Encased released!

[The_Proletarian]

The Fallout inspired isometric post-apocalyptic turn-based RPG Encased is now out of early access! The launch update can be found here.

Encased premiered on kickstarter back in 2018 where it scored some 105k€. It has been in early access since 2019 but is now finally released.

This game is very relevant to us since it's so heavily inspired by our dear Fallout. It boast many of the same features and it only remains to be seen if the story is good as well. A play-through should be about 40 hours and you can post your impressions here.

Let me know if you want to review Encased for the site!

Spoiler: Features

A classic isometric RPG set in a dystopian enviroment allowing you to fight enemies, explore the hostile wasteland, level up your character and join one of the forces in the ruined world that survived through the horrific Incident, isolated from the rest of the world.

Start the game in one of the five divisions of the CRONUS Corporation — Wings, each with its own features, mechanics, and game options.
Go on a one way trip under the Dome from which you cannot return. Avoid radiation and anomalies, fight mutated animals and search for unique artifacts.

Start the game as an ordinary company employee and become the driving force behind the story that takes place before, during, and after the disaster that became known as the Incident.

After getting familiar with the world, dive into an open world full of freedom and danger. The old order is gone, now five powerful factions rule over the wasteland. Join one of them or be a lone wolf. Change the future of the Dome and its inhabitants or go your own way.

Threaten your enemies out of battle: persuade important people to give you favors. Don't have charisma for that? Then bribe them! Encased story is deep, each quest can be completed differently, depending on your stats and choices and those choices will really matter in the end, thanks to multiple game endings. Kill everyone, be a pacifist or choose anything in-between, the game will adapt to your playstyle.

Level up your own unique character: will you specialise in stealth, melee combat, sniper rifles, psionics or diplomacy? Will you be a lone wolf or a party leader? Or maybe even try to play through the game as low intellect hero? It's all up to you.
Go on a journey and learn dozens of useful abilities like hacking, mechanics, thieving or even driving. Study relics to reveal technological secrets of the Dome and then explore the lands, finding new places, anomalies and rivals. Not all of them will be humans, by the way.

Make difficult decisions: steal, assasinate or help despite any concequences. Build your reputations with one faction or try to please them all, but remember that sometimes compromises are impossible.

Repair and craft: forge robotic armor — Servoshell, build unique guns and upgrade them. Maybe even cook something. After all, you can't survive on an empty stomach.

 

[Mr Fish]

What is "Fallout" inspired by this?
I'm getting real tired of things inspired by Fallout that aren't like Fallout at all.

A feature list is meaningless to me, I want to see it in action. Is there gameplay that shows off quest design, RPG choices and branching dialogue?

Also, scavenge and craft? Fucking ew. Revolting. Why does every damn game have to have fucking crafting in it?


[edit]

Another problem that I see with this game is that... I don't "get" the setting. It's gonna be difficult for me to put this into words but there's this issue that a lot of games has had in the past... I dunno, 8 years maybe? That a lot of them don't feel like they have iconography. I know it's a bit early to say that since things don't become iconic right off the bat but it really does just scream generic to me. Also from some of the combat footage it looks more Wasteland than Fallout, and Wasteland ain't Fallout.

[edit]

I'm watching a gameplay video right now and I'll be editing this post as I go.

We have one singular speech skill. So invest in it and it becomes what? A win button? Cause that's what it turns into in most RPG's. No Barter, no Deception, no Seduction or Persuasion, no Intimidation. Just "Dialogue win button"-skill?

Also we don't have sneaking, lockpicking and stealing, it's all in one skill called "criminal" apparently. How about that for streamlining...

And I do see a reference to Fallout! One that I hate. Science skill. I hate it. Never liked it. It's the broadest skill you can get. Any egghead shit just throw it into generalized "science". Maybe it works better in this game but somehow I doubt it.

[edit]

Oooh, I found something I very much like. In dialogue if someone mentions something that might need elaboration you can hover your cursor over the word (that's highlighted) and a pop up text explains what that is. That's better than wasting a bunch of dialogue options on "what is X/Tell me about Y".

[edit]

Ok so...

What does this mean exactly? Is the outside world fine? Is it just inside the dome that it is wild wild west?

[edit]

Hang on, there's a dialogue option for reconnaissance that's similar to other skill checks prior... But in the character creation there wasn't any Recon skill. Are skills different depending on the "wing" you belong to? Cause if so maybe there are other skills. I'm looking at an older gameplay video from 2019 and it has Gambling, Stealth and Leadership as a part of the character creation.

Is there a skill list available somewhere online?

[edit]

No those three seems to have been cut. What the hell is Recon then and what does it belong to?

[edit]

Dialogue branching seems good. Lot of skill checks and faction checks. I can't be arsed to look at any more though because the game just seems boring to me. I don't get what the "hook" of the game is supposed to be that I haven't seen for the umpteenth time before.

I still don't see what is Fallout-y about this. Yknow what makes Fallout Fallout?

