Phasmophobia | v0.10 Update Live

[Moonface]

I thought flashlights slowed down sanity drain similar to having a light on in a room?

I need to go find a list of what all the new equipment tiers do that weren't revealed in a preview so I can give better thoughts on that stuff. I had no clue about what changes had been made to the crucifix until reading your post @Dragon Lord.

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Just updated my game and I suggest everyone loads their game up after updating just to get the shader compilation to have fully run since the game chugs quite a bit when it's doing that for the very first time. I didn't have many options for my player tag customization except for all the colours and two extra textures, so I went with purple and the third texture option (it looks like swirls).

Played the tutorial and it's way better than the original one. I think out of everything at Tier 1 the thermometer is my least liked because it takes a while for it to read a temperature. Tier 1 sanity medicine is a bit rough too because it takes time to increase your sanity, but that one doesn't bother me much. The rest of them felt fine and didn't elicit an immediate thought of "okay I need to get this upgraded quickly" like the thermo did.

I was hoping to get to see full explanations of all of the items and their tiers, but anything locked entirely isn't viewable at all and the items that are unlocked to let you open up the tier list are a bit hard to read due to the faded text and padlock icon covering it, so I guess I'll have to find somewhere else to find the info to see what the new stuff does.

I think it would be nice if the tutorial maybe covered cursed items and cursed hunts, even if it just has a table to show you all the items but you can't use them to find out what they do, and it just explains what a cursed hunt is so you're aware of it. I think if I had no clue cursed items were in the game I'd be unlikely to ever notice them, especially small stuff like the tarot cards and the music box.

[Moonface]

Phasmophobia | Shop UI Update W.I.P.
The lead developer has shared initial mock-up images for the planned changes to the existing shop and loadout UI, which has been widely criticized ever since it debuted. Their intention is to receive feedback from the community on the visual mock-ups before committing to making any changes to ensure that the UI update is as good as it can be and avoids creating a new slew of issues or failing to address existing ones.



What do you think of this current proposal for a new shop/loadout UI?

[Moonface]

Console Versions of Phasmophobia Delayed
Well, no need to continue wondering if the console versions of this game are going to be in a good state when they drop at the end of this month and potentially suffer from the same roughness the PC version is currently having since the Ascension update dropped, as the console versions have been delayed until the week of Halloween.

As detailed in the linked post, a fire recently broke out at the studio which has obviously caused issues with development. However, the console versions were also suffering from unexpected development issues as well anyway, so even without the fire it's likely a delay would've still happened, just not as severe.

The week of Halloween is also their aim for the new console release window; it is not guaranteed and is still subject to change.

[Dragon Lord]

Not surprised by the delay. Won't be surprise if it gets delayed again. As I've mentioned before during our play sessions, I don't know if anyone on the team has any experience with porting to a console, so I have to wonder if they're struggling big time trying to get it to work.

So the weekly challenge for this past week was interesting. If you remember, the previous week was "The Tortoise and the Hare: Tortoise," in which the player was slightly faster and the ghost was slow. Well, this week was a flip of that, it was "The Tortoise and the Hare: Hare," in which the ghost was fast and the player was slower.

The only problem was that they made it on normal Professional mode, so all three evidences were present + full starting sanity + fully working Sanity pills. All equipment was Tier 2. I was able to clear all three runs of the challenge without being hunted once by the ghost. One of my runs was even a Demon who just decided not to use its ability to hunt at any time. So while the ghost was definitely a huge threat if it hunted... it was just in a mode where it couldn't hunt. I'm surprised they didn't make it on Nightmare or Insanity mode just to increase the danger level (faster sanity drain, unable to track sanity, lower starting sanity on Insanity mode).

I mean, I'm glad in the end, because I was able to get it done quickly and get my delicious 5,000 exp and money, which shot me up to level 20 so I have Tier 2 Flashlights now at least (unfortunately they're not very good though).

