Some Random Person's Feedback <3

General discussion about the game.
Kuzah
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:22 pm

Some Random Person's Feedback <3

Postby Kuzah » Thu Apr 19, 2018 5:25 am

People. Seriously this game is simply amazing. It hits all the right spots in all the right places for me. It's like the right size of everything all into one game. Truly is a work of art and labor to make it all come to this beautiful masterpiece. Thank you so much for bringing a game like this into my life. I absolutely can't wait to see if you all decide to add more content to this or make future games with this kind of idea. Big fan of Chess and games like XCOM btw, but both have their issues, yet this is like the perfect balance.

I started drafting some things I wanted to share in detail so I'll post it once it's in a more presentable format. I would love to elaborate on a lot more aspects of this game and why I think it's the perfect balance too.
Kuzah
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:22 pm

Re: Some Random Person's Feedback <3

Postby Kuzah » Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:46 pm

Salutations all!

First, let me say that this is a fantastic game. I've always loved Chess and games like XCOM and played quite a lot of both, but they have their issues which boils down to my personally developed preferences over time. After having played just hours of this game I am really enjoying this perfect balance. I will certainly be enjoying this bite sized bliss on a regular interval for a long time to come.

I'm not extremely good at articulating and detailing precisely why this is such, but I will at least try to elaborate so you can hopefully see where I'm coming from. I hope to share my point of view to help you all understand why I love what I do and hope that its future stays true to what I believe is its soul.

Turns out there's a lot of text so I'm adding some headers and dividing it into sections in case you're interested in only certain ones.


[Some Perspective on My History-ish]

Some (hopefully) brief personal reference points in terms of Chess and XCOM like games so you know where I'm coming from. Also, when I say "XCOM like games" I'm referring to XCOM 1&2, Fire Emblem, Massive Chalice, Fallout Tactics, Invisible Inc, Valkyria Chronicles, etc). In this particular post I'll mainly be referring to XCOM and its series since that is the one I have the most love and hate for.

The best part of Chess is how pure the tactics is. There is no RNG at all, period. Planning the next two to four moves and setting it up while being able to account for and respond to the opponent is a very enjoyable aspect of Chess for me. The bad part is basically the late mid game and late game because I'll end up fatigued, impatient, or bored and don't continue to plan out four or more moves for every noteworthy possibility anymore. Either the timer is low because I usually take too long and I am a slow player or simply a lot of time has naturally passed while playing up to the mid/late game. Basically, if I could sum it up, the negative is due to level of complexity.

The best part of XCOM is basically the same as Chess. I really enjoy planning out a solid plan each turn and watching it come to fruition with success. However, XCOM like games are just slow and that's mostly (or entirely) because of how I play it. Checking numbers, confirming hit chances / movement distance / damage, etc. For me it stands as a negative because it simply takes so long to complete one mission and when I fail it's just that much more painful (which results in the save spam or super infuriatingly stressful Iron Man runs). This is also compounded by the slight (or ludicrous depending on pov) RNG nature of the game as well. I understand that that's part of the game and it's fine since once can account for such a factor and plan accordingly as well as adapt to a situation which is also fun as well. Simply put, the lengthy nature of this game along with the worst luck really make this a love-hate relationship. This has eventually led me to shy away from this genre and is kind of why I ended up avoiding Battletech (releasing in 6 days) even though I really love the theme (mech fanboy) and loved the genre.

I feel like I need to point out that the negatives are based on my own personal preference and playstyle. I'm sure others can play at a faster pace or enjoy this level of time commitment. When all I have time for in one free night turns into two failed mission attempts it's kinda sad for me.


[My Personal Love Story and Why I Particularly Like Into the Breach]

I heard about Into the Breach and saw some announcement that it was being released. I then noticed that the splash image made mention of FTL and from what I recalled in 2014 when I played that game it was just not my cup of tea at the time so I took a pass on Into the Breach because I thought it was more of the same. Apologies to the FTL fans out there and apologies to the developers for not taking a closer look.

Recently, in my newfound abundance of free time (quitting an mmo basically) coupled with practically watching random youtube videos I came across this once again in a review/lets-play video. Immediately, once I saw the combat sequence I was in love. No joke. I immediately hopped onto Humble Bundle and found it there for purchase.

To give you an idea of where I'm at: as of this moment I've logged 6 hours and this picture is worth a paragraph (save you some reading and me typing a lot) https://i.imgur.com/mNdWFmv.png I've got a solid understanding of the Rift Walkers and started toying with the Rusting Hulks. The 2 island victory was with the Rift Walkers btw. Aiming to achieve a 4 island victory with Rift Walkers first and master the other squads as well.

