Equilibrium of Divinity

[spelk]

An odd name, for a party based dark fantasy RPG with resource harvesting, crafting and magic systems and a procedurally generated world. With its Wizardy/HOMM and roguelike-ish aspirations, I kind of like this one.

http://www.cheeky-gems.com/2017/10/equilibrium-of-divinity.html

Naturally, the graphics might not be to your tastes.. but its a streamlined indie title for about 15 quid.

[jamus34]

I would think Larian would have issues with the name of this one.

[Nefaro]

Resource collection and crafting..

Ugh.  Why?

If I wanted to be a seamstress, I'd go find a seamstress simulator.  Or just pick it up as a hobby, myself.  Hrmm.. or maybe a nice job as a tanner.  Ever smelled a tannery?  Good thing you can't in a video game, I suppose.

What's with this fascination?  Get your hide scraping butcher shop of a puzzle game out of my dungeon crawlers, you bastards!   

Your party collects the loot, and any resources it can scavenge from the level, even chopping down trees, looting berries from bushes, milking goats and cows or salvaging weaponry, hair and pelts off your foes.

All resources are valuable if you need to craft your equipment and survive your exploration. This is where the game takes you away from the fantasy combat and pulls you into a more desperate survival game. You need to kill things to get the raw materials, but also to get the XP to level up your crafting skills, to be able to make useful weapons, armour, tools, jewellry, potions or food. Your progress depends upon it, because you don't start out with much in the way of equipment, even if you choose to spend the 50 gold coins before embarking.

RAWR!   

Otherwise it would pique my interest.  :)

[spelk]

Resource collection and crafting..

Ugh.  Why?

If I wanted to be a seamstress, I'd go find a seamstress simulator.  Or just pick it up as a hobby, myself.  Hrmm.. or maybe a nice job as a tanner.  Ever smelled a tannery?  Good thing you can't in a video game, I suppose.

What's with this fascination?  Get your hide scraping butcher shop of a puzzle game out of my dungeon crawlers, you bastards!   

I liked the fact that it made the exploration of the level a bit less combat centric. You're not just patrolling the place to find things to have at, you're actually trying to find a particular resource to build that Long spear your main tank could use very effectively, since you've tweaked him to be a bit like a Spartan.

The combat comes to you, if your party is spotted.. but there is some downtime, and some worrying about traps and whether you have enough food - so hunger clock is in play.

It just mixes it up a bit, and rather than being a loot scoop, and throwing away or selling a lot of it because its not useful, you're actually crafting the stuff you want, and the pressure is applied to find the raw materials in time..

Might not be for everyone, but it certainly is interesting and engaging if you like that feeling of desperate adventurers trying to survive.

[FarAway Sooner]

I'm vaguely intrigued. 

I have no problem with crafting mechanics, when they're handled skillfully and don't just require excessive craftgrinding.  If I want to craft grind, I'll play a tablet game like Tapsmiths or Shop Heroes.  I like RPGs that force me to make hard strategic trade-off decisions, and having to balance between crafting and combat skills seems like fair game.

As long as the crafting system doesn't suck. 

I actually enjoy games that substitute some crafting for the endless low-value loot drops that have to be sold for Gold, then converted into Healing Potions, then converted into more killed monsters and more loot drops...  Just as one example, I felt like Thea: The Awakening did a great job of blending RPG, 4x, and Crafting.

[spelk]

I'm vaguely intrigued. 

I have no problem with crafting mechanics, when they're handled skillfully and don't just require excessive craftgrinding.  If I want to craft grind, I'll play a tablet game like Tapsmiths or Shop Heroes.  I like RPGs that force me to make hard strategic trade-off decisions, and having to balance between crafting and combat skills seems like fair game.

As long as the crafting system doesn't suck. 

I actually enjoy games that substitute some crafting for the endless low-value loot drops that have to be sold for Gold, then converted into Healing Potions, then converted into more killed monsters and more loot drops...  Just as one example, I felt like Thea: The Awakening did a great job of blending RPG, 4x, and Crafting.

Yeah, I don't mind crafting if it adds to the experience, and you can relatively easily build stuff that is useful.

The crafting mechanic is fairly simple, you collect the mats, and if you have the right combination you press craft and you get the item. The only additional layer, is that you can use mats of a differing kind, copper/tin/iron and the thing you'll make will be slightly better with better quality materials.

You get so little to start out with, your front line often doesn't have enough for a basic weapon each. Bows seem extremely costly, because you have to have bow, quiver and arrows. Arrows are expensive. So you'll want to collect a lot of arrow making mats and craft up a bunch of them.

Resting between fights is important, but I'm not sure what is used up when resting, presumably something like food? I need to pay more attention to my inventory, when I do things.

I like the combat in the way it presents everything visually, and it has a repeat button, if you just want all your orders last round to repeat. But it does take a little while to set up all of your orders, because different factors can affect what you can do with your back row.

I've wiped once, and on Ironman mode that's it. Start again. I'm taking my steps forward again (but I've wussed out and have disabled Ironman mode) - because I want to see more of the action and how the characters develop over time, rather than make a mistake and lose them all. Also I need to explore the crafting mechanic a bit more. Your profession scores affect what you can make, there are no recipes, just levels of profession that open up new things to make in it. But the higher stuff, like weapons with a bit of magic attached required more exotic materials, like gems and what not. I have a gemcutter mage, but I haven't managed to do anything with him yet. I've made a few spears and some spiked clubs and a hatchet or two. That's about it.

The first couple of levels you need to find some loot chests with actual equipment in them to give you a boost. It might take a little while to get the wood/metal together to craft your first weapon. Still I've found armour in chests which helps with the tanking.

I like Thea very much, and the crafting system there is good. This title is way below the polish of Thea, its more a homebrew title, but I am still finding it has charm and appeal. I really like the extensive point mechanism by which you can really create hybrid classes, there are no rigid skill trees here, anyone can be anything if you're willing to spend your points in it.

[Nefaro]

My issues with crafting in RPGs is probably more to do with inventory messiness & bloat than the actual crafting mechanic.

Drives me nuts when there are windows & windows full of crafting junk taking up time and space, some of which may never get used.   
Makes my OCD 

I'd rather they spent all that dev time on making more awesome loot to find.  More Diablo-style variety.  Far more exciting finding that rare Darkblade Of Murderous Decapitation And Mayhem than a stack of 3 lilies and a light fur.   #:-)