Salt and Sanctuary |OT| Salt for the Soul

Is this game by the Dishwasher people? Art style is similar.
Yep.
It is quite dark, but with my TV being calibrated, I guess it's just what the devs wanted (still should have a slider).

People with wonky settings, or black crush (using RGB limited/full incorrectly) are going to have a nightmare of a time.
I have mine calibrated with Disney next Blu ray for gamma/brightness, and honestly I still might have to turn it up for this game I wish they had an in game gamma adjuster. Luckily I'm getting black out blinds soon so I'll calibrate my tv again with those
 
I'm surprised by how much I'm loving the world and the lore right now. Yes it's derivative from Souls, but it's a got a charm all of it's own. The various areas are flowing beautifully into each other. I especially love all of the forested areas. The way the various areas loop back into themselves. Hnnnng. Such FROM touches.

But boy is it getting hard as fuck. My little robes aren't cutting it too much. I need to upgrade my shit ASAP. On the flip side, my scythe/spellcasting idea was bloody genius. I melt down enemies from afar, and if I need to get my hands dirty, the scythe's big damage and range seals the deal.

Funnily the third boss I met, was the one who killed me the most. Still none of the bosses so far are anywhere close to Souls level of difficulty. But some really nice goddamn bosses in there anyway. The atmosphere/visuals of them are really impressive. Except Sodden Knight who's like...a Castle Crashers reject or something lol.
 
How does the sanctuary system work? If I find a new one and take an oath to a new creed will my original sanctuary keep it's NPCs?
 
I'm surprised by how much I'm loving the world and the lore right now. Yes it's derivative from Souls, but it's a got a charm all of it's own. The various areas are flowing beautifully into each other. I especially love all of the forested areas. The way the various areas loop back into themselves. Hnnnng. Such FROM touches.

But boy is it getting hard as fuck. My little robes aren't cutting it too much. I need to upgrade my shit ASAP. On the flip side, my scythe/spellcasting idea was bloody genius. I melt down enemies from afar, and if I need to get my hands dirty, the scythe's big damage and range seals the deal.

Funnily the third boss I met, was the one who killed me the most. Still none of the bosses so far are anywhere close to Souls level of difficulty. But some really nice goddamn bosses in there anyway. The atmosphere/visuals of them are really impressive. Except Sodden Knight who's like...a Castle Crashers reject or something lol.
Well assuming you're playing mage I'm gonna equate it to pyro in dark Souls 1 or faith build in dark Souls 2. Which was complete fucking easy mode. I'd throw lighting spear after lightning spear and win without breaking a sweat
this game's art style is the ugliest thing i've seen since... I dont even know
Makers of diswasher. They have a very/gritty art style that has its charm.
 
now i have two places to explore the
village
or
bandits pass

im going to guess to save the
village to later on
 
now i have two places to explore the
village
or
bandits pass

im going to guess to save the
village to later on

Eh, there's not much to do where you think you should go.

Well assuming you're playing mage I'm gonna equate it to pyro in dark Souls 1 or faith build in dark Souls 2. Which was complete fucking easy mode. I'd throw lighting spear after lightning spear and win without breaking a sweat

Hahaha, I'm raining lightning on everything and they die in seconds. Bosses's lifebars basically drain like they got Bloodborne frenzied. On the flip side...I am a glass cannon. Enemies in the new areas can kill me in one or two hits depending on who I meet. It's a win/lost situation. Also the crimson set I'm wearing is literally the same exact set from Dark Souls haha. I love that little reference. But yeah. Mage fo lyfe!
 
A shame there isn't cross-save. I am gonna be on intercontinental flight on friday, so Vita version would be perfect. But if I can't continue back home on my PS4, I might just get it for PC for better legacy support.
 
So once you commit to a creed that's it? Unless that lady I found earlier that gets rid off all your sins perhaps can help.

I commit to every new creed haha. If you pay her to absolve your sin, you can rejoin any of the creeds you left from what I saw.
 
Aw man, that 2 hander (Kureimoa). Wrecks shit. Glad I went Knight/doing STR build.

Ended up speaking to some scarecrow dude and saying no to him. I guess it was a creed. He's gone now, ah well. Learning blind, so I'm not really sure what I'm doing with idols, creeds and worshipers. Doing the skill tree blind as well, just hitting nodes for my build.
 
Eh, there's not much to do where you think you should go.



