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This point is a worry of mine as I've seen other AA games, such as Cursed Crusade, and even AAA games (Prince of Persia 2008) have a story that ends on a complete cliffhanger where you're going to expect a sequel, only for that sequel to never come. Especially bad if you're wanting to know how the story concludes, only to be left eternally waiting for something that will most likely never come.
I think any dev that's starting a new IP that isn't based off of existing material really needs to learn how to give the game a satisfying ending, as a final reward for completing the story, rather than trying to get the hype train going for a game that isn't even out yet, if people like the first game, they'll most likely check out the second as well.
On an unrelated sidenote, the influx of soulslike design in story design also hasn't been that great, as I see many games that look to have a really interesting world and aesthetic, only to write an incredibly cryptic and unclear storyline, with a minimalist ending that just feels unsatisfying.
The combat does have a tendency to feel like rock paper scissors sometimes, with certain weapons being a really obvious choice. I don't mind that too much, as plenty of enemies can be hurt well enough by all of them, however, I do wish the game made it more clear what enemy could be weak against what.
For the Armor type, it's obvious since the enemy is heavily armored, Shield/Barrier as well is pretty straightforward (enemy has big shield or a circle barrier to break), along with Swarmer (smaller weaker enemies that surround you) or Flyer (they fly...), but then you have things like resilient, ferocious, and summoner. For those three, it really isn't clear what can tell these apart from the others, and I don't want to go to the codex each time to try and memorize what's what/
One other thing I'll mention on combat that bothered me a bit is I think the weapon progression is a bit too slow. Early on, it's not a huge deal since you don't have much to deal with, but closer to mid game, it started getting frustrating, and I found myself feeling like I needed a lot more time with some weapons to get the hang of using them and switching, as well as getting some upgrades on them.
Like the tonfa cannons, those are actually super useful in handling those giant champions, but when I got them at first, I hardly used them since I was already frustrated enough with the combat at that point trying to chase down teleporting and flying enemies while avoiding all the other chaos.
The interesting thing I found is that now that I started playing the Chimera difficulty, the combat has actually felt more fun than I ever remember it being when I did the first playthrough on Knight, at least up to where I am now, I'm sure I could get frustrated later on, but I'll find out when I get there. I think a big part of it is because I already have all the weapons and the moves for them, and with Chimera throwing around a fair variety of enemies early on without a mass of red and blue so far, it's given me a chance to really mess around with my toolset and get a better idea of what I like using for what situation. The initial playthrough made me feel like I was too limited, and by the time I got most of the tools, the enemies that were being thrown my way were way too annoying, so the progression curve feels a bit messed up. Maybe I should have picked an easier difficulty first time around, but that wouldn't have unlocked Chimera.
If the devs update the game, I think they should make Chimera unlockable from beating the game once on any difficulty.
I disagree with this, solely because of the fact that this feels like a reward for playing on the hardest difficulty given when you play the game for the first time. Not only does it give it replay value but I wouldn't understand someone wanting to jump from easy or normal straight to Chimera.
I am curious how you think that the fields do not bring more variety but, instead, more frustration. The purpose of the fields is to make combat more engaging and thoughtful. Like a fighting game. So the more you have to keep track of. And it works out really well. Especially once you have all of the upgrades.
Not only that, but the game gives you the option to not even ENGAGE with this system if you do not want to by using the Gameplay Assist "Assist Fields"
While it is absolutely okay to have critiques, I do wonder if you really do like the game as much as you say you do. You literally talk about about how you love skill based games yet this paragraph has an issue with one of the core mechanics of the game which is, to put it lightly, skill based.
I would also like to say that annoyance and strategic come hand in hand since most battles and enemies tend to be annoying and frustrating until you finally figure out the strategy. Were you annoyed because you could not adapt to the usage of the fields? Did you unlock all of the upgrades and still have this issue?
I am simply asking and wanting to understand because the points in your post seem a bit contradictory.
Yeah I wrote this as a review but didn't know Steam had a character limit! I wrote so much that I cannot put even half of it on the 8000 characters limit lol. I'm still thinking what I should do, maybe an abridged version with a link to this post?
Interesting, I might give it a try on Chimera then!
