Shadow Vault? Impressions anyone?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 12:02 pm

Saw EB had this as being released. It looks like it COULD be a decent hold over for us Fallout fans. However, looks can quite often be deceiving and it could be the biggest piece of "blech" this side of <fill in name of your least favorite recent release>.

is it supposed to be good? anyone see this in stores? or is it JUST shipping today?

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:18 pm

Hmmm... It's by the same team that brought us Empire of Magic. I haven't played that, but I don't think the impressions were very good.

Ale

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:05 pm

Funny, never heard a word about it being released, but I will go with the prior poster. EoM wasn't very good - there have to be some good reviews before I try this one out.

Grifman

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 11:54 pm

Mmm, something isn't right. Absolutely zero news or promotion leading up and Strategy First list it as "To be determined", with no gold or release announcement. I think EB confused titles, somehow.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 10:15 am

oh well, guess i won't bother looking for it this afternoon then. must be a mix up at eb, like the man said. wouldn't be the first time.

CeeKay · Post by **CeeKay** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 7:28 pm

Wow... the screens I see just sream 'Fallout', and enevn the box looks familiar:

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 8:56 am

CeeKay wrote:Wow... the screens I see just sream 'Fallout', and enevn the box looks familiar:

Damn, that looks very Fallouty. Makes me wish for the game that was to be Fallout 3 . . .

Grifman

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 9:29 pm

Well, turns out I was wrong...

http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board. ... adid=53684

Shadow Vault has shipped to NA retail...

A magnificent piece of stealth-marketing...we haven't posted a newsbit on this game since Sept 2003 -- which was the announcement that Strategy First had signed the game. That means SF hasn't done a single piece of marketing -- not even releasing some screenshots or a gold announcment or even updating their site with a release date.

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:00 pm

Yeah, I just got an email from Gogamer stating that the game was on sale and available for purchase. Really, really strange - why release a game without any press release? And how hard is it to set up a few interviews with game websites to pump the game a bit. Unless it's a real dog . . .

Grifman

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:15 pm

That's the thing I never understand. You can "use" gaming sites with features like screenshots, movies and interviews to get free promotion -- and none of those require any hands-on time with the game, so it doesn't give away how bad it is (assuming it is bad) and it certainly doesn't take much time or resources to shoot off some screens or send a Gold announcement.

I remember a small MMORPG that ceased operation leaving a message on our boards one day saying they were disappointed they hadn't received more press coverage in general when they were operating -- but we'd never heard from them. How hard would it have been to send an email before they went under saying "Hey, would you like an interview?" or "can we send send you regular updates?".

D.A.Lewis · Post by **D.A.Lewis** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 12:11 pm

So, no gone gold date, that was a curious thing.

Additionally the game is retailing for $29.99. While I am pleased at the cheap price, something about this just doesn't seem right. I'm guessing the game might be in the store today. Who will be our tester???

qp · Post by qp » Thu Dec 23, 2004 12:30 pm

Haha, their press release is kind of funnny:

submerges the player in non-stop turn based action!

How can you have non stop turn based action?

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:23 pm

^They seem to think it's easy...check this interview snippet out:

Furthermore, our testers agree that Shadow Vault has possibly the highest Kill Per Second ratio from all turn-based strategies

http://www.gamershell.com/reviews/Shado ... view.shtml

Now I know what was wrong with the last TB game I played...the kill-per-second ratio wasn't high enough.

Chesspieceface · Post by **Chesspieceface** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:43 pm

That interview is ridiculous. It obviously wasn't even done in person or by phone even though gamershell claims to have 'sat down' with the guy.

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 11:50 am

Demosthenes wrote:That interview is ridiculous. It obviously wasn't even done in person or by phone even though gamershell claims to have 'sat down' with the guy.

That's actually pretty typical - get an agreement for an "interview", then mail them the questions and they send back their responses. Sites do it all the time.

Grifman

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 10:26 am

Did anyone buy this game? I worry about being the sucker to pick up a dud, but I might have to do that if no one here has taken the plunge.....

D.A.Lewis · Post by **D.A.Lewis** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 11:21 am

Got it yesterday at EB. It was the only one in the store for 39.99.

Lift test failed. So what else is new now a days. One disk in a plastic CD case. The manual is 28 pages and what little there is, is not user friendly. The manual does talk about a number of multiplayer options but I am not a multiplayer.

