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[Toma]

After 9 hours, I finally reached the last level of the end-of-chapter1-dungeon.

*celebrates*

Admittedly, I was exploring some other places in the meantime, but still. And I might as well post another screenshot for the new page:

 

[fred]

I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!

(2 pages and I'm the only person to say this! PythonGAF, you disappoint me!!!)

 

[Toma]

I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!

(2 pages and I'm the only person to say this! PythonGAF, you disappoint me!!!)

I'm more of a C# guy.

 

[fred]

3!!! 3 pages!!!!

(It was worth a double post lol)

 

[Toma]

3!!! 3 pages!!!!

(It was worth a double post lol)

I prevented your double post

But yeah, the thread has 10k views or something, glad people are interested.

 

[Toma]

Wow, my item drops were pretty bad or mediocre so far, but this is probably the best item I've seen anywhere yet:

This were my old gloves:

And these are my fancy new gloves:

 

[Schopenhauer]

If you can look past all of the grammar and syntax errors I imagine this would be a fun game. I wasn't able to do that unfortunately.

 

[Cyrano]

If you can look past all of the grammar and syntax errors I imagine this would be a fun game. I wasn't able to do that unfortunately.

In a game with multiple books worth of text as well as being translated into English, even my OCD can forgive the occasional mistakes.

 

[Arulan]

I have no clue how I or most of my friends (even in the Indie thread) never heard of this game either. Really weird, I am guessing the negative voices about this game were too loud so that it never gathered a decent following?

Perhaps due to its long development time. I completely lost track of it.

I did read this review from RPG Codex which is fairly critical, although I haven't played any of it yet to assess anything.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=8538

 

[Toma]

Perhaps due to its long development time. I completely lost track of it.

I did read this review from RPG Codex which is fairly critical, although I haven't played any of it yet to assess anything.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=8538

As I said in the OP, the game has its fair share of issues, but all the features and mechanics still make for a very engaging experience if you are willing to look past that. One of the negatives that people often mention are the walls of text, but I think its actually refreshing to have such a well thought out story and story presentation. The game has its flaws, and some of those are rather big even, but the game still works overall.

 

[Arulan]

As I said in the OP, the game has its fair share of issues, but all the features and mechanics still make for a very engaging experience if you are willing to look past that. One of the negatives that people often mention are the walls of text, but I think its actually refreshing to have such a well thought out story and story presentation. The game has its flaws, and some of those are rather big even, but the game still works overall.

I certainly agree with you there.

 

[Toma]

Alright, phew. I am done with chapter 1 after 24 hours. There is still some smaller side quest stuff left to do in the mines, but I'll take care of that later and can finally stop my binge gaming session for now.

I gotta admit.. the way the game managed to present the story, how you got to know about any incidents and how it was resolved... was very, very satisfying. If I had paid $5 for that first chapter alone, I'd be a happy man already. 24 hours of extremely challenging, very rewarding and ultimately absolutely lovely orc slashing, exploration and witness torturing. There are a few more elements that the game throws at you while progressing through the story, but I dont want to spoil them here, just saying that the overall package of this game is utterly enchanting.

This one quickly ramps up to rank among my favourite RPGs ever <3

 

[Cydonian__Knight]

Thanks for all the impressions Toma! I think I'll give this one a go when I find the time. As much as I was put off by some of the mechanics, I really did like the setting and world it was building. It sounds like there's a gem here if you're willing to push through the difficulty.

 

[Lowmelody]

Sheeeeit the 'walls of text' aspect of this game has me yearning but the no pause during combat thing stops it dead in it's tracks for me. There is nary a game in this style I haven't played and in all of them I take my time, relax and drink in the setting step by step and an active combat system would be completely antithetical to my usual habits. It looks wonderful in every other way though.

 

[Toma]

Sheeeeit the 'walls of text' aspect of this game has me yearning but the no pause during combat thing stops it dead in it's tracks for me. There is nary a game in this style I haven't played and in all of them I take my time, relax and drink in the setting step by step and an active combat system would be completely antithetical to my usual habits. It looks wonderful in every other way though.

