V Rising - Vampires hitting rocks

[Decline]

It's like Valheim but with instead of being a Viking hitting rocks you're a Vampire hitting rocks.
This massive difference has consequences: Unlike a Viking you can transform into a Wolf, suck people's blood, take damage in the Sun and you strongly prefer gothic architecture.

Also it is made by Stunlock Studios, for those not in the know that means it features isometric twitch-based 2D combat of brutal difficulty.

Another big difference to Valheim: The world is not procedurally generated. Instead it has a handcrafted map that is about 1/70 (4,5 sqm) of the size of a Valheim map. The advantage here is that it is not mostly empty.

The rest is identical to Valheim: You acquire riches, which allows you to build a base (a vampire castle to be precise), which in turn allows you to unlock stronger equipment which then allows you to acquire more riches.

Notably, THIS GAME IS NOT AN ARPG. There's no character level and no spell tree, instead there's the concept of item or gear level, equipping stronger gear allows you to vanquish stronger foes. The progression is boss-based: Killing certain boss mobs unlocks higher level equipment or the ability to craft them and also new magic spells. There's also research in this game, which means you can dump a rare resource into unlocking a random piece of gear.

This post is for gauging interest: If there are about 4ish people interested in romancing other Vampires I'll put up a server.

[Vergil]

I remember I STOLE this game about a year back and found it pretty fun although it does run into that survival craft grind feeling towards the end. I liked the weapons and unique powers you could get from defeating bosses though. Obviously I played offline and didn't mess with any PVP or anything like that so I can't speak to how that experience is.

[LemonDemonGirl]

Some of the V Bloods are filtering my undergeared ass, so therefore it's an MMO-lite

[rusty_shackleford]

The game is carried entirely by its combat and very lively world.
Gear is very boring, single-number-go-up style. You get thralls but you can't actually have them follow you, you send them on tasks. Thralls can be equipped, they have classes. All NPCs that are alive have blood potencies(1-100%) which affects the performance of your thrall. You take on the blood potency & class of the last thing you fed on, and you can enslave blood thralls in prisons as blood-milk cows you harvest blood potions from who have to be kept well-fed.
The 'treadmill' is well done in that you keep unlocking new things(buildings, recipes, gear, etc.,) to unlock more new things. Major critique is your thralls aren't actually used to work on your land, all the stuff just magically operates itself. Which comes to my main critique of playing as a vampire who goes around collecting stone & wood is fucking stupid. The thrall mechanic should have been available immediately and more prominent, there should have been no collecting of mundane resources at all. You should be able to have thralls accompany you.

---

To circle back around to my first point, the combat is somewhat simplistic on the surface but very fun. Its controls are similar to twin stick shooters, not something like Mouse+KB cookieclicker Diablo 2, which is a good thing. It's similar to something like Victor Vran if you've played that. The character is much more mobile than in games like cookie clicker Diablo 2 or even similar games that allow WSAD control. The actual depth in the combat is the enemies themselves.

With regard to living world, all enemies are on separate factions and will fight those of other factions. Including bosses. I killed two bosses last night — an undead general and a human archer — while they & their minions were fighting and I ambushed them to kill both. There's a lot of patrols on the roads, most animals will ignore you if you take an animal form, etc., There's also no fast travel, you'll frequently be traversing across the map, and during daytime this means staying out of the sun so you dart between shadows. The closest to fast travel is a handful of teleport locations across the map, but you can't use them if you have any items marked as 'no teleport', which is many magical items & resources. You use the teleports to get near where you need to go, then hoof it back to your castle when you're done. NPCs also have some sort of day-night cycle, and many will go to sleep at night time.

---

There's no real reason to play online, all it has caused me so far is to get frustrated because all the plots are taken or someone is harvesting resources near me. And my internet was being shit so it kept disconnecting me and I died a bunch.

7/10, I guess. I don't understand exactly who the "punch trees and rocks" mechanic in these types of games is appealing to, especially when it makes zero sense. Should have expanded the thrall system.

[edit]
Forgot to add, each weapon type attacks differently and has its own strengths. I like the reapers. Doing damage is all about getting in a quick burst when there's a lull in combat, but the reaper's projectile ability lets you get in a lot of damage while evading attacks. I also just use two attack speed abilities, again, because damage is done in bursts and it lets you maximize it during the short window you get to attack before retreating.
I guess the equivalent of Valheim's food mechanic is the potion system, but it's less in-depth I think. But you'll want to keep all your potions up all the time.

