Vapourware Sui Generis + Exanima Early Access

[Yaar Podshipnik]

There have been two updates since I bought it. The combat went from "two drunk mudcrabs sparring" to quite fluid, if hard to master, and definitely good. The story mode is still a bit underdeveloped - only 4 big maps. The 4th map was actually added quite recently. Still, it should have quite a lot of of gameplay in it.

I see a lot of progress, however devs are doing this at their own pace, and aren't too good with communicating with the community. I really don't see Exanima as vaporware. Sui Generis is another story, BareMettle will probably run out of all kickstarter money soon. They are late putting their fillings online so can't give tell how much money they have now.

 

[Merlkir]

I think they ran out of KS money some time ago (my guess).
Still, I have 62 hours of Exanima played just on Steam, and I only play the arena. It's very good for what it is.

 

[Alienman]

The arena feels a bit restricted and gamey, compared to the rest of the game. I know it is not finished, but I got this "time-to-grind" feeling from it. With gamey I mean, some weapons can only be used with the appropriate rank, vendor stock is randomized. No story and such behind this, just random arena fighting to the death in random locations? Who is watching?

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

I like the restrictions. I got so used to having the rusty sword or the rusty two-hander that I completely ignored other weapons. Now I'm playing with the other starter crap. Still think that metal bar is the best, but I had some success with the cleaver as well.

 

[Merlkir]

I'm really used to the two handers, so I quite struggled with my meat cleaver. The two handed wooden maul is nice.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Couple of thoughts on the current state of arena combat:

• can't see the difference between duel and challenger matches, might be due to not all match types implemented yet
• don't see much point in fray matches - they degenerate quickly to 1vs1 or 1vs2 fights. If you play it right, all NPCs can just kill each other, and you are left with last one to kill. Easy money. Would be more fun if you could enter more than one of your chars in there, and choose which one you want to control (maybe that's how it works on higher levels, I only did Aspirant so far)
• pugilism seems to be really broken compared to other matches. There is no finesse in combat there, no moves to make. I've won most of the matches by constantly advancing towards enemy (holding W) and attacking all the time. Once you are in close quarter just pound. Would really love some improvements there.
• some points and ranks on gear seem to be way off, though devs did say it does need balancing and is not yet done for beta.
• random shops suck. would prefer they had some standard stock all the time, and only randomize the quality of items. I also rarely see Inept/Aspirant rank weapons there. Would be nice to have some bias of the selection towards your chars skill level, or even better, have a non-random shop.
• I really dislike the initial weapon selection, as it does not include all the weapons permitted on Inept rank. So no way of starting a handsaw character.
• The amount your chars are healed after each match is unbalanced. Currently it is the same after each type of match, even though Duel, Challenger, and Pugilism is usually a short fight, and Fray and especially Elimination is a long one. I would like to have the first three types to heal one tick (as it's now), Fray heal two, and Elimination at least three (even though it can be either 5 or 6 duels).

Some other things I would like to have are dyes for clothes, so I could make my dudes look nice and uniform.

It is also still a bit buggy. My main char is currently walking around shirtless and shoeless in the management section of the game due to some issues with inventory management. The current way inventory is handled is that you have a common arsenal and personal char inventory. So if you only have a one good set of clothes you have to continuously play dress/undress in the management screen to make your current char properly equipped. Would be handled better if they used common inventory - though maybe that would be too gamy, as maybe one fighter wouldn't want to wear other's pants...

Anyway, I'm having tons of fun with it, even now. Fighting in crappy gear really works great on your skills. Progression from Inept to Aspirant looks smooth, and you can win Aspirant matches with Inept gear if you are careful. I heard Novice is slaughterfest though, as you get access to proper sharp weapons. The most dangerous thing I saw on Aspirant so far was a sharp dagger, that was worth 4.5 points so almost half of your total allowed equipment value.

 

[Merlkir]

Agreed mostly. Pugilism is broken, because fists do damage all the time while hitting anything. Blocking should be much more of a thing, at this stage I always dodge, because opponents hitting my arms kills me. It needs a better tuned pugilism-specific damage system.
Frays would really be more fun if you had teammates, the free for all doesn't work.

Oh and daggers are fucking deadly. I went in an aspirant match and seeing a puny dagger, I got careless. Three slices later, my character was actually killed. (obs., since daggers do all sharp bleeding red damage)

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Another thing I would like to see is proper practice matches:

• pick skills for you AND the opponent
• pick gear for you AND the opponent
• pick the venue
• have the choice of either being an unpaid practice match with no limitation on skills/gear but no money involved either, and no risk of perma death; or
• automatically calculate entrance fee and reward based on chose gear, risk your life and limb

That way you could try tactics against various weapon combinations and practice things like early story gameplay. It would also remove some of the grind.

 

[AW8]

How do checkpoints/defeat work in the campaign? I encountered some skeletons that defeated me (only the short-term health reached zero), and after a cut to black I was waking up in the same spot with the same skeletons bashing at me as I tried to rise, instantly killing me (for real this time).

 

[Merlkir]

Sounds like the new unconsciousness mechanic they added in the latest patch. I don't play campaign though, so I don't know how it's supposed to work.

 

[Berekän]

It's the unconsciousness mechanic, yeah. The checkpoints trigger at the end of a level and after a certain point in the first one. After reloading one of these points you're fully able on foot and free of enemies, you're not going to get gangraped by skeletons every time you reload.

