Hades, Inscryption, Wildermyth, King Arthur: Knight's Tale, Lost Eidolons, All in one reviews!
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- čas přidán 5. 02. 2023
- These are the video games that I played last year that I didn't tell you about.( I might as well tell you now, while you wait for that Fallout video). You could have have gotten a Hades review, but it's a bit out of my area of expertise (not being an RPG). I could've done a full length Inscryption review, but I wasn't as crazy about it as most people, it seems (was sort of expecting it to be a Slay the Spire with a twist). I was about to make a Wildermyth review but I said "ah fek it".
Instead I decided to bundle all of them together in a single video for your enjoyment (I hope).
Hades - 1:43
Wildermyth - 6:41
Inscryption - 22:49
King Arthur: Knight's Tale - 33:19
Lost Eidolons - 38:58 - Hry
I know is not a Perfect game but i rlly had a lot of fun with wildermyth, i've find it pretty clever still (especially for his low Price!)
Also the music is quite nice
And good multiplayer!
Wow, a comment featured to kick off the video!
I found the procedurally generated storytelling in Wildermyth really impressive for the first hour, but then I got pretty bored actually playing it.
Well I'm a little bit dumber so it took me like 4 hours to figure out their little storytelling scheme. I still think it's a decent game... just not worth playing all the stories or exhausting all the extra thingies the game had to offer.
Keep up the good work mate!
Thanks mate, I'll try.
@@YeOldEntertainment I am serious! Your channel is vastly underappreciated :-)
As someone who played of all Wildermyth's stories, I sadly agree on this one. The terrible part is that the first or first two stories are the ones that work the best, but the illusion gets slowly chipped away until all that is left for the player to see is the points you raised. It's sad because you would expect a game to have a sort of climax towards the end, while Wildermyth can only go downward from the start.
As for Inscryption I agree that it's not hard, but do card games have to be hard? I think they left out the deckbuilding entirely in the first and third act solely to preserve the dynamics. The developers most likely didn't want the players to stop, open menus and ponder about cards while playing. It's not that the game is "only focusing on the narrative" but imo, thinking about deckbuilding would hurt the intensity of the narrative, the pressure you feel with the DM looking at you and waiting for you with their blazing eyes. Because everything you do in Act 1 and 3 is either playing the DM's game or trying to escape, with keeps your brain wired to what is actually happening. All of this to say that I think deckbuilding is a given in card games, removing it was a bold and clever move. And I think it makes the minimap works even better, because knowing you have no deckbuilding, you feel like every decision you have to make on the fly is definite and therefore, feels more important than if you could just throw away a card or a totem you messed up.
That's also why act II has it, because in this act, you're supposed to explore and discover stuff, including card mechanics!
Still for Act 1 and Act 3, as a card game I felt like the fun was in finding a build that works or card combos that work and simply trying to build them up. Even though it completely relies on having the choice you want available on the right tiles or not, the simple (and too often abused) thrill of randomness.
Anyway as usual, great video, deep analysis, food for thoughts. Love it. And control decks are best decks.
Thanks for leaving a comment man! Yes Wildermyth is the game "that could've been". I've not entirely given up on it... I think I might come back and finish the other stories just for completion's sake. But yes... once you figure out the game of smoke and mirrors... it's a bit disappointing.
As for Inscryption... I don't think these two variants of the card game play as they do because it was part of the narrative plan. I think they just didn't know how to make a better card game. The variant of the card game you play in Act I and III plays like Slay the Spire in the sense that you pick up cards as you play the game and that's what you have to go with. But it lacks the tactical depth... as there are no interesting card synergies (there are... but they are generic and basic) and there is no strategic depth whatsoever. The second variant is better, but still nothing to write home about.
Whatever the case may be... this is first and foremost a card game, because that's what you do most of the time, and it's not even in the vicinity of the best in class for the genre (I recently put out a video of a card game that's worth checking out if you are into card games).
