Encased (gameplay talk and stuff)

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
The dialogue in ATOM was too much. Everyone goes on and on, and the input from the player is minimal. You're just working your way through a checklist, often the same checklist, over and over. It's like if you when you played Morrowind you asked every NPC about every keyword. There's also a uniformity to how everyone talks that I'm not a fan of. Some of it is funny, and it's certainly colorful and vivid writing, so it's not all bad. But my eyes glazed over within minutes each time I tried to play it.

As I understand it, some of the dialogue gets lost in translation. There are supposedly a lot of jokes and cultural references that non-Russian gamers won't get.

I'm not saying the writing would be great if we were Russian, but it probably does factor in at least to some degree.

As far as being verbose, yeah, I agree it can get old pretty fast when so many NPCs have that much dialogue.

From what I saw in ATOM and Encased, there isn't much difference in the amount of text.

Originally Posted by Redglyph
From what I saw in ATOM and Encased, there isn't much difference in the amount of text.

The amount isn't the only thing that matters though. Pacing is very important.

Some games just add tons of text as soon as you meet a character, whilst others open up over time. I think ATOM RPG is everything at once. I think that's also part of why it didn't click for me.

With Encased it will depend on the role of the NPC. Most will give everything at once because they're just "background" NPC (all NPCs respond differently in Encased, there's no generic answer that unimportant NPCs give).

Companions usually give 90% at the start, and after a while they share other thoughts if you gain enough reputation.

Quest-related dialogues depend on the quest state, of course. It's not always perfect, some lines come back sometimes (not a big deal, it's just that they're not greyed out, happens in WotR too).

There's more of it in the prologue, maybe. The idea is giving the player a sense of the world, so it's on purpose. And there are periods of quiet too, it's alternating with quests and exploration.

I'm not sure Encased, ATOM or Pathfinder will be fully appreciated if the player doesn't like reading some amount of text, those games follow the classic genre in that regard.

@Redglyph, Is the game buggy or worth plunging into already ?

Also, is this a thing :

Game quality drops off a cliff after Act 1; the new locations that open up are big, empty, and lifeless

Originally Posted by Pladio
@Redglyph, Is the game buggy or worth plunging into already ?

Also, is this a thing :

I'm slow - well, or rather, I restarted late, so I'm only past the prologue. But I had played the whole EA (which includes prologue & act 1).

I haven't seen any annoying bug so far, and even in the last EA, those I found were mostly cosmetic or have been fixed. Some were apparently reported, but nothing out of the ordinary; they had much more time to polish the game than in the case of Pathfinder(s), and the game isn't as complex, so it's nothing like it.

I'd say you can safely jump in.

Thanks. Can you post your impressions of act 2 when you reach there?

I have a mild grumble about quest information. I get a quest, say “take the pie to Qayto” Ages later I find the pie but can I remember where Qayto is? Course I can’t. Lots of characters spread over quite a few areas, so it would be helpful to have more information/reminders in the quest log, perhaps hovering over the name to remind of location. I dislike googling a game so early on, it can be spoilery. I don’t want to keep notes everytime I speak to an NPC who may be in need of a pie.

I have encountered one bug where I can’t progress a side quest. It’s mentioned a fair bit on steam forum so I expect it will be addressed soon.

There may be an issue with the difficulty levels for those who prefer their challenges painful. I’m playing on normal and finding it comfortable. If I’m thinking of upping to a harder difficulty then it may be way too undemanding for some of you.

Found the random encounters while crossing the map a bit too frequent but other than that I’m really enjoying Encased. I have more of a Wasteland feel than an Atom feel from it. I’m intrigued by the story. I’m already planning my second play through with a different and more focussed build, perhaps better behaviour towards companions who I appear to have offended.

Originally Posted by Qayto
I have a mild grumble about quest information. I get a quest, say “take the pie to Qayto” Ages later I find the pie but can I remember where Qayto is? Course I can’t. Lots of characters spread over quite a few areas, so it would be helpful to have more information/reminders in the quest log, perhaps hovering over the name to remind of location. I dislike googling a game so early on, it can be spoilery. I don’t want to keep notes everytime I speak to an NPC who may be in need of a pie.

Yes, Encased doesn't hold our hand for sure. I had this problem too, and also to find back companions sometimes.

