So here it is. Basically looking for any sort of feedback you are willing to provide. What you do, how you play (although comment section or image boards are probably better choice). Anyway, this is sort of a prelude for balance and perhaps focus changes, also gonna help me track down weak parts.
http://maveriik.polldaddy.com/s/strive-survey
I would have loved to do the survey, but I haven't played more than 1 hour I guess.
ReplyDeleteI am still trying to get past the main quest.
1 time I need a smart girl. I can't get 1.
other time I need 1 that is good at serving, but I don't know how to get that.
Can you maybe make a post where you can see a little bit about how a slave gets a specific trait?
Also, loving the game mechanics.
Oh, huh... I might make one, but repeatable quests are not necessary for main quest. You can train girls at their personal window.
DeleteKeep up the good work, I'm a little busy these days so I can't try the game right now but when I do I'll make sure to leave my remarks, cheers.
ReplyDeleteOver all I like the game, BUT!
ReplyDeleteIn reference to Q1 of the survey. Many of the Spells and Potions have totally inadequate or even misleading descriptions.
Take 'Daze' for example.
"Daze — Briefly distracts the target. Useful in freeing your companion from grapples and restraints.. 5 mana"
This implies Daze is only a Defense action, used to free a companion.
Nowhere does it mention that it actually almost doubles the damage the target receives while reducing the companion damage taken.
Or 'Fear' from the description it sounds like a combat spell, used to Fear an opponent. Instead Fear simply ruins the confidence of any servant you use it on, permanently destroying their confidence.
From their written description alone I would have absolutely no idea where/when/why to use some of the functions. If that is intentional, include a caveat "Spells may have other effects as well"
If most of the effects are to be learned by usage, as I have partially learned them, fine. But from looking at the lists now it is mostly random luck to buy or craft something useful that does as desired.
I've been playing for a while and I have a single small qualm. I can always *decrease* my girls stats through mishandling them, but I have yet to figure out how to *increase* their stats, say if I want a girl to go from 2 wit to 3. Now I know directly saying outright EVERY way to increase stats would take the fun out of the training aspect, the exploration of the personalities and what not. But some hints and tips on what kind of actions may or may not affect certain stats, say using the library might increase wit (at some low percentage that gets lower the more wit she has) I dunno. At least make it a little clearer how (or if) one can increase stats the stats of girls.
ReplyDeleteAs an afterthought, I do know Willpower is supposed to be incredibly hard to increase, that's one that should remain a mystery in my opinion.
I should probably make a faq on why willpower stats are designed this way. TL:DR - I don't want easy and quick ways to buff any girl to green. In my opinion, polarized willpower stats are what provide every girl unique feeling, instead of making cookie-cutter perfect girls every time, like it was in the end with JONT and how it kinda feels with FC. Another thing, is that this gives feeling of progression - you start with weak girls, then you can get your hands on strong ones. If I allow easy training, it basically removes any real reason to search for high quality girls, since you can make bad girl very loyal, then train her into anything.
DeleteI'll consider on making few extra notes on what ways you can slightly boost very low stats, but I don't think they are that hidden right now.
Now, willpower is not truly a stat on its own. It is based on summary of other 4 stats with some extra checks (like requiring at least one stat to be above 80 for highest levels).
Idea: You could maybe link improvement to level, and put hard limits on how much you can boost stats in general. Like, you can only apply, say, six boosts to a character? (And maybe that number increases every 10 levels?) Meaning that girls that start out better have more room for improvement. It would at least force you to plan your girls ahead of time, yet still allow you to make a decent slave out of a poor capture, with enough time and effort. At the same time, catching a powerful girl would still be worth it both for the time saved in training them and for their increased potential.
Deleteyou could make stat increases share the skill potential pool?
DeleteSo Servant XX has a potential of 7, that could be 5 skill-ups and 2 stat raises for instance. You would need one of the very high potential girls to even get close to a perfect girl.
I think I prefer a mix of both gradual progression in quality of slaves and the ability to sculpt and grow slaves with you. I just don't like how you have to 'replace' slaves like your starting slave instead of grow them with you. Perhaps this can be done through a refinement of the offspring aspect of the game where children are naturally better than their mothers so that stats, appearance, and skill limits push outwards with newer generations.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the changes to the encounter system, honestly I was somewhat disappointed. When first revealed to be similar to the undercity I was envisioning a system where you progressed through a series of fights and encounters before getting a payout at the end. In the Undercity you get a spell the first time, and a free high quality slave and gold every time you complete the gauntlet. In it's current iteration the new 'encounter' system is just adding several fights before you move to the next section. It's equivalent to waiting 4-5 times in place before moving to the next section without any payout for finishing the 'encounter'.
Suggestion:
1) Add a way to sell or make money from excessive amounts of food. This would making hunting/foraging profitable once the 'pantry is full' to add value to those tasks and high survival specialized slaves.
Bugs)
1) The normal slave market sells primarily humans with the occasional other race as a 'special', but sometimes this gets flips around and they sell non-humans and girls with no race who probably should be humans. You can tell this is occurring because when you see the offered slave they no longer mention special or normal goods and viewing multiple slaves will display null race and non-human slaves.
Perhaps make this intended and mentioned as intended where the normal slave market sells non-humans at an increased rate or higher quality goods on certain day like every 5 days. 5 because it's easier to code and recognize since it would be every day ending with 5 and 0.
I agree with you about the first point, it seems wrong to simply get rid of your starting girl. It seems to me that she should be the one with the most improvement potential.
ReplyDelete