My Thoughts on the Game (LOTSA SPOILERS) - ID: 511
FORUM: Gossip - The rusty dagger tavern
This topic was started by Justinj on 03/03/2012, 23:52:48
First, I have to say this is one of the best games I've played in a long time, and it's definitely the best game on the ipad. Congrats! I've been playing since Pong (and a little before), and this is fantastic. I enjoyed Wizardries, Bards Tales, Might and Magics, and many of the newer games. This game totally captures the spirit of the genre and I loved it from start to finish. :mrgreen:
However, there's always some room for improvement, so I want to share my thoughts. Hopefully, this feedback can be explored and/or incorporated in subsequent updates or in Silversword 2. Thanks for your consideration.
- Game becomes too easy around level 16 or 17.
- Number of characters allowed should be capped at 6 so that parties actually use summoning. It just makes the game more fun. Would allow more replay value too. Inventory is no longer an issue now that there's a bank, so you don't need 7 characters for that any more. Good fix.
- Harmonic gems should not be given at the start of the game - too easy to exploit.
- Monks, Paladins, and Thieves are underpowered. Different ways to address this, but here are some ideas:
* Monks: need to do significantly more damage to offset the lower hp. My monk at lvl 35 has the lowest hp of the group and doesn't do that much more dmg. He dies quickly if he fails any save. Maybe just increase their hp to 10 vs. 8.
* Paladins: need to increase their spells power and variety. Their spells are overshadowed in the end game anyway. Why not give them better and unique party buffs such as a lower SV or better buffs than casters in some areas.
* Thieves: allow them to attack multiple (2 or 3) enemies from shadows, making their hiding worth it. Possibly give them poison DOT or something as well. Caster Trap Zap should only work about 20% of the time or less on harder chests. Maybe make easier and harder chests and scale the ability.
- Spells are WAY overpowered in the end game. This is probably my biggest complaint. Hesitation should have like a 25% chance to work and/or it should cost 150sp. Divine Restoration should cost 100sp. Restoration should cost 75sp. Creo Corpus should cost more. Blessing of Remingus should cost more. Farther Foe should only push out 30 feet and it should cost a lot more. The one that brings them closer should cost more and pull them not as close. The major offensive spells should have their damage cut in two-thirds or so. The one that auto kills one foe at 10 feet should be less likely to work, especially with specific bosses. The one that takes out an entire group of mages should cost more and work less often. Probably more to say here, but the game is terribly unbalanced in the end game. The fight with Maruziel was a total joke. Just Hesitation and use other chars to kill until they're all dead. Spell nerfs would impact your foes's offensive capabilities too.
- Bigger harder boss fights please. Maruziel should have had 5 add'l groups of 50 foes each. Other boss fights should also be harder.
- Initiative should be reworked. My caster seems to always go first (with Hesitation)... unbalanced.
- Need a place to rest in the early levels. I know this has been discussed, but it's a real problem and silly that you can't go to the inn while you're off in RL. It's not a problem after level 10 or so, but why make it such a big issue early on.
- More secret areas where shatter walls works would be cool - this spell was occasionally useful I think, but it would be great if even more secrets could be found.
- Remove the sp and hp bonus caps. Sucks that you can continue to get more CON and INT and it's benefit is so marginal. If the sp cost is increased and spells are nerfed as I mentioned above, then removing the cap is probably fine.
- Bard song Travel Ditty (or the one that lets you run from fights) should work slightly less often (vs. practically every time).
- UI Tweak - allow the cast spell symbol (the fire one) to be used after you've already hit it (in the spell selection screen)... when you accidentally select the wrong character to cast a spell, it's annoying to have to scroll down to the end to hit cancel before you hit the fire symbol again.
- Do something with the broken elevator... maybe it's the next update?
- A little more clear when areas are unblocked due to completing part of the game
- Do not give out Diving Restoration potions... too unbalanced
- Summoned/"call for help" foes should not add xp. Easy exploit.
- Bumping the walls in the Grave Mound while not facing them should work the same as when you are facing them.
- It's too easy to hit opposing foes. Nerf this ability to be less often. Hitting is almost automatic at high levels. Maybe Monks to hit would be higher to help them here.
- Just to add more variety, Warriors should get 18hp per lvl, 17 for paladins, 15 for rangers, 14 for bards, ...
- Sorcerer (or is it Wizard) - hp should only be 4 per level. Casters have as many hp as warriors around lvl 30 (when you are about to win the game).
- Inferno should be harder, being tp back to somewhere should automatically be punished with having to fight a group.
- Increase the gold cost at the taverns.
- Add more unique items that are luck to find after tough boss fights.
- Enemies at 10 feet should be able to pull back to 20 feet (kind of the opposite of advance)
- Ranger critical hit chance should be nerfed just slightly at higher levels.
These are just some ideas off the top of my head that I've thought about as I played the game. I'd love to hear other thoughts as well. Again, this is an awesome game. I truly enjoyed it.
-Justin
Hi Justin,
great post, thank you very much!
I appreciate your feedback and it won't go unheard, promised.
Already working on some of these things :-)
Regards
Mario
Some good ideas, but:
"- Bard song Travel Ditty (or the one that lets you run from fights) should work slightly less often (vs. practically every time). "
Disagree here. I sometimes think about dropping my Bard, but this song is one of the big reasons I keep her around. Sometimes you just want to get from point A to point B without having to worry about random encounters, making her essential. If the song didn't let me run away (nearly) every time, well, that would suck.
Spirit chant is my essicental bard song. There have been times when both my archmages where killed (underestimated the foes) and my paladin had too few spell points to raise the dead but spirit chant allowed him the points to bring them back.
