Unity Price for Freedom: Avarice [Build 36 Beta 1] [Team Dead Deer]

[sadfasdsfsfdsfds]

Love the game. Setting is interesting, characters are fun and scenes are gorgerous. And let's not forget the phenomenal music! Also it's more of a "game" in a game sense (if that makes some sense).

Anyway there is still few things I think could be improved:

- performance, oh my god the performance. I know it's more of Unity thing, but I swear, during fights it gets worse and in the first big dungeon (the Whispering Bandits quest), the performance gets really really ugly. I had to make multiple saves, restart the game completely (quit the game -> start it again), cause either the fighting menu didn't collapse after a fight, or because I couldn't open containers or even something else.
- the big dungeon. I love the idea, I love the feel of it, but as mentioned performance suffer because of it. Maybe it would be better to split it into 4-6 levels as opposed to current 2?
- still regarding the big dungeon - currently you need to more or less go through a whole dungeon. I think one should be able to "have a shortcut" regarding how you did previously. For example: the artifact you get from Eastman could be used to open the doors without the need of mercury and blood. There was also a piece of dialogue from Pastor Roddis regarding her key that it was used to get to the private chambers, but alas you still need to do the whole dungeon for mercury and blood. Maybe it would be better to put this key on some very hard enemy/a miniboss that would be completely optional?
- skills - I have found myself using only the default skills that comes with characters. They are by far the most optimal currently. I know the skill trees will be later expanded on, but so far "default attack > everything else".
- fighting mechanics could be better explained. For example during the very first fight in the prologue, our companion could explain portions of it - "cards system", targeting limbs, action points, stamina bar etc. I felt very lost at the beginning, but after several hours I got the hang of it. Still, a something to consider.
- small suggestion - let us use bandages outside of fights. I have found myself not using them during battles (unnecessary, cause fights are easy), but after the battle my character have bleeding status. And while food can be used to help it, I'm sitting on huge pile of bandages and it would be nice to use them too.

Aside that the game is amazing, I'm waiting for future updates. Devs do the wonderful job (performance aside). Oh and in the meantime I've read the comic, can't wait for more here too.

 

[Anon46245]

Any possibility of a compressed version?

 

[Valaska]

Love the game. Setting is interesting, characters are fun and scenes are gorgerous. And let's not forget the phenomenal music! Also it's more of a "game" in a game sense (if that makes some sense).

Anyway there is still few things I think could be improved:

- performance, oh my god the performance. I know it's more of Unity thing, but I swear, during fights it gets worse and in the first big dungeon (the Whispering Bandits quest), the performance gets really really ugly. I had to make multiple saves, restart the game completely (quit the game -> start it again), cause either the fighting menu didn't collapse after a fight, or because I couldn't open containers or even something else.
- the big dungeon. I love the idea, I love the feel of it, but as mentioned performance suffer because of it. Maybe it would be better to split it into 4-6 levels as opposed to current 2?
- still regarding the big dungeon - currently you need to more or less go through a whole dungeon. I think one should be able to "have a shortcut" regarding how you did previously. For example: the artifact you get from Eastman could be used to open the doors without the need of mercury and blood. There was also a piece of dialogue from Pastor Roddis regarding her key that it was used to get to the private chambers, but alas you still need to do the whole dungeon for mercury and blood. Maybe it would be better to put this key on some very hard enemy/a miniboss that would be completely optional?
- skills - I have found myself using only the default skills that comes with characters. They are by far the most optimal currently. I know the skill trees will be later expanded on, but so far "default attack > everything else".
- fighting mechanics could be better explained. For example during the very first fight in the prologue, our companion could explain portions of it - "cards system", targeting limbs, action points, stamina bar etc. I felt very lost at the beginning, but after several hours I got the hang of it. Still, a something to consider.
- small suggestion - let us use bandages outside of fights. I have found myself not using them during battles (unnecessary, cause fights are easy), but after the battle my character have bleeding status. And while food can be used to help it, I'm sitting on huge pile of bandages and it would be nice to use them too.

