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Arukado

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,306
Yay, finally got the boss... Wait... So now I have to run allllll the way back to the tower on foot? Shit... I really need to buy that fast travel item
Congrats, and yes...
You can only return on foot. Every time you obtain a gland, the world gets covered in mist, and you cannot use travel items to go back to Fallgrim.
 

Megasoum

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,587
Congrats, and yes...
You can only return on foot. Every time you obtain a gland, the world gets covered in mist, and you cannot use travel items to go back to Fallgrim.
Oh that's even worse than I thought since I at least expected to be able to use the mask once I buy it... That's a bad level of padding bleh

I have so many items that will let me upgrade stuff once I get back to the tower... I just want to get there!
 

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,926
UK
I've played original release: King's Field, KF 2, KF 3, KF 4, Shadow Tower, Shadow Tower Abyss, Demons Souls, Bloodborne, Dark Souls 1-3, completed them all, and it took THIS GAME to make me realize how bad I am at actually playing these!

granted for almost all of thee above, I co-op frequently. But still, I'm struggling really bad at mortal shell - even the beginning, ha. I can't even get Grisha down 1/4. My brain just doesn't seem able to balance harden, parry and roll all at once. I'm stumbling over my defense options so much I just get hit on the simplest moves.

im terrible.
I either need a range weapon,
Something faster, a shield or I'm stopping ha!

on startup gear and I hate this big sword

I really struggled through the first few hours of this. I just couldn't get a handle on the defensive options like parry and roll timings.

The first Grisha is a well placed test of sorts as you can use all of those skills without being punished too badly. It also allows you to access a very well balanced shell.

Keep pushing. Once it clicked for me I steamed through the rest of the game.

Oh that's even worse than I thought since I at least expected to be able to use the mask once I buy it... That's a bad level of padding bleh

I have so many items that will let me upgrade stuff once I get back to the tower... I just want to get there!

I wouldn't describe it as padding, as the enemy placement and general world change, so it's a delibwratelt difficult return.

Cool idea but it does start to get old by the third gland.
 

gosublime

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,434
Need help. I've completed the three areas and I'm in the Obsidian temple running back with the gland.

I have no healing items (used them all up getting here and on boss) and no ranged attacks - all I can pick up is one mushroom every 5 minutes.

How can I get past the section with about 6 arrow people standing in front of me. I can't run past them - too much damage. If I run, harden and then run it still destroys me before I can get anywhere.

Is there something I'm missing?
Also, when I get back with the gland, is there something that locks me into the endgame/boss or can I go and explore for a bit first? I want to find all the extra stuff I've missed.
 

Reckheim

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
9,392
Need help. I've completed the three areas and I'm in the Obsidian temple running back with the gland.

I have no healing items (used them all up getting here and on boss) and no ranged attacks - all I can pick up is one mushroom every 5 minutes.

How can I get past the section with about 6 arrow people standing in front of me. I can't run past them - too much damage. If I run, harden and then run it still destroys me before I can get anywhere.

Is there something I'm missing?
Also, when I get back with the gland, is there something that locks me into the endgame/boss or can I go and explore for a bit first? I want to find all the extra stuff I've missed.
i don't know if you can, but change into the body that has a lot of health. I think you can use an Effigy. I just ran past them and took the damage.

just beat the game, decent enough, solid 7/10. The studio seems to have a lot of potential.

the biggest thing i didn't like about the game is the lack of stat specing and leveling up.
 

Megasoum

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,587
Haven't had a chance to buy them yet but are the 3 abilities at the bottom of the skill circle that are the same for every Shells actually shared between them or you still need to re-buy it for every characters?
 

gosublime

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,434
Haven't had a chance to buy them yet but are the 3 abilities at the bottom of the skill circle that are the same for every Shells actually shared between them or you still need to re-buy it for every characters?

I think you need to rebuy for each.

Great shout Reckheim - will try later. I basically put all my stuff into the Acolyte so haven't really messed around with other shells.
 
Oct 27, 2017
777
Was watching a Stream of this and it looks very solid, someone in chat mentioned it was being patched/supported very quickly too...is that case?
 

