finished a run! demo feedback thoughts

[rai.]

this contains spoilers!

25 hours of playtime and 3 runs later, i've finally finished the game. went for the escape ending, but i also ended up very close to completing both the regicide ending and successfully breaking all cards. though i definitely haven't seen everything, i think i have enough of a holistic sense of what's out so far to offer my thoughts!

first off, i just want to say: i find this game INCREDIBLE. it could be partly because a lot of the vibes and atmosphere are very much just things i personally enjoy in media, but this game like fundamentally rewired my brain for a few days. thank you devs i've been able to think about nothing else.

the writing, the premise, the storytelling, and the music are all phenomenal, and the sheer variability of each playthrough feels so balanced. i normally don't enjoy resource management strategy games, so i was hesitant to give the demo a try, but clearly that was just the universe warning me that once i did, this game would become my whole personality for half a week because here we are. i'm unspeakably glad i did in the end! what a gem this is, and if this is just the demo, it's no exaggeration to say i'm on the edge of my seat to see the full expanse of the final product and all its possibilities.

here's some things that stood out to me as i played!

— in general, the conquest cards i found were disproportionately difficult to break compared to all the others. i think there should be a few more opportunities for those. pulling conquest cards ended both of my other runs.

— there's been a couple other comments about UI that could be more player-friendly, and i do agree. by the end of my run, it took me like 5 whole seconds to scroll from one side of my cards to the other. i don't know if there could be a filter function put in or something else to help categorize them a little more. i would frequently not realize or forget that i had certain cards just because it got to a point where i was avoiding scrolling through my hand.

— branching off that, an icon for book storage to the side of the scrolling deck would really help. i'd frequently be scrolling back and forth trying to remember what books i still had in my hand, squinting at each card to tell if it was a book or something else. likewise, a filter for intelligence cards would also be really nice.

— i don't know how much of the game's full content (in terms of random events, quest lines, etc.) is already in the demo, so if there's still a lot being added to address this, then don't mind me! but i think the thing that took away fun for me the most at a certain point was realizing how restrictive the "ideal" gameplay really was. the game touts that you can have your own playstyle and seems to give the idea that you have the possibility of winning at least in some way no matter the choices you make or how you decide to use your cards. but i found that at least with what's released right now, that isn't really true. i felt more like i had to have a walkthrough of the ideal pathing if i wanted to be able to reach any of the endings, with it being really easy to just softlock myself into being unable to win due to limited options for how to achieve endings.

some examples:

* as far as i know, the only way to break gold conquest is through the shama quest if you opt to kill her father. i definitely don't think there should only be one (or even only two) ways to break any individual card. i think it makes sense if there's only three or so possible ways to break each gold card, since they of course should be difficult, but only one or two is a bit too restrictive, forcing you to pretty much have to play specific events a specific way in order to have a chance of doing so.

* similarly, the regicide plot feels a bit too restrictive to obtain, since there's no wiggle room on how to get all the pieces needed to make it (with one of them ALSO being locked behind the shama quest. i need shama i get it.) if you miss even one of the events needed, you've softlocked yourself from that ending. it would've been nice if there was maybe one or two more additional intent to rebels possible to get than you actually needed to make the regicide plot, just to give more flexibility in how you can achieve that ending.

as an example, i felt really good about the way the other pieces of that ending were handled, like how you have a few different ways of getting a gate-breaking item or you could choose between getting the magic ring or having a character with high enough magic, etc. i think this should be the same for the components of the regicide plot, gold conquest, etc.: allowing a few different ways a requirement can be satisfied (even if they're all difficult to meet!) allows for more freedom in the way a player chooses to go about their file and still have as much a potential chance of reaching that ending as someone who played completely differently.

