This was mentioned in the Epic store thread, but looks worth keeping an eye on regardless of platform.
Damn, that looks pretty.
Blobber? Is that a term that means first person party based RPG?
Yes.
For some reason, it looks to me like Bard’s Tale 4 (which I’m interested in, but isn’t on Xbox). Is that accurate for those that have played it?
Yes, they’re definitely in the same general genre, and the Bard’s Tale series is considered (along with Wizardry and Might & Magic) one of the foundations of that genre.
However, BT 4 dropped the grid-based exploration in favor of more freeform walking. It also went super heavy on logic puzzles. Should be broadly similar other than those points.
Yeah, I grew up playing the BT games (C64 rulez, yo!) and I knew that about BT4. But it looks like this is freeform, too, and I saw puzzles in the video? That’s why I said they looked similar.
Speaking of, on one replied to this on the Epic thread:
OT, but, from the whole genre, what’s the best game? And from the last 10 years?
I think I only played Lands of Lore 1 :)
The trailer looked grid-based to me – I didn’t see any walking at an angle from the path, and you can clearly see a grid-based minimap during exploration.
And yeah, some degree of puzzles has always been part of the genre so it’s not surprising to see some in the trailer. It just felt like BT4 made them a large chunk of the playtime rather than an occasional palate cleanser between fighting and dungeon-crawling.
Can’t be confident about either of those though, just based on what I can see in the trailer.
I totally glossed over the minimap! You’re probably right. Haven’t played a game like this in a long time.
I haven’t played many.
M&M V is my favorite, but I have only played a limited set of this genre, so maybe I missed out on a better one.
Personally I didn’t like M&M 6 through 8, and it’s changes that allowed for real time combat to save time.
What I’ve played so far of M&M X is nice.
I’d concur with M&M IV + V: World of Xeen as my overall favorite. And M&M X as the best from the last 10 years. Bard’s Tale IV is solid, though I burnt out partway through.
If you’re open to portables, then the Etrian Odyssey series is excellent.
For real-time grid-based games (i.e. descendants of Dungeon Master), probably Legend of Grimrock or Legend of Grimrock 2. The second is arguably better than the first, which is sadly unusual in sequels these days. It is certainly more expansive than the first, but the first is more tightly focused and closer to the flavor and feel of Dungeon Master.
I have played a lot of Starcrawlers, which adds a nice “one more mission” roguelike aspect to the mix. Combat is not real-time so no square-dancing… turn based combat makes it closer to Wizardary lineage. Instead of a single dungeon decent, the game has procedurally generated missions. These tend to be small bite-sized areas perfect for single session of play. The main storyline uses hand-built levels, which are spread out across the leveling curve as story-beats.
Fall of the Dungeon Guardians. is an interesting take on the genre that I am still not certain about. This uses a very different combat model: real-time, but using a MMO skills dmg-heal-tank trinity approach. No grid-dancing, and with boss-fights. This game has an engaged developer who still actively balances and maintains the game.
Finally, over Christmas, I also played Infinite Adventures, which feels a lot more rough than the above titles. This is a standard start at the top and work your way to the bottom of the dungeon, but with some reasonable NPC interaction and a tiny bit of resource gathering. Item drops are materials only which are used to “craft” weapon in town. Probably not a game I will play a second time, but seems good for what it is (maybe a bit too long, though).
Thanks for the info! I only played Eye of the Beholder… II, I think, on the Amiga as well as Dungeons of Avalon and, hmm, I suppose Hired Guns. I own Grimrock so that’s good.
It got reviewed by a reasonable german magazine, 85% (4players.de). First time I heard of it. Nice surprise! And it looks so pretty and combat’s turn based…I thought. Maybe something new and shiny for the weekend I thought…
…so I directly went to Steam to check out the user reviews… ah, there was something, wasn’t it. Mhm.
What?
The dev was on DLC recently. Jeff seems to like it a lot.
You gain a nomination for 2019 post lacking crucial information. After that preamble, care to tell us what there is?
I’ve been looking forward to it. Was planning to download it later today.
I think that Gingerturtle went to check out the steam reviews and found out that the game isn’t out yet. But that’s just my theory.
Oh. That would make sense. Did it go exclusive to Epic? I’m planning to play on Xbox personally.