Apparently there is a pause during combat option, but its not very well integrated. First of all its set to the pause/break key and secondly there is no way to distinguish the orders you gave to your companions. You basically just need to make sure to click/order the right thing before you unpause the game. As I said... not every well integrated , but I started using it at the end of chapter 1, so it does work at least.

 

[cheststrongwell]

Went to buy this on Steam after reading the OP, only to find that I already own it. I don't even remember buying it.

 

[Lowmelody]

Apparently there is a pause during combat option, but its not very well integrated. First of all its set to the pause/break key and secondly there is no way to distinguish the orders you gave to your companions. You basically just need to make sure to click/order the right thing before you unpause the game. As I said... not every well integrated , but I started using it at the end of chapter 1, so it does work at least.

Thank you for that insight. That does interest me as I can just rebind the break key with my mouse driver. Considering that was essentially my only worry I will definitely give the game a try!

 

[Toma]

Went to buy this on Steam after reading the OP, only to find that I already own it. I don't even remember buying it.

Go do the next step of downloading the game instead then. The third time's the charm and then once it happens again you might actually start it up

 

[Sendero]

I got this game from a raffle here and, if any, the wall of texts it's is main draw. As I said before, it's not Planescape level (lots of typos as well), but the sheer work put on the background mythos is commendable. And some of the dialogues/reactions are genuinely engaging.

This is the kind of game that would deserve a HD reboot version with a modern combat scheme, customizable UI/controls, and specially a more usable Journal/Quest tracker, because the one included is pretty poor, by any possible standard.

The scenery/background images are quite evocative. It's how I imagined that a proper Diablo RPG would look. A shame that it's a relatively unknown title.

 

[dream]

Went to buy this on Steam after reading the OP, only to find that I already own it. I don't even remember buying it.

Weird, me too. Not only do I already own it, but I have it installed. I wonder where this came from.

edit: ooh, the Bundle Stars Retro Bundle.

 

[Concept17]

Debating on this. I haven't really been into these types of games in the past, but I just tried the demo for Avadon: The Black Fortress, and am digging it. Trying decide which game to get between the two. Anyone played both?

 

[mattiewheels]

Wish this had a Mac version. It looks like my Mini could run it as opposed to anything else I can buy on steam.

 

[SpaceShark]

This game has been through the GOG Summer Sale Flash Deal rotation a few times for $3-4, so it might come up there again. Just an FYI for those that prefer the DRM-free option.

I ummed-and-ahhh'd about buying this game a few times from GOG, but I realised I've got heaps of other old school PC RPGs I've bought and haven't played yet (BG2, IWD 1&2, PS:T). Glad to hear people like it. I'll keep it on my wish list for some other time.

 

[Cyrano]

This game has been through the GOG Summer Sale Flash Deal rotation a few times for $3-4, so it might come up there again. Just an FYI for those that prefer the DRM-free option.

I ummed-and-ahhh'd about buying this game a few times from GOG, but I realised I've got heaps of other old school PC RPGs I've bought and haven't played yet (BG2, IWD 1&2, PS:T). Glad to hear people like it. I'll keep it on my wish list for some other time.

It's probably better than about half the games you mentioned, but I'm gonna stay mum on which half.

 

[SpaceShark]

It's probably better than about half the games you mentioned, but I'm gonna stay mum on which half.

You monster.

 

[Toma]

You monster.

To be fair, I wasnt particularly fond of the Icewind Dale games either, they never felt as cohesive or interesting as BG and P:T.

 

[SpaceShark]

To be fair, I wasnt particularly fond of the Icewind Dale games either, they never felt as cohesive or interesting as BG and P:T.

Ha, no, I meant that he didn't specify which games were not as good as Inquisitor.

Spoiler

I did guess he meant IWD 1&2 though, as I can't imagine anyone claiming Inquisitor is better than BG2 and/or PS:T.

 

[Toma]

Ha, no, I meant that he didn't specify which games were not as good as Inquisitor.

Spoiler

I did guess he meant IWD 1&2 though, as I can't imagine anyone claiming Inquisitor is better than BG2 and/or PS:T.

