My Laptop recently had a fatal encounter with a glass of water, so rather than grumble about lost saves I decided to use the resultant play-thrus to critique the current state of the game. I hope my findings will be helpful.
Overview
In general I was pleasantly surprised; the experience vindicated the decision to concentrate recent effort on fleshing out Rigard. This has given the town a critical mass of different avenues to explore, meaning that while the story arc is clear enough there is little sense of being railroaded.
The lessons of CoC seem to have been have been learned, the quality of writing is of a consistent level, flavour text is helpful, knowing or not knowing certain people changes how others react, it’s coherent and stuff makes sense (please resist the call of popular demand, what people want and what is needed are rarely the same).
Pacing- The fact that you can travel unmolested, only being attacked if you search, is a real boon when you first start. The nomads immediately provide a source of interaction, which leads to you discovering the bunnies and the farm, and by the time that you have poked around enough to find a way into town you are ready to take on the first town missions. At no point did I find myself saying “Ho Hum what next?” in fact 2 of my 3 play –thrus the Bull Tower sort of snuck up on me.
Grinding- I had spotted a number of threads complaining about grinding so I kept an eye out for anytime it might show its ugly head. In general unless you are trying to max out Krawitz (therefore grinding Gwendy’s farm for the Dex boost) or pushing to take on the Drake, there does not seem to be a particular need. Even if you feel the need for a boost for a particular milestone combat, the relatively recent additions of sparing with Cassidy or especially Lei are a lot more rewarding that whacking a mob of cats down at the crossroads.
Further the availability of more good quality kit means the levels required for particular combats appeared to have dropped by about 20%.
When they first came out I found Cassidy/Cveta relationship building a bit wearing (as it should be they are reticent characters) but as part of a play-thru there is enough going on in town/camp that you can just fit it round stuff.
Finally Asche’s missions rewards mean you can reach a reasonable Sexlvl, without bothering the wandering locals too much, thus eliminating another source of unnecessary grinding.
Minor Points
These are intended entirely are constructive criticism/ conversation starters.
[Placeholders] – These are of course only to be expected, but every time a player walks into one it pulls them up short. They act like a slap in the face and momentarily threaten the suspension of disbelief. Personally I consider the single best improvement per unit effort was the placeholder found at the mound. Prior to this once a month someone would go on the notice board and start a “what do I do next?” thread.
Where this is most noticeable is Gwendy’s Barn/Chat* this is some of the earliest content you access, made all the more strange by the fact that room369 has a one page placeholder. The Odd shop and the Twins are comparatively forgivable, but a simple two lines explaining that you have reached the end of this content and possibly giving a teaser, this would just reassure the player.
Phallocentric – as previously mentioned I performed 3 play-thrus one each as Male, Female & Herm and frankly a gal who is comfortable enough in herself not to feel the need for additions has fairly limited options in some of these encounters, particularly if she doesn’t feel like experiencing sudden weight gain (infertilium is an invention worth of Sanger and Pincus) . Lactation has helped a bit and I know that the bounty board is designed to generate some of this missing material, but here is an example Ophelia simply says “oh be like that” if you don’t happen to have genuine man meat.
I recognise that people write the stuff that inspires them and we are hardly being swamped by female writers.
Mobs – there has been some clamour for some tougher mobs and I understand that, sometimes you do end up just left clicking top left button, and I hope the “Malice scouts” will address this. May I suggest that Cat Mobs could be given a little longevity if provided with an Alpha (I am aware that sometime ago there was some mention of a leader function in combat). An Alpha would just be a higher level and the chance of being in the mob could be (PC LvL-1)2 %
[*]suggestions for place holders
Barn
This timeworn barn in apparent danger of collapsing, if the patchwork repairs are any indication. However you soon realize that with the right sort of investment this could be a centre for all sorts of activities.
Chat
Gwendy looks away as if embarrassed, <i>”Aw Shucks [playername]... I don’t know what to say. I’ve come to the end of my content… that’s all.”</i>
Sensing your disappoint, she places a comforting hand upon your shoulder and continues, <i>” Don’t worry! Alder has all sorts of plans for me and the farm, so why don’t mosey on over to Patreon and give him some help. If not you’re more than welcome to stay on here and help with the farm work, you know it does a body good.”</i>
Overview
In general I was pleasantly surprised; the experience vindicated the decision to concentrate recent effort on fleshing out Rigard. This has given the town a critical mass of different avenues to explore, meaning that while the story arc is clear enough there is little sense of being railroaded.
