The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk - parodic fantasy tactical RPG - now with Back to the Futon DLC

[Jermu]

Oh, and if you’re the sort of person who gets really angry at Ye Olde RNG, be warned: people seem to get very angry about it in this game, and I’ll admit it did feel like my party had a bad case of butterfingers at times. From developer responses to salty Steam reviews, it seems some of this is an intentional dovetail with the game’s slapstick tone. But it can be irritating all the same.

Bullshit. The game even comes with a built-in RNG counterbalance.
If you lose a fight it was on you.

This might be true on normal/hard difficulty but I have hard time believing some fights are winnable on nightmare with bad rng even when playing optimally (hard to say yet because there is no optimal meta builds yet probably never will be)

Also bard was third best character on my nightmare run after witch and barb. AoE stun + aoe heal + huge aoe buff were great

 

[Bara]

Finished the game left me wanting more here's hoping for expansions or the like if not a sequel. Even if cyberpunk 2077 ends up turning out well I think I have my rpg of 2020 here.

The games narrative evokes a lot of charm of the old school D&D days and while the combat doesn't play the same as OAD&D it's still been really fun.

Also I think we've played a adaption of the official Naheulbeuk TTRPG the only obvious difference being the scaling of health and damage stats. Used translation software to poke around it and it seemed pretty spot on to what scraps of french I know.

The whole Courage stat increase magic & physical resistance while int increases magic resistance alone and strength(Force) increases only physical resistance is in there as a example.

This is also probably why all the stat pieces had low numbers increases other than the output values for health and weapon damage. So no exponential stat inflation like DOS2 as this was at least grounded in a tabletop rpg.

I'm also pretty sure each gear piece was made and tested the only part randomized was where and when you could get them.

 

[*-*/\--/\~]

So far it is solid for me, but the extreme slowness / clunkiness is kinda killing it. Every enemy seems to take 10 seconds before and after their action to just stand there like a dick, I've filled a couple pages in my sketchbook just waiting to get my turn already.

Settings -> Game -> Combat -> Faster combat animations.

I have that turned on from the very start. It just seems that the AI needs crapload of time to think about each move or something.

 

[ValeVelKal]

Yeah, sometimes the AI spends a lot of time thinking for no good reason.

i feel like it happens most often when a range unit best move is not to move, eg an enemy archer that you boxed in. I suspect the AI has a routine where it knows it has to put some distance, and another calculating that well it is not possible when any move will trigger one fatal AoO.

Happens also with spell caster after they cast their spell.


I really enjoy the combat, including how you can turn any combat into something totally different by throwing chickens around.

I feel like the French writers are more on point in tabletop RPG than the English translators. Typically the cheese-mage is called LeMunster in French (=Elminster), but it was missed by the English translation who just called him Munster.

There is also the whole interaction with the “Prowler” // Rôdeur. Rôdeur is the French translation of the D&D “Ranger” class in French that stuck to this day, but was a really bad translation in the first place (if I tell you about a “rôdeur” you think about someone shady that gets into your garden at night to steal the copper of your wires - that’s a rôdeur). Because of the poor translation choice, half the D&D players kept using “ranger” which can be fully understood in French. I am not sure if still the case as I haven’t rolled a D20 for THAC0 in 20 years.
Anyway, in the game the Ranger and the Rôdeur accusing each other of not being a real class was a really funny jab at this old debate that is exclusive to France. The initial Naheulbeuk character was indeed a “Ranger”

On the other hand, the English guys put a lot of reference to Internet RPG culture, eg the murderhobo thing people referenced, that is not there in the French version.

Thank God it takes 10 seconds to go from English to French or French to English.

 

[fantadomat]

Ahh fuck,it seems like the bookshelfs on the fifth floor just vanished . Also the books about adventures are missing from the game.

 

[ValeVelKal]

It is not going to surprise anyone but this (french) game is in the middle of internet drama right now in France.

The game has been reviewed by various sites. The scores it got are rather... split ? Some scored it average, but Canard PC which is pretty much the best magazine around who has its article behind a paywall gave it 8/10, praising that they bothered to make an actual game and it worked most of the time, providing quite an enjoyable experience. JVC, the biggest french review site gave it a 12/20. Canard PC criticized the french voice dub, which put side to side french acting talents and stupid youtubers for 12 y.o. One of these is a retard called Benzaie.

The female reviewer of JVC blamed the inappropriate & annoying humor, but didn't insist on that. Most of the review described just an average game.

People got pissed at the JVC review, calling the reviewer a SJW, accusing the website of giving it a bad grade because it didn't receive corruption money.

Benzaie got involved and started mocking JVC, praising the Canard PC review although he pretty much got shat on in it. He probably didn't read that, though, as this mention of him is behind the paywall.

