Incline Project Gorgon

[rusty_shackleford]

Spoiler

If you have fairy wings in your backpack and speak to a summer fairy, they'll get angry and you'll lose favor with them.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

"Hang outs" are activities you complete while offline with (somewhat minor) bonuses(NPC favor, recipes, items, etc.,)
A lot of hangouts unlock others, sometimes long hangout chains(story-based ones) and intertwined chains between NPCs. Kinda neat.

 

[Gregz]

"Hang outs" are activities you complete while offline with (somewhat minor) bonuses(NPC favor, recipes, items, etc.,)
A lot of hangouts unlock others, sometimes long hangout chains(story-based ones) and intertwined chains between NPCs. Kinda neat.

Would you recommend waiting for EA to end, or is now a good time for new players?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Each different brewing ingredient gives a different effect, the effect is randomized for each beer/hard liquor type, and the effect is randomized for each player. So you have to do a ton of experimenting to figure out how to brew what you want

As far as I understand, there's about a dozen or two different ingredients separated into multiple categories(not sure how many yet), and each (higher level) beer/liquor takes 4 separate(?) categories.

 

[Storyfag]

You're really making me want to try it out Rusty. One day I just might.

Does the game support specialisation? Does it for example make sense to become an alchemist?

Do tell us more about the combat system.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Does the game support specialisation?

You can level nearly everything. Some skills are intended to lock you out of others, but the complements aren't implemented yet(e.g., lycanthropy locks you out of vampire, druid locks you out of weather wizard and vice versa)
But practically doing so would be difficult because it's incredibly expensive. Training skills and raising your level caps for skills are yuge moneysinks, the game even has a loading screen telling you to specialize on a few skills rather than trying to level all of them because it's expensive.

Do tell us more about the combat system.

You get three combat bars, two for each active combat skill and an auxiliary bar for various other skills. Bar space is a premium -- 6 slots per bar.
The auxiliary bar technically can be expanded through various means. Things that can be put on the auxiliary bar include some skills related to your active combat, first aid, armor repair, sigil scripting abilities(its own skill that lets you scribe runes on the ground using various inks created via alchemy), endurance related abilities that restore health/power, and other such things.

So, for example, it would be possible to play a lightning-based hammer build using the electric abilities from the Hammer skill and mixing it with say, the electric+support abilities of the Mentalism skill as your other combat skill. Or you could play a more physical hammer build using the crushing abilities of the Hammer skill and mixing it with the Shield skill instead of Mentalism.
Here's a chart of combat skill compatibilities:

Many skills have specific requirements, some more lenient than others. e.g., to mix druid and hammer, you'd have to wield wooden clubs rather than metal hammers.


[edit]
and FYI, there's both a skill called Alchemy and a combat-related skill called Battle Alchemy. I believe they have some cross-skill levels, which are really useful because not only do they give you a bonus level(which goes past caps) but they don't count towards XP increases like a normal level does.
Alchemy gets some combat-related auxiliary skills through poison knives, and Mycology gets toxic mushroom bombs, also an auxiliary skill.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

With regards to playing more than one combat skill combo: you'd require a separate gear set for it, and inventory space is a premium. And you can't change gear in combat. So at best, you'd probably be able to take one backup set of gear with you.

However, the game does encourage you to play a handful of different combos. The first combat skill you get to 20(25 maybe?) you unlock your first loadout. Each subsequent level 50 combat skill unlocks another one. It allows you to quickly swap to a skill combo/set of gear/ability bar layout, and prevents you from selling the gear that's part of the loadout.

 

[Ranselknulf]

I downloaded the free trial and gave it a shot. It didn't seem too bad to me.

I got off the tutorial island in under an hour without googling anything and just playing. Explored that "dungeon "a little bit too, but I got a message to the effect of "come back later or ur gunna die," so I just teleported off the island. I did collect a bunch of those liquid barrels which had status buff potions though.

I was surprised by how many people I saw dying on the tutorial island though, I guess people are just accustomed to modern mmo's where you pull giant swarms of monsters. I pulled one at a time and didn't have difficulty.