The lessons of CoC seem to have been have been learned, the quality of writing is of a consistent level, flavour text is helpful, knowing or not knowing certain people changes how others react, it’s coherent and stuff makes sense (please resist the call of popular demand, what people want and what is needed are rarely the same).
Pacing- The fact that you can travel unmolested, only being attacked if you search, is a real boon when you first start. The nomads immediately provide a source of interaction, which leads to you discovering the bunnies and the farm, and by the time that you have poked around enough to find a way into town you are ready to take on the first town missions. At no point did I find myself saying “Ho Hum what next?” in fact 2 of my 3 play –thrus the Bull Tower sort of snuck up on me.
Grinding- I had spotted a number of threads complaining about grinding so I kept an eye out for anytime it might show its ugly head. In general unless you are trying to max out Krawitz (therefore grinding Gwendy’s farm for the Dex boost) or pushing to take on the Drake, there does not seem to be a particular need. Even if you feel the need for a boost for a particular milestone combat, the relatively recent additions of sparing with Cassidy or especially Lei are a lot more rewarding that whacking a mob of cats down at the crossroads.
Further the availability of more good quality kit means the levels required for particular combats appeared to have dropped by about 20%.
When they first came out I found Cassidy/Cveta relationship building a bit wearing (as it should be they are reticent characters) but as part of a play-thru there is enough going on in town/camp that you can just fit it round stuff.
Finally Asche’s missions rewards mean you can reach a reasonable Sexlvl, without bothering the wandering locals too much, thus eliminating another source of unnecessary grinding.
Minor Points
These are intended entirely are constructive criticism/ conversation starters.
[Placeholders] – These are of course only to be expected, but every time a player walks into one it pulls them up short. They act like a slap in the face and momentarily threaten the suspension of disbelief. Personally I consider the single best improvement per unit effort was the placeholder found at the mound. Prior to this once a month someone would go on the notice board and start a “what do I do next?” thread.
Where this is most noticeable is Gwendy’s Barn/Chat* this is some of the earliest content you access, made all the more strange by the fact that room369 has a one page placeholder. The Odd shop and the Twins are comparatively forgivable, but a simple two lines explaining that you have reached the end of this content and possibly giving a teaser, this would just reassure the player.
Phallocentric – as previously mentioned I performed 3 play-thrus one each as Male, Female & Herm and frankly a gal who is comfortable enough in herself not to feel the need for additions has fairly limited options in some of these encounters, particularly if she doesn’t feel like experiencing sudden weight gain (infertilium is an invention worth of Sanger and Pincus) . Lactation has helped a bit and I know that the bounty board is designed to generate some of this missing material, but here is an example Ophelia simply says “oh be like that” if you don’t happen to have genuine man meat.
I recognise that people write the stuff that inspires them and we are hardly being swamped by female writers.
Mobs – there has been some clamour for some tougher mobs and I understand that, sometimes you do end up just left clicking top left button, and I hope the “Malice scouts” will address this. May I suggest that Cat Mobs could be given a little longevity if provided with an Alpha (I am aware that sometime ago there was some mention of a leader function in combat). An Alpha would just be a higher level and the chance of being in the mob could be (PC LvL-1)2 %
[*]suggestions for place holders
Barn
This timeworn barn in apparent danger of collapsing, if the patchwork repairs are any indication. However you soon realize that with the right sort of investment this could be a centre for all sorts of activities.
Chat
Gwendy looks away as if embarrassed, <i>”Aw Shucks [playername]... I don’t know what to say. I’ve come to the end of my content… that’s all.”</i>
Sensing your disappoint, she places a comforting hand upon your shoulder and continues, <i>” Don’t worry! Alder has all sorts of plans for me and the farm, so why don’t mosey on over to Patreon and give him some help. If not you’re more than welcome to stay on here and help with the farm work, you know it does a body good.”</i>
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