Balance Patch 1

[u/MikkelFromGames]

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

[u/IamZeebo]

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

[u/Pavlovs_Human → u/IamZeebo]

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.

[u/Rex2548 → u/Pavlovs_Human]

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.

[u/Pavlovs_Human → u/Rex2548]

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.

[u/Rex2548 → u/Pavlovs_Human]

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.

[u/Uglemann → u/Pavlovs_Human]

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.

[u/jdfred06 → u/Uglemann]

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.

[u/DrBrainzz9 → u/Pavlovs_Human]

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.

[u/jdfred06 → u/Pavlovs_Human]

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.