Preludes 12 for Soulframe is a very interesting update to talk about. On one hand, a lot of cool new systems were added, and an even cooler new weapon class was brought into the game (which I have become smitten with). But on the other hand, it also brought in monetization beyond the founders’ packs and made the Faction grind even more grindier. All while introducing a new hard mode that actually feels hard for good reasons.
The Introduction of the Capitalism Camel and Founder’s Packs
The community’s name, not mine. The Capilism Camel or Zenith is a vendor that lives specifically in the player’s Nightfold, or player hub. Zenith is where you can access the new Founders Packs to support Digital Extremes in their continued endeavors with Soulframe. The packs are adequately priced considering the modern economy and are stuffed with a lot of goodies, even premium currency. You do not see developers trying to keep things priced low these days. Kudos to Digital Extremes on this approach.
The highest tier, having the only notable Founder’s item, is an interesting choice, considering Founders can craft it for newer players after the Founder’s period ends. I have not been able to buy one yet, but I have seen plenty of players in social hubs with the items equipped, which is a good sign. Zenith’s shop in Soulframe is also filled with a lot more to purchase outside of the Founder’s packs. This, I thought, would have been gradually updated as it gets released to new platforms, such as Steam. Just to gauge what the community would think is best in the upcoming Preludes updates.
Everything in Zenith’s shop is priced pretty fairly, except for the currency used for transmog. I feel like if this is going to be monetized, it needs to enable an armor piece to be transmogable on any armor piece in the future, and not just one piece at a time.
Zenith’s Middleman in Soulframe
I understand fully that Digital Extremes needs to start making money from Soulframe. It was inevitable, seeing as it will be free to play and has a similar approach to monetization to Warframe. With all of that being said, some choices in the game right now feel affected by the monetization. Firstly is Avakot, the wandering sprodling vendor that sold items for in-game currency, or used to. As of the current version of Preludes 12, Avakot now sells at least 1 item in his inventory for premium currency. This was changed from his wares being mostly premium currency offerings before the current version.
I would prefer Avakot not having a premium currency offering at all, as new players could misunderstand what the item they’re buying is, and the pricing feels mathematically off when factoring in the free premium currency a new player is given. 52-56 arcs for an item when a player has 100 suggests they can only purchase one without visiting Zenith.
A Much Slower Faction Grind
The other big issue is just how grindy the faction system is now. If you are not playing the highest level Sparrow Tales, progression feels slow, and the cost for stuff from vendors also reflects that. In my time playing, I progressed from level 1 with Kith of Kings to level 3 in about 4 hours. All 4 hours were spent doing the highest level activities and having to repeat that to get to rank 4, and spending even longer getting to rank 5 is discouraging me, especially when this is just for one faction out of 3 in the game. Let alone what I would want to buy at rank 5 that I have my eyes on.
To break it down as best as I can:
- Rank 3-4 costs 20,000 reputation, and rank 4-5 costs 40,000 reputation. The item I want is Mora’s Hand, which is 28,500 reputation at Rank 5.
- The highest gain for reputation is a tier 3 Sparrow Tale at the highest level, where you can never tell what the level of the activity will be, with the reputation gain being 1100.
Considering just how tedious this grind looks on paper, coupled with the fact that I cannot gain reputation when doing the new cool sieges or killing the open world bosses, makes me feel discouraged due to the foreseen monotony. Especially when I know Mora’s Hand can just be bought from Zenith to avoid the grind altogether. When factoring in that this is the process for all 3 factions for the best stuff they offer? It feels like an artificially slow grind that needs to be revisited sooner rather than later.
Fast Travel is (Sort of) Here
One of my gripes with the exploration in Soulframe is that it’s very slow at times. Digital Extremes is alleviating this with a very limited fast travel option. Every day, after you finish the Bromius Fable, you can collect Wevetseeds that you can use to fast travel to certain world trees and faction enclaves. The animation is very cool and feels contextualized for the game world. No complaint there.
My complaints start with the fact that it is a daily collection system that only allows fast travel in a one-way trip approach. Getting 1-3 seeds means I can only fast travel to 3 destinations to alleviate the time to travel. I would much prefer the seeds be used to unlock fast travel as many times as you want in a single session, or unlock fast travel permanently at those world trees.