I found this during the EA, it's very old so it must be incomplete and perhaps outdated, but just in case it helps.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/92180…5000783440326/

Originally Posted by Qayto
Found the random encounters while crossing the map a bit too frequent but other than that I’m really enjoying Encased. I have more of a Wasteland feel than an Atom feel from it.

I like the fact we can avoid those encounters. But in the late EA, at some point the locations got attacked repeatedly, which was very annoying because it forced a combat and implied a lot of participants (so very long). I don't know if they kept that in the release version.

Originally Posted by Pladio
Thanks. Can you post your impressions of act 2 when you reach there?

Sure!

I'm quite biased though, so make sure to get other opinions as well

Originally Posted by Redglyph
Sure!

I'm quite biased though, so make sure to get other opinions as well

It's fine
It's the kind of game I am likely to enjoy, but I don't want it to be too front loaded.

In Magellan, I think it's best not to have any companion.

Some rooms have forbidden access, and trying to get there and out with a companion is just a hassle (that part was better handled in the EA IMO).

There's also a good chance that one of the usual companions at this stage (Crump, Sparrow) will do something stupid or leave you because they don't like the quests you take part in.

For the Playing Detective quest, there's a problem. If you're stuck:


About the morgue in the Laboratory area:
- save first!


I hope they improve those two parts of Magellan. It's not a big deal, but it's not entirely intuitive and may force you to reload.

Originally Posted by Redglyph
In Magellan, I think it's best not to have any companion.

Some rooms have forbidden access, and trying to get there and out with a companion is just a hassle (that part was better handled in the EA IMO).

Can't you just order them to stay somewhere while you explore those particular rooms?

Originally Posted by JDR13
Can't you just order them to stay somewhere while you explore those particular rooms?

Yes, you can, the UI now mimicks Larian's chain feature. You can detach the companions, make them go somewhere and wait.

But there's another problem, it's in the spoiler tag for the morgue.

It's easy to send them home, so no big deal, they accept to be companions again later anyway. Save before doing something risky, if you realize you're stuck because of a companion or losing reputation points, retry after sending him/her away.

In one case at Magellan, Crump began to beat up an NPC because of what he did, so I couldn't talk with the NPC and the quest failed.

That's Crump's philosophy, this guy is awesome

Originally Posted by Redglyph
In one case at Magellan, Crump began to beat up an NPC because of what he did, so I couldn't talk with the NPC and the quest failed.

I like him already.

That's actually pretty cool though. More games should have instances where a companion NPC acts on their own like that. It's not unheard of, but you don't see it often enough.

Here's a nice little guide:

https://www.neoseeker.com/encased/walkthrough

Got the custom portraits working great. Lobo fits right in - shot I took in FO4 and resized to fit the specs for Encased.

Are companions not fully controllable? Do they work more like NWN henchmen?

I know preview is obviously outdated now but was re-reading it and saw this:

The interface is usually fine, at the exception of the companions. It is not possible to control them much, not even to ask them to stop following you for a while, so when the player has to go through a dangerous area like a mine field or radiations, the companions will very likely get hurt and there is no avoiding it except sending them away.

Originally Posted by purpleblob1
Are companions not fully controllable? Do they work more like NWN henchmen?

I know preview is obviously outdated now but was re-reading it and saw this:

This part has changed a lot since the EA, fortunately!

Before you could only control the companions during combat. Then near the end of the EA, they added a couple of orders (stay put, go to this spot).

Now this has been removed and you can take control of them the same way as the main character, not only to interact with the inventory (drink this, throw that grenade), but also with the environment. You can also use the avatar "chain" gadget like in D:OS, so that they follow you or not - and in that case, you can make them move independently, alone or together. Nice to set up traps! The only restriction is that you must "gather your party before venturing forth" - when you change of location or submap.

For ex. today I had to open a door with a check on muscles (str) that my main character couldn't pass, so I took control of Crump (think of Minsc and you'll get a good idea) and he could open the door while my main was stealthily disarming the security bots elsewhere.

They're pretty dumb when it comes to avoid hazardous zones, they tend to lag behind and sometimes one of them will have their path temporarily blocked by another companion and make a huge detour. So it's not perfect, but good enough.

You cannot control the way they level up at all, the only thing you can do is change their gear or buff them (but on the other hand, you don't need to feed them or make them sleep either). Sometimes they want to keep a personal weapon, so one of the two weapon slots cannot be changed (but the weapon can be upgraded I think).

It's limited to 2 permanent companions, sometimes with a temporary 3rd one.