Heroes of the Seven Islands

[Antimatter]

Thank you! We distributed all 4 keys among moderators and will try to provide feedback this week/next week.

The profile picture is very nice.

And don't worry about spam attacks. We have everything under control here.

 

[Skatan]

Hello again. Glad to see your game is going well. I got one of the keys and tried out a bit now. I'm happy to see most classes seems to have working skills etc!

I did a (shortish) run of the first island with Knight, Battle Mage, Sorcerer and Minstrel. Continued a bit onto Bandit island but struggled hard with the fights against level 4-5-6 with my own level 3 (or maybe I was 4, I forgot) party. Quick feedback on that, it seems the weaker guys still get targeted very similar amount of times as the Knight which I put to the left, Final Fantasy 1 style.

I notice you gotta think ahead a bit since skills are based on stats, so you have to plan which skills to upgrade and only pump those stats on level ups. Ie for lockpicking you might need 14 Dex to get Expert, starting at 7 on a minstrel that means you gotta level up and only put points there on all levels for example. Seems similar on Meditation and Willpower and I assume the other ones will be similar. Interesting concept.

Some class skills still seems sub-par of the ones I tried. Explosion on Battlemage was inferior to the spellbook and even the standard attack. Hybrids overall seemed a bit weak, but then again, I didn't play that far so I assume they follow different power curves.

Seems like there is more money around so hopefully we won't get stuck on islands anymore Still, I didn't dare spend any on items since you have so little to begin with.

Great you added many places that require lockpicking! not picking a thief at start (based on my experiece from your last demo) made me see all those chests and doors I had to leave unopened (I only added lockpicking to the minstrel later).

So far, so good though. The game is fun and easy enough to get into. But it's tougher than it looks! My wife walked past and said it looked like such a cute game as my team experienced a horrible defeat, hah.

 

[rap2h]

Thank you for playing (again!) and for your feedback!

This is really helpful. As usual I turn your points into tasks for my roadmap that I may or may not do as-is!

You are the second one saying it's too hard (one friend told me it's almost unplayable, and he turned the difficulty to zero), so I will maybe lower the difficulty by default and especially for levels 4-5-6 monsters!

I will send a detailed answer points by points this week-end or just after.

 

[Cahir]

I spent an hour or so, trying out the demo and here are my thoughts:

Things I like:

• Overall cozy vibe - the game is perfect to launch after a long day, to just chill and have fun.
• The art style - although I find it a bit too simplistic, it's charming and generally well done.
• Skills and party progression - as @Skatan mentioned, the whole system is well thought and encourages planning ahead. I like there are some places not accessible without the require skill value (eg. lighthouse on the first island)
• Even it's a point and click type of game, it has this feeling of exploration, with loot that can be hidden in unexpected places.
• Combat is simple (not to confuse with easy!), yet quite nuanced. You need to think, if it's better to spend your turn on buffing or on attacking.
• The music is fun, when it plays. It has this old Amiga era vibe, that I personally cherish.

Things that could be improved:

• Combat log could be visible all the time. Having to do additional mouse click to check what going on, is slightly inconvenient.
• It could be handy to have a pop up message explaining what exactly a certain skill does. For example, when I learned a novice Meditation, it was specified the bonus each level gives, but I wish there was an actual description what the skill does overall.
• I wish there were more lore descriptions, so far the quests and conversation feels a bit generic, in a sense, that are not rooted in the lore. It would be great to have a little background of each visited location. Coming back to my example with the lighthouse - who built it? Is there someone living there? Is it even operational? I wish to know about the world, with some more lore stiched into dialogues and more background info about the land and people living there.
• There are a long periods where there is no music, with occasional gameplay sounds. It could be great if the music plays all the time.
• Difficulty curve between islands is to steep. While I didn't have much problem winning battles on the first island, the enemies on the second island just best the crap out od me very often. They hit hard and practically don't miss.

it's a surprisingly fun game to chill after a long day and I see a potential to grow even more. Good job,

 

[Cahir]

I have one more suggestion, after playing some more: give more variety of common loot. It's fun when you find a new Item (usually from the chest), but otherwise you find only gold or alchemical ingredients.It would be great to loot other treasure too.

