Aug 22, 2021
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421
I have to agree that this game could use some refinement in the difficulty balancing and boss attacks. For reference, I played through most of the game (up to the last 4 levels or so) on hard and had a fine experience for most of it, but some things could definitely be improved.

First off, the difference between normal and hard is absurd. Normal is absolutely trivial if you buy skills and pay half attention to all but the platforming, while hard is nearly impossible without cheese strats and consumables. I dont have a problem with hard mode being hard, but normal should be harder as a way to actually practice before taking on the challenge.

Second, the fight with the mercenaries is shit, even if it is thematically appropriate. Its not fun, just annoying to run away for two minutes while the MC complains about her morals. While being stabbed. Repeatedly. The whole scene would fit better if it was either a MUCH larger arena, or a flat level to retreat along as others have suggested here. Then she could be forced to act when they back her into a corner.

Third, some of the bosses need toning down in the unavoidable or instant kill grabs. These arent normally a problem, but many enemies and bosses can juggle you to death after one mistake, and the controls are nowhere near tight enough to warrant such punishment.

Dont get me wrong, its still an excellent game, but that means it stands to benefit even more from reasonable criticism.
 
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AnonRat

Newbie
Nov 28, 2018
81
69
I have to agree that this game could use some refinement in the difficulty balancing and boss attacks. For reference, I played through most of the game (up to the last 4 levels or so) on hard and had a fine experience for most of it, but some things could definitely be improved.
I do feel like your critiques are very reasonable. Thank you for going further than just saying the bosses are 'designed bad'. Since Hard Mode sounds like the main cause of frustration, I assume I should probably give it a shot. Would it be best to try hard on a new save file?
 
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ilmncsm

Active Member
Apr 10, 2018
524
420
Where is the skill in chapter 21? I replayed it and still couldn't find it.
In the beginning of the level, before you meet up with Iris again, when there is the little teleporter section with the option of either dealing with the beholder while on the chain, or teleporting down and around him and fighting some skeletons. If you drop down from the chain and land with the archer skeletons shooting over towards the spear skeleton fight, then if you go left, that teleporter takes you back up to the start to try again, if you go right, that teleport takes you to a small circle, that leads to another teleporter that leads to a few of the jump boosters, and if you jump to the top of those boosters, you can find the sword. Hope that helped.

Editing this nearly a week later because I just realized I got my left and my right mixed up originally. I've fixed it now.
 
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akitsushima

Newbie
Apr 28, 2020
47
86
Dark Souls fan complaining about difficulty and unfairness of another game, funniest shit I've seen today.
To be fair though, Dark Souls series is always marketed as very hard and unfair but it is actually quite the opposite. The game is very punishing when you make mistakes, but becomes very rewarding as long as you learn from those mistakes and not do the same shit over and over again, it feels very fair and easy afterward. This is why most articles that mention Dark Souls being hard and difficult lose their credibility since there are harder games out there that are actually hard, unbalanced, and unfair.

Anyway, I started playing Ricca on hard difficulty back on v1.0.1 and while I did have to repeat a bunch of stages after a Game Over (like the stage full of pitfalls while a tentacle monster is chasing you), I didn't really feel the difficulty until the Boss Rush stage where I managed to beat the Archlich after using all my items, only to face the Darkfiend Dragon afterward. A single grab from the dragon is all it takes to destroy my entire HP bar.
 

HardcoreCuddler

Engaged Member
Aug 4, 2020
2,395
3,073
Dark Souls fan complaining about difficulty and unfairness of another game, funniest shit I've seen today.
yea as if the dark souls bosses are giant bullet sponges that can one shot you at times
must be a fun game, for those who enjoy it, but is it good game design? not in my opinion
The game is very punishing when you make mistakes, but becomes very rewarding as long as you learn from those mistakes and not do the same shit over and over again, it feels very fair and easy afterward.
that's like...every single game out there...not just dark souls
every game is like that (that isn't shit / just story based)
 

Purple_Heart

Well-Known Member
Oct 15, 2021
1,821
3,195
To be fair though, Dark Souls series is always marketed as very hard and unfair but it is actually quite the opposite. The game is very punishing when you make mistakes, but becomes very rewarding as long as you learn from those mistakes and not do the same shit over and over again, it feels very fair and easy afterward. This is why most articles that mention Dark Souls being hard and difficult lose their credibility since there are harder games out there that are actually hard, unbalanced, and unfair.
I agree it is not hard but "it's actually fair" part is just wrong. Famous swamp levels are not fair, enemies attacking through walls are not fair, enemies changing attack direction mid-attack is not fair. Those are just a few examples that came to my mind.

yea as if the dark souls bosses are giant bullet sponges that can one shot you at times
must be a fun game, for those who enjoy it, but is it good game design? not in my opinion
Bosses have high HP in every game, even in DS.

I don't think this game is hard.
People should learn how to play(and read) instead of complaining about unfairness. This applies to every game.
 
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HunterSteel

Newbie
Oct 4, 2017
19
11
Y'know, I just finished the game on 1.0.3
Which is great, but it looks like there's 3 extra stages after Miria's lost chapter final stage. Any info on that? Also hella sad that Iris didn't get many scenes, kinda just got like 2 hentai scenes and then sacrifices herself to the Dark World to keep the Dragon there.
Where's the love for mah best girl Iris?

