So I was bored yesterday and decided to do a bit of digging. Turns out my
efforts payed off well.
Path to Pelantas
This game may not be for everyone. You're in control of a kingdom, or as the
game calls it, a homestead, and you decide such things as tax rate, etc.
However, the main focus is not in fact on kingdom building, but instead on a
team of heroes you control. You start with a generous 10 heroes, all of
which you can level up to level 1 at you leasure and raise their attributes
to fit the weapons they start with. All heroes get a ranged and melee
weapon, and you can control which type of weapons they wield, raise their
morale, even set their luxury level within your kingdom. You can send your
heroes on quests, send them out to hunt for monsters in the wilds, and send
them into the arena to battle. You can control how they hunt, from which
weapons they use, to how they'll fight when they see the monster. The
battles are extremely detailed, and are written like epic battles in
stories. Instead of seeing, Your hero hits the enemy for 10 damage, the
enemy hits your hero for 10 damage, you might instead see your leader
leading a charge into combat with an ally beside him. You might hear the
bones of your enemy break as your morning star impacts, the spectators
gasping in awe. Your characters even make brief speeches, bot hin mid combat
and especially your leader at the end. The battle logs definitely make the
game interesting. But now, for the con. The one big nevative that will spoil
this game for almost. The game's events are measured not in hours, not in
days, but in weeks. Your heroes will prepare for days before setting out on
quest. Battles happen only on saturdays, accept for exercise battles. I
personally think the game is worth playing, but the time pace might put a
lot of people off. Regarldess, if you're still interested in checking it
out:
http://www.pelantas.com
The game's still in beta, so some things are still being worked on and
balanced.
Next up we have Planet Gambro. This one's very strange. It has a focus on
exploration, and is something like KoL only with a much weirder sense of
humor, (ever controlled a sausage wielding german, for example?) The thing
that sets this game apart is you control a party of characters rather than a
single entity. You start with 3 characters and can get more over the course
of the game. Unlike billy versus snakeman, the game I posted about a while
back, you actually have full control over all characters and combat is
manual. The only bad thing about this game is, whereas everything else is
labeled including the areas, the world maps to travel to different zones
have no alt text, so sometimes you waste turns trying to get to the area you
want. Still an interesting game though. Sadly at the moment this one has no
url as its being moved, but if anyone shows any interest I'll be happy to
post when the game comes back up. There's also planet gambro version 2,
which is up at the moment, but starts you with a single character only. I
haven't played with this one at all so I'm not sure about labelling or the
like. It does still have the party element though.
And finally, metroplexity. This one has a very KoL like feel to its layout,
but its far from KoL. You play an enforcer in Metroplex city, where gangs
constantly fight for resources. The plot of the game revolves around your
character's life being altered by a reality, not mind, but reality warping
drug known as eclipse. You start with one contact, and gain more as you go
along. Contacts give you quests and help you advance the plot. The game does
have some humor to it, mostly in the item descriptions, but the plot and
most of the game text has a darker side to it, the theme as well. Especially
when you get into eclipse. Let me ask you this. Ever seen the air bleed?
Seen a rat give you th evil eye and practically cause you to combust? Seen
bullets hover in the air? Didn't think so. Eclipse definitely makes thing
sinteresting. The combat system in this game is interesting as well. Unlike
convensional RPG's, it works similar to a trading card game. Your character
draws 5 techniques from his deck per round, and you select which technique
you want to use. The best part, however, is that you can chain techniques
together. Say you draw the dive for cover technique, the single shot
technique, and the short burst technique. You can select all 3 of these
attacks and chain them together into one devistating combo. It makes for
some interesting and intense battles. Be warned, however, that the chains
aren't listed when you select attacks, so for us it's more a matter of
memorization. You can see what techniques fall in what position on the chain
by clicking on them in your techniques menu similar to KoL. This game has a
smoothe layout and I'd honestly recommend giving it a look.
http://www.metroplexity.com
This one's in beta as well, but seems to be updated on a fairly decent
basis.
I'm gordan on pelantas and metro, and deathstrike on planet gambro when it
comes back up. Feel free to ask if you need any help.
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