Info about Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God:

Official game description:
Join Pupuru, a hard working student, on a delectable roguelike adventure filled with excitement, humour, thrills and all the curry you can eat as you quest to save your favourite local curry restaurant from being swallowed up by the big bad curry chain that's moved into town!  
Take part in a meaty dungeon-crawling quest to discover four ultimate ingredients needed to make the "Legendary Magic Curry"! Explore dungeons that change shape each time you visit them, battle crazy creatures, collect items and cook up a curry to boost your characters! Can you save the town of Smile Curry, or will you never again eat your favourite spicy dish?!  
· Quest for Curry - Arm yourself, stock up on Skills and then venture forth into the many dungeons, filled with weird and wonderful monsters, handy items and - of course - the freshest curry ingredients!  
· Share your curry with "friends" - A strange quest needs a strange group of companions! Share your food with your gluttonous but brave friend, Kuu, to power him up, hang out with Puni, servant of the Great Curry God and ignore the attentions of Gigidos, the ever-so-slightly creepy Dark Lord of the Netherworld.  
· Behold, the Power of Curry! – Create delicious curry dishes from the ingredients you find in the ever-changing dungeons to boost your stats, or throw your cooking failures at your enemies to nerf their abilities!

Release date: Jun 4, 2018

Categories: Roguelike, Dungeon Crawler, Crafting, Turn-based Combat, Inventory Management, Character Progression, Procedural Generation, Visual Novel


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $1.00 - $10.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence suggests that users find the game worth purchasing only when it is significantly discounted. Mentions of discounts such as 80% and 40% indicate that the perceived value of the game is much lower than its current base price. Additionally, one review states that the game might be worth it if it's less than $1, further supporting the idea that the community considers the game overpriced at its current base price.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 20.0h
  - Story completion: 2.0h
  - Session length: 1.5h
  - Endgame: 10.0h
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides insights into various playtime metrics. The first quote suggests that completing the game can take over 6 hours, which helps estimate the game completion time. The second quote indicates that the main story can be completed in about 2 hours if focusing solely on cutscenes and dialogues, providing a basis for story completion time. The third quote mentions crashes around floor 12, implying that sessions might last around 1-2 hours before issues arise. The fourth quote highlights the presence of a challenging post-game dungeon, suggesting significant endgame content.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game starts fun with its cute story and character designs but becomes repetitive and tedious after a few hours due to lackluster gameplay mechanics and progression.
  - Stance: Fun then drops
  - Anchor: Enjoying the initial story and character designs
  - Time to anchor: 0h 30m
  - Friction: Repetitive and tedious dungeon crawler; Lack of character progression; Resetting of levels after leaving a dungeon; Difficulty spike at the last boss
  - Unlock drivers: Cute story and character designs
  - Conditions: Enjoying the story and character designs initially; Playing in short sessions to avoid repetitive gameplay
- Player Archetypes:
  - Grind-Focused Builder (sale)
    - Motivation: Character progression and gear optimization.
    - Playstyle: Grinding and strategic item management.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: grinder; builder
    - Reference games: Neptunia; Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
  - Dungeon-Crawler Nostalgic (buy)
    - Motivation: Nostalgia and relaxation.
    - Playstyle: Casual and nostalgic dungeon crawling.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: old-school player; casual gamer
    - Reference games: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon; Shiren the Wanderer
  - Story-Driven Cultural Enthusiast (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Engaging story and cultural elements.
    - Playstyle: Story-focused and culturally appreciative.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: story lover; cultural enthusiast
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Fun and varied gameplay mechanics (weight 0.43): The gameplay mechanics are described as fun and rich, with a variety of items and mechanics that keep the game interesting and engaging.
- Charming and cute character art (weight 0.38): The character art is noted for being cute and charming, with adorable and moe character designs that players find appealing.
- Amusing dungeon crawler elements (weight 0.33): The game is described as an amusing and lighthearted dungeon crawler with roguelike elements, providing a fun and engaging experience.
- Engaging and well-developed story (weight 0.3): The game features a story that is frequently praised for its quality, depth, and enjoyable narrative. Players appreciate the strong story writing and plot development.
- Exceptional music and soundtrack (weight 0.27): The game's music and soundtrack are highly praised for their quality and enjoyability, contributing significantly to the overall experience.
- Neat and unique UI design (weight 0.15): The UI design is praised for its simplicity, clarity, and unique features, adding to the overall user experience.
- Beautiful artwork and voice acting (weight 0.09): The game features beautiful 2D artwork and luxurious voice acting, enhancing the visual and auditory experience.
- Enjoyable and upbeat dialogue (weight 0.09): The dialogue in the game is described as enjoyable, fun, and upbeat, adding to the overall charm and appeal.
- Challenging post-game dungeon (weight 0.08): The post-game dungeon is noted for its size and challenge, providing additional content for players to enjoy.
- Excellent port with no issues (weight 0.08): The game is praised for being an excellent port with no problems, ensuring a smooth gaming experience.
- Frequent discounts and low price (weight 0.08): The game is often available at a discounted price, making it an attractive purchase for players looking for value.

