Codex Review RPG Codex Review: Torment: Tides of Numenera

[t]

Friends can only be casted on self, so this way works for mages only. But I never tried that, it's too much of a hassle after all.

 

[Fenix]

it's too much of a hassle after all

That's why I need all those stat points.

Also I think tattoos doesn't work properly - with WIS doesn't increased exp, or maybe that mechanics just work different.

 

[Neanderthal]

You can almost max INT an WIS by endgame while makin an ultra combat monster early on so rest o games enjoyable, an you're not wastin loads o stat points because o poor choice o distribution at beginnin.

If you want Friends as a fighter cast on yoursen as a mage, change back to fighter sharpish wi Daakon, start talkin an Bobs your uncle.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Versus planning in advance how much charsima to get based on those encounters being non-meta? :D

When I played back in the day I didn't realize the Friends spell's practical effect, but in hindsight wouldn't it be rational to cast it before every major NPC dialogue? It's a level 1 spell, so you can have tons of it.

Versus knowing that 16 CHA is a good thing to have without knowing what for, and targeting that.

I always recommend first-time PS:T players to spoil themselves with the starting stat distribution and nothing else, because having a suboptimal stat distribution will just give you an overall worse experience, not a different one. That's not the same at all as knowing "haha, about to talk to Ravel, better cast Friends."

I went with a purely intellectual character the first time because that's how i liked to play, but even doing a strong/fast fighter or thief type should still give an enjoyable experience, so I'd say no meta is really needed and the game is best played over and over with different builds and seeing different outcomes.

Or maybe I just like snapping random strangers necks as a fighter/thief...

Lean over here, I have a secret to tell you.

 

[Drudkh]

Damn, that poem went hard felipe. Case closed.

 

[Konjad]

 

[Abu Antar]

Been reading the entire thread while drinking a cup of coffee, finally. The hate boils down to one single factor: Everyone's sexually frustrated.

 

[kolton]

I completed the game last night so I figured I might as well share my thoughts.

Erritis, Rhin and the Bloom are the parts that I really liked. When I was in the Bloom I actually wanted to play the game.
Side quests are okay. You can complete them and fuck them up in a number of ways. I like the interaction between some quests and sleeping.
Other areas and companions are mediocre to bad.
Main storyline wasn't personal or engaging enough for me to care. The 'climax' is laughable.
I didn't like the writing for the most part. Too many words, too little substance. Sheer word count doesn't mean 'well written'. Deliberate use of obscure and archaic words gave me the impression of pretentious writing, not smart writing.
Various lore dumps, history lessons and quests do tie into the story and give you a bigger picture. It was clumsily executed but I do appreciate it.
Skill checks in conversations are too easy to pass. Combat is too easy to avoid. When you're in actual combat it feels clumsy and slow.
Meres are an interesting concept. I feel like there should have been more consequences to messing with them. In the end it all boiled down to certain castoffs being present (or not) in a certain encounter (at least in my playthrough). Some meres were not a pleasure to read through due to the writing.
The game likes to hold your hand and doesn't let you figure things out for yourself when doing quests and interacting with the environment. I didn't like that.
Cyphers feel like an afterthought. There are some interesting equipment pieces, but they feel wasted because you can easily avoid combat and they didn't have non-combat use.
Music is forgettable. No leitmotifs. It feels like the composer just scraped together some assorted leftovers. Music in crises is tense, but that's about it.
I feel like the exploration aspect was neglected, too. The areas are generally small, cluttered and there's too few of them. I only enjoyed exploring the Bloom.
There are some technical issues that are irritating (clicking on stuff, persistent tooltips, inaccessible areas, cutscenes that were supposed to trigger but don't, occasional frame drops and lag), but those can be patched. Hopefully.
By far the most bizarre design choice was to make some items and abilities have a highly irritating persistent sound effect. Whoever made that choice should never come near a keyboard again, let alone make decisions in game development.

Overall the game feels rushed. Like they had way less than 4 years to complete it.

