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

[Strange Fellow]

Navigating the UI in this game is a Kafkaesque nightmare.

Do you want to know what the skill Thrust and Parry does?

click hotlink

Thrust and Parry:
"Adds condition: Defending"

click hotlink

Defending:
"Adds Status Tag: #Defending"

click hotlink

#Defending:
"Adds this character's Defend Bonus to their Dodge when defending"

click hotlink

Defend Bonus:
"The bonus that is added to Dodge when defending"

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[GloomFrost]

Codex bros I strongly recommend you to check out this little hidden gem of a game. First of all Lore, writing and atmosphere!!! Honestly puts all the recent "big" RPGs to shame. I mean we are talking Age of Decadence level of quality. But don't worry its not storyfaq game. The combat, party management and exploration are solid. Nothing spectacular but more then adequate. Around 20 hours in and really enjoying it and just you wait till you get to a small village called Firgol. WOW proper Witcher 1 vibes and that music is so mesmerising. Definitely a GOTY contender for me.

 

[damager]

Ah damn you make me excited. I'm right before moving out to Firgol

 

[damager]

((((freelenders))))"

This game is so incredible based

 

[damager]

This glownigga Zed Duke of Banville is really searching the forum for (((( to rate the posts. Imagine that man...

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I didn't find Horryn so bad. It's important to use the back way through Oleg's base get to the thieves den merchants. Way faster. I had doubts about putting Embla in my party too with my PC Magos. I had her replace Iago since he's forced to leave the party regardless. This is the point in the game where casters are established though, so you'll be fine. It was an asset for me actually.

 

[damager]

This is the point in the game where casters are established though, so you'll be fine. It was an asset for me actually.

Hey man exactly. I specced her full on fire + extra attun and cascades and she's a really fun addtion to my air/earth mage. It's actually really fun as a mage lover to have her around now triple cascading crowds with fireballs. Especially as I never used a firespell before

Iago was a great companion, but it's nice to have him sailing the ship and some artellierie is just what I need. I surprised again and again how well everything clicks together in this game. I call codex GOTY 2024

 

[Strange Fellow]

This game's dedication to recreating the incredibly shitty experience of navigating an online dictionary is very impressive.

 

[Strange Fellow]

What's the alternate way of procuring food for the refugees other than nicking the sheeps? I ran all over the place and didn't find anything.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Strange Fellow You can buy supplies from the smugglers at their cave in to the NW. This resolution had some bugs associated with it. I don't know if it's been fixed or not.

 

[processdaemon]

Strange Fellow You can buy supplies from the smugglers at their cave in to the NW. This resolution had some bugs associated with it. I don't know if it's been fixed or not.

It mostly worked for me when I did it, the only possible bug I got was that the son of the sheep farmer got stuck in the hidden glen after the quest had been resolved and I couldn't find a way to progress the quest to get him home, although maybe that's not a bug and his father just hates him that much.

 

[damager]

I tried several positions of the rotating Indiana Jones statues but nothing

 

[Castozor]

I'll be honest, just google that one. I got it eventually but even then I only half got the riddle right so I had to do a few tries.
Or if you want, here it is: Have them pointing "towards" each other in a clock wise fashion.

 

[damager]

I mean, I made exactly that.

Spoiler

Probably not clock wise though

Thanks mate!

 

[Castozor]

It's obviously still a good game and all but that little sequence did remind me that I really dislike puzzles and riddles in most games.

 

[GloomFrost]

Wow!! The ending is bloody depressing. Really reminds me of King of Nothing/Second Apocalypse novels. Now this is how you create a proper dark atmosphere. Hats off to developers, thank you for such a great experience!! And another good thing that the game is not bloated and finishes just before the combat gets repetitive. No huge walls of texts, no boring lore dumps, no gigantic dungeons that take hours to complete, no cringe romances and no "progressive" companions with daddy issues. The game does things right on so many levels. If there is ever a sequel its a day one purchase for me.

 

[damager]

I just ended it too. Big spoilers ahead.