Aside that the game is amazing, I'm waiting for future updates. Devs do the wonderful job (performance aside). Oh and in the meantime I've read the comic, can't wait for more here too.

Ahhh- performance, I don't think it has to do with Unity, it's more that we haven't done too much in optimization right now and we do have a few graphic-heavy post-processing effects which could really surprise people on older hardware which you can turn down! The Fog of War I find really helps with my ancient R9 290x.

Splitting Whispering Brook up might... have been a lot smarter than what we ended up doing. We will have to address it, maybe make the area with Roddis into a rest and relaxation area where you can come back to, maybe have a little bartering. I was thinking of adding a few village members who are more under Roddis' influence than Mara's and they could be minor vendors etc. Maybe we could even add in some more side-quests to break up the main quest.

Hmmm, the artifact being an alternative key eh. Interesting idea, it could give a bonus to keeping it and another benefit to meeting Roddis even if you have given it over to them. That's a good thought! I'll jot it down.

-----

Combat is FUBAR atm! Well, not FUBAR but we haven't honestly addressed the issues of combat and such yet. So skills aren't at the place we want them to be currently, we do plan on addressing and solving this Soon.tm, there will be even more specializations and such and even skills you pick up for clearing companion quests, random quests... and even hidden diegetic lore-choices.

For sure we 100% plan out to include a tutorial at the start. We really, really, really should have done it already, or rather when we first made the game... but we were completely swamped and had no idea how we would evolve our combat system eventually.

small suggestion - let us use bandages outside of fights.

We have some ideas around rest and recovery between fights etc and it will always be capped out to a maximum unless you come to a campsite and are able to rest up fully. It's part of our persistent damage and balancing thing to slow people down a bit and make combat really tactical and impactful, we do plan on having some more clever ways to save you from taking full out damage though.

 

[J2400]

Wait, how do you actually get the first Hiho scene? I'm replaying in a newer version, and thought I did everything correct, still ending with the dinner at Nathan's inn.
First time I triggered Iski's scene instead, but I tried replaying and triggering that before finishing Scales of Justice, but that just means I get no scene instead of Iski's.

Combat is FUBAR atm!

Really? Because I've actually had fun trying it out instead of skipping in my replay.

 

[Valaska]

Wait, how do you actually get the first Hiho scene? I'm replaying in a newer version, and thought I did everything correct, still ending with the dinner at Nathan's inn.
First time I triggered Iski's scene instead, but I tried replaying and triggering that before finishing Scales of Justice, but that just means I get no scene instead of Iski's.


Really? Because I've actually had fun trying it out instead of skipping in my replay.

We moved it to the inn, I personally can't remember how it's handled now as a trigger, deck made the change and could tell us how it's done.

Really? Because I've actually had fun trying it out instead of skipping in my replay.

There's definitely a lot of good bones for our combat system, but the meat of it and what the player sees/interacts with is what needs to be gutted and redone. Balancing as well hasn't been done, our skills and such. We've a lot of work ahead of us to get combat to a point we are truly happy with it.

 

[ArbuzBudesh]

Hiho scene moved to happen after 2nd quest over 1st one, plus happens in the inn now.

 

[J2400]

Hiho scene moved to happen after 2nd quest over 1st one, plus happens in the inn now.

Just want to say, been a huge fan of your work for a very long time.
Any plans on us ever getting to bed Mara in her disguised form?

 

[ArbuzBudesh]

While we are not ruling out bedding mara more, but it's not in the plans right now. Specially given we have option to cut her off in the story makes additional scene for her low prio.

 

[Jonathan Y]

While we are not ruling out bedding mara more, but it's not in the plans right now. Specially given we have option to cut her off in the story makes additional scene for her low prio.

Oh really ? Could you give me a little spoiler-y tidbit on wether we'll get more Lady Wolf scenes ? Or how major a part she'll play in Redic's journey ?

