South Park: The Stick of Truth

[Rasix]

So torn on whether to get this or not.  I've heard it's only 15 hours long and has some trademark Obsidian bugginess.  On the other hand it's 15 hours of South Park and all indications is that's it a real RPG, although reportedly a bit easy. 

[Phildo]

Can anyone speak to the actual gameplay?  Also, to the 15 hours thing?  Because holy crap is this overpriced, if that's the case.

[calapine]

Can anyone speak to the actual gameplay?  Also, to the 15 hours thing?  Because holy crap is this overpriced, if that's the case.

Sadly I can't comment on the gameplay yet, due to this small detail:

[Merusk]

Soo someone finally realized, "Oh shit, a sweat sticker!"

[jakonovski]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9hfZJ9VKPE

[Mazakiel]

So far, it's not breaking any new ground on mechanics and gameplay.  It's a basic RPG in that regard, turn-based ("Because that's how they did it in medieval times!"), wander around town searching for quests and loot, fighting random enemies, etc. 

The combat itself tends to have timed button presses for most abilities that impact it's level of effect, and you block damage from enemy attacks in the same way. 

Your class choice seems to mainly just be tied to what special abilities you have access to.  My character is a mage, but I'm still able to fire a bow and swing my noob hammer pretty well.  I'm squishy, though.  Thankfully you get a buddy who can heal very early on. 

I'm enjoying it so far, but if you're not a fan of the show, I don't think the gameplay alone would be enough to win you over. 

[Tebonas]

Cancelling it is. If I want to pay money for a game I don't know a delivery date for I back in on Kickstarter.

[rk47]

$60 is too high for a cartoon inspired rpg sorry.

[Lakov_Sanite]

$60 is too high for a cartoon inspired rpg sorry.

Every jrpg ever?

[Phildo]

I caved and bought this yesterday because I love the show and wanted something new.  It reminds me a LOT of the first two Penny Arcade RPGs.  Licensed material with lots of references and inside jokes, Mario RPG-style combat w/timed button presses, relatively short run time.

Still, I'm enjoying it because it's got decent enough gameplay and it really does feel like an extended episode of the show.  So if you love South Park, go ahead and pull the trigger.  If you're still curious but don't love the show, wait for the summer sale.

[rk47]

$60 is too high for a cartoon inspired rpg sorry.

Every jrpg ever?

Havent seen any south park hentai sorry.

[murdoc]

LIAR!

[rk47]

Can anyone speak to the actual gameplay?  Also, to the 15 hours thing?  Because holy crap is this overpriced, if that's the case.

It's selling the humor.
But the RPG tag is a misnomer.
Every combat is a QTE fest.
Everytime you attack, there would be a flashing icon on your weapon. Time your click perfectly for a bump in damage. Doing it totally wrong would result in puny damage.
I tried the game for 15 minutes on hardcore. Aside from sudden spike in damage due to bad blocking QTE (I'm 30 yo. Fuck me) there's hardly any difficulty to speak of.
Money is easy to get, upgrades are linear. There are variety in weapons and armor but you can only equip your avatar which is a shame.
And like I, you must be thinking that Obsidian can pull a rabbit from a deep top hat by including tactical elements with the myriad of cast that could join you.
Sorry friend, you can only have 1 party member in battles. Choose between Butters the Paladin, Kenny the Princess etc.
Outside of combat you can even do silly things like farting at an open flame to trigger an explosion so the mobs get KO'ed.
Fart at them before engaging - and they get poisoned.
Shoot arrow at them - they start out stunned.
Hello, EZ mode.

Whatever. There's slight variety in builds (that's pushing it, FEW is the right word for it) You have to TRY to be shitty to lose in combat.
Cause money management is nearly nonexistent - just buy whatever you fancy. 2x Attack pots, sure. HP pots, why not? It's a game, to have fun (shit argument is shit. Edgy 11 out of 10. Fuck)
And the combat system is generous with consumables - quaffing a pot is a free action. So feel free to drink that 60% HP pot per turn and attack. Do you feel like a hero? Want to rape Kenny? Wait DLC. Fuck yeah.

Bugginess is exaggerated. OH NOES it's not Bethesda, so let's put on our monocles and do a critique! Fuck you game journalist, fuck you and your dorito. And I hope your Mt. Dew is mixed with horse piss.

So in short:
If you like SP but found $60 is too much for a simple RPG (Think Pokemon with QTE) - wait for discount.
If you dislike SP, don't even buy it.
Me, I look at it from a pirate vessel and didn't really stick around long. It's not worth $60 IMO.
Never ever.
Fags.

[apocrypha]

Did... did you just roleplay that review as Cartman?

[Sky]

Did... did you just roleplay that review as Cartman?

That's how I read it.

And I liked it.

I'm waiting for the discount, but really looking forward to it. I blame the jews.

