The Dark Eye Blackguards 2

[abnaxus]

Where's the mention of Codex list of incline?

 

[Kayerts]

I played this and have some thoughts about it, mostly vis-a-vis BG1.

Pros:
+ Cassia is by far the best character in the series, meaning she's an actually good one. She's obsessive, ruthless, and vulnerable; I imagine she could come off as incoherent, but she seemed plausibly complex to me. The alternation between stuff like creating false omens and mercilessly showing up at locations and murdering everyone there, versus the despair she feels over one of her soldiers killing a dog or the tenderness she feels for her “sister,” worked pretty well. She has some great lines, too; I especially liked:
“What do you want?”
“Everything.”
+ Money and AP are better rationed; while non-mages do run out of things to spend them on, they do so only after completing a higher percentage of the available content than in BG1.
+ Melee weapon talents are no longer overpowered. Two-handed bashing weapons are no longer the clear kings of all melee weapons.
+ There are some genuinely nice encounters.
+ Loot acquisition is generally improved. Most major encounters give you something you can at least imagine being useful. Even belts are interesting now!

Major cons:

- Unrestricted character development (in terms of skills) speeds up the rate at which a tactically adept player can break the game. BG1 was reasonably challenging through Chapter 2, even on my second playthrough; the reason for this is that until Chapter 3, the options for character development are sufficiently constrained that tuning the encounters to be solvable by nonoptimal builds didn't make them cakewalks with optimal builds. It also eliminated the mechanic of unlocking skill teachers as questline rewards, which is an issue in a game that’s overall lacking in reward mechanics.
- Magic is definitely overpowered.
- Possibly as a consequence of the above, it seems like the designers realized that the combat mechanics of their modified system no longer really allowed the game to challenge the player, so they added some uncounterable bullshit mechanics. E.g., the hated two maps where you can’t damage any enemies until you smash five crystals, or the others with infinitely respawning waves. Arguably even the omnipresent, teleporting insectoid enemies count. (“Oh, you thought your positioning was good? How do you like it now?”)

My complaint in the last issue isn’t that the game is too hard—even these bullshit moves are unable to make most maps difficult—but that it feels like the designers gave up on tuning encounters with the basic mechanics of their battle system, the one that allows for emergent complexity and tactical depth. Instead, they threw in new mechanics that actually reduce the complexity of viable solutions. E.g., effectively unkillable enemies means that you aren’t really using the battle system; you’re avoiding using it for a time, while you hope for luck.
- The general nonlinearity wasn't managed in a way that made for a good narrative. You aren’t given a reason to go to any particular place prior to actually going there. There’s no buildup against any antagonist but Marwan. Your motivation for hunting down and killing the Creators is that they are your enemy’s Pokemon; there is no other reason.

Minor cons:
- Not all weapons are created equal, which is more of an issue than in BG1 because you're more encouraged to specialize and have far fewer disposable points for mastering multiple weapons. As an aside, the Rondracomb appears to crit more often than advertised and generally seems to be the best weapon in the game.
- Some of the encounters are pretty bad; some are even pointlessly bad. (E.g.: the boss fight against Tykates is followed by a trash mob encounter with ~12 insect mooks. No one who won the previous encounter could lose the required next encounter, but for some reason, the next encounter still exists.) I wonder if some of the encounters were designed before the decision to fully restore the player between fights was made?
- The game is quite short compared to BG1, and probably has less total content than BG1's Chapter 3.
- Encounters with larger numbers of enemies are duller, partially because the threat posed by any single enemy was correspondingly lessened. The Creators and the Great Petrifier were the only enemies in the game that felt individually threatening.

