Re: Tainted Grail : Fall of Avalon

On Thu, 29 May 2025 20:20:19 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com>
wrote:

On 5/25/2025 6:30 AM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:

 
The gameplay has me hooked.
 
While I have had some fun in the past with some of the Elder Scrolls
games, first couple of Witcher games, etc., fantasy RPGs are really
not my preferred genre.  However, when a title is this good, none of
that really matters.

>
Well, I played the demo, which is just escaping the prison (oblivion
anyone? although a bit more involved)
>
It does seem pretty good, I liked it, but yeah it feels very much like a
better Oblivion-Skyrim, perhaps a bit too much.  Also felt like a hint
of G I'd probably snap it up at half off, I'm a little wary at the $45
as I'm kind of bored of this type of game anymore.

If the demo is only escaping the prison, I'd say the demo doesn't do
the game justice, because I wasn't really that impressed with it
during the initial prison escape.

But if you're bored of the genre that's another matter.  I really
hadn't gotten into one of these games in quite some time.

Also Nightrein released today, and costs less, I'm not impressed with
the little bit of play I've seen and the complaints it's not for random
groups. I'm still highly tempted by it and wouldn't mind shoveling some
more money at Fromsoft, considering I've got over 6k hours in their games.

I tried Elden Ring and didn't really care for it, refunded it.

I would say this is the best game of this type I've played since
Skyrim.  It is possibly better than Skyrim in a lot of ways, despite
being 3rd person (my preference is for 1st).

>
Hmm, it's 1st person in the demo.  It says you can play it in 3rd person
but it's made for 1st person and you should play it that way, so I did.

Yeah just disregard what I said about that.  I think I read they even
had a patch where they removed 3rd person then put it back?  For me
the game started in 3rd person by default and felt more natural that
way (maybe I hit the key to switch perspective by accident and didn't
notice, because I'm playing with the default WASD keybinds which I
never do unless I have no choice).

It's very playable in both.  Something about the combat makes me want
to be in 3rd person by default.  I use dash a lot and if I'm dashing
left for example I'd like to know there's not a large wooden table or
something blocking my movement and wasting stamina.

>

What I like:
 
- Satisfying combat that encourages a tactical approach / interesting
enemies
- Immersive world that creates just the right amount of tension (you
never know what dangers you're going to stumble upon next)
- RPG elements like skills, crafting, inventory etc. are well done so
that they don't feel like a chore
- F5 to quick save (comes in handy because there will be many combat
situations you'll want to rewind and rethink your approach)
- Story doesn't get in the way with tiring cutscenes or any of that
bullshit that's included in so many games as a way to mask lame
gameplay.  Also no signs of woke/DEI bullshit that I've noticed.

>
I can't disagree with any of this, though I didn't play the demo that
long.  Generally dialog is very good too (exception of Arthur who grated
on me.)  I even liked reading most of the notes.  Almost as much horror
feel as fantasy.

You don't really talk to Arthur much, at least so far in my
experience.  You optionally invoke him at your campfire and I guess he
gives you leads and stuff but its few and far between.

- Feels like a PC game and not a console port

>
VERY much so.  I tried playing it with a controller to begin with, man
that was rough.  It works very well KBM however.
>
>

- Well optimized / high framerates with great visuals

>
Yes, much more my style too than most.  Although I was scratching my
head at the Geiger inspired architecture in one place.  That seemed very
out of place.
>

 
What I don't like:
- Not all keybinds are mappable in the initial release

>
Yeah I noticed one key I wanted to change wasn't available to do so,
although I forget what.
>
Only thing I can really say I didn't like I haven't mentioned is the
fights seem fairly easy once I got used to the controls even at the hard
difficulty.  Mostly just dodging away or toward worked to the point I
didn't take any damage.

Pretty much all the early fights are easy.  Where it gets tougher is
if you make a conscious choice to go into a situation where they gang
up.  Also depends on difficulty you have it set to (you can change at
any time).  Also nothing stopping you from downgrading your weapons,
you don't have to use the best stuff you own... in effect you can
probably get the difficulty right where you want it.

I couldn't figure out the parry though, but then I don't really get
parries down in most games anyway, barely scraping by in bloodborne when
I really needed them.
>

I never played the first Tainted Grail game, so I can't compare /
contrast, but I think Questline is onto a winning formula here.

>
Hmm, maybe I should check that one out first especially if it doesn't
cost as much.

I didn't realize at first the first Tainted Grail game is a deck
builder, nothing like Fall of Avalon.  Apparently Tainted Grail is a
popular board game?