 

[rap2h]

Let's go for answers! By the way, the quotes seems difficult to read since it's black on brown (maybe it's just my screen)

First @Skatan feedback!

I did a (shortish) run of the first island with Knight, Battle Mage, Sorcerer and Minstrel. Continued a bit onto Bandit island but struggled hard with the fights against level 4-5-6 with my own level 3 (or maybe I was 4, I forgot) party. Quick feedback on that, it seems the weaker guys still get targeted very similar amount of times as the Knight which I put to the left, Final Fantasy 1 style.

1. Enemies level 1-3 has been slightly lowered.
2. Enemies level 4-6 has been lowered
3. I m not sure to understand the suggestion, but maybe I should change the random attack system to attack the tank (barbarian or knight) more often. Currently it's totally random (for thief it's a bit different)

I notice you gotta think ahead a bit since skills are based on stats, so you have to plan which skills to upgrade and only pump those stats on level ups. Ie for lockpicking you might need 14 Dex to get Expert, starting at 7 on a minstrel that means you gotta level up and only put points there on all levels for example. Seems similar on Meditation and Willpower and I assume the other ones will be similar. Interesting concept.

"interesting concept" may not be good Maybe I should lower a bit the conditions for most of the expert skills.

Some class skills still seems sub-par of the ones I tried. Explosion on Battlemage was inferior to the spellbook and even the standard attack. Hybrids overall seemed a bit weak, but then again, I didn't play that far so I assume they follow different power curves.

There is currently a serious issue with hero balance. Here's what I've noticed so far, let's make a tier list:

• A: Minstrel (group attack, free group buffs in taverns, good stats)
• B: Barbarian, Knight, Druid, Sorcerer, Monk
• F: Assassin, Thief (still lockpick is good early game)
• F-: Battle-mage (kind of broken)

I have a suggestion at the end of my post for assassin and thief. But I have no idea how to do a good battle-mage.

Seems like there is more money around so hopefully we won't get stuck on islands anymore Still, I didn't dare spend any on items since you have so little to begin with.

I will continue to add gold everywhere. I want gold to feel rare, but also, it should not be blocking too much.

Now @Cahir feedbacks.

Combat log could be visible all the time. Having to do additional mouse click to check what going on, is slightly inconvenient.

I have no idea how I can make it more visible without changing the overall look (with few things on screen). I will see if I can find a solution.

It could be handy to have a pop up message explaining what exactly a certain skill does. For example, when I learned a novice Meditation, it was specified the bonus each level gives, but I wish there was an actual description what the skill does overall.

OOps you are right this is broken, I have to fix it! It should definitely show what it does overall!

I wish there were more lore descriptions, so far the quests and conversation feels a bit generic, in a sense, that are not rooted in the lore. It would be great to have a little background of each visited location. Coming back to my example with the lighthouse - who built it? Is there someone living there? Is it even operational? I wish to know about the world, with some more lore stiched into dialogues and more background info about the land and people living there.

Yes, I have this feeling too. My world feels empty and generic! I have a few ideas. But maybe it's too late now, I have to find a way to add lore, without changing the game. By the way there is actually something and somebody in the lighthouse
This concern is a major issue and to be fair I am a bit scared that everything is too late now, since everything has its place in the world and redesigning it cost a lot. I don't understand what I just wrote, I am a bit lost on this subject.

There are a long periods where there is no music, with occasional gameplay sounds. It could be great if the music plays all the time.

Music was looping in the first version, but it was too repetitive (there were less tracks) and I decided to do like in old CD games, where music plays once then stop. But testers (you included) told me that it's strange to play in silence, so I fixed it, music now loops (and there are 9 tracks).

Difficulty curve between islands is to steep. While I didn't have much problem winning battles on the first island, the enemies on the second island just best the crap out od me very often. They hit hard and practically don't miss.

