itch.io

The skull tools are really good for memory.

I still feel this way about underutilisation of gear to drive interesting and varied gameplay runs.

The principle mechanic of almost all roguelikes that makes them interesting and replayable over and over and over again is the fact that variety occurs from run to run. In all roguelikes this variety is derived from items and gear.

Tales of Androgyny has great ideas, great art, great combat, and great writing. But it lacks variety from run to run. Encounter outcomes with different monsters are always the same, the player wins the fight and/or the player loses the fight and gets the one single negative outcome that a given monster has to give to the player.

This can be fixed, drastically changing the gameplay and replayability of the entire game, simply by adding gear to the game with varied statuses. 

Cursed gear. 

The need to "identify" gear at a cost or take the risk it might have negative outcomes by wearing it to test it. 

Gear that lowers stats.

Gear that feminises.

Gear with mind control.

Gear with real gameplay affecting RNG.

Etc etc.

Gear should be delivered to the player inventory via fight wins where the player can decide what to do with it.
And the possibility of forced gear being placed on the player should occur on losses.

This will provide interesting outcomes, for example the player might acquire a cursed tail plug which would force the player into making new decisions about werewolf encounters until they can remove the curse. It changes the conditions that the player is playing under.

This is completely balanceable by making the average value of gear that you acquire to sell equal to the average cost of curse removal in an average run where a player takes risks. This approach to balancing it would not affect the existing balance of hunger as a mechanic intended to force the player to progress. 

Having everything delivered to the player via predictable encounters makes the gameplay extremely samey once you have already experienced those encounters. It is the variety of potential outcomes and runs that makes other roguelikes replayable over and over and over again. When I meet a werewolf every victory or loss is always the same, this stagnates gameplay in the longterm. With the impact of random loot to the game every victory and every loss can become gameplay altering in its own right, creating a real sandbox.

I wouldn't mind giving people some sort of chance but it should be made clear you're "opting out" of a mechanic(for people that want to) and that you're supposed to not get a choice in the matter.

Like, the mind control tiara you get from the Witch is one of the most interesting items in the game and it seems like it's supposed to be a clever punishment she uses on the player because you give her the gem instead of paying her. But making it optional just makes it... Weird.

Items with risk/reward to them is interesting gameplay and will make or break various runs, adding some much needed RNG to the game. It's supposed to be a rogue-ish game and yet once you understand it there's basically zero chance of ever losing a run because there's no rng to it.

Even rogue-ish games like Binding of Isaac or Hades and so on have heavy rng that affects the success of any given run. Negative and positive gear rng is a staple of the genre.

There is an abundance of gear in the game and yet very little use is made of it.

Enemies should have random chance to have toy fetishes and therefore will attempt to use toys in combat.

Enemies should attempt to put the player in chastity.

Loot should be a possibility in combat. Some of this loot should be unidentified. This unidentified loot should carry the risk of debilitating curses, lower stats, or mind-altering effects that force the player into certain actions.

Some gear should be feminizing or masculinizing.