I wasn't a fan of the scadutree fragments in Shadow of the Erd tree, the level design was too obtuse and hard to navigate which made exploring for me un fun but I've got into Wo Long Fallen Dynasty where they have a similar design choice and now I get it.
In this game you kill enemies and plant flags around the map which raises your morale number which increases damage dealth and decreases damage taken. It allows you to be on par with enemies which have morale numbers too and essentially works as a smaller scale leveling system for you to grind to beat higher level enemies in the level or the end level boss. You need to defeat enemies to raise that number, the planted flags then cement you from falling to a lower number if you die, acting as a base level. It makes you explore the whole level, kill all enemies and is extremely satisfying. It works here because it's linear focused as where it fell short of the mark in Shadow of the Erd Tree because of the open world. And it's completely up to you to engage with the system, you can gain half the flags, get your number to something that seems high, try the end level and boss and then if you end up slamming your head up against the wall over and over you can go back, grab all the flags an dry the boss again. Nice and flexible.
What From Soft should have done is tie scadutree fragments to enemy defeats as they did with the Hippos and in Sekiro where they tied leveling up to mini bosses. The system works and after playing Lies of P recently, getting disillusioned with the game in it's last quarter and just B lining it to bosses, it prevents that. It's a very simple yet effective way of making sure you are leveled for a boss but it comes with draw backs. For one the RPG mechanics seem less important. In sekiro it causes mini bosses to be difficulty blocks from leveling up to beat a main boss. In Shadow of the Erd tree it forces one to use a guide since the map is so overly complex. In Wo long fallen dynasty, it makes you wonder if you beat the boss because you essentially over leveled on morale. Would it be more of an accomplished to have beaten the boss with no morale for instance.
What are your thoughts on Scadutree fragment design, it's been here for a while in the genre and other games like Shadow of Mordor but only really came to the surface after FromSoft added it in post game launch which made it feel new and unfamiliar. For me I think Sekiro got it the most right although they ripped out the RPG mechanics to make it work, maybe Souls games need to get away from the RPG leveling mechanics and adopt this system in full without having a toe in both waters. If Sekiro is anything to go by then it makes for a far more fair, far more balanced and clean experience.
Last edited by LegitHyperbole - on 05 August 2024
