Review RPG Codex Review: Inquisitor

[Mrowak]

I have an opposite opinion. The general gamerules aren't bad, just badly implemented by fucked up balancing. Of course it depends on how moddable the different variables are.

I don't know bro. When it comes to combat in Inquisitor the only thing I am certain of is that I did not enjoy it in a slightest bit - not a single element of it. So for me there's nothing that can be salvaged from it with mods.

 

[Morkar Left]

Maybe it's depending on how much you enjoy Diablo-style combat in general?

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

What Mrowak said. Plus, when we talked about the game before the international release and the developer dropped by the Codex, I pointed out certain things related to general usability that I thought should have been fixed; he said he was aware of them, but the original programmer was no longer available and thus there was basically no way of fixing anything apart from the translation. Hence, I would not get my hopes up regarding moddability.

Edit:

Maybe it's depending on how much you enjoy Diablo-style combat in general?

That's what I always gave as a caveat when talking about the game around here (I'm not a big fan of hack and slash combat), but Mrowak, sea and others seemed to get the exact same impression. It's just not fun at all.

 

[Mrowak]

Maybe it's depending on how much you enjoy Diablo-style combat in general?

May I refer you to my previous Diablo 3 review.

Every hack&slash I've ever played had better combat and better elements that comprised combat than Inquisitor. Only full overhaul purge could possibly save it.

 

[Morkar Left]

I don't enjoy Diablo-style combat that much in general. Maybe because of that it isn't such a big problem for me. My main problems were instant deaths, permanent potion drinking, not enough / not regenerating stamania and the companions constantly dying.

What makes the combat exactly unbearable worse for you that couldn't be fixed by number-shuffling?

 

[Average Manatee]

What a shame.

 

[Mrowak]

I don't enjoy Diablo-style combat that much in general. Maybe because of that it isn't such a big problem for me. My main problems were instant deaths, permanent potion drinking, not enough / not regenerating stamania and the companions constantly dying.

What makes the combat exactly unbearable worse for you that couldn't be fixed by number-shuffling?

Encounter design (or lack thereof), no real enemy variety, bad dungeon design (narrow passages FTW) uninspired abilities that often overlap, few combat abilities fo melee combatants, lack of any real challange outside of metagaming, broken character attributes and abilities and so on. Full overhaul required.

And frankly, I don't think anyone should bother fixing that. The game's strengths lie elsewhere - in the setting it attempted to portray. The game could have been decent if it ditched hack&slash altogether because it not only did not add any strength to the game - it bogged it down.

 

[Morkar Left]

I didn't mind the encounter design at all and the variety was alright, too. More differentiation would be possible by modding anyway. The dungeons weren't bad for me either :shrugs:
Everything else is just balancing by modifying numbers. Even by simple changes like giving some paladin abilities resistances, up the HP, let stamina restore, less item repair etc. you can change the combat significantly.
I agree with you that I had preferred a "real" rpg instead of an action-rpg for the setting and it would have been better. But on the other hand I think it's not fair to complain that is is an action-rpg. That was pretty obvious for me before I bought it.

 

[Mrowak]

I agree with you that I had preferred a "real" rpg instead of an action-rpg for the setting and it would have been better. But on the other hand I think it's not fair to complain that is is an action-rpg. That was pretty obvious for me before I bought it.

It is a bad action RPG. What's worse, the bad action RPG part has nothing to do with broken but salvageable setting/story part. That's why the whole game is bad - there isn't a single well done gameplay mechanic in it. So I don't know what mods could save here. I really do not. Maybe you can explain to me what was actually good in Inquisitor gameplaywise.

 

[Morkar Left]

The groundsetting for the mechanics was right, attributes were all important, you had hp, mana, fatigue, wear and tier, different degrees of skill profession, magic resistance/spell failure chances, different resistances, themed enemies etc.
About what mods could save there I already provided examples in my last post.

 

[Mrowak]

The groundsetting for the mechanics was right, attributes were all important, you had hp, mana, fatigue, wear and tier, different degrees of skill profession, magic resistance/spell failure chances, different resistances, themed enemies etc.
About what mods could save there I already provided examples in my last post.

The thing is, bro, these are just names. It's not only about numbers they represent but also about how they are used in the game - this is of essence, and not superficial stuff, like "they are there". And the thamed enemies for me were for the most part same enemies with different skins and movement speed/hp bloat/attack. Changing numbers won't save anything when the mechanics are inherently broken.

I learned of that when I tried to mod combat in "The Witcher 2". No matter how I tinkered the numbers it always was dissatisfying - simply because numbers weren't the root of the problem. The mechanics were.

You may claim that playing around with numbers would satisfy you. And that's fine, but I think for majority of people it would simply make the game suck slightly less.

 

[HiddenX]

I had much fun playing Inquisitor on medium difficulty as a Paladin.
You have to build your character to survive against harder enemies. I like that.
The story and dialog is always interesting (People ar lying to you and you have to play Sherlock Holmes).
Combat could be better, but it is challenging.
Shop balance is great - I'm at level 51 and I'm always low on money.

