-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The 2015 RPG thread - A weak sequel but still a good year
- Thread starter Durante
- Start date
FlyingSaucer
Banned
It's prettier and even more packed with content, but it's still the Forgotten Realms which are an utterly boring setting.
Maybe you should have played Torment or Arcanum ?
hemtae
Member
The thing in the center has alt text of "Adventure Y".
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
It could be good! (But frankly, the engine is so far past its prime I doubt that without the nostaligia/writing of a BGII, I doubt the game is going to be worth a damn).
I mean, sure, I'll still buy it but I'm not expecting much.
I mean, sure, I'll still buy it but I'm not expecting much.
Basileus777
Member
Or they just let you import a level 20 character into SOA.
They'll probably retrofit some 3rd edition feats in, stuff you can unlock without leveling. Collect BeamdoG Points to level up new skills.
A new first person dungeon crawler just hit early access: Ruzar - The Life Stone.
Kind of strange that you only control 1 character, but it looks alright.
Kind of strange that you only control 1 character, but it looks alright.
More action rpg but during the steam sale I picked up Victor Vran which is due to go into full release this month. Made by the Tropico folks as well.
Fun game from what I've played, you can even play it with a controller too. I doubt it'll have the depth of say Grim Dawn but I've enjoyed the few hours I've spent with it. Just waiting for the full release soon
Fun game from what I've played, you can even play it with a controller too. I doubt it'll have the depth of say Grim Dawn but I've enjoyed the few hours I've spent with it. Just waiting for the full release soon
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Did y'all know Serpent in the Staglands was already released? I didn't. Did you also know that the game has a journal system but still requires you to take hand notes because it's like, "hardcore?" I didn't.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
I did know that it was released. I didn't know about the journal system.
At the current rate, I'll probably get around to actually playing it in 2017
I guess I missed it with the Batman hype. It's starting out okay, but it seems sort of choked with stuff that was implemented just for CodexCred. What are you currently playing?
Witcher 3. That game is long.
Also, I'm trying to finish Trails in the Sky since it feels like part 2 is finally coming up. Almost done with that one at least.
What are your thoughts on the game so far?
Pretty much first jRPG I've played which had no filler text. Each and every NPC text-box is relevant, and there's at .75 of Planescape of text in the game.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
Durante, why did you decide to skip Bloodborne? As a massive Souls fan, I was sure you'd be all over it.
Lanrutcon
Member
Wasn't there some kind of announcement cancelling Trails 2 for the PC?
Or am I delirious.
Basileus777
Member
You're delirious.
Lanrutcon
Member
Excellent.
Durante, since you're not reading RPS, this article about the recent adventure game revival vs RPG revival might interest you.
Richard Cobbett is a great writer, I'm missing his Crapshot PC Gamer column badly.
Richard Cobbett is a great writer, I'm missing his Crapshot PC Gamer column badly.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I can't speak for him but I'm pretty sure his reasons were:
1) No PS4
2) No magic
Which are both invalid reasons to not play the game, of course.
Delirious indeed. It's undergoing QA right now.
FlyingSaucer
Banned
Finally started playing Grimrock 2 and I'm almost surprised to see that the game is as good as the first one if not better; even the starting puzzles feel already clever (I've probably found everything in the starting zone, except for the key which would allow me to unlock a chest on the 'secret' beach).
I'm running the default group and if the skill choices seems pretty straightforward for my fighters (light and heavy weapon, respectively), I have not choosen yet for my alchemist (but alchemy seems to bring some nice bonus, and I don't use firearms very much yet) and my wizard (putting points in several schools ? Focusing on concentration ?)
I'm aleady addicted; what a lovely dungeon-crawling series the Grimrock games are. Even if the chances are low, I keep my fingers crossed for a third episode one day.
I'm running the default group and if the skill choices seems pretty straightforward for my fighters (light and heavy weapon, respectively), I have not choosen yet for my alchemist (but alchemy seems to bring some nice bonus, and I don't use firearms very much yet) and my wizard (putting points in several schools ? Focusing on concentration ?)
I'm aleady addicted; what a lovely dungeon-crawling series the Grimrock games are. Even if the chances are low, I keep my fingers crossed for a third episode one day.
Jag
Member
Try to figure out what bonuses you want and spec for those. The alchemist is weird though. Speccing for alch benefits helps in the long run. For combat, i specced him as firearms, but ended up using him more as a Row 2 melee reach dude. For the Wizard, make sure you put points in the spell schools. I found fire useful. Don't really find that many fire resistant creatures.
The puzzles eventually got way too tough for me. I ended heavily relying on a fantastic walkthrough from Gamepressure here. I finished the game, but only because of the walkthrough. I also suck at puzzles.
Maybe my impression is off, but most of the standard town NPC text seems to be filler. I do appreciate that NPC conversations update far more often than in most JRPGs to reflect the latest happenings, but I guess this is a major reason for them closing off return paths each chapter which is one of my biggest issues with the game.
Overall I like it a lot really, the battle system is the right mixture of quick and interesting, some of the encounters are a decent challenge, the orbment system is interesting and the story picks up now in the later chapters. My major problem with it are the easily missable, extremely time-limited optional sidequests, stuff like that which almost necessitates using some external source not to miss anything permanently is a big turn-off for me.
That wasn't bad. I especially like the point about the dream/goal/ultimate RPG, and how we're still way off that. Swen Vincke has basically been trying to make that game for his entire career, and while he might never get to actually achieve it, that ambition still shows in the games Larian makes. I don't think there's an equivalent to this for adventure games.