Fixed (copy/past of my text above):

• Enemies level 1-3 has been slightly lowered.
• Enemies level 4-6 has been lowered

give more variety of common loot. It's fun when you find a new Item (usually from the chest), but otherwise you find only gold or alchemical ingredients.It would be great to loot other treasure too.

Good idea thank you!

Now my question for Assassin and Thief.
I feel like there are not interesting. I considered to add them a "rogue book" or "crime book" (like musicbook and spellbook), but it's not implemented yet. Do you think it's a good idea?

Here are some suggestions that could be done in rogue books (then they can learn new things somewhere):

• Steal (thief): allow you to get money when used in town, once a week
• Pretends it was stronger (thief): the party gains more XP at the end of the fight (because it lies to the game, saying the monsters were more strong)
• Attack with panache (assassin): deal few damage, but adds +50% panache at the end of the fight
• Energy transfer (assassin): gives energy/magic to all allies, lose their energy

Again, thank you for your tests, it helps me improving the game!

 

[Skatan]

"I m not sure to understand the suggestion, but maybe I should change the random attack system to attack the tank (barbarian or knight) more often. Currently it's totally random (for thief it's a bit different)"

In old games, I use final fantasy 1 as an example, where you have a couple of characters you should always put the "tank" at the top or to the left and your weakest character at the bottom or to the right. The basic concept is that the first character has a somewhat higher change of getting hit. If all characters have the same chance to be hit and you can't protect them, then it takes away one potential 'tactical' aspect of these kind of battles. BUT the game is yours and you of course choose how you want to make it, it was only a suggestion. The knight has some kind of Endurance boosting special skill but TBH I didn't see it do any difference and wasting a full round to use it felt pointless, better than to attack. And IF the knight isn't attacked more than say, a mage, then what's the point of ever using a knight if the sorcerer can use its flame arrow from level 1 at consistently higher damage? Then it's probably better to just use three sorcs and a minstrel for example.

But as said, it's just my 2 cents and you should follow your own vision.

"There is currently a serious issue with hero balance. Here's what I've noticed so far, let's make a tier list:

• A: Minstrel (group attack, free group buffs in taverns, good stats)
• B: Barbarian, Knight, Druid, Sorcerer, Monk
• F: Assassin, Thief (still lockpick is good early game)
• F-: Battle-mage (kind of broken)"

hah, yeah I noticed the battlemage kinda sucked Barbarian I felt missed too often (low starting dex?). Druid and Sorc have good starting spells.

Oh yeah re Minstrel, I noticed I could sing the same song twice but I couldn't see that I got the buff twice. I tried to use the one with +3 Dex twice, once in battle and once to try and climb the lighthouse, but don't think it worked? Is that intended?

"Music was looping in the first version, but it was too repetitive (there were less tracks) and I decided to do like in old CD games, where music plays once then stop. But testers (you included) told me that it's strange to play in silence, so I fixed it, music now loops (and there are 9 tracks)."

if it's not too much work, put an icon for music somewhere at the bottom left/right where the player can turn of the looping. Personally I prefer it over silence. Press once for play once, then silence, press twice for total silence, don't press at all and the songs loop.


Just now I did the first two islands with a 3 Sorc / 1 minstrel party just to try, and perhaps it was the reduced difficulty or perhaps my idea of Sorc's fire arrow just being superior, but I breezed through the goblins this time. Finished the two islands in 15 minutes or so. Btw, can we sell items? Coudn't find a way to do that. I was carrying like armor etc I coudln't equip so would be cool to be able to sell them and buy more spells instead.

 

[rap2h]

@Skatan I just fixed a few things thanks to your feedback again. You really helped me to understand and, hopefully, to improve the game.

1. Battle Mage should be way better
   • Explosion (special power) is free (no MP cost) and has fixed damage. It is still limited to once per battle
   • I removed the toxic cloud spell (attack all) that was a duplicate of the explosion
   • I added the spell "remove effects" (remove all effects on a hero).
   • +2 willpower (so +2 spell points) at the beginning.
2. Knight
   • The endurance bonus (special power) is now 5 (instead of 3) for the whole team, then 6 at level 2 and so on. Thus its power is no longer useless, since it removes 2 points of damage for each hit.
3. Druid
   • Fumigation (special power) is now +5 for all stats of a hero (instead of +3).

