Rain World Artificer: The BEST Slugcat with a MISERABLE Campaign
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- Опубліковано 21 вер 2024
- Playing as the Artificer is some of the most fun you can have in Rain World, but the objectives and areas the game has you interacting with are some of the worst I've seen in this entire game, and I wanna talk about it (please don't kill me).
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TL;DR: Artificer's campaign in half a dozen words: you fight as Artificer against scavs
Pros: as Artificer
Cons: against scavs
remember: the story is better if you play spearmaster before rivulet. I will forever stand by this point
I tried to do that but spearmaster is so difficult, so I ended up beating rivulet first
i stand by this point too. the campaigns flow really well as spearmaster -> rivulet -> saint, it's weird that spearmaster and rivulet are switched around
@@greenuparrow idk if it's actually on purpose, but the last two campaigns mark the "beginning" and the "end" of the story respectively
I agree. It also just fits with timeline.
Also that, if you play rivulet before spearmaster, you might not understand parts of the story.
Agreed wholeheartedly
Legalize nuclear scugs
I love your pfp
Scug messiah
This meme is sponsored by the pebbles government
Artificer is what happens when you wake up in the morning and choose violence.
Artificer is honestly a... really weirdly-designed slugcat. I'll spare you from any spoilery details and most of the near video-essay-script amount of thoughts I have on the Downpour slugcat campaigns, but in brief... all of them are designed specifically to test you on one of Rain World's "core skills" as I call them.
Gourmand, for example, is a slugcat based on testing the player's ability to gather food. That's why he has the highest food requirement out of any slugcat and only gains half the food from eating meat that Hunter gets... but he also has the ability to get extra pips out of normally less valuable food, spend spare food to gain more crafting materials, and a sidequest telling him to hunt/gather nearly every kind of food in the game.
Except, well, Artificer doesn't test the player based on a 'core skill'. She has by far the best combination of mobility and combat prowess in the game, and very little consequences for failure. The only challenge Artificer's campaign asks of you is fighting Scavengers over and over again, which is notable because fighting Scavengers is a PUNISHMENT in every other campaign. Yet in order for Artificer to be fun to play, you need to enjoy fighting Scavs enough to either already have experience killing them or want to learn how to do so.
I like to think that the "core skill" isn't something obviously mechanical like finding food (Gourmand), navigating/exploring the map (Rivulet), or avoiding predators (Saint) but a less tangible but arguably the most important skill you can acquire to become a really solid Rain World player... mindset. This mindset is best illustrated by the fact that there are two ways people typically play Monk. The developer intended way, having higher rep so you can explore the map and beat the game, if not necessarily more easily, but certainly with less frustration from being molested by lizards, centipedes, and spiders oh my. Then there is the *other* way people play monk, Banana Boy the Destroyer of Worlds, the player who take that higher rep and abuse it so you can fulfill the "kill everything" mentality every one of us had when we first popped out of the tutorial shelter as Survivor, and turn Monk who on paper is the worst slugcat in the game for combat (bar Saint who can't even throw spears) and turn him into *the* best slugcat in combat relative to their campaign's spawns and difficulty.
By the end of your first Survivor run some players are able to grasp that playing timidly is *not* the optimal way to play, and that being aggressive and running by lizards, jumping from pole to pole as best you can and killing any lizard that gets in the way will get you to more places faster, and paradoxically with fewer deaths. This realization is also borderline required to complete Hunter, otherwise you will probably have either too slow a route to get to the echoes in time (you're playing ultra-safe and waiting out predators) or not enough karma to progress your route to begin with (you're getting caught running away from *very* aggressive lizards when standing your ground may be more effective). The reason Scavengers are the exception to this though, and why they're a "punishment" in other campaigns, is that even the most aggressive Hunter or Spearmaster will struggle to overcome the fact that, at the end of the day, Scavengers are just *you* but *better* in the ways that matter, and so most players will gleefully let themselves be extorted by the neurotic bastards and throw around those pearls at them all willy nilly.
Artificer's campaign forces players that have made the realization that being aggressive is better to ram their heads against the wall that is Scavenger kill squads, and go back to cautiousness and timidity when it is appropriate since despite all of Artificer's tools, Scavengers are just *you* but *better...* or you can take the forbidden route *and double down* and realize you are not being aggressive enough! That you *are* better than the Scavengers and that what you're doing is right, you just have to be smarter about it, the same way you wouldn't rush into a Red Centipede when you have a perfectly good spore puff just waiting in your stomach. Duck below cover as they slowly approach you and stab the first one who tries to climb the garbage mound in the eye, go in and out of pipes to minimize the number you have to fight all at once, stay in the vertical so they can't use their better horizontal throwing, throw grenades like you're the AI from Call of Duty, and above all else *give no quarter* and gladly accept every death you receive, so long as it resulted in the deaths of yet more Scavengers.
All of this isn't to say that Artificer still isn't hard as nails even when you make this switch, but that mindset is probably the "core skill" that you are looking for, and that's where the "fun" is to be found by the few of us who unironically enjoy Artificer's campaign... though I'm probably just deluding myself, Rivulet is way more fun than Artificer let's be real.
I would say Arti's corresponding "core skill" is combat. I've had moments where learning felt very accomplishing, like when I figured out it's a great idea to stun a scavenger, spear it, then pull the spear and spear it again since scavs can sometimes survive the first hit.
The lack of failure consequence is honestly a good thing too - with scavengers throwing instant death spears everywhere (on top of regular enemies), the path of combat Artificer expects will make death a common occurrence. Imagine how much more annoying it'd be if you had to both put up with all that danger and CONSISTENTLY SURVIVE to retain enough karma to use gates, rather than just use a scavenger's karma instead.
@@moronribbons5774Personally, I think that while Artificer absolutely lines up with combat as a core skill, Spearmaster fits that a lot better. Spearmaster's combat is much more in-line with Survivor or Hunter - all you have is a bottomless supply of spears and your own skills. Artificer doesn't work like that, her campaign is mainly about fighting Scavengers in particular. And Scavenger combat certainly *is* a unique skill all its own, but it's not exactly a core skill.
@@denpadolt9242 That's a fair point, but I found myself enjoying yelling obscene taunts at lizards slowly crawling at me just to flip them backwards for me to shove a spear up unsavory places quite often, lmao
On top of that even enemies like vultures were nothing since I could just keep stunning them.
