Crystal Hunt makes no sense and is generally very poor

[Girth Control]

I've been playing this game since the moment it was available in Early Access. No climbing, no Canyon, no survival game mode, etc. I've got over 150 hours, I'd like to think I have a good idea of what this game is, what it excels at, and what needs work.

For a 1.0 release, I think Blade & Sorcery is incredibly lackluster, repetitive, and gives the player very little reason to actually engage in anything the game has to offer.

The majority of spells and abilities are useless. While they may provide some brief entertainment, they serve little function and are easily forgotten. For example being able to spin a weapon with telekinesis is fun for a few minutes, but is so ineffective in combat that you'll likely never use it other than a rare handful of times.

Enemies don't drop rewards and you can't keep their weapons, so there's literally no reason to fight anybody. And since you can run so fast it's super easy to bypass everyone, sprint to the exit, get the treasure chest, and leave.

If you do choose to fight, the first weapon in the game can literally kill every enemy in one hit by stabbing them in the throat with it, other than the golem of course. There isn't a single human enemy that wears any kind of neck protection. No chainmail covering the neck, no full suits of knight armor, no magic embeued enemies that don't die in one hit, nothing. This also defeats the entire purpose of the shop - why would I ever need to buy a weapon if the one I start the game with already kills everyone in one hit?

The lack of variety in enemy voices is incredibly annoying too, as you'll be hearing the same grunts over and over and over. Really couldn't get some fans from the Discord community with decent microphones to record a couple grunts each?

Basically, the core gameplay is fundamentally flawed. In the progression game mode, I feel no desire to progress - I start the game incredibly strong, incredibly fast, I have the ability to withstand an immense amount of damage, dodge almost anything that comes my way due to my speed, leap over massive gaps unassisted, and kill every enemy in one hit. What more could I possibly need? Even at my absolute weakest, nothing even remotely poses a challenge.

[Girth Control]

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

Because the fun is the combat, and if you've mastered the combat, the fun is then figuring interesting and different ways to use your selected skills, abilities, and your own proficiency to fight in such a way that you enjoy yourself. (this is partially what makes crystal hunt work, because if you're playing to have fun, you'll explore different options, and not optimize your build so hard that you have the perfect way to fight)

This genuinely makes no sense at all. The fun is in figuring unique ways to use skills you DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO?

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

Ever heard of 'Suspension of Disbelief'? Its a term used for writing a lot- used to basically say the reader is willing to put aside the most objective way they can view a piece of writing for the sake of enjoying the piece of writing, you can also consider it as 'limiting their frame of reference'. Thats what needs to happen here, and if you are incapable of suspending said disbelief to make yourself enjoy it more, then you've hit the point where theres *frankly* nothing that can be done to satisfy you anymore.

"Suspension of disbelief" is something that in any normal game would only be required in a sandbox mode or while using cheats. In any normal game, I don't need suspension of disbelief to pretend there is a challenge, there usually actually is a challenge. I don't need to handicap myself in order to enjoy almost any game ever made, at least singleplayer ones. The argument that "you aren't having fun because you're not handicapping yourself" is flat out stupid because the entire point of them adding a progression system was to add challenge to the game, to handicap you, to restrict your access to certain abilities. But the implementation of it is incredibly flawed, incentivising the player to basically play as little of the game as possible until they unlock everything they want, bypassing the handicap entirely.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

You think if they just made combat harder, or even required, that'd fix your issue? Is there ANYTHING you could actually name thats feasible that'd actually fix your issue?

Is that somehow not feasible? It was as simple of a solution I could possibly think of. Force the player to actually fight instead of allowing them to just run past. Reward the player for killing enemies so they can run past if they want, but they're punishing themselves by doing so. Start the player off with a blunt weapon instead of a stabbing one as they can't instakill as easily. Those are incredibly simple solutions. More complex ones would be to add neck armor to the game so not every single enemy can be killed with one stab to the throat, or weapon durability so low tier weapons like the knife you start the game with breaks after a skull or throat stab so you can't just do the same move over and over. It's not like I'm here asking for an entire game overhaul.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

So, I'm gonna reiterate the problem- you are handicapped in crystal hunt, but you're not willing to put up with the handicaps in the game's primary focus (combat) and just run through all the dungeons. By choosing to bypass the handicap you've been given, you are unwilling to actually engage with the game in a meaningful way.

I'm not bypassing the handicap. I'm doing exactly what the game intends me to do - progress in the levels to obtain materials and upgrade my abilities.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

And if you don't find the combat fun, then you don't have anything in Blade and Sorcery to do in actuality, because 'every' aspect of the game is to feed the combat.

