Codex Review RPG Codex Review: ATOM RPG

[Okagron]

I'm enjoying the game a great deal regardless how much russian culture permeates the entire game.

 

[Jimmious]

Honestly, the review made me wonder if I will enjoy the game because my knowledge of Russian literature is minimal and won't increase soon.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Hi! Thanks for reading it!

I've just had a brilliant idea that all the stupid memes in the game fall under the 'enchanted by death' part! The rot sown in pure nuclear souls by the evil propagator's crooked hand! A great defense against the anti-ATOM sentiment! Kinda.

Spoiler

Sorry if some people wanted another review of Fallout. To emphasize the things that make ATOM RPG really (really) special, I needed to structure the review in a way that would adequately demonstrate the ghosts rattling their chains in its most removed chambers. For me, writing (and caring) about its mechanics to an unnecessary degree is like getting trashed on fine wines that your grandparents made when they were 25. Somewhat misses the point even if serviceable to a degree.
Besides, it just seemed unfair to me that so many people had been talking about the balance of pistols versus assault rifles and all the ways to create the perfect character while completely ignoring some of its more esoteric aspects, that there wasn't much choice but to alleviate this unfairness by shedding some light on the overlooked side of the game. Hope the article succeeds at it at least partially!

Good job, but your elf loving ways are not forgotten.
I'm watching you ... scum.

 

[Prime Junta]

Honestly, the review made me wonder if I will enjoy the game because my knowledge of Russian literature is minimal and won't increase soon.

Think of it as an opportunity, not a limitation.

 

[bataille]

Hi! Thanks for reading it!

I've just had a brilliant idea that all the stupid memes in the game fall under the 'enchanted by death' part! The rot sown in pure nuclear souls by the evil propagator's crooked hand! A great defense against the anti-ATOM sentiment! Kinda.

Spoiler

Sorry if some people wanted another review of Fallout. To emphasize the things that make ATOM RPG really (really) special, I needed to structure the review in a way that would adequately demonstrate the ghosts rattling their chains in its most removed chambers. For me, writing (and caring) about its mechanics to an unnecessary degree is like getting trashed on fine wines that your grandparents made when they were 25. Somewhat misses the point even if serviceable to a degree.
Besides, it just seemed unfair to me that so many people had been talking about the balance of pistols versus assault rifles and all the ways to create the perfect character while completely ignoring some of its more esoteric aspects, that there wasn't much choice but to alleviate this unfairness by shedding some light on the overlooked side of the game. Hope the article succeeds at it at least partially!

Good job, but your elf loving ways are not forgotten.
I'm watching you ... scum.

Thanks!
And I agree, we shouldn't forget. After all, love for the most precious creature is worth remembering...

 

[Prime Junta]

This pretentious pseudo-intelectual review made me barf. The game is great though. If you like games like FO and FO2, buy ATOM RPG as soon as possible and play until your eyes bleed.

Arguing with Lurker King has about as much point as teaching a pig to sing, but I'll use this opportunity climb on one of my favourite soap boxes anyway.

Games aren't toasters. It's not possible to review one the same way you review a toaster, by comparing specifications or degrees of toast evenness in the finished product. Yet most game reviews are written as if they were.

Games are more like books or art or theatre or opera. Sure, you can find some more or less objective things to discuss, but ultimately it's all about what the work is all about: what its purpose is, how it makes you feel, what it makes you think.

A very few games attempt to rise above the simple dopamine feedback gratification loop. They deserve a hearing that's more than about that dopamine feedback loop. From the sound of it, ATOM is one of them. Massive kudos to bataille for rising to the occasion.

Spoiler

And fuck off Politician, nobody cares what you think anyway.

 

[Van-d-all]

Honestly, the review made me wonder if I will enjoy the game because my knowledge of Russian literature is minimal and won't increase soon.

Hmm. I do. It's just you won't know that some things aren't original creations. It also has plenty of western references to go around anyways.

 

[Valtiel]

Great Piece!
Wish I had the prestigious knowledge necessary to fully enjoy this game, where do I start if I wanna become a communist get in touch with the literary backgroud for this?

 

[Jrpgfan]

I don't know why I cannot stop playing this game. More often than not I don't dig the writing, most of the characters are 'verbose'(Roxorₜₘ), there's a lot of copy-paste from fallout and the quests and encounters get a little old after some time(too much fetch/kill quests for my tastes), yet I keep getting back to it. I guess I'm suffering from severe RPG abstinence.

Combat is good though. Popping heads with my Vintorez and SVS is enjoyable. And I like how the author wasn't afraid of approaching heavier themes(like rape) to avoid butthurting SJWs.

