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

4249

I stalk the night
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Hoo boy, what an amazingly strong start and what a rapid decline in quality towards the end. Once the exploration aspect is done the game becomes such a chore... But still, hard not to love a game like Ghost of a Tale. Definitely hoping for a sequel.
 

DraQ

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I am currently in the middle (or possibly nearing the end) of my first playthrough (not counting a much earlier attempt which I dropped for unrelated reasons).
The game hits all the right notes with me and is very charming and full of soul.
Could maybe use more challenging gameplay as far as stealth goes (and later in game stealth stops being a significant factor thanks to disguise).
Great characters, surprising amounts of nuance.
Surprisingly good visual quality, especially given that 90% of it is just one guy's work.

Want a sequel already.
 
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I think that in terms of characters and writing they fucking nailed it.
Some of the dialogues were absolutely brilliant and charged with charm and personality without being verbose and/or pretentious in any way. In some way it reminds me Tolkien's style in The Hobbit: well suited for children, but still loaded with nuance and meaning.

Admittedly the gameplay was a bit, uh, iffy. Too forgiving in some areas, too unreliable in others, controls felt a bit "floaty", pace was a bit uneven, etc, etc.
Still, I would love to see a sequel/spiritual successor on a larger budget that expanded on what's good here.

Not sure how things are going for them. As far as I can tell their sales ranged from abysmal to low on all platforms and no publishers seem to have taken notice on their work... But who knows, really.
Apparently they are not leaving the business and working on something else already, so it must not be so bad in the end.
 
Last edited:

DraQ

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Ok, since the game deserves a few more words than I have written:

The one thing the game has really going for it, other than purty visuals and mostly cute fuzzy rodent cast, is loads of nuance.
From thorough demolishing of some braindead standard tropes, through virtually all characters having some sort of secrets and hidden depths, to there being no easy, clear cut answers to muddled, difficult questions, through worldbuilding to balancing the humour and seriousness, the game just oozes nuance.

First thing first, the game drags some iso-standard animal stereotypes and species-coded morality tropes behind the shed and mercilessly shoots them with what seems like more of anti-vehicular calibre weapon.
Examples? Ever noticed how in pretty much all your animal stories, when both mice and rats are present, rats are nearly invariably evil asshole antagonists? In GoaT almost all the heroic characters are rats.
This applies to both
the heroes of old who stood against world ending menace of Green Flame in the battle of Periclave
, and
the two guys standing by your side when shit truly hits the fan
, which includes
the by far BROest character in the entire game
.
The only non-rat hero is
Tilo himself, quite surprisingly for someone who just can't fight, lacking all, skill, inclination and stature
.

That said, the game doesn't simply remove or invert those tropes. Physical differences are in full effect (and part of the combined reason why fighting is not an option in Tilo's situation, him being maybe half the height of any rat character).
More so, there are old prejudices and politics at play:
Their land annexed after the War of Green Flame, they themselves stripped of titles, status and wealth, their language and customs, albeit not officially banned, declining, and unrest quelled (often brutally), mice are arguably somewhat downtrodden and none too happy about it, though they are generally allowed to just live their own lives in normal circumstances. This is (in universe) justified by their cowardly and arguably downright treasonous conduct during the war (which is a rather big deal when dealing with phenomenon threatening to extinguish all life), but OTOH how long can a people be punished for the sins of their fathers? Of course the situation isn't exactly helped by - sometimes violent - actions of mouse rebels, which can make things harder for
allegedly sympathetic rat baron of Muridea, forcing him to clamp down and uncover and hunt down suspected rebels
which is actually what happened to the protagonist and his wife
unbeknownst to Tilo a separatist
.

Trust is not given easily in this world, as truth is often (but not always) not what it seems including
historical truth
and
character stories and identities (displayed names reflect Tilo's current knowledge, no UI spoilers there)
.
Characters (even nice ones) can often end up being casually racist (or rather specieist), but those barriers can be overcome and most, if not all characters end up being likeable in their own ways - eventually.
And so on.

Lore is surprisingly rich, supported by both dialogue, books and glossary/footnotes system, writing and characters are pretty consistently great - often punctuated by skilfully written humour (both in dialogue, written text and glossary), with a number of characters being largely comic relief (sometimes down to their very design), but not shying away from serious and even dark themes.

As befitting the game featuring a minstrel as protagonist, you will often need to resort to music in dialogues - both preexisting songs and Tilo's own creations - whether it is to communicate with a restless spirit of an ancient hero or bribe amuse your audiences, profess truth or bribe someone with promises of fame. This isn't terribly interactive (but you will have opportunity to compose a rhyme on the fly in dialogue), but really supports the theme, and music is generally pretty nice as well.