I never said I don't like the combat. I said there's zero incentive for the player to engage in combat in the progression game mode, as it's all risk no reward. You get nothing out of it other than the chance to lose health and possibly die.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

An analogy is a potter that enjoys working with clay has found the optimal way to make, say, a clay pot. So they do that every single time they need a container for something- sure, its fast, easy, takes the least amount of resources for the most amount of return, but now they don't work with the clay as much as they'd like, but they refuse to do it another way because they know that this is the best way to make a pot. They lose their enjoyment because they refuse to engage with the clay in a different way, despite still claiming to enjoy working with clay.

A better analogy would be a potter who has become so skilled at making pots, they decide to enter pottery competitions. But it turns out the judges only judge based on pot volume, so the potter makes a big jug and wins every time. There's no reason to make anything else, as it would only result in losing, and the potter isn't enjoying making the same big jug over and over. If only the judges changed their criteria to promote more solutions...

[Doom]

İlk olarak Girth Control tarafından gönderildi:

The issue is Crystal Hunt is supposed to have progression,

It does. Initial enemies are weak and poorly equipped. When you start advancing, you'll get more powerful guys fighting you.

Also, if you start as a "blank state" you won't have any magic. To get magic, you'd need to explore ruins and fight the boss. That fight is different from usual enemies. I got to the boss with effectively a long rusty knife and no ranged weapons. That fight was certainly entertaining.

İlk olarak Girth Control tarafından gönderildi:

A better analogy would be

You're overthinking it.

It is not that complicated. The enemies are a bit dumb, for more fun you have to get creative. If you can't enjoy it, no reason to force yourself. However there aren't a whole lot of VR sword fighting games on the market. This game has f laws, but it is one of the best ones in the genre.

[Illusia]

Your analogy literally explains whats your problem is. You see a single goal, and you sacrifice everything in the game to pursue it, even your own enjoyment~ just as the potter sacrifices everything they enjoy about working the clay, because they want to win the competition. Why not stop playing the competition and just work the clay however you please?
Why not stop playing the game as efficiently and quickly as possible and spend time with your available abilities? Enjoy getting new ones as you progress? Which means not taking the optimal run through and actually fighting?
You sound like you want the game to lock you into a fight with every generated cell of the dungeon, I'm sure a mod can do that for ya, although personally I find the sections where I'm locked in with a bunch of enemies gradually spawning the most frustrating.
Or, if you want rewards for killing enemies, could always get a mod that makes them drop lootables or even lets you keep their weapons.
And yes, these are all mods, because bluntly speaking, we were told already that they're trying to stabilize the base game now and won't be likely adding more content really- They're already working on another game, after all.
Theres zero incentive to play any game. Every reason is self derived, I dunno why finding a self derived reason to engage with the combat is impossible for you, but I get it; and I already told you that perhaps at this point you can't be pleased. I don't think making the combat 'harder' in any way is going to actually change anything, it'l just mean people take on different strategies to make it easy again. I hear stealth archer is powerful in another video game, I wonder if its replicatible here!

And I say it one more time, there comes a point where you're just going to be too good if you play at your best all the time. Fortunately, I apparently suffer from skill issue in this game or maybe I can't incentise myself to play riskless so I always have a risk of dying in one dungeon or another. I played a archer in my last playthrough, it was interesting, but boring. So I changed my weapons to a great ol axe and started beserking, much better, despite having to deal with the ranged enemies in a more frustrating manner. Meanwhile I don't suffer from 'skill issue' in other games so stuff like Rain World, Twenty Minutes Til Dawn and whatever else I kinda have ran out of reasons to play nowadays despite liking them both a lot- maybe thats you, just with this VR sword fighter magic casting game.

[Pr|cedisman]

what in your opinion should the devs do to fix it?

[Luna]

İlk olarak Girth Control tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Luna tarafından gönderildi:

you just chose a very complicated way to say "i cant make my own fun" which is fine, but that probably means the sandbox style isnt for you, clearly.

You clearly aren't reading anything I'm saying, so I don't see the point in you posting in this discussion. You're just trying to troll.

well thats what you said "if the point of the game is to make my own fun, then i dont enjoy it because i cant do anything other than the most optimal route." thats a really simple way of saying you dont like the sandbox style, which is fine, but thats not the games fault :) maybe you should try something a little more hand holding then so it gives you direction and the structure you desire

[Wulfen]

İlk olarak Girth Control tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Luna tarafından gönderildi:

"i stab everyone in the neck and they die!!! killing isnt fun!"

i think youre missing the point of the game

The game is great fun in sandbox mode. The moment you add progression and strip away all the player's abilities, the player is going to try and earn them back as quickly as possible.

