Duo and Legendary Boons Part 2

[WinterBurn]

As the title suggests I've already made a post already discussing this but I've played the game even more now and I have even more thoughts. Unfortunately many of them are negative :(

I've played the game for 70+ hours, completed all of the testaments and gotten through basically all of the currently available story and no long have a need to collect any resources, so I feel like these thoughts have definitely had some time to develop.

Before I begin I would like to clarify that I think this is an AMAZING SEQUEL. The new weapons and their omega attacks are all very fun and provide interesting game play. each aspect provides a different way to play each of the weapons, even more so than in the first game. that hammers are also a much better improvement, in this game they are something you should aim for, contrasting the previous game where for most of the weapons they felt a bit supplementary (with the exception of the rail, I NEED hammers on that weapon to have fun with it). the base boons are all pretty damn good and the new keepsakes are all pretty damn good, definitely an improvement on the last game. Although some people seem to find the new reagent system a bit tedious I think it's quite fun. now to my issues

I reiterate, the boon requirements for Duo and Legendaries are WAY TOO RESTRICTIVE. I replayed the previous game recently and in that game I managed to consistently get three Duos every single run. In this game I'm lucky if I get two, half the time I don't even get two. these restrictive requirements aren't any fun and it makes the Duo boons very non-intuitive, It's hard to tell which boons each duo requires, some exclude attack and special boons, only allowing mana, cast and dash boons others randomly exclude the dash boon or the mana boon, its not very easy to keep in your head and checking the boon list every single time you pick one up will get tedious quick. As for the Legendaries, they're also too restrictive, they require at least four boons from the specific god and you have to actively choose the required boons as some of the requirements don't organically slot into a build or are simply one of the worse boons offered by the god, so they aren't your first choice, meaning you have to ignore better boons if you want to get your hands on the legendary. worse still, most of these boons aren't synergistic at all, we have Heph with Hestia and Apollo and that's hampered by Heph's long cooldowns, there is also Zeus with Aphrodite and Demeter, or demeter with Heph and Hestia, but this combo feels especially clunky. So many of these boons just don't feel like they slot into any sort build, they're just aimless additions, a standalone bonus but nothing to prioritise.

On top of the restriction the Duo and Legendaries are noticeable weaker than the previous game, they're also quite boring in some cases. I've already gone over some of the Duos I don't like but I have even more I take issue with now. I actively dislike most of the Legendaries.

Legendaries:
Zeus: one of the easier Legendaries to get, but dear lord does it suck, instantaneously killing one or two enemies per chamber is not that fun or satisfying, it's really disappointing as well because Zeus is one of my favourite gods and think his primary selection is really good. useless against most bosses, doesn't synergise with anything. my suggestion would be to have something that interacts with low mana, every time you run out or use a lot a thunderstorm is created around the player striking everything nearby

Hera: not bad, bit uninteresting but not bad, it's just that it doesn't really make sense as a Hera legendary, she's got zero damage reduction in her primary boons, it makes more sense as a Hephaestus boon. it doesn't synergise that much with anything she's doing. a seperate idea could be something that interacts with having high mana, good contrast with zeus too.

Poseidon: one of the harder ones to get but not bad, inoffensive really, doesn't feel run defining but still solid. no notes really

Demeter: one of the good ones, a bit hard to get with the requirement to take winter coat or plentiful forage over her better boons but not too bad. it's nearly identical to the one she had in previous and was one of the better legendaries in that game so I will not complain about this, feels properly legendary.

Apollo: also one of the good ones, cannot complain about doubled omega attacks, that will always be good in this game, makes the torches both insane and almost unusable in some situations (but that's fine, expecting all the boons to work on all the weapons is a bit silly). has some really good synergies.

Aphrodite: a worse version of the one from the first game, perma-charming is undeniably really good but it just feels a bit iffy in practice. Useless against most bosses generally speaking. I'm not really sure what I'd suggest to replace this to be honest

Hepheastus: I've already said this in a previous post, this boon is bad, its not good because it only gives you about 5% or !0% extra on your aspect's bonus and it only works at its highest ability if you have high meta progression, in the early game its useless. also, doesn't synergise with anything at all in regards to Heph's base boons, or any of the other boons in the game. as I said earlier, Hera's legendary makes more sense belonging to Hepheastus

Hestia: this isn't a terrible legendary but it's kinda hampered by the underpowered nature of scorch (yes it can be absolutely nuts if you really invest in it, but it feels very underpowered in most builds, unless its a dedicated scorch build, the attack, special and cast boon barely apply any scorch, it only does well with fast weapons like the staff, blades and torches). it's not bad, the problem is more to do with scorch.

Duos:
Zeus/Hestia: it's not a bad duo but its hampered by scorch being a little bit weak

Hera/Demeter: bad, same problem as the Hephaestus Legendary, but it has the added downside that it doesn't buff your current keepsake and doesn't do anything to half of them. this also doesn't synergise with anything, it's a flat buff that doesn't interact at all with anything Hera or Demeter are doing. maybe something that interacts with omega attacks could be more exciting, something like "omega attacks create a cyclone around the player that deals bonus damage to enemies afflicted with a curse".

Hera/Poseidon: boring, not a fun Duo to get and only really works if your aiming for it at the beginning of the run. it sort of synergies with Poseidon's treasure boons but it doesn't interact with any of Hera's stuff. It being a flat damage bonus means it isn't especially bad but it certainly isn't interesting. maybe something to do with sacrificed boons 'resurfacing', that way it could synergise with Hera's family trade and Hestia too.

Apollo/Poseidon: terrible, absolutely terrible, one of the most restrictive duos to get and it's effect is pathetic, aiming the sphere is pain in the ass and the damage is minuscule, not worth it at all. Also, what does this synergise with? what build does this add to? an alternate idea could be making Poseidon's wave attacks circular rather than cone shaped or making wave attacks propel dazed foes like missiles.

Poseidon/Hephaestus; hampered by a long ass cooldown and being attached to the second worst cast boons in the game. maybe something to do with armor? when the player uses their cast a watery blast around the player activates, dealing damage based on their current armor

Apollo/Demeter: not a bad duo, but very uninteresting, yes the ramping damage is insane but I can't help be be bored by it. not the worst offender, this one is honestly a nitpick. maybe something like you can have multiple cast boons at once and each detonate at the same time.

Aphrodite/Demeter: again not a bad boon but it feels really boring and underwhelming to me personally. I've done a run with this boon, went well, did some crazy damage, once the novelty wore off it got dull. Same problem as the Hera/Poseidon duo, you have to basically build your entire run around it and the bay off is simply a flat damage bonus, a bonus you can lose quite easily against Eris or Chronos, since those two hit like a truck. a different idea could be a 'frozen heart' orbits the player dealing damage to enemies and being able to be hit away by the player acting like a missile.

I would like to end this post by saying that this is all my own PERSONAL OPINION. I don't think this is a massive problem where the gameplay is concerned, I just think that maximum fun should be the goal and to me the current higher rank boons don't make things that fun. If my suggestion are ignored I'll be perfectly understanding, I realise I'm being a bit demanding with my suggestions.

[hilfazer]

Idea:
Apollo/Poseidon: Your sprint works like Apollo's and Poseidon's sprint.