Blackguards

http://www.rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=9502 :kfc 2:

Again?
I'm still unsure why Taluntain simply doesn't cut off his support on that site. I mean... He's a good person, but what's enough is enough.

The correct link is this:
http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2014/1607.html

Blackguards is on steam sale right now, 66% off. If you don't already own it, now it's the time to buy. It's definitely worth this price.

Thanks for the heads up Morrandir, bought it.

Welcome!

Blackguards is even cheaper on GoG for Euros - and DRM free. Just wait until the sale circles back to it.

Just started playing. The game doesn't seem as hard as it was when I played the demo back when the game came out but it's still plenty challenging. I'm stuck in a town now with no (open) inn and the prudes won't let me pitch a tent in the town square. Nasty for my party with two spell casters.

I was too cheap to camp in towns when I played Blackguards a few months ago, I just pitched my tent in the wilderness. If not for Grimrock Two, Blackguards might have been my pick for game of the year. Heck, it still might be!

Go back to the cemetary and take a nap.

Jeez that town was rough - especially the fights with the crystals. Every time I rage-quit, though, I would think of another strategy and fire the game up again.

Randomness sure plays a big factor in this one.

Zloth said:

Jeez that town was rough - especially the fights with the crystals. Every time I rage-quit, though, I would think of another strategy and fire the game up again.

Randomness sure plays a big factor in this one.

Click to expand...

Dice rolls FTW!

I've been playing on and off the past couple of weeks and having some fun with this game; thought I'd write some brief impressions.

I managed to get through to Chapter 3 without any major issues; the only fight to cause a few reloads was the final Queen Louse fight in the arena. Severely lucked out here by running around drinking from fountains and luring as many explosive cretins as possible around the Queen. The encounter design is certainly fun and keeps you on your toes. This ongoing sequence of fights without rest reminded me of the opening section from Dark Sun.

I've noticed one or two difficulty spikes however. After absolutely cruising through the rest of chapter 3 without hassle where the game has probably been at its best and most open, (The sub-quest ritual fight was possibly the most awkward here) I'm currently up to the Prophetess fight in Chapter 4 and are finding it quite the step up in challenge compared to everything that's come before it. There's lots of space to play with though; so I'll experiment with a few ideas before going to a previous save if it proves too much.

Positives:
- Deep character building with rewarding strategic planning and thinking.
- Very sound and solid turn based combat system which is fun to experiment with; love the interactive environments which serve to deepen tactics.
- Puzzle elements to some encounters, with some interesting features in designs.
-Heavily stat oriented; stats will effect everything from dialogue options to weapon specialisations.

Negatives:
- Curious difficulty spikes here and there.
- Load times between areas can be a little long on my system. The regular loading times are very noticeable when going between towns and exploring the map.
- Lack of much else to do outside of combat
- Ranged weapons appear a little overpowered (In one major boss fight, I switched to a crossbow with a character that had zero talent points invested in it yet took it out in 3-4 hits.)
- Relatively uninteresting story.
- Quest bugs (doubling up of some items..)
- Few party configuration options possible; not many npcs to choose from.

So perhaps whilst I'm not quite as gushing as some others have been in this thread, the game is nonetheless very solid and I'm glad to have purchased it via the last Steam sale. It is indeed a most suitable gaming warm-up for the summer and I'll certainly support the developers by purchasing the sequel.

Pessimeister said:

- Curious difficulty spikes here and there.

Click to expand...

Definitely. There was a fight that, iirc, was in Chapter 3 that had me pulling my hair out. Some kind of monster in a lake that takes control of one of your party members while you also have to deal with a tree golem at the same time. It was 10x harder than any of the other battles in that area.

I don't have a problem with high-level fights being in random places, but give the player some kind of hint that it's there.

I remember that particular fight - I managed to beat it mainly due to Zurbaran's fire damage and luring the Golem away with Aurelia, getting in some additional elemental damage where possible, plus some tanking with fighters. You're right though, it was an awkward nut to crack…

I managed to figure out a better strategy in the prophetess fight in chapter 4. Basically I found that going toe-toe with the wolves tantamount to suicide. Instead, I used the square ring of space to run two main fighters around the other side behind the prophetess, made a barrier with a caster and created a choke-point headed by Naurim (Forgrimm's long lost cousin?) to lure the wolves in. The decoy worked a treat; once the prophetess falls, the magic buffing the wolves goes as well and they can be killed much more easily.

The game really does reward strategic thinking quite well. It's very pleasurable when these kinds of concepts come off.

Hmmm, I forgot that fight. I must not have been too bad for me.

Although the shrine in the swamps with the poison spearthrowers... That was one I had to save for later.

Talking about Blackguards is making me want to play it again. I never did finish it.

I played it prior to the last few patches that nerfed the game quite a bit. Enemy poisons were previously harder to cure, and certain buffs/debuffs were made more effective for the player. The last patch also changed it so you could save anytime. Before that, there were some areas where you were forced to fight multiple battles without being able to save.

I am totally save scumming for XCOM:EW. However the difficulty is forcing me to do so, so I can capture enemy weapons to increase income. Much worse than unpatched Blackguards for me. And I played both on normal.

I am just starting blackguards now after finishing a run through of XCOM:EW on hard. My tips for EW would be that getting beam weapons as fast as possible makes it much easier, as well as making use of smoke grenades combined with elevated cover means you don't have to save scum very often. Apart from that using run and gun + lightning reflexes with the assault class means you can get in for those 100% flanking shots. Getting flanking shots is absolutely critical in the early game. "Thin men" are probably the most frustrating enemy for the first few months for sure, but it does get easier.

I'm on the home stretch now deep in Chapter 5. I spent a good time trying to do as many side-quests as possible last night to maximise AP and have a ready party for the last batch of caves. The game warns you when this last section is coming which is handy given the potential for diving in headlong with low resources. (Rations, potions etc…)

Does anyone else find it amusingly infuriating when enemies use healing potions right in front of party members? Took me long enough to acquire the attack of opportunity skill for a couple of characters, but this obviously only applies to enemies moving in and out of attacking range and doesn't prevent the "on a sliver of health-and-avoiding-death-by-chugging potions" type of enemies.

Edit:
Maybe an additional talent for Naurim could be "beserker mode: only initialises when enemies drink potions in melee range!"

I wrapped up the final chapter last night. It was a veritable tough slog through to the final caves but I was genuinely surprised at moments by the variety of challenges; it wasn't brutally hard merely for the sake of it and unlike the arena, there aren't too many taxing survivorist scenarios.

My favourite map towards the end was probably the challenging fight against time you experience in being pursued by a poisonous mist all the while having to make progress through a long tunnel full of enemies and a terrain laden with nasty obstructions.
Some nice anticipation and tension created here all round.

There's some well written endgame narrative woven throughout some of the final maps as well; probably the most compelling section in the game writing wise for me. Felt an odd sense of quasi-anti-climactic relief to finish up! Twas a fun game...oh and Naurim rocks!