This is a great game so far, but I’m noticing a few of what I’d like to call “anti-fun” mechanics. Now I’m not really far into the game yet but even so I’m already feeling the wrath of these hateful systems. But I’m not just going to moan about my woes-- that won’t get us anywhere. I’m no professional, but I’ve got a few potential fixes for these gripes of mine.
First up, and what is arguably the worst part of my experience; durability. Let me preface this bit by saying I’m not much of a fan of durability in most games. However, this is the most egregious form of the idea in the most anti-fun way possible. Here’s how it goes for me; when I die (a frequent and expected occurrence in a game of this nature), you lose durability on just about everything you have equipped. Lose enough of it, and your gear starts to get weaker and weaker to the point of you needing to change up your entire build or hauling it to the repair shop to pay to get it fixed. Why does this system need to further punish the already-punishing experience of dying? When I’m dead, I’m already getting my rear end sent back who knows how far to the nearest save point-- which is already enough of a punishment in my opinion. And I know you’re saying: “well you can just go back to the hub area and pay to have your gear fixed,” but what fun is that? Seriously, is it fun to have to drag myself to the nearest blacksmith just to throw a few coins in the infinite money pit that only grows deeper from the latter half of the phrase “trial and error?” So what’s the fix, big man? Well if you’re so inclined to keep the system around, why not invert it? Instead of losing durability when you die, you passively lose it while you use it based on the gear. Weapons lose durability per enemies killed, armor per hits taken. Gear won’t just instantly break while you’re out there fighting and exploring, but it’ll get weaker and any long expeditions may force you to change things up a bit until you reach a save point where it’s freely replenished. Then when players find themselves at a roadblock they don’t have the grave dug any deeper just from trying to get through. And if you want to keep the smithies involved too, lets give them the ability to upgrade maximum durability, so any player who has an issue with this can upgrade their main gear to the point of not having to put up with it.
Next on the list is health management, or more specifically healing. Now I know this game wants to do it’s own thing and forgo the genre-standard Estus Flask system that souls games have been doing since their inception, and yes, I know this isn’t a traditional soulslike– but flasks are still around for a reason. Let me paint you a picture of an all too familiar scenario. You’ve been stuck fighting the same boss for a while now and but you’re really getting the hang of this boss and think you can kill him in the next few tries. But uh oh-- you’re all out of food! Guess you have to stop taking on that finely-crafted battle to waste your time finding mushrooms and herbs to make stew with, just so you can challenge that boss again without having to do a heal-less attempt. And while you’re out there foraging for shrooms, have fun losing that muscle memory you’ve been building up. You see what I’m getting at here? The current healing system punishes players for taking too many tries to beat a boss (or just overcoming any roadblocking obstacle) by forcing them to leave the fun fight and go farm food to make healing with. That’s not fun-- I want to fight the boss and learn whatever intricacies of the battle at my own pace without having to worry about the impending dread of being out of heals. My solution is a familiar, yet enhanced concept that still keeps the foraging and foodstuffs around. Instead of only having food, players are given a Reusable Healing Item (that may or may not act like an Estus Flask) which obviously recharges at save points. However, this Reusable Healing Item has special properties-- it can be infused (term pending) with the dishes you cook, so the system isn’t abandoned entirely. For example, lets say you infuse the Reusable Healing Item with mushroom soup, and alongside the normal healing it provides there’s an added 20% to it. Now that sounds pretty strong, but you can only have that for as many soups you’ve cooked. The Reusable Healing Item goes back to being its normal self when you run out (or choose to uninfuse the soup.) This hypothetical system keeps players from ever “running out” of heals and having to leave whatever they’re doing to go get more, which is a really boring experience. There’s also the added strategy of players choosing what dishes to infuse with their Reusable Healing Item and when to use them-- meaning they could save dishes for tougher encounters without having to eat raw ingredients with pathetic healing abilities. This Reusable Healing Item could easily be integrated with other systems, to increase amount of uses or healing amounts.
Lastly, the timers/time gates used in basebuilding. This one is less anti-fun and more of a killjoy, but it still rains on my parade to the point of deserving of this spot. I’ll put it bluntly, the time gates simply don’t belong in a game like this. Forcing players to have to wait a certain amount of time before sowing the rewards of their efforts is free-to-play mobile game levels of scummy behavior. Seriously, what is the point of this? At least with mobile game drivel the purpose is clear-- making you wait is just another opportunity to siphon your wallet to skip the line. But there’s no need for that here-- and it certainly shouldn’t be welcome considering that I forked over money for this game. My solution is to just remove them. Simple as that.
In conclusion, I love this game to bits so far but it certainly is in early access for a reason. Hopefully my words will reach you all and inspire some changes-- whether they be my proposed solutions or something freshly-concocted. I look forward to seeing it.
