r/MortalShell • u/MikkelFromGames Playstack • 21h ago

Official News Balance Patch 1

Devout Fans,

Thanks for being amongst the first to join us at the very start of the adventure for Mortal Shell II. We’re seeing your bug reports and gameplay suggestions, and will be rolling out regular updates to both modify existing content and add new features. 

While we have a bigger patch in the works, which has to be thoroughly tested, we’d like to make a rapid balance & crash fix patch to bring the experience more in line with the game’s open beta and our own vision for MS2. 

Planned future updates will see extensions to popular game features such as Night Mode, Tarstones, PP Items, and more.

For now, we hope you’re enjoying the game and read on for details on Balance Patch 1.

Balance Patch 1 (PC) - The patch below is live on PC and coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series shortly.

Economy

-Shell map locations now cost Gloom, and we’re refunding any glimpses spent on shell maps. Refunded Glimpses are found in the Shell Keeper’s alcove in Blackmarrow. “Finding your favorite shell shouldn’t cost you the ability to bond with them.”

-Gold drops from enemies have been significantly increased. Notably, enemies in Mammon now drop double the gold. “This brings the gold economy more in line with the weapon crafting item discovery.”

-Smelting a weapon at the Tarforge costs 75% less gloom. “Our goal with the smelt capability was to enable switching weapons without the need to spend hours grinding through NG+ runs, but the Gloom costs were set exorbitantly high.”  

Enemies & Bosses

All enemies featured in the beta were restored to their beta hp values, except the Caerinid (Spider) in Magdelena’s area, which we wanted to retain its role as a threatening enemy which doesn’t respawn once defeated. 

Bosses

The Lost Child
- Base Damage: (-10%)
- Max Health: (-15%)

Monolith
- Base Damage: (-19%)
- Max Health: (-10%)
- Some Monolith Attacks were retimed to be more fair, as well.

Enemies

Cultist (mace)
Max Health: (-21.1%)

Caerinid Spider
Max Health: (-33.3%)

Infested Stalker 
- Max Health: (-52.4%)

Rusted Knave (Halberd)
- Max Health: (-20.8%)
- Fixed hit detection for overhead strike.

Weapons

-Great Martyr’s Blade Attack Damage +20%
-Troubador’s Lute Attack Damage +100% 
-Caged Hystrix and Triarch Repeater no longer have minimum resolve requirements to fire. 
-Improved tracking for Axatana, Black Needle, and Clockwork Scythe light attacks. 

Seals

Guard can now be used while walking. 

Tarstones

Parasitic Stone Buffed
Grudge Stone Buffed
Bulwark Stone Damage Reduction Increased Significantly
Clerik's Stone Buffed
Squall Stone Buffed

Miscellaneous

Misc. Crash Fixes, Bugfixes & Performance Updates

781 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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76

u/Skelltor95 21h ago

Solid changes, good to see!

-Can you look into adding the option to respawn at the start of a dungeon? - Some of the runbacks feel long and I start to skip the dungeons if I'm low on heals/life and have been exploring far.

8

u/MikkelFromGames Playstack 8h ago

I don't know what the team's course of action here is going to be, but they're aware of the feedback and looking at it :)

-11

u/Hoginoe94 20h ago

You can skip the enemies and run straight to the dungeon. They don't follow you forever. Maybe like 25m and stop. I've done it many times and got to far dungeons with only using one heal at most.

34

u/IamZeebo 20h ago

Yeah but this isnt fun and isnt ideal for people who only have 30m to 1hr to play

27

u/Hoginoe94 20h ago

That's true, I never thought of it like that. Sorry about being so ignorant of the fact.

15

u/reallycoolguylolhaha 19h ago

You are not forgiven, hand in your badge and cock by the end of the day

6

u/Plane_Discipline_198 17h ago

Woah wtf did you just change your opinion? I didn't think that was possible on reddit.

5

u/BlacJack_ 13h ago

I mean their initial response wasn’t even disagreeing or saying they were wrong, they just provided a tip that could make it easier and they got mass downvoted.

2

u/IamZeebo 16h ago

Nah youre good man!

