[Feedback] After Finishing Adventure with ROG

[Ridley]

      I decided to use Wigfrid for the adventure play through, and it was very fun even though she is a character I wouldn't normally play in survival. I got to play every level because I tried three times before winning, so here we go!

 

     Cold Reception: Normally my least favorite, though I actually found it rather pleasant this time around. Nothing felt real different, however having the seasons bouncing back and forth between winter and Autumn allowed me to fight a bearger. I used this world to get some prototyping done. Neat but nothing very new to comment on.

 

 

      King of Winter: It is actually another good first level. I still love the sanity pillars trying to make my life difficult, but there wasn't much different from a normal save file. Though I made sure to get a MacTusk hat, Walking Stick, and Ice Hat before I left.

 

 

      The Game is Afoot: This one was not fun to start on. It seemed to lack resources or posed me against threats too big. Getting food meant killing tallbirds or pengulls, but before I do that I needed to get warm. In order to get warm I needed lumber, but I needed the resources for the tools which I had trouble finding while staying warm. I am sure if I went back I might be able to pull it off, but it was weird that I had more freezing problems there then King of Winter. Instead I killed myself by attacking pengulls.

 

      Two Worlds: Ice Hat and Walking Stick. With those two items I was sent on a race against time to find all the parts before the Ice Hat melted. I think I escaped in five days which felted pretty packed with running around and planing my next search point. I found no reason to stick around on the first island, so I went through the worm hole quickly. It was pretty fun this way while trying to kill me with its harshest ROG element. I regret wishing it had started in spring the first time I played it, since I didn't have the Ice Hat that time. I do wish that there was a warning or something about the next world, so I could prepare before mindlessly jumping into perma-summer.

 

       Is there supposed to be a normal worm hole that provides a two way access between the words? The only thing I had a problem with was trying to find the last piece that was near the Wooden Thing. The mixed messages caused me to wonder around more than I had desired. I noticed that the second island wasn't shaped like a ring, rather it resembled a normal island. Though the ring shaped version was good for story telling to friends, I actually enjoyed the newer version much more. Nice to see the spiky bushes being the best way to get sticks in the summer heat, I liked that little consequence. 

 

      Archipelago: This was a nice level after Two Worlds that let me hang around before the best level in the entire game. The wormholes were different then I remembered because there wasn't four wormholes scattered on the first island, with only one of those worm holes leading to the island that had the only wormhole that took me to the Wooden Thing island. This made everything easier, but with much less trial and error, it resulted in being easier to enjoy.

 

      Darkness: This level was my favorite by far.

 

      The first thing I noticed was that it was perma-summer. That was scary but fitting. I wouldn't of preferred it any other way since its the big scary last level. The constant night allowed me to keep from roasting fast, but prevented any logical use of the Ice Hat. ( Which I didn't have anyway   )

 

      I brought 40 Grass, a Walking Stick, a Miner's Light, and a Ham Bat into this level. I figured the spiders would give me the silk for the butterfly net, and the spiky bushes would provide me the twigs. The Ham Bat I brought on every level so I wouldn't waste resources making spears and such. I was given some grass, logs, and twigs (mostly from nearby boons). I made a backpack, killed some mandrakes, found a random fire dart, and set out.

 

      I took my time frying after getting the resources for the endo-fire. I planned on eating a mandrake to replenish health without having to stop. Wigfrid can't eat plants, why did I forget this? At 14 health I was able to save myself with a endo-fire. At this point I made a straw hat to hopefully help me, made the thermal stone, and ditched the mandrakes on the ground. I used spiders to heal up, got lots of minerals, and carried on again.

 

      I was forced to use monster meat for food most of the time, cooking it with the logs I was given at the start. The island was built like a vague path, as was the normal version. Things would smolder or burst into flames commonly, which was always a nice reminder of despair that hung over if I were to lose. I found the pig village and burned them out of their houses to kill them. I still used monster meat because I didn't want to waste my six pig meats yet. Every now and then I would stop for a fight or to cool down, and I would always equip my straw hat at this point. I made every fight happen around the Maxwell Light, so I wouldn't waste coolness or fireflies.

 

     I was prepared for the land bridge blocked by rocks, but then my old sanity pillar friends showed up instead. It was concerning to have to go insane to cross, than maybe cross again if I passed any tele pieces. Then I noticed I could do this.

It was funny until I took two more steps and saw that the other pillars still prevented me from getting off easy. I went ahead with its little game, and found the last piece before the Wooden Thing. 

 

    The Wasp Hive biome came back, which I think its a neat threat. However, all those bees caused alot of lag. I finally arrived at the Wooden thing, absorbed the feeling of being almost done, then laughed as this guy couldn't take the heat.

I get myself ready for a fight, and realize I don't have any of the materials I need for my log suit or grass suit. Wouldn't you know it? The only bit of armor I could make just so happened to be the unicorn hat which miraculously happened to appeared in the crafting table the moment I needed it. I had used it only once at the start of the game, so I sat there staring at it in a weird sense of wonder as the description hovered over my head. I kill the nearest bishop and knight, which was all I needed to reach and use the Wooden Thing safely.

 

   Most of the time I pick up random boon junk and ask myself, why do I still have this one dart when I don't have a plan to use it anyway? Since I had no form of light besides my miners light, I had no idea how I was going to place it in the machine without Charlie trying to kill me soon after. Then I saw that stupid fire dart I have been holding onto the entire time. The one and only time I ever needed it, and here it was. I shot the knight, stored the miners light, then jumped into the next world right as the bishop tried to shoot me. It was truly epic. 

 

  I loved Darkness so much. I really felt I was the Wilson in the picture where he is playing Maxwell in a game of chess. The atmosphere is ominous and Rog was a huge complement to its difficulty without just being super hard. Darkness is always been great about that, its a game of wits rather than near impossible. I was happy to see that perma-summer made it even more fun while cranking up the difficulty. Wigfrid might of made sanity easier, however using mushrooms and mandrakes would have be very useful too. Rog with Darkness was perfect, I can't get over it.

 

Checkmate (This is that part): Found out my Miner's hat would of been more useful if I tried harder to find the secret developer ghost place, but I chickened out when I saw my map didn't record anything. I was very happy to see my WX78 from a normal file was still there.

I goofed around a little because of my victory before saving WX78. All and all this was a wonderful experience, and I was happy to see ROG meshed well with adventure mode. There is still one important question though.

 

Will this stay like I left it? 

 

 

For Devs eyes only: 

You guys are awesome. You guys do neat things for the community, talk to us, keep us updated, and I put alot of love into your games. I want to be a game developer someday, and you guys are inspirational. Thanks so much!