I know that card mechanics is not what you are meant to be focusing on in this game. This game is all about its narrative-within-narratives and parallel worlds. But I think that there are other genres that are better suited for this experiment... point and click adventure games, puzzle games, etc. But, unfortunately, as a developer, the minute you present the player with a card game with its own rules and a map-a-la-Slay the Spire, he or she is definitely going to expect a tactical challenge, replay value based on the game's card mechanics, etc. And this game just doesn't hit the spot with any of those things (for me at least). I still recommend it for anyone who is into gaming because this is a unique experience that everyone should play all the way through to the end.
very enjoyable bundle, thank you for the video
And thank you for watching!
Any chance we can get a Troubleshooter Abandoned Children Review?
I'll check out some footage to see if it's up my alley.
About the tree rules:
No early access: This is often a good idea. With some exceptions. 1: Some games are in early access forever despite having enough content to shame many released games. 2: Some games are replayable due to focus mainly on gameplay. RPG's and story based games are not. But I'm pretty happy that I bought Dead Cells in early access. Because that game has changed so much and so many times that the game I played in the beginning seem to have little relation to how the game is now. And both the old and the new version were good.
MMOs: These games are fun because its fun to hang around with your friends. But you can do that even without a game.
Stop playing games I dont enjoy: I dont always agree with this statement because there are plenty of games that take time to learn and are bad until you do. Or just have slow starts. For example, I recently played through the game Alan Wake. It was a pretty shitty game initially with bad combat and a slow story. But gradually I learned to master the combat and the story started to become good once all the set pieces were on the table. I played it through to the end and I think it was a good but not great game. It had a great premise and writing, but it was let down by gameplay and level design.
I could never get into Slay the Spire, but absolutely adore Inscryption. You nailed it when you said Inscryption isn’t for people who want to play a card game. It’s for people who like David Lynch movies. I became fully immersed in the Daniel Mullinsverse after playing it. I went on to play Beneath the Surface, Pony Island, and The Hex and think they are all worth playing and none of it has anything to do with game mechanics. I do agree with you when you say everyone should play it though, it’s so unique that you both claim to not like it and endorse as something everyone should play. I honestly don’t hate that take because I think it’s an okay game, but also one of the most impressive pieces of media you can spend 20 bucks on (though I think I got it on sale for 13.99).
Side note: did you play Kaycee’s mod? I saw you say the game is too easy, but Kaycee’s mod can get pretty challenging.
Hey thanks for leaving a comment, mate. I think Slay the Spire is to card games (the non-collectible single player type at least), what X-com is to tactical shooters or Diablo II to isometric hack and slash ARPGs. The mechanics in Tainted Grail: Conquest, Monster Train, Mahokenshi and many others can be traced back to Slay the Spire, and even the best amongst those, as much as they follow in Slay the Spire's footsteps, don't get everything right: Tainted Grail was too easy before the patches, Monster Train lacks tactical depth despite having fantastic strategic depth, etc. But like I said, Inscryption is not a card game for card game people and it's not just because it's too easy... cards don't have interesting synergies like they do in these other games, the game does not give you enough events/mechanics to keep your deck lean and the variant of the game you play in Act I and Act II does not have a strategic dimension to speak of. I don't think the Kaycee mod is going to fix that, there's just too much to fix.
I understand the hype and why some people are still picking their jaw off the floor. I think that everyone who has gaming as his/her preferred form of entertainment should play Inscryption at least once and all the way through to the end, just like everyone who likes movies has to watch... say A Clockwork Orange (regardless of whether or not it's your thing). But I personally didn't like it enough to play it a second time. I agree though that the game punches well above it's 20-dollar weight. But I personally wasn't impressed enough to play it again a second time and spend 85% of my time with the game playing a card game that isn't even good.