Thanks for your thoughtful comment! I gotta say I do not find it contradictory at all. I think I explained well why I don't think it makes it more engaging by giving some examples, but maybe I didn't! The main gripe is that it feels more like a chore than actively engaging with the enemies. Changing your fields and paying attention to the entropy level isn't a challenge, it's a very easy to understand concept and your engagement is just pressing a button, so there's no skill involved other than your perception. It's a thing that "piles up" on the combat system instead of expanding. And it's limiting because you have to do exactly what the game demands in the moment rather than what you can come up with.
What I say about strategy is this: in Bayonetta, W101, DMC or other games like this, when you figure out an optimal strategy for a fight, you can make them a breeze. Figuring out red/blue fields makes no difference in the outcome, because they don't directly affect anything you do in battle other than being able to hit.
It's a good thing you brought up fighting games because I also play a lot of them, and I honestly never ever seen a fighting game with anything similar to a dual color system where you can't hit your opponent if you don't have the right color up. The only similarity I can see is that you have to pay attention to your super/stun bars, but this is much more like the Unity gauge than the Entropy.
I had no idea! I honestly want to try it and see what I feel about it. I do get the impression it might screw up the game's balance but you never know! Does this remove the danger of the red bombs?
I absolutely agree with your statements about the annoyance before figuring out the strategy. Some that come to mind is Grace and Glory in Bayonetta, Prince Vohrken in W101 and... the entirety of Ninja Gaiden XD.
So that's actually a GREAT point of why I think the dual color system is detrimental: it's super easy to figure out. It's basically a no brainer. Red = red, blue = blue. What's annoying is HAVING to use them.
Also about unlocking, Briar had everything except a few lv3 proficiencies, and Lute had lv3 field abilities, which I bought all that interested me (basically I didn't want to pick the "increase entropy" ones). Does finishing the upgrades really make that much of a difference?
Now, had I done this game on either of the earlier difficulties, if I finished them and had all my upgrades, I'd still need to play through Knight, which my guess is the exact same as the others, only with enemy stats scaled up some (I actually haven't touched the earlier difficulties, so I'm kind of assuming based on other similar games). That, to me, isn't particularly exciting, since I'm just playing the exact same game only with slightly tougher enemies.
Chimera, on the other hand, throws different enemy combinations your way, which is going to give you much better variety on a 2nd playthrough and make the experience more fresh now that you have everything unlocked, rather than going through the exact same fights.
There's still Transcendent difficulty as well, which would be the big unlockable to work towards, and I don't know what that one will be like, but with Chimera, the enemies don't really feel more difficult, the game just throws different combinations at you.
I actually kind of like it when games do that as well, where each higher difficulty does something more than just scale enemy health and damage, maybe even throwing completely new enemies your way or giving them additional moves that didn't exist earlier.
My apologies for the super late reply. I have been busy and I hope you have been well. I guess we will have to agree to disagree but I do think perception is still a skill. And being able to perceive what is going on in battle and react accordingly and consistently is not something everyone is able to do, which is why I think it counts as a skill. Which can be learned and practiced to become even more proficient at it.
I understand your point when it comes to DMC, Bayo and W101 but I try not to compare this game to those games as this game is, in my opinion, really something different and I appreciate that. I do have some small nitpicks about the game, but overall, I really like it. I can even say love it.
The reason I brought up fighting games is due to the fact that fighting games force you to adapt and learn different techniques and systems, depending on the game AND your opponent. So it wasn't really about comparing the systems directly, but more so about how similar they are to each other in concept.
Yes, Assist Fields does negate the danger of the bombs and mines.
But the thing about the fields is that it is a strategy. Understanding what you see and then applying it Kinetically with enough speed and skill to achieve success. The same with Bayonetta and being quick enough to dodge with precision to activate Witch Time and using the most appropriate punish, while not getting hit AND alternating your combat in order to achieve and maintain a high score.
I can not speak for other people, but for myself, yes....unlocking all of the abilities makes a difference. Especially because if you play very well, chances are that you will rarely go in to Entrophy unless you want the overcharge attacks, which are powerful and useful in their own right. I also did not know that EVERYTHING stacks for Lute. If I knew this sooner, I would've had a much easier time by simply choosing to grind and get the shards to level her up.
I haven't tried the new difficulty yet but if it is as you say, I am looking forward to it.
Regarding Knight, I think the best way to look at it is....Knight is the hardest difficulty available when you first start the game. It is meant to annoy and bother you, because you have NOTHING unlocked. And then when you beat it, you have everything unlocked and try it with the new difficulty you unlocked.
