KickStarter Mechajammer (formerly Copper Dreams) - cyberpunk RPG from Whalenought Studios

[gaussgunner]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/485400/view/3112548919384672660

Mechajammer | V1.06 Patch Notes
It's jam patched

Spoiler

The highly anticipated v1.06 patch is here!

This is our largest patch to date and it includes all the fixes and additions we worked on throughout the holidays. Some of you may notice a few of these changes from playing on the Quinton Playtesting branch, which we've been happy to see your reactions to over on Discord!

Without further ado, here's the v1.06 changelist:

UI

• Overlapping items bugs fixed
  
• Notifier in game feed for mutation damage
  
• Tightened game feed text
  
• Pelican does not get mini map icon at beginning of game
  
• “Acquired item” text pops up correctly
  
• Character sheet shows all advantages and disadvantages next to list of jobs
  
• “Open Bag” key corrected in options menu
  
• Fixed typo with one-handed and two-handed edge weapons in character sheet description
  
• Fixed bug where the notepadopens on the player's HUD incorrectly when the user mashes the “I”
  
• Fixed incorrect label of settings menu
  
• Fixed typos with lightning rod text in item description
  
• Fixed types with commas missing
  
• Fixed health bar not dropping to zero in training tutorial
  
• Fixed bug in tutorial where enemies display the unconscious meter incorrectly when the player respawns
  
• Fixed typo in psionic detector description
  
• Can read text in hover box over items in top row of inventory bag
  
• Fixed bug with hovering over side-by-side items in bag not always showing description text
  
• Can double-click to equip shields and armor in bag
  
• Fixed equipping shield and two-handed weapons bug
  
• Game log is smaller and can stay open during gameplay
  
• Game log starts open
  
• Game log names are colored for main player, companions and enemies
  
• Fixed bug with damage roll game log text
  
• Increased size of merchant bag
  
• Updated socket sprites
  
• Fixed bug where socket upgrades dragged onto items without sockets can disappear
  
• Fixed formatting issues in character creation description text
  
• Updated description for Action Turns in character screen for accuracy to ruleset

Gameplay

• Pick up items with HUD menu instead of in world clicking
  
• Fixed bug with items falling outside of walkable areas
  
• Fixed bug with saving unconscious enemies
  
• Fixed bug with dropped items having 1 durability
  
• Fixed bug with bar keep merchant bag in Factus Core
  
• Fixed bug with MFI scanners spawning in ground
  
• Fixed bug with MFI scanners drifting too slowly
  
• Fixed plasma guns not hitting crouched enemy
  
• Rioters no longer start riots indoors
  
• Rioters and police leave the area correctly after altercation instead of standing around
  
• Fixed bug with cars driving through ground over ramped areas
  
• Backup reinforcements from spotlights limited to 2 groups at once
  
• Fixed error that occurred while using lightning rod on civilians
  
• Fixed bug with walking through locker doors
  
• Fixed bug with walking through lockers after opening
  
• Fixed enemies that disappear in shadows incorrectly
  
• Text shows on hover over locked doors that describes door health (fragile/sturdy/indestructible)
  
• Loot drops further away from locker door to avoid colliding with locker itself
  
• Fixed hover colors on body parts (bug introduced in 1.04)
  
• Fixed bug with time passing incorrectly when talking to an evangelist
  
• Fixed healing time passing incorrectly when healing with medic
  
• Drones are created in bag inventory item panel instead of with item on ground (due to changes to item pickups)
  
• Fixed pathfinding issues when clicking over water surface
  
• Updated note at the Faith to accurately display puzzle colors
  
• Fixed bug with healing from toxins through clinic dealer in Old Town
  
• Fixed bug in beginning cinematic where thug runs across bridge after raised
  
• Fixed debris appearing in wrong location when hitting object or wall
  
• Increased volume of sound that plays when you hit objects to match other sounds
  
• Fixed bug where player can bludgeon a box from a distance after switching from range action
  
• Fixed bug with gang NPCs not turning hostile when you talk to boss

Art

• Fixed shadows not showing correctly in tutorial and in some areas of game maps
  
• Drone companion plays correct animation while driving and talking
  
• Fixed bug where dead NPCs show up with incorrect sprite after returning to an area
  