An open world you get to go anywhere you want to right off the bat (barring a certain temple...) and as long as you can avoid random encounters you can ever get to Navarro or Mariposa right away.

Fallout is interesting in its design as it has a fully fleshed out combat system but, how often do you fight in Fallout? Not really that often. Fallout isn't centered around gunning shit down and wasting your time rummaging around dungeons after dungeons. There's a handful of "dungeons" if you want to call them that and there is combat to engage in but the meat of Fallout games is centered in civilized locations where the course of your actions can 'lead' to combat but doesn't necessarily have to.

Fallout has a singular character screen and I am never going to let any fucking developer live this down STOP DIVIDING THE CHARACTER SCREEN INTO MULTIPLE TABS!!!

Fallout has tools. It's not just about healing, ammo and crafting supplies. It has actual tools that you can use to make up for your shortcomings in skills or tools that are necessary to perform certain actions all together.

Fallout has the obvious divergence from the 50's that gives it a little twist which is hard to replicate without just ripping Fallout off. But it also has this haunting lonesome atmosphere. It's not an action game and it doesn't play out like one either. Combat isn't really flashy, instead it is grim and dark, when you hit something it dies brutally.

Now we can see that it has stats that go from 1-10 (but who knows maybe we'll "level them up" later... (big ew)), it has skills and traits. And a wasteland! Totes Fallout amirite?

No. Lots of games got traits, lots of games got limited stats from 1-10 and the "post-apoc wasteland" seems debatable IMO if the outside world is fine.

What about this is "fallout"-inspired beyond that? Did the devs learn any other lessons from Fallout or is it just the same shit we've seen time and time again when they use it as a lure to their game when it doesn't feel like Fallout what so ever? Cause what it got from Fallout, other games got too. But there are some key elements of Fallout which developers seem to never implement, that are truly Fallout. So what is it?

The game seems... Meh, to me. I have nothing too negative to say. The only things that push up my stomach contents to the back of my tongue is the fucking crafting bullshit. I abhor crafting in cRPG's at this point. I disagree with the choice of skills that I find antithetical to "roleplaying" by creating too vague and generalized skills and I just find the setting to be "meh", like it doesn't have that certain spice to cement its own identity.

So ultimately, I'm just bored by it. I'm not starving for cRPG's anymore so I can demand quality and filter out how pretty the game is and all you're left with is store brand.

 

[Iprovidelittlepianos]

What about this is "fallout"-inspired beyond that? Did the devs learn any other lessons from Fallout or is it just the same shit we've seen time and time again when they use it as a lure to their game when it doesn't feel like Fallout what so ever? Cause what it got from Fallout, other games got too. But there are some key elements of Fallout which developers seem to never implement, that are truly Fallout. So what is it?

I remember a music teacher telling me that bands rarely sound like how they describe it. He gave an example of a band that described themselves as part Beatles, part Sonic Youth, part Pink Floyd, but to any outside observer that just sounded like Green Day. To give other examples, the Melvins consider themselves Black Flag influenced whereas everyone else hears Black Sabbath influence, and everyone thought early Soundgarden sounded like Led Zeppelin while the band maintains that they weren’t an influence at all. My point is people rarely realize what their actual influences are. These guys may have started out trying to make a Fallout-inspired game and along the way the game moved away from that concept, but they just can’t see it for what it’s turned into.

Fallout has tools. It's not just about healing, ammo and crafting supplies. It has actual tools that you can use to make up for your shortcomings in skills or tools that are necessary to perform certain actions all together.

God I wish this was more common. Fallout let you use multitools, lock picks, shovels, crowbars, first aid kits, etc. Outside non-combat games no one ever thinks to do this.

 

[Mr Fish]

I remember a music teacher telling me that bands rarely sound like how they describe it. He gave an example of a band that described themselves as part Beatles, part Sonic Youth, part Pink Floyd, but to any outside observer that just sounded like Green Day. To give other examples, the Melvins consider themselves Black Flag influenced whereas everyone else hears Black Sabbath influence, and everyone thought early Soundgarden sounded like Led Zeppelin while the band maintains that they weren’t an influence at all. My point is people rarely realize what their actual influences are. These guys may have started out trying to make a Fallout-inspired game and along the way the game moved away from that concept, but they just can’t see it for what it’s turned into.

True.
It went through iterative stages as we can see from the reduction of skills so when they did the kickstarter did they describe it as such then? And are they 'still' describing it as such?

 

[The_Proletarian]

I'm not sure what more you want from it for you to consider it being inspired by Fallout (among other games) than the things you already mention. I mean the features are all there and yes you have to use lock picks for doors and a hand scanner to scan things so tools are there. People react to your actions, for example they will react negatively if you haven't holstered your weapon before talking to them. Obviously the setting can't be the same but this game looks fairly interesting with a self-contained zone full of anomalies. No one can leave the zone and after the event the link to the outside world is completely severed and makes it impossible to enter from outside (I haven't come that far in the story yet but if I remember correctly). The wasteland becomes the survival of the fittest with rival factions and all. It's neat that they are trying something new with the story and that it's not just yet another atomic wasteland.

