Hello, fellow grinders. I'm back to playing Grindea after almost a 1,5 year hiatus. I was quite confused by all the new updates and mechanics, to say the least, but since I've already beaten the game again (and farmed everything), I bring this post to analyze some things in detail and others not as much. Iwill ONLY be covering story mode.
TL; DR:
Grinding
Grinding being the main design choice, still works quite well. I do feel that some things are WAY too hard to get taking in account their rariry - benefit relation. I saw threads about people going on grinding cards as longs as 7 hours to obtain very mundane/weak permanent effects, and, while I understand probability is all about luck and effort, in my humble opinion some cards should get buffed to make it worth our while.
All the cases bellow have been tested with bounty potion and lv3 Fine Taste perk:
Gear
I've been tinkering with almost every piece of equipment I come across with different skill builds to create new gameplay styles, but there seems to be fairly obvious choices. In this particular case, I mean that many exceedingly rare drops have no special effects (such as the Frostling Jacket) or more than one attribute boost, making their utility and drop chance questionable.
i.e: Players could easily hunt Halloweeds and craft the Purple Petal Garland, which yields tremendous boosts instead of wasting time with its lesser cousing, Blue Petal Garland, that somehow is much more difficult to get.
In the end, stacking attributes and damage come with higher beneffits than defensive equipment, making tank builds less appealing. Perhaps give DEF oriented items some love would change this.
PS: We still can't rotate while keeping the shield raised...
Skills
Personally, I don't like many of the skills, due to many reasons, but most of them concern ease of use when playing with a keyboard, early game applications and EP cost. Since Grindea is about grinding, spells such as Earth Spike and Fireball just pail in comparison to Cloud Strike, Summon Plant and Frosty Friend. Summons make everything easier, not because they are overpowered, but rather because they give the player ample means of preparing spells that would otherwise be difficult to cast in a enemy filled screen.
As for melee skills, the only ones I find worth mentioning in terms of use are Shadow Clone and Berserk, both being melee buffs. The others just feel sort of clumsy and in terms of damage they don't really shine, either. I won't go into much detail since there is a lot that could be changed, in my opinion, but that's probably going to happen in a future Skills and Spells patch.
All mentioned spells were tested with all charge levels and appropriate perks:
Since, I'm talking about EP this EP that, I think it would make sense for players to get increased EP with each level. To have a decent amount of this attribute the player must invest a lot into equipment and perks that often don't synergize with each other, resulting into some really weird builds. Quite frankly I don't see why so many limitations on EP, but it can outright make many skills gold charge useless/impratical.
Bows
Ah, yes, bows! They are... good? More or less. Erm, early game. Later on, bows just don't really matter. Even with all the upgrades (one that costs 15k at that) and related talents, they don't deal much damage, have low DPS, no skills and variations - like ice/fire/blast/lightning arrows - and the piecing ability is... ok, I guess While I do believe they'll get some love later, I think it suffices to say for now that the ammo perk and potion are redundant, since enemies drop arrows the whole time (unless you're actually aiming for a bow build, which I don't recommend).
Crafting
Honestly, my only complaint is that we can't see directly in the crafting interface how many of the required materials we currently have. Besides that, this game could have MUCH more recipes given its simple nature.
Housing
Awesome. Loved how it works, very simple, intuitive and confy. Could have functionality later on, perhaps upgrades to main character thorugh house based crafting stations, farming, etc.
For now, that's all I could say, since many of the others I have in mind will undoubtedly be addressed in no time. While I do have a lot of criticism, please keep in mind that it is my personal opinion and that I absolutely love this game! I'd never write such a post if I didn't, and as a fellow game designer I can feel the passion of the developers every minute I spend playing Secrets of Grindea. Thank you for reading and also sorry for any mistakes since english is not my native language!
TL; DR:
- Monster spawns need balancing;
- Drop inconsistencies based on in game progress (low drops early on, high drops later on);
- Some skills cost too much for what little use/dmg they have;
- Some gear is too rare given its stats;
- Players should get EP per lv;
- Bows dominate early game, suck late game;
- Dis gaem is gud.
Grinding
Grinding being the main design choice, still works quite well. I do feel that some things are WAY too hard to get taking in account their rariry - benefit relation. I saw threads about people going on grinding cards as longs as 7 hours to obtain very mundane/weak permanent effects, and, while I understand probability is all about luck and effort, in my humble opinion some cards should get buffed to make it worth our while.
All the cases bellow have been tested with bounty potion and lv3 Fine Taste perk:
- Plantae Hostilies is rather difficult to farm since it isn't the main enemy in it's spawn location and it has considerably high HP. Thorn worms populate the rooms most of the time, making a permanent 5 EP bonus seem a very meek reward.
- Bloomos are another royal pain to grind, since their only spawn is the field right of Evergrind City and it is majorly occupied by rabbies. Increasing their numbers or at least giving them the ability to move like Halloweeds could make things a bit better. Also, their Blue Petal material is insanely rare, despite being an early game crafting material.
