Raven Merchant?

[oRpheusB20]

Okay, so there's this merchant in Nipher, I don't think they have a name, if they do then I didn't see it when first speaking to them.
But, like, they sell a couple of things. An item that restores half your HP, one that does the same but with Ether, some of the lore fragment things, and then three masks.
These masks, though, I don't get.
The first one is one soul/essence/whatever and it just notes that it's a strangely familiar Wanderer's mask. I bought that first, and could never find it in my inventory or anything.
Then there's something that looks like the Mark of the Wanderer, probably a placeholder, which the guy has two of. Or maybe three.
And THEN there's one that looks like the Mark that takes you back to Limbo. I have bought two of the five available, and I just don't know what these things are? Like, I've left the area, restarted, all of that, and the game still recognized when I returned that I had bought that first mask and wanted to see what else I could get. So the game knows I have these things, in some form or another, but I don't know if they have a purpose?
I have this Memorial Stone that has no description, idk where I got it, but at least even if it's so far unimplemented, I have it and know that I do. So why does the game not do the same for these things? I don't even really care if they have a purpose thus far in development; I just want to know where they went if they aren't in my inventory.

Not to mention I don't get who this raven guy is and why they're sitting in this random sandy area of the city!?

[ColdRage]

As for the mask of the wanderer I have no clue. Had the same problem.

The other 2 masks are the masks you already have(return to limbo and return to bonfire). At least it seems that way. My guess would be since the ones you already have do not get depleted on use(even tho they both have a 1 next to them) you just don't get/see them. They are probably currently limited to 1.

I'd guess they plan on them being pretty much the same as in DarkSouls. Especially since you do not loose souls.

[oRpheusB20]

IDK what's up with him still. Honestly, I sort of wish that they would have just not let him load into the area with everything else, at least until half of the stuff he sells actually works. As is these things don't even appear in the inventory so, like, I might as well be tossing my souls off the rooftops for all it matters.
And I sort of hope that they don't make the latter two into limited use times, because A) they're masks how the hell would they be consumed and B) this can't just be 'unpolished Dark Souls' cause at that point I might as well just play Dark Souls. And I quite like not having to spend my money on something like the ability to return to the hub, considering checkpoints don't let you warp and have a completely separate item associated with it...

[ColdRage]

I don't like the idead of them being limited either. But I kinda like them having a downside(e.g. lose your souls). This works in DarkSouls...but that is simply because you can warp from any bonfire and DarkSouls has a limited version of the item where you do not lose your souls.

The way it is currenlty is like a lite version of DarkSouls. Which I don't mind that much but it kinda makes the game a lot easier.

[oRpheusB20]

Well, the problem with 'lose your souls upon teleport' in this game is that if you're, say, in the middle of the Ancient Lands like where I am, then gods help you if you want to level up. Because it's not a matter of remembering where the last checkpoint is, it's remembering where the freaking limbo gate is, and sometimes that doesn't even work, because what if you don't have the key for it?
I don't mind how it is right now either, really. Except for the Ancient Lands, because then it becomes Shadow of the Colossus Lite, only I would argue the devs don't get what makes that game tick enough to be able to try and cross it with Dark Souls Lite. But yes, overall, easier, if only because you can save yourself if you fall off a ledge. Fall damage is far less deathly and that changes the whole thing right there

[ColdRage]

Ancient Lands has a whole lot of other problems(I wasn't there yet when writing my last comment). Aside from getting lost, that place is mainly empty.

But just to get this right with bonfires I did not mean the gates, I meant the wells. Surely that is not their intent.

[oRpheusB20]

Ancient Lands is... its own beast. My opinion: needs to be condensed (not necessarily remove the openworld feeling if they really want to keep it, just make it less obnoxious to cross) and have the places that have interesting things made more visually interesting than the rest. There's this mini-desert with what seems to be the ruins of a house but there isn't even anything to be found in it, it's just sort of there, but we don't know enough about the lore to find such a thing even remotely intriguing by itself. I was drawn to it because it was different from the brown blob of the desert and found myself standing there wondering why this thing exists.

Wells, in my last post, I referred to as checkpoints. Cause that's really all that they are; they do the bonfire's basic function but lack any of the other things, like letting you manage your storage or let you teleport, because the teleport is the gate's function.
I like the idea of the gate and well; it helps to make sure you can always get back to the hub easy but without the complete and utter lack of consideration to level design that Dark Souls occasionally suffered from (post-Lord Vessel in the case of the first game), but I feel the execution is kind of poor when you have a giant land like the AL, and have both a teleport to hub and teleport to last checkpoint so it jumps over that little hoop...
IDK I'm rambling and I know it, I can barely articulate regarding these wells and gates, ugh

[ColdRage]

I kinda like the gates and hate them. They are your teleport, which is nice. But what does it add if I need to find a key first? Wouldn't it be more than enough that I have to open the gate from within the world and than I can use it both ways?

