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[Cruxador]

Gotta say, bad UI is one complaint I don't have. It works fine in my experience. It even has convenient little gimme features, like making cards glow if they're valid for a slot when you click it. The only thing that I think is a missed opportunity is going with cards for everything, instead of having a pile of assorted keys and lanterns and books and scraps of paper all over your desk. But of course that would have exploded the budget, and it's purely aesthetic rather than gameplay or story, so I can see why they would put that at a lower priority.

[lordcooper]

Yeah I get it that the UI is no accident, but what I'm saying is that it is a bad design. I get it that conveys a message, for example, how easy it is to forget about having a job you need to attend on a regular basis when you are going crazy with the occult. I just think that using a messy UI to convey that message is a bad user experience that needlessly frustrates the players. I'm fine with obscure mechanics and story and lack of holding your hand, but bad UI just annoys me. It starts to feel too much like work. Which is a reason I'm annoyed by grinding too.

It's only messy if you don't organise things well.

[Majestic7]

It's only messy if you don't organise things well.

...and that's the part that feels like a job or grinding.

[thegoatgod_pan]

It's only messy if you don't organise things well.

...and that's the part that feels like a job or grinding.

It also aptly represents the cultist experience, the pile of questionable papers and things forgotten and the madness.

That said, apparently the experimental branch had a lock-to-grid option.

[forsaken1111]

The grid snapping is really a godsend

[nenjin]

Somehow I feel like I'm actually utilizing space worse because of it though.

So just to put this out there: I want no game spoilers. I just kind of want to vent.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

While on the road I started a new game on my laptop and modded money in. And I kind of regretted it at the time, I feel like being able to just buy everything from the Auction and Bookstore really just made the knowledge grind that more apparent.

Then I came home and continued on the beginnings of another game I started....and didn't mod money in. About 12 hours later I finally reached the bottom of the both the Auction House and Bookstore. While the joke book was kind of funny, I felt like it was pretty classic AK where at the end of the day they take the piss out of themselves and leave you a very deliberate, 4th wall breaking "there is no more content here" message. Reminds me a bit of Fallen London.

I'm current stuck at the Stag Gate. I _DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THE ANSWER_, as I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.

But right now my only real options for advancement are Expeditions...and man are they a pain in the ass.

The first one I did killed two of my cultists. And now I've reached the bottom of the cultist barrel too because all I've gotten the last 4 times or so are hangers on. So cultists appear to be unique and irreplaceable. Which makes Expeditions at the 4th sign intensity and above a huge gamble, even though it's the only way to get tools, many rites and advanced knowledges.

I also like how they stick you with Notoriety as well even if you successfully complete going through some abandoned moldy basement. Thanks game, appreciate you putting a toll on your gameplay progression path.

I think the worst trait you can get on an investigator is the one where they always create evidence. I've got a physically and mystically resistant hunter who can't be swayed by emotional appeals.....but she's managed to not convert notoriety to evidence like 4 or 5 times now. If she had that trait, this game would have been over a long time ago.

Rites confuse me. I get they serve multiple purposes. But the flavor description makes it hard to wrap your head around them, as it seems like using any rite can produce any effect other than the one it was designed to? And without tools it's hard to complete any of them. So I have like 4 rites atm and the only couple I can complete in any configuration don't do anything I think I want. I've got tons and tons of lore saying it can do cool stuff yet I can't manage to put a ritual together to do any of them, as I'm constantly missing just one particular piece of it.

Also I think Power may be the easiest Devotion to complete. For the simple fact that you can use Anxiousness to power up your entire cult easily. (As useful as high level cultists can be, at any rate, what with this game's seemingly obligatory 50% failure rate on everything regardless of skill or challenge level.) I haven't had to deal with any Dread spirals my whole game, because every time Anxiousness comes up I just consume it to promote another cultist. I've got 10 disciples now and even some leveled up hangers on. I kinda wish cult promotion worked along the same principles as the rest of the game. In general, you have to use your Cult Lore to level anyone up, regardless of what their aspects are. (One time I did manage to induct someone without using my Cult knowledge, and used some other knowledge instead. No idea why or how it worked.) I feel like you should be able to leverage other aspects as well to level cultists up. Kind of makes almost all the knowledge in the game other than your specific cult knowledge seem a little pointless, other than for Rites and the handful you use to access the Mansus.

