SXSW Event: Vepar's new look, Cook, Familiar, QUESTIONS

I just hope they kept working on the design. While the second one was an improvement in areas I still feel like it needed work, especially with that weird texture they claimed they felt gave a wet appearance. Overall, the design still seems pretty weird and uninteresting to me.

I mean, I just had to look it up and apparently the demon that Vepar is based on is depicted as a mermaid. This is just a giant nude woman with seaweed around its neck and a face on its stomach (why?) and tentacles for arms. The demon Vepar is based on is also apparently female, but someone said to me that all the demons in Bloodstained are male. I'd be interesting in hearing how this design came to be.

Hi Pure Miriam and other guys, here are my answers to your questions and (hopefully) some constructive feedback. New here and to forums in general so sorry for the long text, haven't mastered the art of concision yet lol.

Btw can someone let me know who Mana is? Keep hearing that name but I'm confused what her role is because she seems to dabble in the artistic side sometimes, is she an artist for the game? Community manager/PR person? Both?

Also dunno how the discussion got side tracked with censorship but I don't see any - I see tits in both pictures.


1) Vepar's new look has smaller and less "bouncing" breasts. What do you think of that?


I really like the new look; I never saw the bounce factor but that doesn't really influence or bias my opinion in that way. The smaller breast not only look visually more appealing/attractive but true to her intended design over all (considering shes meant to be a lure demon; I wouldn't be lured by those big saggy bags in version 1, but this is subjective I guess ). The old version just looks weird and a little silly.

2) Did you liked Vepar's darker look?


This is where I"d really like to offer the most constructive criticism/opinion - I love the new look. Definitely less cartooney and therefore less jarring to the eyes considering the darker atmosphere of the game.

But I do like the little bit of skin showing on her upper chest and shoulders in the old version so might we have a little bit of that in the new version too? This would serve to break up the monotony of the grey/muted tones and show some seductive skin as well - once again in line with her nature as a demon that seduces men at sea. Best of both worlds.

Finally whilst the upper half is vastly improved - I actually think the bottom half is a step backwards. I like the old look (not the colour scheme). It's teeth are hideous and fangs way cooler. When I imaging Vepar as a lure demon - I think beautiful and seductive in appearance up top above sea surface, but hideous beneath where its true demon nature lies. I imagine this is the part that devours those scurvey  scalleywags at sea. 

So let us imagine - can we marry the two and perhaps have the best of worlds?

3) What do you think Vepar's shard will be? The Shards on her body changed from Red (Trigger?) to Blue (Effective?) if that's any indication, although Shards colors and enemy's colors doesn't have that link in the game...

No idea - difficult to give an opinion on this because I have no idea what other shards are like to use as a reference. 


4) What do you think of the feature of increasing Miriam's parameters by using a new cooking item for the first time?


I think its fine but this needs to be balanced with the games difficulty - I don't wan to stop myself from cooking just to prevent being overpowered

5 Miriam's animation while cooking is cute / kawaii japanese style. That kinds gives her a carefree vibe. Do you like that or do you think it doesn't fit due to the game's darker nature?


I'm not in favor of this because I think it does detract from the darker nature of the game and the context shes in. Also lessens her baddass-nature. 
Case in point:
You're watching Star Wars, imagine a scene showing Darth Vader in his down time, playing the Ukulele...with feeling.
You're watching LoTR, imagine a scene showing Sauron on his day off having a dip in a beautiful lake in Middle earth doing breaststroke, or maybe the butterfly because that's his favorite

6) IGA said during the interview that the game will have some subtle signs on where the "natural flow" of it will go and that if you get lost you may overpower yourself a bit by leveling. It seems that alone was a reason to make the game a bit harder than those of the past. Considering that and considering food give permanent bonuses by cooking and using it for the first time, do you believe the game may end up being too easy?

Definitely a concern that the game will be too easy - I want to get lost but I don't want to suddenly steam roll bosses I fight for the first time and never even see halve their moves or hear their dialogue. Add cooking to that and it could be way easy. 


Thanks heaps for the questions and involving us!

On Vepar's design, I like the new one better. Fits the overall feel better from what I've seen.
1) About the breast size: I'm of two minds with this. On one hand the upper body now actually looks great and more importantly human. It could pull off the siren's call, while the lower body now looks more monstrous in comparison. However, the previous "floppy water sacs" had a certain sense of grotesque to them that is now diminished. Previously, it looked like a mockery of a woman by a demon that doesn't quite grasp human attraction. Now, it looks more attractive but simultaneously less overall grotesque. Pros and cons, I suppose.
2) Darker look: Absolutely. Fits the gothic tone and lighting better.
3) Shard: It'd be neat if it was telegraphed through the shards, so Effective. Maybe something related to the tentacles or the water cutter?

On cooking, I didn't even know this was coming. Crafting I'd heard about but not this. Still, cooking is usually a fun thing in RPG's.
1) First time bonus: Better than the usual couple minutes of improved stat, though I wonder if there's any point in eating repeats. Will the food heal ordinarily anyways, or do a temp stat upgrade as well?
2) Cute animation: Do it. DO EET. Finally, a female badass that is also a good cook and seems to like cooking. So frequently those things seem to be mutually exclusive. On the tone, give Miriam her moment of respite. The castle and the outskirts are filled with fiendish foes and terrifying traps, not to mention the general dark gothic feel. Having a cute moment with food helps rounding out both the character and the feel IMO. It provides for some nice contrast.
Besides, she already seems to be the eager, raring to go type, the sort that likes being active and actually doing stuff. Having her enjoy cooking is pretty in-character.
3) Difficulty: Maybe on the default difficulty, though I hope they would actually balance the default around extensive exploration rather than for mostly following the "correct" path. After all, Metroidvanias are well known for heavy exploration element.

On familiars, I actually kind of hope the standard stat booster Enchants would be reworked into something that stops the usual low-level Enchants from becoming useless. Like, say, same stat-boosting Enchants could actually stack with each other, so the "same" shard gets stronger the more you gain that sort of booster.
1) Old shard. I'd fully expect some other enemy to have it. It's such a basic shard.
2) Familiars: Going to go for broke and guess dozen. But the idea of having to interact with the familiar somehow is a lot more interesting than them just loitering around with the occasional attack. The automatic ones have their places but I hope more interaction shows up.

crimsonx4 So you're calling him "dishonest" just because you don't like his answer?

Though as XombieMike already stated, the answers you wanted have already been given earlier on the previous page.

You probably find OoE itself "too easy" if you find the later enemies of this demo too easy.

I'm sorry you feel that way. You were previously warned and once again I find that you have chosen to break a rule based on arguing in public with staff. This is unfortunate, as other posts of yours show you have the capacity to interact here in ways that are acceptable. 

You say you want "out" and I believe this shows you have nothing further to contribute to the forum than what you have given. I'm glad you have aleady submitted your feedback for the backer demo.

Because we can't give better explanations than what has already been given it just makes sense for us to go our different ways. No refund will be issued, and to prevent a continued belligerent behavior I will issue a ban.

Your previous infraction of making a threat only amplifies this decision.

Sorry, man.