Agesilaus
Antiquity Studio
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2013
- Messages
- 4,456
I played this recently, but I didn't do very well. By the time I got through Epidaurus I could tell I was falling behind the curve. I tried to follow the story as closely as I could (it's been many years so I can't remember too well) but on the road to Athens I couldn't kill any of those assholes. I guess I didn't have my stats built up enough.
I loved the Arcadian guy who worshipped the werewolf Zeus. That really made me feel clever for getting the connection between the region/nation and the gods. Reading all that stuff finally paid off in a game! Also the "do you even lift, bro?" line.
My main suggestion is just, to be blunt, make it easier. This is a niche game, and the niche is not RPG nerds. They've got plenty of RPGs to play. But when it comes to games that put you into the world of Greek myth and legend, you've got no competition, so I'd emphasize that.
I'll write a Steam review and try to shill for this when I get the chance, but the damn plebs I know probably wouldn't appreciate it.
Thanks for the input, and a Steam review would be much appreciated. I think the combat is relatively easy once people learn to kite or gather the party members, but I have been thinking about making other parts easier. Such as by going through the game and telling the player why they died. For example, if the player is killed by Prokroustes I could have it drop a hint like "wisdom/intelligence failed (3 or higher necessary)", or just "wisdom/intelligence failed" if that is too much information.
For this game, you're right that its unique strength is the link to the classics. In future titles, though, I do want to greatly strengthen and expand the RPG/gameplay elements. It will help the game appeal to a broader audience, of course, but I think it also makes for a better experience for everyone. Age of Decadence had really great combat, itemisation, and character skills/stats, and it didn't detract from the story at all. Although, to go to your point about difficulty, it does make the game harder if the player needs to be competent at combat to progress, and may cut people off from certain content. Although, I could always implement an easy mode where the characters get god tier combat stats or the enemies are debuffed (I recall in System Shock the enemies could be debuffed to the point of being motionless dummies that died the moment you touched them).
The Arcadian guy was brought into the game so I could make the ruins at Apollo Maleatas seem more ancient and wild. There's barely any primary sources on Apollo Maleatas, although we are lucky because someone discovered an epigram from the Sanctuary of Asklepios which is nice and local. It gives an account of how Zeus gave a woman in marriage to a man named Melos, and then Apollo came by some generations later and had sex with their offspring, resulting in the birth of Asklepios. This is contradicted by the other source I had, Pausanius, so oh well. Either way, even the archaeologists agree that the site of Apollo Maleatas was far older than the Sanctuary of Asklepios and had some sort of bronze age ritual/cult function, so it was a great excuse to introduce Zeus Lykaios and let the player make some outrageous decisions.
Agesilaus I can understand the music not looping (though it being toggable would be nice). The main issue is that since the game lacks any kind of ambient or character (footsteps, sword clashes, etc.) produced noises, the sudden silence becomes all too pronounced, breaking immersion.
My complaint wasn't about the "journey onwards" prompt itself, but the fact that the player can't click any of the options, being forced to either type Y or N on the keyboard. This is inconsistent with the design for the rest of a game mostly played with mouse.
The only way you could colour-fix the slides, is by using one of paintnet's scripting tools to create a macro that first turns the image to greyscale and then applies a hue adjustment to your desired tone. Batch apply, and you're done.
Thanks for the spoiler!
Here, have some signposts:
Had my DAW and mics set-up because I'm already recording some shit, so have some bonus sounds in case you feel inclined to change the menu
http://www.fast-files.com/getfile.aspx?file=198099
Awesome, thanks for the sign posts! The artist was good enough to produce a very nice signpost asset, too. What I'm thinking is that I'll release a new patch sometime this weekend, and I'll implement your signposts along the road between Epidauros and Athens, and I will use the original artist's signposts throughout all the in-town locations. Along with that update, I can implement a decent number of these improvements, too.
EDIT: Just saw you put up audio files, too, but I was too slow to grab them and they're gone now.
Doesn't he only get to shoot twice?
That's his special attack that shoots several arrows forth, you can use his single-hit attack from a distance with the left click. Combat is rather simplistic, either you're outnumbered and you kite, or you have the upper hand and focus all your attacks on one enemy at a time.
It should be that he shoots arrows as his regular attack, and each battle he can use a special ability twice. It shoots an aimed attack that does extra damage to one target and debuffs them. If you hide from the boars when going hunting with Connidas, you can take his bow for yourself and it grants you a multi-shot ability.
Multi-shot is pretty powerful, but it's better just to take Connidas. As people have pointed out, kiting is generally the way to go, and it helps to collect at least 2 or 3 of the party members.
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