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 TheGreatEvilKing, What Is This? Tower of Time bills itself as an innovative RPG with, well, I'll quote the Steam page. The Steam Page posted:Tower of Time is an incredible adventure packed with over 50 hours of gameplay, hand-crafted levels, and a rich story told through cinematics. Taking classic RPG gameplay to the next level, Tower of Time features flexible character development, thousands of pieces of loot and equipment and the complex and tactical Arrow-Time real-time combat system. The game has a mysterious and innovative story told through visually intriguing cinematics and a combat system unlike any other RPG I've seen. Um, Wow, TGEK, you're being deliberately vague! Well, look, I'm sure this is a good story. Just look at all these rave reviews!  If you can't trust Post Malone, Wutlol, and T-K, who can you trust? You can't fool me, TGEK! I've seen that graphic before in one of your LPs! Yeah, you got me. The quote above is from one Nick Macari, who, if you've followed my LPs in the past, you will recognize as one of the lead writers for Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness. Incidentally, don't go rechecking that thread unless you want spoilers for this game. I didn't read that thread. What's up with this guy? Let me explain Nick Macari's take on "good writing", in his own words. Macari, Maximize Your Turns posted:As you’re well aware, surprise is the magic behind a story… Oh nooooooo... Oh, yes. I play this poo poo so you don't have to! Strap in everyone, we're in for a ride!  Yeah, I know, Steam notification.  This game gets confusing with pronouns. I don't mean this in the Ron DeSantis transphobia way, I mean flopping between first person and second person faster than an N.K. Jemisin novel.  I should probably upload videos for these cinematics, but this is funnier. For what it's worth, these are voice acted.   I don't know why You is capitalized but we'll be seeing a LOT of this guy.  : Yes, You are right...   Ugh, yeah, that's near unreadable. The Last Image posted:
 : I am both and I am neither. the game posted:
: And... before I leave this world...: I need to be judged. the game posted:
All this, before we load the game proper! Oh, and yes, this game does have audience participation in the form of moral choices! I'm excited, are you excited?
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Mar 25, 2023 04:09
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I kinda like this game.  I did get it for free and played it with exactly zero expectations though.
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Mar 25, 2023 04:25
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What's more exciting than ~moral choices~ for The Hero
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Mar 25, 2023 05:03
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An innovative RPG with moral choices, LPed by TheGreatEvilKing! I can see the parade of trolleys of rushing down the track in my mind already. BraveLittleToaster fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Mar 25, 2023 |
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Mar 25, 2023 05:09
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Meet You... Or me... and Maeve! Welcome to Tower of Time!   Here are the settings we're playing on. I don't find this game interesting enough mechanically to play on anything above normal. Sorry for anyone looking for a mechanical walkthrough because this isn't that.  Remember when I said this game got confusing with pronouns?  This particular speaker is the "you" the narrator spoke of which will get confusing in a few minutes.   Gah! loving font color choices! This is a lot more bearable in game because it's all voice acted, let me quote it again. The game posted:
: Then - long ago - something happened.: A cataclysm of unimaginable proportions.: Something so disastrous, we don't even have a name for it...This is one of those things that sounds cool and mythic until you think about it for more than five seconds. : for when it destroyed our civilization, it took with it all knowledge of history.: The past is now lost to us...not pictured - a red tint over the lava village. : Our future is uncertain. We are left trapped in a bleak and dismal present.  The scene transitions to a thing that is about to confuse me utterly.  : Storm clouds shroud our world in everlasting twilight. So what is this guy doing? Did it get worse recently? He's clearly plowing a field, right?    We get another schwoopy transition.  It's time for a playable segment! TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 Time for something resembling actual gameplay!  Text dump! Let me transcribe it. The game posted:The entire morning passed without the sign of a single rabbit. Rarely was hunting so bad in the woods surrounding your village. It felt as if something unnatural lingered in the air. A frightening thought that sent a shiver down your spine as you slowed your pace and gazed through the trees to a scene of total devastation.  This is why I said the pronouns were confusing. The character of "You" introduces himself in the first person but then is treated as second person throughout the actual game and is being invited by Arthas in the intro to go judge him for being the savior or destroyer or whatever.  : Perhaps I should turn back... The elders are very strict about all the old stuff. "If you come across anything strange that belongs to the old times, don't touch it! Don't press any buttons. Don't take any crystals... Come back and tell an adult immediately.": Bah, they're scared of their own shadows. It can't hurt to look around. Gameplay in the overworld is basically like your favorite Diablo clone where you click to run around and maybe there's a puzzle or two. Combat... well, we'll get to combat. Just not today.   This is kind of a tonal problem with the game as a whole.  Trying to get a bunch of jaded video gamers to look at something and go "wow this is visually distinctive" is a very hard sell, but the game wants to be mysterious and whatnot so we have the characters repeatedly tell us how mysterious and visually confusing things are.  : I... I just want to look around... I... : The First Magus awaits you, Ambassador Chunstable, Representative of the King under the Mountain.: Who? No, wait a second... I am just a boy from the village. I was taking a look around, then there was a...: The Sanctum Guardians have been alerted. They will escort you to the Administrative Captain. Please, do not be alarmed.: Maybe I'll just go back the way I came...: Please, stay where you are and do not be alarmed. The Sanctum Guardians will escort you to the Administrative Captain. Resistance is not advised. Off we go!  Up the stairs is another dramatic cutscene.   I don't know why they bother blanking out this dude's face when he has the same glowing eyes and silhouette as Loading Cinematic Narrator. : Who are you? What is this place? : Come to me. The time is nigh.: A powerful desire to leap off the edge of this precipice to the throne far below washes over you. Sweat breaks across your brow as you force yourself back, step by step. The voice vanishes, but the irresistable urge to reach the throne remains. You look around for a safe way down. Fortunately for... you? Me? Some kid? There's a conveniently placed staircase to the left. Why the magical mind control of Space Arthas didn't direct the kid this way we'll never know.  There are a lot of stairs.     : And yet, he has come this far. Perhaps he is ready.: Ready? For what? : This is all premature. He must develop the power, or else others will manipulate him.: Yes, I sense it now... : Are you capable, boy? Do you know magic?: Magic? No, of course not. I'm just a hunter.: A hunter. But of what, I wonder? Tell us, do you know where to aim your bow-even with your eyes shut?: Enough. Leave him be. He doesn't understand. Besides, he poses no threat... yet.: Yes, let him pass. Let him see for himself.: Very well. Go ahead, boy. Embrace your fate.We can now run ahead to the crystal throne.  Suddenly it gets all schwoopy and poo poo.  : I... I don't know. Please, let me go. I am scared. I just want to go home.: Yes, I can sense your fear... but this fear does not rule your brain... there is something else. You are... different. As I once was, so long ago.: You are inexperienced, your ability undeveloped, but there is no mistake. Such dormant, feral, raw power. An indisputable match!: I don't understand.: There is much to explain and where I have the will, I do not possess the time. I grow weaker by the moment. It took all my strength to raise the tower again and I must rest now.: In time, you will forget this place. You will grow strong and skillful and find a position in your world. For this, before I release you, I must entrust in you an insatiable desire to return.  Not a good look, game. : For someday, many days from now, you will return to this tower. Seek me in its depths and on that day, when my power has recovered, we will talk again!: Please... please, let me go. : Go now. RUN. This place is not safe for a child, even for you. Oh man, it's in all caps now.  We get a confusing vision.  We go down the tower and...  Spookytus!  Wow it's a black crystal!  WoOoOoOoO!  We rejoin You standing in front of the throne.  The boy nopes the gently caress out. TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 : Descending the stairs led me to a crystal throne which glittered with swirling light. This never happened. The kid is never shown sitting on the throne, he stands before it, Spooky McCreeper gives his monologue that sounds kinda rapey in context, and the kid runs off.  This game's loving graphics posted:As I took my place upon it, a sudden torrent of light enveloped me. : The illumination overwhelmed my senses.: I grew nauseous and weak, but before I lost consciousness, the throne ejected me to the floor. The village has no name, because it is played by Clint Eastwood.  This game's loving graphics posted:For this was the way of my people  This game's loving graphics posted:I tried to forget the experience, to convince myself that it was my overactive imagination... but the visions that followed said otherwise.  : Their torment highlighted my confusion, as each morning I remembered little-fragmented images, words which made no sense - nothing more. I would have thought myself mad, if not for the strange incomprehensible symbols I often drew in the sand. : People in my vicinity kept their distance and I think they feared me.: Over time they learned to tolerate my unusual nature but I was always alone, left to brood and ponder my strange fate.   : Some unexplainable force had lifted the construction into the sky, rotated it and driven it into the ground.: In that moment of clarity I knew one thing above all others.   This game's illegibility posted:The king, a just man and good friend, granted me a favor for my years of good service. The king is also played by Clint Eastwood, gets no name, and is never mentioned again. : I had but one request, a small force of men and resources to return to the village of my birth and explore the Tower. captions r hard posted:Preoccupied by an eroding empire, the king held little interest in ancient ruins and towers. : He did however, see the reclaiming of a long abandoned village on the border of an ever-shrinking kingdom, as a boost to the people's morale.: He gave me what I requested and his blessing.  : I am in awe of the power within... and perhaps, fearful.: The men and I are setting up the camp in the village, while Kane and Maeve, two of my most capable warriors will scout the Tower.Grammar is reproduced as per the game. Maeve is apparently pronounced Ma-ev.   TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 Mr. Spock???  Maeve is supposed to be pretty but her portrait is kind of not. She looks better in other art.  : Whether by natural or enchanted means, something about the soil here produces abundant life. : The key to our salvation. Whoever returns with the secret will be king of all Artara... or queen. : I- I don't think so... No, there must be something else here... where there is one secret, there may be others.: The profit - I mean, potential - here could be limitless...Man, I wonder if Maeve is evil or anything.  : If you seek to uncover the secrets of this place, then we will do so. Maeve and I will scout the area before you proceed. No need for unnecessary risks.: While appreciated, your concern is unwarranted, my old friend. After all, I survived this place as a child.: But you're no longer a child, m'Lord. You're our commander and we swore an oath to protect you. There may be outlaws or raiders lurking--: Haa! Scoundrels are of no concern.: I'm well aware m'Lord is a skilled fighter, but this is a matter of regulation and duty, K. I shouldn't have to remind you of that. A commander's primary task is to command. Ours is to obey and in this instance, assure his welfare.: Maeve is right of course. We cannot afford to lose you to some unforeseen danger or a long forgotten trap. Allow us to clear the way and provide safe passage.: At your discretion, old friend, but be careful. I recall an unease about this place... Strange mechanisms and statues of stone and metal. And something about the crystals...: It is difficult to recall... The more I try to remember, the less clear it becomes, as if some will beyond my own works against me.: I will return to the village now. Call for me once the way is clear.: As you command, m'Lord.: Normally I would allow the lady to go first, but duty calls for the strongest arm and the keenest combat sense to lead... Get behind me and stay close, fair maiden.: Ehh... this is going to be a long journey. Did you already forget what happened last time you kept calling me that? The two briefly glance over the cliff. : So, tell me more about m'Lord. You've known him far longer than I.: Well, for one he wasn't high-born, he earned the King's respect and his position through service and skill. I had been in the king's guard just over five years when he first joined. A formidable fighter and quick learner, he showed immediate potential. But he often had this odd, distant look in his eyes... So odd. To tell you the truth, it spooked most of the other men.: And what of this tower. Does he truly seek a way to heal the land? Or are we on a fool's errand?: When you have spilled blood with a man on the battlefield, you know his mettle, Maeve. I don't know what awaits us here, but I can tell you one thing. Whatever he is seeking in this place, he believes it will help us all. That's good enough for me.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 Naturally we trek through Generic Diablo Clone Dungeon #3.  There is even gold scattered on the ground to further the Diablo comparisons.   : It tastes sweet too. The merchants back in the city would pay a week's wages for a pitcher of this.: Look below. Have you ever seen fruit trees like that? : Careful, eating strange fruit can have unexpected consequences.: You didn't have any second thoughts about drinking the water here. Take a bite, they're amazing. But wait, I thought You told us that they legitimately couldn't grow food because of magic bullshit. What is Kane eating that he is able to so casually dismiss this? gently caress if I know. TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 I guess its handy that the magic tower just has gold lying around.  High-courier is apparently Maeve's job. I don't know, but I'm getting strong teenage dungeon master energy. : Something's not right. Why are they just standing there?: One way or another, I'll get them to move. Get behind me. : Those are no outlaws! By the Great Spirits, what are they?TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
Naturally i have Kane and Maeve back off because this update is long enough and combat in this game is poo poo. Next time: Maeve learns what skeletons are, and I relearn what tedium is. TheGreatEvilKing fucked around with this message at 07:52 on Mar 25, 2023 |
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Mar 25, 2023 05:23
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Oh no, what are you doing to yourself now? Anyway, I'll just grab a seat and wait for pretentiousness and trolleys.
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Mar 25, 2023 05:34
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Oh boy, you're treating the thread to a bunch of instances of the troll-y problem.
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Mar 25, 2023 07:09
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I can feel the pretentiousness oozing out of the opening narration.
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Mar 25, 2023 07:23
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First update is up earlier in the thread.
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Mar 25, 2023 07:52
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Well, the plot certainly didn't waste any time in getting to the inconsistencies and contradictions. I see High-courier and all I can think of is a fancy postwoman.
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Mar 25, 2023 08:16
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Oh lord, here we go again. So, questions I have so far: -What happened to the sun? -What has everyone been eating for the past decade or so if nobody can grow anything? -What are the five races that supposedly lived in harmony in the generic prologue given that everyone we've seen so far is human? -What or who have the King's militia been fighting? -Why is everyone suspicious of mystery ruins and willing to ignore them instead of absolutely desperate to try literally anything to end the freaking apocalypse and stop starving to death? -Will any of these be answered by the game? Ignore that last one, I can guess the answer already.
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Mar 25, 2023 10:44
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Wait, did I read that wrong or did the game really go from "you will forget about the tower" straight into "so anyways for the rest of my goddamn life I couldn't stop thinking of the tower"? Anyways, looks genuinely awful, love to be here for this. 
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Mar 25, 2023 11:54
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I actually got a fair bit into this in hope of a nice dungeon crawler, but the combat is really loving awful and continues to get worse as you progress. The writing is definitely special. I love how the author is so far up his own rear end he uses his own samurai novel as an example of good writing. Looking forwards to the ride!
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Mar 25, 2023 13:20
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Might just be my colourblind eyes, but that all looks muddy and unreadable as hell.
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Mar 25, 2023 20:49
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It's not just you
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Mar 25, 2023 21:04
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Oh boy, here we go. The comment about the 'You' being capitalized doesn't make any sense to me, because the text there is in all-caps. So while it's technically a capital Y, it's just the style they went with. Worse, however, is the fact that the narration and the pictures keep contradicting each other. TGEK mentioned the weird thing with farming not working, and them immediately showing a picture of someone plowing the ground. However, the more egregious one I want to point out is 'The Beginning' blurb after the voiced narration. It mentions that 'without the sign of a single rabbit'. But.... the pictures in the narration with the boy looking at the glowing tower. Notice something on his back? Like, say, a rabbit tied to it? What the gently caress? This is the opening, how is it this inconsistent already. The art is admittedly quite pretty though, for whatever it's worth. But the writing is kind of stupid from the get-go. This wouldn't even be hard to fix. Didn't the chucklefuck say that he would forget this place? And then the next narration has him obsessively poring over the kind-of-lame events? Forgetting about a place doesn't work when you're getting visions about it afterwards. Hey, the world events are causing food shortages everywhere. Let's abandon this village that's next to inexplicably healthy plants! Is it me or does the kid's current status feel incredibly plastic? Like, now he's suddenly a respected commander with two respected subordinates and colleagues.... that have gotten absolutely no mention in the cutscenes leading up to this. And then we have their incredibly clunky exposition talk with each other for some reason.
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Mar 25, 2023 21:27
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Big missed opportunity to name their world altering event The Cataclysm because no one has done that before. I really appreciate the dialogue summaries for this one, because reading the text sends me into fits of rage so I can't keep track of what's actually going on.
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Mar 26, 2023 04:38
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Man, I hate things being prolix. Which is rich, coming from me. But still...
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Mar 26, 2023 05:49
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Quick post before I get to reading the OP because I'm so excited for some janky rear end fantasy writing. E: alright so first impressions- So where you could have used the short sharp sentence "every end is also a beginning" and an evocative image of the world in ruins you went with a full paragraph of and scarface mcwhitehair gazing at the player. That's a choice I guess.Oh my god the  don't end and I have no clue why I should care.Note to the artistic director: "guy looking at faraway city" tells up very little, even if you add red splotches. Healthy man plowing.jpg Oh this is nearing Garth Marenghi levels of pompousity. Final thought: there are people called editors and they are qualified to take your descriptive sentences and safely dispose of them where they will never harm anyone again. By popular demand fucked around with this message at 10:32 on Mar 26, 2023 |
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Mar 26, 2023 09:09
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I really can't get over "hey the trick to good writing is super crazy plottwists, but you know what's even better?? plot twists that haven't been foreshadowed at all or are understandable in retrospect based on what you know about the character! actually let's anti-foreshadow our plottwists omg im so smart" - A Good Writer
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Mar 26, 2023 17:31
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Oh, so the couriers of darkness are in this game instead. The art is pretty, if kinda unreadable. This is the sum of positives I have seen for now.
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Mar 26, 2023 19:04
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A... SKELETON??? In an RPG???? Welcome back! Last time on Tower of Time we ran into a bunch of inconsistent writing where a dude who looks like Mr. Spock wanted to go visit a magic tower that maybe could let people grow food. Except they maybe could already grow food despite the narration. Look, this game is already disintegrating and we haven't gotten to the real stupid poo poo, alright?  Now we have to fight the skeletons, and let me tell you, the battle system in this game sucks.  Kane is your standard sword and board armored knight character. He has three skills right now - an AoE dash to a location that pulls aggro, a stone wall he can awkwardly just kind of summon from nothing, and a self healing ability. You might be asking yourself "wait, the game kind of hinted magic was weird and unknown in this postapocalyptic world, is Kane a wizard?" and the answer is "gently caress if I know".  Maeve, on the other hand, has magic to imbue her arrows with fire (it specifically uses the word "enchant"), an air elemental ability that lets her arrows blind people in an area, and a jump that creates a smokescreen to clear threat. She is also made out of tissue paper because gender roles. What do you mean, archers in real life were known for their prodigious physical strength? Shut up! Now, you might be asking yourself "I thought that Mr. Spock was supposed to be special because of his magical abilities" while Kane and Maeve just kind of have mana bars and magic spells. This is Tower of Time, and we're all about to be confused in a level or two.  The game launches into a long tutorial that explains the combat system. I'm going to cut it out and explain it instead.  So, you know how there were like 2 skeletons on the map? The game pulls an inverse Chrono Trigger and loads an entire map up with a bunch of chokepoints and crap so you can do a tower defense. Your skills are on cooldown and cost mana for most characters. The game makes a big deal out of how you should use the terrain, but of more note is that the random teleporters keep making GBS threads out enemies until you kill an arbitrary number. It's as tedious as it sounds.  The skeletons are all weak to fire and we have Maeve, so we keep her fire arrows up (there is a button to do this), wait for the slow march of the skeletons to hit Kane, and fantasize about playing final fantasy instead.  These skeletons have bows, so we pull Team Boring behind the wall and wait for them to walk somewhere where Kane can charge them.  We can also slow down time to issue orders.  The skeleton mages also have obviously telegraphed fireballs, and with that you've seen everything interesting about this fight. Moving on!  Of course there's a tedious crafting system.  : Such undying determination. Look there, the severed arm still twitches, intent on continuing the fight... I'm just glad they fell easily enough to blade and arrow.: Perhaps we were just lucky. Next time withdraw further back. Your bow is of no use too close to the front line. And your presence only distracts me from the battle.: We've just dispatched the living dead and you lecture me over tactics. Really, Kane, sometimes you take your duty and rank too far. After all, you thought they were ordinary outlaws and led us right into them.: Haa! Alive or dead, they were no match for my skill with the blade.: Whatever you say Kane. Arguing with you is like talking to a stone wall. Should we go back and tell m'Lord about this?: Not yet, we have our duty to complete. Let's continue and see what lies ahead.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 Thank you game!  We also have an entire skill tree. You can see Kane's future skills which aren't too exciting.  Maeve gets to summon ghost bows and poo poo. I upgrade Maeve's blind to last longer and Kane's dash to have a shorter cooldown.   We also get the official backstories of the characters. Onward!   Oh what common videogame thing are we going to pretend is mysterious now?  : A "teleporter"? What did it teleport and where? Wait, what? I thought all history was lost forever and that's why they didn't have a name for the Backstory Apocalypse. Last update posted:Whatever. : Maybe so, but this one doesn't seem to be working. Which is fine by me... I prefer to rely on my own legs to get where I need to go. Besides, the idea of disappearing and reappearing out of thin air doesn't sit well with me.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 I have taken the liberty of cutting out Kane and Maeve exclaiming loudly over a talking statue that spews bullshit stories. I will not apologize.  This is a detour we could take for loot and XP, but I'm going to hold off until after the main plot for the level.  In case you didn't get it, Kane points out the sign from the prologue has places that aren't here anymore! Is your mind blown yet??? : Curious. So much of human history has been lost. Maybe this place will tell us about the events that brought our world to ruin.: Relieving the past will bring us nothing but grief. We must look to the future to survive. If any man can see inot the future than I trust that man will be our Lord.Yes, it is capitalized like God. No, I don't know why. : If this place, is indeed a place of power, the only question that matters, is how will this power be used? I hope m'Lord's intention and our own actions, by sworn loyalty, are honorable ones.: Only the spirits are all knowing, Maeve. All the rest of us can do is live each day with duty and honor, and cling tight to our ideals, no matter what the day brings.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
  I'm just going to cut out Kane and Maeve having their minds blown again.  I want to point out that in game the little boy with the quantum rabbit visited like five minutes ago.  Maeve, this wasn't interesting when H.P. Lovecraft pulled this lazy trick. I'm getting real Numenera vibes where the game spends words and words and words describing how alien it is and then it appears in person and it's just a blue ghost. : Those windows glow with golden light, yet it must be far past dusk in the world outside.: Do you feel that, Kane? My skin is trembling. I think it's coming from those crystals.: I feel it too. Let's look for a way down.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 Some thoughtful person has scattered a bunch of chests with Diablo style itemization everywhere. How kind of them.  We even find a 2H hammer for Kane.  Hey! It's the golems from five minutes ago!  : Perhaps it is one of those Sanctum Guardians. I don't like the look of it. Let's find another way around.: There's no time for sneaking around. We are on official business. This creature will yield or face my sword.Not pictured: me looting offscreen before triggering the fight.  I guess they're not as interested in checking whether Kane and Maeve have mana bars. : Turning its head toward your champions, the creature emits strange, high-pitched sounds--slowly at first, but with increasing frequency.: I think it's trying to talk... I wonder if-: The creature suddenly shifts position, raising its giant arms as if to strike.: It would seem we're not welcome in this place.: All right, if it won't let us pass to the crystal throne without a fight, then a fight it will receive. With this much damage, one hit of my sword should shatter it... whatever it is.: Less talking, more shattering. I am right behind you. And please, spare me the lecture on tactics this time.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 Welcome to our first boss fight! We have a cracked crystal golem with two skills - it can summon a laser crystal and then put a champion in stasis.  Naturally we wait for it to trundle across this huge arena.  Kane dashes.  Shown here: Kane is in Golem Jail for the crime of not shutting the gently caress up. Maeve is using her blinding arrows that adds a particle effect and does AoE damage.  Say hi to Generic Crystal Add.  Kane returns to Exposition Jail.  The golem drops... a chain bow? What the gently caress is a chain bow?  Kane has learned nothing from his time in the slammer. : Right here... I'm ok.: That was a close one. My sword is less effective against those things than I expected.: Maybe you could ask m'Lord to part with his fire sword.: An elemental weapon? Excellent idea, though doubtful he would relinquish such a fine weapon.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 As we approach the crystal throne there are a bunch of statues of the various First Magi.  Then we get pulled into... a cutscene!   Suddenly, You appear! ...gently caress it, I'm gonna keep calling this guy Spock. : The crystal throne. So many times it appeared in my dreams as a child. Though I have no justification for it, I feel as if reunited with... an old friend.: You feel a strange compulsion, the same urge you felt all those years ago, drawing you to the throne. You hesitate for moment-resisting the pull is far easier than you remember-then sit with swift determination. I legitimately can't tell if Maeve is supposed to be younger and prettier than her portrait implies, or whether our two champions are just old grizzled veterans. : Are you alright, my Lord?: Yes, yes. I just need a moment. Kane, Maeve... though I have no explanation, I can see through your eyes. I can even hear myself speak through your ears. : To speak plainly... I am not.: But a great power resides in this place. I always suspected this and now, sitting atop this throne, I know for certainty. I am pulled towards it, to a place very deep beneath us. We leave Art Cutscene mode.  : Hold on a second, K. Can you tell us anything more about what this power is, m'Lord? And what we can expect to find below in our search for it?: Unfortunately I can not. I am filled with a feeling - nothing more - a sense we are running out of time and that the power in this place, is our last and best hope.: As for what lies below, this is as far as my childhood journey brought me. Whatever you encounter below, will be as much a mystery to me, as it is to you.: The command is given, my old friend, but before you go, I have something for you.: Kane, take this. I found it many years ago, in a ruined city. It has served me well, but will serve you better now. I go with the sword.  I give Maeve the amulet of mana regeneration, which gets very confusing because we've never heard of this guy's family except that everyone avoided him for being a tower obsessed weirdo.  Adding them to the party inventory would be too prosaic for an innovative RPG with an Arrow-Time battle system, so we have to go over and click them.   The game pans over to reveal the stairs. TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
We won't be doing that yet.  Sword's not bad.  We're going to go back to the area I skipped and get the unique item there.  First, however, combat! The dread knights can stack a ton of aggro on a target and have armor increasing auras that stack. The wraiths have a drain life spell.  We recycle the same background as the skeleton fight and use the exact same tactics. It's dull as poo poo.  I'm going to spare you the chatter about "WOW! STANDARD ENEMIES... IN AN RPG!!!!" and cut to the "puzzle".  First, the collapsed stairwell leaking skeletons. I'm omitting a LOT of chatter here.  There are three big brother statues and a little brother statue and you have to turn all the big brothers to face the little one.  It opens the door to a mana regen ring. Yay! This goes right on Maeve for CC on demand.  There's some loot and skeletons. Whatever. Down the stairs!  Lord Spock doesn't have much to say.  However, we get some statue based foreshadowing. : I feel as if living eyes are set upon us, watching our every move.: You mean the statue? I feel it too.: He is pointing towards the stairs. Perhaps we should not disappoint him... Shall we?TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 We go down the spiral staircase.   : I counted about one thousand steps. A simple task in light leathers. Next time, you wear my armor, bear my shield, and carry my hefty blade... and I'll carry your little bow! Then we will see who's making jokes at the bottom.: Thanks, but your armor wouldn't fit me. And I'm afraid a lady's bow needs a delicate touch... thanks for the offer Shieldguard.: As soon as you are ready then... Our grand adventure awaits.  : A teleporter which links to the one we saw earlier above, yet reads "below" - how strange.: We should go back to my lord anyway and inform him access to the tower is unblocked.: Now you want to use the teleporter? What did you say earlier about preferring your good old legs?: That was before we had to descend all those steps.TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
 The game then gives us a tutorial about fast travel and also that we can go somewhere called "The City". I think we've seen enough for now. Next time: The City, and if we're lucky, our very first moral choice!
