Incline Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children - isometric tactical Korean SRPG

[Saark]

Say goodbye to your rushing tactics once the first sniper shows up. Theres a before and an after when it comes to that enemy type.

Once Snipers and enemies with Impulse Fields/Indomitable Will and the other damage reduction masteries show up, I started actually using grenades and other tools more regularly. Smoke grenades work wonders against snipers as they provide immunity to headshot, and gas grenades/bleeding are great to trickle down tanky enemies. Wind pressure grenades are great too when you manage to knock a few enemies into each other or into walls for a few easy stuns.

I love how the game adds challenges in layers but also offers multiple ways to deal with these challenges, which is certainly better done than in most other games of similar making.

 

[Tigranes]

I just wish it would actually get to the promised interesting bit. I just finished the food market fight which was more interesting in setup but still god-mode roflstomp on Hard. I can already see how this might end up being an awesome game, but nobody should get a free pass for wasting 5+ hours of your life on the tutorial.

Right now, compared to other XCOM-ish games, it feels like you can just stand in the open and enemies miss/graze you. I imagine that changes completely later.

 

[hello friend]

You need to play on Cruel. Even that is not particularly hard, at least for a while. Recently did this mission myself:

And I cleared out all the guys with a bare handful of losses, post mission cutscene said the team had to retreat because the opposing forces were overwhelming or smth. wtf

Challenge is slowly increasing, but I have a feeling you need to play the missions in challenge mode if you want to be really put through your paces.

 

[Spectacle]

You need to play on Cruel. Even that is not particularly hard, at least for a while. Recently did this mission myself:

And I cleared out all the guys with a bare handful of losses, post mission cutscene said the team had to retreat because the opposing forces were overwhelming or smth. wtf

Challenge is slowly increasing, but I have a feeling you need to play the missions in challenge mode if you want to be really put through your paces.

Challenge mode doesn't do anything unless you're overleveled for the mission. It's a mode that can make early missions still interesting to play with a high-level team, but not a generic "extra hard" mode.

 

[hello friend]

I see

 

[Tigranes]

You need to play on Cruel. Even that is not particularly hard, at least for a while. Recently did this mission myself:

And I cleared out all the guys with a bare handful of losses, post mission cutscene said the team had to retreat because the opposing forces were overwhelming or smth. wtf

Challenge is slowly increasing, but I have a feeling you need to play the missions in challenge mode if you want to be really put through your paces.

I was recommended Hard by Codexers, but yes, I think I'll put it up to Cruel, it seems you can put it up/down as you need yes?

And yeah, I'm looking forward to challenge mode but at this stage it doesn't do anything as per above explanation. I'm still like Level 10 doing a level 11 mission because that's the highest available. Again, people tell me on here things change later on and that's good, I just wish the opening wasn't so slow.

 

[Saark]

Ultimately I think the opening is pretty fine, as it slowly eases you into all the systems. Keep in mind that the regular player is probably not all too experienced with these kind of games, or struggles on normal XCOM missions. The main reason the initial missions are so easy is due to the NPCs being more than just meatshields. In early missions they carry their weight and contribute a lot to the kill-counter. That will change later-on as you will only use them as distractions or for their tools like grenades or potions. Most of the assault/striker NPCs die within 1 or 2 attacks in later missions and it really is all Albus and his Crew that mop up the streets. It ties in nicely with the story-line though, as you slowly get to experience how useless and helpless the police-force is in these cases, and why they have to call in the troubleshooter companies.

 

[True Ukrainian]

You need to play on Cruel. Even that is not particularly hard, at least for a while. Recently did this mission myself:

And I cleared out all the guys with a bare handful of losses, post mission cutscene said the team had to retreat because the opposing forces were overwhelming or smth. wtf

Challenge is slowly increasing, but I have a feeling you need to play the missions in challenge mode if you want to be really put through your paces.

I was recommended Hard by Codexers, but yes, I think I'll put it up to Cruel, it seems you can put it up/down as you need yes?

And yeah, I'm looking forward to challenge mode but at this stage it doesn't do anything as per above explanation. I'm still like Level 10 doing a level 11 mission because that's the highest available. Again, people tell me on here things change later on and that's good, I just wish the opening wasn't so slow.

You're still very early in the game. The game only starts taking its gloves off once Heixing becomes part of the party, not just a guest member.

