KickStarter Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness - Tales of the Moon Cult expansion on the way

[Outlander]

Wow, this Fedora guy sure hates the Black Geyser.

 

[Fedora Master]

I went in knowing nothing about the game except what they said on their Steam page and merely posted my immediate initial observations.
Blame the devs for launching a shoddy title.

 

[Krivol]

I went in knowing nothing about the game except what they said on their Steam page and merely posted my immediate initial observations.
Blame the devs for launching a shoddy title.

The title is the best!

 

[fantadomat]

(for brevity's sake, I discarded a single reply which was a long rant about necromancy, skeleton summoning, and all that stuff)

[Intelligence failure] If only I could disentangle this mystery...

[Wisdom success]Don't.

[Strength check] BARBARIAN!

[DEXTERITY critical success] A lot of lootz lol. Nicks people's shit and fucks off...

 

[Angelo85]

Is the game good yet?

TL;DR: I'd go with the classic "Good for what it is/wants to be".

So far my impression is that it's exactly what is says on the tin: a budget, Eurojank Baldurs Gate 1. The character attributes and combat mechanics were inspired by PoE though.

Story thus far has been low key, personal level stuff. Companions don't have much interactivity yet (I read that is something that should come later during Early Access: personal quests, more dialogue etc.), essentially you pick them up with one line/exposition scene, can ask them 4 or 5 lines and that's it. I believe I had it occur only twice in 7 hours of game-time that a Companion chimed in at a conversation.
A handful side quests, mostly one straight forward and short solution, but there was the occasional exception.

Exploration has been mostly outdoor/rural areas with one semi-big main city (4 screens of varying sizes), sadly I haven't encountered something I would call a real dungeon yet (neither the indoor, nor the outdoor version like for instance the Gnoll Stronghold). Some locations "speak for themselves" by telling a story through the environment / witnessing events and you form your own conclusions, which I personally found quite neat.

Combat wasn't challenging yet and mostly has been zerging down enemies. Variety of creatures/models is alright, but combat encounters mostly played out the same because there were no unique tactical compositions of enemy troops or circumstances (unless you count unreachable enemies you have to dispatch with spells/ranged attacks as tactical challenge).

The unique Drying-and-Brewing-System I only tried out a couple of times before I already decided not to bother with it further and just sold the components instead because they take up a huge amount of inventory space and organizing them is a living nightmare.
I found about I'd say 15 different recipes + the same, if not more different types of ingredients and all of them take an inventory space! You have no recipe book, each recipe is a single scroll you have to keep in your inventory and click through each time you wish to find something or look up how to create something. So essentially for practicality reasons you would have to create either an out-of-game Excel Sheet or look up a Wiki Online every time.
Having a recipe book were you could transcribe found recipes in-game would have been a much needed convenience IMHO. Perhaps even with the ability to click on a recipe and it automatically adds the components to the Drying/Brewing screen.
And for the ingredients an extra tab/bag to keep them organized. The way it is implemented right now I go out on a limb and predict not many players will bother with this system, which is a shame really since after all it's one of few truly unique features of this game.

Itemization is - depending on how you look at it - either on the bland side, or what you would expect from a game like this: I found some items that give +stats, apply effects with X chance or cast spell/per day. No talking weapon or Sphere of Annihilation. At least yet, considering I'm only 7 hours in there might be some surprises to come in the item department.

As far as bugs are concerned I had no show stoppers yet. Some quest lines seemed to be not implemented fully yet, which is obviously not a bug but rather due to being Early Access. Other stuff is minor like for instance this one: each character has two weapon sets they can switch through and my thief was equipped with A) a sword which applies a burning effect on hits and B) and ordinary bow. When I switched weapon sets during combat from sword to bow, the bow applied the burning effect as well. So the ordinary bow became effectively a bow of burning. Like I said, it's only minor stuff like this that stood out thus far.

