Expeditions: Conquistador

[clyde]

Has anyone checked this game out? It looks really interesting. 

http://conquistadorthegame.com/

[riadsala]

Has anyone checked this game out? It looks really interesting. 

http://conquistadorthegame.com/

 

Yes, I have it. Not very far in, but so far, I really like it. Lovely setting, and the  game mechanics all appear solid so far. And the tactical combat system seems fairly elegant with some nice rules on positioning. After playing Elemental:FE's poor excuse for turn based tactical battles, this game is a joy to play.

 

I love the camping mechanics too. My only worry is that maybe I should of started on a harder difficulty, or with iron man on. Or maybe the diffuclty ramps up later.

[clyde]

What is the narrative style of this game? Are there authored side-quests? I get the impression that there is an authored main quest, but that you can accomplish it with a variety of styles (diplomatically or agressively).

I guess what I'm wondering is this: is progression of an authored narrative what is motivating you to play or is it something else, like accumulation of power and wealth within a sandbox.

[riadsala]

What is the narrative style of this game? Are there authored side-quests? I get the impression that there is an authored main quest, but that you can accomplish it with a variety of styles (diplomatically or agressively).

I guess what I'm wondering is this: is progression of an authored narrative what is motivating you to play or is it something else, like accumulation of power and wealth within a sandbox.

 

 

The story is all told via "chose your own adventure" style text. If you're happy reading, then you'll probably enjoy it. It's certainly the setting that's drawing me in. I guess that's the biggest difference  between it and something like King's Bounty. (although this game is also more focused on having a squad that you slowly level up and customize).Each person in your party has their own backstory, and I guess, personality. I had one of my scouts asking if she could leave the party for two weeks to go treasure hunting with some other folk. 

 

And yes, there are some side-quests,  but I haven't played it enough to give you much more than that.

 

There's a longer discussion of this game on the RPS forums:

 

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?10629-Expeditions-Conquistador-out-on-Steam-today-anyone-play-it-yet

[clyde]

I just spent 3 hours playing it and I'm really enjoying it so far. I took me a while to understand that I couldn't just shortcut through thick jungle. I hope the frequency and quality of events within your party maintains. I think its a neat game. 

[clyde]

I am really enjoying this game. I'm playing at the second to hardest difficulty. I've completed probably four or five main quests and I was starting to think that I should have played on the most difficult setting. But. . .uh. . .some shit went down and then. . . more shit, further down. This game definitely has an FTL quality though it took me seven hours to get to it. I've been trying to stop the bleeding for the last hour. I've lost my first party member and . . .wait for it. . .it was the doctor. The only doctor. I brought one doctor, she's dead. This is not good considering that half of my party is critically wounded. And the savages keep attacking my camp because apparently sick and injured people are not good at guarding camp. Things were going so well. I have doubts that we will survive through this. 

 

The writing is really well done in my opinion. When I was reading people's praises of the writing before I played the game, I thought they were saying that the main narrative is incredibly poignant. Now that I'm playing, I am also praising the writing, but not for the reasons I thought I would. When I am reading the text, I feel like I am reading for pleasure. I don't know how to describe the quality of the writing, it's subtle and doesn't seem like it's trying to do anything. I like it.

[Gormongous]

Anecdotes about quasi-historical fail-states always sell me on games. There was a moment in Hegemony where I marched my army in Illyria into a nightmare of starvation and rout. This game sounds like it's on par. I'll get it when I get home Friday and post thoughts.

[clyde]

Here are some useful tips:
1.You can't traverse thick jungle. Sometimes you see what looks like an opening in the trees, but when you point just beyond it your cursor turns red. Save yourself the rations, you can't go there. 

2.The other thing is that I've never played a game where ranged combat has such horrible percentages to hit. I may be doing something wrong. 

 

I look forward to your impressions. I trying to relax after a failed attempt to get to the North West portion of the island. I used all my medicine and rations. What am I talking about? I should be grateful I'm still alive. When things went from bad to worse to worst, I lost five of my party members. This must be what survivor's guilt is like. I was doing so well. 

[clyde]

Role-playing as a racist is an odd experience. Especially when I write about my experience on internet forums. When I write about my game experiences, I get a lot of humor and joy out of including some role-play perspective in it. But at no point do I want to be misunderstood as glorifying what was possibly the most horrendous genocide in human history. If anyone is has a problem with my use of the word "savages" or any other racist speech, feel free to bring it up here or private message me if you are concerned about having to argue about what racism is with the rest of the internet. I would be interested in hearing your perspectives and concerns. 

 

Yesterday was brutal. I plan to write out what happened when I get to work today. 

One thing this game should be applauded for is writing in fail-state text for every retreat. It's one of the things that makes being horrible at this game so much fun. I'm not sure what happens if you fight to the death, but I've been retreating from nearly every battle since things went from bad to worse, and it actually increases my suspension of disbelief. This is in comparison to having to reload and fight the same battle again with the advantage of retrospection (that always takes me out of the game).

[Gormongous]

I've been playing this game for almost a month and I finally had to quit it. The "tutorial" island was fun, but by the end of it, I'd out-leveled any reasonable challenge the game seemed prepared to throw at me. I figured that the mainland would either abound in silly battle objectives (like "Don't let anyone get to the edges of the map") or pointless overmap vignettes to make up for this. To my surprise, it had both!

 

I might seem presumptuous to say so, but I think this game was made by very smart people making the classic mistakes that smart people make with their first game. The size of the game is amazing, but it's a bit empty and even frustrating, especially when your only means of interacting are dialogue trees and a tactical battle system that's not quite deep enough. The best moments were those when I had to deal with a morale crisis because of my followers' beliefs and when I'd trigger unique conversations with them based on said beliefs, but the game spreads these moments too thin. As I realized while trekking for two minutes of real time between Tenochtitlan and an outlying village for the third time, there's no reason this game should twenty-five or thirty hours, especially when picking and winning fights smartly obviates any real difficulty.

 

I'm disappointed, to be sure, but I look forward to their next game. I just hope the scope is deeper, not wider.