Game News Torment: Tides of Numenera Released

[Irenaeus]

I managed to control the impulse.

There's hope for you still.

 

[l3loodAngel]

If for example in TB they would reduce monster damage (or increse NPC hp) to help people who get surrounded often, because the character can't change his course of action until all of enemies have moved. In RTwP devs would increase dmg. (or reduce NPC HP) from monsters to increase punishment for people who cant control their units to increase urgency, because you can change your course of action.

Again, thanks for seeing my point. Since TB vs RT are different, the mechanics need to be different, adapted to the system.

HP and DMG are not mechanics. It's easy design tweaks...

 

[ArchAngel]

And in RTwP you got party of 4 facing 10 enemies. All 10 start casting fireball at your party, what do you do?
In TB you just check turn order and interrupt those that you will act before, in RTwP this is a much complex situation that ends often with more fireballs blasting your party and you have to plan for stuff like that.
It is just that you are too blind because of your hate for RTwP.

Your example is proving my point. Situations and tactics are different in TB vs RT(wP). Sequential vs simultaneous makes a huge difference. Which is why mechanics need to be different, appropriate to their combat system.

Usually in RT you have the opportunity to move out of the way of fireballs in reaction to seeing them cast. Not so with TB, you have to plan beforehand without knowing what's coming.

I would assume they do need to be somewhat adapted. IE did it well. PoE on the other hand made it like you were playing a TB game.

 

[Ruzen]

Even skipping -or not clicking- unnecessary dialogue options. I am getting deja vu, as If this is the Inquisitor; boring ass combat. At least there was some mystery in Inquisitor. There was a mystery in D:Original Sin. There was a mystery in Pillars too but Torment2 blatantly says everything at first 5-6 hours. Very little mysteries left for to find yourself the will to finish the game, besides "side" quests. I'm really questioning If those many years of developement were put to any walking simulator, will the end result still be same? Nearly 5 million dollars for this! I wished Divinity or Expeditions were able to raise that much of money. They still have passion unlike washed up people in The inXile. I feel like I gave money for their mid-life crisis hobby.
/rant out

Final Conclusion: If you honestly need to "play" this game. Wait for a sale. Big one.

 

[Tommy Wiseau]

This game really isn't that bad, what's with all the sperging.

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

I know it has been asked before but why :

Spoiler

does the sorrow has a cape? Also, it does not look at all like the Sorrow from kickstarter.

 

[Tommy Wiseau]

Irenaeus 'the White' doesn't understand how to use the butthurt rating.

 

[Sizzle]

The amount of exposition didn't bother you?

It's obvious that he hated the game. Don't drag him in this mess.

Will Lurker King commit seppuku if Vault Dweller, his idol and shining light of games design, actually likes something in Numenera?

Find out in this very topic, the next time VD posts his impressions! Stay tuned!

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

I am nearly at the end of the game and I don't think I will be going back to Seagus anymore. Is there a way to cross the bridge in Cliff's Edge ? What about that area with the huge eggs and the bottom right corner?

 

[Infinitron]

The amount of exposition didn't bother you?

It's obvious that he hated the game. Don't drag him in this mess.

Will Lurker King commit seppuku if Vault Dweller, his idol and shining light of games design, actually likes something in Numenera?

Find out in this very topic, the next time VD posts his impressions! Stay tuned!

Didn't this already happen with Wasteland 2?

In fact I think Lurker King may have actually initially joined the Codex to argue with Vault Dweller about WL2 in his review thread.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Anyone know if hiver is still writing reviews of inXile games? I know for a while he had his own 'forum', which soon died off, but would be amusing to see his thoughts on this one.

 

[thesheeep]

This game really isn't that bad, what's with all the sperging.

Well, it probably really isn't that bad.
It just seems to not be that good either, which disappoints quite a few people.

It's what happens when you follow the footsteps of something like PS:T.
Bad combat is not the biggest problem (sucked in PS:T as well), but what I've seen so far of the writing is really not on par with PS:T.

I'm still going to play it, for sure. But the price tag is simply absurd.

 

[l3loodAngel]

This game really isn't that bad, what's with all the sperging.

It's what happens when you follow the footsteps of something like PS:T.
Bad combat is not the biggest problem (sucked in PS:T as well), but what I've seen so far of the writing is really not on par with PS:T.

For this reason we cant have nice stuff. Just because it wasn't a masterpiece in PST doesn't mean it didn't exist, or it was a detriment. People who equate PST combat witn TTON combat are just wasting air on this planet. Combat was and always will be one of the main factors in RPGs for multiple reasons. One of the main being the character progression.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Finished the game as a silver/blue mind reading nano, with rhyn, erritis and matkina. As of right now my sentiment about the game is this:

I might play it in a year or two after massive patches/directors cut etc with the restored content.

