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This is a case where you might be in the 1% of all players but you're advocating for something the game isn't nor is wanting to be. Again, the whole point of the game is that the world is dying and you are saving it. That's the game. Maybe management could be better but it's integral to the identity of what Thea is.
Not sure where 'losing Slavic charm' comes from, if anything, I feel like there are more random references and nudges thrown into the mix than it was in Awakening, while expanding greatly on its own lore. Maybe that's an issue? I'd agree that story focus shifted to its own mythology, but in this aspect the source material is lackluster and chaotic at best.
The new system for gods was an interesting idea and the affinities are much more than just slots for cards. I felt it the most last game, when switching from my favourites I suddenly lacked Turmoil options in-game which forced me to change my playstyle. The god skills in Awakening look better on the paper, but I haven't end up using most of them, as it was mostly 'max one out in one playthrough, move to next one next playthrough'. I think I returned only to two of them in the end.
To me, the game feels comparable to where Thea 1 was at release. It is hard to remember but there were lots of tweaks since then to Thea 1 and the Giants expansion made the game more interesting and opened ways to lose.
I suspect the winter start is actually the easiest option; you get a big experience bonus from some easy encounters and when you start wanting to settle down or move to another island the weather is nice.
Play by one God now (but very long already), see no problems with it.
As for God bonuses, Marovit's spiritual regeneration is phenominal if you prefer magical fights. Zorya's warcry bonus is great if you like to do manual fights and play with more strategy (some fun Strength of the Swarm fights I've had). Stribog is good for the very early game if you want to torture yourself and set sail right away for another island and tough it out.
The game gets very enjoyable once I have a large, diverse party with all the options different events can have. I had a pretty good laugh for the "Love knows no bounds" event in which my Unliving Rat and Eldercone made an Unliving Corpse. 40 turns or so later, that Unliving Corpse hooked up with a Tainted Goblin Shaman and had an Unliving Rat.
Also, try playing with no saves or save-scumming. You're going to get your ass handed to you eventually, be it by a poor dragon choice or a demon portal on steroids. Or maybe just the Red Cave bandits.
Except that you don't have to make a town at all, it's a choice you didn't had in Thea 1 and that you have now.
You still have ways to lose, it may be not enough for you, of course, but since some people are still struggling in easiest difficulty, i would say that it may be the lack of higher difficulty setting your issue.
I agree that the cosmic seed at the moment is something that not all players want to use in hardest difficulty, the other ring can be really powerful.
For difficulty, I think it's easy for a player to manage their difficulty according to their choices. Yes, the beginning island is easy, and beginning players will find it appropriate, but if you want a challenge there are lot of options:
1) Only start with 1 character (for bonus bragging points make that character a rat)
2) Leave the starting island by turn X (turn 30?) and never come back. Aim to settle on one of the harder islands (early Dwarf island gives lots of opportunities for game over)
3) Never use Codexes, Scrolls and/or Heavy Armor
Where did I say that I was turtling? On the contrary, I sought out fights and challenges and pushed the limits of my party. I took 7+ fights (lightbringers) with T1/T2 gear. From what I can tell, these are the toughest fights in the game though I certainly haven't explored everything yet. What I noticed is that these monsters might roam to your town maybe once every 100 turns so you have to go seek them out to have any fun. I think the huge sight range of the town keeps them from spawning anywhere close.
I didn't expand on this because it's not really what I want to discuss. Basically, the events feel like a random mixture of memes with superficial references to Slavic folklore. I suppose that's the result of the developer's Kickstart model.
The difference is that the developers didn't have a Thea 0 to build from so the incompleteness of Thea 1 at release is more forgivable.
You may be right about the winter start, though there are some winter weather events that can limit movement to 1 or 2 hexes a turn which makes it hard to avoid stuff you don't want to fight. There could be a difficulty option that makes it permanently winter and removes the double XP bonus.
600 turns? How have you not won the game by then? This also tells me that there's not a time limit (like the Giant's Return) and there needs to be.
The faith healing ritual heals 30-60% faith or something like that. I know that 2 rituals will heal from -10 to 50 in one turn so Marovits regen is perhaps decent in the first 10 turns, if you can manage to find a hex fight by then.
Zorya's warcry is unusable at the highest difficulty from what I can tell. You generally don't want to play your hand until the last turn in combat because card positioning is so important. And besides, the lightbringers have such insane initiative that the 0.5 reduced delay isn't going to matter anyways.
There is a neutral affinity card to start with a raft. Stribog's bonus is not unique.
These bonuses are so minor that I wouldn't have noticed even if they were bugged and not working.
