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

[El Presidente]

Just wishlisted this. Eventually might buy so it can join all the other hundreds of games in my library waiting for some attention while I play SNES roms

 

[ImprobablePause]

If someone hates puzzles and wanna pass the sanguine flower/plant puzzle quickly

solution

6-4-5-3

You know, when I wrote that I thought the solution was super obvious after like a few seconds of thinking about it, but boy was I wrong. A lot of people hate that damn plant.

 

[Cryomancer]

Is not hard, but I like to give solutions to puzzles to chose who hate puzzles.

Anyway, seems like my wintermage by some unknown reason can access summon DIRE wolf(circle 5) from my other caster. It is a bug that I like it cuz wintermage has a total of ZERO summoning spells. I would prefer a ice dire wolf, but I would take it since is the unique summon which I have access.

screenshots

Yes, lv 10 now.

 

[Zariusz]

So Black Geyser has finally erupted eh? Is it good?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

loading times are still terrible
idk what I expected

 

[Jermu]

loading times are still terrible
idk what I expected

Try restarting once in a while that reduced it for me

Final boss does not start after dialogue so I decided to try attacking it. That starts the combat but it just does not die stays "badly injured" state indefinitely. Changed difficulty to the easiest setting and same result. Think it might be broken because there were an option for asking help from someone but I declined.

 

[jungl]

My experience with the game is that it is baldurs gate with its no name npcs and buildings filled with them on steroids. Combat sucks for the most part and the UI is bad for multiclass characters having to switch through hotbars. I had two amusing bugs one where my clerics healing spell keeps growing in power for some reason she currently heals for 600 hp lol. The other bug I had I gave a spell scroll to a character for her to learn it but when I left clicked or was it right click? The scroll in her inventory magically duplicated itself 17 times. I made a grand in selling all the scrolls but could not sell the final one it is bugged in her inventory and I can not right click to interact or left click to move it.

Solasta seems to be a better game I'll probably end up quitting this midway also due to lack of interest.

 

[Contagium]

Outside of the Greed mechanic, the game floats between awful and mediocre. I'm not going to blab about every bug encountered but as I suspected, this seems like it could've sat in EA with more play testing. Forget that... this game has been in development for years before Steam EA. Some of this shit is just broken, like journal entries not updating, the much maligned load times, the jarring night/day cycle changes, and all of these recruitable NPC's that the game just can't bother to make you give a shit about. I'm only about 6 hours in. I'm going to play it as long as my patience allows.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

I've seen a lot of wilderness screenshots both during production as well as post release. Which makes me wonder: What's exploration in this like? Outside of Kindom Come, I'm still waiting for an RPG to recreate the original BG's exploration somewhat.

I'm tired of games in which every location, every house, every fucking thing serves a "purpose" (solely for the player). If there's something to explore, you can bet there will be either a quest, an NPC or loot. It makes everything feel so artificial, predictable and gamey. With current games, "empty space" oft isn't done out of budget reasons -- that is, if the dev in question hasn't subscribed to the idea from the go that game worlds are supposed to be theme parks or succumbed to all those "normies" who deem all that space "boring". And from subsequent Bioware interactive movies (as well as dev interviews), unlike KCD, we now know it was mostly a lucky accident back in 1998 just as well.

So....... how 'bout Black Geyser?

 

[Jermu]

I'm tired of games in which every location, every house, every fucking thing serves a "purpose" (solely for the player).
If there's something to explore, you can bet there will be either a quest, an NPC or loot. It makes everything feel so artificial, predictable and gamey. With current games, "empty space" oft isn't done out of budget reasons -- that is, if the dev in question hasn't subscribed to the idea from the go that game worlds are supposed to be theme parks or succumbed to all those "normies" who deem all that space "boring". And from subsequent Bioware interactive movies (as well as dev interviews), unlike KCD, we now know it was mostly a lucky accident back in 1998 just as well.

So....... how 'bout Black Geyser?

Well every area does not have a purpose so this might be a good fit for you. Also I would advice you not to check area/house names in advance otherwise you can make accurate conclusions.

When you visit new city the map is already fully visible not fog of war which I would prefer.

