KickStarter StarCrawlers - indie sci-fi dungeon crawling RPG

[Jaesun]

I noticed they categorize it as "spacepunk". Is that a genre now? Meaning cyberpunk in space I suppose?

It actually has a kind of Shadowrun like feel to it with the various dialogues. Like instead of the Matrix, they have the Wire for the internet. You have tons of mega corps etc... perhaps that is what they mean?

As for Skill checks, there was an option in the first mission when the corp contacts you, you have an option to ask for more money. As a Cyberninja I don't have any talking skills so nothing came of that option. But the Smuggler does (I think). I am curious if you can get more money if you are playing a class with an appropriate skill set.

 

[DawnrazorDCLXVI]

The battle system is quite different than Grimrock I think. Isn't it turn-based and goes to a separate battle screen?

Yes, the combat goes to seperate screen. It's basically jRPG combat like (blobber combat) and is TURN-BASED.

You left click on an enemy, and then choose an ability. Some abilities require that you put "combos" on an enemy, before you can use them. For example:

(I'm playing a Cyberninja) Your main attack does x amount of damage, but puts on 2 combos. Another ability requires 2 or more combos on the enemy. After attacking with your main attack, it now has 2 combos on it. You can now use that second ability on them.

(note the greyed out ability above, as it requires at least 2 combos on the enemy before you can use it).

So far exploration is fun, you WILL need to look around with the look function (to find hidden containers, datalogs and credits etc...).

There are many dialogue options which you can choose, though I don't know if any of that will ever lead to *actual* C&C, or if it will be meaningless BioWarian/Witcher C&C. So that I don't know yet.

After the first mission, you will now have money to hire people. You can then see a list of mission to take. They describe what they need you to do. Like one was a diplomatic mission, so obviously I'd hire someone that has a good talking skills for that (or kill the person).

Some are straightforward explore and find stuff (from the description). Some of them have a + rep for a company AND then a - rep for another company. And some have just a + for a company.

I'm liking it so far. This is NOT incredibly complex JA2/X-Com combat, but enjoyable so far. I'll just try a few mission and see.

I realize it is an early build, but just how polished is it? Worth an early purchase with 25% off, or wait until a final release?

 

[Viata]

Wow. Just the setting I was looking for, sadly I just bought PoE(which was quite expensive in real) so this game will have to wait.

 

[DawnrazorDCLXVI]

It looks more like a "fun" game, Might & Magic as opposed to Wizardry.

Still on my bucket list.

 

[Angthoron]

I realize it is an early build, but just how polished is it? Worth an early purchase with 25% off, or wait until a final release?

Compared to the polish level of Darkest Dungeon, for example, it's really much more of what you'd expect from an Early Access game. A lot of UI is placeholder, not all the mechanics are implemented, things are very, very work-in-progressy.

That's not to say that the game looks like it won't be fun - it's looking like it'll be pretty solid once it's complete. Class variance is pretty good, for one, the mechanics between the classes differ quite a bit, with some abilities being synergized with others (or at least with what's going on in the going on on the "battlefield"). There's loads of different containers, some of which you can't spot at a glance (like table drawers), there's traps, and there's even basic-ish trap disarm minigame in place that I'm not quite sure how it works as I always bypassed it with hacking kits. So yeah... The basics are there, and the devs are constantly adding more meat to the bones. Polish, not so much of that yet.

 

[Infinitron]

So, Angthoron and everybody else: Codex Steam Curator worthy?

 

[MicoSelva]

So, Angthoron and everybody else: Codex Steam Curator worthy?

Why not do the sensible thing and wait until release to decide?

 

[Angthoron]

So, Angthoron and everybody else: Codex Steam Curator worthy?

Why not do the sensible thing and wait until release to decide?

I'd say it needs a few months of development and polish before that. I was okay with Curating Darkest Dungeons beta because it's pretty much a showpiece of a game with most systems attached and once-polished, StarCrawlers, while promising, isn't yet in the same spot.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

So, Angthoron and everybody else: Codex Steam Curator worthy?

Why not do the sensible thing and wait until release to decide?

I'd say it needs a few months of development and polish before that. I was okay with Curating Darkest Dungeons beta because it's pretty much a showpiece of a game with most systems attached and once-polished, StarCrawlers, while promising, isn't yet in the same spot.

Haven't played the latest build, but I concur with this assessment.

 

[Jaesun]

So, Angthoron and everybody else: Codex Steam Curator worthy?

Why not do the sensible thing and wait until release to decide?

I'd say it needs a few months of development and polish before that. I was okay with Curating Darkest Dungeons beta because it's pretty much a showpiece of a game with most systems attached and once-polished, StarCrawlers, while promising, isn't yet in the same spot.

