The Curse of Feldar Vale
I have well over 100 Steam games, but have never felt the motivation to do a review before. I have finally played a game that I feel is worthy of a review. Please excuse the review being a bit ‘long winded’, but put that down to my venerable old age!
My interest in D&D games started way back in the 70’s as a player in a tabletop game. Through the 80’s I was hooked on the Wizardry games, programmed a D&D game in the mid 80’s, was a tabletop dungeon master in the 90’s & have tried almost every D&D game that has been released since. With this extensive D&D history I feel I can recognise a good D&D game when I see one – and ‘The Curse’ is one such game.
– Real player with 152.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D Indie Games.
Yeah good fun but, it would be nice for double movement out side combat. Makes exploring easier. You know a bit like 3rd ed. So I can’t change class for any of my party. My champion was supposed to have a couple of levels of rogue before becoming a fighter. A little frustrated with that. Overall though I am having good fun times. I especially like my accordion manoeuvre with my big fighter supported by my cleric when in tight single file corridors. My mage ‘mister squishy’ , don’t ask me about my mage. How do I add spells to his spell book?
– Real player with 50.1 hrs in game
Goblin’s Shop
I tried to get into this game, but ultimately put it away.
The premise is that you are a shopkeeper for the monsters who fight humans. You progress in experience points not by fighting but by shop keeping. You can designate VIPs to do the fighting for you when you collect resources to craft items for your shop. I like this premise, but there are several things about the game I don’t like.
Progressing through human territory means discovering new materials and new crafting recipes. But the rate of discovery outpaces the slow rate of craft mastery. By the time I’ve mastered crafting level 2 weapons/armor/potions, I’m already on level 4 materials in the human world. Obtaining mastery of crafting is a big grind.
– Real player with 34.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D Indie Games.
15 hours in, just trust me when i say make a pass on this. Lots of irritating things in this game, once you get to the point i am its just a HUGE grind. Hell its nothing but a grind, typically games like this you want to be able to walk away for a few mins and see some progress but there is none.
Honestly this is just an idle game w/o the idle mechanics and after 3hrs you will find yourself regretting you bought this.
I bought on sale for $5 and still not worth it!
– Real player with 14.7 hrs in game
Mystery at Morgoth
Mystery at Morgoth is set on the world of Qaedon, a thousand years before the Great Cataclysm and is the follow-up to The Curse of Feldar Vale . Known as the Age of Chaos, humans, greenskins, and all manner of monsters fight to survive these troubled times.
The peoples of Morgoth are living in fear of the shadowy organization known as The Cabal. But who controls them, who are their leaders? Nobody wants to find out as unpleasant things happen to those who are too inquisitive.
Build a party of 4-6 characters to adventure in Morgoth, to seek fame and fortune, or more likely find just enough coin to put food on the plate. Mystery at Morgoth delivers old-school gaming with hand-drawn 2D graphics throughout.
If you completed The Curse of Feldar Vale import your party to continue the adventure or solve the mystery stand-alone with a new party of your choice.
Unravel the Mystery at Morgoth and export your party to the next adventure - The Dark Tower (in development, coming Late 2022).
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Hours of gameplay with multiple locations to visit and numerous quests to undertake.
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Build your party from traditional D&D races (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Half-Elf, or Halfling).
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Use your Warriors to batter the enemy, your Rogues to sneak up unseen, or your Clerics to Turn the Undead.
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Get power and magic with your Battlemages or pure magic with your combat-weak Mages.
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Recruit single or multi-class units like the Warrior/Rogue.
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Tactical turn-based encounters on square grids where every decision counts.
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Adventure in overland locations, explore buildings, or battle in dark dungeons.
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Keep your party supplied (hungry heroes do not fight as efficiently as well-fed ones!).
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Hundreds of items for your party to find.
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Dozens of spells for your Battlemages, Clerics, and Mages to blast the enemy or help your party.
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Fill your coffers with Qaedi (the global currency) by looting your enemies.
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Permanent death for units unless you can afford Resurrection!!
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Dozens of options to customize gameplay.
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Optional advanced rules to change the way you play.
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Customize each member of your party as they level up through combat experience.
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Dozens of attributes for each unit covering their physical quality, abilities, movement, protection, and combat modifiers.
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Equip your units with all manner of goodies using a variable inventory with up to 23 slots per unit.
