Incline Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children - isometric tactical Korean SRPG

[GhostCow]

Its a holdover from when Korea was occupied by Japan. In Japanese culture you have to speak using keigo and treat the customer as if they are god

 

[Spectacle]

Its a holdover from when Korea was occupied by Japan. In Japanese culture you have to speak using keigo and treat the customer as if they are god

Korea is even more extreme than Japan when it comes to politeness and deference to authority/seniority. Its a native cultural trait that goes back long before the Japanese occupation.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/470310/view/2889577613574816737

[Notice] Hotfix and Changes announcement
Hello everyone, this is Troubleshooter Development server.

Below fixes and changes have already applied. We don't need server stop.

Fixed bugs:

• Fixed a bug that the bond mastery [ Cover ] had been activated only once in a specific condition.
  
• Fixed a bug that some buffs didn't recover the vigor.

Changes:

• Components of some mastery sets have been changed.
  - [ Blessing of Regeneration ] that is a part of [ Saint ] has been changed to [ Patience ].
  - [ Healing Wave ] that is part of [The Shield of Miracle ] has been changed to [ Miracle ].

Thank you.

 

[Visperas]

I finally finished this game. I had a lot of fun with it but towards the end I couldn't be bothered to keep playing with the masteries. Most of the characters already had a pretty good setup and making small changes was a pain in the ass 'cause everything is linked with the mastery sets. I'm not sure what to do about that if I decide to play any future expansions or DLC. How did you guys deal with that? I'm thinking I might just check some optimized builds online or something like that. Also, are they releasing more missions? The game ends kinda abruptly so I assume they will. In any case, a great game.

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/470310/view/4647108190401546015

[Notice] Maintenance and Update Announcement​

Greetings, this is Troubleshooter development team.

We beg to inform you that game server maintenance and update details.

• During the maintenance, all servers will be unavailable.
  
• Please finish the missions completely before server shutdown.
  
• Update Detail will be release after maintenance is started.

Maintenance Schedule

• Daylight saving time is not applied.
  
• Date: Sep 11th, 2020
  
• Friday 14:00 ~ 17:00 CET
  
• Friday 22:00 ~ 01:00 JST
  
• Friday 05:00 ~ 08:00 PST
  
• Friday 13:00 ~ 16:00 UTC

Update Details:

• Added new mastery sets.
• Spoiler

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  • Changed the effect of [ Thunder Bolt ] and [ Regular Exercise ].
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Added the [ Policy ] that increase the friendship depending on the company mastery.
    - Added the effect of the friendship increase to all the company masteries.
    
  • Added additional [ Relationship ] to some characters.
    
  • Added Steam Achievements.
    - My Friend
    - Leave It To Me
    
    
  • Changed the amount of friendship gained to double in [ Challenge Mode ].
    
  • Changed the missions that are played using [ Case Record ] doesn't affect the friendship.
    
  • Changed the key type item to be equipped to [ Grenadier's Bag ].
    
  • Changed the effect of [ Field Business ].
    
    
    
    
  • Changed the effect of [ Repaired Fox Charm ].
    
    
    
    
    
  • Fixed a bug that [ Mastery ] button on the roster information mode had not been activated.
    
  • Fixed a bug that [ Beast Trainer ] mastery had not to affect the class EXP.

Thank you very much.

 

[Lhynn]

I finally finished this game. I had a lot of fun with it but towards the end I couldn't be bothered to keep playing with the masteries. Most of the characters already had a pretty good setup and making small changes was a pain in the ass 'cause everything is linked with the mastery sets. I'm not sure what to do about that if I decide to play any future expansions or DLC. How did you guys deal with that? I'm thinking I might just check some optimized builds online or something like that. Also, are they releasing more missions? The game ends kinda abruptly so I assume they will. In any case, a great game.

