Ross's Game Dungeon: Mage Knight Apocalypse

Ross survives the Mage Knight Apocalypse.
accursedfarms.com

[@blakecarpenter3340]

Blobman actually used his entire mana bar on that attack that killed everything in Mordor, and he didn't want you to know that he needed to go regenerate for 15 minutes.

[@ArvelDreth]

Excuse you, his name is Blobwing

[@Sierra026]

Supported by his main mates, Blobthing #1 and Blobthing #2

[@valletas]

@@ArvelDreth oh yes blobwing previously know as blobin when he trained under blobman

[@HQ_Default]

I like the idea of a god-like entity needing the party's help on the basis of it being nowhere near as powerful as it says it is. But then it also has to come up with a fake reason as to why it needs the party's help so it doesn't look like an asshole.

[@neoquegon]

I had this back in the day and found that the vampire was the best class, she has both a health drain and a mana drain ability both of which can be trained early on to super high levels and carry you through the whole game.

[@SuperMookles]

Why would you want to go through the whole game, though?

[@huru2guru]

Ahem, specific well built vampire assets? ;P

[@Poroner]

34:00 Stalker has the bloodsuckers. Definitely the best implementation of invisible enemies in any game.

[@AdamBorseti]

Fuckin' A.

[@cpi3267]

they're not "invisible" though, your flashlight still cast shadows on it and if you manage to shoot it, the blood marks him

[@Poroner]

@@cpi3267 that's what makes it a good implementation

[@AdamBorseti]

@@Poroner That, and when you see splashes/footsteps through the water and that unholy breathing sound? Chills me every time!

[@vantuz8264]

In Clear Sky they were completely immune to all damage while they're cloaked. That makes me suspicious that all that "track them while they're hidden" was not how developers intended players to fight them. Best game design decision ever! (not)

[@thatrealycoolguy]

One thing Ross either forgot to mention or is not aware of is that in WoW if you run around and kill 50 murlocs, and they all have loot, you can pick up the majority of it but right clinking a single murloc. And if you hold shift when you right click, it autoloots all of it. It’s based on how close together they are, but you can loot dozens of mobs at once it with one click. The only thing you can’t do is skin multiple at the same time (Unless you’re doing legacy content and can using the throwing skinning knife)

[@Sithmaster0]

In his defense that is something that was not implemented initially. That was added in later expansions, so a game from the same era I can see not implementing it, especially if they were just copying WoW to that extent.

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

@@Sithmaster0 yeah it can't have been added before Cata because I definitely would've remembered that :0 Holding shift to auto-loot was around much earlier I'm pretty sure, but idk if it was always a thing.

[@Morrow1158]

The full phrase is “a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” It was a compliment

[@voxlknight2155]

Plus, a Jack is right under a King and Queen, so it means you're really good at everything, just not the best at all of them individually. So it's doubly a compliment.

[@boarfaceswinejaw4516]

that last part was added later, and was not part of the original quote. its good to be well versed in many things, but you'll get stomped by people who are significantly better than you are at things. so get good at something.

[@FlaminBurrito101]

God bless you and your family Ross, been watching your content since I was a kid. Was 13 eating cough drops when I was sick and watched freemans mind and got hyped for every episode. Im 24 and a cowboy now and I do A.I, I can't say enough how much I appreciate your content and as I grew as a person your videos were always a treat. Still waiting for you to make your movie, but I'll wait as long as it takes, "When it's done". Thanks for everything Ross, good vibes. 👍

[@atherium3351]

The fabled Ross Scott has blessed us with another episode of game dungeon!

[@2782Jack]

When I see an hour + game dungeon I get hyped. Ross doesn't DO filler. It's all action all the time.

[@dfailsthemost]

The opening narration reminds me of the aqua teen ghost of christmas past from the future

[@sorrenblitz805]

If Dave Willis and Matt Maeillaro did narration for video games I would die a laughing man.

[@dumbcter]

Pillars of Eternity had this mechanic when looting multiple bodies close to each other, where it would just show you all of their collective loot at once, in a single menu. I'd bet it wasn't the first game to do this sort of thing either, but it's the first one that came to mind, and it would be a really neat solution to the looting problem this game has i think.

[@HC-qc5rp]

WoW did that

[@TarvenGames]

The clips of wow that you showed are doing it injustice. :-D It is a very quick game once you have more abilities.

[@Cythil]

Yeah, a lot of MMO combat is bad. AT least with older MMO games. It has gotten better. The reason for this I think has nothing to do with you playing in groups. But with the nature of how these games used to work under the hood. Back in the day you could not really have satisfying, more action oriented combat (And you could not go the other direction either with deeper tactical combat). And the big reason for this is that people had so bad internet connection. When World of Warcraft was new, people were still using old school dial-up modems. And Blizzard Alway aimed for mass appeal so no chance they would make a game for a small niche of people who had ADSL connections, or dare a say... fibre! :o

[@ricardobelogeneralplastro1319]

Baldur's Gate through online mode (and in real time) says hello. It really isnt about the age the game was made in, but more about trend chasing that every less than stellar dev ends up following to make some shovelware games. As much as people praise indie games, for each gem there are hundreds of copycats of other trends that get forgotten days after release. Just like this game over here.

[@Cythil]

@@ricardobelogeneralplastro1319 I do not see how Baldur's Gate is relevant since it is not an MMORPG.

[@ricardobelogeneralplastro1319]

@@Cythil i mean, its in the same style as this game, a 1-6 person multiplayer adventure. Maybe Icewind Dale is the more appropriate comparison, since IWD is much more hack n slash.

[@Cythil]

@@ricardobelogeneralplastro1319 Well, I do not know the developmental history of this game. But the hypotheses put forth in the video do not seem too unreasonable. It would not be the first time a game is copying design that is based on another game that, even when that game you're making, do not have the same limitations as what inspired it. I have even been in a project like that myself, and it created a bit of a rift in the group.

[@Sanglaine]

I just want to point out to your question at 34:25 of 'when is an invisible enemy fun?' I have a good answer. Phantasy Star Online, Episode 2, Seabed Upper. There are robots that are invisible, but you can see them in the reflections of windows/floor and see them walking through the shallow water too. Though then again they ARE also paired up with the most dangerous type of attack. Freezing. So I guess I take that back. They're fun in their gimmick, but not long term so ehn.

[@Mr.Slam87327]

This game is actually kindof good, the mechanics of leveling up your stats and skills by constant use floats my boat, though the amount of "exp" to master the skill is so high that it can feel that it's stopped. I love the Crusader character, I gravitate to all Paladin characters, but his Faith and Pray mechanics hold him back severely because it doesn't slowly regen on it's own, channeling his Praying all the pads out the time playing tremendously. Definitely the weakest character. The Amazon and Dwarf are pretty beginner friendly and straightforward. Wizard Lizard is a traditional magic nuker. The Vampire is a mix of Necromancer and a Rogue, with the Rogue part at the start being very underwhelming. I'd love for a modern remake of this game or another like it.

[@jahronsamuels9453]

Just watching him bring up diablo bring backs fond memories of me playing it on my dads ps1 as a kid. Such a good game

[@floriangallus7760]

Thank you Ross. Just at the right time.

[@borkbork9541]

It's amazing just how many games I've Never heard of but always make for amazing videos.

[@ktk44man]

I like the end music being from depths of peril. When is Ross going to do a game dungeon on a soldak game?

[@RabiddRabitt1984]

What i learned on my third viewing: The alocolypse was the journey itself

[@dontspikemydrink9382]

alocolypse

[@mosshivenetwork117]

Genasi are a really good d&d race. My favorite.

[@mosshivenetwork117]

Or the plant race.

