First Impressions 2.0

General Impressions:
This is one of the dankest games I've played in a minute. A friend suggested it in passing and I was like, "Eh. I guess I'll try it." But I'm so glad I did! I love this game and I'd definitely play it after it's completed. There's so much to love. The puns literally everywhere ("STARTington, EverGRIND City since we'll be grinding forever for them cards and drops, TIMING [Tai Ming], etc.) And the mimic boss is hilarious -- all those troll-y quotes. The lore is beautiful also. You get a good scoop in the flying fortress and pieces fall together at Tai Ming. It's like I played a full mini-game (but I didn't...because thankfully there's more to the game). Lore? Action? Customization? What more can you ask for? I could say more but I tend to write a lot so...yeah...


Things I Liked the Most:
Hardmode was pretty neat. I especially appreciated hardmode Winter and hardmode Mimic: good challenges that were noticeably different from normal mode without all the deaths and damage seeming "unfair." It seems like hardmode especially requires the player to watch out for multiple things at once (especially with Winter) and/or think carefully about crowd control (like with that huge toxic plant boss thing). I really like this because I feel like I'm actually being challenged to be better at the game. (More perfect shields, better reaction time, etc.) This is different from other games featuring higher difficulties like...say...Terraria, where most of the difficulty is found in the enemies just dealing double damage and having double health. Not that I dislike Terraria or that there isn't more to its Expert Mode, I just think SoG gives a more creative (and better) way to make a game hard. Making the player think more/play better is more interesting. And it's impressive that crowd control and other things have improved difficulty without making the battles too fast paced. Maybe some things could be marginally balanced, but it's truly fine as is currently.

I like the use of spawn rooms! Also a creative thing that I haven't seen before! What I like is that it makes farming easier. Players can stay in the room and wait for the spawn rate to increase to insanely high rates (which is beautiful). And if the room gets too hectic, all they have to do is reset by reentering the room. Brilliant design!

Finally, THANK YOU FOR THE SKILL THAT EXTENDS THE PERFECT SHIELD TIMING! And the skill with that blue shield thing too! Those things are life for me as a heads on, 2H melee guy.

Things I Liked the Least:
I really didn't like the drop rates of the cards. I'm sure you guys have heard a lot about that though. I imagine it's difficult to balance because cards give permanent buffs but it also isn't nice when completionists like myself can farm for tons of hours without getting one. But you guys have made an amazing game so far so I'm sure y'all will figure it out (even if that means keeping things as they are...though hopefully they'll change. xD)

The second one is a minor thing, perhaps...but I disliked the fact that when an enemy pushed me (by damaging me, moving me, using tornados or whatever else) to the edge of a door/exit/entrance, I was removed from the room even if I didn't want to leave. The main reason this bothers me is because of farming. Specifically, 1) If a rare item drops near an exit and a person is pushed out before grabbing it, that item is lost; and 2) IF enemies spawn with predetermined drops (idk if that's true), then theoretically there are times when a card is missed (an enemy is not killed) because a person is thrown out the room against their will.

Optional Content:
I did all the stuffs. I'm a completionist, so I had to. lol. I think I enjoyed the fishing for once. (Another thing the game does surprisingly well.) In many good games there are bound to be lame fishing quests. However, in SoG, not every area has fishing, making fishing more manageable and reasonable. Also, rewards are received for getting all the fish. This, combined with the 5-fish limit made things kind of fun. You get that "anticipation" feeling for getting all the fish in an area without that anticipation being replaced with frustration from hours of farming. Finally, you can use the fish! Fishing it's just some useless boring task in that case! Woot!

Side quests were intriguingly diverse and also enjoyable. (Also fun for making me think. :D)

Arena was fun too. I liked that I could fight a boss there that wasn't seen anywhere else (ignoring hardmode Ancient Mimic). And the boss provided a nice challenge for me at low level.
 

Mythics

Green Slime
  • General impressions: The game was indeed a very enjoyable experience. I'm very hopeful that the amount of content and changes/polish to come will be of the same or higher quality. I'm especially hopeful for arcade mode as it (mostly the difficulty) has the most appeal for me (I'm a big roguelike/roguelite fan).

