Now then, before you all shudder and start to worry about my defection to the world of anime dating sims, you should really take a look into Loren RPG.
http://www.winterwolves.com/lorenamazonprincess.htm
It's got some nice anime/traditional western comic artwork, it's got a fairly decent story with interesting characters in a party centered turn based fantasy RPG. Loot and skill trees and a sort of Final Fantasy style combat mechanic.
I saw the demo pop up, and grabbed it - and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of tactical depth to the game's combat system and co-operative skill trees. It's all wrapped around a tale of personalities and a world where Amazonian women, elves, cheeky dwarves and men have culture clashes and romantic crushes. Sort of a more light hearted Dragon Age. :)
WinterWolves have a bunch of games that are dating sims, or flower shop games, but this time they've gone for the "proper" RPG - if a little light on the gritty realism.
Definitely worth a look, if you like RPG's with a bit of story. Especially one that branches in several places and follows slightly different tracks. The amount of personalities (race/classes) is satisfying enough as they assemble throughout your journey and you have a party of six to tailor on your way. Loot is suitably epic, with named items showing up, and the skill trees allow for a couple of different specialisations per character class.
Loren, the main character in the storyline, is your master, and she's a blademaiden Amazon Princess. The option for saucy outfits is there, to turn on or off to your desires.
http://youtu.be/qHrw65HRU_M
To quote the show Archer: "You're just going to softball that in for us?" ;)
Too easy. So I'll be nice. And I'll download the demo. You had me at "RPG," "Tactics," and "Amazon."
I've already finished it yesterday :D
Currently waiting for the expansion.
It's not exactly a hard game (especially if you play on the Easy difficulty level), and it's mostly semi-linear. But still fun nonetheless.
The expansion to Loren has been announced.
The Castle of N'mar.(https://p.twimg.com/Asb3eu2CQAAZXtn.jpg:large)
Quote
The Castle Of N'mar is the name of the expansion, which we'll start working on probably this weekend (as I said I want to take things a bit more easier from now on). I don't know yet WHEN will be out, since have also a few more backgrounds to be drawn for the new zones, but should be really out this summer. Once there's all the content I plan to do a beta-testing stage like I did with the main game.
It will add Sauzer the Unarmed Warrior specialist(no romance), Mesphit the Demon (GxB and BxB) and Chambara the Dark Witch (BxG and GxG). You can recruit them anytime starting from chapter2 of the main game, and each one requires you to do a quest to recruit.
We'll also add some more background story and quests for each of the other characters. Similarly to what happens in Planet Stronghold, doing a quest will reward you with a unique item for each character (well, apart Loren since she has already the Ember/Hawke sword).
There will be several new zones with new quests and new monsters to fight. The Castle of N'mar of course, catacombs, dwarf mines and so on. Overall I think will be well worth the cheap $9.99 price
http://www.winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2442&sid=ca32d30bbf1bc759a3d83ca195e29966
I don't know why, but I have a knee-jerk reaction against Anime. I see it and think, "No!"
Quote from: LongBlade on May 09, 2012, 09:53:05 AM
I don't know why, but I have a knee-jerk reaction against Anime. I see it and think, "No!"
Ditto!
I always put my fascination with anime down to my comic book roots as a kid. Stylised heroes being my "thing" so to speak. I was fascinated by the different style adopted, and then I dipped into the Japanese culture at one point. Their whole way of life being very visually orientated. The artist on this game seems to tap into the stuff I like. I'm not overly keen on the kawaii/cute stuff usually, especially super deformed, but this artwork wouldn't seem amiss in Guild Wars for instance. And I liked the art in that too.
A lot of the turn based tactical JRPG's have this sort of stuff, stills popping over dialogue, before you're dropped into super deformed pixel characters on grid based battlefields. Final Fantasy Tactics, Vandal Hearts, Fire Emblem, Disgaea etc..
I guess it's just a taste thing. The combat engine is pretty good for an indie title.
I wonder if they're planning a port to PSP or PS3...? Seems like a good console candidate.