No need to test again, I just wanted to let you know that your feedback is useful for me!

...Now, I have to add the "spells" of assassin and thief.

 

[rap2h]

Heroes of the Seven Islands demo is out Thanks for your support, you've helped improve the game from the very first versions!

 

[Antimatter]

I always smile when I see you here. Hope the demo is a success!

 

[Skatan]

Heroes of the Seven Islands demo is out Thanks for your support, you've helped improve the game from the very first versions!

Good luck! I hope you get many downloads and players.

 

[rap2h]

Thank you! Here are the numbers for the demo (if you are interested), I don't know if it's good or not, maybe I should have defined goals!
The time played seems good in my opinion, according to Steam 36% played more than 1 hour and I like this number

 

[rap2h]

I hope you're doing well!

For the brave, I launch a new round of tests.

You'll probably be disappointed to see that some things you suggested haven't been implemented, but I also hope you'll appreciate the improvements that have been made (many of which are here thanks to you). No obligation to test, you'll all get the game for free anyway!

Just let me know if you are interested, and I can send you a STEAM key via DM (to avoid the bots(?))

 

[Skatan]

Sure, why not. I can do another round if you can stomach some more feedback

 

[Skatan]

First draft, I will add to this once I'm further but since I know you have a tight schedule, I thought it better to start typing early.

NB these are of course just my opinions and may not at all match other peoples':

1: You can use items to boost stats for upgrades. I like it, but can be exploited by keeping all stat boosting items and swap around before learning skills. Ie adding an axe wiht +5 strength to a weak druid to learn Shield skill. I wouldn't change it, but as said, might possibly be exploited in late-game when you have enough items to get all skills for all characters (that fits class of course). Haven't tested if it works with the "prestige classes" though.

2: I know there's a button for skipping turn as I accidently did once, but I can't for the love of me find it again. Maybe have it more visible with the other actions in the panel to the right? Sometimes I don't want to kill an enemy to make sure I heal up fully before ending the fight to save on Rest.
---> Alternative: Allow Skip/Pause? Let the player choose "pause" to put their character at the very end of the Round (for example to buff up them even if they have higher speed then the buffers)

3: Pacing is perfect. Wouldn't change a thing. Leveling has just the right pacing for me.

4: Perhaps some spells are a bit to pricey. I have three spellcasters and they all at level 21 still use their level 1 spells. It's rare I can afford 2000 gold for a spell after also pumping 1000s of gold on Mastering skills. This means you need to grind fights to get gold, and that gives you more exp. If I do (I haven't much yet) I fear I might be overleveled later? But perhaps you have an exp diminishing return that I haven't noticed yet for lower level monsters.

5: I play Druid, Monk, Sorc and Assassin.
--> Druid: Very weak so far (level 20). BUT their special ability Fumigation carries my Sorc and sometimes Assassin. Other than that they just heal a bit and maximize damage on friend. One trick pony since it's not possible to afford spells for all characters and I have prioritzed the Sorc. Unsure about Shaman prestige class special skill. Didn't seem better then fumigation, so opted for stats.
--> Monk: Similar to Druid in a way. Great special skill Prayer, and then just used for healing and the ability that maximize the damage of a party member. Priest upgrade special ability sucks. Sorry to say it, but Prayer is MUCH better than the "free healing" that should be better. SHould have taken the stat points instead for sure. I am recommending you to replace Free healing with something else, perhaps a party wide buff of some sort, ie +5 to Endurance for all members or similar. Prayer will always be better otherwise.
--> Sorc. Still the best class I've tried so far. Fire arrow level 1 spells is what carries the game just as the earlier versions I've tried. Just now at level 18 I bought fireball, but still I use fire arrow a lot or even more. With fumigation adding Int damage, Concentration allowing spells to be cast every round, Sorc is the "DPS" of the team for sure. Upgrade to archwizard I opted out of the new skill since I always use Concentration to save on mana potions, so never tried it.
--> Assassin: Ambivalent.. the skill is graet when it works, but I feel the 30% is quite low. SOMETHING should allow us to up the % a bit, Dexterity/Speed/Strenght or something.. it's just to much of a waste to loose a whole round doing nothing when it fails. The Shadow skill is pretty decent replacer, but better for a team with more Melee than I have since the +8 damage adds to everyone else's attacks too. Great choice, keep it.