In the middle of this, is your usual drama about Naheulbeuk humour being appropriate, inappropriate, or just having not aged well.

So I read and listened to the JVC review and while they give a lower grade than I would, the review seem fairly fair. The accusation of being a SJW is really from people who don't have better things to do and are as obnoxious as the SJW
It is based on one SJWish word in the review "l’humour est gras, voire même stigmatisant." [humor is heavy-handed, maybe even stigmatising], and no mention in the video (she heavily hinted that she did not like the humor but that to each its own). Everything she points out as being an issue is a real issue in the game (tactical combat basically stopping from time to time for no reason, buggy mess at the time of the review and still now to an extent, see above, linear) and she stated that the tactical part was solid, with some description showing she knows what she is talking about.

So if you don't like the humor and don't value tactical combat as much as we do, it makes sense that the game ends up at 12 for her.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Yeah, sometimes the AI spends a lot of time thinking for no good reason.

Guys I think it's thinking in French and then translating to English, and that's why it's held up.

 

[Nortar]

Guys I think it's thinking in French and then translating to English, and that's why it's held up.

 

[Ebonsword]

I picked this up over the weekend since folks here seem to be mostly enjoying it.

Sadly, I'm failing to see what the hype was about.

The "humor" in this is just soooooooo annoying I'm shocked that anyone cannot be irritated by it. Maybe if I spoke French it would be different? Although, I tried the French voices and, holy crap, they're just as annoying as the English ones.

The combat itself isn't making up for the game's other shortcomings, either. There's just something kind of irritating about it. Maybe it's because one or two of my units seems to get back-stabbed, critically hit, and killed in every damn fight. Or maybe it's the annoying poison barrels and crap that seem to litter every battlefield (why does the enemy seem able to detonate them in one hit when it takes everyone in my party but the Ogre two hits?). Every time I finish a fight, I have to close the game and do something else before I can muster the will to move on to the next fight. Not exactly a trait I look for in a game.

I think that this game is going on the shelf for a while. Maybe in a few months I'll be in a different mood and it will be more appealing.

 

[Gregz]

I think that this game is going on the shelf for a while. Maybe in a few months I'll be in a different mood and it will be more appealing.

Reduce the difficulty.

 

[Harthwain]

The combat itself isn't making up for the game's other shortcomings, either. There's just something kind of irritating about it. Maybe it's because one or two of my units seems to get back-stabbed, critically hit, and killed in every damn fight.

Considering how cheap healing items (bandages and potions) are and the number of healing abilities you can use (even without an extra companion), your heroes are supposed to fall down at some point. If they don't fall at all, then I think "that fight was very easy" (Mine can get killed twice in combat sometimes). It's either that or my builds are finally paying off.

 

[BarbequeMasta]

Th cartoony style is a turn off, but is the gameplay worth putting up with it? am thinking of trying this.

 

[Gregz]

Th cartoony style is a turn off, but is the gameplay worth putting up with it? am thinking of trying this.

This is easily the best fantasy cRPG I've played in years.

 

[Hellraiser]

Th cartoony style is a turn off, but is the gameplay worth putting up with it? am thinking of trying this.

Tactical combat is good, character system is decent. Better combat than in Wasteland 3 at any rate.

 

[Darth Canoli]

This is easily the best fantasy cRPG I've played in years.

So, your favorite cRPG isn't a cRPG ?
What's the second then, Disco disco?

 

[Gregz]

This is easily the best fantasy cRPG I've played in years.

So, your favorite cRPG isn't a cRPG ?
What's the second then, Disco disco?

What are you talking about?

 

[baud]

Yeah, sometimes the AI spends a lot of time thinking for no good reason.

i feel like it happens most often when a range unit best move is not to move, eg an enemy archer that you boxed in. I suspect the AI has a routine where it knows it has to put some distance, and another calculating that well it is not possible when any move will trigger one fatal AoO.

Happens also with spell caster after they cast their spell.


I really enjoy the combat, including how you can turn any combat into something totally different by throwing chickens around.

I feel like the French writers are more on point in tabletop RPG than the English translators. Typically the cheese-mage is called LeMunster in French (=Elminster), but it was missed by the English translation who just called him Munster.

There is also the whole interaction with the “Prowler” // Rôdeur. Rôdeur is the French translation of the D&D “Ranger” class in French that stuck to this day, but was a really bad translation in the first place (if I tell you about a “rôdeur” you think about someone shady that gets into your garden at night to steal the copper of your wires - that’s a rôdeur). Because of the poor translation choice, half the D&D players kept using “ranger” which can be fully understood in French. I am not sure if still the case as I haven’t rolled a D20 for THAC0 in 20 years.
Anyway, in the game the Ranger and the Rôdeur accusing each other of not being a real class was a really funny jab at this old debate that is exclusive to France. The initial Naheulbeuk character was indeed a “Ranger”

On the other hand, the English guys put a lot of reference to Internet RPG culture, eg the murderhobo thing people referenced, that is not there in the French version.

