Others The Shimmering Horizon and Cursed Blacksmith [v0.86c] [Ason]

4.30 star(s) 32 Votes
Discussion Reviews (32)
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walkerjonny

Active Member
Apr 22, 2019
614
431
Honestly, what annoys me a bit is all the forced randomness. This just increases the already extreme grinding of the game.
And that the base has way too less storage space and misses at least a scrapping table, maybe even an enchantment table for the rings/amulets/necklaces that doesn't break is also subpar.
Furthermore, breaking enchantment tables for the rings/amulets/necklaces don't make any sense because you also need the equipment to be able to enhance them and you won't get that many of them in one dungeon layer anyway and your storage space is limited.
And why is a blacksmith not able to forge rings, amulets and necklaces but only swords and knifes? Or why can't he simply repair/refurbish his equipment to make it last longer and even enhance it that way if he uses better materials? That also makes no sense.

Hmm, maybe instead of a scrapping machine the base should be equipped with a real forge that allows for better and more targeted forging outcomes and gives you the ability to repair/refurbish your stuff or even melt & forge two weapons into one with less skill loss, especially if you use better materials. Maybe let that girl from the first boss fight that is good at building things build and later enhance that forge, if necessary in cooperation with the guide girl that seems to be good with magic stuff.
Make the forge unique to the base and everything should be fine. That would enrich the overall gaming experience and reduce the grinding a bit.
 
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track989

track989

Newbie
Mar 25, 2018
76
119
walkerjonny said:
Honestly, what annoys me a bit is all the forced randomness. This just increases the already extreme grinding of the game. (...)
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I agree although I'd characterise it a bit differently. I like the idea of a roguelike as an h-game as it fits very well with h-content-on-loss as a mechanic for once. But the game doesn't have all that much randomness within each run; you'll pretty much always get some ok-to-decent basic weapons from scratch each run, regular floor exploration is mostly trivial and low risk but also basically no reward, generally not much variance.

Contrast with most other roguelikes/roguelites: high variance within runs means even as a consistently good player you'll end up in situations where you are much stronger or weaker than usual at certain points. Generally the gameplay loop is about decision making of being more greedy when strong (but not so greedy you die) and less greedy when weak (but not so cautious you eventually each a boss and get filtered by mathematical impossibility of beating it with your still-crap gear).

Now looking back at Cursed Blacksmith... it removes so much of that variance and there aren't really any greed vs caution decisions to make. Normal within-run variance won't give you a super powered weapon, at best just something that makes clearing floors marginally quicker. Exploring won't reward or punish you heavily either way. Trying to obtain a light-dmg/haste/mobility weapon within a run to kill the first boss is probably the closest the game gets to implementing the gameplay concept. The second boss I think is just best beaten by grinding (across multiple runs) a super high dmg weapon and/or lots of corruption down potions, and there's not really any chance of making a weapon capable of beating it from just high tier scrap, nor of finding potions/accessories to beat it, even if you 100% explore each floor. Maybe I'm just bad and it's beatable from scratch within a run if you deliberately try to get certain AoE or ranged skills, idk, it just seems like multi-run-grind-gear is the main method, which kinda sucks.

Game is still great as an H-game though and of course the art and writing and gameplay/h-content integration are all good. But tl;dr - imo the game needs *more* randomness within the runs, in both reward and risk/punishment directions, so you can take more or less risks based on what you have and what more you need
 
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N

Null98

Newbie
Nov 14, 2018
40
9
is there any way to get past all those monster girls in the prologue area and is there anything there?
 
L

lurker55555

Member
Dec 5, 2019
262
114
track989 said:
I agree although I'd characterise it a bit differently. I like the idea of a roguelike as an h-game as it fits very well with h-content-on-loss as a mechanic for once. But the game doesn't have all that much randomness within each run; you'll pretty much always get some ok-to-decent basic weapons from scratch each run, regular floor exploration is mostly trivial and low risk but also basically no reward, generally not much variance.

Contrast with most other roguelikes/roguelites: high variance within runs means even as a consistently good player you'll end up in situations where you are much stronger or weaker than usual at certain points. Generally the gameplay loop is about decision making of being more greedy when strong (but not so greedy you die) and less greedy when weak (but not so cautious you eventually each a boss and get filtered by mathematical impossibility of beating it with your still-crap gear).

