Review RPG Codex Review: Blackguards 2

[torpid]

lol, it actually took a while for me to notice what the hell was going on

Well done!

 

[AbounI]

Thanks bubbles for this great review.

 

[Durante]

Bubbles is not the only one to recognize Daedelic tirelessly working towards perfection:

 

[AstroZombie]

Thus, the bosses in Blackguards 2 rely on what a poster claiming to be Daedalic producer Johannes Kiel while deriving no imaginable benefit from said claim has called “different AIs [...] that are supposed to reflect their personalities.“ Since these bosses are, in their heart of hearts, fairly simple folk who only get two or three short conversations throughout the game (taunt the hero maniacally / negotiate conditions after defeat), it logically follows that they would also exhibit fairly simple behaviour and only cast one or two spells during combat. As an extreme example, one of the most arrogant and incompetent bosses in the game entered combat, gazed in silent contemplation at his assembled followers for a turn or two, and then jogged slowly towards the only thing that could properly defeat him, thereby taking himself out of commission without the party laying a single finger on him. There is a certain poetic beauty to this kind of AI scripting.

Terrific.

 

[VioletShadow]

The biggest positive change for warriors has been a much-requested fix to weapon damage; while the first game rolled “virtual dice” and left frustrated players burning their virtual game boxes after getting multiple bad rolls in a row, Blackguards 2 simply offers up a single number of sublime simplicity – you always hit for the same amount before damage resistances. No fuss, no mess, easy come, easy go.

Well done. This is a fine review, indeed.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Good job, Bubbles. And this is perfect timing, since I just finished the first Blackguards (which I really enjoyed) and am quite interested in the differences between the two.

 

[Angthoron]

Good review.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Checked for some reactions, had a few laughs on Neogaf.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1005460

I will say this, it is refreshing to read a review where somebody's passion is clearly felt. Most reviews are either stale or standoffishly snarky.

Yeah, this really deserves its own thread. A masterpiece, perhaps even on par with its subject in depth, nuance and wit.

et tu Durante?

 

[felipepepe]

Bubbles is not the only one to recognize Daedelic tirelessly working towards perfection:

Yet:

I hope that Daedalic learns that word of mouth is much more powerful than a bunch of retarded journous...

 

[Shannow]

from the nation that brought us schadenfreude and weltschmerz...

We also brought the world kindergarden, blitzkrieg and abseiling. Hard to decide which we are the most proud of.

Haven't had time to read the full review yet, but from the snippets it will be a good read. Rather depressing though.

Any news on whether this streamlining at least got them the coveted sales/profits and mainstream-appreciation? Or were we correct in predicting a trainwreck? /EDIT: Ha ha.
BG1 fixed a lot of issues in patches. Any chance of this happening in BG2, too?

 

[Tramboi]

We also brought the world kindergarden, blitzkrieg and abseiling. Hard to decide which we are the most proud of.

Biergarten, mostly.

 

[Grunker]

We also brought the world kindergarden, blitzkrieg and abseiling. Hard to decide which we are the most proud of.

Haven't had time to read the full review yet, but from the snippets it will be a good read. Rather depressing though.

Any chance of this happening in BG2, too?

The problems can't be fixed unfortunately. The game is rotten at its core, both in terms of system and encounterdesign. It's a spectacular failure, really.

 

[Perkel]

Bubbles is not the only one to recognize Daedelic tirelessly working towards perfection:

Yet:

I hope that Daedalic learns that word of mouth is much more powerful than a bunch of retarded journous...

It is called "well, last game was good and now they are doing sequel which will be only better ! They can't fuck it up ! Right ?"

Same reason why Diablo 3, X-Rebirth and other "amazing" titles sold so much.

 

[Infinitron]

Same reason why Diablo 3, X-Rebirth and other "amazing" titles sold so much.

You didn't look very closely at the image felipe posted, did you

 

[Perkel]

Same reason why Diablo 3, X-Rebirth and other "amazing" titles sold so much.

You didn't look very closely at the image felipe posted, did you

welp you are right.

 

[imweasel]

Good review, I love the sarcasm.

I was active on the Steam forums shortly after Blackguards was released. Every retard and his mom was complaining that the game was too hard and too confusing (e.g. my char had a hit chance of 70% and he missed! IMPOSSIBRU!! And then my party wiped!) - even on easy. Nice to see how Daedalic took that to heart and drastically "improved" the sequel for everyone.