• Fixed items clipping through floor

Ruleset

• Fixed incorrect pain threshold stats included in roll for knockout attacks
  
• Fixed bug with rolls for chemistry not calculating learning dice correctly
  
• Fixed bug with rolls for hacking not calculating learning dice correctly
  
• Fixed bug with rolls for social not calculating occult dice correctly
  
• Fixed bug with rolls for repair not calculating learning dice correctly

Dialogue

• Medic plays correct sound effect during dialogue
  
• Fixed dialogue text error with Bottler and R4T boss
  
• Companions virtue skills are separated to keep from going off screen during dialogue
  
• Fixed bug where companion bag opens while talking about skills
  
• Can talk to Faith Preacher now after ignoring them the first time
  
• Fixed mismatched warnings from gangs that spawn in street after you infiltrate their base

Due to the size of this patch, we're unable to offer a special thanks to specific community members for their bug reports and feedback that have led to these changes, but we do want to say a huge thank you to the folks that have continued to play on the Quinton branch and help us get Mechajammer to this point! We can't wait for you to see what's in store in v1.07 and beyond.

For bug-reporting and other Mechajammer-flavoured discussion, please head to the official Discord server.

Thank you all for your patience, until next time,

— Whalenought Studios & Modern Wolf

A bunch of shit that should've been fixed in beta.

Makes you wonder how much is still broken and what else they broke in the process of fixing the above.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Haven't seen any of my major criticisms addressed yet, the two major of which: cutting health regen and removing the overpoweredness of the knock-out skill. Both of which would make the game at least somewhat playable for me, both of which should have never been in the game in the first place, both of which are clearly a band-aid to cover up poor design, both of which should be an easy fix, and both of which I see them having no intention of changing.

I only harp on these two points so much because they are clearly indicative of the overall lack of cohesion in the base game design. If they were changed it would show me they have a plan for this mess. Now it's pretty clear to me they're going to patch bugs, change a few more things, then step away. Would love to be wrong, but I doubt I am. Yeah, that was a good 5 year wait.

EDIT: Haven't been super thorough about reading all the patch notes, so if I got anything wrong there please let me know. They did also add in experience points - which is good - though I am dubious about the success of their implementation. Anyone curious enough to give this a decent try again, please also let me know about this too. I don't want to be overly harsh about this game, it's just hard not to be discouraged.

 

[unseeingeye]

Over the weekend I got around to trying the game with the most recent (?) 1.6 patch, and with the option of classic XP gain overall I am fairly impressed and certainly see great potential in the game should attention to redressing persistent issues continue.

I rolled a character with the intention of just messing around to see how it plays in its current condition and ended up playing for over 10 hours just in the initial session, which has not happened to me with a new game in a long time. The music (one track absolutely blew me away) and artistic presentation are fantastic and I love the jobs and aging aspects of character creation reminiscent of Darklands, although some of the disadvantages are excessively disproportionate.

Clearly there are issues with combat but even as such it can be remarkably engaging and there is certainly a solid foundation there. I enjoyed the challenges of infiltrating the gangs territories against the overwhelming odds and found myself making separate saves just to see if I could do so when encountering increasingly more powerful gangs (I walked around an uncovered approximately 60-70% of the map before taking the taxi to continue the main story). My characters strengths are primarily in grace and perception, and the skills I focused on are social, burglary, and slug guns with a small dip into blunt and lasers for at least moderate capacity with alternate weapon types. Recruiting people and building the different teams is awesome, although the control you actually have over them isn't comprehensive and the nature of this system is somewhat esoteric.

The implementation of the XP system as far as I can tell appears to be working out rather well. I noticed that you do gain XP for kills made by your followers, so there is some arbitrary accrual when passing by the outbreaks of rioters should one of your followers get involved, but the gains are not to an extreme to where you find yourself over-leveled simply by walking around, and I walked around way more than was obviously intended right after the first boss. My preference is for this combat-based form of XP gain and immeasurably so, it alone will determine whether or not I stick with such a game (similar to my initial experience with Underrail), and for me it is satisfactory, making combat feel much more rewarding.