 

[Morgoth]

 

[Cryomancer]

Asked in discord and sadly looks like golem crafting is DLC only

If someone is curious about high level spells, I recently reached the sixth circle of 7. A lot of damage = 10~74+ 2~16 + concussion and brittle conditions for a base energy spell.

Glacial rush

However, you have way more limited hiugh level spell slots. You can't spam it like the snow spell.

So far, magic is way stronger than Pillars but way weaker than Baldur's Gate 2.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Any idea when DLCs will be released?

 

[thesheeep]

So, a few more hours in, I can't really recommend it in its current state:

- Barely 8 hours in and I already completely broke the economy. I have about 20k gold and the most expensive item I've seen so far was 1.5k... I get you'll reach this point in most games, but after just 8 hours?!
- You know how level-ups in BG feel too rare, especially later on? This game seems to go the exact opposite route. I can barely leave a single screen without leveling up. It's honestly weird - and as a result, each level up feels less meaningful. Not a big issue, but still..
- Bugs. Bugs, bugs, bugs. Plus extra bugs on LInux apparently (graphical glitch making everything look like you're on shrooms, can be "cured" by resting )
- The ability bar is an absolute atrocity (and according to the voices in this thread of mine, I'm not the only one hating it). Just a gigantic WTF.
- Summons suck - everything you summon lasts 3 turns, that's it. There's even an obvious trap spell that improves units you have summoned already - which would last 1 turn by the time you cast it on existing summons
- All wizardly classes seem to be the same, with the only difference being their access to spells, but not even by much. I've yet to find a spell that e.g. only necromancers have access to. Everything else (skills/abilities) are apparently identical between the different wizards. Feels more like sub-classes than actual classes. Bummer.
- There's not enough ammo around. Not joking. After just about 5 hours in, my necromancer ran out of bullets for the sling and now I have to manually prevent the guy from going into melee combat. And arrows seem even more rare!
- You can set the AI to do stuff automatically, but I'll be damned if I ever saw companions do more than cast a heal or armor. Not sure if bugged or stupid.
- Some quests seem to require you to be at a certain location at a certain time, but you can't rest or pass time everywhere. So you need to travel around - with loading screens taking about as long as Total War: Warhammer 3 for me... pretty wild.
- Combat is way too fast, everything dies in a few seconds. Including you if you attack something above your pay grade.
- Some game mechanics are a mystery. Spell descriptions won't tell you what certain effects do (I can guess what "stunned" does, but wtf is "itching", etc.) or how long spells last! Should you cast a spell in combat cause it's short or before it? No idea!
- Crafting seems interesting, but it is implemented in a way that leaves your potion brewers (mages) constantly overburdened, since ingredients have quite the weight and mages obviously lack carry capacity. Honestly, ingredients should either have no weight or be globally accessible during crafting.

On a positive note, I do like the writing (mostly, especially the humor is my thing when it appears) and think that almost everything I listed here is fixable.
And I do think the game looks nice, really a nice throwback to BG2+IWD times.

But right now?
Can't really recommend.

tl;dr: Wait a few months.
That's what I'll do as well. Keep it installed, look at patches as they come in.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

- You know how level-ups in BG feel too rare, especially later on? This game seems to go the exact opposite route. I can barely leave a single screen without leveling up. It's honestly weird - and as a result, each level up feels less meaningful. Not a big issue, but still..

are you playing with a full party?
I think it's really easy to break the game if you play with a smaller party due to XP distribution

 

[Dyspaire]

I hope this game does well.

It's a minor miracle that a small, inexperienced team navigated all the pitfalls encountered since this game was first announced years ago, and actually managed to release a totally decent game.

It's not Citizen Kane, but it's pretty amazing all things considered. An independent-in-every-way isometric crpg, with decent enough sights and sounds and mechanics and story.

This never happens. Ever.

I hope this game does well.

 

[thesheeep]

are you playing with a full party?
I think it's really easy to break the game if you play with a smaller party due to XP distribution

Yup, full party.
5 is full, right?

I can only imagine what a solo playthrough would be like.
Must be like playing a slot machine with the constant ka-ching!

 

[rusty_shackleford]

GreenMagicSpell come back and shill the game

 

[Cryomancer]

especially later on? This game seems to go the exact opposite route. I can barely leave a single screen without leveling up

Did you reached the "later on"? In my first 5 hours, I reached lv 7, took much more time to go from 12 to 13 than from 1 to 8.

