RPGM Completed Star Knightess Aura [v1.0.2] [aura-dev]

[Crowie]

It is not a first game that has weaknesses and resistances, none is expecting lv 10 dog and lv 10 giant to be on same difficulty. Neverless if you are lv 10 you should be able to deafeat lv 10 giant if you employ correct stragy. And if you had trouble with lv 10 when you see lv 20 one you know you should probably go somewhere else.


I checked Giant crab, that thing certainly have more hp than listed 240HP and there was some other I forgot. Edit: The other one was Hobgoblin and LOL I see they both got tenacity. I didn't know what it is when I was checking them so I ignored it. But that just doubles up on the issue of not being able to see what the skills do. Especially with bosses as they got unique skills, so what that they tell me the boss skill name if I don't know what is the skill doing ? Those skills are not on wiki or at least the boss pages don't have active links to them.


I honestly didn't even remember they exist when writing it, I recalled later. But I'm so starved for gold that the idea I would be spending it to check enemy stats is preposterous. Also doesn't it require pyromantium ? thats very limited more like a luxury item to use when it counts.

While I understand the line of thought regarding levels, the thing is SKA enables different playstiles depending on if you go heavier into magic or physical, or more item related, so I think making that kind of categorization universally accurate is difficult. There are just multiple ways to approach enemies, and it depends on where you currently are and what skills you learned, which stats you invested in, etc.

Even in other RPGs I mostly rely on trying stuff out to see how easy the enemy actually is because any sort of label for strong, normal, or easy I find not to be that helpful... Except when it's a deliberate developer label that you shouldn't engage x enemy yet. In the end of the day you gotta test stuff out and see how it works.

Now, I agree with you that the compendium should be more detailed. But it's not the biggest deal, even more so considering a lot of enemy attacks you can learn yourself (like Tenacity) so if you want to know the details you can look them up that way. And the unique ones I find very intuitive for the most part. Like when the Low Demon prepares a curse, of the one which inflicts Dark weakness. Where compendium was useful and is very useful is looking up stats, and I especially think it matters even more because damage calculation in SKA is very transparent. It's still a mighty feature and the battle system being so easy to plan out is a big plus to me. Could be better, but that applies to everything.

Gold is a general thing to manage in this game, it's a resource management challenge. The game is designed like that. However, I don't mean you have to buy many flash bombs, it's just a noteworthy and mighty possible strategy you can lean into if you like it. You do already get some through chests and co. and you can save them for if you need them (like back attacking certain enemies). In Fortress of Wrath for instance, they are kinda necessary. If you just want to look up the compendium, you can either SKA an opponent, or go to the wiki. For the former you reload ofc after having peeped the compendium.

It's also noteworthy that pyros become much more accessible later in the game.

Last thing which is also worth bringing up again (not a direct response) - SKA is meant to be a game where the odds are stacked against you. They game basically wants you to start leaning into lewd content to make things easier. If you are strong enough you can get through it pure, but pure is just by design the most difficult route. Requiring multiple attempts, tests and more to progress is just part of the game. Knowledge is power, so to speak. Normal Difficulty is also not meant to refer to what normal difficulty is like in other games, the developer just stated that it's the intended difficulty for this game. But that doesn't mean it's similarly difficult like other rpgs, and if you want a less frustrating experience you really shouldn't shy away from switching to lower difficulties. That's why they are in the game.

 

[dragwar]

hello, i play this game long ago when it was still version 0.3/0.4, it had cgs on many scenes. but, in 1.0 all those scene are only shown black screen. is it because free version?

edit:
very stupid of me, who would think that adult mode will be disabled by default

 

[Barzatd]

I have finally finished score-oriented nightmare run

but I got some questions regarding the bosses I couldn't get. So, if anyone is able and willing to answer these I'll appreciate it:

1. Scorpion Wasp boss - where is it? I cleared most of clockwork forest and couldn't find it. Though given that I somehow have bestiary entry for it and that I cleared half of the forest before it was fully implemented a while ago makes me think that I did in fact kill it and the counter just reset later on. I know it can happen when updating from older versions. But maybe I just missed a spot?

2. I have Luciela's boss entry at 1/2. The one you fight in the last battle didn't register. What could be the cause of that?

