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Post by WickedCrustacean on Apr 24, 2024 20:24:55 GMT -5
Don't think we ever mentioned this game here, just saw it in Early Access on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1812450/Bellwright/Mostly positive reviews so far, but it's pretty raw. Seems similar to Medieval Dynasty somewhat, a survival type game set in the middle ages. I am a huge fan of all these historical games all of a sudden, hopefully enough of them will do well to keep the setting going.
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Post by Tig on Apr 24, 2024 22:14:13 GMT -5
Very cool looking. A bit like Mount & Blade. I'll definitely keep an eye out.
I still haven't tried Medieval Dynasty. It looks fun but after The Forest and other games, I'm kind of burned out on survival games.
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Post by Mako on Apr 24, 2024 23:11:38 GMT -5
I don't remember how or when I found this, but I'd already put it on my wishlist. Maybe during the winter sale when you go through the discovery que?
Debating right now about picking it up. I've watched a little bit of streamers playing it and it looks fun. It's still early access and unpolished, but very much the type of game I've been looking for for some time. A survival where you build your way up and gather companions to help you, building both a village and an army. Also supposed to have co-op, though I haven't found any details about that yet.
First streamer I watched didn't seem to really be interested in it to begin with, was doing some dumb things and got frustrated and quit. Second one is having much more fun. Dying a lot, but learning and having fun.
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Post by fantasiawht on Apr 25, 2024 7:01:17 GMT -5
I'm not sure what would tempt me into paying to beta test a game, but this sure isn't it.
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Post by WickedCrustacean on Apr 25, 2024 15:55:54 GMT -5
I usually just follow the Early Access games if I am interested, and then buy them later on, once they are more cooked. Unfortunately, too many failed/abandoned efforts along the way to go in early. But there is a huge difference between them, some EA games are actually very feature rich, others seem like cash-grab skeletons of a game.
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Post by Mako on Apr 26, 2024 8:19:07 GMT -5
Okay, I ended up grabbing this the other night and have played it a lot yesterday.
Maybe it's because so many games are released in unfinished states today, but so far it's actually been very good. I haven't come across any major missing features yet (at least that make the game non-playable, or get you stuck). It runs well. I did crash at one point, but that was after playing it like a marathon for a very long period without a break and I needed to reboot my PC (didn't before I started playing).
I would describe this as sort of an Fallout/Morrowind RPG quests, mixed with the combat of Mount & Blade (without horses - for now - there are rumors they will add them eventually), plus some micromanagement of NPCs builder game.
Without going into too much detail, the story is that you are an exile that comes back to their homeland that has been taken over by an evil monarch, to discover what really happened. You have to build up a camp, recruit NPCs to join your cause, and earn the trust of the locals. To do this you can get quests from the locals that when completed give earn their trust and give you rewards.
There is a lot of resource farming, as you need to research to build things or craft items, and then to actually build and craft them. Hiring NPCs helps with this, as you have three orders you can give to them. I've only used two so far. First, you can have them set as a companion that will travel and fight with you. Second, you can put them as workers in your camp where they will do the research for new things, and gather resources and build things. Honestly I mostly use them in this fashion as it allows me to go out and explore while they take care of the camp. I can't remember off-hand what the third option is since I haven't used it. You can also have multiple camps, which helps as you can have say a mining camp near resources.
I'm only still fairly early on with things, so not sure how well it's all been fleshed out in the later game. When I finished playing yesterday I did hit a point where I need to pause and build up before continuing the main quest, as that requires me to attack a heavily fortified bandit camp. I took two of my companions (I have five total, left the others to tend camp), and we were outnumbered and beaten badly. There were probably 8-10 bandits plus some small 2-3 man patrols. I definitely need to train them in combat a little first, and especially make sure they are well equipped. Not sure if they are "dead", or what. That may be the first "bug" I've come across. Need to check it out more.
Also, even though this is completely fictional, it has - at least so far - no magic or unrealistic fantasy stuff. Kind of like M&B, with a fictional, but somewhat historically accurate depiction.
It's giving me pretty much all the things I enjoy doing in games. I get to quest and explore, build my camp and craft items, and let's me manage NPCs and the various buildings. A win all around for what I look for in a time killer game.
There is co-op already listed in the menu, but I've only played the single player game. So not sure on that at all yet.
Oh, and the graphics are amazing! I turned them all the way up (probably played a part in my crash), and wow! I went off exploring in one direction in the mountains where I found a beautiful valley. It was breathtaking. I'll have to see if I can grab some screenshots at some point.
I'm also very hesitant with early access games, but so far this one has been well worth the price. So long as there are no major bugs or issues, and they keep fixing and adding things, it's definitely a game that will keep me busy.