If the point of the game is just kill people in unique ways, then Crystal Hunt is completely superfluous and actually detrimental to the game as a whole because it actively punishes you for doing anything except the optimal strategy of either running past everyone or stabbing everyone in the throat.

You can do the "optimal strat" or you can just play the game and have fun. I enjoy the progression and make my own fun in the game. I don't run past enemies. Idc if it's viable to do so. Blame gamers who can't be bothered to have fun and require constant and fast progression in order to have any semblance of satisfaction anymore

[darkblade]

İlk olarak Girth Control tarafından gönderildi:

I've been playing this game since the moment it was available in Early Access. No climbing, no Canyon, no survival game mode, etc. I've got over 150 hours, I'd like to think I have a good idea of what this game is, what it excels at, and what needs work.

For a 1.0 release, I think Blade & Sorcery is incredibly lackluster, repetitive, and gives the player very little reason to actually engage in anything the game has to offer.

The majority of spells and abilities are useless. While they may provide some brief entertainment, they serve little function and are easily forgotten. For example being able to spin a weapon with telekinesis is fun for a few minutes, but is so ineffective in combat that you'll likely never use it other than a rare handful of times.

Enemies don't drop rewards and you can't keep their weapons, so there's literally no reason to fight anybody. And since you can run so fast it's super easy to bypass everyone, sprint to the exit, get the treasure chest, and leave.

If you do choose to fight, the first weapon in the game can literally kill every enemy in one hit by stabbing them in the throat with it, other than the golem of course. There isn't a single human enemy that wears any kind of neck protection. No chainmail covering the neck, no full suits of knight armor, no magic embeued enemies that don't die in one hit, nothing. This also defeats the entire purpose of the shop - why would I ever need to buy a weapon if the one I start the game with already kills everyone in one hit?

The lack of variety in enemy voices is incredibly annoying too, as you'll be hearing the same grunts over and over and over. Really couldn't get some fans from the Discord community with decent microphones to record a couple grunts each?

Basically, the core gameplay is fundamentally flawed. In the progression game mode, I feel no desire to progress - I start the game incredibly strong, incredibly fast, I have the ability to withstand an immense amount of damage, dodge almost anything that comes my way due to my speed, leap over massive gaps unassisted, and kill every enemy in one hit. What more could I possibly need? Even at my absolute weakest, nothing even remotely poses a challenge.

ez fix for your problem

dont play the game thats it, or download mods and make it better for you

[Hot Ross Buns]

+1

[Girth Control]

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

Your analogy literally explains whats your problem is. You see a single goal, and you sacrifice everything in the game to pursue it, even your own enjoyment~ just as the potter sacrifices everything they enjoy about working the clay, because they want to win the competition. Why not stop playing the competition and just work the clay however you please?

Because the potter is looking for something different than working the clay however they please in "sandbox mode". Taking away the clay and making the potter run 200m to get it isn't a challenge, it's a waste of time.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

Why not stop playing the game as efficiently and quickly as possible and spend time with your available abilities?

Because you don't HAVE ANY AVAILABLE ABILITIES. That's exactly why you just run past everyone, so you can get abilities to play with.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

Enjoy getting new ones as you progress? Which means not taking the optimal run through and actually fighting?

No? All fighting would do is prolong the amount of time it takes to get new abilities, which if getting abilities makes the game fun, that means the more fighting you do, the less fun you have.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

You sound like you want the game to lock you into a fight with every generated cell of the dungeon, I'm sure a mod can do that for ya, although personally I find the sections where I'm locked in with a bunch of enemies gradually spawning the most frustrating.

You don't need to figure what I want, I've said it explicitly multiple times. I want there to be a reason to actually fight anyone. Whether that means making enemies drop gold or crystals, giving the player objectives that require finding and killing a certain character, or just locking them in a room and forcing them to fight to escape, anything is better than nothing.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

Or, if you want rewards for killing enemies, could always get a mod that makes them drop lootables or even lets you keep their weapons.
And yes, these are all mods

Why? Why does the community have to resolve basic game design issues?

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

because bluntly speaking, we were told already that they're trying to stabilize the base game now and won't be likely adding more content really- They're already working on another game, after all.

Maybe they should finish their first game before moving onto the next? Because I mean, glaring balance issues such as the first weapon in the game killing every enemy in one hit is pretty rough.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

Theres zero incentive to play any game. Every reason is self derived

That is not even remotely true at all. It genuinely frustrated me to read that, it's simply devoid of all logic, not even the faintest attempt at a genuine argument.

Minecraft. Harvest resources so you can upgrade your tools and build structures. Crystal clear incentive. You need food and shelter or else you will die. Get to work.

Counter-Strike. Kill enemies and complete objectives to earn money to buy better weapons. Crystal clear incentive. You can't hide from everyone, even if you survive you will lose every round if you don't fight. The more rounds you lose, the less money you have, the weaker you become.

