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Incline Steve Jackson's Sorcery!, by inkle studios (Steam, iOS, Android)

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Arcane
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The first is the worst one, imho.
But if you didn't like it at all, I suppose that this isn't simply a series made for you.
 

Starwars

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Been home sick today so I've been replaying the first two a bit. I find them enjoyable. The second one is better I think and there certainly seems to be a lot of things one can do in it that I personally have no idea how to accomplish (I have no experience with the books) so that's really cool.

Looking forward to diving into the third part for the first time and then the final part when it comes out.
 

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Arcane
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It's pretty big, the third part. It has a shitton of encounters.
The first run lasted for me a few hours, and I'm not counting the insane amount of times that I've replayed it, trying to gather more and more items, or trying to complete the game in few days (they added a day-counter, which is not restrective though).
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Hey ---, can you give me a short summary of each of the released Sorcery! titles for the Curator? For 2 and 3, explain how they changed/improved compared to the previous title in the series. Also, compared to the original books (for all three).
 

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Arcane
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I'm a bit busy now, later I'll give you some informations ;)
Or maybe there's someone who can answer you immediately :)
 

Ogg

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Codex 2012 Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech
After the lone wolf this felt like a bore.
The series go crescendo. The first book is a nice little stroll in fantasy land.
The second one gives you a real city to explore, with missable secrets and several ways to solve an enigma.
The third one gets quite stressful since you're thrown into a vast steppe where you have to find 7 enemies you've got to stop but without lingering too much; otherwise, they'll escape and make the rest of your journey (in the fourth books) harder. Take that Mass Effect!
The fourth one is the largest. It starts a bit slow, but ends up with a major climax. I won't reveal much, but reaching the "good ending", requires your making the right choice in previous books. C&C, bitches!

Also, for graphix whores :
tumblr_inline_ncz73f5t3s1qkp1hz.png
tumblr_inline_ncz6i0gQr41qkp1hz.png
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
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Codex 2014
Series postmortem: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/280373/Postmortem_Steve_Jacksons_Sorcery_series_by_Inkle.php

Developer: inkle / Steve Jackson
Publisher: inkle
Initial Release Date: May 2, 2013
Platforms: iOS, Android, Steam
Number of Developers: 2 core people, 2 additional contributors, and 4 art / music contractors
Length of Development: 4 games over 4 years
Budget: ~ ÂŁ10k / title, not including our own salaries
Lines of Code: Just over 60k significant lines of code (non-whitespace)
Development Tools: Xcode, Objective-C, ink
Downloads across the series so far: >1.5 million

WHAT WENT RIGHT

1) Steve Jackson, and the Sorcery! fans
2) The map
3) Great collaborators
4) Four games, rather than one with unlockable episodes
5) Cross-platform compilation of Objective C

WHAT WENT WRONG

1) The visual style
2) Spellcasting
3) Move along, move along
4) New tools and legacy scripts
5) The combat text generator
 

HoboForEternity

sunset tequila
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
damn, i want to play this, but haven't got the time. i wish i discovered about this sooner when i was still an NEET where i have all the time in the world
 

Merlkir

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I played the first two in one week before i fell asleep. I'm still stuck at the end of 2 though. :(
 

Starwars

Arcane
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The postmortem was a good read. Hope their next release will be good. I've reallly enjoyed Sorcery (still need to finish chapter 3 though) and I liked 80 Days a lot also for what it was.
 

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Arcane
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Shit, I've seen that the news was already posted. Sorry Infinitron :(

The postmortem was a good read. Hope their next release will be good. I've reallly enjoyed Sorcery (still need to finish chapter 3 though) and I liked 80 Days a lot also for what it was.
They are really good developers, and they are really, really passionate (and that's very important). I hope that they will become even more capable and renowed.
 

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Arcane
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Ok then :)

First of all, I didn't read the original books. In the previous page I established confrontations between the games and the gamebooks because a friend of mine has the books, and so he described to me pretty much what inkle changed. Also, I've not yet bought the fourth one (money :negative:), so I'll be able to give you a description after some time.

