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

HoboForEternity

LIBERAL PROPAGANDIST
Patron
Joined
Mar 27, 2016
Messages
9,397
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liberal utopia in progress
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
This is not a game created with replayability in mind, I don't think. Which is a shame considering its length. The hope here would be that the developer takes the engine and ruleset he's created, expand upon the systems to make them a bit more compelling, then create a lengthier, less linear campaign with more C&C - and hopefully all of this much faster since there's a foundation established to work on top of.
Thats why i said the game peaked in horryn. There are mutliple ways to solve the situation. You can manipulate them or straight up slaughter them. Writing wise, places like frigol is very cool, but they are all linear.
 

Lyre Mors

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
5,411
Agree about the general improvements and replayability, but honestly I think the game's length is great. I'm well over all the silly-long, 60+ hour RPGs, and I'd sooner devs knock out 20-30 hour RPGs more regular myself.
Yep, that'd be fine if replayability is prioritized. As I've said on numerous occasions, 40-50 hours is my ideal length for an RPG, as it gives the player the time to enjoy the sense of progression and adventure that is very much so a part of the satisfaction of the genre. Often times 20 hours feels too quick for me to really get that full sense of enjoyment, unless the experience offered is rather thin as is the case with SKALD, in which case I was getting kind of bored near the end - not a good sign, and an indication the RPG has done something wrong in the long run. 20 hours is just fine if there are some meaty systems to play around with and non-linearity/meaningful choices, as I can dig further in on subsequent playthrough, but even then, 30-40 hours feels better to me. Overall I agree though that 60+ hours has a bit too bloated feel to it in most cases. I think there's a sweet spot to be landed on in the genre.
 

mediocrepoet

Philosoraptor in Residence
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Combatfag: Gold box / Pathfinder
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Agree about the general improvements and replayability, but honestly I think the game's length is great. I'm well over all the silly-long, 60+ hour RPGs, and I'd sooner devs knock out 20-30 hour RPGs more regular myself.
Yep, that'd be fine if replayability is prioritized. As I've said on numerous occasions, 40-50 hours is my ideal length for an RPG, as it gives the player the time to enjoy the sense of progression and adventure that is very much so a part of the satisfaction of the genre. Often times 20 hours feels too quick for me to really get that full sense of enjoyment, unless the experience offered is rather thin as is the case with SKALD, in which case I was getting kind of bored near the end - not a good sign, and an indication the RPG has done something wrong in the long run. 20 hours is just fine if there are some meaty systems to play around with and non-linearity/meaningful choices, as I can dig further in on subsequent playthrough, but even then, 30-40 hours feels better to me. Overall I agree though that 60+ hours has a bit too bloated feel to it in most cases. I think there's a sweet spot to be landed on in the genre.

This. I'd rather play two 40 hour games than one 80+ hour game, everything else being equal. It has to be excellent to keep my attention at that point and there's a good chance I'm never playing it again at that size, or at least not playing it all the way through again. At least for anything with a storyline, more sandbox style games or strategy games tend to be a different beast.
 

mindx2

Codex Roaming East Coast Reporter
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Perusing his PC Museum shelves.
Codex 2012 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire RPG Wokedex Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
This ADHD generation :roll: Get Off my cRPG lawn!! Give me my 100+ hour Wizardy, Ultima, M&M, Gold Box games Gosh Darn it!!! This old man wants to lose himself within a good game gazing at the map of these worlds wondering what could be on the otherside of that mountain or that desert or that ocean or.... :obviously:

:rpgcodex:
 

Lyre Mors

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
5,411
This ADHD generation :roll: Get Off my cRPG lawn!! Give me my 100+ hour Wizardy, Ultima, M&M, Gold Box games Gosh Darn it!!! This old man wants to lose himself within a good game gazing at the map of these worlds wondering what could be on the otherside of that mountain or that desert or that ocean or.... :obviously:
There's absolutely still a place for this. It just sadly seems beyond the abilities of most modern day developers to make that 100+ hours compelling all the way through.
 

damager

Liturgist
Joined
Jan 19, 2016
Messages
1,465
Man this game was made by a single person guys. I'm sure if he had 5 times the time and money he would be capable of doing a 100h game too :lol:
 

Dark Souls II

Educated
Shitposter
Joined
Jul 13, 2024
Messages
424
Started playing this yesterday. Liking everything about it so far, great music, artstyle, combat is fun even though quite simplistic (great sound effects for crits), the writing is surprisingly good, it actually feels properly Lovecraftian.
 

