My thoughts on the game

[Dieweb]

Hey' Everyone.

Firstly, I would like to thanks all the devs for this amazing game.
Spent 23 hours on it (+ few x hours offline) and I enjoyed every single moment spent on this game, and, for sure, it'll continue no matter what.

I decided to post something about this game to share my personnal experience on this game, some mechanics, and to discuss about few things that I found OP after playing in Multiplayer, or Solo, campaign, and then, put some suggestions.

/!\ I never played ROA 1.

I'll just start by Pros/Cons about this game.

Pros :
- The game looks amazing. I love how you mixed some arts style with others, in a DA that works perfectly together. It is beautifull, it's well optimized (Well for myself and my 2k euros PC, didn't tried on my laptop.)
-Gameplay is overall great. I was afraid about the way you could moove this big boulder, about the momentum mechanic, or when you destroy something, but the physics works pretty well exept for some things that could happens if you hit an object at the wrong place or else.
-Music was a great choice to keep the player in this experience at 100%. Nothing more to say, some people would not like it but hey, it's classical.
-And for myself, this game as an infinite re-play value...

Cons :
-...But for others, this re-play value will be non-existent I think. It misses some Mini-games (will be added later As I read somewhere)
-Campaign seems a lil' short (Did it in 4hours, normal mode) and some peoples who aim for single player only could be disappointed by this. (Read somewhere that devs will be adding maps, then it could change)
-Choices of defense feel the same when you play the game for too long (Will speak of this later.)
-Maps got too many shortcuts. It feels not fun if you're an experimented player against people that just started. I would prefer linear map with multiple paths defend-able. Not multiple paths that can be ENTIRELY skipped with 1 type of boulder.
(Egypt last skip is really OP, even if you can counter people from using it, Pompei one is too strong too... Makes 80% of the map useless. And every others are the same if you pick the right one. It loses the side of "Tower-Defense", it's more like "Platforming-Dodge".
-If you sell an units, you can't get square back? Is it intended?

Overall :

As a singleplayer only, this game won't be THE GAME. But if you play it with a friends/your girlfriend, make some tests/have fun, even after finishing the campaign, you can play in multiplayer endlessly, each people play differently (Exept when they see your OP defense and they copy it).
TL;DR : Just a Great game multiplayer, keep it up. Even if you put DLC, i'll be here to buy it all.

As I promised, i'll speak about all units/boulders as possible, and say what I thinks of these.

Boulders (I'm sorry as I play the game in another language as english, It might be some weird translation made by myself in yolo-mode.) :

-Basic Boulder : Nothing to say, pretty much obvious, made the campaign with him only.
-Lion Boulder : What's the difference with the basic one? It's so hard to tell with these bar.
-Medusa Boulder : Same as above exept it miss some strenght compared to both others. Nothing really worth it to pick it.
Square of Time (?) : Useless. This one i'll give it a longer shots; It might be really fun to do a game only with this Square, but as the game lack of a chat mode in multiplayer, you can't. Then you can make this sorts of game only in local or with friends. And it feels, boring.
I spent 5mins to attack a bot with this thing, and I COULDN'T pass the last jump of the MEDUSA MAP. Even the shortcut or the normal way, it was IMPOSSIBLE to pass this map with this square. After seen this, I never picked it up again, spend 6mins to hit 145 a door, that's not really quite interresting as this is designed. I would like to see a different mode for this "Boulder-type", and don't see it in the normal game. I won't call it even a challenge, the way it moves makes it boring. (That's my personnal opinion.)
(+ he is too long to create, wtf? People don't even have to prepare it, that's already a square come on !)
-Amored Boulder : I found his damage a lil' too high. He's already a big easy-way to pass everything, I think he hits too hard the doors. (Might nerf it by 10 points or so. Nothing much.)
-St Orb Boulder : This one is fun, but the cross things doesn't works ? Or I didn't understood.
In my language, it's write that : "Untill he wear his cross, he gains money by defeating defenses." But actually, even if the cross is destroyed, you still gain MONEY. (Might be OP in multiplayer with this "bug(?)".
-Canon Boom Boulder : Really fun. And awesome in multiplayer. But, is it intended, to destroy the door, and then die as a single player? Was the game designed to be able to die even when the door is broken?
You can loose easily in singleplayer with this boulder, because of this kamikaze last hit on a door. (If that's intented, this boulder have no purpose in singleplayer.)
-FireBoulder : OP. Nothing to say. Must Pick only, Must use only, better than any others in all ways. If you know how to play, that's the way to go. Can hit 225++ per hit. Not easily destroyable because this game as too many shortcuts.
-Angel Boulder : Got tired of defense in front ? Cut the entire map with this boulder. Not so many damages, but you'll pass the map 100% health anyway.
-Earth (Orbit) Boulder : The design of this one is damn cool ! Didn't played it much, but it feels balanced.
-Sand Boulder : I won't lie, never played this one. I just don't feel like this is an interesting one.
-Wheel : Must pick in sprint-mode, (Or angel if you wanna skip 100% of some map). If i'm right, you'll change the way he moves away, feels too OP for a wheel, + nothing can stop it, cows/Lion and many others defenses doesn't works on it.
(Edit : + I won a map with Wheel only, No defense, against AI in Hard Difficulty. 0 defense is enough for wheel.)
-Goudron Boulder : Interesting, Fun in multiplayer(and even singleplayer), Balanced, that's the type of boulder's design I love. 10/10
-Paint Boulder : Same as above, I love the design, super fun in multiplayer, could miss some damages as you lose many healths, but definetly worth it to prevent spam units on 1 position. (Tactical Play)
-Water Balloon : Cool one, but why pick this one when you can pick...
-COWS : Awesome. Just, Awesome. I wait the "MOOOOOO" when you die, 20/10.
I won't speak of DLC boulders, as they're normal. (Isaac one feels under-power, didn't played it much (might be for fun only))

