reply.
First off, thanks for playing the map and for a very constructive review.
"The first time we tried to play, the note about the soulburn command and the importance of the soul fire was drowned out by the descriptions of heroes while we were looking at who to play."
Yeah, I should include this in the intro.
"a multiboard or counter for the soul fire might be nice rather than an occasional update."
True, i did consider it, but i had been working on the map for over a week and was quite eager to get it out quickly and try it out myself. - But yes, A counter or that sort of thing would look much better.
"We managed to survive despite that, but it was fairly annoying that they could accelerate the process. Was that intentional?"
Yes, it is the price you pay for killing off the shadow mages - the fire however can fight off any non hero enemy by itself, it cannot be seriously harmed by enemies due to a 98% dmg reduction... it will simply lose strength at an increased rate.
"the random re-spawn chance always seemed to happen when the Conjurer was surrounded by enemies."
The respawn frequency occurs based on the soulfire's remaining health, running around difficult areas is always meant to be risky, especially if alone. Dying at the other end of a dungeon is the biggest punishment you can get - the dungeon is meant to drain your will to go on when you fall, only the determined can progress through it. Returning to your equipment, however still involves skill - it tests your skills at survival and evasion.
"we were quite worried about souls, since we had only slain one of the 4 bosses"
The moment you down the first boss, the game pushes your power up, granting you the ability to move more freely in the dungeon, and giving you the opportunity to face more bosses when you find them. It is the last phase of the game.
Me and my friend, at a certain point we had 0 souls remaining and we weren't ready for a boss - we rushed the shopkeeper for his soul in order to survive and from there on the samurai became somewhat unstoppable.
"After killing the mages, we were set for the game and hoarded the boss souls despite not needing them."
In the current version, free souls only give 1 soul and bosses give 2, I think you were playing a previous version of the game. (I update a lot and should start giving them version numbers)
"Honestly, though I spent a few earlier on stats, they felt WAY more useful as insurance for soul burn"
It is a matter of decision, you choose to play long and safe, on the other hand me and my friend only ever kept 2 souls - the others were a great help with stats, especially in the beginning where that extra 60hp is the difference between life and death vs a caster.
What bugs me however is that the level up deal doesn't seem to be worth the same as the cheese - it will grant you 1 less stat and you get to upgrade a skill... however the next level will require a lot more xp, the level boost shortly seems like it was only useful temporally while the cheese has a more permanent effect....
I'm really not sure how to deal with this, maybe I will add a small gold bonus along with the level, for the 3 souls.
"Once we finally got our act together, had our stuff, and were near max level, we found that, as the Demon and the Conjurer, bosses were just a matter of the Demon having his howl or ultimate up and then the Conjurer throwing the protection shield on the demon"
You did indeed pick a very nice setup for survivability, the best tank and the best defensive support. The arcane barrier has been nerfed slightly in the latest version - still, casting these abilities costs considerable mana to sustain for a long fight, and it still won't block all sources of damage.
I do belive a HARDER difficulty should be made, for players who have beaten the hard mode, and as a bonus, gold rewards will also be bigger - thus giving the opportunity to use more heroes.
" hallways filled with abominations felt more tedious than dangerous."
Oh, haha, you get a chopper there than can carry you - you didn't have to fight a single one of them, though at that point a good setup can handle them just fine............... if they have the time that is.
I did clear the game using the conjurer alone in 2 hours as a challenge, the game is definatly doable if you know what you're doing, (more reason for next difficulty!)
"At level 3, we managed to kill off the Shopkeeper thanks to his grenades. Tee hee."
3??? Lol I never dared that soon.
"The odd movements of the mobs (fleeing when hit sometimes), while sometimes useful for mages to kite, were very awkward."
I will try disabling the movements, at least from the melee enemies. However I should keep them on the ranged units - I'm sure players are more likely to die when kited by ranged units heheh. I'm on the dungeon's side
" they would just run away and accidentally "run" to somewhere through a gateway and never be seen again...etc."
One time 2 abominations walked right past me outa nowhere, and i just ran the hell away - they will often return and beat the crap out of you when they're done with what they're doing. - Honestly, I don't know what they were doing, but I love how it scared me seeing 2 abominations suddenly running my way.
"Lack of incentive to use souls for anything but soul burn, even at level 1."
You are wrong here, you had a really rough start if you didn't spend much souls at the start. You could effectively double your stats early on and suddenly move to the next tier of enemies without getting 1 shot by spells.
It is based on your decision... you want to feel safe, then you'll have to fight without the much needed stats early on.
" it certainly made the final boss fight, which looked very interesting and potentially deadly, quite easy."
You are INTENDED to make rediculously strong setups, it is the only way to survive a boss fight (especially in the latest version) - The next difficulty level will help a lot with this point.
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Well that's all for now, I'll take all these points into consideration, and I'll label this map v1.1 on my next update. I look forward to your comments about your playthroughs
