Underrail: The Incline Awakens

[Irata]

Just finished this (vanilla) and I enjoyed it enough that I felt the need to express my (worthless) opinion. I only read negative reviews so I'll just give a quick rundown of what I didn't like:

I went from disliking the game (because my first character was spread to thin), to loving it and then to hating it (deep caverns).

I thought it had way too much walking around. I get having long walks when you first get to places like Core City and the University in an attempt to show the scale, but after you've explored it you should be able to reach the important places quickly. Why wasn't your "crafting station" in Core City next to an elevator instead of three screens away? Having to get off the train, go underground and back up again in order to get into Fort Apogee was unnecessary. Many screens served no purpose other than to be there. These may sound petty, but there were a lot of little instances like that. They add up.

I didn't really craft so maybe that changes things, but I went through nearly the whole game using the same items. I only came across new shields that were better.

Stealth felt mandatory. With the respawning enemies and the required backtracking I can't imagine how some areas wouldn't be a slog to get through without it.

I'm not one for videogame stories and I wouldn't necessary call this a negative either, but, wow, did this game throw in everything but the kitchen sink or what?
Minor nitpick: How is it that your character didn't know what a rathound was or really anything about the underrail?
Another minor nitpick: There is a quest that you can complete by paying the guy off. The amount he asks for is petty change at that point. The next time you see him he's talking about how he's living the high life. It was like barely enough to buy a week's worth of sandwiches.

I did like how all the shopkeepers hated that Al guy. Got a laugh out of me.

Still, with all of its flaws I'll still play it again which is something I didn't do even with games like Fallout. I think I'll stop at the deep caverns though. I'll pick up the expansion first and I'll definitely be on board for whatever the devs make next. Amazing that this small team made such a great game and how some other developers, with all that money and manpower, put out such lackluster products.

 

[Jrpgfan]

I wish this game had cloud save. Had to go on a trip and now I'm in dire need of my UR fix.

Should have copied the saves to my notebook.

 

[ciox]

The only weakspot of this type of build is your Spear Throw will quite often miss because of low Dex, it's likely you'd want to get Spear Throw much later or leave it out with this build.

I would make it different, with 16-18 Dex and 7 Srt, with maxed out Throwing so I can use nets and sweet Opportunist's +25% damage bonus from the start.

Must be some Expedition shit.

I could make a hint for you, if you like. Or you could find it yourself anyway.

No bro, just finish tratatatatat.

Why you stole that from him bro?

Because he wants to know about the rifts.

And yes, that's the DEX variant of the build, I'm not sure I like it as much given all your throwing stuff including Spear Throw goes on cooldown. This reminds me I should use nets more.

 

[toro]

I've just finished Nexus of Technology and Expedition has managed to kill my Underrail enthusiasm.

The first part of the game which ends with Depot A is absolutely great. Then Rail Crossing, Camp Hathor, Foundry and Core City are not bad either.

But the Black Sea area is just a mess filled with unmemorable locations and encounters grind. Yeah, it's not as fucked up as Deep Caverns but it's not far either.

Exploration used to be fun but now it was reduced to a complete slog because:
- The entire Black Sea area is divided in equally tiny regions (with few exceptions) which means that you don't go far without a loading screen,
- Stealth/cloaking device is mandatory because the new mobs aggro like crazy and you never know what hits you next,
- If you manage to enjoy the tediousness then you will be happy to find out that all of your efforts were rewarded with an empty container.

Some other remarks:
- While the previous locations were handcrafted and fun to explore: Nexus is basically the same layout copy-pasted 5 times.
- With max Perception and +76% detection bonus I still cannot see the fucking spiders.
- Water Locusts are cancer.

I don't know but I feel like taking a break from the game. I'm not enjoying it. Imho the vanilla content is better than the expansion's content.