3. The last boss I didn't get is Lorraine. From what I understand you can only eventually fight her if you chose a vice path in her quest. Is that correct? Does it mean that maximum score is unattainable then, since it would require raising vice etc?

 

[Iexist]

-SNIP-

For 1, the only Scorpion Wasp boss I can think off is the one in the caves in Clockwork forest. I don't think it's easy to miss since you're gonna skulk around there eventually.

For 2 no idea.

For 3... I haven't tested it, but, based on what the wiki says, it MIGHT be possible to fight Lorraine if you fail to solve the mystery in that one case, no Vice needed, but you also have to leave Roland alive somehow during Reverse Summoning. If both of these happen, she'll show up as a sub-boss during Judgment of Pride with Roland there too. I don't think she shows up if Roland's dead.

This is mostly speculation though, I dunno if it can actually work that way. It might be that Lorraine only shows up if the explicit Vice path is taken... In which case, yeah, the max score would be impossible.

You sure it's Lorraine that's counted as a boss? As far as I'm aware, she only shows up during Judgment of Pride and at no other point...

 

[Barzatd]

You sure it's Lorraine that's counted as a boss? As far as I'm aware, she only shows up during Judgment of Pride and at no other point...

Pretty sure, yeah:

Unless the number in the bottom right is misleading in this case and there is another boss I haven't found at all.

 

[Iexist]

-SNIP-

In that case, the only thing I can think of is that what I mentioned above is how it can work. You likely need to fail the case and keep Roland at 50 Fame so he can rez during Reverse Summoning. If he runs away like a little bitch, he'll be able to show up during Judgment of Pride with Lorraine. Unless of course she can show up there without Roland... but that doesn't make sense narratively speaking... But what do I know?

 

[aura-dev]

Lorraine appearing in the compendium despite never fighting her seems to be a bug.
Score is based on encounters rather than individual bosses, so you get the point for the battle independently if Lorraine joins or not.

 

[Barzatd]

Lorraine appearing in the compendium despite never fighting her seems to be a bug.
Score is based on encounters rather than individual bosses, so you get the point for the battle independently if Lorraine joins or not.

Does that mean that I, in fact, got this point despite what compendium says? And I am missing the 3rd point of 124/127 from elsewhere? In that case I would have no idea what else I could've missed. Or am I misinterpreting what you are saying?

Also, can you comment on point #2?

 

[Terix3]

Last thing which is also worth bringing up again (not a direct response) - SKA is meant to be a game where the odds are stacked against you. They game basically wants you to start leaning into lewd content to make things easier. If you are strong enough you can get through it pure, but pure is just by design the most difficult route. Requiring multiple attempts, tests and more to progress is just part of the game. Knowledge is power, so to speak. Normal Difficulty is also not meant to refer to what normal difficulty is like in other games, the developer just stated that it's the intended difficulty for this game. But that doesn't mean it's similarly difficult like other rpgs, and if you want a less frustrating experience you really shouldn't shy away from switching to lower difficulties. That's why they are in the game.

The design goals may be good but they not necessarily invoke good behaviors in players. Quote that comes in mind here “Given the opportunity players will optimize fun out of the game”. It's also important to discern if those that enjoy the game enjoy it because or despite said design choices.

I’ve never approached a game with intention of doing pure run, got bunch of corruption on the way and be like “I guess I’m gonna whore out”. Once you are in mindset getting lewded is losing and we don't like losing, and that's why people ask for walkthrough. Also for most people lowering difficulty under normal is losing, and if I recall right research said more people said they will rather quit the game than lower difficulty.

 

[Luau]

Getting lewded is only losing if you don't do anything with the power granted by it so you get the corrupt end. More than almost any other game I can think of, doing corrupt stuff in SKA confers a lot of stuff to you, it just also puts you on a clock.

 

[smkey21]

I’ve never approached a game with intention of doing pure run, got bunch of corruption on the way and be like “I guess I’m gonna whore out”. Once you are in mindset getting lewded is losing and we don't like losing, and that's why people ask for walkthrough. Also for most people lowering difficulty under normal is losing, and if I recall right research said more people said they will rather quit the game than lower difficulty.

