Incline Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children - isometric tactical Korean SRPG

[Sykar]

the story isn't even worth reading so it doesn't matter if the translation is crap, it's not why you're playing the game

It's not that bad. I kind of got into it a bit half way through. The way the backstories are revealed as it goes is quite good.

it is literally like listening to my 10-year-old nephew tell an and-then story. it's that bad

No, it isnt.

Pre-teen assassins with long curls and murderous chainsaws are just a great metaphor

ok ok now I'll stop!

Makes about as much sense as a bunch of dudes drinking dirty soup to sense the big evil like in Dragon Derp.

Truly deep writing. I am ashamed to have overlooked such gracious subtlety :D

The writing is obviously not supposed to be deep. What you expect, Planescape Torment? Original XCom had no story whatsoever, just a premise. NuXcom had a bare skelleton of a story. The tactic game that comes closest to a story is Jagged Alliance 2 and that ones story is even more primitive than this one with no nuance whatsoever. In fact its chracterization of Deidranna is more juvenile than anything in this game, including the teen assassin which is explained even by Giselle why an organization would use children and teenage assassins.
What about Deidranna? Well I guess they chose her to be a woman so they do not have to paint the proverbial twirling mustache on her, because every appearance of hers is about "Look at me how EVIL I am. Have you noticed yet that I am EVIL? Muhahahahahahhaa!".

Yeah it is a fairly standard shonen story with the typical cliches. I am just glad that the main character, or anyone else for that matter, is not of the screaming retard archetype, which is an archetype I absolutely abhor with prominent examples being One Piece and now Black Clover, both series I had to drop because of that.
Also what is wrong with the power of friendship message? Sure beats 90% of the "message" other games deliver.

 

[Lhynn]

Pre-teen assassins with long curls and murderous chainsaws are just a great metaphor

ok ok now I'll stop!

I agree that chainsaw is kind of too much anime. But pre-teen assassins are not nonsense. It was a thing in Latin America. Since pre-teen could not be sentenced to death and received less jail time, gangs used pre-teens for murders. A pre-teen will go to jail, but in return, he will get money for his family, and some criminal activity to put on his resume.

Makes sense in universe would be the best answer. Espers are very powerful, the equivalent of Marvel mutants. Makes sense that there are criminal organization willing to use them.
Marco talks about this, while disagreeing with the practice, as there are few things as unstable as a teenaged girl that has been abused all her life and that can now hurt people back.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I really wouldn't be surprised if they just took it from Albus Dumbledore

Also I'm sorry but Irene Lion and Bianca LeBlanc this just follows in proud Korean traditions like

Lyons is an actual British family name (possibly derived from lion, but this isn't definite).

Though Lyons, in various forms, also became a Jewish surname, in which case Irene could be a reference to Irene Adler from "A Scandal in Bohemia".

Also what is wrong with the power of friendship message? Sure beats 90% of the "message" other games deliver.

 

[Sykar]

I can find memes and funny comic for any cliche message:

 

[Suicidal]

It's not the concept of pre-teen assassins that's ridiculous but the fact that a small girl with a chainsaw is portrayed as one of the strongest combatants in the game. I don't think she even had magic powers (her innate element was physical). If she was a more sneaky character that used guns or poisons it would make a bit more sense.

It's just one of those things you have to mentally write off as "I'm playing a weeb game".

 

[Sykar]

It's not the concept of pre-teen assassins that's ridiculous but the fact that a small girl with a chainsaw is portrayed as one of the strongest combatants in the game. I don't think she even had magic powers (her innate element was physical). If she was a more sneaky character that used guns or poisons it would make a bit more sense.

It's just one of those things you have to mentally write off as "I'm playing a weeb game".

It is a cliche staple of mangas? As I have said before it makes about as much sense as some dudes drinking dirty soup so they can sense the big bad like in Dragon Derp.

 

[Suicidal]

It's not the concept of pre-teen assassins that's ridiculous but the fact that a small girl with a chainsaw is portrayed as one of the strongest combatants in the game. I don't think she even had magic powers (her innate element was physical). If she was a more sneaky character that used guns or poisons it would make a bit more sense.

It's just one of those things you have to mentally write off as "I'm playing a weeb game".

It is a cliche staple of mangas? As I have said before it makes about as much sense as some dudes drinking dirty soup so they can sense the big bad like in Dragon Derp.

