Blackguards

Teaf · 26 Jan 2014 at 10:12

Blackguards is a turn-based tactical RPG based on a hexadecimal grid layout and using the 4th edition of The Dark Eye ruleset (Pen/Paper RPG).

Picked it up yesterday and spent a few hours in it and I really like it. I was initially put off due to the reviews that came out, but after watching some video reviews and reading fan/user reviews on Steam and Metacrtic I decided to pick it up - and thankfully, it's a good game. After looking into the review scores it seems to stem primarily from this game being quite niche and that it's a little pricey. If you are into these types of games (such as King's Bounty, HOMM, P&P RPG's, maybe even XCOM EU/EW) then you will most likely enjoy this game. Make sure you check out the demo from Steam (link below).

The combat is good, the story is good, the characters that are part of the story are well designed, diverse and interesting. The graphics are superb and there are over 180 hand drawn levels which are just simply gorgeous to look at. They are not random either, they have all been designed one by one. You'll probably be able to tell immediately how nice they look from the screenshots. The levels also have interactions from objects nearby (such as tables, chandeliers, gravestones etc.)

If anyones interested, you can get it for £20~ at Greenman Gaming at the moment with their 30% off voucher (check the blog on their site for the code).

Official game homepage at Daedalic Entertainment
Steam page (including demo)

Evilsod · 26 Jan 2014 at 10:37

I've just finished the demo of it.

It does seem fairly good. I had a quick look at the Totalbiscuit WTF playthrough yesterday and he does raise some good points about it. The system does seem fairly daunting at first and the armour system does seem extremely weird in that its hard to say just how much of an effect its having.

He was in the Dragon Cave though and complained about getting his character killed by the stalagmites (?) when they fell from the roof which I thought was a tad stupid. When I went through that cave I intentionally put my warrior in such a position that causing them to fall would crush as many Mites as possible so there is some fun usage of the environments to your advantage.

My only concern (other than it being £27 which is pretty steep for an indie SPRG) is replayability. You get AP very slowly and you need to find teachers for certain skills and buy tomes for around half the spells. By the time I finished the demo (as I reached Mengbilla) I still only had 4 party members and the sheer cost of everything compared to the amount of gold you got from fights really limited what you could kit yourself out with. After scraping together around 80 gold, 1 of the main quest givers randomly gave me 90 to go kit myself out. That afforded me a full set of armour for my warrior and a Longbow ><

Warbie · 26 Jan 2014 at 11:03

Looks good. It will be mine when it hits the Steam sales!

Omaeka · 26 Jan 2014 at 15:25

Evilsod said:
He was in the Dragon Cave though and complained about getting his character killed by the stalagmites (?) when they fell from the roof which I thought was a tad stupid.

TB is an extremely bad gamer though, he's well below average in anything he is recorded playing.

Teaf · 26 Jan 2014 at 16:36

That's purely his fault for not looking at the game map. I've done that mission and it was clear where the stalagmite's would fall (dripping effect on some of the hexs). Also, a mail coif and some leather armour is not going to save you from a 500 lb concrete "icicle" falling from 5+ meters in the air.

The armour and stats system is typical for the type of game it is, but it doesn't always convey into a PC game as well as it would for a proper P&P game. They could have maybe done with some extra information to make it more user-friendly.

Crpwned · 27 Jan 2014 at 15:50

Picked this up last night and so far it seems like a very solid turn-based RPG experience. The dialogue is funny and well written and the combat has made me sit back a few times and think about what to do. The interactive environments add a nice touch to the battles and you always need to be aware of your surroundings.
Haven't got that far into it yet, just fighting my way out of a dungeon type layout against a few dwarves, had to restart a few times since I got crushed and had to adapt my tactics

The RPG elements of character progression seem to be going well and with the help of trainers you can customize the characters how you see fit. Looking forward to playing some more when I finish work!