Pyke
The Brotherhood
-
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KickStarter BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION - isometric post-apocalyptic adventure from STASIS developer
- Thread starter Pyke
- Start date
Harr, thanks for the quick anwer but while I was writing the email it occurred to me to check my spam folder and lo! and behold - there is the key. Sorry, my bad!
V_K
Arcane
Ok, now I'm in the same position:
Where do I repair the terraforming device? None of the usual suspects offer anything useful.
And another question, just out of curiosity: is there a way to find the answers to the Agnate test in Baas? Or you're just supposed to bullshit your way though (as I already did)?
And another question, just out of curiosity: is there a way to find the answers to the Agnate test in Baas? Or you're just supposed to bullshit your way though (as I already did)?
Pyke
The Brotherhood
To repair the device you have to combine it with the PROTONANITE and the MOSSLING. You get the MOSSLING from the Moss Root after returning the lost spores (found in the Nest base where they have captured one of the Moss).
In the Boneyard Glossolalia, once you've blown up the wall you can find a GOLDEN PHALLUS with a poem inscribed on it. Mark will inscribe the poem into the codex if you sell the gold. But yeah - you can just brute force through it.
In the Boneyard Glossolalia, once you've blown up the wall you can find a GOLDEN PHALLUS with a poem inscribed on it. Mark will inscribe the poem into the codex if you sell the gold. But yeah - you can just brute force through it.
If you haven't done so yet, scan the PROTONANITE on the Fley Computer. If you choose to destroy the Fley, there will be... something in the ruins of the Fley.
If you get really stuck, here is a walkthrough I wrote for the testers. Its not super elegant, but should at least give you a hint if you're in a pickle!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NmT0ZwdjcjnwzWGJGxAzPj5REj1Q54FrO_8NdHvgBQw/edit
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V_K
Arcane
Ok, if that's the case, then I've ran into a bug - I tried doing that already (and rechecked now), and they refuse to combine.
I suspect it might be because I've used the protonanite to infect the Fley mainframe. Or do you need a different protonanite from the one The One gives you? (yes, I've throoughly enjoyed writing that)
Now that's just naughty
Pyke
The Brotherhood
Ok, if that's the case, then I've ran into a bug - I tried doing that already (and rechecked now), and they refuse to combine.
I suspect it might be because I've used the protonanite to infect the Fley mainframe.
Now that's just naughty
Hit TAB, and then Submit a bug report and Ill have a look right now!
Are you trying to combine them each separately with the device, or trying to combine them together, and then combine THAT with the device?
V_K
Arcane
Done.Ok, if that's the case, then I've ran into a bug - I tried doing that already (and rechecked now), and they refuse to combine.
I suspect it might be because I've used the protonanite to infect the Fley mainframe.
Now that's just naughty
Hit TAB, and then Submit a bug report and Ill have a look right now!
Are you trying to combine them each separately with the device, or trying to combine them together, and then combine THAT with the device?
I tried both things, neither worked.
Pyke
The Brotherhood
Just tested it, and it works...
Alternatively, here is your save with it done. :D
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19UMZfjq_VbJV5SBB90l0ZEQUaA89rbp_?usp=sharing
Just copy that into:
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\THE BROTHERHOOD\BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION
Or wherever your other saves are located (youll see the location displayed in the save game menu)
So drag the Mossling over the Biome Seeding Device, and it will create a new Item. Then drag the Protonanite over that and ill will add in the Fixed Biome Seeding Device.
Alternatively, here is your save with it done. :D
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19UMZfjq_VbJV5SBB90l0ZEQUaA89rbp_?usp=sharing
Just copy that into:
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\THE BROTHERHOOD\BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION
Or wherever your other saves are located (youll see the location displayed in the save game menu)
V_K
Arcane
Weird. I'm pretty sure it didn't some time ago.
V_K
Arcane
Nevertheless, I think calling the device "broken" and "in bad need of repairs" is a bit of a red herring in this case. I was heavily under impression that I need to fix it first, and only then insert protonanite and mossling into it. Maybe change to something like "incomplete"/"missing some parts"?
WallaceChambers
Learned
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2019
- Messages
- 311
same general area as before and a little further.
I actually went back and unkilled the scientist lady. There was all sorts of stuff I had missed before so I couldn't get the other options. I hadn't got back to that medical bot and taken the translator from him. Then I also found the dead worm. Which is what I figured I needed (because I've had this reanimation tank since forever) but thought would be in the Charnel House. Shout outs to the Charnel House trilogy for upping my vocab in time for this game. I had been near those empty worm pools a bunch of times too. It's the only time the invisible item proximity reveal thing has gave me trouble.