 

[Gregz]

I downloaded the free trial and gave it a shot. It didn't seem too bad to me.

I got off the tutorial island in under an hour without googling anything and just playing. Explored that "dungeon "a little bit too, but I got a message to the effect of "come back later or ur gunna die," so I just teleported off the island. I did collect a bunch of those liquid barrels which had status buff potions though.

I was surprised by how many people I saw dying on the tutorial island though, I guess people are just accustomed to modern mmo's where you pull giant swarms of monsters. I pulled one at a time and didn't have difficulty.

Any immediate impressions?

 

[Ranselknulf]

I downloaded the free trial and gave it a shot. It didn't seem too bad to me.

I got off the tutorial island in under an hour without googling anything and just playing. Explored that "dungeon "a little bit too, but I got a message to the effect of "come back later or ur gunna die," so I just teleported off the island. I did collect a bunch of those liquid barrels which had status buff potions though.

I was surprised by how many people I saw dying on the tutorial island though, I guess people are just accustomed to modern mmo's where you pull giant swarms of monsters. I pulled one at a time and didn't have difficulty.

Any immediate impressions?

I'm enjoying it so far, but it's probably too early to give a fair evaluation of the game. I basically logged out after I got out of the tutorial, but I'll play some more later tonight. It does feel like EQ with better graphics. .

My initial impression was that loot was plentiful, maybe too plentiful? Although it was just a tutorial zone. While I was running around, I'd see the tombstone of dead players and their loot just strewn around the ground everywhere, which I couldn't pick up because of my trial status. I could see that being a point of trolling / difficulty in the future if a lot of people were playing the trial at one time.

I did notice that there weren't any hidden clickable or stache items like in EQ (at least that I found). You know, like click a painting to open a hidden door or something, but that could just be later type content in the game

The difficulty seemed fine. I didn't think it was too easy or too tough for the tutorial. The only situations where I thought I might be in trouble was the first time I ran into a "raptor" when I left the beach immediately after starting the game, and getting attacked by two spiders and their poison right before that. Once you get that "life buff" ability, it's not a problem.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I got off the tutorial island in under an hour without googling anything and just playing. Explored that "dungeon "a little bit too, but I got a message to the effect of "come back later or ur gunna die," so I just teleported off the island. I did collect a bunch of those liquid barrels which had status buff potions though.

why would you let the game tell you where you can't go?
dummy

 

[rusty_shackleford]

So the Ilmari desert has war caches, you get a map to one random war cache in the desert(think there's about 20 in total or more) and each one is a small dungeon with different themes, enemies, puzzles, etc., They're not instanced, but I've yet to actually encounter another player in one.
One of the common things throughout the dungeons are the locked minotaur vaults. There are 6 runes scattered throughout each cache(randomized each time), you have to write the runes down for when you solve the cache puzzle(which is linked to your Safecracking skill), and there are 12 possible runes total.

You get 12 attempts to get it correct. If you have lockpicks, you can reset a broken lock after 12 failed attempts, but it also resets the correct codes.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

oh and for new players:

Unless you have hardcore mode enabled, dying can be beneficial. You get XP towards your dying skill when you die, and something special unlocks at level 10.
The exception is bosses, which have curses. You'll get a warning before you encounter a boss. If you die or run from a boss, you're permanently cursed until you either defeat the boss or acquire and drink a lesser panacea(expensive.) If you get cursed and can't beat the boss, ask in global or help for help beating it. Or come back later if the curse isn't too bad.

You can enable hardcore mode in Serbule keep. It allows you to wear various hardcore-only gear, and there are certain things in the world that can only be activated by hardcore-enabled players. If you die with hardcore mode enabled, your gear is broken and you have to go back to your tombstone to repair it. I think(?) you can also pay a hefty sum towards certain NPCs to repair your gear too.

 

[Gregz]

If you die or run from a boss, you're permanently cursed until you either defeat the boss or acquire and drink a lesser panacea(expensive.) If you get cursed and can't beat the boss, ask in global or help for help beating it. Or come back later if the curse isn't too bad.

