Review RPG Codex Review: Undertale

[Irenaeus II]

Quick, everyone post about how hardcore and manly you are.

I don't need to, faggot. Just look at my avatare.

 

[Irenaeus II]

Also, great first page of comments. I approve.

 

[Irenaeus II]

I mean, at this point anyone who's read this whole thread could have just downloaded the demo and actually tried the game instead. Says more about the people in this thread than the game if you ask me.

I didn't read thge whole thread, just the first and half od the second page and some random posts by the seventh papge. I could be playing Undertail but I have an UFC event to watch.

Looks better than Underale

 

[Irenaeus II]

What's the name of his game again, I need to buy it before they die.

It's not that we are going to die soon but we definitely will rethink our approach. Our bet on this niche was not a good bet overall, and there are other issues as well. Now in the survival mode difficulty, novelty, experiments will go out the door. Good difficult hardcore games will still be present in the market I think but mostly done by bigger companies. I think the whole niche is too small for indies to live on it. And I think it's time again to go back to publishers - releasing on Steam without marketing is not enough anymore, and Steam has moved definitely a few steps closer to the app store in this regard.

That's sad. I like novelty and experiments, not much survivel mode tho. I'm buying your game as I type this fwiw.

 

[Vikter]

I mean, at this point anyone who's read this whole thread could have just downloaded the demo and actually tried the game instead. Says more about the people in this thread than the game if you ask me.

To be fair, most of the posts are about how the review didn't really inspire them to be interested in the game. It's natural for people to not be interested when the review basically says that choice and consequence in the game is the option of killing everyone or not, especially here.

On a side note, what the fuck, Irenaeus stop quad posting

 

[Tao]

I played the game this holyday and I liked it a lot. The history decay at the end plot wise and it have some forced PC propaganda here and there but the parts that worked like The Stanley Parable -the whole narrative metagame, the clever use of their own combat/system rules to expand and break you preconcepcions with key battles, etc- togheter with the overall LOVE and care to the details in the game remind me the good old times where games where not an entertainmet product but an author/studio creation.

I dont understand why are you comparing this with Underrail or AoD, it didnt even cross my mind. But then again i was clueless about the apparent sjw "fan base" until i read some posts here.

The game was very good and original, in the end that is what matter and for what it is going to be remember.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

PC propaganda

Good. Long live the PC master race!

 

[Tao]

PC propaganda

Good. Long live the PC master race!

Heil

 

[ArchAngel]

I mean, at this point anyone who's read this whole thread could have just downloaded the demo and actually tried the game instead. Says more about the people in this thread than the game if you ask me.

Or we could play Underrail while reading Codex on second monitor... wait, I did do it like that.

 

[Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad]

Edit :It made a Double post, pardon me.

 

[Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad]

What's the name of his game again, I need to buy it before they die.

It's not that we are going to die soon but we definitely will rethink our approach. Our bet on this niche was not a good bet overall, and there are other issues as well. Now in the survival mode difficulty, novelty, experiments will go out the door. Good difficult hardcore games will still be present in the market I think but mostly done by bigger companies. I think the whole niche is too small for indies to live on it. And I think it's time again to go back to publishers - releasing on Steam without marketing is not enough anymore, and Steam has moved definitely a few steps closer to the app store in this regard.

Chivalry Medieval Warfare was an experimental game made by a small indie team of enthusiasts like you that sold millions on Steam, without being talked about much or benefiting from 'memes' culture, youtube people... Not from what a relative who follows this closely told me. I bring this up because they had a kickstarter not much longer after yours and received the same amount of funding (with the same goal I think).
The main differences I think is that they released on steam while having a close relation/deal with Valve. Which allowed them among other things to be part of the sliding banners on the top for a long while. They were not dependent on publisher funding, they were in the dark for long modding Unreal Engine while being supported by relatives. Releasing 1 month after their kickstarter was also a good idea because it kept it fresh. The pictures on steam were enticing and made you want to try to run this on your screen and hack with your sword in a novelty way.