Min specs. 600 mhz, 128 ram, Direct x 9 (box says 8 but the game comes with 9), 32 mb graphic card with accelleration.

Very good intro, makes you want to get into the game right away.

Installed the game late last night with no problems but the game did not have any type of install options. I wonder how big the game is???

However, the tutorial is an absolutely horrendous thing. You can't replay the instructions and when the directions on what to do is unclear, I found myself just clicking on the screen seeing what will work. Fortunately the game mechanics seem to be pretty much like standared Stratagy-RPG. But dying in a tutoral is not a good thing. But don't go by my lameness. I am a slow gamer and a slow game learner so that doesn't bother me. (Note I almost took back X com because I was so lame, X-com is my favorite game of all time).

Graphics are functional but if you are looking for near Valve quality you are going to be greatly disappointed. Actually the graphics arent as good as Dungeon Siege 1. Still, the game looks playable and the graphics look like they will offer enough to satisfy the immersion factor.

So it was late so that is all I did. Later today I hope to get some more time in and continue with the impressions. The intro was cool and got my interest up but the lame tutorial took it down it bit. Still the story has me looking forward to playing the game.

So let the Fallout wannabe avalanche begin.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 11:56 am

Well that has me moving towards stopping on my way home and buying it...

Do you actually make a character with stats, ect.. or is it an RPG lite game?

D.A.Lewis · Post by **D.A.Lewis** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 3:26 pm

Looks like it might be RPG lite via x-com.

the start of the game and the tutorial are one in the same. (of course without the hints if you turn off the tutorial). There was no picking and designing a character. Still, the Gothic(s) didn't allow character customization at the beginning of the game and it was an excellent RPG.

The Shadow Vault character stats in game are:
Hit point,
action point,
supplies,
concentration,
sight,
attack,
counter attack,
defense.

Based on the manual it looks like the in games skills (healing, shooting, grenades, repairing, etc)are tied into Action Points and Supply points. Since I did not get very far I have no idea what that means right now. The doctor appears to have her own specialized skill set.

So I will see later on today.

NOTE: I'm just about finished with the main quest of Morrowind after 2 plus years. While the pull for Shadow Vault is strong, apparantly it is not quite stong enough to make me dump Morrowind. I really really really want to finish Morrowind and that is going to happen within the next couple of days. So any time with Shadow Vault today will be brief.

AttAdude · Post by **AttAdude** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 5:45 pm

D.A.Lewis wrote:Looks like it might be RPG lite via x-com.

the start of the game and the tutorial are one in the same. (of course without the hints if you turn off the tutorial). There was no picking and designing a character. Still, the Gothic(s) didn't allow character customization at the beginning of the game and it was an excellent RPG.

The Shadow Vault character stats in game are:
Hit point,
action point,
supplies,
concentration,
sight,
attack,
counter attack,
defense.

Based on the manual it looks like the in games skills (healing, shooting, grenades, repairing, etc)are tied into Action Points and Supply points. Since I did not get very far I have no idea what that means right now. The doctor appears to have her own specialized skill set.

So I will see later on today.

NOTE: I'm just about finished with the main quest of Morrowind after 2 plus years. While the pull for Shadow Vault is strong, apparantly it is not quite stong enough to make me dump Morrowind. I really really really want to finish Morrowind and that is going to happen within the next couple of days. So any time with Shadow Vault today will be brief.

This might be a little off topic, but if i where you id save Morrowind for as long as possible. that ending will have u very pissy.

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 3:08 pm

Ok, any more updates? Gogamer has this on special and I love the PA genre, but this developers last game wasn't all that good. Surely some of you have had some more game time over the holidays?

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 12:06 pm

Ok, since none of you slackers with the game are any help, here's first look at the game:

http://www.izonews.com/firstlook.php3?firstlookid=2279

This guy thinks the really cool thing about Fallout were exploding death animations, so YMMV. I'm leaning against this one - it has that cheap Euro game look about it.

D.A.Lewis · Post by **D.A.Lewis** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 2:52 pm

Yup I'm a gaming slacker. When the to-be-played queue is far bigger than the played queue, there's just no denying it.

The above cited article scares me at bit. While it's poorly edited, it brings up some troubling game play issues. But after I finish Morrowind I will tackle Shadow Vault. What else is there for the RPGer to play?