  • What you liked the most: The detail in almost every aspect stood out very much. From art to dialogue and mini-games/side-quests to combat. I'm also a HUGE fan of classless systems like this that provide many different playstyles/experiences.

  • What you liked the least: I have two complaints that really stand out to me.
    • The difficulty on arcade mode is pretty extreme and seems to have no scaling (you don't choose a difficulty and it doesn't scale with you). I love that it is as difficult as it is, but it also prevents my wife/son from being able to play it with me without me carrying them (and them dying every room past floor 3 or 4).
    • The balance of enemies as well as skills/talents seems a bit lacking. Enemies like the bees just take some getting used to while enemies like the boars just seem WAY more powerful in speed/attack/defense than most others around their level. It may just be that I'm significantly better at playing specific styles, but a couple skills don't seem very viable and most talents seem a bit too weak (compared with each other).
  • Confusing elements: A few specific nuances like the hitbox for the Giga-Slime doesn't seem to match what I would expect (charged "Spirit Slash" has a ring that horizontally will overlap the Giga-Slime, but doesn't actually reach it). Boars can charge into a wall sometimes and slide with the wall instead of crashing into it (which means they can re-attack quickly instead of getting briefly dazed). Things like these which might be intentional or might be bugs.. kind of hard to tell.

  • Optional content: The optional content is the best part to the game in my opinion! I'm not as big a fan of the fishing implementation compared with the arena, but the housing system (while a bit buggy in multiplayer at least) is fantastic! Also, there just aren't many games that do fishing in a super fun way that I want to repeat it for long. Oh, and Arcade Mode while not exactly "Optional Content" is friggin amazing. If that's all the game was, I'd still not regret my purchase.

Truly overall, a magnificent game as it is. With more content, polish, bug fixes, and balance.. I'd happily pay a subscription just to keep it in my game library.
 

funnypun

Green Slime
general impressions- at first the pacing seemed slow but then i realized later on attack speed and access to combat skills made it feel much more fluid than in the begining after that i got more into the game and noticed how much charm and polish you guys have put into it it's amazing the gameplay is fun the story is good and the world lore feels alive and well thought out

what i liked the most- the combat at first it seemed like the combat skills were pretty limited and i guess they are, but what little there is is done extremely well and i can appreciate that hunting for cards for the passive effects is really fun too!

what i liked the least- what i like the least is probably that their isn't much benefit to the houses, if you introduced a cooking skill/minigame that gave unique benefits that you cooked at the house that would be great and other benefits and quality of life things for the house would be nice too/ also having some way to boost movement speed temporarily would be really nice.

confusing elements- things were layed out pretty clearly the only thing i'm confused about is what the orange gem icons are in my skills page i still don't know what those are.

optional content i haven't gotten to the pet minigame/system yet but that seems really fun.
 

thzfunnymzn

Green Slime
Finished Story Mode, single player, normal difficulty.

General Impressions:
Nice enjoyable SNES-style action rpg. Very enjoyable, quite sad to see it ended so shortly and to know that it'll take a while to finish. Love the silly aspect of the story, caught off-guard by the darker turns it took in the Flying Fortress and Tai Ming. (Was expecting Flying Fortress to be lategame, not early game, wow). Action-wise, definitely a game of footsies with whatever skill you focus on, didn't notice status effects having any major role.

Liked Most: Having a story that can be both light-hearted yet dark; building your own character; and I've heard that Hard Mode actually receives good design treatment rather than simply being a numbers hack.

Least Liked: Afaik, a lot of skills seem weak or redundant. I had at least four different attack++ buffs to choose from for my Heroic Slam build (Empower, Reaper's Blade, Potion, Berserk Style), which left me confused as to how to build my dude correctly. Talents especially seemed to have a lot of redundancy. From what I've seen, skill balance has been talked about a lot, so I won't dive down this rabbit hole further.

Confusing Elements: Took me a bit to figure out menu navigation, and even when I finished, it still wasn't totally intuitive.

Optional Content: I did pursue side quests and fishing. Only fished enough to get all fish from a given pond, as I hate grinding, so my pet was never maxed out. Enjoyed the side quests more, though IIRC, they were somewhat limited and / or the only rewards I really looked forward to were the Talent Orb / EXP rewards, which was kinda disappointing.
 