@@YeOldEntertainment I’m not sure if Kaycee’s mod would make you like it, but it does have 10 levels of challenge runs and one in particular is pretty difficult, it essentially throws Grizzlies at you the entire time and it’s brutal. Playing through Kaycee’s Mod also ties Inscryption to The Hex and the family of the fictional creator Lionel Snill because you get extra bits of lore for ever run you complete. I’m hoping whatever Mullins does next ties into the story. Also, I agree with your Clockwork Orange take. Mullins games make me think of directors and not games, I think of people like Lynch and Kubrick. He’s a really interesting figure in indie gaming and everything he does feels to me to have a much deeper message than the majority of games I play (mostly RPGs (CRPGs and jrpgs mostly, I’ll play modern western RPGs sometimes but a lot of them feel shallow, strategy games, and adventure games). I supposed I’m a fan boy though, but I do think Mullins is special.
My opinions on Lost Eidolons are vindicated. "Superficial", "dialogue like teenagers" are bang on. I knew right away. Steam refunded that thing with time left. Disappointing, because it actually looked good.
Yes. production values are actually decent (character models and music) the rest is hot garbage and I sort of knew it but decided to go and get anyway. Glad you got a refund!
I really like your reviews. And to show my appreciation I immediately will catch up the Stray-Video!
Yay! One more view for that underdog! Thanks.
I enjoyed Knight's Tale as I liked the combat once it got going with more options for characters. It does take too long to become interesting.
There are a couple of interesting companion stories and managing happiness felt meaningful & fun- not like Midnight Suns where everyone will love you it just takes some of them longer (unless you want to game it &why not?). On optimisation it was originally a 120 GB install!
Wildermyth & Inscryption both bored me vary fast. Lost Eidolons does not appeal thankfully. Hades I've avoided as I don't really enjoy either ARPG or roguelike elements but I'll probably try it sometime when it's tuppence ha'penny
wsnt "Bacco" ("Bacchus") the god of wine? i guess is the same god
It's the same dude, yes. Bacchus is the Roman name, Dionysus is the Greek name. Like Mars/Ares, Pallas/Athena, etc, etc.
@@YeOldEntertainment ah yeah i see 👍
@@YeOldEntertainment Athena = Minerva !
@@goldengolem3341 Correct!
I loved King Arthur: Knight's Tale because I thought Mordred was pretty cool and I liked trying to find broken combinations of items/talents. I enjoyed Inscryption even though I can agree with all of your criticisms about the card game being too easy. I wanted to love Wildermyth, but hated it. To me, Wildermyth got boring fast. I enjoy hearing your takes on games though. Keep it up!
There might be more to King Arthur than I've discovered yet. I've still not abandoned that one... Thanks for the heads up!
Lost Eidolons got ripped a new one lol 😁
King Arthur's price was the number one thing that discouraged me from buying. I wanted to give it a shot cause some people I watch on youtube give it a high praise but it seems there are much better RPG experiences available for a way cheaper price.
Well check out what commenter Jonathan Pickles had to say about it a little further down. I've not gotten far enough in the game to enjoy the things he mentions... but I still think it's pricey for what it is.
Whoever played Wildermyth thinking about a premade story didn't know exactly what they were getting into. This game is supposed to generate stories for the player and the player himself imagine what these characters are like with the help of the vignettes.
It's a lot like games like XCOM 2, Darkest Dungeon or even just free roaming and interacting with the Nemesis System in Shadow of War/Mordor. All these games have "empty husks" characters and all of them get immense praise for how much they're "food for imagination". Everybody has that soldier in XCOM that hit an impossible shot and you'll never forget about, everybody has that Occultist in Darkest Dungeon that crit a heal and saved your Leper, famous for being the "Eldritch Butcher" from certain death. None of these games care about delivering these stories, yet, all of them do. The difference is that Wildermyth actually acknowledges what is happening in the randomly generated story. And most of the time, at least in my experience, it knows exactly what you think will be cool for the story. Like you said, if only 2 characters survived a dungeon, chances are the game made them some kind of heroes that are known for surviving and defeating evil while may others were lost.
