KickStarter Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - a Lovecraftian Computer RPG

[the mole]

Ok started a new playthrough and i fucked it up right after the post office fight, but i noticed something peculiar - this time around i always combat looted the corpses, each and every one (except the last one ofc) and im pretty sure you get more loot that way. As in, WAY more loot.
For example, in my first playthrough i completed the bank with the usual loot of cigs, random garbage and the occasional key for sale. But now, in my 2nd run, i am swimming in shit including a couple of essences looted from the bodies of crazies.
Both times i exterminated all of the foes, never did progressive escape, my ocd will not allow it.

Anyone else noticed this?

Sometimes sometimes not, it was inconsistent, for example I'd loot some cigs off random encounters with lunatics but when it ended I got no loot, meaning I probably looted everything they had

Same here, but try to experiment - seems that manually looting each corpse before completely wiping out the enemy yields more loot overall.

That's what I'm saying sometimes when I looted every corpse only one body would have loot, and at the end I'd get nothing, meaning I probably got all the loot off that encounter off looting, other times it seems I got more, I simply don't know

 

[Dickie]

Ok started a new playthrough and i fucked it up right after the post office fight, but i noticed something peculiar - this time around i always combat looted the corpses, each and every one (except the last one ofc) and im pretty sure you get more loot that way. As in, WAY more loot.
For example, in my first playthrough i completed the bank with the usual loot of cigs, random garbage and the occasional key for sale. But now, in my 2nd run, i am swimming in shit including a couple of essences looted from the bodies of crazies.
Both times i exterminated all of the foes, never did progressive escape, my ocd will not allow it.

Anyone else noticed this?

Sometimes sometimes not, it was inconsistent, for example I'd loot some cigs off random encounters with lunatics but when it ended I got no loot, meaning I probably looted everything they had

Same here, but try to experiment - seems that manually looting each corpse before completely wiping out the enemy yields more loot overall.

I don't think it does because if you loot bodies after the loot window opens at the end of the fight, all of the loot seems to match up. I'm not exactly sure what allows you to loot bodies after that window opens, but you can even get double unique things like this. For instance, I've gotten two of Wjatal's machete.

 

[Dickie]

How does the doggo's tackle work? Sometimes I can use it, but it usually says that I can't use it. I can't figure out the pattern.

 

[Fowyr]

I'm not exactly sure what allows you to loot bodies after that window opens, but you can even get double unique things like this. For instance, I've gotten two of Wjatal's machete.

You need to click on the body of last fallen enemy very fast before main loot menu opens. Sometimes you can click on bodies that are behind borders of main loot menu as well. Thus you will get main loot menu and combat loot menu from that corpse opened simultaneously.

 

[Dickie]

I'm not exactly sure what allows you to loot bodies after that window opens, but you can even get double unique things like this. For instance, I've gotten two of Wjatal's machete.

You need to click on the body of last fallen enemy very fast before main loot menu opens. Sometimes you can click on bodies that are behind borders of main loot menu as well. Thus you will get main loot menu and combat loot menu from that corpse opened simultaneously.

It sometimes seems like you're controlling somebody during the loot phase. I see the green hexes like I'm moving somebody, and I can click on corpses and loot several of them. I mainly do it by accident when I'm just trying to grab the loot out of the loot window.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Occult skill telling me about other people scoring, but I am still as pure and chaste as the freshly fallen snow. Barring one (1) time with a hooker since apparently my Rasputin-like sex appeal only works for one freebie. BULLSHITZ

Also got through the warehouse. Occult skill paid off in a big way in there, my dude's a nervous wreck from sanity loss since I was flinging spells like a madman to support the team (More than I needed to, possibly) but snagged a ton of loot in there so I should be comfortably set to rest. Unfortunately I lost my mercenary when I let the cop come in with me, so I have no idea if I can even get him back since the cop wasn't long for this world.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

More Stygian in the bag. Moving along at a reasonable pace, not sure how I became a schizo but it's mildly annoying (Happened at the warehouse, I assume due to sanity getting low. Guess you never recover though) but such is life. Solved the case of the stabber, been grinding my teeth like a madman that I didn't waste resources chain-resting to learn the speak to the dead spell because I've had multiple occasions I really fucking wanted to use it. Other than that, still fun even with extreme amounts of jank and bugginess. Hard to recommend it but it's interesting at least. It also gets bumped up a few notches because not only is there tasteful rape, it's tasteful MURDER rape, my favorite!

 

[Fowyr]

I tested infrared goggles in the Underground tunnel and they are completely useless. Should try them on the ghouls soon.
EDIT: Tested on ghouls, goggles remove "blinded" debuff from your character and your character only.