Indeed, but I really am surprised by how much I like it. Too bad the devs kinda failed with some mechanics and slightly more humane balancing, because this game could definitely be in a list among those genre greats otherwise.

 

[Iztli]

NJ OP! you made me buy it >:O

I'll play it once I'm done with Shadowrun Returns.

 

[Cyrano]

Ha, no, I meant that he didn't specify which games were not as good as Inquisitor.

Spoiler

I did guess he meant IWD 1&2 though, as I can't imagine anyone claiming Inquisitor is better than BG2 and/or PS:T.

E3 Memes aren't old yet, right?

 

[Napalm_Frank]

Bought it from Steam sale. I'll give it a spin and even if I don't like it this is just the type of game I'm more than happy to support.

 

[Drake]

Fuck it, i bought it. With the money I had in my wallet from trading cards the game cost less then 2 bucks. Even if I don't like it it's no big loss. Installing it now.

 

[Toma]

Fuck it, i bought it. With the money I had in my wallet from trading cards the game cost less then 2 bucks. Even if I don't like it it's no big loss. Installing it now.

Post some impressions later or feel free to ask for some advice if needed.

 

[EastOfEden]

Wall of text impressions below, I'm a bit over 2/3rds through the game.

I bought this game a while ago as PLvsAA was leaving me wanting more olde-worlde witch hunt stuff. I really loved the first 75% of the first act (out of 3 btw, not 6 I'm pretty sure). I was super pumped for the story and detective work etc etc. However, maybe 25 hours or something I began realising it's really not as deep or well written as I hoped it would be. The pacing is terrible - the finale of act 1, I had already worked out the culprits and how they did it hours before I had enough evidence to burn them, and when that time came there were not really any more twists except one minor occurrence that felt like a cop-out. The actual trials are just confirming you have enough evidence, no logic or thinking required, really. Gathering evidence is basically just getting a generic quest from a NPC "kill an orc leader", "rescue my daughter", "get me a rare herb" and then finding a bit of evidence at the end of the dungeon.

Getting testimonies from witnesses is slightly more interesting but the more you talk to people the less they felt like real people. Almost all the villagers seem to have the same mindset on many matters and say the same thing except worded slightly differently (unless it's related to a quest they're giving you). In the second town I'm pretty sure when I asked about shops, every single villager used the phrase "and there's Alfonso, if you don't mind where the goods come from" - very immersion breaking and annoying.

As for gameplay, well, you have to do SO much grinding to not get killed every 3 seconds, especially in Act 2 onwards. Like more than any game I've played before (admittedly I haven't played that many RPGs in this style). And the stamina thing is so ridiculous I've had to resort to cheats.

I've got up to somewhere in the early stages of Act 3, so the plot could suddenly get amazing, but it's currently following the same repetitive format as the first 2 acts... still, I think I'll attempt to finish it one day anyway.

tl;dr: Don't buy this game if you were interested in the world/writing/story/characters, however the gameplay might be good for hardcore RPG fans who don't mind grinding.

 

[Toma]

Wall of text impressions below, I'm a bit over 2/3rds through the game.

I bought this game a while ago as PLvsAA was leaving me wanting more olde-worlde witch hunt stuff. I really loved the first 75% of the first act (out of 3 btw, not 6 I'm pretty sure). I was super pumped for the story and detective work etc etc. However, maybe 25 hours or something I began realising it's really not as deep or well written as I hoped it would be. The pacing is terrible - the finale of act 1, I had already worked out the culprits and how they did it hours before I had enough evidence to burn them, and when that time came there were not really any more twists except one minor occurrence that felt like a cop-out. The actual trials are just confirming you have enough evidence, no logic or thinking required, really. Gathering evidence is basically just getting a generic quest from a NPC "kill an orc leader", "rescue my daughter", "get me a rare herb" and then finding a bit of evidence at the end of the dungeon.

Getting testimonies from witnesses is slightly more interesting but the more you talk to people the less they felt like real people. Almost all the villagers seem to have the same mindset on many matters and say the same thing except worded slightly differently (unless it's related to a quest they're giving you). In the second town I'm pretty sure when I asked about shops, every single villager used the phrase "and there's Alfonso, if you don't mind where the goods come from" - very immersion breaking and annoying.

