One thing I've been thinking about is I wish that atropian keys were a bit more common. I always scour the entire biomes when playing but there's just never enough keys to open all gates or chests. This is especially true on Biome 3. Either I wish they were more to pick up or that there would be an option to trade ether for keys.
Although I agreed with you at first, part of my "new run" assessment of the new version of the randomness includes what I get in the first 10 minutes...if I get a few keys its game on and I play slow and careful. Keys really are the key to the game as you can suffer some bad RNG with crappy container luck only so long befroe the run is a virtual write of and you want to start over. THat said, a couple times I kept goign wit a crappy start and missed keys and all was well int eh end....you usually get stuff to balalnce out over three biomes (either form the start of the game or 4-6).
As others mentioned, it makes the key parasite or the suit upgrade an exciting prize to find.
A big part of what makes this game exhilarating is the high risk vs reward, the longer you play and the more powerful you get, the more tense every near death moment becomes. If you were able to save the game, the risks would be lower and the hole reward feeling would lose it's edge. If they implemented a resume or crash save system it might be difficult to differentiate it from cloud save skumning. So this is likely the reason the devs haven't implemented a mid run save. But I think it's a bit silly, it would be okay to cheat for those that really want to.
This is probably by design, this is a risk vs reward situation, which one of the 2 should you open if you only have 1 key. Also do you open this chest now for a potential early good weapon or do you save it for later for a locked room with potentially multiple items and weapons. This type of RNG with recourses and their stats is basically what makes collecting them so addicting. This is referred to "Intermittent Reinforcement" In gambling:
"In behaviorism, Intermittent Reinforcement is a conditioning schedule in which a reward or punishment (reinforcement) is not administered every time the desired response is performed. This differs from continuous reinforcement which is when the organism receives the reinforcement every time the desired response is performed. For example, on a continuous reinforcement schedule a mouse who pulls a lever would receive food (reinforcement) every single time it pulled the lever. On an intermittent reinforcement schedule the mouse would only receive food every few times (it is typically random and unpredictable). There is an increased likelihood the desired behavior will continue with intermittent reinforcement conditioning and the behavior lasts longer than continuous reinforcement. Gambling is an example of intermittent reinforcement. You don't win every time or win the same amount when using a slot machine- this wouldn't be exciting or fun. The reinforcement is intermittent and causes a positive and euphoric response in the brain that in some circumstances can lead to gambling addiction." source: https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Intermittent+Reinforcement
Of course this is classic and true, BUT, the true assessment of whether Housemarque has achieved success or not is not whether or not the game is hard and rewards intermittently, its whether in the process it feels like the difficulty is cheap and contrived, vs. intelligent and sofisiticated. There is also the consideration of time...it might be challmgeing and interesting enough for some players to spent the time mastering the game play, but for others if it takes too much time investment, or stress....meh.
I would say that this game, as with the whole soulsborne genre, has hit and miss in this department. Some bosses and situations in this game are too easy and easy to cheese (hello Hyperion, which could have easy been ranked up there among best boss fights of all time given the music and style...but was just too easy), where some are insanely difficult and seem cheap, i.e. sections of biome 3 and 6, and although I died on the final boss once now...limping in with no astro or healing was what killed me, not the difficulty per se...I dont think lobos Jr. took one hit until halfway through the fight, had great adrenaline coming in and used an adrenaline replaceer, plus got great RNG on the damage.....his fight was over in 4-5 minutes and although I survived 2 or three times longer, my damage sucked even though the "trick" was obvious and I had the same weapon, just shitty consumables. Im split on the overall assessment although I have to say I am looking forward to other builds and playing more so it must be good overall.
Housemarque is not a new developer and this is the first and only title of theirs I ahve played, but they have room to grow with this kind of game and I think they really have something special here. It was insanely difficult to please everyone in soulsborne genre after Demons and the first Dark Souls as the vets wanted more intelligent challenges to keep them interested where it weeded out a lot of new players if they tried DS2 first or DS3 in particular. Sekiro was crazy difficult for a random new player of the genre to stumble into and even though I know I could do it given enough practice, I didnt bother beating the final three phase boss and just watched streamers do the various endings. It took lobs Jr. 3-4 hours for cripes sake...that would have been 11 or 12 for me...just for one boss! It took me 3 hours for the mid tier bosses, the gorrilla, and the Samarai and the Dad guy come to mind. Yes there was great reward when I FINALLY beat these bosses, and like most of them, once you learn the atacks they become easier for the rest of the playthroughs....but geez, lots of stress, swearing, and ssweaty palms isnt always as "fun" as doing something more relaxing.
I would suggest not using the keys for the chests, the loot is usually garbage compared to red gates (closed blue gates).
A minor point but I have played close to 8 times more hours of this game (owing to sucking of course) and I have been burned on both and found good shtuff in both. Just last night I had already burned an astronaut on a stupid mid tier enemy (I didnt even notice losing it) and then found a new one in the red locked chest to replace him. You just never know what you are going to get!!! Twice last night I took blue doors and got the friggin random item generator fabricator...thats the definition of gambling...NEVER use that thing unless you are desperate, or have everything you need and are ready for the final boss on level 3 or 6 and its the point of no return. Yes I realize you can get great stuff for cheaper than what you would pay otherwise....but come on...save that coin for planning what you want to get at the end of each level...carry any savings on to the next level.
fingers crossed.
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