Hi,
First of all, thank you so much for the work you do on this game. I have known the game since it was still on Cardwirth and years before this version. I am well invested in following your development and have been enjoying every update.
The only thing I would say I don't like about the game is the difficulty. It is waay too easy and I feel it is immensely impacting the playability. Now I know the game is far from completed but I have some ideas I would like to share.
1 - Ores are too easy to obtain. This should resonate with anyone who has played this game since ores are quite literally free to mine. It is an issue that makes iron armor and weapons easier to craft than leather ones. In my opinion, the cliff shouldn't be located in the forest in the first place. In terms of RPG, having the last armor tiers obtainable in the same area as the first one is bad design. Since the game is pushing us to explore further and further, our gear should evolve along the way as well.
That doesn't mean that making iron gear should be impossible before then. It still wouldn't be practical to have all metals in the same place. Here is what I thought about: to make any metal, you would need 2 of the same ore. You can craft iron using 2 metal salvage that you can gather from the sewers. The cliff should be located after the sewers and be like any other area, meaning you can get attacked while mining. Now make some ores a bit harder to find, maybe more equipment (chitin ?), and with all of this, the gear progression should be a little smoother.
2 - The "Temptation" (libido) gear isn't tempting. This could change if the previous issue is fixed since this gear is still better than leather. It looks pretty, however it doesn't get me hyped and I wonder if it is even worth it. In my opinion, lots of the prices in the shop should be revisited too. Here is what I would do: lightly buff the actual libido gear and its price. Remove the ability to buy a libido crystal with libido stones, making it a rare item again. Create a stronger second tier libido gear set obtainable only with libido crystals. Add a healing potion to the shop that costs 3 libido stones at least and heals double the amount of bandages. I'm sure a lot more ideas could come out along the way, I hope we can fill out poor Rumia's shop a bit more.
3 - Creature Overhaul. While I like the combat in the game, it can become a bit repetitive over time. While I find it repetitive, I find the core mechanic entertaining and I wouldn't want to change it. However, we can add over it and make it more challenging (I love challenge). I won't touch on wharf roaches and parasitic beasts as they are good tutorial enemies. Here is what I would add: enemy creatures have passive buffs and bosses have abilities. The Jellyfish could have 15% chance to stun on hit but also reduce their numbers during battles. The leeches should be enemies like the others when you have leech salt and could have something like 25% life steal. The eggfly could have 15% chance to dodge while the slug diminishes your stats, etc... There should be a boss of nearly each type of creature, it wouldn't even need new scenes as it is just the same but bigger. For the Wharf Boss, which already exists, it could be more resistant while also having a charge ability that can't be countered. A swamp boss could be a mosquito with 50% life steal, etc... It would be interesting to have a random number of enemies each encounter too, not a big difference though, just between -1 and +1. Also, there should be a basic enemy (without abilities) in the Shoreline area as it feels empty and just like the cliff, the resources there are too free. Some people would find it too much but remember that you can't die, when you lose you just get raped, which is beneficial if you go for libido gear.
4 - Experience and Replayability. Since you will have to spend way more time in combats with a system like this, I think a rewards system would really encourage players to continue. Gaining levels and spending points to increase stats or talents would be a lot of work but can result in a satisfying replayability. If it is just for the reward it can even be a really slow leveling system where you rarely upgrade your character. I think replayability is really important and I hope that you will find some kind of reward system as killing enemies right now is a bit anticlimactic.
5 - The "Unweather" Balloon. I really love your weather system as it adds an unpredictable element to the game and I think it can be explored even further. The problem is the addition of the weather balloon which completely destroys that mechanic and I think you should remove it. Maybe you could make it harder to craft but instead of changing the weather it can predict it with 70% accuracy for the next day.
6 - Moving around is hard(er). This can be controversial, but I liked that now eating at the cabin passes the time, so I was wondering if moving shouldn't do the same. Maybe not 1 bar everytime but half a bar and not when going or moving in the cabin or the shop. Not sure about this one but I'll throw it out here anyways.
Well, I don't have any more ideas for now so I can just pray that some of them have been good enough to pose reflexion. Sorry if my english is bad sometimes or if it appears dry or self-centered, I don't know how to write any other way.
Anyways, continue the good work but take your time to work on the game and I'll support you in any way I can, except money, I don't have that.