Actually, quite a bit of walkthrough interest is in the max lewdness walkthrough because people want to see all the scenes. Several of the things you said in this were claimed as broad generalizations when, as far as I can tell, they are personal decisions/behaviors that you're presuming other people have as well. Why did you approach an unknown game fully set on a particular playstyle? Why are you so certain that design decisions you've not tested out are so terrible? Why is finding out that the design of the game isn't what you expect not worth examining to see if the new knowledge make the game more enjoyable?

I can tell you that many of your problems are due to you locking yourself into a particular playstyle that was seemingly a decision you made based off of your previous experiences with games. Aura isn't the "invulnerable heroine" that you get in a bunch of JRPGs, she's a close to average person who has a costly "I win button" she can use. You don't have to continually save scum if you're ok spending corruption. You can gain significant advantage by tactically gaining lewdness. Heck, you can also gain the "invulnerable heroine" feel I mentioned and keep Aura totally pure by lowering the difficulty. Also, unless you're going to replay the game there's no benefit to attempting a full purity run and no penalty for lowering the difficulty.

As for the research statements... I don't see why the vaguely citing 'research' matters. Most people have never played a game with difficulty settings. Even if it only included people who regularly play games, the vast majority of people who regularly play games exclusively play their favorite FPS which uses some form of online matchmaking rather than difficulty settings. Modern games have trended toward having default presets with individually adjustable gameplay elements that allow the player to customize their experience rather that hard-set difficulties. As far as I'm concerned, anybody who isn't willing to adjust a game setting to improve their gameplay experience is being childish. Put another way... “Given the opportunity players will optimize self impose fun out of the game”

 

[gothdoctorenjoyer]

do you only play as a male protagonist for the voyuerism segments?

 

[Zarkhy]

do you only play as a male protagonist for the voyuerism segments?

There is no male protagonist.

 

[Crowie]

The design goals may be good but they not necessarily invoke good behaviors in players. Quote that comes in mind here “Given the opportunity players will optimize fun out of the game”. It's also important to discern if those that enjoy the game enjoy it because or despite said design choices.

I’ve never approached a game with intention of doing pure run, got bunch of corruption on the way and be like “I guess I’m gonna whore out”. Once you are in mindset getting lewded is losing and we don't like losing, and that's why people ask for walkthrough. Also for most people lowering difficulty under normal is losing, and if I recall right research said more people said they will rather quit the game than lower difficulty.

As smkey21 said, that just means the game is not for you.

You can't be entitled to wanting to "optimize" and not wanting to make use of the difficulty options but still be frustrated when the game is more challenging and frustrated than you expected.

The lewd content is part of the core design of the game. You are supposed to consistently weigh the benefits of lewd content and their disadvantages, juggle corruption and the various curses, and so on. It's about making decisions throughout your playthrough, not just out right rejecting anything lewd just because you want to play pure or rejecting anything pure just because you want to play corrupt - there are more than 2 ways to play this game. You can lean into the extremes of corruption/pure content like the walkthroughs do, but they are the most challenging ones by default (too much lewd content is difficult as well as the disadvantages pile up). It also makes sense conceptually and in terms of the story. The gameplay actually makes it believable why Aura would lean into doing things she doesn't want to, because everything is stacked against her. And at the same time, indulging the corrupt portion too much will inevitably slow her down and bring her further from her initial goal of defeating Richard.

SKA leans into min-maxing of course. The limited resources, the fact you can't grind loot or enemies - For those who really enjoy the optimization process, it's a unique challenge, but it should still be understood as such. It's a challenge. You can't voluntarily play the game in a particular difficult way and be surprised it's difficult.

And this is not objectively bad game design. If you don't like that, it means you don't like it, and that's fine. But there are many people who enjoy this game, have supported this game on various platforms, and are still looking forward for the game to receive updates.

 

[Thokeus]

SKA leans into min-maxing of course. The limited resources, the fact you can't grind loot or enemies - For those who really enjoy the optimization process, it's a unique challenge, but it should still be understood as such. It's a challenge. You can't voluntarily play the game in a particular difficult way and be surprised it's difficult.

The issue is not that it's difficult imo, it's that purposefully engaging with the gameplay as well as you can is likely to end up with a Aura that finishes the game in the first chapter.