The ruleset is very much a SPECIAL clone even though it adds some new stuff like a new attribute (psionics). The streamlining of certain skills is there but much of what you mention isn't in Fallout either, that sounds more like Arcanum.

Of course the game will be marked by being released in 2021 and not 1997. Tabs, crafting, diversity, in-game encyclopedia, social justice and all that comes with the times, unfortunately. If you want the steam retards to buy your game you must have shit like that. But having all that 2021 shit doesn't make the game less inspired by Fallout in my book.

I get that you are bored by it and frankly I'm bored by almost every new game these days. However I haven't given up hope yet and Encased seems quite promising to me albeit I'm not that far in yet. It certainly looks much more interesting to me than Wasteland 3. Have you played ATOM rpg yet? Because that is very reminiscent of Fallout and in all the good ways. The next chapter ATOM rpg Trudograd drops next week and that is something I'm really looking forward to. If Encased is not what you're looking for then ATOM is.

 

[Alphons]

Codex thread is very positive (though low combat difficulty is mentioned).

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...apocalyptic-rpg-under-the-dome.120416/page-53


@Proletären What are your thoughts on combat?

 

[Mr Fish]

I mean the features are all there and yes you have to use look picks for doors and a hand scanner to scan things so tools are there.

I didn't mean that this game didn't have that as I haven't seen enough of it I just mentioned a few things I think of when I think of Fallout. That when I see "this is inspired by Fallout" then those are a few things I wish to see. And if Encased has tools then that is good. However... How are the tools used? You get a scanner in the beginning well then that's not really much of a tool you can find and use, rather it is a game mechanic you're always expected to use whereas in Fallout you have to find a Super Duper Toolkit first and then use it on something you wish to repair. Same with lockpicks. You can lockpick without lockpicks but a lockpick set is a special item that enhances your lockpicking ability. This game has lockpicks all right but is it like other games where you're just kind of expected to haul them around with you? Like in Fallout 3 onwards where you collect bobby pins that weigh barely anything if anything at all and you're just expected to carry them around? Cause the implementation of the tools matter as well. Just the fact that it has tools is not the same.

People react to your actions, for example they will react negatively if you haven't holstered your weapon before talking to them.

That's good.

Obviously the setting can't be the same but this game looks fairly interesting with a self-contained zone full of anomalies. No one can leave the zone and after the event the link to the outside world is completely severed and makes it impossible to enter from outside (I haven't come that far in the story yet but if I remember correctly). The wasteland becomes the survival of the fittest with rival factions and all. It's neat that they are trying something new with the story and that it's not just yet another atomic wasteland.

Oh I don't want the setting to be the same but Fallout has a certain... "It factor". Which is why I mentioned the 50's divergence and the atmosphere and tone of the wasteland which makes Fallout Fallout and this doesn't have that 'feel' to it. If anything I'm getting more of a Prey feel from it.

The ruleset is very much a SPECIAL clone even though it adds some new stuff like a new attribute (psionics). The streamlining of certain skills is there but much of what you mention isn't in Fallout either, that sounds more like Arcanum.

I know Fallout doesn't have things like more speech skills than just speech and barter and here's the thing; I've always been against that and think that cRPG's should evolve the format by expanding on the roleplaying options by introducing more dialogue skills. Fallout isn't perfect. It has flaws and I expect future cRPG's to learn from those flaws. This one appear to not have done that.

Of course the game will be marked by being released in 2021 and not 1997. Tabs, crafting, diversity, in-game encyclopedia, social justice and all that comes with the times, unfortunately. If you want the steam retards to buy your game you must have shit like that. But having all that 2021 shit doesn't make the game less inspired by Fallout in my book.

And it does to me.

I get that you are bored by it and frankly I'm bored by almost every new game these days. However I haven't given up hope yet and Encased seems quite promising to me albeit I'm not that far in yet. It certainly looks much more interesting to me than Wasteland 3.

I actually find Wasteland 3 tons of fun, that is until they implemented the crafting bullshit cunt fuck update and made selling junk a colossal fucking chore. I haven't played the game since and I have no idea if I ever want to return to it since that damn update.

I REALLY abhor crafting in cRPG's.

Have you played ATOM rpg yet? Because that is very reminiscent of Fallout and in all the good ways. The next chapter ATOM rpg Trudograd drops next week and that is something I'm really looking forward to. If Encased is not what you're looking for then ATOM is.

ATOM RPG is wearing a replica of Fallout as a skinsuit but underneath there's nothing that makes Fallout Fallout. Fact of the matter is that there is not a single game out there that comes even remotely close to scratching that Fallout itch I've had since the early 00's. I'm fine with it at this point, I'll get around to TC mods at some point. The thing that scoops sand in my vagina is whenever someone wants to market their cRPG and they just have to mention Fallout and manages to not 'get' Fallout at all. It's happened one too many times for me and it just pisses me off, which is why I was so animated in my original post here as I made it right before bed.