Visuals are alright for a budget title and IMHO there's even a decent amount of voice acting (which itself is pretty decent quality wise). Being a Unity game you never know what to expect performance wise. Unfortunately I had to tone down the graphic settings to keep my Computer from exploding. But optimization might come down the Early Access line. It was perfectly playable on lower graphic settings and my rig is already like 7 or 8 years old now.

All in all I'm excited to play more of this game and it's a pretty fun experience so I would recommend it if you enjoy games like Baldur's Gate, Pathfinder or Pillars of Eternity. Going in you just have to be aware that this game didn't have the budget as the aforementioned titles and therefore you should limit your expectations somewhat. Or in other words: it's the same sport but not the same league.

 

[Contagium]

Is the game good yet?

I took a chance and dropped $22 USD day one. I think the reward will outweigh the risk in the end.

I also bought Grimoire for $36 on release day so wtf do I know.

 

[Readher]

Is the game good yet?

TL;DR: I'd go with the classic "Good for what it is/wants to be".

So far my impression is that it's exactly what is says on the tin: a budget, Eurojank Baldurs Gate 1. The character attributes and combat mechanics were inspired by PoE though.

Story thus far has been low key, personal level stuff. Companions don't have much interactivity yet (I read that is something that should come later during Early Access: personal quests, more dialogue etc.), essentially you pick them up with one line/exposition scene, can ask them 4 or 5 lines and that's it. I believe I had it occur only twice in 7 hours of game-time that a Companion chimed in at a conversation.
A handful side quests, mostly one straight forward and short solution, but there was the occasional exception.

Exploration has been mostly outdoor/rural areas with one semi-big main city (4 screens of varying sizes), sadly I haven't encountered something I would call a real dungeon yet (neither the indoor, nor the outdoor version like for instance the Gnoll Stronghold). Some locations "speak for themselves" by telling a story through the environment / witnessing events and you form your own conclusions, which I personally found quite neat.

Combat wasn't challenging yet and mostly has been zerging down enemies. Variety of creatures/models is alright, but combat encounters mostly played out the same because there were no unique tactical compositions of enemy troops or circumstances (unless you count unreachable enemies you have to dispatch with spells/ranged attacks as tactical challenge).

The unique Drying-and-Brewing-System I only tried out a couple of times before I already decided not to bother with it further and just sold the components instead because they take up a huge amount of inventory space and organizing them is a living nightmare.
I found about I'd say 15 different recipes + the same, if not more different types of ingredients and all of them take an inventory space! You have no recipe book, each recipe is a single scroll you have to keep in your inventory and click through each time you wish to find something or look up how to create something. So essentially for practicality reasons you would have to create either an out-of-game Excel Sheet or look up a Wiki Online every time.
Having a recipe book were you could transcribe found recipes in-game would have been a much needed convenience IMHO. Perhaps even with the ability to click on a recipe and it automatically adds the components to the Drying/Brewing screen.
And for the ingredients an extra tab/bag to keep them organized. The way it is implemented right now I go out on a limb and predict not many players will bother with this system, which is a shame really since after all it's one of few truly unique features of this game.

Itemization is - depending on how you look at it - either on the bland side, or what you would expect from a game like this: I found some items that give +stats, apply effects with X chance or cast spell/per day. No talking weapon or Sphere of Annihilation. At least yet, considering I'm only 7 hours in there might be some surprises to come in the item department.

As far as bugs are concerned I had no show stoppers yet. Some quest lines seemed to be not implemented fully yet, which is obviously not a bug but rather due to being Early Access. Other stuff is minor like for instance this one: each character has two weapon sets they can switch through and my thief was equipped with A) a sword which applies a burning effect on hits and B) and ordinary bow. When I switched weapon sets during combat from sword to bow, the bow applied the burning effect as well. So the ordinary bow became effectively a bow of burning. Like I said, it's only minor stuff like this that stood out thus far.

Visuals are alright for a budget title and IMHO there's even a decent amount of voice acting (which itself is pretty decent quality wise). Being a Unity game you never know what to expect performance wise. Unfortunately I had to tone down the graphic settings to keep my Computer from exploding. But optimization might come down the Early Access line. It was perfectly playable on lower graphic settings and my rig is already like 7 or 8 years old now.

