenge.

A few notable problems:

I really hate the head slot items that take up your face slot as well, I understand the "thematic" reasons items do that, but its really frustrating, especially since there is no indication on the item that it is going to do that. The fact that the interface showing your stat changes takes it into account when you are about the equip such an item is good, but when you switch back to an item that does not work that way, you have no idea what it will do to your stats. I would like to suggest that those items simply do not exist, nothing should take up two of your slots, but if they are going to exist, at least have some indication on the item that it will do this.

The "bossling" creature has a bit of a bug, you can kill it with long range attacks like meteor without actually causing it to aggro.

If you try to join a multiplayer while they are in a loading screen, the game fails to join and you can't retry joining without closing the game entirely.

There are a few times when the "waiting for other players" box fails to show, it happens between floors in arcade mode if you skip the score screen but your teammates do not. It also happens in the cutscenes when your father is telling that story before you go to mount bloom if you try to skip ahead.

Thats all I can think of right now. I'll post agian if I have anything else. Great job overall, keep up the amazing work.

 

[Thursagan]

So, I played a bunch of arcade mode with a friend recently, and I had a few follow up comments...

First, I have given summon plant and insect swarm a more honest attempt, and I will say they are fine, plant is a bit weak at low ranks perhaps, but it gets really good really fast, no real request for a change there from me anymore.

It would be nice if the nurses in arcade mode had some option to "heal as much as I can afford" it is annoying to have to click all the way right every time.

Boars in arcade mode have an annoying habit of sometimes sliding along the wall instead of crashing into it is they go in at the right angle, it would be good if their behaviour was just to always crash when hitting a wall.

The split of silver points/gold points is a great leveling idea to stop players from just maxing out 1 skill, but I suspect in the long run you might need an extra type of point, in the story mode we are only just halfway through the game and we already have the final form of one of our skills, feels like its going to be a bit disappointing in the long run.

Anyway, I'm sure you have though of/heard of these for the most part, but I figured I might as well say my piece.

Again, amazing game, looking forward to whatever is coming next.

 

[3Xistence]

• General impressions: The game reminds me a lot about the old JRPG and Zelda...and simply i love it! The game right now is very enjoyable and for sure additional content will be wonderful in order to raise the experience.
• What you liked the most: Animations and art. The fight system and the coop option. Also the Arcade mode is a very nice idea! I can say nearby everything is good. I love the customization of the character, the crafting side, pet taming, fishing, the card collection and other activities. Also the humor inside the game! simply love it
• What you liked the least: the game have a lot of potential: pet system, customization, crafting, fishingh etc... but right about now it needs more stuff and content. Some stuff in the UI (see confusing elements)
• Confusing elements: The system and quest are very clear except for the "treasure maps"...i just discover them into the quest interface and probably i expected them into the usable items or key items
• Optional content: I go fishing but get boring after a while. Side quest EVER if i can find them i will do the sidequest before the main quest! I need to try the arena (i played only 9 hours). Fishing can be enjoynable with some more elements but i will write this down on the suggestion topic. the side quest are pretty well done and i hope to see more s-quests in future. Also find the items in order to craft stuff is one of my favourite activity!

 

[asdarms]

• General impressions: Was the game as a whole an enjoyable experience? If it was longer, would you continue playing?

I think the whole game was extremely enjoyable, mainly learning about the story and the satisfaction of finally getting an item to drop. I'm just waiting to see what the 4th temple is going to be and to see if there is some type of final boss after you get all the artifacts. (Ivy or the Dragon, maybe?)

• What you liked the most: Was there some elements that stood out to you as really good?

My favorite element about the game is how easy it is to farm. It makes it really easy to farm because of how they respawn, and that later on you have twice as many enemies as when you started.

• What you liked the least: Was there something which you felt weakened the experience?

THE CHICKENS. They're the hardest enemy in the whole game. plz nerf
Other than that, I can't think of anything, except maybe the warp platform puzzles in Mount Bloom.

• Confusing elements: Did you understand what to do and how? Could you navigate through the menus?

I found the menus very easy to follow and understand and all of the game's mechanics were very easily understood.

• Optional content: Did you do any side activities, like side quests, fishing or the arena? If so, were the activities varied and enjoyable?

I did all the side quests, because they are the best way to progress, and I also found them all unique, instead of just "get 20 of that and 10 of that," even the ones that were like this had some kind of story behind them that makes them more sensible. I also used the arena a lot, mainly for EXP, but also for the satisfaction of seeing everything die. The fishing is rather enjoyable, albeit a bit frustrating at times, but still fun all the same.

