Black Geyser - Gameplay Video & Kickstarter Soon

I also am doubtful whether this 'greed' system will work well. Sorry, but been disappointed by games that 'look similar to BG' too many times. But I wish the team all the best.

Morrandir said:

My advice - or rather my personal preference - would be to coherently root the greed systems (or other systems) by the gameworld's lore and thus let it be coherently explained. It should be clear why the actions of an individual (or when having a party a small group of individuals) have a significant impact on the gameworld.

Torment: Tides of Numenera did something comparable with their tide system which was coherently explain and thus didn't break immersion.

I'm generally quite secptical with these kind of systems but I'd accept them with a proper explanation.

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Farflame said:

It seems its already in the lore - if you click on that Rothgors link you will find out about some goddess of greed that gets more and more power by the deeds of mortals. So its not only about your greed but you have significant impact as a group of heroes who "can change things". I assume that they wanted to present loot as "strategical" option - to make you think what you really need or want. I have no problem with that.

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Yep, I've read the lore on the website.
That's why I tried to emphasize "individuals". It would make sense to me that the goddes gets stronger and thus chaos increases when large parts of the population act more greedy.
It (so far) doesn't make sense to me that the goddes gets stronger when only the main character acts greedy. For that to make sense the main character imho has to be something special.

I personally prefer when the main character starts as a regular person.

Apart from the greed system which I'm sceptical about, the other things sound and look really good.

You guys are focusing too much on something that ultimately seems unimportant to me. So you can get the best items either from loot or from vendors but not both. Big deal.

All I care about is if the gameplay is fun, if combat is tactically challenging (without becoming frustratingly difficult or too easy at the end like many games of this type tend to do), and that there is a good variety of classes to pick from for me and companions.

As wolfing says, greed won't be something that requires explicit attention all the time (or any time). It's an ubiquitous, invisible aspect you can choose - or choose not to - take into account. Therefore, you won't notice anything special if you play normally like in Baldur's Gate (taking all loot; or almost all loot when you are tired of carrying Short Sword +1 items to be sold in the next shop while your party already uses +3 or greater items). The same applies to dialogue options or accepting rewards.

Well, actually my favored playstyle would benefit from the greed system. It would be really nice for me to have a positive effect if I refrain from looting everything.
And wolfling is right, the impact is quite unimportant.

But - and this is a big but - for me a missing proper explanation would break immersion. And immersion is very important in an RPG.

The greed concept is carefully elaborated. There is / will be a proper explanation. Black Geyser is currently a work in progress, so we prefer not to reveal everything at this stage.

Well, actually my favored playstyle would benefit from the greed system. It would be really nice for me to have a positive effect if I refrain from looting everything.

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It will be so. Absolutely. On a side note, looting is supported by additional features (regardless of the greed system). In the gameplay video, you can see two buttons. One of them is the usual "Pick up all items from the ground". The other one, with the star, is "Take all uncommon". On a separate screen, you can manage which items you consider common. Such items will not be picked up. (Think of ordinary items that you don't want to sell because you're already rich enough.) This allows very comfortable, fast looting.

Well, I guess this will be the first game I've backed on kickstarter since Copper Dreams in 2016.

I hope it goes well.

Yes it should be good...
I would be happy to contribute to the beta.

Greed system: If it is an important part of the game, then yes, I would make the actions of the hero have a reason why it impacts the world moreso than the average person in the world.

Madoc

Looks interesting. I'll be keeping an eye on it. It almost looks as if the team bought an Obsidian-tweaked version of Unity, as the similarity is uncanny.

One of the reasons for random similarities may be that Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness was greatly inspired by Baldur's Gate. Pillars of Eternity was also inspired (and more than that) by Baldur's Gate.

Whatever (reasonable, ergonomic) UI you design nowadays, you will be similar to an existing game in the market. This is because there is a limited set of options to design a (reasonable, ergonomic) UI for a particular genre and game style (Baldur's Gate inspired, in this case).

