Stoneshard ?
 

Has anyone tried this game ? It is in early access on steam and is describe as an rpg; the graphic style is a bit simplistic but curious if it has any unique meat to it ?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard/

I'm about to try it now. Steam has a playable demo that's the prologue to the game.

I don't know anyone that's played it so far, and it looks interesting to me so I'll be watching to see what others think of it.

So, I played the demo, and I think it's great for an indie. It sort of reminds me of Antharion, except I think this is going to be better.

Wishlisted it.

Something was posted on the codex article that might be of interest to you:

As I've regularly seen you bemoan a lack of save points on various game discussions.

Yeah, I saw that, and it does bring it down a notch for me, but the overall quality is enough for me to still be interested. I also found this quote from the dev..

Ehhh, that save feature would kill it for me, unfortunately. I've been tricked into buying too many games with similar functionality. I'll still keep an eye on it, perhaps at some point it will have a real save option.

I'm about 25 hours into it. I normally avoid rogue like games but I spent an hour with it at PAX East and decided to give it a try. Its addictive and atmospheric to say the least. It turns out the "save" system isn't as bad as you might think. The world is stateful until you die or quit the game. So you can clear a path though a forest and a few levels of a dungeon before returning to cash in loot and rest to "save" the game at the inn. Then resume. If you die or quit to the menu your last save is good but the world will respawn (except bosses and completed quest dungeons, they lock up). What I discovered last night is that you can find bandit camps in the wilderness and sleep there to save. So this game is a rogue like but barring death and having to call it quits for the night its completely stateful. Its not an easy game be forewarned. So don't play for hours without resting or the risks are huge!

One note on the economy. It is bleak. But acting like a hunter with bows or magic is lucrative so you can hunt pelts. I used that to fund repairs and magic skill books etc. You can also score meat and cook it in the wild so prepare to forage. Just doing quests and expecting loot to keep you flush with cash in the early game is extremely tough. So anyway - its a great game for me and bear in mind I don't like the rogue like model so that's an endorsement.

The save feature sort of eliminates some save scumming but at the cost of losing some game progression. Not really a good feature. Hehe.

What progression is lost? The camp I discovered this AM is still there. I put a cheap staff in the chest there to see if it’s safe storage. I’ll let you know on that later because it would make a great cache for consumables if so. I do have to clear the path to it again because I quit out but they aren’t getting any stronger and I am.

The chests are persistent so having outposts is viable

Finished 2 of the 3 contracts in the first area. Great suspense having to clear a dungeon knowing what is at stake. I managed to limp back with a damaged leg with pain so bad it was slowly reducing my near zero health. Out of food, out of medical supplies. This game is very addictive. Oh and watch out for bears damn. Think "The Revenant" you stand no chance at all.

Stoneshard is shaping to be a great little rpg, but it's a little bare bone right now.

It's fun but somewhat unbalanced.
Maybe it has been patch since, but when I played on EA release, archery was completely OP. I just rolled over everything.



I didn't know that, that changes everything!
thanks for the tip.

I find archery very useful and its great for managed aggro. But unless I get a ton of crits multiple targets tend to close in fast and I'm in melee. I've entered a dungeon level to face 4 creatures in a room. The ambushes on the road can get pretty hairy if I'm not careful too.

I looked at the patchnote and they nerfed bow damages and accuracy.
Oh well…

That's like the worst case scenario for a pure archer.
Something similar happened to me, I tried to flee and had the surprise to see that foes can follow you between zones (like in Baldur's Gate). I died.

A good combo for a range character is archery/geomancy. You can stun and slow foes with the "magic stone pillars thingy" ability then finish them with the bow.

I went pyromancer / bow / sword & shield. I'm not going further into archery now that I found pyromancer skill book #2. I'll keep my bow for hunting and long ranged aggro but I'm now doing strength and willpower. So far so good. Any yes things follow you across regions including the damn bears

I misunderstood the entire post then. I'm currently engaged with ESO so my extra game time is zero.

I enjoy the types of saves that help discourage save scumming.

You're reaction to my post is why I don't comment.

what? I wasn't being aggressive in my response? I was just describing what I suspected about the camps and then later confirmed they were persistent.

I could do the first two missions no problem. On the third contract most enemies are wearing metal and can survive a whole cocktail of pyro attacks and still reach my mage. About 30 attempts to clear 3rd contract with zero successes. I have 4 pyro attacks in my queue and they do about 200 total damage. Enemies survive that but I have nowhere near that amount of hp and there are generally 2-3 that reach me alive. Since they have dual or triple attacks most of the time I'm toast. I've stopped playing until the spells get a buff. I have zero troubles with my melee guy, but I hate melee.

I'm completely stuck too with a level 6 ranger. There's a bandit stronghold mission (from the second town set of missions) I can't beat. I could go grinding bears in the forest but that's no fun at all…
I think I've seen the extent of what the early access has to offer, I'm gonna put that game on hibernation and wait to see if a great game come out of it in a few years.

This and Fort Triumph are my underdogs of the year. This has a lot of granularity. The level of synergy to most of the mechanics is appreciable. What doesn't work for me is the game right now is 75% me backtracking to save, and then finding the area has already respawned while my poor glass cannon sorceress had to retreat. Almost killed it for me. Almost. Then they wiped my save.

The diegetic save thing is not bad, it's the lack of save points, the lack of ability to backtrack, the lack of save on exit--or even recall scrolls to return you to the last bed you slept at, with a certain number of turns during which your character is disabled while you recite it--that would turn this from an flawed diamond into a radiant gem.

But there are plenty of redeeming qualities.

I think--no, I know--this one's a winner.

You've got to be willing to treat the backtracking like you would approach a semi-roguelike--with sheer attrition, to get to the meat of the gameplay loop.

This checks so many of my boxes but that lack of a "real" save feature is holding me back for now. I don't know why the developer is so resistant to the most requested change, isn't this part of why you have Early Access?

This is such a great game. Its much more an RPG than a roguelike. The combat, the graphics, the animations, the atmosphere, all of it is superb. This is the first authentic Dark Fantasy rpg I have played in 27 years of playing cRPGs, it checks off so many boxes.

Only way this game could be better would be if it was party based rather than controlling a single PC.

For cRPG Fans, it would be downright criminal not to buy this. The only question you need to ask is do you get it in Early Access or do you wait until the full version is out. However you should really play the Free Demo which is self contained and has a cool, dark storyline. It also serves as the Prologue to the main game.

@Mosaic regarding save functions, once you get the hang of how the game handles saving (resting in a camp or an inn) you won't miss the save function near as much as you think; trust me. Save quit should have been an option, but its still nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be.

Also the main reason they don't incorporate save at will is they can't, the game engine does not allow save at will and it is too late to go back and fix it.

I agree it's a fun game, but QoL stuff like the save system is really what keeps me from investing more time in it.

They say that, and they are surely not lying. They may still be wrong. I'd bet alot on this being a case of not seeing the wood for the trees.

Here's their own words from one of the updates:

I just don't buy it.