Neutral points:
= I'm not sure how to feel about the combat system's changes. I don’t actually have strong opinions on chance to miss being lessened. I think I probably prefer more damaging attacks with higher variance in landing for enemies, since that probably makes it harder to amortize damage, but this doesn’t seem like the principle component of bad design here.
= I’m not sure that all-powerful nuker-mages who spam either fireballs or global frost spells are necessarily worse than all-powerful warriors spamming hammer blow or all-powerful archer-mages spamming shadow-doubled triple shot in BG1.
= I have mixed thoughts about the streamlined character system. I like the tiers for skills, spells, and weapon skills. I dislike statlessness. I think that turning HP/MP boosts into three-time purchasable lump boosts was probably a good idea, but you get too much for what you pay.

 

[Mortmal]

Where's the mention of Codex list of incline?

We are too negative for their tastes, or rather too honest.Potential buyers will read this thread and quickly realize its not as good as it shoud be.

 

[Bubbles]

Where's the mention of Codex list of incline?

We are too negative for their tastes, or rather too honest.Potential buyers will read this thread and quickly realize its not as good as it shoud be.

That wouldn't necessarily have prevented the Codex from being quoted. Observe the context of the RPS quote:

The original Blackguards was like a wax apple. I saw it sitting there in the fruitbowl of the internet – shiny, red and tempting – but when I plunged my pegs into it and tore off a mouthful I made a face like Stan Laurel chewing a wasp.
[...]

And that, at least partly, is where the old problems persist. Given the right amount of devotion, Blackguards 2 may well be a rewarding game but I don’t find the majority of decisions meaningful enough to keep my interest. Cassia’s free-form development didn’t feel it was planting me at a crossroads and allowing me to choose a direction – it felt like I’d been dropped in the ocean and left to flounder.

The tactical battle maps, attractive and replayable as they are, still retain some of the original game’s sticky points as well. They’re packed with interactive elements but I feel like I’m supposed to find precisely the right moment to use those elements rather than integrating them into a flexible plan. There’s also an element of unwanted surprise when certain objects are activated. They don’t always behave as I’d expect them to and even in the couple of hours I’ve been playing, I’ve ended up clobbering my companions a couple of times, without fully understanding why. It’s as if I’ve selected a toaster expecting to make some toast and my character has inexplicably decided to jam a fork into the workings instead.

Despite all of that, I want to play more of Blackguards 2 and I hope I’ll manage to ignore the wrinkles after a while. It may not be wax but I’d like it to have ripened a little more before harvesting.

 

[Immortal]

Can I just say that I called out this game for being a quick buck shill job?

Despite Infinitron's fanboy defense of the game..

This game turned out to be crap.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...w-features-video-part-one.95189/#post-3582702

Spoiler

Completely different genre?

Yes.

The game might be good but it stinks of quick buck right now.

Except that's not a stink, it's a sweet smell. Engine reuse to create sequels with better, deeper writing, scenarios and mechanics has given us some of the best RPGs in history. I'm all for it.

 

[Infinitron]

I stand by what I said there. "Quick buck shill jobs" (aka slamdunks) can be good. Quick buck shill jobs that are also streamlined, instead of building on the achievements of their predecessors, are bad.

 

[Immortal]

I stand by what I said there. "Quick buck shill jobs" (aka slamdunks) can be good. Quick buck shill jobs that are also streamlined, instead of building on the achievements of their predecessors, are bad.

Except that's not a stink, it's a sweet smell.

 

[Gord]

I agree, a quick follow-up that's mostly more of the same but with some improvements where it makes sense can be perfectly fine (once upon a time they were called "expansions", though).

But if you streamline too much and/or your content isn't up to par with the first game you're in trouble, obviously.

 

[Whisper]

+ Melee weapon talents are no longer overpowered. Two-handed bashing weapons are no longer the clear kings of all melee weapons.
+ There are some genuinely nice encounters.
+ Loot acquisition is generally improved. Most major encounters give you something you can at least imagine being useful. Even belts are interesting now!

Hammer blow doing doing 17-18 dmg is certainly not overpowered. I could probably kill average mook with 3 of them, fully draining my stamina pool. Which needs like 15-20 turns to recharge back.

 

[Gulnar]

In the first one there was no stamina bar. You could spam hammer blow/triple shot every turn with no problems (other than accuracy).

