khe-khe... ALRIGHT! As i promised - it's critisism time! (SPOILERS)
Now, before we get started i want to make one important thing very clear - even though i have these issues with the game, that does NOT mean that i didn't absolutely love it. As soon as it goes on Steam i'll buy it, and then i'll buy it again if given a chance. But EXACTLY because i love this game so much - i want it to succed. I want it to be perfect. I want other more pickier players to have as much excitement and joy as i did. That's why i have to say these things.
Anyway. I have a paper here, with main points written on it, so i won't get lost in thoughts...
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1) First: Witch Swap.
An incredible mechanic that just... didn't shine as much as i would like it to. Here is the thing: there simply aren't enough reasons to swap witches in the first place. HealthBar is universal - it isn't divided between witches, so switching doesn't give you a 'second chance'. And if your next witch is of a lower lvl, then your MaxHP decreses. In a way, you get pretty much punished for switching! Yes, i DID find a use for it, when fighting SlimeNurse (when she changes colors of Onyons, so you can equip your next witch with other colored abilities), but it's just such a one time case that it doesn't feel justified. Yes - you can make a "full on attack -> full on heal -> 2x moderate both" build, and this way utilize witch swapping, but come ooooon! It's obvious that it's not how it was intended. And while you can switch to use "ultimate ability" of another witch - battles simply don't last that long. Even when fighting Nightmare for the first time, i switched ONCE and only because i messed up so badly, that it probably was a panic switch, rather than a strategy one. The whole thing just... underperforms.
What i suggest:
--- Give every witch a separate HP bar, but decrease it by a LOT. That way i am pretty much forced to swap witches at some point, making the game more dinamic. What about 'last hit' mechanic? Well let's make it, so that if Cha's (for example) health goes to zero - I won't be able to switch her to the next witch and cheat the death, in a way.
--- "But what if I don't want to force players into swapping witches? I want them to do it only if they so desire" - fair point. In this case, let's make it so that upon swapping you: get a small attack buff and a tiny regeneration, while all your previous buffs and debuffs (or 50%) get removed. This way you are not forced to swap witches, but such behaviour is encouraged. Which is good too!
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2) Next one on the list: Cards (rebalances/reworks/new cards)
It's obvious that, in the game about using cards, cards are kind of a big deal. Here i'll say what cards need changes and what other aspects to focus on.
--- Boomerang - It. Sucks. Balls. No, i MEAN it! 22 Fei for... how much power, again? 8?! And heal for 2?! Those are like the worst stats in the entiere game! I understand that you don't want to make Boomerang a healing card by making it's dmg too much - i agree with that. That's why 25% is perfect, but make it do at least a bit more damage. It just doesn't have a place nor in attack nor in heal focused decks. It just sucks.
--- Squeeze - and other cards like it should provide more value. It's not always easy to pull out a combo with Hug and Squeeze, so having it give you as much value as Flame (for a bit less Fei, though), while being much less reliable, just doesn't make sence. Of course don't buff it too much and make it meta, but make it's Fei = Power. Maybe it shouldn't do as much damage as Flame, but make it very cost effective, so pulling out these combos would be worth the effort.
Now, i want to name you a card that i'm in love with:
--- Earthquake - by FAR my favorite card in the game! And imho, a PERFECT example of what unique cards or "reward/punishment" cards should be! It deals a solid amount of damage, for solid Fei, BUT punishes you by pouring stone blocks from the sky. Cool! Amazing, even! AND it has a unique trait where floating enemies don't get damaged by it cause they are... well, floating. (Or at least, that's how i explain why Nightmare gets Null damage from it). It's just a perfect nieche card! And THAT'S what cards like that should be like! Great in certain cases -> useless in others. Great value -> but a noticable punishment.
So many cards you can make by that logic! A card that deals a great amaount of damage, but makes it so that you earn less Fei for next 10 second. Or a card that zap-stuns enemies, but also gives attack buffs monstergirls that somewhat benefit from electricity. Possibilities are endless!
