I’m on the first level of the tower, my guys are level 4 (Kane), level 3( Maeve), and level 2 (Aeric). Playing on hard and got stuck for the first time. I have a lot of the map cleared and 3 fights available - which are kicking my butt. I’m going to need to take a closer look and see if I need to swap out some skills or equipment.
As far as the game goes, I like it so far. It focuses on one thing mainly - giving well crafted battles. There are some systems to support customizing skills and equipment, but the battles have been cool. The story is fine but really isn’t making or breaking the game so far.
I’ve been playing some more and just got past the Trials level (that one took a while). I mostly like the game but there are a handful of things that keep it from being top notch. Playing on hard…
What I like about the game:
The bullet time when paused.
Need to pay some attention to positioning to make sure squishy characters stay safe and the game gives the player fun tools to help with that.
It’s attractive, so it’s nice to check out the environments.
A little variety with the combat types.
Some things I don’t like about the game…
My success is strongly tied to whether I adjust my equipment pre battle. Not every battle requires this. My typical flow is: win fight, win fight, lose fight. Start fight again and take closer look that elemental resistances for enemies. Give party weapons that do better against those resistances. Win fight. I generally don’t need to rethink my tactics, just my equipment.
Some backtracking required to other levels. Not horrible but the couple times it’s happened it was a little annoying.
The puzzles are mostly just a bit of busywork, like ringing the gongs in the right order. I mean, the game tells you what you need to do but the player just needs to do the legwork of running around and determining the right order using trial and error.
So, for those who have made it farther than me - any interesting wrinkles get added after where I am? I felt like I’ve seen enough if the game stays basically the same. I don’t regret my time with this, I got it on sale - so even if I don’t play any more I feel I got my money’s worth.
It seems like armor penetration is king for characters who deal physical damage. Pretty much all enemies have quite a bit of armor.
Yeah, I agree with all that, @robc04! But I like the things you listed as don’t-likes.
But what do you mean by ‘Trials level’? Do you mean the challenges you pick up along the way and then access from the main menu? I haven’t tried any of those yet… just want to play through the campaign as is.
I’m on floor 5 and just defeated a big boss to open up the second half of the level. When I first tried fighting it, I got stomped and thought NOPE NO WAY could I handle that fight. Then I wandered around and realized I wasn’t going to find any more battles or forges or blueprints to get stronger. So I carefully re-outfitted my weapons and gear and re-specced my character skills, thinking through the interplay of skills, position play, and mob control. (So far I’ve been sticking with the first four characters and not bothering with the ones who join later.)
Well, I went from getting stomped 5 or 6 times in a row to stomping him. It was a long fight, mostly handled in slow-mo, but I figured out an approach that worked. It was a great feeling about halfway through the fight when I went from thinking I was doomed to realizing I was untouchable. Not only was I whittling down the enemy, I was keeping all my characters alive and fully healed and mana-ed up even in the midst of large area attacks with Daze effects, rushing mobs, etc. It was just super satisfying to put together a winning strategy, especially when it seemed impossible at first. (I’m also playing on hard, btw.)
Oh, and it seemed like I might have missed something that would have allowed me to find a non-combat solution to that obstacle. Like maybe there was a puzzle I never figured out.
So I’m not sure if any of that would count as an interesting wrinkle but I’m still hooked! Again, in contrast to Pillars, Divinity, etc, there’s something appealing about knowing ahead of time that there are just 7 self-contained, interior levels to explore and then I’m done. No wandering through the vast wilderness here, folks. It’s like reading The Hobbit instead of committing to the whole Rings trilogy. Or something. Plus the tower levels are all fairly distinctive so exploration has stayed interesting to me.
Maybe the closest thing to an interesting wrinkle is the subtle lore about human technology and some modern-world details in the fantasy. That’s been building as I go. Then there’s this whole “you” character…
It’s funny, because I like winning because I respec my skills - probably because it doesn’t feel tedious to do so. Hovering over the different inventory items though, and comparing them to each other - that feels tedious to me. If they could improve that process then I don’t think I’d mind it.
I agree, that it is a nice change of pace to play something not so epic where I could just focus on the basics.
For me, Druidstone is filling the niche better than Tower of Time did because the game is:
Turn based with movement and action points.
The focus is on using a handful of skills intelligently with my 3 characters instead of juggling inventory.
Positioning matters (as it does in Tower of Time).
I’m just going from battle to battle so far, without anything that feels like filler.
I’m glad Tower of Time is working for you! It’s not bad to me, just has some annoying parts that I need to take a break from. I’d recommend trying Druidstone when you’re done with ToT, unless you hate turn based.
Glad to hear it! I actually picked up Druidstone today thinking it might scratch a similar itch.
Another thing I like in ToT… even though I’m sticking with the first four characters, the rest of the new additions still tag along and participate in what’s happening. Other games make me feel like I’m missing out when I don’t add a character to my party.
True, that is a nice addition. I did switch out the dwarf for the shadow lady because I needed a different type of damage and then just left her in the party. She can hit pretty hard. But, now I only have one tank.
This was a GOG free giveaway recently so I grabbed it and got around to starting it yesterday. I finished the first floor last night and so far I’ve been very impressed. To me, it’s very fun. Quite polished and a lot of care went into it. After reviewing the thread above I’m guessing I will continue to love this as I get deeper into the game. I actually like having respec as needed and I don’t mind equipment adjusting. So far my impression is very positive.
