Quick Look: Wizard of Legend

@almeida69: What does this accomplish? Even if she reads this and somehow doesn't feel embarrassed or bad about it, she'll swap it out for another verbal tick down the line. Everyone has mannerisms that become apparent through enough listening and surely you don't go out of your way to tell your friends they repeat a certain word often.

One of the sound effects in this game sounds exactly like the "rupee collecting" sound from Link to the Past.

why does she "need" to stop saying that

every single person on the crew has words or phrases they use more than other words or phrases. so do you. so do i. you're bothered by this for some other reason, and it's silly.

This just reminds me that I'm sick and tired of seeing games that look like they would be right up my alley and then I hear "roguelike/lite" and then something inside me just sinks and I go crawling back to the handful of 2D/pixelart games that don't have permadeath or DS/GBA/SNES games for my "cool 2D game" fix.

I guess the whole "randomly generated" thing makes up for the lack of time and budget that most indie games have? Because otherwise these sorts of games would be pretty short and people, for better or worse, think that hour count correlates to value. Still, levels crafted by a human mind are way more interesting than some blocks that are placed together according to an algorithm, and permadeath is just an infuriating mechanic, so I'd rather have a six hour game along the lines of this one than run through similar-looking boring-ass randomly-generated levels over and over again until I happen to get a good run on a good day and beat the final boss.

But then, I'm also the kind of guy who will play Super Metroid/Fusion/Zero Mission and those DS Castlevania games over and over and over again.

@the_nubster: Well, like I said, I just wanted to point it out. Okay, I admit that maybe "need" is too strong word. She can do whatever she wants but, this is part of her job. I probably wouldn't say what I said to my friends but, even if I like them, neither Abby nor anyone that works in GiantBomb is my friend. I get what youre saying and Im probably making a bigger deal of this than I should but again, this is part of her job, and theres is nothing wrong with criticism if it can help you improve.

i wonder if abby gets weirded out from those comments in some of here videos on her looks. Its ok for some people and im sure she has her own agency and can tell people she feels objectified or uncomfortable but it comes off weird if you keep going on about how adorable or cute someone is as if they have no other interest but their attractiveness to you. The person is a writer and works at the company but wat eve how cuteeeee

I will say that this is a shop.

@justin258 I'm the same way. I always preferred authored content to procedural generation. Well, I do like the Binding of Isaac a lot. But that's kind of the one exception for me, I tried to get into Dead Cells but I just kept wishing it was a "real" metroidvania instead of one that changes every time you die. I might feel differently once it leaves early access, but I'd rather go replay Super Metroid or something again than play a new roguelike Metroidvania.

@almeida69: I hate you now thats literally all i hear.

Pssst...there is no difference between them except to wierdos who think the former should only be ascii.

The main hook in this game is combining the dozens of different spells to create unique playstyles and strategies. Its a bit of a shame to see Abby not spending her gems on new spells, and to then complain that the game doesnt have any depth. Its like complaining an RPG lacks depth when you dont bother to put points into the skill tree.

I like the look, but it does that thing Devolver games seem to do: shaky cam. That I most definitely don't like, and it makes me a tad nauseous.

@twrite: Ehhhhh, even then, the combat looks really mashy and all the attacks look equally effective. It almost reminds me of Magicka, where you can combine magic into all kinds of stuff but who the fuck cares because it mostly does about the same damage. At least Magicka let you teamkill and resurrect teammates easily, and generally just goof around.

Everything about this game looks competently done, but ultimately unremarkable. I don't think "there's a variety of spells and relics" is enough of a hook, when that's what every roguelite has these days. I just don't quite see that extra level of style or difficulty or whatever that sets games like Dead Cells or Enter the Gungeon apart.

It's almost like Rogue-likes expect you to build a knowledge foundation and expand upon it through experimentation, taking it with you across games.

The way the dungeons are laid out remind me a lot of Enter the Gungeon. I think the combat looks pretty neat though, if only for the sweet animations on those spells.

