Some critiques and requests

[Phinnia]

Hi! I've been playing the game after getting it as a christmas gift and love it a lot - but I thought I'd make a discussion about some things I feel are dragging the game down a bit.
Would love to hear if anyone agrees or disagrees with these! Feel free to add your own in the comments. :D

Number one is the obvious lack of a run button. It'd be great to have some sort of quicker movement early on. This also plays into a lter point for me.

Number two:
Please add the ability to place markers on the map. Some way to have differently colored symbols the player can set to mark spots. This would just make getting back to shrines less obnoxious.

Number three:
Reduce Mountain Cave spider spawn rate. I've had 10+ spiders on my screen at a time when not focussing on constantly killing them off - them spawning in groups of 3 every 30 seconds or so is not exciting or scary, only painstaking at that point. Might get better with upgraded gear, but with just the moonstone lvl 1 whip they are a real bore and really make me want to stall out caving - which I normally love doing in any game.
The run option could also help with this - since currently, the character speed is not enough to efficiently outrun the spiders, making neither running or fighting a proper option. And stealthing only works for short periods of time as well when there is just so many at once.

Number four:
Add an arachnophobia mode. I don't know how others feel about it, but I have family and friends I'd love to introduce the game to due to their love for farming games - but some of them suffer from severe Arachnophobia. It'd be a shame if anyone scared of spiders would be unable to play the game in its entirety, so maybe a toggle in the options menu that replaces the models and sounds with something less terrifying could open it up to a broader audience?

Number five:
The fishing...kind of sucks. Mostly because it is not relaxing in the least and mostly feels like 'we wanted to do it differently than others'. Maybe just making it more similar to Animal crossing, with a simple bob and button mash would make it more enjoyable? Sound design can do a lot to enhance it even still!

Number six:
The controls regarding interaction (watering, chopping trees etc) don't really..feel good. The amount of times the character chops something I didn't want to focus on or waters a wrong field are far too plentiful and it makes everything feel wonky and unrefined. I am not sure how this could be fixed, but it is making the experience a bit less pleasant.

Seven:
Please make Lumas extractable from nests in an easier fashion than destroying the whole nest. Especially early on when you might not have fences yet, them wandering off and not being findable causes a good deal of irritation.

Eight:
Add some other way to get tokens.
The treasure finding and hunting and figging up is quite fun - initially. I'll be honest, after 4 hours of exploring very tightly packed puzzles, I found myself too drained to go after every single chest or follow my luma to dig spots. It gets old quite easily, sadly.

I believe that some of these changes, if doable, would help make the game more appealing past its base mechanics and graphic style.

- kindest of regards, a new player

[Neromiez✨]

Theres already an arachnophobia mode in the settings. :)

[Phinnia]

Originally posted by Neromiez✨:

Theres already an arachnophobia mode in the settings. :)

Oh, there is? :D I couldn't find it, but it'd make sense if it's only in the title screen menu. Thanks!!

[Missy]

Oh really? I didn't know that!

[Picotrain]

You can use a bug net to catch a luma which removes it from the nest and puts it into your inventory.

[EddyIceCream]

the fishing sucks in stardew too

[LadyTerra]

Please let us mark the maps. The maps as they are don't provide any information. I would be fine with using resources to create markers or signs.

[KERBEROS777]

Originally posted by Phinnia:

Hi! I've been playing the game after getting it as a christmas gift and love it a lot - but I thought I'd make a discussion about some things I feel are dragging the game down a bit.
Would love to hear if anyone agrees or disagrees with these! Feel free to add your own in the comments. :D

Number one is the obvious lack of a run button. It'd be great to have some sort of quicker movement early on. This also plays into a lter point for me.

Number two:
Please add the ability to place markers on the map. Some way to have differently colored symbols the player can set to mark spots. This would just make getting back to shrines less obnoxious.

Number three:
Reduce Mountain Cave spider spawn rate. I've had 10+ spiders on my screen at a time when not focussing on constantly killing them off - them spawning in groups of 3 every 30 seconds or so is not exciting or scary, only painstaking at that point. Might get better with upgraded gear, but with just the moonstone lvl 1 whip they are a real bore and really make me want to stall out caving - which I normally love doing in any game.
The run option could also help with this - since currently, the character speed is not enough to efficiently outrun the spiders, making neither running or fighting a proper option. And stealthing only works for short periods of time as well when there is just so many at once.

Number four:
Add an arachnophobia mode. I don't know how others feel about it, but I have family and friends I'd love to introduce the game to due to their love for farming games - but some of them suffer from severe Arachnophobia. It'd be a shame if anyone scared of spiders would be unable to play the game in its entirety, so maybe a toggle in the options menu that replaces the models and sounds with something less terrifying could open it up to a broader audience?

Number five:
The fishing...kind of sucks. Mostly because it is not relaxing in the least and mostly feels like 'we wanted to do it differently than others'. Maybe just making it more similar to Animal crossing, with a simple bob and button mash would make it more enjoyable? Sound design can do a lot to enhance it even still!

Number six:
The controls regarding interaction (watering, chopping trees etc) don't really..feel good. The amount of times the character chops something I didn't want to focus on or waters a wrong field are far too plentiful and it makes everything feel wonky and unrefined. I am not sure how this could be fixed, but it is making the experience a bit less pleasant.

Seven:
Please make Lumas extractable from nests in an easier fashion than destroying the whole nest. Especially early on when you might not have fences yet, them wandering off and not being findable causes a good deal of irritation.

Eight:
Add some other way to get tokens.
The treasure finding and hunting and figging up is quite fun - initially. I'll be honest, after 4 hours of exploring very tightly packed puzzles, I found myself too drained to go after every single chest or follow my luma to dig spots. It gets old quite easily, sadly.

I believe that some of these changes, if doable, would help make the game more appealing past its base mechanics and graphic style.

- kindest of regards, a new player

This game is not for you .

[Jadenfire]

I agree a run button is needed, fishing needs a simple mode tokens are a grind need more ways to get them, I'd love to have markers on the map, more resources picked from harvesting then just one, more paths to decorate with, more decorations & fences, a way to redress & more clothing & the ability to decorate houses would be nice.

So far it's been a ok game more fun with my bestie & of course using mods have helped the nuisance of grind that this game brings,

[Phinnia]

Originally posted by KERBEROS777:

This game is not for you .

I think just saying that whenever someone critiques something after enjoying the game but having minor gripes with it isn't helpful to the discussion in the least. As someone who loves the farming+fighting genre, I am very much interested in seeing where this game goes and will continue playing it, but it's also well within my right to give my (not necessarily 'right') opinion on things. :D
I hope you enjoy your gameplay experience!

[Jaunty]

Originally posted by Jadenfire:

I agree a run button is needed

+1
gotta go fast