[@mcblaggart8565]

6:46 vs 7:21 I was juuust about to ask why Booberella's in-game model looks so much better than the menu model, but I realized it was Ross's hack to make the game widescreen stretching things. Incidentally, the impractical skimpy female armor thing used to really bug me too, but at some point I got used to it. Now I just appreciate the scenery. Edit: 57:00 I said I'm tolerant, and I do like boobs, but that crosses a line. I can't imagine anyone wanting to wear that. See, the outfits at 1:00:06 are better because some women might actually want to dress like that. Edit 2: This comment disappeared for a while, now it's back. KZbin is a silly place.

[@thatoneguy9309]

For Invisible enemies that are fun, The wendigos from dusk. Enough said, I love those little guys.

[@xenosophont]

Why so upset about the depiction of this happy merchant who is so absolutely jubilant because he's got a good deal for you? He just can't stop rubbing his hands thinking about all those good deals he can offer his new customer!

[@HibHab69]

Awesome video. I would've never heard about this middling rather high production game if it wasn't for this.

[@LumosX]

I can't have played this game before, but the area name of "Gnarled Woods" showing up on a screen in white letters is something I've remembered for a very long time, and tried on multiple occasions-every time unsuccessfully-to look up the video game it comes from. I don't believe I've ever heard of this title before, so I can't explain the mystery of the Gnarled Woods, but at least I know where I must have seen this. Furthermore, there were crystal caverns? I distinctly remember seeing-in a net café back in the day, I believe-caverns full of glowing crystals and passive zombie miners, with a female player character in third person navigating them, and I've always thought it must have been a Tomb Raider game. Could that also have been this game instead? I guess I'll never know...

[@JakTheLombax]

Ross: This game is terrible and I hate it Also Ross: *plays the game to completion, replays boss several times, hacks it risking a virus and makes feature film length video about it.

[@SmokeyEdits]

that vaguely familiar amorphous blob looks like the Exalted from gw2 imo. sorta mech-like, but in a ghostly way.

[@linoxyard]

Another game dungeon, ah yes, very nice. I hope you'll play the sequel next!

[@bigppbigproblems]

Killing Floor has near-invisible zombies. You notice them always if you're paying attention. They are like a wake-up call if you start playing too mindlessly. i I like em.

[@johnoneil9188]

This actually reminds me of one of those DnD campaigns where you all make characters but in truth the DM just wants you to be witnesses to how aweseme and powerful this NPC that he came up with is, in this case blob guy.

[@SomeKindaSpy]

god that's the worst

[@nellancaster]

Thankfully never had that kind of DM in my grand total of one time playing a TTRPG, but I can just imagine how painful that experience would be.

[@varvarvarvarvarvar]

This whole game has very low tier DnD vibe to it.

[@fissionphoenix4995]

As someone who has listened to one or two did podcasts that sounds spot-on accurate.

[@MrElath]

@@nellancaster If your group has spines it can get hilarious, the only time it happened in my group the DM couldnt understand why my Lawful Evil Warlock/Rogue who spent the entire game scheming and doing nefarious things when the rest of the party wasnt looking would convince the rest of the group to turn on his obnoxious Chaotic Good DMPC who was the only character at the table who had figured out what my character was up to how did he find out? "He just knows a criminal when he sees one."

[@fien111]

What is it with Ross continuing to find RPGs that are nigh-unplayably hard and completely incomprehensible? Did he insult a witch and get cursed to manifest these games from the ether?

[@varvarvarvarvarvar]

I think he is looking for games where you can play as a dwarf specifically, which tends to be mostly fantasy RPGs.

[@psykomancer4420]

It's because even beloved RPGs have combat somewhere between complete ass and barely serviceable. So when you dig down to the bad RPGs.....

[@tba113]

You'd think he could have asked those gypsies from Veil of Darkness for help with breaking such a curse.

[@tpd1864blake]

Maybe over the years he’s gone through all of the good games that he owns and has to resort to the worse ones

[@Bacxaber]

@@tba113 Don't say the G word.

[@MoonMoverGaming]

This game's story has the feel of a D&D campaign that's been going on for two years but you only just joined and too much has happened for the other players to possibly explain.

[@bluerogueschannel]

Witcher 3 had a great solution to this with it's whole "Witcher: Wild Hunt" /quietly when you're not looking/ "...three" strategy. If you never played the first or second games they don't even recap much and go "This is what pertains to here and now" and every so often when something relates to a previous event Geralt gives a brief "Yeah but back on track" and you get that brief thirst for "Wait no what was that?" but don't feel like you're lost in a miasma of fantasy deep lore. Tbf it's carried by Geralts tired "been there done that" attitude, but the main focus here is that they bring together a set of pertinent information and keep the spotlight on that and don't get lost in a character rambling about "THE ANCIENT WAR BETWEEN THE DRAK'THNAR AND THE OBLIKINAMOR WAS A 200 YEAR LONG STRUGGLE-"

[@SusCalvin]

Mage Knight was a miniatures game, it had those models where the base could be clicked around. It had promo comics and stuff.

[@MoonMoverGaming]

@@SusCalvin That actually explains quite a lot, thanks.

[@SusCalvin]

@@MoonMoverGaming It didn't live for long. It wanted to be some kind of collectible skirmish game. I just recall the basic plot. Atlanteans are tyrannical slaving dudes, the invention of GUN starts a rebellion that includes a lot of the world's humans. Other groups who didn't like the atlanteans latch on and now there's two factions warring in the world.

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

@@SusCalvin so basically you're the USSR?

[@Apollomasque]

Loving this party composition of two leggy, amazonian models wearing what can be charitably called "armoured swimwear" being led by a surly little dwarf in 60 pounds of chainmail.

[@egoalter1276]

The dwarf is obviously their pimp.

[@kristoffer8609]

Well it's a game with three headed dragons and space blobs. Women wearing skimpy clothing is not really what I'd call out of the ordinary.

[@Дми́трийВикторович-о3с]

To be fair, if you listen to Ross long enough he does creates an impression of a dwarf with a minigun. Vampire chicks are just for some contrast.

[@cc1912]

All I can think of is a Mass Effect 3 Gamerpoop: "Shepherd, wait...I can wear SWIMWEAR into battle."

[@red_cosplay]

@@cc1912 Nice.

[@ShinyGaara65]

"I'm already a master of nothing in my own life." -Ross Scott, KZbin celebrity, creator of Freeman's Mind, gaming archaeologist, aspiring movie-maker, music saver, and all-around awesome guy

[@jamesrussell2936]

Dang, if this guys sucks, I'm afraid of what I am.

[@JamesTobiasStewart]

@@jamesrussell2936 Preach it friend...

[@lillyclarity9699]

That's what I was thinking when I heard that. Dude is the best in his class in so many different classes

[@L.L.2045]

legend

[@AveSicarius]

@@jamesrussell2936 Accept the suck. Let it flow through you. Be molded by it. Forged by it. Become the Dork Knight!

[@medicindisquise4271]

A quarter of the way through the video, I quickly realized exactly what was happening. This isn't actually a singleplayer game. This is actually a CO-OP GAME. That's why you suffered through the first chapter as the dwarf, because the game expected you to have at least two players. If you played as any other class, you would've gotten the dwarf there and thus a little bit of extra damage. That's why your inventory is so stifling - everybody is expected to loot, not just one guy. That's why there's a lot of cooldowns - you were asking "Where's the army?" but just like in WoW, you're expected to have 2-5 other people playing with you. That's why your player character didn't speak until chapter 2 - again, they couldn't be sure you had the dwarf until after the murderhall chapter so they couldn't risk having any player characters speak. In fact, I wonder if the Dwarf had important exposition during the murderhall chapter ala the huntress' insane rambling at the beginning of the pyramid that you unintentionally skipped by playing as him? This game was never meant to be played singleplayer. This is a co-op game, and all the devs probably played co-op together during playtests, assuring that singleplayer became completely unbalanced.