Psychotron

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,683
Congrats, and yes...
You can only return on foot. Every time you obtain a gland, the world gets covered in mist, and you cannot use travel items to go back to Fallgrim.


From what I've read that's not exactly true. I haven't tried it yet but read this for skipping the fog run:

After killing the boss, do not pick up the gland. Use the ornate mask to travel to fallgrim. Rest at Sesster. Fast travel back to boss. Grab the gland and use an untarnished mask to return to fallgrim.
 

Psychotron

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,683
Embarrassed myself at the start of the fight with some misjudged distance, but had a no damage fight regardless. I'm loving this game and can't wait to see more from the developers.

 

Arukado

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,306
From what I've read that's not exactly true. I haven't tried it yet but read this for skipping the fog run:

After killing the boss, do not pick up the gland. Use the ornate mask to travel to fallgrim. Rest at Sesster. Fast travel back to boss. Grab the gland and use an untarnished mask to return to fallgrim.
You are probably right.

I didn't think about that while playing the game, because i assumed that you couldn't use any kind of mask in the mist, but you actually can (i just checked).

Welp, they have to fix it by blocking the ornate mask after beating a boss.
 
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Megasoum

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,587
Jeez you guys were not kidding about the game becoming super easy once you get a few upgrades haha... I have the original sword at +5 and all but one upgrades on Solomon and I just completely steamrolled my second dungeon including the boss that I killed even without having to use the revive haha.

So now that my first weapon is maxed out... Any suggestions for which one I should go for next?
 

gosublime

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,434
i don't know if you can, but change into the body that has a lot of health. I think you can use an Effigy. I just ran past them and took the damage.

just beat the game, decent enough, solid 7/10. The studio seems to have a lot of potential.

the biggest thing i didn't like about the game is the lack of stat specing and leveling up.

Update on the archers on the obsidian temple - if anyone has any ideas on how to get past them with no real healing items that would be great!

Not been able to play for a couple of days so have just tried this. I have the effigies but stupidly that one doesn't have his name unlocked yet, so I can't swap into it - or any other as I used up the effigies for them.

I tried using the ornate mask but that won't work with a gland - so I'm now just sitting waiting in front of a mushroom (I think it's the only one between me and the archers) waiting to press x every 5 minutes so that I can receive a mushroom and then I'll try to chow down on a few of those and get past them. It also only gives one mushroom a time, which adds to the fun!

I know this is partly my own fault but I'm pretty annoyed that I don't have any other options. I was enjoying it but this is sucking the life out of the game for me.
 

Megasoum

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,587
Any quick ways to farm Tar? I want to buy the Tools but I'm nowhere near 8000 right now.

Edit:Turns out just running around the world with Mist turned on and two-shotting all the enemies is pretty quick haha.
 
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MilkBeard

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,783
Just ran back with my first gland. I wish the game had a better sense of directing you. But that was interesting. I ended up going through the abandoned chamber, which is a better first dungeon than the obsidian place, at least in my opinion, though I've already gone through a large section of the latter.

Edit: lmao, I've been looking at a guide, and it looks like I keep choosing the harder paths first. That's okay, at least I know I have an easier one to take out before I go back to the obsidian area. I was going to say, these were fairly challenging, though I did end up managing to get a few upgrades at least.

In a sequel the devs should prioritize directing the map design so the player can intuit where to go. You just have no idea where paths are and are wandering aimlessly to find the right turn into the next area.
 