 

[Morkar Left]

Very good review! It tells you what you want to know, is entertaining to read and has a personal opinion on the matter.

 

[felipepepe]

I was active on the Steam forums shortly after Blackguards was released. Every retard and his mom was complaining that the game was too hard and too confusing (e.g. my char had a hit chance of 70% and he missed! IMPOSSIBRU!! And then my party wiped!) - even on easy. Nice to see how Daedalic took that to heart and drastically "improved" the sequel for everyone.

It's a typical case of "vocal minority". I was part of the closed beta on the first game, you had only old-school dudes loving the challenge and one retard going "GAME TO HARD HALP!". The dumbed it down for him. Then they dumbed it down AGAIN when the review copies went out and journos were giving up on the "save teh countess" mission - because you know, challenging optional objectives should be achievable by any retard. Yet the hours of "too hard" on Steam continued...

Sadly, they failed to notice all the other people that were enjoying the game and recommending it. It's a sequel made for those that didn't enjoy the first game.

 

[Tramboi]

Yet:

I hope that Daedalic learns that word of mouth is much more powerful than a bunch of retarded journous...

To judge their strategic choice fairly (even though I heartily agree with your point), we should wait for BG2 to be in a cheap bundle to compare.

 

[felipepepe]

Its been 4 months since BG1 was in a bundle, yet it still has more than twice the amount of people playing it today then the sequel, which was released a month ago. At the very least, the hype machine failed.

 

[Infinitron]

Its been 4 months since BG1 was in a bundle, yet it still has more than twice the amount of people playing it today then the sequel, which was released a month ago. At the very least, the hype machine failed.

Blackguards had more concurrent players a week after the sequel was released: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/blackguards-2-released.92217/page-20#post-3717524

Good opportunity to pull a Roguey:

Spoiler

I think it comes down to–in a lot of cases–that instead of people listening to criticism they just know there is criticism and then they decide independent of it that they’re going to change some stuff. So like you said, you made a modest impact, you really struck home with some people that really liked the game, and maybe the execution needed some work. So why not just make the execution of what you were going for so that the next one is totally awesome and those things that people loved about it is now even better. Then if there’s stuff that’s janky about it, yeah change the janky stuff, but not if it’s something that those people that loved the game really liked. Just make it better. I think there’s where things go wrong. People look at something and go, “Ok, so we have this core of people that love the game and this other group that fundamentally hates it, so let’s make it a different game.” And it’s like, “Well… no. They hate the game. They didn’t like anything about it. You’re not going to win those people over. They don’t even like the idea of what you’re making.”

 

[Arkadin]

Good satire. The subtlety is going to ensure this is quoted/linked somewhere and seen as an endorsement. Well done.

 

[zero29]

 

[Murk]

Intent almost pierces the membrane of presentation in some cases, like the sentence describing what strikes me as a godawful 'regen after fight' mechanic or this particularly pleasant line:

...Cassia is gifted a reasonably loyal group of devoted fanatics...

But, overall, quite the nice read!

Especially lines like this one:

...You can select two of these mercenaries, drawn from an infinite supply, to accompany your party of four into most battles, though for the really big set pieces (the kind where 25 enemy units all take their turns while you read a good book and enjoy yourself splendidly) you are allowed to bring more....

Gonna go snoop the neogaf thread, see how low their balls hang.

EDIT: Not much butthurt, pretty tame thread. Tho this guy is... neat.

I was not familiar with RPGCodex, the writer, Blackguard, or even what type of game Blackguard is. I have no idea what a "flat absorption + percentage reduction hybrid system" is. When the article paints a positive tone about a change to "purely percentage based resistances" (I don't know what that means, either) to accommodate "neophyte" (I don't know the site's general attitude towards casual players) who couldn't make sense of the system in the first game (I don't know how complex the first game is), I couldn't decide whether that's sarcasm or not.

Obviously, it's an article written for a very specific audience. I simply dislike how eager it is to demonstrate wit through sarcasm.

How the hell do you not know what "flat absorption + percentage reduction" or "purely percentage based resistance" means?

 

[felipepepe]

Can't do anything with such shitty "spoon-feed me or I don't care" attitude...