All in all I'm excited to play more of this game and it's a pretty fun experience so I would recommend it if you enjoy games like Baldur's Gate, Pathfinder or Pillars of Eternity. Going in you just have to be aware that this game didn't have the budget as the aforementioned titles and therefore you should limit your expectations somewhat. Or in other words: it's the same sport but not the same league.

There is a second fairly big city with multiple districts later on in the game. That's also where you'll encounter a dungeon. Some companions have personal quests implemented, I've already finished one for Bjalla and started next one with her.

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1374930/view/2967297141013418827

Update #3 Is Here!​

Here's our third round of fixes based on your feedback!

Ho there, adventurers!


Thank you all for your input since Black Geyser launched in providing us with a mountain of feedback. As we fine-tune our internal process for dealing with the flood, we're implementing fixes as quickly as we're able. Here's the third, with plenty more to come in the next few days. You can see the patch notes below.

As always, your input will directly shape Black Geyser, so please continue to let us know your thoughts via Steam or our Discord
.

Fixes

Spoiler

• Resurrection of dead party members now works in Isilbright and Deron-Guld
• Shops for Eldin, Bellun, Jolvar, Ilio and Zelima no longer inacessible while their quest is active
• Siracca now helps to kill both assassins after her cutscene
• Fixed Vine Grown bow and Edge of Dusk related dialogues
• Arvex now has all his items identified when you recruit him
• Fixed Dwarf race description
• Added missing status icon for Blood Cloud

The Black Geyser Team

 

[Humbaba]

Is the game good NOW?

 

[lycanwarrior]

Black Geys-er flamboyant just like their white counterparts.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

no CRUSHMASTER no BUY

 

[rojay]

Is the game good yet?

TL;DR: I'd go with the classic "Good for what it is/wants to be".

So far my impression is that it's exactly what is says on the tin: a budget, Eurojank Baldurs Gate 1. The character attributes and combat mechanics were inspired by PoE though.

Story thus far has been low key, personal level stuff. Companions don't have much interactivity yet (I read that is something that should come later during Early Access: personal quests, more dialogue etc.), essentially you pick them up with one line/exposition scene, can ask them 4 or 5 lines and that's it. I believe I had it occur only twice in 7 hours of game-time that a Companion chimed in at a conversation.
A handful side quests, mostly one straight forward and short solution, but there was the occasional exception.

Exploration has been mostly outdoor/rural areas with one semi-big main city (4 screens of varying sizes), sadly I haven't encountered something I would call a real dungeon yet (neither the indoor, nor the outdoor version like for instance the Gnoll Stronghold). Some locations "speak for themselves" by telling a story through the environment / witnessing events and you form your own conclusions, which I personally found quite neat.

Combat wasn't challenging yet and mostly has been zerging down enemies. Variety of creatures/models is alright, but combat encounters mostly played out the same because there were no unique tactical compositions of enemy troops or circumstances (unless you count unreachable enemies you have to dispatch with spells/ranged attacks as tactical challenge).

The unique Drying-and-Brewing-System I only tried out a couple of times before I already decided not to bother with it further and just sold the components instead because they take up a huge amount of inventory space and organizing them is a living nightmare.
I found about I'd say 15 different recipes + the same, if not more different types of ingredients and all of them take an inventory space! You have no recipe book, each recipe is a single scroll you have to keep in your inventory and click through each time you wish to find something or look up how to create something. So essentially for practicality reasons you would have to create either an out-of-game Excel Sheet or look up a Wiki Online every time.
Having a recipe book were you could transcribe found recipes in-game would have been a much needed convenience IMHO. Perhaps even with the ability to click on a recipe and it automatically adds the components to the Drying/Brewing screen.
And for the ingredients an extra tab/bag to keep them organized. The way it is implemented right now I go out on a limb and predict not many players will bother with this system, which is a shame really since after all it's one of few truly unique features of this game.

