A shame, really...

[tolgen71]

Nice game, I like it a lot! Shame the difficulty kills everything else. Seriously, with the difficulty the way it is, it is literally impossible to do anything but hope you get really, REALLY lucky. Lucky enough to get stuff in the first act that you can actually clear it - no easy feat when it's possible to have mons so weak they literally cannot get past the first couple fights that are suppose to essentially be gimmies. It's luck compounded on luck compounded on luck.

The game almost becomes zen-like in that it's so impossible to win there are no stakes. It's nothing more than a Skinner Box, and not a particularly interesting one once you get past the asthetics. There's no meaningful way to interact with it, as it occasionally resets your rollover items and the Box is random if it even appears in any of the stages, let alone if it appears early enough to matter.

My advice to the devs if I'm being brutally honest would be this - if this is a hobby project that you are not betting on for you continued livelihood, you need to overhaul a lot. Maybe a meta-progression system, maybe something else, but the player needs a way to meaningfully interact with the systems in order for it to actually be worth playing. If profit does factor into it though, my advice would actually be drop it and move on. You've already blown your release window, so fixing the game likely won't get you enough to justify the work hours. By the same token, there probably won't be enough good will for a sequel to be justified either as people will just remember it as 'oh yeah that super difficult game'.

[tolgen71]

Evidence - I am on either a 4 or 5 run streak now where I haven't gotten a second mon. Among these, a Rainbow shroomie. Got past the first couple fights and even got a shiny then double shiny Sprinkles, who died like a chump to the first boss cause lul. Another shiny... this one decided to kill himself before the enemy could. Next up is two shinies, one of them evolved! At least they made it to the first boss... Never get your hopes up, folks! Thought the Hug and Voodoo combo might go the distance, but then I got a sac without the money to buy out, leaving Hug without any means of attacking. Pity, I'd just a Mana Stone so Voodoo could REALLY stack damage.

Finally, a breakthrough to stage 2... with a team containing not a single evolve evoling. This team does finally get me a win. How, I'm not entirely sure. Seriously, I couldn't repeat it to save my life.

[Garlandicus]

Hey just putting it out there I love this game and I'd buy a sequel in a heartbeat.

I get that you're in the dumps with your 5 run loss streak, but on the other hand I've been clearing every other run. I'm not going to say "git gud", but if you've got enough time to soapbox and tell the game devs they're doing it wrong, maybe just move on? Especially if the best you can come up with is "drop it and move on".

If you're struggling on act one, consider that you'll need a combination of evolings that can take multiple hits from the boss. There are many ways to do this, and you might not be able to get a viable combination of evolings every game, but some to look for would be:

Slime + Confuzzle: One slime and one boo is basically all you need to lock down one enemy > 65% of the time

Luna or Fate: Use moonshine to protect key evolings or resurrect them if they get wiped out.

Don't go into a boss with one shiny evoling that can't defend against 30+ damage a turn and expect to win. It's just not going to happen.

There are plenty of items that can help you as well, so try to save up coins from your fights and visit a store to find items that are either complementary to your budding strategy or pack enough raw power/protection to brute force your way through the boss.

[Dragon Knight]

Originally posted by Garlandicus:

Hey just putting it out there I love this game and I'd buy a sequel in a heartbeat.

I get that you're in the dumps with your 5 run loss streak, but on the other hand I've been clearing every other run. I'm not going to say "git gud", but if you've got enough time to soapbox and tell the game devs they're doing it wrong, maybe just move on? Especially if the best you can come up with is "drop it and move on".

If you're struggling on act one, consider that you'll need a combination of evolings that can take multiple hits from the boss. There are many ways to do this, and you might not be able to get a viable combination of evolings every game, but some to look for would be:

Slime + Confuzzle: One slime and one boo is basically all you need to lock down one enemy > 65% of the time

Luna or Fate: Use moonshine to protect key evolings or resurrect them if they get wiped out.

Don't go into a boss with one shiny evoling that can't defend against 30+ damage a turn and expect to win. It's just not going to happen.

There are plenty of items that can help you as well, so try to save up coins from your fights and visit a store to find items that are either complementary to your budding strategy or pack enough raw power/protection to brute force your way through the boss.

I would agree with you. And I'd really like to. But have you tried the "All enemies are Demons" Relic? Because that is just straight up impossible currently. I'm currently on a 120+ loss streak on that. Using different combinations each time. It does not matter what you get. Nothing can survive the massive increase in damage. On top of the fact that every other battle has ghosts that have an obnoxiously high chance to evade attacks. You need absolutely perfect RNG to even have a chance to make it OUT of act 1. Which does not make for good gameplay. So in that respect I'd have to say the Devs do need to work on toning the difficulty down a bit. Challenging is fun, impossible is not.

[Ephon]

Originally posted by Dragon Knight:

I would agree with you. And I'd really like to. But have you tried the "All enemies are Demons" Relic? Because that is just straight up impossible currently. I'm currently on a 120+ loss streak on that. Using different combinations each time. It does not matter what you get. Nothing can survive the massive increase in damage. On top of the fact that every other battle has ghosts that have an obnoxiously high chance to evade attacks. You need absolutely perfect RNG to even have a chance to make it OUT of act 1. Which does not make for good gameplay. So in that respect I'd have to say the Devs do need to work on toning the difficulty down a bit. Challenging is fun, impossible is not.