You get the main idea. And ofcourse we need a much bigger variety of cards, so that pretty much every playable monstergirl could get her own unique kit. (But i understand that it's a demo, so card variety wasn't exactly the main focus)
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3) Monstergirls's Unique Abilities.
You may ask a question: "But isn't every ability already unuqie?" - it is... partialy. While yes, Vuu's 'Super Attack' (we'll call it SA for short), clears the whole room, Rose attacks only monstergirl and 'T' does a bit of both - they are still just "Do damage" type of SA's. When i say unique i mean, like do difderent things.
Let's take Cha for example (yes, i'll use every opportunity to call Cha)! She is a goblin, right? And what do goblins do? Steal stuff! So, Cha's ability could be her stealing the spell that enemie is about to use, and use it herself with 2x Power! Unique? Yes. Useful? Yes. Nieche? Also, yes! Exactly what an ability should be! ... Okay, Cha, you can go back to playing.
Ompom's SA, could damage and 'burn' monstergirl - making her take more damage from al sources.
Lamia could 'squeeze' enemy monstergirl in a tight gripp. She'll deal small damage, but will STUN the enemy, stopping them from using skills or summon shapes.
Now, i'm not saying that "Just deal damage" shouldn't be a thing. Of course it should be, but even then there must be a tiny twist to them, at least in attack animation, or their effect on the battlefield.
Let's take for example our lovable lady Cerelea: Her main thing are her powerfull legs, righr? Causing earthquakes and etc. So why not make it kind of her thing and build Cerelea's SA around it? She could make a powerfull STOMP causing an earthquake, HEAVILY damaging enemy monstergirl, but also SHAKING the screen for like 5 seconds as a 'punishment' for such a powerfull SA. Unique? Check. Damage? Check. Relates to thee character? Also check. Perfectc, no?
You get the idea, right? And while understand, that making a completely unique ability for every monstergirl will be a torture - we aren't a type of people to break easily! Come on, Mr NoseBecc! Head up high!
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This may not be obvious at the first glance, but trust me - it's important.
4) Reviving witches - is a very cool and unique feature, but... i feel as if it has some core flaws.
I understand why revived witches should be randomized, i do. You want players to try out different witches, to maybe find a new favorite one, who knows? To have them strive for something at the very least. And that's fair!
Take me for example: I get Cha - i don't care about other witches. I ain't gonna revive and try all of them, i truly won't (even though i did). And that's why it has to remain random.
BUT! Amd it's a HUGE BUT! What i think should NOT be random - a spawn of that 'resurrector lady'.
A player shouldn't do leaps in the forest, waiting for her to eventualy come. Then, just get somebody they don't want -> get sad/frustrated -> get back to running. It shouldn't be like that, that's not a fun/exciting experience. Am i trying to say that 'resurrector lady' shouldn't spawn randomly? No, quite the opposite! She could still visit you from time to time, but there MUST be a place (or a way) where you can guarantee meeting her. It may be an expensive or craftable item (like the ones that decrease/increase spawnrate) made out of hard-to-find resources. Make it not easy, but possible.
And i've experienced it first hand when i tried to revive all witches. I just kept running around in circles, simply because 'resurrector lady' didn't spawn. I had all the money, all the shards in the world - but no resurrector lady. Which sucked SSSO much, at the time.
That's a thing that should 100% be worked on.
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Now... No, i'll save it for later. Then, let's talk about:
5) Sidequests.
The 'Cookie' sidequest is the first 'sidequest' to ever exist in the game, am i wrong? I don't remember them being in the first Demo...
Anyway! Sidequests - they are cool little things that every game needs and BEW is not an exception! Some fun little sidequest should be here and there, but please listen, Mr NoseBecc - it's also important to NOT overpopulate the game with sidequests! That, unless they also include some unique interractions on already cleared terrain.
For exapmle: a sidequest where Cha loses her favorite earring, so now we are suposed to go to the Riety forest and look for it (and we WILL look for Cha's earring). We beat some monstergirls, collect stuff BUT - randomly fall into a pit (that wasn't there the first time) and stumble upon a hidden cave. Treasury? Lost city? Someone's hideout? It could be anything! And in the process we also learn some history about the forest, or Cha herself, or her kind - something like that. So that sidequest doesn't just feel like "go there, kill that, bring me this". And after all that - we don't find the earring. Just to (in a comedic fassion) for Cha to realise that it was in her pocket all this time, or that it fell off and got lost in her bossom, while she was asleep. I don't know, something like that.
