ifoz

Mostly I swap between Aseprite and Paint.net, depending on what features I need at a given moment. Aseprite is awesome for tiling textures due to having an inbuilt tiling mode, but I find Paint.net's layers easier to use. Paint.net also has a built-in noise function which is really nice for VS-styled pixel art, since the base game loves making its textures at least somewhat noisy. I'm unsure if Aseprite has built-in noise, but Paint.net's has always been so serviceable that I've never really felt the need to investigate. Aseprite is also really good for animated sprites/textures, which aren't really natively supported in Paint.net.

No, the Blackguard barracks is a small underground ruin with eight beds stacked on top of each other, four on either side of the room. It also contains an aged torch holder, and a trunk that has a chance to contain the Blackguard pin as well as some other miscellaneous clothing and ruined weapons. The ruin you're thinking about sounds like one of the new dynamic dungeons, which are a special type of ruin that assemble themselves from a bunch of different pieces, so they're somewhat different each time you find them.

In one of the small Blackguard barracks underground ruins, there's Blackguard shoes, a jug, metal scrap and a parallel transfer vessel underneath one of the beds 100% of the time. In my experience this also makes the parallel transfer vessel the most common Jonas part, since it's a guarantee if you find that ruin. For anyone out there hunting Jonas parts, I also recommend poking around in the structures surrounding a certain chapter 2 location (not spoiling anything, but if you've been there I'm sure you know which one I'm likely referring to). The larger structures especially have the chance for quite a few Jonas parts in their loot pools.

What would you recommend putting in as the title? I was debating over this myself, since as far as I'm aware you can't spoiler tag a post's title and naming it anything else (eg; story location 3) might have people think I'm talking about the wrong location since the ch2 locations can technically be visited in any order aside from the Lazaret.

Something related to this that I thought was kind of strange was that when they added the basement to the tower, they kept the 'tutorial' part of the tower's interior despite the fact you have to go through the basement to get there and by then you already understand timeswitching. It's not a huge deal or even really a problem, but it's kind of just funny how the basement now acts as its own timeswitching tutorial, and then you finally get into the tower and rather than continuing to slowly ramp up, the timeswitching puzzles go back to basics again because originally they were the first time you got to play with the mechanic.

This is about how I find it as well. Nowadays with two or three tower climbs under my belt it's not all that difficult, but I think my opinions on the location are still somewhat marred from my first ever experience with it, back in the release candidates for 1.20. The distance there was far longer, and by the time I reached the tower I was already tired of the journey. The parkour was also a lot less telegraphed than it currently is, and Erel used to be able to (intended or not) swoop you while you were climbing, unceremoniously killing you instantly or knocking you to your death.

I've been seeing quite a bit of Devastation critiquing thrown around lately, and was really curious about the numbers, so here's a poll! Also, feel free to write here what you think could be improved about it if anything. I know other threads have no doubt done this in the past, but this one is intended to be good-faith constructive discussion/criticism. x) Personally I enjoyed the Devastation and the basement area, though felt the parkour was a tonal shift that didn't quite match VS' usual gameplay and skillset the ways the other story locations did. Some sidequest allowing players to repair the elevator early and optionally skip the parkour is something that I think would be a welcome addition. [EDIT: Title changed to avoid spoilers from using the word Devastation].

Honestly, I think personally that all the classes should get at least one lategame specialty. The way I see it is that no matter the balance for the earlygame, earlygame is always going to be temporary. Sooner or later the player will make it to the lategame, where their playthrough will then stay permanently unless they intentionally throw away their items or leave for distant lands with an empty inventory. Malefactor's stealth and foraging bonuses are decently handy, but compared to other classes their exclusive item is noticeably more geared toward the earlygame. I also think it's a little strange the trait that gives them their exclusive recipe is named 'improvisor', yet they don't really get any perks to improvising anything. I think it could be fun if they had alternate ways to craft certain things, which would better lean into this aspect. Maybe they are occasionally able to turn metal scraps into makeshift lockpicks, or maybe they can weave birch bark into a hat that gives good rain protection. Kinda just spitballing, but I think the 'improviser' trait has a lot of potential for changing up the gameplay in small but noticeable ways for the class.

The devs have discussed adding a lock/key system for dynamic dungeons (and I'd guess potential future ruins/story locations too), in which case I think some way for the Malefactor to make and use lock picks could be fun. They're a stealthy outlaw whose playstyle encourages hunting ruins, so lockpicks to get past finding keys or into special locked rooms without having to break down doors would be quite fitting!

Any class can find and repair Blackguard armour, it's just that the Blackguard class gets the exclusive matching sword and shield. You can also buy recurves from traders, so they aren't necessarily class-locked. That aside, Malefactor does lack a proper latergame exclusive. I think something related to treasure/ruin hunting would be fitting, since that is part of their incentivised gameplay. I had the idea a while back for the Malefactor to be able to make upgraded (probably around bronze tier) versions of the current scrap weapons that are already in the game. That way there'd be something of a loop of 'go ruin hunting -> inexpensive weapon breaks -> make new one from scrap found in ruins -> continue'

Personally I'd have trapping belong to the Malefactor, given they're already related to foraging and stealth. That isn't to say Clockmaker couldn't get more advanced/mechanical traps later into the game, but for early game trapping I think the Malefactor would be a better thematic fit.