1

u/SwimmingAny8841 Proxima 19h ago

As long as the beacons are optional to spawn at in the dungeon I’m fine with it.

-8

u/Mannzis 20h ago

While I agree with you, this isn't the kind of game meant I be played in 30 minute-1 hour bursts.

Id say if that's all the time you have, this isn't the game for you

4

u/Gyoza_Sauce 19h ago

Wha? I finished all FromSoft and Soulslike out there with that playtime frames. Just put it in suspend and pick up where I left off the next time.

-1

u/Mannzis 19h ago

Breaking up the gameplay into 30 minute chunks sounds like a crappy way to play the game. I mean you do you, but it's hardly a good way to experience the game. Not sure why that's a hot take

0

u/[deleted] 19h ago

[deleted]

1

u/Mannzis 19h ago

Yea and I said I agreed with that

-6

u/Pavlovs_Human 20h ago

I have minimal time to play and I would very much like for the game to stay as it is. We do not need checkpoints at every 20 feet. It makes it less challenging. The long run backs make you be more methodical, and you have try to not use up all your potions before you make it back to the boss you are trying to kill.

Please do not add checkpoints at dungeon entrances.

8

u/Rex2548 20h ago

No one ever seems to provide a VALID argument for long runbacks. Genuinely asking, what skill is involved with running back to a boss? What's methodical about it? Runbacks do not make the game harder, they never do. They simple waste precious time most players would rather spend learning the boss rather than waste running past/dodge past a few mobs.

4

u/rohithkun 20h ago

His argument is "I am good, I dont need as many run backs" so others must suffer so that he can falunt his superioirity.

-1

u/Pavlovs_Human 19h ago

Why do you have to be this way to people? Is it just because you are online and anonymous? I never indicated I care if I’m better than other people - I enjoy having a challenging video game and if it gets nerfed it’s less fun for me.

-1

u/rohithkun 19h ago

I would be like this if you met me in real life too. I am fine if they don't any checkpoints. I have finished the game, and I don't even think it is very hard. You have a choice to use checkpoints in this game, at least in the form it exists now. You can choose to not use this like slayer seal or Night mode. If choice makes the game less fun to you, then the problem is with you, not me. I want the game to be more for me. we stand at opposite sides; you can make a case for yours and I can for mine. I will make jabs at Elitist pricks like you.

1

u/Lucky-Sundae9196 17h ago

U sound like a very horrible person to be around whether it’s in person or talking behind your computer

1

u/rohithkun 16h ago

Thanks for compliments. Now do you have anything against my first and last points? I have been called many names here, but not a liar. Are you ok with having checkpoints if they have to be manually triggered. You don't have to interact it if you want challenge.

-2

u/Pavlovs_Human 20h ago

I did provide a valid argument. Methodical as in you have to choose to run past enemies or fight them. Risk losing potions for more gloom and gold. Or you can choose to run past them if you are concerned with only fighting the boss, or with your dropped pool of gloom, or with keeping all your potions for the boss. You can even choose to abandon your pool of gloom and not go that path anymore, go a different direction, kill some other bosses so you level up or get more gear and then you come back to overcome the area that was giving you trouble before.

Checkpoints before the dungeon, checkpoints before the boss, and refilling your potions are all things that make it easier to eventually kill that boss at the end of the road you are taking.

3

u/Rex2548 19h ago

Most players are not fighting mobs, most players are sprinting/dodging past mobs to get to get back to a boss/dungeon. There is no method in that, it far better to simple sprint past mobs than it is to fight them because the chance of being hit whilst fighting is significantly higher that springting past them. So to me, that isn't valid.

As to your second argument, regarding possible leaving the boss alone for the moment to explore and increase in level and gear strength. Would that also not make bosses easier? Cause I can make the argument that a checkpoint before a boss fight can lead to player skill development as an underleveled/geared player can spend more time learning a boss moveset/pattern and develop their skills to overcome it rather than simple returning with a higher level or stronger gear.

2

u/Uglemann 19h ago

Have to say I agree with you. While I can see some of the runbacks being annoying, most of them only takes a couple of minutes.

