Galvana being level 40 isn't god-awful. This is a thing I've seen in pokemon before, where the level of a mythical is either considerably higher or considerably lower than your team, and you have to be careful. Because honestly, a Pandourbit makes the Galvana fight absolute cake (Galvana can't even hit it, I don't think). Soul Split till it's at low HP, then chuck giganets. But yeah, it's annoying, if nothing else.
And so apparently there were slightly fewer suggestions in my email, but I dug it up and here it is. Fair warning. It's freaking long.
**********
So, I wrote you awhile back, and I'm sort of following up with some
more detailed manamon feedback. Hopefully you take at least some of
this under advisement, if you ever decide to update the game. I'm
going to restrain myself to stuff in game that wouldn't actually take
a whole ton of coding (no new moves, no teachable moves like I was
talking about last time). Most of what you're going to see below are
stat and learnset tweaks that would hugely help out certain manamon.
Viralite: Give this guy more defense, or a ton of HP, or something.
His two dodge-based abilities don't help when he has about 42 defense
around level 60. He's busted, pure and simple.
Donnammer: Are you aware this guy's learnset includes Charge twice,
and that his ability, Heavy Hitter, only comes into play with the move
Sparking Tail? I was expecting him to learn Thunder Hammer, but he
never did. Was hoping he'd learn Power Kick too, but he hasn't seemed
to. He does get Hammerhead and Sparking Tail very early, which is
cool, but I feel like his ability's not working very hard for him.
Ghoperto: Can he get Spirit Force or PsychoTrick or something? Please?
His only ghost move is, um, Tricky Gaze. He's got the stats to pull it
off, and he's not seriously threatening at the moment. I feel like
he's half annoyer, half attacker, and he can't really pull off either
set well.
Sullorb: Nice stats, terrible moves. He gets Spirit Force, which is
neat, and Starfall, and Eternal Vortex, and the rest of his moveset is
support. I would love to see this guy get Rock Avalanche, like Simulon
(I'll hit Simulon later) and Meteor Rush. I've pushed a Sullorb to
level 61 or 62, and its last move appears to be Mystic Guard; I
wouldn't care if Meteor Rush came at like 65-70 or something, just as
long as he got it.
Lamgurk: This guy is crying out for Earthquake, and I wish Normality
worked no matter what Lamgurk's HP was (to give him a bit more clout,
you don't see him till later after all).
Simulon: I want to like this guy. His defenses are nice. But his
attack stat is bad, and he's slow, and he's a pure stone type. Rock
Avalanche is neat, but he still dies reliably to everything in two
hits. I'd suggest buffing his HP a bit, jacking his attack a goodish
bit (he doesn't have any abilities after all) and seeing how that
works out. Right now he's not useful.
Vultair: Any chance this dude can get Torch? His best flame moves are
Broil or Flame Blizzard; the first is situational and the second
chancy at best. I'd also like to see it get either Wind Force or Wing
Slash, or even Fly, instead of being stuck with only Suicide Dive.
Such nice stat potential, and again, it seems largely wasted.
Duskond: All that attack and special attack, and it can't use special
attack. Please, please make Night Stick a special shadow move instead
of physical; even its description sounds special-based. I would also
like to see Duskond get something better than Fear Feed at level 49.
It's way too frail as it stands. Black Mana or something, even Soul
Split, would be a welcome addition for this guy.
Deciced: Along with this, please give Deciced Scourge Tail instead of
Night Stick. Right now it doesn't much matter, but this thing is a
physical attacking fish, fish have tails, so it makes more sense that
he get Scourge Tail. Would also be nice to see Deciced get Frostbite
(fish has teeth, it's an ice type), and make Frigid Touch a special
move (this would greatly benefit Arctana).
Snowmonno: A little more defense, please. It's too frail and has too
many weaknesses. If the Frigid Touch change comes in, I'd like to see
him get Frostbite instead, or I'd like to see his special attack jack
up a bit (Frigid Touch was one of Snowmonno's main selling points, but
the reasons for changing it to a special move are just too good to
pass up, as ice has very few strong physical moves).
Fingon: He gets Hone Blade, and I think the only moves he can use with
it are Pounce and Suffocate. That's bad. Can we maybe either 1. make
Waterbomb physical, or 2. give him some other stuff to make use of
Hone Blade? Right now it's essentially useless.
Drabao: Can he get Dragon Fang instead of Elemental Breath? Please?
Elemental Breath is the sort of thing where you get lucky sometimes,
but mostly you hit neutral or resisted damage since there's no way to
take the randomness away. It also comes off a much lower special
attack, and given the way training goes, it's probably better to put
this guy's train points into attack/speed/defense/HP, and not worry
about special attack.