 

[Morkar Left]

I think you are severely mixing up here the encounter design with the core game mechanics. My complaints are the badly balanced core game mechanics which are in my opinion fixable. When the encounter design is the main reason it is bad for you then of course balancing the core mechanics won't fix it for you.
TW2 is probably a bad example because it relied on the "rolling around instead of parry mechanic" as a core principle as far as I know. Can't really comment it because I never played the game. Even the first one was uninteresting for me (I bought it but never had the urge to even dl it). The point is Inquisitor has no differing gameplay mechanics as every other diablo clone (except maybe spell failure). It's just badly optimized/balanced.

 

[Mrowak]

I think you are severely mixing up here the encounter design with the core game mechanics. My complaints are the badly balanced core game mechanics which are in my opinion fixable. When the encounter design is the main reason it is bad for you then of course balancing the core mechanics won't fix it for you.
TW2 is probably a bad example because it relied on the "rolling around instead of parry mechanic" as a core principle as far as I know. Can't really comment it because I never played the game. Even the first one was uninteresting for me (I bought it but never had the urge to even dl it). The point is Inquisitor has no differing gameplay mechanics as every other diablo clone (except maybe spell failure). It's just badly optimized/balanced.

Let's say that the entire dungeon layout is a single big bad mechanic, whose existence spawned other bad mechanics and so on and so on. Also, if tinkering the numbers was an easy way to fix the problem, don't you think developers would do it?

Anyway, regardless of whether it's enough to just experiment with numbers, what's bad that's bad. And - as you know - modders won't fix it. So the judgment still stands - Inquisitor is a bad game.

 

[Morkar Left]

Now you're on the dungeons... Let's just say that I see the flaw from the game in its badly balanced core mechanics while you see it there, in the encounters and in the level design (and probably loot as well). Can we agree on this?

Btw. I don't think that the developers think that it's badly designed. I think it's actually their style of playing these games. Sadly

 

[Mrowak]

Now you're on the dungeons... Let's just say that I see the flaw from the game in its badly balanced core mechanics while you see it there, in the encounters and in the level design (and probably loot as well). Can we agree on this?

Whatever serves you, boss. I will only add that elements in a game do not exist in vacuum, so however hard you tinker the number that won't prevent enemies from charging at you mindlessly, that won't remove thight corridors where's no place for maneuvers and that that won't change very poor selections of abilities available to the player and enemies.

Btw. I don't think that the developers think that it's badly designed. I think it's actually their style of playing these games. Sadly

It doesn't matter what the developers think. The game just can't stand on its own. And I really, really wish they didn't make it a hack&slash. If not for that nonsense, whereby they ignore the most obvious strengths of their vision not giving it the amount of polish it deserves and go for an action RPG they have no idea how to put together we could have had a decent adventure game.

 

[Morkar Left]

The 15$ were well spent for me. A lot of it sucks but the game had still enough charm that I kept on playing and found things to enjoy. With the potion slurping and the like fixed I would have really enjoyed the game as one of the best releases in years.

 

[Mrowak]

The 15$ were well spent for me. A lot of it sucks but the game had still enough charm that I kept on playing and found things to enjoy. With the potion slurping and the like fixed I would have really enjoyed the game as one of the best releases in years.

You are one of the few exceptions, I guess, Still, glad that you had fun with it.

 

[Morkar Left]

Not so sure if I'm such an exception. I think there were a lot of people who liked the game but not necessarily true rpg players in a codexian sense and I guess the majority couldn't handle it. But just checked gog again and it has an average rating of 4 stars from 129 votes. Not bad for a non-classic game.

 

[Mrowak]

Not so sure if I'm such an exception. I think there were a lot of people who liked the game but not necessarily true rpg players in a codexian sense and I guess the majority couldn't handle it. But just checked gog again and it has an average rating of 4 stars from 129 votes. Not bad for a non-classic game.

Oh, that reminds me. I haven't rated it on GOG yet.

 

[Crooked Bee]

It's funny how people over at RPGWatch are united in their praise of the game and hate of this review.

 

[Mrowak]

It's funny how people over at RPGWatch are united in their praise of the game and hate of this review.

:Achievement unlocked:

But seriously, I've been out of the loop for a couple of days. Gotta see their reactions firsthand.

Edit: Meh, I am disappoint. Only two of the users claim it's any good. Not enough for me too start posting there again.

 

[Servo]

'scuse the necro but this was a masterfully written review. Really pro stuff. Informative, detailed, and all that. Will not be picking this game up for the $1 off Steam sale (which apparently started today: http://store.steampowered.com/app/241620/).

 

[Murk]

Tried the game out. Very disappointed. Wanted to like it -- great feel, nice setting, 2d graphics were awesome, and I was looking forward to a lot of dialog mazes and investigative quests. Then combat happened.

I think I pumped speed just because I couldn't stand moving so slow. Ugh. Why do people make skills that are basically anti-tedium?