It's a very "active" experience, meaning that you have to do a lot of the work to get enjoyment and immersion from it. You're supposed to imagine which characters are the bravest ones and if you actually do a brave act in the game, the game will acknowledge it. But if you're a passive gamer, or even just in a more passive mood, meaning that you prefer games to do all the hard work to deliver an amazing theme park ride to the player, you probably won't enjoy this game.
The game presents it's story almost as a tale or a fable. Going in expecting deep lore, Tolkien-like world building and rules, is definitely the wrong mindset. Also saying "it's for kids, I get it", as if that's a fact is also misleading and a bit of an "edgy" take. The game has 13 thousand reviews on steam, 95% positive, I'm sure most of these are from bearded dudes that just understood what the game was going for.
Wildermyth is the closest computer/console games got to table top RPGs, up to this point.
Thank you for leaving a comment that adds to the discussion. However, there are a few things that I think are worth mentioning here.
1st. You say "Whoever played Wildermyth thinking about a premade story didn't know exactly what they were getting into"
The thing is that the stories in Wildermyth ARE very much scripted, they aren't randomly generated. The plot in each of these stories goes from plot point A to plot point B to plot point C regardless of what you do as a player or the many randomly generated events.
The game does acknowledge the random occurrences that affect your party and it shows an appropriate snippet of dialog or a line of narration depending on the case. It also depicts the consequences of the many random occurrences in its story vignettes. In this incredible and truly awesome.
But none of these events alter the plot (which is basically the core of the story) in any significant way. The flow of the stories in Wildermyth and their outcomes will always be the same regardless of what the player does.
That is not the case in games like Tyranny or Fallout, for example, in which the player has a lot of agency, and may stir the wheel of the story quite significantly with his/her decision. It doesn't matter if these games are different from Wildermyth in terms of what they wanted to achieve, they are examples of games that have branching paths with decisions nodes. Wildermyth does not have this, therefore its stories are linear and scripted.
2nd. The game allows you to assign priorities to your characters' personality traits, but, with the exception of the first story, this works very inconsistently or not at all. If a game allows me to assign the "goofball" trait as the top priority for one of my characters, I expect that character to be the "goofball" jokester in most situations. And this doesn't happen in Wildermyth.
Solasta Crown of the Magister, for example, also allows you to assign personality traits to your characters. And although that is, at the end of the day, a game of smoke and mirrors (just as it is in Wildermyth), at least if you make a character cynical, chaotic and greedy... that character will CONSISTENTLY spit out the cynical, chaotic and greedy lines whenever there's a conversation in the game. That makes the difference between “empty husks” and characters with which the player has agency.
If the game was expecting me to "use my imagination" it shouldn't have given the option to customize my character’s personalities and even assign priorities to their personality traits.
Also, I don’t think some of the other examples you give are the best to make a case for the “empty husk” characters. Xcom and Darkest Dugeon don’t rely as heavily in their narratives as Wildermyth does. These are a lot more about their combat than about their story.
And that’s why in these games it truly doesn’t matter if your characters are empty husks. In fact, I think it’s better that they are.
But Wildermyth is first and foremost about its stories. And a good story is one in which the characters push forward the plot, not one in which the plot drags the characters along. And because the characters are empty husks in Wildermyth, that’s what ends up happening.
3rd. You say this "It's a very "active" experience ... if you're a passive gamer, or even just in a more passive mood, meaning that you prefer games to do all the hard work to deliver an amazing theme park ride to the player, you probably won't enjoy this game."
I think you and I have VERY different ideas of what it means to be an "active player". In my book an "active player" is one who actively seeks to do things his or her own way. "Oh, the game wants me to kill this guy... but I don't want to... I'll actively seek a way to resolve the conflict peacefully".