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MilkBeard

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,783
After the first gland, I ended up getting the second, and now I just beat the boss on the third. Stopping for the night before the run back, but it looks close to the end. At about 10.5 hours on the game, curious how much is left. It really is a pretty short game, lol.
 

ken_matthews

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
838
I've been playing it for a while now (two glands in) and the difficulty really drops off. It starts off rather brutal, but as others have mentioned, the game gets a lot easier after a couple of weapon upgrades and once you get the timing of enemy strikes down. I've been using Tiel with Martyr's Blade at +5 and almost everything dies in 1-3 hits. Still, I really like it; they nailed the formula and created a compelling Souls inspired game. I hope this game is successful and the developers get a chance to make a more expansive sequel.
 

gosublime

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,434
Finished this just now and it's decent, with some good ideas but the pacing/difficulty/enemy variety (these all have some overlap here) of the game was a bit off. It seemed like it started off really hard, but once you got the hang of the combat it rapidly became easier until, by the final dungeon it was a bit boring. (I'm going to ignore my own stupidity with the archers - got past them with a couple of mushrooms and some dodge rolling)

The fact there isn't enough enemy variety really harms the game - the enemies basically have about 4 or so attacks which they can sometimes do in what feels pretty much like a loop. This meant by the end of the game my tactic was always pretty much the same - run and do a jump attack, then either dodge out and repeat, or swing knowing they would die with that hit. I'd have loved to have seen a couple of enemies who were able to parry my jump attack but this didn't happen.

This makes the final two thirds of the game pretty easy and boring, but this is then tied in with the fact that my final area (Seat of Inifity/Obsidian Temple) is massive and takes too long to get through - I ended up just running through it simply to get it over with as I knew I could beat the enemies and couldn't be bothered, particularly as the tar I would get wouldn't be used to help me level up. This made the end of the game feel just a bit rushed and boring, which doesn't help.

However, they nailed the atmosphere of the game - at the start it felt very Soulslike, creeping round corners wondering what would be coming up. I also liked idea of the world changing once you'd beaten a boss, but felt it could have gone further down this route. As usual when playing a Soulslike I realise exactly how much From puts into their games to try and make them compelling all the way through.

Three small points:
1) Did anyone use 'Indie Mode'?
2) The final boss has too big a health pool - it's not an amazingly interesting fight but this is due in part to the fact it just takes too long. This is a problem I have with a lot of boss fights and even From do this at times. It doesn't make the game harder, just more boring.
3) I have about 40 poisonous mushrooms at the end of the game, but I got poisoned about four times in the whole game. It just felt a bit off when I was waiting for health mushrooms to come at the end.
 

Karlinel

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Nov 10, 2017
7,826
Mallorca, Spain
Bought it 2 days before selling my ps4pro (gotta sweeten up the deal on a PS5 to the missus), I disliked the extreeeeeemely long loading times and the somewhat half-baked combat. But it showed promise, guess I'll finish it on Ps5!
 

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,926
UK
Bought it 2 days before selling my ps4pro (gotta sweeten up the deal on a PS5 to the missus), I disliked the extreeeeeemely long loading times and the somewhat half-baked combat. But it showed promise, guess I'll finish it on Ps5!

There are a lot of fair criticisms of the game, but the combat seems to be one of the more warmly received aspects of it.

What did you find half-baked?
 

Karlinel

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Nov 10, 2017
7,826
Mallorca, Spain
There are a lot of fair criticisms of the game, but the combat seems to be one of the more warmly received aspects of it.

What did you find half-baked?
Probably it's due to my only having found 2 shells in my (admittedly) very short time with the game, but since the game doesn't have classes, I expected differences in the combat, but they shared weapon, there are no builds...the weight is ok, iframes seem inconsistent to me, parry as healing takes time to come around to, but I find it in a very limited scope. Since Idk if later there are more weapons, styles, magic, etc, atm to me it seems very limited, like it was half implemented.
Again, I managed to play maybe 50minutes to 90 being generous, so it is by no means a "final" assessment, just a nagging feeling.
 

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,926
UK
Probably it's due to my only having found 2 shells in my (admittedly) very short time with the game, but since the game doesn't have classes, I expected differences in the combat, but they shared weapon, there are no builds...the weight is ok, iframes seem inconsistent to me, parry as healing takes time to come around to, but I find it in a very limited scope. Since Idk if later there are more weapons, styles, magic, etc, atm to me it seems very limited, like it was half implemented.
Again, I managed to play maybe 50minutes to 90 being generous, so it is by no means a "final" assessment, just a nagging feeling.

I feel as though that's a wider game game consideration than strictly a combat one.

