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Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter by InXile [Complete; $4.3 million funded]

Raytow

Member
A rpg that has little to no combat(if the player so desires) is a good rpg, you can beat the final boss of PS:T talking to him, that is a good thing.
 
I always worry when I hear that battles have no tangible payoff.
There's no XP for specifically killing enemies, but resolving quests or challenges will be rewarded with appropriate XP and battles are a part of that. Remember also we use "Crisis" design that are a bit more diverse than just combat, and you may be able to find a non-combat solution to an encounter and still get equivalent XP.
 
A rpg that has little to no combat(if the player so desires) is a good rpg, you can beat the final boss of PS:T talking to him, that is a good thing.

This would be the greatest RPG of all time. A monstrously complex dialog tree that leads to defeating the final boss based on clues from the whole game.

*swoons*
*passes out*
 

Labadal

Member
It depends on how combat heavy the game is and how tedious the battle system is.

I agree with this. I don't mind no exp in combat, but the combat itself has to be good. There should also be loot rewards for beating enemies. Get equipment from armored enemies and ingredients from wild animals, demons and such.
 

duckroll

Member
Combat not being good is a problem of combat not being good though. If combat is bad and tedious, but offers exp, that doesn't make it suddenly worthwhile, it just mitigates a problem without directly addressing the issue.
 

Labadal

Member
Combat not being good is a problem of combat not being good though. If combat is bad and tedious, but offers exp, that doesn't make it suddenly worthwhile, it just mitigates a problem without directly addressing the issue.
I guess you're right. Planescape combat gave exp but I avoided it as much as possible because it wasn't that great.

If Wasteland 2 did not give combat exp, I might have tried to avoid some encounters. I already avoid every random encounter on the overworld map because I feel the combat is decent but not great.

In general, I think players tend to be more forgiving with a poor combat system if it gives exp. There's still a feeling of getting "rewarded" with every kill.

I don't mind either way (exp or not), as long as the design and systems are well thought out.
 

duckroll

Member
I don't think Shadowrun Returns has particularly interesting combat encounters though. There are a couple of good ones in Dragonfall, but the majority aren't really that engaging. Divinity OS had some really good tactical set ups purely for combat options, but the balance was rather shit at times.

In the end I want Torment to be like either. Based on the descriptions of their system design and the promises they're making about the encounters in the game, what I am expecting are much more scripted scenarios which don't necessarily have to be resolved by killing all foes even as a combat encounter. I want to see stuff where you can use your skills and abilities to influence the environment and trigger things which can change the nature of the encounter.

Stuff like a hostage situation, or being locked in a dungeon, or defending against an invasion, or needing to get into a museum to steal something. Such scenarios where the final objective is not to kill hostile involved, but killing every hostile involved could be one of several ways to meet that objective. Sometimes it might be more ideal, sometimes less ideal. I want combat to be used for encounters like that, rather than "there are 5 enemies in the room who you must kill before proceeding to the next area".
 

jb1234

Member
I don't get this sentiment.
Would you seriously want to dodge all the combat in the game if there is no XP reward? Rather, I'd probably dodge some battles that feel too intimidating and go for others I can reasonably try. I feel like that's how I'm supposed to approach a combat situation - Rather than always rushing in for that extra bit of XP.
There are plenty of incentives to battle in games - The fact that they're fun is enough to make me go at them pretty consistently. Story factors also come into play as well. XP for killing just makes combat slightly better than any other alternative.

Depends on the battles. There's plenty of games where battles are a slog and the only reason to bother with them is for the XP. A terrible battle system with no tangible rewards is a no-win scenario.
 
They did it because they already did the work creating a turn based game for Wasteland 2.
Not really. Not that it wasn't a factor, but by that same logic you could point out PoE had already done the work on RTwP that we could lean on. There were multiple factors going into the decision, including a backer-only vote.

It being Turn-Based does fit in well with the Crisis concept I mentioned above and that Purkake is alluding to. Combat will not just be you-hit-them they-hit-you, these encounters will be significantly more diverse and complex.
 

Labadal

Member
New Update: Elucidating Effort Efficiently
TTON_SunkenMarket_WIPRender.jpg
 

injurai

Banned
It says so on the image. :)

I mean that they won't be using 3D models for the game, this will become a painting. They are laying out the environments though this way.

In case anyone get's concerned over what they see. The actual content is stunning though.
 

Labadal

Member
I mean that they won't be using 3D models for the game, this will become a painting. They are laying out the environments though this way.

In case anyone get's concerned over what they see. The actual content is stunning though.

Yes, that's true. They are using stuff that are also used on Pillars of Eternity, after all.
 

Arulan

Member
Looking forward to reading the novella tonight. I thought the last one was pretty good, but this is a different author.
 

Arulan

Member
New video showing off the world and a bit of the combat as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybqE8FlLrqg

Oh man, that looks great. In particular they seem to have nailed the exotic, alien, and weird setting people expect with "Torment" in the title. It also looks like they're pushing PoE's engine further technically to be able to do things it wasn't capable of originally. I'll be interested to see how the turn-based combat plays out.
 

Arulan

Member
It looks like they're making intelligent decisions regarding character creation, although I suppose it depends on how it's implemented into the world, and whether it feels out of place or not. I can't say I'm familiar with Numenera's ruleset, but that's what a manual is for.
 

Labadal

Member
There's lots and lots of text. And the writing is top notch and this is only for creating your character.

I'm a bit teary eyed. I wish I hadn't tried it. There's so much to read. Atmosphere will be great. I love the style they went with for character creation. Fuck, why did I boot this thing up?
 

Musician

Member
I managed to die! Wonder if that still be there at release and if if it's more of an easter egg than anything. Have they discussed how death will be handled?
 
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