[@Dr.Oofers]

Yeah, this is a perfect example of developers actually being able to playtest their game, yet fail to playtest all aspects so they all *work.*

[@lyubit9841]

Yeah I realized that instantly. As soon as you see the OPTION for co-op in this kind of game alarm bells should start up, and then once MMO-based mechanics rear their head it becomes ludicrously clear that this was only ever played with at minimum two players. Even then it looks like a confusing slog because I don't know how the loot works.

[@lord_razur]

I had the same thoughts, but now I'm just left wondering how it would actually play in co-op as intended.

[@tnerbtnerb5136]

One of the many reasons I despise MMOs. ANY type of gameplay style beyond large party overlapping of player cooldowns is left to whither and die on the vine. Forget single player, forget fast paced and engaging coop player, forget cohesive mechanics or true real time battle mechanics,band forget realistic timers on abilities. Those just got sacrificed to the MMO god.

[@povilzem]

So it IS a mummorpager!

[@TheMaabusAdmiral]

Ah, a new summer game dungeon, now things are starting to make sense. Hope everyone has a safe and fun summer!

[@delorean8526]

Will do Admiral Jefferson! Now go have fun with the family!

[@remainprofane7732]

🫡

[@WandaThePanda]

*salutes*

[@LoogyHead]

Thanks Admiral Jefferson!

[@3isr3g3n]

I missed you

[@TheJesterInYellow]

The fact that you credited each individual "Will It Blend?" episode instead of just putting them all under "Will It Blend?" is why you are the true master of the internet.

[@jaybee7892]

Indeed. He also knows his audience. We WANT to know, lol

[@Ghost_Of_SAS]

9:14 I have tested Crysis 2 just walking past everything on the highest difficulty and without any suit upgrades: it is possible and very easy, barring the scripted shooting sequences where you need to kill a boss to trigger the level exit.

[@analogsamurai9576]

Lots of speed runs sometimes the easiest solution is to just run past everything

[@Ghost_Of_SAS]

@@analogsamurai9576 You can't run per se, because the suit energy will run out super quick (maximum speed is activated automatically when sprinting), so this is no good for speedruns, but if you take it slow and walk at normal speed, you can just walk past 99% of enemies in the game.

[@Demiglitch]

@@Ghost_Of_SAS It sounds about as fun as the game is normally.

[@sorrenblitz805]

@@Ghost_Of_SAS design quirks like that irritate me. Running should either be a separate meter or passive without drain. "we've developed the most ultimate combat armor suit, it can run for a shorter time than a frightened asthmatic with COPD then takes 15 minutes to recharge."

[@Ghost_Of_SAS]

@@sorrenblitz805 Tell me about it. I did a no suit maximum difficulty run on every Crysis game, and in Crysis 1 I had to set the energy to zero via ini file just so I could sprint normally.

[@bearVshark100]

Sometimes it feels like Ross has more fun trying to get these busted ass games to run on his system than actually playing them.

[@poipanda8841]

He never checked if the other portal would work or if it just crashed the game.

[@yakacm]

Yeah it's almost as thou if he just put together an old Win XP system then his problems would be over, lol

[@ogdamo3167]

I love fixing fucking games boi

[@pedjamigrant7189]

this made me laugh so nice ty

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

Meanwhile, I'm just impressed at the patience he has for these really tedious-looking and boringly written Diablo clones.

[@ShinyGaara65]

Awards time! First award: Doesn't Respect Your Time. Self-explanatory, really. When you need to cheat to not have a soul-sucking experience, the game is wrong. Second award: Nerf Guns. There's guns in this game and they do piddly-ass damage AND they have a cooldown meter. And the final award: Napping In Class. Even when you're paying attention, the game just says things that mean nothing to you and expects you to be able to react to plot revelations that have no setup whatsoever.

[@KairuHakubi]

hahaha, perfectly put I was expecting him to say that, all along, it turned out this was one of those games that detects when it's been pirated (or THINKS it has been) and makes things impossibly hard or tedious.

[@benbot0733]

pictures for the awards: Doesn't Respect Your Time: the same old grim reaper picture it's always been Nerf Guns: a png of a Nerf maverick Napping In Class: probably some clipart of a kid sleeping on a desk

[@silverlight6074]

I would have made the last one "Someone Cared" You can see the amount of dialogue, *hear the amount of voice acting* put into this, the amount of lore and effort put into the world and characters is significant. It's quite possible that multiple people cared, from the looks of it. You don't have to create a backstory about multiple factions of dwarves and dwarf slavery to have an excuse to give dwarves guns, but they did it anyway.

[@Isaacfess]

Thanks for the awards! I've been missing them.

[@maskedmustelid1415]

@@FailBerryI3Not quite a respec, but certainly a re-roll after realising how non-viable practically any of the characters are.

[@Neziavothal]

This is from the early "brown and bloom" era of game design. Shiny new tools, can't resist using them.

[@Trynt33]

Brown's a tool?

[@valletas]

@@Trynt33 yes because real life is actually brown didnt you notice?

[@AVM26]

I like retro games, but for that particular era I feel no nostalgia at all.

[@i.m.evilhomer5084]

This game actually has a connection to Another game from the Game Dungeon. That game being Hellgate: London! Both Hellgate & Mage Knight share some of the same devs.

[@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive]

Made by ex Blizzard devs who worked on Diablo right?

[@Jon4270]

41:33 Ross actually makes a reference to it, though I'm not sure he knows about the connection.

[@GeorgeMonet]

No surprise then. Diablo 2 had a lot of mechanical problems such as the constant potion chugging.

[@connorperrett9559]

33:10 The art director told the artist assigned to this character that he wanted a "happy merchant" and the artist just Googled it and drew the first result.

[@RabbiHerschel]

They are the dwarves' Greatest Ally.

[@k96man]

When I first looked at him I thought of the happy mask salesman, not the... Well you know

[@Hellisfear]

Very based

[@Brunosky_Inc]

Alright, I'm really out of the loop on this one. What kind of racist stereotype does the merchant show off that even threw Ross off?

[@RabbiHerschel]

@@Brunosky_Inc the merchant's attire is vaguely reminiscent of that of an Ultra-Orthodox Jew. That, plus the hunched back and the clasped hands, makes the merchant look like a -completely accurate- HORRIBLY ANTISEMITIC caricature.

[@VulpesHilarianus]

It seems like this game was designed to be played with other players in a LAN environment, like how Unreal Tournament was. The fact that multiplayer is the second option on the menu and the first you land on is indicative of this, as is the opening narrative about five heroes working together. A lot of the other decisions seem to reinforce this, like the insane amounts of loot, non-pausing dialogue interludes that would be difficult to sync across multiple computers were they to pause the action in the game, the barriers that need to be destroyed, the specialized enemy types and unfair numbers, and the weapon cooldowns. Like you were meant to cover for the other players while they recharged or destroyed obstacles as the dwarf, inflict status effects as the vampire, do the damage and direct enemies as the amazon, and draw attacks as the elf. A hybrid support/ranged, a full support, DPS, and tank. They even screwed up class balancing.

[@FrozEnbyWolf150]

Was thinking the same thing, which gives me bad memories of the myriad other games that were clearly only balanced for multiplayer. The least they could have done was allow you to recruit the other characters much earlier on, like the first Dungeon Siege, so that the player is effectively controlling a party of adventurers. Give the player different formations, and allow the player to set combat stances and behaviors, like in Baldur's Gate. However, that would have required them to make the AI work better than in Daikatana.

[@LiarraSniffles_X3]

Correct, the singleplayer levels are literally identical to the co-op ones, which is why there is so much loot, why there are so many enemies and also why you can revive endlessly without punishment. Why they decided to drip feed you AI companions one per chapter I couldn't tell you, as the game was designed to be played with a full five party from the start.

