ACT Active Guro [Kosmic91] Moon Rhapsody

[unkownmyriad]

My biggest gripe is that WALKING, the most BASIC of BASIC MOVEMENT, costs stamina. Could you imagine Fallout 3's or New Vegas' weapon and armor durability dropping just because it's equipped?

 

[A Lost Cat]

the stamina system blows ass. For some reason I notice hentai games always tend to be the ones that lean toward overbearing with mechanics like that.
all defensive, evasive, and offensive option GONE, and no way to get them back.
save points should be full heals, it's just good game design. if you're going to make stamina so integral to everything, you need to litter the world with items that replenish it. mushrooms, drinking water, fruit, etc. the problem being, one sloppy encounter could have massive ramifications for what in this case was the rest of the playthrough.
did you use your potion at the wrong time? GET FUCKED i guess.
itch.io page says "just run, can't fight every encounter", but also fuckin speedrunner mario is out here backwards long jumping and he's got perfect aim, and you bet your ass he's got invincibility on start up. fuck outta here

I actually accidently used my potion as soon as i got it forgetting how to change weapons.

Also, "just run, can't fight every encounter", yeah, but we're going to hide keys behind random enemies/room clears so enjoy finding which ones you can run past and which one you skipped over that drops a key or whatever.

 

[derakino999]

I agreee with all the parts related to progression, and i have to add that that first advice of "save often" was off. If you save and save and save and end up with lesser resources you can make it harder.
Now, even so, i have to add, it never.ever. gets unfair. If you git gud you good to go.

Other h games with similar mechanics are fairer in the big picture but the combat makes it completely unfair, more often than not because its badly designed and clunky.

Anyway, the guy is very attentive of feedback, so we are getting some additions.
I am glad he also seems to have a limit though, and would not make the game like TOO over-easy.
Which seriously already can be, if you are good enough.
Seroously guys, come on.
I already beat the thing and i can say it.

However getting to 100% is another thing.
That's where mazes without indications (i'm not talking about the specific level that's actually a maze or maps i mean its supposed to be a maze), dark areas hurting my eyes (thats mainly a personal issue because of a certain thing), and all that comes into play in a bad way, well at least that's what i'm having actually trouble with. Not combat. That is solid enough.

Also what was that joke about Mario?

Btw, dev has a patreon now. Gonna update the OP.

 

[Eyri Purpur]

I think the fact that you can end up in a situation with all of your weapons breaking and no way to repair them is a good indication that something is wrong. I often was too scared to use items at all because you can end up stuck in a situation where you can't go back to get more, if you even could get more that is.
This led to an extremely tedious play style where I'd play through a section twice. Once burning through items and exploring thoroughly and a second time where I'd try to get from one save point to the other nearly perfectly.

If you can end up in what Is essentially a fail state and still save and progress, it'd honestly feel nicer as a player for the dev to just outright kill the player instead. Sending them back to a point where they can try again.

I think this game has some good things in it. I don't think it handles resources in a good way though. There are better ways to limit resources without making such an unfriendly system.

 

[SoulBreaka]

So i got to the guy who gives the pistol and he says to shoot the switch. The only thing i see is that save point looking thing and shooting it doesnt do jack. I don't see any other switch or something and now me stuck. Where.com is the switch? Or am I really supposed to shoot the save point looking thing but it's bugged out

 

[alias34]

So i got to the guy who gives the pistol and he says to shoot the switch. The only thing i see is that save point looking thing and shooting it doesnt do jack. I don't see any other switch or something and now me stuck. Where.com is the switch? Or am I really supposed to shoot the save point looking thing but it's bugged out

pretty sure you just need to go north to the next screen

 

[Subtle]

So i got to the guy who gives the pistol and he says to shoot the switch. The only thing i see is that save point looking thing and shooting it doesnt do jack. I don't see any other switch or something and now me stuck. Where.com is the switch? Or am I really supposed to shoot the save point looking thing but it's bugged out

Backtrack across the bridge and south, you should see a switch on the same screen as the cave exit.

 

[derakino999]

@WolfRyu Yeah. That was exactly my point. Regarding saving.
Btw weapons can be repaired, its an item called repair kit.

 

[dijitz]

You know at first I was like yall. Feeling it was a bit tedious with losing stamina and all that. However, once I realized how to properly manage my sp it became way easier. Then again I guess I also just got good. I'd rather him not make it easier to this actually feels quite fair imo. Like there are some bugs which fucked me over but for the most part if I died it was from my own inexperience. You have to learn how to use the campfires, beds, and spa. Enemies do not respawn until reloads. So you can clear a few enemies, rest up and then slaughter the rest. Satcher gives you pistol ammo and matches for free. You don't need to use your sword for every encounter. You could easily kill zombies and bats by sliding on to them. In the third world you can relight the blue torches for more sp gain. Jump slashing has I-frames. Dashing has I-frames. You gotta just learn by trial and error.

Honestly, I want to do another playthrough and figure out something else I can do to make it a bit harder since now I could breeze through the game like nothing.

