TDLR:
Not my favourite game of the jam, but definitively the more interesting one, there are many things to say about this one, both good and bad. I played it something like 3h and half, and I actually didn't go very far into the story, there was just too many fun distractions on the way.
What I like:
-The battle system/the craft system
-The heroine
-The number of extra activities available right at the start (and the amount of content in general)
-The sense of exploration I felt on the world map
-The small details like the heroine chest opening animation, the doodads, the numerous interactions with the environment
-The fourth wall breaking humour that somehow doesn't become repetitive.
-The difficulty who is just high enough to keep the battles interesting (and the fact that a defeat is nothing more than a setback).
-There are both fairies AND treasure chests in this game!
What this game need (in decreasing order of importance):
-Better looking maps. The mapping was the main thing that turn me away the first time I saw the game.
-A way to accommodate players who don't want to spend a good amount of their time gathering ingredients.
-The battle system need a better UI concerning anything related to the gauge. My main complain is that having both percentages and numbers (or Nan on defeat, for that matter) displayed on the gauge is confusing.
-A way to get the infos of already scanned enemies, other than having to scan again (alternatively, you could make scan instant or instant if the enemy is already scanned)
-A reason to fight the enemies more than once, as currently anything you gain from fights is offset by the resources you need to invest into items to kill the enemies.
-New SE, at least for the most basic actions like confirm, cancel or teleportation
-Mouse support. You already have the picture that can be clicked on for the resource gathering, so no excuse!🧚
Viewing post in Ruphand: An Apothecary's Adventure jam comments
Thank you for the very detailed feedback!
I do have a Sample rework planned for 0.3.7, so maybe I can solve two issues at once and add some kind of bonus to that based on having defeated a squad of enemies recently. Since I'll be fiddling with new menus in that update anyway, it'd also probably be a good time to take a second look at Check and add in some means to see the info of an already-scanned enemy.
Adding a "%" to the Action Meter when winding up would be a good idea, I'll probably have that in the next patch or update. Mouse support shouldn't be too hard either. Some new SE (maybe something a bit more low-key) is something I've considered for a while and I think next patch/update will be a great time to go ahead with it.
I'll give the old maps a look as well. What aspects in particular could use improvement?