So? ... What do you think? Did my Cha story win the 'writer of the month' award?
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I don't really know how to name this one, so...
6) Cute little in-game details.
Let me try to explain, so it doesn't sound so vague. You know how when momstergirl gets bored during your stroll, you have to click on her few times to make her happy again, right? Well - Cerelea has a chance to sometimes reward you with a jug of milk ("There's more where that came from", i bet there is - i had 27 in my inventory by the time i revived my last 3 monstergirls)! It's a cute little detail, but these details are what make BEW so beautiful. Like how Cha sometimes puts on her sunglasses (awesome f-n sunglasses, by the way).
I don't know where exactly i'm going with it, though. Do i mean that we should have more interactions with characters while we walk? May be. May be i want something else, i don't know. But you get the idea.
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Okay and now... for the last complaint:
7) Secrets and Rewards from them
"AAAAAAAAAHHHH, this is NOT how it was supposed to go!" - okay, Mr NoseBecc please calm down! I know that we went over this already in some of my previous comments, but i have to reiterate - i have big BIG problems with that.
THOUGH!
These last few days made me rethink some stuff... After all: puzzles, secrets and little things like that, are what make BEW - BEW. Sneaky spots and levers hidden behind levers are pretty much a staple in BEW, so me saying that these charming little aspect should be reduced - was just silly. So I came to a conclusion that (i think) will satisfy BOTH of us:
Necessary for progression items like Orbs - should NOT be hidden. NO! They should not be, Mr NoseBecc! Sneaky secrets, quirky puzzles and liefs that i must pull to open the door, should NOT hide valuable stuff like Orbs behind them!
Yes, i understand why orbs are a thing - players shouldn't be allowed to just farm XP in the same spot, so that they could just get to lvl 40 and one-shot Nightmare. I get it! Players need to explore to enjoy the game at 100%. And i agree! But players also shouldn't be FORCED to go out and look for secrets under the pressure of not being able to upgrade their momstergirls tp max rank. Do you know how much time it took me to find the golden tree, Mr NoseBecc? Do you?! And i had a guide on my hands! Now imagine a person that didn't visit itch.io site, or isn't reading every word in game's "about" page - they'll simply NEVER find it. And there are no "ifs" or "buts" and even "erm, actually" doesn't find a place here. They will NEVER find it. Average player will NEVER find (i want to make it clear) - a NECESSARY for progression item!
"But what would be a reward for such secrets then?!" - skins for monstergirls, special backgrounds, music (like a disc that you can play while walking, or fighting), extremely powerfull/unique spells or - heck, even a legendary monstergirl could be waiting there if you want. Gifts for Tril are a perfect example! Do you need them to rank up Momstergirls? No! But would you be willing to look for them if you want to see Tril sleeping in his bed? Yes!
I should WANT to look for secrets, not be FORCED to do so. Because there is no joy in it then - magic of adventure disappears.
And if you still want players to try themselves before deserving their Orb. It's also ok! You can make some difficult puzzles for people to solve, but make them obvioisly visible. Give out few Orbs for comleting certain sidequests, why not? It would be cool, no?
...
I'm... sorry for getting so emotional. I just really don't think that leaving it as it is - is a good idea.
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Well... that was it. My long rant - is over. I said my piece, i made my contribution and now my heart is clear.
I just really hope that you didn't take it as an insult, Mr NoseBecc. Every single word i wrote was with a good intention and i hope that you see it as such. I hope that you can see the passion that i have for BEW and how much i want it to suceed.
Bh the way, is there a way to contact you privately, Mr NoseBecc? Like Discord? Nothing special, just to chit-chat or share some fan-art.
And if you don't want to share your username there - i'll share mine.
Name: corpusgreed.
Thank you.
Best wishes
CorpusGreed