TerryCavanagh
commented
5 years ago Ahh! This is great as usual, thank you @pace212! Lots of good feedback in here, and things to think about!
Closed paceheart closed 5 years ago
TerryCavanagh
commented
5 years ago Ahh! This is great as usual, thank you @pace212! Lots of good feedback in here, and things to think about!
paceheart
commented
5 years ago Inventor ep1: 1-1 Inventor ep2: 1-0 Inventor ep3: 1-0
Inventor ep1:
Lost because I scrapped one too many of my damage-dealing equipment.
Won. I created Jackhammer for my final gadget, and luckily went up against Aoife.
Inventor ep2:
Inventor ep3:
I like Inventor better than the last time I played her! Still not my favorite class, though. I haven't played v0.16 Witch yet, so she might rise in the ranks, but currently my favorite classes are, in order: Jester Thief Robot Warrior Inventor Witch
although Thief may retake the first spot when Jester's novelty wears off.
Additional non-Inventor-specific thoughts:
Final words seen and liked: Copycat, Magician
"Upgrading Counterfeit Device makes it more powerful" should be "Upgrading Counterfeit Device reduces its size"
Chocolate Cookie says "Repeat next attack" but the Fury gadget says "Double next action"
Super Mimic is hilarious! It's so obvious! And yet, for a second I was like "Ooh, a super chest! Maybe it has super equipment inside!" Why did it bother putting a dice into Mystery Box-, though?
Crystalina's equipment lerping is all over the place. It zigs and zags like wild. Also AI bug: she left a usable Life Crystal on the table when she was not at full health.
paceheart
commented
5 years ago Final words seen and LOVED: Handyman
Bear (Thief) ep1:
Ooh! Bear can use anvils now! That's fun!
Make roar louder!
Bear is way more viable now! Bear Charge, especially +, is great! I intentionally cleared out all the floors except the penultimate one (did you know, bears are terrified of birds and loud noises) just so I could get those tasty upgrades.
paceheart
commented
5 years ago Witch ep1:
I clicked Spellbook, Change Spell, Infliction, but my spell didn't change. And now Change Spell is no longer clickable. Ah! You have to click the spell before you click Change Spell. That was unintuitive to me. (and it's been long enough since I've played Witch that I forgot.)
Witch is really interesting. If I liked thinking harder, I would enjoy the heck out of witch. It's really cool to come up with madly-OP combos. At first I went with Plague Witch
which was fun, but then ended up with Blaze of Glory Witch
where the strat is to first dice up with Hall of Mirrors+, then cast Skeleton Key+.
As long as you roll one 6, you can burn everything to ashes.
TerryCavanagh
commented
5 years ago Hah :) That witch build is incredible.
Thanks for the updates! This continues to be great :)
paceheart
commented
5 years ago I'm closing this and all previous "Pace's thoughts" tickets in preparation for release. (:
Win-Loss Records
Warrior ep2: 1-0 Warrior ep3: 1-0
Thief ep2: 1-1 Thief ep3: 1-3
Robot ep2: 1-1 Robot ep3: 1-0
Inventor ep1: 1-1 Inventor ep2: 1-0 Inventor ep3: 1-0
Witch ep1: 1-0
Jester ep1: 0-1 Jester ep2: 1-0 Jester ep3: 1-0 Jester ep4: 1-5
Bear: 1-1
Jester ep1 (v0.16):
Oh neat, you don't get your Finale until the first chest. That's cool, it gives you one fight to get the hang of Jester. Wow, you've actually given me a choice where I'm choosing something else (High Voltage) over Shield Grip, well done! Oh, I misunderstood High Voltage, I thought it would shock the enemy, and would only not return the dice if they were immune. The description is clear; I just didn't read it carefully enough.
I love the "Jester's Journey" description (:
After I snap, I want there to be some continuing effect that shows on screen to show me that I'm in snap mode. Oh, never mind, "Discard" becomes "Snap". That's totally clear.
Ah! The new snap is so good. The Discard mechanic from 14 was so OP, now this makes duplicate cards powerful but not the only thing worth optimizing for.
Ooh! a shock booster pack! Maybe this High Voltage choice will pay off after all!
Bully was the first fight where I lost any amount of HP. I should have snapped, and I could have won on turn 2 instead of turn 3. Oh, I leveled up anyway, sweet.