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Post by WickedCrustacean on Apr 26, 2024 16:03:27 GMT -5
Wow, that's great to hear! I had hopes for this one based on what I saw, but didn't expect it to be good already. Hmmm, kinda tempted to get it now, but I also have a giant backlog of games I am trying to play through... Decisions, decisions..
P.S. When you say the combat is like Mount & Blade, can you elaborate? Do they have directional blocking in melee? Combos?
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Post by Mako on Apr 26, 2024 16:25:02 GMT -5
Yes, directional combat just like M&B. You swing from left, right, or above. Also blocking like M&B.
I'm still learning the game, and finding things that help and improve gameplay.
Oh, and the third option for NPCs is "guard". Haven't used that yet, but I'm guessing you just assign them to defend something.
The biggest thing I've found so far is the NPCs can sometimes get stuck. I built my settlement right beneath a ruined tower you start at, and there is a path that leads to a dead end at the one side. The NPCs sometimes go there and just keep trying to go forward against the wall. Sometimes it resets if you "sleep", and sometimes they still are there. Usually they get hungry and angry from it, too. Giving them some food can help. It's like they are protesting or something. haha
If I restart the game I'll probably build my settlement somewhere else because of this. It's too bad, as it gives me protection on the one side. I might build in that valley I was talking about instead, though there aren't a whole lot of resources there, so I don't know...
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Post by Mako on Apr 28, 2024 11:15:57 GMT -5
Found out some more info about co-op. It is just four players, and one player has to "host" it with a direct connection, but you essentially get to play the game with three other people. Including quests and everything. Just all quests count just once and all of the experience/faction points/gold/etc. is shared among all players. There is no PvP, just PvE.
Kind of playing blind learning my way through still. Learning quite a bit and getting better. My brother is in town this weekend, though, so not getting to play much at all.
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Post by Mako on Apr 30, 2024 10:45:39 GMT -5
Some screenshots from the game. The first is a mountain view during winter that I thought was really cool while out exploring. The lakes and rivers are frozen and showing blue. The next two are from my base. The first shows the tower ruins I built nearby in the background. The second a view looking out from my base.
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Post by WickedCrustacean on Apr 30, 2024 16:00:50 GMT -5
Wait, you built tower ruins?
Looks very nice. I was considering getting it, the only thing that stopped me was some Steam comments said that studio kinda abandoned some of their earlier games before completion. So I dunno, maybe I will wait a bit to make sure they are really trying to finish this one. Otherwise looks very fun.
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Post by Mako on Apr 30, 2024 16:21:07 GMT -5
No, the tower ruins are part of the game world. It's where you start the game. The story behind it is that it was the warning bell tower for a town near where you start the game, and the town your character is originally from. I've built my starting base up around the bottom of it, on the side of a hill. You can only go in the base of the tower and not up into it (at least so far). I have found other stone ruins (not towers) as I've been exploring the game world, many of which are occupied by bandits.
Yeah, that's the only thing that has me worried is their history with games in the past. Though the game is already in a good, playable condition, and they are putting out at least one patch a day since release. So far so good...
Also, the other games had servers and PvP. This game is PvE only, and either single player or co-op with one player hosting the game. So hopefully less chance of it being affected even if they do abandon the game at some point.
Much of the game world has bandit camps and small groups of bandits wandering around. This is much of the regular combat you do early on. You also can fight/hunt wolves and boards, and also deer, and rabbits that you can hunt or trap for food and hide/fur. It's definitely a heavy survival game where you need to gather lots of resources to first research items, and then craft them. The crafting system has a huge tree where you have to research your way through for better items. So like I've unlocked the basic sword, and then you have to unlock the next, better one, and then the one after that. You can't just skip over any item to get the one you want.
I've hit a point where I need to build a village hall to unlock more, better buildings that can turn my camp into an actual town. I've got it all done except for needing to loot straps (you need like 15 total, and I need probably 4-5 more - used a bunch earlier to upgrade to better weapons first or I'd already be there) to unlock the research of it, which can only be looted and mostly as random loot from bandits you kill. Once I unlock that and start getting access to bigger and better buildings I might move my main base to another location, and then have small resource gathering bases around the map instead. I've already started spreading out a little by setting up a mining camp, and a farming area on some flat land. It really helps being able to recruit NPCs to do a lot of the work at the base, as it frees me up to wander and fight some bandits.
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Post by Mako on May 5, 2024 19:54:29 GMT -5
Was out exploring and came across these views of a waterfall and the lake/river it came from. I've enjoyed graphics in other games, but this game is so fun to explore in when you come across scenes like these. Really learning how things work better in game, and how to manage your NPCs and such. So many things I know now that would help me if I would start over.
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Post by WickedCrustacean on May 6, 2024 11:32:35 GMT -5
Looks beautiful.
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