Itemization is - depending on how you look at it - either on the bland side, or what you would expect from a game like this: I found some items that give +stats, apply effects with X chance or cast spell/per day. No talking weapon or Sphere of Annihilation. At least yet, considering I'm only 7 hours in there might be some surprises to come in the item department.

As far as bugs are concerned I had no show stoppers yet. Some quest lines seemed to be not implemented fully yet, which is obviously not a bug but rather due to being Early Access. Other stuff is minor like for instance this one: each character has two weapon sets they can switch through and my thief was equipped with A) a sword which applies a burning effect on hits and B) and ordinary bow. When I switched weapon sets during combat from sword to bow, the bow applied the burning effect as well. So the ordinary bow became effectively a bow of burning. Like I said, it's only minor stuff like this that stood out thus far.

Visuals are alright for a budget title and IMHO there's even a decent amount of voice acting (which itself is pretty decent quality wise). Being a Unity game you never know what to expect performance wise. Unfortunately I had to tone down the graphic settings to keep my Computer from exploding. But optimization might come down the Early Access line. It was perfectly playable on lower graphic settings and my rig is already like 7 or 8 years old now.

All in all I'm excited to play more of this game and it's a pretty fun experience so I would recommend it if you enjoy games like Baldur's Gate, Pathfinder or Pillars of Eternity. Going in you just have to be aware that this game didn't have the budget as the aforementioned titles and therefore you should limit your expectations somewhat. Or in other words: it's the same sport but not the same league.

You've summed up my experience as well, though I haven't really gotten into the drying/brewing stuff yet. If this was a final release, I'd pass, but there's potential for it to be a good game and based on what I've seen so far I see no reason to believe the developers won't fulfill that potential.

 

[NJClaw]

no CRUSHMASTER no BUY

Mods will fix it

 

[vazha]

no CRUSHMASTER no BUY

Not only is there no crushmaster, but you cant even name your character Crushmast Crushmasterson, because there is a limit on letters. I had to settle for TEH CRUSHMASTER instead. Looks neat in dialogues though - you dont see an errand boy dwarf named Crushmaster every day.

 

[jungl]

The crafting system is crap they should delete it or heavily revise it. Classes you pick you at character creation you don't even notice they there outside of what items and spells u can use. Game could use more stuff the player doesn't expect like battle encounters in towns and fields. Black geyser has the material to be a fun baldurs gate 1 clone but needs more work.

 

[cyborgboy95]

Update #4 Is Here!​

Ho there, adventurers!

Here's our fourth update after launch, that brings yet more fixes to Black Geyser. Please continue to let us know your thoughts via Steam or our Discord[discord.gg].

Spoiler

Fixes

• Sea Hag can now be properly recruited at the end of her quest
  
• Fixed a bug where a Command Company perk would lead to black screens upon rest
  
• Brewing/drying panel's arrow buttons now work properly when there are more than 12 ingredients
  
• Friendly creatures will never attack each other from now on
  
• Character sheet now properly displays damage of ranged weapons
  
• Recipes in vendor inventories are no longer readable before purchased
  
• Bargain and Persuasion now properly affects shop prices
  
• Encumbrance is now re-calculated whenever carrying capacity changes
  
• Shop screens now properly open at the end of dialogues
  
• Portraits added for Mendelroth and Governor Salazar
  
• Baflodac's gang now reacts properly if attacked attacked
  
• Stacking behavior fixed for unidentified items

The Black Geyser Team

 

[udm]

Not only is there no crushmaster, but you cant even name your character Crushmast Crushmasterson, because there is a limit on letters. I had to settle for TEH CRUSHMASTER instead. Looks neat in dialogues though - you dont see an errand boy dwarf named Crushmaster every day.

Glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read this post

 

[0sacred]

Been playing around with this for a few hours. I like it better than any other RtwP game so far, though I'm yearning a little for PoE's tactical battles.