Warrior Smash: 4dmg, +1 per bop. I'm guessing that means that the 4 dmg goes up by one every time I use a bop, and not that using this card will make all my bops do 3dmg instead of 2. Because that would not be the way to word the latter. Yeah, this is clear. If I use a bop after warrior smash, it'll be just a regular bop and nothing extra will happen. Well, I still have all four of my bops so let's do this. Oh shoot, I got boop and bop mixed up! Ah, no matter. Umm... Warrior Smash is not performing as advertised. It's showing up as 1dmg +1 per bop. I'm guessing that when I received it, I had used 4 bops in that fight, so the reward screen showed the bop-inflated count. (#918, already fixed)
Ooh, Hollow Crystal, I haven't seen that one before. Cool. Ah! I got interrupted right as Crystalina was beginning her turn and didn't see what she did. It would be nice if there was a way to replay the enemy's turn, or if the window losing focus made it pause. Crystalina was nice and tough. I lost about half my HP.
Does a Boop+ count as a duplicate of a Boop? Can I discard or snap them together? Let's find out. Yes! Yes they do. That's rad.
Ooh, a shop where I can buy either Hammer or Hall of Mirrors! Tough call. Hall of Mirrors is so good, but I just committed to a shock deck... so let's go Hammer.
Ah, Scathach. My shock deck is going to be useless. I should (re)learn what the tipoffs are for how to tell which boss you're going to fight. I love that it's "Call for Backup Thief" when Thief is shocked. (: Agh! I yoinked The Curse twice but couldn't use it either time! How unfortunate... Wow, Scathach is doing a superb job of control. I'm hardly able to get a dice in edgewise. That was an excellent fight! I lost, but 2hp more and I probably would have won. Super fun run!
Jester ep2 Jester, But With Four Cards (v0.16.1):
Whooooaaaa!! Cool reward packs and I get to choose the ice pack or flame pack! I love this!
If Sticky Hands runs away, are you unable to reach max level before the boss?
Madison is immune to freeze. That's two out of two runs the boss has been immune to the thing I built my deck around. It's like Lady Luck has it out for me or something! (; No worries, I won handily.
Having a fourth card is way better than having foresight. ep2 is significantly easier than ep1.
Jester ep3 Jester Warrior (v0.16.1):
Jester Warrior is super fun! I love this episode!
Jester ep4 Losers Weepers (v0.16.1):
Lost because I got too greedy deleting boops on floor 1.
Lost again on floor 1, and this time I didn't make any obvious mistakes! I got slightly unlucky rolls, but yikes!
OMG beating Sneezy is so bad. OMG beating the Wizard is even worse!! Lost to Dire Wolf and loved every minute of it!
This time I'm avoiding enemies with cards I don't want. Ugh!! I'm sandwiched between Sneezy and Keymaster! Which is worse??? Aughghghgh I guess I will pick keymaster. Hmm! I get two keyblades and 4 locks. I wonder if I actually get the two keyblades or if it's just displaying them overly optimistically. Oh my word, I read the map wrong and I'm forced to fight Sneezy. I just fought Keymaster for no reason. That probably cost me the run. I get the actual keyblade! That's interesting. That means that if I can fight keymaster and let him unlock several keys, then it's an advantageous steal instead of a horrid one. Unless that's a bug. Also, when I use any of the Lock cards, the Keyblade comes in on the next next card instead of the next card, and they wiggle around weirdly.
When I defeated Bully, I only got 3 rocks instead of 4, because Bully used one during the fight. That's probably intentional (and cool), I'm just mentioning it in case it's unintentional.
Dragon was boss. I was 1hp away from victory. It was super fun and exciting! I love this mode! It's utterly ridiculous and very random, but it's still possible to play it cleverly! It's like playing Katamari Damacy where the Prince is replaced by the Professor from Dream Quest.
Skipped 1 fight (Space Marine) on Floor 1, Lost to Sneezy in the first fight of Floor 2.
Finally won! I didn't encounter Sneezy or Keymaster or Wizard, I was able to avoid several fights that would have given me bad stuff, and I was able to delete a few bad cards. I faced off against Gym Leader at the end, and despite my deck having a lot of poison in it, I defeated him with 11hp to spare, and I was only lvl4. I was 1 star away from lvl5 but I opted not to fight Crystalina because the levelup reward wasn't worth having Crystalina's stuff in my deck.
