Remakes; especially Blades of Destiny

Um… Can't find Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition remake anywhere.

not a remake, sorry. I went off-topic. Kult is just the game I'm currently playing. It came out in 2004, but it's pretty fun. Not your type though, joxe,r as it has respawns and they're fairly frequent. The respawns are needed to unlock all the attunements.

Thanks for the tips, Nut! I'm going to try really hard to get absorbed in RoA.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
Blades of Destiny was fun back in the day but you would spend hours out in the wilderness doing absolutely nothing but traveling from one action spot past several non-action spots to get to the next play area. That just won't work in a game made today, in my opinion. What do you guys think? I'm sure Chris Firefox doesn't want to offend the purists, but how does he make money from today's more demanding audience? Do we need 23 empty towns that serve no purpose?
.

Now that I've played a little I can respond to this.

I think a large part of the uniqueness of this game is the traveling in the wilderness between action and non-action spots. It's a lot of fun, as it makes your trip worthwhile, dangerous and exciting. I quite like that aspect of the game.

I do agree the towns are a bit empty, but I'm not sure what they could really do here to spice things up. Maybe have some more hidden "special" houses, that maybe grant you a brief side quest or something, or some special item.

Remember thatin ye olde days there was no possibility of 3D figures running around in towns …

However, I once read that the tiny figures on the chess-board-like battlefields were 3D models … I had never thought of that …

10th of October: Optimization and "Thorwalisation" of the buildings has finally started. Opening Hours and Days for Markets and Traders are also underway, along with NPC Companions. Opponent Health Display in Battles and ingame changeable Characternames are already done

14th of October: 1.31 is going to be a monstrous Patch, we'll make a leap forward optically unlike anything in the past weeks. Companions, the dead ship, Trader-Opening Times and Marketdays and several bugfixes are also in place. There is also work doen on battle control convenience (like "repeat last action"). Currently we don't have a precise Patchday due to the amount of work to go, but we'll try to get it out "this week"

17th of October: New Content (as in 1.30) and some user-contributed dialogs (like an encounter with a barmaid or the participation in an Imman Game) are being implemented today, along with some magic fixes. Thorwalisation is almost completed, especially the reworked temples with their waving banners look quite nice .

21st of October: It remained with "trying", the changes to all Towns and Cities because of the reworked buildings are significantly more work on the placement than originally anticipated. We are currently aiming for Wednesday or Thursday for 1.31, but in exchange for the delay we are also able to put in more features and fixes, like more encounters in towns, eating (actually edible) Herbs directly, along with the battle features "delay action until end of round" (in contrast to the current "don't act at all"), "repeat last action", a configurable acceleration of battle animations and a first Version of the autobattle (for now without magicians using their spells).

I'm kinda glad I took a break. It sounds like some pretty major overhauls are taking place. You still playing, Fluent?

Fluent needs to focus on Morrowind. Don't distract him.

Haha. Don't worry, I'll always find time for Morrowind. I'm having a blast with it!

Yeah, I'm still playing 'Nut. I was playing in order to write a review for the Watch, so I think I'm going to continue even with the new patch coming out just to keep the game fresh in my mind. I actually have a lot to say about the game.

@nut thanks for all the heads up.

@fluent looking forward to your review.

Wake me up when RoA reaches v2.0, then maybe I'll give it another try.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
10th of October: Optimization and "Thorwalisation" of the buildings has finally started.

What on earth is "Thorwalisation"?

Thorwal is the name of the region where it (the plot) takes place. So, it basically means that the towns are adapted to look like what would be proper house building in Thorwal.

Originally Posted by wiretripped
What on earth is "Thorwalisation"?

This is THORWAL!

Good picture, yes. Althgough it rather depicts a more "rural" region. Thorwal as a town would look rather like a town, but the rather rural areas would look quzite a lot after this, yes. Imho.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Thorwal is the name of the region where it (the plot) takes place. So, it basically means that the towns are adapted to look like what would be proper house building in Thorwal.

If that is the case, then how did this game ever get released before it got "Thorwalized"?
And begs the question: how does the world look at the moment?

I think the world looks fine at the moment. Like your typical medieval setting. I'm interested to see what exactly this Thorwalisation really means.

Actually Thorwal isn't just medieval but very "nordic", consisting of a couple of "Ottaskins", which are the Ship/Raiding-Communities, which have some kind of dedicated areas, surrounded by palisades and whatnot.

And while you will see some of the houses you may know from Drakensang and so on, in Thorwal you will find lots of Longhouses like this: http://rpg.saakje.de/otta2.htm

So, at least in my imagination based on what I remember from the TDE games the Lexicon and several Novels, Thorwal is a very, very loose town in the west, where you find the shipyard, the Ottaskins and basic "longhouses" (I imagine it a little bit like a cluttered siege camp, just with houses isntead of tents). To the east (away from the water) the city becomes more "typical medieval", you have the "industrial zone" including the blacksmiths and so on.

Yes, Thorwalians are much like Vikings - or at least the Vikings have been their "RL role model", so to say.

One thing is for sure, this game can be brutal!

I just had a sequence where I'm traveling through the mountains and nearly my entire party got sick. Got to the next town and there's not a healer in sight. Finally, I find the healer way at the other end of the village, but he wants 40 ducats to heal my Leaf Elf of his Traumatic Fever! I only have 20 ducats so I'm pretty much in trouble. Not to mention I had to spend over 10 ducats to heal everyone else from frost damage since I can't afford sleeping bags for them and my blankets are not cutting it during the winter months.

Brutal.