The Wagadu Chronicles Early Access Review in Progress | A Leisurely Stroll Through African Lore | MM

System · January 3

The Wagadu Chronicles Early Access Review in Progress | A Leisurely Stroll Through African Lore | MMORPG.com

Twin Drums Afro-Fantasy game The Wagadu Chronicles is an experience like no other. In the early game, I'm still undecided on whether that's a good or bad thing.

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Slapshot1188 · January 3

Whats the player interaction like? SteamCharts shows 6 players average. Have you grouped? Seen lots of folks?

For turn based combat in an MMO, grouping can often be a downfall as it turns into a slog. I really disliked D:OS and DOS:2 combat because of this. But with BG3 it's much better in my eyes as we can frequently take actions simultaneously and combat seems to flow much faster. If combat pacing is "so slow that I have enough time for a micro-nap in between actions" it would be an order of magnitude greater if the group combat did not allow for simultaneous actions.

Asm0deus · January 3

Everything still looks truly horrid........the idea of the game was interesting but yikes

Scot · January 3

"The speed of combat is so slow that I have enough time for a micro-nap in between actions", that's a deal breaker for many I am sure, but it might well be sorted by release.

I assume the game will get a score, but will there be a later review when it launches to release? This was the concern I always had about early access reviews, will there be two reviews which is double the workload? But the studios have pushed us to this so here we are.

lotrlore · January 3

Scot said:

"The speed of combat is so slow that I have enough time for a micro-nap in between actions", that's a deal breaker for many I am sure, but it might well be sorted by release.

I assume the game will get a score, but will there be a later review when it launches to release? This was the concern I always had about early access reviews, will there be two reviews which is double the workload? But the studios have pushed us to this so here we are.

Yes, it will have a score (the first of our scored Early Access reviews since practically every MMO and live service game launches this way now whilst asking for money), and we'll revisit when the full game goes live whenever that is.

Though, reader interest will also factor in, so like, if we're not seeing traction on any articles for the game, it might not be worth it down the road, but we'll figure it out when the time comes. But the goal is to provide an updated review score when the 1.0 release happens.

But if companies are going to ask for money and then leave games in early access limbo for years, we're going to start treating them like games worthy of criticism. We'll be clearly marking it as an Early Access review, though, so there isn't any confusion.

StevenWeber · January 3

Slapshot1188 said:

Whats the player interaction like? SteamCharts shows 6 players average. Have you grouped? Seen lots of folks?

For turn based combat in an MMO, grouping can often be a downfall as it turns into a slog. I really disliked D:OS and DOS:2 combat because of this. But with BG3 it's much better in my eyes as we can frequently take actions simultaneously and combat seems to flow much faster. If combat pacing is "so slow that I have enough time for a micro-nap in between actions" it would be an order of magnitude greater if the group combat did not allow for simultaneous actions.

Greetings Friendly MMORPGer,

Not to put too fine a point on this but, I haven't seen any fellow Wagaduers during my adventure as of yet. I don't know where to find them at this point. Should I have seen them in the tutorial? Probably not. On the first few islands? Perhaps, but alas, no. I've checked behind trees and under a few rocks. No dice.

Grouping in turn-based online games always gives me anxiety. I've attempted this in other online turn-based titles like Broken Ranks. It usually turns into "Hurry up and choose!" or "I'm sorry I'm picking as fast as I can, stop yelling!" And who can forget the always entertaining, "I think everyone else left and I'm alone so I have to wait out the party timer."

That's not to say that I wouldn't group given the chance. If I ever find another person in Wagadu, I'll cling to them like an affectionate sloth. Until then, I can only soldier on and hope there's more adventure out there in these African wildlands.

Happy posting!

Tiller · January 3

I'm actually waiting for this to be further along and a decent sale to try this. EA games are risky buys these days.

goemoe · January 3

The game has had over 2600 backers in its kickstarter campaign, me included. The game has not changed much (some polish and better UI though) in over a year now. This is not just early access, it is this way for a very long time now. With an all time peak of 28 players at the same time and even hard core fan boys not playing anymore, I would be very surprised, if the game ever releases. https://steamcharts.com/app/2464400 says enough.

After all the years of development you have the same animation for each gathering skill, the same animation for each weapon type in combat holding nothing in your hand. We had feedback in 2022 which was exactly the same as today, with no reaction of the team.

I liked the approach of an african style cozy MMO where combat is only an option, not the core of the game. But after all this time following the game, I sincerly doubt the team knows what it takes to build such a game. The numbers aren't lying.

MadBomber13 · January 3

Pity. The concept behind this looked interesting but the actual execution is the tricky bit.

ZenJelly · January 4

Gave it a chance. Isn't worth it. Feels like it's abondoned at this point.

Scot · January 4

lotrlore said:

Scot said:

"The speed of combat is so slow that I have enough time for a micro-nap in between actions", that's a deal breaker for many I am sure, but it might well be sorted by release.

I assume the game will get a score, but will there be a later review when it launches to release? This was the concern I always had about early access reviews, will there be two reviews which is double the workload? But the studios have pushed us to this so here we are.

Yes, it will have a score (the first of our scored Early Access reviews since practically every MMO and live service game launches this way now whilst asking for money), and we'll revisit when the full game goes live whenever that is.

Though, reader interest will also factor in, so like, if we're not seeing traction on any articles for the game, it might not be worth it down the road, but we'll figure it out when the time comes. But the goal is to provide an updated review score when the 1.0 release happens.

But if companies are going to ask for money and then leave games in early access limbo for years, we're going to start treating them like games worthy of criticism. We'll be clearly marking it as an Early Access review, though, so there isn't any confusion.

This seems spot on, if the game has not got traction by the time it launches to release, what is the point of doubling the workload with a follow up?

Margrave · January 4

I had hopes for it, but turn-based combat is a 'no go' for me.

ValdemarJ · January 4

StevenWeber said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Whats the player interaction like? SteamCharts shows 6 players average. Have you grouped? Seen lots of folks?

For turn based combat in an MMO, grouping can often be a downfall as it turns into a slog. I really disliked D:OS and DOS:2 combat because of this. But with BG3 it's much better in my eyes as we can frequently take actions simultaneously and combat seems to flow much faster. If combat pacing is "so slow that I have enough time for a micro-nap in between actions" it would be an order of magnitude greater if the group combat did not allow for simultaneous actions.

Greetings Friendly MMORPGer,

Not to put too fine a point on this but, I haven't seen any fellow Wagaduers during my adventure as of yet. I don't know where to find them at this point. Should I have seen them in the tutorial? Probably not. On the first few islands? Perhaps, but alas, no. I've checked behind trees and under a few rocks. No dice.

Grouping in turn-based online games always gives me anxiety. I've attempted this in other online turn-based titles like Broken Ranks. It usually turns into "Hurry up and choose!" or "I'm sorry I'm picking as fast as I can, stop yelling!" And who can forget the always entertaining, "I think everyone else left and I'm alone so I have to wait out the party timer."

That's not to say that I wouldn't group given the chance. If I ever find another person in Wagadu, I'll cling to them like an affectionate sloth. Until then, I can only soldier on and hope there's more adventure out there in these African wildlands.

Happy posting!

Wizard101 does dynamic grouping turn-based combat and it's so underrated and under appreciated. It really sets a bar on how fluid and interesting it can be.

The slow combat in these new "old school" mmos like this, Pantheon, and "Embers of something" game drives me crazy.