Hahaha, I'm raining lightning on everything and they die in seconds. Bosses's lifebars basically drain like they got Bloodborne frenzied. On the flip side...I am a glass cannon. Enemies in the new areas can kill me in one or two hits depending on who I meet. It's a win/lost situation. Also the crimson set I'm wearing is literally the same exact set from Dark Souls haha. I love that little reference. But yeah. Mage fo lyfe!
Can you not go to a tree that allows you to equip heavier armor, maybe focus on endurance in level ups
 
Can you not go to a tree that allows you to equip heavier armor, maybe focus on endurance in level ups

I'll try to push it as long as I can. I might go to Pike level 3, to one hand the tier 2 weapons later on, so I need all the spare points I can get.

As soon as I say the game is easy, of course, I meet a boss that steals my salt and money like it's a schoolgrounds bully haha.
 
I'll try to push it as long as I can. I might go to Pike level 3, to one hand the tier 2 weapons later on, so I need all the spare points I can get.

As soon as I say the game is easy, of course, I meet a boss that steals my salt and money like it's a schoolgrounds bully haha.

oh shittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
 
I'll try to push it as long as I can. I might go to Pike level 3, to one hand the tier 2 weapons later on, so I need all the spare points I can get.

As soon as I say the game is easy, of course, I meet a boss that steals my salt and money like it's a schoolgrounds bully haha.

You know what's funny about this, this is originally what I thought Bloodborne was going to do when it was revealed enemies would pick up your blood echoes.
 
Can someone tell me what do the lit candles before a boss fight mean? I'm glad that one can change inputs on the PS4, I prefer to block with L1. Also, do upgrading weapons change their class lvl?
 
It's not literally stealing from me haha. It's just killed me enough times to drain my 25000k in cash down to 6750 and counting.

I'm officially in the Souls loop now. You meet a boss, it kills you dead and you are like "How the fuck can anyone do this?!". Then after a while you realize that if you do "X", the boss does "Y". So you almost kill em', and then you die because you got nervous. And then you never get that close again, for the next 4-5 tries. I always get caught chugging at the wrong time, and I get put down. My salt money T_T
 
Can someone tell me what do the lit candles before a boss fight mean? I'm glad that one can change inputs on the PS4, I prefer to block with L1. Also, do upgrading weapons change their class lvl?

Something to do with the amount of players who have died to the boss recently IIRC. Can't remember exactly.
 
Played about an hour (just through Sodden Knight) on my lunch break. LOVING it so far.

Few questions:

Where do you grab "locks of hair"?

Where do you acquire new spells? I'm running a magic build.

Why does my stamina randomly get halved??
 
I only played for about an hour and a half last night after it unlocked at 9.

I'm really enjoying it so far. I played up to beating the first boss (the Knight guy, I think), and then maybe an additional 20 minutes or so after that. It took me about three tries to beat him , much, much better than my attempts to beat him at E3 last year (I think the attempts were in the double digits). I would have beat him first try, but I got greedy when he got down to about three or four whacks left, and then he clocked me with a combo.

I'm looking forward to playing more of it when I get home tonight. If only remote play in the office didn't suck so much thanks to our crappy work internet, I'd play it on my breaks. Can't wait for the Vita version to finally release.
 
Played about an hour (just through Sodden Knight) on my lunch break. LOVING it so far.

Few questions:

Where do you grab "locks of hair"?

Where do you acquire new spells? I'm running a magic build.

Why does my stamina randomly get halved??

I bought one from a merchant, and then somehow ended up with another 4. Think it was just enemy drops.
 
Played about an hour (just through Sodden Knight) on my lunch break. LOVING it so far.

Few questions:

Where do you grab "locks of hair"?

Where do you acquire new spells? I'm running a magic build.

Why does my stamina randomly get halved??



1) At the cleric covenant bonfire. Go right and there's an ambush of like 7-8 dudes of pop out of the body pile. They regularly drop the hair.

2) Buy them from a stone mage or find them laying around. There's a MUCH better spell that the fireballs on the way to Village of Smiles...behind a secret passage. Can't remember where exactly, and I just found it a little while ago haha.

3) Your stamina gets halved from doing heavy attacks or casting spells. You need to chug blue bottles to recover that.
 
Played about an hour (just through Sodden Knight) on my lunch break. LOVING it so far.

Few questions:

Where do you grab "locks of hair"?

Where do you acquire new spells? I'm running a magic build.

Why does my stamina randomly get halved??
Locks of hair I have seen merchants selling it and I'm guessing it's also an enemy drop. The spells I have found them in diferent parts of the game either behind a strong enemy or hidden on some part of the stage (No merchant I have found has spells).
 
Played about 4 hours now, equally divided between a knight and a mage.
Game plays well, no bugs or glitches to speak of until now and it runs runs smoothly. Gameplay is solid and fun. Atmosphere is above average, but I kinda expected a bit more imaginative and creative environments. Boss designs however are ace.
Few things are annyoing though. The inclusion of a skill tree feels unnecessary. I get what they were going for, but without actual skills, relevant passives and other stuff, it feels like needless busywork that could have been easier done with normal stat distribution on level-up.
They also try to build a story, world and lore, but so far it is rather non-interesting because there is not much of an initial draw. And the writing feels rather clunky at times, the one thing where I feel the gap between original and imitation is pretty large.

