Some early game thoughts

[WhoYouExpect]

I haven't gotten to play to much of the game yet but what I have played so far has been pretty great. There are a few game play issues I've run into that I just wanted to mention.

First, early game at least, things cost way to much. The green spell beads are pretty hard to come by early on and then you get to a puzzle that your having a hard time with so you go for a hint, which costs 50 and all it tells you is you need to use move... great thanks that was so helpful for nearly all of my savings. Then the first wand upgrade you find is 300, so not getting that for a good long time. Also with that, why is there even a cost for the teleport anchors, I know there was mention that you could eventually find something to let you use them for free but if you want to get back to haven early game you gotta pony up 40, 20 there and 20 back, or backtrack through already completed areas.

Second on the subject of backtracking, I only ran into this so far in the swamp area before the first boss but after you do the little quest to light the fires you have to run all the way back to the beginning to get the key then all the way back to the end to open the door through an entirely empty area. It just ends up being a pointless time waster.

Third, I at least have found that, the top down angle makes it difficult to aim spells for the puzzles especially when using the right modifier. It is somewhat difficult to tell how tall a wall is and if you can shoot over it or if you are going to hit it. It is also hard to control whether you will hit the ground in front of your target or send your shot flying harmlessly over it. any puzzle that needed the right rune has just led to me going all out spray and pray.

These may well all be none issues later in the game but the early game experience is important, if players get frustrated and quit playing the rest of the game might as well not exist.

[CChancey]

Thanks for the feedback riptide!

- Chris, for the Mages of Mystralia Team

[Ubera_Amans]

To note, on your point about money, I found money to be an extreamly trivial point in the game, grinding for it is quick and easy. I had hoped nothing of importance relied on money to obtain because of its ease of aquisition.

I was considering using the want that costs money to use but never got the chance too... some witch took $999 for one purple orb :(

luckily I had it (because I did not use the money wand).

I think the cost of things so far has been perfect. The 999 purchase came shortly after I maxed my money, the $300 came shortly after i got $300... Its almost like someone played the game and based purchases on how much they had when they got to that point. Even the $100 bulb came when I had like $108.

[Creepo]

I also found money to be a quite trivial, the game is fun and a little grinding to get the wand and whatnot was not that bad. And if you don't want to pay for travel, don't, just walk.
As far as the puzzles go, they're supposed to be hard as they are kind of extra. They're not related to main quest, you can always skip them and return when you have more runes to try alternative easier approaches.
But the surface inclination and its effect on spells is quite annoying at times. With some puzzles and also with the Homing-rune they easily just spiral upwards when fighting on a hill.

[donastree]

Having beaten my first run through, I have to agree, money is no big deal. Even if you aren't grinding, the Portal Stone is cheap. The pyro wand is the one bottleneck in that case (and it is a minimal grind to get to). You will hit 999 beads by the end, with a bit of effort. Might not get there on the second run - knowing where to go/what to do -> less back tracking/searching -> fewer things to blow up/kill for money...

I honestly missed Homing on my first run (pretty sure I know where it is...though getting at it is going to be a bit HMMMM), and I got through all the puzzles with a bit of work. admittedly, I did a few of them with Teleport that "ought" to be solvable earlier using different/other runes, for various reasons. There weren't too many points where I thought the combat was too easy or too hard, and I don't think Homing would have affected that - I substituted Duplicate+size if I really needed to make sure I hit something in some general direction.