[@fonesrphunny7242]

The game seems kind of late-LAN / early-online era. It's probably 'okay' in MP, but given the lack of polish in other areas, it probably wasn't tested enough in SP.

[@Kainlarsen]

They just rushed it out without balancing the mechanics in any way for single player, if that's the case.

[@Sewblon]

The dwarf is the hybrid support/ranged, the vampire is the full support, the amazon is the DPS, and the elf is the tank, right?

[@joshuazane3210]

I'm consistently impressed by the amount of effort that you put into finishing awful games.

[@do0myk]

is it a good thing tho?

[@joshuazane3210]

@@do0myk For our entertainment: certainly. For his sanity: probably not. 🤷‍♀️

[@weneedaladder8384]

​@@do0mykat the very least, it tells you just how bad games he gives up on are. He literally played through an entire game with copy-protection difficulty enabled. If he decides something isn't worth it it's really not worth it.

[@danielsurvivor1372]

​@@weneedaladder8384 which episode was with copy protection?

[@YorkShasta09]

I think it was called The Chosen. Well of Souls, or something like that.

[@timothycuff605]

I hope you guys enjoyed the video! Been watching the series for a while and it was a joy to edit for! Well, for the most part. Even I felt some of the game’s soul-sucking effects in the editing room :)

[@TectonicImprov]

Congrats on being up to Ross's very high standards

[@elegantcat1496]

Thank you for giving Ross a hand, my dude.

[@EasyTargetLP]

Good job on the visuals for the Dead body hit box! That really helped put things in perspective!

[@timothycuff605]

@@EasyTargetLP That part wasn't me, but the excellent work of Shayne Gray. But thank you for your kind words regardless!

[@brandonmorel2658]

You did really great emulating Ross' dry style of editing. Keep up the good work!

[@wolfgangbrooks]

The reason the story is so convoluted is because it's based on a collectible prepainted miniatures game with turn-able bases that tracked stats and abilities as you take damage. Each new set added a little bit to the lore and advanced the story, and at one point they were even doing a kind of weekly in world diary of one of the human seers the Solonavi allied with to expand on ongoing plotlines/wars and give background to new expansions. I think it still has potential as a setting, but I doubt they'll do much with it now even though I understand the board game is popular. Oh, Mageknight is supposed to be like the player's title as the leader of the armies you collected if I remember right. Wizkids made a number of games based on the dial base gimmick and Heroclix is the only one that survived.

[@Naruga]

I have only played the board game but always wondered what the miniatures game was like.

[@rkhale02]

I've played Heroclix, it's not bad but also kinda meh? Like finding people to actually play with is just kinda eh?

[@fich01]

The board game is still alive and well, though. And it's fantastic.

[@sobremesadedota2420]

i still have about 200+ painted figures from the early days of the game, MK: Rebelion, Lancers, etc... i play with my daughter when she's in the mood =p

[@Sanguivore]

For two seconds, I thought you were talking about heroScape and that brought back a whole flood of memories.

[@InvadeNormandy]

I remember an ancient gamefaqs type guide for this. The unfortunate thing is even the ancient guide says "The dwarf is the hardest to play especially early on." As he's the ONLY character with the backwards rage bar/mana mechanic. What an introduction

[@ParappatheRapper]

A game where the Dwarf option is the worst option is by definition a bad game. This is goin' in the book.

[@lilwyvern4]

@@ParappatheRapper It's just a fact that dwarves are superior. I don't make the rules, that's just how it is.

[@neoneanderthal2658]

@@ParappatheRapper The only other game I know where the Dwarf was actively worsethan anyone else is Severance Blade of Darkness...and that game would tear you to shreds regardless of who you played as. Dedicated girl character excepted - she had a dodge roll.

[@MinscFromBaldursGate92]

By the beard of my ancestors, this is goimg in the book!

[@Mate397]

Aye, Book of Grudges it is then!

[@Tigerseye41]

At this point I kind of want to make a game that involves a compilation of every mechanic Ross says is the worst he's seen in his life.

[@ghostoflazlo]

What's stopping you?

[@MalO.ver1.0.x]

@@ghostoflazlo Probably time and know-how (which leads back to time since you'll need that to learn to make a game of any kind).

[@Numdenu]

a turn-based maze that has a color filter?

[@excessemail2344]

Don't forget looting, and puzzles with randomized elements.

[@Guruc13]

@@excessemail2344 1. Don't forget pixel hunting. 2. Clicking the same non-obvious thing several times in a row with almost no changes in description in order to solve a puzzle. 3. Puzzles that require you to go to Google to solve them. 4. Forcing you to stand still and waste real-life time in order to meagerly charge your health bar. 5. Bullets that have a pitiful effect on enemies, so that you feel impotent. Any kind of game where your attacks take forever and are nerfed to hell, really. 6. Trying to figure out what you're supposed to do next and where you're supposed to go IS ITSELF a puzzle. 7. Character creation menus at the beginning of a game that have huge effects on your character later on, but you're forced to make decisions on them *right now* with little to no information. 8. A timer. 9. The timer from Quarantine - a way of incurring debt where each failed mission requires you to do two more missions successfully in order to advance, but by failing several times in a row you quickly dig a hole you can never get out of, until you eventually game over.

[@lukesnyder4183]

Ross's girlfriend shows off her new lingerie: "This is not good orc fighting gear."

[@dontspikemydrink9382]

eh,..... he has been married, do you know something we don't?

[@elegantcat1496]

Jesus I remember Mage Knight from middle school. It was this gateway miniature game you play right before getting into Warhammer. It tried to be huge too, it had comics, expansions packs and apparently videogames. Man, it was such a 2000' thing If I remember correctly, it was about a magical world on the cusp of industrial revolution and the major conflict was between the old mages of a dispotic Atlantis and a coalition of nature magicians and non magic wielding creatures utilizing the newfound power of GUNS to overthrow the old order.

[@PonderousEclectica4383]

that actually sounds pretty badass

[@elegantcat1496]

@@PonderousEclectica4383 It had a lot of great ideas but it lacked in quality, unfortunately. The minis were these "clicks" types, you know, with the rotating dial at the base? They were not very good, the paint job sucked hard and they were made with this low quality plastic. The game itself was imbalanced as fuck although kinda fun for a 13 year old. Since the minis were sold as random collectables, you couldn't really put together a coherent army unless you were made out of money so most matches consisted in throwing everything you had on the battlefield disregarding army types, points or lore, it was nuts!

[@elegantcat1496]

@@PonderousEclectica4383 Sorry for the wall of text but apparently I have A LOT to say about Mage Knight

[@MrGrizzzlik]

@@elegantcat1496 thanks for background. Never heard of it in Europe, was it just USA thing?

[@MrCvb]

@@MrGrizzzlik I definitely played this in Sweden, at least.

[@DACopperhead2]

I can't believe it. This is set in the same universe as Mage Knight, er, the wargame. I've never played the minis game, but my brothers adored the board game which was like flying a fighter jet. Cool in theory, but a whole lot of technical jargon and very detailed instructions to follow. Sadly, the boardgame also had no gunpowder toting dwarves, which is probably why I don't like it. I find it surreal that a game as freakishly complex as Mage Knight where even the "warrior" characters are fully magic users,, can have a hack 'n slash tie-in that rewards you for being a non-mage. The Dragon appears to be the major connecting character, he sucks in the boardgame too.

[@Accursed_Farms]

Wow, I had no idea, I'll have to look this up for a follow-up.

[@matthewgagnon9426]

@@Accursed_Farms Mage Knight had a few different iterations of being a wargame or board game. I still have most of my old Mage Knight minis that were the precursor to Heroclix. I liked it, but the game never caught on and it eventually died.