I suppose Arti isn't really a perfect focus on basic RW combat due to how much her skills change it up. I noticed one issue I really had to work my way around was how often doing the concussive blast caused me to pick up the limp body of an enemy that would otherwise wake up in a second and bite me.
@@moronribbons5774In my opinion, Artificer being built around no punishment for deaths is actually one of the main ways that Artificer is not fun, because it means that the game becomes a game of repeatedly bashing your head into the brick wall that is scavengers until you find the next shelter, and in my experience the times in other campaigns where you’re stuck in one shelter repeatedly dying until you find the next one are the points when Rain World is at its least fun, so a campaign where you’re doing that the whole time is one I’m almost certainly not going to enjoy.
The new feature where you can see enemies on the map helped me a lot to avoid offscreen spears. Also the game not teaching you the one of major mechanics (parry) made it way more difficult.
Yeah parrying is so useful and what truly elevates artificer in terms of combat. Scavs have no recourse when you drop in from above and stun them for just long enough to spear
ua-cam.com/video/dMT9oAfLJgk/v-deo.htmlsi=W1ALV5qYwzWmIIGR
@@alpal4245 Useful? It's more of "Awesome, but Impractical". Shockwave has a very short window in which it can block spears, on a 1-HP Slugcat. One mistake, and you restart the cycle. All that when you could just be launching into the air and above the dangerous Scavs, and be dropping bombs.
@Pe6De its not useful to actually parry its use comes from stunning the scavs. Stunning gived you full seconds to attack and is especially useful for isolated individuals. Just drop in, parry stun, kill, move somewhere safe
@@alpal4245 Ah, okay then. I always call it shockwave so I assume that when folks say it's a parry, they refer to using it to deflect spears.
It's definitely great for stunning Scavs, that I agree with and used throughout the campaign.
Since I did artificer last (literally I was too scared of it) I ended up having a lot of fun just running around and murdering everything since I was a lot better at combat. Actually being able to fight and dodge scavengers makes the campaign so much more fun, so it’s kind of a shame that when you unlock artificer you either don’t know how to fight or do know how to fight, but don’t know how to use the artificer moveset.
Basically if you do it last and know how to parry then it’s super fun, otherwise it’s just really annoying and short
ua-cam.com/video/dMT9oAfLJgk/v-deo.htmlsi=W1ALV5qYwzWmIIGR
I did arti first and still loved it
My impression about Downpour in general is, that the ones who enjoy it the most are those, who where already part of the community and intimately familiar with the three vanilla campaigns. While the devs make an effort to put newbies on equal footing with new tips etc., a lot of issues and annoyances people encounter in their campaigns stem from the fact, that they never played hunter before or never went to this and that place in this region. While each path is equally interesting to new players, the veterans immediately go "Oh this capaign has a new connection, lets go there", "oh, Hunter spawns, let's avoid that room", "I've never seen this item before, it must mean something" and so on. I hope that this doesn't discourage new players, they are honestly achieving a much greater feat than us veterans by figuring out the world of 8 whole campaigns in one streak, while we spent years getting familiar with just 3.
I actually started playing only a few months ago, and I had a blast with Artificer’s campaign. The other campaigns I completed before hers were Monk, then Gourmand, then Hunter (I held off on playing Survivor because I wanted to unlock Outer Expanse lol)
In those three previous campaigns , I always played nice with the scavengers because it just made the overall campaign an easier experience. As I progressed and got to Hunter’s campaign, I had gotten enough of the basics down to begin enjoying combat. So Artifcer’s campaign, for me, was a great way to test my previous knowledge and unleash havoc upon the world pft.
So far, I’ve spent the most time playing her campaign compared to the others simply because I wanted to see how many scavengers I could kill by the end of it. It was… strangely cathartic to launch grenades on scavenger tolls. Laughed like a damn maniac
Again though, I’m typically amore friendly in literally every other campaign. I highly doubt I’ll ever be this aggressive while going through the other campaigns. Artificer’s playthrough, for me, was a way of fighting back against the world that had so frequently done everything in its power to quash my existence. It’s pure catharsis to climb to the top of the food chain after all the previous struggle. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy the other campaigns! I just tend to embrace different mindsets based on the slugcat I’m playing (even though I became a somewhat violent Monk on my very first playthrough once I figured out how to kill vultures and lizards…)
Opsian fuming
True
good
@bobtheguy
You forget that there is more than one ending to artificers campaign. Prioritizing the echoes adds a-lot more fun to the campaign. Until you get to survivor karma, you are required to have a karma flower ontop of maximum karma to see normal echoes. I’m sure you understand how karma flowers work, so when you prioritize keeping the karma flower protection, alot more emphasis is put on not dying besides killing things.
You have been fooled by the game into thinking you must rush combat interactions. Enemies will often approach you first. For in those rooms with flat stretches simply crouch behind the nearest cover (which can include a scavenger corpse) and the scavenger will approach you with time. Scavengers ~always~ raise their arm before they throw spears. Pay attention to this tell and you will begin to understand when scavengers are actively dangerous. Use the strategy of sitting behind cover and you will be able to attack the approaching scav before they are able to raise their arm. Killing scavengers is fun, but it is ultimately pointless, know when to just run away.
Also, artificer parry, look it up. The button input is difficult but you can rebind it to a single key with mods. It stuns ~anything~ for about 2-3 seconds allowing you run or fight.
I’m sorry the artificer campaign was dissapointing, it was for me too at first, but there is alot more to understand and learn than other campaigns, once you champion these tenets it will be a fun challenge.
Thanks for reading.
12:55 I love how the king flew back on the throne, it feels almost scripted
Artificer has very split opinions in the community
You either love it
Or hate it
Artificer's campaign is my favorite but that's only because ive always played the game as a scavenger hater. The scavengers need more types and a bit less hp. Its not a fun campaign if you don't like fighting and dying constantly.
But i like sofanthiel's campaign so what do I know
While i agree that more scav types would be nice, i also dont see why they would need less hp?
I don't like that sometimes they will survive a spear hit and kill you but thats probably a skill issue on my part
@@voidburgers yeah thats a skill issue. One time i was playing around with scavs in sandbox mode and i pinned one to the wall, it survived, it then took the spear out of itself and speared me instead, fucking wild, right?