[edit]

Also I'm warming up to it a bit so I have a 'mild' interest in it but 20 bucks is way too much for my poor ass so I'll have to wait for god knows how long until it's at a pricepoint I'm willing to risk it. And I have so many other games to play that I don't know if it is a good idea to pile on more. I still have to get back to Underrail again.

 

[Kamaz]

I know Fallout doesn't have things like more speech skills than just speech and barter and here's the thing; I've always been against that and think that cRPG's should evolve the format by expanding on the roleplaying options by introducing more dialogue skills.

Speaking from a position of yet another Fallout-inspired indie RPG I would dare to challenge the need for multiple speech skills.

You can have plenty of gameplay and role-playing with a single diplomatic skill if you use it right. One of the basic approaches that works well (and, is actually used by Fallout) is not using speech dialog option as win-it-all path but, instead, use it to open more gameplay. For example, if you have high speech, you can convince the guy to help you but not until you do him a favor. And this is possible only because you passed a skill check but it involves other type of gameplay - going somewhere, exploring, finding something, talking to someone - basically do not use speech as single click lock. You can also invert it - you win with a speech check but only if you have done your homework first - spoke to people, gathered info, have item etc. The famous conversation with Master in FO is an example of this.

This way you can have a single skill and still have varied and rich diplomat gameplay.

 

[Mr Fish]

Speaking from a position of yet another Fallout-inspired indie RPG I would dare to challenge the need for multiple speech skills.

You can have plenty of gameplay and role-playing with a single diplomatic skill if you use it right. One of the basic approaches that works well (and, is actually used by Fallout) is not using speech dialog option as win-it-all path but, instead, use it to open more gameplay. For example, if you have high speech, you can convince the guy to help you but not until you do him a favor. And this is possible only because you passed a skill check but it involves other type of gameplay - going somewhere, exploring, finding something, talking to someone - basically do not use speech as single click lock. You can also invert it - you win with a speech check but only if you have done your homework first - spoke to people, gathered info, have item etc. The famous conversation with Master in FO is an example of this.

This way you can have a single skill and still have varied and rich diplomat gameplay.

Even if it isn't a win button and instead opens up new gameplay paths I still disagree with that design choice from a roleplaying perspective and always will. In my eyes it's the same as lumping stealth, lockpicking and stealing and possible even deception into a criminal skill and lumping all gun types into a simple "firearms skill". Now it depends on whether or not the skill splits later on, like in Risen... 2? Or is it 3? You have a general skill right but it doesn't necessarily affect too much, rather it unlocks the possibility for you to buy training from people to teach you new abilities. But I dislike those sorts of systems too.

I don't think that someone who's intimidating should be inherently great at making political speeches and seducing guards too. I don't think an amazing haggler should be able to silver tongue his way to the president. I don't think that a prostitute should be able to Hitman 47 her way into an army compound and blend in with the guards in plain sight wearing their uniforms.

However my view on "true" RPG's and skill progression is that skills should synergize too so if you increase certain skills other skills will get a little bump too so you get 100 Persuasion and 100 Deception then I don't see why your Haggling or Seduction should remain at complete 0.

So hey, I'm not saying that a speech skill can't 'not' be a win-button. Of course it can 'not' be that and that would be preferable. But at the end of the day if you decide to roleplay a new character there is no option to be a vixen, there's just the dialogue skill. There's no option to be a slick haggler, there's just the dialogue skill. There's no option to be a leader that inspires people, there's just the dialogue skill. You are everything and nothing.

And I fundamentally disagree with this design decision in terms of roleplaying. It's not a roleplay design choice, it's a game streamlining design choice. I'm opposed to the idea of streamlining and merging skills just to cut down on a skill list.

[edit]

Also I'm not saying we need to have Persuasion, Deception, Seduction, Intimidation, Haggling, Politics, Philosophy, Burearacracy(?) and so on. But just 1 singular skill? Same for the criminal skill while we're at it. I remember us at Bethesda forums shitflinging at Bethesda and theorizing jestingly that they'll combine Sneak with Lockpicking as they had with Sneak and Steal for a single Stealth skill. And here we have Encased which apparently did just that.

 

[Norzan]

I'm gonna agree with Mr Fish about lumping skills together, specially skills that have noticeable differences between each other and yet get grouped up for some reasom. We give shit to Bethesda games for lumping skills together to streamline things further, so it would be kind of hypocritical in my opinion to defend something very similar just because it's in a game that is inspired by Fallout.

 

[The_Proletarian]

I'm gonna agree with Mr Fish about lumping skills together, specially skills that have noticeable differences between each other and yet get grouped up for some reasom. We give shit to Bethesda games for lumping skills together to streamline things further, so it would be kind of hypocritical in my opinion to defend something very similar just because it's in a game that is inspired by Fallout.

