KickStarter SKALD: Against the Black Priory - retro RPG inspired by Ultima

[Fedora Master]

Are there choices and consequences in this game? For example, are you forced to be the good guys?

None at all, exactly like an 80's game but with a very good setting and atmosphere, and no cringe at all. Playing the good guys, yes, but then there's really no other viable alternative; being bad guys wouldn't make sense

I felt like the way you can characterize the MCs father it would come up again, and I think it should. Just once or twice.

 

[roguefrog]

They do suffer significantly in the late game due to lack of crits and arrow reliance/shortage.

Everyone suffers from crit immune enemies, not just rangers.

I didn't have an arrow shortage past chapter 2. I had like 400+ arrows of variest types. Maybe buy out some shops.

 

[Ladonna]

They do suffer significantly in the late game due to lack of crits and arrow reliance/shortage.

Everyone suffers from crit immune enemies, not just rangers.

I didn't have an arrow shortage past chapter 2. I had like 400+ arrows of variest types. Maybe buy out some shops.

Another good idea might be saving any decent weapons with specific elemental damage too, even if they are inferior to any "main" weapons you find for your fighters. The crit immune enemies in the last parts of the game are a slog otherwise.

 

[Nikanuur]

They do suffer significantly in the late game due to lack of crits and arrow reliance/shortage.

Everyone suffers from crit immune enemies, not just rangers.

I didn't have an arrow shortage past chapter 2. I had like 400+ arrows of variest types. Maybe buy out some shops.

I'd add to that, that one can craft something between 4-8 arrows per rest, plus later on, the Fletching passive (Kat and Iben) recovers several arrows per fight.

 

[Nikanuur]

They do suffer significantly in the late game due to lack of crits and arrow reliance/shortage.

Everyone suffers from crit immune enemies, not just rangers.

I didn't have an arrow shortage past chapter 2. I had like 400+ arrows of variest types. Maybe buy out some shops.

Another good idea might be saving any decent weapons with specific elemental damage too, even if they are inferior to any "main" weapons you find for your fighters. The crit immune enemies in the last parts of the game are a slog otherwise.

Can't say I remember those specifically, sorry, but remember that Fire spells and Sublime spells (Cleric) are your friends in such cases!

 

[TheDarkUrge]

I would like to see more from this dev. I think the game is one iteration away from being truly great. Make it a bit longer, add more reactivity/skill checks and tweak the combat.

He leaned on lovecraft quite a bit to make Skald's story so I think it will be a tall ask making another more original narrative, especially one with reactivity. I think Skald's story worked out nicely but there were definitely points where I was getting annoyed with how little differences there were from shadow over innsmouth. Surely he could have added more of the

end

robot stuff before the final ending to make it feel unique.

Thoughts after recently finishing this (took around 20 hrs):

- Ending thoughts: Definitely bleaker than your standard ending which was refreshing, but I didn’t understand it completely. Did we break out of the time loop or not, or is this intentionally unclear because of “cosmic horror”?

Yes I do think that we were the

end

final iteration of us charging up the robot/whatever and it finally exploded.

 

[Fireblade]

I want to play through more adventures in this engine though. It was just fun. Clocked just over 25 hours, and while I don't want to dive back into this story again for a while (it is fairly railroaded), I would love more 25 hour or so modules. Everything just fit together perfectly, with the art, music, general atmosphere and usability ticking my boxes. Really hoping the dev will organise a decent toolset for this one, and hopefully churn out any other adventures if he has any more decent stories up his sleeve. I could tell he enjoyed getting his tale across.

According to his dev log posts from many years ago (on skaldrpg.com), "SKALD" is supposed to be the name of the RPG system and engine he's developed, while "Against the Black Priory" is just the first game made in the system. Implication seems to be that's there's many more to come.

 

[Tao]

They do suffer significantly in the late game due to lack of crits and arrow reliance/shortage.

Everyone suffers from crit immune enemies, not just rangers.

I didn't have an arrow shortage past chapter 2. I had like 400+ arrows of variest types. Maybe buy out some shops.

Another good idea might be saving any decent weapons with specific elemental damage too, even if they are inferior to any "main" weapons you find for your fighters. The crit immune enemies in the last parts of the game are a slog otherwise.

The few paladin/cleric's offensive magic also works pretty well. Most enemies are weak to that type of magic by that time. But yeah Ranger doesn't really suffer from crits invulnerability. He can still do about 3 attacks every two rounds and he has special arrows on top. Crits just mean 4-5 attacks in one row if you are lucky.

