KickStarter SKALD: Against the Black Priory - retro RPG inspired by Ultima

[Darkwind]

The free move after a kill bugs me because it often costs you an attack.

There's a lot of minor annoyances but this one is the weirdest. Why the fuck would I want to step into the square where I just killed an enemy?

Also for the love of god, put in diagonal attacks.

Yes! I'm willing to overlook the "throwback" style combat but the inability to perform line attacks on anything other up/down or forwards/backwards is super lame.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

SKALD had combat where you would be taken to another combat screen when you touched an enemy in the overworld. At least in the first demo that I played.

On the overworld, yes. Not in dungeons though.

Is this actually a thing?

Yes. Some enemies start surprised so if you stealth up to them you can get a free hit while they go 'alert' for one turn. Since kills often cause enemies to panic, this sort of alpha strike can cause a rout and an easy win. Good reason to keep thief girl up front most times.

 

[Sacibengala]

Good reason to keep thief girl up front most times.

Don't know if it's a bug or not, but I just explore with with my char in stealth, and when I spot an enemy, I change to her, go back a little to recharge the stealth much faster, and then approach the enemy.

 

[notpl]

Playing at higher difficulties, it's better to sneak up on enemies like in a classic OSR RPG. Then you can place debuffs with the mage, backstab sleeping or impaired enemies, use flanking, and disengage. Those enemies have morale checks and can start fleeing, which is something I hardly ever see in any CRPGs.

Is this actually a thing? Because while I can "sneak" really well every time I initiate combat it just starts with the normal "place your combatants" grid system. There appears to be absolutely no way to launch a sneak attack though. Are you implying that you get a "surprise" round if you initiate combat while sneaking? Because I have not seen any evidence of this. Does it require a special feat?

Only for enemies that are asleep or otherwise not immediately aggro on the overworld. Stealthing close to an enemy that is awake and waiting for you doesn't change anything about the first round of combat, but if you can initiate close enough to reach sleeping enemies, they won't wake up until something wakes them up, which is kind of like getting a free turn.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Skald must have started out with combat like this:

And then added more stuff as the game's scope grew. But still not playing in the same league as a tactical RPG like Kingsvein.

Lore check failed. It was almost JRPG-like in the Kickstarter demo.

 

[Alienman]

Also for the love of god, put in diagonal attacks.

That would make the combat into a pure melee fest.

 

[Tyranicon]

Also for the love of god, put in diagonal attacks.

That would make the combat into a pure melee fest.

I just assumed it was a throwback to classic mechanics, but it would be horrible if it was a balancing tool.

Anyways, it seems like magic and ranged is very underpowered compared to melee, especially two-handed.

My battlemage looking at Roland and his beefy 17 damage swings +multi attack on a rusty greatsword. Meanwhile I have to burn attunement to selfhaste myself just so I can maybe get 6 damage per hit with the super dangerous ancient dagger of doom.

 

[Mortmal]

The combat is far from mindless and is more complex than any 80s or 90s games

I'm actually comparing it to Rad Codex games. Kingsvein blows this away. Also Caves of Lore had more useful abilities and spells for all party members, though it's much easier.

Kingsvein's top down graphics are less appealing than the style of this game but they are more readable and easier to parse, esp. in battle. Skald often looks stylish but needing to constantly hit the 'highlight items' button is a sign of art design overtaking playability. Ultima never needed that shit.

*edit* also, really? Play any gold box game. Shit, play Wizards Crown.

So is that better than a clear-cut tactics game like Kingsvein?

It's not. Kingsvein has actual challenging battles but doesn't focus too much on resource accumulation. Much more build freedom. Skald is more about managing health and mana over the long haul, though because there's no random encounters in dungeons you can always walk back to a bed to rest. Skald also gives you a free heal every level up, I'm level 8 in my game and I've been milking this to almost never rest at all.