Gotta go, will come back later and edit.

Edit: Random notes for now while playing.

* Druid/monk spell Partner Blessing doesn't trigger for Fireball which is quite annoying. It looks like it triggers for Fire Arrow spell though. Intended?
* Assassin Attack with Panache has lower damage than the regular attack, or rather it seems fixed but less than in the middle between Min and Max (ie 35 when I have a base attack of 25-45 minus enemy End). My assassin has 35-64 damage and Panache has 46 fixed damage. This makes me not use it since higher damage -> faster battles --> more battles in the same time period -> longterm better than trying to squeeze out a few extra exp/gold points per battle. Classic ARPG style of play perhaps, but speed is progress after all.
---> The more I use fireball I feel it's bugged.. instead of hitting for between 50-100% of your INT, it feels like it always hits at 50% ? Or I am the most unlucky dice roller in the world.
-------------> Edit 2: Ah, I see you don't let elemental mastery affect fireball, so that's probably why it's so low damage. I think you should change that as it becomes obsolete at the same time as you can afford it. I always go up against ~3 enemies with 200 HP now and doing 18-32 and hitting for 25 damage x 3 is pitiful and a waste of a round.

Since I'm mostly testing I spend the coin on Levitation and lockpick expert and went back to the old islands to try and remember old chests and clouds to scale. Found one at least and that was quite fun. I know I've seen at least one more cloud to scale but can't for the love of me remember where
---> Crazy idea? Add possibility to add notes to the map for reference? Or in the journal/quest. Sometimes a master lockpick chest is deep in a jungle and I just can't remember which area to enter after I have the necessary skill.

My guys are level 25 or so now and just finished the Frost Island quest (mausoleum). So far I've found most bosses very easy, 4 vs 1. The only tough one was the first green dragon which was level 20 when my team was level 12, had to come back later to finish him, but all other bosses I've taken at first try (IIRC).

Seems like my team is pretty well-rounded but as I level more and more, Druid and his Fumigation skill get's less and less needed and now he's delegated to just healing and slinging the occasional fire arrow. Monk, Sorc and Assassin all scale very well. Quitting for now, will come back again later.


EDIT 3: Fighting the last boss now and I found such a sweeeeet light exploit I wish I knew much earlier: assassin special skill Blood for Bleed + Fumigation (druid) + Blessing (monk) let's me attach twice for ridiculous damage (almost 300 damage to Furax himself in the second round) and then in the next round my Monk or Druid cast Cleanse negative effects and remove the Bleed (-101 damage) on assassin! hah, wonderful! So I could kill Furax in round 3.

Here's my end chars etc

 

[Skatan]

Man, I had a BLAST playing your game. I didn't expect, I won't lie, after trying that early build that it would evolve into this fantastic game!

Congratulations on your great development and I truly wish you the best of success at launch and with sales!

EDIT: Some final remarks.

I take back what I said about gold. In the end I had enough to buy all I wanted, but it comes late. I almost didn't even need the last things, I spend like 8000 just before the last battle since I was smelling it would end quick. A second playthrough would be much easier knowing what to save for and where to spend. I wasted gold on ie weapon skills that was later changed (daggers -> swords on Assassin) and on a few spells I didn't end up using much. Also I bought all potions I saw bit almost never used them since I had 3 chars with healing. I used all the alchemical ingredients for STR potions from Master alchemy and gave it all to the assassin. I think that gave him like +20 STR or something, or maybe 15 from 3 or 4 potions.

in the end I never found the other cloud to scale, only the one at the hamlet where you thank us for playing. I did find one or two master lockpick chests going back to earlier islands though, but was too lazy to go back and hunt for Librarys after upgrading Rune skill. Wasn't needed really since I didn't have any trouble at all the last couple of islands.