This episode is very heavily luck-based. If you have to fight Sneezy or Keymaster or Wizard, you're hosed. Well, I bet it would still be possible to win after fighting one of them, but two would be nearly impossible unless you got some lucky card combo that let you heal up sustainably during a fight, during which you could delete a bunch of crap. That said, its randomness gives it a lot of replay value. It's super fun to accumulate all these weird enemy powers and be dealt a hand consisting of Rat, Cardboard Sword, and Spike. I can't help but imagine what such an amalgamation would look like...
Thief ep2 Finders Keepers (v0.16.1):
Lost on Floor 1, Wolf Puppy chewed me up and Slime spit me out.
Poison Needle + Sneeze = Rabid Porcupine Thief (: OK, I'm going to decline to upgrade Dagger this run. I always lose when I don't upgrade Dagger, but that'll make this run more interesting. Due to a killer trade-in, Rabid Porcupine Thief has evolved into Backstabbing Assassin. Hook limit break + Backstab+ is just too good to pass up. Oho! Backstabbing Assassin + Breadcrumbs+ = Invincible Backstabbing Assassin! Ooh, do I steal Flight or Echo Blast? Tough call! No matter - Sneeze, Breadcrumbs+, Backstab+ makes for a perfect Scathach victory!
Warrior ep2 This'll Be Fine (v0.16.2):
No problem. The upgraded equipment, plus all the copy equipment, more than makes up for the curse after Floor 2 or 3. I tried Lightning Rod+ and a bunch of boomerangs, but my Lightning Rod kept getting zeroed out despite me not using it. When it gets weakened, does it lose its charge? For fun I went with Toxic Ooze+, Claw+, Claw+, Blight+, Bump+ against Scathach and it was a breeze.
Thief ep3 Uptick (v0.16.3):
Lost on Floor 1, Slime and Hothead just got good rolls
Lost to Dryad, got bodied by Alchemist immediately beforehand.
Lost to Dryad again. I need some decent early equipment! Pickpocket and Pea Shooter are not cutting it!
A Bump! Gods be praised! That'll at least give me +1 damage per turn, maybe that'll be enough to turn the tide. Ooh, it does actually make quite a bit of difference. 2 or 3 damage is enough to save me one enemy turn on several enemies. And for my second item I got a healing crystal. Nice. Between Poison Needle and Crowbar, there's no contest in Uptick, it's gotta be the Needle. On floor 5 I finally got Spatula! This changes everything! Final boss: Scathach (again). Loadout: Lockpick, Lockpick+, Counterfeit Device+, Bump, Spatula, Dagger+. It was very satisfying to use The Shock against Scathach. (:
I don't enjoy this episode as much as the others. It's more fun to hope that I get good rolls than it is to hope that the enemies get bad rolls. Also, since it hugely depends on your first one or two equipment drops, it feels like roguelike save scumming, which I don't find fun.
Robot ep2 No Going Back (v0.16.3):
I love the ep1 description. (:
Lost due to bug #489 ):
I Autorolled two 1s and it put them on top of each other. I traded my Buster Sword for Headbutt, but I still have a Buster Sword. Won vs. Scathach (again). Headbutt+ and Spatula+ are a brave combo.
Robot ep3 You Choose You Lose (v0.16.3):
I love this episode. You really have to play Robot in a different way than usual, and it's interestingly different and very fun. My strat was to only use single-slot equipment, then always roll 2, Auto Dagger, roll 2, Auto Dagger, roll 6, Ruby Weapon. This minimizes the chance that Ruby Weapon will get cursed, and it's such a powerhouse that it's worth making a build around. Won against Madison in two turns.
Warrior ep3 Vampiric Tendencies (v0.16.3):
OMG Midnight Charm+ is ridiculous when upgraded, especially in this mode! Once you get it, the win is basically free. And Midnight Charm- is hilarious. So many of the weakened versions of equipment are hilarious. It's my favorite kind of joke, one that's told entirely through game mechanics. OK, now let's see if this Level 6 extra dice is worth it. I upgraded Last Stand, thinking that 14hp would not be enough to survive many boss attacks without it. Ah, Madison was a lucky boss. I used this loadout
and my Furious Shovel+ kept her in control. I didn't even need the Last Stand+. But I sure would have if I had rolled a different boss!
