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KickStarter Lords of Xulima

Lord Azlan

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Jeez, you got my hopes up but it's basically the same price as it is on Steam.

On my Steam it is selling for £12.99 - I must be in the wrong region
 

Applypoison

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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Serpent in the Staglands Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong
October 1st week update:


Greetings!


We are very happy to announce that we have unlocked a new portion of the game with about 30 hours of gameplay. Now the game is playable up to 80% of the full content. Everything but the Titans chapter is now playable. The two chapters, "The Divine Artifacts" and "The Impious Princes" can be completed now.


85c54e3160aa31d6dbe546d9a7a4ea88_large.jpg
Development will be speeding up quite a bit this month. Also, for anyone interested, the French and German localizations are progressing nicely. See this thread for more information:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/296570/discussions/0/616188473124818294/
 

Lord Azlan

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17 hours in so far on medium difficulty - my group is nearly level 10.

The game is charming, but also fiendish and very clever. Let's say it smart. 17 hours in and I am still noticing new things.

The main exploration looks a bit like Fallout's isometric view - music is just lovely. I want to turn it up rather than down. Combat is like Bards Tale, but also feels a bit like King's Bounty - feels a bit like chess actually. On this difficulty it pays to venture into the unknown fully prepared. Have potions, scrolls and pick locks.

I am using the default party and the mage is doing most damage - a very high proportion. At one point I thought of having 2-3 mages - or all mages for goodness sake. But then I thought of the balance. I really needed a Thief for the traps and picklocks. I really needed a Cleric to heal in the middle of battle - as much as my mage causes damage - my Cleric is vital in combat too. The tanks in the front - well - if I did not have them my magic users would be dead. So I like that most classes are useful. Not sure of the Bard though - thinking of swapping her for a mage but now I see the Bard can access skills to identify items and value their worth. She also can sweet talk vendors to get better prices. The main character, an explorer, has this skill that lets you avoid combat at the cost of power points - and wow I needed that on a few occasions.

All my characters don't survive each battle but where in the beginning I resisted that concept and would reload - I am adapting to that now. I am beginning to appreciate the Stun and Bleed mechanics in combat. Bleed damage can seriously do you some serious harm. After some initial damage your characters take additional damage in subsequent turns. But that can also work to your advantage. My back row weaklings can even do Stun damage - so my weakly mage, cleric and bard can knock opponents out for a few seconds - it all helps!

Now, I was about to Rage on the Steam forum about difficulty level. I thought all my options led to unbeatable opponents - but I was being lazy. There was one option left, to fight some soldiers and access a new map. I manned up and took that path and took advice from a random traveller and even though I was running out of food and potions - I persevered. I was thinking a reload was on the cards and that I would have wasted many hours of gameplay. I had passed the point of no return, travelled through a desert taking heat damage, my food supply was exhausted. NO WAY TO HEAL.

Right then, just when I was going to reload the game and then complain on the forum about the games difficulty - I saw in the distance this thing - it was a teleport back to the previous town - I just thought - Wow - talk about a reward - that was exactly what I needed.

It feels like the developers have actually played this game and did a proper play testing.

I still can't take on the Ogre though - but obviously word has spread around town and the merchant is selling +10 damage to Ogres weapons.

Oh - when I saved the town the food vendor that had been ripping me off gave me two days free supplies!
 

Lord Azlan

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Part of the reason I joined the RPG Codex is to find decent RPG. Where the heck are the sort of games I used to play. A while back I had completed Fallout NV and then moved on (or back) to Fallout 1 and Fallout 2. I completed Arx Fatalis due to Codex recommendations. I was also looking for a decent Bards Tale clone - being really frustrated for a while trying to find something similar that would run on modern PCs.

40 hours into Lords of Xulima, I need to give Numantian Games my respect. 40 hours in and I am struggling to think of anything I would change and I have not found any bugs or encountered any crashes.

My default party on medium difficulty has grown in confidence.

Cash - Earlier on, like a bunch of old age pensioners, I had little cash left after buying fresh fruit and vegetables. I now regularly travel with more than five thousand gold pieces in my pocket. This might partly explain where many random encounters in a notorious region are with muggers and thieves. However my lead character can help mostly avoid these with his cunning use of his camouflage skill, "Ssshhhhh - everyone be quiet and make like a tree".

Two maps on I found another quaint little town and met a vendor with enhanced stock. I am tempted to buy up potions, scrolls and the best equipment available, tempted only. This game teaches you to manage your resources wisely and 'waste not want not'. I will spend wisely, when the moment is ripe, at the optimum occasion where I need to turn the tide in battle or beat an insurmountable foe.