- The first one is a very simple game. It's good, don't misunderstand my words, but at the time of the release it was a bit (only a bit) underwhelming. Now, since we have the complete adventure, we can consider it a sort of "tutorial" (a really well made one!). There are in fact few (compared to the sequels) encounters, and the descriptions aren't really long or detailed (I repeat, compared to the sequels: they are very well written, compared to other mobile games).
It's set in the Shamutanti Hills. You are a young man of the Kingdom of Analand: the powerful relic known as the "Crown of Kings" has been stolen by the evil Archmage of Mampang, and your king asks you to recover it. In this chapter, your goal is to reach the gates of Kharé, since passing through the city is the only way to reach the dangerous Baklands. There are a lot of ways to reach the city (at least three "big" paths, with a lot of minor branches), and you are free to choose the one which you prefer. The majority of encounters are based on the book's ones, inkle added only few changes.
Your character isn't only a good swordsman, he's also a mage. You know from the beginning the formulas of every spell in the game, but each one requires some reagents to work, which you must collect through your journeys: some of them are consumables (such as pebbles), and some of them are reusable (such as amulets). The combat is quite simple, you can only choose to defend yourself, or to attack (buff or damage spells can be casted before the fight): to make the better choice, you can read the descriptions of the actions of your enemies (a wounded enemy will probably defend himself, so it's better to save your precious energies). The magic can also be used in a multitude of ways out of the combat, for example to influence NPCs, or to help yourself. The combat and the magic system won't change in the following chapters.
There are some choices that will influence your future adventures. For example, near the end of the chapter, you can choose to kill a mysterious ninja, or to spare his life: in the second case, he will help you during your adventure through Kharé.
At te beginning of the game, you must choose your personal God: he will help you during your journey (he can heal your wounds, or save your life from an imminent danger), but you can't misuse his services. In the following chapters, sometimes you will be ask if you want to change your God: the majority of Gods are "standard", but some of them ask you to behave in a certain way (don't kill too much people, don't steal, etc...).
 
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Arcane
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- The second one is when I definitively fell in love with the series.
It's set in Kharé, a very perilous city, full of thieves and dangers, ruled by the so-called Nobles. It's even more dangerous during your stay, since the Nobles are misteriosly disappearing, and there are rumors of an imminent rebellion, guided by the mysterious Vic, a slave trader, to subvert the city government.
Your goal is to reach the North Gate, the only way to the Baklands. The problem is that the Gate is magically locked (the Baklands are a very dangerous place, so the inhabitants of Kharé sealed the Gate). To open it, you must cast a spell. The formula of the enchantment is a combination of four lines: each line is only known by a single Noble. So your goal is not only to get the lines, but also to find the missing Nobles, who are somewhere in this big, big city.
Kharé is divided into two big sections: the west sector is the poor one, with the big market and the poor barracks, while in the east sector there are the residences of the rich people, the ghetto of the Red-Eyes people, and the Gate. The two sectors are divided by a big river, which you must cross.
Again, there are a lot of ways to pass through the city, and there are even more encounters; some of them have a deadline: if you spend too much time in other activities, you'll miss them.
The biggest additions are the dice game, and the possibility to explore buildings' interiors. The first one is an addicting mini-game, in which you bet money; it has very simple rules, it's based completely on bluff. During the plays, your opponents will often speak, revealing useful informations about the life in the city: you could be also able to hear precious news about the missing Nobles, or about the revolution. The majority of the dice matches are completely optional (in the east sector there's also a big casino). The second addition doesn't need long explanations: when you explore some important buildings, such as the residence of Theetah (one of the Nobles), a mini-map with detailed parts of the building will pop up. This function, while still present, won't be used much in the third chapter (especially since it's set in an abandoned plain), but it's again present (from what I can see in trailers and pics) in the fourth episode.
One thing that I like is that you aren't the "hero" of the situation: you aren't involved in the revolution, first of all, which is the big leit-motiv of this second chapter. Your goal is only to find your precious lines, stop.
 