Mortal Shell shares so much DNA with souls that the comparisons seem to largely damage it based on people's expectations going in. Souls revels in build variety and the RPG bit, but Mortal Shell is far closer to a pure-action game where you have finite weapons and tools with some minimal upgrading bits on top.

I can understand being disappointed with the lack of variety, such as magic etc., there are four shells and four weapons in the game. Each weapon does play significantly differently, but the shells could do with more individual identity (the differences don't really show themselves beyond health / stamina until you get some of the higher upgrades).

All that said, the actual combat (and the associated animations) I find incredibly satisfying and are the core reason why I keep chipping away at the achievements on this in NG+. It just feels great to play.
 

Karlinel

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Nov 10, 2017
7,826
Mallorca, Spain
I feel as though that's a wider game game consideration than strictly a combat one.

Mortal Shell shares so much DNA with souls that the comparisons seem to largely damage it based on people's expectations going in. Souls revels in build variety and the RPG bit, but Mortal Shell is far closer to a pure-action game where you have finite weapons and tools with some minimal upgrading bits on top.

I can understand being disappointed with the lack of variety, such as magic etc., there are four shells and four weapons in the game. Each weapon does play significantly differently, but the shells could do with more individual identity (the differences don't really show themselves beyond health / stamina until you get some of the higher upgrades).

All that said, the actual combat (and the associated animations) I find incredibly satisfying and are the core reason why I keep chipping away at the achievements on this in NG+. It just feels great to play.
Gotta say that I saw promise, did one boss or midboss, the Grisha, that showed the good of the system, and also the things you WILL have to get good at, such as proper parry, Cooldown calculation, and hardening.

I did like it, if not love it, but I intend to give it a proper run on PS5, specially considering the loading improvements and less noise (reason why I have TLoU2 waiting as well). The atmosphere is great, and i can live getting lost because I can't find visual cues for navigation.

Gotta say tho, loading times really, really are criminal.
 

Karlinel

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Nov 10, 2017
7,826
Mallorca, Spain
DIdn't suffer too much with this myself, at least on One X, but they were long enough to make the idea of a no-shell run of the game a little less appealing.
I was having trouble adapting to the game, so between spanish summer heat making fan noise ramp up, me dying to stupid shit, and 1min+ loading times, I am ashamed to admit I was getting a bit mad. Ps4 Pro on HDD, so it was on me.
 

MilkBeard

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,783
I was having trouble adapting to the game, so between spanish summer heat making fan noise ramp up, me dying to stupid shit, and 1min+ loading times, I am ashamed to admit I was getting a bit mad. Ps4 Pro on HDD, so it was on me.
Crazy that it takes that long to load on consoles. The game does need more optimization. On PC, thankfully, it loads quick (on SSD). I think I would probably struggle to continue if I had to deal with that on death
 

Megasoum

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,587
Just got to some bullshit part near the endgame...

So I killed the boss in the library and now I have to go back through the mist as usual... The enemies are mostly easy to kill but then I got to the part where there's a bridge with 9 ranged mobs shooting at me anytime I go near it?? Man fuck that...
 

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,926
UK
Just got to some bullshit part near the endgame...

So I killed the boss in the library and now I have to go back through the mist as usual... The enemies are mostly easy to kill but then I got to the part where there's a bridge with 9 ranged mobs shooting at me anytime I go near it?? Man fuck that...

Some one else had trouble with that particular section. Sprint > roll > harden is pretty much the best. As is using Eredrim to tank through.

I started my no-shell run last night. I swore off all shells at the altar, and have beaten Grisha and the boss in the Shrine of Ash. You really can sprint past a whole load of stuff in this game.

Not looking forward to the final boss simply because of how long it takes, and dodging some of the attacks I've found a bit hit and miss. Has anyone else managed a no-shell completion yet?

EDIT - Managed to best Tarsus and the Imprisoned Grisha. The latter was easy, the former was a serious PITA in that every time you die and do it again you have to wait for him to finish his skating attacks.

Gotta get back to Firelink Fallgrim Tower with the second gland and then on to the Obsidian place. Not looking forward to the Crossbow ladies there at all.
 