In any case this was a tougher decision because I actually felt bad for those fungus dudes but at the end of the day it's team human so they had to bite dust. I'm glad I actually went back and figured that stuff out. I dont know about anyone else but, for me, it can get tough keeping track of all these eccentric ass characters. Especially when I've gatta remember the drunk dude at the bar from the first 30 minutes of the game 10 hours in. The conversation log helps at least. I almost wish I could search terms in it.
That convo with Lebanon was pretty heart breaking too. I guess he could only use the terraformer thing once? I do like the imagery of an old robot dude that's stuck in his ways literally being immobile. Good humor with the library hologram too.
In any case this was a tougher decision because I actually felt bad for those fungus dudes but at the end of the day it's team human so they had to bite dust. I'm glad I actually went back and figured that stuff out. I dont know about anyone else but, for me, it can get tough keeping track of all these eccentric ass characters. Especially when I've gatta remember the drunk dude at the bar from the first 30 minutes of the game 10 hours in. The conversation log helps at least. I almost wish I could search terms in it.
That convo with Lebanon was pretty heart breaking too. I guess he could only use the terraformer thing once? I do like the imagery of an old robot dude that's stuck in his ways literally being immobile. Good humor with the library hologram too.
Pyke
The Brotherhood
Love hearing your thought process throughout your play. The latest version should have a little ping over that dead worm - you were possibly on the previous version without the ping when you first went to the hatchery!
Little side note - the guy who voices the Moss and the lady who voices the Doctor are husband and wife.
Little side note - the guy who voices the Moss and the lady who voices the Doctor are husband and wife.
V_K
Arcane
Finished the game. Went the non-combat path, full on goody-two-shoes. Took me 12 hours according to Steam.
The good:
- Worldbuilding is out of this world amazing (pun fully intended). I generally tend to find postapocalyptic settings boring because they're so grimdark and ugly that it's hard to care about their fate. Not so here, BD strikes a very good balance of the bleak, the bizarre and the, well, beautiful and I found myself fully immersed and very invested in it.
- As many have already said, the art is great. I particularly liked that the Codex is a collection of drawings rather than a wiki - it both makes a lot of sense in-setting and gives the game a lot of character.
- The game is easy but not very hand-holdy. You have to pay attention to what NPCs say, and the puzzles, while easy, can still give you the satisfaction of a "eureka" moment from time to time.
- Non-linearity and "scavenger hunt" plot structure. For all the sparseness of content (see below) the exploration just feels very satisfying - you always have several leads to pursue, there are always new items and maps to experiment with just around the corner. And just learning about the world feels interesting and rewarding.
The bad:
- Maps do feel a bit empty throughout the game. More frustratingly so given that the game's version of pixel hunt is lawnmowing the map - as hotspots only highlight at proximity, so you need to go through every inch to make sure you didn't miss something.
- And you really want to make sure you didn't miss something, because backtracking is very tedious. The worldmap travel looks great the first couple of times, but quickly becomes boring as you can only move between the points of interest. Would be nice if you could find a couple of optional areas just by flying around.
- The empty maps are even more frustrating because of how easy it would have been to fill them with environmental puzzles, like in the one in hidden garden. The game being set in the ruins of a few advanced civilizations, it would be really easy to justify. And they would offer a good alternative to lawn-mowing for quest items and gold.
- While not very hand-holdy, the game still is a bit too user-friendly for comfort. The separation of hotspots into interactive and read-only and of items into combinable and stand-alone gives away too much information for puzzles. Wouldn't mind an optional difficulty mode that'd turn it off.
- The plot structure is a bit formulaic. You arrive at a new map, find two or more opposing factions, one of which is clearly evil and the rest are somewhat less evil, and then you solve their conflict. The factions themselves are very colorful though, I just wish it wouldn't have been so black-and-grey.
Pyke, one last question:
The good:
- Worldbuilding is out of this world amazing (pun fully intended). I generally tend to find postapocalyptic settings boring because they're so grimdark and ugly that it's hard to care about their fate. Not so here, BD strikes a very good balance of the bleak, the bizarre and the, well, beautiful and I found myself fully immersed and very invested in it.
- As many have already said, the art is great. I particularly liked that the Codex is a collection of drawings rather than a wiki - it both makes a lot of sense in-setting and gives the game a lot of character.
- The game is easy but not very hand-holdy. You have to pay attention to what NPCs say, and the puzzles, while easy, can still give you the satisfaction of a "eureka" moment from time to time.
- Non-linearity and "scavenger hunt" plot structure. For all the sparseness of content (see below) the exploration just feels very satisfying - you always have several leads to pursue, there are always new items and maps to experiment with just around the corner. And just learning about the world feels interesting and rewarding.
The bad:
- Maps do feel a bit empty throughout the game. More frustratingly so given that the game's version of pixel hunt is lawnmowing the map - as hotspots only highlight at proximity, so you need to go through every inch to make sure you didn't miss something.
