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StarTopic TUNIC |ST| 🦊 🗡️🛡️ | Manual Transmission | Please Tag Spoilers! |

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Beanstar40 said:
Its great, between this and elden ring, im really digging games that encourage you to explore rather then telling you where to go. While i dont think it works for every game, like, I would not enjoy that in horizon forbidden west for example, it works for games like tunic and elden ring
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Botw Effect
 
totofogo said:
Is it actually significantly like Dark Souls? I keep hearing "Elden Ring of Zelda-likes!" and can't help but cringe and assume it's just a clickbaity title because ER is hot rn.
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I dislike Souls, and what I dislike about Tunic is pretty similar. Movement is slow and tedious, the visuals are purposefully difficult to read, combat is ponderous/laggy, music is virtually non-existent, there are plentiful traps (either with enemies or spikes) to screw over players who want to go fast, enemies have be handled solo or in small groups, there’s a stamina meter and blocking/dodging too much will leave you vulnerable, there’s no clear story or goal, etc. And of course there are the bonfires and healing flasks and shortcuts.

I will say that the instruction manual (which you find page by page) is gorgeous.
 
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Nabbit said:
Collecting
the manual pages
is such a satisfying mechanic because of the tangible payoff.
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This is a fantastic game imo(so far anyway, I've only played an hour and a half) but this part especially is my new favorite thing in any game.

They did such a good job on it.
It looks so much like a real old game manual, you can tell how much love went into the idea for it. Maybe I'm too dang nostalgic, but I want more games to copy this feature, it's just so good lol.
 
em said:
I dislike Souls, and what I dislike about Tunic is pretty similar. Movement is slow and tedious, the visuals are purposefully difficult to read, combat is ponderous/laggy, music is virtually non-existent, there are plentiful traps (either with enemies or spikes) to screw over players who want to go fast, enemies have be handled solo or in small groups, there’s a stamina meter and blocking/dodging too much will leave you vulnerable, there’s no clear story or goal, etc. And of course there are the bonfires and healing flasks and shortcuts.

I will say that the instruction manual (which you find page by page) is gorgeous.
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Thanks for the explanation! From my short bit of playtime I felt similarly about the visuals being hard to read. It felt like the 3d Puzzle rooms in Mario 3D Land without the 3D on lol – finding secret paths was fun but felt rather trial and error. Maybe I was just tired.
 
Played this for maybe an hour this afternoon. Since discovery is such a big part of this game and I dunno how open it is, I guess I’ll tag it!

Rang the east bell, found a sword, two health flasks. Then I warped to a place called Ruined Atoll and I called it there after unlocking a few shortcuts. Really enjoying it so far. I also found some sorta rune or talisman there that revives you from your first death with half health. At least, I died to an evil crow in the area and I think that’s what happened? Still dunno what to do with the currency that drops from enemies and chests. Could use a shield!

I’m getting the Zelda and Souls vibes well enough, but this game is really giving me a Fez feel too! Especially with the language cipher — at least, I’m assuming it will be revealed to you at some point? Maybe not. Either way, all great games to be reminded of. The manual pages really give it a feel of its own too.
 
E.Gadd said:
This is a fantastic game imo(so far anyway, I've only played an hour and a half) but this part especially is my new favorite thing in any game.

They did such a good job on it.
It looks so much like a real old game manual, you can tell how much love went into the idea for it. Maybe I'm too dang nostalgic, but I want more games to copy this feature, it's just so good lol.
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Yes! I really enjoy that aspect in particular.
I loved how in the Wii U era we had a creative digital renewal of manuals by Nintendo. The Wii U manuals were filled with charm and hints like instruction booklets from last century. I'm a bit disappointed that this went away with Switch so resurgences like this are super fun to me.
 
