KickStarter Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - a Lovecraftian Computer RPG

[Dickie]

I beat it the first time with a dude with no combat skills. I used an academic with only points in psychology, science, and medicine. Now, I'm playing through as a young soldier with 10 physique and 10 agility and the military intelligence background. I'm only putting points in melee and survival, but the one point in subterfuge with the 13 agility from my tuxedo and Brand of Taru has let me pick every lock so far. I'm also just about immune to damage with 5 damage resistance at the moment, and I just stab everything to death with quick stabs with the knife I started with or toss Molotov cocktails if stuff groups up. This is so much less tedious.

Anyway, is it possible to kill all the mafia dudes in the basement where you smash a hole in the wall? I killed what seemed like maybe 20-30 of them before I just gave up and loaded my previous save. They really can't even hurt me, and I just mow them down, but it gets boring after a while. I was hoping to get to Wax Face and kill him to see what happens.

 

[V_K]

From what I heard, the respawn infinitely.

 

[agris]

Roguey do you see some of the push-back against Stygian (for example, the warehouse and lantern segment) as reflective of a modern cadre of game players who are unused to games and UI that don’t hold their hands? I’m reading your back and forth with Yosh-whatever and trying to imagine them playing Fallout 1 in 1997, or Baldur’s Gate in ‘98, and I do not see the problem solving / think outside the quest-compass mentality that was the assumed baseline player competence in the late 90s.

 

[Roguey]

Roguey do you see some of the push-back against Stygian (for example, the warehouse and lantern segment) as reflective of a modern cadre of game players who are unused to games and UI that don’t hold their hands? I’m reading your back and forth with Yosh-whatever and trying to imagine them playing Fallout 1 in 1997, or Baldur’s Gate in ‘98, and I do not see the problem solving / think outside the quest-compass mentality that was the assumed baseline player competence in the late 90s.

Yeah, these guys would flip their lids at the logic required of you in the average 90s adventure game.

 

[Fowyr]

I finished Stygian.

Spoiler

That was abrupt. Meh.

EDIT:

Spoiler

Tried to choose another companion and Black Lips gave me their dialogue from the Witch House. Reloaded game, tried another angle of approach and finished game again. Double meh. It's a good game, but it is evident that suddenly their finances were gone.

 

[Trash Player]

I was able to help these guys out in various ways over the years, and they seemed like nice folks. The game seems to be in for dire straits, though -- it's just barely at 60% positive on Steam, and once it dips under that, I'm a bit worried as to whether it will ever come back above water. :/

Its their own fault tbh, 4 years for a 15 hr game that ends abruptly, instead of going early access.
I loved the 15 hours tho, but the end is abrupt and awful

Not very long into production, they ran into funding snags, which was one of the things they consulted with me on. (I'm not sure how much help I ultimately was; maybe a bit.) So I'm not surprised that they had trouble tying it off. An indie group releasing an RPG at all (15 hours seems pretty robust to me) is nothing to sneeze at, particularly given the challenge they faced.

Do you know the size of their budget? I check their ks page and realize they had a lot of assets done and a pre-alpha back then, except with placeholder animation. I would not be surprised if better animation ate up majority of their resources.

 

[MRY]

It's possible they shared info with me at some point, but I'd have to dredge it up, and in any event I don't think it would be appropriate to share.

 

[the mole]

Do you see retarded self hating boomers endorsing shitty game design and defending it because they can't process that with current technology you can actually show the player they need a lanturn by making the room dark

 

[Fowyr]

Do you see retarded self hating boomers endorsing shitty game design and defending it because they can't process that with current technology you can actually show the player they need a lanturn by making the room dark

"current technology"
'lanturn"
You are fucking retard.
I was their design decision. Also you completely missed my post that fragile goods room is really dark without lantern (sans right crate)
Might and Magic 1, 1987

 

[the mole]

Do you see retarded self hating boomers endorsing shitty game design and defending it because they can't process that with current technology you can actually show the player they need a lanturn by making the room dark

"current technology"
'lanturn"
I was their design decision. Also you completely missed my post that fragile goods room is really dark without lantern (sans right crate)
Might and Magic 1, 1987