[Moonface]

I think trying to push out a major update alongside working on the console port was probably also a bad idea regardless of the experience of the team overall. You can't properly test the console versions when the game itself is constantly being changed by an actively developed update at the same time since there would be little point in porting the pre-Ascension update version when a lot of it would be replaced, and porting the in-progress Ascension update version sounds like a terrible idea to try and determine if a bug is related to the update or the console port. Sony can't even get a PC port of any of their games to work on day one and those games are already finished and have a way bigger team working on the PC version that is dedicated solely to that version.

When do challenges refresh again? If the flipped version of the "The Tortoise and The Hare" is still active maybe I'll see if I can do it solo just to get some easy XP, especially if hunts can be mostly avoided. Knowing there's a degree of safety that I can keep track of will probably keep my stress levels down and get me to take more than one step through the front door.

On the subject of the shop update, I still don't get why this game is trying to push Loadouts. I feel like what people bring is largely based on what other people are also bringing, so people are going to be selecting what to bring manually for more games than not. All Loadouts have ever done for me is make it a pain to figure out what I have and what is in the truck.

[Dragon Lord]

The weekly challenge resets on Sunday at around 8 PM Eastern time, I think.

The new one is brutal. It's a repeat one, but with the new item system it has made the challenge even more brutal than it was the first time around. You're in Prison with no breaker, no sanity, all Tier 1 items, ghost at 125% speed (I think, might be 150%). No Smudge Sticks, Sanity Pills that restore 0 Sanity, and I don't think you have Crucifixes either.

So you have absolutely zero defense against an extremely fast ghost that starts hunting you the moment you step into the Prison. Oh, also the Cursed Object is random and depending on which one you get, you can't even use it. Voodoo Doll, Board and Summoning Circle all require you to have Sanity in order to use them, which obviously you can't do when you start with 0 Sanity.

Not sure if Tarot Cards are an option. I'm assuming they didn't include them in the rotation because you could in theory just reset the map until you get them and draw a Sun card to restore your Sanity to 100% and negate the challenge for a brief period of time.

[Moonface]

Having a challenge where a hunt starts immediately, especially in a map like Prison, just sounds like a shit time to me. Feels like it'd be better to just take a wild guess at what ghost type it is as soon as you spawn in and just do that on repeat until you get it right three times given how few hiding spots there are in Prison.

[Dragon Lord]

Well, it'd be worth at least seeing the ghost hunting. Even though it's fast, you still should have enough time to get a look at it to try and see if it has any special tells. Such as how the Phantom blinks a lot and has long blinks when hunting, the Oni rarely blinks and is visible most of the time when hunting, the Obake shapeshifting during a hunt, etc.

It doesn't make the odds much better being able to eliminate guesses such as those, but it's something at least.

But yeah, even Insym who knows the game inside and out was pretty much like, "This challenge isn't worth doing. Just play normal games, this challenge is shit."

[Moonface]

I always forget that ghosts have hints to their type when hunting besides how fast their footsteps are. I guess it doesn't help I always hide like a bitch when a ghost starts hunting and never dare take a look at it, and if I am in a situation where I'm confronted by it in an open space (such as that one game we did together most recently where it spawned in the kitchen but I looped it around the island to get away) I'm more concerned about looking for the best way to escape rather than paying attention to what the ghost is specifically doing. I couldn't even tell you what model it's using let alone anything else when that happens.


Also, I just saw a comment from the lead developer that the lighting was updated to stop environments looking chrome-like (with exploit prevention from it being an unintended bonus), but the void levels of darkness weren't meant to be as bad as they are. Regardless of their reasoning (because I swear initially it was to also stop exploits yet now it's apparently just an extra bonus) they had this to say about when it'll be fixed:

We are working on some cool stuff that's more realistic for dark areas but that will come in a minor update soon, probably with the Shop redesign.

Hopefully whatever the fix is it includes lighting actually illuminating spaces better like it used to. I hate how light will just stop at doorways now and doesn't filter out into a space naturally like it sorta used to.