Other than that, I'm pretty satisfied up until now. Will probably start a paladin as well and see how that goes.
 
Played about 30 mins during my lunch break. Love it already. Started as a Paladin, gonna go heavy armor/two handed Mace/Axe because fuck it, rolling's for bitches :p
 
Played about 4 hours now, equally divided between a knight and a mage.
Game plays well, no bugs or glitches to speak of until now and it runs runs smoothly. Gameplay is solid and fun. Atmosphere is above average, but I kinda expected a bit more imaginative and creative environments. Boss designs however are ace.
Few things are annyoing though. The inclusion of a skill tree feels unnecessary. I get what they were going for, but without actual skills, relevant passives and other stuff, it feels like needless busywork that could have been easier done with normal stat distribution on level-up.
They also try to build a story, world and lore, but so far it is rather non-interesting because there is not much of an initial draw. And the writing feels rather clunky at times, the one thing where I feel the gap between original and imitation is pretty large.

Other than that, I'm pretty satisfied up until now. Will probably start a paladin as well and see how that goes.

From the little I heard of the magic system it sounded a little complicated. So I went Knight, 2H, and time to wreck it all. I'll try mage on another playthrough.
 
Just found the first thing I don't care for. Got to first boss and died. There goes my salt. Make it back and die again takes more salt?? Now I have no salt and die once again. Sorry all you salt is lost!! What crap us this. Basically if I don't defeat a boss after two attempts I lose everything. Definitely Souls like but man that seems like over kill and I have to pay gold each time I die.
 
Just tried buying it so I can download it and have it ready and waiting when I get home from work, but it wouldn't let me! Also tried via the PS app and same thing. This happening to anyone else?
 
Just found the first thing I don't care for. Got to first boss and died. There goes my salt. Make it back and die again takes more salt?? Now I have no salt and die once again. Sorry all you salt is lost!! What crap us this. Basically if I don't defeat a boss after two attempts I lose everything. Definitely Souls like but man that seems like over kill and I have to pay gold each time I die.

This begs a... git gud post? Hehe.

Really considering you always know a boss is coming up (candles) it's best just to spend salt. No real reason to hold onto it yet from what I've seen, gold seems to be used to buy things. Once you've levelled as far as you can the amount you have left shouldn't really be much to care about losing. Save using salt bags/pouches for sanctuary use.
 
Rolling doesn't break pots. I thought this was supposed to be 2D Souls.

0/10


For real though just started, hope this will keep me occupied until DS3 in April.
 
From the little I heard of the magic system it sounded a little complicated. So I went Knight, 2H, and time to wreck it all. I'll try mage on another playthrough.

It honestly isn't, at least in the beginning.
Magic attacks will drain your stamina bar. Additionally, you will build up fatigue, capping your stamina bar at a lower level over time. If it gets too far to the left, somewhere in the middle, you'll be unable to cast a spell and need one of the phial items to recover.

There's also the Focus stat, which I haven't quite figured out. You need a certain amount of focus to be able to cast higher level spells and Focus goes down with Fatigue as well. I don't know if Focus or Stamina level influence your ability to cast spells, or even both, yet.

Basically, you'll be running light gear, a fast weapon for self defense/mobs, and just spam magic attacks. Works especially well on bosses, since you can stay out of their range and cheese them a bit.
 
It honestly isn't, at least in the beginning.
Magic attacks will drain your stamina bar. Additionally, you will build up fatigue, capping your stamina bar at a lower level over time. If it gets too far to the left, somewhere in the middle, you'll be unable to cast a spell and need one of the phial items to recover.

There's also the Focus stat, which I haven't quite figured out. You need a certain amount of focus to be able to cast higher level spells and Focus goes down with Fatigue as well. I don't know if Focus or Stamina level influence your ability to cast spells, or even both, yet.

Basically, you'll be running light gear, a fast weapon for self defense/mobs, and just spam magic attacks. Works especially well on bosses, since you can stay out of their range and cheese them a bit.

Sounds fine then! I did pick up some magic based ring that does something with stamina. No use for me on this character though.
 
This begs a... git gud post? Hehe.

Really considering you always know a boss is coming up (candles) it's best just to spend salt. No real reason to hold onto it yet from what I've seen, gold seems to be used to buy things. Once you've levelled as far as you can the amount you have left shouldn't really be much to care about losing. Save using salt bags/pouches for sanctuary use.