It wasn't dark enough for me as the player to need a lanturn, I could see everything in the room, the combat debuff is enough judging at how many people cried over the difficulty of the game, the fact you need a lanturn to open visible boxes is annoying

 

[Child of Malkav]

I beat it the first time with a dude with no combat skills. I used an academic with only points in psychology, science, and medicine. Now, I'm playing through as a young soldier with 10 physique and 10 agility and the military intelligence background. I'm only putting points in melee and survival, but the one point in subterfuge with the 11 agility from my tuxedo has let me pick every lock so far. I'm also just about immune to damage with 5 damage resistance at the moment, and I just stab everything to death with quick stabs with the knife I started with or toss Molotov cocktails if stuff groups up. This is so much less tedious.

Anyway, is it possible to kill all the mafia dudes in the basement where you smash a hole in the wall? I killed what seemed like maybe 20-30 of them before I just gave up and loaded my previous save. They really can't even hurt me, and I just mow them down, but it gets boring after a while. I was hoping to get to Wax Face and kill him to see what happens.

Oh wow. So the attributes matter more than the skills. Good to know, opens up some min-maxing horizons.

 

[V_K]

I beat it the first time with a dude with no combat skills. I used an academic with only points in psychology, science, and medicine. Now, I'm playing through as a young soldier with 10 physique and 10 agility and the military intelligence background. I'm only putting points in melee and survival, but the one point in subterfuge with the 11 agility from my tuxedo has let me pick every lock so far. I'm also just about immune to damage with 5 damage resistance at the moment, and I just stab everything to death with quick stabs with the knife I started with or toss Molotov cocktails if stuff groups up. This is so much less tedious.

Anyway, is it possible to kill all the mafia dudes in the basement where you smash a hole in the wall? I killed what seemed like maybe 20-30 of them before I just gave up and loaded my previous save. They really can't even hurt me, and I just mow them down, but it gets boring after a while. I was hoping to get to Wax Face and kill him to see what happens.

Oh wow. So the attributes matter more than the skills. Good to know, opens up some min-maxing horizons.

It really depends on the skill. Subterfuge, from what I read, does put a heavier weight on Agility than on the skill. Stealth rating, on the other hand, is calculated as 2 x Stealth skill + Agility. But minmaxing really is king in the game.

 

[Dickie]

Here's a cheat guide on Steam that mentions add_item and charactereditor console commands. The character editor lets you modify stats and skills. You can't add perks, but you can modify the stats and skills of companions.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1884076796

 

[Dickie]

I beat it the first time with a dude with no combat skills. I used an academic with only points in psychology, science, and medicine. Now, I'm playing through as a young soldier with 10 physique and 10 agility and the military intelligence background. I'm only putting points in melee and survival, but the one point in subterfuge with the 13 agility from my tuxedo and Brand of Taru has let me pick every lock so far. I'm also just about immune to damage with 5 damage resistance at the moment, and I just stab everything to death with quick stabs with the knife I started with or toss Molotov cocktails if stuff groups up. This is so much less tedious.

Oh wow. So the attributes matter more than the skills. Good to know, opens up some min-maxing horizons.

It really depends on the skill. Subterfuge, from what I read, does put a heavier weight on Agility than on the skill. Stealth rating, on the other hand, is calculated as 2 x Stealth skill + Agility. But minmaxing really is king in the game.

Actually, I just saw that the character editor has a section for "Hidden Stats" and it looks like Lockpick stat is Agility + Subterfuge (+1 with Automatic Lockpick). Spot looks like it's Senses + Investigation (+1 from Doggo) (+2 from Servo-Magnifier). Sex Appeal is Presence + Influence (whatever that is). There's a handful more stats in there like Coolness and Map Speed.

Stealth, you can see during character creation is Agility/2 + Senses/2 + Stealth

 

[V_K]

Stealth, you can see during character creation is (Agility + Senses)/2 + Stealth

Yeah, I'm not sure about that. My character has Agi 3 and Senses 4 and no Stealth skill, resulting in a stealth rating of 3. Casting Nightwalk adds 10 points to the Stealth skill, which according to this formula, should bring her stealth rating to 13. But it fact it turns 23. May be a bug, of course.