[rusty_shackleford]

Another big difference to Valheim: The world is not procedurally generated. Instead it has a handcrafted map that is about 1/70 (4,5 sqm) of the size of a Valheim map. The advantage here is that it is not mostly empty.

The problem is that it's still halfway designed like one. There's no meaningful, hand-placed loot at these areas. There's also nothing interesting about the world to find, zero worldbuilding, etc.,

This genre is as shallow as a puddle, and this is probably the deepest puddle.

[Oyster Sauce]

The very first thing I did on this forum was join the Valheim server and make a little house, which you then proceeded to claim half of with your bullshit ward

[Decline]

Which comes to my main critique of playing as a vampire who goes around collecting stone & wood is fucking stupid. The thrall mechanic should have been available immediately and more prominent, there should have been no collecting of mundane resources at all. You should be able to have thralls accompany you.

Well, the game starts you as a poor underdeveloped Vampire, without any power and wealth. It does make sense that you start out having to do the tedious tasks all by yourself but you should become a menace to the land the more you progress. I agree that the thrall system should be more involved instead of just farmville tier timers.

7/10, I guess. I don't understand exactly who the "punch trees and rocks" mechanic in these types of games is appealing to, especially when it makes zero sense. Should have expanded the thrall system.

Zoomer drones love to grind a game like it's their job (probably because it is) instead of playing fun games that respect your time. Fortunately, the server settings can be tuned to make it less tedious.

There's no real reason to play online, all it has caused me so far is to get frustrated because all the plots are taken or someone is harvesting resources near me. And my internet was being shit so it kept disconnecting me and I died a bunch.

Just like Valheim, this game can only really be played on a private server.

Another big difference to Valheim: The world is not procedurally generated. Instead it has a handcrafted map that is about 1/70 (4,5 sqm) of the size of a Valheim map. The advantage here is that it is not mostly empty.

The problem is that it's still halfway designed like one. There's no meaningful, hand-placed loot at these areas. There's also nothing interesting about the world to find, zero worldbuilding, etc.,

This genre is as shallow as a puddle, and this is probably the deepest puddle.

I have only traversed the southern part of the map, so I am holding off from giving my final verdict here but what I have seen so far is that the World is designed akin to MMOs. There are certain encampments of mobs in which you can encounter certain resources, but you can also encounter them throughout the world in lower density. Just like in MMOs the map serves as a resource grind maxxing minigame with a logistics timesink on top.

[rusty_shackleford]

Well, the game starts you as a poor underdeveloped Vampire, without any power and wealth. It does make sense that you start out having to do the tedious tasks all by yourself but you should become a menace to the land the more you progress. I agree that the thrall system should be more involved instead of just farmville tier timers.

Then it should start with you getting low-level villager thralls to do your menial labor.

Zoomer drones love to grind a game like it's their job (probably because it is) instead of playing fun games that respect your time. Fortunately, the server settings can be tuned to make it less tedious.

The children yearn for the mines, but the communists won't allow it.

[Vergil]

Zoomers love these kind of games because you can do a repetitive task that requires low attention so they can have a 19 hour video essay on in the background and are free to alt tab and look at one of the 4 messaging/social media apps they're posting on.

[WaterMage]

What I really hated about this game is that you are what you wear. If you are fighting a boss and a ring broke? No more damage. Pressed "1" and uneequiped your weapon before casting your ultimate attack? No more damage.

This game is ok, not great, not bad but would be much better if I become a warlock by researching spells, practicing spells and etc not by wearing a set.

I also don`t liked how everything is too gamey, like you can only have one movement spell, one main attack, one side attack and a ultimate, and if you summon a skeleton, they literally last only few seconds. Pistols? disappear after few meters and projectiles are so slow that IDK how they could do any damage.

I would rate it 6.5/10.

If someone mods the game and makes a proper RPG, where your char is more than what he is wearing, summons last and projectiles are fast and have a decent range, I would give a 9/10.

[rusty_shackleford]

What I really hated about this game is that you are what you wear. If you are fighting a boss and a ring broke? No more damage. Pressed "1" and uneequiped your weapon before casting your ultimate attack? No more damage.

This game is ok, not great, not bad but would be much better if I become a warlock by researching spells, practicing spells and etc not by wearing a set.

I also don`t liked how everything is too gamey, like you can only have one movement spell, one main attack, one side attack and a ultimate, and if you summon a skeleton, they literally last only few seconds. Pistols? disappear after few meters and projectiles are so slow that IDK how they could do any damage.