The ending (everything after encountering brood mother) was at the same time the best and the weakest part of the game. Fighting brood mother would have been a nice test of all my equipment and skills I aquired. IMO I got spells like diamond skin and magical masterwork fullplate so that she does not oneshot me, so that was a led down. And I really thought the puzzles killed the atmosphere and were a waste of time. Who would hide an ancient god behind an operatus of statues you put all into the same direction. It's just such a bad trope.

The last fight and Rolands sacrifice were awsome though. And everything what followed after entering the portal too. Loved the last area. Loved were the story went and the ending slides. Really great way to wrap this up, I was not disappointed. Ended on a high note!

I read somewhere that one of the stretch goals of the kickstarter was another act on the mainland. I supsect to confront the cabal of the freelanders. I would have really enjoyed exploring that side of the story too! The writing in this game was really refreshing. Parts of the stroy were really thrilling and some of the character really came to life while reading. But combat and systems were really solid too. Some of the spells were really satisfying to use and gearing out characters was a lot of fun. I really didn't like the graphics much at first (I'm just a few years to young for Ultima6), but they grew on me more and more. In the end I would have not want it another way. The pixelgrahic slides in between were always highlights.

 

[damager]

This game needs a codex review to shed some light on it!

 

[Infinitron]

Update! https://www.skaldrpg.com/2024/08/project-update-full-control/

Project Update: Full Control!​

Greetings all!

As summer rolls into fall, it’s time for a sign of life!

First of all, I’ve been a bit quiet over the summer as I’ve taken the time to rest and recover post-launch. Skald took a lot out of me and I was pretty burned out by the end. Thankfully, the game has been a success so it’s been worth it.

However, I have indeed been fully back to work now for a few weeks and things are moving ahead with a new update!

I’ll release more details as we get closer but as a little sneak-peak, I can tell you that I’m doing a huge lift for controller and Steam Deck play!


I love playing the new version on the go with my Steam Deck!

We’re also adding a good handful of bug-fixes and minor features as well as adding in some character options, portraits and a dozen illustrations that we didn’t have time to get in there before launch.


This update will drop at the end of September (and a week earlier on the experimental branch so stay posted)!

Beyond that, the road-map for the rest of the year is pretty much laid and there is some really cool stuff coming up that I can’t wait to share with you! But one thing at the time…

---

To stay posted, be sure to follow the Skald Twitter and Discord if you haven’t already!

Cheers!



AL

 

[GloomFrost]

Second playthrough it is then.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Hydro]

Does anybody know how a crit bonus is displayed? Weirdly I can see the feat Vicious adding appropriate numbers to the corresponding parameter in the attributes window, but not the Blade Finesse. Is it a known bug or is it supposed not to be shown in the attributes window?

 

[damager]

Maybe because on is weapon specific?

 

[Hydro]

Yeah well a char is wielding an appropriate type if weapon, albeit there are no changes whatsoever

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I just finished this game and greatly enjoyed it. I started off as a hospitalier and focused my main PC on healing, but able to back-up in a melee fight. In hindsight, I probably would have went with a more martial class or even focused as an arcane spellcaster, since I picked up a hospitalier NPC later and the hospitalier melee abilities aren't impressive even when you have the class focus more on fighting.

The game is pretty difficult throughout the first half, but as long as you focus on specific roles you should find the final battles pretty easy. In the end I had a two-handed sword armsmaster, healing-based hospitalier (main PC), melee-based hospitalier, ranger-archer, thief-knife wielder, and guild-magos (fire-based) and started having an easier time of it in the last chapter. I would have curb-stomped the game if I went with an armsmaster, archer, or an officer as a main character. I do not believe a jack-of-all-trades character would work in this game.

I liked the Lovecraftian horror that is the background of the game, and my ending was pretty bleak. On the other hand, I think some references were a bit over-indulgent. I have read the King in Yellow short stories, but I bet I'm one of the few that have and played this game. Most people would have heard of Stephen King. Some fewer would know Lovecraft. But how many know, let alone read and caught the references to Robert Chamber's work from the 1890s? It was a nice easter egg for those of us in the know, however.

I would definitely recommend the game as it had great atmosphere, had wonderful use of retro art, and scratched the tactical RPG itch for me. Bonus points for letting me have six character in a party instead of many modern games that limit me to three or four.

I won after 60 days and with my characters at level 20.