Underrail [PRE-RELEASE THREAD, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Doctor Sbaitso]

I think I will also stop at the junk yard for the same reason... maybe try a few different builds and take them that far if I NEED to play it.

 

[Machocruz]

Blaine

Can I expect Fallout style bodily harm in the full game?

 

[epeli]

Doctor Sbaitso
If it's worth anything, I think Blaine definitely knows what he's talking about. His build is really good for that direct in-your-face approach, but not necessarily the easiest one out there.

I can also confirm that things won't get too easy, if that's what you were curious about. You'll definitely get past the initial hobo stage where everything is scarce and you're barely managing your supplies. But combat remains tactical and you always have to keep on your toes. The tactical depth just increases the more tools you have and the harder enemies you'll encounter. You often have to think about your approach and just like Blaine said, use every trick at your disposal in order to survive harder encounters. Death is always nearby, just waiting for your mistakes - especially so if your build leans towards stealth in the stealthy/tanky defense spectrum.

Also, player reports from the current version (and possibly few upcoming ones) might paint the game easier than the final game will be, as the experience curve is pretty fast right now and players get up to the current max level long before they're even done with the content - afaik Styg's going to tweak that once they're done building the remaining content.

Machocruz
No Bloody Mess in combat I'm afraid, the most gore you'll get is backdrop stuff like some mutilated bodies in a cannibal's lair for example.

 

[Blaine]

No, there are no elaborate and gruesome death animations, and I doubt they'll be added before release. Animations are time-consuming and expensive to create, especially in a game in which there are a lot of different armor and weapon combinations. Styg omitted crawling animations in the ventilation ducts for this very reason; if crawling animations tax his resources, you can bet that elaborate death animations would, too. Having said that, the animations that are in the game are fine, and it doesn't really feel as though anything is "missing." If Underrail is moddable, perhaps someone will add elaborate death animations post-release.

I normally don't like to spoil myself on pre-release games, either. I'm playing through Underrail as far as I can anyway, because:

• it's the best cRPG I've played in an extremely long time, so I don't want to stop
• there is a great deal of replayability to begin with; more areas and content will be added
• it's in an extremely playable state, with very few bugs, and it doesn't feel unfinished

The game's biggest flaw is the writing. The dialog and item/ability descriptions need to be copyedited, cleaned up, and even rewritten in a few instances where the phrasing is awkward or it's obvious someone banged it out in five minutes. The dialog itself should also be expanded somewhat... and, if possible, a bit more C&C injected here and there. There already is some C&C, but it's pretty light.

If the above is accomplished—and I can't stress enough how vitally important cleaning up the writing will be in elevating this game to immortal legend status, even though it will clearly never be an interactive fantasy novel a la Torment—Underrail will indisputably be one of the best old skool cRPGs of all time, even knocking Fallout off its perch in the minds of many. I haven't finished the beta yet and the game's not complete, so I don't know how the "tunnelers" scenario and the big-city factions you can align yourself with play out, but if it's handled properly we're looking at the best cRPG of our lives.

Also, there seem to be only two, maybe three BGMs in the entire game. There should probably be a few more.

 

[epeli]

Underrail is definitely moddable in theory, but in practice it comes down to tools.
For example its already possible to do graphics mods (like changing death animations!) with existing XNA tools. But most files don't use standard XNA binary format, so we need a bunch of simple tools to write/read those formats. Styg probably can't just release his dev tools as mod tools, and it would take a lot of time off game development to create proper modding tools, so maybe after release. Or if we're lucky, someone in the community creates unofficial modding tools.

The quality of writing is indeed the worst part of Underrail - but I don't mean bad creative writing or lack of choice & consequence. No, it's just that it's full of typos. Styg's team must be really churning out content in a hurry and they definitely don't have a spellchecker in their devtools

As for BGM, Styg has said that more will be coming and there are actually 6 tracks atm, but one of them is unused. I hope he can find more drone ambient in the same vein, they fit perfectly with Underrail's ambient sounds and their soundscapes kind of remind me of Mark Morgan's music.

 

[Shadowfang]

It pains me to see this. Can't the codex staff do something to help spread the word about this coming jewel?
A banner at the top of this website would be something.

 

[Jaesun]

It pains me to see this. Can't the codex staff do something to help spread the word about this coming jewel?
A banner at the top of this website would be something.

We DO have it listed on our STEAM curator page. We don't usually put any games that are in progress on it, unless we know it is so far, definitely good.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Sadly, we can't expect the news team to be marketing for this project. I would like to see a monacled interview of Styg.

 

[Blaine]

Guys, I think I have a shopping problem.

That's 32,655 Stygian Coins and 3,196 SGS Credits, for a total value of 1,011,610.

My stash is probably worth at least that much, possibly more.

 

[Dickie]

 

[Blaine]

Spoiler

I actually made this a couple of months ago... yeah.

 

[Grunker]

It pains me to see this. Can't the codex staff do something to help spread the word about this coming jewel?

As far as I can see, we don't have a preview from after 2012. So if anyone wants to do a more elaborate one of the game's current stage, I'm sure it'd be posted. Other ideas could be contacting Styg for an interview about his current progress or doing a report if anyone lives close to his location. I'm pretty sure we'd welcome any content done on this.