They slowly mess with mastery requirements over several patches, it feels like they are making it slightly easier.
Sadly the nature of it is to be cumbersome, 9 team members, several skill trees per member, high end masteries that require a lot of investment. Thankfully the game ends just as its getting to be too much. I know i had to do the drake nest quest once only because its such an mastery farm and it allowed me to stock up with a bunch of them for crafting, then i would spend like half an hour to make small changes, then find id have to do the exact same thing again for the next 3 characters.

 

[Abu Antar]

Their apologies crack me up. (They still bros, though.)

 

[Cyberarmy]

"Due to lack of our capability"

How refreshing is to hear some game developer saying that.
And to think they did a better game all Nu-XCom clones combined.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Their apologies crack me up. (They still bros, though.)

Very much.

 

[Ivan]

good bois

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/470310/view/2889578883212445617

[Notice] Further development schedule announcement

Hello everyone, this is the Troubleshooter development team.

With the entire world suffering from COVID-19, we sincerely hope you are all safe from the pandemic.

We would like to thank you all for all the supports you gave which enabled us to further develop the game.

We will do our best to make up for your support.

Today, we would like to discuss the development team’s situation. Furthermore, we would like to apologize in advance for the changes that have to be made.

After the full release, we have announced our goals up to the third quarter of 2020.

- Alisa & Bianca additional contents
- Partial controller support
- Addition of online community
- Maintain regular update schedule
- Addition and diversification of Shooter Street quests

Currently, the development team is focusing on maintaining the regular update schedule and developing [ Alisa & Bianca additional contents ] and [partial controller support].

Consequently, with only two weeks left until the end of the third quarter, despite a lot of you waiting for us, the development of many contents are delayed, due to our lack of capability and exterior reasons that reduced our working times.

At the end of September, there is a national holiday called ‘Chu-Seok’. Our team is planning to take a rest on the holiday and the weekend to recharge ourselves who have been working since the full release and to reschedule the development schedule that has been altered due to COVID-19.

( The development team will be on vacation for September 28 to October 2. The national holiday is from September 30 to October 2. )

For the above reasons, the contents that were scheduled to be developed by the end of the third quarter have been delayed until the end of October. We will announce the exact schedule after we come back from vacation.

We are deeply sorry to make such a decision, despite all the support you have shown. We will try our best to give you the best experience in return.

Furthermore, we will adjust ourselves to work spontaneously on the quarter annual development and regular updates to make sure updates do not get postponed.
We always thank you all for your support.

The development team will do its best to compensate for all the support.

Thank you.

Apart from the delayed content update, we will do our best to keep the regular maintenance and the update that includes the bug fixes and convenience improvement.

 

[HoboForEternity]

so i bought this, is there still any additional content planned? because ill just wait for them before playing

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

so i bought this, is there still any additional content planned? because ill just wait for them before playing

At least this:

- Alisa & Bianca additional contents

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[Lhynn]

A few great quality of life changes on this one. Got to love how they keep making the game better. This is so incredibly rare, both for indies all the way to AAA.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/470310/view/2900839786377300170

Notice] Update schedule announcement

Hello everyone. This is Troubleshooter development team.

Are you staying healthy and having a good time?

Thanks to your support, the development team was on holiday comfortable and has backed to work.

The team concentrated on the preparation of the update and adjusted the work we have to do. As a result, we decided that there is a month's work has to be done for the new content update.

The only reason we couldn't manage the promised schedule is our lack of the development power. It is also the team's fault for not maintaining the tension in the COVID-19 situation.

We are able to continue to develop Troubleshooter thanks to your support. Nevertheless, I'm sorry that I couldn't do it properly.

The team has decided the next update schedule that includes extra scenario and partial controller support.

Update Schedule: November 16th, Monday 11PM (GMT + 9)

Updates that includes server maintenance, bug fixes and feedback will be carried out as usual but We'll try to keep concentrating on the development to prevent the schedule is adjusted again.

We're sorry for this situation. We won't give up on building our capacity.

Thank you very much.

 

[Jarpie]

Bought this from the sale, and I'm really liking it so far...despite it being very animu. The skill system seems quite robust from what I've seen, which is very nice to see.