Sluggugg: This guy wants to be good, and I like the move variation on
him. But can he seriously get a buff to his HP? He dies way, way too
easily. Hibernate is useless on this guy for precisely that reason.
All the Flame Blizzards and Toxic Sprays and Black Bites in the world
won't save you if you have less HP than Bombusect. And at least
Bombusect is undead.
Bombusect: I would like to see this guy get a little more HP. Not a
ton, but a little. Again, dies too easily, and I think giving a
manamon a bit more sticking power is almost never a bad thing.
Remullion: He has a pile of special attack he never uses and probably
never will. Any chance some of this can be redistributed amongst the
stats he does use? He's got a very nice overall stat total but can't
use part of it, and I think that's a shame, given that you can't get
him till well after the fifth stadium, and even then only if you know
how (which you aren't explicitly told till the postgame). I don't even
think any tamers have Remullion.
Frorgeril: This dude is begging for Superspark, or anything that isn't
Power Surge or Lightning Bolt.
Thornita: Could we maybe get a poison move stronger than Acid Slap on
this guy? Poison Dart, or maybe Ooze Blast.
Trumer: This isn't actually a criticism of Trumer, who's not too bad,
it's a point at Poison Dart. This move, I think, should be physical,
not special. You're firing a literal dart that explodes and sprays
acid, and we've already got Ooze Blast for a potential physical
attack. Trumer would do better damage with Poison Dart if it was
physical. So would a couple of others, actually.
Recobrah: Can he get Sonic Missile, or some other non-Sonic-Boom sound
move? As it stands, his sound typing is an afterthought and his poison
typing is a hindrance.
Thundron: Toxic Tail! There's a tamer who's got a Thundron with Toxic
Tail, and I think that would be an excellent move on a manamon who's
slow, sort of bulky, and has two common double weaknesses. I think he
needs all the help he can get, frankly. Toxic Storm isn't bad, but
Toxic Tail is better, and he's a snake with a tail, so...
Fowliture: He (a part sound type) gets Magic Lights instead of
Subliminal Radio Wave. Then Myaneko (holy/magic type, I'll hit him
later too) gets Subliminal Radio Wave instead of Magic Lights. To me,
this is backward. Not a huge deal, but it's backward.
Myaneko: Okay, seriously tried to use this guy, and while he's got
enormous HP, it doesn't matter with his typing and his terrible
defenses. He just...dies. His best attacking move seems to be Holy
Light, which isn't bad but isn't going to precisely win him any
praise. If his attack and special attack were both quite high, along
with modest-going-on-good speed, he'd be dangerous and worth using,
the typical glass cannon sort. As it stands, he's busted.
Orystar: Would love to see this guy get Wind Force over Wing Slash.
This wouldn't be enormous, but I'd like it. Orystar's attack isn't
bad, but it would be nice to be able to rely on only special attack
for damage.
Rhinodyo: A sound type which is set up physically. There are no
physical sound moves (Rhinodyo gets only Sonic Missile), so because
you can't teach manamon their own moves, this guy is basically not
nearly living up to his potential. If you ever get around to making
some new sound moves, please make sure Rhinodyo gets a couple.
Steelion: This one's interesting. I like its ability, but its special
defense is low enough that even special attacks it resists do pretty
big damage, and it doesn't precisely have the speed to sweep. I'd like
to see him get considerably faster, or have considerably more HP (the
former makes him a partial sweeper, the latter a better tank). Not
both, obviously, that would be too much.
Wizzell: This guy's not bad, but I'd like to see him get Meteor Rush
at some point, maybe at a high level.
Turoison: Eksponge beats this guy eight ways to Sunday, unless you
need Toxic Storm, which you nearly always don't. Eksponge gets Daring
Comeback and Restrain, plus it gets a really weird Limb Thrust, and
it's nearly as defensive as Turoison. Would love to see Turoison get a
significant buff to his HP, to turn him into a real tank and
differentiate him from the sponge, who just outperforms him in
general.
Jimitron: Would love to see this one get some defense. Not loads more,
but at least a bit; it's extremely frail, and doesn't have the punch
to make up for it.
Ratiera: Would like to see this one get a buff to both of its
defenses, not huge but decent. That way it doesn't (yet again) die to
two hits of everything. I love finding Ratiera on tamer teams, because
they just...die.
Domestress: Any chance she could have better stats across the board?
She's uncommon, you don't get her till just before the fifth stadium,
and yeah, her ability is sweet, but it's not like she's got great
moves. Slam and Rookie Punch aren't precisely amazing. Power Pacify is
awesome...but again, she's more a liability in most cases.
Magmazire: For a three-stage flame manamon, this guy's defense is
actually pretty bad, and so is his speed. I'd like to see it get more
defense (it's sorta okay if he's slow).
