This was a fun kind of Hi-Fi rush vibe! The combat was neat, and I enjoyed the combo system.

I'm not sure if I understand the need to put away your weapon and take it out - I think the game could potentially be streamlined to just have one state for your character, but I could see that changing if you included multiple instruments to switch between.

 As this is a rhythm game, I feel like it kind of lives or dies by it's music, so it might be nice to add some variation to the sounds that play whenever you are attacking - when you switch back and forth between heavy and light attacks the audio sounds a bit repetitive. This might also be solved with fuller background music instead of just a beat, but I'm sure that is something you're actively working on. As of now, though, the combat is pretty fun :)

Other than that, there were a couple times when the characters in the game said to use the left trigger when it should have been the right trigger, and I think I broke the sequencing at some point during the demo - I accidentally went the wrong way and got very lost at the end.

 I really like the aesthetic, though, and I could absolutely see this becoming something cool. I'm a sucker for a fake MMO, so knowing that's the universe of the game is also exciting. I need to try your other project in that world!

Played it a bit on stream around 2:30:10

Hello and welcome to Feedback Quest 9! My name is Hythrain, and I'm one of the hosts for this lovely event! I'm also one of the streamers, so both the game and this feedback are being done live! If you want to see the see the VOD, let me know and I'll link you to it when it's uploaded to YouTube!

I love a good rhythm game, especially if it's doing something different. This certainly qualifies as an action game.

As requested, I won't speak on the visuals or audio in the game. I'll focus on the gameplay and the general feel. However, I need to note one thing: the font you have is a bad choice. As a bitmap font, it's very hard to read. If it was a normal font with anti-aliasing, it'd be fine. I recommend either changing it or letting the text have anti-aliasing despite the visual style you seem to be going for.

Okay, onto the stuff you want covered. The first thing I noticed was that the game tells the player incorrect controls. The game tells me to use Left trigger for dashing, but I found it was the Right trigger. It also tells me to press Up on the D-Pad to summon my mandolin, but it ended up being Left. I also wasn't sure if the commands for changing targets were working correctly, but I found the descriptions of "L2" and "L3" to be confusing. Normally, "L2" would be... Left Trigger. Y'know, the one the game said was to dash. Speaking of controls, I want to recommend adding native support for non-Xbox controllers. While having the game on Steam does mean it'll benefit from Steam's design already giving some support, what it ends up doing for something like the Nintendo Pro Controller is invert the buttons to match the letter facings rather than the directional facings. So while you designed it that the player pressing the bottom face button to jump, it becomes the right face button if I'm using a Pro Controller. Having native support means you can control this directly and ensure you can make the controllers use the correct face button you want.

My general experience is that the controls are very sluggish and floaty. It feels like the game is very slow to respond to my inputs. This is especially true with the dashes, where I can absorb a very clear delay between when I press the trigger and when the dash goes off. While the sluggish and floaty feel isn't inherently bad (as enemies are also subject to sluggish movements), I feel like the dash having such a huge delay is bad. Plus the dash is just so fast by comparison. I wonder if it'd be possible to make the game less sluggish but keep some of the floatiness.

In terms of gameplay, I'll admit I didn't get far. I did love the use of timing my button inputs to the beat to deal better attacks., though. It felt really good and somewhat relaxed. However, when I got to the point where you recommend using the hook, I found it just wasn't working. After falling into the water twice, I suddenly lost the ability to summon my mandolin. At this point, I decided to call it. While it wasn't far at all, I felt like I already had enough that you could address for your next build.

All in all, I want to see more of this. I want to see where this goes. Please keep me up to date!

• Youtube Link / Twitch Link
• Graphics : PSx Retro , generally fine although maybe some things need to be tweaked.
  • Animations are really rather lackluster , not matching the 'beat' , floaty, oftentimes too slow (or fast).
• GUI : Pretty minimalist , I presume that at some point the tip window for combos would disappear.
  • The bottom right combo menu might do good with a tweak.
• Performance : Flawless
• Music / Sfx : 
  • Music : A rythm game benefits greatly from a good soundtrack that keeps to the beat, this has neither. 
  • SFX : Some of it is fine, but largely lacking. Many of the sfx really could benefit from keeping in line with the beat.
• Gameplay : A beat em up rythm game without any of the latter.
• Misc Issues : 
  • At various intervals I was kind of just floating or levitating , unsure if that was intentional or glitch.
• Notes : 
  • The dash is incredibly jank, it's near instantaneous with nothing accompanying it, No SFX , no animation. 
  • Why is the jump so extreme? It's as if we were dealing with moon gravity.
  • Why is there a cube following us, why is not some sort of creature familiar , or at the least have the 'stand' you summon replace it , rather than being tethered to it like an umbilical cord
  • Enemies are practically a suggestion of danger , I'm not certain I ever took a single hit.
  • It feels very slow, that in of itself wouldn't necessarily be bad for a rythm game, but it needs to flow between the highs and lows.
  • The orc barbarian is unique , although his beard clips frequently into hisself.
• Final Thoughts :  Simply put, this game is in an incredibly rough state and there's little that feels good or fun in it's current state. It's supposed to be a rythm but it really doesn't feel like it in either gameplay or sound design.