Masquerada - RTWP 2.5D RPG from Singapore!

[Excidium II]

Everytime I looked for gameplay of this game it was always neverending autopilot dialogue.

 

[M0RBUS]

I've been watching a couple of let's plays of it, the story isn't anything extraordinarily creative, the gameplay seems uninspired, but I think the game is solidly built and delivered.
Its biggest fault is catering to RPG fans, when it's clearly a story-heavy strategy game. The Banner Saga did it much better and focused on the right things, and I can't say I'm too surprised it's not doing well.

But what I really can't understand is why anyone would make a game like this. Honestly, it's an arrow-straight linear story with (apparently) a single side-quest, character-centric storytelling in isometric (which doesn't really work for character close-ups), and a combat-system that was always gonna be sub-par (because it's RTwP). The game reeks of compromise, so I'm not sure why they didn't go with turn based, or with a simple action real time system. And if you're gonna give the game a linear plot, at least make it cinematic and don't rely on good voice-acting (which is what they apparently did).

Still, good effort, and I wish there were more games like this. I just can't understand why they chose to do it like that.

 

[bminorkey]

if it had branching and side quests it wouldve been phenomenal imo.

 

[Heretic]

I knew I remembered the name "Cassandra Khaw" from somewhere.

How a Gamergate target is fighting online harassment

Cassandra Khaw , @casskhaw
02.23.15

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...
While Crash Override has been positively received by the general media, it's also being met with angry opposition. Lifschitz says their sites have been hit with over 700 hacking attempts, with Crash Override itself enduring 184 of them. Nonetheless, the pair continues to persist, determined to give back to the community that they love.

"Being able to survive as we have is something we recognize that not everyone will be able to do," Lifschitz says. "We have to give back somehow as best we can, and to people who might not be able to have access to the same resources we do."

"We get so many people contacting us every day saying just, like, 'Thank you for being there.' It also takes a bit of a personal toll, but it's something that we know we're in for the long haul, and we've always been prepared for that."

http://archive.is/cRXKC

 

[Bubbles]

Now that's a great pitch.

The game has settled at around 2,266 owners on Steamspy. It had 2,112 Kickstarter backers.

 

[Fairfax]

Singapore-based Witching Hour Studios does away with D&D's traditional rules for a new RPG approach.

You play from the perspective of Cicero Gavar, but he is his own character. You have little agency other than directing what your party does in combat, and whether or not to initiate additional conversations with party members.

Masquerada doesn't give you the wheel, but that lets the game steer you towards a more interesting narrative.

Yes, a bold new approach. RPG minus the RP.

Tan admits that the story is as much a reflection of the team itself, touching on class conflict in the studio's native Singapore as well as national issues of race and sexuality. The team implemented a system that randomly generates NPC's of different races in the game to populate its streets, in an effort to reflect the multicultural Singapore. There's a lot of national pride riding on Masquerada for Tan and his team.

Is that why the game is set in fantasy Venice?

 

[Roguey]

It seems unlikely Lesi would spend money on this, but if she did, it would be on GOG and not Steam.

Twitter search shows she's said nothing at all about it, so it seems like their symbiotic relationship is a bit more parasitic.

In the end I was partially wrong here. She didn't spend any money on it (received it as a gift from Khaw of course), but she did have quite a few things to say about it.







Bitch, are you for real?

(By the way, it's funny how someone who was once a Torment fangirl who tolerated rtwp and hated turn based now finds walls of text excruciating to get through and both Pillars and Tyranny unplayable)

 

[Lhynn]

(By the way, it's funny how someone who was once a Torment fangirl who tolerated rtwp and hated turn based now finds walls of text excruciating to get through and both Pillars and Tyranny unplayable)

We have been through this tho, when the writing is good, it doesnt matter if its a wall of text in front of you.
The problem with numanuma, tyranny and PoE is that the writing is so bad its painful to read.
The idea of reading a wall of text of good writing is appealing. As appealing as playing a game with great gameplay, or watching a movie with great visuals and a fantastic story.
I dont think her tastes changed all that much.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Finished this game. I think it is okay. It is barely played but the writing and setting is cool enough to lift up the game's flaws.

If this was a proper rpg it would be fantastic.

Of course the gay storyline will put off the bigots, but it is done ok enough with the context of the world. I like the game overall.