I will also say that I'm absolutely sick of pixel art at this point. I'm not a game dev so I really don't know, but is it really that much harder to use proper hand drawn cells for the sprites, like in Skullgirls? Those spell animations are gorgeous, but I bet they'd look even better if they weren't all jagged.

The most apparent difference between roguelikes and roguelites is that most roguelikes have lips that hide their teeth when their mouths are closed while roguelites generally don't.

@windir2112: ;)

Those loadtimes are a little offputting. It looks like a DS game but loads like a flight sim.

Seems like there might be combos that weren't shown in the QL, I hope it's only mashy early on.

I was ready to buy this, but the progression seems awful. What a shame.

The spells are all pretty different have a different feel to them and synergize differently with each other and the various relics. Finding starting sets you like that gives you ideas of what things to grab throughout the run to improve your build its a massive part of the game. I get what you are saying about magicka but it really is nothing like that. There are also clear indications of when you are doing more or less damage with the different elements as Abby in this was getting a lot of down arrows on her damage numbers when she was attacking the earth enemies with earth spells.

I had the opposite reaction she did to it when playing I've been playing it non stop over the last few days and went from being terrible to learning the enemy patterns and spells/items that I like and beating the final boss for the first time last night. For me this game is absolutely fantastic favourite thing I've played in a while. Bit disappointed that this quick look didn't show a lot of what I love about this game but not everyone's opinions are the same and it always feels a bit like that when someone doesn't like the thing you do. In some ways its reminiscent of binding of issac but with for me a much better aesthetic.

Wait no I thought the difference between the two is a Roguelike is a seed-bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant, whereas Roguelitesare all other plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems.

I see Old Dan has now possessed Abby.

It's me. I'm the roguelike.

@almeida69: You're also not her boss and that kind of criticism walks a very fine line and just, to me, doesn't sound constructive. As others have said it's unlikely something she can "fix" because it's often human nature when people talk a lot and are listened to a lot. I just don't get when people think that their role in this consumer relationship is to point out stuff like this in the comments, when it surely only ever just makes person in question feel bad.

I've not played this game but even I could tell this Quick Look wasn't highlighting any of the game's strengths. I don't think this game looks super amazing, but it clearly deserves better than this.

She "needs" to stop saying what you don't like? People will talk how they talk.

Sorry, I failed to quote.

When you start a statement saying "not to be a _____" you are probably being a ____.

Or..... just putting this out there; she can talk however she wants and you can choose to move on to something else that suits you on whatever kind of arbitrary level you desire.

@godpinch: Havent played it yet myself but has several friends who have and have been loving it, especially praising the depth. It definitely hit all of them similarly to how it sounds like it hit you, which as you said seems to be the complete opposite of how it hit Abbey.

@josuef: no it's not I just typed that this morning and people copied me no one knows why

@nigeth: this is why the first setting I change in every game is music to 0. Music in games is rarely good and doesn't add anything. Only so many times you can hear the same town music before you wanna die. Games are better when you can just hear the sweet sounds of combat.

@rigas: It has the "X of Y" title scheme on lock though.

@godpinch: Just wanted to second this. I'm a little sad that this game got the showing it did here because I've really been enjoying it! There's a lot of depth to the combat, although it does take a while to start unlocking enough spells to really get experimentin'

Ah man, sorry to hear everybody is memeing so hard on your initial comment. I assumed you were quoting somebody and I was just missing the reference or something.

Caught that too. I mean, of course I did. LTTP is one of my top 5 games of all time and I had that as a notification sound for like 3 years. The pitch is a tiny bit off, though.

Damn rougu elites.