 

[LordDark97]

how to convince mara?

 

[ArbuzBudesh]

Could you give me a little spoiler-y tidbit

No.

 

[Valaska]

Just want to say, been a huge fan of your work for a very long time.
Any plans on us ever getting to bed Mara in her disguised form?

I personally have plans around the scenarios and have planned the structure they would go in, but we need to be able to ensure we can clear our other content (Main story quest, companions) before we build more lewd scenes outside of our planned mainline content.

I already have a bunch of content written for Whispering Brook's aftermath states, Redemption, Corruption, and Death. Stage 1 of aftermath could be implemented at any time we get spare time, stage 2 is mostly finished and will be the permanent state of Whispering Brook as far as I have planned. You might have already seen that Mara shows up a couple of times after!

Oh really ? Could you give me a little spoiler-y tidbit on wether we'll get more Lady Wolf scenes ? Or how major a part she'll play in Redic's journey ?

We won't say anything on scenes other than, chances are good. Lady Wolf has been established as the anchor point for Redic and what he's doing, so she will continue to play a vital role and will be a presence throughout the entire narrative.

how to convince mara?

There are medical journals to fine, prisoner to speak with, and somethings on the top layer I think Eastman is part of it and the notes about the teen Porter that went between Tiemon and Mara.

 

[Jonathan Y]

We won't say anything on scenes other than, chances are good. Lady Wolf has been established as the anchor point for Redic and what he's doing, so she will continue to play a vital role and will be a presence throughout the entire narrative.

Awesome, can't wait. She's my favorite character.

 

[Mr. Spanks]

Welp, after being disappointed last time and being open in my criticisms, I ended up going through a bit of this again after the last 2 updates and I have to say honestly...

It's pretty damn good.

Now that the combat actually works and I'm not reloading every 2-3 minutes, it's a highly enjoyable experience so far. I believe I'm at the Ship tavern (It's been a week or so since I played last, been busy) and I had almost no issues that I had previously.

The scenes are nice, the quips in dialogue between the characters are fairly well written, I tried the same dialogue with different characters and got different responses, which is excellent, I like when devs go that extra mile. Others may not notice, but I certainly do.

Hoping to see more interactions and backstories of different characters get fleshed out. Aya seems like an interesting character, hope to see more of her in her profession since her scene feels pretty bare, pun not intended. I actually grinned at Samara's remarks, she definitely seems like the character that would try to watch or join in every chance she could.

The only thing that gets me is the weird crowd system. I know it's still early, but I'd rather have a couple people roaming around that don't wish to talk to me and fill up the various areas with NPC's I'd remember doing their trade.

Anyways, waiting to see what comes of this, but you have me sold so far. Hope to see this all the way through and not end up a dead project with so much potential for story telling and world-building here. I'll clean up my thoughts and put them into an actual review at some point hopefully.

 

[Valaska]

Welp, after being disappointed last time and being open in my criticisms, I ended up going through a bit of this again after the last 2 updates and I have to say honestly...

It's pretty damn good.

Now that the combat actually works and I'm not reloading every 2-3 minutes, it's a highly enjoyable experience so far. I believe I'm at the Ship tavern (It's been a week or so since I played last, been busy) and I had almost no issues that I had previously.

The scenes are nice, the quips in dialogue between the characters are fairly well written, I tried the same dialogue with different characters and got different responses, which is excellent, I like when devs go that extra mile. Others may not notice, but I certainly do.

Hoping to see more interactions and backstories of different characters get fleshed out. Aya seems like an interesting character, hope to see more of her in her profession since her scene feels pretty bare, pun not intended. I actually grinned at Samara's remarks, she definitely seems like the character that would try to watch or join in every chance she could.

The only thing that gets me is the weird crowd system. I know it's still early, but I'd rather have a couple people roaming around that don't wish to talk to me and fill up the various areas with NPC's I'd remember doing their trade.