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Build spellbooks for your spellcasters from three Schools of Magic - Arcane, Divine, and Planar.
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Battle dozens of foes, many of them based on original D&D creatures.
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Deal with Traps both mechanical and magical.
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Detailed In-Game Player Guides (Item Directory, Spell Compendium).
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Help System for every spell, item, and ability.
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Customizable Tooltip System.
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…and so much more!
New rules/improvements from The Curse of Feldar Vale:
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New rule: Advanced Flyers - flying units can ascend and attack from afar or descend into melee.
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New rule: Chance of Critical Hit - do extra damage by striking a vital area of the enemy.
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New rule: Combat Accuracy - sometimes fighting units are just going to miss!
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New rule: Static Encounters - improved AI gang-rushes if turned off.
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High definition maps throughout.
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Interactable containers (cupboards, chests, etc.)
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Items with Abilities (Necklace of Missiles, Brooch of Healing, etc.)
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Improved AI spellcasting and combat (with new Veteran AI personality).
Read More: Best 2D Turn-Based Combat Games.
Fantasy Grounds Classic
OK, so please read the full review instead of just taking note of my thumb down vote for this game. That was a tough choice to make. This program is a very mixed bag, some wonderful things in here that are blended together with some horrible design decisions.
Context: I use this program as a face-to-face tool for my gaming group, no outside connections. So this review will ignore any feature dealing with that. Also, will not be comparing this to any competitors. My setup is a dual screen PC, with two instances of the program open. One (GM) on my monitor and the second (Player) on a TV laying flat. Players are using miniatures and real dice, while I am using tokens and the program’s dice.
– Real player with 1343.8 hrs in game
*** Update as of 3-July-2020****
I’m not going to remove the previous review because it’s all accurate still. That being said, FGU has more features and is better than classic, mostly.
However, even perhaps more importantly…. There is a piece of software called “Foundry” that is LOADS and HEAPS better than every other options out there. You pay 50 bucks for software as the host and it works just.. seamlessly. Check it out, it’s outstanding and incomprehensibly good. People connect via their browsers, but with NO exaggeration, it has 1/50th the load time of FGU or FG, and is so utterly beautiful. Check it out, you will be impressed.
– Real player with 530.5 hrs in game
Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms
Idle D&D game? Count me in! Cute characters, addicting game play, funny story lines (sensiblechuckle.gif), easy to grind gems to pay for shiny upgrades. Kept me up hours past bedtime. 10/10.
– Real player with 2609.5 hrs in game
Love this game. Played a few idle clicker types but nothing like this. Exceptionally fun and I’m sure I’ll be playing it for a long time to come.
– Real player with 2155.3 hrs in game
Knights of the Chalice
While I recommend this game, it’s with the caveat that you understand that this is not a ‘Zone Clear’ game. Unless you use the tools put into your hands AND get lucky, spend excess time traveling the areas and picking up XP if you want a good bit of cushioning between your characters and the power level of the bullshit that will be placed in your path.
The orc fort, as has been mentioned elsewhere, has a fucking dragon halfway through the area. Even though there is a contingent opportunity that you can pick up some dragon-slaying arrows, they are not guaranteed to kill the damn thing and your level will be too low to fight it head on if you have followed the story path.
– Real player with 94.0 hrs in game
A work of Art
For the longest time I refused to buy this game. It looks just like Ultima 6 but that was a game from 1990.. It also plays very much like the game but with tweeks and rules from the beloved 3.5DnD. With that being said, I don’t think this game will sell well. 20$ is an outrageous sum.. It needs to be 10$. Only die hard fans of 3.5 would throw their money at this at first glance. I understand that some developers are artists, and this is worthy of being art. If the developer can afford to do this, then I guess that’s fine. However, they are missing their chance to expose their art to thousands of people who enjoy the old school. I don’t think they realize that there are hundreds of similar games that are either free or for half the price. So when people see that price tag they will pass it up as I did. As I said, I refused to buy this and probably would never have. In contrast, when I heard that some of the quests were based on classic DnD modules that I enjoyed, I forked out the cash.
– Real player with 42.5 hrs in game
Dungeon Solver
If I could give a neutral view, that would be great, but alas, it not possible.
