Ghost of a Tale - stealth action-RPG where you play a mouse

[Falksi]

Greetings Codex.
I've been reading here for many years and now is the time to join you.
Reason:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ghost-of-a-tale/x/3165792?c=home

I immidiately fell in love with it.
I hope you people like it too and donate to make it happen.

Have only just discovered this. I thrive on the look of it and will definitely purchase over the next week or so.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Had a long-ish break after release, but I've finally finished it just now.

10/10 GOTY.

Such a lovely game, and so well-written too. From the general tone/premise, through the story to the characters, really, it beats almost every single "muh story" shitgame out there from the last few years. Especially the characters are its strength - Silas is a massive BRO and the first time in a long while that I felt Emotionally Engaged (tm) about a character in a vidya gaem. Gusto & Fatale, Duinlan, the smith and the generic rat guards are great as well. And speaking of Duinlan - the way the game goes "gotcha!" on a bunch of Deep Lore (tm) matters every now and again is very nice as well, I particularly liked the real origin behind the name "Dwindling Heights". Just a shame the end is so abrupt, but so it goes.

Also loved the music, and I'll re-iterate that it's a damn shame the soundtrack is not available anywhere. Plus, it was really, really nice that the melodies of all the songs obviously matched their lyrics.

I only wish it was better optimised/didn't use that piece of shit called Unity. All the micro-stutters everywhere that would suddenly spin me 180 degrees and send me down chasms (ESPECIALLY the spiral staircase leading to the armoury) annoyed me out of my skull.

Still.

10/10 GOTY.

 

[Tigranes]

This game is fucking grand.

I remember checking it out when first reported on Codex, waiting till full release, and forgetting about it. I picked it up and put in a couple hours, and it is really, really nice. Darth Roxor we must spread the word

First, the game is really charming. It has the animated children's story style down pat, from the mouse bard with the little hood to big rat guards and all. The environments are beautiful, the music works very nicely with it too. Dialogues and characters are simple but well-written, and again sticks well to the general theme.

Second, it may be no Thief, but it is very impressive in its core sneaky gameplay. You get plenty of tools like bottles to knock out rats (unless they have helmets) and slime jars, and the idea of diving into a barrel and peeking outside to beat a patrol (or to save your game) works really nicely as well.

Third, at least in the first area, the level design pulls its weight; the initial jail area opens up onto a courtyard with several interconnected structures that you can approach from a number of angles, sneaking up a ladder, climbing out windows, jumping over dilapidated floorings and landing in a pumpkin garden.

We'll see how it evolves, but I'm really enjoying it.

 

[toro]

There are two threads for this game.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/ghost-of-a-tale-released.120774

 

[Tigranes]

Yes, just like literally every single game that ever got a Codex newspost.

 

[Salvo]

I bought the game when it came out and liked it, does anybody know if it sold well?

It deserves a sequel.

 

[ortucis]

I bought the game when it came out and liked it, does anybody know if it sold well?

It deserves a sequel.

For some reason, this game is barely reported on by the media. Most are busy peddling SJW shite like Tacoma or Gone Home instead.

Anyway, had this game on Wishlist for some time now. Just waiting for all bugs to be ironed out. As a Unity developer, just interested in game for entirely other reasons.



EDIT: Nevermind, apparently it's already patched up. Bought it.

 

[Tigranes]

Not many bugs for me so far, just cant alt-tab.

The detection/stealth mechanism is quite generous - and its too easy to just run around corners and lose them - but that suits this half-story-driven style and the mouse theme.

 

[ortucis]

Oh man, have not played a stealth game for a while now, been playing Tycoon/Management games for like two years (or it just feels like it).

This game is good, performance is solid (maxed out all sliders on 1060) and visuals are REALLY good. Also, this game reminds me of Thief 3 for some reason (when in third person mode), I enjoyed that game a lot too. Haven't gotten too far yet, but spent 87 mins exploring and picking up everything on my way to the top without solving any side quests (will do now).






I like how there are alternate ways to get in and out of buildings, wasn't expecting that to be honest. You can open windows and climb ladders to reach your destination (or escape).




More lore and dialogue choices than Fallout 4.

 

[toro]

Yes, just like literally every single game that ever got a Codex newspost.

You don't need to be aggressive

I love the game and I was thinking that it would be better to have all the discussions about it in one place only. That's all.

I bought the game when it came out and liked it, does anybody know if it sold well?

It deserves a sequel.

For some reason, this game is barely reported on by the media. Most are busy peddling SJW shite like Tacoma or Gone Home instead.

