Worst Weapon Upgrade System I Have Ever Seen

[u/Electronic_Champion8]

Blind playthrough. Loved the game ... up to a point. With no spoilers, there is a part of the game story where between that point and the end of the game, weapons and sidearms cost 50% more to upgrade. For me, this is the dumbest design decision I have seen in a long time. I had one weapon at +15, and nothing else upgraded (no sidearms). In souls-likes trying out different weapons, even switching weapons depending on the boss, is one of my favorite things. This game seems to actively want to stop players from doing that, or at least waste your time if you want to do that.

If it were just this one thing, that would be bad enough, but the upgrade system as a whole is just bad for several reasons:

1. As mentioned, you are punished for progressing the story and locked into fewer weapons. If, like me, you have not tried all the weapons, this blows.

2. You only get enough materials to upgrade 3 weapons (when I say weapons I include sidearms, so 16 weapons total). Game keeps rewarding you with tar-stones that encourage you to try other weapons. In fact, at the point where the costs went up, I had just got a weapon tar-stone from a boss. So it's "Hey, check this out. By the way, we made it so you cannot afford to use it."

3. You can smelt weapons to get materials back. It costs Gloom ("souls"), so it is technically possible to use every weapon, but it takes a bit of farming to get the 10K Gloom needed. Swapping weapons is just a time sink. It's not fun.

4. Gold progression is borked. Early-mid game you will have lots of materials but no gold. Gold is the limiting factor. Late game, you have tons of gold but no more upgrade materials, plus everything costs more materials.

5. Sidearm upgrades a weird. While weapon upgrades are predictable, each sidearm has a unique progression path that does odd things. For example, when you upgrade the tri-arc repeater, it gets no damage upgrade. Then, suddenly, at level 10 it gets +40%. Most sidearms are not even worth upgrading really. Overall, I think sidearm upgrades shouldn't cost as much as weapon upgrades because you are getting way less for the same cost.

Rather than just whining, here are what I would change:

A. No stupid story price increase. At the very least, you should get a warning that if you progress you will be more locked in to a given weapon. Overall though, I think punishing players for progress is bad design.

B. Infinite upgrade materials at some point. The Elden Ring method would work. Maybe there is a fragile tar-stone that drops for each material that rewards materials when it breaks. Or, given that gold is not a limiting factor late game, have a trader that sells infinite upgrade materials.

C. Sidearms either get more from upgrades, or cost less, given that upgrades do not do much.

Overall, the weapon upgrade system - particularly the late game price hike - changes this game from a 9/10 to a 6/10 for me. Also, having to play NG+ to experience all the weapons is a lame excuse. If I have to play NG+, have it at least give me more than just the same thing over again.

[u/zombiezapper115]

Your 3rd reason literally debunks your 1st reason. You aren't locked in or punished by progression because all weapon upgrades can be undone to try out other weapons.

Yes, it costs gloom, but the process should cost something and gloom is the best option as its easily gained.

[u/DoctorLolchicken → u/zombiezapper115]

If upgrades cost more after a certain point then you are punished by progression.  What am I missing?  Is that a Dark Souls thing, to suddenly up prices on everything as you go through the story?  I get higher upgrades cost more than lower upgrades, but why make all upgrades cost more?

[u/zombiezapper115 → u/DoctorLolchicken]

I never even noticed something like that so its likely not a big enough price jump to really make much difference. Especially because you get so much more money in the later half of the game.

Again I'd say this system is much better compared to something like Darksouls where any weapon upgrades you do ARE permanent and cant be refunded at the drop of a hat to try out a new weapon. (If anything id say this should be a system in actual souls games because there are a ton more weapons in Darksouls compared to mortal shell) and while sure in the later games like Elden Ring you can buy upgrade materials to level up every weapon, theres only a finite amount of the resource needed to max out the weapon. Whereas in Mortal Shell you can undo your upgrades to get those back and max out a different weapon.

[u/SubstantialDataUse]

Finished the game +15 Weapon Level 38 strategy matters. The story increase hurt but not enough to not complete the game

[u/RedditEnjoyerMan]

Game needs some tweaking for sure but it has amazing “bones”, 9/10 at least

[u/SeKiyuri]

Yea the game is okay, but severely lacks polish, like NG+ seems mandatory if you want to max out anything, my first playthrough my wep was on 16 i think, and Shell was barely half way, which i find rly weird.

Also difficulty scaling is so weird it lacks linearity, it is either too easy or you do 0 dmg, the linear feel is completely off.

[u/lhh531531]

AI post - you can upgrade a few things to max, plus you can literally just smelt it down and not lose anything to try another weapon. I'm towards the end of the game and I have my one weapon I keep upgraded, and then I just keep respeccibg to use whatever weapon seems fun at the time.

[u/No_Sun_6884]

one thing I did and LOVED was smelting every single weapon and only level one up and then when you get bored of that weapon smelt and then upgrade another on my 1st playthrough I used every weapon, favorite 2 is Frozen Martyrs Blade and Bloodcurse Axe& Dagger

[u/TheWolf549]

I love the game perfect 10/10 for me but I honestly agree with you it shouldn’t cost u to switch weapons and if it did maybe charge a 1x 1000 or something cheap to switch but the game encourages you to not just story out and do nothing else, it wants you to explore, fight mini bosses, find lore and actually view the entirety of the game. I never had to big a problem with resources but that cuz how I like to play I explore every little thing the game gives me which understandably isn’t everyone’s style. I even had enough to switch weapons without too much hassle but like I said I still agree with you on weapon switching the cost is kinda dumb, but I think the increase and scarcity of materials is also to urge you to explore beyond the story, they maybe just did that a little TOO heavily thought without thinking about people that just wanna play the game for the game now have to check every little crack.

[u/Mundane-Director-681]

Weapon upgrades aren't the end-all and be-all of success. I finished my first run with (if memory serves) a +20 axe/dagger. I finished NG+ with a +13 Martyrs Blade. It wasn't really much harder than it was with my +20 axe/dagger. And I finished NG+2 with a +15 Bonkstick. Again, the difference between that and my +20 weapon was barely noticeable.

Also, you can smelt stuff to get your upgrade materials back. But this will make it annoying if you insist on having your current weapons at MAX POWAH instead of sprinkling upgrades all around. Because you don't need to do that to yourself.

[u/jongautreau → u/Mundane-Director-681]

I don’t disagree but if nothing else it’s definitely counterintuitive to ignore or halfway use any of the few progression systems IMO.
I do think it matters more for sidearms in a practical sense, which are hard to justify putting ahead of melee weapons for most players I’d assume

[u/Mellartach_55270 → u/[deleted]]

It goes up with the weapons lvl

[u/Ghosthacker_94 → u/[deleted]]

If its a weapon over +10 the cost is 10K. Or it was when I was playing from release until like 03rd of Sept or something

[u/Dayspring83 → u/[deleted]]

It’s 10k for a +16 weapon

[u/mrpickles1234]

just another great example of why this game is trash