Juice Galaxy (formerly Juice World)

Floppy ragdoll rpg sandbox with physics-based combat · By fishlicka

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Please let Mrs. Slithers counter projectiles

A topic by Ryarod created Mar 13, 2021 Views: 213 Replies: 2

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Ryarod4 years ago (1 edit)

In the Mrs. Slitherss fight, she can give a bit of a fuss if you're up-close, have mid-level stats, and are using a non-OP hand-to-hand weapon.

However, as is obvious on Youtube Playthroughs such as those by one Jacob Forster, defeating Mrs. Slitherss becomes very easy and low-skill if you just play keepaway and spam projectiles, pineapple in particular.

I would like to ask that Mrs. Slitherss be given a way to respond to/counter a ranged-only strategy, so that both up-close and at range, mid-level and medium-high-level characters need to use skill and strategy to defeat her.

The specific ideas I have in mind are as follows:

1. Let Mrs. Slitherss use a beefed-up version of her eye lasers during the actual fight, and not just as punishment for going near the door/coming back to face her.

These more powerful eye lasers could be used when one of two conditions are met:

1A: The player character avoids coming into contact with Mrs. Slitherss or her sword, && avoids inflicting or receiving damage for a given amount of time, say ten seconds; or

1B: The player character goes particularly far from Mrs. Slitherss, such as each is on an opposite side of the school grounds platform. This could be timed, too, so that player characters can still step away for a breather if they need it, provided they return before long.

There's one suggestion, mainly to make sure that the fight doesn't stay too far away or hide inside/behind the schoolhouse for too long. It would also put the onus on the player to damage her at a steady pace; as said, in this imagining, the eye-lasers can be prevented by giving - or if you can take it even receiving - damage that != 1.

The other suggestion I have would be responsive rather than timed:

2. Give Mrs. Slitherss a random chance to nullify incoming projectiles from the front, incentivizing players to weave around her charges and then punish her from behind. This could take several possible forms. Just to name a few:

2A. Give Mrs. Slitherss the ability to make any weapon she holds - obviously so far that's only the Draginslayer - projectile-proof, meaning more-so than most it will send away any projectile that touches it or comes some small distance close, while experiencing little or no physics from the impact (meaning it's harder to knock her sword out of the way with pineapple spamming).

This one above is my personal favorite.

Another idea:

2B. Mrs. Slitherss can cast a "spell" of sorts (not a real spell, more like Juice Manipulation) that will simply absorb the projectiles that come near it. This could stay on only one side of Mrs. Slitherss as measured by the direction of her head (i.e., she casts it on her right side, so it stays there, even if the student circles around) and after it finishes it would need recharging on Mrs. Slitherss' part before she can use it again, so the player character can fight as normal and worry about the shield, say every twenty seconds or so.

This latter option would be weaker than the first, which could be a good or bad thing depending on opinion. That's from gameplay; from world-building, this would give credit to Mrs. Slitherss's position as a qualified teacher about Juice. It would show she knows how to use it in ways currently inaccessible to us, as opposed to simply being an empty talking head with no idea about the subject matter she's teaching.

3. My Third and my final suggestion: Simply have Mrs. Slitherss' aggression ramp up - that is to say, decrease downtime between her charges - if the player character uses a lot of projectiles. The current waiting time for Mrs. Slitherss seems to give a lot of down time for a counter attack. This is good for gameplay balance and rewarding dodging, but it also leaves her vulnerable to projectile characters, since they can simply run far out of the way when Mrs. Slitherss heads for where they had once been standing.

Having Mrs. Slitherss ramp up aggression- lessening down time between charges- would help make dodging a more active gameplay experience for projectile fans.

Fighting Mrs. Slitherss hand to hand of course wouldn't need this since for close-up fighters, even if you dodge Mrs. Slitherss, you need to get back in anyway, so this suggestion of increased aggression is mostly for countering projectile players.

Tailn o wag4 years ago(+1)

I think also having it to where she could laser the projectiles if there is a bunch in the air (aka if you were spamming it) could be really good to show that she is not dumb to range. Though I feel if this was introduced it should only be at the latter half of battle first instead of the whole battle, as to create a better dynamic flow other than just use sword/just use projectile. Having it to where she can laser the projectiles at the latter half of battle/her health could show that she is a quick learner from experience.

Perhaps having my suggestion to where she can completely nullify a projectile by firing her eye beams at it might be a bit unfair, so maybe it should only happen after the projectile has been in the air for so long (so you would have to get a bit closer every time instead of remaining in a corner/not even being able to use ranged weapons at all).

Ryarod4 years ago(+1)

This is a particularly great suggestion. I like your idea here much more than I like any of the ones I proposed. I wish itch.io discussion boards were busier and more important places; I want your suggestion to be a seed we plant.

Your specification of projectile hang-time determining whether it gets disintegrated, and your proposition of it waiting until the latter half, each are particularly earning my obsessive reverence. They both give Mrs. Slitherss a way to defend against projectiles while offering balance, *and* in a way that would be fun to play against and around.

Also, lore/character-development squealer I am, I love the idea of Mrs. Slitherss being portrayed right down to gameplay, as you yourself point out, being "a quick learner from experience". This would cement her status as a teacher; the best teacher is a great learner.