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Technomancer - action-RPG by Spiders (Mars War Logs, Bound by Flame)

bec de corbin

Educated
Joined
Sep 21, 2020
Messages
207
Their games are always action oriented, though, so I'm not sure how much of a departure that is.
 

cvv

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Kingdom of Bohemia
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After a couple of turn-based RPGs in a row I felt like playing some popamole again so I dusted off this nugget that's been sitting in my GOG library for years.

I was p. shocked by how far Spiders progressed since Mars: War Logs. That game is a cute little ugly indie RPG with a big heart you just can't hate. But Techomancer is in a completely different league. It actually aims to be the new Mass Effects and it's actually not that far off. There's some jank, the loot system is p. bad (at least there is some, unlike ME) and when the game sent me back to Ophir for the 20th time and I had to fight through the same bunch of HP sponges for the 20th time I felt like throwing myself down an elevator shaft.

But overall it was a lot of fun. The setting is interesting, writing is a bit dry but at least it's not childish, retarded or woke like most of the modern Kwan production, quests aren't gonna win any prizes but they get the job done and the combat can be challenging until the end, at least on Extreme.

With 25 hours for a completionist playthrough on Extreme it's not exactly bursting with content like Witcher or Kingdom Come but you can get it for a few bucks so all's good.

Greedfall is being bumped way up on my to-play list and looking forward to Spiders' next step, especially now with a rich publisher footing their bill.
 

Paul_cz

Arcane
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Messages
1,996
I wanted to play Greedfall and then found out expansion is in the works, so fuck it, will wait.

Surprised to see Techmancer positive post though.
 

Alienman

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Mars
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I liked Technomancer more than Greedfall, thought the setting was much cooler. But other than that I feel the game is on a equal level. But in Greedfall, if you decide to play, whatever you do do not explore areas, because all those areas you think you might miss out on in not exploring will have a sidequest later on. Took me the whole game to learn this and just thinking about it now pisses me off, wasted all that time exploring just to have to come back later on.
 

gurugeorge

Arcane
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Joined
Aug 3, 2019
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London, UK
Strap Yourselves In
Technomancer is definitely underrated. The mise-en-scène is interesting and the gameplay is pretty solid.
 

Paul_cz

Arcane
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Messages
1,996
Mars War Logs and Technomancer installed. I sure hope I don't get bored with them.

edit - Oh fuck, I just saw Falksi liked it. That pretty much ensures it's gonna be shit
 

Lhynn

Arcane
Joined
Aug 28, 2013
Messages
9,825
Mars War Logs and Technomancer installed. I sure hope I don't get bored with them.

edit - Oh fuck, I just saw Falksi liked it. That pretty much ensures it's gonna be shit
Some faggots here like to overpraise these games. They are time wasters middle of the row games. Games you play when you are between good games. If you set your expectations accordingly you will have a good time. I have found that alcohol and snacks are needed to get through these.
 

cvv

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Mars War Logs and Technomancer installed. I sure hope I don't get bored with them.

edit - Oh fuck, I just saw Falksi liked it. That pretty much ensures it's gonna be shit
Some faggots here like to overpraise these games. They are time wasters middle of the row games. Games you play when you are between good games. If you set your expectations accordingly you will have a good time. I have found that alcohol and snacks are needed to get through these.
You have to compare like with like. Technomancer is great for people who loved Mass Effect and are looking for something in that general ballpark. Same for Greedfall and Dragon Age.

These games are not for someone who wouldn't touch a non-turn based RPG or any RPG made before 2002 with a 10 foot pole, obviously.
 

Lhynn

Arcane
Joined
Aug 28, 2013
Messages
9,825
Mass effect 1 is superior to both of these in every way possible. Theres hardly any backtracking outside of the citadel, the story revolves around a fairly interesting big mystery, it gives you clear goals and a crew of fairly well developed (for its lenght) likable characters. Biotics are more interesting that technomancy and it is overall more memorable.
The technomancer story meanders a lot, and there are things that are left unresolved or with very unsatisfying payoffs. The world building is definitely a weak point here as well and the combat is always the same.

Its been about 5 years since i played technomancer, 10 since i played ME1 for the last time, i still remember most of ME1 pretty clearly, Technomancy i dont, all i remember is killing the same enemy at the same location about 30 times and the end of the game, roughly the same for Mars logs.

They are just are very amateurish games, Spiders clearly lacks the finesse to pull of something like what Bioware could pull out 14 years ago. In the end they just helped me pass the time.

Like i said, adjust your expectations and you will be fine.
 
Joined
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Messages
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Codex Year of the Donut
Mass effect 1 is superior to both of these in every way possible. Theres hardly any backtracking outside of the citadel, the story revolves around a fairly interesting big mystery, it gives you clear goals and a crew of fairly well developed (for its lenght) likable characters. Biotics are more interesting that technomancy and it is overall more memorable.
The technomancer story meanders a lot, and there are things that are left unresolved or with very unsatisfying payoffs. The world building is definitely a weak point here as well and the combat is always the same.

