Blackguards

A few puzzle elements are in the game, but all fair.

Be sure to complete the side quests - they are the bread and butter of the game.

There's some puzzles thrown around in some battles, but the most of them are like real combat situations. And there's a few ones that are a real chore (a couple of the arena fights in Ch3 and one with baffling difficulty in Ch4). And then there's the sneaking map that still seems to elude me. In any case your mileage may vary, but the game is very fun so far.

edit: That was quick. Chapter 4 seems a bit on the short side. At least there were a couple of side quests. Also, on normal difficulty some of the fights can be a bit tough, but I guess that can be expected - I mean I'm already starting to wonder how exactly to spend my points, I've maxed out most relevant skills, spells, talents and abilities for the each of my characters.

I just wish I had found that last piece of black metal as those are cluttering my inventory.

Sooo I'm back from the Christmas mayhem. Was stuck at my grandparent's for one week now. Without Inet… I'm so glad that the retail version will be released without DRM! I'm still downloading chapter 4 and can't wait to get my hands on it!

Blackgaurds is def one of the nicer surprises of (last) year. I finished the first beta (chapter 1) and was really impressed at the depth of combat and all the supporting features like skills and stats. While I do wish it was more free form in it's exploration, the way they used the static towns and the beautiful adventure map to tie everything together works pretty well.

Can't wait for the final release!

Originally Posted by Gorath
How are you supposed to beat the last stage of the Dwarf games? My party is nearly dead, my equipment sucks and the dwarfs simply wipe my guys out.

I beat them by rushing the the archer dwarf first. This takes out the melee dwarf out of the equation for a few rounds and allows you to focus fire on one initially. Be aware that the dwarves will heal themselves at like 30% health so make sure you blast them really well.

Originally Posted by Renevent
Blackgaurds is def one of the nicer surprises of (last) year. I finished the first beta (chapter 1) and was really impressed at the depth of combat and all the supporting features like skills and stats. While I do wish it was more free form in it's exploration, the way they used the static towns and the beautiful adventure map to tie everything together works pretty well.

Can't wait for the final release!

I agree! Blackguards was one a real nice surprise in 2013. I stumbled over it (by accident) and now I'm completely hooked! I already finished chapter 4 and now I will start all over again in order to be ready again when chapter 5 will be finally released.

I'm through. The 5th act is pretty hard, even on the now easier 'normal' level. Reviews should be popping up left and right in a couple of hours.

The release version made quite a big step forward from the Early Access. Tutorial is very good now, plus the ruleset and the formulas are explained in a long article in tnhe game. This officially makes it the most accessible DSA RPG ever.
Character generation is in. You can choose mage yes or no, gender and look, type in a name, spend a couple of 1000 points on whatever you like (until you reach the ceiling for that item). Then you choose your equipment - which doesn't matter for story related reason - and start the game.

Originally Posted by Gorath
I'm through. The 5th act is pretty hard, even on the now easier 'normal' level. Reviews should be popping up left and right in a couple of hours.

The release version made quite a big step forward from the Early Access. Tutorial is very good now, plus the ruleset and the formulas are explained in a long article in tnhe game. This officially makes it the most accessible DSA RPG ever.
Character generation is in. You can choose mage yes or no, gender and look, type in a name, spend a couple of 1000 points on whatever you like (until you reach the ceiling for that item). Then you choose your equipment - which doesn't matter for story related reason - and start the game.

When is the release version available, mine still say developmental build?

On Friday I think.

Yeah I thought it was the 24th, you got me excited though I though they might have released early.

Good to hear character generation is in the release though and not later.

Originally Posted by Gorath
Character generation is in.

Yay!

Does anyone know if the save games from the early access version will be compatible with Friday's release?

They were compatible in my version. The non-Steam version didn't browse all savegame subdirectories though. I had to manually copy the files into one location. That will probably work automatically within Steam.

I'm starting a new game anyway to test out the new character generation system.

AP is too precious in this game to have it wasted on skills I don't want and it will enable me to try skills I simply couldn't afford to before.

Sounds great, so this is something I should buy right?

Um… Dunno… It's EA…

But ea stands there for early access.

Since we all preordered it, it's only fair you do it too!

Demo on Steam tomorrow:

http://steamcommunity.com/games/blac…62674858528365

If you want a game that's 90% combat, but which has no real story, no exploration, very limited dialogue, then sure get this!!

Originally Posted by Grolav
Demo on Steam tomorrow:

The demo also contains the new expert character creation mode that let's you create your characters more freely. Also, player's will be able to use their savegames for the full game.

Smart move on the part of the devs.

Originally Posted by Corwin
If you want a game that's 90% combat, but which has no real story, no exploration, very limited dialogue, then sure get this!!

Everything you've said is true but, I really like the game anyway.

Is this demo the same as early access or is it a separate download?

This is the first game I've ever bought from Daedalic and I must say I'm impressed.

First they had there early access at a discounted price and it was actually early access not early alpha like most others. I put in 40 hours on it and never crashed or noticed any bugs.

They said they would release a chapter every month and did, not one delay and again it was all rock solid at least for me through chapter 3.

My biggest complaint and many others was character creation, so they listened and put it in the game in time, not only for release but for an early demo.

And the early demo is free and feature complete through the first chapter. Top notch in my opinion.

In a time when we have kickstarters missing there dates regularly and almost unplayable early access games, this is a very refreshing surprise.

Originally Posted by Corwin
If you want a game that's 90% combat, but which has no real story, no exploration, very limited dialogue, then sure get this!!

Cmon Corwin, it's just can't be another MMO.