 

[alyvain]

I've played it for a few hours, and I really didn't care much about writing with lenghthy CODEX ENTRIES, five or six mentions that you're the brother of a guy killed in the prologue, shapeless world ("we have a city and, well, everything else in the world, btw did we mention the social stratification and the fact that some of the oppressed do not wish to fight?") and so on.

Is it going to be the same for the rest of the game? I kinda like the idea with the mascherina and I'm more or less a storyfag. Maybe it is the beginning that is weak.

Thank you.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I started playing Masquerada and it seems to have interesting (yet not very interactive) story and fun gimmick for combats in which you mix elemental effects to achieve more destructive results. I'm not really far in,only received my first companion, but definately enjoy the lore and worldbuilding. However non-combat gameplay limited to interacting with pillars of light of different color is not really appealing. So far it's the plot that carries the experience.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Aaaaand I finished it. Took me almost 18 hours, but I squeezed every drop of content from this game. Hunted for every piece of lore, every scrap of information about my companions and other key characters, every herb and engraving.

Masquerada: Songs and Shadows has a well-crafted, compelling story, and even better writing. It take place in a grand city (heavily inspired by Italian renaissance period) torn apart by social conflict that grew into a civil war. and deals with mysteries of past civilizations, on bones of which the current country was built, otherworldly phenomena and several unsolved murders. And in the heart of the storm it puts a broken but likable hero, Cicero Gavar, a former criminal inspector, and a disgraced exile summoned back to the city for one more investigation - this time concerning the disappearance of a friend. And while a search for truth will lead him to many dark places, it might also offer a path to redemption and an opportunity for righting past wrongs. However, the inspector does not work alone - the companions that will join him are almost as interesting and each of them is tormented by his own demons that need to be banished.

Unfortunately, non-combat gameplay is strictly linear and mostly takes you from one location to another. There is very little actual exploration, you can only do some hunting for collectibles. Conversations are strictly linear, with no dialogue choices, which is inexcusable in a detective story (all of them are voiced though and the voice acting is top notch). Sidequests are virtually non-existent, each diversion from the main investigation is actually part of the plot or the companion sub-plots.

On the other hand combat system, while being RTWP is quite well developed, frankly speaking too well developed for a game of this size with a limited number of really challenging encounters (there is a lot of fighting, but most of it is against thrash mobs). There is not only a myriad of abilities with entire upgrade trees for each, but also a system of adding various elemental tags on enemies to achieve destructive effects and a mechanism for programming the AI behavior of your companions (you can also command them personally). In reality, you don't use most of these things. AI is generally quite competent in controlling your followers (though it has certain issues with pathfinding, especially on larger and more complicated battlefields). so you can focus on your main character and his dance of death - for this, I especially recommend sicario class and choosing air/water as elemental powers. Other classes are less mobile and enjoyable, besides all of them are represented by your companion roster, so you can simply have fun while slaying hordes of enemies. You only need to have full control over your party during the boss fights - there are quite a few and newgame+ adds some more, and these were the only encounters that sometimes ended with full party wipeout. The bosses are the only appeal of newgame+, after all the story is totally linear and does not offer any variations.

In the end Masquerada is an enjoyable, memorable, but very flawed experience. While some comparisons can be made between Songs and Shadows and Disco Elysium - a story that focuses on a criminal investigation and is carried by some genuinely great writing, rich world-building despite the fact the game's world is actually limited to a single city and its outskirts, the main character being a world-weary detective on a path to redemption, a distinct art style and very atmospheric music that elevate the whole thing - the actual formulas of these two games are total opposites. In DE the investigation is extremely interactive and skill-based, with numerous paths to reach the truth, and yet combat is limited to several events solved in the dialogue interface. In Masquerada the investigation is completely linear, reducing player's agency to almost zero, while allowing more decision-making in combat encounters. I would love it if one day someone managed to combine the strengths of both formulas, but I expect it would require a much larger team than the one working on Masquerada (around 15 people) and a much larger budget (the game was crowdfunded).

It's a pity that Masquerada flopped, because we will probably never get a sequel and the game ends with lots of unanswered questions. However, the story it strives to tell is complete and both Cicero Gavar and his companions succeed in their own personal journeys. Which makes the ending satisfying, even if one would like to experience more stories from this marvelous world.