I guess Crooked Bee could set up a contest as well if Styg is up for it?

Sadly, we can't expect the news team to be marketing for this project.

Hm? There's a steady news stream on Underrail: http://www.rpgcodex.net/tags.php?id=904

It's also one of the only Early Access games we have on the Curator.

I would like to see a monacled interview of Styg.

Set it up. If someone makes a thread for community questions and find the best 13-15, I'll be happy to edit them and send them off to Styg (or someone else on the staff can do it if we have someone in contact with him).

 

[codexian reject]

As far as I can see, we don't have a preview from after 2012.

Are you trying to tell, that the codex "staff" members haven't bought it yet ?

I demand changes in our leadership !

 

[Grunker]

As far as I can see, we don't have a preview from after 2012.

Are you trying to tell me that the codex "staff" members haven't bought it yet ?

Errr... no? How did you get that idea?

Not that I would normally buy it. I don't buy early access as a principle. However, I did actually buy Underrail in a weak moment. But like I said, I have no idea what our latest preview being from 2012 and the staff's steam purchases have to do with each other.

(not to mention that preview and review copies are usually not bought, but come with great helpings of doritos and mtn. dew)

 

[Infinitron]

I agree that a second preview of Underrail is a pretty good idea.

And codexian reject, whether the staff own the game or not has little to do with it. It's not like we create most of the content (reviews and previews) for this site.

If anybody wants to write a preview, please feel free to do so. Just make sure it's good.

 

[Blaine]

Believe it or not though, endgame enemies can wear these down faster than you'd think.

 

[epeli]

That's a very nice shield you have there... it'd be a shame if something happened to it.

 

[Blaine]

Fortunately enemies don't seem to use those at all, because if they did, I'd be done in one hit.

 

[Blaine]

I agree that a second preview of Underrail is a pretty good idea.

Perhaps. I've played the game extensively at this point, and while there are a lot of little details that could be added to expand JarlFrank's excellent preview, I suspect most of them would end up being white noise for anyone who hasn't already played the game. It already hits the high notes of character creation, possible specializations, the availability of weapons/tools (sans traps, caltrops, throwing knives et al.), combat, stealth gameplay, level design, dialog and so on.

The major thing not covered is the depth and breadth of the crafting system, followed by those additional tools and gadgets I mentioned, an overview of enemy variety and tactics, the excellence of the UI, and perhaps an amendment to his assessment of combat being "about as good as Fallout," because personally I feel there's significantly more tactical depth to be had in the current build.

 

[Grunker]

Maybe a short "Stage of the Game" instead of another preview? I really think it's appropriate to do some kind of content on such a Codex fave when it's been two years

Also I'd like something fresh to promote on various media

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Sadly, we can't expect the news team to be marketing for this project.

Hm? There's a steady news stream on Underrail: http://www.rpgcodex.net/tags.php?id=904

It's also one of the only Early Access games we have on the Curator.

I meant only that although we desire for the project to have success, we cannot point to the news team and expect them to be the marketing team.

 

[Grunker]

Sadly, we can't expect the news team to be marketing for this project.

Hm? There's a steady news stream on Underrail: http://www.rpgcodex.net/tags.php?id=904

It's also one of the only Early Access games we have on the Curator.

I meant only that although we desire for the project to have success, we cannot point to the news team and expect them to be the marketing team.

Ah, of course not

However it is hardly controversial that this game is probably close to if not the most Codexian game under development currently.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

I agree that a second preview of Underrail is a pretty good idea.

Perhaps. I've played the game extensively at this point, and while there are a lot of little details that could be added to expand JarlFrank's excellent preview, I suspect most of them would end up being white noise for anyone who hasn't already played the game. It already hits the high notes of character creation, possible specializations, the availability of weapons/tools (sans traps, caltrops, throwing knives et al.), combat, stealth gameplay, level design, dialog and so on.

The major thing not covered is the depth and breadth of the crafting system, followed by those additional tools and gadgets I mentioned, an overview of enemy variety and tactics, the excellence of the UI, and perhaps an amendment to his assessment of combat being "about as good as Fallout," because personally I feel there's significantly more tactical depth to be had in the current build.

Sounds good; let us know how you get on writing the update.

 

[Blaine]

I've done almost everything at this point, except play through the game again, which I'm saving for release to keep things fresh. I might try a no-kill playthrough, though I really doubt that can be done without essentially save-scumming. If you get caught sneaking just a single time, the enemies stand permanent sentinel on whatever exit you fled through, massaging their nipples vigilantly, and there's no sneaking by them without without running out of view on the same map and stealthing again. I could be wrong about that; maybe they fuck off after two hours or so, but I'm not waiting two hours to find out. This is largely an issue in the earlier portions of the game, before you get 200+ Stealth with the addition of high-end black clothing and a cloaking device.

I'm pretty sure you can't finish the

Spoiler

Arena

without fighting either, and I've read that's a prerequisite to move up in the ranks of the city factions and thus progress the main quest, but whatever.

I've done almost everything, that is, except purge the unclean... and by "unclean," I mean every last inhabitant of every camp, town, and city in the entire game.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

I would enjoy reading a write-up Blaine, you would have good insight on crafting aspects and the current state of combat.