 

[nobre]

I'm not sure if I enjoyed this article. I expected a review but I'm not exactly sure what I just read. is the game fun or not?

Its totally "literary" bro, you obviously need a higher IQ to appreciate this review.

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Bataille's review of ATOM RPG. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of Russian literature of XX. century, most of the jokes will go over a typical Codexer's head. There's also Bataille's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Bataille's review of ATOM RPG truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Platonov's existencial catchphrase
A song is much more important
than any material possession:
it brings people together.
And that’s the most difficult and valuable of all.
which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Bataille's genius unfolds itself on their computer screens. What fools... how I pity them.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Arguing with Lurker King has about as much point as teaching a pig to sing, but I'll use this opportunity climb on one of my favourite soap boxes anyway.

Communists are not people.

 

[Jacob]

Russian rpg renaissance? Can someone point me to the ancient Russian rpg masterpieces that this game learned from?

ok, this is the one game where i cant find any role to play as, how is it an rpg?

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Bataille's review of ATOM RPG.

 

[tindrli]

i just hope that it will sell BIG TIME!!!!. Enough for them to make a sequel at least, and yes. i also played it without knowing any Russian and i didn't felt it at all... its a great game and that's it!

 

[tindrli]

3D...

yes. i know.. but i found out that pressing HOME button does the job fairly well. and i got used to it quickly.

i guess it all depends of are you or anybody ready to play it... if you feel that you are, you wont be disappointed thats for sure

 

[Товарищ]

The game is shit and the reviewer is brainlet shill.

Let me start with the most broken, trash ATOM mechanics first.

- Survival
The game features a hunger meter which does not matter aside from forcing you to carry a few kg of food. Food is omnipresent. And the only thing achieved with the hunger meter is the wasting of my time.
Toxic and radiactive damage is harder to cure (water, vodka) but still irrelevant since the first bunker alone gives you about 8 full heals via found meds.
So, full on trash time waster.

- Combat
Its a single char ranged combat game where the only thing you can do is shoot and move. Before the first patch, your aimed shots did not stand out at all.
It was literally worse than Fallout 1. Lets not even talk about melee. Its full auto >> everything else. Avoid all combat.
By the way, the weapons do not do the damage that is displayed in the descriptions.

- Speed/Controls/UI
The movement speed of the char in general and on the world map is so slow, I can only tolerate it at x2. Usually running at x3. Thank God for speed hacks.
Inventory is a horrific clone of Fallout 1. Do I need to say more? Imagine being a hack dev and making a F1 clone, yeah? Why would you clone the trash parts?
Their inventory innovation is 2, two!, columns.
The UI requires you to hold down the left mouse button on interactive objects and select the action.
Now, say, a chest requires 40 points of lockpicking. You can actually open it with 41 points. It will just require you to try 20 times. Just fuck your finger.
And again this is a cargo cult copy of Fallout.

- Stats and Skills
Stats dont matter. Except Int and Per. Both cant be replaced in game with anything else really. Str and End and Luck and Cha can be boosted.
Speechcraft solves everything. Automatic weapons does the rest. Lockpick remains fairly low through the game. Tech checks can be counter on 1 hand.
Pickpocket is broken and follows the cargo cult brainlet principle.
The rest of the skills is irrelevant.
Its literally worse than Fallout 1.

- Quests
Name a single good one. I'll wait. A single one where a tiny bit of a childlike brain is required. One that is not banal shit boring.
Take the snuff kebab. You get a letter that you dont need to read. Go to Peregon, pick dialogue option, loot, kill. Go back, get XP reward.
Take the circus egg feud. You get info that beard and bird are mad at each other. Talk to bird. Two meters next to her is another bird, he confesses straight up.
Thats not an RPG task. Those are banal adventures and they are the pinnacle of this game.
Fetch quests along the glorious MMO lines of 'collect 20 pelts' are everywhere. Its horrible. A guy wants 30 wolf teeth. That means killing 30 wolves. The reward? Money and ammo. Fuck you!

- Crafting
Time-wasting shit. It produces usable gear but you are required to sit and waste time by trying to combine 4 items. Recipes are not for sale except for low level guns in a city.
Trash armor that might as well not be there can be acquired from an NPC.
Did I mention cargo cult inventory? Yeah? Now craft in it, you dumb fuck.

- The art in the loading screen is so bad, I am at loss for words...

- Is there music outside of Otradno?

+ Item gfx is cute and looks nice. As does the gear and paperdolls. Crits to the eyes make heads go boom and send the eyes? flying xD


Since every mechanic that has any underlying numbers is either trash or broken, here comes the single (potentially) redeeming quality of this pile of shit - Writing.

