Also forgot to mention, yes. More quests. Even if it's just a few, it'll be good to have more context for going out adventuring Mainly because I like to feel like I'm going out on a mission, and not just wandering around like a goon waiting to run into people to fight.
The AOE arousal spell hits all three and the real one reacts differently from the clones. (effective on clones, not on the real one? Or maybe the reverse)
Even then though, their position-switching means that locating the real one might not last longer than the turn you just spent, so there's little point.
Binding is effective on the real one, and might stop her switching position, but I'm not sure.
Ideally, you'd want an AOE bind/stun that the real Shizu likes and the clones don't care about, so you could stop them all from moving and locate the real one 100% of the time, but the game doesn't seem to have one of those.
Personally, I just strike out at random with the whip. The real one can't take more than three hits from me, so I usually win after a couple of turns of random flailing.
Upon further overthinking. I've come to the conclusion that I don't much like the luck stat (or luck stats in general) But can't really think of any solid reason to remove/change it, nor what an alternative could be. So I don't know if I ought to be griping. Buuut, I'mma do it anyway with the caveat that this is just me putting my thoughts into words, and nothing else.
Itemizing my rambling bitching and moaning by tying each one to parts of what Luck does seems like the best way to get things across, so starting with crit chance/crit resistance.
This kind of thing pops up in other games, even ones without a luck stat often have ways of increasing crit chance. On paper it's not a bad idea, crits are fun, who doesn't want to get more? (and the inverse is true, since getting crit isn't fun and who doesn't want to avoid that?) But I myself usually find it preferable to get more reliable regular damage, instead of putting in points to maybe sometimes get a big bonus. (same with crit reduction, I'd rather have enough arousal to tank more hits than getting a bigger chance to not take one.
The miscellaneous bonuses to hit chance, evasion, initiative, damage, restraint escape, all fall under the same general gripe for me. Basically, if I wanted to boost one of these things, I prefer to raise a stat for a more significant raise in one or two things, than use a point for a less noticeable boost.
Getting more loot is the one thing I can't say I really don't like. But at the same time, due to the fact that you usually have enough money for whatever you need in time, it's kinda eh.
All in all I just prefer to spend points on stuff that has a more immediately noticeable impact on performance. This being said, however, I think it's just a build preference, and isn't indicative of any flaw in Luck stats as a whole
I feel like the Luck stat could potentially see more use if some kind of Job/Class system was involved, where something like a Rogue would focus on using Technique and Luck for things like unique skills.
Of course, while I do love me some Jobs/Classes, that's yet another thing that the game balance doesn't seem to account for, or necessarily need.
The AOE arousal spell hits all three and the real one reacts differently from the clones. (effective on clones, not on the real one? Or maybe the reverse)
Even then though, their position-switching means that locating the real one might not last longer than the turn you just spent, so there's little point.
Binding is effective on the real one, and might stop her switching position, but I'm not sure.
Ideally, you'd want an AOE bind/stun that the real Shizu likes and the clones don't care about, so you could stop them all from moving and locate the real one 100% of the time, but the game doesn't seem to have one of those.
Personally, I just strike out at random with the whip. The real one can't take more than three hits from me, so I usually win after a couple of turns of random flailing.
My strat with Shizu and Vili is to let them put me in stances. The clones die in 1-2 hits from an AOE, so I can tank it until finding the original. I don't think Shizu position swaps unless you kill a clone, does she?
My strat with Shizu and Vili is to let them put me in stances. The clones die in 1-2 hits from an AOE, so I can tank it until finding the original. I don't think Shizu position swaps unless you kill a clone, does she?
No,she doesn't,she only swaps if the clones are all gone and that's pretty much the same strat I use,let her get me in bj stance,AOE arouse,then just finish her off with something like multi thrust or pound.
Oh yeah, I remember that fight. It was pretty tough, but I brute forced it with magic bind and electrify. For some reason it never occurs to me to use AoEs.
I feel like the Luck stat could potentially see more use if some kind of Job/Class system was involved, where something like a Rogue would focus on using Technique and Luck for things like unique skills.
Of course, while I do love me some Jobs/Classes, that's yet another thing that the game balance doesn't seem to account for, or necessarily need.
True, and it's not like I never touch Luck. It's just that Luck is always the last thing I raise after all my other stats are high enough for me to get by if my goto magic isn't optimal.