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Stuggernaut

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,925
Seattle, WA, USA
I am trying to like this game...

It is fun and I like the concept, but as I learn the mechanics and play style, I obviously die a fair amount and the load times are KILLING me.

It honestly makes me not want to play it for that reason alone lol.
 

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,926
UK
Managed to finish my no-shell / Obsidian Black run.

Took about 3 hours with some of the retries. The bosses were generally okay, it was getting past the ranged enemoes (and poison frogs) that often posed the most threat.

Just cleaning up the secret lore and I can out this to bed.
 

Fair Witness

Member
Jun 25, 2018
68
Austin, TX, USA
I finally got the Platinum today.

My first play through took me about 13 hours and I played as Solomon most of the time and used the Hallowed sword.

My second play through I used Harros and the Hallowed sword and I collected all the items and lore. This also took me about 13 hours. I preferred playing Solomon, but since I know the game better Harros wasn't an issue at all.

My third play through was shell-less and it took me about 6 hours to complete. I struggled the most on Tarsus second phase, until I completely changed my tactics and it was easy (hard to explain, but I just didn't over think it and went very aggressive on him without relenting and he went down easy).

I did have a crazy thing happen during my shell-less run, at some point during the fight with The Unchained I couldn't use my L1 + R1 attack at all, it's as if the L1 button was being ignored. So I let the big fish take me home, but when I arrived in fallgrim I appeared at the beginning area after the tutorial area! And I had no items, and everything was reset! So in a panic I downloaded my last save from the cloud, which put me all the way back at the Crucix Twiceborn boss. So I had to beat him again, and work my way back to The Unchained. :(

Speaking of that weird glitch, I have had two full on blue screen crashes with this game before. I also had a glitch where after beating Crucix, the entire level was reset and I got stuck behind the big wall you normally open up early on that level.

All in all, this game has issues, but I really liked playing it and I love the atmosphere, art, music, etc. I can't wait to see what the team can do moving forward, either with DLC or a full sequel.
 

Stuggernaut

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,925
Seattle, WA, USA
As many have said, once it clicks it gets easier. I am still running around the world memorizing the layout, but combat is way easier now. I have my sword at +2 and the special move upgrade but not tried any real bosses yet. Just the Harden guy but I do not think he is a boss... right? I also have not found any other weapons yet.

Really trying to master the basics before I push deeper into the game... seems like I have a bit more to go lol.
 

Talos

Member
Mar 5, 2019
999
Just started playing this game and really enjoying it. Has anyone noticed your UI options getting reset after coming back to the game. Things like damage numbers, hold to dismiss and UI size.
 

Fatoy

Member
Mar 13, 2019
7,244
I've been playing this the last few nights, and it's conjuring up feelings I don't think I've had outside of the original Dark Souls and Bloodborne. I don't think it's as good of a game as either of those, but atmosphere-wise Mortal Shell is excellent.

I've found all four shells and made my way to Temple Grounds. I'm using Solomon because I'm big on parrying in games like these, and his resolve pool and skills seem to lend themselves pretty well to that play style. I can't say I like the mace weapon much, so I've stuck with the sword for the time being.

About my only criticism so far is that the central area, around Fallgrim Tower, is just needlessly complicated. Once you explore enough you realise there are only really a few genuine paths forward, and everything else is sort of set dressing. When I noticed that, I started to get a little frustrated with the preponderance of crawl spaces, since all they really do is serve to make the map feel more like a spiderweb than it really is.

Other than that, enemy variety could be wider, but for the most part I'm having a terrific time. And it says a lot that an apparently small team was able to make a game that I'm enjoying in a way I haven't enjoyed a Souls game or Souls-like outside DS1 and Bloodborne.
 

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,926
UK
I can't say I like the mace weapon much, so I've stuck with the sword for the time being.

I used the sword for most of my first playthrough, then use the Hammer and Chisel for a while. My NG+ and no-shell runs I used only the sword. I think it's by far the best balanced weapon in the game.

