HentaiFan926
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So... in my opinion, the "Hard Mode" mod really doesn't add anything meaningful to the game in its current form. It just adds loads of tedium, which does not equal difficulty. It's more equal to irritation and boredom. I also can't enjoy it in full because there's a stark cognitive dissonance at work here along with somewhat poor choices, again, in my opinion.
Stamina
This is the largest offender in my opinion. The stamina mechanic this mod adds ends up taking away from the gameplay. Not only that but it's foisted upon the player at every turn in rather bad ways. First and foremost to me is mobility. In a game where you need to move a lot, limiting that drags things out and makes movement a chore. Basic movement should not be a chore, because that means you're doing it wrong. Jumping, double jumping, high jumping, sprinting, screw attacking, standard attacking, using magic, getting fucked, and struggling all draw stamina.
The first five getting limited with stamina just hurts the flow of this game and even contribute to the large problem that combat ends up becoming. Next is the fact that sprinting, screw attacking, and using magic now draw two resources and hinders the regeneration of one of them. In my opinion, that's not a good idea at all, and just makes combat and movement that much worse because sprinting and screw attacking trigger the reduced stamina regeneration. On top of that that getting caught and just trying to escape an H-scene puts a ding in your stamina, and then opens you up essentially to chain rape and a game over once arousal gets too high. I suppose that is part of the point to make the sex more impactful, but to me it also speaks to a bigger problem that is had in this mod.
I guess if you wanted to draw out moving from room to room and make the overall process tedious, you've succeeded. If you wanted to make combat harder... you haven't, in my opinion.
Arousal and Heat
So I rather like these mechanics as a concept on their own. As Ellen gets more aroused, it's harder to escape an H-scene. At the same time the more sex that is had, the more Heat goes up. When you cap out Heat, you go into a status where sex heals, and, if I remember correctly, you also gain more attack. This is where the cognitive dissonance is to me. Between these and Stamina, it feels like you're trying to do two things at once here and failing at it. Between having every thrust an enemy does do damage, and having Ellen's orgasms do damage (why?), stacking arousal and heat onto it sounds like a good idea, but going into heat status doesn't help you any, because the payoff isn't good enough and just extends the enemies raping you to death. When Heat status hits, you're typically at low stamina, maxed arousal, and mid-sex animation; you don't get any benefit from it unless you REALLY time it, which is tedium in itself. As the mechanics are, you're doing what I believe is still rather common in H-games, and making sex a penalty when it shouldn't be due to it being the whole point of the game.
Arousal and Heat alone I think would make a great mod to make the sex much more central to the game in a way that it could make getting grabbed a viable way to heal or gain a burst in damage. For instance healing from the save pads could be minimal or turned off, and Ellen needs to fuck enemies to heal. Hell, healing and mana potions could be disabled for it, and make each thrust heal a minimal amount of HP and MP that scales up a little as arousal rises. Orgasms could provide a burst of recovery and maybe even damage the enemy by a percentage. Entering Heat status could largely scale up the recovery or grant health regen and start seriously damaging the enemy or enemies fucking Ellen. Heck, with the pulses you added to the struggle mechanic, you could maybe make another button that lets you heal/deal damage while fucking. Um... granted I think the face huggers should still damage you, but yeah.
That's just my take on the mod. I've played through it and just didn't enjoy it as a whole. I guess it just isn't meant for me, but I also see the potential for a mod centered around Ellen having sex for her benefit.
Stamina
This is the largest offender in my opinion. The stamina mechanic this mod adds ends up taking away from the gameplay. Not only that but it's foisted upon the player at every turn in rather bad ways. First and foremost to me is mobility. In a game where you need to move a lot, limiting that drags things out and makes movement a chore. Basic movement should not be a chore, because that means you're doing it wrong. Jumping, double jumping, high jumping, sprinting, screw attacking, standard attacking, using magic, getting fucked, and struggling all draw stamina.
The first five getting limited with stamina just hurts the flow of this game and even contribute to the large problem that combat ends up becoming. Next is the fact that sprinting, screw attacking, and using magic now draw two resources and hinders the regeneration of one of them. In my opinion, that's not a good idea at all, and just makes combat and movement that much worse because sprinting and screw attacking trigger the reduced stamina regeneration. On top of that that getting caught and just trying to escape an H-scene puts a ding in your stamina, and then opens you up essentially to chain rape and a game over once arousal gets too high. I suppose that is part of the point to make the sex more impactful, but to me it also speaks to a bigger problem that is had in this mod.
I guess if you wanted to draw out moving from room to room and make the overall process tedious, you've succeeded. If you wanted to make combat harder... you haven't, in my opinion.