Seeing the profoundly negative reviews for this game was initially disheartening but not overly so because the cyberpunk setting isn't one which I'm particularly fond of simply because it has become practically ubiquitous, and beyond an initial test of the game I put it out of mind and figured I'd come back after a few months to see if things had improved. But after taking a break from Brigand Oaxaca on Friday evening I felt like checking something else out, instead of returning to Beneath a Steel Sky, and I saw the patch notes for Mechajammer and since it was already installed I figured I'd check out the XP system and try actually getting beyond the first gang and opening up more of the map, and next thing I knew the sun was coming up and I was unable to pull myself away from it.

There are still bugs but in my experience none of them went beyond a brief nuisance, like not being able to pick up loot from the ground or containers which I found is easily fixed by saving and reloading (which is mercifully swift), always recovering the exact same loot in the process. Only once did it freeze on a reload across the past three days of playing. Another persistent bug (unless I'm activating some sort of hold command without realizing it) is that sometimes the followers stop following you or get stuck, and won't teleport to you as they normally do, but reloading also fixed this the few times it happened to me. I also can't seem to make my followers get into the vehicles I commandeer as they do in the tutorial, but I assume I'm not controlling them accurately, but they teleport to you as you exit the vehicles so it is ultimately negligent.

Anyway I see immense potential in this game and am thoroughly surprised at just how enjoyable it actually is once you get the hang of it. The minimalist approach to guided-exploration (of which there is none) and annotation are preferences of mine but I know many people don't appreciate the absence of a journal or quest-GPS; for me this isn't an issue and only encourages attentive interacting. The map uncovers as you explore new territories and although it isn't by any means detailed I found its presentation sufficient and never once lost my orientation or struggled to find what I was looking for unless it was my own lack of comprehension at fault. Exploring the different territories is enjoyable and there are all kinds of secret routes, areas accessible only by jumping, passages underground, multi-storied buildings and so on. Despite a substantial lack of architectural and environmental variety each territory tends to be visually distinctive enough to differentiate readily and the further I explored the more I began to notice meaningful variety and unique structures and objects.

My biggest complaint is in the lack of dialogue opportunities, which is something I assumed would be fleshed out more, but as I got further in I realized that the social skill functions more as an interactive determinant. Having put die and learning chips into it I was reliably able to recruit nearly anybody I encountered including unique NPCs, and rarely fail when inquiring for rumors. I tried to play off my advantages and disadvantages by negating or canceling out undesirable traits as you can in Daggerfall, but I'm not sure how well it worked out; specifically I took the Naive disadvantage which has merchants overcharging by 10% and also took the advantage that has you saving 10% and the prices at least seem to be what they would have been had otherwise.

The game still lacks controller support which is usually a non-issue for me, except I recently got a massive monitor and have to sit back from my desk to take in the entire screen so when the option is there I tend to make use of it, so that definitely sucks. There are also still no achievements either, about which I don't give a single shit but understand that many do, and they are promised. Overall I am genuinely surprised at how much I am enjoying the game and felt astounded at having my altered expectations after reading so many of the intense negative criticisms and formerly writing the game off yet again subverted, which is such a welcome change. The game is not where it ought to be yet, biases and preferences aside and purely as a presumption of visionary intent, there is no question the game was released in an egregiously unpolished condition, but it is today playable and I for one think very much so.

 

[unseeingeye]

Haven't seen any of my major criticisms addressed yet, the two major of which: cutting health regen and removing the overpoweredness of the knock-out skill

I haven't messed much with the knock-out skill so can't speak to this, but was the health regen present in the original release and then removed? I can't recall but when playing it yesterday the health regen was active, for my main character and for the followers, and at variable rates depending on attributes.

 

[Lyre Mors]

I haven't messed much with the knock-out skill so can't speak to this, but was the health regen present in the original release and then removed? I can't recall but when playing it yesterday the health regen was active, for my main character and for the followers, and at variable rates depending on attributes.

