Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

KickStarter Dex - a 2D Cyberpunk Sidescrolling RPG

Explorerbc

Arcane
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
1,170
It is also 4€ on steam weeaboo sale.

Is it worth it ?
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2012
Messages
7,045
Location
Elevator Of Love
Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
It is also 4€ on steam weeaboo sale.

Is it worth it ?

It's a very compact game, when it comes to size of the world and number of quests. But it's very polished, has really nice 2d graphics and soundtrack. The fight system is really simple, I wouldn't mind a new Flashback made by the devs. The RPG elements are light, you unlock the upgrades through the whole plot. I though this would be a mediocre at best, but it's surprisingly good for a first game.
 

gaussgunner

Arcane
Joined
Jul 22, 2015
Messages
6,151
Location
ХУДШИЕ США
It's a very compact game, when it comes to size of the world and number of quests. But it's very polished, has really nice 2d graphics and soundtrack. The fight system is really simple, I wouldn't mind a new Flashback made by the devs. The RPG elements are light, you unlock the upgrades through the whole plot. I though this would be a mediocre at best, but it's surprisingly good for a first game.

Yeah, it shows that a platformer can feel like an RPG. Combat & hacking are annoying, the emails & notes are tl;dr, but overall it was pretty entertaining. Finished it in about 10 hours.

I was worried about the SJW elements for a while but it didn't go too far and was somewhat balanced out by stuff like "him (her? it?)" :lol:

P.S. First and last game. I was wondering about the memorial statue for this guy (enhanced edition, downtown hub iirc). Kidney failure, age 24. Damn.

Apparently, the lead designer has passed away:

Dear all,
It is with great sadness that we announce that Jan Jirkovský, the lead designer of Dex, has recently passed away.
Jan was the visionary behind Dex, and his passion for cyberpunk and enthusiasm shaped the game into what it is today.
He will be sorely missed, and our hearts go out to his family and close ones.

RIRInv4.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/Dreadlocks...61855.159167467481874/955888074476472/?type=3
 

Beowulf

Arcane
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
1,963
I bought it in the recent GOG sale.

According to their shitty client it took me about 13,5 hours to finish it.

Pros:
+ Nice art, coherent style overall
+ Some choices and consequences, and varying quest outcomes
+ No quest compass and hand-holding; when you are asked to find something, you have to look around and check nearby NPC's for new dialogue options pertaining the case, but you are not explicitly told - "go check the drugs at the chemist".
What a sad times we live in, that this is a "+", and not a feature that is expected from the game
+ Mostly not linear, many sidequests that you can tackle in whatever order you whish
+ The city is easy to navigate and you can fast-travel via the map to save time (neat-o, that would be helpful in new AAA games with hubs separated (or, as the corporate PR would have us think - connected) by multiple loading screens - looking at you, new ThiAf game :argh:)
+ Sometimes offers more than one path to the objective in a given area, but...

Meh:
~ ... why bother with sneaking around, if you get substantial XP for getting rid of the enemies (granted, you can perform one-button takedown when you sneak upon them)
~ Soundrack. It's not intrusive, sometimes supplements the atmosphere of the scene quite nicely, but that's it.
~ The main story - not that bad, but cliche
~ Platforming elements. It's just not great.
~ Sometimes plays like a sidescroller beat'em up.

Cons:
- The writing. It's reeks of juvenile prose, and is cliche ridden up to a point, that I genuinely started to wonder if it's not supposed to be a parody of the genre.
It gets better around the time you get to the last main story missions. The game also introduces better characters. I don't know if that is because that part of the game was designed first, with the rest of the game hastily thrown in to meet the deadlines,
or just because I got used to such crappy writing.
- Voice acting. In English version it is also plain bad, sometimes forced, but it also picks up in quality towards the end. Go figure.
- Too short. Even with finishing all of the sidequests (except this one hidden character that gives you better legs) the game ends, when you finally start having fun, after leveling your charcter and unlocking more options to interact with the game world.
- The hacking minigame. I think it's the worst I've encountered so far. It's not even trying to be a mentally challenging puzzle, the whole hacking process is just you zipping around "cyberspace" and holding LMB, listening to this cheap "pew-pew-pew" sound.
For hours (!)