The curse mechanic seems polarizing. A number of people quit over it.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

If you die or run from a boss, you're permanently cursed until you either defeat the boss or acquire and drink a lesser panacea(expensive.) If you get cursed and can't beat the boss, ask in global or help for help beating it. Or come back later if the curse isn't too bad.

The curse mechanic seems polarizing. A number of people quit over it.

Spoiler

good

 

[Ranselknulf]

oh and for new players:

Unless you have hardcore mode enabled, dying can be beneficial. You get XP towards your dying skill when you die, and something special unlocks at level 10.
The exception is bosses, which have curses. You'll get a warning before you encounter a boss. If you die or run from a boss, you're permanently cursed until you either defeat the boss or acquire and drink a lesser panacea(expensive.) If you get cursed and can't beat the boss, ask in global or help for help beating it. Or come back later if the curse isn't too bad.

You can enable hardcore mode in Serbule keep. It allows you to wear various hardcore-only gear, and there are certain things in the world that can only be activated by hardcore-enabled players. If you die with hardcore mode enabled, your gear is broken and you have to go back to your tombstone to repair it. I think(?) you can also pay a hefty sum towards certain NPCs to repair your gear too.

I think that was the warning I got from that dungeon on the "tutorial" island, it said something about permanent curse and to bring a group, but It appears you can return to the "starter" island at a later time, so whatevs.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

oh and for new players:

Unless you have hardcore mode enabled, dying can be beneficial. You get XP towards your dying skill when you die, and something special unlocks at level 10.
The exception is bosses, which have curses. You'll get a warning before you encounter a boss. If you die or run from a boss, you're permanently cursed until you either defeat the boss or acquire and drink a lesser panacea(expensive.) If you get cursed and can't beat the boss, ask in global or help for help beating it. Or come back later if the curse isn't too bad.

You can enable hardcore mode in Serbule keep. It allows you to wear various hardcore-only gear, and there are certain things in the world that can only be activated by hardcore-enabled players. If you die with hardcore mode enabled, your gear is broken and you have to go back to your tombstone to repair it. I think(?) you can also pay a hefty sum towards certain NPCs to repair your gear too.

I think that was the warning I got from that dungeon on the "tutorial" island, it said something about permanent curse and to bring a group, but It appears you can return to the "starter" island at a later time, so whatevs.

There's a second level to that dungeon that you missed, it's before the warning.
And yes, there's multiple ways back.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Sushi preparation creates food that is mostly instant heal with high metabolism cost. Most food created through cooking is a meal or snack that give buffs, rather than instant heal. So, sushi is kinda an alternative to creating healing potions, and fairly potent too.

Can't remember if I discussed metabolism yet, but you have a metabolism pool(similar to e.g., health pool) that is drained when you do things like chug a potion or eat instant-heal food. It regens very slowly.

 

[Ranselknulf]

I got this earring that requires hand-to-hand level 1 to equip, but hand-2-hand sucks balls and can't even kill a rat. mfw

edit.

I think I figured it out. You meditate at one of those crystals using salt, and you get an unarmed damage buff for 60 minutes. During that time you can skill up your hand-to-hand enough to where it isn't complete ass.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

oh no, I became a SJW

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Role play effect innit?

 

[Ranselknulf]

I must have murdered about 100 pigs farming meat to cook and gift as favors. Got a potion of "unpig" that removes the permanent "pig curse"

I wonder if you can farm un-curse potions for other afflictions in a similar manner.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

dev said the current zones are all unfinished and will be much larger before launch

capital city is supposed to be massive, much bigger than any current zone

 

[Ranselknulf]

Looks like they are releasing the "subscription" model on monday. That jackencola guy came on a short while ago and said as much.

Seems fairly optional, you get a few extra bonuses like extra item slots from VIP. It's still too early for me to tell if its worth it, but you can buy the "pre-release" packages until then.

I think I'll pick up the $75 dollar one with the two horses and 12 months VIP time.

Probably not necessary because the game seems playable without the subscription. I just wanna go fast with a horse.

 

[Gregz]

Ranselknulf

Are you liking it even more, or are you seeing flaws by now?