itch.io

Played a bit more! I'm on floor 10! I'm a big fan of how much deeper it goes when you think you've found everything. There's new equipment, new enemies, and even new room features!

So.

There's an interesting economy and loot problem. The loot IS good and meaningful! However, I feel like the distribution of it can be rather lopsided.

On one hand, you have all this armor which just give single digit defense bonuses (except for a HELM which just says MEDIUM without a defense bonus, which is weird since there are other Helms I have that do indeed have a value, possibly a bug) and a weight class, which is pretty dry. Then you have things like the HERO SHIELD, which draws aggro to one character exclusively or the WIDOWMAKER, which has a large damage range with a higher chance to land a crit! This kind of equipment is pretty great!

The issue is how these cooler weapons are gained: they randomly come up in chests with no rhyme or reason other than RNG and floor depth. Getting new equipment is exciting, but perhaps there should be a way of signalling of what kinds of chests the player should be excited for, or maybe have boss drops. Something that makes getting those weapons more of a pointed event rather than something you trip onto. Of course, they don't ALL need to be so hidden, but it's just something I noticed.

This is more of an RPG thing in general, but I feel like it's still worth mentioning that you end up getting a LOT of junk equipment as you go.

It doesn't exactly feel great to sell since you get more from fighting enemies than anything. Duplicate equipment in your bag also doesn't automatically merge, so you have a bloated list where you have three different instances of CHAIN MAIL, one being a stack of 3 with another by itself further down on the list.

What's especially awkward is that the store seems to sell better tiers of equipment as you reach deeper layers. While it's cool to see, it can make gear progression rather muddied since you could find something two tiers above what you were using before OR end up already having said higher tier from just waltzing around the dungeon by the time you reach the shop. It's not an issue per say, but it's something worth looking at.

I thought the mushrooms and honeycombs I came across early on were crafting materials since their use effects were so underwhelming. Weird that it never went anywhere. Several bees were harmed in the making of this observation.

I like the shop keeper!

I wish there was more that could be gained from talking to him other than realizing that, oh, you start the game with tier 0 gear instead of what comes in the shop. I'm also not sure what the identification system is about (which just shows a list of items which all say [OBJECT OBJECT] right now) other than the fact that sometimes loot is occasionally cursed. I'm not sure what this entails, but I feel like letting us keep cursed equipment would be a fun way to keep things interesting with a whole risk and reward deal. Something more rewarding than getting even more junk loot in our bag. Again, not an issue per say, but a place that can be strengthened.

I saw an interesting accessory in the shop that allowed the casting of Fireball with a 10% to break! That sounded pretty fun! Right up until I saw it still needed mana to cast. I feel like it should either be a 10% chance to break OR cost mana; not both. Having it be both just makes it feel bad to use since you paid a lot for it and there are now two more costs on top of it. On top of that, when I casted the spell in battle, I get text that said it was used, but nothing happens. I imagine that's a bug.

Speaking of gear not working as it should!

WOW there's a lot of equipment for the warrior and cleric. They get all sorts of armor, shields, helmets, and such. The mage and thief, though? Maybe a dagger? A couple small armor upgrades once you start getting deeper in the castle? The other two classes can stand to use more equipment. I didn't find any armor or accessories that had cool effects for them.

Speaking of class progression feeling bad sometimes!

I like the leveling system! It's satisfying and I see all sorts of possibilities when it comes to making builds and choosing upgrade paths! The issue I ran into is that the abilities and spells costed more mana the more you invested in them. Which maybe wouldn't be an issue, but mana is HARD to come by; I was barely into the teens at the highest while my HP was in the triple digits.

You end up getting small boosts in power with disproportionately increasing cost, meaning you get to use your abilities LESS as you level rather than more. It's not like you can simply choose not to invest points since the popup for increasing your stats comes up after every battle. While this is usually convenient, it becomes bothersome when you're just trying to keep your ability cost down. Once you hit level 42, it becomes an unavoidable issue.

Make no mistake, I really like this game! It's so well made that the rougher edges just stand out a bit more than otherwise. So! Some more things I like!

The sprite work is consistently pretty! It's colorful, easy to read, and done pretty well! I love how the enemy attack animations are played in their battle cards; it conveys which monster is doing what with minimal screen clutter.

The music and sound effects are all great, too! Whether it be the exploration and battle themes or the more subtle choices like the audible sheathing after a fight, it's something I've yet to really get tired of even after fighting well over a hundred battles.

I also like the funny animal people. Shoutouts to Redwall!

I think that's everything I have to say about the game as of the moment. I'll be keeping an eye on it since it seems like I've hit the endgame. The unusable ability points make battling pretty bothersome, so I can't quite go on.

Again, keep up the great work!

EDIT:

I forgot to say a few things!
-Medic screen does NOT like triple digit stats.
-You can't see the full coordinates when walking around the dungeon; half of it is cut off by the edge of the screen.
-The map should really display more of what's actually been charted instead of having SO much of it be black space. Makes it hard to navigate the more tricky intersections and branches without being able to look as far ahead.
-Not sure what the "booklet" is, but since it's bound to Tab, it's impossible to open since it just unfocuses the game when pressed. Perhaps make it another key or have it be on the settings menu itself.