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Artifact of Command Suggestions

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by mageblood, Oct 15, 2014.

  1. mageblood

    mageblood Big Damn Hero

    So I looked around a bit and I didn't notice this specific suggestion I have, or at least it didn't have its own thread. There are others that I thought about but threads were made for those already; I would like to take a look back at those and mention them.

    First would be the Boss Drops thread.
    I agree this would be a nice idea, but I don't think it would work out too well in the way that it wouldn't make much sense. Kill the Ancient Wisp and get a Colossal Knurl, or kill the Wandering Vagrant and get Ifrit's Horn. I mean, yes, the point is to select any item you want, this just seems a little out of place depending on the situation. Also, I have found boss drops even with the artifact on, it's just a lot more rare it seems. Either way, I would be for this idea.

    Next, a Random Item option.
    Although Command allows you to pick any item you want, it makes it hard to choose once you feel satisfied with all that you have; a random item option would be a lovely thing in that case. Plus, sometimes I just like a random option for a surprise, whether good or bad (Spikestrips). How it could be done is either as the original poster said (by pressing Q, or even a new key) or by adding a ' ? ' to the beginning/end of each selection list. Another thought I had would be using the Explorer's Key to force all selection chests open with a random item rather than disappearing, which I believe should be considered a bug despite being a non-specific container unless interacted with directly. I would be for any idea in this suggestion.

    Next, limitations in the form of only unlocked items are select-able.
    I agree with this suggestion completely. Despite Command being an already game-breaking artifact (as are a few others, but that is another story), I believe there should be some sort of limitation/drawback to it. Players should only be able to choose items from what they have already unlocked at the start of the run, not any thing at any time including locked items.
    I should also mention the last post made in that thread (at the time of this posting) by Youkaibuster talks about a feature I liked. Selecting items one-by-one is nice, however I can understand why it was changed to what it is now. For those that do crazy runs and many items litter the field, players would want to get through quickly and just select a stack of a single item rather than go through 20 chests stacked on top of each other for specific items. I don't know how both could be implemented and work at the same time, but it should be possible, right? Maybe similarly to the Temple Teleporter that it uses a new key to select all the chests behind you instead of just one.

    Last, my suggestion: Organize the selection menu by various options.
    What I mean is: Currently all the items are in the same location on the selection table, Crowbar is in the bottom row first position of tier 1 chests, Tough Times is in the middle row fifth position of tier 2 chests, Rapid Mitosis is in the top row seventh position of tier 3 chests. Everything is always in the same place no matter what, making selection easy if part of the table is off the screen and people have memorized this (I had to look back for tiers 2 and 3, Crowbar I just remember after seeing it 100s of times).
    Personally, I would prefer the items to organize by what I select most often so that they are at the top near the first position. Or maybe allow players to modify the order however they want in some options menu. Another possibility could be the general popularity or usefulness of the item (data on this would have to be gathered by questioning fans of the game, followed by adding the results as the option). Just some way to organize the item selection. Say, put Crowbar at the first position, followed by Soldier Syringe in second, Barbed Wire in third, and so on for tier 1. This would make grabbing items you need/want much faster, although that makes Command that much more game-breaking (can't be helped really, that's just the artifact).
    How this would be implemented (other than a menu to organize by one's own preference) I am not sure, it would likely eat up a lot more space for the save data no matter what. How useful this would be, not too useful but it would be some sort of 'improvement' depending on how one looks at it and if the off-screen menu bug is fixed. Best way I can think of to fix the off-screen bug would be to force the game to center the selection menu. Not sure how possible that is to code.

    I want to make this clear, if I haven't already, that all suggestions linked to other threads belong to the original posters and I do not take credit for what they suggested. If my suggestion was already made somewhere, I did not see it as its own thread, meaning it was a small, nondescript post within a different thread not titled "Artifact of Command" in any way.

    Finally, I want to know what everyone's thoughts are on these. What other suggestions do you have? Any ideas for improvements on any of the suggestions? Any more limitations that you could think of? Anything that you can think of, I want to have a nice discussion about all of this.
     