 

[Tigranes]

You'll be glad to know that the Health Centre, Joint Security HQ, Burning Shores, and Abyssal Station are basically more copypasta stone statues and boxes and lockers. Seriously, I have no idea how this took 4 years. Maybe it's stuff like the jetski which took a long time - but while the idea of jetsking is cool, it really isn't worth the developer time.

Imho the vanilla content is better than the expansion's content.

It should be obvious I love Underrail, but this is the crux of the matter. No, it doesn't compare to DC, and yes, replaying Underrail has still been delightful - but mostly for the original content. The new maps are really mostly a downer.

There are, I think, a couple of really nice moments in there though: the conversation with Todd is very well written, and basically manages to outdo the similar things Bethesda Fallouts have tried with all their cutscenes and shit just with a single giant dialogue tree. The initial conversation with the mutie boss, who doesn't sit there as a gullible quest dispenser but has a realistic appraisal of their motivations and yours, is another one. The mechanical additions - despite some new weapons being underwhelming - are very welcome, and the stat-based environment checks (AGI for leaps) work well, too.

 

[Luckmann]

did you find secret tunnel and used explosive?

Wait, what? Where? I think myself retardedly thorough, but I saw no indications of anything like this.

 

[Luckmann]

Must be some Expedition shit. I'm finally able to purchase the jet ski I want, and can actually start (well, properly start) the expansion.

It's expansion content, but it starts

Spoiler

in Rail Crossing.

Go do it now.

 

[Blaine]

I could make a hint for you, if you like. Or you could find it yourself anyway.

I was possibly the first person here on the Codex to figure out who The Dude really was before he became The Dude. Gotta remember, I've been playing this game for ages.

Sounds like some new stuff has been added, though. Neat. All I know now is that he gives you some fast travel options, not too spoiler-y considering I know his entire backstory.

 

[ciox]

I've just finished Nexus of Technology and Expedition has managed to kill my Underrail enthusiasm.

The first part of the game which ends with Depot A is absolutely great. Then Rail Crossing, Camp Hathor, Foundry and Core City are not bad either.

But the Black Sea area is just a mess filled with unmemorable locations and encounters grind. Yeah, it's not as fucked up as Deep Caverns but it's not far either.

Exploration used to be fun but now it was reduced to a complete slog because:
- The entire Black Sea area is divided in equally tiny regions (with few exceptions) which means that you don't go far without a loading screen,
- Stealth/cloaking device is mandatory because the new mobs aggro like crazy and you never know what hits you next,
- If you manage to enjoy the tediousness then you will be happy to find out that all of your efforts were rewarded with an empty container.

Some other remarks:
- While the previous locations were handcrafted and fun to explore: Nexus is basically the same layout copy-pasted 5 times.
- With max Perception and +76% detection bonus I still cannot see the fucking spiders.
- Water Locusts are cancer.

I don't know but I feel like taking a break from the game. I'm not enjoying it. Imho the vanilla content is better than the expansion's content.

It's safe to say the multi-route dialogue-filled areas where your enemies are potentially neutral/allied/clueless depending on your actions and your ability to bluff or manipulate, are some of the most time consuming to make, given all the work that needed to be done for the expansion's new content and mechanics there might not have been as much time left for making that type of area.
There's also a factor that no matter what artwork or developer you're enjoying, everyone starts to rest on their laurels somewhat the further they develop their craft after "making it", it is pretty much inevitable and not worth getting upset about.
For me the decline is pretty small and there's still a ton of fun to be had with the expac, even if most of the fun is outside the main quest of Expedition, try riftwalking or going on pirate raids for instance, it's like Slaving from Fallout 2 except actually made challenging.

 

[Parabalus]

Toxic gas grenades really make a joke of the Beast fight. I thought wizards had it easy, but this is hilarious.

 

[ItsChon]

I could make a hint for you, if you like. Or you could find it yourself anyway.

I was possibly the first person here on the Codex to figure out who The Dude really was before he became The Dude. Gotta remember, I've been playing this game for ages.

