Dev Log #27: Version 0.1.10.0 released

[Styg]

Hey guys, the new version has been released. It's available now on Steam, soon to be available on Desura, GamersGate and Groupees. For a preview of what's new you can check out this and past four dev logs.









You will now be able to travel a bit through Lower Underrail, either on foot or by train, and explore the town of Rail Crossing and the surrounding areas and face new types of enemies. The main story of the game starts in earnest with this patch, but I'm not going to spoil anything regarding that in this log .

I also did a lot of polishing of existing game mechanics and added some new ones, as well as did a fair amount of economical re-balancing. After these couple days of internal testing I feel quite content where we're at now in that regard and while there surely be some more tweaking done in the future, I don't expect to do any major work on the existing mechanics in the future. With the future patches we will mostly be focusing on adding more content at a faster rate, which will as always include more areas, quests, enemies, items, feats, etc.

Anyway, have fun guys and let us know what you thought of the changes and the new stuff. Cheers.

[Ivan Bajlo]

Fantastic!

Just a quick feedback, weight limit seems a bit excessive especially since some items and components are pretty heavy and some can stack to 99 giving massive burden (like animal parts) and if we add armor and weapons... we could also use sort by weight option to quickly find heavy items.

Also characters should be able to move pathetically slow despite weight, I just don't want to leave stuff lying around since I'll probably forget about it, I prefer leaving them in some container. 

[Barrelsoup Chef]

-Holy sound-

[Eliasfrost]

After playing the new version for a couple of hours I think I have a good grasp on the new economy changes and I have a few thoughts on it and I'd like to share my experience with the new system.

Specifically about stocking, I thought it was a pretty interesting concept when I heard about it first. But as I play the game I've come to the conclusion that I really don't like it at all. Here's why and sorry if it sounds frank but I want to be as honest about it as possible:

Selling stuff as an activity is normally one of the worst parts of any RPGs with massive amounts of loot and Underrail was no different, selling stuff just isn't very engaging and really never have been but when you add to it that you don't just need to catch the guy with enough money and ability to buy it from you, you also need to make sure that you can sell enough of a certain item to the guy. This makes you run around every merchant in every town just to sell your stuff and it's such a tedium that you rather not sell anything at all.

I bascially stopped selling items after the first time in Junkyard because it took me a mere 20+ minutes to empty my inventory. So now when I see loot I don't pick it up because I know that the downside of trying to sell the stuff outweigh the pleasure of earning that extra money by far. This has also lead me to being rather weak because I have no money to spend on medical equipment or ammo. And it's really not fun, it's not challenging and it doesn't force me to think about what I pick up because the game makes sure that I don't pick anything up at all, I'm sure this is not really the intent of the change but it really up'd the tedium to eleven.

Other than that, I think it's some great changes, I've not played enough to really get into the new XP system but right now it's a bit odd but all right.

[Styg]

@Eliasfrost What I would suggest for you is to only pick up firearms (preferably more expensive ones). You can always sell those to Lucas in SGS or Len in Junkyard (it's a static demand) and since now you generally find items in better condition than before and the merchant modifier has been lowered significantly (from 350% to 200% base), you should be able to finance yourself that way fairly effectively.

Other than that, I think it's some great changes, I've not played enough to really get into the new XP system but right now it's a bit odd but all right.

I see what you did there.

[LazyMonk]

Styg so far the game feels better.
I like how barter works now. The doctor no longer accepts firearms as a way of payment. It makes sense and makes the game more immersive since its more believable.

About the weight system i don't have much opinion yet. I am playing a 9 Str character so i still am able to pick every item i want.
I am going to make a 3 Str char and see how hindered i feel.

[Eliasfrost]

@Styg, I will try that, thanks for the suggestion.

[DMonin]

That's great!

By the way what's about level limit? Still maximum is 20 level?

[Styg]

That's great!

By the way what's about level limit? Still maximum is 20 level?

Yep.

[DMonin]

Okay...

Thanks for update!  I'm very happy now!

[Elhazzared]

Probably the only one who didn't tried this update yet but the weight system and the merchant changes quite frankly make me not even want to touch it. The reason for this is that if i don't pick every items it will leave a very sour taste in my mouth and I'll just end up disliking the game based on the fact that I cannot take all the items because eitehr I don't have the strenght to carry or the boredom it will be to actually sell everything. It's not that I don'tunderstand what you're trying to do Styg, but at the end of the day I feel this does a lot more harm to the game that good.

It was said before that characters didn't needed lockpick and such in order to get every single item because there were ways to make up for the loss of the income in the forms of crafting and pick pocketing. I'd say that it is still a valid argument to make rather than give all of this restriction that everyone as a RPG player hates.

The reason I am actually unwilling to try this update is not just because I don't want to see how much impact it trully brings, but because I just know that it will get me tired of the game and just make me give up on it and change my opinion of a good game to just not worth my time... I do sincerely hope that this will be addressed in the future and this kind of restrictions removed cause quite frankly I liked this game a lot. No RPG since fallout 2 and arcanum ever got me this level of enjoyment and I'd really like to play this game again in the future.

[Sakuragi]

Hmm just started a new game with the oddity system. Right now i just finish the hopper quest, just before the GMS compound one. In the classic version i would be already level 4. But right now i am level 2 (1 more bar to level 3). So the experience gained is way lower for oddity (only part i have not explore is the mushroom cave where you need the agility to climb over the rocks (dunno if there is an oddity there)).

I do not really care how experience are gained but i will most probably play the one which is more rewarding for me in terms of leveling experience. Will play a bit more to know if i like the new system or not. Anyway, it is good that we have  choice between the classic and oddity system.

[Ivan Bajlo]

Hmm just started a new game with the oddity system. Right now i just finish the hopper quest, just before the GMS compound one. In the classic version i would be already level 4. But right now i am level 2 (1 more bar to level 3). So the experience gained is way lower for oddity (only part i have not explore is the mushroom cave where you need the agility to climb over the rocks (dunno if there is an oddity there)).

New system is highly rewarding if you do lot of exploring... that means using TAB button a lot because there are some interesting rocks! 

New areas added to the Lower Underrail (extending from base top level with station and rail tracks, was anything added to Deep Caverns? I did some blowing up of rocks but still found them empty) seems to have plenty of oddities and most enemies come individually with exception of one zone with bridge which has 3 psi bugs and even level 20 character should not just rush in, also lot of dead bodies so you get some free loot as well.

Just be careful since in few places you have rocks to blow up to pass and without TNT you might get yourself stuck with strong enemy behind your back.

[Styg]

Deep Caverns aren't in the game yet. It's going to be a different high level set of areas with a new tileset.

The cave system around SGS and Junkyard will be expanded in the next content patch.

[Soul]

Nice update!

Is there any chance we can go to and explore the surface. I'm really interested to so how bad the evironment is. But it is totally okay if it not going happen since I get the idea that this game wants to focus the life inside under ground railroad.

Keep up the good work, Styg.