What Skald has is 'muh grimdark' and story. It's fine, nothing amazing, but some people weight those factors higher (*cough* game journos *cough* *cough*)

It seems like you are extremely biased against the game. And for fuck's sake, don’t tell me to play a Gold Box game or Wizard’s Crown—I’ve played them all. You are exhibiting the common syndrome of the Codexer, praising the ancient perfect game that never existed. Skald clearly has a lot of features that weren’t in those Gold Box games, which were filled with random encounters with little strategic depth. As for the grimdark aspect, yes, it’s a huge advantage. It has a good plot and is something that would stand on its own at a true RPG table. The young isekai hero saving the world from the demon king in a JRPG-style plot doesn’t do it for me. So, Skald’s darker and more coherent universe, with resource management and deeper gameplay than usual, is considerably superior in my eyes compared to the 'rad' Codex darlings.One thing I would agree with is the cluttering on screen, forcing you to use Shift to highlight things. But again, the games from the '80s and '90s were not as detailed.

 

[Incognito]

For anyone that finds the pixel art too sharp and the inbuilt CRT mode too shit inadequate, ReShade can provide a few filters that work well:

ReShade

RetroArch's CRT Royal ported to ReShade

 

[Nikanuur]

That soundtrack, though. The ingenuity of yonder times at its best.

 

[Trash Player]

Playing at higher difficulties, it's better to sneak up on enemies like in a classic OSR RPG. Then you can place debuffs with the mage, backstab sleeping or impaired enemies, use flanking, and disengage. Those enemies have morale checks and can start fleeing, which is something I hardly ever see in any CRPGs.

Is this actually a thing? Because while I can "sneak" really well every time I initiate combat it just starts with the normal "place your combatants" grid system. There appears to be absolutely no way to launch a sneak attack though. Are you implying that you get a "surprise" round if you initiate combat while sneaking? Because I have not seen any evidence of this. Does it require a special feat?

Press 1 to initiate combat. Do it before you are revealed.

 

[Jermu]

gonna start this now have high hopes for it

I prefer random dice rolls but guess I find out how bullshit this mode this

 

[baba is you]

I finished Chapter 4.

So... some quests in Chapter 4 remind me of when I participated in the Cthulhu TRPG in the past. Due to Cthulhu's TRPG nature, dangerous monster seek to be resolved in other ways than combat. That's pretty similar.

 

[Tyranicon]

->Goes out of my way to find a large amount of food for some starving refugees
->Pay for it out of my own pocket
->Reputation with refugees still at neutral
->I don't get any of the food or even the option to buy it



What did they mean by this?

 

[baba is you]

->Goes out of my way to find food for some starving refugees
->Pay for it out of my own pocket
->Reputation with refugees still at neutral
->I don't get any of the food or even the option to buy it



What did they mean by this?

In my experience, there were times when certain quests lacked solutions.

It seems like the quest to find food for refugees wasn't solved other than through a specific method.

 

[Mortmal]

->Goes out of my way to find food for some starving refugees
->Pay for it out of my own pocket
->Reputation with refugees still at neutral
->I don't get any of the food or even the option to buy it



What did they mean by this?

There's some npc with large amount of food in stock you can find around on the map without spoiling too much, that or finding the goats, with different outcomes for the second one. Just buying food from vendor is clearly not enough for all of them , look at how much your party consume already by rest.

 

[Tyranicon]

I solved the refugee food quest by buying the food from the ship docked in the cave. Should've just merked goat man to be honest.

It cost a pretty penny too from what I remember.

 

[Mortmal]

I solved the refugee food quest by buying the food from the ship docked in the cave. Should've just merked goat man to be honest.

It cost a pretty penny too from what I remember.

But you get the satisfaction to do the right thing and saved two extra lives!

 

[Grampy_Bone]

It seems like you are extremely biased against the game.

I call it as I see it. Every game, no exceptions, even my favorites. I am enjoying the game and having fun. Combat is mostly just trading blows until one side is dead, that's all. There's not a lot of meat to chew on there, it's mostly about how you manage resources between fights. Which is fine, just not that interesting.

'rad' Codex

Rad Codex is the name of the Kingsvein developer.

As for the grimdark aspect, yes, it’s a huge advantage.

Yeah I used to think stories where everything sucks were so cool and edgy too. When I was 13.

I like grounded and realistic stories but grimdark is cartoonishly bleak. This criticism really goes beyond this game though because I see it all day long at work, people think making everyone suffer and everything be horrible is 'realistic' but they're just projecting misanthropy. I don't think Skald is actually going that far though to be fair (yet, there may still be gratuitous rape scenes).