Now looking back at Cursed Blacksmith... it removes so much of that variance and there aren't really any greed vs caution decisions to make. Normal within-run variance won't give you a super powered weapon, at best just something that makes clearing floors marginally quicker. Exploring won't reward or punish you heavily either way. Trying to obtain a light-dmg/haste/mobility weapon within a run to kill the first boss is probably the closest the game gets to implementing the gameplay concept. The second boss I think is just best beaten by grinding (across multiple runs) a super high dmg weapon and/or lots of corruption down potions, and there's not really any chance of making a weapon capable of beating it from just high tier scrap, nor of finding potions/accessories to beat it, even if you 100% explore each floor. Maybe I'm just bad and it's beatable from scratch within a run if you deliberately try to get certain AoE or ranged skills, idk, it just seems like multi-run-grind-gear is the main method, which kinda sucks.

Game is still great as an H-game though and of course the art and writing and gameplay/h-content integration are all good. But tl;dr - imo the game needs *more* randomness within the runs, in both reward and risk/punishment directions, so you can take more or less risks based on what you have and what more you need
Click to expand...
i did write a little bit of a guide how to pretty much beat the second boss the first time it slams itself down but couldnt test it as i didnt had enough bombs
 
I

illanna

Newbie
Jul 25, 2017
44
11
I'm stuck at forging level 2. Haven't beaten Cursed Armor yet either. Guessing I need Forging Journal B? Where can I find that? Any help would be appreciated!
 
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Null98

Newbie
Nov 14, 2018
40
9
illanna said:
I'm stuck at forging level 2. Haven't beaten Cursed Armor yet either. Guessing I need Forging Journal B? Where can I find that? Any help would be appreciated!
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you get forging journal B after you beat the cursed armor, also it would be wise to bring some enchanted rings or neclace with skills from the oni, amazon or some sp buffs, also a lot soul drops potion to stop the cursed armor in its tracks and destroy the crystal spawners, and a heavy weapon which has been enchanced, that statue you see in the labyrinth might also help with materials if you need help just give it souls.
 
I

illanna

Newbie
Jul 25, 2017
44
11
Null98 said:
you get forging journal B after you beat the cursed armor, also it would be wise to bring some enchanted rings or neclace with skills from the oni, amazon or some sp buffs, also a lot soul drops potion to stop the cursed armor in its tracks and destroy the crystal spawners, and a heavy weapon which has been enchanced, that statue you see in the labyrinth might also help with materials if you need help just give it souls.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info! I wasn't sure if the Armor would drop the journal or if it was a random drop/chest item. So far I've been having a hard time even getting over to the crystals but I think it's just a matter of having the right skills at the right time.
 
N

Null98

Newbie
Nov 14, 2018
40
9
well finally made to the final area of the prologue area and that was tough feat in it's self to make it over there and it still wasn't over.
 
N

Null98

Newbie
Nov 14, 2018
40
9
lurker55555 said:
yeah but its kind of fun after figuring out stuff
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Well I already defeated the commander monster girl and made it to the last floor as of the moment so right now I'm just trying to see if you can get a different outcome in the prologue area and to be honest it really is taking a lot of planning just to make it past those first three areas of the second floor. I still also need to make plan for the final area since it has waves of monster girls that spawn from crystals.
 
N

Null98

Newbie
Nov 14, 2018
40
9
And to be honest I really wasn't prepared for the commander when I had to fight her, I just destroyed her because of my equipment and my items, my weapons were just about to break, and I still beat her first try.
 
J

Justalittlesexy

Member
Sep 16, 2018
182
32
How do I get past the second level? I beat the first boss, I've made it to the second one a few times but I can't beat it. I read that explosives intantly destroy the legs, but haven't made it back to the boss again because I keep getting killed by the vampires on the way, they just do so much damage, summon bats, and have to be killed twice. Also, if I hit a summon trap I'm pretty much dead immediately. Any tips on getting through the second level?
 
