Game News Wartales coming to Early Access on December 1st

[Infinitron]

Tags: Shiro Games; Wartales

Wartales, the upcoming mercenary band RPG from Northgard developer Shiro Games, was received on the Codex with some interest when it was announced at E3 back in June. A free demo was released for Steam Next Fest shortly afterwards and has been available ever since. The next stage in the game's development is the Early Access release, whose launch date was revealed during the MIX Next event yesterday. It'll be out on December 1st. Here's the announcement trailer:

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My understanding is that the demo of Wartales was interesting but needed some work, as you might expect. Not to mention the annoying seven fight limit. I guess we'll see how the game shapes up in Early Access, even if the developers do think of it as a "more accessible" take on Battle Brothers.

 

[Pink Eye]

I guess we'll see how it goes. Can't say I'm too excited about it though.

 

[Infinitron]

I guess we'll see how it goes. Can't say I'm too excited about it though.

Did you play it?

 

[Pink Eye]

No. I have not. Just seen a couple of videos about it and those articles they published. Their spin on it being an "accessible" version of Battle Brothers. Has me unenthusiastic. What are your thoughts on it compared to Battle Brothers?

 

[Alter Sack]

How big will your party be?

In the trailer you only see four mercenary maximum fighting on your side.

Three hobos are not a mercenary band especially compared to battle brothers where you can deploy up to twelve sell swords.

 

[RNGsus]

I just want a Battle Brothers/Darklands/UFO/Sword of the Samurai/King of Dragon Pass frankengame.

 

[Sunri]

Another Early Access I'm sick of this shit.

 

[Rincewind]

Well, it could be good. At least the trailer doesn't raise any red flags for me.

 

[Pink Eye]

How big will your party be?

In the trailer you only see four mercenary maximum fighting on your side.

Three hobos are not a mercenary band especially compared to battle brothers where you can deploy up to twelve sell swords.

Four isn't so bad. Darklands had four for party limit but had potential for great tactical play:


The other thing to consider is that, unlike Battle Brothers, Darklands had many ways to customize each unit: stats, training, career paths, equipment, role playing, party progression, saints, aesthetic, etc. The role playing and build porn is off the charts. You can also hire new units as well to try out different builds.

 

[lukaszek]

i liked what i saw in demo

 

[Van-d-all]

While the trailers look mostly uninspired, and the idea of dumbing down Battle Brothers definitely doesn't sound good at all, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt since they made Northgard which turned out to be a pretty unique, yet entertaining RTS, even despite it's lackluster AI.

 

[ArchAngel]

i liked what i saw in demo

Me too, demo was a lot of fun. I even played it 2nd time after it ended after first 7 fights. I am hyped about this game. I normally skip true early access games but I might give this one a try.

 

[RNGsus]

I'm not sure how you dumb-down Battle Brothers. Can somebody explain what Wartales devs mean?

 

[Alpharius]

Played the demo when it came out, so i'll quote myself

Finished the demo as well, combat system seems kinda meh compared to battle brothers.

Basic attacks are kinda like an auto attack in a crpg game, but you get special skills like "-50% recevied damage for three rounds", "3 free attacks from behind" or "shoot the first three enemies entering the area" the cost "valor" which is replenished at rest. Each of which would have been incredibly OP in Battle Brothers but here you get them at 3rd level. So its pretty obvious where its going. Party composition and character levels > strategy and tactics.

Also there is no attack and defense stats, all attacks have 100% chance to hit.
No point in formations cause attacks of opportunity only trigger on engaged enemies (which were attacked by the same character on previous turn and stayed in melee range) and any non-engaged character can ususally reach any other character on the map.
Bows have less range than any character can cover in one turn.
Also the battle usually starts with either all friendly characters in the middle surrounded by the enemies on all sides or the other way around.
Though i guess they might change this somewhat in release version.

The non-combat stuff is more advanced than in battle brothers but not sure how interesting its going to be with such combat system.

So idk, looks more like a party-based crpg with autogenerated quests than a mercenary band simulator.

Will keep it in a whishlist but i'm cautiously pessimistic.

 

[Tyranicon]

even if the developers do think of it as a "more accessible" take on Battle Brothers.

Wut lol. Do people actually think Battle Brothers is too complicated? It's the perfect balance in my opinion.