I allowed save-scumming in my first playthrough so I could learn the game without having to worry about making obvious mistakes and so I could explore different decision trees in events. I haven't save-scummed in my subsequent playthroughs and the experience hasn't been any different.
Everyone is missing the point of my complaint. Thea 1 was a decent game that was held back by how easy it became once a player became familiar enough with it. Thea 2 was a chance for the developers to have a hard look at making the game more enjoyable for that caliber of player. Thea 2 has something enjoyable for those first 30 turns then the game becomes laughably easy, even at 200% difficulty.
Thea 2 has nothing for the hardcore fans of the first game. That's my disappointment and I'm surprised that similar players don't feel the same way.
Zorya's warcry isn't useless in high difficulties, it's useless if you decide to place your cards last. I play with combat difficulties on maximum and I always play Zorya when I'm going for the physical combat approach. There may be some times I play my cards last depending on my enemy and my equipment but for the most part I play my cards first.
The neutral raft trait card is pretty bad compared to Stribog's special raft. The neutral raft will barely ever be able to carry your stating group from turn 1. Stribog's raft can last quite a while before you get overloaded with loot and people.
I do agree that they are a little on the low end but overall I'm still satisfied with them.
You're not seeing my complaint here. The game is trivial if there's no time limit. Players like you might be okay with that but I've already put many hours into the first game. I want something engaging with victory not so sure.
They had this in the first game so why take it out in the second?
If you think Zorya's warcry is useful then you're taking fights that are trivial for the power of your group. If you feel safe playing a card onto an empty board then you have nothing to fear from your opponents hand. Also, playing cards last allows you to avoid inefficient overkill and to properly set up tanking hits. An absolute necessity for squeezing the most from your cards.
Powerful effects, like first strike and weakness/hunter's mark, require things to be on the board to properly use. Summons come in with zero delay regardless of when they're played. There's no place for Zorya's warcry when you're pushing the limits of combat.
Huh? Are we even playing the same game? They're both about the same movement and the neutral raft can most certainly carry your starting crew since you'll have 4 people or 3 people and 2 children at most.
If you're not immediately setting sail then the bonus is wasted. And if you are then you don't have the loot to concern yourself with anyways.
When you are finally established then it takes like 2 turns to build something as good as Stribog's raft and like 4 turns to build something much, much better which nullifies his bonus for the rest of the game.
That's because you're not seeing the bigger picture. I said there's no real difference between the gods. This was more or less the case with Thea 1 but Thea 2 should be different. The selection of your god should radically change the way the game is approached otherwise what's the point of having the selection? Flavor? This aspect of the game is wholly underwhelming.
I think Nyia comes closest to having an interesting bonus. Horz and Triglav have powerful bonuses but I don't think they're particularly interesting. The rest are comparable to zero-level gods from Thea 1.
I absolutely MISS the ability to build a "home" to come back to and level up for defense, research etc.
That said, I agree completely with your sentiments about the greatness for Thea 1 and missed opportunities here in 2 to capitalize on the few flaws in 1.
For now, I'm going to hang up my Thea 2 playtime until some more updates, tweaks and adjustments come from the devs. Just not enjoyable at all in current state. Not buggy, not bad, just BOOORING.
I ask again, why build a game with elements of 4X, CCG, RPG, Resource Management and storyline, only to force a playstyle that doesn't allow those elements to play measurable roles in the outcome of the game?
So far, I've only found 2 ways to reliably beat the lightbringers at a relatively early point in the game:
1. First strikes with wound healing at a friendly town. Basically you whittle down the monster band by playing your first strike attacks and then surrender the fight before committing the round. Then you heal your group by talking to a friendly town and asking to get healed (full heal). You can repeat this several times in one turn, eventually getting the band down to a winnable fight. This is the same trick as Thea 1 with the healer's hut. I think it's easier, actually, because of how distant groups are pulled into the same fight within an area.
2. Summons and weakness/hunter's mark. You use your summons to tank the hits while attacking the card strength of your enemies rather than their life. Weakness and hunter's mark are persistent in combat turn after turn so if you reduce an enemy card to zero damage that card is effectively killed.
Both methods are pretty good but take some practice to reliably pull off. Summons that scale with your power are obviously better. This includes blood summons like Horz werewolf and Zerca unliving rats, as well as codex summons. Pet summons don't seem to scale but they can take one hit at least.
Of course, eventually you'll have the gear to just kill them in a straight fight. You can simply just auto-resolve at that point because the fights are trivial.
I think the lightbringers are one of the better points about the game. They're the only thing that's threatening. I just wish they were more aggressive.