Level up will gonna slow a lot. Mainly for casters

summon lasts 3 turns

But they are powerful. Mainly at higher levels.

with the only difference being their access to spells, b

That is a HUGE difference. For example, poison dart for spellweaver and snow for a wintermage are completely different tier 1 spells for the wizards. And is not the unique difference. Resistances among other things are impacted with it.

manually prevent the guy from going into melee combat. A

click in formations and check the behavior, so he will use spells instead. You can set him to be a summoner which will keep summon automatically.

And to "hold position", so he will never go mindless into melee range.

Must be like playing a slot machine with the constant ka-ching!

I played solo till about lv 8. No, was not. I was able to slow enemies down with freezing fingertips and tentacle tier 4 spell while bombard enemies way above my level. Din't died a single time on normal difficulty.

 

[thesheeep]

I hope this game does well.

It's a minor miracle that a small, inexperienced team navigated all the pitfalls encountered since this game was first announced years ago, and actually managed to release a totally decent game.

It's not Citizen Kane, but it's pretty amazing all things considered. An independent-in-every-way isometric crpg, with decent enough sights and sounds and mechanics and story.

This never happens. Ever.

I hope this game does well.

Same.
Despite my (many) criticisms, I truly hope they fix stuff and the game does well enough for them to continue working on it.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I actually liked the writing so when I saw it criticized as bad I was confused. Reminds me a lot of Tales of the Sword Coast expansion for BG1 in terms of overall feeling, not just talking about the writing.
It's concise and to the point. Overall story is very much not "go save the world, special chosen one!"

I didn't finish the game, but, still. Holding off for patches to play it.

 

[Jermu]

I can guarantee you that you will get anal raped in late game without summons if u are playing veteran or higher (at least I would have even with em). Spider bros is probably the strongest spell in the game spammable and absorbs like 7-8 hits each time and you can cast it over 10 times. Also enemies seems to target weaker characters so it is a good agrobait away from casters. Fighters taunt Im quite sure does not work at least against some enemies.

I think I did all the quests besides 3 and I only got sixth level magic. think it took 4 levels to go from 5->6 but not sure about this one.

That 100% youtube video has some incorrect stuff such as you dont get anything by being altruistic. You only miss gold rewards from quests which are useless anyway after playing some hours. Ended up with around 80k and nothing to spend it on.

ps. buy accessories you find even somewhat useful. Think I found only 1 or 2 earrings.

 

[thesheeep]

But they are powerful. Mainly at higher levels.

Maybe?
But at that point, I'd much rather just throw a fireball.
Summons that only last a few seconds are against everything that summons should be for me. I realize that's subjective, but if I'm to be a necromancer, I want my army of undead to be around a wee bit longer and not just a temporary distraction + damage to the enemy.
Then again, as quick as combat is, how much longer could that really be

That is a HUGE difference. For example, poison dart for spellweaver and snow for a wintermage are completely different tier 1 spells for the wizards. And is not the unique difference. Resistances among other things are impacted with it.

Poison dart is a direct damage single target spell.
And so is snow.

There is no difference other than what they look and sound like. And maybe there are a few monsters that will be immune to one or the other.
That's nice for RP purposes, but certainly not a HUGE difference.

Resistances? I'm not very far into the game, but so far they seem to be entirely negligible for mages, even on Hard (Veteran?).
Mostly matter for melee combat, which you won't send any mage into anyway.

click in formations and check the behavior, so he will use spells instead. You can set him to be a summoner which will keep summon automatically.

True! Didn't cross my mind as I had him firing his sling usually.
Still... you (or at least traders) shouldn't run out of bog standard ammo in a game like this and be forced to set your char to standby. I also try to not rest after every single battle just to give myself a bit more of a challenge.
Or maybe I should just rest all the time and have mages set to auto cast everything.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

the party AI isn't as good as deadfire/DAO that lets you fully customize with tactics, but it's far ahead of games like kingmaker that essentially just let you autocast one ability.

There's a few AI settings somewhere in the party options for each individual member, can't remember where exactly.

 

[Roguey]

When the game is released in 2017, I'll reveal a juicy secret to all of you. Honestly.

Yeah it's five years after 2017 but are we going to get this secret or not?