 

[thesheeep]

This game really isn't that bad, what's with all the sperging.

It's what happens when you follow the footsteps of something like PS:T.
Bad combat is not the biggest problem (sucked in PS:T as well), but what I've seen so far of the writing is really not on par with PS:T.

For this reason we cant have nice stuff. Just because it wasn't a masterpiece in PST doesn't mean it didn't exist, or it was a detriment. People who equate PST combat witn TTON combat are just wasting air on this planet. Combat was and always will be one of the main factors in RPGs for multiple reasons. One of the main being the character progression.

Uh, yes. And the combat was bad in PST. There's just no denying it. As soon as combat started in the game, after the first few encounters, you just wanted it to be over and get to the good parts again.
And that is something TTON and PST have very much in common, as it seems. As different as the combat itself is.

 

[l3loodAngel]

This game really isn't that bad, what's with all the sperging.

It's what happens when you follow the footsteps of something like PS:T.
Bad combat is not the biggest problem (sucked in PS:T as well), but what I've seen so far of the writing is really not on par with PS:T.

For this reason we cant have nice stuff. Just because it wasn't a masterpiece in PST doesn't mean it didn't exist, or it was a detriment. People who equate PST combat witn TTON combat are just wasting air on this planet. Combat was and always will be one of the main factors in RPGs for multiple reasons. One of the main being the character progression.

Uh, yes. And the combat was bad in PST. There's just no denying it. As soon as combat started in the game, after the first few encounters, you just wanted it to be over and get to the good parts again.
And that is something TTON and PST have very much in common, as it seems. As different as the combat itself is.

And now you dipshit living in a bubble we have a game without combat (they have nothing in common except for your delusions). How do you like it?

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

Finished it today. I would rate it a 7 at best.

Liked:

- loading times in a Pillars of Eternity engine! (no joke here)
- better combat then PS:T;
- more mature comedy then PS:T;
- reactivity, choices and consequences ( hope I will now see more of it in my next play)
- music and atmosphere (the Bloom blew me away)
- good to great writing;
- the setting ( loved to finally play a Sci-fi setting ).
-

Spoiler

the ability to raise/ lower the platform in the final combat

Disliked :

- the cape (you know what I'm talking about);
- the black background around items in the inventory makes them feel cheap;
- the fact that we have gay couple and quest for that matter;
- the lack of audio dialogues, beta had more dialogue then the final version. Lack of portraits for NPC's. Planescape Torment had a lot more.
- the bugs : game freezes in combat, takes too much to finish the turn once we have 10 enemies, loading certain saves won't work. Interface problems.
- reached the max level and didn't get to finish all the quests.
- never had I seen a complex quest with multiple faction involved like the ones in F2 or New Vegas.

I sure do hope they will release a more complete version, until then I'm starting as nano....
I did like it overall and do recommend it, but I am not a backer, if I was things would be different.
Underrail is still king, AOD should be my next interest...

Now that we have a newer Planescape and a newer BG kind of series when the heck can we expect a newer Arcanum?
A lot of people will finish this because of the nature it was build, PS:T is almost impossible without a guide, while here you won't never need them.
I am pretty sure this game will rise a lot of controversy, I do hope they will not leave the game like this and will improve upon ( like Obsidian did with Pillars ).

 

[l3loodAngel]

Finished it today. I would rate it a 7 at best.

Liked:

- better combat then PS:T;
- more mature comedy then PS:T;
- reactivity, choices and consequences ( hope I will now see more of it in my next play)
- music and atmosphere.
- good to great writing
- the setting ( loved to finally play a Sci-fi setting ).

Disliked :

- the cape (you know what I'm talking about);
- the black background around items in the inventory makes them feel cheap;
- the fact that we have gay couple and quest for that matter;
- the lack of audio dialogues, beta had more dialogue then the final version. Lack of portraits for NPC's. Planescape Torment had a lot more.
- the bugs : game freezes in combat, takes too much to finish the turn once we have 10 enemies, loading certain saves won't work. Interface problems.
- reached the max level and didn't get to finish all the quests.
- never had I seen a complex quest with multiple faction involved like the ones in F2 or New Vegas.

I sure do hope they will release a more complete version, until then I'm starting as nano....
I did like it overall and do recommend it, but I am not a backer, if I was things would be different.

Now that we have a newer Planescape and a newer BG kind of series when the heck can we expect a newer Arcanum?