The studio itself makes MOBA games and similar prior, so I'm not surprised. But the game itself does not actually feel attached to the world in a meaningful way.

I really don't know what people are seeing in this game that causes them to say it's a 9/10.

[Vergil]

The issue is looking at it from an RPG perspective when it's remarkable qualities are the lite RPG elements and world that are interesting/fun for a survival craft kind of game. It's a nice bonus but it's not deep enough to sustain someone who is only interested in those aspects. I think Rusty was pretty on the money when he said it's the deepest puddle.

[Manny V]

seen stuff of it, seems aight,

but foids in the promotional/store page art etc, foid bosses that yell cringe shit like 'take THIS!!!!' , 'heh, CHILL out!' (geddit, cause im an ice themed boss) is omeggy cringe

[rusty_shackleford]

seen stuff of it, seems aight,

but foids in the promotional/store page art etc, foid bosses that yell cringe shit like 'take THIS!!!!' , 'heh, CHILL out!' (geddit, cause im an ice themed boss) is omeggy cringe

There's not really any interactions to NPCs to speak of. Sometimes bosses say a few lines but it feels like some forced souls zanzibart shit.
Makes me wish the game was actually more fleshed out because the living world itself is rather cool.

[WaterMage]

Honestly, among ALL survival games, I think that 7d2d is the best.


Other problem with this game. You built a very large epic castle and ... Serves only as decoration(non pvp). Would be cool if the Church send a huge endless horde of conscripts, lead by paladins to try to raid your castle.

[Dead]

Some of the V Bloods are filtering my undergeared ass

I thought we weren't supposed to talk about this anymore.

[Norfleet]

This post is for gauging interest: If there are about 4ish people interested in romancing other Vampires I'll put up a server.

I don't know how to play it, but I'll give it a shot if I don't have to pay for it, because otherwise, fuck that noise.

[maidenhaver]

Sounds really bad.

[Irenaeus]

Sounds really bad.

My brother loves these mind-numbing games, playing one for while before abandoning (Valheim, Ark, others). I can't understand the appeal or stand playing these games.

[maidenhaver]

They're half a game.

[Decline]

They're half a game.

They're tech demos.

However, that's not quite true with V Rising. There is a game, but that game is confined within the coffin of an open world survival crafter. As I said in the other thread, that they put their game into an OWSC is a bizarre decision.

My guess is it is a matter of funding: If you don't make an OWSC you don't get any money. So they took their game and put it into an OWSC. The result is a frankenstein of a game. With that the game is yet another example for modern game design or rather the lack thereof: Investors/DEI/other special interest groups or simply the lack of talent in the game design department preventing studios from producing a coherent game.

However, what is there is well executed and mostly bug free. I can't even say it's bad. The boss battles are fun. The PvP is certainly the most important aspect of the game, so if you look at it from the perspective of Stunlock Studios' previous releases the game can be summarized as 'the same, but bigger'. But then the problem with putting a MOBA into an OWSC becomes glaringly obvious again.

[Acrux]

They're half a game.

What's the other half?

[maidenhaver]

They're half a game.

What's the other half?

I don't know.

[J1M]

Sounds really bad.

My brother loves these mind-numbing games, playing one for while before abandoning (Valheim, Ark, others). I can't understand the appeal or stand playing these games.

Provides a sense of progress for people lacking one in their life.

[rusty_shackleford]

So they're basically souls-likes?

[J1M]

So they're basically souls-likes?

No, those are for children that have nobody to play Simon Says with. Single child families are common in Japan.

[Yankee Zulu]

Its not a bad game but it gets really repetitive compared to other similar games due to its design.

Also Sweden is probably one of the most woke countries in Europe. I got banned for a month on V Rising steam forums for saying 'Vagina cannot rise. Only penis can'.

Theres another survival/crafting game Valheim from another swedish dev. The mods on its steam forum kept deleting my posts with 'pcgaymer' in them.

[Ranselknulf]

Should try to get him canceled for not embracing and accepting you as a proud gaymer.

[Vergil]

I ended up getting another legitimate special edition review copy and I like a lot of the changes they've made since I last played. The specialized auto sorting crafting chests are extremely welcome. They also seemed to have made the game easier. Bosses used to not drop health orbs as far as I recall.
The Castlevania cosmetics are also very nice. No way I'm paying that much fucking money for skins though.

[Yankee Zulu]

I played it in ea too and bosses did drop health orbs. Maybe your ea was earlier than mine.