[Moonface]

Phasmophobia | Shop UI W.I.P. v3.1
Following feedback given for the first work in progress shop UI update, an entirely new approach has been put together taking the given feedback into account. Since the developer gave a lot of explanations in the Reddit post they made for this new version, it's simpler to just link to their post rather than just copy and paste it piece by piece here: https://reddit.com/r/PhasmophobiaGame/s/kzfP6wHcqx

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I really like this pitch a lot more than the last one. I've always hated the difficulty of distinguishing between the shop and the truck equipment so I'm happy to see them on entirely separate screens.

[Moonface]

Phasmophobia | Development Preview #15
I thought these previews were done since the release of the Ascension update, but I guess we're still getting them. This development preview covers the console release, Halloween event, and changes to the Maple Lodge Campsite map.

Console Update

• Unforeseen challenges in adapting the game for consoles, as well as adapting to remote working after a fire incident at their old office, has affected development time more than anticipated.
  
• The game's performance has been reviewed and optimized across all maps to ensure a seamless experience for console players and prepare the game for PlayStation VR2. This optimization has resulted in Maple Lodge Campsite having to be reworked with a completely new layout, which is detailed further below.
  
• No revised release date has been established yet but will be as soon as it's ready to share.
  

Maple Lodge Campsite Rework

• Maple Lodge Campsite was the first new location added when the team was first expanded. It was made reasonably quickly, and therefore had some issues regarding performance due to long sight lines, forcing the player to render many objects at once.
  
• With this in mind, CJ and new artist Zec have worked together to create a brand-new layout! It features a new reception building, more hiding spots, new decorative assets and better performance across the board.
  
• Reception Area
  
• Storage Area
  

Halloween

• This year for Halloween ghost hunters will be encouraged to create a potion in their very own cauldron, found in the reworked Maple Lodge Campsite location. Completing the event will reward players with a new ID card badge and a new trophy for their collection! - Preview
  
• Players will need to hunt down the recipe cards found in several other locations, then head back to the campsite and create their ghostly concoction. Additionally, both the campsite and lobby have been decorated with newly created spooky decorations for the seasonal period. - Preview
  
• The Halloween event will launch on or around the 26th of October, shortly after the developers return from TwitchCon Las Vegas, to ensure they are available to quickly hotfix any bugs that may arise during the first few days of play.
  

[Moonface]

Huh, so I didn't realize the game added Steam achievements and just took a look at them. The most painful ones seem to be the prestige achievements, just because of the amount of work that entails. The majority though are just going to be earned from playing the game normally, which is nice to see instead of them being used to entice people into playing the game in ways that the game itself doesn't encourage doing.
I wish I could see what the six hidden ones are though to give my thoughts on them. I'm guessing they're related to difficulty settings or something but it seems weird to hide that.

[Dragon Lord]

Yeah, I haven't looked at Phas lately and didn't know they finally added achievements as well. I'll have to take a look later. I guess it's not too surprising that they came around now, since they are required to have a list of trophies for the PlayStation version of the game when it releases.

Also, anyone want to go for the Halloween trophy on Sunday? I believe I saw that the event ends on the 13th, so Sunday would be the absolute last day we'd be able to go for it. Apparently it's super easy to get, because you don't even need to do anything with the ghost to get it. You can actually play custom difficulty and turn on Friendly Ghost and still get the trophy. Not sure if I'd personally want to do that and take the fun of the core game away, but it's an option if we wanted to just get it over with fast.

Odd though that they made this year's event/trophy not related to the ghost at all in a... game that's all about hunting a ghost.

[Moonface]

I'd be down to play this Sunday to do the Halloween stuff. I might see if I can tweak my game at all to make it run better this time, or perhaps finally get around to installing my SSD and running the game from that so I'm not stuck in loading purgatory all the time.

[Dragon Lord]

Sweet. I look forward to doing the event with you, then! I know it's a pretty easy one this year, so hopefully we can get it done pretty fast and then maybe do some serious games afterwards. Feels like it's been forever since we actually played any.