During the course of the gameplay you will also be able (and at times required) to complete a number of costumes - usually as disguises.

As far as gameplay goes the game could have been more involved. Stealth is fun but pretty forgiving, Tilo's ability to hide in variety of small places playing an important role. Despite a number of token RPG mechanics (unlockable skills) the game is highly non-violent - guards can only be temporarily knocked out by the means (and arguably will - Tilo is definitely not a murderous type) at your disposal, and the lethal violence you are capable of is generally restricted to (nonsapient) arthropods.
Character's size often plays a role by having many items that are placed reasonably for the rats, being out of reach of your mouse character, necessitating finding and moving items to stand on, mass can also play a role when trying (and failing) to operate pressure plates.
After procuring suitable disguise(s) stealth becomes mostly optional (though it can still be worthwhile if you'd rather move fast), with the remaining gameplay becoming focused around dialogue and exploration, often involving finding relatively well hidden objects in the environment, although there are some other (sometimes dangerous) activities involved - culminating with relatively actiony, somewhat janky, but ultimately satisfying endgame. A nice touch is ability to talk and reach closure with the majority of the primary cast (ones you're likely to have come to like though who ends up being part of that cast can be surprising given initial impressions - see secret backstories and hidden depths) at the end, which is something I often tend to do in talky RPGs, and here the game goes out of its way (in a pretty organic fashion) to enable that. The ending itself is wide open, paving way for the sequel (hopefully).

Visually the game is unreasonably pretty for such small team. The cast is comprised of mildly anthropomorphic animals that, while behaving in civilized manner and walking upright most of the time can, for example drop on all four (at least Tilo does) when sprinting. They are also well animated with interesting idles (in Tilo's case they often help convey and constantly remind how tiny he is relative to his surroundings and other characters) and nice looking fuzzy fur (where applicable). Environments and lighting effects look nice as well, down to the one effect that I haven't seen used before, namely slight translucency of things like leaves and rodent character's hairless bodyparts (paws, ears, tails) in strong light (and between portable and stationary light sources, day-night cycle and even puzzles specifically involving it light play has plenty of opportunities to manifest).
Between playing as a small critter and a rodent, and distant backdrops actually being explicitly designed with that in mind, GoaT is one of the very few games that arguably benefit from depth of field being on, so knock yourself out.

Overall incredibly charming and lovable game with really charming and largely lovable cast who really feel like they are living part of a living world, with its own heroes, legends, joys and tragedies.
:love:
Fucking play it already.
:rpgcodex:
 

cvv

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In the endgame now. The only thing that pisses me off is the stamina management. Stamina goes down way too fast when sprinting and it regens way too slow. Plus it barely regens why you're walking, you have to stand in place to replenish it.

Also you can learn The Surge skill that supposedly speeds up stamina regen and the Ranger outfit supposedly does the same but both are busted, neither work. Stamina regen is always the same. Also walking around in the guard disguise is way too slow.

All that would be fine but there's an enormous amount of backtracking and all this is really grating. Apart from that the game is a gem, I really hope they sold well and are working on a sequel.
 

DraQ

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Also walking around in the guard disguise is way too slow.
You can obtain this in a sidequest
Dv1Qoth.jpg

Protective, lightweight and works as far as guards are concerned.

Also, ranger outfit semi-works. As in guards are not hostile but can still be assholes at times.
Apart from that the game is a gem, I really hope they sold well and are working on a sequel.
Me too.
 

DraQ

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You can obtain this in a sidequest

I'm assuming you get it from the ghost once you find all the urns? I'm stuck at 4/5 on both, can't find more to save my life. What does the armor do?
It's functionally a guard armour (or a bit better, don't remember) that doesn't restrict movement, looks badass and elicits some comments.
 

ValeVelKal

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Aug 24, 2011
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Just jumping on this thread to repeat how GREAT GoaT was. My only complains is that it is too easy to just run away from the guards (once outside), and that spider underground part was frustrating.
 

Silva

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Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Messages
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Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Hey bros, I just met this game (thanks again DraQ ) and it looks interesting but, but I would like to know if the PS4 version is doable or if it's some crap port with 30fps and shitty gfx or something. These days I've become more of a sofa player if you know what I mean. Thanks.

Dark Souls 1 is the only Dark Souls which features an interconnected world design where most paths can lead back to the Firelink Shrine which serves as a pseudo-central hub.
Bloodborne has this too. :P
 

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