Improving Characters

[thin olive]

I feel like the characters don't play very differently from one another aside from the starting perk they provide. There are some steps towards making them feel a little bit different but it's not enough to really bring out their playstyle.

• Some characters get faster dashes or movement, but this isn't exactly game changing.

• Perks are a good way to introduce passive abilities, and are, honestly, a welcome change.

• Some weapons are "preferred" for some characters, that's a very good change too.

One thing that I feel could be explored is to, for some characters, replace the dash with another dodging ability instead of the same old dash everyone has.
Seeing the world structure, I have no idea how one would implement that without colliding with systems such as the overboard, or colliding with the game's level design though...

I am thinking about Risk of Rain 2 which managed to really make you feel like each character is meant to be played differently, and it really adds a lot of replayability without having to raise the difficulty (altough the addition of difficulty modifiers in Double Down is also a welcome change.)
I really think that** additional movement** is the missing piece that could really give each character an edge.

Boy that was longer than I intended this to be...

[whole reef]

Wow, you're the first person who likes preferred weapons and amps

most people here hate it

[frigid coral]

Since a lot of things are universal, for the moment i think they should focus on perks and the status growth being more different

[red sphinx]

ye, idk for me, less difference we have in the char the better the game is,,, otherwise atm it just kill too much the replayability of the game.
Like risk of rain wanted to have each char different spell and to design rly different gameplay at the very start. But the thing that was working is the "cummulative" aspect of items, and the "no end" aspect of the scaling. I dream to have it too in HLB tho, but I feel the way they design rails and weapons here is SO SO SO dumb if they use it to lock in on some char........
Like if they don't work making fight animation and hit and suff on all char, I'd guess I understand the "less work on creating weapon" so we create more weapons or other stuff ? But they didnt do it that way we can play weapons on each char so I rly dont get what is the positive aspect of the "preferred" weapond other than just "reduce" the quantity of time we can play HLB and have fun having different runs.... idk idk

For me the main focus and where there is Character identity and I like it alot, is the perks (like for exemple the tank guy has armored shard boost mechanic) so this way if you play it you know you would maybe want to got armored shard holobytes and stuff.
But I think we need really more choices on the perks, and maybe to have it have more impact on the direct gameplay of the char.
For exemple : "when no stamina pip on you got +30% crit chance"
"you gain +2% speed for any entities aflicted by statu effect" (cumulative with many status)"
"when you swap from rail to sword, your 3 next attack have nice knockback bonus" (idea to have a more "rail oriented" gameplay but still it wouldnt work cause of no amno all the time cause if you don't kill u dont refill.....

[thin olive]

I personally like it when a game forces me to play differently on a character i haven't played yet, but I understand why some people wouldn't like that

Working around a new moveset was the fun part of having preferred weapons imo

[frigid coral]

Characters need to grow in a certain direction

Longer games like elder scrolls, diablo and elden ring gives you a more blank slate and you build from there

Shorter games like roguelikes need more direction

Character progression might be linear but a path one take should be different from another

[thin olive]

I agree there

[abstract iris]

I don't like that my choice of breaker locks me into only a few weapons and only one amp per cycle. The game is more fun when characters are differentiated mainly through passive bonuses that benefit certain kits over others. Here's why I think so:

Breakers already have multiple different perks to choose from at the beginnings of cycles that give them different passive abilities and change how they like to play. For example, gravenheart's perks revolve around his armor pips, and Lapis's interact with rails. Though at the moment I'm not sure what sycom shells do or why every breaker has 3 empty slots to pick from (are these functional in the game yet? idk), they seem like a good vehicle to give their breakers' additional playstyle defining passive effects.

Unlocking weapon, rail, and amp selection with this kind of passive system in place is a layer of puzzle solving on top of the normal gameplay loop. It allows room to experiment with builds to find what works best with a given breaker. I like having to use my brain to min/max my breaker's effectiveness in combat. Breakers still kind of have preferred kits in this system, but it's a soft preference and the player is allowed to experiment, make wrong and right choices, and find that preference on their own.

This is a game that would (and did) benefit from MORE choices. Previously the decision to switch gear was much more impactful and important. It's less fun when you know what amp you're going to get every time and your choice to keep or swap is made mostly on rarity alone. Half the fun is reconciling favorite items against what works best for each character. This game wants to let YOU build a kit and right now the important decisions are made for you, which isn't fun. I truly feel that limiting what items each breaker can see has neutered this game. It's billed as a roguelite, and roguelites THRIVE with plenty of randomness and the choices it creates. I truly hope they undo this mechanic. It was better before.