About my only criticism so far is that the central area, around Fallgrim Tower, is just needlessly complicated. Once you explore enough you realise there are only really a few genuine paths forward, and everything else is sort of set dressing. When I noticed that, I started to get a little frustrated with the preponderance of crawl spaces, since all they really do is serve to make the map feel more like a spiderweb than it really is.

This has definitely been a common complaint. It was only on my no-shell run that I really used them as the shortcuts I think they're supposed to be. They can shorten some of the trips back to Fallgrim Tower significantly. In the early hours of the game though they do seem to unnecessarily complicate exploration and mental mapping.


I've been playing this the last few nights, and it's conjuring up feelings I don't think I've had outside of the original Dark Souls and Bloodborne. I don't think it's as good of a game as either of those, but atmosphere-wise Mortal Shell is excellent.
Other than that, enemy variety could be wider, but for the most part I'm having a terrific time. And it says a lot that an apparently small team was able to make a game that I'm enjoying in a way I haven't enjoyed a Souls game or Souls-like outside DS1 and Bloodborne.

Enemy variety is a valid complaint, but it seems to be a budget / scope limitation for this small team.

I totally agree that Mortal Shell seems to have captured that unique something that few other games outside of FROM's catalogue have. It's my favourite Soulslike besides Ashen
 

Fatoy

Member
Mar 13, 2019
7,244
This has definitely been a common complaint. It was only on my no-shell run that I really used them as the shortcuts I think they're supposed to be. They can shorten some of the trips back to Fallgrim Tower significantly. In the early hours of the game though they do seem to unnecessarily complicate exploration and mental mapping.
Thanks for the detailed reply. I think the mental mapping issue is made worse by the fact that there's not a lot of variety within Fallgrim. The feeling that I got in the original Dark Souls of "oh man, I'm here" upon discovering a shortcut is delayed in Mortal Shell, because it takes to long after emerging from a tunnel to actually orient yourself. One rock face looks a lot like another.

Like you said, though, this is more than likely a function of the team being resource constrained. Filling the world with unique assets is not a problem they could have solved easily or cost-effectively.

It says a lot that my only really problems with this game stem from the fact that I want more of everything. That wouldn't be the case if the quality of what's already on offer wasn't so high. And for a new developer, prioritising quality over quantity was definitely the right call to make. I haven't played Hellpoint, but I look at trailers for that game and I'm instantly put off by what looks like poor art direction, rough presentation, and a lack of polish. Mortal Shell doesn't suffer from any of those things.
 

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,926
UK
Thanks for the detailed reply. I think the mental mapping issue is made worse by the fact that there's not a lot of variety within Fallgrim. The feeling that I got in the original Dark Souls of "oh man, I'm here" upon discovering a shortcut is delayed in Mortal Shell, because it takes to long after emerging from a tunnel to actually orient yourself. One rock face looks a lot like another.

Like you said, though, this is more than likely a function of the team being resource constrained. Filling the world with unique assets is not a problem they could have solved easily or cost-effectively.

It says a lot that my only really problems with this game stem from the fact that I want more of everything. That wouldn't be the case if the quality of what's already on offer wasn't so high. And for a new developer, prioritising quality over quantity was definitely the right call to make. I haven't played Hellpoint, but I look at trailers for that game and I'm instantly put off by what looks like poor art direction, rough presentation, and a lack of polish. Mortal Shell doesn't suffer from any of those things.

I was actually playing both Mortal Shell and Hellpoint at the same time. They are very different Soulslike experiences.

Mortal Shell really nails some of that Souls special sauce in the dark fantasy setting, the exploration, atmosphere and weighty combat etc.

Hellpoint is a very different beast, but worthwhile in its own right. It has a bit more platforming and exploration, and the art style is very Event Horizon. The presentation can certainly be rough but I ended up liking it more than I expected, if not being quite as enamoured as I was with Mortal Shell.
 

Fatoy

Member
Mar 13, 2019
7,244
I finished this today. It's definitely my favourite Souls-like, and I actually prefer it to a few of the core FROM games as well; it's certainly better than Dark Souls 2.