This game is great because it's got all these small mechanics that layer on top of each other so well. And the best part is the icing on the cake, the theme of mechs. Mechs squashing bugs. I can't tell you enough how great the theme all ties together with the gameplay and enemies you encounter. It's got the best part of Chess, with the tactics, and each bite sized mission doesn't take an hour plus. Even if you fail a timeline, make an accidental loss of a great pilot, or have the worst blunder ever it's easy to get back into the swing of it.

I mean there's just so many small things that tie together so well. I feel like I should elaborate on the things that really, really, really pushed it to the 'Brink' for me, heh.

• Ability to reset the turn? Nice quality of life feature. It's a déjà vu that the characters sometimes make a reference to. BRILLIAN!
• Abandoning the timeline? Take one pilot with you to the next, nice idea. Comments about abandoning the timeline and using the title of the game? BRILLIANT!
• Mechs. Mechs squashing bugs. Mechs!
• The pure tactical bliss when things look so terrifyingly terrible and bleak, but you think of a brilliant plan to thwart the bugs and even pit them against each other!
• The art. Guys, the art style is a perfect fit. Sublime and brilliant! (and totally playable on lower specs)


[Some Thoughts about the Future?]

Let me preface this section by saying that these are simply thoughts that I've been simmering on and everything I'm pointing out is mostly a suggestion to see if you'd think it'd be a good addition. Having a game with so many features might not be the greatest thing or not a direction you are aiming for and I can understand that.

TLDR; Endless Mode
The first thing in relation to this that came to mind was another recent game I stumbled upon (mainly because I had a humble bundle key from way back and started using or giving away my unused keys) was Galak-Z. The only thing I really wanted to point out was their 'endless' mode. Their endless mode is a score attack and I was wondering if there could be something similar implemented for this game too. One idea that came to mind stems from how epic the final mission was and that it dropped you down a level (seriously, that took me by surprise and was totally awesome btw) and continued the mission. Depending on the envisioned sweet spot for completion times you could perhaps modify the power grid starting count or maximum, starting mech reactor counts (aka elite team going in for the long haul w/out breaks), allow/disallow upgrades in-between (i.e. disallow to keep the pacing up), objectives introduced each floor to replenish power, etc. Besides clearing a number of floors I'm not sure how we can go about scoring. Perhaps floors + total accumulated power?

TLDR; Periodical Challenges
The next thing that came to mind was along the lines of several games I recalled playing before. The specific mechanic or feature was this daily, weekly, periodical challenge that was presented to all players. Kind of like a daily Chess puzzle. For a specific reference I am referring to a game like Crypt of the Necrodancer where they had the same challenge, but allowed you to play as any unlocked character (iirc). I could see a map that was presented and had a fixed squad or allowed the player to choose from their existing preset or custom squad. If you had a fixed squad you could also set it up with specific skilled pilots and gear combos too. It would be a nice way to expose people to all the wacky items the game had to offer. The only downside is that unless you can procedurally generate the scenario it could be time consuming. I'd say forget QA or testing it though and let the players show their tactical prowess for what could be a super lopsided, unfavorable, and uphill battle. Let's be honest, we're all masochists after all. It would be nice for a friend and myself to compare what we did and talk it over too for example.

TLDR; DLC?
I was wondering what kind of 'expansions' or content you could possibly add to the game. The obvious things that came to mind as I played more basically boiled down to these main things. New islands (aka factions to help), new enemy type, new squads, new weapon types, new items. One thought I had was for enemies I envisioned our very own troops, but even further from the future who came back in time to stop us from actually saving humanity (higher tech, but we are the superior tactician, hah)! The most important thing I'd like to stress is the ability to toggle off any of such additions since I, and I'm sure others as well, will enjoy the pure vanilla experience while wanting to switch between experiencing certain combinations.


[Closing Remarks]

Thanks for bringing this game into my life. I really hope that you continue to make games because this game in particular hit a personal chord and resonated wonderfully. I'm excited for any kind of possible additions you may add to this game as well as future games too. No pressure even if you don't. Developers should listen to their players, but they too should hold onto their identities and core beliefs. I can totally understand if making a game and moving on is something you prefer instead of feeling like you have to endlessly tend to all the former titles beyond doing bug fixes (major thanks for the patches/fixes btw). I felt like sharing this because I'd like to help provide my point of view on this game and use my gaming history to help you perfect your formula or to help you do whatever you're looking to accomplish.

Hope it was a good read. Thanks for sticking to the end.

Cheers,
Kuz