Sounds like some new stuff has been added, though. Neat. All I know now is that he gives you some fast travel options, not too spoiler-y considering I know his entire backstory.

Who was he?

 

[ItsChon]

I get peoples frustration with the Expansion, but I really think people are exaggerating things. Perhaps I've been spoiled due to my build which allows me so many options to deal with any kind of enemy, but other than the locusts (which did suck), nothing was really that bad. I enjoyed kiting around the statues with caltrops, electrokinetic imprints, and doors so that I can pop into stealth at a far enough distance so that they couldn't take me out of it, and I could utilize Snipe. The conversation with Todd, and Abysall Station Zero as a whole is very interesting. I enjoyed the Mutie Camp and my conversations with the Ferryman, and there were some damn cool locations and items in the new expansion. I feel like people's expectations were just a little too high, and they got let down. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement, but I still enjoyed the expansion overall.

 

[Blaine]

Who was he?

Spoiler

Dr. John Dyson of Biocorp.

 

[Blaine]

Bros, I'm having so much fun with jet skis. Specifically:

 

[Tigranes]

I get peoples frustration with the Expansion, but I really think people are exaggerating things. Perhaps I've been spoiled due to my build which allows me so many options to deal with any kind of enemy, but other than the locusts (which did suck), nothing was really that bad. I enjoyed kiting around the statues with caltrops, electrokinetic imprints, and doors so that I can pop into stealth at a far enough distance so that they couldn't take me out of it, and I could utilize Snipe. The conversation with Todd, and Abysall Station Zero as a whole is very interesting. I enjoyed the Mutie Camp and my conversations with the Ferryman, and there were some damn cool locations and items in the new expansion. I feel like people's expectations were just a little too high, and they got let down. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement, but I still enjoyed the expansion overall.

It's not horrible, the question is, is it actually good content? Is it interesting to deal with the Hives and locusts, whether you're just stealthrunning past them or fighting them? Is it interesting to delve into 4-5 identical abandoned research centres, kill a gazillion stone statues using the same one trick for your build, and then reading a bunch of loredumps filled with every scifi trope ever?

Todd is fantastic, the Captain and other Aegis folks are very well written, and Underrail's superb underlying systems will support some fun combat scenarios in any given map/encounter. The specific complaint being raised is that when you look at the map / encounter / quest design of Expeditions areas specifically, they are not very good or fun.

I took a Speardude into Expedition, got really bored with the Black Sea, rerolled as a Sniper, enjoyed it, got bored again with Black Sea, suffered through it. Half of me now wants to reroll, play some other build and just ignore the Black Sea. That tells you something (including how good Underrail is).

 

[Blackmill]

Finally finished my first playthrough since Expedition came out. Some end game loot.

Spoiler

177Q cyclon crossbow. Was better than the 172Q hornet through the deep caverns since I was often able to proc ambush. Killed Tchort in 5 shots the first turn. Could probably do in 4 with better damage rolls.

This kills just about anything in one burst if you can get close enough. Some bosses (i.e. the faceless commander) take two. 172Q parts I think. Better to boost accuracy than take a muzzle brake since your damage is already overkill. Can be 70-95% burst accuracy 9 tiles out depending on the enemy.

Shield, ~150Q parts, actually protects well against low speed projectiles.

An all tungsten armor set (each piece ~148Q) I used for much of the 20s. But I got tired of carrying rathound steaks. Also, knew I needed a regen vest for the deep caverns.

Primary armor for the deep caverns. Some of the reinforced plates weren't great but I didn't want to wait longer.

Was able to make one with better armor pieces after the deep caverns but no regen vest... 148Q super steel, 176Q tichrome, 149Q tichrome, and a 136Q super steel if I remember correctly. With 56% armor penalty, you can actually sneak in this thing.

