Blackguards

Alrik Fassbauer · February 5, 2014

Lurking Grue said:
No, unfortunately I haven't. I've never even seen a TDE rulebook anywhere, let alone heard anyone playing it, but then again I'm not German and my understanding is that P&P TDE is quite rare outside Germany.

Amazon has a few … But they are expensive, I guess.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Dark-Eye-...8&qid=1391604247&sr=8-3&keywords=The+dark+eye

http://www.amazon.com/The-Dark-Eye-Aventuria-FPR15002/dp/1932564063/ref=pd_sim_b_1

And yes, I've already told employees of Ulisses at conventions that international players would try it out as well, but they seem to remain kind of stubborn on that …

joxer · February 5, 2014

20 bucks each? That's not expensive.
However, amazon.com doesn't ship stuff to my country, publishers should add them also to .co.uk amazon.

JDR13 · February 6, 2014

Still enjoying it a lot, but I'm getting more than a little annoyed when they throw 3 fight in a row at me without allowing me to save.

GothicGothicness · February 6, 2014

I am a bit confused I read somewhere that potions etc could not be used outside of combat.... but everything I have seen so far can be used outside of combat..

JDR13 · February 6, 2014

GothicGothicness said:
I am a bit confused I read somewhere that potions etc could not be used outside of combat…. but everything I have seen so far can be used outside of combat..

You can use potions outside of combat, but it rarely makes sense to do so. It's much cheaper to visit a healer or rest at an inn. If you have to use a potion though, just drag it onto the character from the inventory screen.

Thrasher · February 6, 2014

Yeah, 3 fights without resting sucks. So I trained myself to do the following trick before finishing every battle. Save a weak enemy for last and aggro it with Naurim with an equipped shield to hopefully parry most attacks. In the meantime, mages regen mana and heal everyone to get fully healed and mana regened at the end of a fight. Works about in 90% of the battles.

booboo · February 6, 2014

I thought I'd try the demo.... I went into a cave, fought some critters and a stalactite fell on my main fighter and that was that for him. No warning or even suggestion that this could happen. Seems absolutely fake and contrived. Then combat ends, no critter in sight. But can I back out the cave? no. Can I quit 'combat mode'? no. Can I change the items on my belt so I can try to treat wounds or something? No. I'm left standing there, with no credible threat, looking at this 'dead' character. Yet I can wait for 40- rounds while my mana regenerates and heal everyone up. Makes no sense. I don't know who play-tested combat, but they did not do a very good job.

sakichop · February 6, 2014

booboo said:
I thought I'd try the demo…. I went into a cave, fought some critters and a stalactite fell on my main fighter and that was that for him. No warning or even suggestion that this could happen. Seems absolutely fake and contrived. Then combat ends, no critter in sight. But can I back out the cave? no. Can I quit 'combat mode'? no. Can I change the items on my belt so I can try to treat wounds or something? No. I'm left standing there, with no credible threat, looking at this 'dead' character. Yet I can wait for 40- rounds while my mana regenerates and heal everyone up. Makes no sense. I don't know who play-tested combat, but they did not do a very good job.

If your talking about the cave with the crypt lice you should see water dripping down where the stalactite will fall. Not sure if you need a certain level in the perception skill to see it though.

Also that map scrolls to the right where there are more crypt lice to fight and they won't come to you if your just waiting.

Thrasher · February 6, 2014

You can see those stalagmite "traps" if your perception skill is sufficiently high.

Combat only ends when you kill all the monsters or they (or something) kills all your party members. Makes perfect sense to me.

sakichop · February 6, 2014

I'm ok with the 3 fight thing I get more annoyed with having a perfect plan only to see if foiled when I fail numerous times in a row to hit or cast a spell that I have a 90 to 95% chance of success on.

Thrasher · February 6, 2014

Ya know what I do when a fast as lightning all party buff fails right at the start (which was only rarely)? Reload. It's not worth it to me to struggle through all those turns just because of bad luck. A mid-battle spell failure I'll soldier on through, though.

BTW curse spells that affect the whole playing field only need one enemy to resist to make the spell fail for all. Not recommended on the buffed cultists and their minions because of their 20% magic resistance. Stick with buffs and healing. Much more reliable.

Man there is a lot of whining in this thread. Not as bad as the Steam forums though.

Gorath · February 6, 2014

booboo said:
I thought I'd try the demo…. I went into a cave, fought some critters and a stalactite fell on my main fighter and that was that for him. No warning or even suggestion that this could happen. Seems absolutely fake and contrived. Then combat ends, no critter in sight. But can I back out the cave? no. Can I quit 'combat mode'? no. Can I change the items on my belt so I can try to treat wounds or something? No. I'm left standing there, with no credible threat, looking at this 'dead' character. Yet I can wait for 40- rounds while my mana regenerates and heal everyone up. Makes no sense. I don't know who play-tested combat, but they did not do a very good job.

