Editorial RPG Codex Report: Gamescom 2016 - Expeditions: Viking, Tyranny, Space Hulk: Deathwing, Styx and more

[J_C]

I wish Jarl Frank would have written the Tyranny presentation (instead of just writing a small paragraph) because he seems more insterested in these types of games than Bubbles.

 

[Bubbles]

I wish Jarl Frank would have written the Tyranny presentation (instead of just writing a small paragraph) because he seems more insterested in these types of games than Bubbles.

There are no hard guidelines to determine who writes how much about which presentation. The material difference in this case is that I had a lot of issues with Tyranny, while Jarl's opinion was much easier to sum up:

The combat itself seemed almost like a straight Eternity clone to me,... if you liked Eternity, you will like this. If you hated Eternity, you will hate this. The games are mechanically similar enough that this is pretty much a certainty.

If he had taken the "lead", I'd still ended up writing more than him

 

[Bumvelcrow]

So Expeditions: Viking and The Long Journey Home good, pretty much everything else bad or mediocre. It's pretty hard to understand exactly what Daedelic are trying to do these days.

It's also tragic to see how horrifically our intrepid duo have aged in the last year. Obviously these events suck the life force and hope from ordinary mortals.

As somebody who thought the combat in Pillars was utterly tortuous I don't have much hopes any more for Tyranny, unless the rest of the game is sufficiently interesting to make up for it.

 

[HoboForEternity]

So Expeditions: Viking and The Long Journey Home good, pretty much everything else bad or mediocre. It's pretty hard to understand exactly what Daedelic are trying to do these days.

It's also tragic to see how horrifically our intrepid duo have aged in the last year. Obviously these events suck the life force and hope from ordinary mortals.

As somebody who thought the combat in Pillars was utterly tortuous I don't have much hopes any more for Tyranny, unless the rest of the game is sufficiently interesting to make up for it.

I doubt it can surpass AoD in term of CnC and writing/worldbuilding and reactivity.

If AoD had been released later ( or tyranny earlier) we might find the formula refreshing and pretty neat (short playtrough, focus on CnC and multiple runs)

But now we have AoD, a mammoth in the field it excels in, it would be hard for tyranny to please the average codexers.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

tier 1 report

 

[JarlFrank]

I wish Jarl Frank would have written the Tyranny presentation (instead of just writing a small paragraph) because he seems more insterested in these types of games than Bubbles.

There are no hard guidelines to determine who writes how much about which presentation. The material difference in this case is that I had a lot of issues with Tyranny, while Jarl's opinion was much easier to sum up:

The combat itself seemed almost like a straight Eternity clone to me,... if you liked Eternity, you will like this. If you hated Eternity, you will hate this. The games are mechanically similar enough that this is pretty much a certainty.

If he had taken the "lead", I'd still ended up writing more than him

Also you had the more direct hands-on experience with Tyranny. Actually putting your hands on the keyboard gives a better impression than just watching.

But yeah, I still wouldn't have much more to say than "it's basically Eternity so your opinion of Tyranny will be similar to your opinion of that game".

 

[skyst]

If you bros haven't played PoE since release, be aware that they overhauled the AI and combat is more interesting now. It's still a RTwP shitfest, but feels closer to the shitfest that is BG instead of whatever PoE was at release. May the initial state of PoE not taint your view of Tyranny (which will, undoubtedly, be a shitfest).

 

[DeepOcean]

It is a pity, I can't tolerate PoE combat and the setting isn't really making me interested, it is just Grim Dark PoE, maybe the CnC is good, if that is the case, I will buy the game at 75% off and play on casual mode to cut the bullshit.

 

[Bubbles]

Obsidian just uploaded a playthrough of the same dungeon we went through:

 

[Konjad]

I'm not really into FPS games anymore, but I'm curious about Space Hulk game as EYE was oddly fun in co-op with 'dexers.

 

[ArchAngel]

If you bros haven't played PoE since release, be aware that they overhauled the AI and combat is more interesting now. It's still a RTwP shitfest, but feels closer to the shitfest that is BG instead of whatever PoE was at release. May the initial state of PoE not taint your view of Tyranny (which will, undoubtedly, be a shitfest).

Don't lie to people JES, it is still a far cry from BG.

 

[skyst]

If you bros haven't played PoE since release, be aware that they overhauled the AI and combat is more interesting now. It's still a RTwP shitfest, but feels closer to the shitfest that is BG instead of whatever PoE was at release. May the initial state of PoE not taint your view of Tyranny (which will, undoubtedly, be a shitfest).

