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Hell-Strain

An erotic survival-horror RPG! 路 By Finchy

Questions, Comments, Complaints

A topic by sadgamer7x created 16 days ago Views: 466 Replies: 21
Viewing posts 1 to 8
(1 edit)

Just some thoughts I wanted to express

1. Is there an assault rifle anywhere?  I see that there's a stat associated but I thought I explored everywhere and haven't spotted one

2. There should be a bestiary that lists enemy stat weaknesses/resistances once you've scanned them.  It could also be integrated into the sim chair which right now shows descriptions but not actually the weaknesses. It's just annoying not being able to check what an enemy is actually weak to after you've already scanned them, or having to waste a turn in combat multiple times.

3. You can activate melee focus and ranged focus at the same time and there's no reason the player should be able to do this.  Maybe if there's a later skill down the line that brings you up to neutral or a slight bonus to both, but right now there's literally no reason at all to let the player nerf themselves. Or at least I assume it's a strict nerf if you turn on both because the -% from one is larger than the +% from the other.

4. Related to the last point, there should be an in game explanation for how percentages stack because it's not how I would expect.  With just the pink haze trait active, I have -30% aphrodisiac resistance, however when I activate the trait inoculated, which increases it by 30%, it doesn't go to 0 like I would expect, but rather 9%? And if it were strictly multiplicative, then .7*1.3 would be .91,  so -9% but it's clearly +9% so... not sure where this total is from.

5. It would be nice to see the gain of trait xp mid battle.  I know not everyone would like it, but I would, and would appreciate some sort of item that turns on that level of detail.

6. It should be listed somewhere (probably the sim chair) what kind of type trait an enemy gives.  For example, the cult matron could be demon, furry, monster, some combo, or all three. But there's no way to tell for sure unless you go into the status page, write down the numbers, sim with her, and then go back out and check. (she's demon and furry)

7. The tailbiter chemist should probably be given a move to approach the player at some point in the battle.  Right now you can sit at max distance spamming melee attacks to grind melee skill for any given weapon for no downside except 10 million aphrodisiac xp.

8. Where do you buy shotgun ammo?  Neither shopkeep sells them from what I can tell so it's a dead end weapon right now.

9. Pregnancy xp seems to be pointless?  With over 300 pussy xp I've only gotten 4 preg xp, and since there's no way to get preg xp without pussy xp I don't see how you could ever develop this trait without losing hundreds of times, and then still being lucky since idk what actually determines if you get a pregnancy.

I will probably have more things to say but I'll either edit those in or post them in a reply later.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the extensive feedback.

1. The only assault rifle currently available is only obtainable if you defeat Velora in a battle, which is quite difficult if unprepared.

2. I'd like to add these stats to the Sim-Chair menu if possible. It's on the list.

3. For Melee and Ranged focus perks, I figured it was obvious that you shouldn't activate both, seeing as they both have glaring negatives to them. In terms of design, I want to have certain perks that only really work if you focus on one kind of combat, at the expense of others. There will be more perks in the future that fit into this kind of design idea.

4. In RPG Maker MZ, at least, state resistances are multiplicative, so your calculation is correct. The displayed stat in the Status menu is your 'resistance', so you're 9% less likely to be afflicted by the state. If it was in the negative, you'd be 9% more likely to be afflicted by the state, and it would display as -9%.

5. This might be something I add in the future, as an optional feature.

6. I try to make it obvious in the design of the enemy what type they are, but I'm considering changing the scan info to show their exact subtype in terms of EXP.

7. I don't want to discourage grinding if possible, and this seems like a very time-consuming way to do it, honestly. You only gain weapon EXP if the attack lands, so at maximum distance, you'll miss a lot. Plus, having maxed Aphrodisiac EXP will be a dangerous thing to have, down the line.

8. Catalogue's inventory is random to an extent. Sometimes she stocks Shotgun ammo, sometimes she doesn't. There will be plenty of opportunity to find more as and when more content is added, though.

9. Pregnancy content is not fully fleshed out yet, but yes, outside of Arianna's Parlour, you'd likely need to lose a lot to gain that type of EXP. The only real benefit right now is that Arianna's Parlour patrons will tip you if you impregnate them, so there's that.

Again, thank you for the feedback. The game is definitely a work-in-progress, and these sorts of posts really help me reanalyse elements and see if improvements can be made!

So,I would like to push back on point 7 a bit.  First, I just went into the game and checked and you get exactly 1 weapon xp per attack, hit or miss, ranged or melee (I didn't check the smg burst fire but I assume it gives 3 xp for the 3 attacks since combo punch gives 2 xp for 2 misses and I did check that).  Now, what I would hope you don't do is change this to make misses give no xp since that would both throw off the pacing of how you gain weapon traits and punish the player for missing when they're low "level" and more likely to need the xp.  Again, this is only a "problem" with the tailbiter alchemist since she has no long range way to end the fight currently, so you can start a fight with her, select a melee attack at max range, and then just hold down enter for as much melee and aphrodisiac xp as you want for the minimum number of game actions and resources (since you don't spend water food or energy as long as you don't leave or lose a fight).  Ultimatly though this isn't a huge issue so if it's left unaddressed I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.