Combat - well - I beat that Ogre in the end. Before it came to that in any case I discovered there was a way around him that involved easier encounters with giant mushrooms. Those mothers can send you to sleep and do poison damage at the same time. When I first encountered these delicious vegetation I often went through the battle without any of my party making any action at all.

I also decided to train up my Bards own 'sleep' spell to see what it could do at higher levels. To my surprise I found the "lullaby" tune worked well against the Hounds of Hell and even mushrooms. It could be probability based so I now regret not levelling it earlier. My "I just want to play with bandages" Cleric has also developed an offensive spell that does deadly damage to undead and anyone else. She also has the divine spell that regenerates HP and Spell Points free of charge. Apparently there is a clever way of abusing this skill to save loads of cash on food supplies. There are still a number of areas I can't access as they are guarded by "IMPOSSIBLE" opponents. I will come back later and deal with them.

Exploration - looking back I see the beginning area can feel quite restrictive. Part of this is due to the fact the game is quite unique and many assumptions you would have made over the last 20 years or so in RPG can be thrown out of the window. Once you understand the game various systems exploration becomes easier and once you de-fog the map you can plan ahead. So far I have been to about 5 maps - maybe about half way through. The game is not linear, which is an assumption I wrongly made, but there are areas which you can't go yet, like a volcano for instance!

Character development - I am using the default party of Explorer, Fighter and Thief at the front with Mage, Bard and Cleric at the back. I am finding this party very balanced. Each character has their own specific use which I think is great - I would hate for there to be a class that no one uses. The Thief can't wear very heavy armour (not yet any way) but has insane agility and speed. She is very hard to hit and with a decent sword with bleeding damage, can really support the fisticuffs as we go along. Her main job though is to avoid traps and open doors and chests. I think the placing of items is random - so maybe you could abuse this by reloading and trying to get something better. There is quite a bit of diversity on how you want to develop each character although developing skills outside your comfort area will take more skill points. For example the fighter only uses 1 point to develop armour skill where a cleric or thief might require 3. You could drop the Thief class entirely from your band and in that case someone else will learn lock picking, but this will be more costly. In the towns you meet a trainer who can teach you additional skills points which you can use at level up.

Weapons - You don't have a little house or chest to store any items you might want to use later. The Ogre+10 damage weapons disappeared from the local vendor so I assume maybe I did the quests in the wrong order. For some reason Agility is quite important in using the more exotic weapons. I mistakenly levelled my ST and END stats for front line chars and now can't access these - no problem though.

Weapons are something else. Each piece has about 10 stats associated with it - very complicated indeed. We have base damage and chance to hit - so a dagger will have a high chance to hit whilst axes less, the dagger will do less damage. Then we have bleeding damage and stun damage - and something else I have not figured out yet. Weapons also have a Speed attribute. They have their own individual weights and some even have additional enchantments like the mentioned Ogre +10.

Equipment - you band can wear armour, helmets, gloves, shoes, two rings, amulets and a little cloak. The main limitation is by ST and amour skill. It is very difficult for the Mage or Cleric to wear better armour as that skill is more costly for them - but it can be done. Plus do you want to spend attribute points for your mage on ST?

Puzzles - you need to pay attention to the text. No stupid ones so far, all logical and make sense afterwards. Some make use of the in game graphics which I was very surprised about - that was neat. For example, if the game says you fell asleep in the Golden Forest under the influence of the aromatic flowers, next time - avoid them. Yep - those little flower pixels in the background in this instance are not just background graphics.

Only issue so far is that quite a bit to read and font size is small. Unpublished game, decent price, 40 hours in - I am not complaining.

The combat AI is Bards Tale, can't figure out anything smarter than that. If I was a goblin, I might take out the Mage or Cleric first, but the AI is mostly front row then back row. I can't see any opponents particularly focusing on injured characters - it feels random.

These guys have produced the sort of RPG I want to play, simple, complicated and strategic. Not sure about its re-playability though.
 
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Just lock the wife and the kids in the basement for two days with enough food for them to survive.
 

Lord Azlan

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I was thinking the other night how to describe this game - we already have the King's Bounty exploration with Bards Tale turn based combat.

It's old school. Strategic. Has traditional RPG classes etc

I would call it "Challenging".

Not in the way you want to make a fist and smash the monitor. But the "Hmm - maybe I should try this" way.

