Hi everyone, I’m new to the game, and I want to give a LARGE feedback about it. A little info about my experience: I’m a guy who likes to play games, haven’t played any of the Moon’s games before (but bought them a while ago). I loved aRPGs since I was a child. I kinda hate soulslikes, couldn’t enjoy ANY of those I’ve tried (mostly the famous ones). And I’ve bought and played this version of the game with my brother in coop (he loves both genres, bought him the Lies of P for God’s sake). I played with a mouse and keyboard setup, don’t like and use controllers.
The post might seem negative, but it’s not. For those who read it: my baseline is that I LOVE the game and don’t see a reason to talk about the good things here, I have a Steam review for it. I will be focusing on the negatives and frustration, and I hope it will be tackled in the future. Let’s begin:
About the story and the world.
I loved it, but there is a problem here. Although I liked the characters and writing (the cinematics are AWESOME btw), for a long while (like my first 20 hours or so) I felt like the characters are strangers to me. I grew to love them, but I hope this aspect could be improved in the future. And the gameplay loop is the main issue here. Basically, you have your hub, and you visit it mostly to do some stuff, like build/craft something, use some merchant services, and so on. But most of my time I spent in the hostile zones outside of the Sacrament. And because of it, the time intervals between my interactions with the characters are quite large. Large enough for me to kinda forget they exist. It also hurts the pacing of the story. Since the game is hand-crafted, I hope we will get more interactions with the main cast over the course of our progression. I loved the moment I found the Count and his general during my exploration of the Lowland Meadows. I hope for more of those interactions, or at least some “notes” left by the people living in the isle’s capital.
About the gameplay.
It’s great, but I have some things I don’t like.
- The fedback. I actually fed quite a lot in this game. And the thing that killed me was the scariest of them all… the GRAVITY. I do hope that in the future death penalty will be reduced if you die from falling. I don’t actually feel like dying because I missclicked during my elegant walk on some of the narrowest bridges I’ve ever seen is satisfying. The game should be panishing, but I’d like to lose less than normal durability after I fell from a cliff.
- Movement. It’s great, I love it overall. There are some issues here, however. First of all, I don’t like to press E when I need to go over the edge. IMO, this should be automated if I press my face and keep running into a wall in very specific places. It doesn’t need to have a separate button for such an action. Additionally, some skills are kinda bagged or something. For example, if I press a skill with a jump (not just movement, jump specifically), my character can’t jump over the obsticles. It feels weird.
- Parry. I’m not a fan of the mechacin, but not gonna lie, it feels satisfying to use. The only issue I have with it is that it’s on a separate button. I generally agree with a statement that parry and block are kinda the same. But I see a solution to such a problem as simple as: make the first portion of the block (like, IDK, 0.3 seconds) a parry. If you keep holding it, you naturally translate to block. No need for a separate animation/mechanic here, IMO. If a person wants to bind it to a separate button - allow it, but it’s not a very streamlined design as I see it. I also think that block being applicable only to shields kinda suck.
- Weapon balance and diversity. I love that every single weapon has its own unique moveset. But it seems to me, not all the weapons are created equal, and it’s kinda sad. I love the look of the Icebreaker Greatsword, but its pattern is bland. Just 1 attack, no power attack versions, and so on. I do hope it will be revisited someday, so that every weapon has a proper attack pattern and 3-4 hit combos, maybe even with unique movesets for power attacks. Additionally, some skills feel kinda off/buggy. For example, if I get knocked down during a Throw (both physical and ice version, not sure about the others) skill, the weapon disappears, dealing no damage when it should return to you. And yeah, we do need a full compendium on skills in the game.
- Gear crafting. It’s not a secret that after some time of playing, players usually want to create their own build in the game. And I like the current system, except for 2 things:
5.1. Enchanting cap. It shouldn’t exist, IMO. I created (and I kid you not, I have an Excel table) 178 greatswords. I do open the game every hour or so just to farm those damn copper veins. And the thing is, I haven’t made an ACTUALLY good greatsword once for my late-game build. About 30% of those are purple; the rest is junk. Of those 30% I could only get 1 good modifier, 2 not bad ones, 1 useless to my playstyle, and a downside that I can live with. This is not okay. Like, at all. I like the fact that I can reroll 1 affix at a time; it costs a lot of Fallen Embers to get what you want. But limiting the amount of rerolls is pure insanity. This is not just a grindwall, it’s the grind greatwall that is litterally impossible to breach at the moment.
5.2. Exaltation. I don’t really like that random aspect of it. Maxing my sats was good, playing a casino with an item I’ve grinded for for 20 hours is not.
If those 2 changes are reverted, everything else seems fine to me. And yeah, we need a list of available enchantments.
OMFG, after another 25 claymores (203 in total), I finally got 2 mods I like and 2 that are kinda sorta useful. And I ACCEDENTALLY DESTROYED IT BY EXTRACTING THE RUNE INSTEAD OF REMOVING IT. Yeah, I’m done, thanks. It must be gone, PLEASE! Make build-crafting affordable and convenient. I’m playing your game not because of the grind, but despite it. - The crafting. I like the current system overall, but it has some issues. I will talk about UI/UX later, but I have a specific thing I don’t like - the facets. I don’t like its randomness; it creates a HUGE FOMO for some builds. For example, I play with a greatsword, and it’s quite slow. Having a pair of gloves with an attack speed increase facet feels like I’m in a different universe. Either it had to be controllable, or shouldn’t be in the game period.
- The status effects. I love them. I also like the interaction, like shattering the ice with physical damage. But I don’t feel like bleeding belongs in the game. Surely, physical damage can and probably should have its own status effect, but I’d rather it to be the armourbreak, not the bleeding. Additionally, the lightning seems not to interact with anything and its kinda sad. Also, I’m not sure about the Plague (the purple one). I don’t know, it seems too niche to be usable outside of specific builds/fantasies. Maybe current lifesteal could be applicable to some specific damage, and the baseline effect should do something different.
P.S. going to sleep, gonna add more later