Ocubled (JStep)

Green Slime
First Impressions

We're still very interested in hearing your impressions during your first play session. In fact, it's one of the most important pieces of feedback we can get!

Please use this thread to post your feelings towards the game after your first experience with it. We've prepared a few suggestions of things you could write about:
  • General impressions: Was the game as a whole an enjoyable experience? If it was longer, would you continue playing?
  • What you liked the most: Was there some elements that stood out to you as really good?
  • What you liked the least: Was there something which you felt weakened the experience?
  • Confusing elements: Did you understand what to do and how? Could you navigate through the menus?
  • Optional content: Did you do any side activities, like side quests, fishing or the arena? If so, were the activities varied and enjoyable?
You don't have to answer every point above, and you can write about other things if you want! Those are just some things we're particularly interested to hear about. Post away!

Note: If you ran into bugs or have specific suggestions, create a new thread with these! First Impression posts are more about how you felt. In other words, if you didn't like the fishing because it was too easy, you can write here that the fishing felt too easy, but if you have suggestions on how to improve fishing and want a dialogue with us, create a new thread for that! The reason for this is because in a separate thread it will be easier for us to discuss your feedback.
General impressions: I love this Action RPG. I played this for several hours at first and lost track of time. I think this game is worth the price in beta. This game is good looking and the battle animations are fun to watch. I will play this game.
What you liked the most: The best thing for me is the bag. The personality for the bag is charming. I laughed out loud when the bag introduced itself.
I don't know what the item stack limit is but I'm glad it is high. The first thing I did was see if my items stacked over 99, and I was basically hooked when I got more than 99(Apples). The item limit is good high. More limits should be pushed back in RPGs.
The action battle system is fun to use, and the enemy's spawns and respective behavior make the maps dynamic and engaging.
The sound scheme is charming, memorable and it's still tolerable while grinding. The sound is detailed and modern. The echo on the slash animation inside the first cave made me respect the sound right away. Also the songs are fun. All the sound is tasteful.
Confusing elements: The mechanics are good in the fishing. I hope there turns out to be a reason for fishing. It's probably for crafting or something but I haven't been made aware of it yet although I do have a pole.
Optional content: I like the side quests. I think I did a couple but they were introduced fluidly so I didn't count. I love mini games and alternative ways other than action battle of acquiring loot. I hope there are more optional features and diversions to come because they will only make this game better.
 

thzfunnymzn

Green Slime
Finished a playthrough with my sister. So I'm leaving my sister's First Impressions here. I'll tack on some extra thoughts of my own afterwards.
  • General impressions: Overall enjoyable. Not something I would've normally picked, but enjoyed the co-op multiplayer aspect. Looking forward to the update, mostly with characters, their personalities, and stories (especially the two friends, Luke and Marino).
  • What you liked the most: Enjoy aesthetically dressing up character, including having your equipment's aesthetic differ from what it is mechanically. Enjoyed the Cavelings and Chicken Potion. REALLY liked the Haunted Forest area (favorite area).
  • What you liked the least: There is WAY too much happening on screen, both aesthetically and mechanically. Appreciate the work put into backgrounds, landscaping, enemy design & tactics, but it makes the screen WAY too busy, which makes battles VERY confusing & hectic. Died quite often because couldn't even locate character mid-battle. Some areas are less busy than others (Pillar Mountains, Season Temple). Tai Ming is especially bad, on top of being difficult. (Haunted Forest is bad, but fairly easy, and has an enjoyable aesthetic). Controls also felt strange and / or busy as well. Seems necessary for how advanced characters can be, but it feels odd, which only feeds further into the confusing & hectic nature of battles.
  • Confusing elements: See above.
  • Optional content: Enjoyable, except that the fishing was too tedious. Pet stats also take too much grinding to level up.
I left my thoughts on the hectic nature of battles in MLG Noob's topic. Otherwise, I don't disagree with her complaints about how busy the screen & controls can get. I do especially agree that Pets take far too much grinding. Also think crafting new equipment takes too much grinding. Also didn't get the feeling that I had a lot of different equipment options, but I haven't rigorously tested that on Hard Mode. Can't comment on her likes, as she generally likes different things than me (except for story).

