Halloween Treasures

[Benjamin]

So I want to start by saying this is a really great game with a very well realized theme, which is why I am bothered by how thematically jarring the halloween treasures are. They're like someone having Christmas lights and a plastic santa out in July. I like Christmas lights and plastic santas, but not in the summer. Worse, they are very common (and strong) so avoiding them isn't a reasonable solution. I also kind of feel like I'm being punished for doing the unlock, and now I can't get them out of my game (I suppose I could reinstall, but....).

My minor suggestion is to just rename / resprite them, so that game balance doesn't need to be changed but they don't seem so out of place vs. the other treasures and general game content. I'm sure many players don't care, but I would think I'm not the only one who finds them very out of place thematically...

[Reiga]

Benjamin님이 먼저 게시:

So I want to start by saying this is a really great game with a very well realized theme, which is why I am bothered by how thematically jarring the halloween treasures are. They're like someone having Christmas lights and a plastic santa out in July. I like Christmas lights and plastic santas, but not in the summer.

With the exception of Pumpkin King (which I will agree is a little bit odd but I can live wtih it) I disagree with the rest of your sentiment. Cernunnos, Freyja etc all have basis in different mythologies and do not out of place with the rest of the game.

[Benjamin]

Great, as I mentioned I am aware that many players do not have a problem with them. Other players don't care for them, as evidenced by postings I came across while searching on the topic as well as my own preferences.

That said, they are absolutely out of place with the rest of the game from the perspective of where they show up. They aren't reliably matched with the island themes. They come out randomly as obvious "halloween encounters" spliced into the various normal island encounters. And to worsen the problem, they are noticeably stronger than the non "bonus halloween content" treasures, adding to how jarring they are.

Thinking about the issue more, I guess respriting would require the encounters to be redone as well, which is more work. Maybe its best to just have an option available to turn the Halloween content off...

[AbbeyAdriaan]

I think this is a unfortunate case of framing: they we're advertized as Halloween treasures before, and now it's too blatantly a Halloween treasure. That while with excpetion of the pumpkin king, they are all specifically made from their place of origin:
Viking Landing: Freyja's Spear (obviously Viking) and Pumpkin King (Sorry :P)
Celtic Code: Skull of Cernunnos (Pagan Celtic) and Will o the Wisp (also Celtic mythology)
Saxon: Executioner Axe (Many grim stories of the Saxon King's strife with eachother), Crown of Thorns (even more stories of Relics being brought to England)

I understand completely that they're perceived differently (by the way they are unlocked and the event they're tied with), and I think the only sustainable way to fix this perception would indeed be an option to turn them off.

[WotanAnubis]

For me, the only thing that makes the Halloween Treasures stand out (except for the Pumpkin King, haven't found that one yet) is that they're just so good.

But if you do consider putting in an option to turn them off, I'd suggest using that pumpkin on the main menu screen as the on/off button. Quick and easy. For the user, anyway.

[Benjamin]

Abbey, I think the framing point is true and a good point. I also think Wotan makes a very good point, by the way. Thinking about the treasures more, what seems most problematic about them is that they are so good that run optimization almost by necessity includes them.

So for example, now that I as a player have gotten to the point where I've had fun exploring the game and am thinking about how to break my high score, it's like I should build every run to include Halloween treasures or I'm just handicapping myself. If as a player you're not wild about the Halloween theme vs. the normal exploration theme, this is pretty discouraging.

I think the Halloween content could be cleanly integrated with the game if the text of the encounters was a bit less "spooky" and the power of the treasures wasn't so much greater than the normal treasures (and I suppose the pumpkin king just gets made extremely rare or something). That said, I know any issue of game polish or balance always includes tradeoffs around allocating developer time and resources. I'm sure it's much easier to just have an option to reset whatever variable gets set when you unlock them, which might be a better balance of the use of your time.

Anyhow, complaints about some shortcomings of the Halloween content aside, thanks for making a great game!

[Egregious Groundhog]

My gripe with those treasures is how epic they are. It seems like the game is tempting/rewarding you to restart if you don't find one of the halloween treasures, because of how epicly srong they are. It seems like these treasures could add 1k-2k renowned to your end score because of how big their effects are.

Basically I think they are all pretty OP.

[Danceofmasks]

+1 for rebalance

[Flamestalker]

When the Halloween treasures came out I actually refused to unlock them because of how overpowered they were. I've since then dropped my resistance to them but I still haven't found the opportunity to actually unlock them.

I'm definately in favor of an option to turn them off or a rebalance. I dont even think they have to be toned down that much as there are also several powerful and very impactful treasures available on the beginner isles even without the Halloween treasures.