Introduction
Going back to Sacrament needs to be Fun & Fair.
Or at least the game doesn’t have to force us to constantly go back to Sacrament when we don’t want to.
In this topic I will analyze the problem, and propose two solutions, one is simple and obvious, and the other is complex, devised by me.
These solutions modify the durability system and inventory.
- Problems
Player is forced to return to the city for different reasons: repair weapons, clean inventory, and fix build.
The game forces the player to return to the city too often (especially due to inventory Problems), this worsens the Experience for most players.
But it’s also true that Sacrament has a whole ecosystem of things to do and it’s right that the player is encouraged to interact with it.
Weapon Durability Problems:
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Many people have misunderstood the function of the mechanic, taking for granted that it works like in other games (Negative association weapon with Durability and similar mechanics in other games and in fact). The fact that Tools and equipment have two different systems makes it easier to misunderstand.
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The only function of this system is to provide a punishment for death and a break when too many deaths occur in a row, but the break is experienced negatively by the player, and the punishment feels too disconnected.
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Players who are not skilled end up being punished even in the long run as they have to send more money to the blacksmith, thus making the game slightly more difficult for the non-skilled players and easier for the skilled players.
If you want to know more, I recommend you read the first part of this topic: What is the purpose of weapon Durability in NRFTW? (Is Death punish mechanic, but let's talk about it)
Inventory Problems:
- Many people simply dont’ find Inventory Management Fun.
- Punishes the player who explores well and carefully stores resources by making them return to Sacrament much more often.
- Getting the items doesn’t seem to be well thought out around the inventory capacity. There are many unnecessary redundant items that are just taking up space in your inventory, If you want to know more, I recommend you read this: The Crafting Materials are an Unintuitive Mess .
I have to say that this is one of the few cases where I see Mostly unanimous consensus.
The only defense of Inventory Management that I remember reading is that it’s not a problem if you do everything right.
Which I don’t think is a good argument, given that the real problem is that the process of “doing everything right” makes the game less fun.
- Simple Solution “Just Remove Them”
Removing Durability & Inventory limits.
This is in the complite opposite direction of the developers’ intention to make the player a real citizen of Sacrament.
But Maybe the developers’ intention was wrong from the beginning and giving the player the choice to become a full citizen or ignore Sacrament could be the best development for the game.
“Just Remove Them” Problems
There is no need to put items in chests.
The player may decide not to interact with Sacrament at all except to upgrade his equipment and buy items, which may not even happen since he finds already upgraded weapons and armor during the adventure.
And also makes all aspects of the house almost useless, and the house becomes mostly Flavor/Roleplay.
This betrays the developers’ intention to make the player a real citizen of Sacrament.
But it is also true that many have no problem having a house just for the sake of having a house, and moreover many use the house only as a place to store chests.
No death punishment. The topic of death punishment is a bit controversial:
- Some say it’s unnecessary and that runback is enough of a punishment.
- Others (including me) find that without punishment, there’s no fear of death, and runback isn’t enough. Since enemies don’t respawn, the player can, and when the run back is short is encouraged to, bang their heads against enemies until they’re defeated, without any sense of self-preservation.
I think self-preservation is essential to the combat experience, and when I find that having too small a death penalty can be detrimental to the game.
(I know not everyone agrees, be civil in the discussion, when you tell me why you don’t agree)
- My Solution “Tiredness Bar”
Durability is removed and a Tiredness Bar is implemented in its place.
The Tiredness Bar is a bar that fills up upon dying.
It can be seen by opening the vault and is shown to fill up every time you die.
The inventory is Infinite But the Tiredness Bar fills up more based on how much items you are carrying.
When it fills to 75%, the character becomes Tired and they will get a debuff:
Interacting with beds remove tiredness (just lie down, no need to wait).
The Debuff, It must be strong enough that the player notices the difference, but not so strong that he is forced to return immediately to Sacrament to remove the tiredness.
For example something like: The effects of enchantments (and gems) are reduced by 30%. OR Deal 15% less damage.
Beds still give buffs, BUT the Buffs instead of being timed they disappear only after the Tiredness Bar is filled to 50%, thus allowing you to keep the buff if you don’t die too much.
So with this system the player who explores well and collects all the resources is not punished for having obtained many items but is punished if they die with many items.
So you have to return to Sacrament only when the “Tiredness” Bar fills up not because the inventory is full.
The Tiredness Bar empties over time.
Items that previously interacted with Durability now interact with Tiredness
The Ichor is used to increase the capacity of “Tiredness” Bar instead of the inventory capacity.
I think that in this way, dying and having to return to Sacrament to take a break seems like a better experience, also because it is clear that it is a direct consequence of for having died many times, and resting still gives you a buff.
You have to return less often because you do not need to repair the tools every time you collect resources, the bed and the chests where you put the things are both in your house or in the Rookery, also seeing the character resting makes it more clear for the player that having to return to Sacrament is an opportunity to take a break and not just as a punishment, and also the damage nerf is not so high that you need to return immediately the player can also decide to stay until he fills the inventory.
Obviously given the new mechanics things like the position of the beds and when you find the good beds have to be need to be better positioned within the progression of the game given the current situation where you have to find the beds with RNG in Whittacker’s shop.
In particular There needs to be a temporary bed (maybe in a tent) somewhere in the starting area in case someone dies a lot against Warwick, or the player could start without this bar, and the bar is only introduced after you rest in the Rookery (and the beds in the Rookery should be usable).
“Tiredness Bar” Details
The maximum capacity of the Tiredness bar is 4000-7000 (small reminder that that the debuff activates after 75% so you need 3000-5.250 points to get the debuff).
Depending on the Amount of Icore you used you use upgrade it (+500 per Icore).
Every time you die without items it fills up by 300.
Any non-stackable item (Weapons, Rings, Armor, etc.) They add 10 points to your total every time you die.
For example if you have 35 of this items (the maximum that the current inventory can contain (small reminder that with this system I propose the inventory is infinite)) then every time you die you get 350 more tiredness.
Any consumable item (Food, Bombs, potions, etc.) & Embers, doesn’t add Any points.
Any stackable item (resources, gems, etc.) add 1 point to your total every time you die, for example if you have 20 pieces of wood then every time you die you get 20 more tiredness.
Every second the Tiredness Bar empties by 2 points (this is more significant than it seems, it’s probably even too much)
In practice, this means that if you die once every minute, instead of filling the bar by 300, you fill it by 180.
So, when fighting a boss, you can die 16-29 times (depending on the ichor spent) if you die once every minute, but if you die once every minute and a half, you can die 25-43 times before getting the debuff.
Small and Medium Repair powder become Coffee, using them empties the Bar by 200-500.
Large Repair powder becomes Energizing Powder using it empties the Bar by 2 every second for 1 hour.
Repair becomes Inner Peace, using it halves the amount of Tiredness taken on next death.
“Tiredness Bar” Problems
It needs to be tuned correctly to work as its best.
As a system it gives much more freedom to the player (in comparison with the current system), but it still puts restrictions that may not be appreciated.
… (I will add more as I read your opinions)
