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Preview RPG Codex Preview: The Great Whale Road

Self-Ejected

Bubbles

I'm forever blowing
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Aug 7, 2013
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7,817
Tags: Sunburned Games; The Great Whale Road

The tactical turn based RPG The Great Whale Road is entering Early Access today, and we've had the great pleasure of receiving a preview copy, as well as the distinctly lesser pleasure of playing through it.

What does the game have to offer for the discerning hardcore RPG fan? Everybody's favourite front page writer Bubbles has the scoop:

Boredom and monotony. Unceasing repetition. The mind is sedated, lulled to sleep among the endless waves. No hope. No relief. [...]

On paper, The Great Whale Road seems like a perfectly interesting little game; it's basically a cross of The Banner Saga and King of Dragon Pass, staged in the historical setting of the North Sea around the year 650 AD. You play the newly selected leader (male or female) of a small Danish settlement; storylines for the Picts, Franks, and Northumbrians are promised to follow later in development. As the chieftain, you have to manage the economy of your settlement while simultaneously playing through a linear storyline of political frictions and intrigue. You have to decide how to distribute your people's manpower between diplomacy, trade, warfare, or any of the various ways of gaining food; you need to deal with a variety of random events, from pirates to the plague; and you have to lead your warband into turn based battles against your people's enemies. During the winter months, you rest at home; during the summer months, you set sail to trade and parley with your neighbours. Sounds good, right?

And yet, in the current state of the game, none of these elements are actually fun. [...]

Should you go play The Great Whale Road right now? Absolutely not, you'd be bored stiff! But should you buy it right now? Well, perhaps. The game is coming off a failed Kickstarter, and the Early Access income would probably be helpful to Sunburned Games in their efforts to deliver a complete and hopefully entertaining experience. If the idea of a Banner Saga/KoDP hybrid with lots of stats and random events is inherently appealing to you, and you have money to spare for a game that so far delivers nothing except some pretty 2D screens and a half-complete campaign full of shallow and repetitive gameplay, then you might as well throw some funding at this project. Support your indie developers! Just keep in mind that none of the promised features are actually guaranteed to ever make it into the game.​

Well, they can't all be winners. Maybe we'll check back in a few months and see how the game has improved.

Read the full article: Preview: The Great Whale Road
 

oldmanpaco

Master of Siestas
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See its malcontents like Bubbles who give the codex a bad name. Instead of talking about whatever pipe-dream the developers are promising to deliver (as they surely will) he dwells on the current state of the game like some sort of, of, um, well I can't think of the word. But it was not good.
 

SausageInYourFace

Angelic Reinforcement
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Boredom and monotony
Unceasing repetition
none of these elements are actually fun
sleepy and mundane
tedious repetition
just another chore
quite dull
a lot to dislike
very lame
also quite awful

Should you go play The Great Whale Road right now? Absolutely not, you'd be bored stiff!

But should you buy it right now? Well, perhaps. (..) Support your indie developers!

I dunno, Bubbles.
 
Self-Ejected

Bubbles

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I've played through the release version now. It adds a fourth year, consisting of two or three little story texts and another 15 minutes of sailing along the same routes you've sailed before. The game still has a long road ahead.

so is this poor man's expedition conquistador or poor man's banner saga?

It's closer to Banner Saga. Linear travelling around pre-determined routes, no character creation, most of the game consists of looking at the travelling graphic while waiting for random events to pop up. There's no character development or special abilities right now, but those are supposed to be implemented at some point.
 

norolim

Arcane
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Nov 21, 2012
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Codex delivers again. I just noticed this game and was wondering whether it has any potential. Thanks for the preview.
 

Bumvelcrow

Somewhat interesting
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I've played through the release version now. It adds a fourth year, consisting of two or three little story texts and another 15 minutes of sailing along the same routes you've sailed before. The game still has a long road ahead.

The release version of Early Access? It's getting hard to find a finished (rather than abandoned) game these days. From the sounds of it, this could definitely be one to steer clear of until it's 'finished'.

Support your indi-developer? I'm torn. The kickstarter failed and this EA version seems empty. At some point you have to question the reason to make a game that nobody appears to want.
 

Erik

Novice
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Jun 27, 2005
Messages
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The release version of Early Access? It's getting hard to find a finished (rather than abandoned) game these days. From the sounds of it, this could definitely be one to steer clear of until it's 'finished'.

Support your indi-developer? I'm torn. The kickstarter failed and this EA version seems empty. At some point you have to question the reason to make a game that nobody appears to want.

I want a game like this. It's a fascinating setting, some of the artwork is simply beautiful and the concept is very promising. Having played a little bit of it, it reminds me of a lightish KoDP. Of course it's far from finished, and if one wants to be cynical there's a risk it will never be.

Cynicism is not for me though, and I honestly believe the intention alone to create a game like this is worth my €15. In fact, if someone wants it answer this post and state a steam name, and I will gift a copy as soon as I see it.
 

ERYFKRAD

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I want a game like this. It's a fascinating setting, some of the artwork is simply beautiful and the concept is very promising. Having played a little bit of it, it reminds me of a lightish KoDP. Of course it's far from finished, and if one wants to be cynical there's a risk it will never be.

Cynicism is not for me though, and I honestly believe the intention alone to create a game like this is worth my €15. In fact, if someone wants it answer this post and state a steam name, and I will gift a copy as soon as I see it.
Sorely tempted to take you up on that offer, but you gonna need some cynicism bro.
 

Got bored and left

Guest
Shame, we don't have enough games (outside of various startegy titles, really) taking real advatage of historical settings. Looks like Battle Brothers is gonna stay the only game I bought on Early Acces for a while longer.
 

a mod

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I like the idea in theory but ugh those fucking flash graphics so many indy games have today. I can't stand that shit, it's worse than early 90s 3d.
 

Erik

Novice
Joined
Jun 27, 2005
Messages
10
I want a game like this. It's a fascinating setting, some of the artwork is simply beautiful and the concept is very promising. Having played a little bit of it, it reminds me of a lightish KoDP. Of course it's far from finished, and if one wants to be cynical there's a risk it will never be.

Cynicism is not for me though, and I honestly believe the intention alone to create a game like this is worth my €15. In fact, if someone wants it answer this post and state a steam name, and I will gift a copy as soon as I see it.

The offer still stands.
 

laclongquan

Arcane
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The KS looks actually pretty good for a supposedly successor to KoDP. They even have a blue-painted nipple chick of a Pict.

The problem is word of mouth. Only through Buble's front page review that we heard of this project. And we supposedly the biggest hive of trannies and fans of obscure games. How the hell does this game fail to reach Codex in time of KS?
 

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