This and Dark Envoy announced here on same day is amazing, wishlisting both in my quest to play every cRPG release !, turn based is a plus.

This is also very interesting, certainly there is fierce competition in fantasy RPGs lately. I find it hard to believe that people can play all these games.

No, CRPGs were not always about the story; Wizardry didn't have much of a story, and I think Ultima didn't either.

In a CRPG, story is, at best, a "spice", and at worst, an annoyance that makes it take longer to get to the actual gameplay.

In fact, I would say that story is not a CRPG element, but rather a Visual Novel element that happens to have become common in CRPGs.

In any case, if story is your primary concern when choosing a game, maybe you should look into Visual Novels?

(I've actually been playing Final Fantasy 5 with a mod that eliminates the cutscenes, and have been enjoying the gameplay as always for that game without the annoyance of having to sit through cutscenes like the 7 minute one at the end of world 1.)

Except for the fact that strategy games always have tactical combat by definition, and I actually prefer non-tactical turn-based RPG combat.

It looks nice, but it needs more cats.

Looks interesting. Wishlisted.

btw: Why does it always has to be the rather boring D&D rulesets? Why not The Dark Eye's one for a change?

Maybe you like loud noises and flashy cinematics, I want to actually see the game and what it offers.

Many isometric turn-based release lately.
But I'm not complaining.

Why not go with something even more interesting, maybe something like what you'd expect in a SaGa game?

(Also, classes other than the ones you see all the time, and races that don't play like humans.)

"limited combat"? I'm not sure how "limited" is being defined. All of those examples were filled with combat. IWD especially was essentially a long series of encounters with brief bits of story between maps. It was more a combat slog than a story (not that I didn't enjoy IWD1&2 -- I actually liked the simpler story). The only limited combat rpg I can think of is Tides of Numenera.

This is my first hearing of this game. Looks like 3.5 rules. I loved these sorts of games back in the day. Gold box games have some great memories but I don't have the time to sink 150hrs into a complex rpg like I did back in the day. I just don't have the mental bandwidth for it anymore. I need games I can come back to after 2 months and not be overwhelmed with what I'd forgotten. :P

Hope this game finds a good audience though.

I believe that when this started development not only were 80s crpg inspired games not as prevalent as now (still feels like 90s gets more love,) but the OGL boom wasn't nearly as big as it is right now (I mean we have two 5e games coming within a year, and KotC2 exists.)

While combat is most likely the focus, when I was searching for discussions on character reactivity in rpgs, I found an article about this very game, and how the developers were making sure such a thing was a part. So yes there should be reactivity and c&c in this game, but we'll see.

As for story v. combat, a game with good combat and little/no story is still enjoyable, the other is not true. Especially if you are a literate book reader with hyperphantasia. If you have aphantasia, and are illiterate, maybe watch a movie? But seriously even the best story focused games are gamified, like Disco and good adventure games.

And if you hang around rpg communities long enough, you will noticed the most liked Infinity Engine game is oft BG2. Why, because most people want a mix of story and gameplay. Look at Swordflight which did both rather well, but because it has actual difficulty, people see it as combat focused when in fact it's biggest inspiration is Baldur's Gate.

Also IWD has a good classic S&S story, it's just not the focus. But then again, I'm the person who played Bloodlines for the gameplay. And I still see Strife more as an adventure game than an rpg.

You do realize that in "role playing" games, both crpgs and ttrpgs, your goal is to play a "role" of another person in a story or situation created by gamemaster (ttrpg) /developer (crpg)?

There's not much of a "role" in a combat, if the combat is not linked to a story (and as addition to it). I never played Wizardy series, so I can't say if you are correct, but I've finished Ultima 8 Pagan and there was a story I liked and it was a fine example of a crpg.

And if you say I should play Visual Novel, then I say why not, I'd rather play VN (or point'n'click adventure) than "crpg" without a story. My main concern with VN is that most of them contain that Japanese aestethics I can't stand.

And I'm fine with that, but that's something you should expect from a gamplay, not from a trailer.
You are correct, those games were filled with combat (as I pointed with "there's a lot of it, but it's quick", and that's what I meant by limited - when a combat is short (like in Infinity Games with RTWP) and it doesn't interrupt the gameplay.

In case of, for example, ToEE, small combat could take 10 minutes or more. And while I have nothing against big fights taking a lot of time, small enemies should take just a few seconds.

This is obviously connected to a turn based combat, which I despise a lot.

On the other had when we speak about the best crpgs - there are none that focus on the combat, and only those with great stories are considered as the finest crpgs ever made.

I like the cut of its jib, so I put it on my wishlist. That said, it does have a bit of a Pillars of Eternity vibe to me in that it seems like the developers went out of their way to give it as generic a high fantasy setting as they could (Elves! Orcs! Dwarves! Half-orcs!). Not a dealbreaker but I'm still wishing we could get more RPGs that go more for their own particular flavor.

You do realize that, despite the name, CRPGs have never actually been about what you're calling "role playing"?

Also, you do realize that most games have you play the role of a character, even those that clearly aren't RPGs (like Super Mario Bros. 1, where you play the role of Mario)?

The way I see it, combat isn't an interruption to the gameplay; it *is* the gameplay. It's the non-combat things, particularly story sequences, that are interruptions to the gameplay.

Like Blackguards and Blackguards 2. Recommended.


In Blackguards, pick the already made Hunter. Seriously. That is what the game was designed to play with.