 

[baud]

even if the developers do think of it as a "more accessible" take on Battle Brothers.

Wut lol. Do people actually think Battle Brothers is too complicated? It's the perfect balance in my opinion.

maybe by more accessible, it means it's harder to loose party members?

 

[RNGsus]

Played the demo when it came out, so i'll quote myself

Finished the demo as well, combat system seems kinda meh compared to battle brothers.

Basic attacks are kinda like an auto attack in a crpg game, but you get special skills like "-50% recevied damage for three rounds", "3 free attacks from behind" or "shoot the first three enemies entering the area" the cost "valor" which is replenished at rest. Each of which would have been incredibly OP in Battle Brothers but here you get them at 3rd level. So its pretty obvious where its going. Party composition and character levels > strategy and tactics.

Also there is no attack and defense stats, all attacks have 100% chance to hit.
No point in formations cause attacks of opportunity only trigger on engaged enemies (which were attacked by the same character on previous turn and stayed in melee range) and any non-engaged character can ususally reach any other character on the map.
Bows have less range than any character can cover in one turn.
Also the battle usually starts with either all friendly characters in the middle surrounded by the enemies on all sides or the other way around.
Though i guess they might change this somewhat in release version.

The non-combat stuff is more advanced than in battle brothers but not sure how interesting its going to be with such combat system.

So idk, looks more like a party-based crpg with autogenerated quests than a mercenary band simulator.

Will keep it in a whishlist but i'm cautiously pessimistic.

Looks like a pass for me, then.

 

[Alienman]

100% hit. Cursed gaming.

 

[Kruyurk]

I lost any interest I had for Wartales after playing Northgard.

It felt like a RTS for people who don't like RTS. Every original system in the game restricts something from the classic RTS formula. The scouting is automatic with a unit that cannot fight and gets automatically saved from aggressors (with a few wounds). The expansion is constrained by map areas, so that the player cannot build far from his base or wherever he wants. The unit count is very low so that micro-management is not required.

I did not play Northgard that much, but my impression is that the devs wanted to make a RTS where every potential frustration is prevented (like an opponent rushing you, scouting, mindful building placement, micro-management of fighters, etc).

Apparently Wartales goes the same route. The player must not be frustrated by a missed attack so characters cannot miss, or by an archer shooting his characters from too far so bows have really short range.


Also, hello everyone.

 

[Stoned Ape]

I prefer my ale to have hops in it. Wart ales sound gross.

 

[Galdred]

even if the developers do think of it as a "more accessible" take on Battle Brothers.

Wut lol. Do people actually think Battle Brothers is too complicated? It's the perfect balance in my opinion.

maybe by more accessible, it means it's harder to loose party members?

For me, the issue in BB is not really the loss of party members, but how long it is for any replacement to become half usefeul, which encourages taking as little risk as possible (it makes sense for a mercenary company, but I really think the risk reward balance is too far on the side of promoting risk avoidance).

 

[MrBuzzKill]

The game feels quite polished already. In fact they tell you this is how the game is going to look and play, the final version will only have more content.

Unfortunately it looks much poorer visually compared to BB: a 3d model occupying a handful of pixels on the screen just isn't the same as clearly visible, hand-drawn graphics.
Also the overall look and graphic design is "your default somewhat well-made 2010s RPG". Compare to BB which has a unique look and rich design.

Still, I think the foundation of a good, even great game is there. They just need to make it LOOK more memorable than it currently is.

 

[ArchAngel]

The game feels quite polished already. In fact they tell you this is how the game is going to look and play, the final version will only have more content.

Unfortunately it looks much poorer visually compared to BB: a 3d model occupying a handful of pixels on the screen just isn't the same as clearly visible, hand-drawn graphics.
Also the overall look and graphic design is "your default somewhat well-made 2010s RPG". Compare to BB which has a unique look and rich design.

Still, I think the foundation of a good, even great game is there. They just need to make it LOOK more memorable than it currently is.

That is personal, for me BB design makes it unplayable.

 

[Ibn Sina]

Woke battle brothers.

 

[MrBuzzKill]

That is personal, for me BB design makes it unplayable.

Definitely an interesting take. Do you prefer the way War tales currently looks opposed to BB?