There's something I've been thinking about, and I feel like the game could use more variety in terms of character poses. Right now a majority of the characters stay in the same static pose, just switching facial expressions. Maybe it could solve one of the "issues" of incorporating art for h-scenes, where instead of having full dedicated artwork there'd be a different "sexy" pose? Or even stuff for status effects/stances, if you've used a binding skill on an enemy their pose would change to reflect that? Of course, this would be quite a bit of effort and would require new artwork for enemies/NPCs that already exist. Aiko having her "flashing" pose is something already in the game, even if the overall posture is similar to her regular standing pose. Sophia having the completely different art for her "awakened" form is sort of another example, but not entirely what I'm thinking of.
I guess a good example for "what I'm thinking of" could be described using the Manticore/Kaia. When she has her tail open I feel like she should be in a pose to try and accentuate her tail more, rather than just standing the exact same way that she normally does. If we take a look at Alma Elma from Monster Girl Quest, she has a very similar scenario involving a tail with an orifice, and when using it she gets a unique pose.
I think it'd be worth it in the long term. Though knowing the realities of it, it'd take a while. What do you reckon? I figure working in alt poses where applicable would be best done a bit at a time, alongside the other art work being done. Or perhaps waiting and doing it in one big ass update might make it easier to focus on getting at least 1 character art done for everyone first.
I think it'd really depend on how far they'd want to go with it. Focusing on more significant/named characters who could benefit from more specific poses, like the Kaia tail example, or Mika in the stockade, would be a good start.
If I were to try and order what I'd prioritize, greatest to lowest:
Siginificant/named characters' more unique & specific poses (Kaia's tail, Mika's stockade, etc.)
Different poses for significant/named characters for less specific scenarios, like a more "seductive" or "sexy" pose for when there's an h-scene involved or they have you in a bind or position
Visual differences when status effects are involved for significant/named characters, like if they're powered up or have been bound
The same order above but for the more generic monsters, like the mountain's minotaur
There's something I've been thinking about, and I feel like the game could use more variety in terms of character poses. Right now a majority of the characters stay in the same static pose, just switching facial expressions. Maybe it could solve one of the "issues" of incorporating art for h-scenes, where instead of having full dedicated artwork there'd be a different "sexy" pose? Or even stuff for status effects/stances, if you've used a binding skill on an enemy their pose would change to reflect that? Of course, this would be quite a bit of effort and would require new artwork for enemies/NPCs that already exist. Aiko having her "flashing" pose is something already in the game, even if the overall posture is similar to her regular standing pose. Sophia having the completely different art for her "awakened" form is sort of another example, but not entirely what I'm thinking of.
I guess a good example for "what I'm thinking of" could be described using the Manticore/Kaia. When she has her tail open I feel like she should be in a pose to try and accentuate her tail more, rather than just standing the exact same way that she normally does. If we take a look at Alma Elma from Monster Girl Quest, she has a very similar scenario involving a tail with an orifice, and when using it she gets a unique pose. View attachment 534653
In that example that would be two entirely separate character art cgs. So two commissions in that case.
And there's a lot of characters in this.
So obviously more story important/major characters would get priority for stuff like this, such as Sofia.
There's something I've been thinking about, and I feel like the game could use more variety in terms of character poses. Right now a majority of the characters stay in the same static pose, just switching facial expressions. Maybe it could solve one of the "issues" of incorporating art for h-scenes, where instead of having full dedicated artwork there'd be a different "sexy" pose? Or even stuff for status effects/stances, if you've used a binding skill on an enemy their pose would change to reflect that? Of course, this would be quite a bit of effort and would require new artwork for enemies/NPCs that already exist. Aiko having her "flashing" pose is something already in the game, even if the overall posture is similar to her regular standing pose. Sophia having the completely different art for her "awakened" form is sort of another example, but not entirely what I'm thinking of.