Stat wise I have a lot of days I think, but some of that was me trying out to assassinate (30%) and if I missed, flee, rest, rince and repeat. I did that probably 15 times on a dragon before I realized I was an idiot and was too level to succeed, hehe..

I might be wrong here, but I feel the last islands are a lot less fleshed out. Maybe not so easy to keep up the same level of detail throughout, but they feel shorter and more to the point. Also some of the art on frost island felt.. barren. True to the nature perhaps, but less small things to click and collect? Minor though, the game keeps the style throughout and I love it.

Edit: One more thing, I enjoyed the puzzles a lot. I think I solved all the ones I found, afaik, and they gave just enough pause for the brain to have to work a little. The last one with the cyclops had me scratch my head for a few minutes before I realized how simple it was once you see it. The "goblins" in the mauseluem tricked me since I have never seen the word goblin used for a skull before and since I was playing without sound I couldn't hear the sound effect from clicking it the first time I tried! on my second visit I clicked again, heard the sound and understood.

Edit: Ah btw, now it's the final remark: The assassin carried the end. The damage output was very high from Blood and Bleed with the buffs from his friends as mentioned earlier. I liked that sorc planed out a bit after a while and I changed him into DPS/support around level 22 or so. I used Levitate several times in battles for the Dex buff but from what I could tell (I didn't keep full count) Dex for avoiding hits is not very efficient.. enemies hit you all the time anyways, but I did get maybe 2-3 misses on my assassin with ~50 Dex+ and the sorc a few times too after Levitate buff. Maybe increase the potential to avoid damage a bit higher from Dex to make it worthwhile to play a 'nimble' dodge master? after the first 10 levels I never put points in dex at all, it felt like a waste. It was all STR for the Assassin, and all INT/WP for the casters.

 

[rap2h]

Thank you so much for playing and for your support, again!

I took a lot of notes, which will help me to improve the game a bit before its release in 10 days. I won't be able to fix everything, just some small improvements, but you gave me a lot of hints about what could be changed and what I should keep.

I will send you detailed feedback here soon! And congratulations on finishing the game!!

 

[rap2h]

A few answers (first part) @Skatan

1: You can use items to boost stats for upgrades. I like it, but can be exploited by keeping all stat boosting items and swap around before learning skills. Ie adding an axe wiht +5 strength to a weak druid to learn Shield skill. I wouldn't change it, but as said, might possibly be exploited in late-game when you have enough items to get all skills for all characters (that fits class of course). Haven't tested if it works with the "prestige classes" though.

Yes it’s on purpose. It was something I asked on reddit, and the consensus was: wearing objects should boost your stat and allow you to hack paths. I like the fact that player can abuse this system, even if it’s a bit cheated to give a wand to a barbarian just to make them learn something

2: I know there's a button for skipping turn as I accidently did once, but I can't for the love of me find it again. Maybe have it more visible with the other actions in the panel to the right? Sometimes I don't want to kill an enemy to make sure I heal up fully before ending the fight to save on Rest.
---> Alternative: Allow Skip/Pause? Let the player choose "pause" to put their character at the very end of the Round (for example to buff up them even if they have higher speed then the buffers)

This is a good idea, too late unfortunately to implement (it would require redesign ui + retest the whole game to see how this new approach works during game).

3: Pacing is perfect. Wouldn't change a thing. Leveling has just the right pacing for me.

Super, I upgraded some bosses and one late game enemy, see answer below

4: Perhaps some spells are a bit to pricey. I have three spellcasters and they all at level 21 still use their level 1 spells. It's rare I can afford 2000 gold for a spell after also pumping 1000s of gold on Mastering skills. This means you need to grind fights to get gold, and that gives you more exp. If I do (I haven't much yet) I fear I might be overleveled later? But perhaps you have an exp diminishing return that I haven't noticed yet for lower level monsters.