Don't lie to people JES, it is still a far cry from BG.

I'm speaking strictly of the RTwP combat, in which PoE at the highest difficulty level performs fine compared to BG at the highest difficulty level. I recognize that it is trendy to shit on PoE here, but the combat is fine for RTwP in it's current state. And PoE doesn't require policing yourself to keep from cheesing the hardest encounters as BG does.

 

[Bubbles]

And PoE doesn't require policing yourself to keep from cheesing the hardest encounters

[citation needed]

Unless you mean a solo playthrough.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Please God, not another fucking PoE thread.

 

[Bubbles]

All threads are PoE threads.

 

[felipepepe]

I like we're still reliving Gamescon, that way I don't feel bad for being slow on my TGS report.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Excidium II]

Obsidian just uploaded a playthrough of the same dungeon we went through:

So we now have the face behind the horrible mechanics. Looks low T.

 

[Jaedar]

Personally, I prefer fixed checks(although I don't mind the actual value being hidden).

As for quest compass I'd obviously prefer the game without them, but if the game is made with quest markers in mind, removing them will only make it worse as you'll be left without proper text descriptions of where to look and no glowing arrow telling you the answer, leaving only blind fumbling.

 

[Excidium II]

The buff/debuff durations are p. long (one spell they showed lasted 69 seconds), but combat doesn't seem much longer than PoE.

 

[Excidium II]

Personally, I prefer fixed checks(although I don't mind the actual value being hidden).

 

[Roguey]

elves detection was telepathy, now that its smell we can hope for proper avoidance implmentation.
One thing is those craftable potions that will temporary void the effect but I hope wind feature will be implemented and that you will be able to sneak past from leeward side(not sure if its proper usage of word in english). Also swimming/diving to loose the scent?

Will drunken dwarves have lower detection skill?

You're expecting way too much.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Ganteföhr replied that State of Mind was “puzzle-light”, and cited examples like using a screwdriver on a screw

But are they sure casual gamers will be up for the challenge?

 

[twincast]

Am of course highly interested in Expeditions: Viking. A potential purchase of Tyranny, however, will essentially entirely depend on the C&C. Other than that, gameplay-wise only the spellcrafting looks good to me. And I say that as someone who loves RTwP. I backed Masquerada a bit in a voice actor-induced spontaneous act of goodwill. Don't expect much from it (to put it generously), never really have (thanks to the Kickstarter demo), but since I'll already be getting the little game anyway, I might as well play it then.

I am quite frankly disgusted by Silence. Both "gameplay"-wise ('nuff said) and story-wise (needlessly slapping a direct sequel that partly negates its predecessor onto a nice little finished story). On the other hand, I don't even care enough about State of Mind to have a stronger negative reaction than "eh". Please, Daedalic, just finally release The Devil's Men, quickly followed by a proper sequel to Memoria (by the same guy). You can go full decline with your "adventure games" afterward, but at least finish the incline that you started, dammit!

I'm not really into roguelikes, so while The Long Journey Home does look good, the chances of me ever getting it are close to zero. Shadow Tactics, on the other hand, I am pretty excited about. Of course, it's far from the most historically accurate depiction possible, but neither were the Commandos games, let alone Desperados or Robin Hood. It's a "movie" shogunate Japan, and I'm totally fine with that. (What does piss me off is pseudo-Japanese (mostly anthroponyms and toponyms but also some fictional technical terminology) posing as the real stuff, as has been rampant throughout "classic" Marvel/DC, all of Legend of the Five Rings, the first two editions of Shadowrun (SR3 at least/last killed off most of the sillily named characters and - as far as I can tell - reduced the use of nonsensical terms in favor of believable alternatives) and much else I don't care about. In all cases almost only legacy stuff from pre-WWW days of varying continued prominence, but that doesn't really make it any better/less in need of getting retconned. And neither does various Japanese works being equally bad with Western languages.)

I still play shooters occasionally but ain't much into video game co-op, and Space Hulk in all incarnations has always been way too lacking in variety for me, so I guess I might mayhaps one day get Deathwing heavily discounted. Really looking forward to Styx: Shards of Darkness, though

 

[Zanzoken]

Sure, #EvilWon, but what IS evil in this setting?

People are going to actually give Obsidian and Paradox money for this piece of shit game. That's how evil wins.