 

[Dickie]

Stealth, you can see during character creation is (Agility + Senses)/2 + Stealth

Yeah, I'm not sure about that. My character has Agi 3 and Senses 4 and no Stealth skill, resulting in a stealth rating of 3. Casting Nightwalk adds 10 points to the Stealth skill, which according to this formula, should bring her stealth rating to 13. But it fact it turns 23. May be a bug, of course.

Interesting. I wonder if that's something specific to that spell. I just loaded it up and took my soldier with no stealth and bumped his stealth from 0 to 10 and the skill only added 10 points. I don't have the spell in my current game to test it, and I'm not exactly sure how the commands to add effects work.

I was wrong about the formula, though. It's Agility/2 + Senses/2 + Stealth skill. You can see here that 13 Agility and 3 Senses gives only 7 Stealth instead of 8.

Edit: I just bumped his skills and stats up more and Stealth Value seems to max out at 20, so that's gotta be something special with that spell.

 

[V_K]

I just bumped his skills and stats up more and Stealth Value seems to max out at 20, so that's gotta be something special with that spell.

Interesting. The most probable explanation is that it might have been scripted in a way that gives both +10 stealth skill and +10 stealth rating, thus going over the limit.
A less probable explanation, of course, is that I'm a blind mouse that can't tell 1 from 2. But I can't re-check the spell effect right now since I'm at the office. Will do when I come home later.

 

[Dickie]

I made a mistake in my earlier post and had forgotten that I had gotten the Brand of Taru before being able to pick some of the locks or maybe used Ampheta-Man. Playing multiple characters at once is sort of confusing because you can skip so much of the game and do it later. I tried with 10 Agility without the brand and couldn't get the tuxedo that gives +1 agility. Not sure what other locks I picked after getting it. Maybe some points in Subterfuge are good after all if you wanna get stuff early.

On a side note, the doggo with 10 Occult skill can learn spells, but if you try to use them in combat, the game just locks up. I guess he's too much of a good boy to dabble in the dark arts too far.

 

[V_K]

On a side note, the doggo with 10 Occult skill can learn spells, but if you try to use them in combat, the game just locks up. I guess he's too much of a good boy to dabble in the dark arts too far.

I'm so pissed that the cat companion got cancelled. She would have zero problems with that.

 

[V_K]

I just bumped his skills and stats up more and Stealth Value seems to max out at 20, so that's gotta be something special with that spell.

Interesting. The most probable explanation is that it might have been scripted in a way that gives both +10 stealth skill and +10 stealth rating, thus going over the limit.
A less probable explanation, of course, is that I'm a blind mouse that can't tell 1 from 2. But I can't re-check the spell effect right now since I'm at the office. Will do when I come home later.

So it looks like either I really am a blind mouse, or it was a small bug - I can't reproduce it. I don't have a save from Blasted street, but at least when I cast the spell on Nithon, I get the regular +10 Stealth increase, resulting in 13 stealth rating. I'm leaning towards bug because the effect also never wore off at least until I fought the Sleeper. Sorry for misinformation.

 

[GandGolf]

On a side note, the doggo with 10 Occult skill can learn spells, but if you try to use them in combat, the game just locks up. I guess he's too much of a good boy to dabble in the dark arts too far.

That's hilarious! You may want to post that on the bugs forum of Steam.

 

[Sloul]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/779290/eventcomments/1629665809936936125/

Fix and Improvement Roadmap!

Greetings Brethren!

The stars are right once again and we indeed have some good news for you!

We wanted to update you on the state of fixes and improvements planned for the Stygian. As you know we have been collecting all the feedback coming from you and would like to share the road map that has been drawn in the light of your feedback.

Here is a list of fixes and improvements that we will work on in the following period:

• The fixing of an array of critical bugs that you've been reporting since launch
  
• A new save system with the save anywhere and Character Profile function so the player would be able to switch between different characters
  
• A tutorial system which would show the player the ropes on the first encounters with each of the more complex systems of the game such as combat, rest activities, hunger etc.
  
