Gedonia - Open World RPG

[Tyranicon]

Huh, this thing came out of nowhere. Got a 1000 reviews on Steam and sitting at 90% positive. If the art style isn't a deal breaker, it might be worth it. After all, only $12 USD full price.

 

[Cryomancer]

art style

Is made by a single guy, the art being "poor" is expected.

 

[Chimera]

Gedonia, as with at least a couple hundred one-man studio "games" (most of which are asset flips and thus thoroughly undeserving of recognition), was created using the fantasy polygon Unity packs available from Synty Studios. They are as bland and uninspired as you might imagine, eminently ideal for a variety of equally homogenous works.

That much aside, I would strenuously recommend against purchasing Gedonia and cannot comprehend the swathe of positive reviews. Perhaps the most succinct analogy for this perpetual Early Access title I've seen to date was "it's like a non-MMO version of Runescape." I found that particular gem stated, unironically, among its most up-voted reviews on Steam. Inasmuch as the experience is one of tedium and the mindless collection of trivial items, I concur.

Anecdotally, I found it to be little more than questing by numbers, precisely as in Runescape (acquire five feathers, kill three bears, etc) with combat whose shoddy hit detection and bizarre movement reeked of an amateur production. Unlike the Eurojank many codexers adore, myself included, this is not a gem of the Gothic or even Two Worlds variety: it is an EA title that has been such for more than two years and plays like an EA title to this day.

Furthermore, though not to berate the point, there is little hope of redeeming it via a story. The developer clearly speaks English as a second language and also serves as the primary writer; expect copious grammatical errors and a barebones narrative structure.

For the most part, people appear to be impressed by the "large open world" and "exploration" but when they consist merely of riding across empty landscapes wherein asset pack resources have been sporadically thrust I remain disinclined to give them much credence.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Color me intrigued. The spell casting looks pretty cool. It seems to take inspiration from a variety of sources and blend them well.



The dragons can pummel you with breath weapons while staying in the air. Very nice.

 

[Cryomancer]

Honestly gedonia is better than any modern AAA ""rpg""

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I bought this last night. *Edit

Got it working on Linux. So far so good. Stats are simple, but intuitive and meaningful. Made a 4/4 INT 3/4 CHA wizard. Going Arcane as primary tree and probably elemental too. Will likely splash take the non-summoning necro skills and maybe splash some holy. I tried messing around in the arena to figure out the skills but got stomped mercilessly. Started a new game in open world mode and liking it. I think I may come to regret going heavy CHA. NPC interactions appear to be barebones.

 

[Late Bloomer]

I bought this last night. *Edit

Got it working on Linux. So far so good. Stats are simple, but intuitive and meaningful. Made a 4/4 INT 3/4 CHA wizard. Going Arcane as primary tree and probably elemental too. Will likely splash take the non-summoning necro skills and maybe splash some holy. I tried messing around in the arena to figure out the skills but got stomped mercilessly. Started a new game in open world mode and liking it. I think I may come to regret going heavy CHA. NPC interactions appear to be barebones.

Any updates on your playthrough. Its on sale for like 6 bucks american. How is performance?

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I bought this last night. *Edit

Got it working on Linux. So far so good. Stats are simple, but intuitive and meaningful. Made a 4/4 INT 3/4 CHA wizard. Going Arcane as primary tree and probably elemental too. Will likely splash take the non-summoning necro skills and maybe splash some holy. I tried messing around in the arena to figure out the skills but got stomped mercilessly. Started a new game in open world mode and liking it. I think I may come to regret going heavy CHA. NPC interactions appear to be barebones.

Any updates on your playthrough. Its on sale for like 6 bucks american. How is performance?

Performance is excellent. Load times are great, nit a single bug. Definitely worth $6. The game plays like Zelda Breath of the Wild with much better magic and combat. Many of the skills, particularly magic, are inter-related in subtle ways that adds much depth. Experimenting with builds is good fun. I have mostly been testing builds in the arena, and haven't done much exploration in the open world or dungeon mode.

This game has a lot to offer for the price. Some aspects are minimal and WIP, like NPCs. Itemization is low but acceptable . I haven't gotten to the crafting or keep building aspects yet but I'm optimistic from what else I have seen. This is a work of love by competent hands.

 

[Late Bloomer]

I bought this last night. *Edit

Got it working on Linux. So far so good. Stats are simple, but intuitive and meaningful. Made a 4/4 INT 3/4 CHA wizard. Going Arcane as primary tree and probably elemental too. Will likely splash take the non-summoning necro skills and maybe splash some holy. I tried messing around in the arena to figure out the skills but got stomped mercilessly. Started a new game in open world mode and liking it. I think I may come to regret going heavy CHA. NPC interactions appear to be barebones.

