Solo difficulty and playability

[Hairy Mouse]

Edit: Ended up pulling the trigger on the game. Glad i did, I'm totally addicted.

So, the game seem somewhat interesting, and I'm bored. I'm thinking about picking it up, ut now its back up to $30, so I dont really wanna waste the time and money if its not very good.

I really love RPGs, and ESPECIALLY MMORPGs, with the time it takes to progress and the grind for levels/skills/drops. i like survival games as well, but im a bit pickier about those, and I'm not a huge fan of base building and "creative" games. I usually stick to the necessities, and more simplistic/efficient bases if i have to build. That not to say i hate building games, just that i only like the ones that offer other stuff BESIDES just building, and doesn't have a gameplay loop that revolves mainly around building. No mans sky is and examble of a good game that just happens to HAVE building, and Minecraft is an example of a bad going with hardly any gameplay, outside digital legos. I do like very complex building games, though, with extremely advanced and flexibly systems, like Space Engineers, or Empyrion for a bit more simplicity.

i usually play games on either the hardest, or second to hardest difficulty, and normally also disable stuff like enemy markers, crosshairs, spotting indicators, and cheaty handholding UI assists. In MMO/RPG games, i enjoy trying to get drops with like 1/500-1000 drop rates, and skills that take hours to make any significant increase, and power raises by very small increments. For challenge in survival games, i enjoy resource management to a point. I like needing to eat/drink/sleep and all that, but prefer its not overly intrusive and frustrating, where i need to like drink every 5 min, run out of water, drink something dirty, and die from disease.

With that stuff in mind, how good of a fit would this game be for me, assuming i intend to play SOLO ONLY? I've tried watching some videos, but they all suck, with people just standing around, or building, or fighting an enemy, and often in coop. So, they dont really offer any info besides what the world/art look like, and that you can fight and build. Reading reviews and opionions, its very split, and different people literally claim conflicting things. So, i cant really get a good picture of what the game is, and if its a game i would like. People have said the game is both TOO DIFFICULT and frustrating, and TOO EASY and boring, with more people leaning towards too easy. However, a lot of them seem to be playing coop, and im only interested in solo difficulty.

Also, how broken or stable is the game, how much content is there or is just placeholder/filler stuff? whats the performance like? Should i just buy Valheim and play that instead? I realize its free on gamepass, but i prefer all my games to be OWNED and in a unified launcer, and it's only $9.95. Tried it before but thought the game was too empty and incomplete, but that was a year ago.

[Blackwolfe]

Originally posted by Scud:

Originally posted by Hairy Mouse:

I really love RPGs

this game stops RPG mechanics at middle of game when u hit lvl cap at 25 lvl - so no more rpg after.
Easy/ok as mage
hard as ranger
impossible as melee

Lvl 50 is planned. I'm assuming the level cap will be raised as they add more biomes. After all, we only got 1/3 of the full map so far.

[termus]

Combat needs some love. It's a little wonky. I'd say wait if you are very picky with your games and aren't willing to put up with some Early Access jank.

[Beorn]

Originally posted by Scud:

Easy/ok as mage
hard as ranger
impossible as melee

It's funny how different the experiences seem to be.
I agree, ranger is hard way. But for me mage is impossible and meele is really easy/ok.

[melomellow]

Originally posted by Scud:

Originally posted by Hairy Mouse:

I really love RPGs

this game stops RPG mechanics at middle of game when u hit lvl cap at 25 lvl - so no more rpg after.
Easy/ok as mage
hard as ranger
impossible as melee

I would agree with Ranger being hard and melee being harder/unforgiving at times.

[*Schalalai*]

Melee for me is easier, than playing a Mage. I like to go forward and dont have to worry about falling from a cliff or runnig into other mobs.

I think it just depends on how much experience you have with different playstyles

[SaberToothDeathMouse]

I am also predominantly a solo player. Once in awhile when she's not working, my daughter will come on my world and we'll do some stuff together. I'm also not a "gotta beat the game yesterday" kind of player... I take my time, just enjoying the game and getting to quests as I get to them. I like to build, but building a big-ass fortified base is NOT necessary... I lived out of a tiny wooden hut for the first 3 days of playing. There are no base raids to worry about except maybe the occassional wolf that wanders too close and I see as a food source. They don't destroy anything.