Sorry if that wasn't stated as clearly as it should have been. I meant that they need to remove health regeneration entirely, as it causes the combat to become further arbitrary, especially when coupled with things like the 100% success rate knock-out skill. Neither should have been in the game in the first place, and are majorly sloppily added Band-Aids to the gaping holes in the systems at large. The combat is already incredibly basic and un-tactical in its base form, but is rendered pointless with these unnecessary tools at your disposal. I didn't use any followers in my playthrough, as it wasn't working at all despite having invested in social skills, but can only imagine how it would have further trivialized the combat experience if I had.

In regards to the rest of your post, it sounds largely like my prior experience, except you allowed yourself to be taken in by the veneer and illusion of depth much more than I did. The potential, presentation, lack of hand-holding, and initial promise of rewarding exploration (which is only really barely there in terms of actual content) were indeed why I continued to push on for 6 hours with the game. But it quickly became apparent how hollow it all was and just how much the game was playing more like a tech demo than a fully fleshed-out experience, and your impressions - though surprisingly overwhelmingly positive - echo my own in substance to the degree that I can confirm little has changed in the updates besides minor bug fixing and implementation of basic systems that should have been present at launch. I'm assuming there is still the egregious problem of enemy respawn upon reloading still present as well.

I'm happy you're getting enjoyment from the game in its current state and that you continue to do so, but you've made it clear that I'd have to be pulling some serious wool over my eyes in order to do so myself. I really should just forget about it and give it another shot in a year to see if things have significantly improved. Thanks for your impressions regardless, unseeingeye!

 

[Abu Antar]

One question: Can you reliablt play this with a single character? Say, just sneaking around.

 

[Lyre Mors]

One question: Can you reliablt play this with a single character? Say, just sneaking around.

From my experience yes, but it's hard to tell how viable it'd be if there were solid systems in place since the game is so broken. If it was all working as it seems like it was intended to be, you'd need a pretty focused build once stealth failed you and you became surrounded. Luckily you can just knock the 8 enemies chasing you out one by one and walk away unscathed!

 

[unseeingeye]

Thank you for your response, Jinn. I don't want to give the impression that I am impressed by tactical or environmental depth, it is fairly shallow in this regard and of this there is no question. I just very much enjoy the presentation of the game, so perhaps I ought to summarize my perspective and opinion by saying that as a work of artistic expression, it is incredible and I enjoy it very much so for this reason, but a masterpiece (or even a slightly remarkable exemplar) of tactical combat and environmental interactivity it most certainly is not. I am really enjoying the game for what it is and just wanted to share my current experience to encourage others who are ignoring it because of how grossly it has in general been received. There are numerous flaws that many people find unacceptable but ultimately it has that ineffable quality that attracts me to certain rare games. My opinion however should be considered in light of the fact that the combat on normal difficulty was genuinely challenging for me, while for others like yourself it is inconsequential and broken. For the record though, the respawning enemies and creatures on reloading has evidently been fixed because it has not yet happened for me and I am reloading constantly for different reasons.

Oh and yes, Abu Antar you can most certainly get by without using the followers, at least as far as I've gotten there has not yet been any circumstances I've encountered in which they were a necessity, and on the contrary quite a few where they are a hindrance. I've not beaten the game so my response isn't definitive but I regularly walk around without followers and find infiltrating the bases can sometimes even be easier without their garnering unwanted attention.

 

[Lyre Mors]

For the record though, the respawning enemies and creatures on reloading has evidently been fixed because it has not yet happened for me and I am reloading constantly for different reasons.

Hey, that's some good news at least.

I definitely get what you're saying about the presentation and spirit of the game. I very much so want to love it, which is why I'm still clinging to the hope of it at least somewhat getting there someday. As someone who enjoyed Whalenought's past game, but felt they could have taken it further in terms of content density and attention to detail, had expectations they'd be able to with this one. That expectation paired with how much the game has morphed since its initial pitch - which I supported on Kickstarter as Copper Dreams - has created a great sense of disappointment in me and many others. The morphing of the concept I could deal with if it had the gameplay depth to back it up, but its not even close to there. Now, shifting my expectations to having it be closer to an isometric immersive sim, rather than an RPG, might allow me to someday derive more enjoyment from it. But right now it's caught in this murky limbo state between those two genres, where it's not particularly fulfilling the potential of either.

 

[unseeingeye]

I definitely get what you're saying about the presentation and spirit of the game.