My2cents of course

Edit: Sublime magic, yes that one. I saw someone already pointing it

 

[Nikanuur]

The few paladin/cleric' offensive magic also works pretty well. Most enemies are weak to that type of magic by that time. But yeah Ranger doesn't really suffer from crits invulnerability. He can still do about 3 attacks every two rounds and he has special arrows on top. Crits just mean 4-5 attacks in one row if you are lucky.

My2cents of course

Edit: Sublime magic, yes that one. I saw someone already pointing it

Yup, those hit the undead and some abominations for ca. 30-40 damage per spell. Considering that a magical 2-h weapon did a whopping damage of 11 (times two attacks per round), the sublime magic was the real deal. It found its use after the whole game, after all.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Sublime magic finally becomes relevant by chapter 3 for the first time, and then comes back around for end game usefulness. I still find that Swarm of Gnats to be the MVP damage spell. Nothing resists it, and my mage does 14-15 damage each cast for 3 attunement. With cascade guaranteed to trigger, I can cast it 4 times a turn. It's also devastating on wounded enemies (no more green health bar). MC + Embla can soften up a whole lot of enemies each turn for chain kills and critical hits by other team members. The only other damage spells that matter much are Poison Globe and Fireball. Fireball is only a better choice against groups of vulnerable enemies anyway. Poison Globe is mostly for CC, but the DOT can be significant against most creatures, especially humans. It works on eldritch horror creatures too, but the damage is unimpressive against them.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I think I've had my fill of this game. I enjoyed it a great deal. It definitely exudes charm and character. I think mechanically the system needs a touch more iteration, but is otherwise on the proper path. I liked all of the skill checks, but they were definitely clustered in the first couple of chapters and the last few. I figured I would write a review, but I didn't keep enough save files to harvest good screenshots from. This was an excellent debut for this developer. I'm hoping they're successful enough to hire a team and make the next one.

 

[Sunri]

Funny little game but I feel like there is not enough build variety and the enemies after chapter got too spongy they didn't pose any threat to the party they just had a lot of hp can someone explain what's the deal with the time loop thing?

123

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I did not understand the time-loop references either. The ending didn't really jive with them. Shooting from the hip, here are some of my guesses:

Spoiler

1. Plot hole. Long development led to some narrative dissonance.
2. The elder being (likely the 1st emperor) awakened by the PC and Embla is also an interdimensional being. Magos who achieve emperor status are also said to exist spiritually beyond their physical death. Recticulum sensitive Magos like Embla are used as vessels by this being. Think Gaoul from Stargate. She’s misinterpreting the visions given to her by this entity. The cycle occurs repeatedly, not necessarily this exact sequence of events.
3. The game events are a grand figment. The party members are meat-bots similar to Keepers on the Citadel in Mass Effect. Functionally they are subroutines in the ship’s systems which alert and revive the emperor.

 

[AndyS]

I'm midway through chapter 4 now and enjoying the game. One thing that stands out is that the "steal" option with merchants is hilariously overpowered. I barely spend money because I'm just shoplifting entire suits of armor and enhanced weapons, leaving before the suspicion rating goes up more than 3 or 4 points.

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

Diz game is really good, my eyes bleeds but im so high when playing i almost forgot about my laundry and dinner... oh wait...

 

[AndyS]

All done. I had fun. I didn't know which build would be best, so I did my usual thing and just did a straight on fighter type (armsmaster in this case) and beat the crap out of everything. Final boss was pretty easy to defeat, to the point that I wondered when the real final battle would happen, not realizing I'd just done it. The mage's tower was probably the most challenging part of the game overall. I liked a lot of the writing, even if it turned out to be pretty on-rails. Very heavy on the Lovecraftian influence - do game designers just not know who Robert E. Howard was? He was friends with Lovecraft and wrote that type of fiction...except the heroes would smack the monsters instead of swooning and struggling with their sanity. More fitting for games, I think. Karl Edward Wagner, too. I will look forward to the developer's next project.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Very heavy on the Lovecraftian influence - do game designers just not know who Robert E. Howard was? He was friends with Lovecraft and wrote that type of fiction...except the heroes would smack the monsters instead of swooning and struggling with their sanity.