As for gameplay, well, you have to do SO much grinding to not get killed every 3 seconds, especially in Act 2 onwards. Like more than any game I've played before (admittedly I haven't played that many RPGs in this style). And the stamina thing is so ridiculous I've had to resort to cheats.

I've got up to somewhere in the early stages of Act 3, so the plot could suddenly get amazing, but it's currently following the same repetitive format as the first 2 acts... still, I think I'll attempt to finish it one day anyway.

tl;dr: Don't buy this game if you were interested in the world/writing/story/characters, however the gameplay might be good for hardcore RPG fans who don't mind grinding.

I only finished the first part in the first village and surrounding areas with the mines, but even if it takes a nosedive from here, I was still rather impressed with the story presentation. Sure, the story parts werent as interactive as they could have been, but the story/world is far from being uninteresting. I mean, opinions and all but I did enjoy the game for the world/writing/story/characters, and Cyrano seemed to agree with me there so I am sure there is an audience that likes the way the game approaches its story and mechanics.

Still good to hear some other opinions on it And I hope I wont feel too let down on the next parts of the game, maybe the first village got a bit more care than the rest, but even then that part definitely was already worth the time and money investment to me.

Also, why did you think the Stamina thing was ridiculous? Did it feel ridiculous to you all the time? I never had any issue with it at all and I had more than enough stamina potions all the time. I am really curious why people keep saying that, dealing with the stamina is super easy so far.

 

[EastOfEden]

I only finished the first part in the first village and surrounding areas with the mines, but even if it takes a nosedive from here, I was still rather impressed with the story presentation. Sure, the story parts werent as interactive as they could have been, but the story/world is far from being uninteresting. I mean, opinions and all but I did enjoy the game for the world/writing/story/characters, and Cyrano seemed to agree with me there so I am sure there is an audience that likes the way the game approaches its story and mechanics.

Still good to hear some other opinions on it And I hope I wont feel too let down on the next parts of the game, maybe the first village got a bit more care than the rest, but even then that part definitely was already worth the time and money investment to me.

Also, why did you think the Stamina thing was ridiculous? Did it feel ridiculous to you all the time? I never had any issue with it at all and I had more than enough stamina potions all the time. I am really curious why people keep saying that, dealing with the stamina is super easy so far.

Yeah, well I thought it was really interesting as well but the more I played the more generic fantasy-world tropes came up and the more bland all the NPCs felt... Like yeah, maybe it's just my personal taste but I'd be interested to hear your opinions when you're up to where I'm at.

Party members kept using up all my stamina potions with auto-use potions on (too time-consuming to do it manually) and I didn't have enough money to keep buying tonnes... Maybe I was just getting my priorities wrong when buying stuff?

 

[Cyrano]

Yeah, well I thought it was really interesting as well but the more I played the more generic fantasy-world tropes came up and the more bland all the NPCs felt... Like yeah, maybe it's just my personal taste but I'd be interested to hear your opinions when you're up to where I'm at.

Party members kept using up all my stamina potions with auto-use potions on (too time-consuming to do it manually) and I didn't have enough money to keep buying tonnes... Maybe I was just getting my priorities wrong when buying stuff?

Yeah, potions aren't really optimal past a certain point, where equipment and magic become much better at managing it. It's kind of a transfer though, where the early game sees you using potions out of necessity, due to not having much, the later game expects more equipment-based management of it.

I think part of this might just be the game designers trying to deal with the age-old "how do we make consumables that players won't hoard?"

 

[Toma]

Yeah, well I thought it was really interesting as well but the more I played the more generic fantasy-world tropes came up and the more bland all the NPCs felt... Like yeah, maybe it's just my personal taste but I'd be interested to hear your opinions when you're up to where I'm at.

Party members kept using up all my stamina potions with auto-use potions on (too time-consuming to do it manually) and I didn't have enough money to keep buying tonnes... Maybe I was just getting my priorities wrong when buying stuff?