Any updates on your playthrough. Its on sale for like 6 bucks american. How is performance?

Performance is excellent. Load times are great, nit a single bug. Definitely worth $6. The game plays like Zelda Breath of the Wild with much better magic and combat. Many of the skills, particularly magic, are inter-related in subtle ways that adds much depth. Experimenting with builds is good fun. I have mostly been testing builds in the arena, and haven't done much exploration in the open world or dungeon mode.

This game has a lot to offer for the price. Some aspects are minimal and WIP, like NPCs. Itemization is low but acceptable . I haven't gotten to the crafting or keep building aspects yet but I'm optimistic from what else I have seen. This is a work of love by competent hands.

Sounds fun. Think ill pick it up.

 

[curds]

Anecdotally, I found it to be little more than questing by numbers, precisely as in Runescape (acquire five feathers, kill three bears, etc)

Thanks for your thoughts, but I have to point at out that questing in Runescape is precisely the opposite of what you described.

 

[Chimera]

Thanks for your thoughts, but I have to point at out that questing in Runescape is precisely the opposite of what you described.

Runescape Classic quests, mate, which admittedly I have not played since I was a significantly younger man... nevertheless, I refer to those like "Cook's Assistant" in which you are tasked with acquiring milk, flour and an egg. You acquire a bucket and press "milk cow." Similarly, "Imp Catcher" where you must obtain four unique beads, but the quest merely entails slaughtering imps until all four have randomly dropped (or you purchase them from other players). Also, "Sheep Shearer," where you speak to a NPC who asks for 20 balls of wool; you either already have them on hand courtesy of prior interactions and thus complete the quest immediately or you walk over and shear some sheep.

That is the essence of questing in Gedonia: walk along a cliff or mountaintop and pick up eggs from the nests randomly placed atop them, pick some reeds and hit a goblin or two. You sporadically acquire items and, consequently, finish a quest.

There is no narrative thread, nor any unique gameplay mechanics involved.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I've been playing dungeon mode mostly after having experimented with builds in the arena mode for a long time. Dungeon mode kinda of has a low-budget 3D Diablo vibe. Random enemies, loot, areas, and shrines that have 9 randomly generated bonuses so select from. The shrines make things particularly interesting, as they can sometimes have game play changing modifiers. Last night I got one were the "blink" ability (short range teleport) had no cool down or mana cost, but my movement speed was now 50% less. As a mage, this was really cool. Zipping around the zone casting spells was very satisfying.

Overall, the gameplay loop is reminiscent of an MMO. Advancement is at a reasonable pace though, so it keeps you engaged. All of the abilities are well thought out and synergize in intuitive ways that gives much build depth to what (at face value) appears rather ordinary. I'll probably go back to the open world mode soon, now that I have a very good understanding of the game's mechanics. I still haven't messed around with the base building aspects, but I don't see how they will bring much value. Anyway, stay tuned.

 

[Sykar]

Can never beat Oblivion.

Can anything really beat the Codex' most beloved classic?

Fallout 3!

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

So when does it come out?

 

[HoboForEternity]

I bought this last night. *Edit

Got it working on Linux. So far so good. Stats are simple, but intuitive and meaningful. Made a 4/4 INT 3/4 CHA wizard. Going Arcane as primary tree and probably elemental too. Will likely splash take the non-summoning necro skills and maybe splash some holy. I tried messing around in the arena to figure out the skills but got stomped mercilessly. Started a new game in open world mode and liking it. I think I may come to regret going heavy CHA. NPC interactions appear to be barebones.

Any updates on your playthrough. Its on sale for like 6 bucks american. How is performance?

Performance is excellent. Load times are great, nit a single bug. Definitely worth $6. The game plays like Zelda Breath of the Wild with much better magic and combat. Many of the skills, particularly magic, are inter-related in subtle ways that adds much depth. Experimenting with builds is good fun. I have mostly been testing builds in the arena, and haven't done much exploration in the open world or dungeon mode.

This game has a lot to offer for the price. Some aspects are minimal and WIP, like NPCs. Itemization is low but acceptable . I haven't gotten to the crafting or keep building aspects yet but I'm optimistic from what else I have seen. This is a work of love by competent hands.

how is the quest and world design?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

MMO-like play? Hmmmm....

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

HoboForEternity I cannot quite speak fully to quest design in the open world. I haven't delved deeply into that yet. I plan on getting around to it this weekend. Quest design in dungeon mode is practically absent. A few tacked on "Collect X things" quests. Dungeon mode isn't about questing though, it's about combat and shrines.