@@ZaynIsLameish I hate it when that happens
@@voidburgers Nah, it's just a silly game design. Especially if it happened on Arti, who is meant to deal enough damage to instantly kill a Scav with a spear.
I have an idea for an Artificer rework that could potentially help the problematic Scavenger encounters
-give Artificer enemy markers that tell the locations of Scavengers offscreen or in adjacent rooms. They’d appear as little arrows with Scavenger heads on them. They could maybe flavour this as Five Pebbles’ overseers helping you out. This would help the issue of Scavengers sniping Arti from offscreen or after suddenly popping out of pipes.
-give Artificer the ability to slowdown time while fighting Scavengers, similar to the effects of eating a mushroom. They could flavour this as Artificer’s adrenaline spiking, increasing their reaction time. This would help with the difficulty offighting Scavengers, as you’d be able to react more easily to their spear throws.
-a different way to make Scavengers more fair as enemies would be by actually just nerfing them, straight up. The nerf would be exclusive to Artificer’s campaign, and it could be framed as Scavengers not being too naturally dangerous as opponents, until Artificer genocides the weak, leaving only the strong (or normal) Scavs that we see in all the future campaigns. Lore wise they’d have to nerf the scavs in Spearmaster, but since Scavs aren’t a big part of that campaign, and it’s just easier to pacify them by giving them spears to build reputation, it shouldn’t be too big of a problem.
-introduce more Scavenger variants to keep combat interesting. They could have melee scavengers with swords made from scrap metal that would have the ability to leap at Arti and kill her after grabbing on (perhaps you could pick up their swords, which would greatly increase the lethality of Arti’s maul attack). They could have beastmaster Scavengers that have tamed lizards, the type of lizard would be based on the lizards found in the region. There’s a lot you could do with Scavengers to make them more engaging as opponents, especially considering they’d lore-wise have access to more resources than normal thanks to the fact that they’re stealing stuff from Pebbles.
the change i would like them to make to scavangers is giving them a telegraph the problem is the thier spear come out of nowhere and are and instant kill the king vulture has a telegraph and it feel amazing dodging thier hookshots i think doing that with scavangers would help masivly i really loved this campaign in fact its my second favorite so far behind hunter and that is mostly because of the new karma gates i hate them so much its the dumbest progression system in any game ive ever played
1. enemy markers are already in the game via slug senses in the remix options
2. get better at fighting them lol
3. they are fair you can instantly tell when youre fucked when fighting them
4. the sword scavenger you mentioned would be entirely useless due to parrying existing
make a mod pls that would be sick
@@salamandersharp thanks, but I unfortunately do not have any coding skills, also I play Rain World on Switch, so that’s kind of a no go. You might be able to find some mods that accomplish similar things though. In case any modders happen upon this though, they’re totally free to use the stuff I suggested
I really really really like the scav variant idea, but unfortunately I have to say...
skill issue.
Actually whats cool is that once you load back in, you can get the chieftain mask which makes all scavs fearfull. I found that once I got it, I had a better time.
I think the best way to summarise this campaign is that it feels like it was kinda designed to be an ultimately unsatisfying experience, which is really great thematically but gameplay-wise just doesn't make it feel fun :/
I think it really depends, I hear from a lot of people that it was the opposite actually. Either way, it really does embody wrath lol
In my experience I loved it
i thought it was very fun
After 5 cycle of death, you best believe i tapped into my inner artificer
All of rainworld gos by this philosophy for the most part
As someone who came to really enjoy the Artificer campaign and fighting scavengers... While it's hard to start out, this genuinely feels like something where you have to "get good". Then it becomes a fun challenge.
Currently just got to the city with Artificer and have been having fun killin scavs, but haven't beaten it yet, so wanted to say stuff since I'm passing through.
I gotta say you're a madman for stubbornly going through the scavenger toll at the very start. I just went the other way because the scavenger toll felt unreasonably hard to kill all of them (and then reinforcements came at some point when I got close one time so I gave up figuring it'll probably never end). The other way requires you to do a unique mechanic with Artificer where you pick up a scavenger to get through the Karma gate. Then there's a reasonable amount of combat the whole way through.
Surprised you ran into a miros bird in the underhang. Maybe it's because I breezed through that area super fast. I still haven't seen one yet so I dunno anything about them, but considering it's a combination of the 2 juggernaught type enemies, I'd can imagine how terrifying it could be.
The long flat areas with the scavengers are some of my favorite bits, I'm surprised you hate them! There's a little bit of cover in every long area so there's actually a reason to duck for once (heck sometimes I've ducked shots when I didn't have cover). If they are off-screen, you can use the DLC map thing to see if there's a scavenger waiting to snipe you outside of your eyesight. Then you can also hide behind the scavenger bodies and use them as mobile cover to push up to the other scavengers to attack when they least expect it. Made a much different experience than the rest of the combat in the game.
Scavengers felt pretty easy to fight so they never got on my nerves. Of course, I didn't rush my way through the scavenger toll. I knew that if I decided to stubbornly take on the whole army, I'd probably be salty the whole campaign after that too. Really does feel like a "you 'can' do this thing, but you really shouldn't for your first playthrough" sort of deal. Also I figured if I went the other way, I could get better at combat until I could take on that starter scavenger toll in a new file.
weirdly, the higher path through the last sub-area has way more detailed and varied level design, being filled with larger areas to use the pop and cool backgrounds to look at. This campaign really isn't the best when it comes to map design, huh
One thing that did bother me about this campaign, aside from… SPOILERS BELOW FOR ARTIFICER STORY ENDING…
Aside from not learning 10 hours in that the bodies of scavengers were the keys (still had a blast slaughtering them in the first area because I honed my skills against them that helped me in the later areas), it was the ENDING ACHIEVEMENT AND LACK OF REDEMPTION).
I greatly dislike how the game tells you at the end of going the kill the scavenger leader “you’re actions finally caught up to you” or something like that from the steam achievement. Bro, revenge is badass. I fought through swarms of scavengers because one of Artificer’s children stole a bead. Damn scavengers needed to be taught a lesson. Screw karma and let them fear the lamenting rage of a mother.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. In the last area to get to the scavenger leader, one of the echos, it tells you to be weary of the path to revenge. Of course, I spent way too many hours hating scavengers to forgive them. I learned that you cannot get more than max karma and can only get to the ascended area with a max karma scavenger corpse. Once you get to the ascended area, you aren’t lead to the afterlife because you can’t get max karma. Instead, Artificer sees her two ascended children one last time before fading into oblivion.