[@DACopperhead2]

@@Accursed_Farms From what little i've found. Mage Knight began life as a Heroclix game. Heroclix being somthing that was the bane of my childhood. Take cool minis, then stick a tacky plastic chunk to the bottom of the mini in lieu of stats. That was in 2000, and it got some expansions. It looks like the factions in the video game are in the actual minis game but it almost feels like they aren't following their actual design. According to the Wiki, the Atlantiens are very high tech and magic focused, not just bandit slavers. Its like someone made a Warhammer 40K without knowing what 40K was. Sadly the board game came out in 2011, so long after this game. The original minis game seems really simple, so it makes more sense as a hack 'n slash. But even the orginal game was mix of wargame, RPG and card game. Raising armies might be a lot more fun than just praying for hours on end, or waiting for guns to cool down. I don't even like cards in games, but they could have used that as well. A baffling experience all around.

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@Accursed_Farms Mage Knight was the first Clix game I remember asking my parents to buy me hundreds of the things without even knowing the rules.

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@DACopperhead2 Heroclix was a successor of Mage Knight's systems.

[@xxCAH4EZxx]

I miss the "Award time!" But really, big thanks for such big video! As always it's a great work!

[@gnarlin4964]

Why weren't there any awards?

[@usa_bruce4295]

yeah I miss awards

[@Dr.Oofers]

I don’t think he could give any rewards to this, probably didn’t think it was deserving of it or was too exhausted by the end to think of anything to give.

[@antipsychotic451]

@@Dr.Oofers I think he's just been phasing the awards section out of his videos in general.

[@ChronoHarvester]

@@antipsychotic451 Yep. I think they worked well as a wrap-up section (a bookend), but I understand why he would drop them for games as punishing as this one. Ross is a trooper, but he should not have to do the work of a whole squad when award-worthy traits are as bla Yang as this one. If Ross was to do some follow up research on the franchise as part of a sequel video, possible awards would be: “Multiplayer Looting which wasn’t adapted for Singleplayer,” “Never Beaten?,” “2000s Tabletop Game Adaptation,” “That One Armor Trope,” “Amateur Hero Bullied By Veteran NPC Hero,” and/or “Malicious Infodump.”

[@tpd1864blake]

34:18 I thought the assassins in Half-Life were pretty fun to play against on hard mode. Also, there’s a free mod for HL2 called Hidden Source or something, where a bunch of players with guns fight against a single invisible player with a melee weapon that can instantly kill people from behind, that was insanely fun. And finally, there’s some aliens in the Halo series that are invisible, although if you pay close attention you can barely see their cloak texture and identify them, but the best invisible enemy segment from Halo would be the new Infinite game in the tower where you have to use a tracking device to identify a completely invisible enemy when they’re within its range. Lot of examples I could give but these are my favorite

[@thefallofhousedenari]

The Hidden was the HL2 mod. It was great. It boggles my mind no one has, to my knowledge anyway, replicated the idea for a game. I think it could do alright.

[@awakeandwatching953]

the stealth enemy's in fear were pretty good

[@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive]

thefallofhousedenari _Predator: Hunting Grounds_ reminds me of the Hidden mixed with the Batman: Arkham Origins multiplayer.

[@Frostiken]

@@thefallofhousedenari I played a Tribes 2 mod a couple decades ago called the Great Tribal War. It was set on a huge landmass, each time had a piece of equipment that, when assembled and powered, would allow them to respawn. The goal was to use the full arsenal of vehicles, weapons, terrain, scouting, etc. to destroy the enemy's respawn generator. We would play games that lasted 4+ hours long. It was intense. No idea how that game concept has never been used, either.

[@kanucks9]

@@Frostiken PlanetSide 2 does that, right?

[@cybermadness2503]

I just had the most exhausting week of my life, sitting through this unbelievable heat and I finish the day by finding a new Game Dungeon by Ross! *YEEEESSS!!!!*

[@mistermagic4140]

I work at UPS and it gets 100+ degrees in the warehouse. All the heat exhaustion was worth it now that Ross has invited us into his nice, cool Game Dungeon

[@sirduggins]

Nothing like running deliveries at near 100 degrees F listening to Ross. The southeast US is cooking right now

[@gz7006]

Please get more exhausting weeks if it means we get more Ross.

[@planescaped]

I might have lost 20k on the stock market and rents going up a third time... but new Game Dungeon!

[@BobbyCampbell93]

Local Bulk tanker truck driver who spends 85% of the day out in direct sun unloading for an hour at a time. Your comment literally is exactly how I felt just now after working a 14 hour day.

[@Darkspace.]

Despite this game's problems, I think we can all agree those Dwarvish tanks are badass looking.

[@EminemLovesGrapes]

And it gets the female NPCs right. Having them all look like Sylvanas is pretty awesome to me.

[@tenyokensekia8088]

I’ve yet to see a Dwarven tank that doesn’t look badass to be honest. I’m sure lame ones exist, but it’s hard to to not make multiple tons of dwarven metal and ingenuity not seem cool!

[@MinscFromBaldursGate92]

You can never go wrong with fine Dawi craftmanship.

[@gepettogreco]

Jesus, I'm not the one who had to play through this and I don't think I'm even beginning to feel the iceberg of tedious boredom you had to go through. Hopefully the next one is going to be gentler on you, Ross.

[@voidnoodle8911]

I looked it up and apparently it's intended for group play, despite having a singleplayer function. It really does have Warcraft DNA- you're expected to play it multiplayer.

[@Dr.Oofers]

It’s probably why he didn’t give any awards. Too bored to care about that or so bored by the end he just wanted nothing else to do with it.

[@LazyBuddyBan]

why it doesn't give you all npc companions at the start when the difficulty doesn't scale is beyond me

[@SimplyGun]

You finished it without cheats? Is it possible?

[@ezekielrose5173]

So I've watched this video all the way through I think once, but I've started it and fallen asleep listening to it about 7 or 8 times now. Game Dungeon is one of the few things I can listen to that actually helps me sleep, and I mean that in the most positive possible way. I find Ross's delivery very relaxing and the whole vibe of GD very cozy.

[@sorrenblitz805]

I often put the whole playlist on when I go to bed.

[@jasonjayalap]

We feel safe in Ross' arms.

[@iunno585]

Re: invisible enemies, there's a couple of times in the MGS series where they're used to pretty good effect. My favourite is in the first game, when you're in an elevator and realize there's 4 guys with cloaking devices in there with you, and so you have to flail around in a panic attacking the air

[@dirtfriend]

yeah but there you could equip thermal goggles too

[@BenersantheBread]

Though MGS invisibility is still quite visible.

[@weneedaladder8384]

Man, that scene where you realize the elevator is over the weight limit because of extra, invisible people is so good. I played that game like ten years ago and it's still burned into my memory.

[@Lucifronz]

@@weneedaladder8384 Otacon pushing his face close to the camera is fried into my brain because of how silly he looks while panicking.

[@primethread]

Also Doom, Halo, Iconoclasts, etc.

[@TheFrogspawnedOne]

"I'm already a master of nothing in my real life!" Man, I felt that.

[@totaleNonale]

The full quote is actually "a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one." so don't let that get you down

[@moonmelons]

I think Resident Evil 4 actually handled invisible enemies well. But a large reason is that those weren't truly "invisible". They had a distortion effect where they were and if you kept your eye out and spotted them you could just shoot them. It also helped that they spit acid and have a pretty metal game over where they will melt Leon's face off.

[@EminemLovesGrapes]

That's the joke ross is trying to make. The only truly fun invisible enemy aren't invisible like elites from halo.

[@MariaIsabellaZNN]

What about Resident Evil Revelations 2 which had invisible enemies that only the autistic girl could see so you constantly had to switch?

