From one of the best dungeon crawlers to one of the worst in 10 hours

[Asakura Shinichi]

At first i was hooked by this game but i barely have the energy and willpower to even continue it at this point, there is a difference between hard and challenging and impossible and unfair. From a total lack of even getting money to upgrade your equipment to total lack of farming experience in late game, not to mention someones funny idea to make experience based totally on the level difference between your party and the enemy you fight, it would work if not the fact that there are enemies that in no possible way can be beaten even 5 levels higher than they are if they can do a one shot physical attack against a guarding knight on max heavy armor mastery and max level best defensive wise armor i found. And since currency income is a very rare drop and there are no other ways to obtain even small amounts of it this is literally the only item i can afford to max level after 18 hours.

[Cute Tea Goat]

I think the game is much easier if you use diverse parties. It's incredibly fast and easy to level up an entire squad of units that you can mix together for whatever enemies you need to deal with. If you just stick with one team the whole way through, there are gonna be enemies that are nearly impossible to beat, I think.

[Asakura Shinichi]

Originally posted by Sacrificial Toast:

I think the game is much easier if you use diverse parties. It's incredibly fast and easy to level up an entire squad of units that you can mix together for whatever enemies you need to deal with. If you just stick with one team the whole way through, there are gonna be enemies that are nearly impossible to beat, I think.

And this is exactly why its actually not the best dungeon crawler but somewhere near the bottom, the top ones let you make a party you want and stick with it till the end if you synergize the build, games like Wizardry and Etrian rewarded you for the synergy between characters no matter what class combinations you picked, also this still does not resolve the unrewarding system of level difference based experience and currency as a very rare loot. Also i just said that there is barely any currency to upgrade this much equipment so thats even more against having more than 3 characters to swap the around.

[Cute Tea Goat]

Eh, I enjoyed planning my teams for each area/boss fight. Barely even used the equipment upgrades till I dumped all my money at the end of the game.

[Asakura Shinichi]

Originally posted by Rupika:

Sounds like you're just rushing through it too quickly. Go back and explore everything, you will catch up to where you need to be.

You read what i wrote? Im almost 10 levels ahead of some of the more stupidly designed strong enemies and still get one shot cause how bad they are designed and whats best the fight is pointless anyway cause i get no reward from it, with 10 levels ahead the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ flying swords are totally pointless to kill other that that one chest after them which probably will hold another useless part of equipment which is not any better than what i already got. And since you get experience based on level difference i get NONE cause im 10 levels ahead.

The problem with the design of this game is that it literally gives you no freedom, each class has a specific build it has to use for it to be even worth a spot in the party, many mobs are made to be fought by specific class combination, thats not freedom, i cant make a knight how i want or play with 3 ppl from start only. This game is a very mediocre dungeon crawler at best that cant compete with games like Wizardry or Etrian series.

Also regarding "rushing" i have all dungeons at almost 100% and ive beaten the last boss which was a decent boss, but beatable even a few levels lower than he is.

[AntTheKnee]

this game is more like dnd where some party members are better than others for fights. I found the warrior to pretty much be one of the worse classes in the game honestly. and the mage to be one of the best no matter what with his earth spells. it does suck that you cant pick whatever you want and it be viable. I did still enjoy my time with the game but i see your point

[Asakura Shinichi]

Originally posted by AntTheKnee:

this game is more like dnd where some party members are better than others for fights. I found the warrior to pretty much be one of the worse classes in the game honestly. and the mage to be one of the best no matter what with his earth spells. it does suck that you cant pick whatever you want and it be viable. I did still enjoy my time with the game but i see your point

For once i thought we actually got a Dungeon Crawler like Etrian, but sadly Etrian to this day is probably one of the best in terms of freedom and balance but still challenging yet rewarding. Kinda same as when i hoped Stranger of Sword City will be that one game and again was dissapointed, cause when you add a character perma death system but make it so your level 40 character can still get oneshot randomly by a level 1 mob that you thought "i just auto attack them since it will be faster than trying to escape" while going through an early dungeon just to reach a special part of it that you can visit later on. Losing permanently a character you spend 30+ hours to grind and have through all this story to a weak mob who just got a random insta kill crit did not feel fair and would force you to load a save losing some progress.

[PG]

If you're grinding, you're playing it wrong. There's almost always a path that has better loot, more iron, and better balanced levels. You're getting resources and stats capped because the game's encounters are balanced at certain levels.

If you're near the end of the game, there's an NPC right before the final boss that you have to talk to. He unlocks a whole new dungeon.

[Asakura Shinichi]

Originally posted by PG:

If you're grinding, you're playing it wrong. There's almost always a path that has better loot, more iron, and better balanced levels. You're getting resources and stats capped because the game's encounters are balanced at certain levels.

If you're near the end of the game, there's an NPC right before the final boss that you have to talk to. He unlocks a whole new dungeon.