Rebel, 173Q. More likely to whiff than the hornet but also higher upside. Gets you another 1-2 kills per turn if you can line up your targets and get a bit lucky with the damage rolls on the first two shots before sixth shell can make your hits reliable. Rancor not pictured, but one of few uniques that compares to the best you can craft.

Laser pistol, 160Q circular wave amplifier, 163Q (?) laser emitter, ~140Q efficiency thing. Forgot to take with me to the deep caverns but it would have been good with how many opportunities to ambush there are. Has over 1000% critical damage when focused with +10 critical power.

Didn't use this during the game, but in testing after the deep caverns, it's really good. Can cooked shot pretty much every turn with temporal increment. Doing damage over time doesn't matter since the enemies will be feared and can't shoot back. I want to say parts were 167-173Q.

Reaper, 164Q, if I really need to kill something in one shot. I think only the faceless commander can survive an aimed shot.

Spearhead, 165Q, a little more convenient than the reaper against most targets. Usually the crossbow was much better.

 

[Jezal_k23]

Given the across the board hate being shown for certain gameplay aspects of the expansion, I wonder how these weren't addressed during the testing phase where community members were giving feedback.

What exactly do you mean?

I thought it would be clear, but the past several days have been filled with people growing either insanely pissed or insanely bored of the xpack. Just look anywhere around the past 10 pages or maybe more, there it is, wherever you look.

 

[LJ40]

If anyone is still looking for pesticide for the new gas grenades

Spoiler

There's several in the Horticultural center in the Black Sea

Has anyone found blueprints for Hypercerebrix or Third Eye yet?

 

[Blaine]

Has anyone found blueprints for Hypercerebrix or Third Eye yet?

The expedition doc was selling the Third Eye BP when I first arrived.

Toxic gas grenades really make a joke of the Beast fight. I thought wizards had it easy, but this is hilarious.

I discovered that Bladelings are immune to frost when I tried to use cryogas grenades during the final sequence.

It's unbelievable how utterly useless they are.

 

[LJ40]

Has anyone found blueprints for Hypercerebrix or Third Eye yet?

The expedition doc was selling the Third Eye BP when I first arrived.

Damn. I wonder if he loses it if you give the mutants medical supplies. Almost positive he doesn't have it in my game. I'll double check though.

Edit - Yeah, the only expansion blueprint he has is the coagulation shot now. Unless it's random maybe the mutants have it now?

 

[Blaine]

Damn. I wonder if he loses it if you give the mutants medical supplies. Almost positive he doesn't have it in my game. I'll double check though.

I'm not playing a psi guy this time, so of course he had it available for me.

Speaking of which, it occurs to me that a lot of food is now far more expensive than most medicines. I think it's safe to say we went a little bit (and by "a little bit" I mean a great deal) too far with the massively inflated food prices. It makes sense that food is precious in a post-apocalyptic scenario, but that goes triple for medical supplies.

That furthermore reminds me that battery weight-to-energy ratios are fucked up. All three of the pre-Expedition batteries weigh 0.10 per each; larger batteries offer fractionally more energy per charon in a sensible progression. Greater Fusion Cell follows this pattern of offering more value, but it weighs 1.5, meaning that it's complete garbage compared to Plasma Cells. 1.5 weight of Plasma Cells offer 3,000 energy. That's 6 times more energy for the same weight, in exchange for only slightly less value efficiency.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Blaine]

Post your save folders:

 

[ItsChon]

Speed ran through DC (it's so much easier after you've gone through it once already considering the fact that you know where everything is. Being overleveled af helps too), and I go down to face Tchort. Haven't done the mutagen puzzle, and I haven't even started to blow up the mutagen tanks surrounding him. I just walk up to him in stealth, switch to Black Arrow with armor-piercing rounds, and 1 shot him using snipe doing 2k+ damage. Both satisfying, and anti-climatic.

 

[Tigranes]

GFCs seem to me only useful to keep in cargo and use for jetski refuel and other special scenarios.

You're usually swimming in money, batteries, and like 60 hypos after level 10, anyway.