I'm not defending streamlining all I'm saying is that a game can be inspired by Fallout even though certain non-combat skills are streamlined.

I agree that streamlining makes for less complex character builds, of course.

 

[Alphons]

Personally:

Streamlined, but well utilized skill system> Expansive, but poorly utilized skill system


How's it in Encased, @Proletären ?
Any useless/ OP skills? Is distribution of skill checks even?

 

[The_Proletarian]

How's it in Encased, @Proletären ?
Any useless/ OP skills? Is distribution of skill checks even?

I haven't gotten that far yet but it's very promising from what I can see. I will put down some impressions later on!

 

[Risewild]

Streamlined, but well utilized skill system> Expansive, but poorly utilized skill system

Personally for me:
Expansive, but poorly utilized skill system > Streamlined and poorly utilized skill system
Expansive, but well utilized skill system > Streamlined and poorly utilized skill system
Expansive, but well utilized skill system > Streamlined and well utilized skill system
Streamlined, but well utilized skill system > Expansive, but poorly utilized skill system

So, for me, Expansive skill systems are better for RPGs. Unless they are poorly utilized, but only when comparing them to Streamlined skill systems that are well implemented.
Although, I honestly can't think of a streamlined skill system that is so well implemented that makes it superior to most or all Expansive skill systems I personally know.


I have to agree with @Mr Fish on the crafting. Crafting is pretty much shoehorned on most RPGs these days, and it usually sucks. I just pretty much never craft anything unless the game forces me to or just penalizes me for not doing it in a drastic way (you can only get the best stuff if you craft it yourself for example).

For me crafting is only useful if it's related to specific types of characters you can make in a RPG. If the character is a Tinkerer, Inventor, Repairman, Roboticist, etc. Then it makes sense for crafting to exist and be related to those characters/classes/jobs. But I hate when the game forces crafting on us, no matter what kind of character we play with.

This also reflects on loot for example.
The loot will be full of components/ingredients that are totally useless for players that don't want to craft. These items are usually quite inexpensive compared to the item you can craft, so it can even penalize non-crafting players monetarily too. It also clogs inventory and loot, takes longer for a player that is filtering what loot they pickup, have to check each item one by one to see if it's a crafting component or not.
It adds certain micromanaging that I don't like in my RPGs, unless I specifically play a character thats a crafter.


Now, about the Encased game.
I have asked around and was told that this game has some things I don't like in cRPGs.
One that is my biggest nitpick in a RPG is that enemies do not drop their equipment when killed. I don't mind enemies not dropping armors, because I can dismiss it as the armors being damaged during the fight, but them falling to the ground, holding a pistol and then when I loot them they have no pistol in their inventory? That removes me from the ingame universe and just slaps me in the face with "this is a game and we don't want you to be swimming in weapons, which can make you access stronger weapons earlier and will make you swim in money too, and we really don't want to have to balance the game's economy to accommodate this".
Basically, having enemies lose their weapons after being killed, and no real explanation is given for it in the game's lore, just makes that lore and universe lose it's consistency.
Makes me feel like I'm not playing a character in a world, I'm playing a character in a game. Which makes me not be able to take the game as serious as I should.

Another thing this game has that I don't like is forced (can't disable) needs (Hunger and Thirst) and having to Sleep. I know people love this things in games, but for me it just makes me have more to micromanage. I have to stuff my inventory with food and water, I have to make sure I have enough, I have to make sure I have an accessible place I can sleep nearby, I have to waste time making my characters eat and drink and sleep (if I wanted that I would play The Sims).
Needs and sleep make sense in survival games, where the whole point of the game is to manage these things, but in most RPGs, these things don't really make the game harder or more challenging, it just make me (the player) have to waste time "playing house" and carry "useless" junk in my inventory.

Now, this might seem like a weird thing to not like, when I had just mentioned how I don't like the whole "weapons disappear" on enemy death. After all, needs and have to sleep is realistic. just like enemies dropping their weapon.
And yeah, it's realistic. But it's also different. For once, having enemies drop their real weapons on death is following one of the things I really want my RPGs to have, enemies follow the same rules as the players. If an enemy shoots a shotgun at my character, I want it to behave the same as when my character shoots a shotgun at the enemy. So when one enemy is tough or weak because they use a good or bad weapon, I want to be able to have access to that weapon at the end of the combat. I had to win the fight, so I should get rewarded by the real loot, no matter if the real loot is more or less valuable than the loot I get at the end.
But here's the thing, I never saw a cRPG where the enemies have to deal with their needs and lack of sleep. This makes them not follow the same rules we have to. Needs and Sleep is one sided, in the entire world, only our characters have to do it. Even if having our characters sleep, eat and drink is realistic, it once again removes the feeling that our character is living in a world, instead it just reminds me that I'm playing a game, and have to do all this micromanaging for no good reason besides the game weakening or killing my characters. The enemies don't follow these rules, it's just forced on us to create artificial difficulty and make the game seem longer.
In the end it's just a boring waste of time that just feel like a chore instead of real. Keep the numbers down so you won't get penalized .