I know, what does it change in the fact that some enemies cant be beaten being 10 levels ahead of them and not get any experience for that? Whats the point fighting a strong enemy or mini boss when you get nothing for your effort? NONE, the game forgets one basic rule of game design, if something takes a considerable effort for no rewards than players will be heavily dissatisfied.

[PG]

Originally posted by Asakura Shinichi:

I know, what does it change in the fact that some enemies cant be beaten being 10 levels ahead of them and not get any experience for that? Whats the point fighting a strong enemy or mini boss when you get nothing for your effort? NONE, the game forgets one basic rule of game design, if something takes a considerable effort for no rewards than players will be heavily dissatisfied.

The point is to solve the encounters using your skill set and not raw numbers.

[Asakura Shinichi]

Originally posted by PG:

Originally posted by Asakura Shinichi:

I know, what does it change in the fact that some enemies cant be beaten being 10 levels ahead of them and not get any experience for that? Whats the point fighting a strong enemy or mini boss when you get nothing for your effort? NONE, the game forgets one basic rule of game design, if something takes a considerable effort for no rewards than players will be heavily dissatisfied.

The point is to solve the encounters using your skill set and not raw numbers.

Skillset, in other words you have no freedom, swap the characters or shut up.

[PG]

Originally posted by Asakura Shinichi:

Skillset, in other words you have no freedom, swap the characters or shut up.

I beat the game with a warrior, a rogue, and a ranger the whole way through, and constantly explored new strategies to win without respecing or swapping party members.

If you're not using all the skills at your disposal or forming smarter strats, I dunno what to tell you. Maybe apply for a job at Polygon?

[Asakura Shinichi]

Originally posted by PG:

Originally posted by Asakura Shinichi:

Skillset, in other words you have no freedom, swap the characters or shut up.

I beat the game with a warrior, a rogue, and a ranger the whole way through, and constantly explored new strategies to win without respecing or swapping party members.

If you're not using all the skills at your disposal or forming smarter strats, I dunno what to tell you. Maybe apply for a job at Polygon?

There always that one pathetic loser in life that goes into rage mode and full personal assault cause that someone does not agree with your OPINION. Especially hilarious when that someone is so sad he has his steam profiles set to full private. Grow up kiddo i can have an opinion especially when its quite a sound opinion about the leveling system being bad and unfair, not to mention at no point i said i cant beat the game nor you clearly read what i wrote and write some crap out of your ass about YOU beating the game, once again explain to me WHERE i said i cant beat the game?

[Halfshell]

TLDR: The game isn't for you and thats alright. I mean yeah, there was a pretty high difficulty spike but that didn't ruin the game for me by any stretch of the imagination.

[Asakura Shinichi]

Originally posted by Halfshell cat:

TLDR: The game isn't for you and thats alright. I mean yeah, there was a pretty high difficulty spike but that didn't ruin the game for me by any stretch of the imagination.

You guys even read what i write? I literally beat almost every game from the Etrian and Wizardy series which are freaking insane hard when you add the post game dungeons. THIS GAME IS NOT HARD its just badly designed giving you exp based only on the level difference between your party members and the enemy levels, thats bad design cause it literally cancels out the chance to farm which is a big part of such games. Freakin read and understand what you read before you come into a topic to write a garbage reply.

[Asakura Shinichi]

Originally posted by A. A. Ron:

I have absolutely no dog in this fight, I don't even own the game, just played the demo. But OP... dude, your communication style really sucks. Like, I don't even know why folks are bothering replying to your tirades.

You have your mind made up about the game already, you come in here to ♥♥♥♥♥ about it, you get some counterpoints, you lash out. What exactly is the point of all this moaning? You don't like the game. Leave a review, go play something else. It's like you're itching to fight so you're baiting people on purpose. Dude, nobody freaking cares.

If you want to just talk about dungeon crawlers as a regular human being, sure, I didn't really care for this game the more I played it either. But it's a matter of taste, and I'm glad I at least tried it out.

You say you're looking for a game like Etrian Odyssey. I own probably every turn-based blobber on Steam, and the one that cuts it the closest to Etrian specifically is Infinite Adventures. Check it out, it's rather cheap and a lot of fun.

My favorite DRPG right now, though, and perhaps even ever, is the masterpiece Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi. I love that game so much I can barely explain it.

Anyway, calm down.

Its hard to calm down when each time you write something the dumb kids that are replying on steam forums are always taking everything as means for personal attacks. First half of the replies did not even bother to read what i wrote, and thats literally happens almost every time you post anything on this garbage forums full of toxic kids who just wait for someone to post something to act like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
BTW about Undernauts, its another aksys DRPG is this made more like Demon Gaze or more like Stanger is Sword City, cause i did not like the seconds perma death when you have criticals that can go to even 1000% damage at random.