Greetings all, first time posting to the board but I figured that after playing Starward Rogue as much as I have I should drop some feedback. Also, for those who don't know me, I'm one of the Let's Players Pepisolo referred too. My Let's Play content for Starward Rogue can be found here:
DFuxa Showcases - Starward RogueThe Game:Overall I like Starward Rogue quite a bit. It looks beautiful and the enemies are diverse, and for those who may have had issues playing Binding of Issac, there isn't any 'blasphemous' issues that need to be worried about here.
Much like the enemies, the ways of killing them is extremely enjoyable. While for the most part it came down to 'shoot straight' at the enemy until they keep over in some aspects, there was at least some differences in how all the weapons worked in regards to shooting through walls or as a heavy railgun shot that could change how you could tactically use the weapons.
There are something things that irk me a bit sometimes - such as the colors of some bullets and background blending together a bit too much that makes distinguishing their locations difficult; but I think that the hectic nature of the game and getting an unforgiving hit here and there is fine perhaps.
The Difficulty is another thing. Playing on Normal Difficulty, everything is mostly fine - maybe apart from some enemies and bosses being annoying in some aspect or another. Jumping to another difficulty though feels like a huge difference however. Hopefully it can be adjusted in the future perhaps - I might do a couple let's plays on Hard if I think I can survive a few levels somewhere down the line (though likely far down the line, I have other stuff I want to record at the moment).
Game Progression is another - sometimes you get to a room that seems to jump up massively in difficulty compared to other rooms, and you go from full health and shields to half in like 3 seconds of entry.
Progressing through the levels is another thing where as the players gets stronger, the enemies seem to just keel over, and I partly perhaps blame this on being able to pile on damage boosts or critical boosts when leveling. It might make sense that if you got a 10% boost in damage when leveling at some point, you shouldn't be able to get that specific boost again (maybe you could get at 20% boost, but not the 10% boost). Might require more leveling bonus ideas to exist so players always have choices when leveling up, but I wouldn't mind more choices myself.
The Mechs:The six different mechs offer a lot of diverse play and approaches to the game. Some of the Mechs I enjoyed playing quite a bit, other mechs not so much. Thoughts then on each individual mech:
White Gloss - Simple, but effective, White Gloss is a 'Balanced' Mech due to its high health allowing it to pick up Health Sacrifice Items as the player wishes - even if they occur on the first level. While there are other Mechs I would rather use myself, this was an excellent Mech for playing the game initially with and learning the ropes. The Secondary Weapon I didn't really use much but that may be due to my propensity to only really use Energy Weapons versus bosses - and preferably with Energy Weapons that will make the boss fight easier.
I suppose I should drop a recommendation for the White Gloss, I would maybe recommend it starting with an extra shield pip like the Flame Tank. Maybe that might unbalance it a bit but I think it would do well to help newer players more since it would offer more forgiveness on what I see as the newbie Mech.
Flame Tank - Perhaps even more simple then the White Gloss, the Flame Tank is the 'Kick Ass, Chew Gum, Out of Gum' Mech. While it's health leaves something to be desired and the energy really prevents players from doing much with a secondary weapon, there can be no questioning the effectiveness of the Flamethrower in just simply decimating all opposition. The Guardian Blaster honestly seems a bit out of place on the Mech - being that it feels less simple in nature compared to the rest of the Mechs flavor; note though, this isn't to diss the Guardian Blaster, I do like the Secondary Weapon quite a bit.
I'd maybe recommend giving the Flame Tank a different Energy Weapon and raising the Energy Amount. I don't know what Secondary Weapon I might suggest for it but maybe give it the Precision Railgun to round out its arsenal or give it that Secondary Weapon that puts up a shield in front of your Mech to guard you against incoming shots - since you are an up close and personal Mech.
Indigo Dipole - Kind of a head scratcher on the 'Magnetism' Mech. I like its style of play with its missile launcher doing something special, and its Secondary Weapon being a mine that deflects shots (or explodes when stepped on). However, I kind of dislike the missile launcher for how it pulls enemy shots towards it - but sometimes may pull shots in ways that makes their location hard to predict for dodging. Maybe some people like the missile launcher and how it works - i personally don't.
Maybe the Magnetism could be reversed on the Mech so that instead of pulling shots in, it pushes them away like the mine does. Maybe the Mine might need to be changed to something else if that makes it too similar in how it works versus the missile launcher.
Green Envy - The 'Treasure Hunter' Mech has a lot to love about it - be it the powerful STG-4377, the generally balanced stats, the highly explosive radius of the missile launcher, or of course its special Treasure Hunting ability. It may level slower but that seems like a rather minor issue to deal with due to all the purchasing power and incredabilities one will be able to use.
Wouldn't really recommend any changes for this Mech, and honestly I can't even think of the slighest thing that would improve it!
Deep Blue - The 'Familiar' Mech is..... in need of a lot of improvement I think. While it is cool that it starts with the Beam Drone, there isn't a lot to like about this Mech in my eyes. A lot of Energy is great on the Mech - once you replace the Secondary Weapon with something worth using, the lacking missile capacity makes me scream inside whenever I see a missile stack of four appear, and Bullrush and Blademorph just make me cry when they look at me due to how weak my minigun is. Not my favorite Mech.
The Familiar is about the only thing I think is worth keeping in regards to how this Mech works - everything else could be improved somewhat. I'd like it if the missiles the Mech can hold is at least four, and if the Secondary Weapon was... anything else. Having a tricky Secondary is fine but it would be nice if it actually felt like it was worth using; rather then immediately replacing with the first thing you find.
Redshift - The 'Roguelike' Mech.... What to say about the Roguelike Mech.... I guess I should note that I don't think the Secondary Weapon should be the same as Green Envy. Outside of that.... I can't really say this is my favorite Mech, it seems out of place for this style of game.
Maybe someone likes the Time Manipulation aspect of the Mech, but personally I can't say I think much of it. Out of all the Mechs, this is the only playstyle idea that I wouldn't mind seeing replaced with something new - if something new could be thought of.
The EnemiesOverall I liked the different mix of enemies in how they work and operate. I also like how some have changed and been tweaked, I think most enemies in Normal Difficulty are about where they should be at in their overall difficulty.
The Bosses - excluding the Warden and Terminus, are also pretty good in difficulty. The changes to Invader were nice too when they got changed, and I don't really have any problem with how the other Bosses may operate either; including Backfire (I hate Backfire).
In regards to the Warden, I liked the challenge he poses. I kind of dislike his second stage of attack on Normal Difficult because it feels REALLY hard to avoid sometimes - even up to now where I understand a lot more regarding how they specific attack pattern works.
And then Terminus.... He feels easier then the Warden in some aspects. The Warden has that second stage of attack which gets me more often then not, but Terminus seems to have no 'gotcha' attacks at all - they all feel really dodge-able.
Final ThoughtsI think I've already said a lot of what I wanted to say at this point - garner what you may from what I've written and in regards to what I've recorded.
Personally at this point I've played the game enough that I'm beginning to burn out a bit from it - and looking to move on. I 'MAY' try to complete a full run again since Rodney has said I've killed enough Wardens and don't need to go all the way back down again, but I think I may hold off on doing so for a while - maybe when I think I might be able to beat a level or two of Hard Difficulty.