Have you tried playing Chimera from the beginning with NOTHING unlocked? And then as you progress, slowly unlock the the moves from Lute (since you can't reset the weapons) and see if you STILL enjoy Chimera as much?
I feel like the issue was more of us not having everything in the beginning. I say this because I have been going through my Knight playthrough to get all of the items and rifts I missed and it was MUCH easier because I not only understand the game much much much better but I also have everything. Just my opinion anyway.
This is really the only reason why I disagree with being able to unlock higher difficulties with lower ones. Then again, devs can do whatever they like and it won't bother me much. If I don't like it, I won't play it.
In Knight, those lightning teleport guys were a constant source of frustration and rage, then with just a single move unlocked, they're suddenly way more manageable. Now I think the enemy that annoys me the most consistently is the abomination with how tanky it is and with mauler being up there as well due to his aoe.
I haven't tried the final difficulty yet, though I might give it a shot here to see what happens, but the main difference between Knight and Chimera are the enemy placements. It didn't seem like enemies were taking more hits to kill, though with more weapons and their upgrades it certainly felt less tedious. I think you take more damage on the higher difficulty but I couldn't quite tell. It's basically the difficulty you should be playing once you got your unlocks, that's what it feels like.
Basically, I was far less frustrated playing through with the full moveset, especially once I had some time to get the hang of using all the weapons, which, in Knight you don't really get, and while I get your point in Knight having to be difficult, I don't find a difficulty that purposefully tries to annoy and frustrate you as fun, since some fights would drag out as I'd spend half the fight chasing after some enemies.
Maybe having a practice room would be good where you can use moves without having to worry about a ton of other things. Just having the little tutorials they throw at you isn't enough. There's some things in this game that take quite a while to get your head around and the game doesn't provide enough time as you're going through it, or at least, that's how it felt to me. The combat in this game takes a lot of getting used to.
- Bosses
They have actually implemented the best budget solution possible - turning bosses into enemies. Now not only are there plenty of unique bosses, they also considerably spice up the gameplay by becoming a part of the regular roster.
- Weapons
Your point is the primary reason why I strongly dislike DMC. All weapons are functionally identical, most of their combos are varying kinds of fluff. If there is not much reason to use one weapon over the other, I am not particularly motivated to use any of them. And when the game forces me to mix it up through the style meter, I am constantly forcing myself to switch to some random weapon in desperate hope that the meter will acknowledge it. What I then get overall from the combat system is desparate and mindless button mashing. Surely the opposite of what is commonly thought of DMC.
DMC's combat system is incredibly *wide* with countless options, but is also staggeringly shallow due to their near-equivalence. In Bayonetta this is even more exacerbated. At least those games have other core mechanics to focus on besides the many different ways of bringing the pain, but so does Soulstice. Knowing what my arsenal is good for is immensely satisfying, and it's not as simple as "weapon X is only good for foe Y" (that description applies to colour fields).
While modifiers such as "armour" and "flight" have their influence, it's not great enough to severely restrict your options. It seems, all weapons work well-enough on all types of enemies, but their attack patterns suggest their most effiecient usage.
Now for other thoughts on your post
- Coloured fields
I don't dislike this feature for four reasons.
1) It naturally suggests in which order to deal with the enemies. On the ground, it's better to clear out or weaken the red enemies first, and the blue ones usually don't put out too much pressure, unless in large swarms. But as most of the red ones are grounded and all the blue ones are airborne, you can prioritise the wraiths by staying in the air, conveniently out of reach of the red enemies.
2) Weapons that don't bounce from the crystals, like the whip.
3) Skill that preserves field effects even after the field is cancelled. You can mix and match the fields, while also putting some pressure on the type of enemies you're currently not prioritising.
4) Lute's counters. While their number is limited, it quickly expands, and she has four different types, and their cooldowns get lowered, which allows her to counter a whole crowd almost at all times.
And this gives Lute smoething highly meaningful to contribute, which just overrides all the negatives in my mind.
That said, the red and blue mines are pain. Just pain. I get why they're there, but they're just pain. Just alloting some brainpower to dealing with them is irritating.