[@GamerBurgerz]

The Wendigos in Dusk are an example of invisible enemy I really like. They can't be seen directly, but they can be heard, the screen flickers when they appear, they leave a slight blood trail, and they collide with world objects. There's plenty of opportunities to notice them, but it requires you to pay attention to your surroundings, and that's difficult (though still doable) in a hectic firefight. They're durable and hard-hitting, but there's not many of them, and by the time you encounter them you'll have high-damage weapons to use against them.

[@youmukonpaku3168]

and of course, their introduction is absolutely perfect. DON'T TRUST YOUR EYES indeed!

[@AdriftForWeeks]

And if you hit them once they stay on screen:)

[@crisis8v88]

I hope that your computer is alright after the Faustian bargain you made for this episode. As far as the design for looting everything, maybe the developers were really forgetful and wanted to make a realistic "where did I leave my car keys?" simulator, right down to the wanton manslaughter so that they could search not just their own pockets, but everyone else's too.

[@brandonmorel2658]

The faustian deal you mention reminded me of downloading games from untrustworthy piracy sites in general. Its really a gamble sometimes.

[@Johnwalter1044]

In the darkest moments, our hero presents his finest of works! Thank you Ross for your videos!

[@amshermansen]

27:05 - Without taking any responsibility here. If most of the "virus" results are "generic" and "game hack", then you can pretty much dismiss these as being false positives that just boil down to RAM hooking.

[@Sewblon]

What is RAM hooking? I ask because wikipedia has an entry on hooking, but all the links are dead except for one link to a blog post by someone whom I have never heard of.

[@amshermansen]

Generally it is frowned upon to read the RAM that other applications are using - And actively EDITING it is even worse. And that is exactly what a trainer or tools like cheat engine does to change values in a game while it's running.

[@TheSmatislav]

3:14 That swedish chef made me laugh harder than I care to admit.

[@brandonmorel2658]

Ross really communicates well the horrid gameplay and incompetence almost every game featured exudes, not a lot of game shows make me feel grateful for the developers that include incredibly advanced Quality Of Life features such as making the game actually beatable.

[@BaronPraxis8492]

It was nice how Morrowind allowed you to dispose of corpses. That would be a nice fix for the overlapping body hitbox issue.

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

It also had contingencies for overflow, if there suddenly was too many items in one location, it would use an error handler called "Overflowing Lootbag", which was a sack container that would spawn on the ground or floor, which would take and hold all the excess items lying around freely in that exterior cell or interior cell. I believe it would trigger at 128 items on XBox, and 256 items on PC. It has been a frustration for some players over the years, especially ones which like picking a place as their house and then lavishly decorating it with interesting items and piles of treasure. There's means to modify the behavior on PC (raising the number), either by using a plug-in mod, an engine mod/hack, or altering an .ini/.cfg value, I don't quite recall.

[@sorrenblitz805]

@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine now that's a game that needs a gameplay fix. Spending hours not hitting anything with a sword when it's my highest combat skill was less than irritating especially when I'm looking straight up the dude's nostrils.

[@miguelbranquinho7235]

@@sorrenblitz805Use magic, it's way funner.

[@deatharsenal6311]

In terms of invisible enemies: The only one that I've enjoyed has been the Wendigos in Dusk, mainly because you get sounds and bloody tracks to tell where they're at, then they become visible once attacked.

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

Those were honestly some of my least favorite enemies in Dusk, but that's just me. Around the point of their introduction it felt like the game was becoming more of a horror game than an action game. It's well-made and the Wendigos certainly felt spooky without being cheap, but I was expecting something closer to Quake.

[@nellancaster]

To me, the (distinct!) sound cues are the thing that elevates them from "annoying" to "tough but tolerable". Honorable mention to the fact that when they're visible, they _remain_ visible until they die.

[@marcellosilva9286]

@@cupriferouscatalyst3708 Oh yeah, it sure does feel like a horror game, with all that ammo lying around, hundreds of enemies to fight, and with the main character sprinting around at Mach 5. Dusk is the best survival horror game I've ever played!

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

@@marcellosilva9286 more of a horror game, didn't say it felt like a horror game, it's just some of the pacing

[@LuciferSamChannel]

Ross: "Are you ready for Mage Knight Apocalypse?" Me: "I hope, so" Ross: "I'm not" Me: "Oh, this will be an instant Ross classic video"

[@78sixelA]

Oh this game... I don't think I've ever met someone else that actually knew it existed before. I remember being mesmerized by how bad this game was back in the day, and playing through all of it despite myself. I played through it as the dragon mage, and distinctly remember three bugs: Your companions break if they die, and stop being able to use any abilities. Only fixed by reloading/restarting. The game is soooo much easier when they go into the full lightshow that is all companions spamming abilities. I played through more than half the game before I noticed... One of the mage fire abilities does not require line of sight and is instant cast. The AI does NOT handle this well. I cheesed through a lot of the game with this. Oh, and alchemy ingredients do not stack on pickup. Fun times.

[@unlimitedshrimp]

this game is PAINFULLY world of warcraft and you can tell it was made by a group of friends who played it and had their own expectations of the game and their own personal headcanons. the night elf warrior wanted to be a paladin so bad, the human hunter wanted to get rid of their pet, the undead rogue wanted to be a vampire, the troll mage picked troll because its the closest he could get to being a dragon, and the dwarf hunter wanted to main being an engineer. its like a lens into the chokehold wow had on fantasy games at the time and it was weirdly wistful to watch some of this stuff

[@ElvenSonic]

this explains a LOT. I’be only found a couple developer interviews from the era and this definitely tracks with how the producer talked about the game. I really wish there were more postmortem interviews or info on the devs to hear more about this.

[@Aredein]

31:15 I think I know why this music ending abruptly. If you watched hardware company logos, you can notice that game presents one of the sound systems. It appears the game was too much hard coded into that now likely gone sound card, or something. Sadly we'll never know. Who knows, if there are a more soundtracks. Sadly, the soundtrack is in the encrypted file system, so we won't know.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Never broken or leaked eh?

[@Morec0]

THEY'RE KILLING VIDEO GAMES SOUNDTRACKS!

[@reesetorwad8346]

"...we'll never know." Challenge NOT accepted, thx

[@Ryusuta]

Dude, if the Mage Knight Apocalypse involves a kickass rave with a bunch of lizard people, hell YEAH I'm ready for it.

[@tenyokensekia8088]

While that does sound cool, where was the rave? Did I miss it in the video? Also, was Ross’s character just drunk on dwarven brew and mentioned gnolls to make it sound like he was paying attention?

[@adenowirus]

@@tenyokensekia8088 I think it happened during the not-mordor part. Look here 1:13:08

[@tenyokensekia8088]

@@adenowirus I sill can't see it. I'll have to just rewatch the whole video sometime. Not a problem, I enjoyed this episode anyway.

[@adenowirus]

@@tenyokensekia8088 You can see the same enemy type but not the scene itself.

[@Ryusuta]

@@tenyokensekia8088 The very beginning of the video. (Sorry for the late reply. I thought I'd answered this before.)

[@weeaboobaguette3943]

I wonder how many game are made without a single hour devoted to actually playing it before release. All of the glaring flaws and annoyances tend to be, well, glaring with even a modicum of playing.

[@sebastiangorka200]

its more often the case that a game doesnt fully come together until almost the last moment and in most cases where it comes out bad its cuz the devs dont have enough time/money to finish it properly so they staple something sellable together under the publishers pressure

[@REgamesplayer]

It is still down to overeaching. Wanting to do more than you have resourses for. A common tale even if we take out publishers out of the picture.