Played this on my Twitch stream this afternoon, and it was a lot of fun! Got stuck on the first boss, who gave me the most trouble in my session, but funnily enough, beat it when someone redeemed me play the game for five minutes without my glasses. lol

Regardless, I love the sense of discovery, how you make new shortcuts and open up the world that way, and just the show and not tell aspect of the game. The instruction manual concept is aces!
 
Played another half hour or so this evening and made some intriguing incremental progress across a few small things. So far I'm finding it satisfying to figure things out in this game and not too frustrating to get stuck on certain things and have to table them for the time being. It reminds me of BOTW's Shrine Quests. Just without much text. There are still a couple Shrine Quests I'm puzzling over.
 
Phil32 said:
Played this on my Twitch stream this afternoon, and it was a lot of fun! Got stuck on the first boss, who gave me the most trouble in my session, but funnily enough, beat it when someone redeemed me play the game for five minutes without my glasses. lol

Regardless, I love the sense of discovery, how you make new shortcuts and open up the world that way, and just the show and not tell aspect of the game. The instruction manual concept is aces!
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Ooh what’s your Twitch? Np if you’re not comfortable sharing here.
 
totofogo said:
Ooh what’s your Twitch? Np if you’re not comfortable sharing here.
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I sent you a message, if that was okay! I don't know how to post a link that only Fami members can see, otherwise I definitely would share it here! :)

EDIT: Figured it out! Hooray! Here it is! I play a lot of Nintendo Switch games and sometimes play on Xbox as well for streams!

Hidden content is only available for registered users. Sharing it outside of Famiboards is subject to moderation.
 
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I really like the game so far! Awesome world design and the soundtrack is a pleasant surprise. Hope combat doesn’t wear out its welcome by the end.

Noob question, on PC Game Pass, how do you toggle full screen?
 
Played a little bit more this morning, and I still love it!

The level of challenge feels spot on, too. It's a nice fox themed holiday from Elden Ring!
 
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Irene said:
I really like the game so far! Awesome world design and the soundtrack is a pleasant surprise. Hope combat doesn’t wear out its welcome by the end.

Noob question, on PC Game Pass, how do you toggle full screen?
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Hopefully you found it already, but if not, go to Options then Graphics and you can change Display Mode.
 
totofogo said:
Huge links awakening vibes!!
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For real! We just played for a couple hours and discovered so many intriguing mysterious areas in the Overworld. My spouse commented on the awesomeness of the manual, too. I love the 90's-ness of it and the little notes in ink. 🖊️
 
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totofogo said:
Huge links awakening vibes!!
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This game is to Link's Awakening what Hyper Light Drifter was to A Link to the Past.

Lord Azrael said:
What's the combat difficulty like? Can't really watch previews right now
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I'd say that the combat in and of itself is fairly easy, I haven't got a shield yet, but so far both rolling and swimming your sword works well and its easy to find a rhythm. However, it's also go to the "wrong" part of the world and get completely slaughtered by stronger enemies.

EDIT: I'm starting to feel like the obtuseness is veering towards frustrating with the whole "you're "supposed" to feel lost" thing. At the very least, the game could've had a map.

Question: (Item question)

what's the difference between the 3 bombs? I don't kinda want to try to find out by tossing them out myself since they're so rare, so think it's better asking. I though one of them was an item that could light up the dark places since it looked like a candle.
 
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Irene said:
This game is to Link's Awakening what Hyper Light Drifter was to A Link to the Past.



I'd say that the combat in and of itself is fairly easy, I haven't got a shield yet, but so far both rolling and swimming your sword works well and its easy to find a rhythm. However, it's also go to the "wrong" part of the world and get completely slaughtered by stronger enemies.

EDIT: I'm starting to feel like the obtuseness is veering towards frustrating with the whole "you're "supposed" to feel lost" thing. At the very least, the game could've had a map.

Question: (Item question)

what's the difference between the 3 bombs? I don't kinda want to try to find out by tossing them out myself since they're so rare, so think it's better asking. I though one of them was an item that could light up the dark places since it looked like a candle.
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You can find a map (instruction manual page) fairly early on.