Well I'll bite. You "git gud" by learning the patterns and learning how the game works. I was perfectly fine with replaying the boss till I beat him but once it took everything from me it kind of takes some of the drive away. Yes I still have to beat him to move on but if I cannot learn and defeat a boss in a couple attempts I'm penalized. Just seems abit unfair.
 
Well I'll bite. You "git gud" by learning the patterns and learning how the game works. I was perfectly fine with replaying the boss till I beat him but once it took everything from me it kind of takes some of the drive away. Yes I still have to beat him to move on but if I cannot learn and defeat a boss in a couple attempts I'm penalized. Just seems abit unfair.

I was only joking, I know where you are coming from. That's why I just spend all the salts I can before a boss, albeit it I'm only two bosses in.
 
Just found the first thing I don't care for. Got to first boss and died. There goes my salt. Make it back and die again takes more salt?? Now I have no salt and die once again. Sorry all you salt is lost!! What crap us this. Basically if I don't defeat a boss after two attempts I lose everything. Definitely Souls like but man that seems like over kill and I have to pay gold each time I die.

You're not losing everything. When you return to the boss, you'll see a marker on his health bar at about the 75% mark. If you get him down to that mark, you don't lose your salt. It gets added to all of the salt that you've lost to that boss previously. When you kill him, you get all of it back. You only lose everything you've lost to that boss previously if you don't knock off ~25% of his health.
 
So I looked at that video and don't really agree with the criticisms, the quick turn-around attack is a bit nasty the first time but it likely won't kill you and you have ample opportunity to learn how to handle it. I agree with Jobbs's commentary in general.

Goddamn this is fucked up. I had 12 strength, used a pearl to remove the point and spent it on another strength node closer to the skill I need (Pike level 2). But I wasn't credited for the new point. Now my strength is 11.
Are you sure the node you removed didn't give you 2 points of strength instead of just 1, maybe?

If not, sounds like a glitch... :\ Does that grey pearl only remove one node too, or does it allow you to fully respec?

You get "sin" for becoming an apostate. There'a an NPC early on that can remove sin ala...well sin in Dark Souls hahaha. No clue what it does yet.
What does sin do though?

Oh, another thing I was wondering: why is it that sometimes the health bar is capped at like 95% of its full bar for some reason? It seems to arbitrarily disappear when resting at sanctuaries or something... don't know what causes it.
 
Well the boss honeymoon is over. Here come the gimmicks!

Edit: Seriously who designed this shit. Sixth:
Tree of Men hits like a truck and can only be damaged in one tiny place during phase 2. Is also trivial for magic users and near impossible for short weapon users.
 
How much would I miss if got this game without PS+? I hear there's a message system akin to the Souls game but anything more than that?
 
Are you sure the node you removed didn't give you 2 points of strength instead of just 1, maybe?

If not, sounds like a glitch... :\ Does that grey pearl only remove one node too, or does it allow you to fully respec?


Oh, another thing I was wondering: why is it that sometimes the health bar is capped at like 95% of its full bar for some reason? It seems to arbitrarily disappear when resting at sanctuaries or something... don't know what causes it.

I've checked it a couple times with my save that was in the Cloud, and yes it's just glitched. Thankfully I lost only like an hour of progress. Or it's like this on purpose. Kind of makes removing a node to change path more meaningful I guess.

Also, I think that the lifebar decreases everytime we take damage, and can only be restored by sitting at a bonf...sanctuary.
 
The only thing I'd change about the art is the character faces. I find the rest of the game very atmospheric, but those alien faces are a huge turn off. I know it's kind of their signature style, but it really isn't very appealing.

With that said, everything else about the game is very well done. I can't wait to sink more time in it. I actually played from 9pm-11pm, so it wasn't an hour an a half like I thought. Probably closer to 11:30, as I went to bed around 12 last night.

Never had a problem with the controls or combat, and finally started getting into the parrying and riposting mechanic. The game feels really, really good. I've noticed that a lot of indie games tend to have this floatyness to the jumping and movement that this game thankfully doesn't have, especially when I take into account that I'm controlling it with the analog stick (which isn't my favorite way to control 2D sidescrollers).

I love that the game wears its Souls inspirations on its sleeve. It reminds me of Axiom Verge in that respect. An unabashed homage to a series the creator(s) genuinely love, and you can feel that love and understanding of the genre in the gameplay itself. Many "homages" tend to copy the surface of what the series that inspired the game is, but can't manage to replicate the magic of what makes that series one they love. Axiom Verge and Salt & Sanctuary show a clear understanding of what games like Metroid and Dark Souls/Bloodborne do mechanically that set them apart from their peers. It's really impressive, especially when you take into account that the games are made by such small teams (in the case of Salt & Sanctuary, 2 people).
 
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