One of the game's high points is the writing IMO. Dialogue lines are interestingly written and delivered in a somewhat neutral tone where they're voiced. No over the top acting. I was pleasantly surprised that getting uppity with the king resulted in a (though unwinnable) fight.

The game's systems are a bit convoluted, it's hard to say what the meat and potato between skills is. So far I'm not doing any crafting at all and getting along fine.

I'm still not sure wether some of your companion's skills actually do anything (in particular crafting skill and the dialogue skills). Help me out here

Combat is easy and forgettable so far, easily done with autoattacking. They still have a lot of balancing to do there.


tl;dr 7/10 already and bound to get better, but well worth the price already

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1374930/view/2968423586102288186

Update #5 Is Here!​

Ho there, adventurers!

Here's our fifth update after launch, that brings yet more fixes to Black Geyser. We're pleased to say one of these fixes includes the ability to scale your fonts to a size of your choosing!

In the next few days we'll be rolling out a new way to report bugs and feedback, to make our internal processes simpler and to guarantee that all the information you're sending is filed, sorted and (hopefully) implemented. For now, please continue to let us know your thoughts via Steam or our Discord[discord.gg].
Fixes

Spoiler

• Font size scaling options introduced in main menu
  
• Containers that are known to be empty are now highlighted with gray
  
• Added option to close loot windows automatically when using "Take All"
  
• Fixed an issue where having "Autopause on Character Death" would cause the game to get stuck
  
• More accurate description for General, Class and Weapon Skills
  
• Fast mode is now retained between combat sessions, areas and saves
  
• Combat and dialogue log size is now retained between areas and saves
  
• Scrolls can now be stacked up to an amount of 20
  
• Quests no longer take all items when they should take only one item
  
• Items carried in NPC inventories are now usually stealable
  
• Items that were identified by the player now appear correctly in the shop
  
• White Writhers in the Underground Cave no longer move after their death
  
• Containers now handle at least 56 items
  
• Added loot to NPCs in the Isilbright Gates area
  
• Looting inside the detection range of a suspicious NPC will not break stealth anymore
  
• Sea Hag's interaction dialogue can now be properly accessed
  
• Sea Hag's quest will now properly finish when finishing the objectives
  
• Side quest "The Cursed" can now be properly finished
  
• Added missing Rilvite slab items to Deron-Guld

 

[Andhaira]

What's the magic system like? Are mages powerful?

Looks great from videos but RTwP...bahhh at least there doesn't seem to be any running

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Are mages powerful?

Only in their imaginations, as always.

 

[Contagium]

I can't figure out what's going on in this picture. Just staring at a large... boulder?

Update #4 Is Here!​

Ho there, adventurers!

Here's our fourth update after launch, that brings yet more fixes to Black Geyser. Please continue to let us know your thoughts via Steam or our Discord[discord.gg].

Spoiler

Fixes

• Sea Hag can now be properly recruited at the end of her quest
  
• Fixed a bug where a Command Company perk would lead to black screens upon rest
  
• Brewing/drying panel's arrow buttons now work properly when there are more than 12 ingredients
  
• Friendly creatures will never attack each other from now on
  
• Character sheet now properly displays damage of ranged weapons
  
• Recipes in vendor inventories are no longer readable before purchased
  
• Bargain and Persuasion now properly affects shop prices
  
• Encumbrance is now re-calculated whenever carrying capacity changes
  
• Shop screens now properly open at the end of dialogues
  
• Portraits added for Mendelroth and Governor Salazar
  
• Baflodac's gang now reacts properly if attacked attacked
  
• Stacking behavior fixed for unidentified items

The Black Geyser Team

 

[Ontopoly]

Finally! We can finally properly dry 12+ items. This was bugging me a lot.

 

[Cryomancer]

Are mages powerful?

Depends. Summon spells are amazing. Direct damage are trash.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Brewing/drying panel's arrow buttons now work properly when there are more than 12 ingredients

And i thought underrail trash manager was bad, 12 and more ingredients for one single recipe, looks like the autists here found a game to play for the next 20 years...