The three items you refer to have different spreads/lingering effects.

I uninstalled Tunic last night. There is an invincibility option under accessibility settings, but the game’s annoyances (overall slowness, unresponsive/laggy controls, poor visibility, minimal music, stinginess with items) aren’t mitigated by making combat risk-free.

That said, I feel the need to reiterate that the instruction manual really is a fantastic gimmick.
 
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This game is so good, Fez + Zelda + Dark Souls. I know the majority of Famiboards plays on the Switch, so when it hopefully comes there, y'all need to grab it ASAP.
 
I totally understand the frustrations people are having with the game. For me personally it's just gelling really well and the issues mentioned haven't bothered me. I can totally see how it's a polarizing game though.

@Lord Azrael in the early goings the difficulty seems based on where you venture to, and whether you try to push past does you're not equipped to properly deal with it. It really reminds me of BOTW in that way. I will say there's some openness of where you go from the start and if I zagged instead of zigged it would have been harder. But like, I was so worried from the demo that the final game would be absurdly difficult and in the end, at least based on the exploration I've done and the route I've taken, the demo area was much more doable and much less uber-difficult. Same for the game on the whole, at least in this first set of areas I'm in.

So it's for sure a game, at least in my early goings, where if the going is tough in one spot there are plenty of other places to check out instead that will get you better prepared in terms of inventory and attributes.

The combat reminds me of 2D Zelda, it's not buttery smooth like LBW...more like a methodical clang of weapon against shield in Wind Waker...it's a bit slower and more strategic than 2D Zelda (which I love)... overall I find it enjoyable and satisfying.

In fact a lot of the ways you have to figure out the games mechanics based on limited information carefully doled out by collecting instruction booklet pages, gives me a similar feel to working through things and figuring out the world in BOTW. That reminds me, there are a few BOTW-esque aspects or feel to the combat encounters, too.

I really can't overstate the fun and satisfaction with the instruction booklet aspect. It's so exciting to get a new page and parse through the limited info presented to discover a new mechanic, especially when it's something you've already seen that you didn't know how it worked, or something you already could do but didn't know you could do.
 
The game is definitely obtuse, but I don't know... for me it's the right amount of trying to figure out what the heck I can even do versus just trying to cheese an area with what I already know I can do and.... yeah, that has led to quite a lot of death on my part. Like a lot a lot. LOL

But eventually, after trying to go behind every wall or corner, or just dashing through a horde of enemies, I end up finding really useful stuff/routes that open up, and yesterday especially, after I figured out how to upgrade my stats, things just really fell into place for me and I am absolutely loving the experience.

Like, I enjoy this trial and error approach enough that I don't want any hints or guides from outside the game itself whatsoever on how or what I should be doing. Let me struggle until I get it.

Even if I start cursing because the mandatory path forward was that hidden.:LOL:

I totally understand people being put off by this game tho. Divisive is right. But I'm into it so far.

BTW I'm only at the West Garden area right now so maybe my attitude will change as I get further along.
 
I think I would have enjoyed Tunic (and a bunch of other slower games) when I was younger and played games to occupy my free time rather than carving out time at a steep opportunity cost to play games.

It doesn’t mean Tunic (et al.) is bad, but it’s not a fit for me right now.
 
totofogo said:
Is it actually significantly like Dark Souls? I keep hearing "Elden Ring of Zelda-likes!" and can't help but cringe and assume it's just a clickbaity title because ER is hot rn.
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It has a lot of shortcuts, bonfire like things, and losing some currency on death (but not all of it like Souls). It's more like Zelda.
 
For me, the game was simply amazing. I enjoyed the trip, mysteries, atmosphere, gameplay was basic but engaging, it could have a couple more of gadgets or bosses but nothing important. Best game that I had completed with Game Pass so far, and then, I tried to get the true ending.