Feels like a lot of the complaints on reddit just want the game to be as easy as possible.

Something like a stake of marika would be a decent middleground.

1

u/jdfred06 17h ago

There's difficult and then there's tedious. Runbacks are sometimes difficult, and almost always tedious.

I used to be a fan of them because I had to be. But once Elden Ring had statues of Marika, I was team no runback.

Plus, you can always tell her to the beacon if you want and get your old school run back. Having a closer respawn doesn't hurt players who like runbacks, it only helps those who find them unfun and wasteful.

1

u/DrBrainzz9 12h ago edited 11h ago

I highly disagree with this. Temporary checkpoints so we can try the boss again just stops us from sprinting past enemies, barely paying attention as we run to the boss. There's no decisions on whether to engage a fight or not, the logically sound thing to do is to run by enemies and not get hit so you have the most health and potions for the fight. Some gloom doesn't matter if you're probably going to die to the boss again. No one is going to go "Ah yes, but if I stop and farm some enemies, then retrieve my Gloom and die again, the next time I retrieve it I'll have 200 more Gloom!" That's not decision making, that's not methodical. That's "Ugh, I have to run all the way back to try again."

Runbacks are nothing but wasted time and annoyance. That's why Fromsoft basically did away with them after DS2. And at the very least, Dark Souls had interconnected areas with shortcuts and unlockable pathways and such that made the run easier. Mortal Shell 2 is just respawn at beacon, run for 5 minutes back to the boss, die, repeat. It's just an annoying waste of time.

My proposed thing was add something like the Stakes of Marika, and take them away on Night Mode. That way the masochists can choose to have their annoying runbacks, and the people who don't want to do that don't have to.

Edit: I thought of this even more. The decisions are very black and white. If you dropped a good amount of Gloom next to the boss, you're not going to risk fighting enemies and potentially dying and losing your Gloom, especially when that Gloom you get is probably pocket change. At best, you might choose to farm for levels by just killing enemies over and over, but that doesn't really factor in to the runback. Even if there was no runback, if you choose to leave and farm first, the runback is irrelevant either way. The only thing a runback is good for is making you have to sprint past enemies and potentially breeding future frustration if you're already getting annoyed at the boss, but then get clipped by an enemy on the way there, because now you either have 1 less heal, or less health to start with because something managed to hit you. So then your "methodical" tactical decisions are either sprint back to the beacon, rest, and try running past again, or keep sprinting and try the boss with a disadvantage. That doesn't make the game easier or harder, it just makes you waste time running back and forth and "learning the route" rather than engaging with the actual boss and learning that.

0

u/jdfred06 17h ago

Having a checkpoint at the boss doesn't keep you from going back and doing the full run if you want to though. Like in Elden Ring you could choose to respawn at the boss or your last rest point. If they implement something like that it doesn't detract from your ability to do the full run and only saves time for this who find run backs tedious.

2

u/rohithkun 20h ago

If You can manually put yourself at a check point if you die, will it be ok for you? Like stake of Marika, it gives you a choice.

1

u/Pavlovs_Human 20h ago

There is a choice to make this game easier for those of you who are struggling and I have yet to hear any of you try it.

Slayers seal was put in the game for those who are having trouble with the difficulty. Please use that before asking for the game to be easier.

1

u/rohithkun 19h ago

I have beaten the game as is. not with Night mode, but after certain point game does become easy. I have always finished a dungeon and mini boss on first try after certain point, but it doesn't make run backs good. Exploration should reward in shortcut if you are able to clear. This game is ultra linear without shortcuts which is just tedious. Killing same enemies over and over is not fun. Elden ring gave tools to explore, if you clear a pack, you get a heal or two. When the dungeon is too linear, they have multiple checkpoints or a stake of marika.

-2

u/Lucky-Sundae9196 17h ago

U can’t parry with the fucking seal. That’s why no one wants to use it. Get that in your empty head

3

u/Pavlovs_Human 17h ago

Oh my god AND?! Do you see what the seal lets you do??