This. I'm hoping there will be some traces of INCLINE in this (C&C and skill checks etc...). But I'm still only level 2 so far. I got a ways to go.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

So, Angthoron and everybody else: Codex Steam Curator worthy?

Why not do the sensible thing and wait until release to decide?

I'd say it needs a few months of development and polish before that. I was okay with Curating Darkest Dungeons beta because it's pretty much a showpiece of a game with most systems attached and once-polished, StarCrawlers, while promising, isn't yet in the same spot.

This. I'm hoping there will be some traces of INCLINE in this (C&C and skill checks etc...). But I'm still only level 2 so far. I got a ways to go.

You're such a faggot. The traces of is the blobber combat and turn based gameplay, as well as weapons being trade offs instead of "BIG NUMBER = BETTAR"!

 

[Jaesun]

So every single turn-based game ever made is INCLINE according to you.

OK. Perhaps you might like this series of games called Final Fantasy....

INCLINE == Well done PnP mechanics integrated within a cRPG.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

So every single turn-based game ever made is INCLINE according to you.

OK. Perhaps you might like this series of games called Final Fantasy....

INCLINE == Well done PnP mechanics integrated within a cRPG.

Nope. A good combat system, good mechanics, and good progression make incline.

People going for your storyfaggotry and CnC are what caused the decline in the first place.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

So every single turn-based game ever made is INCLINE according to you.

OK. Perhaps you might like this series of games called Final Fantasy....

INCLINE == Well done PnP mechanics integrated within a cRPG.

Nope. A good combat system, good mechanics, and good progression make incline.

People going for your storyfaggotry and CnC are what caused the decline in the first place.

Storyfaggotry? Give some consistent lore, less generic-looking graphics and don't market it as a game with CnC if you don't plan it.
Or would you like a dungeon crawler with blank walls, nameless and invisible enemies, items and guns, where you have no idea why the fuck you should be here?

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

So every single turn-based game ever made is INCLINE according to you.

OK. Perhaps you might like this series of games called Final Fantasy....

INCLINE == Well done PnP mechanics integrated within a cRPG.

Nope. A good combat system, good mechanics, and good progression make incline.

People going for your storyfaggotry and CnC are what caused the decline in the first place.

Storyfaggotry? Give some consistent lore, less generic-looking graphics and don't market it as a game with CnC if you don't plan it.
Or would you like a dungeon crawler with blank walls, nameless and invisible enemies, items and guns, where you have no idea why the fuck you should be here?

Storyfag detected. Get out of the blobber thread.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

So every single turn-based game ever made is INCLINE according to you.

OK. Perhaps you might like this series of games called Final Fantasy....

INCLINE == Well done PnP mechanics integrated within a cRPG.

Nope. A good combat system, good mechanics, and good progression make incline.

People going for your storyfaggotry and CnC are what caused the decline in the first place.

Storyfaggotry? Give some consistent lore, less generic-looking graphics and don't market it as a game with CnC if you don't plan it.
Or would you like a dungeon crawler with blank walls, nameless and invisible enemies, items and guns, where you have no idea why the fuck you should be here?

Storyfag detected. Get out of the blobber thread.

Good critical miss there, edgy faggot.
I play untranslated Megaten games without even a slight knowledge of Japanese and not even a hint about the plot. I just said that while gameplay is one of the biggest things in the blobber, lore and design are also imporant.

 

[Jaesun]

OK I did a test run from the beginning with the Smuggler class, and when you go on that first mission, this time when talking to the Corp that calls you, I got a Class option [Smuggler] and could ask for more for finding this package for them.



Sadly the Smuggler is a better fighter than the Ninja (at this time).....

Also of note: When you find the package, you have 2 options, keep it or deliver it to the Corp. There was however an option to read the manifest. In doing that, you discover the package was already paid for and was to be delivered to a colony. After you have read that, you now have 3 options. Keep it, send it to the colony, or give it to the Corp. Nice.

I'll go back to my Ninja and try some of the missions out now (since I have enough to hire people) and see how it goes...

 

[Dorateen]

Did they mention this was a party-based game.... or do you create one PC and then recruit the rest of your crew?

 

[Loriac]

Bought this yesterday when it went to EA on steam, been playing with some of the different classes. So far, I'm liking it overall - this game has a lot of potential, but probably more in the play a mission or two rather than for an epic rpg experience.

I don't like the control set up for some reason at the moment, I think its a combination of not being able to toggle free-look (as far as I can tell, you have to keep the right button pressed for this) and the slightly weird perspective which makes you think you're standing slightly in front of where you really are. Also, the designers seem to have made it so you need to look away from the default view to open drawers and things, which is just irritating more than anything else.

