I’d prefer to simply agree with you. ;)
My brother… :)
My sentiments exactly. And since you don’t rush to the endboss in any given RPG but instead level up first that’s what I do. I hope that works out somehow. I am still on my balanced-difficulty-game and doing okay so far. Just leveling up, grind xp and materials as far as possible, doing the quests nearby and preparing for the big quests and foes to come.
Has Owned by Gravity or THQ called it a 4x game, or is that just everyone else trying to find a label for it?
The “About the Game” section on Steam just says:
In this turn-based strategy game set in the fantastic world of SpellForce, take up the mantle of your master as the heir to his mysterious wizard’s tower.
In this magical world, you don the robes of a mage on a quest for power. But what kind of wizard would leave his trusty tower behind? Your sorcerous spire functions as a mobile base of operations as you set out to explore the world of SpellForce in search of ancient secrets and powerful artefacts.
Make the journey from the humble beginnings of your old master’s small wizard tower and explore the lands of Eo in your quest for magical might in this ever-changing strategy role-playing game. Face off against competing factions and send your armies and heroes across the land as you build up your knowledge and magic to become the most powerful mage of all time.
SpellForce: Conquest of Eo will be available for PC. The game will feature epic single-player adventures. With procedurally generated campaigns, different mage classes and randomly picked opponents, it offers a high replayability value.*
That’s from the first annoucement in September 2022 on Steam. It does not mention “4X” anywhere and the description hardly sounds like one.
Their marketing hasn’t done them any favors, imo. Where’s all the “groundbreaking”, “innovative”, “visually stunning” catch phrases?
I don’t think so, it’s just the description people jump to when they see the screenshots because that’s what it looks like on the surface. And as I realized yesterday, it still technically is a 4X, just not a traditional one.
I’m good with this description. And frankly, it’s what I wish Disciples: Liberation would have been with its attempt to move to be more RPG and less strategy. This is sooo much better than that.
The game has 4X mechanics in service to an RPG structure.
Not only will I not, that’s kind of what I was trying to impart before launch - it’s not really a 4X game so much as a strategy RPG, maybe? I had a hard time articulating it, and still would if asked.
It’s a great game, I really enjoy each time I fire it up and put another 45-90 minutes in. I had to start over early on due to strange issues with quest locations and the Red circle mage lady (the Demon one) getting upset with me, and then my second game was going so much better but ultimately she’s doing to war with me and I’m struggling to get her off my back by taking out her incoming stack. I don’t have enough mana to get my tower up and moved away from her, even after selling most of my mana-based materials, but I do have a good three stacks approaching 800 power each - I think if I can hold off her advancing units I’ll be okay to keep going, though I’ll lose some incredible units doing so. We’ll see how it goes.
But she has crazy units, including a Tier 4 that is astronomically crazy stats wise, and I saved and quit for the night instead of dealing with that nonesense. I like the game a lot, it’s a bit like a Sorcer King where the enemy units are super powerful and should be feared until you are ready to tackle them. I think I got up in her grill too many times, as she kept taking my 10 point Allfire node and I kept taking it back. Maybe I should have just let her have it…
Kind of reminds me of a strategy game from the 90s where there weren’t many genre norms to be bound by and you saw lots of different takes.
What is the RPG aspect of this game that people are talking about? While I do pick a class, there is very little choice after that. The quests are more like: Do them or do not do them and seem to have no actual impact in the world. IE: Do not find the thieves. Nothing happens if you do not finish that or let them go.
I certainly see the 4x mechanics, but not so much on the RPG. While you do make choices in the “story”, they are meaningless as far as I can tell. Side with the dwarves or elves? Does it matter?
You pick a character, level up different skills (your castle, your armies, etc.), loot stuff, get rewards and experience some sort of coherent story/adventure playing the curcial part. Pretty RPG to me.
With most of your progress being guided by quests. Sure, they aren’t super fulfilling or especially impactful quests, but if that’s the bar then lots of RPGs aren’t RPGs. I think the Hero quests are pretty interesting, I wish the apprentices had their own little storylines too.
I do think they could play up some of the reputation tradeoffs a bit more. I know there is an area where lots of things you do for one city will upset the other and vice versa, but it doesn’t seem like it’s enough to stop you from ending up friendly with both.
The difference I see is that in a normal RPG you pick skills or maybe pick what spells to get. In this game it is all random. In this game, when you do the library quest or investigate a tower, you get a spell page. Do you get a choice in what kind? No. It is random. Nearly everything is random as far as what you get. Your only choice is what spells to research out of the basic assigned ones or randomly given ones.
This is hardly RPG territory, but 4x territory. For me to qualify for to be an RPG, you need at least one of:
- Flexible character builds with a lot of user choice.
- A lot of world / moral choices that actually matter and affect the game world in meaningful ways beyond what a 4x game offers. IE: Deciding who to ally with and who to war with is a 4x choice, not an RPG choice.
In addition to the mechanical aspects of what defines a traditional video-game RPG, you can RPG in that it lets you do some light role-playing, as well. You can make choices during many of the events that pop up, you can be kind of an evil wizard or a kind hearted one, and you can make friends with the circle mages or intentionally antagonize them. Stuff like that.
I figured out the Kings keep thing. There was a “new quest” in the merchant area to go see the king, which I did. I can now get my extra proficiency from the kings keep, however, I thought there was a new room unlock like a dwarven vault or something. I do not see that for sale anywhere.
I though you collected it from the kings keep, but apparently not.
I just want to say Halberdiers are incredibly strong.
PSA: “Get a hero to level 15 “ means get your one and only hero to level 15, Not the apprentice you start with. I should have realized that from the rest of the sentence… “And complete their story. “
Oh well, now at revered with seven cities. I wonder at what point the circle mages will start attacking. i’ve been playing the explorer mode and so far is simply staying out of their territory has kept them appeased. if I make it through to the end Of this game then next time I will try the next difficulty up.
In your grimoire there’s a page with requirements to kill 10 dwarves and mine 10 ore nodes. I think you get the dwarven vault when you finish that task.