From a Warhammer Quest (tabletop) veteran

[Artcake]

I do not have any particular reason to write the following opinion besides the fact that I wish to share my personal thoughts from a person who has collected the tablet top version and all its expansions on ebay (costed an eye and an arm). Perhaps it will help those who cannot make up their minds but knew and loved the original game.

When I first saw this announced for tablet, I couldn't believe how excited I was, except I did not own an ipad. This is perhaps pretty sad, but I actually bought an ipad because of this game when it came out, and clocked over 60 hours on hardcore because that's the way our group used to play the tabletop (perma-death). After buying the game and getting the base warriors to max level, I got the various expansions and characters packs, leveled them all up to max too, the only thing I did not buy was the extra items, because let's be honest, the fun of warhammer quest is finding the best items and gearing up to the top your warriors.

I always saw Blizzard creating some of the best game in the world based on what Games Workshop did in the past, so Warhammer = Warcraft, w40k= Starcraft, and WQ = Diablo. For those who do not see the Diablo comparison: Randomly generated dungeons, loot and hack and slash gameplay with town as hubs to replenish before going back into the dungeon, also the original design for Diablo was meant to be turn based, finally the fact that the most powerful creature you could meet in WQ was a Bloodthirster which is a lot like Diablo's visual design. Because of this I have loved both companies because they gave me the same type of game but in a different format. So my opinions for Warhammer Quest might be slightly influenced by the love I have for this game, however I played the tabletop of WQ not as a kid but a few years back only so not a lot of pink glasses going on there.

Now that we got that little tangent out of the way, what about THIS WQ?

I have not played the PC version, so I am basing this review on what I read on these forums (that the game is the same as the iOS except for the controls, so my opinions are directed to the game itself). Also let us remember that the original WQ was an incredibly under-tested and broken game, which it still generated an insane amount of fun, to turn something that broken into digital it was not an easy task to begin with, so my hat off to the devs.

Does this game stay true to the original?
With exception of some minor tweaking (much needed with the original broken WQ design) yes, it does. Dice rolls and stats clarification are missing, but given the case of how much videogamers whined when Space Hulk the videogame kept the dice thing, I think they have taken the best option here.

What are the MAJOR differences?
1.The inventory management. You have a limited number of slots in which you can equip stuff based on rarity, which means you might have to choose if to equip that amazing magic ring or that really cool sword, the original game did not give you this restriction except for the item slot (which still applies on this one).
2. Warriors can take turns asynchronous, while in the original it was Initiative based. This makes the game much easier to play. Personally I do not mind it and removes some tediousness but fans of the original will understand that Hotseat multiplayer cannot be played because of this.
3. Separating melee attacks from ranged attacks. In the original you had a certain number of attacks which you could only spend for melee, or regardless only 1 ranged, making ranged classes the most underpowered warrior in game. I am glad this version fixes this issue, this is probably the best improvement over the original game.
4.Lack of Hazards while traveling. Yes, the game does actually have Hazards, but not in the same manner as the original, the verbose description and interesting encounters are all gone, most Hazards are harmful and happen incredibly rarely. This is a shame in my opinion as WQ had a great way of generating stories thanks to these.
5. Rather than picking a settlement size, the world has its own map so you already know where you will end up before traveling. This is ok with me, but I also liked the idea of not knowing where you would end up, because the heroes would always be lost after a dungeon was complete.

What key features are missing from the original?
1.Chaos Warrior as a playable class, or as I like to call him "Mister Random". In the original it was broken and extremely hard to play, mostly based on luck, I mean you could literally Level Down, rather than level up (by acquiring a skill that was a negative rather than a bonus). But this guy was also one of the most fun to play when it worked.
2. Bretonnian Knight playable Class. This had a completely separate minigame of honour gaining point (rather impossible to achieve without extreme luck), which would have worked perfectly for a digital version as it requires a lot of stats keeping and side events (a pain on paper). He had his own agenda and quests to complete during each dungeon, fun as hell.
3. The great variety of monsters even after buying all expansions. You will never see the massive roster which warhammer had at each level, like chaos centaurs, chaos dwarves, dark elves, etc...
4.Luck. This game has no Luck feature which was used to re-roll dice in the original.

Is combat fun?
Combat is actually not that much different from the original, so if it wasn't too boring for you back then, it won't be now.

So should a WQ tabletop fan buy this?
Yes, but remember you are playing solo, which was not the point of WQ, the best moments which usually happen when the whole group can share a laugh or a story, will not happen.

So should a non WQ tabletop fan buy this?
Probably not unless you understand the nature and mentality of this game beforehand. There is no super giant boss fight or deep story elements.

And that's it for now, if I think of something more I will add it.

I miss my Chaos Warrior :(

[Commissar Antonios]

As a past game master i bought this game the very first day it came on steam (along with a 4pack simple version).
Some characteristics like traps,treasure cards,hidden rooms/doors and more enemies are greatly missed.
BUT im immensely thankfull that for the first time in my life I CAN finally play as a warrior-hero!!!
My favorite classes (witch hunter,sigmar priest) are present and i miss too chaos warrior and pit fighter.
Unfortunately the game seems to be abandoned....

