That's been my experience as well. The more I learn how this game works the more disappointed I am. Its not that the game is too hard, its just hard for all the wrong reasons. When it comes to rpgs you want there to be a challenge but you also need to allow the player to have breathing room to develop and feel good about the progression of their character, this game fails at that because there are just too many mechanics nullifying any progress you make. Maybe its just me, but I never feel any better than I was before despite investing so much into raising stats because the fights are only getting longer and more of a slog. 1 standard 3 wave enemy fight feels like a whole side job mission.
The bullshit ive come across, before beating the level 3 boss:
1. Three wave fights are ridiculous, but ive ran into four wave fights before even reaching the level 3 boss. These are "endurance contests" for which you dont really have the endurance required.
2. Upgrades to skills are great, but costs are too high to reach and require upgrades on (at least?) level 2 to unlock.
3. Upgrades to the prison make absolutely no difference for your actual income, as they dont bring any benefit, whilst costing an arm and a leg to purchase. Just look at the bar upgrades, left side: the drink upgrades sound like something you would want to have, to increase the bars income, but that entire branch gives you like 50 bucks of income and a whole lot of expenses. One of the upgrades at level 2 cuts your subsidies (in my eyes - the only actual income you get) by 25%. Yeah... no. Theres more examples of upgrades being worthless in just the first 2 levels of the game, so ill stop here.
4. Riots destroying your top most infrastructure each time they happen. Wasting money, anyone? Getting insurance edicts could help, but not at the price of expenses they cost.
5. The only way to earn some money, outside of questionable sources some call "prison upgrades", are the job at the bar, and beating up the guards just outside your office (this one has short legs, as after a while the guards will start beating you, due to how their scaling works). Otherwise youre sitting on your hands and skipping days, waiting for dosh to trickle in (literally).
6. I have reached level caps multiple times (my highest was 36, i think?), thinking that trying to level up to the cap and going after the boss is the right answer. It is, and i was able to beat the boss (level 1 and 2) without much issue, but this is a long process, where i have to deal with multiple 3-4 wave groups just before the boss. Thats just not physically feasible, to fight 18-24 guys in a row just before a boss fight.
7. The MC develops some weird fetishes, that bring her pleasure after beating some schmucks. Pleasure can only be reduced by masturbating or getting fucked, and is preventing you from reducing fatigue when trying to sleep (another debuff, so now theres two of them). Going through a 3-4 wave fight is bound to leave you debuffed for the next incoming fight (see point 1 and 6). Masturbating isnt safe, as chances of inmates or guards walking in on you naked means you will get raped (buh bye virgin run).
8. Willpower skills to control desires... what are those for? You wont use them against 5 or 6 guys, as the fight is too short, while using them in a 18-24 guy fight is just a waste of willpower necessary to recover energy or boosting your damage/evasion.
9. While fights become nearly impossible after you get exhausted/debuffed with constant harassment, slutting your way through an entire prison block is not an issue. You even get a "battle victory" screen, after being thoroughly dicked down by everyone and their dog in a multi-wave gangbang. What? No "being dragged to your office by your imperial guards, after they go out and find you in this sorry state"? No "return to menu upon premature bad end"? Huh...
10. The "hidden" time limit. The difficulty selection mentions it, but never clearly states what it is. I have not played a game longer than the "next x days for order drop" timer to tick down, because ive either lost the will to play and restarted after hitting a brick wall, or lost due to a sudden order drop due to a riot (had to keep order low to make money - a tricky proposition in any scenario).
Yep. Gotta waste hundreds of hours on a rogue-like game to "git gud". I will give it one more go, but im very close now to the "
dropped, like an ugly baby" stance. The hentai scenes are great, but the gameplay isnt. Least the game should have a "rogue-like" warning on the tin.