Sacroloon: Actually, Sacroloon is pretty incredible, and I think this
is a case where you got him just right. But why does Matthew's
Sacroloon know Inner Healing? Isn't that basically cheating? Pretty
sure Seinarus's knows Wing Slash as well, which would be more of the
same. Putting Inner Healing on a Sacroloon is borderline overpowered,
if you ask me, given its stat spread, so I think Matthew's Sacroloon
should actually lose that, and get Daring Comeback instead.
Garganchan: With low-ish defense, fairly bad HP and awful, awful
speed, this guy, as a flame-fighting type, is begging to die. The only
reason I was able to use one semi-successfully is because AI is
stupid. Can we make this guy have a lot more HP? I mean, he is a
freaking giant. At least that way, if he gets hit hard, he doesn't
just fall over and croak. He'd still be slow, and would still have to
take hits, but that's okay, given his phenomenal attack and nice moves
(congrats for giving him Earthquake, a nice touch).
Tenshaino: This guy makes me wish there were holy moves that were
physical-based and weaker, because levelling him is a right pain
before level 47. You're stuck with White Lance (not many use points)
or Rookie Punch or whatever it is. Or Takedown, which will of course
kill him gradually. I love his stat spread overall, I like that he
gets Inner Healing and later Hone Blade, plus Battlecry. That's
awesome. I'd just like to see a physical holy move at lower levels for
him (and maybe Squirmunk/Miterosier/Myaneko) to learn. Hell,
Retribution might be nice on this guy too at high levels. Not sure.
Frenrir: More attack or more defense, less special attack (which it
basically doesn't/can't use).
Submenno: This guy is basically a physical-based version of Arctana,
except worse. Can he get more speed/more attack? Also, more Frostbite.
Haha.
Squarpha: Relies on I think Tri-Beam and Bubble Burst for damage, and
none of his stats are all that good. Meteor Rush/Drench would be very
welcome on this guy, as would a small bump in stats across the board.
I do mean small...he's mediocre right now, we wouldn't want him
becoming overpowered.
Sansurgion: For a pure poison type, I'd like to see him have either
more HP or more attack/special attack. Right now he's sort of decent,
but doesn't really have a lot of advantages and wastes a team slot
because you can usually find something else (Trumer, even, and that's
saying something) to do the same thing as well or better.
And a couple of type tweaks I'd love to see:
1. Make steel resist air
2. Make poison do super-effective damage against water (you're making
water impure)
3. Undead should lose its poison immunity
4. Steel should be immune to poison (how exactly do you poison steel?)
5. fighting should be super-effective against undead, as should either
fire or shadow (currently I think it's only holy, and that's just too
strong)
6. stone should resist insect, but earth should not
7. holy should not be super-effective against ice, since ice has
enough problems already
8. ice types should be immune to freeze status (they currently are not)
And a bunch of move tweaks. Nothing really new under the sun, just a
few numerical alterations. I've played this game more than eight times
now. I've written a walkthrough on it. I've tried damn near every
manamon. All of these suggestions, both above and below, come from a
great deal of experience, not just a desire to whine.
1. Make Night Stick special
2. Make Poison Dart physical
3. Increase Ooze Blast to 80 power
4. Give Drench 100% accuracy
5. Make Lava Lick 60 power
6. Make Psycho Trick 75 power
7. Increase Magic Lights and Subliminal Radio Wave to 100% accuracy
8. Make Knockout Venom 90% accurate
9. All moves that hit 1-6 times should be tweaked to hit 2-6 times
10. Make Smoke and Mirrors 85% accurate
11. Make Black Bite 55 power if it isn't already
12. Increase Skull Duggery damage to 70 power, and accuracy to 95%
13. Hibernate should put the user to sleep for 2 turns, not 3, for
better usability
14. Magic Dragon should be special, and 95 power
15. Make Magic Wave 75 power, and 95% accuracy
16. Make Sparking Tail 90% accurate instead of 80%
17. Lower damage of Limb Thrust from 145 to 125
18. Make Power Surge 100% accurate
19. Make Slam 100% accurate
20. Dark Gift should sacrifice 1 stage of attack for 2 stages of
special attack, or 1 stage of special attack and 1 of speed
21. Make Vulnerability Scan 55 power and 100% accurate
22. Make Toxic Storm 85 power and 100% accurate
23. Make Fang Drain 60 power
24. Make Mud Ball 30 power, and physical
25. Make Mudslide 85% accurate
26. Make Starfall 50 power and 100% accurate
27. Make Holy Light 75 power
28. Make Power Punch 70 power
29. Make Shadow Claw 60 power
30. Make Diabolical Fire 60 power
31. Sucker Root, Gammadrain and Alphadrain, in that order, should be
35, 55, and 80 power, respectively; I might have Alpha and Gamma
backward, if so, just switch them
32. Tunnel should be 80 power, not 90
33. Zap Slam should be 75% accurate
34. Restrain and Stifle should both be 100% accurate
35. Adrenaline Rush should not drain HP the way it does (this makes it
virtually unusable); instead, half of the user's max HP should be
taken away to maximize the attack stat
36. Quake should be 100% accurate
37. Stone Throw should be 100% accurate
38. Sing should be 85% accurate
39. Storm Rush should be 100% accurate, and 145 power (two-turn attack)
40. Frenzied Rage should be 140 power and 100% accurate
41. Deadman's Curse should only remove 1/4 the user's HP; removing 1/2
makes it pretty much an immediate death sentence
42. If not already, Rock Avalanche should be 100% accurate
43. Eternal Vortex should be 90% accurate
44. Rookie Kick should be 60 power and 100% accurate to further
differentiate it from Rookie Punch
45. Frigid Touch should be special, and 100% accurate
There's an overbearing theme here. Most of your moves have accuracy
penalties. This means that sometimes a couple of really untimely
misses can really ruin your day, or, for that matter, really make a
fight a cakewalk. This might be your preference, but it isn't mine.