I hope it's sarcasm.

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

BTW I read that Numenera has tier 6 at maximim level, I smell a DLC possibility here...that would suck so much balls

 

[ArchAngel]

BTW I read that Numenera has tier 6 at maximim level, I smell a DLC possibility here...that would suck so much balls

You don't want this game to have access to tier 6 powers, they would not know what to do with those.

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

noticed that I didn't wrote anything on companions, I barely was interested in any of them. Durance and Grieving Mother....now there are some great companions.

 

[vivec]

BTW I read that Numenera has tier 6 at maximim level, I smell a DLC possibility here...that would suck so much balls

You don't want this game to have access to tier 6 powers, they would not know what to do with those.

Yeah. It does not know what to do after Tier 2.

 

[Sratopotator]

I will now attempt at creative shilling for this game. Acknowledge my agenda.


Inxile is shady, badly organized and works like a popamole studio. But they keep making non-popamole games, at least in theory. The effect is strange and twisted. Wasteland 2 is barely holding together, the same with Tides of Numenera.

The thing is, the way content/story is structured/presented in nu-Torment, is more reminiscent of PST than any other game out there.
There is a proper city hub(or hubs), c&c is around every corner, some side quests are tied together in masterful way.
That aspect of exploration is, at least mechanically, even better than in original Torment. [Unfortunately, as others pointed out, main story is way too disconnected from side content, so c&c does not carry that much weight]

When we compare Numenera to PoE in this department, Numenera clearly wins. Yeah, writing in ToN is more uneven, but dialogue trees are magnificent - with a lot of side/hidden triggers. Also reactivity in side content is faboulus.
There are ups and downs in quality of said side content, but when compared overall to PoE - the latter looks like Compromise: The Game, when Numenera looks like Risky Shit to Publish 2. And that alone, should automatically grant ToN some recognition, and maybe a free pass on some fuckups (not saying all of them).

As to why i'm comparing Numenera to Pillars of Eternity, rather than to PS:Torment --- You get a Torment that your Baldur's Gate deserves.
Pillars was mediocre for its time, so nu-Torment is mediocre too. The differences between Pillars and Numenera are mostly analogical to BG vs PST.
Besides, comparing ToN directly with original Torment is a lost cause. Lost in the first second of development.

This is why i'm trying to defend this disfigured bastard - You fuckers expected a game which can be only created with massive amount of luck, or in a "corporate limbo" so to speak - by some smart and motivated people without too much management oversight (or with a lot of trust), and under a moderately high budget.
[A specific work environment that is rarely sustainable for some reason, needs great communication and/or sufficient professionalism of everybody involved]
Fallout and Planescape: Torment come to mind as examples, it just doesn't happen too often (without MCA ).


And ok, this is obviously a rationalization. The game is still what it is (a 6-7/10 game), but consider this:

Modern Torment is shit. Should the developers stop their attempts at doing something similar? We won't get no more Torment, but at least the memories are safe.

Modern cRPGs are shit. Should the developers stop their attempts at doing something similar? We won't get no more cRPGs, but at least the memories are safe.


Non-popamole games are not commercially viable, so the only way to get decent budget cRPGs made is to buy below expectations. These are dark times we live in.
If we don't pay a dime for games that came out shittier than we wanted, chances are that no one will have the balls to make something similar, and this part of gaming market will wither and die. You know, decent budget, c&c'n story heavy, reactive RPGs. The lost cause of gaming.

Tl,dr Sperglord detected

 

[Sratopotator]

To balance the shameless shilling, i'm presenting you the funniest line in Numenera i've found, word for word. Second sentence is pure comedy gold.
[Spectre npc, near the Clock, after getting tides skill]

"Then, you feel it: a hole inside you, like something torn away, a truth, an unknown answer to an unknown question, a name, a self.
You crumple with the weakness of hollow things and imagine armoring yourself in a false enigma, obscuring your shame through obscurity, and scrounging through the world's drit for a lone lost grain."

 

[ArchAngel]

To balance the shameless shilling, i'm presenting you the funniest line in Numenera i've found, word for word. Second sentence is pure comedy gold.
[Spectre npc, near the Clock, after getting tides skill]

"Then, you feel it: a hole inside you, like something torn away, a truth, an unknown answer to an unknown question, a name, a self.
You crumple with the weakness of hollow things and imagine armoring yourself in a false enigma, obscuring your shame through obscurity, and scrounging through the world's drit for a lone lost grain."

Now that you mention it, how do you get that Tide skill? I spent 10h running around Sagus Cliffs, visited all areas except Caravanserai and Underbelly and only found places where to use that skill.