Oh, and in the true spirit of Desu Ex, which the developer subtly hints as an inspiration with their choice of the name, the game ends with you choosing a press-a-button ending slideshow. Heh. :negative:

Overall it's a nice light game, that lays somewhere between a complicated adventure game, and a simplistic RPG.
A pity, there won't be a sequel with more matured ideas.

:3/5:
Not bad for a first game, wasn't boring.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,653
Oh, and in the true spirit of Desu Ex, which the developer subtly hints as an inspiration with their choice of the name, the game ends with you choosing a press-a-button ending slideshow. Heh. :negative:

You get a different ending if you make a different decision in a previous area. :M
 

YES!

Hi, I'm Roqua
Dumbfuck
Joined
Feb 26, 2017
Messages
2,088
Are there any other platformers as rpg as this? With quests, shops, npc, character development, etc? Or was this the only one? I'm not talking about crafting games with lite rpg elements either.
 

Beowulf

Arcane
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
1,963
Oh, and in the true spirit of Desu Ex, which the developer subtly hints as an inspiration with their choice of the name, the game ends with you choosing a press-a-button ending slideshow. Heh. :negative:

You get a different ending if you make a different decision in a previous area. :M


You get 2 from 3 endings to choose from. One is always the same, the other depends on your decision in a previous area.
And you pick one by finishing another boring hacking minigame AND pressing a button. That's it.
But technically you're right, you can limit your choice of ending options some 10-15 minutes of gameplay before.:M
 

Old One

Arcane
Joined
Jul 13, 2015
Messages
3,679
Location
The Great Underground Empire
I've been playing this, and it's pretty good.

I agree the sound is poor. The voices are really low volume. I've turned off the music completely and cranked the voice volume as high as it will go, and they're still a little hard to hear. At the same time the effects are loud and piercing. Even though you can adjust the volumes for all the elements independently, it's still distracting.

I don't think the writing and voice acting is all that great, but it's not annoyingly bad. I just wouldn't cite those things as the strength of the game,

The art style and graphics are quite nice.

Action combat is good - especially melee. Like my favorite 2D side-perspective fighting games of yore, it relies a lot on patience and timing. There are different kinds of enemies with different kinds of weapons, and each one requires a different approach. I wish there were even more variety of enemies, actually. There are no weapons for the PC, though.

Gun combat also works well. It's powerful, but it can also be quite tricky to use and it feels significantly different from melee. It's not automatically the best choice for any situation.

Stealth is pretty good. It can be extremely useful, but it's not overpowered.

Exploration and travel are strong points of the game. Since Dex is a side-scroller, they're simple - but effective. The bottom line is that they're fun and make the game's settings seem more alive. You're always searching for hidden nooks and rooftops, and being rewarded for finding them. You also can get augmentations that allow you to access new areas, which is nice. Quick travel is slick and easy, and even small things like entering stores and using elevators are nice. I think the game could be a lot bigger and these mechanics would not bog down or grow stale.

Hacking is not bad. It's really hard at first, but becomes much easier if you train up your skill and buy programs. Like everything else in Dex, it's a system that is really simple to use.

Personally I dislike platformers. Dex has a lot of platforming, but most of it doesn't annoy me. There are a couple of areas I disliked for this reason, but overall it's not bad.

Like others who have posted, I'm not a big fan of the main character, Dex. She's a blue-haired poser without much personality who seems to have lucked into being The Chosen One. Ultimately it's not a big drag on the game though.
 
Last edited:

Beowulf

Arcane
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
1,963
[...]Hacking is not bad. It's really hard at first, but becomes much easier if you train up your skill and buy programs. Like everything else in Dex, it's a system that is really simple to use.[...]

That's hacking in Dex (with upgraded skills):


I'd say it is pretty bad for what a hacking minigame strives to be.
 

Old One

Arcane
Joined
Jul 13, 2015
Messages
3,679
Location
The Great Underground Empire
I'd say it is pretty bad for what a hacking minigame strives to be.
I admit I haven't seen many hacking minigames. The only other one I can remember is the one from the recent Shadowrun games, and I like the Dex hacking minigame better just because it's quick and easy. It fits the style of the game.

