by DarkQuill » Sat Oct 10, 2020 8:14 pm
Played through Deathkings on the Volatile difficulty, as Baratus using the Ethereal Sword.
- Afrits on the first level are easily the hardest thing in the game. Without armor these things demolish you. Even with armor they seem to do quite a bit more damage than other enemies, might need to scale that back a little.
- Players should start with a slightly higher max HP. Fighter should start at 100, Cleric at 80, Mage at 60. Mage's current starting 45HP is far too low. Mage's movespeed is also bad.
- Crafting menu should allow you to select a learned recipe and automatically craft it if you have the materials, instead of clicking on the required mana types 30 times.
- For the stat-boosting potions, I sometimes found that you could add the non-mana ingredients, and then have the option to craft it be available before topping out on all of the mana types. The game will still subtract the correct amount of mana though, so not a big deal.
- Need a script that will determine if you have all Crafting Recipes (say, when you move to the next main hub) and have something else replace them, even if it's just a Quartz Flask.
- The Summon Familiar key never stays bound between game sessions.
- If you are moving forwards while blocking, you will still take damage, even if you just tap forward once while walking. May need to move the reflection radius forward a little more so you can at least do small movement adjustments.
- Reflected projectiles can get stuck on your shield.
- Stats should have descriptive text underneath or such to describe what they do.
- Minimum range for Flechette toss should be a tiny bit further so you don't accidentally drop it perfectly in place if you tap the key. Only needs a tiny bit of momentum.
- Been a while since I've played regular Hexen so I might be remembering wrong, but the updated projectiles Traductus shoots at you is ridiculously overpowered.
- Quietus seems to be a good overall balance between the Hammer of Retribution's raw power, but I found myself never bothering to use the Ethereal Sword again after hitting level 20, even to use the Ethereal Slash special.
- Hammer is REALLY good for killing bosses, whereas Quietus is a bit of a joke by comparison. I could kill bosses in 3-4 hits with the Hammer, but even trying a cheat-run with upgraded Quietus, it just didn't do anywhere near enough damage for the mana cost or time spent.
- Familiar summon is really good. May need to give the Maulotaur summon similar treatment, or at least remove the friendly fire, as it is outclassed by the Golem in every way.
- Finished the game at level 22, so never got to use the upgraded Quietus in normal play. This included abusing the unlimited spawn traps on both Brackenwood and Locus Requiescat for Ettins and Reivers respectively.
Did some tests with the other classes, just going to echo what others have said that their weapons are almost all vastly underpowered. I would recommend setting up their "Brutalized" weapons and balancing, as well as giving them the Golem Familiar first before doing more Starter Weapon variants for them.
All in all, it was a lot of fun. The new Lightning Crossbow looks great and has a lot more punch to it than the old Brutal Hexen one. Not having to rely on fatalities to squeeze out as much EXP as possible is also a big plus. Looking forward to more updates!