All the slimes should be ranchable.

[404_Not_Found]

I came here to play Slime RANCHER. I liked the more chill feeling of the first game, and the appeal of a game like this is in the exponential resource gathering that happens passively. I hate having to actively go after resources like Shadow Plorts and I can't even figure out where to go in the Gray Labyrinth to advance the game now.

I liked how open-borders the first game felt. I could skip over Slime Doors with the map knowledge I have. SR2 feels so much more locked-down and less sandboxxed for the sake of a traditional progression curve so I don't feel like there's as much point in using movement tech besides getting around larger areas like Ember Valley faster.

I like things ABOUT SR2, but not being able to even make largos out of every new Slime type is a massive hit to my enjoyment. I could tolerate the leashed progression (because that's just a common dev insecurity: they see veteran players and speedrunners breaking their game and think there's something wrong with it, when really, it takes skill and time to be able to do that at all and doesn't affect casual players) but taking out a core feature of the game just because they don't want us to set up passive resource generation in a game about passive resource generation is crazy.

[76561199819431390]

I think we were all disappointed when we found out we couldn't ranch gold or lucky slimes but if we could we wouldn't need any other slimes on our ranch!
I don't understand the pushback on shadow slime not being ranchable, just for the sake of convenience. the main thing with shadow plorts is that they're used for the dials, and being able to sell them is likely just so they have some use when you've opened those dials. they're not meant to be ranched.
How do you ranch a shadow anyway?

And that's another thing, what about puddle and fire slimes? yolky and quicksilver slimes? you can ranch 3 of those but there's no largos with them. yes, the game is about ranching slimes but sometimes it just doesn't make sense for one reason or another.

[404_Not_Found]

Originally posted by SlimerGuy:

I think we were all disappointed when we found out we couldn't ranch gold or lucky slimes but if we could we wouldn't need any other slimes on our ranch!
I don't understand the pushback on shadow slime not being ranchable, just for the sake of convenience. the main thing with shadow plorts is that they're used for the dials, and being able to sell them is likely just so they have some use when you've opened those dials. they're not meant to be ranched.
How do you ranch a shadow anyway?

And that's another thing, what about puddle and fire slimes? yolky and quicksilver slimes? you can ranch 3 of those but there's no largos with them. yes, the game is about ranching slimes but sometimes it just doesn't make sense for one reason or another.

The point is that I don't want to run around the ruins for 3 hours grinding out one resource when I can instead build up some infrastructure to have multiple things going at once. The appeal of a game like this for me is exponential growth. I don't care much for the gold slimes either but you need so little gold plorts for crafting that it does not bother me as much and lucky slimes don't drop anything but money.

Edit: Also, you could lure gold slimes into traps in SR1, though, ginger was annoying to obtain so I never did. Gold slimes also appear at random from the start of the game so I can simply plan to have something on-hand to throw at them. I was never a full-on automation player but I do like the ability to plan for things so that I'm not doing one task for an excessive amount of time.

Guess what farming dials is? Doing the same thing for an excessive amount of time. It's boring.

"How do you ranch a shadow?" The same way you ranch a quantum slime. It's a video game. It's fantasy. They can figure it out.

[Liliel]

Originally posted by 404_Not_Found:

I hate having to actively go after resources like Shadow Plorts and I can't even figure out where to go in the Gray Labyrinth to advance the game now.

No spoilers but you don't need any shadow plorts to progress in the Labyrinth, only normal plorts and a number of the emitter gadgets. Jetpack around the platforms and explore the Labyrinth and you'll find everything you need.

Regarding the other stuff, I don't like the grind-heavy approach they took to the shadow slimes either. The ranching I don't see as an issue, we've had plenty of slimes and plorts that you can't ranch or make into largos before already.
But they could definitely improve the shadow slime experience by reducing the grind and making it less finicky. My suggestion would be to introduce a gadget, like a shadow containment pod that you can place in the Labyrinth and after a time it'll have filled up with shadow slimes that you can then easily shoot stuff at to get a bunch of plorts quickly and reliably.
Or possibly a simpler gadget that's like the resource extractors from the first game that just slowly generates shadow plorts for you when placed inside the Labyrinth.

[404_Not_Found]

Originally posted by Liliel:

Originally posted by 404_Not_Found:

I hate having to actively go after resources like Shadow Plorts and I can't even figure out where to go in the Gray Labyrinth to advance the game now.

No spoilers but you don't need any shadow plorts to progress in the Labyrinth, only normal plorts and a number of the emitter gadgets. Jetpack around the platforms and explore the Labyrinth and you'll find everything you need.

Regarding the other stuff, I don't like the grind-heavy approach they took to the shadow slimes either. The ranching I don't see as an issue, we've had plenty of slimes and plorts that you can't ranch or make into largos before already.
But they could definitely improve the shadow slime experience by reducing the grind and making it less finicky. My suggestion would be to introduce a gadget, like a shadow containment pod that you can place in the Labyrinth and after a time it'll have filled up with shadow slimes that you can then easily shoot stuff at to get a bunch of plorts quickly and reliably.
Or possibly a simpler gadget that's like the resource extractors from the first game that just slowly generates shadow plorts for you when placed inside the Labyrinth.

Honestly anything that'd allow me to plant some "for the future" plans would be welcome and I do like those suggestions.

I like laegos aesthetically but to me, it's also about efficiency and the little puzzle of what I can keep where and still get the most variety of plorts.

Planting machines I run my rounds and check on was part of my gameplay loop in SR1 and I would actually not mind that in SR2. If they're going to make the plorts grindy, give us a passive farming alternative.

Hopefully one that doesn't require another strange diamond...