 

[TripJack]

I'm on the first playthrough and i had to drop the game at Curst.

but you're soooo close

 

[an Administrator]

I'm on the first playthrough and i had to drop the game at Curst.

but you're soooo close

Forced myself a bit and now i found that angel dude

 

[Repulsive]

Die

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Steamspy figures do fluctuate, but can't recall a recent release with a trend quite like this. Leveled off very quickly.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

The more telling part is that it had less total players than Pillars in last 2 weeks.

 

[Terpsichore]

Am I blind or there's no mention whatsoever of the SJW propaganda? Is Codex just another reddit now where such things are deem normal?

 

[Jarpie]

Am I blind or there's no mention whatsoever of the SJW propaganda? Is Codex just another reddit now where such things are deem normal?

You mean the review? It was written by our resident pinko commie champagne socialist.

 

[Fenix]

Well, when I pointed about that in review on Tyranny, nobody except me told it.
So it seems you are right, this shit is swallowed without a word.
Actually I was called a facist when I told that question to representative of another culture - different people and different race - about "what kind of music do your people like" is absolutely normal.
So looks like it is mixed bag.

 

[Naraya]

Meres are an interesting concept.

No, just no.

 

[MasPingon]

Am I blind or there's no mention whatsoever of the SJW propaganda? Is Codex just another reddit now where such things are deem normal?

Can you elaborate?

 

[Prime Junta]

You mean the review? It was written by our resident pinko commie champagne socialist.

That, plus I just didn't want to go off on a tangent about the politics of the game. There's so much else wrong with it that that's pretty far down the list. Mine at least.

 

[ArchAngel]

Well, when I pointed about that in review on Tyranny, nobody except me told it.
So it seems you are right, this shit is swallowed without a word.
Actually I was called a facist when I told that question to representative of another culture - different people and different race - about "what kind of music do your people like" is absolutely normal.
So looks like it is mixed bag.

No, you are just racist.

 

[Fenix]

That's not funny already.

 

[Excidium II]

You mean the review? It was written by our resident pinko commie champagne socialist.

That, plus I just didn't want to go off on a tangent about the politics of the game. There's so much else wrong with it that that's pretty far down the list. Mine at least.

cuck

 

[valcik]

If you want Friends as a fighter cast on yoursen as a mage, change back to fighter sharpish wi Daakon, start talkin an Bobs your uncle.

You can also get Tatoo of the joining from Fell after helping Corvus and Katrina, which invokes Friends spell regardless of class. Goes with limited number of charges, though.

 

[Kev Inkline]

In fairness, PS:T is like the emperor doesn't have any clothes, but does have an enormous, implausibly magnificent, schlong.

The little kid shouts 'the emperor has no clothes! the combat is shit in this game, it's a massive simplification even of BG1 combat and the jrpg spell effects are really annoying!'. And all the adults in the crowd keep on applauding anyway (while ducking and swerving to avoid getting smashed against the wall by the naked emperor's massive tree-like dick as he waives it around).

And then the wise old man takes the kid aside and says 'yeah, we're not stupid. Everyone knows the emperor has no clothes. But...wow...that schlong....I mean, it's got depth and length greater than all the other emperors combined. Why would you even need clothes when you've got a schlong like that? It's just a once-off event kid, we're prepared to ignore the shitty combat and all the other stuff that would normally put us off a game....holy shit that's a massive schlong'.

Post of the year material right there.

Replace emperor with empress and I think it's truly a Codex experience.

 

[Commissar Draco]

You mean the review? It was written by our resident pinko commie champagne socialist.

That, plus I just didn't want to go off on a tangent about the politics of the game. There's so much else wrong with it that that's pretty far down the list. Mine at least.

Actually agree with our Librul here; Nuenemara is so lame and boring and nobody cares about SJW there; you want to poke fun at SJW go to our Androgena threads; the Biowhore game is so ham fisted about White Knighting the women folks from evul rapey male player gaze by making all females Oblivion level potato faces it red-pills even womyn and normies... and its so bad actually fun to at-least rage about it.

 

[Lurker King]

"Gameplay" is becoming a loose term it seems.

The comparison is insulting to CYOA books. They have more gameplay and better writing than ToN.