Arousal and Heat
So I rather like these mechanics as a concept on their own. As Ellen gets more aroused, it's harder to escape an H-scene. At the same time the more sex that is had, the more Heat goes up. When you cap out Heat, you go into a status where sex heals, and, if I remember correctly, you also gain more attack. This is where the cognitive dissonance is to me. Between these and Stamina, it feels like you're trying to do two things at once here and failing at it. Between having every thrust an enemy does do damage, and having Ellen's orgasms do damage (why?), stacking arousal and heat onto it sounds like a good idea, but going into heat status doesn't help you any, because the payoff isn't good enough and just extends the enemies raping you to death. When Heat status hits, you're typically at low stamina, maxed arousal, and mid-sex animation; you don't get any benefit from it unless you REALLY time it, which is tedium in itself. As the mechanics are, you're doing what I believe is still rather common in H-games, and making sex a penalty when it shouldn't be due to it being the whole point of the game.
Arousal and Heat alone I think would make a great mod to make the sex much more central to the game in a way that it could make getting grabbed a viable way to heal or gain a burst in damage. For instance healing from the save pads could be minimal or turned off, and Ellen needs to fuck enemies to heal. Hell, healing and mana potions could be disabled for it, and make each thrust heal a minimal amount of HP and MP that scales up a little as arousal rises. Orgasms could provide a burst of recovery and maybe even damage the enemy by a percentage. Entering Heat status could largely scale up the recovery or grant health regen and start seriously damaging the enemy or enemies fucking Ellen. Heck, with the pulses you added to the struggle mechanic, you could maybe make another button that lets you heal/deal damage while fucking. Um... granted I think the face huggers should still damage you, but yeah.
That's just my take on the mod. I've played through it and just didn't enjoy it as a whole. I guess it just isn't meant for me, but I also see the potential for a mod centered around Ellen having sex for her benefit.
lhurgoyfguy
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this guy^ managed to elaborate on a lot of my issues with that mod. the changes to knockback and the timing and damage mechanics for sex felt like they could have been part of the game naturally, but everything else tacked on felt like overkill and an attempt shoehorn darksouls into a game thats so far removed from that genre its ridiculous. not like i hate the guy for making it, but im gonna second the "its not for me" sentiment.
derakino999
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You're right that the general tedium in this game wasn't as adressed, however the "sex as penalty" is as is and it's popular for a reason. It derives from ryona, and it's rape/non consensual, thus the way the games address it is right and turns us on because those facts add immerssion to the situation.
Well, other people such as yourself don't like it, and that's ok, everyone has their tastes. But for me, it just doesn't turn me on as much (or at all) when there are things such as battle sex or whatever (like your examples), because it'd almost be like she wants it or is looking for it, while the point is that she's getting hammered against her will.
I get where you're coming from, of course, but as i said, it's just a what-if and sort of like a bonus, when some of us like that soft ryona or bearhug stuff that vaguely seemed sexual, back when h-games didn't even exist.
Play the action part for the fun of it. Investigate scenarios/different situations for her getting railed for the fap of it.
Heal for getting raped? Revenge damage for being forced to orgasm against her will? Hell no.
Well, other people such as yourself don't like it, and that's ok, everyone has their tastes. But for me, it just doesn't turn me on as much (or at all) when there are things such as battle sex or whatever (like your examples), because it'd almost be like she wants it or is looking for it, while the point is that she's getting hammered against her will.
I get where you're coming from, of course, but as i said, it's just a what-if and sort of like a bonus, when some of us like that soft ryona or bearhug stuff that vaguely seemed sexual, back when h-games didn't even exist.
Play the action part for the fun of it. Investigate scenarios/different situations for her getting railed for the fap of it.
Heal for getting raped? Revenge damage for being forced to orgasm against her will? Hell no.
I'd say "for me", and yes, it's what i like, but i really think in this case and in these kinds of games, it really wouldn't make any sense. I mean the scenario.
Some games implement it that way and make sense.
Some games implement it that way and make sense.
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Deleted member 143735
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Multi-quotes: AQ:E vanilla's sex content might as well just be a movie gallery. That is how totally detached the sex game mechanic is in it. Sure that is the norm for the vast majority of Hgames out there but it is just boring to me. If you're making an Hgame, you have an entire new set of tools to build something interesting but basically nobody is doing it. As an experiment, I think hardmode mod proves a lot of things for my curiosity and I do strongly think that stamina, heat, arousal resources are very good for AQ:E when tuned well. There are tons of ways to balance them across combat, platforming and sex but the problem mainly lies in the fact that I didn't set the mod up in a way that lets me tweak values without directly modifying the game's IL. If I had the time, I'd have the mod watch a JSON file for changes during gameplay and update variables immediately. You guys just lack the perspective on the extreme variance of tedium (and lack thereof) I've experimented with. I'd definitely agree right now that Stamina is balanced poorly and the mod is literally a hobby project for myself so if it changes, it changes. If you want to be sanic and play a game nearly devoid of risk and reward then you really should stick to vanilla. Otherwise if you think hardmode has potential and you think you know how to balance it, I like that kind of information because it means I can just go playtest it.
