Something is not right

[Grimhorn]

You know for being rogue "LORDS" they sure do EASILY get theyre asses kicked , This game is SO overly difficult its really not worth having at this point, I am interested in the story aspect, but I can watch someone play through this on YOUTUBE for that, its not fun getting my ass kicked on every 3 or 4th fight , every time I near the end of BOOK 1 BTW all the "bad guys" have 3+ buffs on , and I have -2 buffs on each character, am I just the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ unluckiets play at this possible or is this game so full of ♥♥♥♥ that devs eyes' are brown .... I hear people complaining that its TOO EASY, you have to be cheating some home because I am not seeing this at all, I havent beaten or seen the boss to book 1 ,
SACRAFICE Stones are total bs especially early in the game, I dont have enought AP to to give myself a fighting chance, every fight i run into the enemy is hitting me w/ 14x3 dmg either HP or SP , WTF is going on , there is no balance here, its ENTRIELY up hill with no ending in sight, FIX YOUR ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ GAME, or this will be the last game I ever buy from this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up company ( and I get that this is a drop in the bucket, but will do my best to spread word like fire that the games from this company are completly ♥♥♥♥, even for a simplistic looking game such as this, - GREAT stroy thus far , ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ TERRIBLE EXECUTION for game play

[Spawnling]

Is this post just to vent your frustration or would you like some help?
I've went through book 1-3 ~20 times and have lost maybe 3 times, if you want I can give you some advice on how to win consistently.

[ShinryuEXE]

The game gives you a lot of different tools to use and it is balanced around you making good use of them.
Like, with the enemies doing 14x3, there are debuffs you can apply (basically with every character) that give -10 to attack, which cuts that down to 4x3. Or there's Exhaustion, which halves their attack. Or there are attacks with Alteration, which is stackable and just reduces their attacks that turn by an amount. Etc.
So there are lots of ways to mitigate damage.
Moreover, since the Disciples all heal after every battle, you're expected to take a lot of damage during the battle, you just need to juggle to keep them right at or right above Vulnerable so you don't take actual Essence damage.

Also, the game is expecting you to make liberal use of the Essence powers. Like you complain that enemies have a ton of buffs on them. Consider taking those buffs for your own characters. Sure, it costs 5 essence to steal a buff, but if that saves you from taking a gob of damage and/or lets you kill one of the enemies quickly then it can be absolutely worth the cost.

What do you not like about Sacrificial Altars? You can get rid of a skill you don't like, open up more skill slots for that character, and you get a new skill to replace it. Most of the characters have at least one lackluster basic skill, so even if you take no new skills early you should have at least one easy skill to sacrifice.

[Ereius]

I lost a couple of times on book 1 too until i got a hang of the mechanics. Ul swear a bit later too once u run into fanatic. But as the said its all about grasping the game mechanics, i rarely loose a fight nowdays unless i get reallly unluky rolls with skills and stuff

[Spawnling]

What's your plan to win?
What are your goals for each chapter and how do you reach them?

[Johnny Thunder]

this game's difficulty is just right. trust me, i'm not that good of a player.

[jjpearson]

You know for whatever reason I cannot wrap my head around this game.
I can play all the other similar games, Slay, Monster Train, Darkest dungeon, just fine but this damn game doesn't gel with my brain at all.
The worst part is I think I'm doing ok and suddenly some random ass fight comes along and ♥♥♥♥ goes off the rails.
So yeah, I'm now level 6 having still not even made it to the final boss of the first book and I've literally had to uninstall it and walk away a couple of times because it pisses me off that much.

At this point I'm considering just deleting the damn thing and not messing with it anymore because it's not even the "good" kind of challenge to me for whatever reason, just a couple of hours of thinking everything is going alright and then a giant curbstomp.

The worst part is I really want to like this game but ♥♥♥♥ me if it doesn't make that really hard.

[Spawnling]

Originally posted by jjpearson:

You know for whatever reason I cannot wrap my head around this game.
I can play all the other similar games, Slay, Monster Train, Darkest dungeon, just fine but this damn game doesn't gel with my brain at all.
The worst part is I think I'm doing ok and suddenly some random ass fight comes along and ♥♥♥♥ goes off the rails.
So yeah, I'm now level 6 having still not even made it to the final boss of the first book and I've literally had to uninstall it and walk away a couple of times because it pisses me off that much.

At this point I'm considering just deleting the damn thing and not messing with it anymore because it's not even the "good" kind of challenge to me for whatever reason, just a couple of hours of thinking everything is going alright and then a giant curbstomp.

The worst part is I really want to like this game but ♥♥♥♥ me if it doesn't make that really hard.

The question is where you're falling off, as the game is rather straight forward.

A guideline that wins me most games:
1. Get ~2 Terror each Chapter (for chap 1-4)
2. Visit Events to get health, damage and nice rewards (use an event guide there are 2 now)
3. Get a few (1-2) Skills early on, raise terror, get wicked (purple) skills in chapter 4-6

For Skills I like to get a skill from the first combat in chapter 1, then focus on events.
~70% of the Events reward Terror. ~20% give you Terror for free. ~18% require a battle for Terror and ~40% are easy social checks (you get +50% to pass).
[Edit these numbers don't add up to 100% because a lot of events give you terror in more than one way.]
The second skill is a gamble once I reach Terror II for the 1 in 4.