 

[Immortal]

I agree, a quick follow-up that's mostly more of the same but with some improvements where it makes sense can be perfectly fine (once upon a time they were called "expansions", though).

But if you streamline too much and/or your content isn't up to par with the first game you're in trouble, obviously.

My argument wasn't that sequels can't be good.. (Just look at your portrait.. Shadow Run sequel was 100x better)

My argument in that thread was.. that based on the trailers and content they were showing us - the game looked like a cheap piece of shit that was meant to make a quick buck. Same companions, same assets, same location with some cheap mechanics and a even cheaper plot.

Of course the fanboys rushed to the defense of the game and spewed their Blackguards <333 semen all over the thread while brofisting each other. Only to have people 8 pages later scratching their heads wondering what the fuck happened.

Fanboyism.. Fanboyism never changes.

 

[Athelas]

Can I just say that I called out this game for being a quick buck shill job?

Despite Infinitron's fanboy defense of the game..

This game turned out to be crap.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...w-features-video-part-one.95189/#post-3582702

Setting aside the fact that your prediction seemed to be based solely on 'my left pinky finger is telling me this is gonna be bad', your prediction actually turned out to be incorrect. You claimed the game was going to suck because it looked like it was reusing too much from the original, when the disappointment is about it being too much of a departure from the original (from what I gather at least, I haven't played it myself).

 

[Immortal]

Can I just say that I called out this game for being a quick buck shill job?

Despite Infinitron's fanboy defense of the game..

This game turned out to be crap.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...w-features-video-part-one.95189/#post-3582702

Setting aside the fact that your prediction seemed to be based solely on 'my left pinky finger is telling me this is gonna be bad', your prediction actually turned out to be incorrect. You claimed the game was going to suck because it looked like it was reusing too much from the original, when the disappointment is about it being too much of a departure from the original (from what I gather at least, I haven't played it myself).

Wrong.

Asset reuse is fine.. If that means they will be able to invest that time elsewhere.. How long did it take them to make this game?

They released this game less then a year from the first one.. Nobody had warning bells flaring?
They are a small studio The first Blackguards took them roughly 4ish years to make and was delayed several times.. Even with the reused assets from all the companions and using 'Generic Mercenary A - Z' there is no way you were gonna get an indepth plot or more of the same game. They squeezed this turd out in Dragon Age 2 Record breaking time.

The trailer literally showed no plot features or interesting dialogue, it was just touting this capture the city bullshit.. Even the trailer at the top of this page is 90% the title screen with IGN reviews thrown about.

At the time of posting this, I didn't know the release date was so early.. Or I would have mentioned that, everything else was true:

Completely different genre?

It's the same exact game with some city capturing mechanics slapped in and the entire plot and depth of the first game ripped out.. You still travel to generic cities, have combat scenarios, collect loot then move on to the next city. The only difference is now your cities that have been captured can be attacked and create new scenarios.

Same Mechanics, Same Combat, Same characters. The reason your companions make a come back is because they have the models all fully rigged and animated, another saved dollar on dev time.

The game might be good but it stinks of quick buck right now.

 

[Gord]

So you are mostly upset with the fact that they tried to cash in so quickly and quality of the outcome is actually secondary to you?
If the game would have turned out and been received better, why would I care about how long it took them or how much they invested?

And given that they delivered a pretty good game in BG1, a little bit of confidence seemed certainly warranted at the time, imo.

 

[Immortal]

So you are mostly upset with the fact that they tried to cash in so quickly and quality of the outcome is actually secondary to you?

No? Are you a retard?

 

[Gord]

No, your posts just suck.

 

[Grunker]

I stand by what I said there. "Quick buck shill jobs" (aka slamdunks) can be good. Quick buck shill jobs that are also streamlined, instead of building on the achievements of their predecessors, are bad.