Anyways, waiting to see what comes of this, but you have me sold so far. Hope to see this all the way through and not end up a dead project with so much potential for story telling and world-building here. I'll clean up my thoughts and put them into an actual review at some point hopefully.

Neat! Combat is still a far cry from where we want it, but we do believe we have the foundation to build a solid combat system in the future which will be engaging and fun. We need more feedback in response to player input (effects, sounds, animations), balancing, skills etc.

A lot of the companions have had quite a bit of work lately with their companion quests, but there will be more ladies night events (the scene where the girls are getting Hiho drunk) where inconsequential character building happens. Will be able to learn little fluff bits about their background, things they like, etc. What they're like when their guard is all the way down.

We have no choice but to finish this game and put it out to market to be frank. We've... invested a lot of time and effort into this project and a release to steam is our end goal. It'll help establish us as a brand, give us experience, and the ability to develop more projects.

 

[J2400]

Neat! Combat is still a far cry from where we want it, but we do believe we have the foundation to build a solid combat system in the future which will be engaging and fun. We need more feedback in response to player input (effects, sounds, animations), balancing, skills etc.

I wholeheartedly agree that the basic foundation is really good, but I can also give some QOL input:
It can be difficult to move to tiles behind other characters, since you need to click on a part of tile of that isn't covered someone in front.
It can also be difficult to see which tiles are open, blocked or adjacent when someone is in front of it.
Also, if you try to use Osh'to's basic bow attack outside of its range, she will run as far towards to the enemy as her AP allows, rather than just running in range and making the attack.

 

[sadfasdsfsfdsfds]

Ahhh- performance, I don't think it has to do with Unity, it's more that we haven't done too much in optimization right now and we do have a few graphic-heavy post-processing effects which could really surprise people on older hardware which you can turn down! The Fog of War I find really helps with my ancient R9 290x.

Splitting Whispering Brook up might... have been a lot smarter than what we ended up doing. We will have to address it, maybe make the area with Roddis into a rest and relaxation area where you can come back to, maybe have a little bartering. I was thinking of adding a few village members who are more under Roddis' influence than Mara's and they could be minor vendors etc. Maybe we could even add in some more side-quests to break up the main quest.

Hmmm, the artifact being an alternative key eh. Interesting idea, it could give a bonus to keeping it and another benefit to meeting Roddis even if you have given it over to them. That's a good thought! I'll jot it down.

-----

Combat is FUBAR atm! Well, not FUBAR but we haven't honestly addressed the issues of combat and such yet. So skills aren't at the place we want them to be currently, we do plan on addressing and solving this Soon.tm, there will be even more specializations and such and even skills you pick up for clearing companion quests, random quests... and even hidden diegetic lore-choices.

For sure we 100% plan out to include a tutorial at the start. We really, really, really should have done it already, or rather when we first made the game... but we were completely swamped and had no idea how we would evolve our combat system eventually.



We have some ideas around rest and recovery between fights etc and it will always be capped out to a maximum unless you come to a campsite and are able to rest up fully. It's part of our persistent damage and balancing thing to slow people down a bit and make combat really tactical and impactful, we do plan on having some more clever ways to save you from taking full out damage though.

Thank You for quick and detailed answer! Also good to know that some of my ideas were good enough.

Also I have found that turning down Fog of War to minimum does wonders to performance! However there is one strange thing - if you lower your "general" graphic settings to lower levels, it does not lower the Fog of War settings. Small oversight, but can be easily fixed I bet.

I already have a bunch of content written for Whispering Brook's aftermath states, Redemption, Corruption, and Death. Stage 1 of aftermath could be implemented at any time we get spare time, stage 2 is mostly finished and will be the permanent state of Whispering Brook as far as I have planned. You might have already seen that Mara shows up a couple of times after!

Oh I personally cannot wait for it! I have put so many saves and hours into it (including but not limited to seeing what will happen in Senate) that I am very interested on how much will the Whispering Brook change.