- And you really want to make sure you didn't miss something, because backtracking is very tedious. The worldmap travel looks great the first couple of times, but quickly becomes boring as you can only move between the points of interest. Would be nice if you could find a couple of optional areas just by flying around.
- The empty maps are even more frustrating because of how easy it would have been to fill them with environmental puzzles, like in the one in hidden garden. The game being set in the ruins of a few advanced civilizations, it would be really easy to justify. And they would offer a good alternative to lawn-mowing for quest items and gold.
- While not very hand-holdy, the game still is a bit too user-friendly for comfort. The separation of hotspots into interactive and read-only and of items into combinable and stand-alone gives away too much information for puzzles. Wouldn't mind an optional difficulty mode that'd turn it off.
- The plot structure is a bit formulaic. You arrive at a new map, find two or more opposing factions, one of which is clearly evil and the rest are somewhat less evil, and then you solve their conflict. The factions themselves are very colorful though, I just wish it wouldn't have been so black-and-grey.
Pyke, one last question:
Is there an ending where you break the cycle and/or find out what the Penrose is? Or is Markie just doomed to repeat it again and again?
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Pyke
The Brotherhood
You are doomed to repeat it again and again and again and again and again and again....
The idea is that the history of the world is set in stone. You are simply fulfilling history by getting it to the point where everything is in order to allow the Penrose to be sent back, thus starting the loop again. If you do give the game another playthrough, your ultimate ending temple alters depending on how you treated those in the world, as well reflecting your choices. Pooch and Don can also leave you during the game if you're particularly mean to them.
I do want to explore just what the Penrose is at a later date - but for now we wanted to focus on the story of the brothers, and of the world itself. The idea is almost that the Penrose exists because it exists to exist. Like the shape itself, it turns in on itself. There IS a 'first cause', but that's a story for another game!
The idea is that the history of the world is set in stone. You are simply fulfilling history by getting it to the point where everything is in order to allow the Penrose to be sent back, thus starting the loop again. If you do give the game another playthrough, your ultimate ending temple alters depending on how you treated those in the world, as well reflecting your choices. Pooch and Don can also leave you during the game if you're particularly mean to them.
I do want to explore just what the Penrose is at a later date - but for now we wanted to focus on the story of the brothers, and of the world itself. The idea is almost that the Penrose exists because it exists to exist. Like the shape itself, it turns in on itself. There IS a 'first cause', but that's a story for another game!
We would love you to write your post here as a Steam review if you could! They all help us in our discoverability!
V_K
Arcane
Already did.
Binky
Cipher
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2015
- Messages
- 453
Beat the game as Mr. Nice Guy. Beautiful Desolation, indeed. Very interesting world, but really scarce with the info about it. Would love to find more about the Penrose, the history, the factions, etc. Those arcade fights were fun. Beat all but the last skullbot with just the Hanasi token (pimp-hand shot is the bringer of victory). I don't have the time to replay the game as a heartless prick, so I checked out the rest of the videos.
Was surprised at the number of different videos about Don & Mark (drug overdose, suicide, blaming Don for the Penrose stunt,...). What affects what ending between the brothers you get? Is it just based on how mean you are to him?
Pyke
The Brotherhood
It's a lot of things. Essentially its how you treat him, and how you treat other people as well. So you can, for instance, be a terrible person to everyone else which alters the final temple, but be good to Don - and that will give you a different ending to if you were mean enough to Don to get him to leave you, but were kind to everyone else. There are 4 temple endings (and one hidden) in total, each with a variation of Don's outcome in the OG timeline, and then each one also alters if Pooch stays or leaves you.
The Simulacrum - that device with the 4 colours on it - measures your impact on the world... being good (generous) keeps it white, being evil (wrathful) turns it red, and then there is being compassionate, or selfish as the middle two measures. Every single choice in the game has some sort of weighting to it - which will be reflected in the Simulacrum.
The idea was that its not really being good or terrible, but rather that there are shades of grey between those two extremes that are usually offered. So be an ass to one faction, and a saint to another.
I tried to write the factions to be more grey so that it would be 'easier' or 'harder' to be nice or mean, but (with the exception of the Fley who are pretty clearly bad), people still tend to see one side as good and the other as bad. Each faction was justified in their story, which is reflected in things like Pooch and Don both counseling you who they agree with.
I really assumed that people would be more subtle in their choices - but it seems that when someone wants to play as a good guy - they are good through and through!
The Simulacrum - that device with the 4 colours on it - measures your impact on the world... being good (generous) keeps it white, being evil (wrathful) turns it red, and then there is being compassionate, or selfish as the middle two measures. Every single choice in the game has some sort of weighting to it - which will be reflected in the Simulacrum.