To end on a positive note, while she didn't mention it, I know my sister did also enjoy the house you could buy. While I spent less words on the positives, she really did enjoy the things under her "liked most" section, and is still looking forward to an update with more character development, as am I.

And, as a funny: the way she dressed her character, I'm pretty sure she was some little gremlin, adopted into the family, probably plotting the release of Zhamla Meer. She starts the game off normal. Gets to the tournament, "How do I fish?! AAH!" spazzes, and drops a meteor into the pond within half a second of the fishing tournament starting. Then begins to wear witch hats & mushroom caps. Then permanently keeps the scary mask on the rest of the game. Then constantly activates the "snow flakes and ice follow me everywhere" special item. On top of the summons & pets following us around.
 

AkumaOuja

Green Slime
  • General impressions: It's solid enough. I enjoy it, but I find it has a fair number of half-baked or superfluous aspects that get in the way of some of the gameplay. Largely just dead-end time sinks.
  • What you liked the most: It's a very Zelda/Secrets of Mana-esque game, which is a good feel. pretty spritework as well. Good humor, solid enough plotting and characterization. The high degree of variety in character customization may not have amounted to much, but that it was there at all was a welcome thing.
  • What you liked the least: Combat is solid enough, but there's a large number of abilities that just aren't even worth considering unless you're going to make an entire build just around them specifically. This would be fine, but around the time you start needing Gold points to level your abilities you actually want to use you end up with oceans of Silver points you used just because you had them on random, unusable trash. It gets to the point that you might as well not be leveling after awhile because there's essentially "dead" levels where you've gotten another Silver point you have no use for. Perhaps if the UI better accommodated their easy access, it would be better, but as it is, I have four slots visible at all times, two of which are by default occupied. Swapping to another submenu takes a button press or two but given how hectic combat is that's button presses I'd rather not waste to use a lackluster ability I probably didn't want in the first place. While I'm at it, I found that the game was perhaps a touch too stingy with Talent orbs. Given the vast vast ocean of things to spend them on, and how vital they are to making half the abilities worth even looking at, even if the rate of acquisition doubled you wouldn't realistically be able to half-fill half of the available talents during a normal story mode playthrough. Again, perfectly fine, but I found it tended to make me be a lot less willing to be creative with my builds when it would mean sacrificing efficiency. I also found the shield to be essentially worthless outside of enemies that forced you to use it. Perfect guards, while incentivized, were ultimately kind of worthless when compared to attempting to dodge and possible get another hit in, particularly in the bullethell-esque sections of the game, whee attempting to guard at all was a bit...well idiotic, and pointless since you would still eat damage anyway. Further...a lot of the optional content like crafting or the like was a total waste of time with no really worthwhile rewards, which was disappointing.
    While I'm at it. Not being able to fill potion vials with the same potion is annoying. Most of these potions are literally worthless, or worse, somehow of negative value, since the time spent drinking them is time in combat not used for more important things, like evading or attacking.
  • Confusing elements: Understanding things was easy, the only real confusion occurring in Tai Ming where a few of the puzzles were perhaps a touch too obtuse, by which I mean the Phase courses, while fun enough, were overlong in their segments making keeping track of any possible routes after you'd passed them a bit confusing.
  • Optional content: Side quests were simple enough, even if a few meant a bit too much back tracking, and more or less alright. The usual "Find five things in the environment" or "Collect ten bear skins". Nothing particularly special, but nothing wrong with that. Fishing was...an utter waste of time. No real rewards to be found outside of related sidequests, near as I could tell, and said rewards were lackluster. A big problem I found was the sheer lack of rewards and craftables actually worth acquiring. Which would be fine, but in a game with such a massive collectathon/completionist aspect to it to the point it's part of the central plot, having 70% of the side materials be pointless faffing about and wasting my time seems like a mistake. I have no incentive to grind for materials to craft because nothing I can craft is really better than the sword I can get from a shop or the one I got from a side quest I found by accident 15 minutes into the game to kill a rabbit after gathering some carrots, save for the laser sword...which is promptly rendered obsolete by a merchant during the festival and hour or two later.

