Review RPG Codex Review: Hard West

[Invictus]

Good review, the game is very mucha welcome surprise with its combat system, great fun setting and customizable cards. The review does bring up some very interesting points that can be addressed with future patches like the fact that restarts dont allow you to customize your team again (which was pretty much my top complain too) and the Fate trader which can sell overpowering equipment doesnt bother me much.
I also wished that the game decided what ot wanted to be more clearly since adding more defined RPG elements would make it more like a proper campaign rather than separate scenarios, or going full XCOM western... Personally I rather liked the idea either way although I think going full XCOM woukd require a proper sequel while adding scenarios and RPG options could be done in a proper expansion or DLC
BTW get that Blackguards shit out of here; the reason the sequel did so badly is that they dumbed down the combat by removing the to hit system to appease the popamole crowd; it didnt work and nobody gave a shit
That is a lesson for the Hard West developers; if you try to please the popamolers you lose the PC crowd where your startegic game is aimed to, just look at Wasteland 2 and Original Sin I bet they must have sold what 100,000 to 150,000 extra units because of consoles? They dont care about that and chasing after them only waters down your product. If you dont believe me look at XCOM 2 only for PC

 

[Bubbles]

just look at Wasteland 2 and Original Sin I bet they must have sold what 100,000 to 150,000 extra units because of consoles?

The best estimates are between 30k and 100k units sold for each game based on relative sales rankings, friends' uncles and vgchartz. I'd personally guess that WL2 sold at most 50k units and OS slightly more. It doesn't seem like welcoming terrain for small scale indie devs.

 

[shadow9d9]

2 questions for you guys. 1. Could some link me to the Icy thread talked about here? 2. Isn't it kind of bad that both inxile and larian spent so much time and money making the console ports and selling so little? I haven't owned a console in over a decade, but I was hoping they'd sell well so that enhanced editions and extra polishing become the norm in the future, while continuing to further fund these kind of gamrs...

 

[Higher Animal]

Where is the Serpent in the Staglands review?

Crooked Bee Infinitron Sensuki

 

[Cadmus]

I still don't think that shops+inventory=RPGlite, Hard West is a tactical game with 0% RPG in it. It's closer to Commandos or Desperados than to an RPG.
Secondly I thought the music was absolutely awesome and it's not all ambient, it seemed to me that with more intense missions the music choice was more intense as well.

 

[Forest Dweller]

To be clear, Hard West isn’t X-Com or Jagged Alliance. Each scenario is a self-contained mini-campaign with its own specific characters that form a posse, and they don’t carry over after the last mission, so you start from scratch with every scenario. It also doesn’t have the replayability of those games, something which would be impossible given the structure of its content. The focus of the game is on tactical set pieces, with some random elements when it comes to customization.

This is disappointing.

 

[Infinitron]

Where is the Serpent in the Staglands review?

Crooked Bee Infinitron Sensuki

Ask not what your Codex can review for you, ask what you can review for your Codex

 

[Darth Roxor]

Can we please stay on topic?

No.

Because Morality Games is a faggot and he needs that communicated to him as much as possible.

Thankfully Daedalic provided two suitable pretenses: (a) they made it too fast, with the same assets (b) they made minor simplifications to the PnP-based system.

Are you stupid? I don't think I've seen anyone criticise the re-used assets in Blaggardz 2. And if you really think the "Minor Simplifications" (tm) that essentially made the ruleset implode were "minor" then there's something seriously wrong with your brian.

Idiot.

 

[Morality Games]

Can we please stay on topic?

No.

Because Morality Games is a faggot and he needs that communicated to him as much as possible.

Thankfully Daedalic provided two suitable pretenses: (a) they made it too fast, with the same assets (b) they made minor simplifications to the PnP-based system.

Are you stupid? I don't think I've seen anyone criticise the re-used assets in Blaggardz 2. And if you really think the "Minor Simplifications" (tm) that essentially made the ruleset implode were "minor" then there's something seriously wrong with your brian.

Idiot.

I'm making a polite effort to honor Ludo's request. You can tell me what a faggot I am in this thread:

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/future-of-aa-developers.105945/

 

[Volrath]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...eview-blackguards-2.97567/page-3#post-3794869 I think this thread might be more relevant to the interests of some people here.

Can we please stay on topic? I think it would be a waste of everyone's time if this turned into something like the ICY review thread where half the posts had nothing to do with the game/developer.

Not a whole lot to say, though. Most of us haven't played Hard West.

Also the same reason why the Icy thread got derailed. Most people haven't played Icy.

So play it you faggot.

Hard West is probably one of my favourite games this year.

 

[Lurker King]

just look at Wasteland 2 and Original Sin I bet they must have sold what 100,000 to 150,000 extra units because of consoles?

The best estimates are between 30k and 100k units sold for each game based on relative sales rankings, friends' uncles and vgchartz. I'd personally guess that WL2 sold at most 50k units and OS slightly more. It doesn't seem like welcoming terrain for small scale indie devs.

Well, that depends on how much the conversion to consoles will cost. Hell, even 30k units for mere conversion is good money. Besides, strategy games like Hard West will probably be easier to convert to consoles.

 

[Lurker King]

Spoiler

A shaky example. There are dozens of games that have binary endings in last 5 minutes and that doesn't make them RPGs.

