There's a fair bit I have to say to your post so I'll split it up as I go.
That Mermaiden mod came pretty late into Hachina's development didn't it? I wouldn't really expect a ton of stuff to transfer over. Especially when more complicated stuff was getting cut.
Actually in the grand scheme of it all...it didn't the truth is a bit more hidden....as while Mission Mermaiden came out in
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and MCSwagger's mod came out a bit over a year later at
30/11/2021 while Hachina wasn't considered even for release dates until
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which prior to that the Dev team I recall had taken notice of MCSwagger's mod and commended it I believe (no idea when). So while they were
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of MCSwagger's mod release it was still relatively early since the alpha wasn't released until
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This alpha release actually
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to be pushed back by at least an year across the board. Most likely in response to feedback from said alpha which didn't even include the first boss at the time I recall, so they made changes at that time and could have infused MCSwagger's magic into the game though they had thought that they were halfway through development maybe. (which turned out to be more like a third/quater since they were worrying about delaying again later on we found out)
If you played the demo you might remember the Endless Cave boss being different. More complicated, using the downward-kick attack.
It feels like, to me, that probably a bunch of stuff might have been changed to make the game more straight forward. Whether it was because of time, programming problems, or ideas not working out - who knows.
Yep I recall when the Beta demo came out with the 1st boss that I found it hard to beat and never actually thought of using the downward kick attack to move the stone blocks although they moved. Mainly because I was pressed for time in the fight, through my game dev course I learnt that now what they should have done is introduce that alongside breaking floors as they had done so already, however they did not. The reason for them removing the stones that I've heard/seen is that it was causing a few issues if not many behind the scenes. (although I didn't encounter any in the demo so might have been later in the game)
I think the devs did intend this game to be more ambitious. Having side quests, a deeper story with more characters, and a more complicated map does imply that.
I fully agree with this and feel so much so that they wanted and did plan to do more since the shop is so small in what it contained and the lake area being teased (I feel more so for the Final Boss encounter to happen then maybe or warn of it) since in the release it's so empty and unused....it feels wasted, similar to the extended bug cave since the only way out of that area is by the flute and the checkpoint/teleport point there is useless too. So things do seem to have been cut.
You can see with the movement abilities, stomp and upward attack, both being used to add to the exploration - but not being used more than once to go to new paths - that there were intentions to be more Metroid-like.
And I think that it all boils down to one thing: making a Metroid-like is way tougher than a straightforward RPG like Undercrust, or simple level select like Mermaiden.
They had those abilities kinda in Mermaiden just they were putting those abilities to effect the world itself instead of just enemies. But also do more with them as you said to become more Metroid-like. Characters and interactions were initially planned to occur differently too I feel as well since in the development posts I saw stuff that is different to how it is in the release which makes me feel that they had the story and basic assets sorted very early on since we had Fox lady teased before the Alpha demo even.
For me, I'm happy this didn't stay in development hell. We get a cute story, some fun quests, and a nice bunch of sexy content. That makes me excited for their next game!
I have been watching them since Undercrust slightly and then more so with Mission Mermaiden and I can see their attempts to constantly experiment and improve their games at each step since Mermaiden attempted various things which didn't turn out well that MCSwagger did improve on with their mod. This can be seen in this game even which I feel is more so of them attempting to more so improve what they introduced in Mermaiden while adding in the open world, crafting and H-grappling talk systems. BUT.....
When the demo came out, people were confused by how tough the first boss was. Who do you balance the game for? How do you balance porn? How video game work? Who knows. At some point in making anything you have to make a decision on where to take a project and when to stop features creeping in. You can't keep reworking things. Time isn't infinite, not even for an indie team.
This is where the team I feel keeps failing as in Mermaiden they failed to really make the difficulty system be different enough so that Abyssal was hardcore which MCSwagger made it become. This is by a few things though at the core of the problem is the team itself, why?
Because I wonder if the Dev team in off the backs of Mission Mermaiden thought that they could knock another game out of the park easily while experimenting and rushed more than they should have only to slow down as a result of the Alpha and Beta demo feedback's waking them up maybe....resulting in them having time to add in MCSwagger's stuff still but maybe instead wanting to not change more than they had to possibly as they feared going to 2024 maybe or further.
The Dev team as a result has shown I believe at this point that they let the success of Mermaiden sweep them away and as a result force them to comprise and focus on using time well after realizing that they had messed up and didn't have the fund to fully continue too much longer comfortably. (Game went from originally wanting to be a 2 year production to 3 years upon release but feared to go further beyond....so maybe 4 years)
So yeah....they could have put in MCSwagger's mod changes it wasn't a change that they maybe wanted to do or felt that they could do after the alpha release and then the beta release which brought forward more changes and problems as a result of them not managing the project and scope correctly for their bugdets. (which now maybe smaller as a result of Hachina depending on if gains more sales since it's behind Mermaiden by about 9k sales currently on DLsite) Maybe the next game they'll improve upon what they have while not destroying part of what they've built up.
Anyway uh sorry for the ramble answer there.....hope it wasn't too much as pretty much all of it is my own thoughts as I'm not too sure about Hachina compared to Mermaiden yet myself though I do see/understand what people have said about it.
