this is my 2nd day playing this. i thought i'd wait for the review given that it seemed like such a long haul. training is simultaneously tedious and addictive lol... i feel like it's challenging and enjoyable but i also dread entering the training room. it seems like the bank is probably the best investment given that it keeps accumulating currency while you're afk/ logged out. I think you should mention that the game doesnt have to be running for this, cus i actually left it going all day yesterday and was pleasantly surprised that it kept working after i shut down, but would have liked to know i didnt need to leave the tab open.
i still have 4 kids left to find, but i have all the abilities unlocked so i figured this would be a good time to start writing my notes.
music was cute, a lot of these sounds reminded me of FF or kingdom hearts. graphics werent anything especially flashy or outstanding, but i liked the balance of detail and simplicity as well as the rich color schemes.
the item upgrades seemed like i'd be waiting forever to get them and then when i bought them, i'd absolutely destroy the enemies for the next battle, but not be able to defeat another. maybe consider allowing us to choose between more special abilities (increased stun chance, dont force us to pick poison and shield because they dont go well with full offense builds) or a variety of items. i like that the ranged weapons attacked automatically, but they werent anywhere as good of an investment as armor or melee (dodge + melee was the best combo IMO) because they only proc a certain percentage of the time.
overall i think that this game is really well rounded but would benefit greatly from allowing us a litttle bit more choice. sure, early game you can pick what you want to upgrade, but by halfway through i'm forced to upgrade other stats until i am even all around because it's the only thing i can afford and im getting a little sick of the training mini games.
the combat was great. it seemed simple but there were quite a few nuances in timing and cooldowns that really could give the player an edge. again i didnt like poison strike or magic shield because they didnt work with my build, and i found that the only time the poison was useful was when it was shot with the poison projectile because it didnt take up a turn. it'd deal the equivalent of 1.5-2 strikes over time, but it wasnt worthwhile if it took up an entire turn where i could possibly stun with my shield bash or regular attack. I used heal only when the enemy was stunned, because every time i tried to heal otherwise it ended up just being a stalemate turn. that's a good way of nerfing/balancing heals, but basically my point is that i'd really like to have upgraded the skills i picked initially past level 5, but instead i was forced to become a sort of all-class hodgepodge and i really didnt find many of the abilities useful. the feats were generally all beneficial, but i have yet to resurrect and am at max level of that skill. im still only like 2/3 of the way through the game or
something so maybe it'll happen eventually, but it seems like all the other feats have paid off.
ive realized that this issue is compounded by the fact that only certain classes would be focusing/picking stun abilities in the first place, so essentially this makes all the defense/heal/etc stuff useless unless you go tanky/melee, meaning the only truly viable class is melee/tank, and all of the non offensive abilities are relatively useless because of the amount of damage you take when using them (1 pot = 30% of my hp, 1 hit from enemy = 50% of my hp) ofc i can upgrade pots and sheild, but they have a strong tendency not to reduce or heal enough damage overall. i honestly am not winning any battles whatsoever without stunning a lot, and i've taken to only using the shield bash, lightning when affordable, and regular attack, because nothing else gives a good disable.
i noticed that when i double striked and killed the enemy on the 1st hit, i almost always got a stun or critical strike on the next enemy. was this intentional? cus ive been abusing it lol
the mushroom shouldnt ever drop lucky clovers, IMO. if anything it could drop 2 or 3 clovers from 1, but just dropping another clover out doesnt rly make sense. it was good that you sometimes didnt get anything because one major suggestion i could add is to bring a gambling center into the game, and the mushroom sort of accomplishes this albeit giving the same output every time pretty much. I'd like to be able to have an alternative to going back and forth between mini games and combat, and it would be nice to be able to take a risk for some possible benefits.
it wasnt clear to me what the home's purpose was initially, so im not sure if that was explained in the tutorial and i missed it, or if the sign on the bottom left was the only legend. regardless, it wasn't so clear to me at first, and i didnt invest in the house until later although house + bank might be the best long term way to go.
anyways, this is a great game. ive seen a ton of games out there getting 4s that arent even 1/4 the game this is, and i'm really enjoying it.
sry for any ostensible typos, and ill be sure to message with more notes soon. feel free to take anything i've said with a grain of salt. great job!