The issue is that certain types (earth, flame, air, even dragon) have
reliable damage, while almost all other types don't. By "reliable" I
mean that it will hit without accuracy modifiers in play. I have no
problem with moves not hitting if someone used Obscure or Sandy Wind
or Smoke Shield or whatever, but I'd like to be able to rely on a
manamon to hit what it attacks more often than not, and for that
matter, I want to actually be worried about the same from tamers. The
more you rely on accuracy penalties, the more the game becomes
luck-based instead of skill-based, and to my way of thinking, a
strategy game like this should be more about skill than luck. Luck
will always, always have its place (thus critical hits, and the
evasion stat in the first place), but to lean on it this much...well,
let's just put it this way. Many players I've spoken to say that
accuracy is one of the frustrating elements of the game. And uneven
type recognition (insects are woefully under-represented, as are
dragons, and the undead type is small but extremely powerful) is
another problem they cite.
So all the above stuff is meant to say that I want to help make
manamon even better. Much of these tweaks would come as a huge, huge
improvement, and the grand majority of them would literally be a case
of plugging in new numbers for moves and stats. For the things I've
suggested should be tweaked to physical or special or whatever, I
imagine that you've got moves flagged by type and by atribute
(elemental type, I mean, and physical/special atribute). Just flick
the physical/special flag the other way.
A few hours of work on stuff like this, even if you did like half of
what I've suggested here, would do three important things:
1. It would convince players that you're still listening to feedback;
this is big if you want to maintain your player base for this and for
upcoming releases;
2. It would vastly improve the gameplay (I'm not kidding, this isn't
purely personal opinion here, and believe me, I understand your
worries about making stuff too strong)
3. By virtue of the fact that many players would appreciate the
changes, it would very likely have future titles looked at more
favourably. Listen, everything of this nature is a learning process,
and not getting every single thing right is completely okay. I'm not
trying to rag on you. But there will come points when we, as
developers and potential developers, must realize that we can do
better, and that a few small tweaks can make a world of difference.
These are just those sorts of tweaks, so I hope you seriously consider
them.
Now, on a slightly different angle, I don't know if you're working on
manamon 2 yet, or if that's even in the cards, but I would love,
absolutely love to help with that if I can. I actually have a document
with over 110 new manamon in it that I created in the autumn, which I
could flesh out and build statistically (stats, movesets, manapedia
entries, the whole works) or could just toss at you to see if you
liked names and things. Design of this nature is right up my alley.
And no, I'm not trying to do this so I can show you up either; I
genuinely love this kind of game, and if Manamon 2 is better than the
first, and if I can help to make it a game worth playing, then I'd
love to do it. If nothing else, I'd like to beta-test, and I have more
than enough background that I could do it thoroughly and fairly.
Please do write back at some point, even if it's just to tell me that
you're going to essentially ignore the email and all subsequent
attempts to contact you. I hope that's not the case, but I recognize
that I might have ruffled your feathers with this attempt at
communication. It's not my intention, I assure you. If, on the other
hand, you have the time, the inclination and the means, we could
always talk more informally on skype or something, if it comes to
that.
Sincerely,
Gregg Chambers
P.s.: Irrespective of the above, do you have a design document for
manamon's base stats? If so, I would love to see it. I don't know if
you're doing it like pokemon, or if your internal setup is different,
but I'd love to see stuff on paper, so to speak, rather than having to
essentially catch everything, breed it for good stats, and then hope
I'm getting an accurate picture.
G.
Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1