Examples.

Like a lot of people I got stuck in the beginning where I thought I could not go North, East, South or West. "I am too weak", "The game is too hard".

"You are obviously not as good as you think you are at these game - play on easy mode you moron"

Now, I might have played the original Bards Tale 1, Wasteland 1, Dungeon Master. I played Ultima IV and a host of Might and Magic's. I might have played them but that does not mean I am good at them. I am no hard core player - but I do like a good RPG. Yes indeed. And, and I have my self-respect. So, I could complete the game on Easy mode - but even in the comfort and security of my own home I have my self-respect damn it.

So - I am stuck. What to do?

I made an assumption that all the guards in the first map were equally intimidating, and they were not. And I knew it. For fixed encounters the developers allow you to right click and reveal details about them. I knew the guards guarding a SE gate to a new map were weaker than the others but I wanted to beat the bloody ogre. That bloody ogre. I don't care that my party is only level 5. I want to kill it and I can kill it because I played Ultima IV more than 20 years ago!

My brain knew there was another path but the illogical and resentful part of my brain wanted to mother murder this bloody ogre that was blocking my path (turned out there was another path actually). Don't make assumptions. Take what the game gives you. If you can't complete an area or pathway go somewhere else and come back.

Example 2.

Again, I am stuck. Can't go anywhere and can't do anything, I want my mum! The developers say that they want to test our actual eyesight and perception to comprehend information on screen not just how we make strategic choices about resources. The enchanted forest where the golden sunlight sends you to asleep and you wake up at the entrance again and again. I need to rage post on the forum. This game is messed up. It's too hard. The game gives you a clue. I liked how these little pixels of flowers you see everywhere in the game suddenly mean something in this section. There is a little pathway - ever so tight and you get rewarded with a key - onwards!

Example 3.

I could play the Fallouts with a Charisma of 1, and I have tried, but those characters feel like frauds. I read a posting on this forum about game design and how some items, skills etc are just clutter. Padding. They don't actually do anything but they are included to ensure boxes are ticked. RPG right? Where is the bloody Luck attribute. Thieves class is included but they are useless. Wtf is a Bard anyway? (quoting myself here).

So - I am stuck again. I went everywhere and drew a little map. Can't take this path as you encounter "TITANIC" foes. This path - they are "VERY DANGEROUS". This path is a dead end. This final path - you come across a giant golem creature that takes out my entire party in one go. I am level 15 now for goodness sake and have ONE THOUSAND gold pieces in my pocket.

Charisma of 1, or padded skills. There was one region where I had not explored yet because you were often jumped by these super strong troll like creature that killed my entire party in a couple of turns - no matter what I did. I want my mum or let me rage post on STEAM again.

But your idiot leader guy, the G-man, has this skill, that at a cost of energy points he can camouflage the group - he can help avoid these random encounters and allow my party to explore the area. This skill is not just dead wood - you are supposed to use it - you have to use it. I stocked up on potions so I could top up the lost energy points and I did indeed explore and got further in the game, and now about to enter a temple...

So - each time I was stuck and wanted to rage - the game challenged me - and most of the time I was found wanting. My brain - well - let's just say it has been Oblivioned to death - but there are signs of recovery.

The useless bard - how I hated that woman. Wtf is a bard anyway. Can't cast a fireball and rather useless as a tank or sword user. Ditch the bard and save the girl, sorry I mean get another mage. But- someone else said the bard was the only class early on that could mass effect all enemies - those stun and sleep spells - level them up for goodness sake!

So - the game is challenging - it has my respect. But as someone has said on another thread about Dark Souls being like Ultima Underworld - I need to check that out. I loved that game. I only bought DS it as it was high on the top 50 list - it better be good. Time to install.

I might come back to this game once a proper walk through is posted. Or maybe if I contact the developers and inform them I played BT1 and Dragon Wars, Wasteland etc - they will give me some respect and make it easier.
 

ghostdog

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Dammit Lord Azlan don't stop playing Xulima, I love your ramblings !

MOAR !


Also in your quest for good new crpgs be sure to check Underrail, it's fantastic.
 
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Suicidal

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Can anyone who played more than me answer this: do two-handed weapons give any sort of area attack? My party is mostly physical and the lack of AOE damage is sometimes infuriating when I'm getting swarmed by an army of puny thieves with 60 hp or fucking bees that do not pose any real threat yet take a lot of time to kill cause I have to do it one by one.

