Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[IHaveHugeNick]

I'm glad hat you gave up on a hopeless task of pretending that Underrail's writing is worth anything and instead try to defend it by counting quests.

I mean, you were the one who brought up the fetch quests to begin with. I'm starting to think you don't have any valid criticisms after all.

Yes I did brought up the fetch quests and you responded with textbook whataboutism because you have no valid responses at all.

 

[ArchAngel]

Anyone who says there are no interesting or memorable characters never met Ezra.
He stands out from everyone else right off the bat based on his appearance and one or two other things. But as you progress, you actually have the option to learn about him.
Nothing in-game is ever made concrete about his origins, but FUCK does it allow you to make crazy assumptions.

Spoiler

Ezra is in fact Anton Matvev of the Old Biocorp, the Biocorp that actually BUILT the entire UnderRail. He was from the first circle of Apex Technocrats who ran BioCorp. Also he was responsible for the Junkyard and a few other things. This guy SURVIVED the Hollow Earth incident with at least three other Biocorp Scientists. That incident was considered an apocalyptic level event because it led to the destruction of the main governing body of Underrail. That was 200 years ago. In addition, if you dig around enough in the right places, you get an idea who one of those others is.

DUDE!

 

[Ezeekiel]

Played it for 119 mins, focusing on ranged, melee, lockpick/hacking and speech (persuasion and a few points in trading). So far I've only talked to people, only combat was in training with a bit of stealth thrown in (which was awful, good thing I didn't go for stealth build). Is there respect option in-game if you want to change a few things? I picked melee as a backup for close ranged enemies.

So yeah, in 2 hours I have only explored the three levels where you get quests from, looted everything I can and talked to a few people. Talking to non quest/merchant NPC's is pointless since they are standing around for show only. I'll explore rest of the levels and move on to the first quest.

The only thing that has bothered me so far is the visuals. For some reason they feel too zoomed out. Everything feels too small and there aren't any zoom levels for some reason. Which is weird cause visuals from Infinity engine games never bothered me. But that could be cause I wouldn't max out HD res, I usually run them at 1024x768 to avoid making everything look tiny. But this is a new game, it should have zoom levels.

Anyway, I won't be refunding it. I was expecting it to have no attempt at story-telling before based on comments here.

Yeah, I had to play it on 1280*720 to be able to enjoy it. Full HD makes things look too damn small.
There's no re-spec that I remember. You can find a spec tool (made by one of the members here, I think?) online to plan out your build... Helps to know the exact stats you need to do everything (like pick every lock, craft whatever is the best gear for your char etc).
The system is way less forgiving than Fallout 1&2 for example.

 

[Tygrende]

Yes I did brought up the fetch quests and you responded with textbook whataboutism because you have no valid responses at all.

It was not whataboutism at all because I do not consider fetch quests to be inherently bad. There is nothing wrong with bringing X to Y as long as something interesting happens on the way or as a result, which is the case both for the first half of Fallout 1&2 and the majority of quests in Underrail. The only generic fetch quest I can think of is bringing hopper meat to Mordre and maybe the tissue sample collection.

 

[ItsChon]

with a bit of stealth thrown in (which was awful, good thing I didn't go for stealth build).

I'm not sure what your experience was, but stealth is actually done really excellent in this game, and I enjoyed it a lot. It takes some getting used to, and stealthing by robots is different compared to live humans, but once you get the hang of it it's great.

Talking to non quest/merchant NPC's is pointless since they are standing around for show only

Some NPC's that might look inconspicuous can actually end up offering quests, or provide some really interesting information, just something to keep in mind.

 

[Trashos]

Played it for 119 mins, focusing on ranged, melee, lockpick/hacking and speech (persuasion and a few points in trading). So far I've only talked to people, only combat was in training with a bit of stealth thrown in (which was awful, good thing I didn't go for stealth build). Is there respect option in-game if you want to change a few things? I picked melee as a backup for close ranged enemies.

So yeah, in 2 hours I have only explored the three levels where you get quests from, looted everything I can and talked to a few people. Talking to non quest/merchant NPC's is pointless since

Good luck! And welcome to the club.

If you have no crafting you will probably be fine. But if you go for crafting as well, your skill points will be spread too thin. Anyway, just remember that your primary weapon should be increased at maximum on every level up.

