Well I did a run-through of the newest version, as always looking for the most imbalanced builds :). With some of the things discussed below, I was able to go essentially infinite on the tower (let myself lose after reaching floor... 138)
Here are some assorted thoughts:
- Refining is extremely expensive, and really not worth it for some items (like exp ring). I understand that there are increasing gains the higher level the refining, but it's simply too expensive to be worth it for some items, and that's without even factoring in the chance to fail which makes it even more punishing. On the flipside, there are a few items that are actually overpowered when refining: looking at you, STR ring.
- Serenity shawl is incredibly overpowered. Combined with mighty (which is incredibly strong, as you already know) and enough dex to regen 20 on wait, you have probably the most overpowered attack-wait cycle possible. And on top of it, if you have the shawl you probably have the "heal 2% lust on wait" perk, just as a cherry on top.
Also, not sure if it's a bug or not, but FYI Serenity's shawl ignores the dominated attack debuff.
- Whispering stone seems... bad. 5% is just really really low, for a modest attack bonus (again, compare with STR ring, and imagine they're refined to say, +10 or +15 each).
- With enough con, Mila does 0 damage. Not sure if that should be allowed or not.
- Twin blades is ridiculously powerful. Not much more to add
- I discussed this in past posts, but working at the tavern is so incredibly efficient that it kind of defines the entire game, and not in a good way from a design standpoint IMO. As evidence for this, let me just say that by exploiting the tavern, I'm able to complete everything on a fresh run (with 0 spent in the fame tree) -- i.e. making it to the tower and going essentially infinite.
Between the tavern work providing such efficient, risk-free money with no downsides (assuming you spend part of the money to offset the addiction increase), and there being no day limit in the game, you have very little incentive to take any risks. You can simply play slow, spam forest/plains, and know that you'll accrue tons of money over time and eventually everything will become trivial. What I feel like the game desperately needs is something that incentivizes/forces you to push your luck and take on fights that you aren't 100% ready for -- for example, ramping up the difficulty scaling as the days go by.
- Perks: mighty is incredibly good as already mentioned; alchemist is very good too. Stalker is quite nice, especially now with the easy reference for girl times (thank you for adding that). The rest of the perks are not great/notable.
The one issue that I have with stalker is that there are "natural" times for when you want to fight (e.g. first thing in the morning, then 1-2 rests after that) so you often just fight the same 2ish girls over and over. A nice alternate version would be if you could pick which girl to fight in an area, or at least increase the rate of encountering her.
- The "spend money" queen quest is way too easy -- it basically is just making you what you were already planning to do. If you just go to the queen before shopping, it allows you to basically insta-complete it and get another quest.
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All that said, great work as usual, and I always love coming back to this after buffering a few updates!
Formerly Errant_...
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