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Starwars

Arcane
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I really like the second part. I'm not too far into the third chapter yet but I don't feel like I've gotten used to the "open world" feel combined with the CYOA gameplay. I kinda liked how the second chapter worked, it was a bit more open than the first chapter but it still moved along so to speak (you can obviously go back to previous locations at one point). I also liked the city setting.

But yeah, I'm sure I'll come to enjoy the third one as soon as I put some more time into it.
 

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Arcane
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- Big: that's the way to describe the third chapter. Also, a lot of freedom.
Sorcery! 3 is basically an "open world gamebook": you can go everywhere you want, you can do (pretty much) everything you want (you can also marry yourself, if you are a woman!).
It's set in the Baklands, a cursed and huge place (with plains, mountains, lakes, deserts, and small villages - yes, it's not completely abandoned), once a beautiful and rich land. It's said that the Archmage is the responsible for the curse, even if... Well, spoilers ;)
Your goal is to reach Lower Xamen, the place which stands in front of the Fortress of Mampang. The problem is that the Archmage sent seven magical serpents to gain informations about a mysterious man who is trying to reach Mampang (of course, you!). The serpents are really efficient, since they have discovered your presence, and they are trying to return to Mampang to warn the Archmage. "Trying", since you can actually intercept and kill them. Each one, as you soon discover, has a secret weakness (for example, the Moon Serpent can't stand the fire). You are completely free to kill or not to kill them, if you want.
The serpents aren't your only enemies, though. Inkle added in fact a day-counter: if you take too time to reach Mampang, even if you killed all the serpents, a message at the end of the game will pop up, saying "Maybe, since you spent so much time in this land, the Archmage has heard about you via other sources of informations...". Actually, since I still didn't play Sorcery! 4, maybe there won't be dramatic consequences in the sequel, or maybe it will be a huge handicap. Who knows?
Apart from the open world nature of the game, the other big addition is the beacon system. There are in fact some beacons in the map: by activating the light on their top, you will be able to enlighten some sections of the map. But this light is magic: it will bring back the section to its old aspect, when the Baklands were a beautiful and enjoyable place (the so-called "Ancient World"). This opens a lot of possibilities: not only the map of the game is huge, but there's basically another map, completely different. Well, this aspect of the game was completely created by inkle: there's nothing like this in the source material.
The final addition is the magic counter system, which hasn't basically a function in this chapter, but it'll be massively used in the final episode. You will know, during the game, that some spells ("normal" spells, which you use in other situations) are able to block other ones. The system works in a non-intuitive manner (there's nothing like "water spell blocks fire spell"), so you are forced to appraise counter-spells talking with NPCs (there are a lot of wizard NPCs in this chapter), or in other ways. As I said, there are few occasions, in this episode, in which you will be able to use counter-spells.
That's all. There are a shitton of encounters, an huge amount of items and reagents to collect. The dice game is still present, but there are only 3 (!) NPCs in the game who will play with you (and one of them is the one who teaches - re-teaches, if you played the second chapter - the rules, and she won't play for money - so there are actually two player NPCs).
 

Stokowski

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Dunno anything about the original books, but when this popped up in Steam it looked really interesting. So, have purchased; will get around to actually playing it one of these millenia.
 

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Arcane
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Just bought the fourth chapter.
Never been so happy to pay for something, they totally deserve these 5 euros (maybe I would payed even 10 euros for a game like this).
Impressions incoming in the next days! :)
Dunno anything about the original books, but when this popped up in Steam it looked really interesting. So, have purchased; will get around to actually playing it one of these millenia.
Try it immediately! :)
And don't be fooled by a first part - maybe - a bit undertone (but only a bit ;)): the following chapters are simply exceptional (of course: imho) :) The first chapter is also quite short (not counting replayability, which is pretty good), the second and the third part are muuuch longer.
 
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HoboForEternity

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
bought them all on steam.

now ust have to find the time to play it

fuck when i was NEET i haven'tthe money to buy stuff, now i am employed and have money i have no time to play videogames
 
Self-Ejected

Bubbles

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bought them all on steam.

now ust have to find the time to play it

Just a little too early! All 4 parts are 66% off on Humble Store right now.

That's actually really early for part 4; 66% off two weeks after release? Might be an accident...
 

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