Yea, this is really key for me and I want to emphasize it because I do not consider myself qualified to speak on the actual systems involved. I fully agree with you on the matter of content density, even though you mention it in regards to the earlier game, and I was suggesting something of the same in other words when describing my biggest complaint about the lack of meaningful dialogue options and NPC interaction. It is not a deep game, and that is unfortunate.

I remember when it was called Copper Dreams but wasn't aware of the kickstarter at the time and for me it only existed peripherally until the months leading up to release. I can imagine having such a radical shift in design being very discouraging. I discovered Serpent in the Staglands around this time last year but had only managed to create a character and watch the opening sequence, then I somehow forgot to revisit it and its been on the back of my mind ever since. Would you recommend it, despite your misgivings? I had been meaning to get back to it but kept getting involved elsewhere.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Would you recommend it, despite your misgivings? I had been meaning to get back to it but kept getting involved elsewhere.

Definitely. It's a much better game than Mechajammer by all indications, and if the presentation and spirit of the later has charmed you, I think you'll find a lot of the same in SitS. Has a lot of problems of course, but I think I can safely recommend it to someone such as yourself.

 

[wishbonetail]

The thing is Serpent in Staglands is still a quite janky and unpolished game, lacks content and never got its promised expansion. As much as i want to believe in Mechajammer, seeing how they abandoned their previous project is just disheartening.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I'm going to play this later this week after the patch update. See what it is.

 

[unseeingeye]

The thing is Serpent in Staglands is still a quite janky and unpolished game, lacks content and never got its promised expansion. As much as i want to believe in Mechajammer, seeing how they abandoned their previous project is just disheartening.

I do recall an expansion was to be expected that has yet to arrive, yea that is discouraging and does not forebode well. I'm enjoying Mechajammer as it is presently with no serious expectations of major changes for the better. If they come it will be fantastic but I'm glad to enjoy it as it is and look forward to starting over again in Staglands. All things considered, both games are in spirit ideal to me and in execution close enough with certain reservations, but I do get the criticisms and lack of faith. As someone who comes to both games without having followed the developments, I'm certain that I'm overlooking what to others are glaring omissions and patch-up jobs, but I can't help but like it! I'm not as psyched up about it as I would be if the environment and NPCs were more fleshed out, to where the researching and exploring of a fictional history and present setting are attractive purely as information despite the absence of any utility or external meaning whatsoever, but it yields enough to make me want to continue discovering the world, detached entirely from the pursuit of a main quest the bones of which are so far uncompelling and merely facilitating direction.

 

[Ninjerk]

The expansion was intended to be made after Copper Dreams (original release date: ?).

I'm ambivalent about the regenerating health. IIRC the medkits are for removing injuries and not for replenishing health.

 

[unseeingeye]

I'm ambivalent about the regenerating health. IIRC the medkits are for removing injuries and not for replenishing health.

I think they do both, if you use a medkit in battle for instance from the inventory it will refill your health, but does not remove the wounds. Then on your character screen you can select specific wounds to use a medkit on. I have the Nurse background so one of the advantages are that I can use medkits twice in this fashion, which is nice.

 

[Ninjerk]

I'm ambivalent about the regenerating health. IIRC the medkits are for removing injuries and not for replenishing health.

I think they do both, if you use a medkit in battle for instance from the inventory it will refill your health, but does not remove the wounds. Then on your character screen you can select specific wounds to use a medkit on. I have the Nurse background so one of the advantages are that I can use medkits twice in this fashion, which is nice.

Are medkits part of the loot tables of enemies or static spawns in buildings? I think I understood that the repopulating enemies in the base of the Evilfingers or w/e his name is (the first tough enemy) was a bug.

 

[unseeingeye]

Are medkits part of the loot tables of enemies or static spawns in buildings? I think I understood that the repopulating enemies in the base of the Evilfingers or w/e his name is (the first tough enemy) was a bug.

