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Any Diablo-likes that utilize WASD/analog movement?

GrainWetski

Arcane
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Messages
5,080
Speaking of Falcom

someone on a steam discussion said that Wolcen has wasd controls? Is this true?
I just bought and played it a bit last week. It has a dodge button so it might, but I'm not a degenerate so I haven't tried.

I can check when I get home from work.

Edit: I can't find any option for it, so I guess not.
 
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Jack Dandy

Arcane
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Feb 10, 2013
Messages
3,039
Location
Israel
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Speaking of Falcom

someone on a steam discussion said that Wolcen has wasd controls? Is this true?
I just bought and played it a bit last week. It has a dodge button so it might, but I'm not a degenerate so I haven't tried.

I can check when I get home from work.

Edit: I can't find any option for it, so I guess not.

Xanadu Next is fantastic - a great, more skill focused take on Diablo.
But the dumb thing is, it doesn't have WASD controls but you CAN control it with a gamepad as you would a top-down action game, with the analogue stick and stuff. Silly.

Still, very highly recommended. Also closer to feeling like Diablo 1 than the Ys series.
 

ghostdog

Arcane
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Joined
Dec 31, 2007
Messages
11,079
Speaking of Falcom

someone on a steam discussion said that Wolcen has wasd controls? Is this true?
I just bought and played it a bit last week. It has a dodge button so it might, but I'm not a degenerate so I haven't tried.

I can check when I get home from work.

Edit: I can't find any option for it, so I guess not.

Xanadu Next is fantastic - a great, more skill focused take on Diablo.
But the dumb thing is, it doesn't have WASD controls but you CAN control it with a gamepad as you would a top-down action game, with the analogue stick and stuff. Silly.

Still, very highly recommended. Also closer to feeling like Diablo 1 than the Ys series.


I played the fan-patched jap version and wrote some thoughts back then:

This is actually a pretty fun game. I like the style since it refrains from the more extreme jrpg stuff and keeps a fairly tame medieval fantasy setting with gear that actually looks functional. The gameworld is laid out nicely with each area having their own themes and challenges, and they all end up interconnecting with shortucts you have to gradually find and gain easier access to the town-hub. The music is fantastic, which is to be expected since it's Falcom we're talking about here, but it's not the usual guitar-driven Falcom songs, the soundtrack is much more acoustic, orchestral and atmospheric.

The game seems similar to diablo especially with all the fucking mouse clicking which can get annoying... BUT the gameplay feels MUCH better if you use a gamepad. I also used JoyToKey to bind the cursor movement to the second analog and also added autofire to the attack button (bind key X) , so I don't have to constantly click like a madman. After this, the game plays like a charm.

It's indeed pretty easy in the beginning and never becomes very challenging but things remain interesting because of the focus on exploration, the new abilities/skills you learn and some good boss fights from a point on. Special items that help you perform actions that let you reach certain locations reminded me of Faxanadu (winged boots - yay!). Getting new gear and abilities feels good.

Did I say the game is easy? Well that's actually half the game... Because near the end of the normal game, if you've found all the guardian spirits, a secret bonus dungeon appears. It's fucking huge and it's incredibly hard. It has 25 levels, they are randomly generated and each level is always gradually harder, and the enemies there are all very high level. You'll find many new enemies and even get to fight previous bosses as normal enemies here. You also have to go through all the levels in one go, so you can understand this is very difficult to do. This is where the strange "level down" option comes to play. At a certain point you get the ability to gain more attribute points in level up, so by leveling down you can rebuild your character much stronger. You can can regain your levels pretty fast since you get to keep all your abilities, so it's advisable to level down to lvl 1 , if you want to tackle the bonus dungeon.
 
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aweigh

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videos of this Xanadu looks enticing. Graphics are dated-looking but whatevs, and I understand why Ys was referenced.

The videos all show the user using mouse-steering though...
 

Phobos

Novice
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
32
Location
Germany
Make use of the Steam Input API, used to be Steam Controller exclusive but they open it up for all controllers.
Played a lot of Diablo 3 with the Steam Controller that way but I am not sure how shit its gonna be without a trackpad to control the mouse with, most probably not worth tbh.
 