I don't remember to have a bittersweet feeling this big with a game in the couple hours trying to get the true ending in my life. It's like "why?" i could understand slightly make this to get the 100%, but hiding the true ending in something so obstuse, so tedious and so different, ruined my final thoughts of the game. I uninstalled the game after 2 or 3 hours trying to resolve codes and more codes.
First time that it happens something like that to me.
 
Thanks @tolkir for posting that. From what you wrote, it sounds like the true ending requires something similar to what I heard about Fez. I can see that being frustrating if so. I'm glad you enjoyed the game so much up through the regular ending and hopefully in time that will become the predominant memory of the game for you. The concept of 100%ing in games can really be a mixed bag at times, and I say that as someone who usually goes for 100%.

Edit: re-reading your post, I see you may only be talking about true ending requirements rather than 100% requirements. I understand though, that sounds frustrating.
 
I've played about 3.5 hours so far and loving it.

Last night after many tries, I defeated the Garden Knight and rang the western bell. Made a little bit more progress today, love finding bits in the manual pages to explain the items I've found

Love the presentation, the shortcuts, and hope the difficulty spikes aren't too much to turn me away. I want to share my excitement here but don't want to learn too much. Can't wait to get back and play more.
 
totofogo said:
Is it actually significantly like Dark Souls? I keep hearing "Elden Ring of Zelda-likes!" and can't help but cringe and assume it's just a clickbaity title because ER is hot rn.
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Yeah. not aesthetically but it is basically Zelda x dark souls x isometric whimsical indie game
 
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Nabbit said:
Thanks @tolkir for posting that. From what you wrote, it sounds like the true ending requires something similar to what I heard about Fez. I can see that being frustrating if so. I'm glad you enjoyed the game so much up through the regular ending and hopefully in time that will become the predominant memory of the game for you. The concept of 100%ing in games can really be a mixed bag at times, and I say that as someone who usually goes for 100%.

Edit: re-reading your post, I see you may only be talking about true ending requirements rather than 100% requirements. I understand though, that sounds frustrating.
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Yep, you don't need to make the 100% to get the true ending, but you'll need to dedicate time and patience to resolve those codes and puzzles.
At least, there isn't a new final boss and I saw the new ending in Youtube without problems.

Right now, it's my GOTY (I have only beaten Arceus and Infernax along Tunic), but until that moment literally it was one of the best indies that I have played with Celeste, Cuphead or Hollow Knight. But while Celeste give you more excellent levels or Hollow Knight more adventure and great bosses, here your adventure suddenly is transformed in a detective game. So weird.
 
Stupid Sexy Flanders said:
I've played about 3.5 hours so far and loving it.

Last night after many tries, I defeated the Garden Knight and rang the western bell. Made a little bit more progress today, love finding bits in the manual pages to explain the items I've found

Love the presentation, the shortcuts, and hope the difficulty spikes aren't too much to turn me away. I want to share my excitement here but don't want to learn too much. Can't wait to get back and play more.
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Exact same boat here - and I came to say I beat the same boss and it was so satisfying. Reminded me a ton of the experience and feeling of fighting and beating a Zelda boss. Glad you're enjoying it a ton also!
 
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The discovery and secrets in this game are off the proverbial chain. The less you know going in the better. That is all. Just wanted to gush. 😃
 
totofogo said:
The OST is the weakest link of the experience for me
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I feel you. A couple songs have gotten stuck in my head but the OST hasn't been super catchy or amazing compared to some other indies. That being said what I do really like about the OST is how zen and relaxing it is, it gets me into a real zone with the game and helps keep me calm and chill during bosses.

It's funny @Stupid Sexy Flanders, the boss you mentioned really gave me Pikmin boss vibes for some reason, especially the bosses in the Pikmin attraction in Nintendo Land. I guess I could just see it coming out of a gacha capsule like those did.
 