From what I recall they are spawns in buildings, and due to the reliability of acquiring the same loot after reloading when encountering the bug where the loot icon is not responsive, I assume that they are static. I can't be 100% at the moment but I'm fairly certain that is the only way I've come across medkits. The bug I mentioned by the way appears to be a new one, introduced by trying to fix a previous bug, because the loot used to be picked up directly from the ground, where now there is a UI icon that appears when you are within a certain distance of ground items, similarly to how you take items from containers. But reloading fixes it and the static nature of such loot means no major frustrating loss of rare items; I have not experienced this with the weapons and such that enemies drop, only when breaking containers open.

 

[Ninjerk]

Are medkits part of the loot tables of enemies or static spawns in buildings? I think I understood that the repopulating enemies in the base of the Evilfingers or w/e his name is (the first tough enemy) was a bug.

From what I recall they are spawns in buildings, and due to the reliability of acquiring the same loot after reloading when encountering the bug where the loot icon is not responsive, I assume that they are static. I can't be 100% at the moment but I'm fairly certain that is the only way I've come across medkits. The bug I mentioned by the way appears to be a new one, introduced by trying to fix a previous bug, because the loot used to be picked up directly from the ground, where now there is a UI icon that appears when you are within a certain distance of ground items, similarly to how you take items from containers. But reloading fixes it and the static nature of such loot means no major frustrating loss of rare items; I have not experienced this with the weapons and such that enemies drop, only when breaking containers open.

I see. Well, my concern in all of the medkit talk is that removal of regenerating health could be quite impactful for the casual player. I think, looking back at it, that the "sandboxier" elements of Fallout--unlimited carvan (time limits notwithstanding) runs and random encounters that yield bottlecaps & loot taken together with vendors with respawning inventories--allowed for quite a bit of leeway for casual players and those not intimately familiar with the under-the-hood workings of the game world. Given the... loosely structured appearance of the development of Mechajammer leads me to believe that removing the mechanic could spell disaster (or at least more investment in balancing) for the health of the game in the long-run.

 

[ArchAngel]

Are medkits part of the loot tables of enemies or static spawns in buildings? I think I understood that the repopulating enemies in the base of the Evilfingers or w/e his name is (the first tough enemy) was a bug.

From what I recall they are spawns in buildings, and due to the reliability of acquiring the same loot after reloading when encountering the bug where the loot icon is not responsive, I assume that they are static. I can't be 100% at the moment but I'm fairly certain that is the only way I've come across medkits. The bug I mentioned by the way appears to be a new one, introduced by trying to fix a previous bug, because the loot used to be picked up directly from the ground, where now there is a UI icon that appears when you are within a certain distance of ground items, similarly to how you take items from containers. But reloading fixes it and the static nature of such loot means no major frustrating loss of rare items; I have not experienced this with the weapons and such that enemies drop, only when breaking containers open.

I see. Well, my concern in all of the medkit talk is that removal of regenerating health could be quite impactful for the casual player. I think, looking back at it, that the "sandboxier" elements of Fallout--unlimited carvan (time limits notwithstanding) runs and random encounters that yield bottlecaps & loot taken together with vendors with respawning inventories--allowed for quite a bit of leeway for casual players and those not intimately familiar with the under-the-hood workings of the game world. Given the... loosely structured appearance of the development of Mechajammer leads me to believe that removing the mechanic could spell disaster (or at least more investment in balancing) for the health of the game in the long-run.

There are no casual players playing this game. There is barely any hardcore players playing it. Catering to non existent player base takes you nowhere.

 

[Lyre Mors]

I see. Well, my concern in all of the medkit talk is that removal of regenerating health could be quite impactful for the casual player. I think, looking back at it, that the "sandboxier" elements of Fallout--unlimited carvan (time limits notwithstanding) runs and random encounters that yield bottlecaps & loot taken together with vendors with respawning inventories--allowed for quite a bit of leeway for casual players and those not intimately familiar with the under-the-hood workings of the game world. Given the... loosely structured appearance of the development of Mechajammer leads me to believe that removing the mechanic could spell disaster (or at least more investment in balancing) for the health of the game in the long-run.

Likely the reason it was added in the first place, perhaps even at the behest of their fairly new publisher. But...

