KickStarter Stoneshard - open world roguelike RPG - now available on Early Access

[Tygrende]

I'm sure they'll patch out the problems in a timely man...

They sure are trying, game version went from 7.0.0 to 7.0.7 in a matter of 2 days. All hotfixes. I wouldn't call that early access at this point, more like paying for the privilege of alpha testing. But it is good they're fixing it fast, at least.

 

[Fedora Master]

That's actually good to hear.

 

[oscar]

Devs need a little bit of a kick in the pants to focus on what needs to be done (though I suspect a lot of the annoyingly trivial additions were just the result of having surplus artists still on contract with nothing else to do while the actual core content guys were stuck on something) but I'd hate to see them get discouraged and burn out too because this really has a huge amount of potential to shape into something awesome.

 

[Salvo]

Devs need a little bit of a kick in the pants to focus on what needs to be done (though I suspect a lot of the annoyingly trivial additions were just the result of having surplus artists still on contract with nothing else to do while the actual core content guys were stuck on something) but I'd hate to see them get discouraged and burn out too because this really has a huge amount of potential to shape into something awesome.

I blame the discord sycophants drooling after every little bit of bee or bread pixel art as it was some crucial part of the update

 

[Teut Busnet]

I think the game was fun enough already even before the new update. I remember having a blast with it after I finally figured how to play properly. Would be sad if they never finish it, because it has a potential to be a modern classics.

Yes, it's the strangest thing. At release, there was so much positivity and hype. Players loved it, many guys streamed the game and - if the number of reviews is anything to go by - the sales figures were very good.

Since then though, the amount of actual content released is laughable. No one can tell me there was steady development for now 3.5 years. I'd be surprised to hear that whoever created the prologue is still at Ink Stains Games.

I don't feel scammed either. I paid <20€ and had >20 hours of fun adventuring - it's fine. I'm just baffled how hard they dropped the ball.

 

[Divine Blessing]

Stoneshard is in desperate need for a convinience therapy. fast travel (scrolling tru the ever-same-screens is boring), more save points (maybe tied to difficulty), more display on enemy info etc.

i understand some desire for the survival vibe, but symptomatically it always (rapidly) stagnates into grind - respect players time (which may be done easily with difficulty settings).

 

[Harthwain]

Stoneshard is in desperate need for a convinience therapy. fast travel (scrolling tru the ever-same-screens is boring) [...]

Well, you're in luck:

Spoiler

Once you obtain the Carriage, you can quickly travel between Towns by speaking to Verren at the Stables.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Darth Canoli]

We're used to 3D walking simulators but now comes the next gen!

The 2D walking simulators!
2/3 enemies per map and you can walk 5-6 maps without finding anything besides trees.

And...

That's it actually, i skipped the intro dungeon which i played with the early demo and the rest of the game is extremely bland.
Also, if you get wounded, you'll have to wait 100+ turns to get rid of multiple debuffs, it's soooo muuuuuch fun!

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

I ask this about every game I'm remotely interested in. What's special about this game? Can you do anything in this that's interesting beyond the norm? Start a business? Commit heinous crimes? Is there universal character death? Can you turn into a vampire or any other transformations? etc. etc.

 

[Harthwain]

2/3 enemies per map and you can walk 5-6 maps without finding anything besides trees.

There is actual exploration involved? How revolting!

Also, if you get wounded, you'll have to wait 100+ turns to get rid of multiple debuffs, it's soooo muuuuuch fun!

1) When you wait turns go by really fast.

2) When you wait your thirst and hunger go up. This acts as a timer of sorts. It worked really well in the demo, because it forced you to push on in order to be able to sustain/heal yourself. Also, healing items help A LOT.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

If you want walking simulator try AZALTA! Lordy, you can get lost on the overland map.

 

[Drowed]

2/3 enemies per map and you can walk 5-6 maps without finding anything besides trees.

There is actual exploration involved? How revolting!

This is the eternal struggle of exploration in RPGs. If the map is very open and you need to explore a lot to find interesting things, then it is a walking simulator. However, if every x steps you find something random, it's a theme park. It seems to be impossible to find an acceptable middle ground between these two extremes: either someone complains that the burglars' home is next door and it doesn't make any sense, or the burglars are missing and you waste too much time finding just one or two of them.

 

[Harthwain]

This is the eternal struggle of exploration in RPGs. If the map is very open and you need to explore a lot to find interesting things, then it is a walking simulator. However, if every x steps you find something random, it's a theme park. It seems to be impossible to find an acceptable middle ground between these two extremes: either someone complains that the burglars' home is next door and it doesn't make any sense, or the burglars are missing and you waste a too much time finding just one or two of them.

Indeed. He's trying too hard to find something negative about the game. Especially when you can find wildlife and brigands literally 1-2 screens away from the village and the dungeon demo had a plenty of enemies in it.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Indeed. He's trying too hard to find something negative about the game. Especially when you can find wildlife and brigands literally 1-2 screens away from the village and the dungeon demo had a plenty of enemies in it.

I wasn't even trying, otherwise, i'd have started with ridiculously small backpack and cool-downs.
The combat is everything but fun and this is the last straw.

 

[HeyCheckOutHowHardICanPee]

Brynn reputation only applies to 1/4 of the map chunks (top left), and the biome surrounding said city would constantly have me run into the ocean

due to the biome not having "shore" tilesets.

Personally the only change I'm a fan of is the new map system.
The skill and stat rebalances kind of blow, except the part where the developers have gotten so fed up with people complaining about daggers that they managed to make a tier 1 dagger skill one of the strongest abilities in the game from start to finish.
The map expansion just means you'll spend more time waddling back and forth, one could argue some inane shit about food and water management, but there's enough berry bushes on your path to solve world hunger.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[cyborgboy95]

Survival skill tree, WIP

 

[jungl]

Game needs the world get more dangerous the more lairs you complete. Fuck these cave of qud rogue likes where you can spend 1000 hours killing bandit mooks and wolves like its skyrim.

 

[oscar]

The power curve to this game doesn't feel at all right. You can kill 7 experienced bandits in a fight but one elk will somehow murder you. It's a wonder humans became a power at all in this world where deer could probably stop three knights dead. Hell lure one into a dungeon and it would probably clear it for you.

A sole bear could probably wipe out most of Brynn.

 

[oscar]

Unreal World did it better. Bait it into a trap then get your dogs to sic it to a bleeding death while your bludgeon the head trying not to damage the pelt.

 

[Seigneur Locklear]

Been a while since I last checked this game, and then I see this:

Fucking lol.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The power curve to this game doesn't feel at all right. You can kill 7 experienced bandits in a fight but one elk will somehow murder you. It's a wonder humans became a power at all in this world where deer could probably stop three knights dead. Hell lure one into a dungeon and it would probably clear it for you.

A sole bear could probably wipe out most of Brynn.

Guess Grimwulf has taught them a thing or two.

 

[Sykar]

So do they still just have pyromancy and geomancy magic schools?