I will say that the mod forces you to interact with the vanilla combat content. Making the monsters interesting is something that is mostly out of the realm of hobby IL modding to be fair and the monster behaviors in AQ:E are very boring.
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HentaiFan926
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I've read your post a couple times, and I'm honestly not sure about the tone of what I'm reading. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels like a bit of a knee jerk while being defensive despite me trying to break down the issues I have with the mod and provide some form of criticism about it. Even with just the criticism you appear to take issue, and even toss in that highly unneeded "*Sob* I got chain fucked into the ground because I aggroed a horde and decided to facetank it" bit rather... I'll just say rudely(?) for the moment. I wasn't even rude or angry about anything. I'll fully admit that there were two times I got fucked into the ground. First time was during a Mother Brain attempt where between attacking, evading, and trying to manage the adds the fight just kinda "got away from me" and I lost due to chained sex scenes. Second time funny enough, and I did laugh, was me way overextending and getting caught during the escape sequence. Both of those were ultimately my fault, and I don't take issue with it. Also the "You guys just lack the perspective..." bit just gets a "Really?" response from me. It feels like you're trying to deflect anything valid I may have said.
If you want feedback on something you're doing, and then you react negatively to it, I suddenly feel much less inclined to provide any kind of helpful feed back, and will probably cease to do so. Feel free to correct me if my interpetations on any of what you said was wrong though. As I even said, the mod is ultimately not for me in the end.
Also, to derakino999: I don't disagree with what you think about what I suggested; I'll never try to say my spitball of an idea was a good one, and yes you are right it goes against context. The idea was just my imagination doing as it does at times. And while you aren't the author of the mod, I still maintain Arousal and Heat need adjusting, but I already said that, so I'll stop the repeat track there.
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Deleted member 143735
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1) I'm saying fatalistic 'feedback' is not worth much for any project. You should always be quick to identify if somebody is just complaining in a nonconstructive manner or if there is easy to parse value in their commentary.
2) Complaining about getting fucked into the ground really sounds like you shouldn't be playing hardmode mod. It is adding consequence for high risk actions.
Here is some high level stuff for you to parse out
In Vanilla we have:
- Monsters dumb as fuck
- Monsters have extremely primitive movesets, behaviors and abilities (until xenos)
- You can stunlock most everything
- Monsters usually serve no danger
- Can run directly to powerups and bosses thanks to invuln, unlimited mobility and Monster problems
- Sex serves zero functionality for the game
Things to try to make happen through modding:
- Get rid of full invuln on readily available abilities
- Get rid of stunlocking
- Remove things that trivialize damage taken
- Reduce/Remove other things that give consistent damage avoidance
- Try to put Ellen on the ground so she has to fight these dumbass monsters
- Increase threat of engagement with monsters
- Make sex happen
- Make sex engaging
- Reduce how long it takes to kill huge HP monsters without making trash mobs easier to kill
So obviously we have Stamina now. How many times have I said it wasn't balanced now? Obviously like mentioned before, stamina is polarized and is either in abundance or just not available at all. I'll probably look at reducing consumption and regeneration to maybe move it in a direction to allow longer engagements. I'm still waiting for somebody to say something constructive about it so it can be changed or replaced with a mechanic to address those keypoints up there. Heat is there to punish the player the more they fail as it is a quadratic ramp. That means you are in nearly impossible to escape sex for a LONG TIME when it is nearly full. The healing or damage boost duality of fever mode upon surviving to max heat is there just to bait the player into thinking they might be able to survive a fuckslaught. Yeah it can but it isn't some fighting game ultimate ability and I don't want it to be. Arousal is there to punish players who do not have hordes managed, meaning that getting chained fuck will cause Ellen to experience unescapable sex sooner. When looking at the new mechanics now we can define the following mod game design pillars:
1) Stamina should reduce evasion abilities of Ellen in a fight
2) Arousal should punish rapid succession sex for unmanaged mob scenarios
3) Heat should make occasional sex retain consequence
4) Sex should not be game over and should require some kind of player skill
5) Sex should be used as a mechanic to make monsters more dangerous
So when your opening quote is
in the face of being productive, you can imagine how easy it is to be interpreted as being banal.
Then there's this
No. I just vehemently disagree. That is a thematic betrayal at its core to what an enemy is in an action game. They aren't there to gently caress you but with how completely removed AQ:E vanilla is from them in places, I could see that misinterpretation.