Weapon upgrades, this game has weapon upgrades. You can use materials to upgrade the level of your weapons. From what I was told this will not add new abilities or effects, it will only boost weapon damage.
I don't mind weapon upgrades at all, what I do mind is if the only way of upgrading the weapons is by having the player do it. I want NPCs that are weaponsmiths, crafters, etc. to do that for the player too, usually for a price.
If the player is the only one that can upgrade weapons, and there's no good reason in the lore for why that is (the player is THE super genius weapon designer and builder, that is incomparable in the world or something), that once again makes me doubt that I'm playing a character in a world, instead I'm playing a character in a game.
Classic Fallout games had a few weapon and armor upgrades, but they were only done by "experts" on those things, the player couldn't do it themselves.

There's a narrator that voices the stuff that's not a character's saying. This is a bit annoying, and I hope there's an option to disable that. I don't want a random voice telling me stuff like "You see a woman dressed in a blue suit. She seems preoccupied." and other stuff like that.

Now stuff I like:
There's several "factions" and stuff you do can impact your reputation with those factions.

When you commit a crime, either stealing, lockpicking, murder, etc. Nearby NPCs might notice something suspicious happened and if they see you, they would have gathered "evidence" that it was you, and you will be in trouble. This "evidence" will last for a while, so even if you commit a crime and half an hour of ingame time has passed, they can still accuse you of being the criminal. So you can't really steal from a chest in a room with a NPC (this character notices that the lock was picked and gets in alert) and then just go and steal from another chest in the same room, because if the NPC sees you, they will know it was you.
This makes being a criminal way harder than just loot everything is a vault while there's NPCs right next to you. So I like how it seems like it will make committing crimes harder.

Classic Fallout's barter/trade during dialogue exists in this game too. That is always nice, specially if a NPC has an item you might want, but they are not vendors so you couldn't take that item unless you pickpocket it.

Energy weapons skill is based on the equivalent of Intelligence. I like this so much that I had already implemented it in the RPG system I have been making for years now.
In Encased, apart from intelligence, you also need perception.

The game allows you to pick 3 tag skills, like Fallout games. I like that, since it allows to specialize the characters a bit. But it seems like tagging a skill only gives bonus points in that skill at character creation, I like it how it is in classic Fallout games, where tag skills increase by two for each skill point (since it makes me feel like they are natural talents of our characters, so they learn those easier).

I will see if I get more information about this game. Even though I wrote a wall of text with stuff I don't like, I do want to get this game in the future and play it. Even with the stuff I don't like, it seems like it might be at least a fun cRPG. God knows how starving I am for fun new cRPGs these days.

 

[Alphons]

Personally for me:
Expansive, but poorly utilized skill system > Streamlined and poorly utilized skill system
Expansive, but well utilized skill system > Streamlined and poorly utilized skill system
Expansive, but well utilized skill system > Streamlined and well utilized skill system
Streamlined, but well utilized skill system > Expansive, but poorly utilized skill system

So, for me, Expansive skill systems are better for RPGs. Unless they are poorly utilized, but only when comparing them to Streamlined skill systems that are well implemented.

I definitely agree.

Although, I honestly can't think of a streamlined skill system that is so well implemented that makes it superior to most or all Expansive skill systems I personally know.

I was actually thinking about Fallout skills.

Fallout 1 and 2 have expansive skill systems, but for example Gambling or Traps are a poor SP investment with little use, when compared to Speech or Lockpicking.

Fallout 3 got rid of a large amount of skills, merged First Aid and Doctor together into Medicine, but the skills have even less use than before.

NV improves upon 3's streamlined skills. For example Medicine in NV has more use than both First Aid and Doctor in both 1 and 2.

On the other hand, Fallout Nevada implements well every classic Fallout skill. Both First Aid and Doctor are used in several quests to heal people determine how someone died (plus Doctor unlocks a multi-step surgery). Traps are now usable weapons, that are devastating when used by someone skilled (plus are used in quests). Couple of quest solutions require Gambling. Barter unlocks special stock and a short questline.

Crafting is pretty much shoehorned on most RPGs these days, and it usually sucks. I just pretty much never craft anything unless the game forces me to or just penalizes me for not doing it in a drastic way (you can only get the best stuff

It was well implemented in Nevada, ATOM and Underrail, being a reward for investing into right skills, but I see your point.
Crafting isn't mentioned at all on Encased Steam forums or Codex thread, so I wonder if it's even used beyond making some ammo from time to time.

Another thing this game has that I don't like is forced (can't disable) needs (Hunger and Thirst)

That's a bummer. You can disable it in ATOM and I didn't feel like I lost anything.