As for the quests, you do need to go and "rescue" the NPC's if you want to craft anything beyond the most basic tools and items. The Blacksmith is fairly easy to rescue and (for me at least) the NPC's get progressively tougher to rescue - did I mention I'm not a hardcore gamer and what may be "harder" for me is a cakewalk for others (LOL!). My map is inundated at this point with main quests, storyline quests, and side quests... not to mention getting Sparks from the flames (necessary to upgrade your Flame Altar), tearing down Shrouds and lots of other "side" stuff. I have yet to get "bored" because I never set out to "beat the game". I still have LOADS of things "to do".

As mentioned, I do like to build as well, so I've been trying to "find" the other materials used for building - although this has not been a priority. Some have been discovered simply as I explored the world and ran across them accidently. I've also found some very nice Legendary and Epic items, mostly by just playing the game. I don't watch videos to see how to get them all on the first day of playing... I like to discover them on my own.

Boss fights... hmmm. I have had my butt handed to me a few times, mostly because I was trying to kill things that I wasn't prepared/leveled enough to be taking on. But when properly geared, and skill points in the right places for my combat style (I'm kind of experimenting with Magic at this point), I've been able to take them on solo pretty easily - as long as I pay attention and "kite" a lot.

As a previous poster said I agree that Mage is probably the most powerful at the time of this post. Ranger is also pretty powerful if you know HOW to play it and use the right gear, weapon, arrows, and SKILL points. Melee is **not** impossible though (as they said)... but it is more difficult solo because you have to be the "tank" AND the damage dealer. Using your shield effectively makes melee quite easy, actually but you do need to pay attention to skill points and using those skills correctly and at the right time.

Would YOU like this game? I can't answer that for you - only you can. To me, I got my "$30 worth" by day Three. I'm still having a blast, still exploring, still dying, still questing, still building, still discovering better ways to play.... and the game is still being developed so there's a lot I'm looking forward to.

Bugs - this is early access... there are gonna be issues. So far the only real problem I've had was the notorious "rake bug", but I was lucky and found a workaround to get a rake (which really is ONLY used for leveling terrain to build on). Framerate - I hold a steady 60 fps and have no problem with that... I don't notice any stuttering or choppy play,, I've never had issues trying to connect to my solo game or launch the game in general.

These are just my opinions, and your mileage may vary. $30 really isn't very much to pay for a game and you could always try it for 2 hours and refund if you don't get into it. Btw, I also have Valheim and enjoyed it for a short time and then got very bored with it and started looking for mods to "make it better" because, IMO, content is very lacking. I don't think I'll be looking for mods for Enshrouded any time *soon* because I'm enjoying it as it is, for now. Hope this helps! If you decide to give it a try, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have for MANY sleepless nights and days now!

[Qiox]

I played my first char as pure melee and it was super easy. Too easy.

So I made a mage for my second character and it was even easier lol.

There is no difficult class right now.

[Michael]

The game is very easy. I beat all the bosses on the first try without dying as a pure melee character. There is very little sense of danger, and the combat is quite simple.

I wouldn't say it is boring, though. I have enjoyed exploring the world, progressing through the crafting system, and finding the occasional legendary/epic weapon to play around with.

Overall I would say the game is worthwhile, but if challenging gameplay is a sticking point for you it might be best to wait for difficulty options, if they add those.

Edit: Forgot to mention, I am playing solo and haven't run into any technical issues or serious bugs.

[william_es]

The game is easily playable in solo only. The devs have added skills and gear sets for classic roles like "tank" and healer, but they aren't required.

I've been playing as a mage, using a wand, and enjoying the game immensely. I also used melee a LOT in early game, less so as I've move forward. As a side note, I'm playing a magic user who wears mostly melee armor. Sort of an old fashioned "battlemage" from a bethesda games (daggerfall, skyrim, etc). Those were wizards who wore heavy armor, and fought from the front lines. I am basically, a tanky mage.

Bows/ranged builds just didn't click for me. Aiming seemed too slow, and I'm pretty sure there are skills to fix that, but I wasn't interested.

Pure melee would probably have been fun, but all my skill points have gone into the magic side skill trees. I can see some crazy potential for some reallllllly hard hitting melee builds, just wade in and hack and slash. Sadly, just no free points to use there.