The Pale City - Released

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Spaceman
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The Pale City is a narrative driven dark fantasy RPG that released recently on Steam. The game is currently 25% off until 27th March.



A world where children aren't born--they crawl out of tunnels in the ground. A lone city, beneath the gaze of a silent god, home to strange cults who eat the dead. The Pale City is the story of a mercenary hired to find the last, most powerful artifact of a sorcerer who disappeared lifetimes ago. But the search pits him against powerful people in hidden places, towards a secret buried somewhere in terrible darkness.

An Unconventional, Character-Driven Narrative:
Written and designed by novelist Kyle Muntz, The Pale City tells the story of one man's struggle against a merciless world and the emptiness inside himself.

A Handcrafted, Semi-Open World:
Every room has a purpose; every battle has meaning; every step you take tells you more about yourself.

The Price of Survival:
Tense, unforgiving combat that rewards close observation and careful use of skills, where defense is often more important than offense.

The Brutality of Existence:
In a city without heroes, can you bear to see the consequences of your actions?
More information.
 
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I wonder how much more money several of these games would make if they only had better graphics. I can't play that game; the trailer killed my eyes.
 
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Graphics are very basic but if there was some interesting gameplay hook I might bite. However, it looks like every generic RPGMaker game.
 
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I don't mind the graphics. It was all sounding pretty good to me -- especially that part about defense being more imoortant than offense, which is one of the things I loved about Age of Decadence -- but then I saw the JRPG combat. That kills it for me. I need to move my little people around. :)

If RPG Maker would put out a tactical-combat expansion, they'd really be on to something. They'd probably have my money, anyway. And the mods I've seen don't qualify. They look clunky as hell to me, trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
 
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Looking at the, uh, images, I have to say I hope it really is narrative driven!
 
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This looks like a 16bit game with framerate of an 8 bit nintendo game.

It doesn't look bad for what appears to be an RPG maker clone.
 
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Graphics for me are just fine, if the story is solid and the combat makes sense that'll be far more satisfying than a shiny, shallow product. I've played maybe thirty of the rpg-maker games and all of them have been well worth the purchase, and most have been far more satisfying than the average triple a products. I don't know much about this one so thanks for sharing.
 
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It's getting to the point where news is useless to read as it is all RPGmaker, jrpgs, indie games that look and smell like poo, etc. These low graphic games actually cause damage to my vision. Squinting at these blurry, tiny, poorly drawn objects causes eye strain and intense headaches. Can't do it and I try every so often.
 
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The description sounds interesting, but from looking at the screen shots/trailer, it looks like you only have a single party member? I have no problem with RPGmaker, but I'm not convinced that RPGmaker style combat will work well without a party.
 
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I can deal with the graphics but those UI elements during combat look like a mobile game. Just poor design. That and did anyone notice the enemy model completely switched when entering combat?
 
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Been playing the game for an hour now. The atmosphere is really good, really oppressive and foreboding. The writing seems somewhat verbose mainly due to the fact that the developer is a novelist. The most underwhelming aspect is, of course, the JRPG-like combat. Despite the game telling the player time after time that the combat is very tactical, it just comes down to going to adefensive stance, spamming parry and launching powerful attacks once you accumulate enough TP. Nevertheless, the story and setting is really interesting.
 
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