The weeping grew nearer as he advanced, and lifting his torch he made out a vague shape in the shadows. Stepping closer, he halted in sudden horror at the amorphic bulk which sprawled before him. Its unstable outlines somewhat suggested an octopus, but its malformed tentacles were too short for its size, and its substance was a quaking, jelly-like stuff which made him physically sick to look at. From among this loathsome gelid mass reared up a frog-like head, and he was frozen with nauseated horror to realize that the sound of weeping was coming from those obscene blubbery lips. The noise changed to an abominable high-pitched tittering as the great unstable eyes of the monstrosity rested on him, and it hitched its quaking bulk toward him. He backed away and fled up the tunnel, not trusting his sword. The creature might be composed of terrestrial matter, but it shook his very soul to look upon it, and he doubted the power of man-made weapons to harm it. For a short distance he heard it flopping and floundering after him, screaming with horrible laughter. The unmistakably human note in its mirth almost staggered his reason. It was exactly such laughter as he had heard bubble obscenely from the fat lips of the salacious women of Shadizar, City of Wickedness, when captive girls were stripped naked on the public auction block. By what hellish arts had Tsotha brought this unnatural being into life? Conan felt vaguely that he had looked on blasphemy against the eternal laws of nature.
- The Scarlet Citadel

“Pardon, your majesty. I should have thanked you for the service you have done me. I am like a man woken suddenly from sleep deeper than death and shot with nightmares of agony more fierce than hell, but I understand that you delivered me. Tell me – why did you cut the stem of the plant Yothga instead of tearing it up by the roots?”
“Because I learned long ago to avoid touching with my flesh that which I do not understand,” answered the Cimmerian
- Also from The Scarlet Citadel

Conan is sensible enough to use discretion when dealing with monstrosities and is clever enough to avoid pitfalls that would doom lesser men.

 

[actor]

i'd like to see a more mechanically-balanced and thoughtful campaign in the future- especially with some purpose added to the non-combat/crafting systems, but for black priory, it was nice being able to just breeze through the campaign and coast on the vibes and the better-than-average narrative for an indie game

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

Lads, how long can You stare at this gem of a game, before your eyes bleed? Im playing in 1-2 hours intervals at max.

 

[Falksi]

Finally got around to finishing this bad boy just now. Definitely a game which carries some flaws, but despite them I utterly thrived on it, and it's easily one of the best games of the 2020's so far, and a great game to boot.


+ Lush as fuck atmosphere, graphics and music. I was super drawn in by all this, and the music especially got me thriving.

+ I enjoyed the combat a lot. Wasn't perfect, but it really worked well for the most part, with some of the set piece battles a lot of fun and very satisfying.

+ Character builds are mostly good, with only a few shit ones, and the way the skill trees evolved I thought was quite original and interesting.

+ The maps are mostly great, being casual enough for a game of this ilk in 2024, but usually forcing the player to move on instinct rather than in a systemic way. Very clever design in some areas.

+ Story is cool, nothing spectacular and pretty predictable + thin in parts, but it definitely manages to convey a sense of unavoidable doom and darkness.

+ Pacing is fucking excellent. At no point did I ever feel like I was spending too long either exploring, engaged in story, or engaged in combat. I thought this aspect of the game was great right up until the end too.



- Overworld trash mobs can be turned off, and probably should have been as a default tbf, as they do little but bog the game down. The encounter rate should definitely have at least been dropped by around 50-75% if not.

- Resources are all over the place, and definitely need rebalancing. I hated playing as a mage because of the amount of resting and potion crafting + slurping I had to do in particular. Ranger fared way better, but even then it got tiresome having to constantly manage arrow resources. There's a reason the Baldurs Gate games introduces magical bows, which require no ammo. Micromanaging stuff like arrows is fine for early-mid game, but late game most players tire of it, and I did here. Gold, food, potions etc. all of it feels lobsided in favour of famine or feast all too often.

- Thievery is part of that bad balancing. You can simply steal WAY too much, but the items are often too heftily priced too, so the game pushes you towards doing so.

- I didn't like the way the fog of war returned over already explored areas. I get that it's meant to convey a sense of claustrophobia and fear, but in reality it just means that you spend more time looking at less game and more black. And, as anyone on the Codex will tell you, there needs to be less black in the world.

- Ending is OK, but unsatisfying.

I finished it as a level 19 Ranger in 51 days, but most my party beat the last boss with 1-3 levels in reserve. I played on standard difficulty though, so look forward to a revisit on the hardest setting.

Would love a sequel.

 

[Incognito]

- Resources are all over the place, and definitely need rebalancing. I hated playing as a mage because of the amount of resting and potion crafting + slurping I had to do in particular. Ranger fared way better, but even then it got tiresome having to constantly manage arrow resources. There's a reason the Baldurs Gate games introduces magical bows, which require no ammo. Micromanaging stuff like arrows is fine for early-mid game, but late game most players tire of it, and I did here. Gold, food, potions etc. all of it feels lobsided in favour of famine or feast all too often.

- Thievery is part of that bad balancing. You can simply steal WAY too much, but the items are often too heftily priced too, so the game pushes you towards doing so.

