Game progression: A clear indicator of what is a problem.

[Winstontaneous]

Arguably, the game is 'difficult' (IE RNG insanity) in order to keep giving players a challenge. You keep progressing by unlocking the means to make it through the first level, second, third, etc; unlock weapons and passive items - which are all temporary, in order to get them later over and over again in different runs. You never know what your next run will look like, what you'll find in that chest, what layout the next room is in, and what bosses you'll be facing, until you do. You've unlocked everything. Now what?
Speedruns? Boss Rush?

What's the point? There are no leaderboards - which I'm not asking for anyway. There's no competitive community, and there's only local multiplayer. Some people enjoy where the bar is currently (read:arbitrarily) set for difficulty, others complain about difficulty because they either have less time to commit to one game (work and sleep tend to get in the way of mastering video games) or have plateaued at a certain skill level and can't beat (read:experience) most of the Gungeon.

Then that just means it will take you several more attempts (read:hours) to reach the next level, or get lucky and reach an unexpected mark - but only once or twice.

Some players enjoy the challenge and want to meet the game on its terms, others are frustrated by lack of progression and want to meet the game more on their own terms. Column A would give up and stop playing if the game were just made easier, without a challenge to their ability, and column B are giving up in frustration and finding something they'd rather do with their time.

Don't change the game that you wanted to make, just offer an alternate experience for the players that desire it. I've put 80 hours into this product, and I can say I've gotten my money's worth, but I feel wanting because I haven't gotten to any endings yet, the achievements and unlocks associated with them, or the experience (which I've seen on Youtube - others inspired me to purchase this game.) Because I feel the game is too difficult, I've uploaded screenshots of deaths I've suffered for various things: gold/item distribution, bosses/level difficulty spikes, etc.

Other games (Rogue Legacy, Hero Seige, Crypt of the Necrodancer) offer permanent upgrades, that make progression feel rewarding. I get the time travel mechanic taking you back to the beginning without you ever really dying, but again, if you make it to the 4th-5th floor in one run, you want to make it back to the same level soon, rather than every run being just as likely to end on the 2nd floor as the 5th.

[Ludic]

Originally posted by Hibachi:

Originally posted by LudicSavant:

Put a 35-coin scope on it and she makes the first *four* floors easy with that revolver (it has dps close to the M1, it's just inaccurate by default). Seriously that revolver scales really well with upgrades compared to the other starting sidearms (since it has room to improve on accuracy and high DPS, and damage bonuses are multiplicative). Here's its performance on the fourth floor with a Scope/Litchy Trigger Finger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzMIUIagTWQ&feature=youtu.be

Man this is ridiculous.

You're only missing pop blessing to go with that and finishing the game without ever switching weapon.
Maybe with double vision when you just want to go through a boss really, really quick.

Infinite ammo, accurate 20 DPS sustained / 40 DPS burst is really nice... and that's with *just* a scope and knowing to do manual fire / no delay reloads (e.g. the reload technique that makes crossbow not suck).

If you actually get damage upgrades and such too? That revolver is a beast.

Another thing that a lot of people don't seem to know is that (with no upgrades or anything) it fires 10 bullets faster than the Marine Sidearm fires 10 bullets. The clip size advantage doesn't even matter, the ROF and reload speed are that much faster.

Yet another is that the much-vaunted Robot's Right Hand has about the same sustained DPS as the Budget Revolver... less if your fire isn't sustained over 20 bullets (instead of 5 + reloading during a roll).

dm / ((s(m-1)+r) where r = reload time, m = magazine size, s = delay between shots, and d = damage per bullet... Robot's Right Hand and Budget Revolver both have 20.

So... short version? See a scope or similar item in a shop while you're playing the Convict, consider buying. ;)

[Vex'd]

World Record player here. I've beaten the game 11 times in a row with Robot, getting a world record that was only recently broken. The game is very fair.

EDIT: LUDIC SAVANT?? AGAIN?? We meet again!
Still on the endless DPS crusade?