There is NO WAY to do a redemption route for Artificer and it’s tragic. No matter what you do, the Artificer has tragic endings. The Echo telling me to stop the revenge path, THEN not allowing her to redeem herself doesn’t sit well with me from a story standpoint.
There are the nightmares she suffers from after the death of the scavenger leader, showing she still suffers. Maybe there will be more for the DLC slug cats to continue their stories? Who knows.
Artificer is first fav, Rivulet is second (haven’t played saint yet).
Parry makes this campaign so much easier, parry not only deflect spears but also stun every creature affected by it.
Waterfront facility is designed around explosive scug. Hence lack of large bodies of water
I played arti directly after I beat monk, so it was my first intro to the "hard mode" enemies (red lizards, red centis, spitter spiders, cyan lizard, etc.) There is a lot of bullshit in that campaign but for the most part I enjoyed it. I thought the scavs were just the same as the rest of the enemies because i was a baby player and died to all of them the same. Looking back and on replay though, the harder enemies you get to know and fight and avoid, while the scavs remain frustratingly bullshit.
sorry but i have to say it, skill issue.
I'm currently chugging through Arti's post-campaign to get all the pearl dialogue and let me tell you it is a PAIN. If you want to do this, get the survivor passage. Once you beat the campaign, you are locked out of most passages, which means no teleporting to or from Pebs (pain). There's also the worry of getting a scav with high enough karma to pass through gates. I was trying to get from Outskirts to Farm Arrays and for some reason the toll was broken and no scavs were there. It took me THREE CYCLES to get a scav with a high enough karma to go to Farms.
And god toll scavs are a different breed. Even with the scav king mask, they WILL kill you for passing through without paying. Wild.
As someone that loves the arti campaign i absolutely agree with all your points.
Waterfront complex isn't meant to be explored as artificer but she's also one of the only two scugs that have that region.
Scavs are annoying to fight if you don't know how, using bodies cover or jumping around to dodge and parrying makes them very easy but the game doesnt make this clear.
The to of the wall is pain.
Grapple worms should be usable and have no reason to disable your double jump.
Artificer's double jump is barely used outside metropolis, i can only think of two places where it's required and both bring you away from pebbles.
House of braids is horrible if you come in from the floor, the roofs path and the secret path are way better.
I also feel the need to mention that artificer has two endings, the one you got, the revenge ending is the shortest and more boring of the two imo
I see your point in not liking it as Scavs are the hardest enemy type in the game but I actually as a blast playing through her campaign. It is my favorite and you feel like a harvenger of death to these the scavs.
...I feel like Artificer is like the MOST combat intensive Slugcat, to the point where I feel like people should play Spearmaster first, to get a better feel for the combat loop.
And I feel, and many probably do too, that Artificer is probably also, if not one of, the HARDEST of the Slugcats, purely because of Scavenger combat being hard to get a feel for. And Scavs being fairly unpredictable in general.
It makes putting them as the SECOND Downpour Slugcat oft feel like a dead brained dicision, at least from the outside.
Though Artificer's campaign definitely has problems, I must say your campaign specifically seems quite nightmarish. The path you took was much more unforgiving than things usually are.
I feel like the key problem with Artificer's campaign is that Scavengers have many advantages over the player, while the player doesn't exactly know of Artificer's full advantages over them. They can hold a lot of spears at a time, they can sometimes survive a spear hit, their spear "aim cone" is much more forgiving to the point where you can get some really bullshit deaths, and they often come in groups.
That would be a lesser problem if the game gave you a more clear objective (though to be fair, Pebbles' overseer tried) and was more clear about Artificer's advantages over Scavengers. One of the most powerful offensive abilities Artificer has, the parry stun, is obscure to the point most players don't even learn about it in their first run. Without the tools to deal with Scav bullshit and not sure of where to go, new players definitely are bound to struggle more than what would be intended/necessary.
The shockwave is good as a stun, but I don't understand why everyone keeps mentioning the parry part. Isn't it literally impractical on a Slugcat that still dies to one spear hit? Why'd I bother trying to parry instead of jumping over a Scav and dropping something on their head, when the latter is almost always the option? (Also, shockwave got weird input to trigger.)
Cant wait until this guy plays Spearmaster (my fav scug)
well i think you mostly have a skill issue.
Arti is very forgiving as the low karma means dying doesnt mean anything.
and it teaches you how to combat the hardest foe in the game.
also scav combat is satysfingly difficult, at least to me
Honestly, I only loved artificer campaign once I learned the character's tech. Which is a huge problem, I could only appreciate their campaign when I 100%'d the game, which is crazy
I did enjoy the campaign in my first playthrough, its just the scavengers are so bloody annoying
13:15 I gotta say, this goes unimaginably hard
I agree with a few of your points, but it sounds like a lot of your difficulty came from throwing yourself at directions and areas you weren’t supposed to go to. The scav toll at the very start is supposed to tell you to go the other way, which leads to an infinitely easier and way cooler intro. Also, waterfront facility is just ass and it appears in spearmasters campaign too. There is no reason to go there in either campaign however.
I kinda figured while editing this (waterfront and braids being optional, going the wrong direction at start ect.) but I let it all stand since the complaints about the areas themselves still hold water, regardless of how "on the main path" they are. Planning on doing a super quick semi-speedrun of the campaign again on the correct path just to see how it feels, so hope I enjoy it a good bit more
given that rain world doesn’t have any progression system, an area being excessively hard is impossible to discern from “don’t go this way” and “the important stuff is this way”.
I disagree with this a lot. The more you play the campaign and learn how the scavengers function the better you will be at dealing with them. By Metropolis you feel like an unstoppable badass killing every scavenger in sight. Multiple times in the video it felt like you were just going forwards into groups of scavengers without any plan
Scavengers can factually speaking:
-Attack you from off screen before you see them.
-Throw spears from angles you can't.
-Throw spears instantly on sight.
This combination of things can often reduce fights to a matter of raw luck instead of skill. It does not feel good to enter the next screen and instantly get stabbed by a scavenger you couldn't see from an angle you couldn't hit.
@@glonx639 Artificer and Scavenger fan speaking (???):
Scavengers are either audible, or predictable on where they will be. You can easily avoid getting off screen speared by listening for their distinct footsteps.
