Porting over the ongoing back-and-forth between Zutsu13 and myself from an older version of the game page:
zutsu13
I got out of the hotel into the asylum with both the psychologist and the occultist, but the difficulty bump is a bit insane with that one section, as it's possible to go in without weapons, up against some tough enemies.
I still have the save if you'd like me to send it to you.
I'm planning to play a bit more of it when I have time and try out other characters that I haven't gotten far with, and see how investigation B compares to A.
*Update*:
Got quite a bit farther in Investigation B in the graveyard. It definitely seems to be a bit easier than the second half of investigation A. Will try and advance some more when I have additional time.
The door at the bishop's house which the butler answers keeps opening up a prompt to use it even though there is conversation occurring after the butler retreats inside. May be because I was clicking on the door itself to try and advance conversation. I eventually got past it and was able to get quite a bit further.
Tabula Rasa Games
Thanks for the detailed feedback! Absolutely love to see it. Some kind souls, absolute saints (perhaps you're one of them) bought the game for a generous donation which is fantastic, but you're the first person engaging with it which is what I really need (if I can pick up momentum, I can swing my focus back to EREWHON and off of the new, TTRPG stuff I've been working on). I'll definitely work on talking about the game more places this week.
Anyway, I pretty deliberately left in the option to disarm (or not disarm) during the first chapter of Investigation A as kind of a teachable moment: yes, it is VERY hard (not impossible) to survive there if you decide to have your investigators surrender their weapons, it's kind of meant to teach that this is a world where you uh... don't want to be trusting enough to do that. (There is a moment MUCH later in that Investigation that kind of tests if you learned this lesson the first time around lol.)
I think I agree with your assessment that Investigation B is a bit easier on the whole. Certainly, more of your problems are solvable by standard physical violence/explosives than during Investigation A, where you are constantly stalked by an enemy that is immune to physical attacks and weapons. As for Investigation A, the Occultist really is kind of the "easy" mode to the Academic's "hard mode". While somewhat fragile to physical attacks, the Occultist starts with a very robust toolset for confronting the unnatural. Including a shotgun, which kicks ass as a starting weapon.
zutsu13
The basement in investigation A as the academic is absolutely killing me.
I got past the amoeba easily enough after one retry.
I even spent some time farming levels / skills on the upper levels once I got access to the hotel. But it seems like everything has far more health down there - even though I have my academic set up with decent dex / int and supporting skills like bless weapon, a rapier, and decent equipment on my other two characters - we just take too long to kill things. Using therapy in combat to try and stave it off really just makes the death spiral start sooner.
My in combat sanity restoration items are limited enough that I can never end the fights before someone goes insane, and the permanent sanity reduction makes the loop even more punishing.
I may need to just farm money and buy a bunch of alcohol at the hotel to be able to continue. Items seem a lot more scarce in the asylum compared to the amount of things you find in Investigation B.
Tabula Rasa Games
Yeah the uh...the Asylum basement is kinda fucking brutal, a real trial by fire. Especially for the academic. This isn't at all you needing to get gud, the game definitely need rebalancing, I just need some more data points before diving in. I know it needs to be tuned down, I just can't tell how much from a single data point. Okay, you specified the academic so I gotta make sure my advice for the CURRENT build is directed towards that:
If the core issue is taking too long to kill shit and thus going crazy in battle, DO NOT DRINK THE ALCOHOL YOU BUY, USE IT TO MAKE MOLOTOVS (perhaps this advice is also applicable to real life? lmfao).
(IIRC even if the Academic can't get the Incendiarism skill that lets you build molotovs, either Detective can.)
Your priority in the basement, unless you're against one of the encounters down there that is truly underwhelming (such as a single Reanimated, where you can save resources and just shoot/stab it) is to NUKE EVERYTHING. Molotovs are the cheapest way to burn everything in your path down there, but if you have the money or are willing to farm it (once you 've gained enough levels/gear that they become mostly a non-threat, the Pig Butchers/Porkies generally have the most lucrative drops, with a high tendency to drop cleavers, masks, and even leather trenchcoats) then the janitor can and will sell you an unlimited amount of dynamite and/or grenades. (I actually removed Molotovs from all in-game stores in a balancing pass because I could not find any price point for them where you couldn't break the game by buying a shit ton, which was one of the reasons, but not the only reason, I made them craftable (and craftable only). rather than buyable).
Spot check (and I've decided even if for a while my only playtester is just you, I'm sitll goingt o start a proper forum on this page and create dedicated playtesting threads there with relevant info, as you've been incredibly dilligent and I'm extremely grateful) what is your Permanent Insanity level at?
zutsu13
Thank you so much for the tips!
