Voidspire Tactics

[butchy]

Steam Greenlight: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=518621211

https://radcodex.wordpress.com

Spoiler

New out on steam. Looks like a great sci-fi crpg. I'll get it and let you know what someone with impeccable taste thinks.

 

[butchy]

So far it is a pretty awesome game. Has everything a real crpg should, including full key rebinds. UI is a liitle akward but the rest of the game is good. Four party barebones chargen with okay racial passives. Seems to have a better than decent chardev and combat is far better than Antharion, Avernum, etc. I'll have to play more to see how good combat is, but so far everything is either good enough or better than expected for real crpg fans.

I have to get back to work but will update later.

 

[butchy]

I've put in another hour or so. The game has crafting and a lot of Zelda nonsense like needing shovels and ropes and pistons and pickaxes (in a Zelda way more than a Realms of Arkania type way), but the combat isn't bad (I don't think its all that great either), but I still think it is a couple rungs batter than Avernum and Antharion.

Chardev is an xp buy system in specific classes, classes can be switched out at any time, you need a specific amount of xp in 1 to 3 classes to unlock a new class. You can have two classes selected, but only the primary class seems to gain xp from combat. There are three passive slots, and you can improve abilities buy spending xp, and increase attributes by spending these points you get (I think) for every 100 xp gained, so are rarer than xp.

Definitely worth a buy and playthrough even at full price.

 

[butchy]

Anyone else try this? It is much better than Dwarf Run.

 

[Kalasanty11]

Anybody played this game? Any opinions?
http://store.steampowered.com/app/415920/

 

[Infinitron]

Only poor Butchy: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/voidspire-tactics.104448/

 

[Kalasanty11]

Only poor Butchy: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/voidspire-tactics.104448/

Hmmm, quick google search didn't tell me that. I guess even Uncle Google gets lost in Prosperland. I wonder why it doesn't attract much attention from Codex crowd. Seems to be a thing that would be a wet dream of many users (including me).

 

[V_K]

I wonder why it doesn't attract much attention from Codex crowd. Seems to be a thing that would be a wet dream of many users (including me).

A few pet projects aside, the Codex is pretty indifferent towards low-profile indie titles. RPGMaker-like graphics and "-Tactics" title probably doesn't help either (and is a weird choice on the dev's part given how the game seems rather far from being strictly combat-focused).
It does look very promising indeed. Non-combat skill-based environmental interactiosn - yes, please!

 

[Duckard]

Sounds interesting based on the description. I will try it out.

Edit: For some reason this game makes you hold down right click to move. The ability to move objects/obstacles in the game world (even during combat) seems cool. The game definitely has a jrpg-ish feel to it.

 

[V_K]

Well, I must say my first 30 minutes with it were quite a blast.
The premise is very interesting: your characters find themselves in a dimension that consists of various places stolen from other worlds and must find out what's going on and, presumably, a way out.
The character system is a bit on the simplistic side (no primary stats, only weapon skills and passive and active abilities) but extremely flexible (there are no levels. you buy everything directly with xp, and can switch class at any moment).
Environmental interactions are a bit inconsistent: for example, you can burn down a tree, but not a door or a fence. Or if you cast fireball on ice, you'll get water, but if you then cast fireball on water, there'll be no effect. Still, there are a lot of interactable elements and you can move anything that isn't nailed down like in Ultimas, so theres some potential here.
I am not the best person to comment on combat (not a combatfag and suck in it) but it looks decent: positioning and even facing matters, enemies use special abilities and there are five settings for AI difficulty, so it might turn out one of the very few games where AI doesn't suck.
Also, it seems very competently written, the controls are actually convenient for once. Though one thing it could really benefit from is better documentation.


Oh, and I just noticed that the dev's name is Rad Codex.

 

[CryptRat]

I am looking at their site : you can buy the game directly here.

Seems nice and the steam reviews are intriguingly positives (they speak of basic story but good exploration, combat and character development and say that the game is too short).
Some quotes from steam reviews :

Gameplay, to me, seems like a jrpg developer tried to make a western like crpg in the vein of Dark Sun, Avernum, or Albion.
[...]Combat is decent. I don’t think it is mind blowing os far, but I’m not all that far into the game. I would say it is a ring above Avernum, but not at the level of ToEE (in my opinion). On par with Knights of the Chalice.

This guy has standards.

Lots of exploring, no one seems to be holding your hand through it.

I really love the grameplay mechanics, the exploration/battle system is fun and unique. The overall experience feels tactical and immersive. The dialogue is well written and accessible, it is not too over saturated with plot yet still engaging.

Don't expect any deep engrossing story, though. There's a bunch of events at the beginning, but then it really just turns into a quest to explore as much as you can to find macguffins,

- Excellent game, shining force/final fantasy tactics style combat with legend of zelda style exploration and puzzles.

Absolutely loving this game. It has the combat depth and character progression of Final Fantasy tactics with the exploration and world interaction of Zelda.

++ Lots of exploration, secrets (areas, items, bosses), and options for how to progress and do battle (Good potential for speedrunning)
+ Unique setting and characters
[...]
+ No level grinding required, but you can if you want
[...]
+ Most battles can be avoided and XP earned in other ways, if you want to play that way
[...]
- Story isn't particularly exciting apart from the beginning and end, and the ending is abrupt
- Dialogue options don't matter much

I don't know when exactly, but I'll probably need to try it.

