late cobalt
My main issue with the game is what I call "reverse difficulty curve," where the game is hardest at the start and gets easier as you progress in the run. This is mainly a problem in the harder ruins - particularly Brodgar, where early in a run you just can't deal enough damage to get past golems wood spirits blocking the entire passage. It felt especially unfair when it takes so long to cut through a horde that another horde spawns. Meanwhile on the other end of the curve, if you're strong enough to survive the golem wood spirit onslaught the final warden just evaporates in less than 2 seconds per phase.
Another issue I had was about secondary weapons. They are extremely impactful due to being an entire extra weapon slot, but acquiring one seems to entirely hinge on luck. Even if you get a room with a weapon spawn, it can just be a primary weapon instead - and of the primaries I've unlocked (dirk and axe), both feel like sidegrades rather than upgrades you want to find. To make matters worse, weapon spawns frequently spawn an empty pedestal, further reducing the chances of finding a secondary weapon.
Suggested potential solutions:
- Separate primary and secondary weapon loot pools to different rooms.
- If primary weapons are going to be sidegrades, just let the player choose which one they want to start with, and don't offer primary weapons during a run.
- Maybe some sort of simple crafting involving visiting a certain set of rooms in the same harvest? This would give more reason to pick up some less-desirable rooms, if they are part of a strong combination.
A third issue I had was that glimours didn't feel very useful. Drafting more cards quickly becomes unnecessary and just makes it harder to draw upgraded cards. As a potential solution, perhaps the drafts could get better as you fill up the bar more times? Maybe it could start offering upgraded rooms eventually, or, maybe some rooms don't appear at all until a certain point.
oak palm