I'd argue that the dirty soup drinking made more sense because all the participants were able-bodied consenting adults.

But honestly, despite all the clumsy writing and nonsense I enjoyed the story in Troubleshooter more than I did in Dragon Age. Dragon Age story felt like bootleg LoTR mixed with bootleg GoT, while TS feels like its own things, with its own stupidity and weirdness but also charm.

 

[Sykar]

It's not the concept of pre-teen assassins that's ridiculous but the fact that a small girl with a chainsaw is portrayed as one of the strongest combatants in the game. I don't think she even had magic powers (her innate element was physical). If she was a more sneaky character that used guns or poisons it would make a bit more sense.

It's just one of those things you have to mentally write off as "I'm playing a weeb game".

It is a cliche staple of mangas? As I have said before it makes about as much sense as some dudes drinking dirty soup so they can sense the big bad like in Dragon Derp.

I'd argue that the dirty soup drinking made more sense because all the participants were able-bodied consenting adults.

But honestly, despite all the clumsy writing and nonsense I enjoyed the story in Troubleshooter more than I did in Dragon Age. Dragon Age story felt like bootleg LoTR mixed with bootleg GoT, while TS feels like its own things, with its own stupidity and weirdness but also charm.

It makes no sense whatsoever. If injesting bodily fluids could give you special powers we would do it every time we had a meal or go down on our life partners and do a good sucking or licking. Consenting is completely meaningless when it comes to something making sense. Child soldiers at least exist in the real world and why they are not wielding chainsaws, which is a terrible substitute for a weapon anyway, they can utilize assault rifles which are not exactly light weapons either. Typical AK 47 weighs about 4 kgs fully loaded. Chainsaws vary widely from smaller electric ones which weigh around 3 kgs to over 10 kgs for particularly big sized. Still it is not like they weigh ten times as much.

Zed Duke of Banville about the same reaction I had to your ... "funny" cartoon.

 

[Suicidal]

It's not the concept of pre-teen assassins that's ridiculous but the fact that a small girl with a chainsaw is portrayed as one of the strongest combatants in the game. I don't think she even had magic powers (her innate element was physical). If she was a more sneaky character that used guns or poisons it would make a bit more sense.

It's just one of those things you have to mentally write off as "I'm playing a weeb game".

It is a cliche staple of mangas? As I have said before it makes about as much sense as some dudes drinking dirty soup so they can sense the big bad like in Dragon Derp.

I'd argue that the dirty soup drinking made more sense because all the participants were able-bodied consenting adults.

But honestly, despite all the clumsy writing and nonsense I enjoyed the story in Troubleshooter more than I did in Dragon Age. Dragon Age story felt like bootleg LoTR mixed with bootleg GoT, while TS feels like its own things, with its own stupidity and weirdness but also charm.

It makes no sense whatsoever. If injesting bodily fluids could give you special powers we would do it every time we had a meal or go down on our life partners and do a good sucking or licking. Consenting is completely meaningless when it comes to something making sense. Child soldiers at least exist in the real world and why they are not wielding chainsaws, which is a terrible substitute for a weapon anyway, they can utilize assault rifles which are not exactly light weapons either. Typical AK 47 weighs about 4 kgs fully loaded. Chainsaws vary widely from smaller electric ones which weigh around 3 kgs to over 10 kgs for particularly big sized. Still it is not like they weigh ten times as much.

Zed Duke of Banville about the same reaction I had to your ... "funny" cartoon.

Well, it's a magic fantasy world, and the stuff they were drinking was magic piss or whatever (I barely remember what was happening in that game). Troubleshooter is also a magic fantasy/sci-fi world but to me it makes more sense that a bunch of professional demon hunters drink some in-setting magical cum as part of their initiation ritual, than a tiny girl, who doesn't even wield the in-setting magic powers, running up to a gang of huge men and massacring them in melee range with a chainsaw.

 

[Grunker]

Considering how my my primary criticism was of the “techniques” used in the abysmal writing - regardless of the plot points - I find it curious you waive that fairly lengthy criticism with a simple “no”, ignoring my examples hereof, to then spend so long on talking about 14-year-olds with chainsaws. (One must wonder if the writers have ever met a 14-year-old given their depiction of Anne, by the way).

