Is this game very hard?
technically infinitely re-playable but if you are talking average campaigne length per ng+ its about 20 hours once you get through the initial learning phase and leveling and if you've optimized the route you plan to take and have some preparations from previous ng+ you can get through in about 4-6 hours possibly less but this requires optimized planning and some rng to ensure you don't get so many negative encounters although running the game this fast will drain how much money you have quite a bit
I personally think that LonaRPG more like DS or Rain World that you just have to get used to the new features and mechanics.
Unlike other games LonaRPG makes you think about tactical gameplay steps which many people can't handle and then just shout about -> "How this game can be so haaaard?!!! Why I can't just press one button and win? Whyyy..." Ahahahahah~ ahhhhhh... I like it~
Buuuut!!! Yeah, there's always one "But" word.
Game have a 3 main problem for beginners:
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1) Keyboard control + Interface + Menu (You need to correctly place all the skills on the hotkey bar and also know how and where to use it or u die).
Many people are immediately frightened by this amount of hotkey information and quit the game... but I personally think the game still lacks item slots which makes you open the menu to open inventory and waste time to select a certain vegetable/meat soup or a certain weapon. By the way, two-handed weapons and one-handed weapons are still buggy in the selection slots which is why you still have to open the inventory through the menu.
- - -
2) Food management (Go into the forest and do the same routine again and again wondering about what time is it and how much food enough).
In short... you need to constantly calculate the amount of food for the journey, for the quest fights or random fights encounter on the way and for other things
and if you make a mistake somewhere with food management there are consequences.
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3) Random (Even when you think "i am 100% prepared for anything" there's 1% an abnormal chance that will just destroy you).
Yeah... some players can say that LonaRPG is very easy BUT SOMETIMES this game will kick your ass when you least expect it.
This is why you need to always be prepared for even the worst case scenario (Many food, herbs, potions and other good stuff).
- You went out to buy yourself a new weapon = you're attacked by bandits which instantly spawn very close and pinning you against the wall = you're dead.
- You decide go into the woods for food = you are attacked by a pack of wolves that won't let you escape because of map generation = you're dead.
- You've been Injury + illness + got some bad or even worst random debuf in fight = you're dead (If you didn't have any potions or medical herbs or good food).
~♥~Welcome to LonaRPG random~♥~
Yeaaah... LonaRPG is a funny dark fantasy game. I'd even say it's more lika a guide - How a little girl can survive in a dark cruel world.
Game that tells you that being a hero isn't always the right choice... or you know... you die~ because it's not about morality - it's more about survival.
Always have to think about all the risks, think two or three steps ahead so you don't get killed and then maaaaybe you'll get what you want.
If you're really pissed off about something... just keep the phrase in your head - "I am gonna kick your ass... maybe not now... but I will" hehe~
Kadmeian - "Just wanted to pop in and tell you that I am now 10 hours in and have barely accomplished anything. Just trying out all kinds of stuff. I absolutely love this game"
Hm... i am now more than 1000 or 1500... hours i don't remeber exactly... but maybe that info help you in some way.
So... Arena + Tropical forest + Crystal Mine (Abomination Quest) -> your best friends because it's easy money + Crystal Mine is also EXP.
At the beginning the most profit weapon that absolutely all classes can use is a usual lamp because the damage of this weapon depends on SURV points and also SURV stat help you find more food in different places as well as cook smoked and dry food (10 SURV) and potions (15 SURV) and mines (10 SURV) and other traps.
BUT!!!
In general all starter weapons are bad. Not because they're really really bad but because of enemy DEF stat which literally negates any 10-15 damage at start... and if you don't take Lona's strong personality (First skill at lvl 2) which of course gives you 6 points of ATK which is a very good (Same thing if you're LVL UP Combat LVL 12 times) you can't beat your opponent with good DEF stat without spending a lot of time, stamina, and open space.... until you buy a saber at lvl 15 (15 lvl will allow you to open high quality weapons) that ignores all enemy armor (You can also take a dagger or kunai with saber which will also increase saber damage) or magic (But you need 10 points of WIS stat to do any damage at all because some enemies also have SURV stat which also gives them protection against magic).