Yes. It does.


Some posts from Seith - the guy behind the magic :

Hi guys, I just wanted to say that reading all of this made me think back when I was a kid sharing made-up stories with friends and seeing their genuine excitement and care for the world and characters.

It's all very humbling and I'm glad we really knew where we were going when developing the story for the first game and setting up a follow-up.

Anyway, please do keep on sharing your thoughts, it's all fascinating to read!

Hi guys, just wanted to say you're asking the right questions, and it's really nice to see you've paid proper attention to the stakes in the game.

Yes, I would love to keep telling Tilo's story in a future game. Paul and I put quite a lot of thinking and energy in developing a coherent world that exists beyond the limits of Dwindling Heights. And it would be wonderful to be able to show you more of it.

As a side note: at first the game was going to take place entirely on Periclave, but I realized this would not do the story justice. It would also have been over-ambitious in terms of scale for a first game.

So I preferred to start at the beginning and do a game where you actually meet the characters and get a chance to understand Tilo's motivations before anything else.

If the players show us they love a proposition like Ghost of a Tale (which basically means they give us enough money to develop another game) then yes, you will get to experience more of Tilo's journey!

Unfortunately he doesn't say if the game sold enough ... although the game did sale at least 50k copies which should be enough.

 

[Tigranes]

Actually, I agree - I meant that I hate how every game is split into two threads these days.

Been playing a bit more and still really liking it. I don't know how far I am, I don't expect the game to be very long given it was such a small studio, but I don't regret paying full price at all.

 

[Jinn]

Finished this a couple months ago. Really great game. While I enjoyed the simple nature of the it, I'd be really excited to see a game from the developer that was a little more fleshed out. This kind of excellent level design, rewarding progression, charm, and style mixed with some deeper mechanics would make for one of my favorite games of all time.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Given how long it took him to make the game I'd guess that 50k is on the low side. 50k * 23€ = is just slightly above 1mil. Then you add in the Steam cut, salaries and/or royalties he has to pay for the other people who worked on the game, yeah, it doesn't look too good. Likely the profit is a bit higher than what I'm calculating here since you can buy the game on his website but I'm going to take a wild stab at the dark and assume that most people bought the game on Steam.

 

[ortucis]

Yeah I'm guessing they need at least 250K sales to make a proper profit? One of the rarest Indie gems as far as I can tell (and I play a LOT of Indie games).

Most ot the EA Indie games on Steam have been in development for years and in comparison, Ghost of a Tale felt like a finished product every time I saw a beta video on YouTube, it was crazy.

For example, bought Graveyard Keeper a few days ago, it had an alpha where people complained about ALL the things people are now rating the game down for. It's a broken unbalanced mess with basic missing features for a PC game (like Keybindings, they added that in a patch when everyone started complaining about it in reviews).

 

[Salvo]

Yeah I'm guessing they need at least 250K sales to make a proper profit? One of the rarest Indie gems as far as I can tell (and I play a LOT of Indie games).

Man, the game is good but it's never going to sell that much, 250k copies is a TON. The fact that it's a niche/story based stealth game doesn't help in that regard, as it doesn't make it much fun to watch and/or attractive for youtubers to play, which is THE biggest marketing help an indie game can receive.

Either way, it doesn't seem like the game was so costly that it needs so many sold copies to break even. After all the Kickstarter only had like, 40-45k € as a goal?

 

[ortucis]

Yeah I'm guessing they need at least 250K sales to make a proper profit? One of the rarest Indie gems as far as I can tell (and I play a LOT of Indie games).

Man, the game is good but it's never going to sell that much, 250k copies is a TON. The fact that it's a niche/story based stealth game doesn't help in that regard, as it doesn't make it much fun to watch and/or attractive for youtubers to play, which is THE biggest marketing help an indie game can receive.

Either way, it doesn't seem like the game was so costly that it needs so many sold copies to break even. After all the Kickstarter only had like, 40-45k € as a goal?

That 45K is nothing. You are forgetting that those sites take their own cut, then there is the cut the government takes & then there is the cut Steam takes. In the end, what's left is what the developer takes.

 

[Life of the Party]

Such a lovely game, and so well-written too. From the general tone/premise, through the story to the characters, really, it beats almost every single "muh story" shitgame out there from the last few years.

The writing is perfect.

It's not too long, it's not too short, it's not too serious, it's not too clowny, it's not too purple, it's not too dry.

It's just as it should be. This is a rare example of a perfectly written video game.

