As a concept, I approve of auras.
As for the particular auras, here are some of my impressions:
- After trying a few out, I'm starting to get really choosey about which auras I grab since they have such a massive impact on the overall experience of a run. I start getting a groove with a build, and then come to a Teleport Aura and I nope out of the room. There are so many auras that actively take away freedom and force me into particular decisions (like forcing me to stop dead so I can risk teleporting into a wall / hole, or risk getting hit by an enemy while I'm teleporting). In theory, this sounds exciting, but in practice, it adds such an unknown variable to an already chaotic game. I seem to enjoy auras when they are truely passive, and work completely in the background.
- The Teleport Aura.....I detailed in my last bullet.
- Thorn Aura: Seemed like a fun idea at first. I got it in two consecutive runs and it feels massively OP in the Jungle, and then actively ruins me in the Desert. There are 3 things in particular that ruin me in the Desert:
- By that time, I have 10+ thorns around me and it obscures the ground, making it really really difficult to avoid holes, etc.
- It's useless against ranged enemies (which is good).
- Due to all of my crystals going to thorns, my economy is comepletely wrecked, at this point. I've invested so much into this thorn bush of a seed that I'm practically helpless in the Desert. Upon grabbing this aura, my game completely transforms into "Maintain thorn bush," and all the other interesting choices that this game provides completely fall away since I can't gain crystals past this point.
- Suggestion A: Yellow and Green Crystals only give you one thorn and the rest goes to your crystal stash. (Encouraging me to focus on bigger enemies)
- Suggestion B: Have some way of dumping the aura without hurting yourself. Once I've invested 15+ crystals into a thorn bush, I really don't want to chuck myself into a hole and lose all that if I want to get back to working on my economy. Besides, once you hit the Desert, this arua is way less usefull, anyway.
- Mushroom Aura: I've literally only seen this in practice once, despite grabbing it mulitple times (due to the randomness of getting things like Bullet Seeds). I liked it, though...
- "Syringe" Aura (gaining quarter hearts when killing enemies): I just got this and I love the shit out of this idea. It ecourages me to be way more aggressive, which also will make me lose more hearts, but I don't care. I'm getting hearts. (I wasn't able to get a feel for the balance of it, since I died pretty quickly after getting it.....See Thorn Seed rant)
- Bomb / Claymore Auras: I really like these, but I stay the F away from them. They be deadly, yo.
- I whole-heartedly believe that they shouldn't be active in camp. Camp should be a safe place, free of barbarism and violence. I need a break.
- I approve of these, though.
- Ghost Aura: I like this idea, but it hurt me in town when I went into a shop.....I left it in the shop. It's bad enough when I'm being relentlessly pursued by enemies. Definitely a very high-level aura (obviously...)
That's about as much as I can remember. In general, I feel like auras are best when they augment your play, rather than revolutionize it. When I grab one seed, that doesn't necessarily make my entire run about THAT seed, but that often happens when I grab an aura. All of a sudden, the entire run is about THAT aura, and every other choice I've made in the game becomes secondary.
In the end, I'm starting to shy away from auras in general. Maybe once I've played a ba-jillion hours and I'm a TS Master that kind of augmentation will be welcome, but for now, I just want to master the Bullet Seed.