What has me troubled in general however is how a lot of these European games seem to have a delayed release date in the US (Golden Land and Power of Law). I never understood that becasue there is a market here that will purchase the game. So if you are making a game why are you localizing it after it gets released in Europe? No faith in your product? Perhaps that may be a good indicator for us gamers regarding the quality of the game.

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:14 pm

^I think that has as much to do with the publisher as the game, as such. Big publishers couldn't be bothered with little Euro turn-based RPGs -- the sales potential just doesn't interest them.

That leaves smaller publishers...Strategy First nearly went under, remember? They've obviously had to prioritise and stagger releases so they can afford it.

JohnnyFive · Post by **JohnnyFive** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 12:12 pm

Hi, guys,

I bought Shadow Vault for $40 at EB on Sunday, and frankly, I'm wishing I hadn't. I'll explain.

Let me first say that I'm not usually a big gaming snob -- I played and enjoyed Odium, which I know a lot of people didn't like. And I've only played up to level 5 or so (I haven't really gotten into it and played it for days straight), but here's my take ...

The first (tutorial) mission is, indeed, pretty bad in terms of telling you what to do. It's true that the controls are more or less intuitive, which is good, but the 'quests' that you get aren't always very clear; the game seems to rely on triggers which aren't necessarily incredibly obvious, and if you hit them out of sequence, wackiness ensues.

So far, the further I go, the more the missions seem to be scripted in a pretty heavyhanded manner. There's one way to solve them, and that's the designer's way. You will be told where to hide, when to run, and where to run to. (And they'll make sure you run away by dropping massive amounts of enemies on your head). The enemy AI is poor -- in one mission I was supposed to prevent so and so from getting killed, and the only reason I succeeded is because the enemy, oblivious to my attacks, strolled right by him, presumably because they were supposed to wait by that tree over there to attack him.

There's no ... global map, like in Jagged Alliance 2, or even Silent Storm. You finish one map, and it's off to the next. The 'equipment upgrades' that I've seen are few and far between, and not particularly spectacular. (Wow! A kitchen knife!) There's little character customization. You can buy skills, but they only do things like improve your attack and counter-attack.

The character classes I've encountered so far are:

Soldier (At level one, can fire his rifle, which uses up a supply point. At level 3ish, he can fire a grenade. At a higher level, he can fire a flash grenade.) Grenades, incidentally, do not do area damage, but attack all units in a 'stack'; only some units can stack, like soldiers and dogs.

Medic (Can use his pistol to shoot people, can heal soldiers, can use adrenaline which I haven't used and don't remember what it does).

Sniper (Can go into sniper mode, which makes him very slow, but lets him see further and do high damage shots (which take a supply point).)

Scout (Has a lot of AP, has a pistol, can concentrate, can target things for artillery -- haven't found artillery, so haven't used that).

Technician (Can make turrets and sensors, which is kind of neat.)

Bearer (carries more supplies to resupply your other soldiers with).

A lot of your actions, and all ranged attacks use 'supplies', which can be replenished at some buildings. Otherwise, you have to go hand to hand.

Movement is XCOM style, all action points; there's no real time movement.

All in all, this game could be mildly enjoyable, but don't go in for high expectations. And don't, for goodness's sake, pay $40 for it. (I paid $10 for Odium, which might explain why I enjoyed it more than some). This game reminds me most of another European game -- Spellcross, only without any sort of research or strategic overlay. And maybe I just suck at this game.

moss_icon · Post by **moss_icon** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 12:19 pm

Grifman wrote:it has that cheap Euro game look about it.

games which tend to have a same quality hit rate as expensive american ones.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 12:19 pm

Thanks Johnny! You just saved me 40 bucks as i'm itching to buy a new game on my way home from work. think i'll just look for hearts of iron 2 instead.

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 8:25 pm

Oh well, COPS 2170: Power of Law is probably next up. It's Russian, Cyberpunk and 3D rather than Slovakian, post-apoc and 2D but close enough.

CSL · Post by **CSL** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 8:29 pm

Dhruin wrote:Oh well, COPS 2170: Power of Law is probably next up. It's Russian, Cyberpunk and 3D rather than Slovakian, post-apoc and 2D but close enough.

Slovakian, that explains it!

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 10:45 pm

moss_icon wrote:
Grifman wrote:it has that cheap Euro game look about it.
games which tend to have a same quality hit rate as expensive american ones.

No, not really.