I like it, still on my first adventure, but this game must have most dog kills … they should make the dogs more nasty looking
I think one of the best abilities in the game is the double-shot pistol ability. The description says you use it to target and shoot two different enemies but I found you can also target and shoot the same enemy twice, which is a lot more useful since it pretty much guarantees a kill every time.
The sniper class is ridiculously weak. Now that the enemies have more HP, my sniper can’t even take out a dog. He’s better off running up and attacking enemies with his knife since that does a lot more damage. What were they thinking? As it stands, he’s pretty much only useful as CC since his ambush ability stops attacks in their tracks. I keep hoping there’s a sniper rifle out there that does decent damage but I haven’t seen one yet.
I’m wondering why they didn’t include more variety of enemies. It seems like nomadic tribe bandits in that desert setting would be a no-brainer, for example. And you could have giant scorpions or spiders in the tombs. Or even snakes, given the Indiana Jones vibe. I’m guessing that the pixel art may have been the limiter there. Maybe that’s more expensive to churn out and animate than 3D assets would have been?
I did manage to finish the second adventure on my first go. The ending way very much in the spirit of the first Indiana Jones movie. They’ve nailed that vibe pretty well in this game.
Overall, so far the my biggest disappointment has been the unexciting loot. Finding really cool stuff or equipment to use should be one of the most exciting parts of the game but it’s just not.
Totally agree on the sniper. I think that’s all solved with a better sniper rifle, but I can’t find one yet either. Most of my other characters have gotten noticeably better with weapon upgrades, but my sniper is still using the same piece of junk he started the game with.
And yeah, enemy variety for sure would be an easy way to improve combat. Loot variety might be harder to pull off without redoing the existing inventory system?
The sniper has a perk that reduces his effectiveness against Nazis, further making actual sniping sort of pants.
I bought the game at release because there weren’t a whole lot of tactics games at the time. (At least a dozen have been released since then.) But the reviews said there were issues with basic mechanics, and there was a lack of depth/variety in general. This is just from memory.
At least they didn’t remove dogs from the game entirely. I mean, what the game really needs is one fewer enemy units.
Ugh. Well, in that regard, Pathway is a huge improvement. I didn’t get much of a puzzle sense from any of the missions. I’ll take simplistic over puzzle any day!
Hmm, I wonder if I complain about the game including Nazis, they’ll add an option to remove those. Pathway without dogs or Nazis would make for pretty snappy pacing!
-Tom
I may get the game because it’s cheap and because I’m not lagging four years behind everyone experiencing the game for the first time. (I’m looking at you, The Witcher 3!)
Actually, I’ve been using Ruth as my sniper instead of the Baron. She comes equipped with a handgun but if you look at her skills she specializes in multiple weapons and the sniper rifle is her best weapon. She doesn’t have the penalty against Nazis so that helps.
Also, I actually found a nice blue sniper rifle last night with more damage which helps a lot.
You can get a purple sniper rifle as a trophy reward by killing 100 enemies with that weapon type.
I’m enjoying this so far, but there are some significant UI oversights:
-
It’s OK that they just added a confirmation click for movement, but why not a simple UNDO function too?
-
Why oh why is there no way to manage and edit characters and pre-loads from the main screen instead of having to start a mission to do it? That makes hard to manage your gear across everyone.
-
Related note: why no button to remove gear from everyone before a mission so that you can give the best stuff to the people you are taking for the current mission? XCom has the right idea here
-
It’d be nice if the cover system showed when you were exposed on a given side the way XCom does. Right now you have to guess if you’ve been quite flanked
-
The combat system would be enhanced by overwatch fire and reserve points. I guess they don’t because it would radically change the balance and clutter up a simple system. But it does kind of feel missing
-
A vertical axis and related sight bonuses would be nice too, but see above. Might take the beer / pretzels quality from a simple system.
Thanks,
Diego
Probably the same reason there’s no UNDO in Xcom. When you move, you gain information. Undoing the move doesn’t erase the information you’ve learned.
Wait, what? Please tell me where I can see this! I’ve been Xcomming wrong!
Eh, I thought this at first, but it would just give the player an additional advantage in the already cakewalk combat. Pathway’s combat needs more interesting decisions, rather than just importing familiar combat conventions because we’re used to them.
There is a version of overwatch in the game. Not everyone can do it, but those with sniper rifles/or relevant skill can do it. The character can spend some bravery points, you pick a firing arc that they focus on and if an enemy crosses into that arc your character takes a shot during the enemy movement phase.
So it is less pronounced than something like XCOM, but it is in the game.
Those are really good points guys.
I hadn’t gotten far enough to realize that a variety of overwatch is unlocked later.
Also: Believe I remember that in XCom you can tell when you are flanked from one side by a red-colored shield icon.
Diego
I don’t think flanking is a thing in Pathway - you are shown the icons for which directions you have protection (N,S,E, or W) and if you are attacked from any other direction, you have no protection. A lack of an icon is all you really need.
I finished the 3rd adventure last night (Black Pharaoh). It was only 2 maps which I wasn’t expecting. I’d loaded up on gas and ammo right before the end of the second map, expecting a third, but that was the end. It was actually a pretty fun adventure with lots of undead in it.
I wonder if you get paid back for the extra fuel and ammo you have at the end of missions? If not, I wasted a lot of cash for nothing. No matter how much I end a mission with, I always start the next one at 10 fuel and 40 ammo. I’ve upgraded my max ammo to 70 but it hardly seems worth it due to nothing carrying over.
I’ve unlocked most of the characters now. Georgette seems to be the best sniper and I’ve been using her heavily. Annabelle is a very good pistol users with a lot of mobility. I just started using Brunhilda to level her up to the point she gets to use shotguns. She’s a good tank. I’m trying to unlock Shani and Le Fantôme but that’s been quite a chore.
Having 2 pistol users in your party can be very effective with both having double shot. It’s so good I gave Annabelle +1 Wisdom on level-up so she has 4 bravery points and can use double-shot twice.
Still enjoying this.
At about 5 hours, I’m not sure I’m all that attached to playing more. It’s not that it’s a bad playing experience, but I’m not finding it magnetic enough to keep me playing. In all fairness, “simple fun” isn’t usually why I play games, so I might not be the target audience.
I could see me continuing on now and then when I’m in the right mood, and it’d be easy to pick up where I left off. So maybe it’s something that I’ll chip away at over a month or so rather than focus on for a week.
So this may be an idiotic question.
How does one pick a skill in the skill tree? Does it need to happen after an adventure concludes? I am in the middle of an adventure and it looks like I unlocked the first tier (characters leveled up) but any type of clicks or UI manipulation doesn’t seem to select or activate a skill.
You can activate it mid-adventure.
Going from memory, but I thought I just clicked on the grayed out box for whatever skill you want to select. Maybe I selected a “Level Up” box before that, that sits below the traits? Sorry, that might not be that helpful.
Thanks, I will have to poke around some more. Maybe I missed a “Level Up” box as you noted. I can open the skill tree and see that one tier is now unlocked, but I cannot do anything (L-Click, R-Click, etc.)
Haven’t been able to get back to this until tonight, but still really enjoying it. Not the most complex game, but the atmosphere and the variability between characters/weapons has been keeping it fresh for me.