    • ZombiJambi

      ZombiJambi Space Hobo

      This is exactly what I was thinking.

      Also, the responsiveness of the menu that appears needs to be increased.
       
      • DeNarr

        DeNarr Subatomic Cosmonaut

        THIS. I feel like I am cheating when I am able to just select the awesome items that I haven't unlocked yet. I mean, what's the point of even unlocking the items if I can just select them manually.

        I would not actually add the boss items though, as that seems to be one of the drawbacks for selecting Command. It's an awesome artifact, having a slight drawback is okay.
         
        • zanon

          zanon Astral Cartographer

          Lots of good ideas here, agree on limiting Command to unlocked items in particular. As far as Random Items go, as another alternative idea what do you think of having Time Limited artifacts, or even just Time Limit Command? The idea would be that Command would function as normal, but only for the first 5 minutes (or 10 minutes or 15 or whatever). So you'd have a limited period to get what you could and start off, but after that it'd revert to standard behavior rather then allowing you to keep building whatever the entire time. It'd be a sort of hybrid play, both RNG and not, and it'd create some extra pressure as far as choosing chests, getting through levels quickly vs farming, etc.

          I'm not sure if it's better then a Random Item option or not, and it might be more coding work then they care to do. Just trying to think about the problem from different angles is all.
           
          • TheOriginalSINe

            TheOriginalSINe Intergalactic Tourist

            (I realize this post is kind of long, so I bolded and underlined my main points)

            I agree with most of OP's posted suggestions. The order preference one especially. I don't think it would be that hard to store in a save file; it would probably just be a string of numbers separated by commas. You could just double click on the artifact for an options menu or something and then just click the items in the order you want them listed.

            I really feel like Command is there for the sole purpose of making yourself overpowered, and to have fun messing around with all the crazy combinations. Giving it a drawback doesn't make any sense, and you can always limit yourself by not picking certain items. However, if you add in a random button, it would allow you to limit yourself much easier.

            What really needs to be changed with the artifact of command is using the menu. I think that time should completely stop for a moment when you open the menu in single player. I know a big draw of Risk of Rain is that it's difficult, but dying while you're in a menu isn't true "difficulty". Before you claim that stopping time is overpowered, hear me out. If you're about to get creamed by an overloading magma work and you open the command box, you're still going to die when you come out of it. This would be especially true if skill cooldowns didn't reset during menu selection and the player couldn't move. When I say "time stop", that includes the player as well.

            Alternatively, you could add a button that would let you close the menu. This would let you escape any danger and allow you to keep the box without panicking and picking the wrong item, or getting killed.

            Another thing that needs to be fixed is that the way the game activates items makes using shrines in combination with command a nightmare. If you win a shrine and activate the command box, you will activate the shrine again. If you win the shrine a second time it will spawn another command box, which you will open when you pick your item from the first command menu. Pressing the activation button should not have any effect outside the menu.

            This leads into the idea for selecting stacks of items from chests. A simple middle ground between menu stacking and one menu at a time would be to have your menu cursor start in the previous position. That way you could hold (or double-tap) the activation button to get the item you were last on, skipping the menu entirely. This in combination with the random button would allow you to have complete control over when you want command to actually do something.

            Thoughts?
             
              Last edited: Dec 1, 2014
            • DeNarr

              DeNarr Subatomic Cosmonaut

              See, I think of most artifacts as having a pro and a con. The pro is quite obvious, as picking your items is nice. The con is no boss items, and you have to take the time to actually pick the items. If you really want to save a little time in single player, just pause the game while you get your bearings. But when playing with my roommate, we definitely noticed the con of not being able to grab items mid boss battle, whereas with random we could. The being able to pick unlocked items though, that just seems like a bad oversight.
               
              • gufufu

                gufufu Space Hobo

                and make the selection screen not hang off the edge
                i want my Infusion and i want my Infusion now
                 

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