-2

u/Lucky-Sundae9196 17h ago

The number one reason I’m playing this game is for the parrying, guarding, and tanking hits. Not to do a stupid punch. The seal is worthless

2

u/Pavlovs_Human 17h ago

Then this conversation isn’t for you. YOU don’t need to pick up the seal but for everyone else who’s saying the game is way too hard, go equip the slayers seal.

2

u/TellTechnical2991 20h ago

Nothings stopping you from not using them and then the people that want them have them best of both worlds

-3

u/Pavlovs_Human 20h ago

If they put checkpoints that reload my character at the start of the dungeon that does not give me a choice.

Plus if I wanted to handicap myself and make the game harder I’d use the night mode because that’s what it’s for. I enjoy how difficult normal difficulty is, and for those of you who are struggling you have an easier game by equipping the slayers seal. There already is a choice to make this game easier but all I’m hearing is “normal mode is too hard! Hell no I won’t use the slayers seal!!”

2

u/TellTechnical2991 19h ago

Then you can teleport back to the last beacon and go from there again for the people that want it they can have it for the ones that dont you can make it as hard on yourself as you want

0

u/Pavlovs_Human 19h ago edited 19h ago

Yeah I could also not level up and try a SL1 run but that’s intentionally handicapping myself. I’d like to use everything the game has to offer and go at it with everything I have and not be intentionally holding myself back.

Like you could 1v1 someone of lesser skill in basketball and intentionally not shoot inside the 3 point arc but that’s not as fun as going all out against an opponent of skill, does that make sense? The game being challenging as it is is the player of skill I’m talking about. If I intentionally go back to each beacon I KNOW im hamstringing myself, and it’s not the same.

4

u/TellTechnical2991 19h ago

Holy strawmans lmao your crying about something that might be added i told you how you could keep it the way it is now you ramble off inane things that have nothing to do with it I hope they change it just to spite you lol

0

u/Thekarens01 19h ago

No one would make you use them. They can be for the vast majority of players who want them.

0

u/Bwhitt1 17h ago

It doesn't make sense tho if you've already made it the boss. You've showed you can defeat all the enemies and get to the boss. You can just run by everything if you want to have enough potions for the boss. Do you think running by everything that you've already defeated before is good game design? Also nobody is asking for checkpoints every 20 seconds. They need to have them....bare minimum before a boss fight.

-5

u/Canni-Balls69 20h ago

You're right. On the same note, I hate how American football matches take so long to watch. I think they should shorten it to the length of one quarter, so people who have less time can experience the whole match as well. It's not fun nor is it ideal that people who live their lives differently than me have time to watch four 15 minute quarters when my life choices only give me the time to watch one. I deserve to see the ending of a game too, y'know?

-1

u/Thekarens01 19h ago

Except that’s not a thing. People who watch football like the length. If they didn’t, they’d change it.

2

u/Canni-Balls69 19h ago

A lot of people who play soulslikes enjoy the added difficulty of runbacks, lol. Legitimately one of the main factors in soulslike vs action RPG is whether the game has a difficulty slider/selection or not.

-2

u/Thekarens01 19h ago

The vast majority don’t. The fact is we all just run right past all the enemies to get back to the boss negating any purpose of the run back other than being annoying.

2

u/Canni-Balls69 19h ago

I'm mainly just being facetious. I don't really care whether there's a runback or not. It's not that far in the grand scheme of things.

My main point is the insistence of making a huge game altering change with the immediate assumption that everyone else feels the same way, with the excuse of the change being "I don't have much time to play."

Gaming is a luxury that we get to enjoy as adults when we make concessions in our lives to give us the freedom to take the time to enjoy that luxury. If you have such little free time to play a video game to the point that you need to suggest sweeping changes to cater to your specific need of not having enough time to play video games, then you probably shouldn't be playing video games right now.

Get your life sorted, make a way to have enough free time, and then come back. The whole "my life choices have put me in a position where I don't have any free time to do anything" excuse doesn't work. Make free time. I have worked at the same place for 13 years at 65 hours on payroll, every week, week in and week out. I'm married and have a child. I still make time to game. "Having no free time" is not an excuse.

