Frayed Knights - Review @ Digitally Downloaded
 

Digitally Downloaded let us know they have reviewed Frayed Knights, with a score of 4/5:
More information.

Ah, finally some love for the controversial humor which still seems to a major obstacle to getting newcomers interested in the game. Timing appears to be an issue here, too, since a lot of people were for some reason put off by the recently released Dungeons of Dredmor's humor and thus want nothing to do with anything that is remotely similar in that respect.

What?? The fourth-wall-breaking, four nerds in a D&D game, anti-hero humour is, like, the best part of the whole thing! There are people that don't like it for THAT??

Unbelievable. Some people rather prefer "dark & gritty" or what ?

Yeah, there is that… :evil:

On the other hand, way to jump to conclusions, Alrik… ;)

I have to say I was very sceptical regarding the humor. I don't usually like satire so much (at least not of things that are important to me ;) ), never really got into Pratchett much, and HATED the various attempts to ridicule my holy Lord of the Rings (On the other hand, I always did like Douglas Adams).
I actually bought it inspite of the humor, because it seemed a pretty solid (indie!) RPG underneath (which it is). I am happy to say though, that I ended up loving the humor so far, much to my surprise. I guess it's that P&P gaming humor that he managed to capture, and actually its not as in your face and overbearing as I had concluded from the screens. It still manages to feel like an adventure, regardless. I really like the game. Gonna play it right now, actually. The Tower of Almost Certain Death awaits! Again! And this time I am armed with poetry!

They don't break the third wall THAT much. :) Though it does seem that while it might dissuade some people from even trying it, the vast majority who do find themselves liking it or at least deciding that it's "not that bad." I tried to avoid going full-on obnoxious with the tongue-in-cheek. I prefer the kinds of comedy that are more character and plot based, and the best comedy gets downright serious at times.

But I learned in a previous game that some folks (particularly a couple of thick-witted reviewers who are thankfully no longer reviewing games so far as I can tell) just don't get anything remotely "subtle," and if you don't make the humor obvious early on, they'll think you are trying to do serious poorly and failing at it.

And having some spells like "Power Word: Defenestrate" or a "Quarterstaff of Nad-Whacking" - while pretty low humor - were sometimes just too much fun to leave aside. And when Kevin and I were bouncing ideas off each other about the Rats of Nom quest, I was literally laughing out loud. I hope some of the quests in the later games work on that same level.

I've played the demo and was also gniffling at some of the banter. Bit reminded me of Baldur's gate 2 and how the party would chit chat away, only that in FN it seems to be more humoristic :)

Speaking of which - can anybody explain a poor non-native speaker what that means? Even google couldn't help me…

Quarterstaff of Testicle Decimation

nads is short for gonads. It's slang for testicles. Basically means the staff is for smacking someone in the crotch.

I checked Google and the 4th result brought up, after all the hair removal products :p, was urban dictionary which did seem to accurately define it. Urban dictionary is usually a good spot to check for slang terms.

I think I might even like this one better…

We used to pass around a huge glass cup full of adult beverage at our PnP games back in the day. It was known as the Chalice of Eternal Inebriation.

Also, 'Power Word: Defenestrate' is full of win. Might have to pick this game up now.

I get only Frayed Knights links :p Must be the stupid localized Google page. Thanks for improving my language skills, mates ;)

I have been waiting years for another 1st person, turn based, party rpg. I absolutely love that type of game, and I'm always watching for a new one. Also, I buy almost any game that even hints at being a turn based rpg, because I miss the old style games so much.

Unfortunately I'll be passing on Frayed Knights. I want to like the game, but I can't get past those character portraits.

I can live with humor in most genres. But most genres don't get just 1 game released every 10 years. To be honest, I'm pretty annoyed that a game like this FINALLY comes along, and it's made to look stupid on purpose.

I am not a graphics snob by any stretch. I can live with graphics that are 10 plus years behind the times. In fact, the dungeon and the monsters look good to me. But in this type of game, it's all about your party, and I don't think I can make myself care about leveling up this goofy bunch.

I'm going on the assumption that you are stuck with the 4 that I see in all the screenshots, so correct me if I'm wrong.

If those portraits keep you from playing this fantastic game, then you're the loser!!

RPG fans always amaze me. Ever single day on this forum I read something absolutely amazing. Sometimes it's a good kind of amazement and most of the time it's a WTF kind. Either way it's entertaining.

I think I can guess which type of amazing skavenhorde just read…

Love the humor in FK. Still pestering my sister to get me a copy though, since the demo really left me wanting

Yeah, I get it that I'm the loser and you guys are amazed and think WTF. I didn't really expect anything different.

But you don't say whether it's because you like the characters in this game, or whether you just don't care at all what characters you play as.

For example, would you still play the game if you were playing as the four Teletubbies? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletubby (for those of you blessed with not knowing what that is)

I'm asking an extreme example not to be a smartass, or to equate Frayed Knights with Teletubbies. I use that example so that I can see whether you actually care as little about such a "trivial" thing as you seem to.

If you actually like the party in Frayed Knights, that's a different story, and of course you would like the game. But if you just don't care, then you and I really do value this type of game differently.

At least they are much, much better than the character portraits of some of the player characters from the "Realms Of Arcania" trilogy …

I find that the portraits fit the characters in the party and the tongue in cheek style of the game (This is less true for other parts of the Graphics). Although the characters are comedic, I find myself caring quite a bit for them. It's a bit early to say, but I think They will end up as one of the more memorable parties I have played. This game is not just silly - it's a satiric adventure, enjoyable for both aspects. But if you can't stand the style, well there is not much we can say. However, since you say you like this style of game so much, I would recommend to take at least a few minutes with the demo (if you haven't), maybe you'll be surprised, like I was.

That's fair enough. I'll at least try the demo.