Another thing is that you should take a break during your run. The game is extremly long and as you progress further through the chapters the enemies wont only have more health, but also deal more damage and if you reach chapter 5 after 2 hours you will make mistakes due to a lack of concentration.

[Samseng Yik]

ALT F4 can reset a fight. Just in case anyone want improve the outcome or change tactic

[Depressed Catfish]

Just some more kind words from this dudes review "hey DEVS ITS CALLED A DIFFICULTY SCALE TRYING TAKING 10 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ SECONDS TO DO YOUR ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ JOBS RIGHT AND PUT 1 IN YOUR YOUR ♥♥♥♥ PILE YOU CALL A GAME YOU WORTHLESS BITCHBOY ♥♥♥♥ HEADS - GO BACK TO SCHOOL AND LEARN HOW TO MAKE A GAME YOU ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥."

And they only have 1.2 hours in this game, they claim to have played on a friends laptop but why buy the game on your own account if you hated it so much? I can tell from your mannerisms that you just don't have the patience or self respect to change anything about how you're playing the game. Heck, I'd even give you some advice if you didn't already call everyone who's better than you a liar or a cheater in your review.

[KunJo]

People need to understand that most of roguelites are meant to be hard and have a reverse difficulty curve. The more you fail, the more you unlock things that will help you to go farther in the next run.

[MrSmiley]

Originally posted by KunJo:

People need to understand that most of roguelites are meant to be hard and have a reverse difficulty curve. The more you fail, the more you unlock things that will help you to go farther in the next run.

This, and they take getting used to. I just beat chapter 1 on literally my first run (barely mind you), but I have a LOT of experience in these types of games too. You have to consider the uses of skills/relics and how they can combo with the other characters, watch enemy attacks and consider the best move against them. A lot of times if things are about to go poorly, you can use devils cheat to effectively skip the disaster rather than lose way more essence taking the hits.

It is a lot to take in and it is not simple, but this game feels like rng is a lot less crippling then another rougelites I play, you have a lot of control on the outcomes, you just need to puzzle it out and set your party up to deal with the stronger fights ahead.

[KunJo]

Originally posted by MrSmiley:

I just beat chapter 1 on literally my first run

First, congratulation finishing the first boss on your first run ! I was about to say that the game isn't meant to be beaten on the first attempt but you prove me wrong.

Originally posted by MrSmiley:

You have to consider the uses of skills/relics and how they can combo with the other characters, watch enemy attacks and consider the best move against them.

Exactly, that's the basics and there is some relics that are a garranty win if associated and they could need a nerf.
Last game I had two relics that double the damages (so x4Dmg) and the one (+3Dmg but reducing your essence max to 30) that I had very early so basicaly a +3Dmg to all characters for 20 essences. I was one-shotting everything with Bloody Mary AOE, finishing every fights on the first turn, even the boss of the 2nd book.
There's also a relic giving you +1dmg every 40souls stack that can scale up very fast and be very OP late-run.

Originally posted by MrSmiley:

but this game feels like rng is a lot less crippling then another rougelites I play, you have a lot of control on the outcomes

The RNG is almost non-existent with the devil cheat tools helping you managing the risks.
I havn't played a lot of RNG based roguelites but Rogue Lords feels totally alright in comparaison with Blood bowl or X-Com...

[SemtexMan47]

Originally posted by MrSmiley:

Originally posted by KunJo:

People need to understand that most of roguelites are meant to be hard and have a reverse difficulty curve. The more you fail, the more you unlock things that will help you to go farther in the next run.

This, and they take getting used to. I just beat chapter 1 on literally my first run (barely mind you), but I have a LOT of experience in these types of games too. You have to consider the uses of skills/relics and how they can combo with the other characters, watch enemy attacks and consider the best move against them. A lot of times if things are about to go poorly, you can use devils cheat to effectively skip the disaster rather than lose way more essence taking the hits.

It is a lot to take in and it is not simple, but this game feels like rng is a lot less crippling then another rougelites I play, you have a lot of control on the outcomes, you just need to puzzle it out and set your party up to deal with the stronger fights ahead.

Yeah the RNG is very very manageable in this game which is what makes me find it interesting when compared to other Spire type roguelikes. I like that puzzle factor.

[Mujaidin]

The game is unbalanced I am 39 hours of gameplay that I try in every way but I can not get through the first book. The game is beautiful but obviously there is something to fix quickly to avoid a total migration to DARKEST DUNGEON 2.

[KunJo]

Originally posted by Mujaidin:

The game is unbalanced I am 39 hours of gameplay that I try in every way but I can not get through the first book. The game is beautiful but obviously there is something to fix quickly to avoid a total migration to DARKEST DUNGEON 2.

If you can't pass the first chapter then I doubt you would do any better on Darkest Dungeon 2...
If the game need a nerf, it's some relics that are clearly OP.