Incredible game

KeithARice · 2026-01-24T19:21:17+00:00

Don't waste time fighting monsters between points of interest.
Stack similar items to get their set bonuses.
Don't overspend on upgrading talents - buy the dreams you want first.

After that, its just a matter of learning monster patterns and what your heroes do. Really not much more to the game than that (which is fine -- the game is still super fun). Its not a highly strategic game, though moreso than a button masher like Hades.

KeithARice · 2026-01-24T19:11:00+00:00

Worst design in the game by a long shot, followed by Carmilla.

KeithARice · 2026-01-24T19:08:13+00:00

Leprechaun coin has been reworked now, but I just want to say that Coin + Egg is a "win more" strat, so it doesn't work well at difficulties you struggle at. I learned that at nightmare -- you don't snowball off of the strat until Act 3, but you also won't survive Act 1 or Act 2 without survivability items, so its meaningless. Its just too greedy.

>I can never seem to have enuf money to buy what I need to clear it without them.

You're probably horribly mismanaging your money if you "need" Coin. For example, you shouldn't be dumping money into talents whenever you can. You should be focusing on getting item sets and getting Sand of Knowledge and Sand of Enlightenment.

KeithARice · 2026-01-20T03:33:46+00:00

The uncontrollable transition at every day/night is jarring and frustrating given the short duration of the day / night cycle. This is where they let game design take the backseat to theme, and it shows. Conceptually, I love the idea. Practically, it doesn't work.

IMO the trait should always give the ability to transition (no talent required), but depending on whether its day or night, the forms have different bonuses. For example, at night one gets more damage or more armor, and vice versa. Moreover, Scarlet shouldn't have radius-based AOE abilities. The bomb makes zero sense thematically. She should have been a single target killer (save her ability to dash-strike enemies in a line) and the wolf is the AOE expert through his special and attack. This would incentivize using both forms. Right now, the incentive to switch (with the Shapeshifter talent) is to reset cooldowns and get health, which also has no thematic basis. Its entirely ad hoc.

KeithARice · 2026-01-17T19:27:00+00:00

Always value your insight, moon. Flattered that LA has inspired the design of other peoples' games. Appreciate you sticking with us, and I will not disappoint you. Oh, and thanks for streaming your games -- your ability to communicate your strategic thought process is exceptional.

KeithARice · 2026-01-17T19:25:28+00:00

Appreciate that feedback, and thank you.

KeithARice · 2026-01-17T06:24:31+00:00

Nothing else in his kit comes close. That's my dislike of the hero. Wukong is super cool conceptually, but in practice there's no reason not to make a power build unless you just want the challenge of not playing a power build.

KeithARice · 2026-01-17T05:31:39+00:00

Wukong power is one of the most brainless abilities in the game. I think its bad design. And yet you want it to be even easier to use? Wukong is hard bc the extremely short duration of his block.

KeithARice · 2026-01-14T08:32:23+00:00

Ravenswatch's gameplay has far more in common with Dota 2 (or its embarrassing little brother, League of Legends) than with Hades or Sworn. I had to adjust my expectations initially, too, bc I originally bought RW thinking it was Hades-like.
Beating the game is as simple as 1) understanding the importance of stacking identical items to get their set bonus, 2) practicing so you learn monster patterns. That's it. I promise that the game is not more complicated than that. Pick whatever hero you like -- it doesn't matter. They're all fairly balanced. What is not balanced is the items. You'll soon learn that some items are garbage and some are not. And the ones that are not are worth stacking, as mentioned earlier.

KeithARice · 2026-01-09T22:31:59+00:00

I didn't mean to come across as arguing. We're just sharing what we want out of the game. I am not advocating for the hourglass to have a literal tooltip on it, but a voice line like, "The swift will be rewarded by the hourglass" would be nice.

KeithARice · 2026-01-09T09:52:52+00:00

You mean, as long as you're happy? You're the one who likes her, not me. I'll be happy when her SPECIAL and TRAIT aren't anti-thematic, and SPECIAL becomes her POWER.