- Peckos have very limited numbers and by the time the player finds them, they can take quite a few hits, not to mention Guardians and their damn shields.
- Winter Mage's Hats are almost impossible to loot, I long had every drop from Knights and Mages down to their cards except for this hat. While the other equipments numbers amounted to as much as 15, I only got one of these.
- Frostling's Jacket, even for a rare, has an exceptionally low drop rate. It took me hours to get it, and, to be quite honest, it isn't very good gear.
Gear
I've been tinkering with almost every piece of equipment I come across with different skill builds to create new gameplay styles, but there seems to be fairly obvious choices. In this particular case, I mean that many exceedingly rare drops have no special effects (such as the Frostling Jacket) or more than one attribute boost, making their utility and drop chance questionable.
i.e: Players could easily hunt Halloweeds and craft the Purple Petal Garland, which yields tremendous boosts instead of wasting time with its lesser cousing, Blue Petal Garland, that somehow is much more difficult to get.
In the end, stacking attributes and damage come with higher beneffits than defensive equipment, making tank builds less appealing. Perhaps give DEF oriented items some love would change this.
PS: We still can't rotate while keeping the shield raised...
Skills
Personally, I don't like many of the skills, due to many reasons, but most of them concern ease of use when playing with a keyboard, early game applications and EP cost. Since Grindea is about grinding, spells such as Earth Spike and Fireball just pail in comparison to Cloud Strike, Summon Plant and Frosty Friend. Summons make everything easier, not because they are overpowered, but rather because they give the player ample means of preparing spells that would otherwise be difficult to cast in a enemy filled screen.
As for melee skills, the only ones I find worth mentioning in terms of use are Shadow Clone and Berserk, both being melee buffs. The others just feel sort of clumsy and in terms of damage they don't really shine, either. I won't go into much detail since there is a lot that could be changed, in my opinion, but that's probably going to happen in a future Skills and Spells patch.
All mentioned spells were tested with all charge levels and appropriate perks:
- Summon Plant's gold charge is actually very underwhelming, dishing out a basic ASpd and duration buff to all plants surrounding the boss plant, but it is impratical (since there is no indicator to HOW close the other plants must be to get the buff) and in terms of dmg/utility it doesn't really justfies the gold points invested. I just use silver charge.
- Earth Spike, Ice Spikes and Fireball, don't really keep up with the game's demands on skill usage. While their gold charges are somewhat powerful, the EP costs don't allow us to spam, even with Spirit Potions.
- Flamethrower is very powerful. Unfortunately, the fact that enemies are able to cancel it with one hit, that it only becomes semi - permanent with gold charge and that you can't change the direction of the flames once cast makes it very impratical.
- Chain Lightning's gold charge too, is not worth it since he damage isn't all that good and it costs quite a lot of EP. Perhaps add more utility?
- Spirit Slash does very good damage and can't be interrupted mid - action, however, due to varying enemy AI behaviour, it often doesn't hits an appropriate number of enemies. AoE could be bigger in later levels.
- Blade Flurry does have good damage, but it can be interrupted and the range is minimal, making it somewhat bothersome to land most of the time.
- Dodging Strike too, can be interrupted AFTER THE actual dodge, many time wasting that awesome perfect dodge and being hit by some random attack from another enemy. Perhaps make the player invulnerable/ininterruptable during the attack motion?
- Smash! is such a fun skill to use! But unreliable. Hitting anything with it proves to be a hassle most of the time, and it doesn't quite works as intended. Damage output is nice.
Since, I'm talking about EP this EP that, I think it would make sense for players to get increased EP with each level. To have a decent amount of this attribute the player must invest a lot into equipment and perks that often don't synergize with each other, resulting into some really weird builds. Quite frankly I don't see why so many limitations on EP, but it can outright make many skills gold charge useless/impratical.
Bows
Ah, yes, bows! They are... good? More or less. Erm, early game. Later on, bows just don't really matter. Even with all the upgrades (one that costs 15k at that) and related talents, they don't deal much damage, have low DPS, no skills and variations - like ice/fire/blast/lightning arrows - and the piecing ability is... ok, I guess While I do believe they'll get some love later, I think it suffices to say for now that the ammo perk and potion are redundant, since enemies drop arrows the whole time (unless you're actually aiming for a bow build, which I don't recommend).
Crafting
Honestly, my only complaint is that we can't see directly in the crafting interface how many of the required materials we currently have. Besides that, this game could have MUCH more recipes given its simple nature.
Housing
Awesome. Loved how it works, very simple, intuitive and confy. Could have functionality later on, perhaps upgrades to main character thorugh house based crafting stations, farming, etc.
For now, that's all I could say, since many of the others I have in mind will undoubtedly be addressed in no time. While I do have a lot of criticism, please keep in mind that it is my personal opinion and that I absolutely love this game! I'd never write such a post if I didn't, and as a fellow game designer I can feel the passion of the developers every minute I spend playing Secrets of Grindea. Thank you for reading and also sorry for any mistakes since english is not my native language!