Updated to v1.9. No features, just major regression bugfix for stamina regen introduced with v1.8 updates and other misc balancing.
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derakino999
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I respect both your opinions dudes, seriously.
Now, this is not for me, but only because i don't like stamina systems (i don't like Dark Souls), i'm much more of a NES platformers kind of difficulty (Ninja Gaiden for example). Anyways, you don't care about that, and neither do i...what i want to ask is....
Do you know if i can (DOING it myself, i'm not leeching you, just asking for advice) hack the game's default gamepad controls and duke the fuck out the "D-pad changes subweapons" part? so i can happily play using joytokey or whatever with my D-Pad as movement without it changing subweapons the fuck in and out
I don't know if i'm explaining myself. Thanks in advance, and if that's not something you know, it's ok, appreciate it anyway, thanks for your time reading me
Now, this is not for me, but only because i don't like stamina systems (i don't like Dark Souls), i'm much more of a NES platformers kind of difficulty (Ninja Gaiden for example). Anyways, you don't care about that, and neither do i...what i want to ask is....
Do you know if i can (DOING it myself, i'm not leeching you, just asking for advice) hack the game's default gamepad controls and duke the fuck out the "D-pad changes subweapons" part? so i can happily play using joytokey or whatever with my D-Pad as movement without it changing subweapons the fuck in and out
I don't know if i'm explaining myself. Thanks in advance, and if that's not something you know, it's ok, appreciate it anyway, thanks for your time reading me
Just a question is it possible to increase her stamina in game? Like is it tied to health or is it just what it is? Or is there a way to make say mana potions restore stamina as well?
Btw love the mod it really made me want to play the game from the beginning.
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The escape struggle minigame seems almost impossible now. (or maybe im just bad)
What do all the parameters on the left mean? mount/thrust/cum i get, but the DP/DC/ACD/DCD/DS?
kiko
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Gotta say, being a fan of metroidvanias I didn't bother too much with the sexual content on the first playthrough. I lost myself in the actual gameplay (even if at times it can be a bit boring and very grindy), the porn being just a bonus to me.
???
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Yes, to the idea of adding more relevance to the sex in the game. No, to this contrive escape mini-game that's been thrown on top of it. It adds a level of mandatory concentration that I feel most people aren't willing to afford to a hentai game. It's the same problem that I had with Paperheads, where I'm given a hard choice between enjoying the animation while outright dying, or frustrating myself while killing my boner to keep going and not loose progress.
derakino999
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@???
Ah, paperheads, a cult classic and one of the pioneers.
It was good son. And you may be wrong about people not wanting to invest concentration, as it is actually what makes a hard game done right just so appealing to hardcore gamers.
And youre exactly right in the deal. Play and enjoy beating a hard game, or die in purpose to see the bonus (and enjoy beating another thing), just as my good friend here @kiko says
Ah, paperheads, a cult classic and one of the pioneers.
It was good son. And you may be wrong about people not wanting to invest concentration, as it is actually what makes a hard game done right just so appealing to hardcore gamers.
And youre exactly right in the deal. Play and enjoy beating a hard game, or die in purpose to see the bonus (and enjoy beating another thing), just as my good friend here @kiko says
Deleted member 143735
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I don't see myself continuing to support it publicly on this forum. I can't stop anybody else from making that thread though.
All you gotta do it look at the animation and press the struggle key with the rhythm of the fucking, after the pulse graphic. With a rare few scenarios, you can easily, reliably escape a grapple with a heat guage filled anywhere below 95ish %. Fighting games and music games are way more challenging wrt timing. Paperheads was monotonous and you had to look at a key puzzle instead of the porn. This implementation actually rewards you if you pay attention to the animation instead of the HUD so I'm obviously not following you there.
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That's fine, but from here on out discussion of it in this thread will result in moderator action.
Zeleria
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On a video of the game I saw what looked like a jump move that causes you to launch in a direction very fast - sorta like the move those red speedy aliens use. I don't have that though, did I miss it somewhere? I could've swore I picked up everything.
EDIT: Yeah, I double checked, there's totally a 'screw attack' jump ability but I didn't find it at all. Any idea where it is?
EDIT: Yeah, I double checked, there's totally a 'screw attack' jump ability but I didn't find it at all. Any idea where it is?
it's marked on the map that was posted a few pages back, somewhere in the top-right
https://ulmf.org/threads/grimhelm-alien-quest-eve.10739/post-1103104
or
https://ulmf.org/threads/grimhelm-alien-quest-eve.10739/post-1103104
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Zeleria
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Oh, right thank you. Also helped me find power ups I missed. Though, I swear I didn't get them all, but I searched over the whole place based on the map and didn't run across all the ones I should be missing. That is, if I counted them right, seems like 7 health, 7 mana, 5 attack, and 5 bloodskulls.