 

[AW8]

It's the unconsciousness mechanic, yeah. The checkpoints trigger at the end of a level and after a certain point in the first one.

All right.

After reloading one of these points you're fully able on foot and free of enemies, you're not going to get gangraped by skeletons every time you reload.

How would I reload the checkpoint instead of spawning at the place of defeat? I only recall being presented with a single option when I was downed: "Continue".

I had gone through several area transition doors and I assume that's the end of one level and the start of another... unless those are simply sub-sections of a level, and I still hadn't reached the first checkpoint of Level 1?

 

[Reapa]

And on the Kickstarter cRPG horizon, a challenger arrives.

Whatcha guys think?

If it were me, I would have given at least a quick object placement pass before releasing these screenies for crowd-funding purposes, but it sounds like their model for a death system should eliminate save-scumming easily enough.

action RPG crap. please mark it as such in the thread title so people looking for RPGs can ignore it.
and of course go fuck yourself for not doing so in the first place!
thank you

 

[Merlkir]

 

[Berekän]

After reloading one of these points you're fully able on foot and free of enemies, you're not going to get gangraped by skeletons every time you reload.

How would I reload the checkpoint instead of spawning at the place of defeat? I only recall being presented with a single option when I was downed: "Continue".

I had gone through several area transition doors and I assume that's the end of one level and the start of another... unless those are simply sub-sections of a level, and I still hadn't reached the first checkpoint of Level 1?

If you've had to load a new area you've certainly gone through a checkpoint, I think the only one that needs activating the 'early checkpoints' thing in the options is the one in the middle of the first level.

As for loading them, iirc it drops you on the main menu everytime and you'll have available the continue option which will let you load your character at the latest checkpoint.

 

[Maggot]

The arena feels a bit restricted and gamey, compared to the rest of the game. I know it is not finished, but I got this "time-to-grind" feeling from it. With gamey I mean, some weapons can only be used with the appropriate rank, vendor stock is randomized. No story and such behind this, just random arena fighting to the death in random locations? Who is watching?

The item restrictions are bullshit. If I can afford a spear I should be able to use it. Also the RPG elements don't really do anything for the game and they should have implemented them in a more meaningful way instead of the current perk style system they have right now.

 

[Ninjerk]

Exanima, now with tripping

 

[Berekän]

Exanima 6.3 Beta released, with new dungeon area.

Patch Notes

A big update was due out today, but we haven't quite managed to complete it in time. We know many of you were expecting an udpate, and though it's not complete it is already in a playable state. There are also many improvements to the game in general. So, for those of you who can't wait a little longer, we've put it on the beta branch in its current state.

There are still some issues, particularly with the new content, there are also areas that are inaccessible or incomplete and some features of the environment are not yet included. Playing through the content now means you will have to eventually restart at the portal to play it in its complete state.

Your current saves will revert to before the portal if you've already gone through it, this will reset the 4th level which now provides access to the new area and features other improvements.


Here's a changelog for this beta version:

• Huge new map to explore, roughly as large as the first 3 levels combined
  
  
• New environment, encounters and mechanics
  
  
• Many new items
  
  
• Advanced lightning / electricity
  
  
• New itemisation features
  
  
• Improved environment reflections
  
  
• Improved shadows
  
  
• Improved post-processing and atmospherics
  
  
• New lighting engine features and effects
  
  
• Improved animation
  
  
• Improved footwork and movement
  
  
• More realistic character balance behaviour
  
  
• Improved character articulation physics
  
  
• Improved equipment graphics
  
  
• More accurate weapon balance and mass
  
  
• Weapon specific swing behaviour
  
  
• Increased zoom levels
  
  
• New music
  
  
• Graphical improvements to some existing levels
  
  
• Pausing the game now pauses all sound effects
  
  
• Improved visuals on Intel HD Graphics
  
  
• Many bug fixes and small enhancements

 

[Mr. Pink]

Will there ever be multiplayer support?

 

[Lyre Mors]

Will there ever be multiplayer support?

That would be pretty amazing, but I don't recall ever hearing about that being a planned feature. I could certainly be wrong, though.

 

[Maggot]

Multiplayer is one of their planned features but I don't think they've said anything about implementing it any time soon.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=412380198

 

[Mr. Pink]

Will there ever be multiplayer support?

That would be pretty amazing, but I don't recall ever hearing about that being a planned feature. I could certainly be wrong, though.

looks like LAN only, I think

a game like this could have absolutely incredible PvP potential. If examina had just been a PvP arena, it would have sold a lot more, I think (not that the main game is bad)

 

[Infinitron]

Released on GOG: https://af.gog.com/game/exanima?as=1649904300

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

I need to get off my ass and make a nice map of the new level Unfortunately, I've lost my old save when "upgrading" to w10 so have to replay the whole thing.

On separate note, the latest beta now includes training wheels for those who are yet to git gud. You can still start as the "Unknown", which is The Way It's Meant To Be Played, and have the potential for magic. Or you can choose Easy, Medium, or Hard. Knight is easy, has almost complete plate set (no helmet), but no layers below (no mail, no gambesons, padded coats etc.), and a very nice flanged mace for a weapon. Proctor is equipped with decent chain shirt, has nice sword (though far from the best single handed one in the game), and ok gear. The Villager starts the same gear as unknown in the beginning but no potential for magic (thaumathurgy). So they will be exactly the same at start, but villager will be quite crappy late game.

 

[cherry blossom]

Looks just sad. Still looks as laughably sluggish and ridiculous as the first tech demo. Some novelty, their physics.