Also will we be able to return to the dungeon in it or nah? On my first playthrough I left quite a few goods over there, because I had problems with weight (haven't sold much, cause I thought some of it might be important). And a follow-up will we be able to return to the prologue location? I admit, I missed magical amulet, cause I was still "green" regarding combat and haven't tried to explore everything.

For LW, we plan to be able to avoid her scene at the beginning if the player doesn't want to snuggle. For the rest of the game we might add a way to rebel / betray her but obviously there wont be any way to outright kill her, since she is alive in the comic which is decades later.

Also very interested in it. I do wonder how will the resisting work towards dynamics of the pairing. Especially if You go for the Retribution in Whispering Brook. Not gonna lie, it was very strange seeing Lady Wolf smile and being happy as opposed to her usual cold/emotionless self from comics (even in disguise). Makes me wonder if something happened later in game (or between game and comic).

It can be difficult to move to tiles behind other characters, since you need to click on a part of tile of that isn't covered someone in front.
It can also be difficult to see which tiles are open, blocked or adjacent when someone is in front of it.

Regarding also that it is hard to see what targeting/maiming specific body part will do, cause it's often blocked by someone.

***

Also tried to re-do the quests with different characters in team, just to see more interactions. You put a lot of thought and work into that and I absolutely love it!

And I tried to do what every player playing beta should do - which is breaking the game. I found it's possible to pay Osh'To before going to shipwreck (via gaining 100 silver coins from Whispering Brooks upfront payment like Samara negotiated), She's happy and all that but in later dialogue (during sex scene), there is still mention of the "Master" thing coming from slave disguise. Haven't checked it but if I were to guess, Lady Wolf will also mention that she did something, so the guards at the gate won't check the stamp etc.

***

Having said all that - I do have some questions. Some might have been answered cause haven't read all 106 pages of this post (and haven't finished the game yet, I'm gonna go on castle mission).

- Seeing as Samara is as big horndog as Redic - will we got some w/w scenes in future?

- this one is very spoilery probably - will bringing your companions to Senate where they will see Lady Wolf for first time have big story consequences? I know that Samara is horny for her, Lady Wolf is interested in Hiho (also Hiho has seen through Mara disguise), Osh'To instinctevely knows something is wrong and doesn't trust her (and goes even more quiet if it's even possible!) and Scylla doesn't want to see her next time cause Lady Wolf suspects too much but I do wonder if this will have some consequences/follow-up?

- one more regarding Lady Wolf - will we get more options to talk to her? At some different times? On the one hand I know it's better to leave her a mystery since it's what makes her interesting, on the other damn, I want to know more and try to struggle against her more (or less).

- as stupid as it sounds seeing as it's porn game - will one be able to do "pure"/no-sex playthrough?

- how many endings you have planned or is it still up to the question?

- will we get a follow-up on our Phrik friend in the cave?

- and one last for now - how often do this game updates?

 

[LilithsChamber]

If someone could spoil me for a sec, is the game all about Lady Wolf and her being in control over you? I personally don't like these kinds of stories, so I'd appreciate if anyone could give me a heads up. Also probably the game could be better tagged here.

 

[ArbuzBudesh]

If someone could spoil me for a sec, is the game all about Lady Wolf and her being in control over you? I personally don't like these kinds of stories, so I'd appreciate if anyone could give me a heads up. Also probably the game could be better tagged here.

LW play a big role and is scheming\controling bitch like always, including over protag, but i wouldn't say its all about that. At least game has very different mood from webcomic, more lighter and adventurous.

 

[LilithsChamber]

LW play a big role and is scheming\controling bitch like always, including over protag, but i wouldn't say its all about that. At least game has very different mood from webcomic, more lighter and adventurous.

Thanks for the answer! Unfortunately don't think this is for me then, I'd rather play a game without having that tought at the back of my head.