Finished up the Into The Abyss story stuff with a friend last night, and I have a list of Things That Make The Game Less Fun And Should Be Fixed.

I'll write up a bigger list later/separately, but topping it are the ridiculous Raw Science prices to progress and the insult-to-injury RS cost of any cosmetics that you might want to buy if you ever get enough to unlock everything you NEED first.

Here's where my duo run stands. We have 3240 Raw Science banked, and here's what we have left to unlock and the Raw Science cost of it:

• Toe Biter Buggies: 5,000

• Hotpouch Upgrade II: 10,000

• Cookbook: Gnarly Bark: 3,000

• Underwater Cooking: 3000

• Cookbook: Fairy House: 2500

• Mushroom Floors: 2500

• Buoyant Foundation: 2500

• Bur Trap Door: 1500

• Pinecone Roofs: 2500

• Science Rugs: 2500

• Feather Roofs: 2500

• Sign Sets: Buccaneer, Swim, Garden, Fuzz, Twin Pines: 3000 EACH FOR A WHOPPING COSMETIC SIGN TOTAL COST OF 15 THOUSAND RAW SCIENCE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

Total cost to unlock everything: 52,500 RAW SCIENCE

It should be noted this is a run-through we've been playing since Grounded 2 launched, we've been almost everywhere we can, grabbed every bit of Raw Science we could, and scanned everything. And we're over FIFTY THOUSAND short of buying anything, and the path to getting any of that ahead of us isn't just painful, it's insulting.

Science Gains Ridiculously Low
During our finale Into The Abyss I picked up a few more new items to scan and Grounded 2 was kind enough to give me a one-time bonus of 30 Raw Science for each of them. I must tell you that when we were looking at the Science costs and I scanned that in, I got very, very angry at whoever has decided the costs and the Raw Science payouts. Probably two different people, because there's no way "congrats on scanning a new thing, here's 1% of what you'll need to buy ANYTHING, but you can't ever scan it again" was thought up by one person trying to make a game that's fun.

We've run the first two Mix.Rs twice each. First time each got us 3,000, but then the reward drops to 1,000 per defense. We have one more that we can run, that'll get us another 3,000 for its first run.

Science Problems
OK, so we'll run the last Mix.R, get our last 3k reward, buy our Toe Biter Buggies and then...

THEN WHAT BOB?!

DO WE RUN MIX.R EVENTS OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER until we've made the 50k to unlock COSMETICS?!

Do I go out and find out if some 100 Raw Science rewards have respawned and grab them 500 times?

Utter madness! Ridiculous!

"Want a Cookbook? Run a Mix.R event 3 times"
"Want another one? Do it another 3 times"
"Want another one? Do it another 3 times"
"Want another hotbar? Do it 10 times"
"Want some cosmetic signs? Run the Mix.R 3 times. Each"
"Want all of these things? Do the same nonsense you didn't sign up for and honestly is the least fun part of the game (raids) 50 times"

The Abyss' Insult To Injury
The finale of Into The Abyss involves going so deep that we start walking around molten flows of Raw Science. The entire time I was down there I couldn't stop thinking "Surely there's a mother-lode of Raw Science down here to even out the costs!"

Hahaha, no. Raw Science all around you, not even ONE pickup that I can remember while we were down there. And constantly on my mind as I'm down there trying to find the "Pond Moss" to build the eventual Toe Biter Buggie was the massive Raw Science cost of that buggie and everything else we wanted.

And not ONE drop, certainly not anything worthy of "We are literally walking on top of rivers of Raw Science". We got to the "You've reached the end of current story content" and my heart dropped.

Here's What I Don't Want
I don't want Mix.Rs with higher difficulties and bigger payouts, but that's what I'm expecting as an easy patch. Raids were the least fun part of Grounded 1, they're still the least fun part of Grounded 2, and the idea of manually repeating that experience dozens of times has me mentally giving up on the game entirely instead, and go play some other game's more-fun grind that actually pays out decent rewards for stuff with reasonable costs.

Getting things in a game is fun. Having to do a bit of work to get those things can also be fun.

This Raw Science mountain ahead of us, and the Grounded 2 solutions to it are awful. Painful. They make me a bit angry every time I think about it. You've put something in the game that makes me angry and not want to play. I won't be doing this dumb grind now, and the idea of restarting the game fresh when it launches and having to do it again has me thinking of just moving on. Seriously.

What I Do Want
Payouts need to increase massively. 30 science for scanning a new item is an insult, and for the love of game design, put some BIG Raw Science rewards down in The Abyss. The joy I would've felt by finding a several 1K Raw Sciences down there when those massive costs were constantly on my mind would've meant I'd be joyful about the end of the game instead of annoyed at the MASSIVE HILL I still have in front of me despite "being done".

I can't even afford the new damned buggie without having to GRIND MULTIPLE MIX.Rs, which, again, is the least fun part of this game. I'm here for a survival game, not a tower defense grind.

Oh wait I FORGOT RANGER CHALLENGES!

We have 4 of those left that pay out 800, 800, 800 and another one that's locked but will give 1k

One of those three for 800 is "Craft Tadpoloca Pudding"

The cost to unlock the ability to craft Tadpolocal Pudding?

2500: MORE THAN THREE TIMES THAT

That's right, if I pay 2500 Raw Science to unlock a cookbook I'll barely use and cook one thing from it I'll get a whopping 800 more Raw Science back!

This is an 800 Raw Science reward for people that've already grinded every other important thing first, and not at all anything I would call "help" for anyone that might need it. It's a tiny bonus for people who are nearly done and an insult to everyone else desperately trying to find out how to get the Raw Science they need.

(Also I've dashed 3 times in Underwater Combat every time I'm in Underwater Combat and have never got even one of the 3 credits for it, but that I suspect is just a bug)