Ok so, maybe I made some people angry, but I tried to resume my personnal views of these different boulders, now let's speak about defenses !

DEFENSE :

-Gold mine : Why? I mean, why make a square near always pick up? That's the sort of things I couldn't understand. That's a must Pick. Even if your ennemies have a brain and destroy your gold mine, it can be worth the time it took them to destroy it.
Then, why? Why make it a 100% pick-up choice? You can still pick it and build it some turns later, the strategy won't change. Well, I'm disappointed about this one. Not just because of the choice of picking it or not; You can surely wins without, but why you shouldn't pick it when you can make lose time on your ennemies + your ennemy is vulnerable during this time,And even if he doesn't destroy it, it means you gains golds. 100% Always worth it.
(It could be draw off in the defense selection screen, and instead, be here 100% of the time like the Cloud Attack. It's not like some maps doesn't have Gold Mine emplacement.)
-Towers : Nothing to say, pretty much what it says. Costs is overall Ok-ish, and the ability to makes walls/or not is interestings.
-Elephants : I played a lot this one at the early game, but now I just found out that this units lack of "block", the square taken is damn large and you can easily pass near, and his aggro isn't that big. The lil' + is the spearman that hits you when you pass, just for this, It's balanced, and if you place it well, it's a balanced units overall. Best units if you use...
-...COWS : Moo. My best always-Pick, I love it, Idc if wheel is immune, I love it ; Balanced.
-Bull Anvil : Well, must pick, this guy is too strong. I saw him in 100% of multiplayer games. His range is interesting, his damage are a lil' too high, his recovery can be damn OP or too slow (depends his travel.) This one should be nerfed. His PRICE must go up a lil'..
-Heaven Bull : This one is balanced, you can jump to dodge his things jump, die pretty easily, costs Ok, 10/10.
-De Vinci Tank : I hate it. Not like I found it op, I hate it because I found it USELESS.
You should raise his damage, and raise his price to make it a burster-units.
Catapult : I found it Ok for his price. Starter units anyway.
Arrow thrower thing : I found it Ok for his price. Starter units too.
Canoon : I found it meh for his price. Depends of his position, needs more tests to judge it.
"Rock Launcher Thing" xD : This one is RNG like. I don't like so much RNG traps, but hey, it's a decent trap afterall.
Boom Boom barrel : Interesting one, not often pick, hard to put, but definetly worth it if you know how to use it. Damage are damn high.
Fireworks : Balanced one, nothing to say, damage on impact is pretty interesting, like barrel boom boom.
Windmill : I don't like these ones, I prefer => ...
Whale : My must pick on 80% of the map, this one is too strong. I prefer this one compared to windmill. Whale makes you lose MORE time than Windmill, means that's better in every way (But if you place it in a bad way, you can make your ennemy gains more speed too.)
Boing Boing trap : I never played it, even when my ennemies well placed them. That's a cool one. But can be destroyed after use 100% of the time.
Phoenix tree : ... Should change it. Makes it regenerate Units, not square. Raise price. Make it bigger. That's the only way I see to make it usefull.
Lion-Balloon : Fun one, I love it. The slow is damn op, and his aggro is funny.
And the most OP I call it : "WARSHIP" : The game as a Meta. Yes sir. Put Mass warship at the end of the map. Why ? Just because it can fire before you hit the door. Means you lose 100% of your speed. Don't you dare to go back to regain speed, warship will destroy your face.
Anyway, I understood how this thing works, the game read your input as you hear the sound, means you needs to zig-zag to make the warship calculate a false direction, so that he'll throw the missile away. even as knowing it. Put cows, Heaven Bull, Towers, and you're dead. Must pick. IN ALL MAP. This thing is near impossible to destroy on some maps, and his costs is too damn LOW. Yea, Low. Price of this thing should be raised. By a lot. (1 warship / turn should be Ok to balance this OP ship.)

I love this game. I wants it to be better.
If I wasn't that precise on certain things, ask me anything you want, if you wanna play too.
I hope this will helps to progress on the balancing (or it might be not, but, idc, I enjoyed writing all of this.)

