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They mention that name so I'm assuming yes.
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Banquet for Fools - party-based RTwP in Serpent of the Staglands setting - now available on Early Access
- Thread starter LESS T_T
- Start date
Jedi Master Radek
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2013
- Messages
- 4,334
After Mechjammer I should know better, but I ve watched Splats video, seen beautiful prerendered backgrounds in motion, seen an interesting looking world and my heart was stolen. Bought it. See again in a few years when the game is finished.
I'm getting Lionheart vibes, from the real time combat, the aesthetics as well as my expectations of the finished product.
Could anything be as bad as that again... wait. Don't answer that.
grimace
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2015
- Messages
- 2,084
Baron Dupek
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2013
- Messages
- 1,871,365
None
Arbiter
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2019
- Messages
- 2,055
Got through all the existing content. For anyone interested in my thoughts, see ramblings below.
My party consisted of a board and sword wielding armored yeti, a spear user focused on cleaving and intercessions, an archer with instrument skill to provide buffs, and a spellcaster who could use blow darts. The only thing I would've changed is how much I invested into strength for my archer and spear user, as it plays a large part in how much damage they deal.
The skills you use are largely determined at character creation, given the choice of one minor and two major bonuses. There is the option to spend emeralds (currency) at certain NPCs for skill training, but it can be costly. Advancing skills is similar to Morrowind, where you'll get to pick three skills to increase, with bonuses to skills you've used. Attributes are similar, without the use bonus and options for training, but can be buffed with consumables and equipment.
Combat is best described as similar to playing Diablo with three mercenaries, except you pause to attack and can do the same with your companions, but they'll generally run around and do their own thing. A rally bar fills as you continue combat, allowing two characters to synchronize their attacks for high single target damage. Encounters are anywhere from clearing wandering trash, ambushes, assaulting fortified positions, to dealing with elite enemies surrounded by their own packs of trash. Your characters, as guards of the island, have the option to incapacitate humanoid enemies to turn them in for a bounty reward, at the cost of making the fight more difficult by lowering your damage done. This also comes in handy as killing enemies may result in them continually rising from the dead to assault you until a certain enemy type is dealt with.
There is no fast travel system yet, if you want to get anywhere you'll have to go on foot. Think Baldur's Gate without the overworld. Enemies found there are mostly a source of experience, but also sometimes drop materials used for crafting (more on that later). Dungeons range from small caves, to sprawling caverns populated with various enemy types, with the highlight of the first map being a tomb filled with grave robbers and the undead. Obstacles are relatively straightforward, and often require an item to proceed, killing an enemy blocking your way elsewhere, or some simple puzzle solving. There are plenty out of the way areas to explore, often with a loot hoard at the end as a reward.
A crafting system exists for making ammunition for blow pipes, bows, and globes (thrown potions). The materials you collect for this are found in the form of monster drops and items littered throughout maps, such as sticks and stones. It requires no skill investment to use and I found it to augment my supplies rather than act as a replacement for purchasing more items. Similarly, there are enchanting and spell crafting systems. The former lets a character with a high Intercession skill, after completing a quest for a god's shrine, choose from a selection of buffs to apply to weapons and jewelry, their potency determined by how many emeralds you are willing to spend and your character's skill. These range from increasing health on weapon strikes, to raw attribute bonuses. Spellcrafting is similar to Morrowind, where you are able to create new spells from a list of effects, adjusting their duration, strength, radius, etc by expending minerals obtained from grinding up found gems.
Balance is alright. Some skills, like bartering, are immensely useful to the point of being broken, lowering the cost of purchasing goods by almost 66% in most cases. The economy itself could use a balancing pass, as I quickly found my amount of emeralds to be more than I could spend. There are only a few rough encounters that require some preparation and attention, otherwise if you bring a well built party with enough melee characters to cleave through the trash you'll be fine.
The only major bug I encountered dealt with improperly expiring buffs and debuffs, making them persist and sometimes stack. At times this benefitted me, as positive buffs kept building up and stacking. At other times, I'd find my characters permanently stuck in entangling roots or spilled wine, or with ever increasing negative health stacks. The devs seem to be aware of this and working on fixing it.
Overall though, I enjoyed the 10 or so hours spent playing and would recommend it to anyone who is willing to put up with some roughness. Otherwise, I'd say you're best off waiting until the game has had more time to cook, most likely at some point early next year.
My party consisted of a board and sword wielding armored yeti, a spear user focused on cleaving and intercessions, an archer with instrument skill to provide buffs, and a spellcaster who could use blow darts. The only thing I would've changed is how much I invested into strength for my archer and spear user, as it plays a large part in how much damage they deal.
The skills you use are largely determined at character creation, given the choice of one minor and two major bonuses. There is the option to spend emeralds (currency) at certain NPCs for skill training, but it can be costly. Advancing skills is similar to Morrowind, where you'll get to pick three skills to increase, with bonuses to skills you've used. Attributes are similar, without the use bonus and options for training, but can be buffed with consumables and equipment.
Combat is best described as similar to playing Diablo with three mercenaries, except you pause to attack and can do the same with your companions, but they'll generally run around and do their own thing. A rally bar fills as you continue combat, allowing two characters to synchronize their attacks for high single target damage. Encounters are anywhere from clearing wandering trash, ambushes, assaulting fortified positions, to dealing with elite enemies surrounded by their own packs of trash. Your characters, as guards of the island, have the option to incapacitate humanoid enemies to turn them in for a bounty reward, at the cost of making the fight more difficult by lowering your damage done. This also comes in handy as killing enemies may result in them continually rising from the dead to assault you until a certain enemy type is dealt with.