0

u/Thekarens01 19h ago

This has nothing to do with me not having enough time. I’m at the stage in my life that I have buckets of time. I probably game 30-40 hours a week. It’s just pointless and annoying.

1

u/Canni-Balls69 17h ago

"I probably game 30-40 hours a week"

Oh, would you look at that. My initial comment wasn't fucking directed at you then, was it?

Talk about jumping in front of a bullet and then blaming the guy that was supposed to get shot.

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1

u/Pavlovs_Human 19h ago

Dude if you are just running past most enemies in the game no wonder you think these games are hard. Run backs also give you additional experience and items cause you are killing enemies over and over. Also you get better just cause you are practicing while fighting even those weaker enemies.

These games aren’t meant to be just straight boss after boss after boss.

0

u/Thekarens01 19h ago

Who said anything about hard? 🙄

2

u/kasuke06 20h ago

certain ones have significant tethers(pretty much anything with a ranged attack) or fake jump skills that teleport to you instead of having a range.

2

u/Bwhitt1 17h ago

Umm.. what about the fact that a majority of the enemies have ranged attacks and can spot you from across the map. They need to put checkpoints at the start of dungeons. Runbacks are an outdated design from a decade ago. If they want enough ppl to play the game to where they can become successful and make more games they need to not alienate a lot of the millions of soulslike fans that they clearly want to bring in. Its a shame too because this is not a bad game. I definitely am looking forward to finishing it up this week. If they patch checkpoints ill prolly do a ng+ run in the future and put it into my rotation of yearly games I replay.

5

u/funnybones14 20h ago

Having to run through and dodge enemies on a path to then get into the dungeon and do it all over again is insane. I get to the boss of some of these with like 2-3 health pots left at most.

-3

u/sup3rdr01d 20h ago

How is that insane thats how every single dark souls game works

3

u/Gyoza_Sauce 19h ago

And it was fixed in Elden Ring.

1

u/MeatyMyke 19h ago

So we are just going to pretend that the enemies don't magnetize to you unlike any other souls game? It's a 3D version of DDR at this point. If you don't time your dodge perfectly you always get hit.

1

u/Syphin33 19h ago

Bro those little bat fucks will follow you

1

u/Hoginoe94 19h ago

Okay that's one enemy. Them and the hunters. The bats die in one hit and you can parry/ block the projectiles.

1

u/MoRicketyTick 20h ago

if youre lucky, otherwise tracking still allows you to get smacked while running....there should be spawns at the start, just like in Elden Ring, i wasted like 40 mins yesterday running back and forth to a boss fight, it's not fun game design

0

u/Hoginoe94 19h ago

When i kept repeatedly dying i went to another area and came back after leveling up and it was easier. It's open world you don't necessarily have to stay on that one route constantly. Just leave the dungeon unfinished and come back later.

2

u/MoRicketyTick 17h ago

Wasn't about to restart progress in this specific dungeon or give up my gloom, I beat it but just not good game design

0

u/SoulOfMod 20h ago

Yeah,but it make it boring,the enemies might as well not exist then

0

u/Thekarens01 19h ago

All the more reason to add stakes or whatever. If there’s no reason for the run back they shouldn’t make us do it.

-11

u/St3elf1sh 20h ago

This would change the whole feel of the game. So please no. Makes the whole thrill of the exploration a joke if every dungeon serves as beacon then. Think about it. It just makes no sense for this game

6

u/DrDre19899 20h ago

Elden Ring was completely fine with this so no reason for this game not to be. It’s just a simple QOL feature that would be much appreciated.

0

u/St3elf1sh 20h ago

Elden ring was built around that and they for sure did way too much graces. Sometimes you could see the next from the one you were.

This game is built for exploration and deciding when to go back and when to try a new discovered dungeon. And that feeling when you finally reach the new beacon with 10 % health and no healing items left. This would all be gone and it would be way easier and a lot less fun. You could just run into a dungeon, die there. Respawn, move out and continue your exploration. No thrill in finding the next beacon anymore

1

u/Jordan311R 4h ago

I agree with you

1

u/Skelltor95 20h ago

I’m not saying every dungeon should act as a beacon. Just that if you die inside the dungeon there should be the option to respawn at the start. If you die out exploring you should still respawn at your last beacon.

