Desolation early game feedback

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So I've been trying out Desolation lately, Currently I'm just about to face Aderyn and would like to provide some feedback.

 

First big thanks to the team for making this game! I can see it's quite well done and has a lot of content to explore!

 

Characters

So far I find the characters well written with distinct memorable personalities. Can't say I'm too fond of some of them like Connor but he is meant to be like that. I'm curious to find out if he'll be more respectful later in the game.

 

Story

Can't say much about the story yet since I'm at the very start of the game but I have a feeling it will be good. Almost as good as Reborn and very likely better Reju for my personal taste.

 

Audio

Great tracks so far just as in Reborn. Loving it!

 

Exploration

Quite a bit of side content to do which is nice but I have to give my first bit of critique here. The missions for Rangers are very annoying by the fact that you can only have one active at a time. Yet there are 2 missions in Vejyr itself and a third just on the other side of it. It makes sense to not be able to take all the missions at once but having to run to the same place and back several times isn't fun.

 

Pokemon availability

Seems good so far. No super powerful mons to be found in early game. Magby and Elekid seem to be very early but that doesn't matter much since their evolutions will likely be held back to a more appropriate point in the game. Lycanroc is maybe too powerful though. Very strong on it's own and effective against first two gyms as well.

One thing that doesn't make sense though is how is Scarlett getting her mons that are nowhere to be found?

 

Progression and difficulty

Good up to Connor but there I had to grind quite a few levels with no more content to do.

First bad spot was Vejyr where I had to run back to Ava after every single trainer since I had weaker mons with me which I wanted to level up and the PC with my two most powerful mons was way too far. I think it was mainly the field effect making this area a struggle. Up until then it was all grass which provides healing every turn and being quite helpful with buffing some moves. On the other hand the field effect in Vejyr gives no healing, provides the wild mons protection from water types and even actively hurts my mons when combusted. The field and lack of PC made it quite a struggle.

Afterwards everything was fine. Had to run back from weeping hill two times to heal which was a long way.

Now though I'm about to face Aderyn and I'm hopelessly underleveled. Even after doing every piece of side content I could find my mons have average level of 28. I have 2 above 30 but a few which I need for Aderyn only around 25 so 28 is average. With level cap of 35 I assume I'll need a team roughly around lvl 33 to stand a chance. That's... a really long grind. In my opinion the repeatable trainer shouldn't be necessary this early in the game. Having to grind five levels even after doing all side content feels quite bad tbh. And I wasn't running from wild battles either except weeping hill unowns as there was no healing nearby.