Thank God it takes 10 seconds to go from English to French or French to English.

Rôdeur was also used for Aragorn's occupation in the translation of the LotR in France, so that might explain why it was also used in D&D

 

[Andhaira]

Having a great tie playing this puppy. Doesn't run as smooth as Druidstone but the devs who made that were very experienced.

Ofcourse I wish it wasn't humorous but serious; a dark story like Final Fantasy Tactics would have really elevated this into the stratosphere. Full char gen would have been another fantastic thing, especially when there is already a strong base system in place. Sure it would have been hell balancing it for all difficulties but it could be done.

Anyway, the main issue I am having is that abilities are not properly defined:

For instance, does the Paladin's Hammer of Justice ability depend on Charisma for damage? Otherwise which stat do I need to increase to boost that, and her other damage dealing special abilities?

Bara

 

[Gregz]

For instance, does the Paladin's Hammer of Justice ability depend on Charisma for damage? Otherwise which stat do I need to increase to boost that, and her other damage dealing special abilities?

The tooltips accurately describe almost everything, except perhaps how many turns certain buffs last.

 

[LizardWizard]

Th cartoony style is a turn off, but is the gameplay worth putting up with it? am thinking of trying this.

Agreed about the art, but the gameplay is objectively better than BG3 DOS 2.5

 

[Whisper]

For instance, does the Paladin's Hammer of Justice ability depend on Charisma for damage? Otherwise which stat do I need to increase to boost that, and her other damage dealing special abilities?

The tooltips accurately describe almost everything, except perhaps how many turns certain buffs last.

Agree. Why not tell how long buffs last, in advance?

Compare to Pathfinder Kingmaker ability descriptions.

 

[Bara]

For instance, does the Paladin's Hammer of Justice ability depend on Charisma for damage? Otherwise which stat do I need to increase to boost that, and her other damage dealing special abilities?

Bara

I have no idea on that one because I didn't pick any of the extra companions I figured I'd do that for another playthrough next year.

Went with the OG only for the first go because I figured eh why not.

Charisma main purpose was to increase your damage when your attacking with an ally support so I'm not sure they used charisma for ability damage. I'd check but I already uninstalled the game after completion.

 

[ValeVelKal]

For instance, does the Paladin's Hammer of Justice ability depend on Charisma for damage? Otherwise which stat do I need to increase to boost that, and her other damage dealing special abilities?

Bara

I have no idea on that one because I didn't pick any of the extra companions I figured I'd do that for another playthrough next year.

Went with the OG only for the first go because I figured eh why not.

Charisma main purpose was to increase your damage when your attacking with an ally support so I'm not sure they used charisma for ability damage. I'd check but I already uninstalled the game after completion.

The Bard and the Paladin use charisma for damage iirc.

One of my gripes is indeed how inconsistant information is. In particular :
- I have chance to hit and damage done, + enemy dodge/parade, but I don't have chance to stun/put prone, etc
- There is no way to know enemy damage, or chance to hit if I allow the enemy to pull an attack of opportunity

 

[ValeVelKal]

Finally beat it.

I've enjoyed combat much more than in Othercide and WL3.
The hardest battles happened during the first half of the game - it's the "goblins+golems" battle and the "wheel of misfortune".
If former was just hard, the later was fucking brutal.
After that the difficulty goes down rapidly. The only remaining noticeable fights were the optional "hidden" boss and the final encounter and only due to special mechanics.

There are a couple tongue in cheek hints at DLC or expansion, but for a change I would not mind getting more of the same.

Damn, I was going to tell you that I managed to do the "goblins + golem" in two tries and the wheel of misfortune at my first try, but then I realized you are in Legendary mode while I am "only" in epic.

The Wheel of Misfortune battle is one of the most interesting I ever did in a tactical game. Environmental hazards everywhere that the AI exploits (AI blew up poison crates that were next to me, instead of targeting ME), chickens roaming around especially since I threw a couple, all class of enemies including good damn "charmer" that crowd-control you, enemy reinforcements, spellcasters, and of course the wheel of misfortune itself. Epic. I had zero belt item at the end of the battle. Every single one of them had been used. But everyone was still standing.

 

[Nortar]

Yeah, there's a bit of a difficulty bump between epic and legendary, still beating Wheel of Misfortune on the first attempt is impressive. /respect
I had to restart it 3 or 4 times to change starting placement, and ended up tweaking gear to make certain the Priestess acts after the Charmer-girl to dispel her charm from the Barb.
And have to agree, it's one of the best tactical encounters ever, not limited just by this game.