Codex Review RPG Codex Review: Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children is like the best goddamned game ever made

[Bruno]

After reading the review I had to buy the game.

 

[Grunker]

This game has been on my list to play for years. It is 100% finished now? Someone said devs are still patching it?

They've begun (very) active development of the sequel and the last few patches have been minor fixes. They've also stated they won't be working on this game for the foreseeable future at all. If this ever gets more content, which I kindda doubt, it's not gonna be for a long, long time.

The story is an incomplete mess and would be even if they dedicated 10000 hours to it, but as far as gameplay goes, it's feature complete.

 

[sebas]

It’s not at all the translation.

Then I guess the game is a bit autistic in a pretty literal sense.

 

[Zumbabul]

After your first run, you will have no clue what was going on in the story. No matter how hard you try, no matter how carefully you read the text, it is just impossible. So, you will make a conclusion that the story is shit.

The problem with the story is that it is intentionally cryptic. It is kind of an easter egg. Some elements of story are hidden in thought bubbles, some in the item descriptions. It is told in a wrong order. For example, the meaning of some events in chapter 2 could be understood only in chapter 6. So, all the critique of the story is valid.

However, the gameplay is super addictive and one day you will make a second run. And during the second run, you will experience the story through the lenses of the first run. And some stuff will make sense. Due to its superb gameplay, I finished the game four times (and now I'm doing a fifth run with a NG+ mod). After doing this, the story makes almost complete sense to me. It is logical and self-consistent. Even the shit that the spoonists say make sense to me. Sure, there are some unresolved ends, but most of the major questions could be answered with the in-game info.

Sure, you need to be a Colombo and put mental efforts to figure out the story. But it was a huge intellectual pleasure for me to decipher it.

 

[Grunker]

I played the game twice now and can confidently say nothing about the story gets even a percentage better on the second playthrough. In fact, it only gets worse as you are now reminded of the ten-thousand threads you know will end up absolutely nowhere and are essentially a waste of time

 

[lukaszek]

I played the game twice now

during your second run, how many times did you hit a moment 'oh no, I forgot about this guy, now I'll have to put his abilities on the whiteboard'.

Unrelated, is there a mod allowing you to kill characters that you hate? Can you kill almost everyone this way?

 

[Arthandas]

the story makes almost complete sense to me. It is logical and self-consistent

nothing about the story gets even a percentage better on the second playthrough

So the story is either completely logical and self-consistent or it's nonsensical anime gibberish. Thanks, that clears things up.

 

[luj1]

If the combat is good I don't care if characters are two pixels, but now I feel like postponing it indefinitely only to spite the lolis here.

 

[Grunker]

I played the game twice now

during your second run, how many times did you hit a moment 'oh no, I forgot about this guy, now I'll have to put his abilities on the whiteboard'.

Actually kind of never. But then I'm fairly decent at going with the flow and using what I have, not stressing over stuff I'm missing. I only did that on the last half of my playthrough, once I had most of the team members. Then I went grinding hard and starting planning everything out in more detail.

I also play almost completely blind.

Unrelated, is there a mod allowing you to kill characters that you hate? Can you kill almost everyone this way?

I doubt it, lol. There's only one mod for the game, and it's a (decently big?) gameplay overhaul.

 

[Zumbabul]

the story makes almost complete sense to me. It is logical and self-consistent

nothing about the story gets even a percentage better on the second playthrough

So the story is either completely logical and self-consistent or it's nonsensical anime gibberish. Thanks, that clears things up.

Actually, it is kind of both. The story is nonsensical anime gibberish that is logical and self-consistent.

 

[Darkozric]

Tried this back in 2021 for several hours, the combat was pretty fun, although I don't remember shit about the story besides those spoonfags.

Then I put it on pause to let the devs work on patches, but also hoped for a GOG release (I doubt it's coming).

The good news is that there is a 2024 build on the high seas, so I might give it a second chance.

Nice review btw.

 

[bionicman]

just be careful after playing this game not to go to a weeb sex party and get aids

 

[ArchAngel]

just be careful after playing this game not to go to a weeb sex party and get aids

weeb lovers are usually not into gay sex unless you mean that only males come to weeb sex parties.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

just be careful after playing this game not to go to a weeb sex party and get aids

weeb lovers are usually not into gay sex unless you mean that only males come to weeb sex parties.

Ohohoho someone needs to pop into gd.

 

[Grunker]

just be careful after playing this game not to go to a weeb sex party and get aids

weeb lovers are usually not into gay sex

uh-huh

 

[asper]

Lots of complaining here about the story and artstyle.
Yes, that is correct, story is some silly crazyness. You end up pressing space on text boxes as if in a visual novel, not really following what's going on. Whole premise and world are ridiculous, but personally I found that refreshing with so many games nowadays trying to be serious.
The artstyle however is I think passable even for someone who doesn't like anime. It is not overly done, Y'all are exaggerating.

However! The game really makes up for these things in the core gameplay (which is what should matter most, right). Long since I has so much squad-based tactics fun!
It deserves the praise. If you're even slightly interested in tactics games, you owe it to yourself to try this one.

There are some things I did not like about Troubleshooter, that do not get mentioned:

- The game is looong... Be prepared to play a lot of missions, if you want to sit through the whole story... A more trimmed down experience would be better.
It's actually impressive that the game manages to stay fun and interesting throughout, by mission variety, mixing up things, and the introduction of new mechanics deep into the game.

