Alchemy needs power boost?

First off, great roguelike. I was asking around on the internet and got pointed over here. This is exactly what I wanted: a strategy game with a roguelike interface.

There is one thing that has kind of been bugging me and that is alchemy items. Specifically the Weapon Imbue items that you can make with either a gem or monster bit and your staff. I've had a couple of problems with it both from an interface and game balance standpoint.

INTERFACE
My main problem with magicking up my staff is there is no status indicator on whether my staff is still enchanted or not. Effects don't trigger on every bolt. And the game doesn't indicate when my enchantment wears off. This makes it a real pain to use effectively. The only way to really tell if my next attack is still powered up is to flip open the inventory menu and see if my weapon has reverted back to a regular staff of not.

I really think you should add a status indicator for when your weapon is enchanted. Maybe the word "Imbued" or something similar on the status list. Then I can have confidence that my next bolt may burn or poison or whatever without the extra step of checking the inventory. My wizard would probably know that his staff stopped glowing or whatever , so should the player.

GAMEPLAY BALANCE
The other problem with enchanting my staff is that it is just not a useful strategy with the number of charges that it recieves (2-3?) It is always more effective to use a potion of energy to recharge my mana for an extra 10-20 bolts or powered up swings. The benefits of a possible (not garunteed) status effect or perhaps a damage boost do not begin to compare to the number of extra attacks you can take simply by using a potion. I really think you need to increase the number of charges on something like this to maybe 10. Something where the player has a decent option for the entire battle against 8 or so monsters instead of just a couple of turns.

winter_mute wrote:

First off, great roguelike.

Thanks!

winter_mute wrote:

My main problem with magicking up my staff is there is no status indicator on whether my staff is still enchanted or not. Effects don't trigger on every bolt. And the game doesn't indicate when my enchantment wears off. This makes it a real pain to use effectively. The only way to really tell if my next attack is still powered up is to flip open the inventory menu and see if my weapon has reverted back to a regular staff of not.

Well, effects do trigger on every bolt or smack, it may just not be obvious that they have done so. For example, if you've got something on there that causes fire damage, the critter you hit is taking fire damage every hit; it just may not get set ablaze with every hit. As you've probably noticed from your own encounters with fire mobs, fire doesn't cause burning all the time. There is also a message that pops up when the item stuck to your staff runs out of charges, but it's really easy to miss in the middle of a fight.

winter_mute wrote:

I really think you should add a status indicator for when your weapon is enchanted. Maybe the word "Imbued" or something similar on the status list. Then I can have confidence that my next bolt may burn or poison or whatever without the extra step of checking the inventory. My wizard would probably know that his staff stopped glowing or whatever , so should the player.

This is a good idea. I'll add it to the list.

winter_mute wrote:

The other problem with enchanting my staff is that it is just not a useful strategy with the number of charges that it recieves (2-3?) It is always more effective to use a potion of energy to recharge my mana for an extra 10-20 bolts or powered up swings. The benefits of a possible (not garunteed) status effect or perhaps a damage boost do not begin to compare to the number of extra attacks you can take simply by using a potion. I really think you need to increase the number of charges on something like this to maybe 10. Something where the player has a decent option for the entire battle against 8 or so monsters instead of just a couple of turns.

Well, I'm not necessarily opposed to raising the charges added a bit. You're right that gulping the energy bottle does get you more bolts, especially as the game goes on. There are, however, some really, really nasty effects that you can get, by using the right remains. I'll reexamine the balance point on this one. Does anyone else have an opinion to throw in the ring on this?

winter_mute, you do know you can charge remains by dropping them in an energy fountain, too, right? From your post, you're making it sound like it's a choice between using energy potions on remains, and not using remains at all.

Remains are much more common than energy potions, so you use then with energy fountains to get some free shots. But using energy potions on them is usually a waste, yeah.

...maybe using an energy potion on remains should give it more charges than it gets from being dropped in a fountain, since the potion is worth more than the fountain (you can take the potion with you). Or something.

To Aquillion:

Specifically, I was growing very frustrated with the Elemental gemstones that cannot be fountain dipped because it changes the fountain type. The bonuses from them were totally not worth a potion. Ever. Now that bothers me less because the elemental enchantments appear to kind of suck compared to the flat-out status effects found on remains. It would still be nice if everything had a couple more charges, however. Also, crystal balls seem to be the way to go for enchanting items.

(I just did something crazy this morning where I armored myself, put a duplication effect in a a crystal orb, set my blast to cone and then made dozens of Hydrowurms. I died. But it was awesome.)