Cold Bed on Route has been updated to version 3.09.
The update includes the following changes:
Balance Adjustments
In the final battle against the Dog-Wolf, the restraint value when hitting with a thrown item or similar has been increased from 1 → 2.
(The restraint now lasts until the enemy takes two actions.)
UI Tweaks & Bug Fixes
Adjusted the timing of certain sound effects.
All actions on the start screen can now be performed using the keyboard.
Added a keyboard control guide to the upper-right corner of the start screen.
Adjusted the flower positions and hitboxes on the start screen to make Alstroemeria and Pomegranate easier to tap, as they were overlapping with other elements.
While several UI tweaks were made, the primary focus of this update is the balance adjustment in the final battle with Between Dog & Wolf.
There are three levels of difficulty in understanding the gimmick of the Dog & Wolf’s final battle:
“I have no idea what I’m supposed to do.”
“There’s something suspicious, but that can’t be it...”
“I know the answer, but I can’t pull it off.”
My initial concern was with level 1 — that players might have no foothold at all, no clue what to try, and nothing to latch onto even if they wanted to keep going. To prevent this, I tried to place appropriate hints.
However, based on player feedback, what actually occurred was mostly level 2 or 3. (These two are quite similar — the main difference being whether the player feels it’s unrealistic [2] or simply very difficult but achievable [3].)
Originally, the story was designed to progress whether or not the final battle objective was achieved. But later in development, I changed it so the story would only progress if the objective was achieved.
This decision was based on the assumption: “If the player can light the lamp, then they won’t fall into difficulty level 1.” I focused the balance around that.
And judging from the feedback, I believe that assumption was mostly correct.
However, difficulty levels 2 and 3 involve control inputs that aren’t typically used in the main part of CBoR, even though it’s not strictly an action game.
As a result, I decided that even for players who managed to light the lamp, the final battle’s difficulty may not be quite fair.
Therefore, I increased the initial restraint value.
While the change is just from 1 → 2, it allows for one additional "mistake" or action, which I believe will make a meaningful improvement to the difficulty level.