God Challenges Feedback!

[caites]

2 challenges I really dislike :

 

- Wael challenge (or is that Skaen ?) :

I mean, seriously, one of the key points of the game (for me, at least) is to see big damage numbers.

With this challenge they're just gone, I'm Dark Souls'ing it there, it doesn't feel rewarding

 

- Abydon's challenge :

I get the whole repairing hardware thing.

I actually loved the iron crisis mod for BG1, which made un-enchanted magic items break.

Here however, I need to repair 4 times per dungeon on my tank, the hell is that.

The repair rate needs to be reduced very much, or higher tier (superb+) equipment needs to be unbreakable.

 

The Abydon's challenge also massively favors classes that aren't so dependent on gear, such as casters and monks.

I mean, you could make a wizard and not have to worry about repairing your armor and weapons ever.

 

 

I like Galawayn's challenge, it definitely adds to the difficulty and tactics dimension.

 

I have mixed feelings about the Eothas challenge.

I liked Tyranny's first edict where you need to take the spire before Kyros' day of swords, because after that the game let me play at my pace.

 

Abyddon's challenge's rate of weapon breaks is totally fine if you are not trying to stick it in some heavy armor u not supposed to penetrate. one can keep weapons with proper dmg type ready in other slots and it wont be breaking every fight. I also used to keep 2-3 spare generic/fine weapons ready in personal inventory, it makes weapon management during dungeon run way less distracting. 

Edited March 8, 2019 by caites

[Coldstate]

Really like the challenges, they definitely add much needed extra difficulty to my PotD runs.

 

Did one run ( main + BoW + SSS ) in PotD with these enabled:

- Beraths

- Abydon

- Skaen

- Ondra

- Woedica

- Rymngard

+ some Blessings like 5k gold at start, + 2 all attributes, and some other ones.

+ deadly deadfire 30 % experience point penalty mod.  By the end of SSS MC was lvl 18

Also self imposed iron man.

 

Beraths challenge adds to difficulty mostly in the early game when resurrection options during combat are low. Ship fights are also tough since non-party companions seem to have a death wish and healing them can be pain, keeping them well equipped helped a lot (don't think they use healing potions though). Made me play more safe.

 

Abydons challenge was probably the most difficult one ( and the best ), pure monk MC had it easy since fists don't break. Repair bill on high end equipment kept me from using those items for more than 1-2 fights ( tried to save em for the most difficult fights I could find ), other than that all those fine + exceptional items were all used until they were too damaged. Was nice that the damage didn't impact the sell value. Lost several key items during fights and had to change build few times because of it.

 

Skaen was taken mostly to make crawling in a dark dungeon with torches feel more spooky. Though it did affect some fights since I had to position my characters in a way I could see all enemies.

 

Ondra's challenge was bit meh. Sure you have to avoid the storms but unless time is an issue this doesn't really matter. The extra difficulty to ship combat felt a bit off, there were like no novice sailors in  the seas except for my crew. Omitted this challenge from future runs.

 

Woedica's challenge is really good, really liked the scarcity of class resources, can't go all out in every fight. Was really tough though with Rymngards challenge.

 

I have mixed opinion of Rymngards challenge ( mostly because of how it affects Woedica's challenge). In general I like it, but found myself constantly running to taverns to rest since most of the food (and many of the components they need ) expire in few days minus some drinks like forgetful night which lasts for 14 days. Its components (grog + arrack ?) also last 14 days so you could wait until the last expiration hour of the components to make the drink, essentially giving that food around 28 days until expiration ( assuming you get the components at the same time which didn't really happen ).

Never tried to store food in the captain's quarters cabinet ( the one where you find the blade shards ) , but I guess putting stuff there might halt the decay process? because animancy tech or something.

 

Tried and would use Galawain's challenge, but invisible boars or wurms are a bit too much for me immersion

 

Hylea's challenge seems interesting, another suicidal companion to babysit. Might try it some day.

[thelee]

Never tried to store food in the captain's quarters cabinet ( the one where you find the blade shards ) , but I guess putting stuff there might halt the decay process? because animancy tech or something.

Wow I never thought to do that! I'm going to be doing that now

[cokane]

I still feel like some kind of "Bronzeman" mode should be added to the game. Something between Ironman and regular play. It could either be -- can only save the game at an inn (and perhaps a handful of main plot specific areas, for example the opening beach on Maje.) That's my preferred version.

 

Or it could be that manual saving is disabled. You can only reload from the autosaves. Less preferable but perhaps easier to implement. Still works as a limited-save-reload challenge.

Edited April 9, 2019 by cokane

[Ouroboros226]

It's probably way to late now. But I think that every god challenge should have 2 variants to choose from. For example the weapons having to be repaired isn't difficult, just tedious. I hate time pressure in games. It's not that I can't beat the game like that, I'm confident I can, but what's the point if I will take absolutely no joy out of that challenge?     

  

So yeah. I think every god challenge should have 2 variations, where you pick one of them and any of the two will count. As an example. When you click Skaen's challenge (fog), you'd have another mutually exclusive choice in the split window of Skaen's challenge beneath it. Clicking the one under it being say - during night and indoors, your party suffers a random ailment when they are critically hit. Or that during night and indoors, using second wind also causes you to get sickened.   

  

Something that gives some agency in choosing a themed handicap for each god, but does not FORCE a single handicap someone absolutely hates. At the very least one could choose the lesser evil. My problem is that I completed the game triple crown. And I like the concept of god challenges providing even more difficulty. The problem is that some of the challenges - are just fundamentally unfun. It's not about these challenges being too easy or too difficult! It's about the challenges making the game more difficult in a way that makes it unable to be enjoyed.  

  

What I consider unfun and tedious, like say food spoiling, someone else might like. And one I like (galawain beast buffs), might be unfun for someone else. So in my opinion, each God challenge should have had at least 2 choices per god, so we can challenge ourselves by making the game harder. But without this compromising our actual enjoyment of the game. For me personally the best example is timed playthrough. How am I supposed to enjoy a rushed playthrough where my investment in my characters feels pointless because the game is now about... spending the least time on that character?!  And again someone might DO find that fun! It's personal preference.   

  

So the TL;DR would be: I really think the God challenges should have had 2 options per God where you pick one. Any one per god counts as completion. This way players could root out the challenges that they feel just destroys the joy of said playthrough. I want to be challenged. But tediums like time limit and repairing weapons, for me that makes that entire playthrough unenjoyable despite the fact I want to challenged more. I just don't like being challenged more, where the additional penalty is not enjoying the game at all.