I feel that this game lacks a bit of variety in terms of skills and spells. It feels weird giving my rogue a dagger in one hand and a shield in the other because there is no dual-wielding. Paladins just have all the priest spells + 2 aura spells and most melee weapon skills are the same between all the classes. I would love to see some skills involving different weapon types, or skills with shields. I hope they will add more shit for release, but then again, for a game with around 30k budget I think I'm asking too much. In the end, I'm really enjoying myself. 9/10 would recommend
 

Lord Azlan

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Interesting point about the 2 handed weapons - I don't know the answer - but as you know - the whole front line of your party is often melee attacked in one go - usually by very large creatures though. I did look through the description of the larger weapons and can't see anything about hitting more than one opponent.

Since I have loads of cash and my party I can now access these weapons - I might see. To my limited knowledge, the larger weapons do more damage but are also penalised with chance to hit.

Agree with your point on shields - would be nice to see a shield skill that can do some damage. It seems pound for pound - shields are the best armor and some have great enchantments on them - maybe that's all there is.

Bees and Thieves - my much maligned Bard helps as she can send them to sleep or stun them - so I can take 1-2 out per round - only since my Cleric got a damage spell. Up to that point I would have wasted a scroll on them as Bees move so fast impossible to hit. If you look at your Bestiary re the bee - you can see their evade skill and give yourself a wry smile.
 

Suicidal

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Interesting point about the 2 handed weapons - I don't know the answer - but as you know - the whole front line of your party is often melee attacked in one go - usually by very large creatures though. I did look through the description of the larger weapons and can't see anything about hitting more than one opponent.

That's another thing that pisses me off. Many melee enemies can attack several of my guys at once. I can't.
 

Lord Azlan

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Looking at the weapons - sorry - I don't know how to post an image - but they all say "Target one enemy" etc

Not seen anything different. Even with the Gold Flail (27 damage, -20 to hit) is one target only.

But I guess we both knew the answer to your question:

For front row characters to hit more than one opponent would not be CHALLENGING enough.

Besides, don't think I have seen that ability in any of the similar RPG.

PS - how to show images in post - I tried copy and paste but it didn't work.
 

Jack Dandy

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Divinity: Original Sin 2
I knew the guards guarding a SE gate to a new map were weaker than the others but I wanted to beat the bloody ogre. That bloody ogre. I don't care that my party is only level 5. I want to kill it and I can kill it because I played Ultima IV more than 20 years ago!

This feeling. God damn, I always hoped to try and put it into words.

I can't wait until the final game is out! Ahhh! :bounce:
 

Lord Azlan

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Weapons explained a bit - this very large and expensive weapon available for only 1200 gold pieces - what a bargain.

Does almost twice the damage as the Short Sword currently equipped but suffers a -10 penalty for accuracy. Note the short sword equipped gives a +10 for accuracy. It is also two handed so my fighter will lose ability to use his shield. It however does 5 points of bleeding damage - which stack up each round.

The 10% Vampiric enchantment is useless - would only be maybe 2 HP brought in. The two zeros on the top right refer to Stun damage and Wound damage - which are very useful effects.

There is a problem in the game where you cannot 'store' any items. So it's difficult to hold onto something until your party is levelled up a bit and then can wear heavier armour or wield that more complex weapon. Use it or sell it.

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My beloved Cleric - what a piece of manure she is - or so I thought. The offensive spell "Light Ray" is now on equal par with what my Mage can throw out. Her healing spells have saved me a lot of cash and time. In this game - you can't heal as you move around. You must rest for either 8 hours or 24 hours (consuming fresh fruit and veggies) or use potions or scrolls and other items.

I spoke about Bleeding damage before - it stacks and can turn the battle against you very easily. The "Mend Bleeding" spell has kept some of my party barely alive so that after combat I rest for 8 hours rather than the whole 24.

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Lord Azlan

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Lord Azlan 1 Numantian Games 0 (1-10 on aggregate)

So - we have all been there - the transporter puzzle.

I found this one quite therapeutic. No emotional need to rage quit and complain the game is too damn hard. The first 20 mins were spent trying to form a Memory Palace in the higher parts of my brain and build a complex structure of the various teleportational anomolies.

After going around in circles and getting a bit dizzy, I went and found a piece of paper and pen and mapped it out. It didn't feel strange at all - sort of warm. On entry we have a talking skull and teleports A and B, A goes here and B goes there etc. I reached letter "Z" in the end and there were lots of arrows pointing back towards the entry.