 

[Deathman Forces]

So is there any save that open all area in version 2.1.2? Cause i'm stuck in area 2 the forest one, how are you suppose to get to the switch on far right map when there is 2 flies and 2 spike things, and the only switch i can't get to to open the gate i assume cause i can't seem to shoot the switch from the far right position.

 

[dijitz]

So is there any save that open all area in version 2.1.2? Cause i'm stuck in area 2 the forest one, how are you suppose to get to the switch on far right map when there is 2 flies and 2 spike things, and the only switch i can't get to to open the gate i assume cause i can't seem to shoot the switch from the far right position.

Ill give two hints. You can shoot things even if they aren't on screen. You can move some blocks so you can shoot your shot without being obstructed.

 

[Deathman Forces]

Ill give two hints. You can shoot things even if they aren't on screen. You can move some blocks so you can shoot your shot without being obstructed.

Ah, i see thank you.

 

[neutral]

Also what was that joke about Mario?

If you've watched a mario 64 speedrun, this video isn't an exaggeration.

The thief enemy basically feels like he does that.
Anyway, apparently there a camp fires you can light that fully replenish HP. When you get the machete, exit the cave, go to the starting area where you probably saw a chest. It has matches in it, use it on a campfire and rest. Once I got this, the game was actually manageable again.

When it comes to criticism alot of people like to emphasize how good management makes the game better, but nobody brings up how backed into a corner you are if you didn't manage resources well. I think there's still take aways to consider when rebalancing in the future.

You can end up in a sort of soft lock type of situation. Too weak to take a hit, not enough stamina to retaliate. The slide is the closest to a dash you have.

Here's the loop of a weak player:
1 stamina, guy in the way, can only get two swings out, gets hit, knocked down, grappled, managed to escape grapple, zero sp, the enemy does not delay, gets up just as fast as you do, SWINGING, motherfucker is spamming his wake up DP, one hit is all it takes to knock you down again. You can't slide away, you have no sp. All you can do is take it, and die.
Respawn, you respawn with you measly 2hp, 1sp.

Here's the thing, games have solved this problem. Games who's whole thing is resource management and all that. You need to give the player a way to recover. Some way to "get back on their feet". You need to be able to let the player to get back in tip top shape, to handle the situations you throw them in. The campfire solves this, but I'm talking pre campfire discovery. I feel like people gotta understand, it's not about "getting good". In fact, this game actually offers decent challenge, and is well designed as far as levels, just not stamina. It's about perpetuating a bad set of events, and making things worse with no recovery. When you play a game like subnautica, if you die from starvation, you respawn with 30% food guage. Run out of oxygen in metro? You respawn with one oxygen mask. There's safety nets to avoid soft locks. No need to fully restart your save, we got you.

Anyway, campfire basically fixed most of it, but I would put those matches on the main path, probably next to a save point. Needing to look for them, kinda ass.

By the by, I basically copy/pasted my last complaint from here, to the itch.io page. Dolled up to be less rude, Figured if I wanted to give feedback, and see if he considers what I say, he'd probably actually read it there than here. That's how I learned about the campfires. Dunno if I want to leave this follow up here, or doll it up and post it there too. Seems like it came across more whiny than anything. It's coming from a well intentioned place I sweaaaaaaar. I don't wanna play back seat game designer but afew of my ideas should be takes seriously in consideration

 

[A Lost Cat]

It might not be too hard "after you git gud and learn how to use your sp", but for the starting area it's real rough. Like i said, it doesn't feel like an inferno or nightmare difficulty, just "hard".

No gun, no sword, slide only, and you're still getting used to the controls and movement, big open area, with zelda bushes that don't break until you find a sword but look like you could slide to break them if that's an attack, but nope, floating urchin is a dick, but ignorable mostly, kindof a bad trap at first, but whatever. Bat enemy is perfectly fine, but again, you can only slide, so you're likely to at least go for a few in the way, which eats more sp after you might've wasted a few on those bushes before. You'd assume you cna fill up on a save point, but lol, idiot you just saved with half your SP, and when you load, you're gonna have half your sp, good job!

Restart.

Maybe we'll go explore some around. Take a hit, do a little swimming out to explore, oh shit that eats SP too, hey there's an island with an obvious campfire, lets pitstop here. how do i start this? you can't. WAIT oops, gamer instincts kicked in, and you saved out here, congrats, you lost SP to get here and lose more to leave.

Restart.

Get to the first bandit. Man, he takes quite a few hits, and he's pretty fast for enemy #2, where the fuck is a sword, the practice room gave me a sword and a gun. Well, my sp is in the toilet, better just restart again.

Restart.

Fuck this bandit, i'mma just run past. skip room. skip room... dead end. where am i supposed to go? there's two doors, but no keys, it feels like LTTP or a mana game, so i guess one room needs to get cleared, so i'll go clear a room. OH, no drops, but now my sp is in the toilet again...

Restart.

How many times have i restarted now?