High price is set to make players choose between : invest everything in a spell they really want, or wait till the last quarter of the game to be able to test them all. I will keep it as is.

5: I play Druid, Monk, Sorc and Assassin.

Thank you for all the feedback on your team. It currently confirms to me, mixed with other playtesters feedback, that all teams have their tips and tricks, but sometimes one or two seem underpowered in that particular team.

* Druid/monk spell Partner Blessing doesn't trigger for Fireball which is quite annoying. It looks like it triggers for Fire Arrow spell though. Intended?

It’s not on purpose, I have to check and fix, thank you!!

---> The more I use fireball I feel it's bugged.. instead of hitting for between 50-100% of your INT, it feels like it always hits at 50% ? Or I am the most unlucky dice roller in the world.
-------------> Edit 2: Ah, I see you don't let elemental mastery affect fireball, so that's probably why it's so low damage. I think you should change that as it becomes obsolete at the same time as you can afford it. I always go up against ~3 enemies with 200 HP now and doing 18-32 and hitting for 25 damage x 3 is pitiful and a waste of a round.

OK I have to consider it! Thanks

Since I'm mostly testing I spend the coin on Levitation and lockpick expert and went back to the old islands to try and remember old chests and clouds to scale. Found one at least and that was quite fun. I know I've seen at least one more cloud to scale but can't for the love of me remember where
---> Crazy idea? Add possibility to add notes to the map for reference? Or in the journal/quest. Sometimes a master lockpick chest is deep in a jungle and I just can't remember which area to enter after I have the necessary skill.

Super (crazy) idea, too late to implement unfortunately.

My guys are level 25 or so now and just finished the Frost Island quest (mausoleum). So far I've found most bosses very easy, 4 vs 1. The only tough one was the first green dragon which was level 20 when my team was level 12, had to come back later to finish him, but all other bosses I've taken at first try (IIRC).

This is a consensus among players (dragon is the only difficult boss). I fixed this:

• Abomination (the big thing with many arms late game) now stuns the hero they attack
• Cardinal (the gardian of last key) now have two assasins (bleed) with him, I lowered his stats, but it’s way harder with two assassins now (bleed + dispel on each attack is hard!)
• Vampire lord has way more stats
• I added only 3 str to Furax. The reason why I did not upgraded it more is because not being able to finish the last boss would be too frustrating.
• Demons have 3 more str, because they ware considered too easy.

EDIT 3: Fighting the last boss now and I found such a sweeeeet light exploit I wish I knew much earlier: assassin special skill Blood for Bleed + Fumigation (druid) + Blessing (monk) let's me attach twice for ridiculous damage (almost 300 damage to Furax himself in the second round) and then in the next round my Monk or Druid cast Cleanse negative effects and remove the Bleed (-101 damage) on assassin! hah, wonderful! So I could kill Furax in round 3.

Haha, I love this. For me expoiting the game, is the way to play the game. Players send me their exploits that they find at the end of the game, and this is exactly the experience I wanted to provide. Like in might and magic 6 when you have levitation, blasters, haste and meteor shower and you just destroy everything flying around like a four-headed destruction god. And I am glad to discover new exploits, yours is super, I wouldnt have thought to use blood for blood + cleanse to do huge dmg

 

[rap2h]

Man, I had a BLAST playing your game. I didn't expect, I won't lie, after trying that early build that it would evolve into this fantastic game! Congratulations on your great development and I truly wish you the best of success at launch and with sales!

Thank you so much!

I take back what I said about gold. In the end I had enough to buy all I wanted, but it comes late. I almost didn't even need the last things, I spend like 8000 just before the last battle since I was smelling it would end quick. A second playthrough would be much easier knowing what to save for and where to spend. I wasted gold on ie weapon skills that was later changed (daggers -> swords on Assassin) and on a few spells I didn't end up using much. Also I bought all potions I saw bit almost never used them since I had 3 chars with healing. I used all the alchemical ingredients for STR potions from Master alchemy and gave it all to the assassin. I think that gave him like +20 STR or something, or maybe 15 from 3 or 4 potions.