 

[Siveon]

Woah, this went completely under my radar. I usually check new Steam releases and I've never seen a lick of this game. Props to OP and butchy.

I really wish they had a demo. For a team like this it would've given them SOME free PR. Wishlisted for sure.

 

[glass blackbird]

It'll take you about 7 hours to finish, probably. There's almost no plot past the first half hour, until you get to the final part and the final dungeon. Mostly it's just exploring dungeons and killing stuff, but that is OK because like that review says the exploration and combat is good.

 

[Kalasanty11]

15€ for 7 hours? Seems kind of humble to me. I guess Underrail spoiled me. Game costs half the price and it has already given me 67 hours of fun in a single playthrough... and it's still just in alpha.

 

[Doktor Best]

Any rpg with a playtime lower than 20 hours makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

[Jack Dandy]

Keeping my eye on this one.

 

[V_K]

Length can be a mixed blessing. Underrail is kind of an exception here, most of the time you get something like Serpent in the Staglands where 25 of its 30 hours is just mowing down trashmobs. I'd much rather play a tightly designed short game, which this one seems to be.

 

[Siveon]

Not too sure about that playtime, most of the steam reviewers seem to range from 10-20 hours of playtime.

Maybe that's just people on steam. Still, I don't mind short games if they're tight. Like Dragonfall. Or Planescape Torment.

 

[V_K]

Or maybe people report such different playtimes because of the large amount of secrets and optional areas.

 

[Craig Stern]

I actually checked this one out the other day: http://indierpgs.com/2015/11/indierpgs-com-checks-out-voidspire-tactics/

Short version: my initial impressions are positive.

 

[CryptRat]

Finally bought and played it. Very good game according to my taste (I had much more fun with Voidspire Tactics than with Antharion) ; it's a non linear exploration/combat game with actual good combat and very open character developement.

Good points :
- The exploration is good, but of course you must like searching for hidden places (there are a lot, and they contain useful stuff and/or strong enemies) and for beatable battles. The different locations are relatively different. Note that it's not really zelda-like exploration, the similarity is that you need to use stuff or skills (that you'll get "anywhere") to unlock hidden places, but the different area are explorable in any order (of course sometimes you may get stuck because of too hard battles).
- The character developement system is great ; you gain some skill points and some stats points that you can assign differently depending on your class ;
you get stronger slowly and instead unlock many different options (you unlock the different classes relatively quickly) and that's great, I used many skills and didn't even explore most options.
- The equipement system is good :
. you often have different weapons and armors to choose from, and you must adapt to your class (since some classes give a bonus to some weapon skills and some skills require some weapons)
. crafting is very good too because you have a limited amount of good materials to use and you have to choose what to do with it (I surprised myself using crafting a lot while in many games I don't even try, it's integrated as an important mechanism of the game).
- It's not a grindy mess with trash mobs, on the contrary there are not so many battles (maybe 2 per map) and they are very well handcrafted (enemies are varied and half of the encounters take place against a group of "classed" characters, most encounters don't look like each other).
- Moreover some encounters are avoidable (for example you can bribe some enemies then trade with them).
- I played on Expert mode (there are two much harder difficulty modes, including one unlockable one), and the game was rightfully difficult.
- It's a short game but it is definitely not ridiculously short (17 hrs in-game-time so at least 20hrs with reloading for me), but I assume it's short if you don't spend time exploring or play in a too easy mode.

Arguably bad points :
- I would have preferred if some classes were unlocked via exploration (like in FF5) instead of via experience only
- Very light story and a few dialogs (just mentioning, it doesn't really matter here).

 

[V_K]

Moreover some encounters are avoidable (for example you can bribe some enemies then trade with them).

I'd say most of the encounters are avoidable. except maybe for boss battles, often all it takes is to navigate your characters carefully to stay out of the enemies vision cones. If you take that route, your game would definitely be much shorter. In fact, my main gripe with this game so far is that it's too easy to do that, given the number of possible environmetal actions it would be great if alternative routes were unlocked by some hard(ish) DM-style puzzles.

It's a short game but it is definitely not ridiculously short (17 hrs in-game-time so at least 20hrs with reloading for me), but I assume it's short if you don't spend time exploring or play in a too easy mode

It probably feels shorter than it is because the mechanics could easily support a 30-40 hours game without getting stale.

 

[V_K]

CryptRat, have you tried to

Spoiler

fight the Seartal forces at the bottom of the spire? I wonder what happens if you do, but I suck at tactics (and probably made more than a couple mistakes with my builds) and can't win the fucking battle.

 

[CryptRat]

CryptRat, have you tried to

Spoiler

fight the Seartal forces at the bottom of the spire? I wonder what happens if you do, but I suck at tactics (and probably made more than a couple mistakes with my builds) and can't win the fucking battle.

Spoiler

I hadn't tried, I just did and I can't win the battle either.

 

[Ent]

Spoiler

Have any of you guys tried to do the secret necromancy dungeon linked to the crypts area? Also I backtracked to the mines today and found a path to a giant spider boss which was pretty neat.