Depends on your definition on streamlined. The character system is, but those crystal battles? They're the antithesis of streamlining. They feel like some of the legacy stuff from older games that even Codexers can admit to be glad to be rid of. Battles like those is the reason I find major sites and their approval of BG2 so weird. I can't pictur casuals having fun with Adamant (well, I can't picture anyone having fun with that fight, but you get what I'm saying).

 

[Inquisition]

So, the game's shit then? What a shame, I really liked the first one.

 

[Whisper]

In the first one there was no stamina bar. You could spam hammer blow/triple shot every turn with no problems (other than accuracy).

Yes,

1) missing half of hammer blows
AND
2) getting destroyed by retaliation strikes, because special moves (inc. hammer blow) lowered your defend values for turn

 

[Whisper]

Wanted to add that this game is bad compared to BG1, but compared to most other games currently released in this year, it is very good one.

 

[Infinitron]

CODEX REVIEW - Bubbles does Blackguards 2: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/rpg-codex-review-blackguards-2.97567/

 

[agris]

CODEX REVIEW - Bubbles does Blackguards 2: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/rpg-codex-review-blackguards-2.97567/

Did he disable his dead-pan sarcasm unit?

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

CODEX REVIEW - Bubbles does Blackguards 2: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/rpg-codex-review-blackguards-2.97567/

Did he disable his dead-pan sarcasm unit?

No he turbocharged it

 

[Kayerts]

In the first one there was no stamina bar. You could spam hammer blow/triple shot every turn with no problems (other than accuracy).

Yes,

1) missing half of hammer blows
AND
2) getting destroyed by retaliation strikes, because special moves (inc. hammer blow) lowered your defend values for turn

Hammer blow had a multiplicative (3x) rather than additive (+10) modifier in BG1; if memory serves, you'd be reliably doing 30-40 dmg per hit. Because there was no stamina cost and hostile magic was weaker, I'd usually have Zurbaran and Aurelia buff the fighters to attack twice per round. Toward the end of the midgame, I wasn't missing very often. There were defense penalties, but they were less important, given that you could usually down priority targets quickly.

 

[Bubbles]

Notes for the new patch (not live yet):

Patch 3.0 Changelog (English)
Hi folks,

we’re sorry for all of you who experienced problems while playing Blackguards 2 in the
past and therefor we’re happy and proud to say that we’re releasing patch 3.0 for
Blackguards 2 right now.

As promised you will find below the recent patchnotes 3.0 for Blackguards 2.
With your thankfully support we were able to find more bugs and we were able to identify, catch and kill them.
All this bug-fixes and improvements will now hopefully allow you to experience a lot smoother gameplay in Blackguards 2.

And last but not least and - because of we can’t say it out lot often enough –
Thank you for your support and feedback! You guys are awesome!

Please find the detailed change-log below. If you should experience further problems
while playing Blackguards 2 please contact us here or our technical support team via
support@daedalic.de so we can work on fixing the issue.

Your Team Daedalic



Changelog Blackguards 2, Patch 3.0

MAJOR

• fixed a potential script freeze during Battle of El'Halem
• fixed game breaks if renaming savegames during battles
• fixed faulty win condition in Benivilla Forest recapture scenario
• corrected win condition issue in Niobes Estate
• fixed game breaks if spawning entities die
• fixed a potential error source in Shinna preparation battle win conditions
• fixed problem that Faramud's dialog was deactivated when whole map was conquered
• fixed a problem with with Cassia-Dialog that hindered the game to progress
• fixed carnage training fight that wasn't triggered correctly
• fixed freeze on some maps when using the LoS tool

BALANCING

• reduced critical hit chance of bounty hunters to zero
• destructible Crystals can now be destroyed with a single melee hit of any damage type
• lowered damage threshold to interrupt Great Petrifier's eternal petrification power
• made Zurbaran's Seduction of Niobe more likely to be successful
• added additional belts to lorfas merchant's supply
• hammerblow maneuver now causes triple damage
• more aup damage and exp costs for feint maneuver
• more damage and exp costs for aimedthrust maneuver
• additional wound and increased aup costs for sniper
• reduction of the offhand bonus of dualwield 1 and dualwield 2
• increased exp costs of dualwield 1 and dualwield 2
• adjusted difficulty levels "easy" and "hard" to increase the difference (easy is easier, hard is harder)
• increased the wound penalties