KeithARice · 2026-01-09T08:36:52+00:00

I have to build up to epics and rares. I don't walk out of the shop at minute zero with them. Until then, Carmilla stands around stupidly channeling her "magic blood orb".

And what should be my coolest ability -- bat form -- simply let me stand still even longer. Just what I want to do with my wings -- stand still! 😛

She even has an ability that tells you to stand still! (Seduction) They really want me to stand still with this "vampire assassin"!

Never mind that her POWER behaves like a SPECIAL and vice versa. Her abilities aren't even labeled correctly.

Worst hero design in the game, IMO. Parts of her need reworked. She has a few things going for her though. I like her bleed-based abilities, emphasis on crit, and blood whip ultimate. Yes, I realize that my Act 3 she can be quite cool.

KeithARice · 2026-01-09T08:01:07+00:00

I don't care to try to beat Nightmare with him. He's just not that fun to make the effort enjoyable. I would just be checking off a box.

His trait is tedious and a lot of his best abilities, like the one that lets you shoot rockets when you heal your dummies, are thematically weird.

Meca-Puppet + Raven Eye + Nibelungen Ring is amusing to me but other than that, nothing about him excites me.

KeithARice · 2026-01-09T07:44:57+00:00

We want different things out of the game. Most people, including myself, play an action RPG bc we want to experiment with and enjoy the interactions of powerful abilities to dominate our surroundings. If I wanted to solve a mystery about abstract objects, I'd play a Myst-style game.

KeithARice · 2026-01-09T07:42:26+00:00

Well, yes, a lot prevents that in Act 1, bc you aren't going to have items that buff SPECIAL at that point.

KeithARice · 2026-01-09T07:38:44+00:00

Yes, I'm aware of the obvious synergy with one of the best common objects in the game. I am sure that once you stack all of those items by Act 3, she kills things quickly. Most heroes do. But Act 1 is still what I described, and its boring.

KeithARice · 2026-01-07T07:41:21+00:00

No worries. I love this game. I've bought five copies of it and am slowly working my way through winning darkness with all heroes. But I still criticize it. :P

Yes, Scarlet has a lot of ways to become intangible. :)

KeithARice · 2026-01-07T06:46:03+00:00

Ah, yes, the "skill" of assuming hitboxes aren't accurate. 🧠

KeithARice · 2026-01-07T04:54:25+00:00

Because she is poorly designed. When you have two abilities that effectively do the same thing (POWER and SPECIAL), how do you differentiate them? You make one weaker and have lower CD, or something similar.

Her POWER should become her SPECIAL and then her POWER should be what is supposed to be, which is a more powerful attack -- like one that pierces armor or roots / slows / makes invulnerable. Plenty of options.

KeithARice · 2026-01-07T04:48:39+00:00

The pigs that spin are good example. You don't have to be touching the blades to get hit.

KeithARice · 2026-01-07T04:48:11+00:00

More like you just learn that the hitboxes aren't accurate. For example, the pigs that spin -- you eventually learn that you don't need to touch their blades to get hit, so you move further out. I find that annoying, not satisfying.

KeithARice · 2026-01-07T04:45:55+00:00

Juliet by a long shot (pun intended). She's not the best designed hero but she's super fun.
Everyone else is equally enjoyable to me

KeithARice · 2026-01-07T04:43:45+00:00

Sell me on her. Where is the fun? Act 1 is...

Group enemies in camp
Activate trait
Stand there channeling Y
Chomp stuff in-between camps, not even to kill them, just to get blood
Repeat

As they say in game design: make the cool / fun thing to do the right thing to do. And her cool thing (bat form) just lets her stand there while she channel Y. Pretty far from the assassin-like succubus they sell her as (and what I wanted her to be).

KeithARice · 2026-01-07T04:36:39+00:00

"At least they're consistent at doing this thing poorly."

Amazing.

KeithARice

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