Stygian Flowers

(R18) Trudge through the underworld. · By viroa

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this game is far too hard (not in a good way)

A topic by ManofManyBees created Apr 17, 2023 Views: 921 Replies: 9

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ManofManyBees1 year ago(+1)(-1)

Hey buddy, I know I'm some asshole on the internet and you probably don't care what I'm about to say but, this game is way too hard . not in a fun and engaging way but in a cheap and unfair way. now since I've seen no one else talk about this I'm going to assume this is a probably with me but I'm still going to mention it.

Enemies do far to much damage it's ridiculous. I originally had a bunch of problems I wanted to share but they all stemmed from the same issue, enemies kill you far too fast, I get you want them to be tough since there are only a few fights but two hits killing you is cheap and unfair. I'm not a game designer nor is this my game but I recommend dropping all enemy damage by 50-60% this may seem drastic I promise you the game will be better for it because in this current state it is far to unfair to be enjoyable. And this game is good, the artwork is great the writing is great, hell even the combat can be great if it was a little more balanced.

feel free to ignore me, I don't know best but I thought I'd give my two cents.

viroaDeveloper1 year ago (1 edit) (+3)

Sorry, it just might not be your cup of tea as a puzzle game. The game went through multiple rounds of playtesting, and it's already at a far easier difficulty than I first imagined as you can brute force all of the main fights with a single build. I've had people tell me it's too simple and easy sometimes, and I've had people tell me it's far too hard. That's why I put a cheat item in the game that let's you skip all the main fight: because I know the combat is not for everyone. If it helps, you should reconceptualize the game as a series of gimmick fights where you have to find and solve the "trick".

That said, I greatly appreciate you taking the time to write feedback out for me. Ultimately I know this is more like a conflict of expectations, and I'm not quite sure how to phrase it better than what I've already done in the description.

Sword King Intra's biggest fan236 days ago

hey dev, i wanted to ask if there is like a guide or any way to make this game easier? i love the story a lot, but like i'm not into hyper complicated puzzles (and also stuck on fourth riverbed lol), i want to see the true ending but since you can't use the broadsword on the optional fights i am really at a loss here

viroaDeveloper236 days ago

Since it's been so long since the game came out, I don't mind writing out some help. You only need to beat three fragments to access the true end, so you can choose the three you find easiest. For the fourth fragment, if I remember correctly, you can Guard with Thorn, use Rita's Impervious, and Felt's Scapegoat on Thorn to straight up tank the first Beckoning. Then refill Thorn's mana with Killing Drive and then you can use Shock and Cover+Elusive Winds to survive long enough to beat them down. If you want to RNG it, you can use Elusive Winds on someone and pray the Fragment lands the 1/4 chance to whiff their attack. Personally, I'd just pick the first three Fragments since they're pretty simple to deal with.

Sword King Intra's biggest fan236 days ago (1 edit)

thank you for the help! do you have any tips on the optional final boss? i was using save edits to get through the fights up to her, but she is so strong i can't even use that to beat her lol, also just gonna say, your art style and writing are very cool, i've been looking for sword-master related media with like a bit of a surreal touch incessantly ever since i read ksbd for the first time, i just love the themes, it's a shame i'm not very good at puzzles to experience this incredible piece of media in it's entirety!

viroaDeveloper236 days ago

Thank you for the kind words! There's actually nothing after that boss, it's just a bonus fight for people who liked the puzzle combat enough to fight it. Maybe like 3 lines of dialogue but you're not missing anything, and I made sure to put the real important stuff right before. She's not meant to be "beat" either, just stalled out. If you want some tips though, you definitely need to write down all of her moves and time the survival skills to block them. Abuse Felt's cooldown reduction skill to make sure those skills come back in time for a second cycle. You can replace cover with one of Felt's taunt skills to funnel all of her single-target one-shots to a party member you can repeatedly tank it with.

Sword King Intra's biggest fan235 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

i went back to Katia to see the ending and holy shittt, i love it so much, i don't know what drove you to write katia's and lyra's relationship like that, but i certainly could see myself in their shoes, it was very emotional and i adored it, i actually really enjoyed the last fight against that boss (the save-edit bugged for some reason? so i had normal stats), which is rare since i'm not very much into puzzles, just in general, thank you for all the help with beating the game also thank you for making such a great game, i made an account just to ask for help with the game, so i might as well follow you, to get notified on any future games you might make or smth, in general, thank you for everything!

viroaDeveloper235 days ago

I'm really glad you enjoyed it! The game performs a reset on Lyra's settings right before so I can force you to play the gimmick fight as intended, so it worked out perfectly in the end for you! Also a small thing, but I'd really appreciate it if you edited your post to hide the name of the last encounter since aren't any spoiler tags for some reason. As for future games, there aren't any planned, but I'll be posting on my twitter about the next project I work on. It's coming... soonish? Won't be anything like Stygian Flowers, though.

Sword King Intra's biggest fan235 days ago(+1)

Alright, will do!

account000691 year ago(-3)

just use the broadsword. it's unplayable otherwise imo. if someone says it is easy they're either lying or should be doing Elden Ring no-hit, no-armour, no-fun speedruns instead

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Stygian Flowers

this game is far too hard (not in a good way)