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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  Gaming  |  But is it Fun?  |  Topic: Hinterland - Tilted Mill - PC 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: Hinterland - Tilted Mill - PC  (Read 7501 times)
sidereal
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Posts: 1712


on: October 30, 2008, 10:14:39 PM

The Hinterland sales pitch is many a PC RPG fan's wet dream.  Take your isometric action RPG and mix it in with a city-builder.  Anno 1503 meets Diablo.  Sacred meets Cleopatra.  Majesty meets. . uh, Majesty, except you control the guys.  Gameplay consists of running out to the wilderness to kill foozles and gather gold, returning to town to spend the gold on new building and upgrades, rinsing, and repeating.   NPCs can be swapped back and forth between the adventuring party and their town function, though there's little point in taking your farmers and innkeepers out to get slaughtered.  Your party will generally be town guards plus a cloth-wearer or two. 

Unfortunately, the novelty and the buzz from the hybrid gameplay wears off fairly quickly.  It's a little unexpected in an indie game.  The familiar knock against indies is that -- while they often have great depth and complexity -- they lack the art, polish, and attention to playability that would make them digestable to most gamers (see: Dwarf Fortress).  Tilted Mill decided to flip that script.  The art, the 3d modeling, the interface, and the intuitiveness of the gameplay are all very good for an indie game (Understandable, since the development team comes from A titles, like Pharaoh).  But there's very little depth.  The player will see nearly all of the buildings, equipment, and enemies in the game within the first couple of hours of play.  There are no quests or other narrative elements.  Each game is a randomly generated map which offers 'replayability' in the same way that stirring your soup makes it a new meal.

That said, those first few hours are definitely Fun.  And I can see coming back and spending an hour or so here or there when I crave Action RPG City Building.  That's worth 20 bucks.

THIS IS THE MOST I HAVE EVERY WANTED TO GET IN TO A BETA
schild
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Posts: 60345


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Reply #1 on: October 30, 2008, 11:03:07 PM

Quote
Each game is a randomly generated map which offers 'replayability' in the same way that stirring your soup makes it a new meal.

lol
Yegolev
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Posts: 24440

2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST


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Reply #2 on: October 31, 2008, 01:02:27 AM

Tilted Mill is an indie dev?  After Sim City Societies, I think they are just crappy.

Why am I homeless?  Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
Bandit
Terracotta Army
Posts: 604


Reply #3 on: October 31, 2008, 05:52:14 AM

I have been eyeballin' this title for a while on steam, unfortunately depth is where it's at.  Thanks, saved me a few bucks.
Slyfeind
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Posts: 2037


Reply #4 on: October 31, 2008, 08:33:06 PM

This isn't the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink I was expecting, but it's definitely fun. It took me a while to figure out just what I was supposed to do, because there's no real tutorial and the "manual" offers little in terms of gameplay hints. Fortunately, just about everything has a mouse-over tip and you can follow these until you get to where you need to be.

For example, the first thing I did was upgrade my house, because that's the first thing I saw to click on. I didn't know how to hire NPCs, until I found out I didn't have enough money. I didn't know how to get money until I saw that you kill monsters. I didn't know where the monsters were, but the web site told me to press Tab for the overview map. It was a bit annoying at first, but I got it eventually.

And yeah, little depth. I've seen everything there is to see, so it's just a matter of completing the map. Still, it's good for an hour here and there.

"Role playing in an MMO is more like an open orchestra with no conductor, anyone of any skill level can walk in at any time, and everyone brings their own instrument and plays whatever song they want.  Then toss PvP into the mix and things REALLY get ugly!" -Count Nerfedalot
sidereal
Contributor
Posts: 1712


Reply #5 on: June 11, 2009, 03:14:31 PM

Necro update.

Hinterland now has the Orc Lords update, which has some interesting features.  And is a free upgrade to people who already own the game.  Like me!

THIS IS THE MOST I HAVE EVERY WANTED TO GET IN TO A BETA
schild
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Posts: 60345


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Reply #6 on: June 11, 2009, 03:26:30 PM

Necro update.

Hinterland now has the Orc Lords update, which has some interesting features.  And is a free upgrade to people who already own the game.  Like me!
Oh awesome, reinstall time. Thanks for the news.
Hawkbit
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Posts: 5531

Like a Klansman in the ghetto.


Reply #7 on: June 11, 2009, 03:33:10 PM

Word on the street is that the retail box has a Securom/DRM fiasco attached. 
sidereal
Contributor
Posts: 1712


Reply #8 on: June 11, 2009, 06:42:47 PM

So it turns out I bought my copy on Impulse, and they don't have the updated version.

Booooooooooo!!

I'm trying to figure out how to make Steam recognize that I have the game with some importing/CD key shenanigans, but so far no worky.

THIS IS THE MOST I HAVE EVERY WANTED TO GET IN TO A BETA
Paelos
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Error 404: Title not found.


Reply #9 on: June 15, 2009, 09:46:33 PM

I picked this up and I've played 5 games on it of varying length and difficulty. It's pretty fun and silly, with some good leveling choices about your character, and simplistic cities that you can populate with your cadre of friends. The only thing I don't like about the game is that there is a very rigid build order that you absolutely must complete early on in the game, and sometimes the game doesn't give you food-producers right off the bat. That's annoying when I'm looking at a merchant and high priest, then a bard and necromancer in my first two groups while my ass starves. Also, there's a minor bug when you pick up people that sometimes their loot graphically doesn't show up, or it mocks whatever loot you have on.

I haven't tried the orc races stuff yet, but that's next on the list.

CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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