- Flying enemies
What you said actually applies to a lot of grounded enemies as well. It's just flying ones are often conjurers/summoners, so they have the leeway to always back away from you while attacking at the same time, but other enemies also quite often enter the "run away" state, and chasing them is not fun at all. However, the bow is quite good against those cowardly foes. They usually actively run away only after you get close enough to them, so it's possible to hold them at the edge of the field while chipping away at their poise with the bow. It also performs surprisingly well in that chasing role.
- Exploding enemies
Why are they here? Why put us through this suffering?
- Puzzles
I think it is a long-proven truism in game design that players need variety. Even the original Doom has hidden rooms. Leaving only action without breathing room creates a samey and quickly exhausting experience. Unfotunately, it is somewhat of a trend among indie developers to only focus on mechanics the like seeing the most, so I'm glad Reply Games have not contributed to that trend. Probably thanks to them being more experienced than a typical indie dev. DMC 5 did this due to strong backlash in DMC 4, though I'd say they overdid it. No need to copy DMC 5 more than necessary. Although, no need to copy DMC 4 either...
Making those puzzles unique and varied is, unfortunately, a budget issue. In that regard, I think they did a pretty good job. The game introduces puzzle elements and familiarises the players with them, then slowly adds layers of complexity on top. The final incarnation, with filed-blocking incense, regenerating crystals, and an encounter between two crystals, has turned out rather marvelous imo. All of those puzzles play off core mechanics, and they only grow in complexity in natural ways as time goes. It could've been much, much worse.
If you want to see how the game would be without those down-time sections, you need only look at chapter 21 (though as it is basically a single instance in the whole game, it feels unique and earned, rather than tiring and trite).
I agree with pretty much everything else you've said without any qualms. Especially that camera should be fixed in battle enciounters (but it would need much more polish, as it is still not perfect even outside combat), and that sound effects are at times lacking or muted, both in combat and cutscenes.
And of course I agree with your praise of the game. This is really, really good, and I wouldn't be going into so much detail on criticims if I didn't want the devs to have constructive feedback for the sequel. Please make more Soulstice. Please.
I would suggest reading the comments if you have time. They all make some great points.
Thanks for your comment! You bring a lot of good points here!
I gotta say I disagree with your view on the bosses. To me most of the initial ones looked like regular enemies "promoted" to bosses lol. They all had much simpler patterns compared to the Arrowhead for instance (that does looks/act as a boss).
I definitely see where you're coming from, I remember hearing this a lot with Ninja Gaiden as well. To me having a variety of weapons is like having a variety of ships in a shmup, it boils down to preferred playstyle. It also makes experimentation more encouraged IMO. Maybe you're having a hard time with a certain enemy, then you try another weapon and find it much more useful. So it would be like the same rock paper scissors philosophy but more organic*, without seeing the dev's "hand". Also later you can try runs with just one weapon. I recently beat DMC5 on DMD with just the Balrog and Royal Guard, and was amazed that all enemies are beatable and discovered a lot of new strategies. Also don't remember if it was possible on 3 or 4, but I did get S in a lot of missions, so no need to change weapons if you're varying your combos (at least on 5 =P).
But I admit this is much less of an actual "problem" and more of a designer's decision and taste. It's good that games try out different things.
You see, that's my main gripe... I don't feel it's natural at all haha. The game is literally telling you what to prioritize. Guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I agree with what you said later about Lute though, it's just that sometimes she feels very finnicky. and I definitely didn't like using her "exploding entropy" abilities since this take out my Unity level.
yah I agree, I honestly think most of the small problems/nitpicks I had, that aren't related to design, where due to lack of budget and trying to make a game bigger than it should be. I was serious by saying if things were cut out they would make the experience better. Stuff like instead of going through 3 bridge gates (that I'm pretty sure share even the same platforming), just one.
Everything else you said I think is pretty well put together and even if I disagree, I feel like it's more a matter of opinion =D
*EDIT: Just adding that it feels more organic because then you decide what works best for YOU rather than it already being baked in game, if that makes sense
You know, I've been thinking more and I think for the fields to feel more of a strategic element rather than a toggle to hit enemies, Lute could have some extra abilities tied to the fields. Stuff like maybe powering you up, or reflecting the opposite color projectiles. Then you would have more reasons to put fields up and I think would make it more interesting.
After more days thinking about the game I think I'm warming up to try the game again on harder difficulties, but I'll definitely wait for the devs readjustments. I think they made such a good job so far that I trust their judgement (except if they permanently remove the fixed camera without the option to turn it on lol)