"Stoneshard" Early Access - A beautiful, punishing open-world turnbased roguelike
- Thread starter Klyka
- Start date
Sure, tried the berserker and sword maiden about 3 times each and was unable to even get them to level 2.
The only quest I've seen in town is from the elder. I'm unable to purchase anything so I stick with core gear. I've tried to stay on the roads and have managed to kill thugs and wolves by kiting, but have to back track to town after pretty much any fight and have yet to even reach the quest objective area.
I'm down for hard games, but this one honestly feels underdeveloped mostly bc the early game is a mess numbers-wise. There's a million NPCs running around town which do nothing. Every enemy encounter is potentially your last and the rewards are not enough to keep you going OR meaningfully progress to the next level.
Looks great though and the prologue was a nice crawl! I'm just saying it's definitely EA.
I have to agree that the prologue is so much better than the main game. The pacing and experimentation in the prologue is great. Right now in the main game, I venture out just a little, get some pelts, come back to town (which is way too big for turn based movement), buy something and rest to save. The leveling seems so slow after the speed of the prologue.
I played part of the Prologue and liked what I saw.
How does the "rogue lite" aspects work tho?
From what I saw it looked like a linear rpg so far. Do you start some kind of new run everytime you die? If so, what do you keep between runs?
How's does the meta progression works?
How does the "rogue lite" aspects work tho?
From what I saw it looked like a linear rpg so far. Do you start some kind of new run everytime you die? If so, what do you keep between runs?
How's does the meta progression works?
You lose everything up to your last save which is done by resting in the inn. A new update allowed you to sleep in bandit hideouts as well.
Ah ok... So it's not really run based I guess. It's more like a standard rpg with a harsh checkpoint system.
After playing a character through the first two contracts - this is going to be the Stardew Valley of roguelikes.
It also randomly generates the dungeons and quests every run.
It also randomly generates the dungeons and quests every run.
Do you know if when you start a new character it overwrites the old?
If I want to try a different class, will I lose my current berserker?
I can't say this is my personal experience really.
What I do when I start is I use my starting gold to buy some food, some splints and bandages and get the kind of equipment I want for my build, like say, buy a shield if I want to go Axe and Shield or buy a second dagger if I want to dual wield, you know the deal.
Then I don't take any contract for now, instead I go to all the points of interests close by. Those are almost always bandit camps (which now scale to your level since the last patch too) and I clear them out. That usually nets you lots of stuff to sell and bit by bit upgrade your armor. You want to try and have armor that has "protection" on it for every armor piece cause protection reduces the damage you take.
Clearing all the camps and doing random encounters with bandits and wolves usually gets me to lvl 3 at which point I'll have multiple skills that will help me beat encounters easier.
At that point I go and do the contracts one by one which gives you nice sums of money and loot to sell.
Then off you go to Mannshire where you can buy the next tiers of armor and weapons, clear the POIs and then do the contracts there.
Right now it will overwrite your character, yes. You currently only have one save slot. The devs have said that in the future you will be able to have multiple.
I gave this a shot after posting about trying to find fun open games like this, and I'm having an absolute blast!
I hope they can speed up the leveling a little though, since you have very few options early on and have to kill a TON of people to get stronger!
Otherwise, it's super rad! Anyone got any tips for a runaway mage focusing on Pyromancy? Should I grab the bolder from Geomancy to suplement my playstyle? I'm just one level away from Burning Laser, and I'm curious how people play keepaway from enemies to keep safe!
Also, Dang those archers! They may not hit often, but they hit hard! Makes open combat in the overworld sufficiently dangerous and exciting compared to in dungeons.
Speaking of which, the rate in which I get destroyed by overestimating my ability to take on a group is staggering! Gotta play it safe!
I hope they can speed up the leveling a little though, since you have very few options early on and have to kill a TON of people to get stronger!
Otherwise, it's super rad! Anyone got any tips for a runaway mage focusing on Pyromancy? Should I grab the bolder from Geomancy to suplement my playstyle? I'm just one level away from Burning Laser, and I'm curious how people play keepaway from enemies to keep safe!
Also, Dang those archers! They may not hit often, but they hit hard! Makes open combat in the overworld sufficiently dangerous and exciting compared to in dungeons.
Speaking of which, the rate in which I get destroyed by overestimating my ability to take on a group is staggering! Gotta play it safe!
I kite all the time. Try to get just one enemy's attention. I agree that the leveling feels slow. For having so little to do, I'm still enjoying my time with it as well.
You guys should look into Battle Brothers... not as slick as this but it's basically the same pitch and already balanced, feature complete and with DLC published and more on the way. Highly underrated gem.
I like Stoneshard for presentation and deeper exploration. Very promising.
I like Stoneshard for presentation and deeper exploration. Very promising.
Different genre? It's obviously not the same game but you could take the feature list in the OP and use it to describe Battle Brothers just fine. Stoneshard seems to have more in common with it than, say, Blackguards.