N

Null98

Newbie
Nov 14, 2018
40
9
Justalittlesexy said:
How do I get past the second level? I beat the first boss, I've made it to the second one a few times but I can't beat it. I read that explosives intantly destroy the legs, but haven't made it back to the boss again because I keep getting killed by the vampires on the way, they just do so much damage, summon bats, and have to be killed twice. Also, if I hit a summon trap I'm pretty much dead immediately. Any tips on getting through the second level?
Click to expand...
Have you tried using the instant strike skill from the maid to get the crystal or enemy wave instantly then use the cursed sword to then destroy the wave of monsters and you also can use that skill to instantly teleport to the legs in no time flat. explosives are nice to use but you can also use heavily enchanced weapons to take out the legs once the head is down use the haste potion plus a haste + 2 enchanted neclace or ring to take down the head in less of a time period. also start collecting rings then enchant them with monster skills from monster remains preferably: maid, amazon, elf warrior, oni, lamia, possibly elf archer for the range her skill has, and the thief skill which has great mobility. just find a statue for the thief skill though it's random what you're going to get from that statue. anyway just look for a enchant table start experimenting with that. good luck
 
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Null98

Newbie
Nov 14, 2018
40
9
also for vampires you can either use a sleep potion or a confuse potion on them to buy you some time, or slowing potion to make it easier for you, also you also just craft a weapon with a high enough damage to beat thier regeneration attribute. you can also use craftable materials as weapons against enemies by just throwing the materials at them magic stones actually help quite a lot in that area due to elemental weaknesses the monsters have also you just throw materials at monster when you don't need that material. one more thing look for lifting rings and use the cursed sword on the summon trap and use a soul drop due to how I'm sure you don't wanna lose your items
 
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W

walkerjonny

Active Member
Apr 22, 2019
614
431
Justalittlesexy said:
How do I get past the second level? I beat the first boss, I've made it to the second one a few times but I can't beat it. I read that explosives intantly destroy the legs, but haven't made it back to the boss again because I keep getting killed by the vampires on the way, they just do so much damage, summon bats, and have to be killed twice. Also, if I hit a summon trap I'm pretty much dead immediately. Any tips on getting through the second level?
Click to expand...
Maybe you should try to advance your weapon skills first. I for example like a high level Windrush Knife because it allows me to get into a haste state for up to 18 turns (level 10/MAX). In combination with a high level Lightning Sword or other weapons that cause a lot of damage to a certain area or several enemies at once this is a very effective method to deal with several enemies spawning at once.
It makes also sense to hoard a few Lifting Rings for when you try do a run on the second boss. That allows you to enhance the amount of weight you can carry. Sometimes you get even Rings that increase the additional weight you can carry not only by 4 but even up to 7. That depends on the enchantment.
Also, did you exchange your Souls with Doroelle to increase all your levels to the maximum available at the moment? That should also increase your overall strength and chances to survive the onslaught of a lot of enemies at once.
To succeed in this game you have to resort to think more strategic. Certain weapons are more effective against some enemies but weaker against others. You need to pay attention to when a certain damage amount is accompanied by a "weak" statement. This shows the weaknesses of your enemies. For example the vampire girl should be either weak to light or dark manage, probably the first one I think.
I like to have certain different swords with different abilities with me when I run through the dungeons.

And at the end a small cheating trick that works quite well right now when you run into troubles in a certain dungeon. Simply close the game and start it again. That resets you to the starting point of that certain dungeon and you can do it again. You have to do that before the enemy girls finish fucking you in case they manage to beat you. When you do that during a boss fight you'll get to the room right before entering the boss dungeon where the bell is to get back to the base. I'd like to do that when I just want to pass through the dungeons in the shortest way with less encounters with enemies to get to the boss fights.

I managed to finish the second boss with roughly 14 to 16 explosives in stock, a high level Windrush Knife and Lightning Sword and another weapon that did a lot of dark damage. Two to four hits against the legs of the second boss with that sword also proved to be quite effective. Additionally I had a Ring with me that extended my throwing range by another three to four fields. That allowed me to throw the explosives from quite a distance. Additionally I also went for the summoning stone as soon as possible to prevent the further spawning of minions in the early stages of the fight.
 
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4.30 star(s) 32 Votes