 

[LESS T_T]

SteamDB spotted a DLC depot and branch of this game: https://steamdb.info/app/470310/history/?changeid=9943773

DLC patch test branch

 

[gurugeorge]

Well carry me out with the tongs, this is a bit of a gem isn't it? First impressions:-

It really fits the stereotype of East Asians being good at plagiarizing Western innovation, but improving on it in subtle and effective ways. I mean, in terms of the basics of combat, it's almost laughably a total ripoff of nuXCOM. But it's also quite a bit more. It definitely has its own flavour and sense of pacing. And I have to say, it's got its hooks in me.

I'm not the biggest fan of manga/anime. I've enjoyed a few things (Steins;Gate, Goblin Slayer, some of the superhero stuff) and I do appreciate the Tribe-free, trad nature of the way characters think and interact (the sense of community, the way people put the group above the individual, the emphasis on genetic family and filial piety, etc. - all things strengst verboten in Western product these days, for the most part). But despite that, I've always had a visceral dislike of the particular stylization of the faces, so my eyes just glided over this game in Steam before. However, I am actually enjoying the story and presentation somewhat too. It's really quite charming, and I'm glad I got wind of it (funnily enough, via a comment to one of Beaglerush's Chimera Squad episodes on YT).

Plus, I'm a sucker for superheroes, and it is basically a kind of "licensed superheros" type of deal.

[Later note:- I should add - it's an interesting and characteristic feature of anime superhero worlds that they try to think through the reality of what things would be like if superheroes existed. Of course they'd have to be licensed in some way. Not quite police - a bit freer and more independent than the police - but officially working with the police, and subject to laws and official rules. Or you get the practical division of the monster-prone megacity in One Punch Man into zones. Or the pipeline educational structure for trainee superheroes in My Hero Academia. Etc.]

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[gurugeorge]

Top tip: going over the tutorial again with another Company (i.e. game) is quite good if you've been playing the game for a few hours and it's less of a blooming, buzzing confusion - if it's starting to make sense just from playing and fiddling around, but you want to clarify it in your mind. The tutorial is one of those things you skim when you're first playing the game, but once you start getting a handle on the system, you'll want to know precisely what everything does and means, and the tutorial (with its popups) is actually quite comprehensive and handy for that (I mean the first few combats with popup instructions and explanations - fortunately you can Esc through most of the talky stuff if you've heard it before and you want to move on to the combat bits). It's worth doing so because although the game is similar to nuXCOM in many ways, there are also some quite meaningful differences.

Here are some rough descriptions and thoughts for people contemplating the game thinking of trying it out:-

One thing to note that's very different from nuXCOM, which has a fixed queue, is that the queue in this game is dynamic, and interleaved by means of everyone in the team (and enemies) having different action "Speeds" - analogous to Initiative in D&D. Effectively, it means you have to take into consideration juggling into your build/gear a decent level of Speed along with other important stats, so that (again, effectively) you get in more shots, punches and spells over a given stretch of time, because you're notionally faster than the mobs. IOW Speed determines your "Action Time" (the number of abstract time ticks till your next turn in the queue). [Later note: effectively this means that while Speed is effective overall, it's really just a question of getting a decent base speed, and then on top of that to really get an extra edge, using masteries that directly cut Action Time.]

You have some direct, clicky influence over the queue ordering by choosing Standby at the end of your round. Standby is like Haste, and pulls you up in the queue by halving your Action Time. Now I can't remember whether everyone's base Speed is the same, or it varies by race, char or class, but at any rate Speed often crops up as an option on gear and Masteries, so there are lots of ways to build it in. Reducing Action Time directly for various powers or under various conditions is also an important option offered on many Mastery Sets, and is usually very effective.