The idea was that its not really being good or terrible, but rather that there are shades of grey between those two extremes that are usually offered. So be an ass to one faction, and a saint to another.
I tried to write the factions to be more grey so that it would be 'easier' or 'harder' to be nice or mean, but (with the exception of the Fley who are pretty clearly bad), people still tend to see one side as good and the other as bad. Each faction was justified in their story, which is reflected in things like Pooch and Don both counseling you who they agree with.
I really assumed that people would be more subtle in their choices - but it seems that when someone wants to play as a good guy - they are good through and through!
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V_K
Arcane
It's just that most of the time the choices are very obvious. Like who in their right mind would support the Fley? They're parasites (I wish you kept your original design, where the host retains control over the worm) and they don't hide their plans for world domination. If I have one criticism of the writing is that Don supporting their cause feels very out of character. Similarly, the only reason you would support the Chiznyama (except for really being a gullible fool) is if you've already gone through the Tear and know they are being duped (btw, does the game acknowledge that?).
And it's not like you have something to gain out being evil or siding with evil factions - you'll get your quest items either way. That's something an RPG has much fewer problems with because of the loot and character progression.
A couple of more things:
Who is Nevrogorses? As far as I understand, the other three gods are your party members, so what's the deal with her? Why is she a god as well?
I also thought that it's a pity you can't give the ancient cigarettes to Dr. Taylor. Seeing that they're "installed in the Buffalo" made me rofl.
And it's not like you have something to gain out being evil or siding with evil factions - you'll get your quest items either way. That's something an RPG has much fewer problems with because of the loot and character progression.
A couple of more things:
Who is Nevrogorses? As far as I understand, the other three gods are your party members, so what's the deal with her? Why is she a god as well?
I also thought that it's a pity you can't give the ancient cigarettes to Dr. Taylor. Seeing that they're "installed in the Buffalo" made me rofl.
Binky
Cipher
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2015
- Messages
- 453
Well, playing as a belligerent twat is kinda silly, since your character is an unarmed scrawny dude in a land populated by hulking brutes, heavily-armed nutjobs, and sentient war machines. What's he gonna do, bleed on them? Also, being a Stasis veteran, I fully expected to get killed if I didn't smile and wave at all the psychos.
- Joined
- May 13, 2018
- Messages
- 1,292
Hey Pyke excellent first impression, I'm hooked.
One tiny little quirk, I got stuck the very first time using an item on item, because item on top of cursor is so big I couldn't see if I'm clicking on other item and I obviously wasn't, so I thought maybe that's not how you do it.
One way of avoiding sight obstruction would be to create a tether from inventory item to the cursor, so player can see what they're using, but obvs not a big deal now that I know how to use items. And I'm sure it won't be a big deal for others.
One tiny little quirk, I got stuck the very first time using an item on item, because item on top of cursor is so big I couldn't see if I'm clicking on other item and I obviously wasn't, so I thought maybe that's not how you do it.
One way of avoiding sight obstruction would be to create a tether from inventory item to the cursor, so player can see what they're using, but obvs not a big deal now that I know how to use items. And I'm sure it won't be a big deal for others.
MRY
Wormwood Studios
Congrats on the successful launch! Reviews, player reviews, player numbers all look very good! Even the Codex likes it!
- Joined
- May 13, 2018
- Messages
- 1,292
I'm going to guess the graveyard names are from top tier backers?
But I did notice certain names are reference to
But I did notice certain names are reference to
Stasis and Cayne. At first it messed with my head, until it clicked. Well done Pyke
- Joined
- May 13, 2018
- Messages
- 1,292
And finished. 10 hours total on a not super thorough run.
Traveling around had a bit of a Mass Effect relay vibe. Also a bit of Wind called Amnesia vibe with those skull robots. A myriad of other 80s and 90s references on the tip of my tongue.
A bit of AoD lore on African shrooms vibe.
I didn't enjoy the combat, but have a pretty good idea how to make the most out of my second run.
Solid pace combined with visual audio excellence. I wasn't as impressed with ending compared to Stasis, but it's a different type of game, more about the (fantastic) journey.
10/10 would pledge again.
Traveling around had a bit of a Mass Effect relay vibe. Also a bit of Wind called Amnesia vibe with those skull robots. A myriad of other 80s and 90s references on the tip of my tongue.
A bit of AoD lore on African shrooms vibe.
I didn't enjoy the combat, but have a pretty good idea how to make the most out of my second run.
Feel pretty stink about infecting the astronaut lady
Solid pace combined with visual audio excellence. I wasn't as impressed with ending compared to Stasis, but it's a different type of game, more about the (fantastic) journey.
10/10 would pledge again.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 2,801
Love the Codex statue!
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