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TFS -> RE: =DF= February 4th Design Notes: Arena at the Edge of Time: Retribution and Reclamation (2/7/2022 20:42:50)
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I heard this challenge was pretty tough, but (as usual, for every challenge that doesn't softban Archivist), using Archivist made it a complete joke - a surprise, I know, using the most braindead and overpowered option available made a video game less challenging. Music was really cool though, and I really loved finally getting a proper fight against Drakonnan.
In sharp contrast to the experience I had with Archivist, I really wonder if this was actually intended to be beatable without DC/Calendar classes (namely, Archivist/Epoch/Chaosweaver/Pyromancer). While I understand that occasionally challenges have to be balanced around these much stronger classes, in order to keep people who bought them from getting bored, the way Tomix's Phase 2 works isn't really conductive to that either.
The brunt of this monster's difficulty comes from how difficult it is to damage in Phase 2, which requires you to have +200 Bonus, high hitcount, and autocrit or high +Crit. This is obviously something that all of the aforementioned most powerful classes in the game just do automatically while attacking, which means they aren't impeded at all by the mechanic. Normal DA classes, however, just simply get stat checked by this - you can't increase your hitcount by just playing better, you can't increase your Bonus (to the required amount) by just playing better, and you can't autocrit or score more crits without just rerolling the fight. The way that this plays results in either just getting stat checked by Phase 2 and being unable to damage him, or not being affected by the mechanic at all because you were using the most powerful (mtx) classes and just doing that anyway.
From what I've been told, the only way people have cleared this challenge (so far) without using the DC/calendar classes is by just bursting before Tomix's barrier to skip the phase entirely, because it's not actually possible for normal DA classes to actually deal with the mechanic - which makes it seem like this isn't actually intended to be possible for these classes.
My first reaction to clearing this fight was joking that it felt like it had only been balanced against Archivist/Epoch - before being informed that that was actually exactly what had happened. So if nothing else that was pretty funny.
Big numbers like +150 Bonus also contribute to this dichotomy quite a bit, as many of the non-mtx classes haven't been touched since before Bonus rolled out of 150 and therefore have weaker blinds/shields, but this isn't the crux of the fight nor is it unique to Tomix.
Drakonnan, on the other hand, I enjoyed quite a lot. I remember the night Drakonnan was first released - and even as a dumb kid with base Mage I was disappointed by how easily he went down. After so much build-up to the climax of what's undoubtedly the best storyline in the first half of the game, the final confrontation with Drakonnan was undoubtedly a let-down. So, ever since the challenges first started, I've been hoping for a Drakonnan fight every Inn release - and now that it's finally here, it doesn't disappoint.
The mechanics are spot-on; Drakonnan lowering his defenses and raising his damage as he gets angrier and more desperate is very fitting for the character. While I'm not normally a fan of having to take arbitrary actions that aren't telegraphed, this definitely isn't the case for having to hit him with Ice - as soon as I saw him I knew I would have to hit him with Ice in order to accomplish something, and was instantly rewarded with having my expectations met. Already knowing the story gives you the edge here, which is something I really like about these proper rematches against story bosses - I think the last time we've seen this was Ice Dragons last year. Unlike Tomix, pet attacks also count towards his Ice hit counter, so you're allowed to insert a bit of variability into the fight rather than being railroaded into only one strategy.
The only thing I'm not a fan of here is use of the new Akriloth design in the background, when DF's original Akriloth is, like, the most iconic design in the whole game. Free Him :(
So, yeah, mixed thoughts on this release, like most of the recent inn releases. I also hope I haven't come off as too negative, I feel like most things are just good by default and therefore don't have much to say about them - unless they're particularly exciting like Drakonnan.
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