I somehow have managed to miss the janitor entirely (unless they are also in the basement). Once I do find them I should have piles of cash, because of how much gear I've collected from grinding the first couple of areas in the asylum.
Right now my permanent insanity is at II. I've been save scumming to avoid having it go up too high. However, on a previous play through it was at IV, and yeah I basically had to pump resolve every level to even be functional.
I have yet to discover how to visit Egypt, but I did see there was a learnable Bastet occult skill. I may just grind out SP and get a few more things to help out.
Finding the janitor is a must though, because I've run out of cloth to make molotovs with, despite stocking up on piles of alcohol. Unless there's a way to tear down clothing I've missed, that would solve that problem.
Update: I got the Minotaur to 0% with some grenades and dynamite i found and he didn't die :(
Also I found the janitor. I could have sworn I checked in this room, but apparently I missed it.
Update 2: Finding the janitor has given me a massive power boost considering all the equipment he has access to. I've finally been able to make significant progress (Who knew star vampires were weak to being shot in the head with an SKS?).
Tabula Rasa Games
"Also I found the janitor. I could have sworn I checked in this room, but apparently I missed it. "
Unless things are profoundly bugged in a way completely undetectable to my own playtesting thus far (ALWAYS POSSIBLE), the Janitor is in the room if you go straight ahead as soon as you enter the asylum as the Academic. He can also be found in the basement later on. In Investigation B, on the other hand, he can first be found at Bellevue, and then can be found outside the Mausoleum in the Cemetery, and once the Cemetery is alerted, he moves in Investigation B.
In Investigation A his appearance in the basement shouldn't be contingent on first having met him in the room straight across from the entrance on the first floor, and Investigation B his appearance outside or inside the Mausoleum shouldn't be dependent on having first met him in Bellevue. I tried to make him very, very hard to miss. Additionally, worth checking back with him as you progress, as his inventory gets updated periodically with more and better gear and items.
Also, in Investigation A he does get very pissy if you find his quarters in the southwest section of the asylum and take his .30-06 rifle off of his wall. This can effect his future inventory, depending on how you handle it when you talk to him.
"Update: I got the Minotaur to 0% with some grenades and dynamite i found and he didn't die :("
I have killed the minotaur a dozen times now and I have never seen him fail to die from being killed! I have no idea what is going on here, but I will try to look into it. I probably have a savegame somewhere nearby I can load in the basement and I can tweak the chance of him appearing to see if I can reproduce this bug. There is an 'Immortal' state flag sometimes added to certain enemies so they don't actually die at 0 HP, but I never used this on the Minotaur.
As to save scumming to preserve your sanity, try to limit that instinct! There is actually a fair bit of cool later game content that you can only access if you are crazy enough. It's not obvious at first, but permanent madness can have niche benefits, particular once you reach the other side of Asylum 2F and meet Vassago, Malphus, and Andras (the middle of these is your gateway to Egypt through Investigation A). Generally speaking, permanent insanity of less than 4 is pretty manageable, and even 4 is survivable depending on how you spec. (Indefinite Insanity 5 is a very precarious state: at that point you really do want to get to Egypt and Bast as fast as possible.)
Glad you're progressing, and big thanks for the updates!
zutsu13
Oh yes, the minotaur was very strange. Got him down to 0%.
He spent a few rounds after that on fire, bleeding, and stunned while I attacked him. Still didn't die after the stun wore off and a full round passed. At that point I had to run away, because he can easily one shot the academic and possibly get lucky enough to take one of the detectives down at the same time. If I have more time to play today, I'll try it again to see if I can reproduce the issue. Maybe something has changed since I was able to flee and go back to the hotel.
*Update*
Attempted it again. He finally died after about three rounds of everyone going insane and punching about randomly while at 0%.
I guess I was just too hasty with my retreat earlier.
Also the blessing of Bast is my favorite thing. Love cats <3
zutsu13
Finally made it to the trio and got to try out Egypt.
I also tried to go to 1892. She took the LeMat revolver from me but then nothing happened. If the whole Egypt trip never happened I'd feel ripped off! :P
Very excited to see where things go next.
...
After getting insanity to IV thanks to looking at the Yellow Sign and spending a good amount of time going through options provided by the trio (Including finally visiting Bast once my insanity hit level V) I moved on and got to the confrontation with the Morgenstine twins, but ended up failing the conversation portion.
It was a close fight after they split, but they ended up killing me (first death on this save).
...
On another note, I enjoy the spell learning process out of the manuscript. It's really well done.
Also the twins themselves are great, as much as I complain about them being very difficult. The whole encounter just oozes the right kind of atmosphere for the king in yellow. "