Ghost of a Tale - stealth action-RPG where you play a mouse

[Darth Roxor]

It's also amazing that this game was made with unity and it's so well optimized and smooth.

I guess this must be the effect of patching, because at release things weren't so nice.

 

[Feargus Jewhart]

Finished this game.
For a one man job it's a perfect game. I encountered one crash, lots of "camera getting stuck and then having a seizure" moments, one invisible wall in the harbor after the door was bugged, the armory door getting stuck (no prompt to open it or close it, just stuck closed), some loading issues, ending bugged with the camera doing solid 180 degree flips vertically back and forth with all the HP bars still showing and a few times throwing was impossible due to an invisible barrier. ...Still less buggy than a beth game.

Other than that it was a smooth ride and I enjoyed it immensely. The ending warrants a sequel or a DLC to wrap up the story. Overall a 9/10 game.

 

[Tigranes]

I thought the game ended at the perfect moment, actually. I also loved it, and I thought the length was more or less perfect for the gameplay systems they had going. Just enough time for you to get up to speed and start to feel a little bit bored with it but then there's the finale. Definitely enjoyed the earlier parts where you're escaping from the prison then mapping out the fortress.

There's a moment when you realise you can just run past a lot of rats without bothering to stealth, but then that's the same thing with Thief.

 

[Feargus Jewhart]

I thought the game ended at the perfect moment, actually. I also loved it, and I thought the length was more or less perfect for the gameplay systems they had going. Just enough time for you to get up to speed and start to feel a little bit bored with it but then there's the finale. Definitely enjoyed the earlier parts where you're escaping from the prison then mapping out the fortress.

There's a moment when you realise you can just run past a lot of rats without bothering to stealth, but then that's the same thing with Thief.

Spoiler

How did you not get emotionally attached to the story?? I need to know did he ever find Merra. Logically speaking she is dead but ... I need closure on it.

 

[ghostdog]

I thought the game ended at the perfect moment, actually. I also loved it, and I thought the length was more or less perfect for the gameplay systems they had going. Just enough time for you to get up to speed and start to feel a little bit bored with it but then there's the finale. Definitely enjoyed the earlier parts where you're escaping from the prison then mapping out the fortress.

There's a moment when you realise you can just run past a lot of rats without bothering to stealth, but then that's the same thing with Thief.

Spoiler

How did you not get emotionally attached to the story?? I need to know did he ever find Merra. Logically speaking she is dead but ... I need closure on it.

Spoiler

Ghost of a Tale 2: The Rat-ening

 

[Tigranes]

I thought the game ended at the perfect moment, actually. I also loved it, and I thought the length was more or less perfect for the gameplay systems they had going. Just enough time for you to get up to speed and start to feel a little bit bored with it but then there's the finale. Definitely enjoyed the earlier parts where you're escaping from the prison then mapping out the fortress.

There's a moment when you realise you can just run past a lot of rats without bothering to stealth, but then that's the same thing with Thief.

Spoiler

How did you not get emotionally attached to the story?? I need to know did he ever find Merra. Logically speaking she is dead but ... I need closure on it.

Story-wise I did, but I'm also OK with a story that decides to tell the most thematically (and in this case, gameplay-) appropriate bit and then leave the rest for imagination. I don't think getting in the thick of the more 'epic' stuff will benefit the kind of game/story that this was.

Spoiler

i.e. the rebellion stuff

 

[Feargus Jewhart]

Story-wise I did, but I'm also OK with a story that decides to tell the most thematically (and in this case, gameplay-) appropriate bit and then leave the rest for imagination. I don't think getting in the thick of the more 'epic' stuff will benefit the kind of game/story that this was.

Spoiler

i.e. the rebellion stuff

Spoiler

In that sense I absolutely agree, if it's not continued it is fine. But it would could have a good continuation, as long as the story does not focus on the "epic" stuff and instead continues as an isolated story of a small mouse on a journey meaningful to him.

 

[HarveyBirdman]

Redwall? Redwall.

 

[Testicules]

I just finished this game - holy fucking shit what a masterpiece. It's rare that I truly "enjoy" games anymore but this had a charm that's impossible to resist.

Between this and Bloodlines (which i just played for the first time and WOW they do not make games like this anymore) I'm starting to think this forum full of grumpy queers knows what it's talking about.

 

[Jestai]

Very charming game.

For once, the writing is done right.