Yes

Stat wise I have a lot of days I think, but some of that was me trying out to assassinate (30%) and if I missed, flee, rest, rince and repeat. I did that probably 15 times on a dragon before I realized I was an idiot and was too level to succeed, hehe..

The “always miss” case is not clear in UI though. I may have to find something to tell the player “don’t use it” louder.

I might be wrong here, but I feel the last islands are a lot less fleshed out. Maybe not so easy to keep up the same level of detail throughout, but they feel shorter and more to the point. Also some of the art on frost island felt.. barren. True to the nature perhaps, but less small things to click and collect? Minor though, the game keeps the style throughout and I love it.

This is a good news in a way for me. Because I spent the days before sending you the game to actually adds content to the last two islands. Which means they were way more empty two weeks ago. So I did well to invest my time in it. I will add a few more things to click, and to interact with.

Edit: One more thing, I enjoyed the puzzles a lot. I think I solved all the ones I found, afaik, and they gave just enough pause for the brain to have to work a little. The last one with the cyclops had me scratch my head for a few minutes before I realized how simple it was once you see it. The "goblins" in the mauseluem tricked me since I have never seen the word goblin used for a skull before and since I was playing without sound I couldn't hear the sound effect from clicking it the first time I tried! on my second visit I clicked again, heard the sound and understood.

Super, that’s the goal of puzzles (“I have no idea” then later “ah yes!”) I am glad it worked.

Edit: Ah btw, now it's the final remark: The assassin carried the end. The damage output was very high from Blood and Bleed with the buffs from his friends as mentioned earlier. I liked that sorc planed out a bit after a while and I changed him into DPS/support around level 22 or so. I used Levitate several times in battles for the Dex buff but from what I could tell (I didn't keep full count) Dex for avoiding hits is not very efficient.. enemies hit you all the time anyways, but I did get maybe 2-3 misses on my assassin with ~50 Dex+ and the sorc a few times too after Levitate buff. Maybe increase the potential to avoid damage a bit higher from Dex to make it worthwhile to play a 'nimble' dodge master? after the first 10 levels I never put points in dex at all, it felt like a waste. It was all STR for the Assassin, and all INT/WP for the casters.

Yes, enemy missing is rare, and there is a technical reason: I implemented it very late (a few weeks ago), and I was afraid to ruin the balance and having to change everything else to rebalance. So I made something like “miss appends around 1/7 times when dexterity is way lower”. This is clumsy and a bit unfair, but it "does the job" in a way. Code is:

const dexterityDifference = targetHero.dexterity - enemy.dexterity;
const shouldMiss = dexterityDifference > 4 && enemy.dexterity < targetHero.dexterity * 0.6 && controlledEnemyMissChance();

(controlledEnemyMissChance is the "approximately 1 times on 7" thing)

 

[Skatan]

Thank you for all your replies!


This is a consensus among players (dragon is the only difficult boss). I fixed this:

• Abomination (the big thing with many arms late game) now stuns the hero they attack
• Cardinal (the gardian of last key) now have two assasins (bleed) with him, I lowered his stats, but it’s way harder with two assassins now (bleed + dispel on each attack is hard!)
• Vampire lord has way more stats
• I added only 3 str to Furax. The reason why I did not upgraded it more is because not being able to finish the last boss would be too frustrating.
• Demons have 3 more str, because they ware considered too easy.

Good. I think this will be more fun this way. Personally I would consider pushing Furax from 350 HP up to maybe 500 to get some more rounds out of the battle. Mine lasted 4 or 5 IIRC.

Regarding this I forgot to add Fury in the list of buffs to attack twice, but you probably understood that already. Not that it matters so much perhaps, but just so you understand why the total dmg output was so high in a single round.

Glad to hear you did work in the last islands! Now I will stop writing and let you focus on your game Godspeed!