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The game is just really not fun between the 50 different status effects and every item and ability being some form of "If you are X then do Y, otherwise do Z". In their minds, I guess, you're supposed to play some kind of 4d-chess and just stack things on top of each other into a perfect synergy, but instead it's simply "Oh, cool, I have a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ability that isn't as ♥♥♥♥♥♥ 20% of the time. I guess I have to play 5-10 runs per character unlock their actual good skills..."
I am very much feeling this. I wouldn't say it's not fun (the bones of DD1's excellent combat are still there). I would, however, definitely say that it's way over-complicated and over-tuned for a game where you can't predict anything. It seems like they kept the whole "think carefully about which trinkets and skills and items and characters to use based on circumstance" and then forgot the bit where they decided take the ability to gauge circumstance away from you.
They also jammed Death's Door onto enemies which means you can't even think tactically about when a given enemy is going to die. This has just caused two of my characters to die based on DoTs because an enemy refused to go down. And since I haven't spent most of my upgrades recruiting new classes (and still have the fanatics fight before I get to the inn to maybe even see them) that means this run is basically dead.
The original was difficult and threw huge frustrating curve-balls here or there, but this game doesn't seem to know how to throw straight.
I mean there are abilities that ignore death resist.
I've seen abilities that reduce it somewhat, I've yet to encounter a straight-up "ignore", which implies it isn't common and that there is therefore still an issue with it.
Even as an idea, though, Death's Door on enemies is a difficult design decision to accept. It's kinda the reverse of coincidence and bad luck in books.
In the case of books bad luck and coincidence making things rough for your protagonist is fine, but it's bad writing practice if it happens to your antagonist because it seems like a cheap out for your protagonist. In games, the opposite is true - good luck and coincidence for enemies feels like a cheap out and swiftly becomes frustrating. A mechanical design intended to mitigate bad luck and hardship for your characters simply shouldn't be applied to your enemies. Make them harder inherently, don't apply a random largely strategically problematic deus ex machina to them.
Nah, I dropped my vestal since she seems to be a waste of a slot this time around, and while I do occasionally use the occultist it's primarily for area damage (a thing that doesn't seem super common thus far) and distance damage. The Plague Doctor, though? Still seems invaluable, both for my own DoTs on big enemies, blindness on enemies (damage prevention), but mostly to heal the unending stream of DoTs on my own party. If I could reliably find and expend resources on DoT-mitigating items then we'd be having a different conversation, but finding both said items and said resources are separate issues of chance, meaning the only meaningful prep I can do is "take the Plague Doctor".
I found the Vestal decent. Not much the heals but the dodge removal, the ranged damage, and the consecrations or cleanses.
I think some haven't changed their perspective when coming from DD1. DD1 had smaller dungeon runs that you could beat often with all your heroes alive.
"Winning" or progressing doesn't look the same in DD2. So when you don't beat a "run" right away or characters die, they think it's a design flaw just because it doesn't work like that I DD1.
Maybe we can once we get through the game and learn how to game it. But personally, I've played tons of roguelites like Dead Cells and Hades, so I don't mind a sudo gear-check.
I would heartily argue that this game doesn't even know how to throw straight. Everything is a curveball.
I don't think the progression in this game is a design flaw because it's not DD1. That's fine. Zelda 2 can be a fine game even it it's very different from Zelda 1. The problem with Zelda 2 is that it's bafflingly hard and annoying after the first dungeon for seemingly no reason aside from they balanced the progression badly. The problem with DD2 is that they've thrown out all the management that made the dangerous rogue-like runs acceptable. There were multiple ways to mitigate bad luck. Now it's very much an FTL-style "Hope you get lucky, because we definitely haven't put any thought into balancing the randomness" ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. And while I like FTL, there's only so much of it I can take. And that game is solely run-based. This game seems to have just elected on dice-throwing as a primary mechanic, but then based all the balance on long-term (very very slow) meta-progression instead of short-term bad roll mitigation options. And also thrown out the general meta-progression most rogue-likes have where you get better because you're a better player with knowledge of the game. I'm 10 hours into this and the same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ either over-tuned or completely untuned design choices are killing me. A lot of these runs are not generally surmountable. They are specifically surmountable, but no-one ever understands when I tell them that specific solutions to general problems are not acceptable mechanics. And this game seems to be mostly that. "Pick your team comps and items better", people will say, but you literally can't prepare for randomness with randomness. The only genuine choices you have in this game are your characters, and to keep playing suicide runs until you unlock enough variance to actually strategize. And the runs take forever because of the unnecessary caravan driving stuff. They could easily be 30% shorter without detracting from gameplay at all.