The world building and the lore is a work of love. It shows. No one tells you his life story unprompted and exposition is kept to a minimum. How weird, it works! You still have a good picture of what's happening to you and, after a while, what's happening in the world.
You have something like 10-15 major characters. Most of them hit their mark. Even no name guards are nicely done. This focused experience is so much better than the usual (bland wall of text after bland wall of text, third person narrator, dozens of uninteresting NPC/quest dispensers)...

I really liked the 2D cartoonish pictures showing the reactions of the characters : bigger productions should take notice. Tyranny tried to something like that with ugly 3D models, but it's not the same.
Since there are no cutscenes, some really important events are only described in a box of text. It's too bad that they don't keep the same approach there. We're talking at 5-10 extra pictures max for the whole game. It would have made a difference to characterize major events.


The scope of the game feels small (like an act 1 of a bigger game), but it's not really a problem since the length of the game is actually perfect (a little under 10 hours). More would have been a drag in my opinion since the gameplay is pretty thin.

Visuals are gorgeous, even on a shit computer like mine. It's mindboggling that one guy is responsible for most of it.

I didn't have any performance problems or important bugs. Looks like they got patched.


There are some minor issues of course, but nothing too bad. The ending section is subpar. Turning every nook and cranny can get a little tedious (but the hint system is great). The stealth elements show their limits after a while, but, when they start to get old, you can somehow bypass them (more and more as the game goes on).

A must play in my book.

 

[OldNorseSaga]

This cutie game is to be loved!

 

[Jenkem]

in no way is this an RPG, there aren't even stats iirc. it's a stealth adventure game. why people are claiming it is an RPG and putting it in RPG goty lists here is mind boggling.

 

[OldNorseSaga]

in no way is this an RPG, there aren't even stats iirc. it's a stealth adventure game. why people are claiming it is an RPG and putting it in RPG goty lists here is mind boggling.

There are skills you acquire (more in passive & optional sense) & you do level up your stamina bar.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

in no way is this an RPG, there aren't even stats iirc. it's a stealth adventure game. why people are claiming it is an RPG and putting it in RPG goty lists here is mind boggling.

Agreed.

There are skills you acquire (more in passive & optional sense) & you do level up your stamina bar.

These don't really qualify. If they do, then even adventure games like Zelda, Psychonauts, or Legends Mages of Mystralia would also be an RPG.

*@OldNorseSaga Thank you for the correction.

 

[OldNorseSaga]

You must mean Mages of Mystralia, another game which is awesome.

 

[Paul_cz]

Levelling to me is not in any way defining feature of an RPG, that would be C&C, although for a game to be called RPG it should have both detailed character progression and C&C.
I assume Ghost of the Tale has no C&C? Not that it is a slight against the game necessarily. I am looking forward to playing it, already have it installed.

 

[Abu Antar]

A role playing game it might not be, but it’s charmingly fun. Starts out as a stealth game, but ends as more of an adventure game. Well worth a shot.

 

[MpuMngwana]

Yeah, RPG or not (stealth/adventure fits it much better), it is one of the nicest, most wholsome games in the last few years, and it features cute little mice to boot. It truly is the Sherry of videogames.

Also writing and level design are really good too.

 

[Paul_cz]

So I am playing this and enjoying it, but damn only Ubisoft makes more fetchquesty/checklisty videogames. The "collect 50 mushrooms" quest had me rolling my eyes so hard I might have dislocated them.
Atmosphere and exploration save it though. And it plays well. I am missing one rose though and that is going to be a bitch to find.

 

[OldNorseSaga]

So I am playing this and enjoying it, but damn only Ubisoft makes more fetchquesty/checklisty videogames. The "collect 50 mushrooms" quest had me rolling my eyes so hard I might have dislocated them.
Atmosphere and exploration save it though. And it plays well. I am missing one rose though and that is going to be a bitch to find.

Ask a blacksmith. I have an idea which rose is that.

 

[Paul_cz]

Ask a blacksmith. I have an idea which rose is that.

If you think the one inside Master's hideout, already been there (now I have to find evidence..)

 

[OldNorseSaga]

Ask a blacksmith. I have an idea which rose is that.

If you think the one inside Master's hideout, already been there (now I have to find evidence..)

Nope, between thief mask location & garden.

 

[Paul_cz]

Nope, between thief mask location & garden.

Hmm, I don't remember where I got the thief mask

 

[OldNorseSaga]

Nope, between thief mask location & garden.

Hmm, I don't remember where I got the thief mask

Or more clearly
You know that rotten floor where you had to go around it's edges, because it collapsed? Then you need to be wary of patroling guard on coutryard stairs?
Well I will send you a picture.

 

[OldNorseSaga]