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General discussionRelease: ABZÛ & Last Day of June & Ember(62 posts)(62 posts)
(62 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 09, 2018
Dive into a dungeon full of high-level emotions.

ABZÛ, Ember, and Last Day of June, three fascinating 505 Games are now available for 50, 60 and 40% off respectively until March 23. See all discounts here.

Coming from the art director of the acclaimed PlayStation-exclusive Journey, ABZÛ submerges you into a magical underwater world. Swim among majestic creatures and stunningly beautiful landscapes as you reach ever deeper into the heart of the ocean, where deadly dangers and ancient secrets lie in wait.

Fire up Ember for some meaty, old-school dungeon-crawling, featuring an epic story, dozens of mysterious and eccentric NPCs, and LOTS of monster-slaying. Sometimes using your very own crafted weapons, no less.

Heartbreaking and affectionately crafted, Last Day of June is a wordless story of love, loss, and the heavy cost of caring. Interact with a rich canvas of emotions and travel back in time in an attempt to change the outcome through heart-wrenching puzzles.
Posted March 10, 2018
So, I made the plunge and brought Ember, and it's not too bad actually. Only played for an hour or two. It's not so much reminiscent of BG or one those, as there is no character building. You level up as you go along and can add a point or two into str/dex/mag for attack and vitality. Skills are weapon based, so you get hammer early on which allows you to strike twice, just click on the symbol by the character. So that is it in terms if character development, quite basic. Graphics are nice, no issues there. It is missing a button for highlight loot around you. Story, same old, move along. Combat is real time and ok, with a pause which is quite handy. I still haven't found or how to control each character, the main one always leads and if you choose to be an archer that means you always walk into the enemies first, quite annoying. So far though better than expected and I would likely pay £2-3 again for it, just don't expect a deep engaging rpg as it's far more casual.
Posted March 10, 2018
How does Abzu play. What happens when you finish the game? Is there a free roaming mode where you can swim around for the sake of it? What about environment interaction?
Posted March 10, 2018
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nightcraw1er.488: So, I made the plunge and brought Ember, and it's not too bad actually. Only played for an hour or two. It's not so much reminiscent of BG or one those, as there is no character building. You level up as you go along and can add a point or two into str/dex/mag for attack and vitality. Skills are weapon based, so you get hammer early on which allows you to strike twice, just click on the symbol by the character. So that is it in terms if character development, quite basic. Graphics are nice, no issues there. It is missing a button for highlight loot around you. Story, same old, move along. Combat is real time and ok, with a pause which is quite handy. I still haven't found or how to control each character, the main one always leads and if you choose to be an archer that means you always walk into the enemies first, quite annoying. So far though better than expected and I would likely pay £2-3 again for it, just don't expect a deep engaging rpg as it's far more casual.
Click and drag a spot on the ground, IIRC.
Posted March 10, 2018
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Spectre: How does Abzu play. What happens when you finish the game? Is there a free roaming mode where you can swim around for the sake of it? What about environment interaction?
It's mainly a linear 'Swimming' Simulator in which you swim from one area to the next with occasional simple puzzles to solve in order to progress. In these areas you can roam around freely just for the sake of it, and, I think, you can tag different fishes or other creatures and make screenshots or something? But the layout of the game is more like a long row of (bigger and smaller) confined areas, not a vast ocean or something. Not sure if there is a special mode after you finish the game. Environment interaction is restricted to the puzzle elements and tagging the fishes, but IIRC you can also ride/attach to some of the bigger creatures.
Post edited March 10, 2018 by Leroux
Posted March 10, 2018
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Leroux: It's definitely not turn-based, but if I recall correctly it has a pause button, and combat is not clickety-click but assigning targets to your party members and occasionally using special abilities.
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bler144: While it was 9 months ago and memory is fuzzy, I don't recall thinking this was ARPG territory at all but closer in inspiration to a non-ARPG isometric like BG/IWD, albeit with a slightly different UI for targeting.
The Gamecard says it's real-time with tactical pause.
However, the trailer (which shows no paused combat?) gave the impression, it plays like a real-time aRPG, or a hack'n'slash a la Diablo.