Common complaints:
- Harsh death penalties (weight 0.33): Players frequently lose all equipped items, gear, and levels upon death, which can be frustrating and discouraging.
- Frustrating RNG mechanics (weight 0.26): The game relies too much on RNG, which can be frustrating and feel unfair to players.
- Repetitive gameplay (weight 0.26): The game features repetitive map patterns and exploration, making the dungeon crawling tedious and boring.
- Level resets after dungeons (weight 0.24): Players start at level 1 every time they enter a dungeon, which resets after leaving, making progression feel pointless.
- Limited inventory space (weight 0.19): The game has insufficient inventory space, making item management tedious and frustrating.
- Unclear game mechanics (weight 0.15): The game mechanics are poorly explained, leading to confusion and frustration among players.
- Awkward controls (weight 0.12): The controls are difficult to handle and feel awkward, affecting the overall gameplay experience.
- Lack of meaningful checkpoints (weight 0.09): Dungeons have no meaningful checkpoints, forcing players to restart from the beginning every time, which is frustrating.
- Useless items and content bloat (weight 0.08): Many items in the game are useless or pointless, leading to content bloat and a less enjoyable experience.
- Companion AI issues (weight 0.08): The companion AI has issues and can be annoying, affecting the overall gameplay experience.
- Janky and unpolished gameplay (weight 0.08): The gameplay is described as janky and not well-polished, leading to a frustrating experience.
- Difficult combat and unreadable text (weight 0.08): The combat is too hard and features unreadable combat text, making it difficult to enjoy.
- Companion eats important items (weight 0.08): The companion, Kuu, might eat important items at inconvenient times, causing frustration.
- Limited save system (weight 0.08): The game's save system is restrictive, with temporary saves being deleted once the game starts.

Gameplay feedback:
- Dungeon crawling focus (weight 0.69): The game is centered around dungeon exploration with procedurally generated dungeons, turn-based combat, and a focus on items and inventory management.
- RNG-based mechanics (weight 0.34): The game includes random elements for weapons, abilities, and floor debuffs, which can lead to frustration due to the heavy reliance on RNG.
- Permadeath and item loss (weight 0.23): Upon death, players lose all gathered items and levels, adding a high-stakes element to the gameplay.
- Crafting and equipment enhancement (weight 0.22): Players can craft items and enhance their equipment, including weapons and shields, to progress and strengthen their characters.
- Inventory and resource management (weight 0.2): The game features limited inventory space and requires careful management of resources and items to progress.
- Level reset mechanics (weight 0.2): The game resets the player's level to 1 upon entering or completing a dungeon, adding a layer of challenge.
- Mystery Dungeon-style gameplay (weight 0.18): The game follows the 'Mystery Dungeon' type of gameplay, similar to games like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, with exploration and roguelike elements.
- Hunger mechanics (weight 0.13): The game includes a hunger system, which is managed by feeding the pet Kuu and is tied to Kuu's Kindness meter.
- Turn-based combat (weight 0.08): Combat in the game is turn-based, requiring strategic planning and careful use of items and equipment.
- Challenging gameplay (weight 0.07): The game is known for its difficult and challenging gameplay, requiring players to use strategy and careful planning.
- Japanese roguelike style (weight 0.07): The game adopts a Japanese approach to the roguelike genre, incorporating elements typical of Japanese-style roguelikes.
- Visual novel elements (weight 0.07): The game includes elements of visual novels, adding a narrative layer to the gameplay.