There are no casual players playing this game. There is barely any hardcore players playing it. Catering to non existent player base takes you nowhere

...is mostly correct. You have a casual player dipping in here or there, but not sticking around, especially with the other very anti-casual elements found in the game (which I commend them on retaining despite the varied success of implementation). Now you've got that same old problem of alienating both of your potential audiences and leaving very few happy in the process. Stick to your guns, make what you want, honor your base supporters, and go from there.

 

[Ninjerk]

...is mostly correct. You have a casual player dipping in here or there, but not sticking around, especially with the other very anti-casual elements found in the game (which I commend them on retaining despite the varied success of implementation). Now you've got that same old problem of alienating both of your potential audiences and leaving very few happy in the process. Stick to your guns, make what you want, honor your base supporters, and go from there.

With respect to your last statement, that train left the station years and several art styles ago and I don't think the gate keeping people in or out is health regeneration at this point.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Nope, it's probably not the gate at this point. It was mainly a response to you bringing up a concern for a casual audience in general, and how I continue to find it interesting what a muddled final product we've gotten with this release regardless of the end result. But yeah, probably not much that can be done to salvage this in terms of financial performance and player retention.

 

[unseeingeye]

It does appear fairly bleak. At any rate I started a new game on Staglands last night, and I think I'm going to put Mechajammer aside for a bit to await further patches. I noticed in the road map that the next major patch is going to introduce things like follower side quests, and being that it doesn't appear to be the type of game I'll ever run through entirely more than once, I'd rather be sure I'm experiencing it at its full potential (whatever that proves to be) and not missing out on something as substantial as actual quests, of which there appear to be so relatively few at this point.

Another determining factor for my setting it aside and also restarting when I do return to it is that I did not fully grasp the mechanics involved in character development and how to anticipate a trajectory by which I can make informed decisions, so I suddenly realized how botched my character is. It isn't a total failure, I just spread my die a little bit too thin and left off the aging process far too early in expectation of similar consequences incurred as penalties and general mortality from Darklands. I quickly picked-up on the overall dice rolling fundamentals, which having cut my teeth on Baldur's Gate and 2nd edition D&D literature as a kid I was fortunately familiar with; what I did not understand is that the points allotted to the skills (which I assumed were a flat +1 bonus) resets to 0 after reaching 6 points and becomes an additional dice, which completely alters perspective now that I know to build for extremes or statistical averages. One dice in a non-combat skill with no points into it is a total and complete waste, and although I didn't mess my build up that badly, I see now how unoptimized my character is. This does not bother me, on the contrary I enjoy engaging with a game in this manner and starting over to achieve better results the more I gain insight through repeat exposure to the games mechanics, but considering how much actual quest content is missing I am going to hold off.

Perhaps I'll roll a few characters and try them out in combat with the first gang in the meantime just for the learning experience, but I am going to stick with Staglands during the interim and try to see that game through. I rolled a character although I already forget the name of the race - it is the one with the feathers on their heads, and the subtype I picked game me a spell that I can't recall. I decided to roll a single soul-bound follower since I very likely will botch this one and need to restart over anyway, so I picked the Viking-looking race for him, the ones with the runes who I assume based on the description are magic-oriented? My thinking was to have a fighter-type who can use bows as the main character and a spell caster follower, then have the remaining four (or is it three?) spots open for companions met during the game. I would prefer to just have the main character but to ease myself into the game this is what I went with, I hope it doesn't prove to be disastrous!

One more note about Mechajammer though.. if anyone else is actually playing it recently, are you able to see how much ammo you have left in your guns? I know in the earlier build you could see actual bullets within the UI, and I "think" I've seen a numerical representation of your clip size and remaining ammo changing as you fire and reload at some points, but I for the life of me could not recreate this last night and was running around playing having no idea whether or not my gun was even loaded, forcing me into the habit of reloading obsessively every other minute just to make sure I don't blow it by engaging in combat and wasting my opening turns. I don't see any discussion of this online nor did I find it mentioned in the Discord so I'm totally confused if this is something I'm not getting, or if it is another bug.

 

[ColCol]

I kickstarted this and haven't even bothered claiming it, one of the more disappointing developer stories for me, they clearly had strong vision, I was excited by what I read for this and the Serpent in the Stag lands expansion, but clearly they could not bring the vison to creation.