Mhm... I guess...
Let me take a closer look at all of this. Short disclaimer, nothing in the following part is meant as an insult; I will merely try to be as honest as possible when trying to describe things.
So, here I go with a short analysis of this system. Or a long one, we will see.
First of all, the overall game:
It is an original Quest set in an alternative Earth, vaguely leaning on Crystalwatcher's concept but being put far before then by player's choice. All the relevant data, except for some numerical values, are not available to the players.
Those numerical values, as they stand, basically tell us nothing.
Background Soft Stats:
Global Economy = 6 + 3 Stable Stock Market = 9
Global Standard of Living = 9 + 1 Stable Stock Market - 1 China No Longer Exporting = 9
Global Research = 9 + 2 Stable Stock Market = 11
Global Desperation = 8 - 1 Stable Stock Market = 7
Global Military = 10
For example, what does "Global Military = 10" mean? We have not the slightest idea how to put these into relation. Does 10 mean good, bad, big, small, doom? No frame of reference is given, so these data are basically worthless.
From that follows that we have not the slightest idea what is going on in the world; our character might know something, but we were not told what they know. The players are working on conjecture built on what few hints the QM puts into each update.
Overall, that can be worked with.
Next up, the system.
A quick look at the character sheet to confirm tells me that each skill has a hundred levels that can be reached. If this is just a frame of reference, that would be fine. However, previous mentions from the QM note it is not, as we can actually increase our MC's skill-levels.
In other words, the mere fact we get a list of a hundred levels thrown at us already promises we have to grind.
Again, this can be worked with.
Next up is the Shop itself. We are supposed to work with our powers and have good ideas to unlock new abilities; that is fine. We are supposed to actually spend time training instead of just buying what we want, no problem if we have the time.
The only thing that does irk me is the exponential costs on raising levels. I get that we are supposed to actually work for it, but the original concept was to start small and grow a lot, which happens through linear costs on exponential growth.
Here, we have exponential cost (Start Cost * 2^(Levels bought)) for linear growth (e.g. 5% growth for each level in Regeneration). This is actually the opposite of fast growth.
Which leads to the conclusion that this is not exponential growth, but exponential possibilities; our powers are not meant to specialise but to apply on as many different areas as possible. Unless we have years to spend on training them up regularly, they will not become powerful enough.
Once more, this we can work with.
The last part of the system is how encounters are worked out. This system relies heavily on dice rolls; not just a lot like others, but every even slightly important decision is rolled for. In other words, we are heavily dependant on the RNG to see us through this. A single bad roll can ruin not just our day, but our whole relation to a large nation; as seen in the last update.
Again, bad RNG is nothing new; this is workable.
Lastly is the characters. I like them all, but this is besides the point. They are well written and believable and... it would have been good to give some more info about them. Still, no problem here.
Now, what I am trying to say is that all of this is okay. Or it would be, if you had not thrown it all together.
No information, no good growth, hit and miss with experimentation (made worse by being so RNG-dependent), no actual base of resources to work on, no nothing.
"Also, I just want to point out
Crystalwatcher's Magical Girl Quest! as being a big inspiration for this,
and also because I didn't think they were being mean enough."
I understand if you want to be more mean. I understand if you think we have to work hard for success.
But with the list I just made, you are just being an asshole.
You expect us to maneuver in a world we do not know, with powers we can only control if the dice say we can, with a character who is basically powerless except for her magic and without any chance to actually get the smallest semblance of control over the situation.
I will say it now, so that it was said: this is too much.
I previously thought it might not be that bad, but I was proven wrong here. High difficulty is fine with me, this is why I voted for Fresh Meat. But the way you make it, even though definitely harder than what Crystalwatcher did... it lacks the one thing the original Quest did have: fun.
Maneuvering in a dangerous world is fun if one has at least a base of information. Challenging the RND is fun if one has ways to get around a streak of bad luck. Trying to improve a character's situation is fun if there is actually a way in sight.
You just mashed every difficult mechanic together and it does not fit, because every element that could make it fun is sucked out of it due to that. Even your enviable grasp on the characters does not save this.
Let me make the comparison more clear.
Crystalwatcher made a hard Quest, just as the people wanted; but it is also rewarding, as interesting information and revelations are packed into it all. The MC actually got stronger, actually did something. The players have agency.
Admittedly, it had its own flaws, but enough people already picked on that.
In this case, there is no reward for any action aside from working with our magic, which boils down to "oh, you get another 5% of your measly base stats stacked on top; try to scrape another ungodly amount of EXP together if you want another 5%". We learned basically nothing about the setting so far, except that our character is taking care of her sister by herself and what bad she went through to get by. There is a little more, but I am not going back to fish for what few hints on the setting you gave us so far.
It does not feel as if anything is done; the childish curiousity with which we went about the magic is soon going to subside as well, leaving us with a slog of days passing by, where each one could be a death just because the dice decided they do not like our faces for once.
To make it short, this is a Quest. It is supposed to be a fun experience for everyone. It is supposed to be something we can enjoy, not a form of pain for us to come back to every day. Punishing is okay, but only if we actually messed up and not because of arbitrary difficulty.
This is not fun.
I like this Quest, its premise and the characters. I want to play, but playing means having fun. I can not bring myself to invest so much time into something that will just go on punishing me for the slightest mistake.
And, if you really want to go at it that way, you could at least cut us some slack. We forgot that one single line specifying to start a small fire, right after you mentioned it would be okay to only give short votes instead of detailed plans. Even though it makes sense for Cerys to be panicking, you could have just said okay and did it as we wanted anyway, simply because the system as built is difficult enough already. If the QM actually goes through our votes word for word instead of with the spirit... that makes it unplayable in the long run.
Phew... I guess that had to get out of my system. I know you want to make it difficult, but it is important not to forget to also make it fun to play; this is what Crystalwatcher was so good at. If you take the fun away, no one will be willing to play.
I am honestly not happy with what happened there and others seem to think the same.
Please correct any mistakes I made during my analysis; but please keep in mind the information you have and what of it is available to us.
And if it helps, I was orienting myself on Dark Souls for this; it is a hard game and punishes mistakes a lot, but it is never unfair about it. It does not use RNG to determine the outcome, either.
I'm fairly sure most of us are still mildly to moderately upset that "make it look like a looter did it" was not enough to cover for her not setting the house into a giant blaze from go.
I don't care what Rukia says to justify it, they said to make it look like someone else did it and then she sprinted out of a blazing inferno.
That's just fucking stupid.
Funny you say that a few seconds before I hit Post Reply.
