I'm so glad I finally get to play a bit of this! I've been following this project for a while, and it's nice to finally get a taste of what it the game is feeling like so far.
I really like it already! I like that it uses dice for movement, so that turns are a little up to chance. I like the individual abilities of the party members, and I enjoy how quickly combat goes by because if this is a sorta dungeon-crawler style game, snappy combat is super important.
If I had to pick anything that may need some improvement, it may actually be the damage numbers? I feel like regular attacks are much stronger than skills, and skills don't usually seem worth it a lot of the time when it comes to damage. This isn't all skills, as the cleric character's radiant attack feels good, and the skills that say they're weak obviously make sense. It's more for the warrior and rogue, where the warrior's skills that do damage I think should be more powerful, and the rogue's basic attack may be a little too strong (they did about the same as the warrior when it came to basic attacks). The characters definitely feel strong, which is good, I would just like to see a little game balence in this area so far.
This is obviously a pre-alpha build that's very bare bones, so I don't wannna comment on anything that isn't there. But what IS there? It's awesome. I love the game's art direction, and the UI that is there is very flashy and it makes combat very fun. This is gonna be a really cool game when it gets made someday, keep at it and I'll definitely be there when it comes out!
Thank you so much for playing!
On damage numbers - Basic attacks actually do have the same damage scaling as most skills in the current build. So in consequence, the damage range of characters end up being pretty similar on their skills. The skills are also similar to each other in damage. This is intentional on my part to allow for party build flexibility in the future and also to keep damage ranges predictable.
It is not apparent now, but what makes skills special will be in their utility to inflict status effects or reach even greater heights in damage. In this build you can do up to 40(!) damage as Fighter in a single attack with Shield Bash, and her Brave Assault is a very consistent source of extra damage and turns (averaging at 8-15 damage), especially when done to a target with defense down. In contrast, the Rogue has two skills unrelated to directly damaging the enemy, but these skills open up your options in another way. Substitution arts is a massive DEF buff (It will be changed to a more fitting status effect, but still related!), allowing him to completely dodge attacks directed towards him at times, costing the enemy their turn. While his knife throw is actually a magical attack, letting him always strike true and greatly reduce the defense of the target.
Basically, I'm aiming for a "horizontal" game design where you must pick and choose the right skills, and effects to inflict to deal the most amount of damage and gain the most amount of turns while also still being able to afford to keep your party standing.
With that being said, I will take your feedback into account! I'm still figuring out the design myself.
Ahhh, I think I get it now. I was more thinking that the skills were meant to function like Battle Arts in other games, basically like super moves that do more damage. Instead, it sounds like the main source of damage is your basic attack, while skills are more meant for utility to make the characters function differently each battle.
Playing the build a bit more and knowing this now, I can see what you mean! The skills being more about utility than damage makes sense to me, and the tradeoff seems clear when playing it a bit more now. This is very cool, and I’m glad I got this info because it changed how I approached combat for this game. Again, good job on this, it’s coming out great!
I plan on having super moves as well! Ideally, the player will have to make conscious decisions on when to use them, as the MP economy is limited.
But, basic attacks actually do less damage for me on average. In the code, their hit modifiers (also decides the crit rate) are low and often fail to go over the enemy's defense. Perhaps you've been getting lucky then!
I've made a quick update to the game to make the dungeon exploration snappier, if you want to give it another shot :D
I finally got to play the new version! The exploration definitely feels a little better, which it noticeable as soon as you start. I was WAY less lucky this time, I ended up losing the Fighter and Rogue on this playthrough so my luck has run out a bit lol BUT! I'm still playing with skills, and I think I'm really starting to see the potential they could have in these combat encounters. Now that I've had a normal (less lucky) run, I can sorta see how these dungeon encounters may run if there's multiple levels. I'd also like to see how this matches up with items at some point, and how items will be used (if they'll be used) in combat because that could make things VERY interesting.
For now, had a lotta fun with this! I'm definitely sticking around for any updates, and I'm so curious to see what you can the team cook up.