To be sure, I watched a gameplay video, and (what the trailer doesn't reveal) the game pauses automatically, whenever a combat begins, giving you the opportunity to give orders to your party members.
Which is not quite as good as turn-based, but still better than actual real-time.

Maybe I should give it a chance.
Posted March 10, 2018
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tarasis: Have ABZÛ on Steam, its a delightful & beautiful experience; particularly if you can play it on a huge screen. Complimented perfectly with Austin Wintory's music.

As GOG aren't (yet?) selling the music, you can get it https://austinwintory.bandcamp.com/album/abz
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MobiusArcher: You can also get it on CD. I saw it on Amazon, and added to my wish-list. The digital version you linked to is less than half the price though, and it is available in FLAC, so... Thanks for the link!
Glad it was helpful.

I'm actually subscribed to Austin's music releases, for 25$ or more per year you get a copy of each release that year, copy of most/all of his back-catalogue, plus streaming.

I love Bandcamp, download in the format of your choice(s) (FLAC, ALAC, MP3, MP4...), stream it whenever you want via the mobile app and the artist gets more of the money.
Posted March 10, 2018
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bler144: While it was 9 months ago and memory is fuzzy, I don't recall thinking this was ARPG territory at all but closer in inspiration to a non-ARPG isometric like BG/IWD, albeit with a slightly different UI for targeting.
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BreOl72: The Gamecard says it's real-time with tactical pause.
However, the trailer (which shows no paused combat?) gave the impression, it plays like a real-time aRPG, or a hack'n'slash a la Diablo.

To be sure, I watched a gameplay video, and (what the trailer doesn't reveal) the game pauses automatically, whenever a combat begins, giving you the opportunity to give orders to your party members.
Which is not quite as good as turn-based, but still better than actual real-time.

Maybe I should give it a chance.
There is an option in the menu where you can pause on combat initiation. Otherwise it's real time, and you can press space at any time to pause.
Posted March 10, 2018
I'm tempted to buy all three, they all seem interesting in their own ways, even if there may be issues with replay value and length... I'll have to think about this a bit longer.

Ember I'll probably buy anyway for that price, sounds verrrrry agreeable to me.
Posted March 10, 2018
Abzu is absolutely worth the price based on artistic merits alone. It is extremely short for a modern game, but it has features like Meditation Mode where you can watch the fish swimming around in different areas.

Ember, my friend bought for me on Steam for Christmas, but I haven't gotten very far into it. Might have to rebuy those two, I don't know anything about the third game.
Posted March 11, 2018
I am so pleasantly surprised to see Last Day of June appear on GOG. While it might seem a bit self-serving, I wrote a review of this game back in September when it first released on PS4 for Geeks WorldWide. I will link it here in case anyone is curious. Don't worry, it's as spoiler free as I could manage while still having something to talk about. If you'd rather not click the link, I will sum up my thoughts here:

This game is absolutely beautiful in every measurable way. It is among only a few works of fiction that have brought me to tears. While the game can be finished in about three hours, the experience makes it easily worth the sale price. I highly recommend picking this up.
Posted March 11, 2018
I have Ember already on Steam. Bought it there last year for a low price. Hope it will be added to gog connect as well, but i guess that's not gonna happen soon. Ember is a nice small rpg.
Posted March 11, 2018
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Posted March 12, 2018
these games look good. i'm concerned abzu may be lacking in content looking at its size.
Posted March 12, 2018
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Fairfox: i want to swim with fish an' they tell me they love me. i really want it.
Reminds me of the time in an aquarium world, where you can see a random diver meandering around the fishes and the sharks (small ones), and they'd give him curious pokes, before trailing off to their destinations.
Posted March 12, 2018
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nightcraw1er.488: So, I made the plunge and brought Ember... It is missing a button for highlight loot around you.

...I still haven't found or how to control each character, the main one always leads and if you choose to be an archer that means you always walk into the enemies first, quite annoying
Not sure if you've found this out yet but if you press the 'Tab' button once when you load the game then items are highlighted when you are near them. Also if you set the game up to auto pause you can then target the enemy from a distance which is useful if you have a magic user or archer build.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionRelease: ABZÛ & Last Day of June & Ember(62 posts)(62 posts)
(62 posts)