    EDIT: Oh dear. I just noticed the statement on the subforum header about this being for people involved in a beta. Should I not have posted here? My sincere apologies. Should I delete this?

 
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General impression: love the game! It’s a balance between combat humour, difficulty, fun, puzzles, beauty and more!

Liked the most: the general art. This game looks nice, tells a good story, has fun characters, all that jazz. I’m also a huge fan of the bullet hell/rpg gameplay

Liked the least: some parts are kinda small. If you look at my previous posts you'll see ideas like more abilities and items. I’m all about that side content. I’ve also thought up many ways that areas could be expanded and even made up new areas in my excitement. So when the last half of the map was revealed to be just ocean, I was kinda disappointed.

Confusing elements: are non existent. This game is nice and straight forward

Optional content: it would be nice to see this expanded on, currently the arena has only two quests and fishing, despite being in the exams and made to look like a big deal, really doesn’t have much, it’s easy to go through the game without even grabbing a rod and even if you do, it’s basically a checklist I’d love to see more/bigger areas, more quests, more/bigger secrets, just more everything
 

Saoancity

Green Slime
The game overall was exactly what I was searching for, combat, skill tree, monster drops, character creator and the story were great, the game is quite immersive and fun to play, sadly there are some parts that ruined my immersion and felt out of place. To be honest, I hope the game would be even longer, I had such a great time with the game and crave for more.
Tai ming and the flying fortress were incredibly well done in terms of story and immersion.
The flying fortress was perfectly balanced with bits of lore followed up by combat, every bit of lore kept hyping me up for what was coming and even planting a seed of doubt in my mind on whether or not I'd be able to beat those robots.
Tai ming was also excellently done, it gave me goose bumps, that's how good it was, even though I had a sneaking suspicion on what was going to happen, I've nothing but praise for those 2 zones, immersive, fun, mysterious, it really felt like I was exploring the world of grindea.
Now onto the bad, Seasonne, honestly ruined my immersion, it didn't feel like it was part of grindea, the zone didn't have anything interesting, it felt like it was put there just so that you have a snowy zone, the comedy was good but that was the only thing that was good about it, it simply felt underwhelming, especially after you have shown what you are truly capable of with the flying fortress. The zone honestly felt lazy, just like pumpkin woods, zones that were made just so that the world wouldn't feel small. It was honestly disappointing, the best I could put it, it lacked originality. While I'm totally aware that now it's too late to change the zones, I just had to get it off my chest.
 

Own

Moderator
Seasonne exists to show you that the seasons are completely out of whack, thanks to Winter's interference. Seasonne is close to Season Temple, so it's the first place to feel Winter's influence. Slightly further out is West Evergrind, the ranch, where autumn seems to be setting in. Everywhere else seems to be enjoying a pleasant summer.

That being said, I completely agree with you that Seasonne feels a bit... hollow. Probably because at no point do you have to kill a single Yeti or Blue Slime to progress through the game. It's an area you can literally walk through and ignore completely, save for the Toy Factory. That always felt weird.
 

khloebunni

Green Slime
Hi! I've had SoG for a little over a week for the record, so what follows isn't necessarily drawn from a "first play session," but only from a newcomer to the title. My experience, beginning with Stable edition character creation and continuing through when Mr. Lyke materialized from the shadows to rain on my parade and then Frontline edition, has been absolutely a positive one. I promise. And I emphasize this because the Least Liked list is going to be considerably longer than the Most Liked list. Understood? Yeah? Excellent, here we go! :cool:

Most Liked (Big emotion!)
• Being able to customize my character so completely through her appearance, abilities, equips, and cosmetic equips. Granted, that is essentially what brought me to the game, but I was definitely given what I sought. Ironically, this topic also makes an appearance in my Least Liked section, but for less general reasons.
• Tai Ming, highlight of the game, full stop. …Well, okay, since you asked, I'll explain a little more. ;)
That section of the game—the story, story mechanics, gameplay mechanics, characters (*cough* Lea! Hi!), it was all so delightful. And not only because I fancy plots involving time travel, I swear. I would like a whole other game that is just the Tai Ming section so that I never have to leave and move on to another part of the game. Except that when I went back later, there was more content! Perfection, loved it, bittersweet that [I think] I've seen all there is to see there.
• The mystery and intrigue of learning what happened in the past, and how it concerns the present. Slightly saddening that I can't tell the world (that person in the library!) what happened. And that Bag never speaks up.
• The "/respec" command. But *cough* I'd like it more if it wasn't a command.