Scavengers throwing angles are incredibly small. While it's true they're slightly larger than the players, they can only toss up to a 30° angle, which very very rarely makes for something useful. Alongside this consider the fact you have multiple ways to parry spears, AND you can throw spears up and down (remix).
Scavengers do not attack on sight in non-Arti campaigns... And if you're complaining they attack on sight in the Arti campaign you should never design a videogame
Scavengers are meant to be a fun difficult challenge, which I feel like is balanced pretty well once you start thinking about what you are doing
@@Zedorfska I get you're not being literal, but describing scavengers as "predictable" "audible" and "easily avoided getting off screen speared by" is instantly countered by how many people are having the same problem.
People who are good enough at the game to consider such things an easy task are in the minority in rain world's community.
This is not an attack on artificer or you by any means. The campaign wasn't ruined by the difficulty, just brought down for a lot of people who just aren't as good at the game as you are, because the skill floor was raised very suddenly, and rainworld is infamous for not teaching its players how to navigate or survive the world.
Did you figure out how to fight Scavengers by spending more than 100 hours in the game or online material? Because if so, you are simply in the minority of the playerbase.
I do also want to add that audio cues don't matter if they are off-screen, through a pipe, coming out of a pipe, or fast enough. Predicting where they are is like.. Well like.. No? Beyond their tolls and certain specific rooms, their spawns are randomized. Being able to figure out that algorithm is not expected gameplay. That would be insane.
Those 30 degrees make a huge difference. Especially on hills where scavengers are known to camp. If 30 degrees weren't an important and significant difference, it wouldn't be there or the player would be able to do it too.
Spears can be parried, this however is only taught in challenges which very few players went through, and requires a pretty high skill floor to time anywhere near consistently.
Throwing a spear directly up or down is only useful on poles, people rarely have problems fighting scavengers there.
I am talking about the Arti campaign. Scavengers are balanced in other campaigns in a variety of ways, such as varying levels of aggression and rarity.
Your insult to my game design is not really a counter-argument to how its unfair that they can instantly throw spears in the arti campaign.
If anything, supporting unfair game design where player input doesn't matter might hint towards the fact that your own style of game design is very narrow and doesn't appeal to a broader player base.
I am arguing for a difficulty balance appealing to a broader player base. Rather top 30 or maybe even 40% than top 5%.
If you genuinely think that game design built around taking control away from the player and killing them through no or little fault of their own is "the correct" way to design a game and everything else means that you're a horrible game designer, then I doubt you have any actual experience in the field or complex subject of game design.
Scavengers are MEANTto be a fun difficult challenge, which they are in the base game, and despite what you might /FEEL/ is balanced pretty well, if the majority of the playerbase disagrees, then maybe your personal opinion, though fine, just doesn't reflect the broader opinion.
Born to watch Bob, forced to watch MrBeast.
Edit: I miss you. Please come back. Edited two months after the video came out.
To be honest, usually I’ll see people either hating or loving Artificer’s campaign, nowhere in the middle. I personally LOVE the campaign but 100% understand why it’s frustrating for a lot of people
3 hours of arti’s campain is being stuck in the leg because of the absurd amount of spitter spiders in annoying parkour
I have many things to say so I shall simply list them here:
-Artificer would probably be better if it was in the third slot of the downpour scugs instead of rivulet, since then people would get more experience playing the slightly more forgiving slugcats first
-Metropolis, though cool in concept, is a badly designed area in reality. The overreliance on scav combat after heavy scav combat for the rest of the campaign simply isn't fun. I have played a modded region named Scorched District with artificer (it is also based in Pebbles' city) and it was very fun because there were plenty of other enemies to balance out the scavs. Also it has much better platforming that is fun for arti but also possible for other scugs.
-Having to climb regular Pebbles for probably the 3rd time just isn't fun anymore. Most other downpour slugcats change the ascent section or provide other routes up to Pebbles, so having to do the standard climb and also being prevented from entering Pebbles from the bottom due to the severe lack of scavs in underhang makes it a pain.
If you want to have some more fun playing Artificer, use the Pilgrims Ascent and Scorched District region mods, it makes the whole experience much more fun and you get plenty of extra rooms to explore!
What? Artificers campaign has always been my favourite.
I had so much fun in waterfront, it's a cool new area, and for a veteran like me that was so much new things to explore.
also the precipice is cool af
Artificer is a VERY fun slugcat, but I agree she has the worst campaign. Just for different reasons than you.
See, I spent my survivor run exploring EVERYWHERE, so I was very very familiar with the world and its layout and dangers. The new versions of garbage wastes and "shoreline" (i.e. waterfront facility) were awesome to me and I didn't have too much difficulty with them overall.
Meeting pebbles was also awesome, especially the fact that you can bring him lore pearls for a new perspective on them (and I love lore, so that was awesome).
But, scavengers have some absolute nonsense with how they can throw spears, some of them have stats that make them nearly invincible, and they're very boring enemies to fight as the primary threat everywhere.
Most importantly... The story just kinda sucks? The way the world changes and being able to talk to pebbles and learn a bit more about echoes and karma is nice, but the entire campaign feels like a fanfic power fantasy with a story to excuse that, rather than being something interesting in its own right. Even survivor and monk have more interesting stories, and they barely have any story at all. They relate to each other, gourmand's story affects them, etc. It's great. Artificer is just in her own bubble of murder hobo where her biggest contribution is halving the scavenger population for the rest* of the timeline and giving you more perspective on pebbles as a character beyond just "grumpy, will murder you".
if you didn't like the artificer's champaign, then you will got a stroke in the spearmaster's.
Nah, biggest problem on spearmaster campaign is that goddam pear, also he will probably go to moon first, just to realize he will need to go to 5P and then to moon again holding a pear you can't store in your belly because you have no mouth, the unlimited spears also help you to befriend scavengers so you don't need to kill em, even tho spearmaster campaign have a hell lot of enemies the unlimited spears make fighting so fun, when I played the spermaster I spent hours just killing anything on my way on the first area, I only moved on to the next area when I finally killed the red lizards on the outskirts
"Artificer has the worst campaign!"