 

[Yosharian]

This game will be a hell of alot better once the patching cycle is finished.

 

[Roguey]

Unfortunately I lost my mercenary when I let the cop come in with me, so I have no idea if I can even get him back since the cop wasn't long for this world.

Indeed, the hireling is the only one who can be hired back once dismissed. He's at the Old Eel. All other companions leave forever.

not sure how I became a schizo but it's mildly annoying (Happened at the warehouse, I assume due to sanity getting low. Guess you never recover though)

Yep, mental disorders are permanent and they happen when you let your sanity get low. If you want to stay sane for the whole game, always keep it topped up.

 

[Dickie]

I tested infrared goggles in the Underground tunnel and they are completely useless. Should try them on the ghouls soon.

I was just coming here to post this. What a letdown.

Also, seeing this hat and it not doing anything was sad. I really wanted to know what a super computer helmet from the 1920s would do.

 

[Fedora Master]

That sure is one angry helmet

 

[Dickie]

That sure is one angry helmet

Yeah, I was disappointed that you can't even wear it. It's not even classified as Apparel because it doesn't show up on that tab in the inventory. I was hoping I could at least see it on my guy. None of the shops will even buy it from me, but I still like to imagine my guy trying to convince them to.

 

[Fowyr]

Abenaki not only bugged as hell, they have a lot of cut content.

Spoiler

Apparently, Silver Key and Serpent's Den were cut or not implemented. Serpent's Den should be that "cove" that Mob initially used as warehouse.
Instead of console, I, being old stupid hax00r, edited save file and found quest "for the love of Indian". I'm not sure that it works. It has some flags in dialogue files, though. I talked with Chad and should try return to him after Amelia and Theater of Bones.

 

[Dickie]

I got another henchman named Billy Crumb who thinks it's OK to wear a hat over his hood. Come on, man. Not sure how I didn't get this guy before.

 

[Dickie]

I just bumped his skills and stats up more and Stealth Value seems to max out at 20, so that's gotta be something special with that spell.

Interesting. The most probable explanation is that it might have been scripted in a way that gives both +10 stealth skill and +10 stealth rating, thus going over the limit.
A less probable explanation, of course, is that I'm a blind mouse that can't tell 1 from 2. But I can't re-check the spell effect right now since I'm at the office. Will do when I come home later.

So it looks like either I really am a blind mouse, or it was a small bug - I can't reproduce it. I don't have a save from Blasted street, but at least when I cast the spell on Nithon, I get the regular +10 Stealth increase, resulting in 13 stealth rating. I'm leaning towards bug because the effect also never wore off at least until I fought the Sleeper. Sorry for misinformation.

You were right that it was 23 and that it just adds a flat 10 to the Stealth Value. The 20 maximum I mentioned is just to the left-hand number (derived from Stats+Skill), which is 14 here. The green 10 next to Stealth and the green 10 for Stealth Value are from Night Walk.

 

[V_K]

I just bumped his skills and stats up more and Stealth Value seems to max out at 20, so that's gotta be something special with that spell.

Interesting. The most probable explanation is that it might have been scripted in a way that gives both +10 stealth skill and +10 stealth rating, thus going over the limit.
A less probable explanation, of course, is that I'm a blind mouse that can't tell 1 from 2. But I can't re-check the spell effect right now since I'm at the office. Will do when I come home later.

So it looks like either I really am a blind mouse, or it was a small bug - I can't reproduce it. I don't have a save from Blasted street, but at least when I cast the spell on Nithon, I get the regular +10 Stealth increase, resulting in 13 stealth rating. I'm leaning towards bug because the effect also never wore off at least until I fought the Sleeper. Sorry for misinformation.

You were right that it was 23 and that it just adds a flat 10 to the Stealth Value. The 20 maximum I mentioned is just to the left-hand number (derived from Stats+Skill), which is 14 here. The green 10 next to Stealth and the green 10 for Stealth Value are from Night Walk.

Interesting. I guess it means that the spell works differently on the Blasted street as opposed to other areas. Which makes sense given that its other effect is about overcoming the gas on the Blasted street.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Unfortunately I lost my mercenary when I let the cop come in with me, so I have no idea if I can even get him back since the cop wasn't long for this world.

Indeed, the hireling is the only one who can be hired back once dismissed. He's at the Old Eel. All other companions leave forever.

not sure how I became a schizo but it's mildly annoying (Happened at the warehouse, I assume due to sanity getting low. Guess you never recover though)

Yep, mental disorders are permanent and they happen when you let your sanity get low. If you want to stay sane for the whole game, always keep it topped up.