There is no fast travel system yet, if you want to get anywhere you'll have to go on foot. Think Baldur's Gate without the overworld. Enemies found there are mostly a source of experience, but also sometimes drop materials used for crafting (more on that later). Dungeons range from small caves, to sprawling caverns populated with various enemy types, with the highlight of the first map being a tomb filled with grave robbers and the undead. Obstacles are relatively straightforward, and often require an item to proceed, killing an enemy blocking your way elsewhere, or some simple puzzle solving. There are plenty out of the way areas to explore, often with a loot hoard at the end as a reward.
A crafting system exists for making ammunition for blow pipes, bows, and globes (thrown potions). The materials you collect for this are found in the form of monster drops and items littered throughout maps, such as sticks and stones. It requires no skill investment to use and I found it to augment my supplies rather than act as a replacement for purchasing more items. Similarly, there are enchanting and spell crafting systems. The former lets a character with a high Intercession skill, after completing a quest for a god's shrine, choose from a selection of buffs to apply to weapons and jewelry, their potency determined by how many emeralds you are willing to spend and your character's skill. These range from increasing health on weapon strikes, to raw attribute bonuses. Spellcrafting is similar to Morrowind, where you are able to create new spells from a list of effects, adjusting their duration, strength, radius, etc by expending minerals obtained from grinding up found gems.
Balance is alright. Some skills, like bartering, are immensely useful to the point of being broken, lowering the cost of purchasing goods by almost 66% in most cases. The economy itself could use a balancing pass, as I quickly found my amount of emeralds to be more than I could spend. There are only a few rough encounters that require some preparation and attention, otherwise if you bring a well built party with enough melee characters to cleave through the trash you'll be fine.
The only major bug I encountered dealt with improperly expiring buffs and debuffs, making them persist and sometimes stack. At times this benefitted me, as positive buffs kept building up and stacking. At other times, I'd find my characters permanently stuck in entangling roots or spilled wine, or with ever increasing negative health stacks. The devs seem to be aware of this and working on fixing it.
Overall though, I enjoyed the 10 or so hours spent playing and would recommend it to anyone who is willing to put up with some roughness. Otherwise, I'd say you're best off waiting until the game has had more time to cook, most likely at some point early next year.
None
Arbiter
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2019
- Messages
- 2,055
For any prospective buyers, one thing to note from watching this was Joe's repeated mentions of balance and difficulty not being a top priority. It still seems to be a factor he considers. but don't expect Underrail levels of autistic encounter design and balance passes to fix any"wrong" playstyles. I don't expect to see a Depot A style filter dungeon, so if you're looking for build autism and nothing else then this is probably not going to be the game for you. The closest games I'd associate it to are Morrowind and Fallout, where combat is a side show in service of adventure and quest solving. I prefer both styles of games, but if you're only in it for build autism and combat encounters, then you'll most likely be disappointed.
Lyre Mors
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2007
- Messages
- 5,434
Thanks for the impressions! Make sure to pass this feedback onto Hannah and Joe. Hopefully they'll be more willing to listen to the knowledgeable input from people who put in the time to play the game in beta this time.
None
Arbiter
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2019
- Messages
- 2,055
Already did, and they quickly responded. They're very active on the game's steam discussions page, and are patching the game at an almost daily basis. That we don't see them here is a shame, but they've probably read enough diatribes against the Jew to not wonder what they could be missing.
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2015
- Messages
- 13,115
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Gandalf
Arbiter
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- Sep 1, 2020
- Messages
- 767
Holly HECK! They've talked about the MULE from the Dungeon Siege game! I'm a big fan of it! Matt Barton is a bro
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2021
- Messages
- 614
I just bought an early access copy for similar reasons already expressed in this thread - the gorgeous visual design, the Vagrant Story / Parasite Eve (I LOVED that game as a teenager) inspired combat, the Dungeon Siege Mule love, etc.
I've played both prior games and still hold Serpent dear to me due to the Darklands inspiration, so that they are actually following through with more exploration in that world is very exciting for me.
Their commitment to realizing games that recreate the feeling of playing earlier CRPGs is admirable and very rare, so I like to support them in this instance given what is already available to play.
I've played both prior games and still hold Serpent dear to me due to the Darklands inspiration, so that they are actually following through with more exploration in that world is very exciting for me.
Their commitment to realizing games that recreate the feeling of playing earlier CRPGs is admirable and very rare, so I like to support them in this instance given what is already available to play.
cyborgboy95
News Cyborg
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2019
- Messages
- 3,066
None
Arbiter
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2019
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Combat rework/update. I haven't had a chance to give it much of a whirl as I've already got both maps cleared, so not much to say from me.
There's been 5 updates (bug fixes and minor changes) between this one and what was posted above, so the two are working at a decent pace. I'm not sure if this is their first early access game, but they're making the best of it. Probably should have done the same for their other games if they didn't.
Small content drop coming Soon™, along with two new maps next month.
There's been 5 updates (bug fixes and minor changes) between this one and what was posted above, so the two are working at a decent pace. I'm not sure if this is their first early access game, but they're making the best of it. Probably should have done the same for their other games if they didn't.
Small content drop coming Soon™, along with two new maps next month.
cyborgboy95
News Cyborg
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2019
- Messages
- 3,066
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