Nicely put. I'd say rebalancing of resources should be a top priority for a sequel. You can make the game way too easy if you really want to.

 

[MjKorz]

Finished the game as a lvl19 sword&board Officer, didn't hit level 20, because I skipped almost all random overworld encounters via skillchecks. Never felt underlevelled and that I needed to grind.

Spoiler

Best point of reference I have to describe this game is a less challenging Knights of the Chalice with somewhat less advanced combat system, except this game is drastically more story focused and features companions with unique personalities and proper characterization. While the combat in this game is quite enjoyable and offers plenty of tactical depth (adaptation of player tactics based on the situation at hand and the ability to create parties that focus on different tactics), I felt like the narrative, writing, characters, atmosphere and music were the real highlight. Multi-solution quests with alternative solutions being dependent on skills are present, offering meaningful consequences to your main character building choices: some skillchecks are so high (like the early 18 diplomacy check) that only a properly built and equipped main character can realistically pass them. In other words, the game is a complete roleplaying package and an amazing overall experience with the ending deserving special praise due to its impactfulness: you will either love or hate it, but you shan't remain unphased.

Felt like all weapon types were decently balanced. Swords allow you to inflict bleed which can deal serious damage/turn and are capable of AoE damaging attacks, clubs enable AoE stunning attacks that open enemies up for backstabs. Axes can be used to inflict injuries or deal more damage as well as passively debuff enemies with a fear effect on kill which makes enemies less likely to hit your tanks. Bows are extremely useful for hitting targets you cannot reach immediately with your melee characters.

There is a notion floating around that mages are weak and are not worth the party slot, but that's false. Both arcane and divine casters are amazing to have just for their buffs alone: spells like Diamond Form and Serpent's Grace make your tanks unkillable. In terms of offense, you get AoE stuns/poison while divine magic allows you to deal sublime damage which is incredibly useful in many specific encounters. Swarm of Gnats is another amazing offensive low cost spell that allows the arcane caster to support melee characters by both damaging and debuffing the melee capabilities of targets the melees are engaged with. While magic damage output does not seem impressive on paper comapred to martial damage output, it becomes extremely useful when fighting physical damage resistant and/or crit-immune enemies.

Class balance was well thought out: Armsmaster provides amazing straightforward value by being the best tank (free heal via Second Wind and Heavy Armor Mastery) and unconditional damage dealer while also having the tactical flexibility to effectively use both melee and ranged weapons. Officer can be just as good at tanking as the Armsmaster and provides additional party-wide buffs, but lacks two-handed weapon feats and since the ability cooldown is universal, Officer cannot self-heal and provide its active class-specific buffs at the same time. Rogue has the highest raw damage output potential against targets that can be backstabbed, but will suffer a catastrophic reduction in their damage output against backstab-immune enemies. Hybrid classes (Hospitaller, Champion) have very significant penalties to counterbalance their magic: partial proficiency in magic schools, lack of multi-attack for the Hospitaller, lack of resource-free self-heal (Second Wind), lack of Heavy Armor Mastery, weapon choices being limited to one type. Ranger is the exception to the hybrid class rule since he is undoubtedly the best ranged damage dealer, but ranged damage has its own tactical niche (hitting out of reach targets) while being unable to compete with melee in terms of raw damage output and utility (AoE stun). Full arcane and divine casters are amazing buffers and situationally amazing damage dealers. The only exception is the Battlemagos class which does feel rather weak: it does not get any spellcasting benefits relative to the Guild Magos, only defensive and martial ones and mages do not need any martial or survivability buffs due to abundance of consumables and being able to avoid getting attacked in virtually any and all encounters simply through proper positioning.

Food crafting system could've been fleshed out a bit more. You have this long list of craftable multi-component dishes, but the only difference they have is food value. Would've been nice to have some minor buffs for... flavor.

Itemization was rather unimaginative, but functional, offering the player gear that covers basic stat and skill buffs. The game has a unique item vendor that sells some artifacts with a unique combination of stats, a single magical quest dagger and a suit of armor, but beyond that I don't remember finding any unique gear.

Game showers you in consumables and crafting materials. As long as you have a character with high crafting skill, you can use consumables every fight without feeling like you're gimping yourself in the later game. In the endgame, I was storing over 200lb of cooked meals on my ship that could've been used for an incalculable number of rests and I had over 100 attunement tonics for my casters.

 

[MjKorz]

EDIT: Thanks for moving my review post to the correct thread.

 

[Falksi]

Posted a review in the News thread which I probably shouldn't have done so I'll just quote it here:

Finished the game as a lvl19 sword&board Officer, didn't hit level 20, because I skipped almost all random overworld encounters via skillchecks. Never felt underlevelled and that I needed to grind.