Super Mario Brothers. Reach the end of the level to gain access to more unique levels and power ups. Crystal clear incentive. It doesn't matter if you kill any enemies or not, because the point of the game isn't the combat. They're just roadblocks towards more content.

Just Cause. Destroy structures to level up and gain access to more fun weapons, vehicles, and tools of destruction. Crystal clear incentive. It's fun to blow things up and blowing things up gives you more tools to blow more things up.

Cookie Clicker. Collect cookies to invest in your abilities to generate cookies with the ultimate goal of making as many cookies as fast as possible. Crystal clear incentive. Number goes up, make number go up fast. Dopamine. That's it.

Blade & Sorcery. Progress through levels to obtain resources to upgrade your character. So what's the incentive? The main selling point of this game is it's physics based combat, but you aren't rewarded in any way at all for participating in it. The incentive is in reaching the end of the level, that's it. So then what, is pacifism the intended way to play the game? It must be because all fighting does is punish the player.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

I dunno why finding a self derived reason to engage with the combat is impossible for you, but I get it;

You clearly don't because I've already said the entire point of having a progression mode is so the player doesn't have to arbitrarily handicap themselves to have fun. We have sandbox mode, it's great fun, I can handicap myself all I want there. The entire purpose of a progression game mode is so you start off weak and become strong. It's not ALSO sandbox mode, because if that was the case, then there would have been no reason to have added it at all.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

and I already told you that perhaps at this point you can't be pleased.I don't think making the combat 'harder' in any way is going to actually change anything, it'l just mean people take on different strategies to make it easy again. I hear stealth archer is powerful in another video game, I wonder if its replicatible here!

Take 5 enemies in this game and pit them against a player. The player can slow time and stab all of them in the head and end the encounter in 15 seconds.
Now take those 5 enemies and give them full suits of medieval armor. There still might be gaps in the armor at the joints, weak points if you will, but the player can't stab them in the head or throat anymore. Wow, now the player has to actually think. They can't just turn on slow motion and one hit kill everybody. Maybe they don't even attack in the slow motion, they just use it to brainstorm how to complete the challenge. They'll have to maneuver themselves to get access to the weak points, use more blunt attacks instead of slashes or stabs, knock them down to get some breathing room and focus on less targets at once...
Look at that, basically one addition to the game completely changes the encounter. It goes from "I have to intentionally handicap myself because the game is so incredibly easy that I have no other choice" to "these enemies pose a real threat and I have to be careful around them" without being ridiculous or unfair, such as just increasing the health or speed of the enemies.

İlk olarak Illusia tarafından gönderildi:

And I say it one more time, there comes a point where you're just going to be too good if you play at your best all the time. Fortunately, I apparently suffer from skill issue in this game or maybe I can't incentise myself to play riskless so I always have a risk of dying in one dungeon or another. I played a archer in my last playthrough, it was interesting, but boring. So I changed my weapons to a great ol axe and started beserking, much better, despite having to deal with the ranged enemies in a more frustrating manner.

This is just handicapping yourself, which again, you shouldn't have to do in a progression game mode. It's just flat out bad game design, no two ways about it.

[Luna]

reddit challenge(IMPOSSIBLE): try to just enjoy a video game because thats what it was made for

[DeadlyKittin]

Skill issue ngl

[arsenicCatnip]

The main problem with it for me is I want to unlock all the magic in Crystal Hunt but it takes so long to get through levels and its not much fun. I just don't fight anyone

[Gunfreak]

İlk olarak Jaded tarafından gönderildi:

I completely agree with you OP.

Unfortunately alot of VR gamers have incredibly low standards due to nothing really coming out. Im honestly heartbroken at how little game there is to this "game"

Why can't we get ONE great VR experience that isnt Alyx?? Im so starved for good VR content it hurts.

Because there generally exists 2 types of VR developers.
1. The indie dev. 1-10 people with a passion that understands what makes VR good. But lacks any or all combinations of large enough budget, team or simply skills.
2. The big developer with all the money, team and skill. But don't understand what makes vr good. And you end up with at best average games. Like Medal of Honor above and beyond, sniper elite, that fire team Sierra thing. Or in the quest for easy money use Meta exclusive like Ubisoft and other that hamper good quality.

Let's see how Skydance's BEHEMOTH turns out. Might be the best vr game since Alyx.
99% of my VR time is used in DCS. flying high fidelity aircraft in VR is fantastic.

[Flashgod_VR]

This.

[Nick Dipples]

uh, enemies do have armor? play the game more, dog. you cant just neckstab everyone :)

also, 150 hours......maybe you're just burnt out and should play something else?