Frayed Knights - Review @ RPGamer
 

Frayed Knights has been reviewed at RPGamer, although they really didn't like the combat or those pesky "invisible dice". The score is 2.5/5 and here's a snip:
More information.

Why do people have such problems with randomness? What's the deal here? Have they never played CRPGs before? How do they write for an RPG gaming site? I'm very confused. :(

edit: Wow, this guy jumps to the defensive in the comments of the review instantly when someone dares voice that they enjoyed the combat mechanics of the demo. His bias against western RPG mechanics is apparent.

I also don't understand how an RPG site can complain about die rolls. What's the world coming to? It's going to hell in a handbasket, I say. And you damn kids better stay off my lawn…

And this is why I never visit that site. It's a travesty for them to call themselves RPGamers, I tell you. ;)

I have the exact opposite feeling about RPGs than this reviewer. Actually this reviewer should just stick to action games if he thinks that the battles were time consuming. He should never ever ever play Wizardry 8. Now those battles were time consuming, but I loved every one of them…..well most of them. The castle was a bit too much.

How about the three of us get together and jump that reviewer in the parking lot outside RPGamer and beat the crap out of him as he's walking to his car?

no dice rolls in that one heehee

The biggest problem was for me that enemies can hit my priest and mage in the back row. (I mean there is no back row at all :) ). M&M1 and Wizardry1 had this back row feature in the '80s.

Rpgamer doesnt like dice? Perhaps he should try live roleplaying.

The reviewer is born 1981 and a fan of Nintendo and eastern crpgs …

I suspect the reviewer is more annoyed with battles with weaker enemies taking too long (random misses should occur far less frequently with weak foes), and that misses occur too often.

I haven't played the game other than a few minutes (didn't care for it), but I wonder how damage (base) rolls are done.

Do they have a damage range of 1 - [max] for every weapon, or is the minimum damage more in line with the weapon (i.e. Min = Max / 2). This would explain why sometimes warriors (armed with, I presume, a mightier weapon) might do less damage than a priest armed with a piece of wood.

Just speculating.

They need to add a "J" to the name of their site or get rid of the "RP"

@Huggy Naaahh, too much effort for a reviewer of JRPGs. :)

Yes, JRPG's have NO randomness in their games, even with the plot!! :)

@magic_screen: The characters on the "back row" are generally harder to hit, but they can still be hit. It depends on the weapon the enemy is using, but if they aren't shooting crossbow bolts or throwing weapons at you, then the back-row characters probably have a defensive bonus.

@Fargol - Close, minimum damage is max damage / 3. Which is still pretty low, considering the low values used in Frayed Knights. Also, the game uses a bell curve for determining damage rather than a straight random roll, which means weapon damage is more likely to be close to the average than close to the extremes. Still, you'll get those occasions where Ben might roll max damage (10), while Arianna rolls minimum damage (4), especially when criticals are involved.

So someone who doesn't like RPGs is reviewing… an RPG? On an RPG site? I weep for the future. Weep, I say!

Obviously, this guy doesn't know or doesn't care for rpg's. I'm sure he'd think Daggerdale got it just perfect! =p


-Carn

One of my good friends is a jrpg nut. I never really understood it myself and have mostly stuck to wrpgs. The closest thing to a jrpg I have played in the last few years is Barkley Shut Up and Jam, but that was a pretty good experience, so maybe I ought to try a few more out.

Now that wouldn't be very huggy facey. You've just been downgraded to lieutenant :)

I like jRPGs a lot, and I like standard RPGs as well, both have their strengths and weaknesses.

I guess you're going to have to bust me down to private, because after reading that guy's little autobio, I really want to do it. Get up off your lazy can, Skaven. On your feet, soldier! :p