KickStarter Vigilantes: neo-noir, turn based tactical RPG

[Lhynn]

Someone mentioned Troubleshooter in this thread and that game manages to get round burn out using a huge spike in difficulty at the mid game. The player is forced to reassess pretty much all their assumptions about combat once the game takes the gloves off.

Its not just that, the game keeps introducing new mechanics as new members join your team, and your entire approach to missions changes with every new tool in your arsenal. Theres also the fact that character building is loot dependant, discovering new masteries and mastery sets never gets old, for instance, two missions ago you could not resist knockbacks, but now you found the mastery that lets you, getting knocked back against a wall would stun you, meaning you wouldnt be able to retaliate and would miss the next turn, so this completely revolutionizes what your front lineup is able to take.

Also, in troubleshooter you are always facing new enemy types or factions, and every faction has different strengths and weaknesses and they use the exact same mastery system you do. So combat stays fresh, character building stay fresh and the threats you face stay fresh. Its just a superb game overall. And it never stops being challenging.

 

[True Ukrainian]

Come to think of it, vigilantes has even less differentiation between party members than nu XCOM. Probably because of the classless point system that it uses. Everyone basically falls between two archetypes, ranged or melee.

 

[udm]

As echoed by some of the above posters, For me, the burn out feeling comes from having seen nearly everything more than once, then it's more of the same. With X-Com (as in the OG), I never got that feeling because of how differently each encounter plays out. The way the game mechanics interplay with one another also makes every encounter sufficiently different. Besides the priority stats like TUs and accuracy, you have other factors like FOW, bravery, spawn points, terrain (height, area, breakability, visibility), enemy type, and time of day. That's a lot of permutations in which a battle can play out differently.

 

[Lhynn]

Yeah, pretty much. From what i remember from Vigilantes there are no big changes in approach as you play the game, one fight is the same as the next one. Probably one of the biggest challenges any combatfag game faces is making the combat varied.

 

[True Ukrainian]

The only change is the number of opponents you face. And since there's so little enemy variety, that makes the stronghold missions a real chore.

 

[udm]

Was the top screen a grenade and the bottom a bullet?

Hey Daithi, sorry I forgot to reply to this part of your post. Yeah the top one was Elias Rooke throwing a nade, and in the bottom one, a mobster fired a shot at me.

I get that some people like the improved realism/survival feel of only using melee weapons as a last resort

These heretics shall be purged!

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I get that some people like the improved realism/survival feel of only using melee weapons as a last resort,

I use them as last resort too.

Spoiler

Wait they're my only resort.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I'm also playing it, picked hard-boiled difficulty for my second playthrough.

- The lack of randomisation really hurts this game. As I mentioned earlier, I'm quite burned out because I must have played through most of the maps at least thrice.

I'm not sure, i'd rather have 64 + 3 unique well crafted maps rather than randomized garbage.

Timeslip some QoL improvements would be nice.

Weather:
Allow to disable weather effects (rain) or at least get a sunny battlescape when you start a mission with sunny weather (50% of the time, i get rain and i never start a mission while it's raining)

User Interface:

• Return to the previous screen when exiting the save menu (you get there from the map and when exiting, you're in the char/inventory menu)
• Save/don't reset filters when exiting the city map along with a button to remove them all at once.
• Automatically add x2/x3 clip size ammos in the inventory when equipping a new weapon/
• And remove ammos when you don't have any weapon using it anymore.
• Automatically select the last weapon/item equipped in combat when exiting the inventory screen.

Music:
Being able to disable some tracks would be nice.

Aside from QoL improvements, some mission variety would be nice, gang's heist/raids are quite a nice change of pace.
Maybe a bit more missions to assists groups of cops or civilians.

Also, if you get filthy rich with Prometheus, think about adding a car chase mechanism at some point or in the sequel, something like early (2D) GTA meets Chase H. Q.
It would be a nice trade off for chasing ufos in X-COM

Chase H. Q.

GTA 1

 

[Timeslip]

Hey Darth Canoli

I'm going to focus on QOL more for Prometheus Wept, though there are going to be rough edges in the demo. I like the idea of allowing the player to disable certain tracks - did consider it for Vigilantes, but it's the same old story, more ideas than time. I remember Chase HQ, wonder how well it holds up. Sections like this would be a nice addon, but to do it in a reasonably polished way would be a big increase increase in scope.

I've just posted an update on Prometheus Wept in the thread, covering that unannounced feature I've hinted at.

 

[Darth Canoli]

remember Chase HQ, wonder how well it holds up. Sections like this would be a nice addon, but to do it in a reasonably polished way would be a big increase increase in scope.

I know it's better to focus rather than implementing too many features but if you ever get some funding and a good idea...

Another QoL feature for late game when you swim on money, being able to pay to get leads on lieutenants or bosses, like 10K for 33% intel on a lieutenant and 40/50K (for 100%) for a boss when all the lieutenants are caught.
It'd save some grind for the end game.

Also, removing the gangs you've decimated from the intel list after a mission, right now, you can still pick them by mistake.

Last but not least, being able to set the overwatch CTH threshold somewhere instead of having to change it on every mission first turn (it's set to 25% CTH, which is low, even for the early game)

 

[udm]

Last but not least, being able to set the overwatch CTH threshold somewhere instead of having to change it on every mission first turn (it's set to 25% CTH, which is low, even for the early game)

Yes, this plz!

 

[Timeslip]

Hey, in case you haven't been following the Prometheus Wept thread, the demo is out today.

 

[Timeslip]

Hey - in case you hadn't heard, the Kickstarter from Prometheus Wept is live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/958692255/prometheus-wept-a-post-digital-turn-based-rpg