I don't know, I had no issue clearing that one. (It was my 9th run.)
I picked Candies, since they deal double damage to Demons, Peppermint notably can AoE down everything...

The game provides a LOT of solutions to any given problem, I find.

Even the sacrifice event, I have never had any problem with losing an evoling.
Do take note that you can buy the evoling that you lost in the shop, too. Every time, even between different games.
In the current patch they completely removed the sacrifice altogether, which is a shame, but it is what it is.

My main point is that the game is balanced enough that it provides solutions to, I would say, 95% of the problems you can encounter, if you know how to find them.

Even if you don't, Act 1 is fast enough that spending... 5 minutes on it over and over (in the worst scenario) is not a big deal, really.

[Duodecimus]

I did demon only by just rolling the peppermint and punching everything to death. Only took me three runs to win with that strat.

Fire only was harder, trying to defend against the AoE everything puts out is just nonviable.
Took me 7 runs to put together a team that could one round everything in act 2

Currently I'm onto magic-only, and the third boss managed to keep my entire team asleep for three turns in a row.

[Ephon]

For Fire only I won with a single Snail.

Magic only I took Space evolings in act 1 and it was pretty much enough, one casino special evoling too. I stole basic magic evolings for a while with the bottle item, and spammed Motivation until I eventually won.

I did the next one earlier today and got the "One of each" Space evoling in act 1, and it was pretty much over from here, I two shot the final boss...

I still think it is a shame that they removed Sacrifices, it was a very avoidable and preventable event, but I understand why they did it.

[Garlandicus]

Originally posted by Dragon Knight:

I would agree with you. And I'd really like to. But have you tried the "All enemies are Demons" Relic? Because that is just straight up impossible currently. I'm currently on a 120+ loss streak on that. Using different combinations each time. It does not matter what you get. Nothing can survive the massive increase in damage. On top of the fact that every other battle has ghosts that have an obnoxiously high chance to evade attacks. You need absolutely perfect RNG to even have a chance to make it OUT of act 1. Which does not make for good gameplay. So in that respect I'd have to say the Devs do need to work on toning the difficulty down a bit. Challenging is fun, impossible is not.

I won with a team consisting of void, o'jelly, frizzle, armageddon, plus a voodoo and a ghost. Didn't seem too difficult, but I could have gotten lucky too.

[Meganasaurus]

Originally posted by Ephon:

Originally posted by Dragon Knight:

I would agree with you. And I'd really like to. But have you tried the "All enemies are Demons" Relic? Because that is just straight up impossible currently. I'm currently on a 120+ loss streak on that. Using different combinations each time. It does not matter what you get. Nothing can survive the massive increase in damage. On top of the fact that every other battle has ghosts that have an obnoxiously high chance to evade attacks. You need absolutely perfect RNG to even have a chance to make it OUT of act 1. Which does not make for good gameplay. So in that respect I'd have to say the Devs do need to work on toning the difficulty down a bit. Challenging is fun, impossible is not.

I don't know, I had no issue clearing that one. (It was my 9th run.)
I picked Candies, since they deal double damage to Demons, Peppermint notably can AoE down everything...

The game provides a LOT of solutions to any given problem, I find.

Even the sacrifice event, I have never had any problem with losing an evoling.
Do take note that you can buy the evoling that you lost in the shop, too. Every time, even between different games.
In the current patch they completely removed the sacrifice altogether, which is a shame, but it is what it is.

My main point is that the game is balanced enough that it provides solutions to, I would say, 95% of the problems you can encounter, if you know how to find them.

Even if you don't, Act 1 is fast enough that spending... 5 minutes on it over and over (in the worst scenario) is not a big deal, really.

I completely agree with you, while I understand OP's frustration as this game can have a steep learning curve and somewhat be at the mercy of RNG, I find I am winning most recent runs with workarounds and a bit of strategy. Have just unlocked 5 playthroughs with artefacts, doing all first level of each once and made it to level 25 of endless with just a Void remaining that was chaosing and eating 3k HP enemies in two turns. I had even managed to beat the 3rd boss before the reignite patch by eating him, but I've only had void twice in maybe 10ish successful runs so it's not like that's the only way!

My point is, while some of it depends on foresight and luck, there are ways to get around it and it does require a bit of elbow grease. If you're willing to put in a bit of time you'll hit your stride with recognising what you can do with what you're given early.

I'd also like to point out I love this game and would hate for the devs to just "drop it and move on!" I'll be giving a positive review when I'm at 100% if I can get there, currently around 70%.

[Ephon]

Yeah, Void is kinda busted, but I find it's the hardest one to get, so it's fine imo

This game allows you to be creative while also rewarding careful planning and strategy.
Like, you CAN get a small amount of fusion evolings...
Or you can get lots of small ones along with the shooting star Evoling and use motivation to obliterate everything

I love that the game doesn't FORCE you down with one strategy that works with all the other being not viable.