Moreover, while we humans naturally tend to notice similiarities in visual appearance, the situation is completely different if we compare the concepts and logical structure. For example, the Black Geyser inventory screen has key differences compared to other RPGs (including Pillars of Eternity). The most important point is that it focuses on the single character selected and nobody else (just like in Baldur's Gate). The party is not accessible from here (apart from displaying the gold pieces, a minor thing). Then we have the Drying or the Brewing tabs as well, the special types of quickslots, the Weight concept and the stacking projectiles/arrows (both inspired by Baldur's Gate) etc.

I've addressed this question because we got several questions about it. We're not saying there are no random similarities with other games, but if you take a look at the details (both visuals and concept), there will be key differences. Just the human eye will notice the similarities first, without noticing the details. And that's OK and how it should be.

Of course, Baldur's Gate is an exception. Many general similarities with Baldur's Gate aren't random, because when you're inspired by something, inspiration means there is a spiritual relationship between the two.

No offence but there is a lot of BG name dropping in your post and, frankly, you need to differentiate your game in order to get my attention at this point. I've already seen enough of "spiritual successor of BG" to be really excited by another one anymore.

What spiritual successor? I didn't see any mention of romancing another Vicky that can change her character from evil to neutral.

Count me mildly interested in this project only because I despise paladins and they won't appear among classes here. Won't promise anything though.

Infinitron said:

Where's GreenMagicSpell these days?

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I'd say it's the same person. Same tone, same attitude.

purpleblob said:

No offence but there is a lot of BG name dropping in your post and, frankly, you need to differentiate your game in order to get my attention at this point. I've already seen enough of "spiritual successor of BG" to be really excited by another one anymore.

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Thanks for your feedback. Here is a list of what differentiates Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness:
http://www.blackgeyser.com/game-novelties

The Plant Item skill is believed to be completely unique in the RPG world. It's not a scripted, single-quest feature but a real, primary feature of the game.

joxer said:

What spiritual successor? I didn't see any mention of romancing another Vicky that can change her character from evil to neutral.

Count me mildly interested in this project only because I despise paladins and they won't appear among classes here. Won't promise anything though.

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Thanks for your interest. Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness is an unreleased game, a game that can become a reality through community effort instead of a publisher. This has its pros and cons. One of the pros is that we're talking here.

Rothgor said:

Thanks for your feedback. Here is a list of what differentiates Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness:
http://www.blackgeyser.com/game-novelties

The Plant Item skill is believed to be completely unique in the RPG world. It's not a scripted, single-quest feature but a real, primary feature of the game.


Thanks for your interest. Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness is an unreleased game, a game that can become a reality through community effort instead of a publisher. This has its pros and cons. One of the pros is that we're talking here.

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Fallout 1 let you plant items with pickpocket.

I see. And what options did that offer? What was its practical use? I played Fallout 1 very long ago but cannot remember this feature.

Rothgor said:

I see. And what options did that offer? What was its practical use? I played Fallout 1 very long ago but cannot remember this feature.

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You could prime explosives, plant them into enemy and watch the fireworks

Probably more than that but I cannot remember now.

Original Sin has that too, doesn’t it?

Fallout 4 also has a rather limited plant feature:

Fallout 4 Wiki:

While reverse-pickpocketing is still allowed in Fallout 4, live explosives can only be planted on enemies once the Pickpocket perk has reached level 2. Other than that, the mechanics are similar to those of Fallout 3.

On topic - I like how this game looks and will keep an eye on it!

Rothgor said:

Thanks for your feedback. Here is a list of what differentiates Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness:
http://www.blackgeyser.com/game-novelties

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I've already read all info on your website. When I say "differentiate", I didn't mean tell me anything that differs to BG but something that stand out as more interesting or done better. None of the features described so far has grabbed my attention particularly but I will keep an eye on it.