But after playing through everything we can so far(at least I wasn't able to find anything else) I see some major problems. Aside from varierty in weapons and enemies(and kinda areas) and the horrible sidescrollers...alot of the places are empty with checkpoints in questionable places. Oh and loot is extremly boring.

I know this is not the final release...far from it...but I feel like they should have better released fewer areas but made them fell more alive and fledged out. Things like dropping through the floor in an untextured room with placeholder lore stones or yet another completely empty room in a building kinda kills the atmosphere. Which usually is rather good.

The devs should decide what type of game they wanna make...a platfromer or a soulslike. The combination or rather their current combination does not work. Every swap between genres feels really misplaced. It probably can work(as Ashen somewhat proves), but I doubt it works well with sidescrolling.

[oRpheusB20]

*nods* Perhaps there is a way they could even alter it so that it could better fit into the weird digital world thing they're going for. Like, I don't know, they could at least make some sort of subtle pun on access keys, since those are described by wikipedia as allowing a 'user to immediately jump to a specific part of a web page via the keyboard'; ergo you would use these 'keys' to move though the world.
Although to me, it feels like the devs are taking this whole world a tad too seriously to have a cute little pun like that.

I don't necessarily mind the lack of alt weapons. So far I have three swords, one of which does sh*t damage for a tiny speed benefit (which I never use because the default sword just gets rid of the enemy faster and with less stamina), the default, and then a much better damage dealer for what is really a negligible timing difference. What I'm waiting on is the ability to finally upgrade the stupid things.
Honestly, I think they could let players retain control of the camera in the sidescrolling sections... It really wouldn't hurt anything, and would stop the jarring immersion breaks.

Yeah... I feel like the best areas are around a 5/10 in quality, and the further along you go it starts to waver all over the place. And taken without context to other games, the best parts don't feel all that bad, but then once you take a step back it becomes more obvious that none of the game is even remotely finished.

Dark Souls is a special beast that can't be replicated, even by the original team that made it, arguably. Like, the first game is defined by an openness and world consistency and slow, deliberate movement that is missing from the second game (made by different people), and far too lacking in the third game (which plays like it was a Bloodborne mod first, if you even notice the sheer speed enemies move at, and the amount of hitstun).
So throw in different genres and really, everything just falls apart. If the devs have a good vision for the game, then it can come out as a decent product, but it will still just be 'Dark Souls but something isn't right here'

[Redlock Studio]

Hi guys,
First of, thank you for taking the time to give all this precious feedback.
The Mask of the Wanderer is something you'll be able to trade later on, it doesn't have any other purpose. The Mark of Choronzon allows you to freely return to the Heart of Limbo from anywhere in the game (you get it at the very beginning of the game, in Limbo).

About the Ancient Lands, we're currently working on adding content and features that will make them interesting and rewarding to go through. There will also be a hoverboard to be able to cross the area much, much quicker!
We're also taking notes on your thoughts about side scrolling sections. We'll try to better them :)

[oRpheusB20]

Holy-?! A hoverboard? Well heck man, give me that ASAP and I'll gladly cut you some slack!

Wait wait wait, "The Mark of Choronzon allows you to freely return to the Heart of Limbo from anywhere in the game"? I knew that! The question (that got kinda buried) was why the raven-looking merchant had something that looked just like it. Good to know about the Mask of the Wanderer, though, even if it is a bit confusing because we already have a Mark of the Wanderer and the thing won't even appear in the inventory.

I'm glad the devs have responded, though; I sort of thought that this would be just a couple of people p*ssing in the wind with nothing to show for it.

[ColdRage]

The hoverboard seems to be a nice "horse". That might actually fit. That alone will help the ancient lands alot. I figured that the area was quite unfinished(missing enemies and such).

As for the sidescrolling parts...I'm curious if you guys can make that work. In all the games I played where there where 2D-esque sections they either did not work at all and where only rage inducing(mainly camera/movement issues) or pretty much 2D (in the sense that you had only 2D movement, which makes controlls way better). The one that felt the leas annoying was Nier:Automata. They kinda got it to work.

Well let's see what you can do. I will expect nothing and hope for something.

[GrimoireDMD03]

Raven's current iteration in the game is to allow you to sell masks to her.
Currently she's got two locations that I know of: top right of Nipur, and by the first well in Inmost.

[oRpheusB20]

I haven't played the game for the last couple iterations, the final release included, so that's good to know, even if I'm not entirely sure what masks do, besides the ones that bring you to the last checkpoint and the one that takes you to the hub (which I think has been altered anyway, so that may be moot)
Amusing, though, that she would end up reversing functions from selling masks to you, to buying masks from you.