BTW - Strong personality will block access to almost any magic... (That's why I don't often use Nymphomaniac or Strong Lona personality) and holy magic is pretty weak and it's practically useless in combat until you pump up at least 30 Combat LVL... which means you have to be at least level 45-50 since you still need to spend points on survivability and other things... and holy heal and other buffs on NPC's are almost pointless since friendly NPCs are very stupid in fight... and in general the whole gameplay where you heal your allies very much tightens the battle... where you could for example at the same level 50 to run with a halberd and kill everyone in zone with 2-3 hits at 10-15 sec (Ahhh... I still can't figure out why dev did that because holy magic 70% of gameplay just not fun or useful at all - Holy magic need a rework).
Usual or Master Lona = Very Fun (Can't use only holy magic).
Tough or Strong Lona = Fun (Can't use magic and lust skills).
Timid or Mage Lona = Fun (Can't use high quality weapons and lust skills).
Nympho Lona = Fun (Can't use magic without deepone race and high quality weapons).
Saint or Priestess Lona = Not really Fun (Can't use magic, can't use high quality weapons, can't use lust skills).
So... what about lamp?
- Lamp can deal yellow damage is very fast but you need to learn how to use it (Basically you need to always prepare a lamp burning skill using corners).
- Yellow damage - Stamina damage -> If the enemy runs out of stamina = dead (No matter how much health enemy have).
- Lamp yellow damage is directly dependent on SURV points -> 10 SURV is enough because you can make smoke meat and dry meal and traps buuuut some the recipe for mines is quite expensive so it's easier to buy them at night from a girl at the market (10 mines can kill the toughest boss in the game at 20 sec -> So... buy a horse + load it with mines + go around blowing things up, hehe~).
BTW - Smoke meat and dry meal is very useful only if you play on Hell or Doom difficulty but you can also use smoke and dry food as a selling product
150TP 1 dry meal -> 12 dry meal = 1800TP = 1 Large Copper Coin
220TP 1 smoked meat -> 8 smoked meat = 1760TP = 1 Large Copper Coin (almost)
With 15-20 SURV points you can make 25-30 smoked meat and 50-60 dry meal per day or per night (half day) which literally destroys the economics of the game.
- - - - And if you've level up 15 already and open magic weapons skill or open high quality weapons skill that's what really good (IMHO) - - - -
1) Halberd + Bow (You can play very safely because of the distance + you practically don't need to invest COMBAT points to kill somebody + Halberd and bows can break all traps near by because of distance skill + but if you invest 20-30 COMBAT points then a halberd can kill just about anyone. Abomination race + Strong personality + Bloodlust + Halberd = Everyone is dead because it's practically 80-90 damage per hit. This is why I still think about - Why would you need something else if you have a halberd? The Halberd is broken? Hmm...)
2) Saber + Dagger (Saber Ignor armor + dagger can breaks opponent's leg's very fast that you can literally spin your opponent in 2x2 cells because enemy becomes immobile + dagger can crit if you stab in the back or while the enemy is stunned + dagger can kill any without big DEF stat even skeletons).
3) Saber + Kunai (I call it NINJA build because your kunai can do a lot of damage from a distance and also to slow down enemies and this is why you can play very safely with it. You can also break the traps with Kunai but for good Kunai damage you need 20-30 Combat LVL).
4) Aqua staff + Electric spell book (A lot of damage because you can throw a lot of lightnings in one place and push back enemy with aqua staff. This lightning kills all living things if you have 30 WIS stat + glasses. If there's water nearby... it will desentergrate everything in water even you~ hahahah... and you also can use Electric spell book to destroy all the traps in the area and little monsters too which is why I still think it's the best mage ability in the entire game).
5) Flame staff + Fire spell book (Usual strat -> Fire spell book to stun and big fireball = Win. Fireball need a lot of WIS stat to big magic damage and it works very badly if there is little space sometimes + Fire spell book can break all traps within 3x3 cell radius + injure enemy and of course can set enemies on fire like a lamp but faster).
6) Saber + Dagger + Fire spell book (I think this is very OP because you can stun at the distance with Fire spell book and use dagger to backstab + You don't need any WIS stat to Fire Spell Book but only a Magic Weapon Skill + Fire spell book can break all traps within 3x3 cell radius + injure enemy).
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The others weapons are very specific and not needed very much - usful only for certain cases or just for fun (I can tell you about them too if you need).