— continuing on freedom of playstyle, it'd be good if maggie had more going for her. right now, she feels too punishing to keep alive, and there isn't much incentive to compared to being able to advance all the prostitutes' questlines comfortably (especially since, again, shama specifically is almost mandatory). keeping maggie alive either means you have to softlock yourself out of certain endings and a lot of ways to break cards, or else sink a lot of money and action economy into maintaining your relationship with her while doing those other things. and for very little return. (does raising her passion actually lead to other plots? i got it up to 10 and never had anything come of it, haha.) overall, i think for players who don't want to cheat on maggie, etc., that should feel like as valid an avenue as those who choose to just not care about her; right now, it feels like if you want to remain loyal, you're just handicapping yourself majorly.

— i wasn't sure if there already is one based on the fate points achievements list, but if there isn't, PLEASE can there be an ending where you end up getting with the sultan, or as his right hand, or something. i know most of the endings involve him dying in some way, but please throw us trashy players who just want to live a debauched villain arc a bone HAHA sometimes.... you see the despotic overlord and you're just mm. delicious...

alternatively (or alongside), a difficult questline that lets you use gold carnality on the sultan would also be amazing KLJKAJF i'm taking potshots in the dark here. long shots. i know.

i think that's all i have! not sure if the devs read this but if you do! thank you for this absolutely jawdropping game and all the work you've done to make it happen. i'm stupidly invested in it, hence the essay. keep it up!

[moonlite]

All of this.

[thornmist]

You've stated just about every single thing I was thinking!

I would also love to see a mechanic that would allow us to 'store' a Sultan card for later use. Obviously it should be pretty restrictive - maybe a high level invention or special item or one-time event, but there were a few times I found myself trading in cards just to have the perfect opportunity come up a turn or three later.

[moonlite]

Yeah. There were times I had three options for Conquest cards, and that just encouraged me to do nothing until I got the opportunity to progress the quests 'optimally'. I get that rationing opportunities is part of the game, but there needs to be more quests and more variety in them. The city feels unrealistically narrow.

[JohnEdwa]

Agree on everything. And for the UI stuff I'd like to add that it *desperately* needs a way to skip repeated dialogue, and semi-permanently assign people to certain things. Right now, it's almost designed to just waste your time.

For a majority of a run, each day starts the same way - assign the same people to the estate, bath house, book shop, and palace, think about money and a card to pop up the two additional events and put someone in them, and then every evening individually click click click all of those same dialogues over and over and over and over and over again. Some of them completely useless, like "You didn't gain an astronomy card today". That makes a turn that should take 15 seconds to one that takes over a minute and gives you arthritis, and as it can take hundreds of turns to complete the game, that adds up fast.
Another time waster is thinking about cards to pop up those two additional events every day. AFAIK it's random what event you get, and not e.g Tactics -> Tavern Brawl, so just have two them pop up each day once they have been thought about.

Especially when at certain points you are just waiting for the last day to use a Sultan card, as there's no reason to do it sooner as that just means missing turns you could gain money, books and cards, as you immediately get another 7 day deadline. Maybe the time limit should be lower, but also stack: e.g. you get 5 days per card, but do them on the first day, and now you have 10 days for the second card, 15 for the third etc?

[moonlite]

I wish the font for the coin stats was larger. It was difficult for me to gauge what number they were showing.

[shinigamikitsune]

This is roughly what I think, Also getting Silver/Gold Bloodshed as your first couple of cards is almost certain to end your runs unless you upgraded your wife or follower rank in the fate shop, or are lucky to get Shama to pop in the brothel, or the vain noblewoman to proc.

I do think until you do certain amount of runs the games should keep you from drawing gold/silver cards in the first few pulls - both to ease the player character into doing debach things, and to allow them to gain the resources/stats to actually pull it off.

[sazandorable]

Originally posted by JohnEdwa:

Another time waster is thinking about cards to pop up those two additional events every day. AFAIK it's random what event you get, and not e.g Tactics -> Tavern Brawl, so just have two them pop up each day once they have been thought about.

Oh my god I didn't even know this was a thing you could do