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 09, 2012, 12:19:52 PM
I wonder if they're planning a port to PSP or PS3...? Seems like a good console candidate.
It's made with something called the Ren'py engine.
http://www.renpy.org/
Dunno if that is portable or not, from the web site it seems to support Android as another platform.
A bit of a necropost here, apologies...
But Loren has just arrived on Steam!! Although with stiff competition from The Banner Saga it has to be said. They're similar games in as much as they're all about character exploration/interaction and tactical combat. The Banner Saga has sky-high production values. Loren is a bit more light hearted also.
If you bought the game from Winter Wolves, I believe you can get a Steam key for free by going here:
http://nettle.winterwolves.net/
or emailing info@winterwolves.com
Spelk, you owe me a set of eardrums. That link you posted to the theme song should be nuked from orbit, just to be sure. Aside from my aversion to all things anime, why would I play a game with a theme song sung by an out of tune 15 year old?
Pfui.
Quote from: tgb on January 16, 2014, 05:01:53 AM
Spelk, you owe me a set of eardrums. That link you posted to the theme song should be nuked from orbit, just to be sure. Aside from my aversion to all things anime, why would I play a game with a theme song sung by an out of tune 15 year old?
Pfui.
Yeah. Embarrassing. It's like the 90210 of fantasy RPGs.
What, no tentacles?!?
Quote from: Barthheart on May 09, 2012, 10:03:55 AM
Quote from: LongBlade on May 09, 2012, 09:53:05 AM
I don't know why, but I have a knee-jerk reaction against Anime. I see it and think, "No!"
Ditto!
And another ditto!
Quote from: tgb on January 16, 2014, 05:01:53 AM
Spelk, you owe me a set of eardrums. That link you posted to the theme song should be nuked from orbit, just to be sure. Aside from my aversion to all things anime, why would I play a game with a theme song sung by an out of tune 15 year old?
Pfui.
Yeah I agree, and at the time, I even told the developer about it and how it would put RPG players off. Obviously anime dating sim furries would love it.
However (and this in no way makes up for the initial link I posted in 2012) is the new trailer for said game with a much more western fantasy soundtrack to it.
Please all accept my apologies - but I did enjoy the game immensley, and I'm a bit of a sucker for the anime artstyle when its done on a western-ised fantasy setting (see Record of Lodoss War, Beserk etc).
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 16, 2014, 07:11:15 AM
What, no tentacles?!?
Fraid not, but with the expansion it has Vampires and dusky tree maidens. :)
OK, that time I made it through the trailer, and the anime elements seem to be toned down a bit from the usual huge misshapen heads and baby blue eyes. I just don't see a lot of tactical depth to the combat from that trailer, especially with Blackguards coming out next week. Perhaps I should watch a Let's Play.
Somehow I missed the horrible audio with the first clip, but I'm now really intrigued. Can somebody please repost a link?
:)
Quote from: tgb on January 16, 2014, 10:42:39 AM
Perhaps I should watch a Let's Play.
Here's a video showing the more complex spells and what not used in a battle ( I think its from the expansion though)
Ok, heres a sneak peek at the next RPG game set in the same world, Seasons of the Wolf - the combat and RPG qualities get a bit more love
OK. Now that I've seen more I can see myself picking this up during a Steam sale if the price drops to $10 or less.
Honestly, I just played the demo, and I came away very impressed. I'm intrigued by the quality of the writing and the story arc (better than what I've seen in 95% of the games I've played).
I also find myself feeling like a dirty old man, but that's a different story...
The story is pretty good, although its more the characterisations and your becoming attached to certain characters that adds a level of interest into the battling. The romancing is no more than is on offer in the likes of Mass Effect and Dragon Age, just that its done in a more light hearted dating sim kind of style most of the time.
I think because of the devs previous works and his interest in dating sims, it has a healthy hint of it in the interactions in this game. However, this title and the next one is a much clearer departure from his normal work, and if you can stomach the anime-style art (which I can) and some of the saccharin conversations in places, you have an interesting RPG to play through, with streamlined tactical combat.