14-year-old girls with chainsaws aren’t silly because they’re not realistic, otherwise the Iliad would be in trouble. They’re silly because of the melodramatic infantilism they’re an expression of. But I suppose if you’re at the stage where you think 14-year-old curly girls with very deep and mysterious and secret and cool and really dark pasts are worthy of any amount of praise no matter how insignificant, your perspective of storytelling is so alien to me that debating the merits thereof is kind of futile. It’s such a bizarre position to me I don’t even know where to begin dismantling it - especially seeing as her story is told with such awe-inspiring ineptitude.

Your talk of expectations doesn’t impress me either. Most video games stories are bad, it is true. But very few are written with such astonishing lack of basic writing competence as this one, and regardless, everything should be judged on its own merits. If you suspect Asian bias, I recently played Solasta, and that game’s story is almost as bad as Troubleshooter’s - and told with nearly as little proficiency. It does have more clarity though.

 

[Grunker]

What did take me more by surprise is that even though I personally don’t enjoy anime-style art, Troubleshooter’s drawing style is way less hyperbolic, way more detailed and more downplayed than I’m used to from the genre. I must admit I enjoy some of it. Now some of it is whatever and drawn with rushed haste obviously due to budget reasons so that’s an easy pass, but the drawings given effort do sometimes have a strong appeal to them. Obviously waifu Ray need be mentioned here, but I like the mix between anime’s stylization and the relative realism of most of the characters. Even if I dislike the silly flamboyancy of the identity and dress and style of the characters, I think they’re drawn to match the writer’s desired personality much better than they’re actually written. Primary examples of this are Ray and Marco. I initially hated Marco for being the embodiment of anime sillyness, but I can’t deny the relative care put into even the smallest of his gestures when it comes to communicating what kind of guy he is. Of course he’s written to be exactly as edgy cool mysterious as every other adult in the game, but even a single of his gestures does more to communicate personality than any of his lines.

Even Isaac’s simple ruggedness is functional. Despite the completely inconsistent writing we know exactly what character the writers wanted Isaac to be from the way he is drawn. If only the writers had possessed the same skill.

All in all anime will never be something I can get really into, but that’s personal preference. In terms of pure quality, Troubleshooter has a lot of highlights here. Don't get me wrong it is no Attack on Titan or Grave of the Fireflies. But I do like it more than I ever expected to.

EDIT: by the way ERYFKRAD are female barbarians allowed in the ERYFKRAD-lore? If so this game actually has an honest-to-God barbarian class! Though you get it insanely late.

 

[gurugeorge]

What did take me more by surprise is that even though I personally don’t enjoy anime-style art, Troubleshooter’s drawing style is way less hyperbolic, way more detailed and more downplayed than I’m used to from the genre. I must admit I enjoy some of it. Now some of it is whatever and drawn with rushed haste obviously due to budget reasons so that’s an easy pass, but the drawings given effort do sometimes have a strong appeal to them. Obviously waifu Ray need be mentioned here, but I like the mix between anime’s stylization and the relative realism of most of the characters. Even if I dislike the silly flamboyancy of the identity and dress and style of the characters, I think they’re drawn to match the writer’s desired personality much better than they’re actually written. Primarily examples of this is Ray and Marco. I initially hated Marco for being the embodiment of anime sillyness, but I can’t deny the relative care put into even the smallest of his gestures when it comes to communicating what kind of guy he is. Of course he’s written to be exactly as edgy cool mysterious as every other adult in the game, but… yeah, the art works.

Even Isaac’s simple ruggedness is functional. Despite the completely inconsistent writing we know exactly what character the writers wanted a Isaac to be from the way he is drawn. If only the writers had possessed the same skill.

All in all anime will never be something I can get really into, but that’s personal preference. In terms of pure quality, Troubleshooter has a lot of highlights here. Don't get me wrong it is no Attack on Titan or Grave of the Fireflies. But I do like it more than I ever expected to.

EDIT: by the way ERYFKRAD are female barbarians allowed in the ERYFKRAD-lore? If so this game actually has an honest-to-God barbarian class! Though you get it insanely late.

Similar with me, I don't exactly hate anime style, but its not my go-to thing, but I rather warmed to the drawing style in this, it's quite skilled and nicely done sometimes.

 

[Sykar]

Considering how my my primary criticism was of the “techniques” used in the abysmal writing - regardless of the plot points - I find it curious you waive that fairly lengthy criticism with a simple “no”, ignoring my examples hereof, to then spend so long on talking about 14-year-olds with chainsaws. (One must wonder if the writers have ever met a 14-year-old given their depiction of Anne, by the way).