However, if there's one thing I'd really really really hope you do change is point 3.  I understand that it's clear to you that activating both perks at the same time is a bad idea, but as long as it's not hard locked out, players will do it.  Whether they misread the perks and think the bonus from one is larger than the penalty from the other, don't pay attention to the numbers in the first place, or activate one and then forget to deactivate it before activating the other, it's absolutely going to happen, and there's no reason to let it.  There's no circumstance that I can conceive of (and I've played a lot of games with a lot of exploits so I can conceive of a lot) in which you'd want to have both turned on so I genuinely ask, if there's only one change you make as a result of my feedback, it be this one of locking one focus perk when you take the other.

Developer

Ah, yes, sorry, you're right! I was thinking of an older version where it didn't track misses. Don't worry, I won't be changing it.

I need to add more context to the upgrade system anyway, so when I do, I'll see about locking players out of either of those focus perks. It'd be useful to have a system like that anyway.
Thanks again!

For 7. I think it's a very good thing in a an RPG to be able to do that.
If you can defeat enemies through great skill and knowledge, it rewards the players who engage with mechanics and learn attack patterns, if you can defeat an enemy by grinding for hours and then steamrolling it, it rewards players who spent the time to farm in order to ease them if they lack skills. Both are good.
Although i hope that have maxed up sexual XP won't make the game near-impossible, softlocking players is never very fun.

Will there ever be a way to pick up the other starting/new specializations?  That you can unequip your starting one seems to imply that you will be able to.

Under the thread, "Unlocking other specializations," the idea was that yes you can get an upgraded and other new specializations, but to encourage new playthroughs it will be difficult to do so. 
To quote Finchy, (through copy+paste) "I do plan on both having unlockable Specializations, as well as upgrades to the one you start with.  I don't want the starting Specializations to be easily attainable, or even attainable at all, in one play through, as it would result in players just hot-swapping the optimal setup for every situation, which would be tedious. Having those be unique encourages repeat play throughs as well. Any that are unlockable will be hard to acquire and will be different from the starting ones."

Is it possible to acutally win CatAlouge's game?  I created an entire new character, no breast or robot traits, got the deep breath and focus generation perks, and still didn't have enough to actually get to 60 seconds.

Also is there any possibility of getting tits for the player character?  As a big fan of big milkers I see more tits as an absolute win.

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Ok I got to EXACTLY 60 seconds with adding the edging skill and psionic mastery II, but I can't see any path to getting much further and 60 seconds was described as the "middle" prize. If anyone has managed to get further than that I'd be really interested in hearing about your strategy.

Developer

There will be more ways to endure in those situations in the future, but at the moment, the game is basically a trap.

alright, the best I can get after also restarting to get the occultist background is 80 seconds so still quite a jump to the big prize which I assume is 120 seconds.

I have a question. I might just be overlooking something, but where and how do you get Catalogue? I鈥檝e been trying to figure it out for the longest time, and I feel like I鈥檓 still missing something. I still haven鈥檛 found her, so any help would be appreciated!

she's in the delve at the mall after you beat the matron.  the matron drops the chip and her body is off on the right

Awesome, thank you so much! 馃槉

I cannot figure out how to trigger the STCP-1471-A cowgirl scene in the sim chair, it always is a blowjob instead.

From my understanding, the Sim chair is for enemies that fight to dom you, without the fighting.  It does not let you simulate non fight sex, such as Mal0's cowgirl, the first glory hole ghost, or Catalogs "Game."
Maybe the option to scan and simulate the non fights might be added in a future update, but I don't think it would happen because of Arianna's Parlour. (Why sim and get fetish, but not get paid?)

The other enemies that have two scenes listed in the chair are Velora, who has two separate buttons for each scene, and gym rat/ST patrol droid, who really have one scene with a variation built in.  Since STCP-1471-A didn't have two buttons like Velora, I expected the scene to have a "second phase" like the gym rat and ST patrol droid do.  Otherwise I have no idea how to even view the cowgirl scene since I didn't find it through normal gameplay.

(+1)

STCP-1471-A gives a Skull Charm accessory, and wearing it when you go to sleep triggers her to join you in bed, thus the Cowgirl.  If you want an actual restful sleep, then take the charm off.

Ok I didn't actually beat her I just ran away.  Thanks!

nevermind, you have to lose to her and then she leaves the charm on the second floor on the ground, for anyone wondering

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I wish vending machines were more clearly distinguished between ones that work and ones that don't.  the little sparkles to indicate they still have something in them would be nice.

(+1)

the right thumb on the luscious lady patron at the parlor (the hand she's giving the mc a handjob with) is... unsettling.  Idk what's wrong with it but it's not right.