Spearmaster:
Yeah lmao his campaign is comparable to a custom slugcat made by a twelve year old
Go there,go there,go there. Thats his entire campaign
Idk I liked his campaign cause the infinite spears meant everything can be killed pretty easy, I spent a bunch of time in chimney canopy just killing stuff it was that fun
The only really deterring factor for me was moon being practically inaccessible from waterfront and no way to store your (spoiler item)
@@pookiewookiedookie29 if you liked inf spears then you like the cat,not the campaign
@@graycatsaderow that doesn’t mean it doesn’t contribute to the campaign fun factor, what I forgot to say is I like that the campaign scales the enemies up so I can actually utilize those large amounts of spears instead of if I used spearmaster in arena or another slugcats campaigns
@@graycatsaderowthat's literally every campaign, go to moon, go to pebbles, go to subterranean, etcetera.
Curiously, The Artificer was a player suggestion! Back when AndrewFM was developing MSC 1.01 the Rain World Discord user ComboPyro suggested Pyrocat: a bomb-making slugcat rival to scavengers and Andrew liked it enough to add it.
I eternally rue what ComboPyro has done and it's impact on Rain World.
Omg it is so true, I hate the point in the timeline for gameplay purposes. It is such a fun character and easy to mess around with but I got so mad after my 100th death in that campaign
Funny thing is, most of the issues I had with artificer came from the metropolis. It actually just felt like rng until I beat it. The final boss felt awful for me as it basically just felt like waiting until it bugged out and gets trapped in a corner / repeats the same movements as you bite it to death. It was cool tho, just a pain to actually do. I enjoyed 80% of the campaign. The last 20 was where it just got ridiculous.
I actually thought I disliked it the most for a while. That was until I played spearmaster. Spearmaster was the first time I ever had to turn on dev tools due to a mix of bugs, tedious karma farming, and excessive enemy spawns. The pearl bugged out and disappeared into the floor of a shelter permanently. It was when I tried going to looks to the moon through waterfront facility and realised you actually can’t that I just said fuck it, and started using dev tools to quickly get back to the precipice. I finished the campaign in around the same time as every other dlc one until saint, but it felt like it took twice as long. It was a slog. I hated carrying around that pearl, only for it to bug out and need to be replaced, making it feel hollow in a way. It got tiring, and fast, for me at least. Carrying a pearl for 70% of the campaign is not fun, it’s tedious.
I’m not sure how much of my issues with spearmaster stem from me just getting insanely unlucky but damn it felt like I was up against the avengers with the shear number of dropwigs and scavengers that would just stab me… even when my rep was decent and I dropped my weapons when near them.
Spearmaster made artificer feel not so bad anymore lmao. At least that was only bad near the end, and not a slow, progressive decent into tedium in a MASSIVE map.
Lore was good tho so thumbs up for that ig.
I suppose these two campaign’s quality really depends on where you choose to go and general luck. If you think you can access moon after already climbing down from precipice it feels like an utter waste of time for both of them. If you don’t go there it’s not as bad. As artificer, I went straight to pebbles through chimney, so I avoided that tragedy the first time and never saw the utter hellscape that is past garbage wastes. It’s such a mixed bag of results that leaves some people thinking it’s alright where as some hated it.
i feel bad for the slugpups 💀
i personally think going for the alternate ending where you ascend is far more enjoyable as artificer
I quite enjoyed artificers campaign but I had mastered the ability to stab things enough by replaying survivor and failing miserably at hunter that my first playthrough took a measly eleven cycles (and quite a few deaths.) I didn’t even learn the story until I watched a playthrough because I had like two dreams before killing the chieftain.
I completely understand why a lot of people don’t like it, honestly. But I did also enjoy Inv, so I might just enjoy torturing myself with video games.
Good luck with Spearmaster! One hell of a campaign, thats for sure.
Love the content. Still waiting on the Saint and Spearmaster playthrough. ❤
Had a horrible time grinding my way through this campaign.
Then added a few of mods for co-op when I played it with a friend and if was actually enjoyable.
I'd recommend for anyone attempting to take this on in singleplayer, take the mod that centeres the camera on you, and the mod that allows you to throw Spears in the direction of your mouse.
It perfectly balances the scavenger jank against your power and perception boost enough to give that "death machine" feeling while still keeping you vulnerable.
I tired going to waterfront facility with Artificer. Well, , how it was a nightmare , I decided to do a another game with artificer and this time, I didn't go to waterfront facility. The acid lakes in garbage waste are to a nigthmare but are possible to pass. Otherwise, I'm having fun in my campaign, killing scavs everywhere
All in all I had a lot of fun because playing her just felt like I was playing a predator. Since you don't have anything other than time you spent traveling to the next shelter to lose, why not go in for the kill? Every enemy is your prey if you stunlock it and poke it full of more holes than Spearmaster's tail.
She winds up being a test of patience I think just because of how RW's so built around you NOT wanting to go for combat all the time, but her design encourages it. Especially with the constant scavenger spawns throwing instant death around at you, you'll find yourself dying a lot more than likely. I think this also makes her design of lacking karma - which also works out in a really cool way lore-wise - an excellent compliment, since it means rather than need to actually SURVIVE the constant scav attacks you can afford to mess up and still make it through the next karma gate, just by killing scavengers. Overall I think it honestly does wind up often being your luck with scavenger spawns, but I found the amount of killing I could do with her, the amount of predators I could basically just bitch slap out of my face, to be very satisfying. Scavenger combat was an annoying curb to overcome but by the late area I found myself enjoying jumping straight into them and slamming their faces into the floor with concussive blast, and then putting all their spears in their chest.
When playing as spearmaster and artificer you feel like you are a predator, both are killing machines if you know how to fight and thats why I love these 2 campaigns
@@Its-Boshy-time I liked that aspect about spearmaster too but the lack of mobility skills and near constant vulture harassment (seriously what is with vultures in their campaign) made spearmaster feel a lot less like that lol.