• A chance to hit indicator that would show the players how likely they can hit their designated targets
  
• The disabling of companion skills except combat and crafting related ones
  
• The disabling of the combat loot system that creates movement difficulties for the players Various tweaks on the balancing of the game

We will test the systems and fixes internally before releasing the patches so unless something very pressing happens, the patches will start coming out at the beginning of next month.

We will contact all our players whose requests would have been met with the new versions and notify them about the progress.

We are planning to have another and a more extended fix period following this one. You will be updated.

Thanks a lot for all your feedback and comments brethren.

This morbid story is far from over.

Team Cultic

 

[Yosharian]

Roguey do you see some of the push-back against Stygian (for example, the warehouse and lantern segment) as reflective of a modern cadre of game players who are unused to games and UI that don’t hold their hands? I’m reading your back and forth with Yosh-whatever and trying to imagine them playing Fallout 1 in 1997, or Baldur’s Gate in ‘98, and I do not see the problem solving / think outside the quest-compass mentality that was the assumed baseline player competence in the late 90s.

Look, I get that it's cool and edgy to dismiss my criticisms as coming from someone who just doesn't 'get' out-of-the-box-thinking gameplay, but this is bullshit. I played Fallout and Baldur's Gate a long time ago (and have played them again since), and ever had a problem with any of the gameplay they had. Furthermore, I actively mod things like quest compasses out of games (or disable them when I can) because I much prefer to solve problems with my own critical thinking.

The issue here is not that the warehouse issue requires critical thinking, but that is confusing and unintuitive to see a crate (admittedly it is difficult to make out, but it can be seen) and be unable to interact with it unless a lantern is activated. I'm not calling for handholding, although a simple 'It's too dark to see here..' prompt wouldn't go amiss (not the perfect solution, though). I would much rather that area be completely dark, so that I as the player intuitively think "Well, I better get a light, because I can't see what's here..."

This kind of unintuitive gameplay is more reminiscent of old-school point'n'click games, a genre infamous for its 'try-to-imagine-what-the-developer-was-thinking' gameplay, than it is of games like Fallout. (A genre which, by the way, I adore, despite that criticism.)

I freely admit that the trouble I had with the statue puzzle was my own stupidity for not having paid more attention to the globe the NPC gave me, though. Still, there, too, there could have been even the slightest nod to the player that they had been given an item which might be useful. In the older IE-type games, there are text logs which indicate things like when you've been given an item, which Stygian lacks.

Anyway, personal criticism of me aside, I don't disagree entirely with your point that players these days are unused to games and UI that don't hold their hands, but I think there's a godamn spectrum when it comes to these things. We can make the experience pleasant to the player and still require a modicum of critical thinking, without turning the game into an exercise in masochism.

 

[Yosharian]

Roguey do you see some of the push-back against Stygian (for example, the warehouse and lantern segment) as reflective of a modern cadre of game players who are unused to games and UI that don’t hold their hands? I’m reading your back and forth with Yosh-whatever and trying to imagine them playing Fallout 1 in 1997, or Baldur’s Gate in ‘98, and I do not see the problem solving / think outside the quest-compass mentality that was the assumed baseline player competence in the late 90s.

Yeah, these guys would flip their lids at the logic required of you in the average 90s adventure game.

Everyone flipped their lids at the logic required by games like Secret of Monkey Island, regardless of whether they were playing in back in the 90s (I was eight at the time and found it difficult but fascinating) or playing it five years ago.

Reminiscing about the often utterly retarded backwards logic of 90s point'n'click games as if they were a good thing is peak fucking autism. Those games were great, and they have a lot to teach modern developers, but let's not fucking pretend their gameplay was always good because a lot of the time it was absolute shite.

 

[bertram_tung]

Here's a cheat guide on Steam that mentions add_item and charactereditor console commands. The character editor lets you modify stats and skills. You can't add perks, but you can modify the stats and skills of companions.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1884076796

This finally allowed me to get past the game breaking bug where Mr Wheat never gave me poison
I can finally progress with the game. yay

Thanks