Berekän

A life wasted
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Messages
3,097
Exanima is a great, very atmospheric dungeon crawler with AWSD controls.

Warning: Early access with very slow development.
 

Jack Dandy

Arcane
Joined
Feb 10, 2013
Messages
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Location
Israel
Divinity: Original Sin 2
videos of this Xanadu looks enticing. Graphics are dated-looking but whatevs, and I understand why Ys was referenced.

The videos all show the user using mouse-steering though...
Believe me, all it takes is a gamepad and the game becomes a delight to play. No futher fiddling necassery.
A good, meaty game that embodies nearly everything a single-player dungeon crawl should be about.
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Also, hot damn ghostdog, I must have missed out on that random dungeon bit. I might replay this game just to find it out, sounds great.
 

TemplarGR

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Victor Vran is pretty good, it's actually the game that made me make this post. It plays so well with WASD that it's utterly mistifying why they don't include this option in every single top-down view hack 'n slash pseudo-RPG.

This is so true. Victor Vran is mediocre but it gains a lot of points just for the control scheme alone...

Now something else to blow your mind: What if MOBAs used WASD? This is what i ALWAYS wondered back when i was a MOBA player...
 
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aweigh

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Yes, I've already played Diablo 3 console port. It's actually the entire reason for this thread; I wanted to get more recommendations because I know there are better Diablo-likes than Diablo 3.
 
Joined
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Yes, I've already played Diablo 3 console port. It's actually the entire reason for this thread; I wanted to get more recommendations because I know there are better Diablo-likes than Diablo 3.

I mean the very first Diablo on original Playstation, not Diablo 3 on PS3.
 

bataille

Arcane
Joined
Feb 11, 2017
Messages
1,073
Take the advice to play Record of Lodoss War seriously: it's pretty much the thing you're looking for.
 

subotaiy

Cipher
Joined
Aug 8, 2012
Messages
522
Location
Romania
Victor Vran is pretty good, it's actually the game that made me make this post. It plays so well with WASD that it's utterly mistifying why they don't include this option in every single top-down view hack 'n slash pseudo-RPG.

This is so true. Victor Vran is mediocre but it gains a lot of points just for the control scheme alone...

Now something else to blow your mind: What if MOBAs used WASD? This is what i ALWAYS wondered back when i was a MOBA player...

There was a game a few years ago, don't know if it was shut down, Bloodline Champions. It had a small playerbase, but it was fun in short sessions.
It seems is still on: https://store.steampowered.com/app/6370/Bloodline_Champions/

Also , it looks they have another version, might try it at some time :
https://store.steampowered.com/app/504370/Battlerite/
 
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YldriE

Learned
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Oct 9, 2018
Messages
116
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Europe
Really want to get into a Diablo-like, like the above games, but I absolutely despise mouse-steering.
I'm in the same boat, mouse controls bore me but I'm very fond of a good WASD hack-and-slash. I'll just list all I remember, so forgive me if I just go through games you already listed:

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- Diablo 1 (PS1)
- Diablo 3 (consoles)

Just like Diablo 3, the console version of Diablo 1 is the one you need if you want controller support and local coop.

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- Record of Lodoss War (Dreamcast)

Quite close to the PS1 version of Diablo 1 in general feel, except it has beautiful smooth animations in perfect 60FPS.

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- Titan Quest (consoles)

I found it subpar but maybe the console conversion is to blame. Still, it looks good and handles well, so it's worth a try in case it gets better later on.

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- Untold Legends Brotherhood of the Blade (PSP)
- Untold Legends The Warrior's Code (PSP)

These two are quite average and many locations feel like they have been randomly-generated. Still, they look good and have great responsivity. The third game, Dark Kingdom, is on PS3 but switched to a third-person action camera.