One scathing criticism I have about the game, is the UI toolbar limitations. The creator has deliberately restricted the amount of abilities that can be mapped to the toolbar to not exceed buttons on console controllers. Counting two mouse buttons, this gives you (currently) 7 ability slots +2 more if you sacrifice standard attack and assign skills to the mouse buttons directly. With the wide breadth of skills and how much they interact with each other, this is dreadfully confining with just about any build. It's certainly poison for spellcasters. I have avoided many builds simply because I don't have the toolbar space to accommodate all of the abilities. It's a VERY common complaint though. Hopefully the creator will take heed.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

No gog. Figures. We're stuck with anime-waifu games intead.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I've been playing the open world mode after exhausting the dungeon and arena modes to get familiar with the game. I'm very pleasantly surprised. I'm have MUCH more fun. Exploration is pretty good. It's simple yet very pleasing. The MMO-esque qualities show through here, but in the best way. The game is addictive in that you want to see what's over the next hill and push to that next character level. The balance of the skills truly shines in the open world mode, as things like crafting are significant. You get XP for crafting, what you craft sells well, and it will make you distinctly more powerful. The only game I've ever liked crafting in is Arcanum--this is now the second game. While NPCs and quests are very minimal, it's been enough to keep me playing and looking for more. I'm having a very good time.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Each guild/faction has a set of mission which will open up special shops for higher end build specific loot. Once you hit Level 40, they have a capstone quest for the faction you have joined and completed its prior questline. I did the Mage faction epic quest, which is associated strongly with the Arcane skill tree. I was very impressed that the challenges in the quest reflected the specific skill tree in an organic and natural way. I found myself routinely thinking "glad I have that skill, it really came in handy". This is all the more emphasized, because the Arcane skill tree is mostly one of utility and not combat. Something greatly overlooked in other RPGs. For example:

Spoiler

Your headmaster opens a portal to another dimension that you an he investigate. You have to use the flight skill to go from points floating in a void (that would be unreachable otherwise), blink to position yourself cleverly against impossible foes, shields and slow time to survive some bullet-hell style encounters, the overload skill to effectively damage enemies, and all the mana capacity/regeneration upgrades to make any of that possible.

I'm also part of the merchant faction. I'm curious if how that capstone will be handled. Hopefully just as well. This humble indie project has a great deal of incline.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

This humble indie project has a great deal of incline

Just the way the stat system works is a huge incline.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I've effectively completed Gedonia as of last night. While there is a fair amount of post final boss content, plus anything you hadn't already done, I've completed a majority of the content and have a maxed-out character. Here goes the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good

• Character design: It uses a pseudo-classless system where your stats determine what skills you have access to. The core 4 states of STR, DEX, INT, CHA are well represented to make a cohesive character. Stats can be dumped without totally gimping yourself and each has unique advantages if you max it out. Specialists still get the best of their niche, but the breadth of skills make a generalist very functional and fun to play.
• Skill design: The skills are roughly composed of equal amounts of martial, magic, and crafting skill trees. You will be able to create any kind of archetype you wish. The skills are generally satisfying on their own, but also have a great deal of interplay between each-other. For example, you can create different kinds of summons based on what element you are channeling.
  • Utility skills are well represented and come in very handy.
• Crafting: This is the third game I've ever enjoyed crafting it. It might even be better than Arcanum's crafting. Some trees (Alchemy, Cooking) have a similar pyramid structure where later grand recipes use lesser recipes as reagents. Everything craftable is very useful, and there are pretty large gaps between what you can find and what you can craft. Only the most unique clothing and weapons (typically end-game uniques) surpass what can be crafted. Furthermore, crafting has major benefits:
  • It yields XP and is cash positive. This was exacerbated by my 4 INT, 3 CHA character getting massive bonuses to XP gain and barter. I could kill a creature for say...25XP and sell the raw meat for 1gp. With 1 skill point in cooking, I can kill it for 25xp, cook the meat for 25xp, then sell the meat for 14gp. This tempo is significant and rapidly advanced my character. A crafting character has far more power, utility, and advancement than one which does not.
  • Many crafting skills have dual uses. Not only can you create a new item or consumable, but you can enhance existing items. Most notably, cloth making can also embroider clothes with bonuses, enchanting and weapons craft can harden and add modifiers to weapons, etc.
• Exploration: The low poly world may look like a unity asset dump, but it's arranged in a way that really is a pleasure to explore. I found myself compelled to check out every mountain, valley, and cave. Characters can run, jump, swim, and even teleport and fly. While there is plenty to be found far and high, I've never actually found anything underwater, which is a shame. The old school sensibilities are strong here and there are no "artificial" road blocks. Levels and areas are design to reward those with mobility skills, and pushing the horizon to find something hidden is frequently rewarded. Plebeians who don't use magic to fly and teleport will enjoy a wide assortment of mounts that can be purchased or tamed. They're satisfying to use and will really help you get around the huge world. The biomes are distinct in character and what resources can be found. The only one I found lacking was the Enchanted Forest, which while decent looking, lacked content. There are a decent amount of puzzles, and zero hand-holding. They're intuitive and require experimentation, while not being opaque.
  