I guess a good example for "what I'm thinking of" could be described using the Manticore/Kaia. When she has her tail open I feel like she should be in a pose to try and accentuate her tail more, rather than just standing the exact same way that she normally does. If we take a look at Alma Elma from Monster Girl Quest, she has a very similar scenario involving a tail with an orifice, and when using it she gets a unique pose. View attachment 534653
Fairly recently discovered this game, so first off tks to Threshold for the work. To chime in on the current topic though, I really like scenarios and characters more than art in large world games like this and I doubt I'm the only one. The artwork is quite good, and having several expressions is great, but from my perspective more content w/ a minimum of stances (with 2+ expressions) is superior to slowing content release for a few more stances even if that's only limited to main characters. Not that I'm opposed to stances, in fact having a visually accurate image of the combat scenario at any given time would be godly, but personally I'd rather see more content than more pictures-per-character.
Also, apologies if I'm wrong but the Henesys theme in the menu is somewhat distracting; Maplestory has amazing background music but I kinda assume it is copyrighted?
So continuing my play thorough of testing every known variable and situation and this suddenly happened:
... what? Placeholder text? Again, I haven't added any new mods in ages and deleted the Test Imp mod. How does that show up? Also Camilia brought her twin sister or something to watch now apparently.
So continuing my play thorough of testing every known variable and situation and this suddenly happened:
... what? Placeholder text? Again, I haven't added any new mods in ages and deleted the Test Imp mod. How does that show up? Also Camilia brought her twin sister or something to watch now apparently.
Just to chime in on the art discussion before I move on to update news, while having art variants to support stances and poses would be nice, it would also require massive amounts of funding in addition to time for the artists to create all of said pieces of art given the average costs for each commission. So more support for the game would also help towards this end.
On the note of support, there is currently a poll going on for Patreons to show interests in various species of monster girls. Given that this is just a vote and the options were shared on Discord, it should be fine to share them here as well to tantalize any potential future supporters. The options of the poll can be seen in the following spoiler:
Needless to say, I am a fan of all of these options. Although, I imagine one of the options is of particular interest to you, icollectsouls, given your predilection for a certain variety of equine monster girl.
Now as for more news with regards to the update, there will now also be something of a tutorial run of the Forest before the player is allowed to craft their own adventures there and explore on their own similar to how the Mountains and Caverns also have preset initial runs. This first run will be more forgiving especially in light of some first time players making the in-game lore about many adventurers giving up their career and settling down with the first elf they meet a real world statistic by quitting the title after having an initial hard run and encountering the double elf ambush on their first adventure. So if anyone has experienced a tough initial run when first trying the game, hopefully this change will prevent such an experience and boost player retention.
As a final piece of development news, work on the game will be slow for the next week as Threshold is visiting family. So the update may take just a little longer than initially planned. That said, Threshold works quite hard on this title, so them taking a break for once is a good thing from my perspective, better than eventually burning out from constantly working at a brisk pace.
I do hope that everyone interested in this news finds this at least a little useful.
Just to chime in on the art discussion before I move on to update news, while having art variants to support stances and poses would be nice, it would also require massive amounts of funding in addition to time for the artists to create all of said pieces of art given the average costs for each commission. So more support for the game would also help towards this end.
On the note of support, there is currently a poll going on for Patreons to show interests in various species of monster girls. Given that this is just a vote and the options were shared on Discord, it should be fine to share them here as well to tantalize any potential future supporters. The options of the poll can be seen in the following spoiler:
Needless to say, I am a fan of all of these options. Although, I imagine one of the options is of particular interest to you, icollectsouls, given your predilection for a certain variety of equine monster girl.
Now as for more news with regards to the update, there will now also be something of a tutorial run of the Forest before the player is allowed to craft their own adventures there and explore on their own similar to how the Mountains and Caverns also have preset initial runs. This first run will be more forgiving especially in light of some first time players making the in-game lore about many adventurers giving up their career and settling down with the first elf they meet a real world statistic by quitting the title after having an initial hard run and encountering the double elf ambush on their first adventure. So if anyone has experienced a tough initial run when first trying the game, hopefully this change will prevent such an experience and boost player retention.
As a final piece of development news, work on the game will be slow for the next week as Threshold is visiting family. So the update may take just a little longer than initially planned. That said, Threshold works quite hard on this title, so them taking a break for once is a good thing from my perspective, better than eventually burning out from constantly working at a brisk pace.
I do hope that everyone interested in this news finds this at least a little useful.
Just make it clear somehow the player needs to complete a "true" forest run afterwards to unlock another area. Maybe I was just dumb, but my first playthrough I beat the forest over and over without figuring out I had another area. I might have quit if I didn't see there was an encounter (the glade) that I hadn't gotten.