I suspect levelling speed is also too fast at the moment, and the ramp in weapon power for each new level seems too high.

Class abilities seem ok, though it takes a lot of levels to get a mix of things. Feedback on the steam forums (from alpha access presumably) doesn't seem to identify one class to rule them all, so perhaps balance is decent. So far I've tried smuggler, ninja and force psyker and they all seem to play nicely. A lot of the power seems to come from equipment rather than skills, which means unless your skills are tied to a certain weapon type, you can equip what you like on characters, which makes things quite interesting.

Some of the moves are quite funny to watch - e.g. the ninja's flying kick, or the engineer's junk bot when its taunting the enemy mobs.

If the devs can get the balance right, and design a levelling curve that levels you quickly at the start and then drops off sharply, and tone down the power up in going from one level of equipment to the next, I could see this being a decent 'endless adventures' type of set up. However, it would have been better to have more equipment slots I suspect, because as it stands there may not be enough loot types to keep things interesting for extended periods of time.

Finally, this game is screaming out to be ported to tablets. I don't know if that was the plan, but it certainly seems to be how the ui has been designed. That doesn't make it bad as such, particularly as it doesn't seem to have 'epic rpg' pretensions.


Edit: you create one character and recruit the rest, with costs going up each time, i.e. 2nd member = 100, 3rd = 200, 4th = 300. I assume you can recruit all classes, and then decide on mix you want to take when you start a mission. Only caveat is that xp gain probably depends on the character being active in the missions.

 

[Jaesun]

So I brought 1 person with me on an EASY mission and am getting my ass kicked. My stupid fucking Ninja can't hit shit and misses so damn much. Maybe I should go back and play the Smuggler.

I guess I might hire 2 people?

 

[Jaesun]

Playing the easy missions with 3 people the party will all die (there is just not enough healing items to find). So there is not much more I can say about the game so far... Is there some healing class I am missing?

So from what I can tell, this is basically a giant random dungeon crawler (each mission is a randomly created dungeon). I played around with the Smuggler again, and noticed a few Class options because I was playing that class in random events in the mission so that was quite cool.

As for a story centric RPG, I don't *believe* that is what this is. Though there may be some more story elements later on.

 

[ColCol]

I played an early mission too, with a three person party, and got my ass handed to me. I did not prepare well, I guess. Will give it another try.

 

[Jaesun]

I played an early mission too, with a three person party, and got my ass handed to me. I did not prepare well, I guess. Will give it another try.

I played on easy for a while until I figured some stuff out. Started a new game on Normal. This is working well for me so far:

Me : Smuggler - They have shit skills once they get Shoot First they will OWN all combat. On occasion they get some dialogue options in missions.
Hacker: Give them the Virus: Hotlink skill. This will slow enemies and will save your ass.
Soldier: Give them the throw grenades skill and then the Crack Shot skill.
Force Psycher: give them Aegis Strike. That will place a field around the person with the lowest hitpoints and might save their ass if their shields go out.

When you finish the first mission and are taken back to the shop lady DO NOT PAY HER THE 200 to fix the robot. You need every single dime to hire a party of 4, or you are probably all going to die. Unfortunately this is currently bugged and you can't ask her about the robot again.

 

[Jaesun]

Did they mention this was a party-based game.... or do you create one PC and then recruit the rest of your crew?

You recruit the rest of your crew. You can choose up to 7 other npc's and any combo of classes to recruit, but only a group of 4 (you + 3 more) can go on missions.

Once you recruit someone, they are now in your party forever (unless they die?), and can buy them weapons/armor etc... and they will keep that equipment and levels/skills. You choose the skills they will use. They all start at level 1.

One thing the Devs SHOULD have stated up front: This is basically a 3D Roguelike (3D exploration and turn-based blobber combat). THAT would have cleared up a lot of confusion.

They ARE however going to add story chapters to this, but the heart of the game is the missions which are all randomly generated (small) dungeons. You also cannot save while in a mission (I like that). You can only save when you are back in the city (where you can shop/hire people/choose missions).

If a 3D exploratory roguelike with blobber turn-based combat appeals to you, then you might like this. DO keep in mind, this is still a Beta (early access). There is a bit of work they still need to do to BALANCE™ this.

The ONE thing that makes this very unique, is there is NO healing class. You do have classes that can help with damage reduction, but you will not be using some class to heal your party (you can only heal by buying or finding healing kits).

I now have a level 5+ party and we are kicking ass now <3

 

[Alchemist]

Being a fan of both roguelikes and blobbers this sounds right up my alley then. Party-based roguelikes are rather rare.