Its been about 5 years since i played technomancer, 10 since i played ME1 for the last time, i still remember most of ME1 pretty clearly, Technomancy i dont, all i remember is killing the same enemy at the same location about 30 times and the end of the game, roughly the same for Mars logs.

They are just are very amateurish games, Spiders clearly lacks the finesse to pull of something like what Bioware could pull out 14 years ago. In the end they just helped me pass the time.

Like i said, adjust your expectations and you will be fine.
you can only play ME1 so many times before you memorize every line of character dialogue
you take what you can get
 

Paul_cz

Arcane
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Messages
1,996
I am three hours in Mars War Logs.

On one hand, the game looks disgustingly ugly. Like, both from technical and artistic perspective, it looks like shite. Downsampling does not work either (makes UI look unreadably tiny). And there is a ton of running around and backtracking even right at the start, through this ugly environment, which is not a lot of fun. The thrilling quests such as "bring me saliva" or "bring me trash" do not particularly sate my appetites.

On the other hand, I quite like the protagonist, combat is a simple yet effective rollfest, and the setting/lore seems like it might have some potential.

I haven't uninstalled it yet, so that's a good sign. When I tried it some 6 years ago, I only lasted 90 minutes. But I sure do hope it gets better from here.
 

Stanislavsky

Novice
Joined
Mar 8, 2020
Messages
12
I am three hours in Mars War Logs.

On one hand, the game looks disgustingly ugly. Like, both from technical and artistic perspective, it looks like shite. Downsampling does not work either (makes UI look unreadably tiny). And there is a ton of running around and backtracking even right at the start, through this ugly environment, which is not a lot of fun. The thrilling quests such as "bring me saliva" or "bring me trash" do not particularly sate my appetites.

On the other hand, I quite like the protagonist, combat is a simple yet effective rollfest, and the setting/lore seems like it might have some potential.

I haven't uninstalled it yet, so that's a good sign. When I tried it some 6 years ago, I only lasted 90 minutes. But I sure do hope it gets better from here.

I think you should have started with Technomancer. It's more polished Mars Logs.
 

Lord_Potato

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
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Free City of Warsaw
Mars: War Logs gives some context to Technomancer. Otherwise, they are self-contained stories in the same universe. Still, Mars is worth a single playthrough for its delicious B movie style story. Technomancer is even better (plus much higher production values).
 
Last edited:

toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,031
Mars War Logs and Technomancer installed. I sure hope I don't get bored with them.

edit - Oh fuck, I just saw Falksi liked it. That pretty much ensures it's gonna be shit
Some faggots here like to overpraise these games. They are time wasters middle of the row games. Games you play when you are between good games. If you set your expectations accordingly you will have a good time. I have found that alcohol and snacks are needed to get through these.
You have to compare like with like. Technomancer is great for people who loved Mass Effect and are looking for something in that general ballpark. Same for Greedfall and Dragon Age.

These games are not for someone who wouldn't touch a non-turn based RPG or any RPG made before 2002 with a 10 foot pole, obviously.

You are getting old.
 

Paul_cz

Arcane
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Messages
1,996
9 hours in Mars, about to end chapter 2. It still mostly sucks, but the god damn RPG gameplay loop of interactive dialogue, combat, bit of stealth, doing quests and improving my character and equipment is just so great that I am actually having fun.

Still though, it is kinda amusing to compare it to Witcher 2, which is two years older than Mars, and superior in every aspect by lightyears.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
9 hours in Mars, about to end chapter 2. It still mostly sucks, but the god damn RPG gameplay loop of interactive dialogue, combat, bit of stealth, doing quests and improving my character and equipment is just so great that I am actually having fun.

Still though, it is kinda amusing to compare it to Witcher 2, which is two years older than Mars, and superior in every aspect by lightyears.
Mars: War Logs is basically an early tech demo for Technomancer. If you like it, you'll love Technomancer because it's basically the same just a lot better all around.
The stories happen simultaneously, btw. You'll see a few characters you recognize in Technomancer and the plot will make sense after a while.
 

Paul_cz

Arcane
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Messages
1,996
Finished Mars. 13 hours, did all sidequests I found. It is terrible when it comes to any and all production values (graphics sucks, animation sucks, music sucks), but that aforementioned RPG gameplay loop plus decent writing and likeable protagonist made it somewhat enjoyable, 6/10

Technomancer next
 

Lord_Potato

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Nov 24, 2017
Messages
9,837
Location
Free City of Warsaw
Finished Mars. 13 hours, did all sidequests I found. It is terrible when it comes to any and all production values (graphics sucks, animation sucks, music sucks), but that aforementioned RPG gameplay loop plus decent writing and likeable protagonist made it somewhat enjoyable, 6/10

Technomancer next

Most Spiders games are worth between 6 and 7/10
 

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