"There is an issue, but you have characters who don't suffer from it as much"
Even with Death's Door penetrating abilities you still have a percentage left over and the abilities themselves are rarely reaching all ranks and being usable from all ranks. It's just not fun to have the boss sit there at 0 hp and keep pummeling you.
It's not "clinging", it's preferring a different playstyle which just got completely removed. Why does everything have to be a hard-tank now or none at all? "Omg, u so stoopid, y u no happy about less options, loool"
This can be potentially gamebreaking feature as OP explains. Of course there is work around not end of the world, maybe rely more on DoT and AoE damage to increase chance to finish the enemy. Otherwise it can get extremely difficult because a potentially tough enemy may luck out too much and ruin a player's long-run strategy.
There is one important thing the devs have to keep in mind when designing the battles and presenting challenge. See the enemy in a particular encounter may luck out on Death's Door and keep damaging you or stressing you for several extra rounds; at the end the player will defeat the stubborn lucky enemy; HOWEVER the player needs to continue the journey while the enemy will die right there. The player has to be balanced and sparingly because there are more battles ahead. In other words Death's Door on too many enemies have the potential to ruin your long-run even though you may emerge victorious in a particular encounter.
This is not identical to player Death Door. For example I avoid getting at Death's Door because I don't want to take extra chance. But the enemy will not try to avoid it because the enemy plays as if it is its last fight; they don't have to try to play optimally because they don't have a quest to finish, it is a static win or die battle for the AI. SO we are in unfair situation when player avoids Death's Door and plays so that can last more battles, while AI plays static, suicidal and relies on dice on Death Door to ruin your life because the enemy has nowhere else to do after a particular battle.
Why? What dictates that preparation isn't part of the formula?
When I want to fight the Shambler I run a different party than going for some region boss. Why should that not be considered intended? It just makes the game more dynamic.
When you want to fight the Shambler in DD1 you *go out of your way to fight the Shambler with a specific party of characters in a particular location with a particular set of gear you've pre-selected as best for the mission*.
When you want to "fight the Shambler" in DD2 you pick 4 characters that might turn out to have run-breaking neuroses you might not be able to fix, or interpersonal issues that oblige a specific load-out of skills that inherently screw you over, and then hope that you come across the right gear and the right encounters for you to succeed in your goal. And hope you get the right scouting to even notice the Shambler without accidentally going down a different path.
I hope you can see the difference there, because that same inherent design philosophy flaw applies to most goals you could have in this game. It is a game designed with 2 different philosophies, and I've yet to see them meet in the middle - you're seemingly expected to prepare strategically whilst simultaneously having nearly every game mechanic get in the way of you doing anything specific to prepare, or even allowing you to know what to prepare for.
This is actually a very strong point, but the fact that you exaggerate everything in your comments detracts from your credibility.
I too think DD2 is stuck between two philosophies at the moment, and the game suffers for it - but I perceive it from the opposite angle: the game is too reliant on game knowledge and does *too little* in the way of demanding you adapt to the tools you were given on the fly. If they want this formula to work then more meaningful choices would need to be made mid-run.
Instead I currently perceive the game as very much of a "just run the meta draft and faceroll everything", with the occasional skill swap to abuse some special interaction in a boss-fight. I cleared three out of the five chapters in maybe 5 attempts while running the exact same team composition: Plague doctor, Runaway, Man at Arms and Highwayman. Only rarely did I swap out my bars willingly.