~Hunter
 
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Bryanis

Active Member
Jan 4, 2021
616
409
Y'know, I just finished the game on 1.0.3
Which is great, but it looks like there's 3 extra stages after Miria's lost chapter final stage. Any info on that? Also hella sad that Iris didn't get many scenes, kinda just got like 2 hentai scenes and then sacrifices herself to the Dark World to keep the Dragon there.
Where's the love for mah best girl Iris?

~Hunter

The extra stage unlock with enough archievement (like 40 for the 3 stage). Basically, get all silver cristal on all stage, click on the ci-en / twitter icon. And by the time you finish this, you should jave killed enough monster, do enough combo hit / perfect guard to get above the 40 limit.
Also, the first 2 extra stage is a kind of epilogue which will show you the "true" ending. While the last third extra stage is just a bonus fight for a bonus clothing.
 

claus001

Active Member
Feb 15, 2020
665
1,377
I find normal difficult too easy and hard too challenging. Would be nice to have something between them.
 

Bryanis

Active Member
Jan 4, 2021
616
409
I find normal difficult too easy and hard too challenging. Would be nice to have something between them.
Normal difficulty from v1.0 might have been better since the dev keep reducing dificulty due to player complaining (ok, even zero skill player should have a chance to enjoy the game and the H it provided without cheating. But usually that's why there an easy mode in game).

After that, it's mostly down to the dev reference for difficulty and what you personaly are good / bad at and where you draw the line beetween dificult and easy.

I'll agree that "normal" is rather easy - I'm usually bad at this kind of game. The last 2 I really played where H game - Bullet requiem and Iris action. Old one and far away. So I know I'm not really good. Yet I only used 1 "live" during the whole game in normal. 0 game over. On the other hand, I got my ass handed over to me in hard mode -_-
 
Aug 22, 2021
479
421
I do feel like your critiques are very reasonable. Thank you for going further than just saying the bosses are 'designed bad'. Since Hard Mode sounds like the main cause of frustration, I assume I should probably give it a shot. Would it be best to try hard on a new save file?
You could go either way honestly. The thing that you really need for hard mode are the extra continues for the less-fair deaths, the mobility skills to dodge the more severe (death by juggling) attacks, and at least one super to deal with the mid to late bosses. You could grind for them as you go in hard mode or start with them on the same save file.

I could see end-game attack damage being a bit overwhelming at the start, so I'd recommend starting a new save and just prioritizing those upgrades so that it is challenging but not overtly frustrating.

Then again, if you are trying to find out why it is frustrating, you could also pointedly not do that... For clarification, my most frustrating boss fights are Miria (who likes to juggle, stun lock , and insta-death grab you), the mercenaries (from the design of the forced survival system as I mentioned above), and Poseidon (who just has way the fuck too much health for someone you can only attack occasionally and who fills his arena with mobs). All the others I found strategies for and were pretty fun to fight.

Either way, best of luck!
 

HardcoreCuddler

Engaged Member
Aug 4, 2020
2,395
3,073
I agree it is not hard but "it's actually fair" part is just wrong. Famous swamp levels are not fair, enemies attacking through walls are not fair, enemies changing attack direction mid-attack is not fair. Those are just a few examples that came to my mind.


Bosses have high HP in every game, even in DS.

I don't think this game is hard.
People should learn how to play(and read) instead of complaining about unfairness. This applies to every game.
not in games like doom they don't
I mean they do, but you can still erase them with some skill, which is not the case here
 

Shadowclonezero

Active Member
Sep 21, 2017
735
388
yea as if the dark souls bosses are giant bullet sponges that can one shot you at times
must be a fun game, for those who enjoy it, but is it good game design? not in my opinion

that's like...every single game out there...not just dark souls
every game is like that (that isn't shit / just story based)
Dark Souls a good game design until FromSoft listens to whinny Dark Souls players and nerfs skills and weapons into oblivion

and the worst part is that most of the whinny ones I'm mentioning are mainly just doing PVP.. but the nerfs effect the main campaign.. and that is when the game becomes really shitty.. the initial game without nerf patches are really good and it's exactly how the DEVs envisioned the game to be

mainly what I mean is that all the nerfs make the game less of a game you can experiment with and more of a game where you are more locked into certain skills and weapons.. which is more boring.. and I guess that's what PVP players what sadly
 
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Bryanis

Active Member
Jan 4, 2021
616
409
I don't know how to save in this game, and i can't load after i finished chapter 1 ( failed to load )
Save is automatic. And if you can't load it's most likely either your save folder got some corrupted data (delete it) or your save folder / game folder (or both) is on 'read only" mode, so make sure it's not before restarting the game.

PS : new update, which is mostly QOL and tweaking out. No real change.
 

AnonRat

Newbie
Nov 28, 2018
81
69
Well v1.1.0 is a thing now, thankfully the dev listed the additions on their ci-en:
- You can now start cleared stages from checkpoints. (EDIT: This also has to be enabled under config's 'stageSceneSelectDialogEnabled' option)
- There's an experimental 'leave stage in the middle and buy items, and then come back where you left off' feature. It needs to be enabled in config.txt under 'stageContinueDialogEnabled'. You can also change the costume slot count in the config file.
- The dash attack is faster, some attack changes.
You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.
- The h-scene 'hint' in the bottom left is visible while you're paused now.
- In the Stage Select you can change the BGM
- There are categories in the item shop.
- There's a skeleton warrior spear weapon.
- There's a butt cam on h-scenes now.
 
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4.50 star(s) 105 Votes