14-year-old girls with chainsaws aren’t silly because they’re not realistic, otherwise the Iliad would be in trouble. They’re silly because of the melodramatic infantilism they’re an expression of. But I suppose if you’re at the stage where you think 14-year-old curly girls with very deep and mysterious and secret and cool and really dark pasts are worthy of any amount of praise no matter how insignificant, your perspective of storytelling is so alien to me that debating the merits thereof is kind of futile. It’s such a bizarre position to me I don’t even know where to begin dismantling it - especially seeing as her story is told with such awe-inspiring ineptitude.

Your talk of expectations doesn’t impress me either. Most video games stories are bad, it is true. But very few are written with such astonishing lack of basic writing competence as this one, and regardless, everything should be judged on its own merits. If you suspect Asian bias, I recently played Solasta, and that game’s story is almost as bad as Troubleshooter’s - and told with nearly as little proficiency. It does have more clarity though.

Nowhere did I even imply that. My "NO" was specifically aimed at your claim that your "10 year old nephew" could write like this. No he cannot. How do I know? I still remember the horrible shit which I wrote for German classes in 4th grade, though granted I mostly did that to annoy, getting some immature internal giggles while writing it, my teacher but even without that intent comparing my old stories for German classes with this makes this look Shakesperean. I still got a B- for it by the way.
As to "impressing" you, I could not and never have given a flying fuck whether anything I write "impresses" anybody. Suffice to say your "points" did not impress me either.

 

[Grunker]

My 10-year-old-nephew comments were expressedly with regards to the game's "and-then"-style of writing. I provided specific examples of what I meant with that comment. It can be broken down into two parts: the fact that any mention of a pronoun will be followed by an "X - the YZ that blablabla", and that events do not follow each other naturally in the story but rather simply happen in an unrelated chain of plot beats. It is very reminiscent of kids telling incoherent and-then-stories.

The reason the game so often does this exposition thing after mentioning pronouns is that the writers have no grasp of the basic tenets of writing that allow you to hide descriptions of something inside otherwise read-worthy text. So they simple just put the description right there. The hilarious part is how obvious it is, of course.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

are female barbarians allowed

If they need permission they are not worthy.

 

[Grunker]

are female barbarians allowed

If they need permission they are not worthy.

 

[Luka-boy]

Can't say I cared that much about the game's story beyond "This has some neat scenes and character moments every now and then" but these past few pages make me really look forward to replaying it after they finish releasing those DLC missions.

 

[Sykar]

The story sure is not anything special but it serves it purpose and the visual novel artwork is pleasant to look at and of decent quality. If you want shitty writing, try a game like "Restricted Area". /shiver

 

[Sykar]

Any recommendations for my first beast mastery? Got a Lightning Yasha hatchling which offers:

Greedy Beast
Beast of Darkness
Succeeded Rage
Violentness

Thinking of going with the 200% more mats one from Greedy Beast though Darkness seems nice too if situational. Not sure what rage is, is that like the SP mechanic for humans?

 

[Urthor]

Any recommendations for my first beast mastery? Got a Lightning Yasha hatchling which offers:

Greedy Beast
Beast of Darkness
Succeeded Rage
Violentness

Thinking of going with the 200% more mats one from Greedy Beast though Darkness seems nice too if situational. Not sure what rage is, is that like the SP mechanic for humans?

Get instinct masteries so you can re train them is the general rule

Most of the masteries are worse than the trainable ones.

I believe the +10 rage one is the exception.

However I'm pretty sure the Lightning Yasha isn't that good, so rolling it into a mats farming yasha is fine.

 

[Zumbabul]

You can retrain instinct, but cannot retrain genetics. If you are not sure, go for an instinct.

 

[Sykar]

Any recommendations for early beast taming targets? Or just tame anything I can get to?

 

[Grunker]

Any recommendations for early beast taming targets? Or just tame anything I can get to?

I think I read somewhere that once you can tame legendary beasts, Snow should be good? I'm using a Glacier Tima currently and it's decent.

 

[Zumbabul]

Any recommendations for early beast taming targets? Or just tame anything I can get to?

Glacier Tima is probably the best first pet.

 

[Sykar]

Is it normal that I cannot select "Challenge mode" for some maps? I want to do a side quest in Crow Street and cannot select Challange mode. Bug or feature? Would be boring to do this quest at 17 even at Cruel difficulty.