Haven’t gone through the whole post yet, so maybe there’s something I’m missing, but shouldn’t you first do that before having any opinions on it?
Editt, I’ve read the entire OP now.
After tweaking at least one of them. Have you seen the initial design for Sloane? Here’s the original and the tweaked one after:
Very interesting, I had no idea this game started off as a hack and that is was kick-started… I was one of the hopeful that saw the trailer a few days ago and was eager to play, but what you write bodes ill for my experience! I think i might still give it a shot as a study for what could go wrong, but your review is telling enough
EDIT: Upon reading the other thread, i think i won’t purchase this game even as a study case…
I started playing yesterday, so im going to remain silent for now.
The only thing i dont really like right now its the music, most of it feels, kinda generic, or the map themes wich doesnt really fit with the context.
Also something weird is when you start a battle abd when the battle theme starts your character as already attacked, wich means you practically wont ear the theme.
Anyways, willing to keep playing.
It’s amazing that the game has evolved from a hack to a general game!
Was it ever a hack?
Very few interresting terrain and side objectives. The map design is very bland. And the ennemy density and stat is way to high. Coupled with the huge map make most chapters a slog fest. The system for weapons and upgrade is very subpar. Gameplay wise it’s really not my cup of tea at all.
I refunded my game after seeing chapter 4.
-40 ennemies in total
-The map is in interior so pretty claustophobic and slow
-8 playable unit when no one is mounted and no on can one round anything
-huge ass map
-1 side objective (rescue someone in jail 10 tiles away)
Come on respect the player’s time
Chapter 3 had a time limit of 9 turns to rout.
The map is not that big just too many ennemies which are too bulky and don’t come towards you if you don’t go to their ranges.
When you expect players to finish a small early game chapter in 9 turns something is wrong
Chapter 3 is actually a survive map that automatically ends after 9 turns. The written objective is misleading.
I would also nitpick with the OP that only mages get 1-2, since there are promotions for other classes, like thieves that get that range too. What is baffling is that sniper gets a skill that allows them to attack at 3 range, but the game does not tell you that it also will grant 2 range enemies the ability to still counter the 3 range attack (which is non intuitive and defeats much of the point of having 3 range).
Really wtf?
I though I knew what a survive map since chapter 2 was a survive map and was designed like a survive map with a clear line to hold. (chapter 2 is a pretty decent early game defense map tbh)
Chapter 3 says rout in 9 turn and the map design felt like a regular rout map.
They clearly screwed up there.
“Oh no! Our Survive map is so easy people can clear it before the turn count runs out!”
“Fuck it, just call the damn thing a rout map. Nobody will notice.”
“Brilliant!”
-$75k kickstarter
Yeah - it’s sort of lame to launch into a whole in depth discussion of why you don’t like a game without even playing it. While it’s not wrong to see a game and not like what you say, I’d take the opinion of someone who’s actually played the game more seriously especially when some of the complaints feel a bit nitpicky. I’ve played a bit of Dark Deity, and while I do have some issues, such as lack of tutorials for a lot of the more unique elements as well as the lack of terrain and some of the map design, I’ll have to complete the game in order to actual give an true opinion.
Some issues I had, like UI or map/battle transistions being really, really, really bad (probably the worst part imo) are easily fixeable and the apparently the developer is working on resolving them, so I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and wait a bit to see if patches make the player experience better, since there’s already a few patches out. I’d have preferred it though if they gave it an extra month or 3, or at least set it to an Early Access title, rather than release it immediately thought.
Certified Pik moment
I’m confident you can watch someone play a game and draw your own conclusions from that. I have had my opinions change of games from watching LPs and speedruns, for example.
It’s not like he wrote all this up blindly or just based on hearsay.
Hello Pikmin1211. I am a big fan of yours from “Why Three Houses Actually Sucks”. As a statistician, I was baited by the promise of statistics in your post by the usage of the word “Regression”. However, it seems that a game post that looks and smells like Fire Emblem statistics may not actually deliver on what it promises. This is a cautionary tale in consumption of games Pikmin1211 posts.
What serif said - there’s a ton of remarks that are harsh to a point where I’m not comfortable with it, even if it’s a paid product, especially since some of the commenters are explicitly saying they didn’t play it. Are some criticisms valid, even from looking at the product or watching a let’s play? Yeah, but the level of vitriol for not having played it is off putting. There’s a lot of design choices I’m not a fan of, especially since there’s no tutorial explaining it so far, but I’ll have to play further to see how much they detract from my experience, because at the end of the day I feel like the most important part is how much you enjoy the game for a player.
In all fairness, story and visuals are not aspects of a game that require playing it to comment on. As far as gameplay goes of course I think your criticism is more valid had you played it, but I think there are some core ideas which you can criticize without having played it, and having seen the stream Pik is talking about most of his frustrations echo the person who did play it.
Dark Deity was a game that charged $20 on sale and had $75K of backing.
You cannot legally sell a romhack.
It’s an apples to oranges comparison. As a consumer, I will scrutinize products I’d have to pay for, too.
I’d be much more forgiving, personally.
If I’m going to pay for something, I want that to be good. The more money I spend, the more I will scrutinize that purchase.
I’m going to be a much harsher critic of the lobster roll I spent $20 on than the pop tart I bought for $2 at a 7/11, or the free cookies I get when I donate blood. Higher purchase price = higher expectation of quality.
The more you spend, you expect a higher degree of quality. Don’t charge for a lobster roll when you are going to serve a pop tart.
I can draw my conclusions from an LP or convo sure, there’s nothing wrong with that in fact do so.
Don’t force yourself through shit you know you won’t like but writing an essay on it and being like “btw I didn’t experience this myself whatsoever” is not the best look to say the least.
That out of the way, not to say this post is worthless becuase of it. There are plenty of valid points but I think the lack of experience actually playing the game holds it back, it feels fairly surface level all things considered.
What about when you get eighteen chapters in and hit a map that is just one tile spammed across the whole map? Bit beyond the refund period.
Anyway, these are words to live by:
Honestly if the hacking community didn’t make such killer stuff I’d probably be a lot more forgiving of Dark Deity’s shortcomings, too. But I’ve seen and played better stuff for free because the community is dope.
Again, this is a product that people have to pay for to access and a romhack is something people make for free for fun. It’s a different ballgame.
I would expect a paid work to be higher quality, and so it’s fair to be critical of it.