My favourites are aged oak and very aged wood (in that order), they're really nice darker colours compared to how light in tone a lot of the other wood types in the game are. I know the devs have mentioned staining wood with linseed oil before, and my hope is that will one day allow us to get some more deep/rich wood colours. There's textures for 'mahogany' in the game files that only get used for display cases, the creative-only 'cozy bed' and two types of table from a certain story location. That deep brown colour is something I really think the current woodtype palette is sorely missing. If mahogany gets added with this texture, I think that it will quickly become a favourite of mine! In terms of normal wood types that have associated trees, I quite like kapok and oak. Kapok is a nice warm colour, and oak is the jack-of-all-trades old reliable that you can always turn to when you just want something to look like it's made out of generic brown wood. Walnut, birch and pine are also situationally nice, but in my eyes you have to be careful and pair them with a good matching/contrasting colour palette. Also, I think burnt planks deserve a shoutout. They're one of those weird new pseudo-woodtypes that are only available from building materials traders. They're a little too mottled to be used in a wide variety of situations (a bit like how ebony has those orange streaks mixed with its black colour), but I think they still look quite unique and can be useful in certain builds.

I quite like the look of black bronze, especially when lined with electrum. In survival though I usually just make copper, brass, tin bronze or molybdochalkos, since those don't need any particularly rare materials. What actually ends up happening though is that I'll get a handful of lanterns from ruins early-midgame, and then not actually need to make any by hand until the lategame when I want to light up larger areas or expand my base further. x)

Survival changes I'd want to make; -More impactful weather! I personally think it'd be interesting if the wind actually played a part in freezing/overheating, doubly so if the player was already soaking wet. Being soaked with water on a very windy day in subzero temperatures should probably be a bit more of a risk than it currently is in the game. I actually quite like how Zomboid handles clothing warmth, where insulation and wind resistance are broken up into seperate stats. Wind does play a part in freezing, but certain clothes might offer more wind resistance as a tradeoff for being less insulating overall. -I've mentioned it before, but 1-tall fences not being able to stop monsters from climbing over. 2-tall fences would stop drifters and bowtorn, while 3-tall would stop shivers. Palisades would become craftable, and at any height would be able to stop monsters from climbing over. This way players can still use fences for farms and livestock, but would want to invest in palisades, higher fences or higher walls to make a properly defensive perimeter. This is already something the player can do with regular fences in the basegame currently, but I think this would be a bit more immersive, and give a proper use to palisades without necessarily restricting player creativity at all or encouraging all bases to have a defensive perimeter. -More randomised trade lists. Currently every trader of the same type will always be able to offer the same stocklist given their trades are allowed time to rotate enough. I think it'd be nice if some traders just didn't sell certain items that other traders of their same type might, so that finding repeat trader types is more useful than it currently is and maybe even something players might be excited to see. -Speaking of traders, a more variable trade system. Instead of traders saying "I want specifically a bismuth bronze pickaxe and a tin bronze Falx", they would simply have an offer for something like "any bronze Falx", "any bronze pickaxe" that would then pay out according to the bronze type used. This would also be very handy in situations where traders want to buy liquids in containers, like bowls. Instead of gating it to a specific bowl colour like it currently is, any bowl could be used (and might even net a couple extra gears for the expensive beehive kiln varieties). Features I'd want to add that aren't necessarily expanding existing systems; -Custom fabric weaving, or a way to chisel cloth. Currently everyone who makes custom tapestries and carpets with chiselling have to use things like stone and sand, but a way to use the vibrant dyed cloth colours would be really nice. -More trader dialogue. Currently traders all share the same dialogue, but the game does already track their 'personality' (I don't know if that's what it's actually called, but their posture and greeting animation). This is something I think could be integrated into a few variants of the existing dialogue, depending on the specific personality of that trader. It'd go a long way to making them feel less like generic NPCs, especially given their recent updated appearances already went a long way to making them look like distinct people. -More functional clutter/furniture. Things like lecterns to hold one book at a time and braziers to function as a 'safe' (non-flammable, assuming the regular kind became flammable) firepit. (Either that, or they just function like torch holders do). These already exist as clutter items in the game, but can't be interacted with and don't serve a purpose beyond decoration. I've seen at least two instances of people burning down their bases trying to light the clutter brazier. Demand justice for their charred houses, I say! -A rework of roofing blocks, something in line with how the VS Roofing mod does it. We do know that the devs have discussed adding this before though, so hopefully this comes to the basegame one day! -Like VANTABlack2000 said, a way to choose a custom name for your Seraph. Having traders call you by your username feels like a fourth wall break, and I think a way to set a proper name would be nice. By default it would be set to your username, but you could optionally change it in character creation. In multiplayer I imagine it'd display as "Name (Username)" in your nametag, so players don't get confused.

I haven't really weighed in much at all with this whole drama, since I didn't feel like I had anything unique to say about it that hadn't already been said a thousand times before. However, I do think it'd be good if the VS team actually disclosed the basics of what Maltiez' job currently is. We know he's an "advisor", but beyond that as far as I'm aware there is no concrete explanation of what that position actually entails. A lot of the fearmongering around this issue seems to stem from the idea that Maltiez could sneak further malicious code into the game in some way, and I think a decent potential way to help quell some of that would be letting it known just what parts of the code he's actually got access to and the basic gist of what he is doing with it, if anything. If it turns out he's really just there to say "yeah, this looks good" or "here's how I would have done that" to changes in the combat update, I think that could help to clear some of the air. And if he is touching further code beyond that, at least then we would know roughly what areas he's working in.