What was awful about stealth? I love stealth in this game. It does require some getting used to, though.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Of course.

Then this defeats the purpose of trying to move the game over to another PC :D I don't want to have to install Steam or create a new Steam account and install steam on the target machine.

 

[Trashos]

Anyone who says there are no interesting or memorable characters never met Ezra.
He stands out from everyone else right off the bat based on his appearance and one or two other things. But as you progress, you actually have the option to learn about him.
Nothing in-game is ever made concrete about his origins, but FUCK does it allow you to make crazy assumptions.

Spoiler

Ezra is in fact Anton Matvev of the Old Biocorp, the Biocorp that actually BUILT the entire UnderRail. He was from the first circle of Apex Technocrats who ran BioCorp. Also he was responsible for the Junkyard and a few other things. This guy SURVIVED the Hollow Earth incident with at least three other Biocorp Scientists. That incident was considered an apocalyptic level event because it led to the destruction of the main governing body of Underrail. That was 200 years ago. In addition, if you dig around enough in the right places, you get an idea who one of those others is.

DUDE!

Dan!

 

[Lhynn]

Yep underrails writing is pretty great, you just have to dig around.

My problem is Six coming and spoiling the whole plot for you, then telling you where to go and what to do.

 

[Barbalos]

I've been playing for a little bit, maybe 6-7 hours, and really enjoy it. The world is interesting, some of the dialogue is a little jank but not terrible. The quests are also cool for the most part, a bit slow at the start maybe, but that's normal.

I'm playing a melee character with a bit of psionics, and I'm pleased that it's viable. I've never used a gun with my character and I'm doing alright. I can use some psi stuff to crowd control, throw some grenades, and tank well to supplement my knife attacks.

I paid full price on GOG and don't regret it at all.

 

[ortucis]

with a bit of stealth thrown in (which was awful, good thing I didn't go for stealth build).

I'm not sure what your experience was, but stealth is actually done really excellent in this game, and I enjoyed it a lot. It takes some getting used to, and stealthing by robots is different compared to live humans, but once you get the hang of it it's great.

Talking to non quest/merchant NPC's is pointless since they are standing around for show only

Some NPC's that might look inconspicuous can actually end up offering quests, or provide some really interesting information, just something to keep in mind.

I never enjoyed stealth in any IE games so that pretty much carries over here. Plus the fact that there are annoyances like giant red eye symbols on everyone when you go stealth, which tells me nothing. Can they see me or not? I am stealing things while whole bar is staring towards my character.. so I'm guessing they can't see me? But wait, in a room with a guy whose back is turned towards me, the eye icon is now grey in stealth.. and he catches me instantly when I try to steal? Game doesn't tell you much (and red color is a weird choice for being in stealth mode if that's what it is). Other issue is you not being able to see far away while sneaking. I liked how Divinity Original Sin did stealth more, I actually used it in that game. And yes, I know putting more points in sneaking will probably allow me to see farther (along with perception?) but it seems like a waste of points for me.

As for NPC's, people with names talk to you but I clicked on every generic NPC and most seem to just repeat random lines. I'll click around every now and then but not going to go around clicking everyone in crowd for rest of the game.

Played it for 119 mins, focusing on ranged, melee, lockpick/hacking and speech (persuasion and a few points in trading). So far I've only talked to people, only combat was in training with a bit of stealth thrown in (which was awful, good thing I didn't go for stealth build). Is there respect option in-game if you want to change a few things? I picked melee as a backup for close ranged enemies.

So yeah, in 2 hours I have only explored the three levels where you get quests from, looted everything I can and talked to a few people. Talking to non quest/merchant NPC's is pointless since

Good luck! And welcome to the club.

If you have no crafting you will probably be fine. But if you go for crafting as well, your skill points will be spread too thin. Anyway, just remember that your primary weapon should be increased at maximum on every level up.

What was awful about stealth? I love stealth in this game. It does require some getting used to, though.

I ain't touching crafting. Only game I actually bothered with crafting was Arcanum. Since then, crafting in these games has only ruined my experience by boring the shit out of me.

For weapons I am putting points most points in ranged, few in throwing (grenadesss) and melee. I'll max out ranged while keep melee as backup for enemies who come too close. Rest of the points go into persuasion, trading and lockpicking/hacking. Not touching that PSI nonsense as well, though game seems to make a big deal out of it. I am guessing it has associated quests if you are using magic powers?