A lot of the game relies either on the player purposefully putting sticks in Aura's ways so she messes up, or on a new player experience that misunderstand how the game works and gets into a difficult state where they have to make sacrifices.

There is a solid argument the latter is supposed to be how Aura will end up going as she under estimate stuff, but OTOH Aura is also insanely talented and has a divine blessing geared to be better at tackling the quest than the players are at playing the game.

 

[Crowie]

The issue is not that it's difficult imo, it's that purposefully engaging with the gameplay as well as you can is likely to end up with a Aura that finishes the game in the first chapter.

A lot of the game relies either on the player purposefully putting sticks in Aura's ways so she messes up, or on a new player experience that misunderstand how the game works and gets into a difficult state where they have to make sacrifices.

There is a solid argument the latter is supposed to be how Aura will end up going as she under estimate stuff, but OTOH Aura is also insanely talented and has a divine blessing geared to be better at tackling the quest than the players are at playing the game.

Well I was particularly referring to play SKA pure - Which means without any mental changes and lewdness. How difficult it actually is, is subjective of course, but we wouldn't have so many complaints in the first place if pure would be easier. My personal impression of the game is also that it just gets more difficult as you progress (unlike other games I've played which were very static or declined in difficulty after the first section) so that can trip people up I think. The demand to rely on some lewd stuff rises as you progress. And Alicia is also a paid actor as we control her. Any pure run is non-canon per default because Alicia just wouldn't simply sit on corruption after opening 3 rooms.

I agree that playing the game normally is not as difficult. Alchemist discount, ATK book, or just the extra gold can go a long way. And Victory A is probably the canon ending? I don't know.

I mean you could also regard Nightmare Pure without NG+ as the canon difficulty if you want Aura to have a really hard time.

There is a solid argument the latter is supposed to be how Aura will end up going as she under estimate stuff

On that note, it might not even be necessarily underestimating stuff but Aura being naive. Enrolling in the Magic Academy through special study falls into that category. I'm personally looking forward to future features like Hidden Alicia (she makes the Mental Changes automatically and you don't know what she did) as that makes role-playing easier in that regard

 

[Yellowie The Goldie]

The design goals may be good but they not necessarily invoke good behaviors in players. Quote that comes in mind here “Given the opportunity players will optimize fun out of the game”. It's also important to discern if those that enjoy the game enjoy it because or despite said design choices.

I’ve never approached a game with intention of doing pure run, got bunch of corruption on the way and be like “I guess I’m gonna whore out”. Once you are in mindset getting lewded is losing and we don't like losing, and that's why people ask for walkthrough. Also for most people lowering difficulty under normal is losing, and if I recall right research said more people said they will rather quit the game than lower difficulty.

I did a full playthrough on nightmare (admittedly on NG+) and completed it. It was a headache but by this point I already knew what to expect from the game, so it wasn't a big deal to me. Finished it with 0 lewdness, 0 vice, no mind stuff either. As you can imagine, that would be the definition of hell.

Compared to Nightmare, Normal is pretty much easy mode. In many ways I would consider it to be too easy lol. Once you figure out the enemies and their tactics...It's pretty much over. I mean c'mon Luciela & Aura have a discussion about this very early in the game, about how Aura would have to figure out the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of her foes if she wants to win since she can't use her Divine Gift more than once per day.

All the people whining about how the game is too hard on "Normal"...Like c'mon, if you can't even beat a Demon General in it's weakest form how do you expect to go through EVERY SINGLE DEMON REALM at the end of the game, without stopping or pausing? It's a classic JRPG game where you need to prepare to beat the bosses and mini-bosses, using the right spells, stances and abilities. Prep time is half the battle honestly.

If people put as much effort into exploring and experimenting as they did complaining they wouldn't have a problem in game on NORMAL difficulty.

 

[Kakimito]

how the hell do I beat the lake level? I run out of oxygen way too fast, I can barely get to the end of the first location... can anybody help me?

 

[Zarkhy]

how the hell do I beat the lake level? I run out of oxygen way too fast, I can barely get to the end of the first location... can anybody help me?

Have an Air type Slime cast Air Bubble.