[@sebastiangorka200]

@@REgamesplayer literally show me a fucking business major monkey who can fully plan out and coordinate what is basically a collective work of art with a million moving parts without everyone on the team wanting to kill themselves when its done you cant

[@REgamesplayer]

@@sebastiangorka200 It is quite easy. Most games and movies are completed in time and under the budget.

[@sebastiangorka200]

@@REgamesplayer no theyre not

[@Oilyoxygen]

This is the kind of story-telling I like to call "Noun Soup", which makes up like 98% of fantasy games. (And Doom Eternal) Everyone is constantly referring to people, things, and places with dumb names like " Queen Ruthgold lead the charge In The Battle for the Cinthamon Crown in the The Woodlands of Garthok" and they're made out to be super important and a big part of the world and plot, but it's never really evident from your perspective as to why and the game doesn't care to write something that would explain it.

[@PasserMontanus]

Lore isn't story. Same disease plagues the Elder Scrolls games.

[@kloa4219]

The appeal with Warcraft was that it combined the darkest parts of history with a fantasy flavor, but those were retconned and watered down after WoW.

[@lasskinn474]

it's even worse if the writers don't have their own stash of notes so it's consistent. although in this case i guess some of it is referencing the franchise

[@SinaelDOverom]

@@PasserMontanus In Elder Scrolls you can dive into the lore and via books and all the other bits and pieces make everything come together. Morrowind's entire plot revolves around piecing together a a few tidbits of lore, which you can't understand at the start, but it forms a full picture in the end.

[@aprofondir]

It's like Destiny. 90% setting 10% plot

[@UberShyGuy]

real talk, after learning so much about how game development works, it's blatantly obvious that this was *meant* to be a solid diablo-like rpg and had a lot of effort put into it, but all the hard work in the world can't save a project with bad direction, and something clearly went terribly wrong with this project's direction and the end result wound up being a sonic 06-level chaotic mess

[@GeorgeMonet]

It went wrong right from the start. That gameplay is horrendous and it is so openly obviously horrendous that there is no way that was anything but intentional.

[@517342]

It reminds me a lot of that Avatar movie tie-in game where the game-designer in charge had no actual clue about game design but really wanted the game to feel like WoW because he liked it so much so his team had to add in quest givers to appease him.

[@skylordguy6861]

The funny thing this game is an tie in for a board game called mage knight

[@fy8798]

@@GeorgeMonet I don't think so. It's from 2006. it's almost directly copying WoW, including how the cooldowns work. I think they thought this was good.

[@W4iteFlame]

Sonic 06 was better in my opinion...and it was unfinished and unpolished, not just made terrible from the start

[@Baron_Blue_Max]

Mage Knight the board game is phenomenal. I had no idea there was a video game, which appears to be... less than phenomenal. Awesome to see some a new Game Dungeon!

[@CartmanTuttle]

I was surprised to see a Video Game of Mage Knight as well, and I was even more surprised that it's just bad.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Board game apparently came out in 2011? But was a sequel to the very first Clix game that started in the 90 or early 2000s and became Heroclix with superhero licenses (By one of the Battletech creators who actually got Battletech rights at least for a while after FASA fell apart and he made the absolutely terrible Clix/Dark Age era of Battletech on a similar rule basis.)

[@Troninater]

Question, are we allowed to recommend nearly forgotten games for the Game Dungeon? Because I want to suggest most of the games made by the Pangeasoft company. Their the ones that did Otto Mattic, Bugdom 1 and 2, and Cro-Mag Rally among others.

[@alexandramclean9041]

I would LOVE to watch Ross play Bugdom!!!

[@Terszel]

Would also love to see how Bugdom and CroMag Rally aged, such fun times in school

[@artoocase]

I adored Otto-Matic, and the free trial of Cro-Magnon Rally. I remember my mom also had Nanosaur- same company? The game felt very similar.

[@sourhour3403]

There is an invisible enemy I really enjoyed fighting, the Replica Assassins from FEAR 1. The atmosphere of the game and the precedent that the enemies are intelligent (even though as it turns out it's basically smoke and mirrors) gave them way more fear factor, pun intended. Them not being 100% invisible but shimmering faintly against your flashlight was also a great touch.

[@bigdaddydons6241]

I was about to comment the same thing, and even then, they're fast as hell But the slow motion power balances that out beautifully if you can get headshots, I only played the game for the first time a few months ago and I absolutely loved it

[@thehoodedteddy1335]

Do the Wendigos from DUSK count? They are only invisible until you hit them

[@sourhour3403]

@@thehoodedteddy1335 sure! Got to love dusk

[@Bluecho4]

Near the end of the video, it occurred to me that I'd heard the title "Mage Knight" before. It's a collectable miniatures game/board game made by WizKids. With Mage Knight: Apocalypse being a video game tie in, along with a game for the Nintendo DS called Mage Knight: Destiny's Soldier. That is, if Wikipedia is any indication. So if it seems like there's a lot of Lore that's being thrown at the player at once, it's probably because it's an existing property. Still doesn't excuse how terribly the story is told.

[@jazz8000]

I think i recall someone giving me an hour and a half tutorial for the boardgame on tabletop simulator

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

@@jazz8000 Was it any good?

[@jazz8000]

@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine i fell asleep but yes

[@JacksGameShack]

Game: "It was almost the end..." Ross: "Oh No!" Good start so far.

[@Magaruis]

I played the collectible miniature game at a high level, almost won the nationals championship and I didn't know this stuff existed. Amazing.

[@Sara3346]

What this was derived from a board game?

[@Magaruis]

@@Sara3346 A collectible miniature game called mageknight. They had booster boxes with 4 or 5 miniatures in it. It was horrible looking back at it.

[@corsaircarl9582]

I ended up with rare Atlantean Storm Golem in a booster pack at one point.

[@Amero2323]

I find myself just cracking up multiple times an episode with Game Dungeon. In my opinion it's some of the funniest stuff on the internet

[@runeman00]

So has anyone played this game through without cheating?

[@Skungeasaur]

I did and it was a slog. Used the lizard man and fire magic.

[@BlazeHedgehog]

At times like this, I like to think about how Steam surfaces achievement statistics, sometimes allowing you to track just how far in to a game most players get. And if you look, most players who start any given game never even make it 25% through the content before giving up. It is almost guaranteed that on a game like Mage Knight Apocalypse that Ross is among the 0.1% of players to ever make it this far. Depending on how well it sold, he could be among ten people on earth to see that Zombie Queen boss. Or less!

[@valletas]

Statistically only 80% of players get the first achivement on average with is usually finishing the first mission or tutorial If this game had such achivement for finishing the first area i would be surprised if 50% of players got it

[@Umberman]

man, games just like this remind me of early PC gaming days, they're like pulling teeth singleplayer, the devs SO want you to play MP they just completely forget to balance the game for SP

[@boarfaceswinejaw4516]

with every rpg with real time combat always comes the question "does this game emphasize brains or brawns". is it like exanima, mount and blade or dark messiah where stats are secondary to skill? is it like dark souls or kingdoms of amalur where stats are important but so are skills? is it like morrowind or diablo where stats are the most important thing, but timing and positioning is still important? is it like WoW where stats is all that matters, but there are ways to cheese things into your advantage? This game looks very much like WoW, but at the same time there isnt enough wriggle room to properly build up an advantage, so where comes the gameplay?

[@GeorgeMonet]

I would not classify a reaction timer as brains. That's just a reaction timer to text if you have a high or low reaction speed. Plenty of people have big brains but terrible reflexes and there is nothing you can do about what reaction speed you have which is why NO game should be based on reaction speed. But in the current generation way too many games are just that, nothing but a test of the player's reaction speed. It sucks and has to change.

[@dullwayfarer3971]

@@GeorgeMonet I don't know, man. At that point, what's distinguishing it from a turn-based game? slower combat can have its appeal, but what if I want fast and crazy where concentration and focus is key?