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- Sacred 3 (PC)
- Gauntlet Slayer Edition (PC)

Sacred 3 is nowhere near as good as the previous games, but its fault is that it was marketed as a sequel. If taken as a spin-off massacre simulator (like Sacred Citadel), then it's a lot of fun. The recipe is the same as Gauntlet: action-centric gameplay, easy puzzles, forced humor, finish level, get sent back to world map with money and XP to spend.

Do not play the console versions of Sacred 2! They suffer from insane tearing and awful FPS, it wouldn't surprise me if one told me they peak at 20.

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The Dark Alliance family, i.e.:

- Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance
- Baldur's Gate dark Alliance 2
- Champions of Norrath Realms of Everquest
- Champions of Norrath 2 Return to Arms
- The Bard's Tale
- Fallout Brotherhood of Steel

Only the Bard's Tale escaped the consoles (even the Android port has controller support). Maybe I'm old and bitter but I found it completely dull and unfunny.

Fallout Brotherhood of Steel is terrible, the best faith in the world isn't enough to power through these gigantic levels of tedious massacre. It could have been an average braindead hack-and-slash if you absolutely need a fix, but in it's current state it's not worth it.

Dark Alliance and Norrath followed opposite paths:
Dark Alliance is a mundane dungeon crawler, Dark Alliance 2 features more freedom, more dialogues and much more varied locations.
Norrath 1 has varied locations, lots of dialogues and cutscenes, Norrath 2 is busywork sprawling levels for imported high-level saves.

This is not to say that Norrath 2 is just plotless massacre, but the decline is obvious. My advice for people who want to play all four is to play the Norrath games first.

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- FORCED Slightly Better Edition

A worthless pile of shit, the title is accurate as it is the most forced humor imaginable.

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- Torchlight

Good proof that a small budget can still breed excellence. The Xbox 360 version of Torchlight features direct WASD controls. As far as I know, Torchlight 2 never got a console port or any kind of controller support.

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Dungeon Siege III (PC)

This one is a no-brainer, the closest we will ever get to a proper Dark Alliance on PC.

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- Magicka
- Magicka 2
- Nine Parchments

Magicka with a controller is pretty terrible at handling the number of elements you can use, a flaw corrected in the Magicka 2 controls. Nine Parchments is essentially a shameless clone.

They can be a lot of fun but they revolve around your magical environmental toys, but the loot / RPG parts.

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- R.A.W. Realms of Ancient War

The character-swap gimmick is completely underused, else it's a potent mindless massacre game with good visuals.

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- The Van Helsing games
- Victor Vran

I can't vouch for them as I have yet to play them, but they seem worth a look.

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Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale

A game decidedly lacking in ambition but has charm in its simplicity. The online coop is dead but local coop works just fine, I'm not sure such an uneventful game would be a lot of fun alone.


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- Ys (ideally PSP at first)

If you get generous with the definition of "top-down RPG with WASD controls", then the Ys series is a safe bet. Ignore 1 and 2 as they are totally different (you bump into enemies to kill them, I shit you not). Start with the PSP remaster of 3 named Oath of Felghana.

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- Shining Force Neo (PS2)
- Shining Force EXA (PS2)

They have a lot of qualities, but they need to know when to stop. You get buried under untold amounts of insipid Japo dialogues, and that's before you get buried under huge amount of enemies. They would be ten times better if the number of enemies was cut in half or more. Still, the superb cell-shaded graphics are a real draw, and unlike the other tedium-simulator-turbotron-3000 (Brotherhood of Steel), the base gameplay is pretty enjoyable.

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That's it for now. I stayed away from non-heroic fantasy on purpose but I'll gladly add them if someone is interested.
 
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DayofBlow

Educated
Joined
Nov 12, 2018
Messages
92
Location
Last Week
Ys games are better on PC, heathen
I want to say Felghana has extra stuff on PSP. Voice acting. Some balance changes. Maybe an extra sequence/ability. New game+. PC is fine though.

Ys8 is a gigantic pile of shit on PC. Other than that, PC ver is the way to go with those games.
 
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aweigh

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Aug 23, 2005
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Excellent list there.
 

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