Character development + Death

[RUSTYWARCOW]

I'll admit this really isn't my favorite game genre -- I think it's the repetition and heavy reliance on RNG.

I wonder are there any persistent character development mechanics between deaths? If not, is there any discussion around this?

Perhaps I just haven't gotten far enough yet, but is there anything like skill persistence, gun improvements, corpse retrieval, etc. that allows me to "jump off" and feel rewarded for my last run's progress?

I know it's not exactly the same format, but I felt FTL did a good job of this. (1) the skills you learned wrt overcoming challenges really made future runs easier and (2) unlocking new ships gave you some nice options when it came to replaying.

Just curious, TIA.

[BOYCOTT]

there's the stuff you unlock with hegemony credits and NPCs you save which mostly unlock the former, most of the rest is per run only.

but practice is still a thing and it seems to apply fairly universally, i can get a master chamber on floor one fairly easily if i get a good RNG into a high powered gun for the boss.

[RUSTYWARCOW]

Okay, cool... I'll read up on that a bit. Thanks.

[Carrier Pidgeons]

Define skill persistence.

The game emphasizes your own skill growth more than your RNG; believe me, even terrible weapons can shine if you use them well. The only absolutely awful gun would be the Klobbe, which is supposed to be absolutely awful, and even then I can think of a few uses for it.

There are hidden characters, skins to unlock, and [BoI-esque] an unlocks system, where whatever you unlock can be found in the next run. Most of them range from funny to valuable to just plain gamebreakingly fun.

There's also NPC unlocks, which allow NPCs to randomly appear in a run and do various things; selling items, healing you, having you map the floor for an item. One even gives quests for weapon unlocks and currency.

There's the elevator to finish, then the Final, FINAL boss. There's a lot here to keep you interested if you want the game to change over time.

[BOYCOTT]

the shortcuts thing is kinda not obvious at first guys, i wouldn't have realized it if it wasn't pointed out in a video anyway, might be worth spoilering for people who haven't played yet.

[RUSTYWARCOW]

re Skill Persistence...

I guess I'm looking for things that endure across death. Things that make it feel like although I died, which happens a lot (especially in the beginning) I'd imagine, hang around for the next run so that I always feel like I've made some improvement (albeit minor) to a specific character or perhaps my overall cast of character options.

It sounds like that does exist, to a degree, guess I'll play a bit more and see how much of it I can find.

Cheers!

[Fusha]

Your character doesn't get better, you get better.
Videogames done right.

[tf2player]

Originally posted by Fusha:

Your character doesn't get better, you get better.
Videogames done right.

[jareddm3]

The most obvious example of what you're looking for are hegemony credits. You earn them from killing bosses and they carry over between runs. They can be given to various shop keeper to unlock new guns that will be added in future runs.

Individual characters don't improve, such as in Isaac, where characters can get new starting items, but there are definitely different meta-goals to work towards that get revealed as you continue playing.