Performance notes:
- Minor graphical and interface bugs (weight 0.17): There are some minor graphical bugs and interface issues, including camera glitches and the game window remaining open after closing the game. These bugs are less severe but still noticeable.
- Positive feedback on port and controller (weight 0.17): Some players report that the game port is well done and that the controller works perfectly. These aspects of the game are functioning as expected.
- Memory allocation errors (weight 0.16): Players report memory leaks and out-of-memory errors, which cause the game to crash or close unexpectedly. These errors are frequent and disruptive.
- Progress loss due to crashes (weight 0.09): Players report losing significant progress due to game crashes. This issue is particularly frustrating as it affects the overall gaming experience.
- Performance issues on older hardware (weight 0.09): The game experiences performance issues, including slow gameplay and crashes on startup, particularly on older hardware. This limits accessibility for some players.
- Game freezing on alt-tab (weight 0.05): The game freezes when players alt-tab out, which can be disruptive to the gaming experience.
- Hardware specifications mentioned (weight 0.04): Players mention specific hardware configurations, such as using a DirectX 12 card with an Intel Core i5. This information is useful for understanding the context of some issues.

Recommendations:
- Buy only on discount (weight 0.13): Many players suggest that the game is only worth purchasing when it is discounted, indicating that the full price may not be justified.
- Specific fanbase appeal (weight 0.12): The game is recommended for fans of Compile Heart games, Idea Factory/Compile Heart games, Ghostlight ports, and JRPGs. It caters to a specific niche audience.
- High difficulty level (weight 0.05): The game has a high difficulty level, which may not be suitable for all players. Potential buyers should be prepared for a challenge.
- Recommended for turn-based dungeon fans (weight 0.05): The game is particularly recommended for fans of turn-based dungeon games, suggesting it fits well within that genre.

Other player notes:
- Request for Japanese text (weight 0.05): Players have requested the inclusion of Japanese text in the game port. This suggests a desire for language options to cater to a broader audience.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.41): Players are primarily frustrated by frequent game crashes, which lead to lost progress and make the game unplayable. Additionally, unfair mechanics, harsh death penalties, and poor game design choices such as excessive dialogue and repetitive mazes contribute to this frustration.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.16): Players enjoy the game due to its charming writing, fun gameplay, and engaging story. The lovable characters, good music, and addictive gameplay mechanics also contribute to a positive experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.08): Disappointment stems from poor porting to PC, resulting in subpar performance compared to the Vita version. Players also express dissatisfaction with the weak story, character development, and overall lack of enjoyment in the gameplay.
- Joy (weight 0.07): Joy is derived from the game's beautiful voice acting, artwork, and funny storyline. The adorable character design and enjoyable music also contribute to a delightful experience.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.07): Players appreciate the game's visuals, music, voice acting, and gameplay systems. The cute content and lighthearted, enjoyable story also contribute to their liking of the game.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.05): Satisfaction comes from the enjoyable music, art, and story. Players also appreciate the quality of the port and the catchy start screen music.
- Amusement (weight 0.03): Amusement is derived from the silly storyline, cute characters, and unique gameplay elements like crafting curry in dungeons.
- Mixed feelings (weight 0.03): Players have mixed feelings due to the game's lovable characters and cute soundtrack, which are overshadowed by basic and repetitive gameplay. The high price point also contributes to these conflicting emotions.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.02): Nostalgia is felt by players who have enjoyed the game over a long period, reminiscing about their continued fun and positive memories.
- Boredom (weight 0.02): Boredom is caused by repetitive gameplay and unengaging dungeon crawling, which make the game feel tedious.
- Discomfort (weight 0.01): Discomfort arises from certain character designs and sexualization that some players find off-putting.
- Frustration (weight 0.01): Players are driven to frustration by the game's excessive randomness and restrictive mechanics.}