You can see the stalactites if you zoom out to overhead view as you learned in the prison in the level with the switch and the chandelier. There's also a visible hint on the ground. Rain or shadows or something like that. You can try to lure the critters under the stalactites. These interactive elements can work for or against you. I'm actually quite happy the player has to pay attention instead of being spoon fed.

It's enough if 1 character survives until you reach the winning condition. And you can always load a savegame or restart the level.

sakichop · February 7, 2014

Thrasher said:
Ya know what I do when a fast as lightning all party buff fails right at the start (which was only rarely)? Reload. It's not worth it to me to struggle through all those turns just because of bad luck. A mid-battle spell failure I'll soldier on through, though.

BTW curse spells that affect the whole playing field only need one enemy to resist to make the spell fail for all. Not recommended on the buffed cultists and their minions because of their 20% magic resistance. Stick with buffs and healing. Much more reliable.

Man there is a lot of whining in this thread. Not as bad as the Steam forums though.

Hey, Are you calling me a whiner biggun. ( in my best naugrim voice)

Thrasher · February 7, 2014

Actually the group debuff spell failures really got on my nerves, too. Until I got the skill that increased spell success, and maxed spellcasting attributes. I did my share unconsoled whining too, until I figured it out.

ugralitan · February 7, 2014

Blackguards is a good turn-based strategy game with nice art.

Though as a RPG, it is quite mediocre. And the game can be quite easy at hard difficulty, I wish they did not reduce the difficulty.

About the crypt lice battle, it was the most boring battle ever. Even the battles where you are pitted against inferior opponents were less boring, since they were less repetitive and quickly ending

One thing I dislike about Blackguards is that they do not provide a console which shows you the rolls. They should not hide the rolls from the players who could learn a lot about DSA4 system by looking at there. I mean, it is good to see a dumbed down percentage or battle console for a novice player, but I'd rather like to see exact calculations.

joxer · February 7, 2014

I don't see a point of displaying dice rolls honestly. And I seriously doubt a player would learn anything from a forest of different checks and whatnot.

There is a thorough input on rules in Radon Labs' TDE games, but is useable also here if someone wants to know more about the system:
http://forum.dtp-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=12047

There is a big diference though, Radon Labs two singleplayer TDE games are not turnbased and since you're not just fighting but also exploring, games contain skills like pickpocket, plant lore, secret doors detection, seduction and many more - and all those skills are a subject to dice rolls.

[EDIT]
Am I an idiot or what? Got confused because of the bloody job…

Anyone interested more into TDE rolls should buy both Radon Labs singleplayer RPGs. Why? Because:

blackcanopus said:
Deaf people can always use the game console. I used it when I had to turn down volume when I was playing in the middle of the night. It worked for me, it should work for them. Just click "?" mark at bottom-left corner of the screen.
Besides, Drakensang's console gives a lot of info about dice rolls and fights. Nice feature.

DRMfree DVD with both games and an addon is avaliable on Amazon.
US: http://www.amazon.com/Drakensang-Complete-River-Phileassons-Secret-Pc/dp/B005OGYVKU
EU: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drakensang-Complete-Saga-Phileassons-Secret/dp/B007JI8FTE

Dunno about digital stores, IIRC gamersgate had those games in the catalogue.
It is old, but have no fear, it supports 1680*1050 resolution unlike some recent games.
Buy now, play yesterday!

ugralitan · February 7, 2014

Oh there some points. That people can criticize the game about how much they stray from the DSA4 rules while determining final result and how much Daedalic improvised itself

It also makes finding bugs/oversights quite easier, so that you can see whether a skill works properly or not. And depending on that you can reliably make suggestions.

And you can truly learn by looking at such a console. For some people it is a forest of rolls, but for those with some basic knowledge about game mechanics it is an opportunity to gain insight into check system.

Realms of Arkania's remake had that kind of console. I expected Blackguards would provide too.

joxer · February 7, 2014

Okay let's sum it up then.

1. Buy Drakensang singleplayer saga, turn on the console, play. Now.
2. Buy RoA remake, use the console, play. Not yet, wait a week or two for the gold release.
3. Buy Blackguards... Um... You've bought it already, okay. What are you doing on the forum then? Go play it!

GothicGothicness · February 7, 2014

I guess the reason they are not showing rolls is to avoid people sending angry mails or complaining in forums because roll X is not exactly as in the rules..... :

joxer · February 7, 2014

GG you're evil.

Chaotic or neutral? Not lawful, definetly.

Blackguards

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