sportsfan30 as well since you already modded the previous game?
I think action/rpg ero-games where defeat is the main theme work best when they operate on the same conventions as survival-horror games. Supply scarcity & attrition, enemy ambushes (player awareness being the key thing), and creating emergent situations where it might be better for the player to try and run/sneak past enemies instead of fighting them.
That said, it's a fine line between being engaging and frustrating. Some of Doomeye and tyrrandae's ideas would be too far across it for my personal taste - mainly the whole thing of pretty much never being able to fully recover. Maybe this could be a resource/item sink - you convert them into a resource (cash would work, but it'd be a more interesting decision if it were a different resource) and spend it to recover stats/bastes that aren't from defeat.
I like the idea of enforcing exploration instead of just being able to rush straight to the boss. Multiple waves each increasing in number in the Mantango fight would also be appreciated, my initial reaction was "oh, that was it?" when you only have to fight what, 4 of them?
The clothing repair item only repairing 1 stage of damage at a time is a great idea, and yeah, less items in general. Maybe a carry limit on healing/restoration items, and/or they cost more the more you have in your inventory.
The concept of a random, slightly stronger version of a given enemy would also help make fights less predictable and auto-win.
I got some requests of my own- I'm not taking into account how realistic any of it is development wise, this is just what I'd like to see if there were no obstacle.
If you don't clear the Matango den in the first level, all enemies in subsequent levels could be purple stat-jacked versions - sprite edit not really necessary, and not desired in a few cases, though it'd work well with a couple specific enemies like the molestergeist.
I don't get why the naked state isn't accessible through normal gameplay, and that'd be another feature I'd really like to have added. Maybe if you're defeated X times in a row on a given level, or maybe certain enemy attacks/defeats could trigger it.
Edit: Looks like I was wrong on this one. Playing around with mtool, under vars there is "Transformation clothing damage" which increases by 1 with each attack taken. 400 is the breakpoint for naked. I didn't realize there were so many levels to the clothing destruction. 400 is a lot of attacks to take without the opportunity to repair them, and I doubt there's any circumstance you'd see that in normal gameplay - that's to say unless you're deliberately trying for it. Maybe some/all enemies could have their clothing damage per attack increased? The breakpoints could also be lowered. Not that I'm having an easy time finding any of these to edit in the game files.
Anyway, to take it further, having a side-quest to recover the clothes per level would be cool. They're just in some room off the "main" route like with the other baste treatments - you find them, are ambushed, fight the fight and must win to recover them. Maybe sometimes they could be cursed with the slime baste.
This, combined with reduced efficacy of the clothing repair item, would make that attrition more felt. Removing or reducing the efficacy of restorative abilities (catch breath, purify) to make the player more dependent on items would go a ways to dialling it up as well. Maybe enemies could steal items from you on defeat too.
I think the durability for untransformed clothes could be reduced a ton - right now it takes 70(?) attacks which I feel is a bit excessife. A meter for clothing durability wouldn't go amiss either. Maybe it wouldn't be a massive effort for the top/bottom to each be able to be completely removed, but it'd mean splitting the sprites
Also it appears there's no breakpoint for naked when untransformed (maybe you need to have had underwear stolen?), even though you can take them off in the gallery room.
It'd be nice if enemies from other levels would show up, though that might be wonky with defeat triggers and such. It'd also kinda break theming to a degree, so this could be a toggle, or maybe it doesn't apply to a given level until you've beaten it. Nevertheless it would be nice to be able to have battles with different enemy compositions.
The starfish enemy in particular only shows up in one area on one level. I think it'd work really well as a regular mob in the last level.
There do exist world sprites for the majority (if not all) of enemies - I haven't been able to tell what exactly determines which defeat scene you get if you lose to a mixed mob. But if it's pre-determined, and not based on the last enemy to have attacked you, it'd be great to use that mob's sprite to indicate as much. Or maybe it could simply be used to indicate mobs that consist entirely of that enemy type (which I feel there should be more of).
I'd love the ability to reset all a level's story, dialog and triggers without having to start a new game/NG+.
Different music would be great, less whimsical and more downbeat like the defeat scene music.
I'd really appreciate the option to remove or reduce obnoxious sound effects and flashes - the camera enemy is especially egregious.
I feel like energy drain should be taken away as a baste and just be a regular base mechanic, the whole thing of untransforming from being attacked is awesome. Maybe it could be replaced with a greater susceptibility to slimegirls' dirty talk.
Stealing a couple features from Exorcism Shrine Maiden:
If you start a battle with multiple mobs in adjacent tiles to you, or to each other, they all merge into one battle. Rather than more powerful enemies like ESM, it'd work better here if it were just more enemies.
As your clothes are degraded, enemies not othewise scripted to do so, gain a chance to start chasing you.
An enemy detection cone/field of view and sneaking system (basically, walk to reduce their detection range) would help make the world navigation more compelling, and make the mobs more distinct - different ones could have different detection cones and range.
Using the suicide capsule (can we please change its name? Suicide really aint something I want to think about when I'm trying to get my rocks off. "Sedative capsule" instead? Items.json, line 854 if anyone would like to change it for themselves) should be instant - enemies' actions can interrupt it at least as of 1.0.