What should a hacking minigame strive to be? I don't really know the answer to that.
 

Siobhan

Arbiter
Joined
Feb 25, 2013
Messages
472
Location
1X 1Y 2Z
I agree. There's this idea that mini-games somehow must reflect the task they emulate. Hacking is sneaky brainy stuff, so the mini-game should have a puzzle or stealth component. Lockpicking requires dexterity, so the minigame should challenge the player's nimble fingers. That's just bullshit. The important thing is how the mini-game fits the rest of the game, not what kind of activity it represents. Games abstract all the time, hell, the whole idea of abstracting fast-paced combat into turn-based tactics would be unthinkable otherwise. See also Renowned Explores, which treats debating and combat as the same thing mechanically and is greatly improved by this design decision. Dex is an RPG-lite witha heavy dose of action, kind of like SNES Shadowrun meets VtmB meets Flashback, so a shooter section is a good fit for its gameplay formula.
 

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I agree that sneaking was underutilized in this game. I'm not like purists or reactionaries like *certain people* in these forums that want every path to reward the same, or get stressed when some alternative solution are removed from play, but sneaking is rather pointless in this game. The sneak system is obviously entertaining, to the point i used it anyway, but the incentives are to wreck face anyway to get dat XP and this game didn't have other incentives like backstabs, extra reward for sneaking skill or even sneak exclusive quests, which i find a shame.

They did a good job incentivizing platforming with optional quests & locations in spite of controls being bad, so it's not like they didn't understand the theory.
 

Old One

Arcane
Joined
Jul 13, 2015
Messages
3,679
Location
The Great Underground Empire
The video Beowulf posted (no offense, dude) is out of context with what hacking is like while you're playing the game. For example, it can become that much of a cakewalk, but it definitely doesn't start out that way. At first you can't do hacking at all, and when you first learn it it's hard as hell to hack anything beyond the first training course you run. As you dedicate more money and precious skill points to it you get better and better until eventually you can hack any system in the game with relative ease. That's not a bad thing.

The effect that destroys every enemy on the screen is a program that can only be found as loot or bought at stores, and it's expensive. You're not going to be using it constantly, although if you stockpile them you'll have quite a few by the end of the game.

A couple more good points about Dex. There are a lot of puzzles, which I like. They're not hard puzzles, but they're not so easy they're nothing but annoying either. The difficulty is about right for this kind of game, and they tend to have good rewards as motivation. Also, the quest log is pretty good, and there are no glowing arrows or other garbage to handhold the player. The quest log will tell you you have to find something in the sewers, but it usually won't tell you exactly where to look. It will just say, "I should look in the sewers." You have to poke around on your own until you find what you're looking for.

Overall, I liked it. I'll probably play it through again some time.

Oh yeah, there are also multiple ways to solve problems and complete quests. If you're good at hacking and sneaking, you can do that, or you can talk your way through sometimes, or you can fight. Sometimes solving puzzles lets you complete quests in different ways too.
 
Last edited:

Iznaliu

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
3,686
They did a good job incentivizing platforming with optional quests & locations in spite of controls being bad, so it's not like they didn't understand the theory.

I put this down to lack of development time.
 

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Actually now that i remember this better they *did* have 'backstabs'. They were nice to avoid the enemy mob clusterfuck - but yes, the stealth gameplay is just challenge-optional (it's much harder and ghosting gets you nuffin') not content granting.

About the hacking, i had a really bad experience with it, that i already mentioned on page 2 or 3. There is a main quest mission, where you're supposed to navigate a quite large blackhole gauntlet that seemed just impossible until i turned down resolution for some reason (from 1366x768 to something smaller i think). It was weird. Keep it in mind before ragequitting. It didn't help there is no cheat to ignore blackholes (you can survive, but then the 'ship' is stuck)
 
Last edited:

Iznaliu

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
3,686
About the hacking, i had a really bad experience with it, that i already mentioned on page 2 or 3. There is a main quest mission, where you're supposed to navigate a quite large blackhole gauntlet that seemed just impossible until i turned down resolution for some reason (from 1366x768 to something smaller i think). It was weird. Keep it in mind before ragequitting. It didn't help there is no cheat to ignore blackholes (you can survive, but then the 'ship' is stuck)

Have you tried mentioning this to the devs in some form or another?
 