I know everyone has kind of poo pooed the game after they've beaten it, in retrospect. But I kinda gotta finish it just to know, none the less. But yeah, once you have ground out all the lores, explored the Mansus and done enough Expeditions, there isn't actually a lot of variability in game play. More just a laundry list of content to encounter, which isn't anywhere near as fun or interesting the second and umpteenth times you encounter it.

[Karlito]

I would say solving the Riddle is the best part of the game, since doing it efficiently requires you to synthesize knowledge of the lore with your mastery of the game mechanics.

The stuff that follows is just... not that interesting by comparison.

[nenjin]

Ah hah. I have my answer.

Spoiler: Spoiler Free Tip (click to show/hide)

Read all Lore descriptions of all levels very closely. Including ones you don't yet have.

[nenjin]

Alright, I'll take an answer to something if someone has one to give.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So I've opened all the Doors and Ways. I know what I need to win.

But seriously.....is the expectation that I convert pretty much all my goddamn lore to get the one lore "score" I need to qualify the 7th Mark of Ascension? 36 is a fucking lot of Forge.

Because it's either that, or sacrificing my cultists (who I have indeed reached the bottom of the barrel on.) Since I went the Forge Route, all my Grail cultists can't get higher than 5 Grail without a correspondingly enormous buttload of Forge. At 5 Grail, their attempts to seduce fail more often that not. So getting randos to sacrifice, so I can get through the Spider Door, so I can farm for the one 15 Forge influence that might get me to 36 Forge.....is looking unfeasible. I have a lot of cultists. I could probably get that influence before I end up sacrificing them all.....but I don't really want to.

Unwilling to do that, I've just been doing Expeditions hoping for more Forge lore, or an amazing Forge tool. But that generates notoriety, as does trying to seduce people and failing, all of which has to be waited out so the situation doesn't spiral out of control. Which means just waiting...and waiting....and waiting....with almost nothing left to do in game.

So yeah, is straight up converting all your lore to boost your primary lore the way to go? I don't really want to do that either, although I can see why thematically that and sacrificing all your cultists to get what you need is appropriate. It just kinda sucks. I figured you worked your way toward the lore you needed, instead of reaching the top of the Mansus only to go back and fiddle your lores.

[Malus]

Alright, I'll take an answer to something if someone has one to give.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I finished my Power ascension with level 10 Forge lore. Not sure how much more spoilery you want me to go, but there are quite a few things you can do to make things easier. And regarding the Spider Door, there is an easier, more reliable way to get sacrifices.

[nenjin]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That'll be enough. If you've done it with 10 Power then you've clearly made up the difference somewhere.

[Blaze]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 Talking to a follower with a *specific* aspect has a chance to burn notoriety (or mystique). Or you can target evidence directly although it's risky.

That'll let you desecrate all the tombs you want

[nenjin]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 Talking to a follower with a *specific* aspect has a chance to burn notoriety (or mystique). Or you can target evidence directly although it's risky.

That'll let you desecrate all the tombs you want

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I suspected something like that might be at play, although it's never worked out. I kind of assumed what you did in response to challenges might have some impact.

And dealing with evidence has proven too risky time and time again, unless you're rocking a 10 Aspect Moth. Fuck up and evidence that could have been ignored will now F you. There's a whole escalation cycle to the game that I found you can completely side step by just taking your time. But when you're ready to finish the game, having to wait out yet another evidence or trying to drown notoriety in mystique just makes the grind (which up until now I've been able to live with because there are other plates I'm spinning) a bit too much.

[thegoatgod_pan]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 Level 10 Moths are identical to level 5 moths as far as evidence destruction goes-- 70% chance of success, 30% chance to die.  It is because Moth is chaos and uncertainty. It is also because 100% to destroy evidence would make investigators irrelevant, and break all the metagame around them.

Heart at level 10 will destroy notoriety risk free, Edge will remove the investigator in question, Winter will do the same, but slowly and safely, only Moth gets the short end of the stick, appropriately given the fate of moths chasing candles, irl, and that Moth seems to basically stand for the confusion and darkness of the human condition.

[lordcooper]

http://weatherfactory.biz/cultist-simulator-2018-update-roadmap/