Completely different genre, its not roguelike. Battle Brothers are closer to Mount and Blade or Xcom then a roguelike game.
The voice acting in the prologue is pretty darn good. I miss it in the main game. Hope the same actors return.
It doesn't sound like this game is actually a roguelike either, though. A sprinkling of procgen does not a roguelike make.
Yeah, but at least that saves effort on allowing all the different equipment to look unique on your character! Plus it's cute!
Oh for sure, I do so too! I just think early levels should be slightly adjusted, that's all. You don't need to become a monster man/lady at the start, but it'd be nice to get to lvl 3 or 4 just a bit quicker, that's all.
The pace is awesome for what's happening, and I like the danger and consequences! I just think the prologue gave a curve that nails the feeling of progression for me so far, and just halving or giving a third of that pace for the early game would be the best way to go about it.
You don't fight big amounts of enemies you can actually take on well enough unless you're in an enclosed space like a dungeon, so maybe there should be a XP bonus for taking on multiple enemies at the same time? Just because of how super dangerous it is?
Also, anyone have any luck finding good equipment out in the Points of Interest or Dungeons or other towns?
But... how? The only thing I've seen said is that there's some procgen at the beginning of the game. There's an ironman mode but no permadeath by default. The game seems more oriented towards long term character progression over the course of a single campaign. What am I missing here?
All the game's mechanics? Just because permadeath is not by default, doesnt mean it is not a roguelike. It plays like roguelike games and it is mechanically constructed as roguelike game.
regarding saving your game, i've only ever paid once at the inn and can sleep there indefinitely...don't know if this is widely known.
i've played about 20hours and love it, started with bow/dagger but then tried pure pyro and it's pretty OP. Visiting question marks and going on hunting expeditions are a great way to level up and get some cash.
I've not even made it to the 2nd town, my pryo's about lvl 6 or 7 and toasts everything.
Gonna try a melee focus soon, but everything hits so hard in the early game!
really lovely game, looking forward to spending some more time with it.
i've played about 20hours and love it, started with bow/dagger but then tried pure pyro and it's pretty OP. Visiting question marks and going on hunting expeditions are a great way to level up and get some cash.
I've not even made it to the 2nd town, my pryo's about lvl 6 or 7 and toasts everything.
Gonna try a melee focus soon, but everything hits so hard in the early game!
really lovely game, looking forward to spending some more time with it.
Played the prologue and I loved it. Ill prob hold off until there's more content, but its def going on my wishlist.
I don't think they've added in the roguelike stuff just yet. This is what they mention in the Kickstarter:
I think once the Caravan is added, we'll get the typical roguelike stuff like carrying things over and so on.
I think once the Caravan is added, we'll get the typical roguelike stuff like carrying things over and so on.
You know the dev is in the thread, right? Good job dude, there goes my rent free digs.
Played the prologue. Seems interesting. I'm leaning towards buying the game with the combined 25% discounts. :)
The devs actually said that if you die in the real game you play as someone from your caravan instead of just "loading the game"
Actually a combined 23.5%, but still a great deal! :P
Do it!
[1 - (.9*.85) ] * 100
I'm in a sidequest where you must go to a Tomb (Tinkling Tomb) and (light enemy spoilers)
Any hints?
most enemies there are skeletons who have heavy armor and my axe wielding dwarf is having huuuuuge problems with them because a lot of my attacks are blocked and i end up dying.
Use maces. Those enemies take extra damage from crushing. I had to do the same thing with my axe dwarf haha
Man, this game is amazing! I'm reaching a good grove now that I managed to find a Witch hut and buy myself a pyromancer robe! Anybody tried taking her up on her offer of a drink? I was way too spooked by the offer, but she seemed to be cool as long as I don't bail on her offer the next time. She had some nice stuff and let me take it.
If you find one, she'll have a Unique Witch hat and Witch Stave, most likely. They are useful for spellcasters!
I'm really looking forward to getting another Pyromancy book to start rocking that extra 1 range eventually, that'd be a lifesaver! Anyone lucked out on useful stuff, or relics or some such? I'm curious what good enchantments or neat stuff people have been finding lately, I desire immense power!
If you find one, she'll have a Unique Witch hat and Witch Stave, most likely. They are useful for spellcasters!
I'm really looking forward to getting another Pyromancy book to start rocking that extra 1 range eventually, that'd be a lifesaver! Anyone lucked out on useful stuff, or relics or some such? I'm curious what good enchantments or neat stuff people have been finding lately, I desire immense power!
When did the patch go live? I got jacked last night by a group after steamrolling stuff.
Forgot to grab it when it was on sale and the coupon worked. Definitely going to wait now. Damn it.
Roadmap was updated for March:
Also new patch notes!
Also new patch notes!
I had already posted it in my post above yours XDI looked up that roadmap from their Steam post