[REDACTED]

Now ask yourself, why would you waste time on a labor of love that is still trash?
I mean, if an idiot sincerely tries hard and does something out of passion, and out comes Prosper - you wont be praising it.

Even if this game costs 0.99 in the app store, it does not deserve your time if not for the fact alone that it is an bad and dumb clone.
Remember Doom clones? Diablo clones? The shitty ones? This is it.

If someone spits in your face and asks for a ruble for the service, do you pay it?

 

[Товарищ]

Arguing with Lurker King has about as much point as teaching a pig to sing

C U L T
L
A
S
S
I
C

 

[Товарищ]

 

[Prime Junta]

Hey, whoever Soulstones' alt is seems to be back. Welcome, I trust your visit will be enjoyable.

 

[Jrpgfan]

The hunger mechanic is indeed bothersome and pointless, and the walking speed both on overworld map and on locations is too slow. The game would benefit tremendously from an option to increase walking/travel speed or travel instantly to known points of interest inside the locations(like AoD did).

And sadly, I have to agree with the russian poster about the quests. Most of them is forgettable banal stuff that sometimes even resembles an MMO quest.

 

[Wunderbar]

I've just had a brilliant idea that all the stupid memes in the game fall under the 'enchanted by death' part! The rot sown in pure nuclear souls by the evil propagator's crooked hand! A great defense against the anti-ATOM sentiment! Kinda.

sometimes memes are just memes.

 

[you know what time it is]

Hi! Thanks for reading it!

I've just had a brilliant idea that all the stupid memes in the game fall under the 'enchanted by death' part! The rot sown in pure nuclear souls by the evil propagator's crooked hand! A great defense against the anti-ATOM sentiment! Kinda.

Spoiler

Sorry if some people wanted another review of Fallout. To emphasize the things that make ATOM RPG really (really) special, I needed to structure the review in a way that would adequately demonstrate the ghosts rattling their chains in its most removed chambers. For me, writing (and caring) about its mechanics to an unnecessary degree is like getting trashed on fine wines that your grandparents made when they were 25. Somewhat misses the point even if serviceable to a degree.
Besides, it just seemed unfair to me that so many people had been talking about the balance of pistols versus assault rifles and all the ways to create the perfect character while completely ignoring some of its more esoteric aspects, so there wasn't much choice but to alleviate this unfairness by shedding some light on the overlooked side of the game. Hope the article succeeds at it at least partially!

 

[Prime Junta]

About that po-mo thing, I have a suspicion the author may not be completely unfamiliar with the topic. Unlike certain others ITT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Bataille

 

[Jrpgfan]

Another thing I'd like to add is, although the game goes for some realism in the combat, there's one thing that really bothers me that goes against this which is switching weapons not costing AP. Ie. an Aimed shot with an AK-47 costs 6 AP, a regular one 5 AP and a regular shot with a makarov 4 AP. If I have 10 AP I can do an aimed shot with the AK and a regular shot with the makarov, which in real life should obviously take more time than taking two shots with the AK-47 since I have to draw the pistol from the holster and aim at the enemy.

A solution I can see to this without adding AP cost to switching weapons is increasing the shots AP after you take a shot with another weapon. I don't know if that's easily doable from a programming standpoint though.

 

[Doktor Best]

Finished it. Ran it again in survival ironman. Wanna play it at work but can't. Decided to finish Fallout1 in office today. Will install Fallout2 later.

let me breakdown why this is such a better review:

- it's RK47, though everyone may not know him, he's a known stickler for PC games. If he likes a game very much, people are more willing to take notice because he's a man with strong opinions on videogames.
- That he is playing the game again in a harder difficulty on iron-man mode suggests that he enjoyed it so much, he's willing to play again with everything he learned from a previous play-through and has had enough fun he's more than
willing to die once and lose all progress! This is the sort of thing classic x-com is known for, this suggests the game must be very fun and challenging without being stupid!
- All the best games are the ones you wanna play while you're slaving for a decent wage
- He is so hungry for more game, he has re-installed FO1 and Fo2, decades old games! Wow! ATOM must really succeed in being a successor to the classic Fallout we all know and love!
- I would love to learn in-depth how this game so exceptionally captures that authentic and enchanting isometric turn-based feel!


the actual codex review:

-oh ok, if I don't know russian culture I won't catch anything interesting
-meh, maybe i'll play a few years from now; should I learn russian first? idk
- crooked bee really liked it (the review), maybe I should read the greeks first

He basically said he liked it. This tells you nothing if you dont know the guy.