pixels too tight, controls too slippery

[thegrassyknoll]

1) to pick up an orb i run back and forth past it like 5 times all the time. its like to the pixel.

2) when the abominable snowman dies the same issue. There is like exactly 1 perfect spot to the exact pixel to help ressurect the snowman faster. Its wayyyyyy too tight.

3) the controls on this game are very slippery and far from perfect with weird hitboxes and when i shield i never quite know if it will work. drinking a potion and doing certain actions causes your player to randomly face a different direction and once facing it, the game requires to perfectly switch directions with unresponsive keyboard controls.

4) yes i am sure this game is easier for people who use controllers. I havent used a controller since the super ninetendo lol. Although it is not a lack of skill on my part entirely. One has to admit the controls are very dicey as in the above examples i gave.

5) since the shield direction and hit boxes are soooooo unreliable. They should expand the blocking ability of your shield in the diagonal by a couple pixels. Its too hard to tell whether a diagonal attack will be blocked. enemies contantly attack from diagonal yet my movement and atatck animations, spells and blocking generally only have 4 directions. Its not reasonable.

6) i am not asking for easy or complaining its to hard. The game is artificailly hard from terrible controls that are slippery, unreliable and actually randomly change your direction coming out of any action.poor hit/block detection and to the pixel actions only further add to this frustration.

7) it might also be reasonable to make it so that when you have your shield up, you take less damage from all directions ( like a small number 10-20% maybe) to partially mitigate the poor controls and stupid amount of incoming bullets.

8) i could beat graduis, rtype, aero fighters, un squadron on 1-life on hardmode. So i am used to bullet hells. The thing all those games have in common is RESPONSIVE control!!!!!!!

[Wisp]

1) The current update on the Frontline version addresses this, increasing health orb pickup.

6) It also has a Chill difficulty mode.

7) There's an enemy card in the game that gives this effect.

[Faust]

1) Luckily, this is actually addressed in the "beta" branch, which will make it to the base game in a week or two, hopefully.


2) Keep in mind that you should use the guard command as your primary sustain tool to keep Frosty alive. Reviving him constantly isn't a very good idea.


3) I'll agree that it's an uncomfortable action queueing system, but there actually is a pattern to it. I'll explain it to you so you can know how it works and make do until it is changed, if it ever will be.

Let's say you're moving up with your shield raised while facing left. Then you press a button to perform a skill. Then while the skill animation is still in process, you hold your shield button again while continuing to move up. The last movement direction the game registers after you lowered your shield (which in this case is upwards) will be the direction you'll be facing with your shield after you raise it again. So you'll be facing up with your shield instead of left. So if you want to continue facing left - you should either stop moving during the animation until your shield is raised again, or momentarily move left until it's raised.

Another somewhat janky aspect is the part where drinking a potion makes you face down regardless of your previous position, so you should always make sure to move in your desired direction if you're planning to shield raise after a potion.

Additionally, getting staggered while shielding (as in getting actually hit and knocked back with the hurt animation and all that jazz) will change your direction as well, so keep that in mind. Many projectiles were eaten by me during bullet hell phases because I got clipped past my shield and turned around.


4) It's actually quite comfy on the keyboard, at least it is for me. If you dislike having both of your hands on the keyboard like I do - you can bind many actions to the mouse and WASD for movements with your left hand. I use it like that and I love it.


5) Not sure about expanding, but having some kind of visual representation of the shielding cone would be nice at least.


6) Random and unreliable don't exactly fit the bill here. The system does have a pattern to it, it's just not conventionally intuitive, which is something that could indeed use fixing.


7) Meh, I figure it's better to just make the core mechanic more clear and defined rather than add patchwork non-solutions that serve as padding for a player's failures, whether they were earned fair or not.

[thegrassyknoll]

thanks for input and taking the time to explain few things Faust!

As to why i wrote 5/6/7: I'll give an example of the game breaking its own rules with the shield and perspective, and why i think shield box should be expanded. Bees and birds: i swear i am perfectly lined up, but they fly through the pixel of my head or toe and hurt me( sometime a single pixel "above or below" where my shield graphic is whereas some of thier body goes through my shield and some may or may not.). Yet when i am a fireball at many enemies, it goes right through them unless i am aiming perfectly at the plane axis of thier feet. worst offenders are said birds and bees and those crystals in the fortress. So let me get this stright, this game is "puesdo 3-d" . So my head and body occupy the plane as tall as my character as though i am laying down. But the enemies are only on your plane excatly at thier feet. This is also the problem when i am trying to resurrect the friendly snowman. Lets be real. this IS a problem, doesnt make sense and should be fixed.

[thegrassyknoll]

to expand on above: frankly it is ALL enemies essentially. So i am the same height as an enemy lets say( and really height doesnt matter lol although i am a giant hitbox!), but since my fireball comes out at midpoint of my body it misses target going THROUGH the midpoint on their body. Only if i am standing lower than them( if aiming east-west) will my fioreball exiting the midpoint of my character, strike thier "plane" in the feet andcause a successful hit. This is insane, violates all logic, reason, perspective and is janky as $%$# and super cheap! ----Justify that one lol :) hehe

[Faust]

Originally posted by thegrassyknoll:

thanks for input and taking the time to explain few things Faust!

As to why i wrote 5/6/7: I'll give an example of the game breaking its own rules with the shield and perspective, and why i think shield box should be expanded. Bees and birds: i swear i am perfectly lined up, but they fly through the pixel of my head or toe and hurt me( sometime a single pixel "above or below" where my shield graphic is whereas some of thier body goes through my shield and some may or may not.). Yet when i am a fireball at many enemies, it goes right through them unless i am aiming perfectly at the plane axis of thier feet. worst offenders are said birds and bees and those crystals in the fortress. So let me get this stright, this game is "puesdo 3-d" . So my head and body occupy the plane as tall as my character as though i am laying down. But the enemies are only on your plane excatly at thier feet. This is also the problem when i am trying to resurrect the friendly snowman. Lets be real. this IS a problem, doesnt make sense and should be fixed.

Most of your head shouldn't even have a hitbox at all. I'm very skeptical about these claims without footage.

[Kletian999]

Eyeball boss outlines every problem of the thread. Walking through the firewalls is pixel perfect but eyeball can easily dodge fireballs. Diagonal laser beams too.