 

[Mr Fish]

I have to agree with @Mr Fish on the crafting. Crafting is pretty much shoehorned on most RPGs these days, and it usually sucks. I just pretty much never craft anything unless the game forces me to or just penalizes me for not doing it in a drastic way (you can only get the best stuff if you craft it yourself for example).

For me crafting is only useful if it's related to specific types of characters you can make in a RPG. If the character is a Tinkerer, Inventor, Repairman, Roboticist, etc. Then it makes sense for crafting to exist and be related to those characters/classes/jobs. But I hate when the game forces crafting on us, no matter what kind of character we play with.

This also reflects on loot for example.
The loot will be full of components/ingredients that are totally useless for players that don't want to craft. These items are usually quite inexpensive compared to the item you can craft, so it can even penalize non-crafting players monetarily too. It also clogs inventory and loot, takes longer for a player that is filtering what loot they pickup, have to check each item one by one to see if it's a crafting component or not.
It adds certain micromanaging that I don't like in my RPGs, unless I specifically play a character thats a crafter.

Oyeah I really don't like unnecessary micromanagement and crafting systems nearly always create that. Another problem that I personally have with crafting in games is "what if there's something really useful that I need this item for later on?" So I loot some frog leg and I wonder what the hell it is used for but I'm not gonna alt tab every time I pick something up and refer to a wiki (if there even is one that details all the crafting items and what they are used for) so I end up just looting everything because... What if... What if there is a permanent potion/chem that can give a stat boost? What if the best sword need these obsidian shards? What if there is a grenade that creates a green goo that stops enemies dead in their tracks and will be extremely useful against a swarm type of enemy later on in the game?

Better safe than sorry right?

So I hate it that if I don't loot everything that isn't nailed down then I'll get punished when a good crafting recipe pops up 20 hours later because I don't have the materials that I need and I hate punishing myself by looting everything just to make sure that doesn't happen, just in case.

Worse still is games where the crafting components don't inform me what they are used for. Like what if I decide to go for Tailoring but nothing else, how do I know what is tailoring components and what isn't? What if those frog legs are used in a poison resistance tunic later on that is extremely useful in some swamp area because the poison in the game is teeth-kickingly dangerous?

Now, about the Encased game.
I have asked around and was told that this game has some things I don't like in cRPGs.
One that is my biggest nitpick in a RPG is that enemies do not drop their equipment when killed. I don't mind enemies not dropping armors, because I can dismiss it as the armors being damaged during the fight, but them falling to the ground, holding a pistol and then when I loot them they have no pistol in their inventory? That removes me from the ingame universe and just slaps me in the face with "this is a game and we don't want you to be swimming in weapons, which can make you access stronger weapons earlier and will make you swim in money too, and we really don't want to have to balance the game's economy to accommodate this".
Basically, having enemies lose their weapons after being killed, and no real explanation is given for it in the game's lore, just makes that lore and universe lose it's consistency.
Makes me feel like I'm not playing a character in a world, I'm playing a character in a game. Which makes me not be able to take the game as serious as I should.

I'm not a fan of this either. I don't care what you do as a developer but you better give a good excuse for why weapons can't be used. Like maybe they are all fingerprint dependent? Maybe if it is a high tech setting with energy weapons then a straight hit will like electricity travel through the body and blow up the weapon power system? Some kind of ingame excuse is needed for why we can't loot weapons. Otherwise we should be able to. Now if the ingame economy is an issue then the simple solution is this: No one is interested in bartering for goods, you pay money or you fuck off. The only place that will accept bartering is a pawn shop and their currency is not unlimited and the value of guns will go down the more you sell to them.

Another thing this game has that I don't like is forced (can't disable) needs (Hunger and Thirst) and having to Sleep. I know people love this things in games, but for me it just makes me have more to micromanage. I have to stuff my inventory with food and water, I have to make sure I have enough, I have to make sure I have an accessible place I can sleep nearby, I have to waste time making my characters eat and drink and sleep (if I wanted that I would play The Sims).
Needs and sleep make sense in survival games, where the whole point of the game is to manage these things, but in most RPGs, these things don't really make the game harder or more challenging, it just make me (the player) have to waste time "playing house" and carry "useless" junk in my inventory.

Another thing I dislike, however it is something I tolerate most of the time but I still don't like it. Survival meters rarely make sense as time ingame moves far too fast to make sense and you usually have to scoff down a tub of food to make the meter go up and when the meters go down the impact it has on the gameplay is usually that you're fine - fine - fine - fine - JESUS CHRIST YOU'RE STARVING THE WORLD IS COMING APART AND YOU ARE SUFFERING EXTREME DISADVANTAGES!!!

Is that the case here? Cause if so, big ew.