 

[Zombra]

Actually, I agree - I meant that I hate how every game is split into two threads these days.

Infinitron What would happen if "game released" newsposts here started out locked? "This game released today, go discuss it here"?

 

[Machocruz]

So I was curious about the dude behind this game and found out his thoughts on Bioshock Infinite on his website:

So recently I finished playing “Bioshock Infinite”. My first thought was: my god, what passes for “deep storytelling” in video games nowadays.

In my opinion this scenario is a bungled mess of a story full of contrived, preposterous twists and an overly complicated narrative about unexplained motivations. I mean ANYBODY can write an absurdly knotty story full of confusingly interrelated parts. It doesn’t make it a good story.

That THIS is lauded as a potential game of the year and praised for its supposedly amazing storytelling is frankly beyond me. A friend of mine wisely noted that the threshold for writing in games is extremely low. And the writing level of Bioshock Infinite would pass for a mediocre novel. But slap it onto a video-game and suddenly gamers are gushing about a masterpiece.

I could try and pick up one by one all the pieces of the story that do not make sense or rather only make sense in the writers’ minds because they thought it up in the first place. I could point out the contradictory motivations, the lack of genuine emotion… But I won’t, because it would be a little akin to laughing at an Alzheimer patient because he can’t remember stuff.

I feel this problem will go on as long as gamers (and gaming journalists) mistake complexity for richness. I KNOW video games have long lived a very healthy life without anything resembling a satisfying story. But come on. The quality of writing really needs to improve. Or does it? Let’s be honest here; if good writing was a necessary component of games we wouldn’t have those kind of issues anymore. But still. I’m hoping for better days.

So in the end what’s left of Bioshock Infinite are some very nice visual moments and some pseudo-philosophical attempts at making you believe there is profundity at the core of its story.

Lmao. It's like I've been saying, the film industry is still far ahead of the video game industry when it comes to professional standards in writing and visual presentation, despite what video game fanboys and primitives want to believe i.e. "games are better than movies now". Except no, because for the artist, whether of the written word or of images there is higher prestige and status working in film, hence that's where the tippy top talent goes in the entertainment industry. The rest, the Ken Levines, the hacks who get run out of town, go to video games. I mean this game is an example of the gap in standards and expectations for each industry. The guy works in films, comes to games, and he crafts one of the most visually sumptuous around, on a fraction of the budget of AAA productions that, frankly, aren't as accomplished and tasteful as Ghost of a Tale. It's like Gordon Ramsey coming down to manage the kitchen at TGI Fridays lol. The skillset he brings has been developed in a higher sphere. Working on this game's visuals was probably just another day at the office, where it would be a monumental accomplishment for most game devs.

I have utmost respect for programmers though. I have no experience in programming myself, but any fool can tell making games do some of the shit they can do with lines of code is some kind of sorcery. And I'd rather PLAY a great game than WATCH most Hollywood films, but that's a separate issue.

 

[toro]

Will be launched on consoles.

 

[*-*/\--/\~]

Wait wait wait, this was 90% made by a single guy? What sorcery is this!

 

[Jenkem]

Wait wait wait, this was 90% made by a single guy? What sorcery is this!

 

[Jinn]

I hope it sells well on consoles, but not too well, as it definitely has the spirit of a PC game at heart and I don't want to see that change in future projects.

But I want to see this guy succeed, and I definitely want more games from him. Many more.

 

[Harkin Hails]

I hope it sells well on consoles, but not too well, as it definitely has the spirit of a PC game at heart and I don't want to see that change in future projects.

But I want to see this guy succeed, and I definitely want more games from him. Many more.

Unless the developer has a great publisher for consoles, chances are low that it'll sell "too well". I mean, look at PC, even on PC most people are sadly not familiar with this great little gem.

Meanwhile, Fallout 76 pre-orders most likely outdid this game's total sales..

 

[ghostdog]

I finished this. It was great. One of the best action adventure games of the recent years. It's fun, it's beautiful and it's very polished all around, it's incredible that this was mostly an one man job.

The mechanics are simple and effective. You use stealth, disguises and solve a few puzzles along the way, which are pretty well made btw.
The graphics/atmosphere are excellent. It's also amazing that this game was made with unity and it's so well optimized and smooth. I'm wandering if all these other unity games run like crap mostly because their programmers are incompetent and inexperienced.
The writing is surprisingly good. At tines funny, other times serious, the setting and the lore fleshed out, the characters believable.

I'm eagerly awaiting this guys next game.