Wildermyth: Some initial observations

Mendel

I've muddled around with Wildermyth this past weekend, and here are some observations (in lieu of an actual review) I've picked up along the way.

I started experimenting, following the first 'mission'.  Unlike other games, this 'mission' is really nothing more than a starting point on a randomized map with a goal, and some parameters to control the dynamic creation of obstacles, events, and actions as the 'story' unfolds.  I managed to get through the first mission, The Age of Ulstryx.  That's all I've touched so far.  I'll try not to spoil story specifics as I go.

Very first impressions.  Love the art style.  The writing is stellar.  The comic panel presentation is very well done.  The game plays like reading an actual comic book.  The accompanying music is also nice.  Playing a bit, the game is pretty difficult.  There are a lot of conventions that you have to understand and get used to in order to make progress.  More than a few attempts ended with defeat and restarting as I learned the game mechanics.

The game pushed back as I tried to finish chapter 1 (of 3) for this mission.  It was my fourth or fifth attempt before I managed to complete the first chapter, and get started on the second.  For anyone just starting this game, I'd definitely recommend figuring out the save game system earlier than I did.

As I said before, the writing is stellar.  The story unfolds well, with a mix of narrative and dialog, and some world text (either dialog or sounds).  It presents the story in a clear, unhurried, frame-at-a-time manner.  Each panel appears, and requires input to advance the story, so there's no 'hey, wait game!  I missed that' moments.  The story uses a lot of quiet time -- panels with only images and no text to suggest various things -- personal character reflection, travel, waiting, time passing -- those kinds of things.  Instead of narrative telling you something like 'The characters marched for days through the hills', it presents images of the hills your characters were traveling.  That's really effective, at least for me.

The adventure spots are very randomized, the basic formula is your characters enter the area, the scenery is somewhat randomized, and the mobs are distributed.  Visibility plays a large part in combat.  Mobs are hidden from sight until they are 'revealed' by a character seeing them.  Some character types (hunters) can become invisible themselves, and mobs can't find them (for the purposes of maiming, mutilating and otherwise massacring them).

In some situations, the interface was a fairly big obstacle.  I flat out refuse to admit how many times I moved a character thinking it was a different character.  I had investigate parts of the interface in mid-peril, through Steam discussions and meticulous observations.

Combat is generally similar to the new XCOM tactical combat.  A character generally has 2 actions per turn.  Melee and ranged combat are particularly good, with a few very interesting skills to deploy on the battlefield.  This tends to give a lot of tactical emphasis on skills -- does the warrior smack the thing next to it, or do you Guard (smacking the next thing to move near), does the hunter shoot or Sidestep (become invisible).  The order of character movement is often imperative, and choosing which character to move isn't immediately intuitive -- the game has a turn order -- it presents a character to move but that can be overwritten.  Figure that out -- immediately!

Magic is a different beast.  Your magician characters only have the ability to Infuse with scenery in range.  The actual bit of scenery determine what kind of effects (and range) that can be cast.  Tables can be splintered to damage enemies, rocks can be hurled at mobs, light sources can be manipulated to burn things (read: mobs).  It is very interesting, and I'm still coming to grips with the intricacies.  Some magician skills add additional damage skills to specific scenery items.  My favorite (so far) is the ability to provide a one turn armor buff to another character.  Scenery also is used up by magic.  You get one shot at splintering that table, then it's gone.   Fortunately, you can Infuse with 2 items at a time.  This simplistic system adds a wonderful layer of complexity to combat, and there will be times you magician will have to whack things with a staff.

There are some minor drawbacks that I've encountered.  These include:

• The game tends to pick characters for your move, regardless if they are already busy.  This really becomes bothersome after your party gets to 6 or 7 characters.  I've had 4 to explore a new area, 1 building a bridge and 2 in town crafting some gear.  Then the four finish scouting, I'll attack the main obstacle, but it will choose 5 people to attack.  So, one of the other people who are busy gets interrupted to come to a fight, leaving their task undone.  Always check who is going on a task.  They may be very far away.
  

• The game treats the final mission in a chapter as an all-or-nothing encounter.  When the 4 (of 8) characters died in the final encounter, the chapter was over.  What about the other 4 characters?  They don't get a chance to continue the mission?
  

• The second chapter of the Age of Ulstryx came up with a '300 days left' message.  That was a timed chapter.  No warning.  Pretty much failed that one, but went on with a brute force approach.

• I'm mildly disappointed with the Opportunity events.  These are character specific random events that can occur for a random character.  The problem with these is that they interrupt ongoing tasks, and take additional people with them.  All of the Opportunity events that I encountered presented me with two options -- one which did something dramatic and took a number of panels to resolve, and a 'do nothing' choice which just ended the opportunity.  That's a choice without a consequence, leaving the entire Opportunity a gamble.  As I struggled (time wise) to finish chapter 3 before I wrote this, I simply started ignoring any Opportunity events, as they mostly dispersed the group around the map, and regrouping took too much time.

• Fundamentally, there simply aren't enough decision points where the player makes a decision.  The story goes on for panel after panel, the player having little control over the scripted story.  Only infrequently (and mostly towards the beginning of a Story) does the player get to help form the mood, feelings and thoughts of the characters, and then only indirectly.  Choose a character this character loves or respects or is a rival to.
  

There's still a lot I haven't figured out about Wildermyth.  You get Legacy Points periodically and for accomplishing things.  There are a few ways to spend these -- recruiting a new character, blocking opponent skills/upgrades, crafting items or hoarding them.  I really don't know what might be best.  I tried a bit of each, without any insight.  Many more strategic/tactical questions remain, like what kind of party composition is good against what kind of foes, etc.  Then there's more story to explore.

Scorchien

Great write up Mendel .. Have fun ..