The pros:
  • The art design and atmosphere were top drawer. For a first project, the way this game looks is a huge achievement. I vastly preferred the Abandoned Chamber to the other two "dungeons," aesthetically speaking, but neither of those was bad or unmemorable. Eternal Narthex had the best enemy design in the Faceless Cleriks, but the monolithic, empty nature of the level design got old quickly.
  • The combat was very well designed. None of the weapons was unviable, the parry system made sense when you played enough to understand the timings, and the harden mechanic opened up some great opportunities for bolder play. I used the sword for the first half of the game, and the mace for the second.
  • The shell system also makes perfect sense for a smaller Souls-like. There would have been no point in having RPG-style levelling in this game.
  • Some of the level design was brilliant. I'm excluding Fallgrim itself from this, but the icy portions of the Abandoned Chamber felt great to explore and interconnect.
  • Almost all the bosses were good. I didn't like Crucix's design at all (that area should have had some sort of shocking abomination as its final boss, not a dude with a Greek helmet and shield) and neither was he much fun to fight, but Tarsus was brilliant, and I even liked The Unchained once I figured out how to avoid the waves.
The cons:
  • I think a lot of the upgrades, consumables, and currencies were miscalibrated - either in terms of their usefulness, or their distribution. 90% of what the vendors sell is pointless, and it felt redundant to have so many different parry scrolls and harden tokens; those could have been consolidated easily. By the time I'd finished the second "dungeon" I had more glimpses than I could possibly use, even spread across three shells (I didn't use Harros past the opening hour) and even buying everything Sester Genessa sold. Picking up tar and glimpses in the final area felt totally hollow as a result.
  • Fallgrim is not well-designed. There needed to be a stronger indication of when you were moving towards one of the three "dungeons" to give the central area variety. As it stands, it's too confusing in the early game, and then totally pointless afterwards.
  • There needed to be more in the way of unique enemies. Fallgrim being exclusively populated with the same few monsters / bandits quickly made traversing that area more of a slog than it needed to be, so when the fog overworld came into play I thought "yes, more variety!". Having the fog solely populated by those leaping vampire creatures was a wasted opportunity, though; fog should have swapped in a whole new set of enemies, and the game design should have incentivised exploring the fog more. I know we had the fog chests, but once you've collected those, there's no point glimpse farming, because glimpses are so abundant anyway. And similarly, making you traverse the overworld after collecting a gland should have been a terrifying, uncertain experience, but instead it felt like a walk in the park, because the sole enemy type is so easy to take down.
On balance, I think this was a great game but one with some systemic problems that a bigger team and larger-scale playtesting could have solved. On the plus side, though, those are both things that the team behind Mortal Shell should be able to fix for a sequel or expansion, assuming the game sells as well as it deserves to. Because it definitely deserves to sell well.
 

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,926
UK
I finished this today. It's definitely my favourite Souls-like, and I actually prefer it to a few of the core FROM games as well; it's certainly better than Dark Souls 2.