If we still do not have an ETA on when mounts are coming into Soulframe, then this system needs a rework to make it feel more useful. It just feels very limited right now.
Greatswords and Cogah (Cola) in Soulframe
Soulframe finally added a new weapon type to the game. That being greatswords, and they feel hilariously strong to use. I usually use caster weapons like the Erstroot or Odiac, but the Needleseye is slowly inching its way into my heart. My only complaints with the greatswords are as follows:
- The stagger build-up on enemies feels low.
- Throwing it does not guarantee a knockdown on at least weaker enemies (it’s a big freaking sword after all).
- The final combo swing leaves the player vulnerable for a second or two.
Finally, they added the Cogah hard mode. This hard mode sets enemies at the highest level possible and makes it so you take less damage, heal less over time, and your abilities recharge more slowly. I like this system a lot; it even changes the hue of the world to red. But certain bosses, like the Mendicant King, did not get the difficulty buff, and certain areas still spawn low-level enemies.
The coolest part of this is being able to farm new gear and Runes, which I will get to shortly. But my favorite part is that you can see boss placement on the map with the Cogah active to map out which boss you want to farm the most. This is a great touch and a great new system that I cannot wait to see more fleshed out in the future. Especially when it is the first time in a while that I felt scared playing the game. Seeing as dying means failing and wasting the Cogah.
Sieges and Runes
Systems that were added in Preludes 11 include Sieges and Runes. Sieges are a mission against an Ode fortress. In Preludes 11, it was limited to one location and did not offer any specific reward. Now this is being added to another location and no doubt more over time. When completing sieges, players will earn “infamy,” which does nothing right now, but I can foresee it being a way to spawn an assassination squad at random intervals, like in Warframe.
Runes are an interesting replacement for Idols, or ultimates that Pacts used to have. They are triggered by smiting an enemy and give a passive damage buff for a brief period of time. It is very easy to trigger in crowds of enemies, but you cannot smite most bosses, which makes Runes feel very situational. If you can build up a charge with smites and then use the Rune when the perfect opportunity comes into play, it would be a boon for boss encounters. I can tell the idea is to present a “moment of power”, but I would like to choose that moment.
Originally, I could not obtain a single rune until Preludes 12 came in and added more to the drop tables. They are a very unique take that is hard to judge fully at this time. But I welcome what may come for this system, similar to the Sieges.
Closing Remarks on Preludes 12 for Soulframe
Preludes 12 is, again, an interesting update. I do not hold any resentment for Digital Extremes setting up Zenith for the future. But I do dislike how factions feel grindier, knowing I can now spend to skip the system altogether. Let alone making Avakot into a middleman for the camel himself. I do still plan on picking up the Paragon pack, as I want to support Soulframe for the years to come. I missed out on the Founder’s program for Warframe and would rather not make the same mistake twice.
As for the gameplay-related systems, the fast travel system feels too limited and needs more work (maybe give us that mount in Preludes 13?). Greatswords are great fun, but need just a few more tweaks to make them perfect. I love my caster weapons, but the greatswords feel just as good to use. Props to the sound design and motion capture work for it, seriously. Finally, the Cogah, Siege, and Runes systems still feel in their infancy. So, when they get fleshed out in later updates, I will revisit how they feel overall.
I have enjoyed my time playing Preludes 12 altogether. I feel the sirens’ song of the Mendicant Kings’ greatsword calling me right now. Even when I have so much to balance, I still want to keep grinding in Soulframe. I just hope factions get a major overhaul for the future. In its current state, it is just not fun to engage in the long term.
Some Requests
- Allow for Virtues to be saved for loadouts. Having to change which Virtue I am attuned to in order to get the most out of a certain pact or weapon combo is time-consuming.
- Considering the cursor has a toggle for visibility, please allow us to lock onto enemies with it.
- Make it clearer how to change hair/eye combinations.
- Also, give us a way to see how much XP we earn; this has been missing since Preludes 10, for me at least. I am not sure if it is just hidden in a menu.
- Add a toggle to not show the “Mora Rises” inventory recap popup.