The Mastery system is mostly about passives and proc-like things. Masteries are like cards that drop from defeated mobs (like the Mods in Warframe), and you can have multiple copies of "a Mastery." A Mastery usually gives some passive bump or combination of passive bumps, again roughly like a Mod card in Waframe or a node on Path of Exile's giant passives map. Each Mastery has a "cost" or "weight" in terms of Training Points (TP) (possibly from 1 to 5 IIRC) which represents how much it "costs" to slot in your Mastery slots, which have limited TP capacity and are divided in categories: Basics, Support, Attack, Defence and Utility, each of which is given a "budget" for total TP per category - dffferent, be it noted, from the number of actual Masteries you can slot in that category. (New players note: Masteries have 2 numbers at the top right of their representation - a big one and a small one, the big one is its TP cost/weight, the small one is the number of copies you have of that Mastery.) Gear loot sometimes drops (e.g. from bosses) but mostly loot is handled like the Meld canisters in in XCOM2 - it's a question of risk/reward and pacing whether you try to open all the boxes. Part of the fun is trying to open the boxes as you go and integrating it into the flow of combat.

They've obviously gone to great lengths to think of evocative names for the Masteries that somewhat describe what they do; what each Mastery does is also precisely described, and a little saying is given that encapsulates the spirit of what it does. The result is something that a young or casual player can play around with just by feel, even rp feel, but all the numbers are laid out openly too, so you can ponder. The more costly in terms of TP, the more interesting and quirky the Mastery. Each race starts off with a Mastery, every class/sub-class has 4 inbuilt Masteries, and you get one or two others from character choices.

But the neatest thing about the Mastery system is that there are "Mastery Sets" which automagically appear in their own category when you have the right Masteries slotted. A Mastery Set represents some 4 out of the many Masteries you have slotted (usually from different categories, though not always), and is a bit like getting a gear set bonus for having those 4 Masteries slotted. Since many Masteries appear in more than one Mastery Set, you can have two Mastery Sets that include a given Mastery, but you only need to have one copy of the Mastery slotted somewhere on your build for it to count for both Mastery Sets.

With most of the Masteries and Mastery Sets I've tried, you do feel an appreciable, if small difference, having them slotted - enough that it's worth going for them. Some of them make quite a big difference and are almost must-haves (e.g. the Mastery Set Shukuchi for melee characters, which bumps up your Speed and adds a tile of movement). From what I've seen, heavier TP ranked Masteries have a bigger effect on stats - so it's the usual story that you'll be juggling with 1, 2 and 3 TP Masteries in your build earlier in the game, and as you progress and have more TP capacity you'll be juggling more 2, 3 and 4 - although some of the 1 TP Masteries remain useful throughout. (Again, if you're familiar with Warframe, a lot of this will instantly make sense, just substitute "Mods" for "Masteries.") I'm guessing that this type of "card" system must be taken from one of the devs' other named inspiration in Japanese games (from where the Warframe devs probably took inspiration too) - I never played JRPGs and such, so I don't know.

It's very rich and flexible. I don't know what the "meta" is yet. There's bound to be one, but the system is flavourful enough that you find yourself just puzting about trying things out a lot. Fun for all the family!

 

[LESS T_T]

SteamDB spotted a DLC depot and branch of this game: https://steamdb.info/app/470310/history/?changeid=9943773

DLC patch test branch

White Lion and Black Witch is the first extra scenario for TROUBLESHOOTER: Abandoned Children.

From the above announcement:

Last summer, the dev team tried to focus on developing the game, but the result was far from what we have planned. As a result, Troubleshooter has not had an update for about two months. However, we are planning to update our first DLC Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children – White Lion and Black Witch on November 16, P.M 11(GMT + 9).

We are going to release the DLC for free hence there will be no extra charges. We originally planned for Bianca and Alisa to join Albus in the main episode, but due to the development schedule, we were unable to do so. White Lion and Black Witch is a story about Bianca and Alisa. The episode will be playable after you finish the main episode: Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children.

1. Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children – White Lion and Black Witch DLC update schedule

We have been planning to release the DLC earlier but have kept you waiting for a long time due to our lack of ability. We are deeply sorry about that. Currently, we have completed the base work, but we still have scenario missions and translations to do.