I hope this was useful information~
Whew that was a lot...but so much good info in there. Really, thank you! For my first playthrough I decided to go with tough + saber and I'm slowly making progress now. I did hear magic would be great on a NG+ playthrough so I'm def gonna try that. And yes...the lamp is super helpful still! I do sometimes have a little trouble with money/food though so your tips will come in really useful I'm sure.
later on like when you have around 36-44 combat you can also use the halberd which will do more damage to most things faster than the saber since its a more positively scaling weapon and enemies with less armour will just fold when hit with a sweet spot hit(end of the halberds range) or with the halberd or a heavy attack
Well... about magic I can tell you this.
The biggest problem with mage class is that there's no point in taking it from the start which is why a lot of people suffer because of it.
Many people think about if you want to be a mage you should take Timid Lona perk from the start which will increase 5 points of SURV and 5 points WIS which UP the lamp damage a bit and also lower the prices in the store by 5% and you can find more useful herbs in the mountains or in the forests. Yeaaaah... but on the other hand you've also open a lot of problems (Yep... Timid Lona at start it's like opening Pandora Box).
- - - - The problems of being a magician - - - -
1) The first major problem - If you open Timid Lona from the start (At LvL 2) then you'll run slower and all your physical weapons will be without damage at all except for usual lamp which will get you in trouble even with small bugs because of 3.8 speed... and if you will get a leg injury you can't able to escape easily... and if u take damage Lona's mood is going down very fast (Bad Mood = Bad Damage -> Or just pick Pessimism perk -> but i don't like it personally because of the dialogues) and the only way to do some damage and quests is hire companions from the tavern. So... Crysytal cave become sometimes very difficult without any help (Solo) and usual Tropical Forest can be a pain too because of boar random attack (3.8 speed mean - If you get 1-2 leg injuries then it becomes almost unreal to escape even using sprint).
2) The second major problem - You can't use magic until you reach level 15 because only at level 15 you get access to magical weapons which means there's no point in LvL up your WIS stat at all but only SURV or SCU (Stealth stat) and also 5 extra SURV stat won't give you access to cooking dry food or smoked meat or potions until you LVL UP 10-15 times SURV by yourself personally (Same thing if you wearing a hunter's set)... Yep - Equip stat tell you there is 15-20 SURV but it's to find more food in the forest, take less damage from magic and do more damage with lamps and traps (And yep... some events will favor you because of your big SURV stat but basically it doesn't work if the world's danger rating is already somewhere around 30 - For example i've only come across 6 wagons in the whole game where only 2 had anything useful... amm... like fire books or staff or even dancer parts set that's pretty expensive to sell).
3) The third major problem - Like I said before the mage can't do a very good damage until Lona's WIS stat reaches about 20 points (I mean you need to LvL Up 20 WIS stat and use any staff + glasses = 35 WIS) because without good mag damage you'll be caught and squeeze in a corner very easily and you just... welp yea... you die~ Magic uses up a lot of stamina and to compensate for that you need a lot of magic damage (CONST only for travel or for a safer gameplay). In a one vs one battle even with 10-15 wisdom won't be much of a problem... but you know this game... yeah... you're usually attacked by a bunch of people or goblins or fishmens... and the abominations are practically always walking in droves.
And if that doesn't scare you then you can take it from the start (Despite all the problems I like to play as mage -> it's fun.)
Mage is pretty weak at the beginning but very dangerous at mid-game (Mage at LvL 40 is very dangerous because of the Electic spell book and Fire spell book with Flame staff or Aqua staff becomes very painful. I forgot to tell you that burning spell in the Fire book is even more dangerous than lamp burning skill because of stacking speed that even at lvl 20 it works very good 1 vs 1).
I'm not saying that being a mage is a veryyyyyy bad thing. Blah-blah-blah... major problem 1-2-3... Blah-blah-blah... I really like mage. I'm just saying that some people judge a mage class so much because the mage is very weak from the start but at the same time mage is the strongest class in the game right now.
This is what you could literally call - LonaRPG irony~ heh...♥
I've also been asking myself when I first started playing as mage - "Why do I need a Fire spell book if it doesn't do any damage?" And then I kind of figured it out.
BTW - It's still funny to me from the fact that the mage class have the strongest defense in the whole game because if you open Timid Lona personality then you'll get extra 6-8 DEFENSE points=))))) So... you could have 16 defenses from the start playing as mage=))))))))) In theory a mage can make almost 30 DEF stat if mage wears the most armored stuff in the game. Yes, she cries, yes, she's scared but no one can kill her~ hahahaha...
Just like that meme -> Quiet people are the most dungerous if you piss them off.