Been doing all of that. Except the potions, they're not useful. It takes one turn to heal ~20HP and the next attack takes 50 or 60 HP, so it's a net loss every time.
It's easy to get slaughtered within just a couple turns when the solo hero goes up against one Plague Plant and two Lurker Snakes, which is a lot of the mandatory fights in the Lv5 cave.
I hope in the future you can find a way to rebalance things, give us a second hero earlier, or add difficulty select menu.
Have in mind Potions heals 20+ 10% hp each turn, for a total of 20+30% hp (during 3 turns), you should be being healed at least around 150 hp in total at that point, you can also use them before battle. I would need to see what you have bought and what stats you have boost. Rebalancing without knowing the exact details and how are you playing it may be kind of hard ^^u
Did you buy Heal? or other Skills?
If you are having issues all I can suggest you for now is gaining one or two levels at the forest until the enemies are auto-defeated. One single level can make a difference. The start of the cave also have battles with low quantity of enemies.
As I said I know some players may find the game too hard, so I'll probably lower the difficulty at the begining so it isn't that hard to learn the mechanics.
What you described with the health potions restoring 10% later still doesn't break even when it comes to the damage that these cave monsters deal every turn (not to mention stronger foes later). So I'm using a turn to heal, then losing more health than I gained. It's an objectively net-loss way to use my action.
You're right about using them out of battle, though.
Compare the Heal magic spell, which heals a good chunk of HP, more than the damage I receive during one turn. I've been using that, but when I face 3+ foes, I run out of MP before the fight's over and then I get killed.
I bought the first three badges, I don't have the 5 required to buy any more because I can't win these cave encounters and I'm too low-level for the black cat.
What do you mean by auto-defeated? I'm not sure what that mechanic is, I haven't been exposed to it.
Finally, if your suggestion is to go back to the first level and grind, that is a good sign that your game needs rebalancing, as a rule of thumb. Ideally, a player should be at a decent level to face whatever they come across so long as they clear out every screen they go through (you know, they don't actively go around enemy encounters).
Thanks for the constant feedback.
Before going into the advice I need to clarify that the game will be rebalanced and the Forest and Cave will be relatively easier next update, however, I still intend to not make it too easy. I know some portion fo the players don't want to take it too seriously which is why I will make some enemies weaker next time or give more tools to be stronger.
It is difficult to meassure though. Grinding isn't a necesity, is just an option for players who experience trouble and it is actually disencouraged to do so, since overleveling will insta-defeat weak enemies without granting exp (Forest only for now).
The game can be cleared without needing to refight a monster (it's how I tested it), however, I understand that as the creator I have it easier since I know all the tricks and weaknesses, so I always need to check what the players think.
Since I won't release a patch anytime soon, I'll try to help you with some mechanics and tricks that may be easy to miss, they could or not be your case but I'll point some anyways hoping they may be of use.
I hope it helps for now!
Wait, drinking a potion *out of battle* actually has the bonus effect kick in when you enter your next battle? That's... that's cool, but it's so contrary to how RPGs work that I never would have expected it. Maybe that could be explained somewhere in-game if there's room for it?
Similar suggestion for Guarding, I don't think I ever read in-game that it heals you a little.
Thank you Quetzalli