Where are we? The Tower of Resilience and in the end I battle my second "Eye of the Beholder" thing. I killed it without reaching a sweat which sorts of tells me I went out and did my own thing in this particular game - or tried to at least. I was too strong for it. I encountered the "Silence" spell for the first time. Wham Bham - thank you Mam. Done and dusted.

If anyone played the game Repton or its variants, this puzzle reminds me a lot of that. The game can be quite charming when it isn't kicking you in the teeth.

Spolier below: Close your damn eyes.

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Cliff Racers - wtf was that about. Did anyone properly playtest Morrowind? I don't believe it. Then we also had Headcrabs in Halflife 2. The Cazadores in Fallout NV? On encountering them - I would rather not actually. Unless i was level 50 or something. So - Cliff Racers - they're back! Suicidal mentioned the Bees, "The bees are coming, attack of the Killer Bees!"

The right hand side of the screen below shows you the order that combatants attempt their action. It is quite red as you can see. It was much redder before this pic as I waited for my first turn before taking a snap. Some of my party have already taken posion damage which stacks. These insects can literally kill you in seconds. Melee weapons are almost useless as they buzz around too fast to hit. They only have about half a hit point of health (slight exaggeration).

Magic always hits though. My question would be why did the developers put these little nasties in - can someone mod them out please?

8339AA816A10AF5AF4046EA6829F0449CC93FBF7
 

Branm

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Weapons explained a bit - this very large and expensive weapon available for only 1200 gold pieces - what a bargain.

My beloved Cleric - what a piece of manure she is - or so I thought. The offensive spell "Light Ray" is now on equal par with what my Mage can throw out. Her healing spells have saved me a lot of cash and time. In this game - you can't heal as you move around. You must rest for either 8 hours or 24 hours (consuming fresh fruit and veggies) or use potions or scrolls and other items.

Hmmm this doesnt correspond with what I have seen. I'm able to cast healing spells while in the isometric mode. In your first screenshot of quoted post you can even see the heal spell icon in background
 

Suicidal

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What I like about this game is the consistency of its rules. I got so used to shitty levelscaling in modern RPGs that it's refreshing to see that an ogre will always remain an ogre no matter what level your party is at, and if at the beginning of the game killing one ogre was very hard work, at the point where I am now 3 ogres are perfectly doable. Enemies can run out of mana. Bleed damage will always work on enemies with blood as long as their armor is not strong enough to negate it, etc.

Also, bees are annoying. That's why I've been asking about AOE attacks. The place where I'm at has stacks of red bees guarding several passages. I don't even want to know...
 
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Lord Azlan

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Weapons explained a bit - this very large and expensive weapon available for only 1200 gold pieces - what a bargain.

My beloved Cleric - what a piece of manure she is - or so I thought. The offensive spell "Light Ray" is now on equal par with what my Mage can throw out. Her healing spells have saved me a lot of cash and time. In this game - you can't heal as you move around. You must rest for either 8 hours or 24 hours (consuming fresh fruit and veggies) or use potions or scrolls and other items.

Hmmm this doesnt correspond with what I have seen. I'm able to cast healing spells while in the isometric mode. In your first screenshot of quoted post you can even see the heal spell icon in background

Ahem - cough. Like I said, I have played a lot of games - doesn't mean I am any good at them.

So your cleric can cast healing spells outside combat - cool. Not sure how helpful that is as you would still those energy points - so you may as well rest 8 hours. But least it is something that may be helpful. Thanks!
 

Mortmal

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If you liked tower of resilience puzzle, wait for the hall of heroes one . Thats really good quest design full of lore , and using those lore bits to solve it . Wont spoil but i dont remember anything better in classic rpgs.Worth saying it again, that little obscure indie is much better than it looks like .
I am noticing lot of progress since last time i played , they rebalanced a few things ,hounds bites cursing less the party members for once . Maybe its me but it seems a little less punishing than before . If you have problem with wasps , you just need to get better initiative , they have very low hp, i suppose its another encounter that punish min maxing in only some stats.Aimed strikes works well, one of the rare encunters its usefull for something.
 
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Looking for some spoilerish help in the first map.

1) where is the key to the tower fo melancholy
2) where is the key to the first divine temple
3) how do I clear the meadows with the monster mushrooms with my lv4 party?
 

belated

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3)
You don't have to clear the meadow to pass through it as long as you're careful. Can't remember which one at the moment, but when hovering the pointer over enemies on the map you can press a key (or a mouse button?) to show their "aggro" radius (varies from mushroom to mushroom). Then you can just stroll between them.
 

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