Doesn't help that for nearly anything I'm trying to fight I can't just throw shit at it carelessly as though I AM the predator, I have to still be methodical due to the whole fresh spear food point gimmick... spearmaster can hold two spears but almost never wants to because of lizards lmao
@@moronribbons5774 Yeah sometimes the vulture spawns are just out of hand, I was playing artificer and I just ended up on a fuckin mess, just imagine a ton of scavengers and not 2 but 3 vulture kings and 1 unmasked vulture killing eachother while I murder more scavengers on the other room, something I love to do as artificer is just sleep on a point that has a lot of scavengers nearby and waste like 20 cycles just killing everything, I ended up with around 5 vulture masks, 2 king vulture masks and some elit svavs masks too
Playing artificer made me so anxious I was violently shaking and took about 3 hours to untense after a session. Ultimately, I had to get lucky that I didn't run into any scavs to get through most areas due to a skill issue. I didn't really have fun in the moment, but retrospectively it was pretty cool. I will say that not telling the player about parrying is unexcusable due to how useful it is
I'm happy to see someone that agrees with me on the artificer's campaign finally
My issue with Arti’s campaign is that you can literally just make a b-line to Pebbles without much thought and beat the game. And the game ENCOURAGES you to take the linear route. That Scav Toll at the start of the campaign is meant to deter you from going that way, effectively skipping all of Garbage Wastes. You also get access to a faster way to memory crypts.
I don’t think a single other slugcat is this linear.
btw you should know that exploding next to an enemy will stun them, combined with biting it means you can easily take down a vulture.
the same explosion also deflects spears
artificer is some of the most fun ive ever had playing a videogame
somebody decided to try and transfigure rain world into a character action game, and i don't know why anybody thought that was a good idea.
I feel that disempowerment, player agency, and encouraging creativity with tools, level design, and movement are core elements to Rain World's original gameplay ethos, and Artificer breaks every single one of these. At least Spearmaster retains the player agency part.
also the following this character has fostered has made any discussion regarding scavengers absolutely fucking insufferable and i am so, so burnt out
I agree with the artificer being too much of a combat focused slugcat. What people don't usually acknowledge in regards to the scavenger spawns is that they are literally the only enemy aside from red centipedes or red lizards that even stand a chance against artificer's frankly overpowered abilities.
Artificer could be done much more enjoyably if they actually nerfed their abilities to not make any non scavenger enemies a joke and definitely add some more paths within metropolis atleast to encourage being smart with the fights you pick.
Right now artificer feels like a spectacle power trip more than anything and this is especially noticable when you attempt an expedition with them and compare it to hunter. The latter is a balanced and well thought out slugcat made to fit the world it inhabits, without fun being compromised and having quite fun changes to the slugcat deck, while artificer is when watered down a hunter with explosions and extra scavenger spawns.
So after killing the king scav I decided to go back and dissapear in the depths (also you get a cool mask from chief that scares everyone)
Oh you’re going to LOVE Saint
You know that going right at game spawn leads to a gate to shaded citadel.
Funny enough you dont need to go to this house at all. There is a big shortcut in one room straight to the final section with a boss. It requires some spears in the wall and the ceiling, which are easy to get with all the scavs around.
Lucky me.
I cheesed scav king by going to the little hole on the far right of the room after putting all the spears in the room there
Don’t ascend as spear master your not meant to do that but ascend as artificer it has a secret ending
Not telling you anything else
I think moon’s overseers should’ve had a unique icon that indicated to leave the area. Sort of hinting that moon isn’t accessible.
artificer is...okay? I love her story, but im really not a fan of the mechanics. Rivulet ON TOP
i think it would make the campaign 10x less miserable if they made arti able to tank a spear
my idea is that she could survive being hit by one spear, but she would be severely weakened for ~20 seconds before being able to fight again. maybe when weak she cant throw spears and gets stunned when using the bomb jump. this idea probably would need to be fleshed out a lot more but I think its a good start to making the campaign much less gruelling
edit: this would also actually make electric spears more dangerous to the player
personally i love fighting scavengers so this campaign was one of my favorites, however getting speared off screen wasn't very fun. the sbcamerascroll mod solved that issue for me so it wasn't that bad.
2:54 ish did you just skip over industrial complex because garbage wastes does not go to outskirts
Mb on that, went through drainage system. Forgot that was an area that existed, kinda mentally combined it with garbage wastes I guess.
@@bobtheguy6485 Funny that you forgot that; both pre-Hunter Drainage and Waterfront's passage to Subterranean have fluctuating water levels so it's remotely possible for Artificer to traverse.
i feel like this guy is going to have a love hate relationship with the saint
Another issue. After the ending you are gained king's mask so you don't meant to fight scavengers anymore; but carma levels are still locked, so if you want to travel the map you continue killing dozens scavengers to pass carma gates.
You should have found the echo in metropolis that gives you two more karma, from there get the one in chimney canopy
@@Eat_shit--die_mad I thought the ending locks you as the lowest carma, doesn't it?
Rebind everything is a must for the artificer campaign imo, having a button for the explosive jump and the parry makes this campaign so much better, also although I don't really hate the scavengers I love killing things so this campaign was perfect and fun as fuck, also not having any need to worry about Karma was one of the reason this is my second fav campaign
Wait you can do that?
@@ajiprnk4821 Yes, you just need 2 mods, improved input config and rebind everything, allows you to rebind saint tongue, spearmaster crafting, artificer parry and jump, saint ascension etc
I play on xbox (controller) and inputs like this are actually so frustrating sometimes lol
@@Si1verWings I hate playing this game whitout this mod, saint tongue is so annoying to use, same for artificer jump and parry
The fact you don't get any moment to rest in Artificer's campaign (Not referring to shelters) makes it worse. It's a short campaign, sure, but WOW. Its the only one I haven't given a second playthrough.
Scavs are already terrible to deal with at neutral reputation, having them constantly on your ass at all times with the only "breaks" from them being the most Annoying regions (underhang is the only one I can think of). I think it could be done well without so. Many. Scavs.
I think Artificer adds more to the game in terms of worldbuilding and lore than it does being an actually fun campaign, though I don't think that's something that needs mentioning, since this is focused purely on gameplay.
I had to practice for so long against scavs in sandbox as Arti just to feel like I'm getting anywhere
I also really hate how the scavs spawn one by one from monster dens (that they can hide back in), typically at the exit of whichever room you're in, instead of just spawning at the beginning of the cycle and moving around the region like other enemies (and like scavs in other campains). Because of it, you can never correctly assess the risk of pushing through, as you might kill the five scavs in front of the exit only for two more to spawn more or less right on top of you and spear you in the back.
artificer's campaign ( my opinion)
Pros : i get to fuck up scavengers
Cons : i cant fuck the scavengers (/J /J /J /J)
you’re going to love Saint if you love grappling hooks :)
Don't listen to what anyone says. If you like artificers campaign then that's you. You allowed to have a opinion just like this guy.