Least Liked (Small ughs...)
• The ability/passive point system. Consistently with all of the different builds I experimented with, I always had extra blue points leftover that I just didn't allocate because I only would use a few weapon and/or spells abilities [or less], and then maybe a few utility abilities [or less]. With so many more passive abilities that I want/wanted, it's disappointing to have all of those extra points that I won't do anything with. A system that has one universal type of skill points might be a viable solution, but it's difficult to suggest a precise alternative without careful consideration. Something akin to D&D's attribute point buying. Unsure.
• Weapon and shield quickslot assignment. Please allow them to be removed. For reference, I play with a 360 controller, and having all 4 primary buttons potentially available for abilities that I will actually use would be great. Not all builds utilize melee attacks, and I only use a shield when it is specifically required. Not that I felt that there is anything wrong with shields mechanically, but I prefer fast/light builds that focus on learning patterns and then evading attacks. And speaking of...
• Stop re-equipping my shield! :mad: This is probably the only complaint that I really feel heated about—I removed it purposefully, please leave it inside the trash Bag where it belongs. I strongly considered just selling them all, but it'd really feel gross to have to go buy one if something required I do another Perfect Guard mid-dungeon or for a quest. Actually though, I feel...
• Perfect Guard requirements/explanation belong in an early game tutorial, and that's it. "Hey new player, did you know about this nifty shield mechanic? You can even make a build around it if you think that's up your alley."
• Speaking of gamepads, I have already recommended SoG to a friend and we've been playing through it together, but she has a PS4 controller and apparently the button layout is unnatural and frustrating. I can't recall the specifics as I type this, but a gamepad configuration option would be welcome.
• And speaking of evading attacks, general movement speed, the very first passive I looked for when starting the game doesn't exist. Plenty of passives for enhancing blocking, but no passive for general-use movement speed. (Down with the tyranny of tanky knights and warriors! Show the rogues, rangers, ninjas, and thieves of the world some love!)
• Having to re-enter "/debug Diagonal" every play session. An on/off option would be welcome.
• It felt like any builds that focus on Magic or wanted to focus on Archery didn't have enough passives to pick up. Honestly, more passives please. To go with those universal skill points mentioned earlier. Passives are life!! :D
• And finally... fishing. Ugh. Besides getting every "Phase-Off" reward, this may be the only piece of content I deliberately skip. Which is unfortunate, since I really want to feed my pets, and those +10, +30, +50 exp modifiers look enticing. Can I have an option to engage the fish population in combat instead? XD

Confusing Elements (No questions?)
• I was never confused about anything pertaining directions or controls. I always knew well enough where to go, what to do, how something worked, or how to find out. Mechanics were either explained or naturally intuitive. As for puzzles, I didn't have any trouble deducing what to do. With all that said however, I should mention that I have played many games, so experience likely played a part.
• Why does my shield keep re-equipping itself?? Go away! :rolleyes:

Future Likes (held breath:)
• Unless this happens upon completion of "Phase-Off" and I just need to buckle down and do it, it feels terrible that I can't reunite Tannie and Pine. :(
• Dare I say, more time travel puzzles? Perhaps using both time rifts and Twi-sight? The possibilities!! :D
• More Zhamla, somehow (yadda yadda Tai Ming obsession yadda yadda). Final boss via resurrection? His story is so cool, and I love the relation that is created with the player character.

Thank you for this great game, I look forward to future releases!!
 

Own

Moderator
• The "/respec" command. But *cough* I'd like it more if it wasn't a command.