Nabbit said:
It's funny @Stupid Sexy Flanders, the boss you mentioned really gave me Pikmin boss vibes for some reason, especially the bosses in the Pikmin attraction in Nintendo Land. I guess I could just see it coming out of a gacha capsule like those did.
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I’ll have to take your word for it :). I didn’t play too much of Nintendo Land, and don’t remember the Pikmin attraction at all. I did finally play Pikmin 3 last month, so i can relate to some of the bosses. I have also never played a Souls game, so a lot of this is new to me.
 
Nabbit said:
I feel you. A couple songs have gotten stuck in my head but the OST hasn't been super catchy or amazing compared to some other indies. That being said what I do really like about the OST is how zen and relaxing it is, it gets me into a real zone with the game and helps keep me calm and chill during bosses.
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Agreed, I think it’s effective but not necessarily memorable most of the time. However, the overworld theme really could use with being more “adventurey” … As it is now I almost just want to turn music off and would prefer ambience in the overworld lol.
 
Stupid Sexy Flanders said:
I’ll have to take your word for it :). I didn’t play too much of Nintendo Land, and don’t remember the Pikmin attraction at all. I did finally play Pikmin 3 last month, so i can relate to some of the bosses. I have also never played a Souls game, so a lot of this is new to me.
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Never played a Souls game either 🙂 the Pikmin and Zelda attractions in Nintendo Land were surprisingly deep and lengthy, definitely recommended if you can do them in co-op. That was one of my favorite experiences on Wii U.
 
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This game is hard. Dang
nabbit.
.

Just like the game told me, I can do it.

Tomorrow, for sure... 😇🦊...

The
bosses
are reminding me more and more of Pikmin. Especially the size of Tunic
(that's what I call the main character)
compared to
the bosses.

Ok, I think I kept that nice and vague hopefully....
 
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Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to acquire a shotgun item lol. Not complaining mind you, just found that really funny for some reason.
 
I did it! I accomplished that thing I was alluding to in my previous post. It was really tough to me and took many attempts but it felt so good to figure out and learn what to do and accomplish it. 🥳 Woohoo! I'm pumped. I don't think I'm remotely 50% through though so no doubt things will get harder still. 頑張っている！
 
I think it's a good game but the difficulty spike at the end and the general obtuseness soured the experience a bit for me, i really can't be arsed to try and unlock the good ending honestly.

I'm still glad i gave it a shot though, i enjoyed it more than i thought i would.
 
I haven't gotten to play as much the past few days, but I'm still really enjoying the game and I think I'm pretty far in the main story of the game at this point. I beat something tough today (📚) but it felt more doable than something earlier in the game (🚂). It had an intentionally unexpectedly faster pace to it though and was super satisfying to accomplish. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the next area unfolds. They came up with some unexpected and unique settings for sure.
 
Nabbit said:
I haven't gotten to play as much the past few days, but I'm still really enjoying the game and I think I'm pretty far in the main story of the game at this point. I beat something tough today (📚) but it felt more doable than something earlier in the game (🚂). It had an intentionally unexpectedly faster pace to it though and was super satisfying to accomplish. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the next area unfolds. They came up with some unexpected and unique settings for sure.
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It took me most of the week to beat 📚The Librarian. I was definitely figuring out patterns and being patient, but I still don't feel like I ever really understood what to do right or wrong. It came down to random luck, getting a bunch of strikes in and not finding myself in a vulnerable spot. I can't help but compare it to other tough games I've played (Metroid Dread, Cuphead), where it was learnable when I did something right or wrong.

I do still quite enjoy the game and the puzzles though. Out of curiousity, by 🚂 do you mean Siege Engine? Because the area I'm in now has some 🚂s in it, but I'm not sure what to do with them yet.

Oh and totally unrelated, there's a hint in the manual that I'm really excited to figure out. And if my theory pans out, it will totally blow my mind. Don't want to spoil any of that though.
 
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