Yup, did find him again at the Old Eel, and his dialog was bugged in that he kept whining that I already had a hireling (Presumably the cop that got eaten) but I used the trick of "Get to that line of dialog from a different route" which worked and I was able to re-hire him. Speaking of some weird inconsistencies, I've noticed a couple instances where the names of items placed in containers is different than their names in your inventory. When I was at the distillery I looted a copy of "Ravished Magazine" which in my inventory turned into the standard porn mag (Forget what it's called).

And while I'm mildly bitching about things again, I really liked how reading the non-quest tagged and unrelated book bought from a vendor gave info on the stabber quest (Not sure if you can finish it without it, even) but the part I didn't like about the quest was peeking out the door and grilling the player on their knowledge of the events. Other than the usual blanket "He's crazy bro, just turn your brain off" answer I didn't really see any justification for why he'd give a flying fuck if the player knew what was going on, other than the player being a beloved cabin boy.
Another thing I'm curious about and there'd be no particularly easy way to check it, is how high the skill checks get in Stygian. Just 2 points in medicine and it still comes up relatively often during dialog, but I'm not sure if my constantly dumping points into investigation and occult is gross overkill or not. Since there's not really any sense of how difficult the checks are when they're offered to you I have no idea if someone with 2 occult could summon and bind that ghost or make the ghouls turn on one another or whatever. I always get paranoid in RPGs, especially when they're deterministic like this, that they let you overlevel skills for skillchecks.

 

[Dickie]

When I was at the distillery I looted a copy of "Ravished Magazine" which in my inventory turned into the standard porn mag (Forget what it's called).

Are you sure about this? I think you get both a ravished and a non-ravished copy from the distillery, but the ravished copy is just junk and doesn't show up under books. You can sell it to the junk merchant for a few cigs, though.

And while I'm mildly bitching about things again, I really liked how reading the non-quest tagged and unrelated book bought from a vendor gave info on the stabber quest (Not sure if you can finish it without it, even)

I've only found two ways to do this quest, and that's one of them. To do it the other way, you'd have to finish the other big quest first and get a different item that gives you the information.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Are you sure about this? I think you get both a ravished and a non-ravished copy from the distillery, but the ravished copy is just junk and doesn't show up under books. You can sell it to the junk merchant for a few cigs, though.

I'm not sure, my inventory's a big fucking mess but I'll load it up and check again since I presumably wouldn't have sold it given I never noticed it in my inventory to begin with. And sure enough, good catch Dickie! Going through my inventory with a fine-tooth comb revealed the phat lewt from the distillery.

I've only found two ways to do this quest, and that's one of them. To do it the other way, you'd have to finish the other big quest first and get a different item that gives you the information.

That's good at least, could see people not buying a random folklore book even though it's CoC so of fucking course you should. Since it is a main quest though it's understandable they'd want to give you a few ways to complete it.

 

[V_K]

Just 2 points in medicine and it still comes up relatively often during dialog, but I'm not sure if my constantly dumping points into investigation and occult is gross overkill or not.

Dumping points in occult is never a bad investment because it determines your spellpower.
Skillchecks use an attribute+skill sum, not just the skill (like in VtM), so your low medicine is being compensated by (presumably) high mind score, while high investigation offsets (presumably) low senses. Medicine, imo, is way more useful than investigation though since it affects your healing, while investigation (in addition to checks) is only useful for spotting enemies on the worldmap (but Sonia got you covered for that).
If I were to redo an occultist playthrough, I'd dump investigation completely and focus on psychology instead, for the mental resistance it provides.

 

[The_Mask]

If I were to redo an occultist playthrough, I'd dump investigation completely and focus on psychology instead, for the mental resistance it provides.

Psychology + pendant can make the little girl talk.

 

[V_K]

If I were to redo an occultist playthrough, I'd dump investigation completely and focus on psychology instead, for the mental resistance it provides.

Psychology + pendant can make the little girl talk.

Yes, I had 1 point in psychology from I don't remember where, so I got that part. But in the final chapter (from pilgrim's parish on) I really started to wish I had more mental resistance.

 

[Infinitron]

Codex review by Roguey: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/rpg-codex-review-stygian-reign-of-the-old-ones.130211/

 

[Roguey]

I got another henchman named Billy Crumb who thinks it's OK to wear a hat over his hood. Come on, man. Not sure how I didn't get this guy before.

Where'd you meet him? Spanish guy was the only permanent hireling I found.

That's good at least, could see people not buying a random folklore book even though it's CoC so of fucking course you should. Since it is a main quest though it's understandable they'd want to give you a few ways to complete it.

After I ran into Keelan, I got a journal entry update telling me that I should look into Kingsport folklore. Of course I already had the book in my inventory.