Posted April 06, 2019
I remember the time and effort it took me to kill for the first time the [extra boss] on the base game. I trained myself to clear floors 1 to 3 using just the base gun of the Marine (except for bosses), thus hoarding weapons for the upcoming grind in floors 4, 5 and 6. I intentionally saved up the initial Ammo Drop until the last floor to refill my best gun and be able to kill the [extra boss]. It worked. And it felt glorious.
I remember when the Pilot was a very good character because his lockpick alleviated the (intended) lack of keys. The couple of ways to get infinite keys (A-KEY-47, or Mimic Friendship + Tooth Amulet) were rare but felt so overpowered when you got them. Even the Sense of Direction was pickable by itself (not just for the combo with the Blank Companion Ring) because it could save you some rooms (and thus, save you ammo) on the 5th and 6th floors.
The lack of ammunition forced you to often Gunmuch empty weapons into fully loaded weapons, switch weapons often, or celebrate items that granted a minor advantage on the ammo front: a simple +10% capacity was useful. You couldn't stick to a single gun.
Then AD&D came and all of that changed for worse.
The game became more flashy and accesible for newcomers, but it lacked the thriving difficulty that kept you playing on the long run. Now you are fed so many keys and ammo pickups that you can clear the whole game with a couple of guns and you still have leftover ammo. The lockpick is useless, as is the Ammo Drop and many minor items. Also, many of the newest guns and items, and most of the "weapon sinergies" become "insta-win" on the hands of a competent player, which takes away all the excitement. The Power Creep is huge.
New enemies may give you a nasty surprise or two, but they are often spawned instead of a former old enemy. The room layout is designed to be tricky with the old enemy, but the room becomes easier to beat with the new enemy.
Oh, and the chance of having columns on boss rooms is dumb. You can hide behind the column and obliterate the boss in a peek-a-boo battle, because their IA doesn't know how to deal with you once you have cover.
Right now, by the third floor I have received not one, but two strong combos that guarantee I'm going to win. And by win I don't mean the Dragun, I always play to kill the [extra boss]. And still my regular win streak is 100%. That's so boring.
At the same time, the added modes of extra difficulty for experienced players are nice... for a short time... but not engaging on the long run. The new hazards haven't been balanced with the item pool in mind, so in each mode, some items become useless and other ones super strong. For example, in Blessed Runs you just need passives. In Challenge Mode, poison immunity hardcounters the "Extremely Bad Chess", and extra blanks or invulnerability hardcounter the Dragun Rage, but scatterfire or flak bullets are bad as they will kill you as soon as you encounter "Unfriendly Fire". So you keep playing until the game feeds you the correct items, and after you beat those modes, you don't want to come back to them, because they are not engaging enough and instead of requiring more skill or creative builds, you depend too much on the luck of the draw.
I killed the rat. Took me many runs. It was nice, made me laugh. But I don't take the rat route anymore. For a regular run, getting into the Rat Lair is tedious and streamlined as you have to focus into filling a long checklist just to get in, but then you come out from the rat fight so overpowered (each Rat item is instawin) that the rest of the run becomes boring.
Now the new Farewell to Arms expansion promises more flashy items that empower the player, which it means that it will make the game even easier. I'm seriously thinking not to apply the upgrade. I even wish I could revert my Enter The Gungeon into a build previous to AD&D.
I remember when the Pilot was a very good character because his lockpick alleviated the (intended) lack of keys. The couple of ways to get infinite keys (A-KEY-47, or Mimic Friendship + Tooth Amulet) were rare but felt so overpowered when you got them. Even the Sense of Direction was pickable by itself (not just for the combo with the Blank Companion Ring) because it could save you some rooms (and thus, save you ammo) on the 5th and 6th floors.
The lack of ammunition forced you to often Gunmuch empty weapons into fully loaded weapons, switch weapons often, or celebrate items that granted a minor advantage on the ammo front: a simple +10% capacity was useful. You couldn't stick to a single gun.
Then AD&D came and all of that changed for worse.
The game became more flashy and accesible for newcomers, but it lacked the thriving difficulty that kept you playing on the long run. Now you are fed so many keys and ammo pickups that you can clear the whole game with a couple of guns and you still have leftover ammo. The lockpick is useless, as is the Ammo Drop and many minor items. Also, many of the newest guns and items, and most of the "weapon sinergies" become "insta-win" on the hands of a competent player, which takes away all the excitement. The Power Creep is huge.
New enemies may give you a nasty surprise or two, but they are often spawned instead of a former old enemy. The room layout is designed to be tricky with the old enemy, but the room becomes easier to beat with the new enemy.
Oh, and the chance of having columns on boss rooms is dumb. You can hide behind the column and obliterate the boss in a peek-a-boo battle, because their IA doesn't know how to deal with you once you have cover.
Right now, by the third floor I have received not one, but two strong combos that guarantee I'm going to win. And by win I don't mean the Dragun, I always play to kill the [extra boss]. And still my regular win streak is 100%. That's so boring.
At the same time, the added modes of extra difficulty for experienced players are nice... for a short time... but not engaging on the long run. The new hazards haven't been balanced with the item pool in mind, so in each mode, some items become useless and other ones super strong. For example, in Blessed Runs you just need passives. In Challenge Mode, poison immunity hardcounters the "Extremely Bad Chess", and extra blanks or invulnerability hardcounter the Dragun Rage, but scatterfire or flak bullets are bad as they will kill you as soon as you encounter "Unfriendly Fire". So you keep playing until the game feeds you the correct items, and after you beat those modes, you don't want to come back to them, because they are not engaging enough and instead of requiring more skill or creative builds, you depend too much on the luck of the draw.
I killed the rat. Took me many runs. It was nice, made me laugh. But I don't take the rat route anymore. For a regular run, getting into the Rat Lair is tedious and streamlined as you have to focus into filling a long checklist just to get in, but then you come out from the rat fight so overpowered (each Rat item is instawin) that the rest of the run becomes boring.
Now the new Farewell to Arms expansion promises more flashy items that empower the player, which it means that it will make the game even easier. I'm seriously thinking not to apply the upgrade. I even wish I could revert my Enter The Gungeon into a build previous to AD&D.