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Nah. I'm in wine anyway and in my experience, that's a recipe for dumb interns to trash a bug report. I don't care enough to report either. I wouldn't have minded a 'traction' hacking upgrade / cyberware to deal with blackholes easier. Completionists getting the (quite difficult) files hacks near blackholes would appreciate it, if you want to post a suggestion yourself, but since the new version of the game is near two years old, i doubt anything will happen.
 

gaussgunner

Arcane
Joined
Jul 22, 2015
Messages
6,151
Location
ХУДШИЕ США
What should a hacking minigame strive to be? I don't really know the answer to that.

Fun. That's all.

This one ain't. It's just a crappy space shooter, hold the fire button and stay just out of turret range to win, except at the Witcher-esque final boss thing. FFFFFFFUUUUUU--- :argh:

Real corporate hacking these days would be: 1) Hack your target's contacts' gmail accounts. 2) As them, spam your target with trojan gmail login links. 3) Login while they're asleep and download all the emails and documents you can.

By 2042 it'll be even lamer so forget about realism. Just make a fun arcade shooter with shitty graphics. BONUS POINTS FOR RETRO ASCII GRAPHICS!!
 

Iznaliu

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
3,686
Realistic RPGs will have 30 stats based on the latest psychological developments and require you to cure bladder infections every time you eat something weird. Additionally, there would be no saving whatsoever; you have to play in one sitting. Also there will be a 1:1 game time:real time ratio, so if you don't get a real life bladder disease for not going to the toilet, starve, fall asleep, have repo men take your gaming rig, etc, you will die before finishing it.
 

Beowulf

Arcane
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
1,963
The video Beowulf posted (no offense, dude) is out of context with what hacking is like while you're playing the game. For example, it can become that much of a cakewalk, but it definitely doesn't start out that way. At first you can't do hacking at all, and when you first learn it it's hard as hell to hack anything beyond the first training course you run. As you dedicate more money and precious skill points to it you get better and better until eventually you can hack any system in the game with relative ease. That's not a bad thing.[...]
My point wasn't about it being easy nor difficult, but about the minigame being an Asteroids clone. It is boring and uninspired. You just float through space doing pew-pew-pew. In this very video you can see the guy taking pot-shots at the turrets, when they are off-screen.
Hell, the best way to play is to hold LMB constantly wherever you go.


[...] Games abstract all the time, hell, the whole idea of abstracting fast-paced combat into turn-based tactics would be unthinkable otherwise. [...]

Oh come on, that's a shitty argument. Turn based games abstract things like speed of the units, their armament, terrain and other factors into quantifiable variables in order to simulate probable outcomes. Good TBS games should produce life-like results with life-like set up (force dislocation, real terrain and whatnot). How Asteroids are a similar abstraction of the process of hacking?

Besides, I don't want the hacking minigame to resemble real life hacking process closely (or even remotely). It's just the fact, like I stated above, that it is a bad and boring minigame.

But that argument made me think of one more positive feature of the game - you actually can "hack" your surroundings (like cameras and enemies) on the fly. It's a separate layer than computer-hacking, which works in a similar fashion, but is much more bearable (you just have to spend X amount of time on a given "node" while doing your normal pew-pew-pew routine against incoming enemy spawns).
 

crakkie

Arcane
Joined
Nov 20, 2004
Messages
1,608
Location
Louisiana
Are there any other platformers as rpg as this? With quests, shops, npc, character development, etc?

Nope.

The Spirit Engine was a sidescolling RPG that technically checks off those boxes, though it's not really a platformer.

But you've got this

It's got shops and NPCs, and multiple endings! :happytrollboy:
(Christ I loved that game in the arcade)

Or the Capcom D&D games. I always wanted a fleshed out (non-arcade) RPG in the same vein as those.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom