To GOG.com Editor(s):
I like the titles of your announcements very much. Is it OK to post you a drink of your choice?

I was almost hopeful that this was "Blood Omen: Legacy of Cain".

A shame the developer couldn't be bothered to add the achievements that the Steam version has.

Thank you. Your post really helps. Way more informative than the game card in GOG.

Turn based battles in the vein of the original X-Com games sounds great. Too much real time nowadays.

Also it seems that there is something to do between battles and probably making some decisions, which might be good if done nicely.

Your comment on the non-realistic looks of the game was spot on: The first thing that comes to mind is what a ahistorical mix of late medieval armor and grim-cartoonish looks. Regalia has a fantasy setting, so the (slightly crazy) mix of everthing from medieval to baroque is OK, but Arthur and the Round Table... It is either going straight for the mithical like John Boorman in Excalibur or going historical with late Roman looks in the shadow of the Adrian Wall. But it might work.

Alas, in the backlog Blackguards 2 and The Banner Saga wait for a chance. Wishlisted for now.

You are welcome, I am glad to have been of help.
Please don't mention again the B word. Backlog. I have thousands of games that I haven't played yet. I am just the worst.

Say no more, why is the rum gone?

Just noticed the Plantagenet arms worn by one of the characters in the game card. In an Arthurian setting. The pain...

Also, in these times when there are more PC games than we will probably ever play, new titles ought to make clear what they offer that no other titles has. That is, why might someone play it instead of something else.

From the top of the mind come two quick examples:

- Blackguards: offered full playing characters (PC) development and detail, in a grim setting with more matures themes than in most games, and with a RPG system (The Dark Eye) that is different from AD&D. This title is essentially a tactical game that is practically a RPG as well, minus the hours of clicking mindlessly through some god-forsaken neverending forest in order to make the whole map visible and hopefully having some encounter that makes any sense. Nice hooks and delivered in spades. Some of the minor quests were just great. Some neat writing there.

- Regalia: One of the hooks was that you actually had to manage a kingdom. This title has plenty of small touches and enforces experimenting. Where Blackguards did not hold your hand when developing your party, Regalia encourages that you try out different things. Also the theme of ruling requiring listening and trying to understand (and empathyze with) the subjects in the kingdom appears in so many ways. This game delivered even more than expected as well.

So with SLO, it would be nice to have a hook or two. Grim setting with cartoons that look like madmen? Nobles and met at arms become desperados? Just that does not cut it. Surely the title deserves a little more love. Come on, Firecast and Fableware, we want to like your game!

Nice idea.

Wondering if some of the writing talent at GOG try their hands at somewhat less fleeting stuff. Why not PC games scripts or copy?

I put about 6h in this game so far and here's what i have:

1. There is some light story besides the fighting, presented in comic book style with a (what i think is) oddly appropriate narrator voice.

2. I didn't play THAT much blackguards, but this one is completly linear so far. Mission paths are predetermined with one objective and one single way of finishing it.

3. Full Turn based with real time exploration.

In addition to this i'd add that "mature" in this game means "there are animations with cartoony heads being cut off", otherwise the theme is pretty tame so far. Story is run-of-the-mill fantasy with a faux-historical twist.

Character customization is pretty disappointing so far: 4 skills per character to be used at any one time out of a total of 7 active/3 passive, you can change skills as you see fit. Equipment is all +stat stuff (+/- attack/dmg/defense/AP).

Combat itself is pretty average: most of the time you're just maneuvering into flank to melee 1-2 hit enemies. There are very few ranged options, and most of the interesting things you can do are tied to pushing people off ledges into instant death (quite amusing). Otherwise i haven't seen any complex combos or playstyle changing abilities. Most of the skill options are split in the categories:
1. Battlefield manipulation: push/pull
2. Single target damage
3. AoE damage
4. Heal/buff (mostly for one out of the 8 characters i have so far)
5. Moving more efficiently than 1ap/tile
6. Summons (which you get marginally later in the gamme for the ranged character and the blacksmith) that can attack themselves. I'll include Merlin's mind control here as well.

It sounds like a lot of variety but most of the time combat devolves into pushing poeople off ledges if available and if not advance with mobile people using one of their movement skills to get into the backs of the enemies so you can wipe them quickly.

And this is where encoutner/enemy design comes into play: unfortunately i feel the game has been pretty easy (about 8 missions in). You get all these breakable every encounter: barrels that drop slow/poison/fire fields, traps that damage if you step into them but they hardly matter. Enemies don't seem to do anything with them, so they're only for you to play with. Unfortunately due to the way combat is balanced, it's most of the time more efficient to just move into a back/flank position and outright kill the enemy.

And speaking of enemies themselves, they're pretty boring. Most of them just have a basic attack and maybe a push or a buff if you're lucky. Maybe they have more interesting things later in the campaign.

Finally, on the topic of encoutners i think more thought should have been put into them, because just like in xcom, what you want is "burst-kill" ability. The difference is that in SLO you can do that extremely reliably if you focus on maximizing AP and willpower (this latter one is basically a limited use ability that gives you more AP/Att/Defense and that regenerates on kill/other abilities). So far i feel that willpower is too easy of a resource to manage between the priest, Uther's "willpower to everyone on kill" ability and actually gaining it on kill.

All in all i'd say the game is somewhere between a 6 and a 7. It's a nice grid based tactics game with fun presentation, but so far, it's mechanics bring it down. What i expected was a comic book style, turn based Aarklash Legacy (which i strongly recommend if you enjoy these types of games and can stomatch real-time with pause), but what i got was an easy and less refined version of Blackguards/Fantasy X-Com. If you expect a variation on Banner Saga, you're going to be disappointed.

If this is just the "tutorial" still after 6h, then it's probably going to be a fine game and i'll come back to this thread :) .

"Message taken. Action acknowledged."
Or was it:
"Message acknowledged. Action taken."?

Anyway, you have my respect for what you're doing and the way you're doing it.
Cheers!

Hey,

(kinda crosschecking) Did you get the Rum parcel? Postal service stated it was delivered Wed Jan 2 2019, 08:59. Hopefully, it reached you, not the cellar!

And Happy New Year :-)