yeah intensity is funny, however the problem for me at least is the growth scaling overall, the player character can only get 5-20 points to start with from a buff meanwhile enemies from the well get 20 points at a minimum. this makes intensity far harder to deal with because at similar level with the same abilities you just get left in the dust. not to mention that the enemies have a significant jump in difficulty from the ego gain bets, I understand why and it's a cool mechanic, but it may need a Bit of refinement. because the jump from normal to the first ego bet is almost negligible, meanwhile the jump to the second ego bet is far too high unless you are twice the level with the acid status affect(which has been a lifesaver)… that's my main problem with this...
and as for armor yeah I can see why after a point you rely on buffs instead, however at near level 150 I still haven't hit that point where the armor isn't as worthwhile. plus with the enemies being as fast as they are and the player character being so slow(at least in combat) it feels impossible to do anything. the biggest thing is when enemies get bigger so do the attacks but with how size scaling is, the attacks are most of the time impossible to dodge.
Aight, so take this with a grain of salt, since I dunno if you're playing with active combat on, which in my opinion is way harder than passive, which is what I play on since I don't have a mouse and it makes things simpler.
Weaponry in this game scales hard with whatever stats affect them, but they are not made equal. Notably, the ranking (D, C, B, A, or S) determines how much damage you get from a weapon if you have a lot of points in the corresponding stat. Furthermore, not all stats are made equal. Bust, as a prime example, gives you tons of AP to play with, and lets you hit enemies with the wrath of god after using massive buffs and potentially even stealing growth from your enemies... but if you get hit, which is likely since bust doesn't make you fast, you get flattened at an impressive pace. On the flipside, legs builds let you go first and take twice as many turns as your opponent, along with dodging attacks, but if for whatever reason your opponent can debuff you, withstand your attacks, or is just plain too big, you get squashed. (Thankfully the Bard's Beak weapon from the blacksmith deals unholy amounts of damage and has an attack that seems to ignore armor, and starts at B-rank scaling I think? It's a lil insane.) With all that said, if you're finding enemies to be inordinately difficult, try switching up your loadout. I'm currently at 50 in every stat except for legs, which I cranked to 300, but I can take down the boss rats in the sewer up to floor 25, and those things are huge.
Also, I highly recommend unlocking as many things in the ability trees as you can, as soon as you can. The bust tree in particular has some crazy boosts, and I've heard that the Step skill from the size tree can win fights like nothin else if you're running a size build.
I can beat the giant rats in sewers at level thirty, my loadout is decent and I'm improving it with time, I've figured out how important the stats and how you allocate them are. I've got concentration level two and am focusing on leveling for tier 2, and 3 skills while unlocking tier 1 skills, the Big growing problem for me(pun intended) is that I'm instantly getting steam rolled by choosing the bring it Tiny ego option, meanwhile the You'll have to fight me first option doesn't seems to make any difference for difficulty. also the corrosion affect is amazing. but it doesn't effect enemies that are already very big. I do Appreciate you taking the time to reply like this. I've read the notice board, looked at the skills, and figured out how I want to focus my character. it is just a little frustrating when the Experience multiplier gets lost because I forget I can't handle the biggest ego bet, primarily because of one skill and enemy scaling. I keep going back and forth not really progressing and yet progressing further than I thought I would.
My focus is on my self-improvement and looking inward first before looking outwards for the reasons for failure. I admit my characters focus on muscle was lost to the background for some time, I admit that at first I had no scaling and didn't look at weapon skills as I do now. I admit I am a bit stubborn with trying the biggest ego bet for no reason other than indignance. but I can say that something about enemy growth is perhaps a bit faster than is healthy for the game. I am willing to accept that maybe I am not knowledgeable enough about this. but I am trying to offer some potential solutions and discuss these issues in a calm and respectful manner.
Yea, I totally get that, and I do admit that you've got a point when it comes to certain enemies getting comically large way faster than you. I think I just kinda ignore it since I spent a good long while farming to get 10000 sacrificed points in all of the stats, and having all of the skill upgrades I wanted makes a HUGE difference. Namely the Dodgy trait that makes you impossible to damage for four hits and Thick Thighs Save Lives which makes you literally unkillable twice over. Having those, alongside rapidly regenerating health, block, AP, and a little passive size growth just for the hell of it, it makes even some truly massive enemies do absolutely nothing as long as they don't use debuffs too much. Though honestly I could never tell the difference between any of the ego bet levels. Does doing the highest one make your opponent attack more often, grow faster, or just use particular moves more frequently or something?