KickStarter Queen's Wish: The Conqueror - the Jeff Vogel Kickstarter

[Tavernking]

Approaching the refund deadline, I can't go on.


Can anyone tell me what Spiderweb's best game is? So I can try it instead.

 

[Dayyālu]

Can anyone tell me what Spiderweb's best game is? So I can try it instead.

Gameplay wise, the Exile/Avernums. "Plot" wise, the Geneforges. The Geneforge remake is functional but kinda limited as a remake, you can get it or the original, they're both prettier than Queen's Wish.

Exile and Avernum got steadily simpler combat mechanics and better "fluff" in every remake, pick depending on your preferences. I am partial to Nethergate also, it was the most experimental game Vogel ever tried before becoming old and tired.

 

[Serus]

Can anyone tell me what Spiderweb's best game is? So I can try it instead.

Gameplay wise, the Exile/Avernums. "Plot" wise, the Geneforges. The Geneforge remake is functional but kinda limited as a remake, you can get it or the original, they're both prettier than Queen's Wish.

Exile and Avernum got steadily simpler combat mechanics and better "fluff" in every remake, pick depending on your preferences. I am partial to Nethergate also, it was the most experimental game Vogel ever tried before becoming old and tired.

I vote for Nethergate (possibly the original version) but then I played very little of Vogel's games. It's just that Nethergate has really interesting setting for a fantasy crpg, or should i say historical/fantasy crpg. And the historical part isn't even medieval but Roman. Nothing against the former but 90% of fantasy crpgs are borrowing stuff from Middle Ages. Roman/fantasy is unique.

 

[Viata]

Plot" wise, the Geneforges

Really? I find the gameplay for the Geneforge amazing. It has the best class for any rpg.

 

[Elwro]

I suggest Avernum 1. It has keyboard controls and a well-developed world. And is kinda nonlinear, offering plenty of exploration.

 

[Tavernking]

Alright I tried the demo for Avernum 1 (the remake), the difference in quality - in terms of story and gameplay - is huge. I'll grab it when it's on sale.

 

[Modron]

Approaching the refund deadline, I can't go on.


Can anyone tell me what Spiderweb's best game is? So I can try it instead.

Exile 3 or Geneforge 1.

 

[Contagium]

Alright I tried the demo for Avernum 1 (the remake), the difference in quality - in terms of story and gameplay - is huge. I'll grab it when it's on sale.

I've enjoyed the remakes. Been replaying Avernum 3: Ruined World. I like how in this one you can explore aboveground and underground. I recommend all of them. Queer's Wish was a massive disappointment

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Approaching the refund deadline, I can't go on.


Can anyone tell me what Spiderweb's best game is? So I can try it instead.

Try the recent Geneforge remake.

 

[V_K]

Can anyone tell me what Spiderweb's best game is?

Geneforge, definitely, for sheer role-playing. It has both an open world and a heavily branching plot, plus a good build variety that allows for alternative non-combat solutions to situations. One of the few games with factions that I know that also allows to ignore factions altogether and still win.

 

[OSK]

It saddens me to think that some people's first/only experience to Vogel's games will be Queen's Wish.

 

[fantadomat]

Hmmmm the remake of avernum is pretty good starting point,also geneforge 2 too. The first geneforge is pretty meh. The old avernums are pretty outdated but still good games,but wouldn't recommend them as a starting point unless you are in very old games.

 

[Tavernking]

Alright I tried the demo for Avernum 1 (the remake), the difference in quality - in terms of story and gameplay - is huge. I'll grab it when it's on sale.

Aaaand two days later it's 60% off. Nice.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Alright I tried the demo for Avernum 1 (the remake), the difference in quality - in terms of story and gameplay - is huge. I'll grab it when it's on sale.

Aaaand two days later it's 60% off. Nice.

Strangely Avernum 2 & 3 aren't on sale.

 

[Kruno]

Alright I tried the demo for Avernum 1 (the remake), the difference in quality - in terms of story and gameplay - is huge. I'll grab it when it's on sale.

Aaaand two days later it's 60% off. Nice.

What is wrong with this?

I am pretty sure he has made his old games Freeware/Open source.

 

[Elwro]

There's nothing wrong with it -- if the window scales...

 

[Bad Sector]

There's nothing wrong with it -- if the window scales...

Linux and Gamescope to the rescue :-P

(the few-pixels-off scaling is because the game doesn't use a 640x480 window - what i used for the internal resolution - but that is easy to change)

 

[newtmonkey]

I am in the middle of a second attempt at this one. It sort of clicked a few hours in and I began enjoying it, but now it's a dull slog. You take over a fort to the west, south, and east. Clear out mines in the west, south, and east. Then take over a second group of forts further west, south, and east. Then clear out more mines further west, south, and east.