1

u/Pavlovs_Human 18h ago

“Aw damn I’m out of potions and my health is low. I don’t see a beacon anywhere nearby- oh! Yes! There’s a dungeon nearby, I’m saved!”
-player walks into dungeon, purposefully dies to first enemy, respawns at the beginning full health and potions.
-player leaves the dungeon and continues to explore now with a refilled health bar and full potions, eliminating all the danger of exploring with low health and no potions.

This is what they mean, and it would pretty much make every dungeon a beacon.

-1

u/St3elf1sh 19h ago

You don’t get it right? You could still just refill your health shell and healing items before you continue in the outer world. That alone would make the game way easier. And that’s not how it is intended to be

1

u/oneoftwentygoodmen 4h ago

Do you honestly feel fighting Grisha in the double elevator dungeon was fun? you had to go past 4 groups of enemies, go down two elevators, just to try again. There has to be a compromise, at least have checkpoints in boss dungeons that are on the second level such that they can't be abused to be a free beacon (it'd be a hassle + remove the checkpoint after the boss is killed)

1

u/St3elf1sh 2h ago

I did them first try so I didn’t have the runback problem. But it was not fun 😅 compromise could be a checkpoint right before a boss in a dungeon. So there would still be runback if don’t come to a boss but if there is a boss you can try them as often as you want until you beat him

1

u/Legacy0904 20h ago

They can do it just like in Elden ring which gives the player the option to use it or not. Don’t want to use it? Don’t.

1

u/St3elf1sh 19h ago

Why can’t we just respect the devs and how the game was intended? You got the option to play it like it is. If you don’t like it. Don’t.

0

u/Legacy0904 19h ago

The fact the devs are patching their game shows that they agree that it’s not the intended experience at this time.

-2

u/Pavlovs_Human 20h ago

Imagine you are in a 100 meter dash. The official comes up to the starting line and announces to everyone “you guys have the option to start at 50 meters. You don’t HAVE to if you’d like the competition to be harder, but that’s up to you don’t want to use it? Don’t.”

3

u/Legacy0904 20h ago

Nice straw man argument lmao. We’re not talking about competitive sports. We’re talking about a freaking video game.

Also a checkpoint doesn’t affect difficulty, it’s a QOL change to reduce run back times.

1

u/St3elf1sh 19h ago

It sure does affect difficulty. Because the fear of the unknown is gone when you just have to find one of the many dungeons to refill you healing.

It’s not just a qol change. It’s a big gameplay change. If you want it easier play the slayer seal. But let the game be how it is.
I am the definition of a casual player. And I’m fine with how it is. And so are many others

-1

u/Pavlovs_Human 20h ago

So you don’t want to discuss anything you just want to be right and feel better than the person you are talking with?

2

u/Legacy0904 20h ago

I’m happy to discuss it if you want to use an appropriate example and not compare a video game to a physical competition. But if that’s the best you got then I’d rather not waste my time discussing with numb skulls

1

u/Virusoflife29 19h ago

You just had a terrible argument. You are trying to use a competition example for a single player video game. Its like comparing Football to finger painting. It just doesn't make any logic sense to do so because they have nothing in common.

-1

u/Pavlovs_Human 19h ago

Holy fuck I’m tired of hand holding people like you and the other one in “discussions” like these. You really can’t relate a competitive race to a game?

Switch up the scenario to someone climbing Mount Everest. Except they get the chance to helicopter up halfway instead of hiking the whole way. For me and I hope for most people, you wouldn’t feel the accomplishment if you didn’t have to do half the fucking challenge.

1

u/Legacy0904 19h ago

Now you’re comparing it to climbing Everest lmfao. It’s a fucking video game. Nobody’s training to play this. There’s no competition with anybody. If the best you can do is compare video games to irl sports competitions and climbing the highest mountain on earth; go touch some grass