For the above reason, on November 16, we will be going to update the first mission of DLC, which will be a story about how Bianca and Alisa join Albus. After then, for every one to two weeks, we will be going to update the scenario mission. There will be a total of 8 scenario missions and one violent case.
We understand that you have been waiting for an update for a long time. The dev team has failed to meet the deadline. We are deeply sorry about it. However, we thought releasing playable content that is not fully prepared is the worst choice we can make. The dev team concluded to choose quality over quantity.

After we finish updating the DLC, new illustrations and BGM will be updated to the art book and the soundtrack.

We apologize for the inconvenience we brought despite all your support.

Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children – White Lion and Black Witch DLC content guide
- 9 scenario missions (Last scenario mission of chapter 6 + all scenario missions of chapter 7)
- 1 violent case
- Level 50 items
- New mastery and systems

 

[Abu Antar]

Cool, it says that I already own the DLC. I didn't think that it would be free.

 

[gurugeorge]

Sorry for rabbiting on about this, I'm in that enthusiastic phase

Just bumped diff up to Cruel with Challenge Mode on, did a few "Extremely Difficult" missions. Nicely meaty and satisfying. Positioning is king in higher difficulty, and if you position well and follow the golden rule of XCOM (don't reveal any more fog of war after your first char's move) Cruel+Challenge+Extremely Difficult is quite doable, though of course slower because of all the deep thinking you have to do. You get into a nice flow state with it. Also, that golden rule, while still mandatory, doesn't necessarily allow you to relax too much because there are sometimes patrols that can bump into you - more frequently in the harder missions.

Altogether the combat is more dynamic and sprawling than XCOM's, even modded XCOMS, because the shape of the battlefield can turn on a dime when the enemy can call in reinforcements - and frequently does. So you need good positions, because you might be fighting from them for a while. On the other hand, the incentive to move is to grab the loot boxes scattered around, and "dancing" around so that you manage to get the nearby loot while you're in combat is a good feeling (and that's doable since opened loot boxes provide half cover). Flanking is risky because of the risk of adding even more mobs to an already difficult fight (as per the golden rule), but if you flank in such a way as to not reveal any more fog of war, you're fine. Your melee heroes are quite tough, and can stand being exposed for a short time after attacking in a way that exposes them (because you just HAVE to get rid of that mob ), because they block and dodge a fair amount of attacks (you can get block/dodge to healthy 40% or so without too much sacrifice of other things). But you can't leave your melee units exposed for very long with difficulty maxed (not like you can at the lower difficulties - at lower difficulties they can mostly just dodge and block if they're exposed, but on hardest difficulty that can be very costly). Generally melee is riskier to use, but still tremendously effective when used. A nice balance. Ranged varies from the plinking of your occasional support cops to the humungous bolts from your "mage" type or the great cones of damage from your gunner.

The feel of the impact of what you and the mobs do is just about right too - lower level enemies chip away at you for an amount that feels right, and while not immediately dangerous, makes you want to avoid it; higher and higher level enemies can take bigger and bigger chunks out of you. Meanwhile your abilities feel impactful. Missing and being blocked happens enough to be stop things from being a cakewalk, but you never feel greatly frustrated by it. Block greatly minimizes damage but doesn't exclude it entirely, so Blocked attacks can even sometime make a small dent in you that can kill you if you just have a sliver of health left. It's all very satisfyingly pitched, and realized quite well with graphics and fx.

The Mastery system is a bit hard to get into at first because initially the UI is rather overwhelming and a tad opaque, but I think I'm in the saddle now and the more I play with the Mastery system, the more I love it. It's funny that Warframe is the only other game I know of that has something like this "card" type of system - is it something from JRPGs (which I've never played)? It's a total alternative to many of the more standard forms of progression. Loved it in Warframe, love it in this. So much flexibility and flavour, and most of it pretty much does what it says on the tin (and with most Masteries you can feel some difference).

Starting to get into crafting too now, but that looks to be a humungous grind. There are some fun crafting missions with mat rewards. Fun the first couple of times

 

[Zombra]

Oh, I just have to finish the main game real quick and I can play the DLC? Well that's ... how it is I guess.