There is a massive disconnect in the story the game is trying to tell, and what you actually do in the game. The game makes a big deal about how you are a prince of the most powerful kingdom in the world, yet you spend the entire game doing everything yourself. This makes the fort building feel ridiculous, as the entire continent is being conquered battle by battle by you and three other guys with bows, while the massive army you are supposed to be commanding hangs out in your seven giant forts spread across the land.

 

[baud]

I am in the middle of a second attempt at this one. It sort of clicked a few hours in and I began enjoying it, but now it's a dull slog. You take over a fort to the west, south, and east. Clear out mines in the west, south, and east. Then take over a second group of forts further west, south, and east. Then clear out more mines further west, south, and east.

There is a massive disconnect in the story the game is trying to tell, and what you actually do in the game. The game makes a big deal about how you are a prince of the most powerful kingdom in the world, yet you spend the entire game doing everything yourself. This makes the fort building feel ridiculous, as the entire continent is being conquered battle by battle by you and three other guys with bows, while the massive army you are supposed to be commanding hangs out in your seven giant forts spread across the land.

The explanations for some of the things you're forced to do solo kinda makes sense (like either sending a small elite team against a difficult target or entering the territory of a former vassal with a small diplomatic party instead of a full force), but clearing all those ressource producing locations is the worst.
Jeff should really have abstracted that, so that instead of doing it yourself, once you control a fort, you're given a number of groups of soldiers and a number of locations to occupy, with more locations than groups, forcing you to prioritize which ressources to get first (and you get the rest of the locations once you secure that vassal).

And the worst

Spoiler

is that even after you've taken control of the various vassals, nothing change, it's still the same idiots standing at the same places, even if they should have been replaced by the other faction or with your troops

 

[Tavernking]

Vogel knew he messed up, that's why he never expected enough sales to justify Queen's Wish 2. Unfortunately the sales were great because everyone loved his old games, but now that's going to validate all his terrible design decisions in Queen's Wish. I'll be really interested to see how well Queen's Wish 2 sells and whether the trilogy is completed.

Side note: the idea of having to clear the entire dungeon in one single go was actually a good one. It forces you to manage your items and mana, and each small fight has a lot more tension and investment behind it.

 

[newtmonkey]

Finally got all my vassals, and of course the game has a super twist at the end to just drag it on for more hours. Game would have been better if it ended once you conquered the land.

 

[baud]

Finally got all my vassals, and of course the game has a super twist at the end to just drag it on for more hours. Game would have been better if it ended once you conquered the land.

you can bail at any moment if you've built the portal

 

[newtmonkey]

I completed this just now.

I liked how it sets up the factions in each nation, and how the game makes you decide in each case whether to continue to support the current regime that might be a strong but imperfect ally, versus a popular rebellion ; I also like that the game doesn't demonize going with the current regime. It's a much more mature take on the issue than I expected, I guess.

So the game has some decent dialog boxes and ending text. What about the rest? Here is where the game falters.

There are basically no characters in this RPG. You cannot even speak with most NPCs, and those that you can speak with have little to no history or personality. They are merely quest givers or exposition/information dumps. The only NPCs with any personality at all are the various faction leaders, but they typically have just a few sentences to say. All of the character development (in the literary sense) comes from your mom and siblings back home, but I found each and every one of them to be detestable (as a mark in the game's favor, it does give you the option to treat them like garbage once you return home).

I found combat to be pretty dull. Bows are extremely overpowered, and there's no reason not to give one to each of your characters. Enemies typically just rush straight at you when combat starts, though enemy spellcasters, etc. will of course use their abilities. There are some nice (optional) difficult encounters throughout the game, especially in the final area (which features, by far, the best dungeons in the entire game).

The biggest problem with the game is the overall structure, which is very repetitive and has you fighting through a gate, rebuilding a fort, clearing out mines for resources, and then going to a castle to negotiate with a faction leader. Then you do the same exact thing, so that you can talk to the other faction leader. Then you do all of this two more times. It's such a slog.

It would have been better to just have a single fort to rebuild in each nation, so that once you retake the fort you can freely visit every area in the nation, hear both sides of the conflict from the faction leaders, etc. Maybe even include the resource mines in the kingdom management portion, rather than forcing you, as prince of the mightiest kingdom in the world, to skulk through mines with three pals personally killing every single spider and snake in the land.

I doubt I will play the upcoming sequel, unless there are some big changes made to the core gameplay loop. I don't think I could handle another 40 hours of the same kind of content.

 

[Mortmal]

"Absolutely impeccable CRPG. This is Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software at his absolute best! Full of innovative, new ideas that haven't appeared in previous Spiderweb Software titles. The open world is marvelous, full of wonder, awe and mystery just like his previous games. The graphics are sublime, somewhat simple but things like animated weapons and weapon and armor sprites being visible on your characters adds a ton to the charm. So many cool little features and things to explore, find and enjoy. If you are a fan at all of CRPGs, especially isometric ones, this is a must-play imo. Top shelf stuff here! Thanks Jeff! "

A little game ! Some codexer(not me) wrote this, with those few sentences can you identify him ?

 

[Zeriel]

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