Your store screens at first sight have nothing that catches the eyes and looks like just another low budget adventure game with a dull atmosphere. When it's not even a multiplayer game it can't even become an online phenomenon, and benefit from word of mouth. This is very similar to Expedition Conquistador and I don't think you met a worst fate than them (They are in Denmark so it is more forgiving). At least Age of Decadence marketed itself for a long time as a long awaited pure mix of everything the most hardcore RPG lovers wanted to see, at times you can even catch it being a meme of itself. In that way it also benefits from words of mouth from the few hardcore communities because it's a real buzzer for the niche.
I don't know what made you think there was such a hardcore RPG market in the first place, your imagination went wild. A lot of people will buy re-releases/clones of Wizardry games... But that's not because they are part of a 'hardcore' market but because they are soccer dads who loved these games as teenagers. I thought it was pretty obvious. But they don't look actively for games that 'reinvent' the formula or have some elements but look completely different. Even in this place, that is on of the most hardcore of hardcore, many people do not discuss your games or even old RPGs. A lot of the activity is split between MMOs, JRPGs, girly games like this one, Strategy games, Action games, Adventure games, clones of old popular RPGs by expert RPG studios, and more Modern RPGs like Skyrim or Fallout 4. Most of the activity is actually for more normal RPGs from bethesda and Bioware. That should be a sign that there's only a few people in this world care about a hardcore RPG that only very vaguely reminds you of disciples, which wasn't that popular in the first place.

A few games can sell themselves on being 100% hardcore, but you have to go all the way and be extremely complex and unforgiving, and even inaccessible. And there there's a niche for people who for some reason are looking for very challenging experiences and invest themselves in arduous learning curves. That's not your game.
In short, you marketed your game poorly and picked something that wasn't marketable in the first place.

I'm going to buy your game on this sale. I think it's the kind of gameplay and setting I need right now. And I like your straightforwardness and accessibility. Even your kickstarter video was very genuine and you all looked like sincere people. Most developers act high and mighty and never even bother replying to every negative steam critique like you did or post their normal opinions on a forum they don't control, even when they are indie. It's very healthy. (but I think you are losing more sales by doing that because people are stupid and instinctively see it as weakness instead of being grateful).

PS : this Undertale game looks like it's meant for young children. People, enjoying something immature for irony is still immature.

-Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad

 

[TigerKnee]

On "4chan marketing", Underrail is still recent enough to have threads while AoD did have them back when it was still new. I'm almost certain the regulars posting in those threads are Codex spillovers though - only thing that would make it more obvious is if they shouted KINGCOMRADE, Grimoire release and "Next Thursday" memes

Comparatively, Undertale threads really only remains posted on 4chan mostly because people get butthurt over it, so maybe Vince should hire people to constantly shitpost about AoD if he wanted more exposure.

Though I have no idea why anyone would use 4chan to do marketing though unless you're selling Anime Tits.

 

[Bradylama]

Yo AoD is a good game and I'mma let you finish BUT UNDERTALE IS ONE OF THE BEST VIDEO GAMES OF ALL TIME!!!

I dont understand why are you comparing this with Underrail or AoD, it didnt even cross my mind.

It's because Codexers are butthurt that their niche interests aren't popular.

 

[Edward The Mediocre]

The humor in the writing largely relies on its quirkiness, which doesn't mean memes, like the constant CONDUCTOR WE HAVE A PROBLEM CONDUCTOR WE HAVE A PROBLEM spam which only braindead retards on forums for braindead retards would think is remotely funny

CONDUCTOR WE HAVE A PROBLEM

God damnit, I knew that video was going to cause some trouble. I posted the video because I remembered a thread on /pol/ talking about the gungrabber flipping the fuck out in it, and it seem relevant to the topic of a thread here. Judging from the reaction of that lone video, may god have mercy on your souls and this website once you fucks find about 'meme magic'.

 

[Aterdux Entertainment]

Chivalry Medieval Warfare was an experimental game made by a small indie team of enthusiasts like you that sold millions on Steam, without being talked about much or benefiting from 'memes' culture, youtube people... Not from what a relative who follows this closely told me. I bring this up because they had a kickstarter not much longer after yours and received the same amount of funding (with the same goal I think).
The main differences I think is that they released on steam while having a close relation/deal with Valve. Which allowed them among other things to be part of the sliding banners on the top for a long while. They were not dependent on publisher funding, they were in the dark for long modding Unreal Engine while being supported by relatives. Releasing 1 month after their kickstarter was also a good idea because it kept it fresh. The pictures on steam were enticing and made you want to try to run this on your screen and hack with your sword in a novelty way.