I always have my party members set to not use any potions, since I can pretty reliably deal with almost any enemy setup without using stamina potions on my allies so far. I have stamina regen equipment on myself, so that my stamina rarely is an issue and for harder fights I manually gave 1-2 stamina potions per fight to each ally, which is hardly a big deal. For smaller fights, it rarely mattered whether the companions were sometimes not on full stamina and the only time I set my allies to drink potions automatically was during the final boss fight in act 1. Sure, they were drinking a ton then, but it also makes the game way easier since you just stand there and keep whittling at the enemy HP without any sort of influence since everybody heals themselves. I sort of consider the "allies drink automatically"-mode a cumbersome easy mode if you just fill up your inventory with potions and run with it, but for most encounters its not even necessary. Have a spell to regenerate stamina, stamina regen equipment and the occasional stamina potion for allies when its a harder fight. Otherwise the non-stamina attacks were fine.

I can imagine how the game would be quite a bit more boring if I just relied on auto-potion with full inventories though, but its also quite a bit more expensive and cumbersome to fill up your inventory every time.

We'll see if the next act requires more of that auto-potion usage, but I can see now where some of those people are coming from. If I had set auto-potion to on, I'd have used less skills and needed way less ideas to deal with certain situations. The game would definitely be a lot less enjoyable if I played that way. Lets hope the rest of the game doesnt force me to do that.

 

[EastOfEden]

Hmm okay, well it's good that you guys found a way around that, that should be helpful for those who are just starting out (who have more patience than me).

 

[Toma]

Hmm okay, well it's good that you guys found a way around that, that should be helpful for those who are just starting out (who have more patience than me).

Well, I mean its fair criticism if players feel like they need to play this way. The game does a poor job of showing alternative solutions to any given problem, it definitely should have a better exposition to game mechanics, especially if so many people complain about these issues.

 

[DryvBy]

This looks like Baldur's era game. Sold and bought. Thanks for the impressions!

 

[Toma]

This looks like Baldur's era game. Sold and bought. Thanks for the impressions!

Yep, thats where it belongs, the game really shows it was made by people who loved those games.

 

[Foofaraw]

Oh man, that pack you posted looks great, as does this game. You also reminded me that I have yet to start playing Arcanum. I think I have a lot of great isometric times ahead of me.

Thanks so much!

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

What kind of text walls are we talking? Well-written? Or at least evocative like a good dungeon master, the way Spiderweb games are?

They aren't horrible but everyone not pertaining to that quest question will give pretty much a variation of the same answer.

 

[adampa1006]

For just a little over $3 on steam? Bought. Thanks.

 

[Soph]

Just installed, missed this one. Won't read through the topic before getting my first impressions ^^

 

[Toma]

What kind of text walls are we talking? Well-written? Or at least evocative like a good dungeon master, the way Spiderweb games are?

I thought the text did a good job at immersing you into the story, but yeah as the guy above me said, people usually tend to repeat similar stories even if its a different text.

 

[creyas]

Bought from Bundle Stars. It's the deluxe edition and they give out individual keys.

 

[Cyrano]

I thought the text did a good job at immersing you into the story, but yeah as the guy above me said, people usually tend to repeat similar stories even if its a different text.

Yep. It can get a bit repetitive, but it's not terribly unusual in these kinds of games. I would say their canned responses are more interesting than most isometric RPGs. Their dynamic text is by far more interesting than pretty much any isometric RPG I've played though. Planescape: Torment is the creme de la creme, and I would say at times it's on par with Planescape, though with considerably more seriousness. Alternatively, I would say it's more of a medieval version of SMT: Nocturne in terms of text distinction (though again, with WAY more text).

 

[Toma]

Yep. It can get a bit repetitive, but it's not terribly unusual in these kinds of games. I would say their canned responses are more interesting than most isometric RPGs. Their dynamic text is by far more interesting than pretty much any isometric RPG I've played though. Planescape: Torment is the creme de la creme, and I would say at times it's on par with Planescape, though with considerably more seriousness. Alternatively, I would say it's more of a medieval version of SMT: Nocturne in terms of text distinction (though again, with WAY more text).

I think someone described it fittingly as proper Diablo RPG from the setting.