KickStarter Serpent in the Staglands Pre-Release Thread

[agris]

Fuck yea, hope this starts a trend of strong content addition to codex-funded game.

 

[Hobo Elf]

It is truly a thing of marvel to witness something great become something even better.

 

[octavius]

I like the title of this game. Serpent in the Staglands sounds so much cooler than something like "Seven Dragon Saga", for example.

 

[Abu Antar]

Or Pillars of Eternity, even if it is my most anticipated game in the last decade.

 

[Nihiliste]

The Romanian setting is certainly very unique compared to a lot of what we've been getting from other projects.

 

[dukeofwhales]

This game looks rad and I hope it turns out to be awesome.

 

[Sensuki]

Yeah I think while Pillars of Eternity will need quite a bit of help to have a chance of "getting it right". This game already has it right.

 

[curry]

Am I the only one who thinks the graphics look too blurry and not crisp like in the first clips?

 

[Infinitron]

Yeah I think while Pillars of Eternity will need quite a bit of help to have a chance of "getting it right". This game already has it right.

Shouldn't you wait until you've played it before saying that

IIRC people were saying this about PoE vs Wasteland 2 not too long ago.

 

[Sensuki]

Am I the only one who thinks the graphics look too blurry and not crisp like in the first clips?

Might just be the video itself? Dunno

Shouldn't you wait until you've played it before saying that

I don't think so, I think that while there's more focus/investment in the bigger CRPGs the little ones provide an enjoyable game that you can just enjoy them for what they are without too much banking in on specifics. Smaller teams tend to be more cohesive.

 

[Bubbles]

There's only one important question when it comes to evaluating a RPG: is it well balanced or not?
From what I've seen so far, magic is completely overpowered in this setting.

 

[Merlkir]

There's only one important question when it comes to evaluating a RPG: is it well balanced or not?.

Ummm...

 

[tuluse]

Might just be the video itself? Dunno



I don't think so, I think that while there's more focus/investment in the bigger CRPGs the little ones provide an enjoyable game that you can just enjoy them for what they are without too much banking in on specifics. Smaller teams tend to be more cohesive.

You have no idea if this game actually feels good to play right now. It could be even buggier and have worse feedback than poe.

 

[Sensuki]

You have no idea if this game actually feels good to play right now. It could be even buggier and have worse feedback than poe.

DESIGN MOTHERFUCKER

not bugs/feedback

SoS doesnt have a whole bunch of fan expectations to cater to, so they can do their own design without having to compromise their vision.

 

[tuluse]

DESIGN MOTHERFUCKER

not bugs/feedback

SoS doesnt have a whole bunch of fan expectations to cater to

I guess. Unless combat actually feels good you could just end up with a Darklands where there are a lot of good ideas in a rather no-so-good game.

 

[TheGameSquid]

DESIGN MOTHERFUCKER

not bugs/feedback

SoS doesnt have a whole bunch of fan expectations to cater to

I guess. Unless combat actually feels good you could just end up with a Darklands where there are a lot of good ideas in a rather no-so-good game.

Well, the main problem with Darklands WAS the combat right? Combat was not a huge part of the game to be honest. I know a lot of people don't appreciate Darklands very much, but I thought it was a phenomenal game, albeit a little too fucking difficult. What other problems did you have with the game?

I do get the feeling they're going for Darklands-style combat though. Hope they implement something a little more interesting.

 

[octavius]

The combat in Darklands certainly was better than most simplistic top down turn based games, like for example Ultima IV. And once your guys all got plate you mostly could just let them loose and not babysit them anymore since very few enemies could hit them.

To me the worst aspects of Darklands were:

1. Building up local rep was done by breaking cerfew and fighting the X number of thugs over and over again, X being the number of members in your own party.

2. All cities looked alike. I guess this was mostly due to technical limitations, but I'd really have liked to see more distinct cities, using paintings or digitized pics of the real world cathedrals and universities, for example.

3. Limited amount of active quests and the quests for items always being for the same few items.

3. The Hunt was seriously underwhelming. Just one measly little minor demon?

But all in all I thought it was a great game, with a refreshingly original setting.

 

[Whalenought_Joe]

Well, the main problem with Darklands WAS the combat right? Combat was not a huge part of the game to be honest. I know a lot of people don't appreciate Darklands very much, but I thought it was a phenomenal game, albeit a little too fucking difficult. What other problems did you have with the game?

I do get the feeling they're going for Darklands-style combat though. Hope they implement something a little more interesting.

I'd say the interesting part of Darklands combat, and RT games in general, was the importance of preparing your party before combat even begins, because when shit hits the fan you only have so much control when enemies are able to attack simultaneously. A completely different game than getting a grid for turn based, it more resembles micromanaging RTS units with tons of skills.

We'll be showing off a longer demonstration in our next update pertaining to adventuring with lots of combat, but we've aimed to make it more "interesting" by having your party have a lot of auto-procing skills that allow for a lot of build variety. Brief rundown: For each of your characters there are grades of skills and spells you can distribute up to 20 points into individually while you level up to make them more powerful (sort of like an open-ended skill tree). You can have 3 Combat skills active at once, which proc automatically with different scenarios, and you'd cast and hold spells individually (with a few exceptions that you can cast and forget, but there aren't elementals or fireballs dispensers).

So for example if you were planning to make a support cleric-like character, you could put points into some various combat skills to have active for defenses or buffing your party on start of combat, and mainly focus points into a grade 1 spell called Blood Cocoon. So if you wanted to heal someone you could run away from combat and hold down the spell to IV some health into them.

Starting off, it's 1d(6+Character level)HP every (10 - x(variable based on your skill points)seconds, so it's a decent single-target healing spell that levels with your character even with no skill points put into it. Put enough points into it and it starts procing really quickly, and you could use that character to hang back and just stuff health back into someone as they get wailed on in close quarters. We'll have more examples in the video, and the beta will include all grade 1 skills and spells for testing.

 

[TheGameSquid]

Thanks for the info Joe, looking forward to seeing more of it

 

[tuluse]

TheGameSquid octavius
I just find Darklands to be not very fun, it's loaded with cool ideas though.

Whalenought_Joe
Just in case it wasn't clear, I'm not saying your game is bad. I'm very much looking forward to it and it looks like it will be amazing. I was just bristling at comparing a game in beta that we have our hands on to one that we've only seen in video.

 

[Whalenought_Joe]

Just in case it wasn't clear, I'm not saying your game is bad. I'm very much looking forward to it and it looks like it will be amazing. I was just bristling at comparing a game in beta that we have our hands on to one that we've only seen in video.

No problem, I hadn't presumed. And thats a fair point, getting your hands on something opens a whole new fun world of bugs, exploits and design decisions you can only critique when playing. Looking forward to the Codex feedback when we get the beta out! We'll be doubling our coffee stock for the occasion.

There's only one important question when it comes to evaluating a RPG: is it well balanced or not?

Mercy...

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

I think that was sarcasm in light of the kerfuffle surrounding PoE. Thanks for stopping by.

 

[Haba]

Just make a fun game, leave balance to autists.

 

[StaticSpine]

Just make a fun game, leave balance to autists.

 

[Luzur]

Is it out yet?