Spoiler

Best point of reference I have to describe this game is a less challenging Knights of the Chalice with somewhat less advanced combat system, except this game is drastically more story focused and features companions with unique personalities and proper characterization. While the combat in this game is quite enjoyable and offers plenty of tactical depth (adaptation of player tactics based on the situation at hand and the ability to create parties that focus on different tactics), I felt like the narrative, writing, characters, atmosphere and music were the real highlight. Multi-solution quests with alternative solutions being dependent on skills are present, offering meaningful consequences to your main character building choices: some skillchecks are so high (like the early 18 diplomacy check) that only a properly built and equipped main character can realistically pass them. In other words, the game is a complete roleplaying package and an amazing overall experience with the ending deserving special praise due to its impactfulness: you will either love or hate it, but you shan't remain unphased.

Felt like all weapon types were decently balanced. Swords allow you to inflict bleed which can deal serious damage/turn and are capable of AoE damaging attacks, clubs enable AoE stunning attacks that open enemies up for backstabs. Axes can be used to inflict injuries or deal more damage as well as passively debuff enemies with a fear effect on kill which makes enemies less likely to hit your tanks. Bows are extremely useful for hitting targets you cannot reach immediately with your melee characters.

There is a notion floating around that mages are weak and are not worth the party slot, but that's false. Both arcane and divine casters are amazing to have just for their buffs alone: spells like Diamond Form and Serpent's Grace make your tanks unkillable. In terms of offense, you get AoE stuns/poison while divine magic allows you to deal sublime damage which is incredibly useful in many specific encounters. Swarm of Gnats is another amazing offensive low cost spell that allows the arcane caster to support melee characters by both damaging and debuffing the melee capabilities of targets the melees are engaged with. While magic damage output does not seem impressive on paper comapred to martial damage output, it becomes extremely useful when fighting physical damage resistant and/or crit-immune enemies.

Class balance was well thought out: Armsmaster provides amazing straightforward value by being the best tank (free heal via Second Wind and Heavy Armor Mastery) and unconditional damage dealer while also having the tactical flexibility to effectively use both melee and ranged weapons. Officer can be just as good at tanking as the Armsmaster and provides additional party-wide buffs, but lacks two-handed weapon feats and since the ability cooldown is universal, Officer cannot self-heal and provide its active class-specific buffs at the same time. Rogue has the highest raw damage output potential against targets that can be backstabbed, but will suffer a catastrophic reduction in their damage output against backstab-immune enemies. Hybrid classes (Hospitaller, Champion) have very significant penalties to counterbalance their magic: partial proficiency in magic schools, lack of multi-attack for the Hospitaller, lack of resource-free self-heal (Second Wind), lack of Heavy Armor Mastery, weapon choices being limited to one type. Ranger is the exception to the hybrid class rule since he is undoubtedly the best ranged damage dealer, but ranged damage has its own tactical niche (hitting out of reach targets) while being unable to compete with melee in terms of raw damage output and utility (AoE stun). Full arcane and divine casters are amazing buffers and situationally amazing damage dealers. The only exception is the Battlemagos class which does feel rather weak: it does not get any spellcasting benefits relative to the Guild Magos, only defensive and martial ones and mages do not need any martial or survivability buffs due to abundance of consumables and being able to avoid getting attacked in virtually any and all encounters simply through proper positioning.

Food crafting system could've been fleshed out a bit more. You have this long list of craftable multi-component dishes, but the only difference they have is food value. Would've been nice to have some minor buffs for... flavor.

Itemization was rather unimaginative, but functional, offering the player gear that covers basic stat and skill buffs. The game has a unique item vendor that sells some artifacts with a unique combination of stats, a single magical quest dagger and a suit of armor, but beyond that I don't remember finding any unique gear.

Game showers you in consumables and crafting materials. As long as you have a character with high crafting skill, you can use consumables every fight without feeling like you're gimping yourself in the later game. In the endgame, I was storing over 200lb of cooked meals on my ship that could've been used for an incalculable number of rests and I had over 100 attunement tonics for my casters.

Mages aren't weak, and I don't think many have been saying that they are (maybe the odd poster?) . But they are a ballache to manage, and a lot of unnecessary faff, especially early game.

 

[MjKorz]

Mages aren't weak, and I don't think many have been saying that they are (maybe the odd poster?) . But they are a ballache to manage, and a lot of unnecessary faff, especially early game.

I never had problems managing mages and I never abused rest. I did, however, ensure to always craft double consumables by making the first merc a Earth + Water Guild Magos with high Crafting skill.