Editorial RPG Codex Report: Gamescom 2016 - Vampyr, ELEX, The Guild 3 and Battle Chasers

[ghostdog]

Good read.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Ah, the Guild series. These games aren't really RPGs, but they come close enough to be enjoyable in my book. The Guild games are medieval life simulators: you pick a profession like farmer or bandit, strut out into the filthy streets of a 15th century European city, and then you can set your own goals to have fun in this terrible, wonderful world. You'll probably start by plying a trade to become wealthy and gain social status. Then you can try to land a wealthy spouse, have a bunch of children to continue your dynasty, lose all of them to disease, and make some new ones. You'll gain friends and enemies, manipulate the legal system, fabricate evidence, commit terrible crimes, bribe the judge to avoid the death penalty, and perhaps become a judge or politician yourself. You can get your biggest enemy thrown in jail for a murder that you yourself committed, and then run for the office of dungeon master so that you can personally torture them. The Guild games have many of the same charms as the Crusader Kings series, although the large-scale politics and warfare mechanics of those titles are here replaced with a stronger focus on personal advancement, crafting and trading, city politics, and social interactions.

That sounds great! Which game is better? Guild or Guild 2?

Nobody wants them to change anything on Gothic, they're just unable to reproduce it as they didn't ever understood why it was great.
Random success. Like a peasant shitting out the sistine chapel.

Maybe it is why they should just be left alone and do what they feel like? For those kind of people it looks like it is the only shot they have on reproducing past greatness, although it is a small one.

 

[Obsequious Approbation]

The Guild 2 was a fun little game, to be sure, but after a bit having to manage every footling issue in real time gets rather overwhelming. Like, having to conduct negotiations in the town hall and helping my robbers avoid the law + do trade simultaneously was all a bit too much for me. Never got to finish a campaign. Well, here's hoping we get to see some improvements in that regard.

Ed.: I'd like to steal Björn's amulet.

 

[JarlFrank]

The Guild 2 was a fun little game, to be sure, but after a bit having to manage every footling issue in real time gets rather overwhelming. Like, having to conduct negotiations in the town hall and helping my robbers avoid the law + do trade simultaneously was all a bit too much for me. Never got to finish a campaign. Well, here's hoping we get to see some improvements in that regard.

Ed.: I'd like to steal Björn's amulet.

I don't remember how it was in Guild 2 but you can pause and speed up the game in Guild 3.

 

[Bubbles]

That sounds great! Which game is better? Guild or Guild 2?

I preferred The Guild 1, but it's quite old for a 3D game and might have trouble running on your rig. You could watch some LPs of each game:

 

[A horse of course]

They used to use those same stock models for 3d porn. Probably still do.

 

[Q]

You really harassed those poor ELEX guys! Risen2 was utter shit, yes. But at least it wasn't BethesdaScrolls.

 

[Old One]

ELEX questions:

1) Does it have proper climbing and swimming?
2) Are there pirates?

 

[Ismaul]

Thanks for the write-up guys!

Vampyr might pleasantly surprise, the choose which innocent to kill gameplay sounds really interesting.

As for Elex, Gothics are the explorefag rpg for me, but I got some false hope vibes. I wish to be wrong, but the devs seem a bit desperate, throwing everything in to see what sticks. Story is also basically Gothic 1: we have a mass amount of magic ore, all factions want it to do different stuff with it, and you know the endgame is gonna be about how you harness the power of the ore. That's ok I guess, anyways, Gothics have always been about the execution, can't know if it stinks until you get your hands on that shit.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Wait....the Life is Strange folks make actual games? With gameplay?

That seems like the kind of bizarre news that should have been the headline. I think Codex buried the lead here!

(it also strikes me that it could be the kind of 'swing for the stands' project that could end up awful or end up the next PS:T/Deus Ex. Life is Strange is arguably the best of the 'artsy-walking-simulator-crap'. Having them apply themselves to a real game is kind of exciting)

 

[Bubbles]

Wait....the Life is Strange folks make actual games? With gameplay?

That seems like the kind of bizarre news that should have been the headline. I think Codex buried the lead here!

They also made Remember Me back in 2013, though it wasn't nearly as popular as Life is Strange.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Thanks! It's refreshing that the French aren't harping how grey the morality in their game is, but just present it matter-of-fact'ish.

 

[Roguey]

Never before have so many words been written about Eurotrash and other miscellaneous bits of shovelware and I have wait through at least one more article of this until I get to read my Josh interview.

 

[Bohrain]

I seriously doubt the reactivity in Vampyr unless I'll see some in an actual gameplay demo. It's probably going to be a couple of voiced lines you unlock on the remaining characters when you kill someone and that's it.

 

[HoboForEternity]

it's been so long i forgot the 3rd part of gamescom report exist

 

[HoboForEternity]

And no, no mention of Bloodlines.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I want to believe in Elex...

 

[HoboForEternity]

cautiously optimistic sounds to be a good stance.

then i again i never hate risen 2/3

i recognize their quality are below g1/2/3/r1 but i still somewhat enjoyed them.

 

[Kev Inkline]

Bubbles: We had a discussion on our forums about the fact that the Guild games are still PC-exclusive, even in this modern age. Why is that – is the UI too complex for consoles?

Heinrich: ...we once tested a version [of an earlier Guild game] on the Xbox; it worked, but the controls were terrible. And it's the same way now; you can make a port to the newest Xbox relatively quickly – so we could get a version for the Xbox One or Xbox 360 pretty quickly – but we see absolutely no way of implementing a proper control scheme with a gamepad. It's just impossible. The game is too complex.
​

Maybe they just can't? I mean for certain Kickstarter projects implementing console UI has no effect whatsoever on the PC gameplay, they have repeatedly told us. It will be great, believe me. It's not a question of integrity, I am sure.​

 

[Bubbles]

ELEX questions:

1) Does it have proper climbing and swimming?
2) Are there pirates?

It has swimming, and you use the jetpack to "climb." Didn't think to ask about pirates.

 

[circ]

Jarl is a loose cannon.

 

[commie]

I want to believe in Elex...

It will at best be Risen 1 with guns. Sorry.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

It will at best be Risen 1 with guns. Sorry.

Which itself is incline given that it won't be risen 2 or 3.

 

[Darth Roxor]

b-but risen 2 and 3 were already risen 1 with guns

 

[ERYFKRAD]

b-but risen 2 and 3 were already risen 1 with guns

They were? Risen 2 was a shitty flynning game with voodoo and guns more like.