I agree, it's a strategy game. However, if you consider reactivity to be a necessary feauture for a cRPG, then 99% of cRPGs won't make the cut.

 

[Lurker King]

Not a whole lot to say, though. Most of us haven't played Hard West.

Also the same reason why the Icy thread got derailed. Most people haven't played Icy.

The irony is that the best reviews released this year were about games that everybody ignore. This review, the other about Icy and felipepe's review about NEO Scavenger were all exquisitely written.

 

[Roguey]

Hard West is one of those tactical RPG thingies. http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/crpg-related-wikipedia-dispute.105359/

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Eh, I think I'll pass on this one for now.

 

[Morality Games]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...eview-blackguards-2.97567/page-3#post-3794869 I think this thread might be more relevant to the interests of some people here.

Can we please stay on topic? I think it would be a waste of everyone's time if this turned into something like the ICY review thread where half the posts had nothing to do with the game/developer.

Not a whole lot to say, though. Most of us haven't played Hard West.

Also the same reason why the Icy thread got derailed. Most people haven't played Icy.

So play it you faggot.

Hard West is probably one of my favourite games this year.

Want to. But I'm in a limited data situation until the end of January. Can't download it.

 

[Ninjerk]

Where is the Serpent in the Staglands review?

Crooked Bee Infinitron Sensuki

I believe tuluse volunteered and then got busy

 

[hello friend]

Icy was so bad. Went in expecting something like Neo Scavenger and the whole game was proceed from plot point A to plot point B, click through lots of bad dialogue, take a few detours to scavenge for food and sundries, rinse, repeat.

Game seemed so promising in that thread with the naming discussion, too. Should have changed the name tho.

 

[Zephyr Arsland]

Well, don't have much reason to postpone buying this. Except for the ever-looming backlog. But this sounds better than I expected.

 

[ColCol]

Combat and character building via cards are both fun, interesting, engaging, etc (though cards feel a bit overpowered). Yet. the game is very glitchy. Two scenarios are consistently crashing for me at the same spot (even after reloads) and the forums shows that these issues are not just happening to me. They need to fix their shit.

 

[Severian Silk]

Hard West is one of those tactical RPG thingies. http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/crpg-related-wikipedia-dispute.105359/

The topic has moved on to "Secret of Mana uses same real-time combat system as Baldur's Gate."

 

[Gord]

Nice review that mirrors many of my own observations, although I don't agree with two points in particular.

But probably the worst design decision CreativeForge made was the way the Fate Trader works. Each scenario in the game has 3 secret objectives. Some are part of the main quest, some are side content, and some are mutually exclusive, requiring multiple playthroughs of the same scenario. As a reward for completing these objectives, items are unlocked at the Fate Trader, a merchant who appears on the world map during all eight scenarios.

To me at least, this aspect was not very noticeable. Unless one starts metagaming (which you probably won't do if you go into the game blind), I don't expect that to be an issue to many players.

And secondly the critique regarding the soundtrack - it might not be the most intrusive, but it helps greatly to create the mood and atmosphere of the game and is, imo fitting and competently done, so I can't agree with the author's verdict of calling it severely disappointing.

 

[Ludo Lense]

I am amused that the soundtrack is the most common point of contention in regards to the review.

This is obviously very subjective but can you remember one song or jingle from the game after one week? Steam says I played for around 31 hours and I remember nothing. It does the job but it is utterly forgettable in comparison to other games Mr. Przybyłowicz has worked on.

 

[34scell]

I agree that the devs should focus on the set piece battle design.

In fact I think the game would be much better if there was no overworld map or equipment/card choices and all the story choices were made in combat based on who dies, which objectives you complete and how you exit the map.

The game is hit or miss depending on how much you like the story, characters and presentation. If a character's equipment and abilities reflected their character, rather than being player choice, then the player would get to know the characters while they work out of a strategy for the map. Similarly, the story would be more engaging if the action was happening during the action.

Basically, their next game should be a turn based Desperados.

 

[Darkzone]

I am amused that the soundtrack is the most common point of contention in regards to the review.
This is obviously very subjective but can you remember one song or jingle from the game after one week? Steam says I played for around 31 hours and I remember nothing. It does the job but it is utterly forgettable in comparison to other games Mr. Przybyłowicz has worked on.

The soundtrack is sometimes a more complicated topic than just good or bad or ugly. I have not criticised your review's statement about the soundtrack, because as you stated it is very subjective. I can name you one example, where a piece of music was so good for me, that it ruined the rest of the game for me. This example was from Kirill's Divine Divinity Soundtrack the "Perilous Path". To paraphrase Kirill: The composer has to hold back if he makes a game soundtrack, else it will dominate the game. The composer in this case is not the best composer, but he has made a fitting background music that is underlying the games atmosphere and that is sufficient. Naturally what lacks in this case is THE piece of music that stays in your head after the game and that you always recognise for where it is. But where should this music piece be so that it does not dominate the game? Perhaps the credits or the intro or main menu.
Which song do you remember from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" besides the main theme or "Once Upon a Time in America or The Thing or Escape from New York? There are also exceptions where every music piece is good like Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack, but in this case the composer has never repeated this kind of genius.