The latest on the Valley 2 schedule

[Aklyon]

Oh yeah, forgot about that.

[LaughingThesaurus]

Wait
Are skelebot mainframes basically Advanced Research Stations?

[Aklyon]

Wait
Are skelebot mainframes basically Advanced Research Stations?

Ooooh.
I'm interested in where this is going.

[x4000]

Wait
Are skelebot mainframes basically Advanced Research Stations?

Ooooh.
I'm interested in where this is going.

They are pretty close, yeah.  But the difference is that you get the new feats in a predetermined order rather than randomly getting more ships.  And you 100% need some of those feats in order to beat the game -- triple jump is required if you're going to purify the regions with the stratospheric citadels, etc.  But more like a Metroid game, you don't get those extreme jump abilities until late in the game.  And there's no heatsuit to slow you down with them, etc.

There is also a Feather Flight spell that is kind of like lightning rocket, but it costs ammo and you have to have the specific mage class (which has a 50% shot of not even be available to you in any given game) that has that.

The treasure chests are actually closer to Advanced Research Stations, in some ways -- at least in the sense of giving you randomized loot, anyhow.

[Aklyon]

Can you hack the treasure chests for more potentially more interesting loot?

[LaughingThesaurus]

Can you hack the treasure chests for more potentially more interesting loot?

If you do, the overlord and his minions send their armies after you for 20 minutes.

...interesting fact: I spent a moment after reading this post thinking about how you could hack a treasure chest. As in, like, a real life video game treasure chest.

[Aklyon]

Well, the most direct way would be to hack it open (swordily), peek inside, and then inconspicously duct tape the hole and come back in a few minutes with a decent-sized bag.

Non-edit: Woo, 400 posts?

[LaughingThesaurus]

Haha,
I meant like you would hack an ARS and get different loot. So, I guess what happens is you actually hack away at it and peek in. If you don't like it, duct tape the hole, leave and come back later when someone has replaced the contents, and repeat the process?

[madcow]

Haha,
I meant like you would hack an ARS and get different loot. So, I guess what happens is you actually hack away at it and peek in. If you don't like it, duct tape the hole, leave and come back later when someone has replaced the contents, and repeat the process?

I guess spending the time to forge a chest requisition form that you can give to the monster quartermaster for different equipment isn't nearly as exciting. Quick, finish that paperwork so you can wait in line to maybe get something better!

[x4000]

Hahaha.

[Misery]

Alas, I had so much fun hearing tale of adventures in Eagleface Forest.

That's what I'm going to call those forest areas from now on, hah.


Ah, hated those accursed eagles.   Though I'm pretty sure I made that fact very apparent numerous times, heh.    Those fire dudes were nasty too, but at least with them you could just avoid them by running along the top platforms;  the eagles get you wherever you are!

Not as annoying as fairies though.   Hardly anything in that game is as annoying as fairies. 



Glad to hear that the sequel wont be containing those annoying things!  Really cant wait to give it a go.


Here's a question:  How are difficulty levels going to be handled with this one?   That was one thing that I really enjoyed with the first game, is the simple fact that there's quite a number of difficulty levels to choose from;  a high difficulty, to me, can dramatically increase the replay value of any game.... particularly ones that use alot of procedural whatsits.   The first Valley is endlessly replayable to me because I know I'm always going to get a challenge out of it.   

[x4000]

Alas, I had so much fun hearing tale of adventures in Eagleface Forest.

That's what I'm going to call those forest areas from now on, hah.

Yeah, me too, I think.

Here's a question:  How are difficulty levels going to be handled with this one?   That was one thing that I really enjoyed with the first game, is the simple fact that there's quite a number of difficulty levels to choose from;  a high difficulty, to me, can dramatically increase the replay value of any game.... particularly ones that use alot of procedural whatsits.   The first Valley is endlessly replayable to me because I know I'm always going to get a challenge out of it.

It will have a strategic and combat difficulty level like the first one did, but what is affected by each is really different now.  And there is no longer any platforming difficulty level.  It's less about raw damage being dealt to you in the new one, and more about making the damage more difficult to dodge unless you're skilled.  Though I imagine we'll do some tuning on that to make sure it really fits, but the only reason we're changing that in general is because the balance of the new game is so different from the first one.  Your character is not such a damage sponge as before, for instance, and more emphasis is placed on dodging (and dodging, on average and lower difficulty levels, is also more reasonable to do).

In short, it's closer to other Metroidvania or Megaman tiles, or Zelda, etc.

[Aklyon]

Zelda has less dodging and more ZL-strafing and shield blocks though.

[Oralordos]

So many comments about how horrible the fairies are. I think you succeeded in your goals with them. You mentioned when you first put them in that you wanted to make them non-helpful and something that players would remember.

[LaughingThesaurus]

Zelda has less dodging and more ZL-strafing and shield blocks though.

Not in the 2d Zelda games. You don't get strafes there, and the shield doesn't block everything until late into the game, if at all. You have to carefully consider your position and angle of attack. In the 3d games, yeah, you basically have a hold-down-to-be-invincible button and you circle strafe things that it doesn't work against.