But I’d still recommend getting it if you want to relax AND are good at solving puzzles - as you need all heroes alive, not just the warrior to get it through, so can’t sacrifice the wizard so the warrior can attack the enemy.
You have you use the brain of yours to get anywhere, but if you don’t this game aint for you.
– Real player with 24.4 hrs in game
One game mechanic, having to press skip on every single turn, makes a 2 hour game into a 16 hour game. This becomes extremely tedious as you move through the game. the Skip enemy turn button should simple be a toggle, would make the game more enjoyable.
Since the developers are actively fixing the small aforementioned issue, it does not significantly take away from the puzzle solving value included in this surprisingly deep game.
– Real player with 14.4 hrs in game
Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara
If you’re thinking this is just going to be another double dragon game then like what Captain Tenneal likes to say on the show MXC: “Well, YOU’RE WRONG!!!”
This game incorporates some of the most advanced mechanics you’ve ever seen in any beat-em-up. And mind you these two games came out wayyyy back in 1996. Expect to see: Critical hits in your attacks, spell casting, combos, FOUR PLAYERS!, backstabbing, infinite combos (if you’re good enough), secrets, forked paths, different equiappable weapons, level ups, and unlockable in game perks such as arts, galleries, and even house rules to play around with.
– Real player with 598.0 hrs in game
Gather your party before setting forth! Or just yourself. That way you don’t need to see the disappointment in your friend’s eyes as you die to a kobold.
“BY THE ABYSS
- Fighter, every time he falls down. Every time.
Chronicles of Mystara is two ported games with some retro flair - Shadow Over Mystara, which is a cult classic beatemup which has as much accolades as Gary Gygax giving birth to the 20-sided die, and there’s Tower of Doom, which can come too.
They’re coin-op arcade games with a flair for the tabletop, giving you classes, items, branching paths, Tower of Doom even has effects for enemies failing saving throws. All of this makes for a game that’s novel, intricate by nature, and has earned its cult classic status.
– Real player with 28.7 hrs in game
Spellsword Cards: Demontide
It’s not finished so maybe this review is not fair but it’s not in early access.
I finished only the 1st chapter because the 2nd is not done.
Pros:
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creative monsters, unqiue enemies
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long campaign (example: longer than the Northmark’s campaign)
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autonavigation in quest menu
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some art is nice
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gauntlet / puzzles minigames
Cons:
- the campaign is not polished
I couldn’t finish the 1rst chapter when my hero was a warrior because I couldn’t defeat two monsters (stirred up & in flight),
and I don’t like the slow grind (job board)
– Real player with 22.3 hrs in game
Sometimes I think what’s happening with Steam and why there are so many negatives. One reviewer says that ‘it needs a pass over with someone who understands card games’. Really, mate? Dev has just designed the whole card system and is good at it. Dev is often active and updates the game, but it seems that you want to push him away.
The game is good, it has a really interesting character development, cool story and well-designed battles in which you have to tune your deck. It is a deep system, not crossing the line of ‘read the fine print’, check the guide here to see it yourself:
– Real player with 12.0 hrs in game
Vagrus - The Riven Realms
Genuinely good. Multiple ways to play through, interesting conceits and brutal treatment of mistakes. A player really gets the feeling that their choices matter to their future and no decision is taken lightly, whether in the scripted events or even in just where to go. Great game to replay using different builds and goals, which adds longevity. A really good strong start form the devs, they should be proud of their product. I hope they continue to build and improve.
– Real player with 496.7 hrs in game
Vagrus is for particular tastes. Do you want an open world trade-simulation oriented RPG with a lot of content, almost all of which is delivered through text? Are you ok with playing a character that never appears in the game except through choices and effects you make on your trade caravan, your companions, and the factions you fight or ally with? Are you ok with these choices changing the course of the overall story only in a limited way, so the bulk of your player effect is in how you choose to advance your caravan and companions and not how you destroy an enemy or change the world? Most of the big moments in the game are finding out about something that is going on, but being unable to completely stop it. Sometimes you can’t effect it at all. But, you learn, and in almost every way in Vagrus, knowledge is power. The user interface is wonky, the gameplay is deep but takes a long time to get your head around, and currently the Internet will not answer all of your many questions about how the world works. You’ll need to figure quite a bit out for yourself. Does that sound fun? give Vagrus a try.
– Real player with 286.4 hrs in game