 

[Fenix]

I'm not gonna pirate it, but I guess I'll do the 2 hr trial on Steam and refund if it's not for me.

Just a heads up, you won't experience much of the story/lore in the first 2 hours.

Just a heads up, you won't experience much of the storyline in the rest of the game either.

That true - no gay romances with drow! No "we could use an extra gun" and traffic lights endings. What a shame!

Underrail has no coherent narrative

The only real problem with game's narrative is that between moments with story and lore could pass a lot of time so it could b difficult fotr you to solve the puzzle especially if you playing Al Fabet style like I'm.
Everything else is fine and most of the time better then in AAA.

(or am I just missing something that'll make this kind of build work?)

Elemental Bolts? Blitz? With crit-focused build you will have enough damage, also electro bolts Mk3 will help a lot against robots (and living too).

Game doesn't tell you much

Red mean they see you. Silver - True Sight, robots have it.
Green mean they don't see you yet. Blinking red mean they see you instantly because of your low stealth.

For weapons I am putting points most points in ranged, few in throwing (grenadesss) and melee.

To make attacking skill matter you need max it, except throwing.

 

[ortucis]

Red mean they see you. Silver - True Sight, robots have it.
Green mean they don't see you yet. Blinking red mean they see you instantly because of your low stealth.

I saw silver over human NPC's with their backs towards me. They are secretly Cylons?

But thanks for making it clear. I could've Googled it but I am lazy and have invested nothing in stealth. Gonna save scum stealth parts for free loot.

 

[Jezal_k23]

The only thing that has bothered me so far is the visuals. For some reason they feel too zoomed out. Everything feels too small and there aren't any zoom levels for some reason. Which is weird cause visuals from Infinity engine games never bothered me. But that could be cause I wouldn't max out HD res, I usually run them at 1024x768 to avoid making everything look tiny. But this is a new game, it should have zoom levels.

Anyway, I won't be refunding it. I was expecting it to have no attempt at story-telling before based on comments here.

I'll agree with this. One of the few issues I have with the game is that it doesn't have zooming in. I played it at 1280x720 which made it feel a lot better, but I'll agree it should have a zoom in/out option to begin with. Glad you're not refunding it. It deserves a playthrough.

 

[ortucis]

The only thing that has bothered me so far is the visuals. For some reason they feel too zoomed out. Everything feels too small and there aren't any zoom levels for some reason. Which is weird cause visuals from Infinity engine games never bothered me. But that could be cause I wouldn't max out HD res, I usually run them at 1024x768 to avoid making everything look tiny. But this is a new game, it should have zoom levels.

Anyway, I won't be refunding it. I was expecting it to have no attempt at story-telling before based on comments here.

I'll agree with this. One of the few issues I have with the game is that it doesn't have zooming in. I played it at 1280x720 which made it feel a lot better, but I'll agree it should have a zoom in/out option to begin with. Glad you're not refunding it. It deserves a playthrough.

Yeah I'm gonna lower the resolution as well. You can't even enjoy art at larger res. Feels like you're playing game in overworld map view. Hell, if you check map it looks closer to how the whole game looks. Not good.

 

[Trashos]

I ain't touching crafting. Only game I actually bothered with crafting was Arcanum. Since then, crafting in these games has only ruined my experience by boring the shit out of me.

The way I see it, Underrail's crafting is like Arcanum's crafting but expanded (by a lot). So there is a chance that you are going to like it. But not with this build, in a future playthrough maybe.

Not touching that PSI nonsense as well, though game seems to make a big deal out of it. I am guessing it has associated quests if you are using magic powers?

There are a couple of psi mini-quests in the beginning, and a little bit of psi content later. But no, you don't have to go psi to enjoy the game. Also, psi can be quite skill-intensive, so I recommend that the first time you try it should be a psi-devoted playthrough.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I ain't touching crafting. Only game I actually bothered with crafting was Arcanum. Since then, crafting in these games has only ruined my experience by boring the shit out of me.

For weapons I am putting points most points in ranged, few in throwing (grenadesss) and melee. I'll max out ranged while keep melee as backup for enemies who come too close. Rest of the points go into persuasion, trading and lockpicking/hacking. Not touching that PSI nonsense as well, though game seems to make a big deal out of it. I am guessing it has associated quests if you are using magic powers?