I love this episode. It does my favorite thing that an episode does: give you an interesting new way to play a character. You've got to play much more defensively and focus on healing... or maybe shield, but that won't help you against poison. There isn't a boss that does a lot of poison damage, though, so I guess that makes shield viable. Anyway, the final levelup reward is so totally not worth it. I got it just to see if it would be different, and for the challenge of having only 14hp for the boss, but if I were playing optimally I would never level up to 6, because going down from 16hp to 14hp is significant. I suggest either making the levelup reward better, or adding an achievement/unlock for beating this mode at max level... or doing nothing, and just making it part of the strategy that it's dumb to level up to 6 and you should be smart enough to not do that. (:
I'll post followup comments here if/when I spend some time with Inventor and Witch, but this is long enough for now!
Overall thoughts and non-episode-specific observations:
Final words seen and liked: Kraken, Gardener Final words seen and LOVED: Baby Squid, Hothead, Dryad, Stereohead, Bully
Ooh, I love the new intro music. Oh hey, it's not new, it's an even better remix of the v0.15 intro theme! (Or it's just been so long since I've played 15 that I forgot. Or maybe I wasn't wearing headphones last time.)
Esc settings! Music volume! Yay! 60%-70% is good for me. Maybe make the default a bit lower? Combat animation Very Fast by default, is that going to be first-timer friendly? Hmm, I guess the learning curve will be solved in different ways, not by slowing down the combat anims.
Oh no, I miss my favorite sound effect in any videogame ever, the v0.15 levelup sound ): Ah! It's now the go-down-to-the-next-level sound. Good!
The greenery overworld music is absolutely lovely.
Mousewheel support would be nice on Jester's Deck screen (and anywhere with a scroll bar)
When I'm standing on a shop, I want to be able to click it again to go back in, instead of having to walk away and come back.
Ooh! I like how Sneezy now has two sharp spikes. That makes it more interesting. And gives it something to do with a 6.
Whoa, Yeti is completely different. Freeze the Yeti and they will freeze you back. Nice.
I like that Bump now bumps a 6 into a 6 and a 1. I think it's done that for a while, but this is the first time I've used it and I like it.
Grand Finale: I would say that Upgrading Grand Finale makes it easier to use, not that it makes it more powerful.
Hammer: I suggest "shock on 6" instead of "shock if you roll 6", none of the other cards talk about "if you roll"
Whoa, Rat King is completely different. How interesting!
Ooh, freeze and fire don't cancel each other out anymore. This is more fun!
The new poison visuals+sounds are great. Same for Blind.
You can still pick up a dice right as you're winning a fight and wiggle it around a bit on the You Win screen. I think it's fun, but others might perceive it as a bug.
I like that you won't eat an apple when you're already full on health. If one of the characters is prone to emotional overeating, it might be neat to have them eat the apple anyway (that whole subtle character-building thing). But I guess they'd have to say something too, to make it clear that this isn't the default behavior. Never mind, this is a bad idea and is way more confusing than it's worth.
I love the simplified UI, where there are fewer "Confirm?" prompts, and when you take stuff, it's just like "added to Backpack". It's smooth.
I want to remember whether I'm going to level up at the end of this fight, so I know whether to conserve HP. I tried hovering over "Jester", could that (or the HP bar?) have a hoverover telling how many stars I've got and how many until levelup?
The performance degrades either with time, or after being alt-tabbed a few times. I let my game sit for a while backgrounded (windowed), then came back to it and the animations were very stuttery. I even got the "(Not Responding)" header on the window 3 times. I haven't seen this (yet) in v0.16.3 though, so maybe the memory leak fix fixed it. I'll let you know if I see it again.
I love the new floor progression. I love that it's optimal to fight every enemy, and you level up right before fighting the boss.
Why is weakened Thief card called "Thief Downgraded" instead of "Thief-" ? And why does "Snake Eyes" have no description of what it does?
I love all the episodes, but I have one concern for the final version: Will players be spending 5/6 of their time playing tweaked rulesets? The standard rules are so good, I really enjoyed Classic Hardmode because it was mostly just standard rules but harder. I hope that there ends up being something that keeps the spirit of "standard rules but harder" because the standard rules are so fun, it would be a shame for players to only spend 1/6 of their time playing with them.