Mustawd
Guest
http://store.steampowered.com/app/351480/
Been playing some of this and it's a pretty simple, but fun, turn-based tacticool game. Anyone else play this? Didn't get much love here, but it's on par with Telepath Tactics production values (some of it is done better and some of it is done worse).
Initial impressions after 5 of the 20 hours it's supposed to take to finish both campaigns:
-The top down view is a bit old hat nowadays. I've seen it here and there in some games from a few years ago. Both this and its sequel have it; Driftmoon had it before they changed it; Templar Battleforce has it; Heroes of Steel has it.
-Not sure if it was accidental, but the tactical choices can get pretty interesting. One of the main reasons is there are no AOO, so there is free movement to disengage slower moving enemies to get better positioning. This can lead to pretty dynamic battle as overall positioning is important to avoid leaving too many holes in your layout. Also, there is definitely a sense of front and back lines, as you can't simply walk through people. Your units, as well as others, take up space. And getting close enough to ranged units actually restricts their LOS to what is immediately in front of them
-The HP system is pretty basic. Units can usually take 1-5 hits, depending on type. Which is nice as HP bloat is not really a huge thing (at least not yet).
-AI is pretty basic. I haven't seen any sophisticated tactics from them. Really, the majority of the difficulty comes from being outnumbered most of the time as well as the initial setup of the battle.
-Ambushes seem to be pretty common. I suspect it's because, while the tactics of a battle can be varied, you inevitably end up fighting a lot of the same type of battles. So the dev seems to throw ambushes in here and there to break it up. Kind of shows the weakness of its encounter design.
-Narrative is basic and very typical. That being said it's inoffensive, and there's little tweaks here and there to make you care about your units. For one, hey all get named (similar to X-com), so it's not just Swordsman A or B. Second, some units are weaved into the narrative whenever you get them. So although there's nothing special about them, you tend to want to keep them alive.
-It has a basic upgrade mechanic that gives you the choice for increasing armor, intelligence, attack, or upgrading the unity type to Veteran or Elite or converting it into a different but similar unit (e.g. Swordsman to Dual Weilder for example). There's not a lot of complexity here, and you tend to just pick whatever is available.
-Inventory is only used through the main character. And even that is a basic equip or not equip choice. Pretty superficial. Some of the bonuses are interesting (like a sword that can freeze units).
-Enemies are actually nicely varied. You have the typical 1 hit minion types; the hard hitting but slow ogres; the tough and medium speed orcs; the swarming zombies, etc etc.
-Biggest issue so far is a difficulty in controlling the facing direction. As well as the overall interface. It's pretty weak in both areas. Facing has implications, but hell if there is any way to control it. It takes some fiddling with where exactly you click to move your units. Good thing there is an Undo button for movement.
It's got its flaws, but I'm enjoying it so far. The battles are not overwhelmingly big, which I thought was a bit of a weak spot for Telepath Tactics tbh (especially due to the slow down). Which is good, as the relative quick completion time helps to mask some of the game's flaws (that I see so far).
Will probably post some more in depth thoughts with some screen shots.
Been playing some of this and it's a pretty simple, but fun, turn-based tacticool game. Anyone else play this? Didn't get much love here, but it's on par with Telepath Tactics production values (some of it is done better and some of it is done worse).
Initial impressions after 5 of the 20 hours it's supposed to take to finish both campaigns:
-The top down view is a bit old hat nowadays. I've seen it here and there in some games from a few years ago. Both this and its sequel have it; Driftmoon had it before they changed it; Templar Battleforce has it; Heroes of Steel has it.
-Not sure if it was accidental, but the tactical choices can get pretty interesting. One of the main reasons is there are no AOO, so there is free movement to disengage slower moving enemies to get better positioning. This can lead to pretty dynamic battle as overall positioning is important to avoid leaving too many holes in your layout. Also, there is definitely a sense of front and back lines, as you can't simply walk through people. Your units, as well as others, take up space. And getting close enough to ranged units actually restricts their LOS to what is immediately in front of them
-The HP system is pretty basic. Units can usually take 1-5 hits, depending on type. Which is nice as HP bloat is not really a huge thing (at least not yet).
-AI is pretty basic. I haven't seen any sophisticated tactics from them. Really, the majority of the difficulty comes from being outnumbered most of the time as well as the initial setup of the battle.
-Ambushes seem to be pretty common. I suspect it's because, while the tactics of a battle can be varied, you inevitably end up fighting a lot of the same type of battles. So the dev seems to throw ambushes in here and there to break it up. Kind of shows the weakness of its encounter design.
-Narrative is basic and very typical. That being said it's inoffensive, and there's little tweaks here and there to make you care about your units. For one, hey all get named (similar to X-com), so it's not just Swordsman A or B. Second, some units are weaved into the narrative whenever you get them. So although there's nothing special about them, you tend to want to keep them alive.
-It has a basic upgrade mechanic that gives you the choice for increasing armor, intelligence, attack, or upgrading the unity type to Veteran or Elite or converting it into a different but similar unit (e.g. Swordsman to Dual Weilder for example). There's not a lot of complexity here, and you tend to just pick whatever is available.
-Inventory is only used through the main character. And even that is a basic equip or not equip choice. Pretty superficial. Some of the bonuses are interesting (like a sword that can freeze units).
-Enemies are actually nicely varied. You have the typical 1 hit minion types; the hard hitting but slow ogres; the tough and medium speed orcs; the swarming zombies, etc etc.
-Biggest issue so far is a difficulty in controlling the facing direction. As well as the overall interface. It's pretty weak in both areas. Facing has implications, but hell if there is any way to control it. It takes some fiddling with where exactly you click to move your units. Good thing there is an Undo button for movement.
It's got its flaws, but I'm enjoying it so far. The battles are not overwhelmingly big, which I thought was a bit of a weak spot for Telepath Tactics tbh (especially due to the slow down). Which is good, as the relative quick completion time helps to mask some of the game's flaws (that I see so far).
Will probably post some more in depth thoughts with some screen shots.
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. It's ok though. I plan on doing a second run through of this campaign, since there are some secrets I want to find, and alternate paths. This time I'll play it straight on a harder difficulty.
