Difficulty is... interesting?

[Fardy Hernandez]

Am I the only one who is finding the difficulty level of the game to be incredibly sporadic? I'm not all that far in, maybe 5-6 stages completed, but the arcade cabinet in the mall is not so much hard as it is long. I'm hitting for 2-3 damage (assuming they don't block everything), and it takes minutes to kill just 3 damn enemies. I eventually gave up 51% through it.

Later, I tried fighting Big Psycho, and again I noticed that I just do too little damage against an enemy who can grab me out of a jump attack. Ground attacks are likewise suicide. All of this said, grunts on the streets provide zero challenge at all.

Any advice? Should I forsake all the other stats and just mindlessly dump points into strength? With how weak I am still, it feels like that's the only way.

[Tetsuo9999]

No, you're not alone. The ground melee attacks need some serious adjustments. As it stands now, the special attacks are safer, more damaging and don't have the awkward range of the ground attacks. I feel it's a major flaw on an otherwise solid game, but perhaps the developers will chime in and tell us if we're just approaching the game incorrectly or something.

[VanillaSky]

The special attacks have to deal more damage, that's what make them special. I don't feel like they are way to much overpowered but maybe this also depends on each character. But some little adjustments of the enemies damage wouldn't be wrong.

The weapon damage and the damage if you throw objects is really low. You don't really benefit from using them. An adjustment for this case would be great.

@Friendo:
I guess you have to spend the points in strength. Or you pump up your defence so you can take more damage. I am using a mix and am fine with it. The Dash-Attack of the robo-unicorn kicks a*s!

[TheRealMattKain]

Also note that the horror survival is a "special" level. It will take a leveled up character to power through it. Great feedback though everyone!

[Fardy Hernandez]

Originally posted by TheRealMattKain:

Also note that the horror survival is a "special" level. It will take a leveled up character to power through it. Great feedback though everyone!

Ah-hah, so it is something to go back to later on. I looked at it thinking I was supposed to be able to take it on upon first encounter.

Thanks for the advice and tips, everyone. Cool to see a developer involved in the community too :D

[TheRealMattKain]

I should also say that we probably went for slightly above average difficulty. Many enemies require strategies or timing to beat and certain characters are certainly better/worse on some levels. In many cases a move or strategy that might work well on weaker enemies (say a jump kick or running up and straight punching) might totally fail against a boss. Right now we're just trying to gather as much feedback as we can. Thanks everyone for all the comments and suggestions!

[TheRealMattKain]

I should keep my mouth shut on some of this. I don't want to spoil anything. We definitely built the game with a certain degree of openness too. Some levels might be tough because you simply need to go back to them later with more powerful characters.

[Fardy Hernandez]

Haha, I played farther and leveled up our old Unicorn pal, and I can see what you mean. I feel a sort of difficulty "guide" built into the map; one direction felt a bit easier than the other did. Not going to spoil which way for others who might read this, though.

One thing I might suggest for the game is elaborating on the defend mechanic. I.E. does is stop all incoming damage, how long can you hold it for, what are the benefits to blocking low/ducking. I understand if the goal is to keep to a low-tutorial game, of course (I love when the game lets me figure things out), but perhaps this info can find a home in the How To Play menu?

[VanillaSky]

Unicorn-Power!

I barely use the defend-button. I tried to block some bosses but after 1-2 hits they break easily through. If I'm not mistaken a dashing boss can also break your guard. I prefer to evade because you're out of range then.