Gameplay starts about 40% in , they should really start with gameplay and talk through the boring ass hub once people care about the game :D

"I will not fuck that dummy, thankyouverymuch." Alex Navarro, approx. 2018

Not sure what Abby is talking about when it comes to there not being much of a learning curve. I also picked up this game and I feel like I'm progressing by improving at the combat. It's very unforgiving with limited I-Frames, but that simply adds to it by forcing you to learn enemy patterns and act accordingly. My first few runs I was consistently dying before reaching the first boss. Now I can reach it with having close to full health, and I don't feel like I'm particularly gifted at these types of games.

The items you can get are also straight up upgrades, not sure what she's talking about with that. The first dash you get is vanilla, and other dashes after that are objectively better because they add damage or a special effect (like her ice after-image one) to the skill. The game is about collecting skills and finding combinations that create real combos.

Hearing good things about this am excited to check it out

I don't think that's right. IIRC, "Roguelike" became a frequently-used term around when Binding of Isaac came out and sparked the modern popularity of procedurally-generated, run-based permadeath games, which are quite varied and not actually "like Rogue" at all in terms of gameplay, but the name stuck.

"Roguelite" became a thing when Rogue Legacy released, as I understood at the time, came to describe run-based permadeath games where the player got stronger from run to run, making future runs directly easier. The only other example I can think of is Flinthook, where you increase your max HP and number of perk slots. Games like Isaac and Gungeon are not "-lites" because the unlocks are different, but not better, starting conditions, and items that can potentially appear in future runs, not direct power increases.

I wish someone had coined a more modern, distinct genre classification for these types of games. I'm no purist, and "Roguelike" works well enough, but it feels clunky as a blanket term for a wide variety of gameplay styles that happen to have a few core tenets in common, and "Roguelite" only muddied the waters further. I personally like the description "run-based game" that Jeff uses (at least, he's the first person I ever heard use it) but I don't know how widely-understood it is.

@morningstar: Agreed. It definitely feels like this QL was either rushed or not researched thoroughly because there is a decent amount of misinformation.

For one, yes elemental damage matters and there are strengths/weaknesses. Elements that are effective will have orange damage numbers along with up arrows, while weak elements will be in blue. Another thing that wasn't pointed out in the QL was the blue bar underneath the health bar. It is a combo meter of sorts. It builds as you damage enemies and decays over time. If you manage to fill it up all of the way, your signature spell will be an even more powerful version. It's important to note that even if your signature spell is on cooldown while the bar is filled up, you still get to use it.

And lastly, Abby not buying relics and settling for potions reveals 2 flaws of hers. She is most likely getting reckless and taking too much damage, so she is forced to buy potions to survive. But she also refuses to buy relics not knowing what they do. That is a staple of this genre, because you do learn what they do the more you play. It is also critical in sustaining longer runs. The cloaks that you buy have different effects, and in tandem with the relics you buy and the spells you pick will make your build much stronger as long as you make the right choices.

Kind of a bummer that Abby and Dan don't like the progression. The Rogue Legacy style progression is fun, but I think it's much more satisfying when the progression comes from you the player gaining more knowledge and skill.

Though I've beaten the game several times now, I do wish there was an easy mode that just increased the amount of health drops. Not everyone has the same skill level and it'd be nice if more people could enjoy the game.

... why would you do this on the switch?

And by "this" I mean the quick look, and have to deal with crappy controllers.

Also: "There's no real strategy to the combat, you just mash buttons" *is half dead after first level*

Excited check things hearing good hear to it about this am

@midnightgreen20: the problem is that the game is not communicating those things well or in many cases at all.

Even Twitch streamers regularly use the wiki to look up game mechanics and item descriptions and they still miss crucial game elements.

I won’t blame Abby or Dan for not knowing game details even professional streamers need to consult a wiki for especially if the streamers still get a lot of the details wrong.

Hiding details from the player is a staple in those sorts of games for god knows what reason because the internet exists and people quickly resource mine anything anyway.

I also consider it to be lazy (no need to tutor players for example) and bad game design.

Hearing good things about this comments section decided to check it out.

Hello people from the future, this is 2018 and people here are not happy about everything.