Now, this might seem like a weird thing to not like, when I had just mentioned how I don't like the whole "weapons disappear" on enemy death. After all, needs and have to sleep is realistic. just like enemies dropping their weapon.
And yeah, it's realistic. But it's also different. For once, having enemies drop their real weapons on death is following one of the things I really want my RPGs to have, enemies follow the same rules as the players. If an enemy shoots a shotgun at my character, I want it to behave the same as when my character shoots a shotgun at the enemy. So when one enemy is tough or weak because they use a good or bad weapon, I want to be able to have access to that weapon at the end of the combat. I had to win the fight, so I should get rewarded by the real loot, no matter if the real loot is more or less valuable than the loot I get at the end.
But here's the thing, I never saw a cRPG where the enemies have to deal with their needs and lack of sleep. This makes them not follow the same rules we have to. Needs and Sleep is one sided, in the entire world, only our characters have to do it. Even if having our characters sleep, eat and drink is realistic, it once again removes the feeling that our character is living in a world, instead it just reminds me that I'm playing a game, and have to do all this micromanaging for no good reason besides the game weakening or killing my characters. The enemies don't follow these rules, it's just forced on us to create artificial difficulty and make the game seem longer.
In the end it's just a boring waste of time that just feel like a chore instead of real. Keep the numbers down so you won't get penalized .

Even without survival meters I still think that NPC's should have routines that they go through in their daily lives. Guards exchange so the ones who have been guarding for 8 ingame hours and go eat, hang around in the break room and later on go to bed or maybe the toilet.

Quite frankly, a modern cRPG should have routines for its NPC's, but then again I don't know how big of a team this was.

Weapon upgrades, this game has weapon upgrades. You can use materials to upgrade the level of your weapons. From what I was told this will not add new abilities or effects, it will only boost weapon damage.
I don't mind weapon upgrades at all, what I do mind is if the only way of upgrading the weapons is by having the player do it. I want NPCs that are weaponsmiths, crafters, etc. to do that for the player too, usually for a price.
If the player is the only one that can upgrade weapons, and there's no good reason in the lore for why that is (the player is THE super genius weapon designer and builder, that is incomparable in the world or something), that once again makes me doubt that I'm playing a character in a world, instead I'm playing a character in a game.
Classic Fallout games had a few weapon and armor upgrades, but they were only done by "experts" on those things, the player couldn't do it themselves.

So... Wait... Does this game have leveled loot?

There's a narrator that voices the stuff that's not a character's saying. This is a bit annoying, and I hope there's an option to disable that. I don't want a random voice telling me stuff like "You see a woman dressed in a blue suit. She seems preoccupied." and other stuff like that.

Me neither, is there an option to disable this?

When you commit a crime, either stealing, lockpicking, murder, etc. Nearby NPCs might notice something suspicious happened and if they see you, they would have gathered "evidence" that it was you, and you will be in trouble. This "evidence" will last for a while, so even if you commit a crime and half an hour of ingame time has passed, they can still accuse you of being the criminal. So you can't really steal from a chest in a room with a NPC (this character notices that the lock was picked and gets in alert) and then just go and steal from another chest in the same room, because if the NPC sees you, they will know it was you.
This makes being a criminal way harder than just loot everything is a vault while there's NPCs right next to you. So I like how it seems like it will make committing crimes harder.

The question I have is this: Is the stuff you steal worth the hassle of stealing though?
Cause I do like smarter NPC's when it comes to crime, but if all you get to steal is RNG loot like 2 bucks and a screw then what's the point in investing into the skill?

Classic Fallout's barter/trade during dialogue exists in this game too. That is always nice, specially if a NPC has an item you might want, but they are not vendors so you couldn't take that item unless you pickpocket it.

I really like this.

God knows how starving I am for fun new cRPGs these days.

I found a few "cRPG's" on MyAbandonware, could look around there for some old gems.
Otherwise, may I suggest Dead State, it's repetitive as fuck and I love it.

 

[Risewild]

Otherwise, may I suggest Dead State, it's repetitive as fuck and I love it.

I own it on GOG.com. Unfortunately I beat it again recently-ish, so it's too soon for me to replay it again.

 

[Mr Fish]

I own it on GOG.com. Unfortunately I beat it again recently-ish, so it's too soon for me to replay it again.

Did you see the game I posted on discord? https://www.myabandonware.com/game/another-war-fzv
Alternatively, there is a game that is... Not a typical cRPG but I still think is worth checking out, however it is real time: https://www.myabandonware.com/game/enemy-infestation-a2o

 

[Mr Fish]

So, you've played it for a while now right, @Proletären ?
How is the crafting element on the game. Do you have to engage with it or is it completely playable without touching it and can you easily deal with crafting materials you pick up? (Like selling or dropping them easily)

 

[The_Proletarian]

So, you've played it for a while now right, @Proletären ?
How is the crafting element on the game. Do you have to engage with it or is it completely playable without touching it and can you easily deal with crafting materials you pick up? (Like selling or dropping them easily)

You can probably skip crafting all together. From what I have seen you can craft items and ammunition. The items that you can craft are not unique and are already found in abundance. I haven't had a need for additional ammunition either so you can probably sell all the crafting components. I don't like crafting either so I won't bother with it.