Ladonna

Arcane
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
11,234
This is not a game created with replayability in mind, I don't think. Which is a shame considering its length. The hope here would be that the developer takes the engine and ruleset he's created, expand upon the systems to make them a bit more compelling, then create a lengthier, less linear campaign with more C&C - and hopefully all of this much faster since there's a foundation established to work on top of.
Agree about the general improvements and replayability, but honestly I think the game's length is great. I'm well over all the silly-long, 60+ hour RPGs, and I'd sooner devs knock out 20-30 hour RPGs more regular myself.

I wouldn't care if it was 60 hours, so long as the pacing and interest level could be maintained. A lot of these games rely heavily on trash mob spawning to pad out the game, which tends to become boring.

Has anyone played this game with the respawning enemies? I turned it off as soon as I saw the option. Just wondering how much "filler" it adds on to the game time.
 
Joined
May 31, 2018
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2,847
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The Present
Has anyone played this game with the respawning enemies? I turned it off as soon as I saw the option. Just wondering how much "filler" it adds on to the game time.
I never turned off random encounters. It only began to annoy me after the second island approaching endgame. There was an encounter for...troglodytes? Something appearing to be a horde of apeman creatures with lots of HP but otherwise no threat at all. When I felt disinclined to fight, there were very few random encounters I couldn't avoid with skill checks. Otherwise I felt like the random encounters had their place. The islands are supposed to be hostile, and while the designer oversupplied food, attrition is appears to be one of the intended challenges of the game.
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
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11,007
Location
Nottingham
Yeah, I turned off random encounters after around half way. Much better experience for it, both in terms of respecting the players time and in stopping you from getting over-levelled. The game was easy regardless, but at least it still gave you the odd kick finishing it around level 16-17
 

rojay

Augur
Joined
Oct 23, 2015
Messages
485
I turned off random encounters when they became tedious, which I think was about 1/3 of the way through the game. I still ended up with at least one character at max level, I think, and the combat wasn't particularly challenging, but I played on the default setting.
 

Inec0rn

Educated
Joined
Sep 10, 2024
Messages
153
This has better quests and world building than most of Obsidians catalogue.. why can't companies with money make half decent games.
 

None

Arbiter
Joined
Sep 5, 2019
Messages
2,011
Got around to playing this. Great game, would (and will) buy whatever else is released.

My only criticism is regarding how the more fantastical elements were handled. I would have preferred an Underrail style approach, where the true nature of events transpiring remain hidden unless you, the player, put in the time to figure out what is going on. Instead it's just thrown into your face and suddenly you wake up on the HR Giger Express on your way to revive God. I'm the type that prefers peeking around the curtain, rather than have it be pulled away in front of me. I still had fun though, I generally don't binge games the way I did with this one. Hopefully the dev gives us something a little more mundane next time around, at least compared to this.
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2022
Messages
2,461
Location
Vareš
You know how good (and bad) games get hundres of pages on here?
Yeah, SKALD is neither. It's just okay, and that's the worst thing a game can be. You can't love it, you can't hate it. It's just okay.
From this point of view one could make the argument that SKALD is, in a way, a bigger failure than Veilguard.
Agreed

One of the most "meh" games I played all year. Decided to drop it. The only other game I dropped out of the 17 I've downloaded and started this year is Mass Effect Andromeda.

I'm surprised there's 60+ pages on this
 

Tyranicon

A Memory of Eternity
Developer
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
7,666
What RPGs even came out this year? This is the only one I remember playing.

Man, GOTY is looking like slim pickings.
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2022
Messages
2,461
Location
Vareš
What RPGs even came out this year? This is the only one I remember playing.

Man, GOTY is looking like slim pickings.
Not many - other than this mediocrity there was Passageway of the Ancients which was also very mediocre.

Drova really might be the GOTY which is crazy to think

Game was great fuck yourself you poapemole sleeperagents
Wow, I'm surprised this extremely mediocre game can cause any sort of emotion in people.

Also you literally just played Arcanum for the first time this past month who are you calling popamole sleepagent faggot. Don't know how that's possible unless you really are just way too new to the whole genre. Go post some more in Veilguard thread.
 

damager

Liturgist
Joined
Jan 19, 2016
Messages
1,465
Someody got issues :lol: I think you felt found out bro!

VejOuoX.png
 

Castozor

Augur
Joined
Nov 12, 2014
Messages
199
I think it's a bit better than mediocre, I actually want to see more from this guy unlike most shit I've seen released this year.
 

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