What the article seems to miss, or not get into enough at least, is that I feel like the set of goals for RPGs is also more diverse. There are the simulationists, which want to get as close as possible to simulating a real (or not necessarily real, but internally consistent) setting, there are the tactics/strategy focused gameplay theorists who want to devise a perfectly balanced ruleset which results in diverse and challenging encounters, and there are those which focus on writing, story or characters above all else. And of course, for an "ideal" RPG you'd probably want all of that!
And 3) None of the people I play Dark Souls with have a PS4.
So basically, I'd need to buy a console so that I can play a Souls game which doesn't feature my favourite 2 things in Souls games, magic and playing them with friends. At a time where I have 20+ excellent games I still need to finish or even start playing. Just doesn't seem like a good idea to me.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I'll play it with you ;_;
Dark_castle
Junior Member
Well Durante you're going to get a PS4 anyway for Nier 2, and I don't know magic being absent is a valid excuse to not play it.
FlyingSaucer
Banned
I'm sure Atelier Sophie will run beautifully on PS4 ;p
AntiFacebook
Member
Yeah,it's pointless to get a new system when you can barely manage playing everything you want on the systems you already own
FlyingSaucer
Banned
Xulima is currently on sales at -70% on GoG :
http://www.gog.com/news/blords_of_xulimab_a_70_bconcoursb
http://www.gog.com/news/blords_of_xulimab_a_70_bconcoursb
Jag
Member
AntiFacebook
Member
Those games pop up faster than i can beat them.
I'm honestly beginning to question whether I will ever play a game that isn't CRPG again.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Well, you can just skip Staglands. I haven't played such an overrate piece of crap in a long, long time. It's the emptiest, most content light game I think the Codex has ever hyped up. They got got by the graphics or something, because even Fallout 3 has more role-playing than this thing. You can't do shit it in. You walk from one place to another, pixel search for whatever triggers the ability to move onward and that's the whole game. Meanwhile, the economy is absolutely broken, clearly on purpose, to give players a "challenge."
Avoid this game unless you just need to get some cRPG cred over at the Codex or something.
Avoid this game unless you just need to get some cRPG cred over at the Codex or something.
Jag
Member
Any feedback on how it plays?
RandomSeed
Member
I'm so hyped for Shadowrun: Hong Kong coming out soon. I replayed Returns and Dragonfall in anticipation. The story cinematics will be a nice touch, and the improved matrix makes it tempting to make a Decker for my first run, but I'll probably stick with a mage like I usually do in RPGs. Hyyyyyyyype.
That is disappointing. All the talk about it being the next Darklands had me looking forward to that game.
FlyingSaucer
Banned
I didn't realize SR Hong Kong was set to be released so soon. Very hyped too.
Looks really disappointing. I was hesitating between Xulima and Staglands for my next CRPG when I eventually finish Grimrock 2 but it's no longer the case.
Looks really disappointing. I was hesitating between Xulima and Staglands for my next CRPG when I eventually finish Grimrock 2 but it's no longer the case.
RandomSeed
Member
I see they just updated their kickstarter page to say they are announcing the release date next week, along with some screenshots. Sounds like things are going great, so I doubt there will be a long wait at all.
Damn, that is a bummer.
Hopefully Shadowrun Hong Kong delivers. Release date should get announced next week.
Xulima is a bore. Interesting for the first few hours, but it's nothing but tedium after that.
otoh Staglands is a pretty unique game. Plenty of flaws to note, but it nails the setting, and character development is interesting as well, where you have a mix of combat skills, spells, and seemingly non-combat utilities with plenty of upsides in battle to mix and go. The combat is clunk but the back-end stuff is fun enough to fiddle with, somewhat like Fallout. And from what I played, the economy is stacked in the player's favor, so it's still broken, but it's certainly not challenging.
It's actually more like Fallout and Fallout 2 than Underrail, oddly enough, though the latter is the better game. The writing tends to be sparse but it's expected from a two-man dev team.
Jag
Member
Xulima can be a bit grindy towards the middle, but I enjoyed it tremendously. It hit all the old school turn based RPG buttons but with a modern feel. Character skills were interesting and really ramped up as the content got tougher. I always felt I was leveling at the right pace for the content I was hitting without it feeling to hard or too easy.
I happily finished Xulima and was sad when it was over. I'm hoping for another one like it.
I just ended up uninstalling Lords of Xulima after 70 some hours (half the time was spent constantly restarting trying out new party combinations) and this is my thought as well. Once I hit level 10 or so on the Middle (Normal?) difficulty, all fun went out of the game. It took too long to kill monsters that were no threat at all. I've read that it gets even worse in the last 1/4 of the game in regards to enemy numbers and health too. You don't really get good options in group attacks so you usually have to kill the enemy one by one...
Money really wasn't an issue even considering the only equipment that was any use was what you usually bought from the merchants.
It's a long game too. Once I finally restarted with my final team, I quit after 35 hours when I noticed that I had only killed the second (of four) princes and liberated two (of eight) temples.
Begaria
Member
I love Lords of Xulima. I beat it in about 70 hours. It does get pretty grindy as it seems like the game is balanced for your party to completely clear our random encounters so you'll have the levels to kill the bosses, which is the best advice I can give any player checking it out. On top of that, do not skimp on the Bleeding DoT as it stacks infinitely (and does not wear off) and is, in my opinion, the best consistent damage in the game.