[@totaleNonale]

@@GeorgeMonet I mean you can train your reactions to a certain degree, but If you have just genetically bad luck or toxoplasmosis I guess you shouldn't be punished for it... Still saying "NO game" should be based on it seems extreme. By that logic you could say no game should be based on visual queues because a lot of people are blind - an extreme version of what you said granted, but where do you draw the line?

[@Sewblon]

Skill =/= brawn. You can be super muscular and not have any action game skills. You can also have pro level action game skills and not be muscular.

[@boarfaceswinejaw4516]

@@Sewblon i meant brawn in terms of gameplay. im not talking about some roided dude playing dark souls, im talking about the difference between a dude who speedruns super mario vs a dude who speedruns ultima underworld. one is about getting good at controls (brawn) the other is about getting good as statbuilding and resource managment (mind).

[@Zerphses]

About 3 days ago I checked the channel and thought to myself “Damn, hasn’t been a new Game Dungeon in awhile…” Seeing the length of this’un it’s no wonder it took so long! Excited to dive in.

[@lordvekh6854]

The game is video game adaptation of a board game, that's the reason for all those Nouns and exposition dumps thrown at you. Also for the sexy outfits thing I remember being able to remove amazon character's top in the game files and she actual has fully modeled tits. Not sure about vampire assassin. But the amazon is definitely what kept my 14 yo me playing.

[@sorrenblitz805]

Lol noice.

[@peppers515]

I had this amazing sense of excitement when I was 40 minutes in to this episode and I had another half of the episode to enjoy

[@redchief94]

This is like Chosen the Well of Souls without a soul. This is bad in a more systemic way. It could only have ever been bad. As bad as it is Chosen had heart put into it. This? No...

[@ArvelDreth]

I don't know about that, the lore for this game is a lot more in depth than The Chosen. The Chosen was just a world of humans fighting demons led by "The Evil One".

[@LiarraSniffles_X3]

Yes, Ross, you were missing something. Four somethings, in fact. This game is made to be played with 5 people, and the singleplayer is literally just the multiplayer levels unchanged but for the AI helper characters of which you get one for each chapter out of 6 (barring the first one of course.) Ironically, this means that the last chapter where you have all 4 AI characters with you is actually the most balanced out of all the singleplayer chapters, because the devs designed the levels as though you have all 5 players right from the start, but for some reason only give you the AI characters one at a time. It's really dumb. In co-op, you have people to sit in the frontline tanking arrow shots while your whole squad hits them from range, and it's also why there are so many unavoidable "big attacks" and stuns that are single target. (With only a few exceptions like the ice boss.) Hence the huge amount of loot also the ability to revive endlessly in singleplayer without punishment, and why there are so many damn enemies. Unfortunately, the game was still pretty buggy, something made worse by 2006 era net-code for multiplayer, so there were plenty of crashes and restarts required to get through a full run anyway.

[@Aredein]

also, the multiplayer was ran through gamespy, now as it's gone, I wonder if there are ways to make it work.

[@elliegray8184]

So basically this is another failed MMO that Ross is trying to brute-force in single player. He's done that several times at this point.

[@MrShadeGaming]

@@elliegray8184 There is a massive difference between multiplayer game and MASSIVE mutiplayer game this is just a multiplayer game not an mmo (even if they have used mmo type ideas 5 people isn't a massive multiplayer game in ANY sense) true about ross brute forcing a game made for multiplayer (it shouldn't really have had a singleplayer mode in this case)

[@LazyBuddyBan]

so tlrd is the devs just ignored the singleplayer yet still put it in game

[@SimplyGun]

Have you finished this game?

[@NostalgiaChan]

58:50 So I don't know if this was visible anywhere else, but this was certainly the first point I noticed: The Dwarf doesn't actually have a beard. He has the world's longest moustache instead. Like, you can plainly see there's not even a texture to make it kinda look like the beard's attached properly, his chin is totally bare. It's just like a fabric model strapped to his face.

[@r0de]

Oh hi Nost

[@notinspectorgadget]

Wow

[@z-beeblebrox]

I swear, WoW seized all progress in the RPG genre for like 10 years straight.

[@ZGryphon]

Sort of the same way that _Watchmen_ turned practically all superhero comics into wall-to-wall desperate attempts to replicate _Watchmen_ for... well, how long has it been now, 40 years? Thirty-five, anyway.

[@Toanon]

"You know, I finally got to see Hellraiser 2, and I'm seeing some similarities between this level design and a literal interpretation of Hell." Also I think about more modern MMOs that were inspired by WoW like FFXIV, and the dev teams of those going "Okay what does WoW does that's bad and we shouldn't do" and the answer they eventually come to is "everything"

[@zyler9462]

Pretty much yeah. Most of the mechanics in the original World of Warcraft on release were due to the technical limitations of having a massively multiplayer game with a massive open world in 2006. The loot being tied to the bodies instead of appearing on the floor like Diablo was due to memory limitations. The slow, almost turn-based, attacking was to deal with the inevitable internet lag of 2006 dial-up internet. And the long text dump expositions in quests were due to the fact that it would’ve been impossibly expensive to animate proper cutscenes for thousands of individual quests across a massive open world. There’s absolutely no reason for a single-player action RPG to copy these mechanics and there’s a reason even modern WOW has been slowly moving away from them.

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

This, along with some other Game Dungeon episodes, really makes me realize just how many strange half-baked fantasy RPGs trying to ride the WoW wave there were. And nearly all of them fail to realize how pointless cooldowns and recharge timers are outside of MMOs.

[@HYDRAdude]

It's a co-op game so no the CDs and recharge timers are not pointless.

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

@@HYDRAdude I guess not then

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

Wait no that's not a good reason actually, co-op games shouldn't need cooldown timers. I thought they were basically just a way to get any form of action-ish combat with so many players to work at all on crappy 90s internet.

[@TheMrSark]

oh hell yeah

[@A.M.intheAM]

Mr. Sark in MY Game Dungeon? It's more likely than you think

[@korstmahler]

When you said 'Gatling gun that only fires in bursts' my brain recalled Starcraft's Terran Marines. Those guys would take the time to line up a burst, then go back to rest position between bursts the exact same way.

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

They'd keep their guns pointed, would they not? That's how I recall it.

[@Superschokokeks]

@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine you may be doomed but you remember it wrong. They go back to the idle pose before firing again

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

@@Superschokokeks They'll actually do both, at different times, if you go and look at some footage. Not sure if there's any kind of conditions which decide that animation, or if it's just random. Maybe they changed this in the HD Remaster or something, haven't touched that one.

[@Superschokokeks]

@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine you're right. Haven't played the remaster. I thought it was a bug, but I don't know really. They mainly shoot and go back to idle like most units do. But then again I remember hydras stay sometimes in the "aim" pose

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

@@Superschokokeks I haven't actually sat down and played it in ages and ages, but vague memory suggests that maybe when they were shooting a lot in a certain period, such as maybe shooting at a building or something else resilient, they keep their guns pointed for the most part. If that's the case, I'm not sure if that would be an intentional behavior, or if it's maybe some sort of memory limitation, but sometimes the game could end up doing little weird things like that in really big maps with a lot of units, such as the Hydralisks doing that thing. The Terran Valkyries could be very finicky with that actually, where because there's too much other stuff in the game's memory, they outright don't fire at all, which I remember making me not quite trust those units. I think that's because they fire off a lot of rockets in a short time, and those rockets all have little smoke trails, so a group of Valkyries add up to a lot of extra sprites on screen.

[@macrobov]

Award time: Didn't skip leg day. This game is impossible without a trainer.

[@Accursed_Farms]

No, it looked possible, but I was seeing what that entailed.