  
• Combat: While not the greatest in history, melee or magic are very satisfying. It firmly an RPG, but there is enough skill and twitch involved to keep you awake and engaged. You'll feel powerful while still being challenged, particularly once you start fighting demons. One thing I don't like, is how enemy range attacks are telegraphed with red arrows and circles. This trivializes what would otherwise dramatically increase difficulty and reward the observant player.
  
  
• Music: It's surprisingly good. Each biome has it's own distinctive music that is very fitting for the area. The only problem is that the music is limited to 1 track per area, so it will loop relentlessly. Even still, it's good enough to where that wasn't a huge problem for me.

The Bad

• Visuals: Low poly Unity assets with that Zelda wind-waker cell shading. That monsters have good animations and the overall art style is consistent and cohesive, but still bland and generic. It's definitely acceptable for a one-man indie project, but that doesn't make it good.
  
  
• AI: Like most games, AI is basically absent. The detection radius of enemies is also generally too low and will allow you to pick apart key encounters that were obviously intended to be fought as a group.
  
  
• Loading Jank: While the game is overall incredible stable and bug free, the initial loading time is quite long even on my latest SSD. If you travel too quickly, you can arrive in areas before the asset loads, which will then take considerable time to catch up with you. My wizard had such powerful flight that the world became a neighborhood I could careen around like a jet fighter. I could rocket from the desert to the main city market but have to wait a solid minute for all of the placeables, buildings, and NPCs to populate. For a non-magical character, this will be a non-issue.
  
  
• Item Dependence: While it works mechanically for the game, it makes certain builds difficult to execute due to the combinations of bonuses that appear. For example, you're never going to optimize something that uses Blood magic and Light magic, or (oddly) Elemental & Nature magic. It was a frustration for me.

The Ugly

• Quests: While there are many quests, they are nothing to write home about. They suffer from an MMO like quality of fetch, collect, and kill. There is an effort to incorporate skill checks into how many are completed, but they don't significantly enhance the experience. Most only check CHA and serve to give you a boost in gold, or reduce the amount of travelling. The quest journal is also barebones, and there is no way to switch between which one is actively pinged on your map. Some quests can be a challenge to complete simply because you're given almost no information. If you accidently start a new quest, that map ping will get replaced by the new one and you'll have to complete the others before getting it back. The only exception to this poor quests are the Faction quest lines. I found them to be very organic tests of the skill branches they are associated with.
  
  
• NPCs: Trash-tier. While the capital has good atmosphere, most interactable NPCs are utter garbage. This applies to joinable NPCs as well. They are functionally useless in combat outside of the earliest game and become literal baggage. I kept 2 ranged companions to use their inventory as storage. I renamed them Backpack 1 and Backpack 2.
  
  
• Plot/Narrative: Miserably bad. Cut scenes are a goose-bump inspiring degree of cringe. Frequent attempts are humor are painful. Dialogue with nearly every NPC is no different. Luckily, you can skip all of it and just explore.
  
  
• UI/Toolbar: The UI is deliberately gimped to accommodate console controls. I wound up with 120 skill points--which was enough to max out over 3 trees that all have heavy investment. Unforunately, you can only assign keystrokes to about 1 trees worth of skills. Absolutely infuriating.

Overall


A very competent effort made all the more impressive by being a one-man indie developer. It's an obvious labor of passion, and I enjoyed it. The systems are elegant, well devised, and satisfying. It could use some expansion, but is still streets ahead of most RPGs out there. The soul is good. It has old school sensibilities with modern QoL improvements. It plays a bit like a single-player MMO, but I find most open world RPGs do. As long as you're not a story fag, this game has a great deal to offer. I ran it effortlessly on Linux using Steam Proton client. It's constantly being updated and has a promising future. I'd love to see what could come of this if the developer had a budget. There is a tremendous amount of incline in this humble game. Overall, firmly recommend.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Getting a Breath of the Wild mixed with Ecstatica vibe from that one. Exploration seems a major focus, so count me interested.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

So when does it come out?

October 15th

 

[Cryomancer]

Why so many games insist in stat stickie itemization?

This game seems so good save by this problem...