Edit : Few Suggestions I forgot to write :

-Make a custom mode possible, where you can add AI as you want, to make 2v1 possible. (Yea, I want to play alone against 2 PEOPLES, cuz I'm crazy.)
This mode could give a lil' more money to the solo player, but not changes the spawn time of boulder. Well, balance can be done.
-Enable a Chat in multiplayer game. I don't want to speak with strangers cuz my English sucks, I prefer to write.
-Mirror Map ? I already saw that if you pick a squad (1 or 2), the map trajectory changes a lil' bit, but why not make some map like a total mirror, could changes few things to make it less repetitive.
-1 Defense mode Only, You start with 12k (example), you put everything you want, and then the first one who break the door wins like a normal match. (Different cooldowns on boulder's etc. etc.)
-FFA map ? Survival Arena? Like a, 4 boulders in an arena, bots put traps in loops, and just, survive, Idk.

So many ideas could come. But hey', that's enough for today.


Have a nice day everyone, CYA !

TL;DR : This game is Awesome.

Edit : I'm sorry if few things wasn't well explained. I'm not that bad in english, but i'm not used to write that much in a row. And i'm not native english btw. Then I tried my best to explain myself.

[ZeFinney]

Absolutely agree with all of your points very good breakdown of the ballance. For me peronaly i cant use the double jump boulder to save my life especially since balloon boulders are 10x better, though i havent played since the nerf. (the names of the boulders are hilarious when translated BTW)

[Dieweb]

I did it in a "rush", then I tried to translate everything by myself. Seems you understood most of the points then I did it correctly it seems, I'm happy. I'll still edit few things since after re-read myself, I've said few things pretty badly and I got few troubles with grammar. But hey, did my best.

[Power_Bert]

Your point about the gold mines bugs me since i unlocked them. What is the point of a build "option" if you take it every time and the first thing in almost every match is placing the mines? Its not like you have much choice.

[[ACE] abordeu]

Hi Dieweb! Thanks for the very extensive feedback. Much appreciated. I won't go every specific point since it would take for too long to cover everything, so I'd just like to drop a couple of "general" ideas behind our thought process and balancing changes so you have an idea of what we've been aiming for and how we plan on further improving the game.

About unit & boulder balance; we are very careful to not draw quick conclusions on specific unit's/boulder's effectiveness based on the experience of just a single player. During the development of the game we've had multiple instances of units and/or boulders that were obscenely over-powered and only needed adjusting certain stats in values no bigger than 10%-20%, to reach a 'balanced' state. Actually, the Block of Ages, (which in your experience is not effective), is actually one of these cases. For a long time during our play sessions with Atlus' QA department (which are the best players I've seen), they totally wrecked our team with the Cube, when they used it as a support unit. We had to nerf it at least a couple of passes before it was in a proper balance. It might be the case that the current implementation is under-powered, but I assure you that it is far from useless. Actually, in my personal experience, the Fire boulder is sometimes one of the weakest choices against a team with solid defenses, but that's just my specific input.

It's important to also note that no particular boulder/defense is supposed to be the best choice for every single level. Some boulders/defenses can be super useful in some strategies/maps, but pretty ineffective in other cases. For another example; the Gunpowder boulder exploding when it destroys the door is completely intentional (not a bug). This is a designed disadvantage to compensate for its huge damaging potential.

I encourage you to further explore strategies and mix up units. You might develop new effective ways of playing the game. I'd be glad to provide more feedback for specific units and/or boulders if anyone has questions. In any case I'm sure the game's balance is far from perfect and we'll continue tweaking things here and there. (Hint; cannons are getting nerfed for the upcoming patch!)

PS: Some boulders are just skins of each other. So the default boulder, the lion boulder and the medusa boulder are actually identical. We'll probably add stat numerical values in the future so comparing is easier.

[Dieweb]

Perfect, Thanks for this perfect answer. I never asked to change the game with only my thought, I just said what I thinked after played it for a pretty decent time since the content is kind of repetitive.

About this cube, I might test it further maybe, but i'm still not thinking he got his places. I wait that someone in multi destroy me with it, then I'll re-consider the question. For the moment, every personn I saw with it, get destroyed before they finish their travel.

And thanks for Numerical Values, That's what we need !

[[ACE] abordeu]

Note that the cube boulder outputs a short shockwave that destroys nearby units (when it lands from a good height). One thing that we definitely have to fix for that one is making sure it is affected less by Whales and Windmills. That's up for a future update.

[Tomato Lemon]

The windmill change for the cube would be great. I had a match yesterday I think on the Holland map and got completely stuck in front of a windmill as the cube (I use cube a lot in multiplayer only because of the comedic potential). I had to move back to gain momentum and make sure to jump before I reached the windmill. The problem there is that it clearly affects the cube more than other boulders, the windmill is underpowered for all other boulders and overpowered for the cube! lol

[European Onion]

The cube really needs some change to it. I've had game against AI as a cube(right after I unlocked it) and AI placed windmill on a hill. Hah. GG XD