Respec is just a testing command. You're supposed to go to skills and refund them with gold, as a cost for changing your entire build... but almost no one does it since the respec command is so widely known. :naniva:

Which is unfortunate, since I really want to feed my pets

You can just grind monsters and buy pet food from Oak instead, at the farm. Saves time, really.

it feels terrible that I can't reunite Tannie and Pine. :(

You said you were on frontline? Go say hello to Pine on the ghost ship again. :)
 

Literally Who

Green Slime
I'm not sure if this thread is given any attention several years after the last reply, but what the hell, might as well.

  • General impressions: Was the game as a whole an enjoyable experience? If it was longer, would you continue playing?
As a whole it was downright magical. Incredibly cozy aventure, simple but very effective. Fun to play, fun to read, fun to explore, fun to persevere through.
  • What you liked the most: Was there some elements that stood out to you as really good?
It's hard to put it into concrete terms. Just the general air of adventurous spirit. The exploration and the quests and the combat are all well paced and well mixed together.
  • What you liked the least: Was there something which you felt weakened the experience?
Sudden difficulty spikes. I did my first run on Hard (Yes, I know, a mistake, but hear me out) and actually almost the entirety of the game was fantastic on that difficulty. Tough but fair and all. The problem is that sometimes there are these sudden out of nowhere encounters that really take you by surprise by how out of tune they are compared to the rest of the game. The 3 major parts that bothered me are the arena, the furious gigaslime, and the true final boss.

The arena's problem is that it scales with your level. Enemies become so absurdly bullet spongy that in order to obtain the high tier hats you might (probably WILL) have to redesign your entire build from the ground up, because not every skill was created equal and your shadowclone brawler, while it might survive the ordeal, will have nowhere near enough damage and mobility to S rank the time AND do it hitless for the damage S rank. So then I have to reconstruct my character from the ground up to a meta build in order to beat this content, and then once I'm done - switch back to the build I actually have fun with. The balance aspect requiring meta builds is my main gripe.

The Slime's issue is simply that it demands a mobility solution due to its health being way too high to burst down on Hard, and the game never really tells you this. If I were hinted in some tutorials that "Hey, you might wanna incorporate some mobility skills into your build to escape some nasty situations", I wouldn't have a problem, but with how much HP that thing has on hard I thought my "hint" was to come back later when I'm less of a feeble child. You know, Grindea and what not. Except it apparently scales to your level all the way up to 25, so the real solution was to take up blink or dodging strike and win a battle of atrition.

Now, the spoilery part, I suggest that any newbies avoid reading the following paragraph: Zanzibart steals your barrier and healing potion. I don't hate it because it's "challenging". I hate it because it is inconsistent. Why does he block those two specific skills? Because they are overpowered? Then why did you not balance them? Let's say you can't balance them, and you are convinced that these two things are such massively overpowered crutches that they make it a trivial fight, then how come they are available for the rest of the hard mode, making it trivial by your definiton? Do those encounters not deserve to be challenging as well? Or did you balance the rest of the hard mode around them? Then why was Zoidberg not balanced similarly? Once again, I'm not averse to challenge, I just want things to be consistent.

Keep in mind, however, that even though the negative criticism section of this post is the largest one, it is simply because there aren't that many ways to describe in excessive detail how much I loved the overall experience. One of the best games I've played in years. Will probably remain one of my favorites for the rest of my life.
  • Confusing elements: Did you understand what to do and how? Could you navigate through the menus?
Overall the game was shockingly intuitive aside from those few bits mentioned in previously. I was also amazed by the careful balance in most of the quests and puzzles where they were obscure enough to make me think on how to figure them out (and enjoy myself for having done so) while also being clear enough that I (almost) never needed to consult a guide for some absurdly esoteric solution.
  • Optional content: Did you do any side activities, like side quests, fishing or the arena? If so, were the activities varied and enjoyable?
100%ed the story mode. Even built my very own mansion. Decoration system is very nice, though the furniture selection is slightly narrow. Had a lot of trouble figuring out how to furnish a kitchen and a bathroom. Overall love my house though, and love the rest of the side activities. My feedback for side content (aside from the arena) is I'd actually be happy to see some more out of combat recreational activities. The trailer made me quite excited when it showed a snippet from the festival with all the little minigames, and I was just a wee bit disappointed that there were only 3 of them on the festival and they were never available again. It's no big deal at all, but I feel like some more minigames would be a lovely and soulful addition.
 
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