The monsters are tougher than you.
You need to kill many to progress, but they hit hard, and your weapons aren't great.
This gives the game a grindy feel, but it's got nice details: the textures, the 1/4-block stairs, the unbreakable-by-default world, the un-minecraftian mobs, the periodic hints all give the game a very original feel, and would be nice to see in other games too.
If you're looking for someting different, you'll get that.
I won't object to your remark about the game being grindy, because it is fair since it is a deliberate choice on my part. But I try to make it fun. Not everyone will like every activity, though, and some don't have alternatives.
I am a bit suprised by your remarks about mobs hitting hard and weapons, but it is true that adjust the game difficult to myself mainly; I try to hold back a bit for other players. However, the intend is not to let players one-shot mobs with any weapon.
I think it is mentionned in the starting tips: you have to pick your fights - especially at the beginning when you can't spam wand shots. By the way, it is unclear to me if you are talking about the "tutorial tips" (once every 2 minutes, lasts about 40 minutes), or the daily tips (once every in-game day, 1 hours realtime). Were the tutorial tips helpful? Too slow, too fast, too wordy?
I'm glad you mentionned the 1/4 stairs (or 1/2 slabs), which is the sole division of block (except for wool which allows slabs as well). This is a limitation not everyone likes, but it's on purpose: be creative and do what you can with that and a "screwdriver".
Also a clarification: it is not the whole worlds which unbreakable, only the ruins that are generated all over the map (and some dungeons as well) cannot be dug. You can however go for lava (-100m) to get "silk touch" obsidian shards in order to repair the ruins, pierce walls to put windows etc.
Oh, and trees have this protection which is mainly relevant for servers: you have to cut them down from the top block (this deters tasteless playesr who take a couple of blocks from a trunk instead of taking down the whole tree). Next release will have an option to disable that because it serves no purpose in solo play - other than introducing a mini-challenge that I personally don't dislike, but YMMV.
I didn't notice that there were two types of hints. They were paced OK, with plenty of time to read & consider each one.
Occasionally they felt a bit spoiler-y (e.g. they told me exactly what to do with the purple taint).
The only mobs I managed to defeat were scorpions, mini-wasps, and mini-spiders.
The rest I eventually ran away from, even when I had a yellow wand. Nor did I notice many weaknesses: they all saw me coming, shot through my 1/2-block arrowslits, avoided my pitfall traps, and failed to be surprised when going round corners. So battles felt long & gladiatorial, rather than roguelike.
The monsters are tougher than you. You need to kill many to progress, but they hit hard, and your weapons aren't great.
This gives the game a grindy feel, but it's got nice details: the textures, the 1/4-block stairs, the unbreakable-by-default world, the un-minecraftian mobs, the periodic hints all give the game a very original feel, and would be nice to see in other games too.
If you're looking for someting different, you'll get that.
Thanks for your review.
I won't object to your remark about the game being grindy, because it is fair since it is a deliberate choice on my part. But I try to make it fun. Not everyone will like every activity, though, and some don't have alternatives.
I am a bit suprised by your remarks about mobs hitting hard and weapons, but it is true that adjust the game difficult to myself mainly; I try to hold back a bit for other players. However, the intend is not to let players one-shot mobs with any weapon. I think it is mentionned in the starting tips: you have to pick your fights - especially at the beginning when you can't spam wand shots. By the way, it is unclear to me if you are talking about the "tutorial tips" (once every 2 minutes, lasts about 40 minutes), or the daily tips (once every in-game day, 1 hours realtime). Were the tutorial tips helpful? Too slow, too fast, too wordy?
I'm glad you mentionned the 1/4 stairs (or 1/2 slabs), which is the sole division of block (except for wool which allows slabs as well). This is a limitation not everyone likes, but it's on purpose: be creative and do what you can with that and a "screwdriver".
Also a clarification: it is not the whole worlds which unbreakable, only the ruins that are generated all over the map (and some dungeons as well) cannot be dug. You can however go for lava (-100m) to get "silk touch" obsidian shards in order to repair the ruins, pierce walls to put windows etc. Oh, and trees have this protection which is mainly relevant for servers: you have to cut them down from the top block (this deters tasteless playesr who take a couple of blocks from a trunk instead of taking down the whole tree). Next release will have an option to disable that because it serves no purpose in solo play - other than introducing a mini-challenge that I personally don't dislike, but YMMV.
I didn't notice that there were two types of hints. They were paced OK, with plenty of time to read & consider each one. Occasionally they felt a bit spoiler-y (e.g. they told me exactly what to do with the purple taint).
The only mobs I managed to defeat were scorpions, mini-wasps, and mini-spiders. The rest I eventually ran away from, even when I had a yellow wand. Nor did I notice many weaknesses: they all saw me coming, shot through my 1/2-block arrowslits, avoided my pitfall traps, and failed to be surprised when going round corners. So battles felt long & gladiatorial, rather than roguelike.