Fabled Lands - Review @ Wizard Worm

Wizard Worm reviewed Fabled Lands and he can't recommend it:

Fabled Lands Review - Not Fabulous At All? (Narrative RPG)

More information.

i've played the demo, uninstalled after about 8 minutes.

That's too bad, I was hoping this would turn out to be a much better game. Oh well, we cannot have all the goodies.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
That's too bad, I was hoping this would turn out to be a much better game. Oh well, we cannot have all the goodies.

Well, this is just one dude's opinion. And some of his tastes are definitely not the same as mine. For instance he's complaining that there's no random events… well, good, personally I hate random encounters and grow bored with repeatable events in RPGs. And even if they're handcrafted events that just occur at randomized times I don't really see what that adds to the experience vs having them in fixed areas. It's based on a gamebook and if you re-read a gamebook you're going to have to repeat certain segments.

That said this isn't something I'm very excited about so not a day one buy for me, but rather something I may pick up on a sale. The combat doesn't seem to be anything special and it's true the RPG mechanics aren't that deep. But I think that's fine for what's essentially a digital gamebook.

Very true, it is indeed only one person's thoughts. I've not completely written it off for sure, I'm always far more interested in what people HERE will think about a game, than some nameless bloke unknown to me.

Hey, all! I am the developer behind Fabled Lands. I am not sure if I'll do more harm than good by hopping in, but I kind of wanted to do that for a while anyway. As a sole dev with the help of one artist it's a blast for me that other people are talking about the game at all! I've been eyeing RPG watch for a while and hummed with excitement that people anticipate the title and discuss it before it's even been released.

This particular review from this Wizard Worm gets me though. He's absolutely enititled to his opinion nor I am trying to change it but when he actively doesn't recommend the game, I feel obliged to share my 2 cents.

First of all, from the video I can tell he's playing the Early Access version, not the final product, yet he is presenting it on Steam as a review for the full game. I want to post the final changes I've been working on (https://store.steampowered.com/news/…43554360354815) as I believe I've done vital additions and changes to the experience of the entire game.

The dislike of the lack of a main quest, buying skills from markets (or gaining them via ranking up) instead of a skill tree and not liking the combat is quite alright in my book, different people enjoy different things.

However, he has attempted to play a few hours on the Classic difficulty without touching Explorer mode (the recommended difficulty for new players), not understanding what to do, how to manage dice rolls and how to survive at all (a great guide written by the community on that can be found here (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil…?id=2566674510). Which turns this whole thing into a rant rather than a review.

The game is an open world experience without the pressure of a main quest. You can discover the world lore layer by layer. The whole notion of a narrative RPG is for you to be the hero, your actions to shape up your character and story, rather than a third person predefined character. Exactly this gives the game replicability through the various outcomes, sometimes positive, sometimes negative. You can shield yourself from negative outcomes and luck through resurrection deals, potions, the blessings mechanic, buying house stashes and storing loot and money there, etc. Hence the Ironman mode difficulty with no saves where experienced players can enjoy uncovering the whole content through tactical decisions where to do what depending on their character's weaknesses and strengths.

I do apologize if I am off putting you meddling with this topic. I am very thankful for the kind words, the anticipation, the constructive feedback I gather even from negative reviews. It's been a heck of a ride for 3 years to deliver this game and I am super happy for anyone that decides to pay it attention.

Regards,
Victor from Prime Games

Welcome to the forums, ringlas, and I very much doubt you'll offend anyone here by sticking up for your product. We tend to be rather welcoming of developers and, having read what you've said about the game, I'm inclined to believe it may be worthy of further attention. Do you consider the game fully finished at this point, or are further updates coming in the future?

Always feel free to meddle!

@ringlas - Welcome to RPGWatch!

Some people - like Wizard Worm - feel lost without a main quest. Sandbox / CYOA titles can certainly live without a main quest.

Many thanks! Glad to finally be here.

@Carnifex The game is complete, yes. I'll continue to develop it though. The world will be expanded with the oceans and some far-off lands, for sure (Over the Blood-Dark Sea and Lords of the Rising Sun). With every content update I also try to enchance the gameplay and add more features and mechanics, but the core loop is what it is today. Also, from all the feedback I get I tend to note usability issues that can be improved (it's like a bag of flour, if you keep pouting it it will never stop to spray white powder). It tries to stay faithful to the gamebooks it is based on (with some balance changes) which always comes with some downsides but nothing one cannot find workarounds for!

I actually found the review hard to watch, almost like he was being sarcastic just for the sake of it.

Thank you for the response, and I'm pleased to read that there will be more content, always a good thing in any game!