MINOR

Spoiler

• corrected Great Petrifier's collision for Line-Of-Sight calculations
• corrected Great Petrifier's dodge animation
• adjusted size of deployment zones in several maps
• improved camera start locations in several defend and recap scenarios
• increased camera scroll speed on Adamant Map
• fixed a few missing sounds on interactive environment
• reduced resistances of insect warrior in Lorfas
• optimized functionality of arsonist objectives in Dujar Looting and Cuoris Sabotage fights
• fixed a problem in battle of mengbilla battle-script that hindered catapult impacts if cassia was very good or very evil
• added hint for treasure chests
• fixed minor issues with barrel towers in a couple of maps
• added more cheering to arena battle
• made traps and interactive objects trigger if entities spawn on them
• fixed a potential dialog bug in the goblin mine
• set Leaper's jump attack effects to -forced- to avoid victims to sometimes remain unaffected
• fixed an issue with 3d models not disappearing in escape zones
• fixed dialog after losing preparation battle for first chimerologist
• fixed Nasrin's stats, items and portrait
• removed spider webs' spike damage resistance
• corrected win conditions timing issues in several defend and recap scenarios
• fixed an AI problem in Marwan Strikes Back scenario
• reduced enemy spawn in goblin mine defend scenario
• fixed berserk elixir
• removed two potential error sources in archer AI scripts
• Tykates now vanishes correctly from his cage when released or executed
• repaired missing texture link in Jester Wood gore
• corrected hex cell height levels in a few maps
• improved AI script interaction with Ecliptifactus entities
• added hint boxes for chimera conversions with the Hell Organ
• fixed a problem with partial success in El Halem preparation battle
• fixed swamphole script so it properly reacts to knocked back entities
• fixed dialog timing in Adamant battle
• repaired Morfu sounds
• fixed problem that Takate and Zurbaran were set inactive when their dialogs are done.
• fixed broken narrator-screen prior to ElHalem.
• fixed some Problems with Riz' dialogs
• fixed dialog option about saving Mirai in Marwan's throneroom
• fixed problem that bits of dialog may repeat in Niobe/Zurbaran-Dialogs and in Takate's dialog in the camp
• fixed some minor dialog-problems
• fixed problem with achievements "The Saint" and "The Monster"
• fixed Knockback so it no longer pushes victims through Fortifex walls
• fixed the Screen of "four years later" just displaying "4" in Japanese
• corpofrigo lvl4 no longer breaks if cast on a neutral object
• fixed an issue with difficulty levels are not being applied correctly
• added tooltip for difficulty level option
• added path-dots on worldmap that were missing when re-entering from the camp
• opening the tutorial in battle no longer breaks the interface
• improved font rendering on high resolutions
• fixed some resolutions not working correctly
• ecliptifactus clone can no longer use the 'guard' action
• fixed issue with traps not working after un-/selecting them multiple times
• added multiple small GUI and loading time improvements
• fixed poison effects that were not shown correctly on some weapons
• fixed camera sometimes behaving strangely on worldmap
• fixed battlelog not showing correct number of wounds
• fixed multiple errors in the comparison of item effects
• fixed auto-sequence not stopping speech if skipped
• removed need to click right mouse button after using a free action (e.g. throwing a weapon)
• converted creatures no longer trigger attacks of opportunity from the own team
• multiple small visual fixes
• solved a few issues with text not scaling properly
• fixed a problem where two different items with the same localized name in the description box
• enabled the battle shortcut buttons during the enemies' turn
• character story progress buffs are now correctly displayed on the character sheet

I wonder what "fixed an issue with difficulty levels are not being applied correctly" was about.