- Don't like the itemization. Items are not handmade or handplaced, but are randomly generated using a few stock phrases. "Iron gloves of the orgre" that kind of thing. Boring

- Talent screen puzzle - both good and bad, ultimately it takes so much time to try out all these combinations for getting the skills. Still, interesting idea, of crafting skills themselves.

Regardless, it's a very good game that puts gameplay first. In this day and age that's rare.

 

[asper]

So Grunker for someone such as myself who has not played JRPGs (that I remember, I am getting old) and knows nothing about character, personality, story-line, anime stereotypes but enjoy combat-centric games like Telepath Tactics... would I like/enjoy it/be able to ignore the bad? I mean, I was able to get through BG3's story so...

The game doesn't have anything to do really with JRPGs. It's a squad-based tactics game with character stats, traits and levelling, more akin to JA.
If you enjoy that kind of gameplay, you will have fun with this. The story and dialogue are there only to string the missions together, and best taken with huge buckets of salt.

 

[Grunker]

Don't like the itemization. Items are not handmade or handplaced, but are randomly generated using a few stock phrases. "Iron gloves of the orgre" that kind of thing. Boring

This isn't entirely true. I understand the sentiment - most loot in Troubleshooter is diablo-like and its itemization is one of its weaker parts - but unique items in the game have only one or two random modifiers. The rest are entirely unique to that unique item and will only ever drop from the boss that uses it. So Gyro's insane Necromancer's Bangle will drop only from him, and it will always have the same core stats as well as the insane ability of allowing the wearer to farm Lost Spirits even without the mastery set. Only its two random affixes will be random. I think 'Gear' is the most interest item slot because Gears allow for so much shit. Like sticking Draki's Perfect Scale on Alisa and effectively shore up her weakness of never being in cover. Gears can be completely build enabling too, like the Black Mask.

While I overall agree itemization is not Troubleshooter's strong suit, it is not just a random box of uninteresting affixes, especially in the late game.

 

[Roguey]

Troubleshooter is not a particularly difficult game

Nvm, lost all interest...

Grunker's one of those guys who's in the top 10% of RPG players but in denial about it, so his idea of what is easy and what is hard is incredibly skewed.

I personally thought Troubleshooter had the hardest Easy mode in an RPG I've ever played.

 

[Grunker]

Troubleshooter is not a particularly difficult game

Nvm, lost all interest...

Grunker's one of those guys who's in the top 10% of RPG players but in denial about it

I'd wager I'm closer to the 1% if not the 0,1% in terms of hours spent playing RPGs, so I don't know why you claim I'm denying that. It sounds like one of your typical ass-backwards conclusions to a discussion you dropped before responding to counterpoints.

Unlike much codexian debate on the topic that uselessly discusses difficulty in isolation, I always make it a point to talk about difficulty relative to other games - and relatively to something like Pillars on PotD, or even other games in its own genre like nuXCOM, Troubleshooter is not a difficult game (outside of the DLCs and the final mission). Some side missions can have tricky elements, but overall, there are much more difficult tactical games out there.

 

[ArchAngel]

just be careful after playing this game not to go to a weeb sex party and get aids

weeb lovers are usually not into gay sex

uh-huh

just be careful after playing this game not to go to a weeb sex party and get aids

weeb lovers are usually not into gay sex unless you mean that only males come to weeb sex parties.

Ohohoho someone needs to pop into gd.

I will ignore both recommendations and rather keep living in my happy world :D

 

[ERYFKRAD]

just be careful after playing this game not to go to a weeb sex party and get aids

weeb lovers are usually not into gay sex

uh-huh

just be careful after playing this game not to go to a weeb sex party and get aids

weeb lovers are usually not into gay sex unless you mean that only males come to weeb sex parties.

Ohohoho someone needs to pop into gd.

I will ignore both recommendations and rather keep living in my happy world :D

Just do it faggot. Crom knows you need a laugh too.

 

[ArchAngel]

just be careful after playing this game not to go to a weeb sex party and get aids

weeb lovers are usually not into gay sex

uh-huh

just be careful after playing this game not to go to a weeb sex party and get aids

weeb lovers are usually not into gay sex unless you mean that only males come to weeb sex parties.

Ohohoho someone needs to pop into gd.

I will ignore both recommendations and rather keep living in my happy world :D

Just do it faggot. Crom knows you need a laugh too.

I would think faggot is the guy that happily looks at gay shit

 

[Roguey]

I'd wager I'm closer to the 1% if not the 0,1%, so I don't know why you claim I'm denying it.

I recall a time when you protested.

Unlike many codexers who uselessly talk about difficulty in isolation, I always make it a point to talk about it relatively - and relatively to something like Pillars on PotD, or even other game in its genre like nuXCOM, Troubleshooter is not a difficult game.

I see. It's true I have no idea how high the ceiling is, just that the floor is much higher than I'm used to.

 

[Grunker]

I'd wager I'm closer to the 1% if not the 0,1%, so I don't know why you claim I'm denying it.

I recall a time when you protested.

Unlike many codexers who uselessly talk about difficulty in isolation, I always make it a point to talk about it relatively - and relatively to something like Pillars on PotD, or even other game in its genre like nuXCOM, Troubleshooter is not a difficult game.

I see. It's true I have no idea how high the ceiling is, just that the floor is much higher than I'm used to.

I can’t play nuXCOM on very high difficulties before I get completely creamed, and I can play this with everything on max no problem. I don’t think nuXCOM is known for being a particularly difficult tactical?