Chivalry is a bad comparison - it's pretty much a MOBA, and that game was done with heavy paid marketing - I talked both to the devs and to the agency they worked with (which we couldn't afford). Plus, they released their game in time where Steam was not so crowded. Had we released our game a year ago, it would have been much more successful.

Your store screens at first sight have nothing that catches the eyes and looks like just another low budget adventure game with a dull atmosphere. When it's not even a multiplayer game it can't even become an online phenomenon, and benefit from word of mouth. This is very similar to Expedition Conquistador and I don't think you met a worst fate than them (They are in Denmark so it is more forgiving). At least Age of Decadence marketed itself for a long time as a long awaited pure mix of everything the most hardcore RPG lovers wanted to see, at times you can even catch it being a meme of itself. In that way it also benefits from words of mouth from the few hardcore communities because it's a real buzzer for the niche.

Neither E: C, nor AoD nor us nor Underrail nor many other games that are fun in my book (or at least deserve a buy for making something different) didn't sell well enough. It's a survival story throughout. That's why no need to repeat the same mistake and so something like this again. Games these days need a publisher or a big enough marketing budget, not 10-20k but in the range of 200-300-500k or 1m even better. Current Steam featuring of any game for a week at launch is not enough in the crowded Steam store. And having a good publisher will probably get a better featuring deal with Steam.

 

[Jasede]

Undertale had no marketing budget nor did it have a publisher - so your point is moot. It generated hype and attention based solely on its own merits and because it appealed to people. I remember fully well how TobyFox practically begged people not to stream it so people don't spoil the experience, and reading massive floods of comments where followers of YouTubers, etc., practically begged their favorite gaming personalities to disregard Toby's wishes.

I think your game might just have failed to attract a market or attention based on either its subject matter or its quality. I can't speculate since I don't know your game, nor have I ever heard of it.

 

[Ellef]

Furfags, Brady and womens are the outspoken supporters of this game, says it all.

 

[Jasede]

Yes, I wouldn't have tried it if I hadn't gotten to play it before it blew up and went super popular, just because of the Tumblr SJW crowd it attracts, even though the game is perfectly fine despite it.

 

[Ellef]

You might have a point, but the humour looks awful to me and the review did nothing but praise intangibles because it apparently lacks anything solid but feels to recommend. I need an edgy review to counterbalance this.

 

[Bubbles]

I can't speculate since I don't know your game, nor have I ever heard of it.

So you didn't check the Codex front page for at least two months after our review was published...

 

[Bradylama]

You might have a point, but the humour looks awful to me and the review did nothing but praise intangibles because it apparently lacks anything solid but feels to recommend. I need an edgy review to counterbalance this.

That's a tall order, because an edgelord hate fest review is only possible from someone who hasn't played Undertale.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

God damnit, I knew that video was going to cause some trouble. I posted the video because I remembered a thread on /pol/ talking about the gungrabber flipping the fuck out in it, and it seem relevant to the topic of a thread here. Judging from the reaction of that lone video, may god have mercy on your souls and this website once you fucks find about 'meme magic'.

Sorry to put a dampener on your 15 minutes of fame but you weren't the first to post that on the Codex, it had its own thread in General Discussion before then. Obviously it appealed to DU for some unknown reason.

 

[Edward The Mediocre]

So you didn't check the Codex front page for at least two months after our review was published...

In b4 "there's a front page?" joke

Sorry to put a dampener on your 15 minutes of fame but you weren't the first to post that on the Codex, it had it's own thread in General Discussion before then. Obviously it appealed to DU for some unknown reason.

Thank god, I didn't want bear the burden of being directly responsible for a decline here on the codex.

 

[Bradylama]

Also an Indie game doesn't have to capture a hold on the Reigns of The Zeitgeist in order to be a success. IIRC AoD more than made up its sales goals.

 

[sullynathan]

Damn, so much hate for a game you haven't played.