Of course it's a good game. That's why I made this account in the first place, specifically so I could come on here and leave feedback. I don't do that for many games, even official titles. This is the only itchio game I've commented on thus far. I also made it a point to say how fun the game was in my initial comment to avoid anyone thinking otherwise.
That said, if the creator is reading comments, which he should be, than feedback, especially useful feedback like my own (I'd like to think anyway), should be taken into account.
The letter of communication left by the teacher that you are referencing does not, as far as I remember, have anything to do with the mechanics I suggested and even if it did, it would come too late to matter.
It is difficult to find things in this game at a certain point because, I would argue, there is not enough direction provided to the player in the game itself. That's why he has a guide linked in the options menu and that's why there are plenty of comments even in here asking for help with certain quest. I'm not asking for quest markers mind you, but rather Morrowind style hints which are more than reasonable and currently do not exist.
None of this makes the game bad nor does it mean the creator isn't already aware of it. He must be if he has that guide to begin with. Yes, it might even be that my feedback is a couple months too late and he's already on it and if so that's fine. I'm just giving him possible ideas to address it in the future if he needs or wants them.
So unless you or someone else would like to talk about my suggestions in-depth, I don't feel it's necessary to elaborate further. I believe the game would wholly benefit from implementing some of the ideas I put forward here in the future, and I believe some of the stories could be greatly expanded if anyone who is responsible has a mind to do it and I see no harm whatsoever in letting that be known to the developers.
When, how or if those things get implemented are solely up to the people responsible for the game and everything I have said has been polite, fair and reasonable, and I'd like to continue providing feedback for this game for the very reason that I enjoyed and enjoy it as much as I do.
That's how you're supposed to contribute to things you love, try and help it grow into something even greater.
Johnmark4982
Recent community posts
IIRC plants and enemies only appear after you find them or fight them, respectively, for the first time, not before. Even then, one of the alchemical ingredients I needed was on the forest path, which only unlocks after defeating the bandits. I simply was not interested in doing their quest for a long while.
I started out with the Lizards, and after their main quest began to focus on the rat men and werewolves simultaneously. So I had a lot of areas unlocked and eventually as the quest piled up I got confused as to where to go next because they started demanding ingredients I didn't have access to yet with no real indication that I recall on where to find them.
A reference guide at the house left by your missing master that hints at or tells you where ingredients are even if you have yet to find them or unlock the area they are in would be a nice touch IMO. It makes sense in-game and avoids being too hand holdy at the same time.
Unexplored areas (some of them not the hidden stuff like the ruins) topside should be marked on the map but not accessible (Lore wise it'd make sense for an alchemical master who travels all over the place to leave behind a fuller map in his house of established regions and pathways). Practically, that'll give players some direction in the future to access the stuff they'd prefer to do first without needing to resort to online guides or quest grinding.
AKA I need X,Y,Z it can be found at B, which is behind the bandit camp. And there you go. You still need to navigate the quest on your own and figure out if B really is the reason you can't access the area.
Great game. I didn't expect much going in, but was pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of content that is present within the game, and while I do think there are some rough edges here and there (there needs to be more in-game direction on where to find as of yet unfound alchemical ingredient types and typos need to be fixed).
As far as the alchemy goes, I had no idea where to get the stuff for werewolf cures for a long while until I realized some of it was gated behind another quest (I think?). Anyway it's quite fun.
I do think the ratkin are a bit of a missed opportunity though. When my character got captured I expected to either be held prisoner for a while and presented with cut scene choices, or, even better, find myself stripped of my gear temporarily while forced to serve the rat men in a number of different quest (with some fun times inbetween of course).
I'd recommend adding some flavor there rather than having the rat king shrug it off and send you away. It's plausible they may not even take you to the rat king at all if they thought they could get away with it. There's too much potential to be had there to leave it as is IMO, and all of it can easily be balanced around play styles (or desires maybe I should say).
Edit: The same is true of the werewolves, which I think should mount some sort of assault on the players home leading to similarly interesting plot points depending on choice, which I haven't seen yet.