AVWW Post-Release 1.115 "The Story Of Jinsiek And John" Released!

[Misery]

Misery, thanks a lot for that - understand it much better now.

I always hoped that the saved survivors would be the only people you could control when you died, as I hate random-reroll type characters - I lose immersion in the sense that, I'm saving survivors because of the world ending, but when I die there's a infinity amount of survivors I can choose from suddenly. It always seemed much more natural that death = you transfer to one of the saved survivors back at the home base (with all equipment and magic). But that's just me, I guess...

Magic-wise, cheers - so it seems closer to Final Fantasy VIII (where the enemies and the world levels up at the same rate as your character) than Final Fantasy VII (where you can level up to 100 by grinding at the beginning of the game, making the rest of the game very very easy)?

Yeah, as a rule, I dont care for "re-roll" sorts of things either.

As I understand it though..... and the devs can correct me if I'm wrong, my memory isnt exactly trustworthy..... but they've mentioned future changes around the system of what exactly happens upon character death.   There's something about graveyards coming up, I know that much..... I forget the rest.   I agree though that the consequences for it seem like they arent entirely there yet.


As to the second bit.... yeah, you cant grind for levels in this game.  Which is a damn good thing (I hate grinding).  You could grind for INGREDIENTS if you like, but you'd only be able to USE them at each level up, and only for one level of spells..... so that's kinda silly.  You can grind for shards though if for some reason this seems like a good idea.   But not levels.

[BobTheJanitor]

I always hoped that the saved survivors would be the only people you could control when you died, as I hate random-reroll type characters - I lose immersion in the sense that, I'm saving survivors because of the world ending, but when I die there's a infinity amount of survivors I can choose from suddenly. It always seemed much more natural that death = you transfer to one of the saved survivors back at the home base (with all equipment and magic). But that's just me, I guess...

I think everyone would agree with that from a story and immersion standpoint. The main issue is that it entirely breaks down from a gameplay perspective. If you had no one in your settlement and you died, it would be game over, which is something that just can't happen in this game. And even without that, if dying made you transfer to a survivor at base, you might lose one of your needed professions. If you take your only lumbermancer, suddenly you have to go find another one to fill that role. (Although I'm not entirely up to date on the way professions work now, what with all the changes to the game lately, but I still assume this would be a bad thing.)

That said, there probably is some sort of way to make it work or to at least dig some more gameplay out of it. If one of the negatives to dying was that you might now be forced to risk one of your other useful settlement characters, until you can find a replacement glyphbearer, that could be interesting. Maybe even make a new profession type that is focused on adventuring and then you have to collect those type of people in order to have extra 'lives' without risking your builders. That would probably need a lot more brainstorming to hammer anything interesting out of it.

Anyway, as the game stands now, it's pretty much required to have an infinite pool of invisible NPCs ready to take over when you die. Sometimes gameplay just has to trump immersion.

[Misery]

One thing I've noticed with this update:

The story rewards are *way* too common.   In all honesty, putting these as possible secret mission rewards..... it's mostly just really annoying.

I know the idea is to give options other than the puzzle rooms, but I dont think this is a very good solution.   I end up having to grind secret missions just to get rid of the bloody things so that the game will stop spitting them at me;  and then I find myself actively avoiding unlocking the other 2 mysteries at all, to prevent more of those secret missions from being wasted by them.   Secret missions take AWHILE to search out as it is..... they should only have practical rewards.     Or heck, if it must give these, just give them ALONG with the normal rewards it'd otherwise give;  it's not like it produces an unfair gameplay advantage or imbalance in any way.

One way or another, these should be toned down.  The idea of slogging through them on any new world I might make is a pretty irritating one.

[Mánagarmr]

I'm really liking the new spell-looting system. I'm finding myself gleefully giggling at the prospect of a new spell and then d'awwww:ing when it sucks

[Misery]

I'm really liking the new spell-looting system. I'm finding myself gleefully giggling at the prospect of a new spell and then d'awwww:ing when it sucks

Same here.  And some of these spells can be pretty excellent with all these new effects.

Rare Orbs in particular have become a very exciting thing to find in any stash.  Evil cackle time, indeed.

[keith.lamothe]

One thing I've noticed with this update:

The story rewards are *way* too common.   In all honesty, putting these as possible secret mission rewards..... it's mostly just really annoying.

I wrote it to have a 15% chance per secret-mission-gen (when there are unlocked mysteries with locked clues); how often are you seeing them?

[BobTheJanitor]

After a completely non-scientific search yesterday through a deep tile, a grasslands tile, and a some-kind-of-forest tile (I forget) I think, of the secret missions that I found in buildings, approximately 100% of them were story-puzzle rooms. That's only about 5 mission rooms or so, it's not like it was an exhaustive search. But now that someone else mentions it, I do now think that it was either some hiccup in the code or a run of odd luck for me to find only story rooms.

[TechSY730]

Just saw the removal of puzzle rooms.

Hmm, may be for the best, until more types of puzzle rooms can be added. 

[darkchair]

Just some feedback:

The update looks good overall. Started a new world as you suggested and things are definitely advancing.
I'm enjoying the upgraded settlement system, it gives the game much more atmosphere, and a new aspect of strategy to the game.
I'm enjoying how main map missions, secret missions, and stashes now have distinct purposes.
I'm enjoying that another mystery is available, can't get to the highlands yet, but it should be better than getting clues saying how bad the world currently is. 

Now for the things I'm not a fan of:
Concerning main-map missions, I approve of the current system of handing out spells for players on their first continent, but I feel that beyond the first continent it is too easy of a system to grind out spells. The only time you need to venture out to make spells is to construct your rare or legendary spells, dubbing down the point of exploring for resources.
For settlement missions, I feel that destroying ice pirates should take three or more successes to get rid of them, it's too insignificant of a threat otherwise.
Seeing the 1.116 release notes, I don't agree with making mysteries a 100% bonus to the secret mission system. It ruins the mystery and feel of finding out what happened to the world and instead tacks it on to grinding out building technology. I'd suggest making a purchasable item from the store that will place a mission on the world map randomly that gives you a clue (I'd make it cost more than just shards. I just found out that linen exists, maybe make that a part of the cost? Don't think it's used anywhere else. Make tapestries to resonate with the spirits of the dead! Or something  )

Anyway to summarize, great job and keep it up.

[wyvern83]

Just saw the removal of puzzle rooms.

Hmm, may be for the best, until more types of puzzle rooms can be added. 

I agree, while I do enjoy the simpler/easier ones some of them simply had sections that were simply too big/thick and were unappealing to solve. I'd often go away and do something else for awhile before coming back to them as I had a hard time summoning the interest to solve them. 

Using Leafy Whip, often the only method that can get the job done, is probably the most tedious and difficult part as timed jump/falling shots were hard to do, although you could get away with precise placement of platforms instead some of the time.

Miniaturize Self is also very handy and maybe even essential for some of them and Plasma Bolt as the smallest projectile is the other spell besides Leafy Whip that I used all the time. 

[x4000]

New one!

http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,11086.0.html

Please see my updated notes in there about the mysteries and why they work the way they do now.  Don't worry, it's not just making things ridiculously easy for everything we have planned.