An active player is the guy who stubbornly reloaded the game 10 times because he didn't like any of the outcomes that came out of the dialog options he was given, so he sneaked around the bad guy or attacked him before engaging him in conversation.
And a game that FAVORS the “active player approach”, is a game that provides the player with options to sneak-steal/convince/kill, acknowledges the approach taken by the player and produces a different outcome for each of these actions. And, ideally, these outcomes have an impact on the next plot points in the story.
Wildermyth does not provide with you these options. In my book it IS very passive, because you are given no choice but to passively read vignette after vignette after vignette and it does not give you a say on how the story goes. "I don't like the Archons... I'm going to betray them and side with the rebels" --> Nope, nothing like that will ever happen in Wildermyth,
4th. You also say "The game presents its story almost as a tale or a fable. Going in expecting deep lore, Tolkien-like world building and rules, is definitely the wrong mindset.
I don’t think there is a “wrong mindset” to approach a game. I mean, you could watch the trailer on steam or Splattercat’s gameplay video and come to the conclusion that deep lore and world building are not part of Wildermyth’s “gameplan”.
But if you are the kind of player who sort of expects there to be some depth to the game’s lore and somewhat solid rules behind the game’s themes, that does not necessarily mean that you are going to hate the game if these elements aren’t present.
It might have escaped you, but I sorted the games on this list from best to worst and Wildermyth was the second title on the list and I labeled it under “the good” tier.
But even if a title’s “gameplan” isn’t to build a lore-heavy narrative a-la-Tolkien, as you say, I’m still going to pencil them down “absent elements” because that is something that I always want to see in my RPGs. I understand that’s not what they were going for, I still think they should’ve gone for it.
Also, although the game does present its various stories in a fable-like fashion. None of these fables are anything like the fables of, say, the Pied Piper form Hammeln or Rumpelstiltskin, in the sense that both of these examples convey harsh lessons and morals and even touch upon adult themes.
But the stories in Wildermyth are very lighthearted in a way that comes off as kid-friendly to me, but also not appealing (unlike the afore mentioned works by the Grimm Brothers).
I also don’t know how to take this passage:
“Also saying "it's for kids, I get it", as if that's a fact is also misleading and a bit of an "edgy" take.”. I’m too old to be wanting to come off as “edgy”. I genuinely feel like the stories in Wildermyth are kid-friendly. There aren’t any complex moral dilemmas and even the most world-ending stakes in stories like “Monarchs Under the Mountain” are treated with levity and with such simplicity that it feels like a waster opportunity to me. This approach is not a good or a bad thing, but definitely not for me, again, if we compared these stories to the fables written by the Grimm Brothers.
5th This passage...
“The game has 13 thousand reviews on steam, 95% positive, I'm sure most of these are from bearded dudes that just understood what the game was going for.”
Sounds to me like the case you want to make is that “Wildermyth is an outstanding game and that’s an absolute truth, and anyone who doesn’t see it that way is because he/she did not understand what the game was going for” ... And I hope that’s not the case, because that sounds awfully totalitarian. And you need not go further than the review on this video to find a counter-example.
This review was made by a bearded dude (whose beard is white btw)… who understood perfectly well what the game was going for but didn’t necessarily like every tiny little thing… even if it was “all part of the plan”.
im a little curious about your favorite youtubers that inform you. Could you share their channels?
Do you mean those who specifically made videos about Lost Eidolons? or in general? In any case they don't particularly inform me, haha, they just made videos that I watched.
@@YeOldEntertainment those from which you draw conclusions about the quality of the games you play.
In genera of course
I saw one video of a playthrough of the King Arthur RPG and I was not impressed. It might seem weird but it reminded me most of Disciples 3 (!!!) which is a bad sign. It seems to have the same grungy, stodgy vibe.
Rightly so... the vibes are very Disciples 3 indeed.
I am 14 and got the the game when I was 13 I never played games like xcom or dnd my dad taught me how to play
There are five games in the video. Which game are we talking about? Wildermyth?