[Artcake]

Originally posted by Commisar Antonios:

As a past game master i bought this game the very first day it came on steam (along with a 4pack simple version).
Some characteristics like traps,treasure cards,hidden rooms/doors and more enemies are greatly missed.
BUT im immensely thankfull that for the first time in my life I CAN finally play as a warrior-hero!!!
My favorite classes (witch hunter,sigmar priest) are present and i miss too chaos warrior and pit fighter.
Unfortunately the game seems to be abandoned....

It's a shame about being discontinued, but I am happy with what they gave us.

Our group never really played it with a master, so this kind of gameplay is pretty close to what you got in the original which did not use exttra trap markers or things like that.

That said I do believe there are quite a few events missing, like the scorpion swarm and such (excluding the event found within the Roleplaying manual which did not have actual cards).

I am also glad they "fixed" the Warrior Priest, as he was well known to be probably the most broken class in game.

A shame also about the lack of Wardancer, another great class with overpowered abilities :D

[ChilledMouse]

If Rodeo decides to add more areas/characters and other content we will update the PC version as well!

[RikJenMattic]

Fingers (and toes) crossed then!

[weepaul13]

I hope they do something, but it has been a long time since anything came out. If they even give us Wissenland I'd be happy. Would love the Border Princes opened up, go back and visit my old friend Sven Carlsson!

[Commissar Antonios]

Would like an editor at least (game master habit)...Even text heavy adventures would be welcomed.Unfortunately being a game ported from mobile phones means the creation of an in game editor is impossible............

[Artcake]

Originally posted by Commisar Antonios:

Would like an editor at least (game master habit)...Even text heavy adventures would be welcomed.Unfortunately being a game ported from mobile phones means the creation of an in game editor is impossible............:evilskull:

This game is made with an editor, having worked on various AAA game titles myself, I can tell you it would be impossible to make anything without a proper editor these days. The real problem is that there were no tools made for public use which means that the developing of such tools would probably take as much time to create as a a full game on its own, think of games like Neverwinter, the whole development was centered around the editor and that's what made it possible to have great tools.

The only chance you would have for a game like this to be editable is if it was made in an already popular editor like Unity, Unreal or whatever, and then modders would create user friendly tools from that. But with being a GW licence product, there are zero chances of that happening. *sigh*

[Commissar Antonios]

You are right, just a wishful thought of mine.
NwN, best moddable game ever.Still remember the Eye of the Beholder mod, playing with other 3 friends of mine after the exam session for three days straight!

[Matt]

Originally posted by BlackRabbit:

Originally posted by Commisar Antonios:

Would like an editor at least (game master habit)...Even text heavy adventures would be welcomed.Unfortunately being a game ported from mobile phones means the creation of an in game editor is impossible............:evilskull:

This game is made with an editor, having worked on various AAA game titles myself, I can tell you it would be impossible to make anything without a proper editor these days. The real problem is that there were no tools made for public use which means that the developing of such tools would probably take as much time to create as a a full game on its own, think of games like Neverwinter, the whole development was centered around the editor and that's what made it possible to have great tools.

The only chance you would have for a game like this to be editable is if it was made in an already popular editor like Unity, Unreal or whatever, and then modders would create user friendly tools from that. But with being a GW licence product, there are zero chances of that happening. *sigh*

The game is made with Unity 4.

I highly doubt that there would be a release editor due to the length that GW go to, to protect their IP. It may not seem like it from the outside, but they are very strict.

[Artcake]

Originally posted by Zodgrod:

. It may not seem like it from the outside, but they are very strict.

I think we all know how Disney-like GW has turned out in the past 10 years :)

They copyrighted the word "Eldar" which was something Tolkien actually came up with and the sued that "Space Marine" book which was written 50 odd years before GW even existed.

Protecting your IP is one thing, but they are just plain A-holes these days.

[Kundaks]

In your first post as of point 1 to 4, you forgot 5. Willpower.

[Artcake]

Originally posted by Kundaks:

In your first post as of point 1 to 4, you forgot 5. Willpower.

What exactly about willpower? I am not sure I am following.

[magius74]

I would love it if Rodeo came out with more content but based on all the negativity surrounding this PC port I would guess they won't. Man if there was some folks in the comunity that can delve into the game code and give the community some modding tools this game could blow up! Remember how much fan made content the tabletop game had in the day? Imagine if the same could be done for this version. Sure it probably would never get hosted on the Workshop here on steam, for fear that GW would shut it down, but what about more "unofficial" channels.

[Kundaks]

Originally posted by BlackRabbit:

Originally posted by Kundaks:

In your first post as of point 1 to 4, you forgot 5. Willpower.

What exactly about willpower? I am not sure I am following.

You were talking about the Warhammer Quest Boardgame in your original post. Willpower is a characteristic in the Boardgame which is not used on the computer version.

[Artcake]

Originally posted by Kundaks:

Originally posted by BlackRabbit:

What exactly about willpower? I am not sure I am following.

You were talking about the Warhammer Quest Boardgame in your original post. Willpower is a characteristic in the Boardgame which is not used on the computer version.

That is odd, I have to admit I do not remember Willpower being used at all in the boardgame, unless you mean in the stricly Roleplaying rules (the ultimate level of complexity which was needed only if you Roleplayed)?