[KallDrexx]

 

[Ironwood]

Seriously ? 

[Sky]

Sounds more like a 10 review! Although the review was highly offensive and intolerant.

[Phildo]

The negative reviews are highly inconsistent.  Here's a fun example of a 2:

A great RPG in a bag full of **** Stupid, juvenile, american humour ruins what good intentions Obsidian had while making this game. If you're a South Park fan, buy it, if you're sick and tired of "american sense of humour" stay away from this terrible game... add to that standard Obsidian bugs and glitches, shallow gameplay mechanics and way too easy difficulty and you'll know what I'm talking about. Also it looks just like the show, for me it is a really bad design, for a fan - a huge plus.

I can't imagine anyone getting it more wrong than this guy.  A great RPG?  Most of the other negative reviews cite bad gameplay and bugginess over anything else.

[Merusk]

Guy's obviously an Obsidian fanboy and they can do no wrong.  I mean, if you HATE South Park and "American Humor" enough to put it in quotes, you bought the game purely for the studio. In which case he deserved every single offense he felt.

[Segoris]

 

I can only read that in Sheila Broflovski's voice

[taolurker]

Seriously, It's a South Park Game.

I watched a friend play this some, and honestly it's a really well done "South Park" with the typical humor, but that seemed like the only good thing about the game overall. Other than playing this for the comedy, I'd say it was not worth the struggle (at least as buggy as it is) and with some of the worst RPG. Training to get skills? Bad turn based potion chugging? Different mini game like skills (one looked like dance dance revolution), and block/attack key triggers... Really big glut of "Junk" items only there for comedy names, but really just good for a couple of chuckles in between hair pulling. Some of that bordered on masochistic imo.

[Nightblade]

Seriously, It's a South Park Game.

I watched a friend play this some, and honestly it's a really well done "South Park" with the typical humor, but that seemed like the only good thing about the game overall. Other than playing this for the comedy, I'd say it was not worth the struggle (at least as buggy as it is) and with some of the worst RPG. Training to get skills? Bad turn based potion chugging? Different mini game like skills (one looked like dance dance revolution), and block/attack key triggers... Really big glut of "Junk" items only there for comedy names, but really just good for a couple of chuckles in between hair pulling. Some of that bordered on masochistic imo.

"Masochistic" is a bit extreme, the worst / difficult parts of the game were when mini game prompts were vague with their directions.

Most of the game's skills are useless, at least as a warrior. Burn + Bleed, buff your attack with weight gain 4000, spam attacks / healing. There's little in the way of character customization, and the minigames were kind of dumb at times... With that said, it was still fun enough for me to enthusiastically burn through the game in 3 days. It's a lot of fun exploring the town, talking to people, and finding the easter eggs.

[taolurker]

But seriously? If it wasn't for the South Park comedy, would you seriously spend hours playing it? I laughed, don't get me wrong, but I don't like South Park comedy enough to RPG it anyway, and my friend only wanted to play it to see the comedy and complained about teh game parts.

[rk47]

Set the game difficulty to easy.

[Strazos]

 

"We should not be teaching our children such intolerant, bigoted, sexist things"? Um...it's rated MA, right? Kids are not the intended audience, and shouldn't be able to buy the game without parental permission.*

What a tool.


* - I worked at a GameStop part-time for 3 years. Yes, I realize many parents will buy it for their kids anyway, having no idea of the content, and most of the sales associates will not care enough to confirm that said parent knows what they're buying for little Timmy (or the idea won't even cross their mind that they should perhaps do such a thing). Lost more than a couple of sales by "doing my job," but at least no one could ever come back and say I didn't warn them about crap like this.

[Tebonas]

So how funny are the rectal exam and abortion jokes? Because it seems they are getting censored in the German/Austrian version as well. Worth being annoyed about it?

[Strazos]

No idea - just the principal of the censorship should be annoying enough as it is.

[Phildo]

The abortion jokes have some fairly clever payoff towards the end of the game that would be a little spoilery to explain, but it got a couple laughs out of me.

[Tebonas]

Believe me Stratoz, it is. I'm just trying to gauge if it is annoying enough to directly import the US version and pay about double what I would pay on Steam.

[rk47]

don't let the jews win.
stand strong and we'll have our rache when steam sales arrive.

[Phildo]

Cartman's response if you select the Jew class:  "Jew, huh?  I guess you and I will never really be friends."

[Tebonas]

Ouch, Kyleburn

[Maledict]

Cartman's response if you select the Jew class:  "Jew, huh?  I guess you and I will never really be friends."

"A white thief? Never heard of one, but interesting"

They have absolutely nailed Cartman from the show.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Cartman's response if you select the Jew class:  "Jew, huh?  I guess you and I will never really be friends."

"A white thief? Never heard of one, but interesting"

They have absolutely nailed Cartman from the show.

Um.....