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Mar 26, 2023 22:22
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So the main character(?) just sits in his spiky rock armchair of the voyeur, and his two retainers go off to have budget Original Sin-style snark-off adventures? Huh. Not where I thought this was going.
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Mar 26, 2023 23:06
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I'll be honest, I couldn't absorb basically any of that update. It kind of just bounced off me for the most part.
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Mar 26, 2023 23:32
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For a game written by a guy bragging about subverting expectations, this whole trek has been pretty bog-standard thus far. Like, skeletons in an abandoned dungeon? A warrior-ranger duo that banters to one another? Be still my heart.
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Mar 27, 2023 00:54
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Any way you can make the screenshot text slightly more readable? It feels like I have to squint to read it, and zooming in the page doesn't help either. Even if it's all tedious blaha I'll admit.
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Mar 27, 2023 01:08
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Second on making the screenshot text a bit bigger if possible. I'm kind of surprised that they've made "you" into a chair guy for the foreseeable future. I was expecting "you" to be a character but uh, consider my expectations subverted I guess. This is a good set up for a dungeon crawl (explore this bit of lost history and maybe save the world) though it is incredibly bog standard. I don't feel particularly strongly one way or another about the writing so far. I've experienced a lot of Monte Cook so maybe I'm jaded when it comes to pretentiousness.
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Mar 27, 2023 02:10
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Ok the tower is supposed to be upside down so why aren't they walking on the ceiling
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Mar 27, 2023 02:18
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Anfauglir posted:Ok the tower is supposed to be upside down so why aren't they walking on the ceiling Oh poo poo, good point.
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Mar 27, 2023 09:14
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It's an upside down tower that is upside down. Duh.
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Mar 27, 2023 09:46
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Did they really go with Vth era instead of Fifth era? Or maybe it was named after some guy named Vth?
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Mar 27, 2023 10:31
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The writer massively benefited from the rise of the video game market, if he was running this setting on a tabletop role playing game he'd be assailed with thrown pretzels.
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Mar 27, 2023 10:35
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Should we trust magic, asks the girl with a mana bar who creates fire out of nothing.
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Mar 27, 2023 13:30
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Maybe they have a distinction between magic and Majick that we're just not privy to. Or maybe she's actually performing minor miracles because she is the lady and so also the healer/cleric.
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Mar 27, 2023 13:37
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I mean the the writer could have made a minor point about how in universe everyone got some minor talent that by our definition is magic but in story is considered entirely natural and distinct from actual magic. Could have. I have absolutely no faith in this minor plot hole getting explained in any way or shape.
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Mar 27, 2023 14:56
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He could have used a different name, even a qualifier. Aberrant. Abhorrent. Forbidden. Outsider. That would give a flavour of why they're so opposed to it. A tiny bit of cultural information to latch onto.
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Mar 27, 2023 15:09
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I am happy to see another TGEK LP but I'm also sad that they're inflicting this dreck upon themselves for our enjoyment yet again. I'm honestly not sure why we have Mr. Spock. I think I would like the story more if it was one of the subordinates stumbling across the wreck of the upside down tower as a child, then twenty years later, the subordinate and their best friend get leave from their captain or general or whomever to go explore this place. I don't need to insert myself into a story (or a blank template to stand in as myself in a story) in order to enjoy it. I think this is where writers go astray, especially ones who cut their teeth writing fanfiction on the internet.
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Mar 27, 2023 18:11
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How do they know the tower is upside down? Maybe they just don't understand the architect's vision.
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Mar 27, 2023 18:15
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goatface posted:How do they know the tower is upside down? Maybe they just don't understand the architect's vision. I know that if I was making a tower to dazzle any rubes who show up later I would totally make the outside look upside-down while the inside is normal.
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Mar 27, 2023 18:23
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I brought my Drake posted:I am happy to see another TGEK LP but I'm also sad that they're inflicting this dreck upon themselves for our enjoyment yet again. Based on how the 2 characters disagree on everything and one of them is themed around HONOR and the other MONEY, i'm predicting the point of Spock is so that when all these incredibly interesting moral choices come up, they'll both present their case and need the player to make the decision.
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Mar 27, 2023 21:39
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