Lost eidolons got savaged hard, wow. I was on the fence because what I'd seen of the game was a bit generic (character models, dialogues, setting...) but the combat seemed interesting and I prefer this esthetic to the pixelated chibis that are the norm for this subgenre. Seems like it's painfully generic and mediocre/average in all aspects, shame.
Maybe I'm mistaken, but the thing that struck me most about Inscryption was that it is a single-dev game. One guy made it all, I think.
Gameplay-wise it's meh, I agree but his games are less about being an amazing game and more about being an interesting experience, just like Pony Island was, and just as you said. It work for some and doesn't for some. It's still more entertaining then stuff like Dear Esther, but at the time DE was released, it was something new, fresh and weirdly interesting.
In the end, as you said, if you expect Slay the Spire, you won't be happy. It's like watching The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and expect a Royal Theatre level of performance and script, but it's fun if you expect something silly.
No, man. The development team was actually quite big. Did you see the credits in the end? They never ended! There was like a "lodge unit" an "isometric unit" and so on and so forth. At least the art crew was huge. I think Inscryption far surpasses Slay the Spire as far as production values go: there's fancy facial animations for the cards, multiple scenarios, dynamic shadows in 3D rendered settings, etc. But Slay the Spire is far superior as a card game. It's brilliant because it's very simple designed translated in to an incredibly complex and rich game tactically.
@@YeOldEntertainment Thanks for the correction! Though the credits are long (just checked) it's not one guy but the team is not that large - a lot of the credits is localization and a list of used assets with links + publishing team. But you're right, I was wrong :D
And I agree that Slay the Spire is definitely a better card game. Monster Train as well.
I am currently playing Monster Train and it is genuinely scary how addictive it is!
If you don't like Lost Eidolons never play a Fire Emblem game! as it is basically a FE game in all but name. It games mechanics are basically the same with the exception of the monster battles they are unique to Lost Eidolons.
But as a fan of Fire Emblem and all the other Japanese tactics games I loved Lost Eidolons, I suppose I'm used to them being overally verbose nature of this style of game. By the end I was both happy to finally end the bad guy a person I truly detested because of there actions and sad to see the end to what cast I genuinely became attached to.
Its obviously not without its flaws, optional battles being one and couple of unbalanced maps (which the devs are continually working to improve) I feel anyone that is a fan of Japanese style Turn based tactics games (SRPG/TRPG what ever you want to call them and I say style as this is made by Korean devs not Japanese) which albeit is a niche of a niche genre will enjoy this game as it is very much a love letter to those games (Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy tactics, Shining Force etc) with shiny graphics which is very much appreciated as that is quite rare in the indie world.
Also small note you can turn off the battle animations
I detested everything about this game. Some stuff may/may not be to this or that person's liking. But as far as the writing goes, the story and the characters in this game are a 101 of bad writing regardless of which part of the world the game is from or which genre it belongs to. Check out Jena Moreci's or Meg Latorre's channel (they are about writing) and you'll easily put together a get a checklist of do's and dont's and this game checks ticks ALL the don't boxes.
@@YeOldEntertainment I appreciate that and in not trying to change your mind or anything, if someone tries to tell me half life 1 and 2 are good games I vehemently disagree 🤣 just wanted to make sure the game got some positive representation in the comments.
For me I really enjoyed the story, characters and writing. It was done well enough that I got emotionally invested in the characters and the plot which I find a lot of games don't make me feel anything for the cast.
I don't know maybe it's just me maybe my tolerance is a lot higher as I read a lot of amateur and even machine translated Chinese fantasy novels and love them with all there spelling, grammar and consistently issues and never really enjoyed the so called classics and such.
But again not trying to change your mind or say your opinion is wrong or anything just offering an alternative perspective
I mean if I payed money for them, I cant just give up
Strey looks like a experience instead of a game