So first - crafting is amazing in this game. You're missing out. It has a lot in common with Arcanum crafting, except it's pretty much better in every way.

Second - ummm... you might have some issues with that build if you don't have defense stats. I'd have to look at your character sheet, but generally a jack of all trades is a master of none.

 

[Jezal_k23]

BTW I'm not sure melee and ranged skills have much synergy. Just throwing this out there since I also was putting a few points in both melee and ranged in the start of my playthrough since I was undecided. After a while I had to stop leveling up one of them because they simply didn't work well together. This is just my opinion, maybe you can find a way to make that work, but it didn't for me.

 

[ArchAngel]

Also there is no savescumming stealth. Both stealth and pickpocketing are not random systems.
Higher stealth just means you can get closer to enemy and stay longer in that spot before you are spotted.
And just like others skills in this game, you are punished if you are not maxing them.

 

[Latelistener]

Stealth is the easiest skill to boost with various items - you don't need to max it.

 

[hell bovine]

I ain't touching crafting. Only game I actually bothered with crafting was Arcanum. Since then, crafting in these games has only ruined my experience by boring the shit out of me.

For weapons I am putting points most points in ranged, few in throwing (grenadesss) and melee. I'll max out ranged while keep melee as backup for enemies who come too close. Rest of the points go into persuasion, trading and lockpicking/hacking. Not touching that PSI nonsense as well, though game seems to make a big deal out of it. I am guessing it has associated quests if you are using magic powers?

Having played a scientist in Arcanum, Underrail is not that far off. You can do quite well as a lab rat/engineer, if you devote your character to crafting. (or at least you could in the early version I've played, maybe the current stand is different)

 

[ortucis]

Played it for an hour. Few things:

- Got a .44 by persuading the armory guy.

- Finally reached level 2 in the tunnels where I restarted the generator.

- All Tunnelers (Molerats?) ganged up and killed me twice, like I was told they would by NPC's. Reloaded, realized I can just trap them in narrow areas, where they line up. Killed 5 of them while using two stimpacks while they moved one by one, in orderly fashion, towards me like they were on a assembly line.

- Exploring a room revealed secret tunnel entrance thanks to high perception. So yay!

- Bullets run out fast. After restarting the generator, am going back to the base to buy more .44 ammo and sell hides and stuff I don't want.

- Fishing? Is that a thing? Guy at tunnel has a 1000 credit fishing rod. Do we need special stats for this to work, should I bother with it? Is it similar to FATE/Torchlight fishing?

- Set the game resolution down to 1600x900.. MUCH better. Finally things are popping up and you can actually notice the details on characters. Before they all looked like tiny cutouts. This game seriously needs proper zoom levels.

- Need to buy a melee weapon. Forgot. Could've been useful in close range and saved up some ammo.

- Most of the times, enemies spot you first unless you move one square a time always checking what's right on the edge of the screen, which is lame. All enemies (so far) seem to have a long sight range and initiate combat the moment you are visible from far away.



Also, I guess I am not hating the combat. Maybe the fact that I haven't touched a TB game for years has something to do with it.

 

[Stavrophore]

Also, I guess I am not hating the combat. Maybe the fact that I haven't touched a TB game for years has something to do with it.

This is a decline and blasphemy of a highest degree. Why play degenerate RTWP games? Ive tried Pathfinder Kingmaker praised on the forum and i can't stomach the PoE combat system.

 

[Tygrende]

I saw silver over human NPC's

You saw one person with true sight and there is a very good story-related reason for that. You won't understand until the very end of the game, maybe a bit earlier if you are good enough.

with their backs towards me

People can "see" you even if you are behind their back, but being behind slows the speed at which they detect you a lot. Light, distance, etc. also affect this.

 

[Fenix]

This is just my opinion, maybe you can find a way to make that work, but it didn't for me.

Dirty Kick, Expose Weakness.

All Tunnelers (Molerats?) ganged up and killed me twice

Weapon has levels of loudness, some is silent, some is loud, that's why they all "visited" you.

Fishing? Is that a thing? Guy at tunnel has a 1000 credit fishing rod. Do we need special stats for this to work, should I bother with it? Is it similar to FATE/Torchlight fishing?

It is needed for drugs craft. Which help a LOT in combat. Some drugs you can buy - adrenaline, morphine, but not all.