The big game modifier updates we've been getting feel kinda lackluster. (Dead Cells, and Endless)

[Grapplesauce7264]

I didn't talk about it before, but so far a lot of the new content updates have been kinda bothering me about how they're implemented. Specifically the Dead Cells, and Endless updates.

Dead Cells collab: When I first tried it, I thought we were gonna be able to basically curate your own loadouts bit by bit, choosing your own perks every level up out of the ones you've discovered per class, and your own starter/mid run weapons based off cards, at the cost of having no achievements unlock. For pure fun basically. But apparently you just get to choose 12 weapons to have appear more often, or not at all. So If I wanted to make a goofy build, or just restrict myself to one weapon for practice, I really can't cause it's still all up to RNG. Just *better* chances at getting what you want. Of course the devs probably didn't want to rip off Dead Cell's custom mode 100%, but the freedom to do whatever is what makes that gamemode so refreshing. You get to play what you want to.

Endless: A lot of people seem to be in agreement with endless being a tad imbalanced. Been playing endless just to have fun with the game since the DC update didn't really give me what I was expecting, and It's got flaws with it just like the filtering mechanic. Initially I was playing G4 endless, and the runs get insanely difficult by the second "area". And on top of that my own damage is terrible unless I get a good weapon. Lowered down to G2 and it's much the same thing, except I can get to the third or fourth area boss by then. Caved in and lowered it to *hard,* then I realized how imbalanced endless feels. I assumed it would be around area 6 or 7 when it got that difficult, but no, it's area *3* It feels like things get irritatingly difficult. The lower difficulties get rid of the regular mobs being tough, but the bosses still feel too strong. And the real kick I've been getting is the double bosses.

My initial thought was you get 1-2 regular bosses, then a double fight afterwards. Or even your first cycle being random regular bosses (First 6 areas), and then double fights sneak their way in until every bossfight is double. But every time there's a double boss fight, where they're very tanky, and can most definitely shred you to bits if you make a single mistake. It's all just a slog to get through them, and if you're not getting a very good roll on your gear, it's essentially game over. It's like I'm fighting G4 Iris level tank for the first boss lineup, and its just not all that enjoyable.

The lack of real freedom we're getting when trying these new gamemodes to do whatever just sucks the fun out of trying these new things they're adding, cause I *wish* I could just build a dumb setup and play it in endless or a base game run, and just have achievements cut off or your score saved somewhere else, but it really just feels like I'm playing the basegame when using the filter option, and a stupid hard endless mode where I'm really only surviving up until area 5 or so and either giving up or getting melted.

[rkrams]

They simply dont want people to one trick anything like overwatch, refunded the game long agao due to that

[captain red]

I think one of the big culprits in endless being unsatisfying is that a large number of the glitches/singularities are just debuffs. I would rather fight enemies that have new abilities (like the bunny shield) than have my grapple cool down 2 seconds slower or my jetpack given less fuel.
One of those is a new problem to solve and the other just makes your character worse. It limits your options to approach situations in a game that normally feels pretty expressive.

On the subject of bosses, I do think the arenas could use work. Most of them are just circles, and a lot of the bosses are clearly not adjusted to be fought in pairs. Better arena design could make it feel more approachable.
Maybe during the Iris/Diggy fight, the floor is metal with dirt patches & diggy can only pop up in the dirt so you're less likely to get blindsided by an orb barrage. Add some rails every here and there so you can focus on dodging iris' attacks without worrying about diggy's ground slams if your positioning and timing are right.
The catercoaster fights highlight the arena issue with most of them being a track going straight around a simple arena.

[Mr. Rubber Ducky]

Originally posted by rkrams:

They simply dont want people to one trick anything like overwatch, refunded the game long agao due to that

Useless to compare two games with vastly different genres. Overwatch is also dead (Overwatch 2 is not the same no matter how hard you try to argue) and it's normal for team-based games to have "one-trick" classes aka. meta. Roboquest also has meta in terms of builds or equipment that can blaze through the content (ex. Ranger crit build)

Originally posted by captain red:

I think one of the big culprits in endless being unsatisfying is that a large number of the glitches/singularities are just debuffs. I would rather fight enemies that have new abilities (like the bunny shield) than have my grapple cool down 2 seconds slower or my jetpack given less fuel.

It's something I've mentioned around here, Endless mode is just punishing you for daring to play it. If everything is a debuff then what's the point honestly.

Duo-bosses concept just needs some heavy rebalancing, better thought out battle arenas (like your idea about the dirt patch things, would love that personally) but my main gripe is that they add all heavy projectile spam and expect you to be some gemini by spamming everything under your arsenal because "game mechanics" which is against the core of this game as you should refine playstyle to your liking, not what developers want, especially in a roguelike. Bunny shield forces you to either avoid enemies and miss out on some exp, or suffer through lame mechanic that will land enemy a free hit onto you for example.

The areas also should be bigger, games like Dead Cells can have relatively small 2D areas because you can... surprise, parry! We can't do that in RoboQuest. Also it wouldn't matter either way because Endless punishes you for trying to do melee-only build by giving you explosive enemies so it wouldn't matter either way, fun!

(or getting overall stat debuffs, utility debuffs, at that point it feels like every debuff just massively counters some obscure build, forcing you unintentionally into certain build metas. but it's fine, people argue that it's a non-issue, you just need to push past until endless mode becomes nothing more but a sloppy mess where enemies stop being a threat and whole thing becomes a cakewalk. that is, if you can pass first and third duo on g4 lol)