itch.io

In addition, since all enemies have each of their attacks and overall
patterns totally customizable by swapping around some variables,
ultimately we'd like to have an assortment of difficulties, with higher
difficulties keeping shorter windows of reaction to maintain super
challenging combat for those that like it.

I am glad to hear this! While I have to agree that the average person who buys this will feel that the current difficulty is way too hard, I would be disappointed to see the difficulty thrown out entirely.

It just that it displays a button prompt: Press START to skip. But it skips regardless of the button you press.

Got to what I believe was the end of the current alpha. I had fun when I wasn't really confused.

• I had no idea that Rook was walking around in a strait jacket, so when it came time for him to grind on glass to get it off, I didn't understand what happened or why he did that or why he had thrown his perfectly good coat on the ground.

• The combat tutorial is really confusing. Like, the combat UI definitely works for its intended use. But it's barely explained. You're thrown into the first fight without understanding what the hell the bar filling up to your left is. Heck, even with the first save point, you get FP and Charge thrown in the mix with no explanation of what they are. Shouldn't you wait to reveal those until you use them?

• You have red damage numbers on top of a red-shaded enemy taking damage. I had no idea I was doing damage during the tutorial fight because I couldn't see the damage numbers.

• So ranged attacks are supposed to be harder to dodge? Because they are not: melee ends up being harder because you're trying to figure out when to hold off on attacking so that you can block/dodge. Like, yeah, block and dodge are strict pass/fails compared to the sliding bar for ranged attacks. But in melee, you can commit to an attack and become unable to guard, which is more punishing.

• The narration--like, Rook's comments on the goings-on--is somewhat confusing, in terms of tense. Sometimes it's past, sometimes it's present. I don't understand whether you're going for "Rook is narrating an event past" or "Rook is commenting on ongoing events."

• Different point--I don't mind Rook's comments co-occuring with spoken dialogue, but if I see four text boxes pop up at once, I will get confused as to which to look at first. Comics and stuff have conventions about where to look--Wanderer doesn't.

• Do you need parentheses for Rook's comments? They already stand out by virtue of being in a black text box.

• I'm failing intellect checks before I get a chance to raise intellect? ...I think?

• Dunno that I'd trigger node-interactions by holding RB. Pressing to toggle would make more sense. Also, holding RB makes me use items by accident.

• By the time I got to the end (the part on the big ladder where the game goes to the main title,) I was down to 1 health for Rook and Buddy. Is health supposed to be that hard to come by? Because you have free retries for fights...

• I have to press 3 different face buttons to engage an enemy in melee. This is weird. I'm used to mashing one button to attack an enemy. Maybe one button and a d-pad.

Sorry if that's too jumbled. It's late here.

Here's a whole buncha miscellaneous typos.

• "voice.,"

• "take a peak"

• "your trapped inside" -> "you're trapped inside"

• "ananelgesic" -> "analgesic"

• "rightnow"

• "your keen on" -> "you're keen on"

• "here ?"

• "We've got a decent shot" -> "We've got a decent shot."

• "you clearly know what your doing" -> "you clearly know what you're doing"

• "monster's man"

• "consider the consider the"

• "everylast"

• "propoganda machine" -> "propaganda machine"

• "5-10 mintutes"

• "can't string a sentence together let" -> "can't string together a sentence, let"

• "We lost last months" -> "We lost last month's"

• "The aged machines grips"

• "it's motor"

I must agree with OP--seeing censored curse words is super weird. Like, I can watch Rook slitting a guy's throat with a glass shard, but I can't see someone say fuck? This is quite jarring.

I didn't see the prompt to press Start/Tab for button prompts at all during my first time fighting the tutorial fight. It's on the upper-right hand part of the screen when all the new HUD stuff you're taking in is in the center.

Similar issue with the very first dialogue option--there's no indication that I can see that you select dialogue options with A/X/Y/B instead of the d-pad. I can figured it out, but y'know, confusing.

Please consider integration with the Steam Controller API. I use a Dualshock 4, and hey buddy, these Xbox button prompts mainly serve to confuse me.

On Windows version.

The cutscene before the first fight--it seems the narration changes based on whether you have the glass shard with you. So I'd like to watch the cutscene again.

But no matter what, when I press any button, it goes to "Stale words." and skips the cutscene.

Surely this is not intended.