Then again, I'll address a point made on the previous review by Untamed Brave Sophung about
- 9) tutorials. The game is a bit confusing initially after the end of prologue. Perhaps it would be good to expand "Knowledge" feature with another "Step by step" feature for players who prefer more detailed tutorials. Also, at the start, after Lilith gets banished, perhaps a dialogue option to show or not show tips.
- 10) There is also a problem with Cirrus' special power. Every heart takes 3 sec to consume, while its' spawn time is 16 secs. 6x3=18, so player might not have time to feed a Cirrus enough before it spawns, unless it's coupled in a squad with another monster and/or at the back of a queue. I agree that it's power is quite strong, but definitely not worth 6 hearts, since it requires Cirrus to get damaged first and so, the speed buff is shorthanded. As far as I've seen, all enemies have 1 or 2 heart cost on their abilities and they are quite powerful for such a low cost. Which actually negates the player getting heart acquisition buff, because enemy can still arm all their units with specials (2 hearts for reflecting 60% of damage received is very, very powerful, just as complete invulnerability to intelligence class attacks).
- 11) Also, the encyclopedia: I suggest introducing a script that would update monster database as they are scouted and/or Lilith encounters and then knows more about them. The monsters present in Secret Garden would be vaguely described at start, but others would be "Unknown", then "Unidentified" once terrain is scouted, then a name and picture appears once Lilith encounters them. Then its lore and battle characteristics would be expanded upon bonding, as Lilith gains more insight about that particular species (perhaps bonding with certain species would actually unlock special power for the entire species?). The ones not introduced yet into the game would better be named "Absent". For this, I propose expanding battle stats in Encyclopedia by "Prey" (enemy hard countered by a monster) and "Nemesis" (enemy that hard counters a monster) - which would be updated once that monster encounters its prey or nemesis in battle.
- 12) And speaking about outlines also mentioned by Untamed Brave Sophung I think it's also a good idea. I imagine it (coupling it with Encyclopedia idea above) as follows: Upon entering an unscouted region, you have no outliners - you have to scout it first. Then, after scouting, an outline appears where an unidentified (or identified if already encountered) was spotted with an overlaying text "Unidentified Tentacle Monster spotted in this area", then after identifying a monster, its image and name appears within the outline. If you scout when already having the monster encountered before, an image and name appears immediately, without the "unidentified" message.
- 13) It is also weird for me that Lilith can explore freely in an enemy-occupied region. Perhaps it would be better to restrict "Explore" feature to owned regions. I know that they contain more powerful monsters which actually are vital to defeating 7-8 numbered enemy armies, so perhaps those regions could have smaller enemy population to give player an easier start.
EDIT:
- 14) Automatic squad assignment is bad. The game usually couples one species with another that I want solo or moves a defensive unit into backline, making my offensive ones take the brunt of attack. It would be a lot better if player could assign monsters to squads manually. Perhaps an expansion upon Royal Army tab? Like you are at Royal Army and in the bottom left corner you have a "Squads" button. When you click on it, you have tabs like Squad T3, Squad T2, Squad T1, Squad B1, Squad B2, Squad B3, from top to bottom, each with "manage" button to the left and "Royal Army" button in the bottom left corner to return. Or if a player wants auto squad assignment, there'd be a toggle that would enable or gray out "Squads" tab.