KickStarter - SKALD: Against the Black Priory - retro RPG inspired by Ultima (2024)

Only gotten my toes wet but Skald is good fun so far (and cheap!). Well done to everyone involved. Though I do kinda wish they'd stayed away from the modern pixel-art aesthetic and stuck to the simpler retro styling on show early in the development process. I know this is selfish as the graphics upgrade probably increased the game's sales potential, but still....

Bitch, bitch. Moan, moan.

Mr. Magniloquent said:

Non-combat skills are prolific in the best way. All of them get heavy use. Probably the only two that aren't explicitly necessary are Stealth and Thievery, but are still extremely useful. Survival is possibly the least used, but still common.

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This is nonsense. Athletics get used 4-5 places, thievery is useful for locks, stealth to avoid fights, and thats about it. Some diplomacy checks in the beginning, one or two survival, lore, and healing, but those checks are all cosmetic. They make no difference whatsoever. You can use survival to get extra food when resting I guess.

You get companions to cover every skill too except for early game diplomacy, so that's all you need to invest in (you dont get anyone with Lore until very late but its a worthless skill).I'd even say the games opening events are more interesting if you fail the diplomacy checks.

The skill system is overall poorly used and makes little difference in the end.

Grampy_Bone said:

Mr. Magniloquent said:

Non-combat skills are prolific in the best way. All of them get heavy use. Probably the only two that aren't explicitly necessary are Stealth and Thievery, but are still extremely useful. Survival is possibly the least used, but still common.

Click to expand...

This is nonsense. Athletics get used 4-5 places, thievery is useful for locks, stealth to avoid fights, and thats about it. Some diplomacy checks in the beginning, one or two survival, lore, and healing, but those checks are all cosmetic. They make no difference whatsoever. You can use survival to get extra food when resting I guess.

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You get companions to cover every skill too except for early game diplomacy, so that's all you need to invest in (you dont get anyone with Lore until very late but its a worthless skill).I'd even say the games opening events are more interesting if you fail the diplomacy checks.

The skill system is overall poorly used and makes little difference in the end.

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I think that healing influences amount of vitality You get from healing potions?

hacknhack said:

Only gotten my toes wet but Skald is good fun so far (and cheap!). Well done to everyone involved. Though I do kinda wish they'd stayed away from the modern pixel-art aesthetic and stuck to the simpler retro styling on show early in the development process. I know this is selfish as the graphics upgrade probably increased the game's sales potential, but still....

Bitch, bitch. Moan, moan.

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Man that looks awesome and way preferable to what we got. I just finished the game and thought it was pretty good. I was hoping for Ultima V and I did not get that, but I don't think there will ever be a game that scratches that itch.

Grampy_Bone I politely disagree. Awareness reveals troves all of the time. It also alerts you to enemies in the dark. Lore and Diplomacy skills are all over the place. Even in camp. Athletics is used from hanging ropes, jumping bridges, bashing locks, and even intimidating in dialogue. Stealth is not only for avoiding combat over land and in area, but also for getting a surprise round when you attack and setting up rogues. Thievery lets pick locks, but also steal from stores. Stealing is extremely benefitial. Crafting is major, as food is crucial. Recepies are greater than the sum of their parts by far. If you want your casters at full steam, you'll keep the spice flowing with potions. Potions in general are very strong in this game. Not just because they directly replicate a buff, but instantly and without any action cost.

I think the only two that don't see much use are Healing and Survival. Those skills have only come up maybe 2 or 3 times each. Otherwise, I would put skill usage on par with Kingmaker. Particularly for it being such a smaller game.

Mr. Magniloquent said:

jumping bridges

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There's only one of these and you can just walk around it.

Lore checks don't tell you anything. They don't solve quests, give more rewards, or provide alternate solutions. None of the skill checks do. When the outcome of an event is the same with or without the skillcheck, it is meaningless. The info they give is all red herrings anyway, the author deliberately hides the wtf Prometheus ending as le tweest. What meaningful checks there are are entirely in the first few areas of the game. You can use diplomacy to avoid one fight on the boat at the very beginning. Kat joins you either way (because there aren't enough party members for you to lose any). The choices when you enter the town are also bogus, you always end up in the same fight, and the choice to turn the reavers on each other isn't skill check dependent at all. The system is about 90% fluff. Sorry to burst your bubble.

It's especially hilarious to compare it to Kangmaker, a game where botched skill checks can lose you party members, fail quests, and even unlock an alternate ending.

Skills are IMHO just perfectly implemented here. They give you a little bit of extra here and there, but they won't get in the way of actually playing the game. You don't need to micro your levelups to pass specific speech checks or worry about losing content.

That is how it was during the good old days. Just roll a character and have fun.

Currently exploring

and I've run out of arrows; any idea where I can buy some ?

How do you buy in bulk? Buying arrows is a little pain in the ass

Also magic is terrible in the game. I have to re start 3 times because i choosen mage and then battlemage. The strat to mage is just pass the early beach and meet Roland? Then again is not even worth with how it's implemented and i asume there is a mage companion in the game anyways.

When i blasted those rats in the prologue with my mage i though i was a god lmao

Grampy_Bone said:

Mr. Magniloquent said:

jumping bridges

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There's only one of these and you can just walk around it.

Lore checks don't tell you anything. They don't solve quests, give more rewards, or provide alternate solutions. None of the skill checks do. When the outcome of an event is the same with or without the skillcheck, it is meaningless.

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This is not true. For example consider just the lighthouse.

All passed skill checks give you XP, even if they don't show it explicitly. For example

There are false choices, like in the prologue. All those skill checks do reveal more information and all of them do give experience. Even the one that involves stealth. This game makes good use of skill checks and they all have use. Do they branch plot? No. That's kind of a fool's errand in game design. Here they are used more wisely as an asset to the player, rather than to avoid punishment or access content.

Mr. Magniloquent said:

This is not true.

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Wrong, I got the dagger without the skills. Also, I said the skills were frontloaded. Things like the underwater section are meaningless because you will have the Armsmaster guy who is pre built with athletics. You can't fail that section via build. None of this stuff happens from chapter 2 onwards, game becomes completely on rails.

Roland doesnt count for that section, i just tried. You get 7 breaths by default which is all you need to reach the tomb. You get more the more athletics you MC has. By default you get 1 min iirc which is the one breath you need to take the key from the drowned corpse.

Both of you are right imo. The end result to move foward quests and the campain seems to be predetermined but you get bits of rewards and can sometimes influence battles (mainly if you skip it or not). I think is done pretty well. In a way that seems natural and well implemented to a rpg

Is there a way to cheese a little with the chests random items? I speced to be a two handled weapon and all i get is medium sparkly items

Edit: also is there a way to respec? a potion or something? I got the cleric chick and now i see that body spells were a bad choice for my champion. It was great in the early but if the chick can go to tier 4 only there as a cleric spellcaster...

Smiling Sam said:

Man that looks awesome and way preferable to what we got. I just finished the game and thought it was pretty good. I was hoping for Ultima V and I did not get that, but I don't think there will ever be a game that scratches that itch.

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That Ultima V itch can be brutal. I know it. Still, we mustn't complain, things could be a lot worse.

Tao said:

Is there a way to cheese a little with the chests random items? I speced to be a two handled weapon and all i get is medium sparkly items

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Whenever you enter an area with a merchant, especially the first time, save before you interact with it. You can quickload and it will reroll the inventory until it has something you want. With how OP thievery is, this feels a bit like a cheat but I don't care.