 

[Mightyena]

• General impressions: I can say that this is turning out to be a better investment than Starbound has by a long shot, and I adore the crap out of that game too. It doesn't act like it can do everything and what it lacks in next gen graphics (which I can't run at a playable rate anyways, so I really don't care), it makes up for in loveable characters and an overall good plot for a game around grinding, which makes it stand head and shoulders above Terraria's 'story' if you can say it even attempts to have one. This game clearly takes a lot of inspiration from older Nintendo games. For starters, it's got the general Zelda feel with it's 2 main action setup, and then Donkey Kong country with its phase puzzles, and then Metroid with it's metroidvania looking setup from what I've seen with the unsolveable puzzles early on.

• What you liked the most: To continue with the last sentence in the previous section, I'd like to say that the game really expands on what the games it takes its inspiration from had. Most of what I've seen so far for the most idea expansion is definately the phase puzzles expansion on the old DKC barrel puzzles. Instead of making it ridiculously harder to add tension to the Mount Bloom puzzles, the illusion of tension was added at no cost to the gameplay or puzzle whatsoever. This is the way I would have like to have seen the DKC barrel puzzles go, but instead thay added more bees, but the Mount Bloom puzzles actually stay on about the same diffulty from one to another but the player tricks themself into thinking the puzzle is hard when in reality they may have jumped the gun and painted themself into a corner. Another thing I would like to add is the organicness of everything. The cutscene of going to return Amaalet to the colletors guild but getting stolen by Marino was well done, as me and my friend who were playing it for the first time together had no clue we were walking into a cutscene. Or even better yet, having the treasure maps being vague, but not impossible, and letting the player truly come to a better understanding of the world they play in on their own.

• What you liked the least: This one is a tough one because at the moment of typing, I still haven't gotten over the phase of it being new. It might take me as long as it did for Undertale, but when I do, I will definitely come back with some strong criticism, but until then I'm too blinded by the joy of this game to think critically. With all due respect, I'd hate to say this game is perfect, because it isn't, and I can't make this feedback 100% everything is perfectly greatly awesomely coolly radical before I can say what I think is wrong, but this is a good game with thought put into it for sure.

• Confusing elements: I'm not what you would call a 'normal' person when it comes to understanding/being confused about things from what I gather from playing this game, so I basically got everything as it was said to me, even before my friend I was playing with got the idea. For instance, I would see the setup for a puzzle, and brainstorm the possibilities for solutions to them and sure enough, 2 or 3 screens away was the answer. I think this either means I play way too many video games, or the way this game does things makes sense.

• Optional content: I think fishing isn't really incentivised enough; although since it is considered optional, and more focus is being put on finishing the story, I'm willing to withdraw any judgement on this aspect of the game. Arena however I'd like to have a few words about. Now, before I go making a big ol' fool of myself, I'd like to say that I understand that the point of the arena is to have something present a grueling challenge to the player, who now having completed the main story, can actually pick up their weapons and face a foe worthy of the challenger. This being said, maybe it could be a teensy weensy more lenient on giving out S ranks in a proportional manner, because the Red Giga Slime was a good hour of my life I won't be getting back because I'd no-hit it but took .01 seconds too long and got an A rank time with an S rank damage bonus. What I mean is that an S rank time and S rank damage bonus might have a higher time than a, S ranked time with an A ranked damage bonus, because the method of acheiving the perfect score was right but it took way too long to do. I do however have the Red Giga Slimes attack pattern bored into my brain for all eternity, but I do think forcing the player to learn the mechanics of a boss in order to receive perfect marks is totally acceptable.

 

[Carlos Martinez]

• General impressions: This was definitely worth buying. There are a few things that annoyed me but nothing deal breaking.
• What you liked the most: The combat, encounters, and grinding. I'm not sure if I was imagining it, but the more I farmed in a specific area (the first time you see blue slimes comes to mind), the more enemies spawned there. Regardless, that turned what I thought was going to be a simple "kill each guy as they get up" to a "they're swarming me, I need to back off and look at this again".
• What you liked the least: Weapon variety, almost definitely. I have not yet gotten to the cut off point, but I have yet to see a weapon designed for magic and melee. Nothing that enhances both your magic and physical damage (to a lesser extent of course). It seems to be a lot of "does this weapon have a bigger number?" with the exception of weapons like the Stinger which have a special.
• Confusing elements: Nothing that comes to mind.
• Optional content: Fishing is nice, though I haven't done that much of it yet. Didn't even know there was an arena. Any quest I find, I complete. Most of them are entertaining, in one way or another.

 

[Gundeflin]

General impressions: I frikkin love this game. Absolutely brilliantly done! One suggestion I have to improve it even more is: when creating a new character, could you choose a third "gender neutral" option? I mean, the haircut and styles are basically the same, and the only time I noticed someone actually using a pronoun is in the very first scene with your father.

 

[Own]

There's son/boy/girl/daughter/lass/lad/etc all over the game, and girls have different arm shapes than boys in the game.