Basically shit like "you see cultists sacrificing people" and your only options are to run away, can't save them. Or the kids fell into the well and got eaten and then the mom kills herself too. Okay. Cool. Whatever. I'm just over this kind of nonsense. It's almost schmalzy with how predictable and manipulative it is.

In other ways I wish it was more reflected in combat mechanics, like injuries persisting after rest. Just being able to heal all your crippled limbs after a nap isn't very grimdark, but it is a nod to playability.

 

[Mortmal]

It seems like you are extremely biased against the game.

I call it as I see it. Every game, no exceptions, even my favorites. I am enjoying the game and having fun. Combat is mostly just trading blows until one side is dead, that's all. There's not a lot of meat to chew on there, it's mostly about how you manage resources between fights. Which is fine, just not that interesting.

'rad' Codex

Rad Codex is the name of the Kingsvein developer.

As for the grimdark aspect, yes, it’s a huge advantage.

Yeah I used to think stories where everything sucks were so cool and edgy too. When I was 13.

I like grounded and realistic stories but grimdark is cartoonishly bleak. This criticism really goes beyond this game though because I see it all day long at work, people think making everyone suffer and everything be horrible is 'realistic' but they're just projecting misanthropy. I don't think Skald is actually going that far though to be fair (yet, there may still be gratuitous rape scenes).

Basically shit like "you see cultists sacrificing people" and your only options are to run away, can't save them. Or the kids fell into the well and got eaten and then the mom kills herself too. Okay. Cool. Whatever. I'm just over this kind of nonsense. It's almost schmalzy with how predictable and manipulative it is.

In other ways I wish it was more reflected in combat mechanics, like injuries persisting after rest. Just being able to heal all your crippled limbs after a nap isn't very grimdark, but it is a nod to playability.

Of course, it doesn’t go too far; it could be a lot darker, but it still has to sell on Steam. Even if they wrote something more extreme, in your current state of mind, you would then complain that it’s too juvenile. I don't think it’s grimdark edgelord stuff; it’s good old classic sword and sorcery in the style of Howard with Lovecraft influences. It’s not pretentious, it’s good enough, and honestly, I wouldn't write much better at my RPG tables, besides making it more 'NSFW.' Exploration is top-notch—every map makes sense, and the dungeon ecology makes sense. I really have no complaints about the level design. Also, the soundtrack really puts you in the mood, and there's a certain attention to detail, with things not seen in a long time, like 2D portraits taking damage.

 

[notpl]

Anyone else notice that the self-harm skill to generate mana scales in damage with your spellcasting stat, but the amount of mana it gives you does not? So at the end of the game you're one-shotting yourself for 2-6 mana. Brilliant.

 

[His Dudeness]

Any suggestions on character creation? I built a two hander damage dealer before realizing that you cannot build the entire party and I'm missing a lot of diplomacy rolls. How viable are hybrids?

 

[Jermu]

Anyone else notice that the self-harm skill to generate mana scales in damage with your spellcasting stat, but the amount of mana it gives you does not? So at the end of the game you're one-shotting yourself for 2-6 mana. Brilliant.

good to know this seems to have nice synergy with this

but just learned that wounds dmg is different from vitality dmg

oh well started with guild-magos max earth magic for lvl 2 summon which might be enough to cheese early encounters

 

[Tyranicon]

good to know this seems to have nice synergy with this
View attachment 50416
but just learned that wounds dmg is different from vitality dmg

oh well started with guild-magos max earth magic for lvl 2 summon which might be enough to cheese early encounters

Seems like that's a trap since if you get down to wounds you're basically single digits way from dying.

Fire mattlemagos does have a neat combo that hits the entire map (including you) with fire damage, but you can give your party fire resist beforehand. It's cool until you realize that using it once will basically consume your entire attunement.

 

[Jermu]

kinda dislike how you can cheese wounds / vitality / attunement with choosing when ever you want to level up
level up should not recover anything at least with hard mode

and yeah level 2 summon (beetle) seems busted can solo first encounters