Spiral Knights - My problem with Barrus

My problem with Barrus

9 replies [Last post]

Fri, 06/08/2018 - 09:53

Rambocreativity

Barrus is the bothersome NPC that stands and waits for your appropriate star certification, I believe any game that prevents you from progressing for the sake of "you're not ready" is bad. I feel Barrus should spar with you instead of checking to make sure you are prepared for the fight ahead, he a is a knight I am a knight training and sparring was prevalent with soldiers and knights alike.
What he should show you what you'd be up against by kicking your ass and if you successfully downed him he'd commemorate your bravery despite his efforts to convince you and the orb you receive at the end of the mission would also make more sense.

I don't want my countless progress to be halted because the game thinks I'm not ready, I want the game to show me I'm not ready instead of just telling me. As a challenge for myself I sold my armor, helmet, and sword and left myself with nothing but a 4* shield to see if I could build myself from the ground up and I've done several runs of arcade alone and with other players and have held my own despite the game thinking "I'm not ready" but just because I did this doesn't mean you should, I am making progress however.

However, as an act of laziness, I am just gonna get the ancient plate mail with set because I don't have to craft them because I'm lazy lol.
And the game can be very punishing if you aren't exceedingly careful and sparing. Without armor although I have a 4* sword and 4* shield it does make the game more difficult and as a person who hates himself I like difficulty in my videogames especially one of my favorite games "aesthetically" and as much as I love to play this game grinding to pass the hall of heroes is not one of my favorite things to do.
I think I can and have suffered without and have outright ignored the hall of heroes for extended periods of time only to return because if I want to get invested into this game's story I have to do the hall of heroes...

Despite all of what I've said I'm just a person who likes hard games, I'm glad this game has an elite mode, I'm glad this game has orbs of alchemy (for the most part), I'm glad this game is generous enough to suck money from me to let me revive, I'm glad this game is like the way it is (for the most part) I like this game and I want to continue liking it.

Again, however, this is all useless ramblings and most of which doesn't make sense from any point of view but my own and likely won't get any attention because of it.

Fri, 06/08/2018 - 11:50

Nitronicx

Some insight

You might find second half of this post interesting. Dates back to 2010: https://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/775

I personally see this system as something that is meant to keep you in the game longer, give you goals, things to do, motivation.

Fri, 06/08/2018 - 12:20

Falminar

can't the forums keep a blank subject field blank?

Ooh, I like that idea. In particular, Barrus's attacks could be based on the challenges you'll actually face in the next stratum; if he's barring you from stratum 5, he could use a few tier 3 enemy attacks (teleportation+stab for wolvers, backside shield for gremlins, 5-bullet spreads shot from turret minions, etc.) in addition to having depth 22 health/damage, while in stratum 6 he could have a vanaduke-esque main attack, so if you can beat him that will prove you're actually able to deal with the things he's barring you from.

Although Sparks of Life (you could just give players infinite free revives, but every time you revive, the fight restarts with Barrus back at full health) and groups would have to be disabled so you can't cheat it.

Side-note, 4-star equipment is very similar in power to 5-star equipment, which is why you're able to fight perfectly fine without 5-star. The jump in power from 3-star to 4-star could be reduced, and possibly penalize 4-star equipment more in stratum 6 to make 5-star equipment more relevant. (Although that would also make it harder to expand your arsenal, which the gameplay heavily encourages...)

I personally see this system as something that is meant to keep you in the game longer, give you goals, things to do, motivation.

I don't find it's too effective at that.

The goals and motivation I see is in amassing a greater arsenal, and being able to face challenges - working towards being able to solo HoI/DaN/Shadowplay is plenty enough to do, and if anything the HoH just blocks you from seeing the real goals the game has to offer.

Fri, 06/08/2018 - 23:15

Flash-Flire

yes

Maybe it should be that if you have the appropriate gear level, you don't fight and you just pass through, but if you don't then you get the option to fight (without ER or sparks)?

Plus, it'd just be cool to have a new boss :P

Sat, 06/09/2018 - 02:33

Nitronicx

I agree

I don't find it's too effective at that.

I agree. Though, now I look at it, I was talking more about missions in general rather than HoH specifically, so sorry for that.

I also agree that having a real test for gaining those "star certificates" (or how are they called) from Barrus would be really cool. But then, there are missions right after HoH that are supposed to make you familiar with T2/T3 enemies.

Sat, 06/09/2018 - 09:53

Falminar

Maybe it should be that if you have the appropriate gear level, you don't fight and you just pass through, but if you don't then you get the option to fight (without ER or sparks)?

I'd like to have the option to fight him anyway (as "practice" for the next stratum) without needing to to progress, even if we do have the gear level requested - especially for replaying.

Mon, 06/11/2018 - 03:11

Rambocreativity

@Ze-Epik

I agree entirely.

Thu, 06/14/2018 - 17:41

Lordcalvinheins

this stuff is good

Thu, 06/14/2018 - 19:14

Fangel

i like it

I actually really like this idea. Players who want to brute force their way through the game can but it will be expensive. I will say that this fight needs to be unbearably difficult, and progress needs to be made each step of the way (sparking shouldn't do anything to Barrus). If sparking revives Barrus players will just restart the mission indefinitely, however if Barrus heals every time he hits you, and he's really hard to dodge (especially for new players), then it would be a good way for players to get the "you're not ready" speech properly.

Thu, 06/14/2018 - 20:02

Zero-Chill

meow

^ +1

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My problem with Barrus