The biggest issue with artificer is that they make you fight an enemy that wasn't meant to be fought by taking away your alternative options. Scavengers are literally the exact same as the slugcat, but better in everyway
This is true for any other slugcat. That scavengers are them but better. It is not true for artificer who has abilities to counter each of scavs strengths.
Scavs fight in groups, unlike you-
Arti has bombs that can take out groups of enemies. They can throw spears at way more angles than you- you have a double jump for both dodging and giving you more angles to throw at. plus a deflect. They can survive a spear hit, you can’t- arti has the ability to make explosive spears that guarantee kill them. They can carry multiple weapons on their backs- artis stun parry auto disarms them. All of the scavs typical advantages have counterplay.
I’m not saying that to say that anybody who dislikes fighting scavs or artis campaign is inherently wrong (although I liked it personally) I can still see how it would feel frustrating or repetitive. But NOT unfair or imbalanced, arti has the tools to keep the tides even if you use them all right. (Though I will say offscreen spear throws are just unfair, blatantly. Scavs should really only attack if you’re on screen. But rain worlds camera in general results in unfair offscreen moments, that’s not just artificer).
I gotta say, the true miserable experience is doing the “ascend” ending…. Getting all the echos was a huge pain
I just went right and got to five Pebbles in record time, hitting no toles
And that’s why I always only use spearmaster
It's alright, honestly, I expected Arti to have the hunter back spear because beside the explosives Arti needs extra a little extra help with dealing with Scavs and shiz
Accidentally going the path of pain instead of up to her unique map route, going up to the right on top of that open room with water is the intended path. Devs left a dead scav body and tutorial proms about her karma up there, it connects into shaded as well which is a much easier route to reach pebbles
btw the scavs can have a max of 5 karma, it can be just kinda rare. I found the hit squads to be very useful, as Elite scavs, if you are either cheesing or a rather good, can have 6 karma
*Buzz sound effect**
scavengers can have max of 10 Karma
Their karma level depends on your max karma level
elites has more likely to have higher karma
do you know about the new dlc being made?
The watcher
I think you managed to take the worst route you could've taken for this play through
I love Artificer and I love fighting so I tend to go back to this campaign a lot, but I totally get your downsides. Personally I never had gotten that ending, always went for the alternate one since it just felt right and depsite it being someone of a chore I had a lot more fun doing that than just killing all the scavies cause Pebbies told me to.
my first arti run was pretty funny. waterfront facility was the first area I ended up exploring because the tutorial can drop you off at shaded.
"this is a miros vulture an I love him" - bold fucking words. Miros Vultures are the one entitiy in the game that I hate more than deer. tho, tbf you were careful to say that your opinion was solely based on visuals. Actually didn't realize Miros Vultures spawned in FP Underhang. I'm used to seeing them, uh, elsewhere..
9:22 omg bird in bath
This campaign is the most miserable experience ive ever played i genuinely can't understand how anyone enjoyed it
Did you do the alternate ending? Artificer has a "good" ending that's actually unique.
Idk about the ''good'' since she couldn't ascend
Not even the most controversial opinion on a Downpour campaign.
I can relate, evne if I had this issue with Spearmaster and not Arti.
There are actually loads of spots around Arti's capmaign, especially Past Garbage Waster and upper part of Waterfront facility. The issue with spearmaster is that he lacks the double jumps while the areas are almost identical. The only good thing about Spearmaster's campaign is that there were no hordes of angry monkeys after my at all times, but everything else sure hated my guts. Spearmaster spawns are incredibly hard and he does not have Arti's of Riv's agility to get around them.
Plus the bridge place between Moon and Pebbles. That area Made me rage quit the game for a few months. That place would have been so perfect for Arti.
I really enjoyed arti, you truly have to change your mentality now that you are fighting scavs, you are in an area where you can be sniped offscreen? Welp, time to crawl and move fast from cover to cover, I had so much fun that way and using sneaky attacks on the scavengers, the only thing that id change is the spawn points of the kill squads, since it make climbing the wall a pain in the ass, you are not only fighting 4 cyan lizards, but also if you sre going back and forward a tube to lure the lizards, theres a chance a scav appears from nowhere and insta spear you
i hope you know you can taKE THE spers from the scavs
The best route to take as Artificer is starting to the right which takes you to the Shaded Citadel, and (Ironically) going through Exterior because Artificer's moveset/abilities make that area significantly easier (and cathartic for me, after playing the same area as Hunter haha).
Acquiring echoes can make Arti's campaign easier to traverse also, but requires a karma flower when coming back to get one to increase karma (though isn't much of a requirement later on if going for the "ascension" ending)
It's a weird little campaign, probably one of my least favorites on repeat playthroughs as I find playing the other slugcats far more fufilling as it encourages me to be good at the game. I don't feel that way with Artificer as I find progressing through and constantly facing scavengers to be kind of tedious, even for this kind of game imo.
Skill issue.
How do you think is the best way to balance a literly pyrotechnic warehouse with ability to fly? Make more food pips needed? Some special diet? Mabe designing the whole compain in Inv-style? No, I think that war with scavs is the best way to balance this beast. Speaking of war with scavs... yeah, that requires tonns of skill. I, personally, spent more than 100 attemps trying to clean scavs on the way left in the very beggining but than I realize that there were infinity of them but I got the required skill, from this point I could easily destroy any kill-squad. Ofcorce, scav's outposts were making some problems but in the end I learned how to clean them as well.
About karma, how high do you think would be karma usually if it was regular? I guess that being locked at karma 1 is a payment to steal scav's karma because without that ability it would be almost impossible to survive for enouth karma
And by the way, yeah this compaign is impossible without SBCameraScroll
@@Tuzzeeskill issue
This is actually just a skill issue problem when it comes to arti's campaing
If you can't learn how to fight scavs, you won't enjoy it, if you do, you will have a blast, literally
I personally enjoyed it a lot, fighting scavengers with that sick movement options was great, but this is really just about scavs and learning how to deal with them, if you can't, you won't have this fun
you haven't mastered the scav combat strategy of just killing them before they can kill you
this campaign just makes the cycle a question of "how many times will you need to die until the rng finnaly turns to your favour". instead of a "get enough food and move on from the map"