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madodev1 year ago

Very nice, extremely atmospheric game. Loved the setting, maps, and general feel of it.

However, I got stuck at the Meatcutter in the well. With the tools I had there just didn't seem a way to kill him being level 3 and without a way to level up. Maybe I'm missing something. If so, let me know. In general, you'll probably want some failsafe for situations like this, since it will become more common going forward as the amount of player choices increases.

Also, some miscellaneous thoughts:

  • Why are STATS called STRATS.
  • SWAG doesn't really seem to fit the theme.
  • The menuing sounds are really obnoxious, especially the farty back sound.
  • Why is there such a big spacing between lines in dialogue, is this an artistic choice? They also cut off at the middle of the textbox.
  • Why does the dialogue end with Sarah after confirming a dialogue choice, with the Android it just reshows all of them so you can keep asking questions.
  • Props have very agressive collisions, such as the axe in the hunter camp.
  • The music choice is great by the way.
  • Also like the concept of intentions/mood and the equipment in general.
  • Shame taking off the black suit doesn't change appearance (or do anything).
  • Bulletspray doesn't actually cost Sanity? Is sanity even a thing.
  • It's strange that the attack text say that it's kill or be killed even when you're fighting harmless targets?
  • Have you considered plugins that allow the player to increase combat speed? Combat is rather dull compared to the world and exploration right now.
  • I learned "butchering" but nothing showed up.
  • When I have a dialogue choice, there should be a short pause, so I don't accidently click stuff when mashing A (because I clicked the wrong dialogue choice).
  • Also the selection of dialogue choices is very unclear, since it's a black on black selector.
  • Pressing X in a dialogue choice picks the second choice.

Again, very nice and good looking game. I would have kept playing if meatcutter man didn't keep chainsawing me to death.

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horbror1 year ago

This is some great feedback, thank you! 

Level 3 is a bit low for the well, best thing to do is get to 4 or 5 at the lake. After you have finished the first meatcutter you can run through the next room and recruit Sarah and Billy as party members, this will make things easier. If you still want to try to beat it at three look through your moods and cards, there is a certain amount of rng too. 

- Stats are called strats because of stupid lore-reasons, this is explained much later.  Its a combination of statistics, strategy. 

- Swag: No, not really in chapter 1, it will in the future though, but I can see your point! 

- I will think about the menu-sounds, I have received varied input on this. 

- Yes, the collision is atrocious overall, I hope to fix this in the future. 

- The dialog not going back to the choices with Sarah is because I wanted to teach the player to speak to characters multiple times.  Might as well change it, other people have said it doesn't get the point across either.

- Sanity = Phantasm, Bulletspray used to cost more but I changed it, just forgot to change the text. Thanks! 

- Will add "paus" in choices later, this is just a good idea and easy to do. 

- Combatspeedchoice good input too. 

- Butchering affects a whole bunch of things if you continue. It enables you to butcher the fish at the lake, slaughter the rabbits and once you learn bloodrites it activates a powerbuff skill. 

Would love if you continued, you have some seriously good insights.

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madodev1 year ago (1 edit)

Ok, I found the issue. I didn't know you could go further east from the area below the well since you need to be in a very specific spot to trigger that combat, so I thought it was just a wall.

I'll carry on then.

Also, it's not shown that you are cursed in the overworld (apart from the red screen every couple steps). You should add an icon next to the lifebar in the menu or something.

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horbror1 year ago

Good idea, hope you will figure things out!

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madodev1 year ago

Next part, up to defeating the Hallowed Mother:

  • Butcher is the best choice to handle fishes, so it should be first so I don't accidently throw them away. Unless the dialogue with Sarah at the end if more than just a text change.
  • Meatcutter is still a strange enemy, since often he just doesn't do anything. That's what made me think I could beat him earlier. It also doesn't say that it isn't doing anything. So it could be a bug.
  • Priority of combatants is strange. There doesn't seem to be a fixed order, making it hard to plan combat. At least let STUFF take priority.
  • Cracklelacker is strange from a balance perspective, even with the 10 cost you'll always end with more SWAG since it hits four times.
  • There's an overlap on lifebars with multiple partymembers, just make them a little shorter.
  • I equipped hateful and first didn't notice why does Sarah start off with losing health every turn? Would help if it showed a symbol next to her healthbar.
  • As always in RPGMaker games I won't use attack buffs unless you tell my by how much and how long it buffs. Buffs in RPGMaker games are usually extremely useless. I'd consider a 50% permanent attack bonus, but like 10-20 more attack on a 200 damage attack, yeah no thanks.
  • Please don't do the thing where dead partymembers don't get EXP from the fight. Hallowed mothers hook can one shot Sarah, and since EXP is limited I really don't want to lose EXP.
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horbror1 year ago (2 edits)

All very good points, thanks for the information too, there is a lot I dont know about rpg maker. 

Crackerlacker is supposed to work like that, later on it is the engine driving other swagrelated abilities. 

XP even if dead should be a given, did not realize that was not happeningen. 

Once you have defeated the mother you get a lot more opportunities to grind if you want to. It is not necessary. The lowest level I have managed to beat the final demoboss  at (you will know it when you get to it) is a party of three at level 11. You can probably grind up to 17-18 in this version if you really want to. 

Oh, forgot to say, when it comes to butchering the fish, yes it is more than just a text change. Not saving them is one of the requirements for doing a "dark run" which has some implications in this edition but will create increasingly bigger changes later on. 

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