 

[CyberModuled]

The game wants you to break the mastery system, then it curve-stomps you with new enemies, or old enemies with new units, or by using the map against you in the most unfair ways possible. Like it would happen if people had the time to set up a defense perimeter and you had to break into it.

Or you run into a bunch of guys just chilling out, that aren't even supposed to be attacked during the mission, but because you wanna go all completionist and explore the entire map, you accidentally run into their camp.

Not the spot you wanna find yourself in, HERO or not.

I remember that mission utterly murked half my team the first time playing because I was too stupid to realize all the objective wanted me to do was get the police squadrons out of the area as soon as possible. Certainly a good way to introduce the player to the White Tigers though.

 

[Tigranes]

Ultimately I think the opening is pretty fine, as it slowly eases you into all the systems. Keep in mind that the regular player is probably not all too experienced with these kind of games, or struggles on normal XCOM missions. The main reason the initial missions are so easy is due to the NPCs being more than just meatshields. In early missions they carry their weight and contribute a lot to the kill-counter. That will change later-on as you will only use them as distractions or for their tools like grenades or potions. Most of the assault/striker NPCs die within 1 or 2 attacks in later missions and it really is all Albus and his Crew that mop up the streets. It ties in nicely with the story-line though, as you slowly get to experience how useless and helpless the police-force is in these cases, and why they have to call in the troubleshooter companies.

Eh. There's really no excuse for me to be on something like the 10th mission (like, end of Chapter 1) and still have that going on. If your story needs you to handhold the player for 10 missions, you rewrite the story. (Or allow optional challenge modes right away.) I'm happy to keep going because I know from this thread that the game gets good, but in other cases people might be forgiven for thinking this is it.

Anyway, at this point it looks like there is lots under the hood around mastery crafting and synergies across abilities/masteries and later class selection, so that looks good. The itemisation feels a bit "8000 items with random numbers" a la most new RPGs, but we'll see if that improves too.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

is the spoon cult supposed to be reddit-tier humor or is just a bad translation?

 

[Zombra]

Anyway, at this point it looks like there is lots under the hood around mastery crafting and synergies across abilities/masteries and later class selection, so that looks good. The itemisation feels a bit "8000 items with random numbers" a la most new RPGs, but we'll see if that improves too.

It doesn't, at least it didn't in the first 60 hours for me. Just check every once in a while to see if you have a sword with a bigger attack number and otherwise ignore gear.

 

[Efe]

If 5 people give a spoonful from their bowl, a sixth spoon is born.
It is less wacky than some real cults

 

[True Ukrainian]

If 5 people give a spoonful from their bowl, a sixth spoon is born.
It is less wacky than some real cults

It's probably a reference to the cult of the goddess that ruled South Korea for a few years.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

How branching is the narrative of this game?

 

[GhostCow]

is the spoon cult supposed to be reddit-tier humor or is just a bad translation?

Bad translation I think. They get pretty interesting when you get pretty far in though.

 

[Lhynn]

Its not a bad translation though, the spoon is used as an allegory for a lot of things, sounds silly at first but their rise to power makes sense later down the line.

 

[Derringer]

If 5 people give a spoonful from their bowl, a sixth spoon is born.
It is less wacky than some real cults

It's probably a reference to the cult of the goddess that ruled South Korea for a few years.

Few? Aren't they still controlling them?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

How branching is the narrative of this game?

it's a linear jrpg as far as I can tell

 

[True Ukrainian]

If 5 people give a spoonful from their bowl, a sixth spoon is born.
It is less wacky than some real cults

It's probably a reference to the cult of the goddess that ruled South Korea for a few years.

Few? Aren't they still controlling them?

The cult was deposed and the goddess and her daughter were arrested.

 

[Lhynn]

How branching is the narrative of this game?

it's a linear jrpg as far as I can tell

Its linear but scenes can vary from mission to mission depending on your choices. So your choices do have a heavy impact in the gameplay. Which to be honest feels better than having choices that impact the story but not the gameplay, as it allows them to focus on creating a consistent narrative while at the same time offering consequences to your actions.
An example of this is the mission at the plaza, which can play in a number of ways depending on who you recruit, let retreat or fight.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

 

[TheSoul]

When your tactics inevitably fail,
Hero Irene will always prevail
(after several restarts)

Spoiler

 

[Lhynn]

No Albus?

 

[TheSoul]

I thought leton dodging everything would work better. His engrish speaking ass died first lol.