The pros:
  • The art design and atmosphere were top drawer. For a first project, the way this game looks is a huge achievement. I vastly preferred the Abandoned Chamber to the other two "dungeons," aesthetically speaking, but neither of those was bad or unmemorable. Eternal Narthex had the best enemy design in the Faceless Cleriks, but the monolithic, empty nature of the level design got old quickly.
  • The combat was very well designed. None of the weapons was unviable, the parry system made sense when you played enough to understand the timings, and the harden mechanic opened up some great opportunities for bolder play. I used the sword for the first half of the game, and the mace for the second.
  • The shell system also makes perfect sense for a smaller Souls-like. There would have been no point in having RPG-style levelling in this game.
  • Some of the level design was brilliant. I'm excluding Fallgrim itself from this, but the icy portions of the Abandoned Chamber felt great to explore and interconnect.
  • Almost all the bosses were good. I didn't like Crucix's design at all (that area should have had some sort of shocking abomination as its final boss, not a dude with a Greek helmet and shield) and neither was he much fun to fight, but Tarsus was brilliant, and I even liked The Unchained once I figured out how to avoid the waves.
The cons:
  • I think a lot of the upgrades, consumables, and currencies were miscalibrated - either in terms of their usefulness, or their distribution. 90% of what the vendors sell is pointless, and it felt redundant to have so many different parry scrolls and harden tokens; those could have been consolidated easily. By the time I'd finished the second "dungeon" I had more glimpses than I could possibly use, even spread across three shells (I didn't use Harros past the opening hour) and even buying everything Sester Genessa sold. Picking up tar and glimpses in the final area felt totally hollow as a result.
  • Fallgrim is not well-designed. There needed to be a stronger indication of when you were moving towards one of the three "dungeons" to give the central area variety. As it stands, it's too confusing in the early game, and then totally pointless afterwards.
  • There needed to be more in the way of unique enemies. Fallgrim being exclusively populated with the same few monsters / bandits quickly made traversing that area more of a slog than it needed to be, so when the fog overworld came into play I thought "yes, more variety!". Having the fog solely populated by those leaping vampire creatures was a wasted opportunity, though; fog should have swapped in a whole new set of enemies, and the game design should have incentivised exploring the fog more. I know we had the fog chests, but once you've collected those, there's no point glimpse farming, because glimpses are so abundant anyway. And similarly, making you traverse the overworld after collecting a gland should have been a terrifying, uncertain experience, but instead it felt like a walk in the park, because the sole enemy type is so easy to take down.
On balance, I think this was a great game but one with some systemic problems that a bigger team and larger-scale playtesting could have solved. On the plus side, though, those are both things that the team behind Mortal Shell should be able to fix for a sequel or expansion, assuming the game sells as well as it deserves to. Because it definitely deserves to sell well.

Great summary, and I don't disagree with any point made.

I think one of the general feelings coming out of the game is excitement about what the devs could achieve next.
 

JJD

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,515
Anyone knows what's up with this game patches?

I bought it a month ago and when I started I learned that HDR was bugged on PS4. I looked around and saw that a patch was coming to fix the issue.

So I dropped the game because I wanted to try it on my brand new Oled and supposedly a fix was just a few days away.

Fast forward today and not a single patch was released after that. It's been almost 2 months now...I kinda regret buying this...
 

JuanAndOnly

Member
Nov 6, 2019
6
Santiago, Chile
Anyone knows what's up with this game patches?

I bought it a month ago and when I started I learned that HDR was bugged on PS4. I looked around and saw that a patch was coming to fix the issue.

So I dropped the game because I wanted to try it on my brand new Oled and supposedly a fix was just a few days away.

Fast forward today and not a single patch was released after that. It's been almost 2 months now...I kinda regret buying this...

I recently saw this video about a new upcoming patch:

 

Fair Witness

Member
Jun 25, 2018
68
Austin, TX, USA
Looks like the 1.07 release has these fixes:

- Traps no longer activate during Parry or Riposte reaction.
- Player can no longer get stuck inside Imrod's corpse.
- Fixed issue with reenabling physics bodies after hit reactions.
- Fixed issue where player could be wrongfully killed during boss encounter.
- Fixed issue where the Currency Panel could be hidden while in Dark Form.
- Fixed issue where the game could fail to save after picking up a Glimpse.
- Fixed issue where the Continue button would continue from the wrong save.
- Fixed HDR related issues.
- Fixed crashing issues.
- Added various gameplay optimizations.
- Added stability and performance improvements.
- Other minor fixes.
 
"Mortal Shell: Rotten Autumn" Free Content
OP
OP
Dancrane212

Dancrane212

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,962
New update:

This free content drop packages together an eclectic mix of special items and additions. Here's a breakdown of what's added in the Rotten Autumn update:

Ten unique Shell Shades (wanna see Solomon in Dracula-inspired war-paint? Or Eredrim with a new regal yellow trim?)

A new mini-quest centered on the enigmatic amphibian Gorf

A powerful new photo mode (it's seriously amazing)

An alternative boss fight soundtrack, courtesy of black metal legends Rotting Christ (we heard you loved them in our Release Date Trailer)