SP needs to regen to at least 50%, or get refilled by savepoints, i'd say both (for the fun factor). I don't recall running around using sp like was mentioned. Nah, this is not "ok". The attack combos and mobility is fun, and the sp hampering is like saying "I made this fun combat system, but don't have any fun with it." Give me more enemies or longer areas between save points, don't make playing the 'game' part of the H-game painful. Conservation-gameplay might be good for Resident Evil, but not for Secret of Mana. It feels like Megaman X, except i have a "dash gauge" that doesn't refill for an entire stage, except the bottom 2 energy dots, and i can't shoot when it's empty. Legacy of the wizard had your normal attack use MP, but in there enemies relatively constantly dropped refills, and even that game i never found fun unless i game genie'd that one thing off.

It's all just my opinion, but personally, with the SP hampering when everything uses it, i wouldn't even play this more than one or two areas if i got it for free, i'd get frustrated by that point and drop it, and lament it's space on my HDD.

 

[neutral]

Well shit, you summarized the player experience better than I did. Everyone in the itch comments are riding the guys dick and saying "best game evar", made me feel like I needed to flash my gamer card and go, hey I'm good at stuff. I beat halo 3 and reach on legendary. I beat metal slug 1 with only 1 token. I beat ninja saviors on hard mode, I'm good at games I swear I'm not braindead, ahhhhhhhhhh

Yeah, I dunno, maybe he'll listen to you if you doll it up Abit, all I know is there's serious gaps that need addressing that nobody wants to tell him about.

 

[derakino999]

@neutral
Agree with you on the matches and other related stuff. I didn't know how to use them first too.
Disagree on the get good part. It can be done, just see the part where i walk the undeads corridor with 1 block of hp and sp. You just need to know both enemy patrerns and what attacks are best against them (mostly air slash)
Oh and i didnt still get the mario joke lol

Edit: nah, fear not, there are a lot worse and aggressive complaints on f95zone, discord, and on his gamejolt page too. And actually, the guy is pretty attentive to feedback.
I am with you on the exploration part.
I dont think its intuitive either.
But most that do are smart people that could solve silent hill's puzzles apparently and take no sweat at this lol. Maybe that's why.
But yeah fear not there gonna be more hints next updates, he does listen to player feedback.

@A Lost Cat
That all same happened to me, yet i ended with a different point of view. Because of two reasons: actually more people found what to do so i thought i was kind of dumb (but dont get me wrong, i still think its not intuitive, to say the least), and reson 2 which also kicks reason 1: the game IS inspired by RE, not by secret of mana

 

[Eyri Purpur]

@WolfRyu Yeah. That was exactly my point. Regarding saving.
Btw weapons can be repaired, its an item called repair kit.

Yeah, I know about repair kits. In my playthrough I only ever found one repair kit which was well into the third area if I remember correctly. Supposedly there's a merchant that sells them, but I've searched through every area multiple times and haven't seen them. Inside the haunted shrine was the only place I've even seen a merchant. I think providing a renewable way to repair items earlier in the game, even if only partially or making it inhibitively expensive would go a long way towards making it so you can't get yourself into a situation where it's impossible to progress. Just the ability to leave an area without clearing it would be nice as well.

Speaking of which I don't know if my game is bugged or not but after clearing the city it seems to be impossible to reenter the haunted shrine.

 

[derakino999]

The druid merchant does not sell those, only Satcher. Maybe you were naked? There is this issue where if you are and talk to him, he'll only comment on that and the option to buy won't appear.
And no you cannot enter the shrine after that (the one on Makishima Island right?)

 

[Derpmaci]

how does one get into the water dungeon? I managed to stumble my way to the shrine after beating the fly boss and all I got was a kidnapping of a lifetime to some darkplace (where the other merchant is.) Do I need the aurora to get out of this place (if so welp. time for a reset, thing got sent to my inventory)

 

[A Lost Cat]

Well shit, you summarized the player experience better than I did. Everyone in the itch comments are riding the guys dick and saying "best game evar", made me feel like I needed to flash my gamer card and go, hey I'm good at stuff. I beat halo 3 and reach on legendary. I beat metal slug 1 with only 1 token. I beat ninja saviors on hard mode, I'm good at games I swear I'm not braindead, ahhhhhhhhhh

Kindof feel the same way, lol, there are thoughts of "what is wrong with my playing", happens with a lot of games, usually with games in a genre i don't usually like (why is my accuracy so low on this FPS game, i don't like fps games, but i can aim in other games, wtf), which ...

the game IS inspired by RE

Found my problem. That's the reason behind this design choice, i see now. I have no business here then, my complaints are effectively now just the disparity from presented visuals and viewing angle matching to a different game style than the game's playstyle design. And i never got into RE games, and i don't personally enjoy resource/energy scarcity design, but others do.

I also don't like the idea of complaining about a game to turn it into something the dev didn't actually want to make, so if it is inspired by RE and that's intended, don't count me as a lost sale, i was never the intended market in the first place.