Who would actually do that, though? You know what kind of game it is: a dungeon crawler. Enemies get stronger as you go further. I really don't think it's unreasonable for the dev to assume you'd explore most of the first floor before moving on to the second. Maybe it's because of my years of playing similar games like Etrian Odyssey, but fully exploring each floor before moving on is nothing more than common sense to me. And by doing that, you naturally discover that mapping out floors gives you stat boosts. No need for someone to explain it.
The problem is that there's nothing to find in the first room. After you clear it once, you might as well skip everything in it since it's basically a straight line to the first door.
Even if you're on your first playthrough and you take the time to look around, why would you clear every floor-tiles when you can see that they don't lead anywhere? Checking the dead-ends is one thing, but circling around the starting square or the tutorial-lady is just balm for OCD.
TLDR is that the starting area just isn't
big enough for exploring to be beneficial.
I don't really believe that's what the starting EXP is for. The reason grinding isn't required is that, by exploring each floor, you fight enough battles to generally be strong enough for the next floor. If a player decides to simply forge ahead and fight as few battles as possible, that's on them. That's just not how the game, and in fact the entire genre, works.
Except for the fact that you can leave the first room after having fought a single bat. Maybe two or three if you take the time to clear out the dead-end then backtrack.
That's not enough battles to gain enough xp to actually do anything with. Which is why you start with a large stockpile. Otherwise you WOULD have to grind.
I strongly disagree here. Most of the things you're mentioning are simply conventions of the genre. When you play a platformer,do you try to defeat enemies by running into them? Of course not, because you know you'll take damage. Similarly, you don't rush through floors in games like this, because you know the enemies on later floors will wipe the floor with you.
Looking around a small room then leaving without stopping to grind isn't really 'rushing'
Neglecting to step on every single tile in the room just to fill out the map isn't rushing. That's normal behaviour. If you can see that it doesn't lead anywhere, then you don't need to waste your time with it. Not unless you expect there to be illusionary walls or something.
Waiting (X key) will automatically map all squares surrounding yours. Not sure if this is mentioned anywhere, but it may not be too obvious.
Ah, that is helpful.
And no, I don't think it's mentioned.
And you'd hope that the "+1 to all stats" for 90%ing of the map would be enough of a hint to get folks to do the map.
So... you're saying that people will discover that mapping the area gives benefits,
after they map the area?
And you don't see the issue with that logic?
And there's also the potential for treasure as a reason to explore the map. Getting loot to deal with the next level monsters is stardard stuff.
Again, we're talking about the very first area in the game. The place where you can clearly see there's nothing but the tutorial lady, a dead-end with an unresponsive crystal-ball and a door.
There's no need to map every tile in order to know that there's nothing to find here. Your character can see multiple tiles in front of herself, which is further than the mapping range.
As for ReadMes, maybe I've been tainted, but I play so many Japanese games that I fully expect every readme file to be filled with gibberish characters. I don't even bother looking at them.
I assume a lot of people who play H-games will have developed the same habit.
I will admit that this is totally not the developer's fault though.
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Edit:
I want to be clear here, I'm not saying that the game is too hard or anything like that. Once you've got a couple of levels under your belt, getting past the first hurdle is simple, and then it's smooth sailing from there.
I'm saying that it gives a bad first impression when you run into an enemy like that, as your second random encounter.
It feels like artificial difficulty (forcing you to grind to pad the game's length, within 60-seconds of starting would be a
bad sign.) or just poor game design.
If you're willing to dive back in and give the game two or three shots, then it's not a problem. You'll grind some and out-level it, then keep moving.
My first taste was more than a year back. I wasn't interacting with the dev or other people playing the game (which incentivises you to give the game more leeway) I just stumbled across it, and decided to try it out.
After running into something like that so earl on, I decided 'this seems kinda poorly balanced' and then I closed the game to go play something more fun.
First impressions are
everything.