 

[Terix3]

Actually, quite a bit of walkthrough interest is in the max lewdness walkthrough because people want to see all the scenes. Several of the things you said in this were claimed as broad generalizations when, as far as I can tell, they are personal decisions/behaviors that you're presuming other people have as well. Why did you approach an unknown game fully set on a particular playstyle? Why are you so certain that design decisions you've not tested out are so terrible? Why is finding out that the design of the game isn't what you expect not worth examining to see if the new knowledge make the game more enjoyable?

I can tell you that many of your problems are due to you locking yourself into a particular playstyle that was seemingly a decision you made based off of your previous experiences with games. Aura isn't the "invulnerable heroine" that you get in a bunch of JRPGs, she's a close to average person who has a costly "I win button" she can use. You don't have to continually save scum if you're ok spending corruption. You can gain significant advantage by tactically gaining lewdness. Heck, you can also gain the "invulnerable heroine" feel I mentioned and keep Aura totally pure by lowering the difficulty. Also, unless you're going to replay the game there's no benefit to attempting a full purity run and no penalty for lowering the difficulty.

As for the research statements... I don't see why the vaguely citing 'research' matters. Most people have never played a game with difficulty settings. Even if it only included people who regularly play games, the vast majority of people who regularly play games exclusively play their favorite FPS which uses some form of online matchmaking rather than difficulty settings. Modern games have trended toward having default presets with individually adjustable gameplay elements that allow the player to customize their experience rather that hard-set difficulties. As far as I'm concerned, anybody who isn't willing to adjust a game setting to improve their gameplay experience is being childish. Put another way... “Given the opportunity players will optimize self impose fun out of the game”

Except it's the same thing. When you are doing a lewd run missing scenes is exact same thing as getting lewd scenes on pure run. Most people do not want replay the game because they made some wrong choices and they miss scenes/ are forced into lewd scenes. I mean people that waited for the game to be complete before playing it, if you are playing it from patch to patch you need to accept that your experience is vastly different.

Do you really believe that approaching a game with intention to play “pure route” is rare? Why would that even be an issue ? But to answer your question : I actually didn’t, It is something that the setup convinced me into – I found myself liking some characters and disliking others…

What do you mean I’ve not tested? I literally earlier gave examples of my frustrations.

I mentioned difficulty as part of general game design approach as the other poster talked about what SKA design goals and mentioned how SKA difficulty compares to other games. Lowering difficulty would not change anything for me, the same things would happen just earlier.

The part about “most people don’t even engage in difficulty setting because they play online with matchmaking” is simply disingenuous. You pick representative sample to find behavioral patterns and you may think they are ridiculous but no less they are true. Sorry I can’t put finger on the research, I follow game news for years and certain information just get stuck with you.

As smkey21 said, that just means the game is not for you.

You can't be entitled to wanting to "optimize" and not wanting to make use of the difficulty options but still be frustrated when the game is more challenging and frustrated than you expected.

The lewd content is part of the core design of the game. You are supposed to consistently weigh the benefits of lewd content and their disadvantages, juggle corruption and the various curses, and so on. It's about making decisions throughout your playthrough, not just out right rejecting anything lewd just because you want to play pure or rejecting anything pure just because you want to play corrupt - there are more than 2 ways to play this game. You can lean into the extremes of corruption/pure content like the walkthroughs do, but they are the most challenging ones by default (too much lewd content is difficult as well as the disadvantages pile up). It also makes sense conceptually and in terms of the story. The gameplay actually makes it believable why Aura would lean into doing things she doesn't want to, because everything is stacked against her. And at the same time, indulging the corrupt portion too much will inevitably slow her down and bring her further from her initial goal of defeating Richard.

SKA leans into min-maxing of course. The limited resources, the fact you can't grind loot or enemies - For those who really enjoy the optimization process, it's a unique challenge, but it should still be understood as such. It's a challenge. You can't voluntarily play the game in a particular difficult way and be surprised it's difficult.

And this is not objectively bad game design. If you don't like that, it means you don't like it, and that's fine. But there are many people who enjoy this game, have supported this game on various platforms, and are still looking forward for the game to receive updates.

Like the above, difficulty is not the problem and stop with the you are playing the game wrong rhetoric. I enjoy it the way I like it but that doesn't mean I can't have criticism. And since when providing critique is being "entitled" ?? The way fans rabid attack anyone that dares to criticize anything about "their" game is honestly so tiring.