Sorry for being late to the party, but this game is really something special to me.

I won't write too much about myself, but suffice to say I love RPGs, but recent crop of PC RPG has devolved too much into cinematic cutscenes peppered with light gameplay elements. During one of my regular haunts on my favorite RPG discussion forum (RPGCodex) I came across a thread that recommended me to check out Winter Wolves Games. I was initially skeptical. The Sunday Morning cartoon art didn't agree with me since I'm not young anymore. Other posters dismissed it as 'a western attempt at emulating Japanese RPG and Bioware Romance.'



We all had a good laugh. We call it 'the decline', yes we were a bunch of old and bitter gamers in that forum. And that's how the story was supposed to end.

But I decided to go one step further and download the demo. I kept grinning as I read line after line, the setting was probably as generic as it can get. But something clicked together when the combat started. Statistics. Attacks per round. Damage range. Resistances. Weapon damage types.



This is gameplay.



I went further on and discovered access to 16 combat skills and 8 non combat..and saw the application of those in scenarios. Relationship responses that somehow made sense. And Phil. Oh, god, Phil. I can't stop laughing. This guy...he reminds me so much of someone I know. This is actually good.



This is really good/



Thanks guys. I bought the game. And spread the word. Hopefully people can learn to judge a book beyond its cover. I know it's a little late for praises. But it's a good game, I am eagerly awaiting the sequel even if I'm not done with the first game yet.



For the Empire!

You know, today is my birthday and this is really a nice present!

I must say that I followed the discussion on rpgcodex (I have the habits of searching with google to see if new reviews of my games pops-out), and when I read it, I laughed too. I don't mind critiques since they only help people to do better, even if I thought that some posts were a bit too much exaggerated



Anyway, I don't know if you checked Loren already, but know that Planet Stronghold sequel is already planned and will feature the same writer of Loren, so you won't see my average writing the next time!



p.s. when I wrote Philip it quickly became my favorite character of the story too! haha

Like OP, I also discovered Winter Wolves through that thread @RPGCodex, and I must say it's a very pleasant surprise (indeed, I'm disappointed in myself that I haven't discovered you people earlier!).



I played demo of Bionic Heart and Planet Stronghold, and didn't really expect to like them, yet I did and bought them afterward (also, very pleased to hear that both aforementioned games will have sequels!).



I don't mind the art style in Planet Stronghold, but I like the art in Bionic Heart much better. But as the OP mentioned, it's the gameplay that counts and Planet Stronghold delivers in droves. I haven't played a fun turn-based RPG in ages (not since, Neverend and Gods: Lands of Infinity, both quite obscure -if not completely forgotten- indie RPGs themselves).



So, thank you a lot for the game (and happy birthday as well! )



-abnaxus

Whooo! I saw the Codex thread as well, and I really appreciated the sincerity of this response. 2D games get a lot of flak, but the truth is, they're much more open to vivid gameplay since the resources don't take an entire team and millions of dollars to complete. You know what you want to do, and you do it. Indie games can be awesome that way, since a lot of AAA companies just want to stick with what's "safe."

So here I was lurking around rpgcodex, found the infamous mass effect gaiden thread and my curiosity was piqued. Liked what I saw and figured I'd take a chance, was well rewarded and quite enjoyed my playthrough. Cheers for the game and am a guaranteed buyer for the sequel



Looked around rest of winter wolves games, ain't into visual novels so feel for the most part I'm not the target audience (rpgs for me plz! i like to have story with a combat gameplay element), but think I'll be giving Loren a try aswell as also seems to be a fun game that could suit my tastes.



Looking forward to more rpgs from this site in the future.

Thanks! Well yes I do mainly story-based games, RPGs are the latest addition to my catalog Loren is a full-featured RPG, even more detailed/complex than Planet Stronghold even if it uses a more "casual" approach for the skills (skilltree and not numbers). The battles are more tactical with front/back rows and many strategies so I recommend you check it indeed

Ended up buying Loren and was totally worth every penny ^^



Hope stronghold and loren prove succesful enough to encourage ye to make more rpgs

Loren is out already?



I thought it was currently in beta. Well, I'll purchase it as soon as I'm ready with my current Planet Stronghold playthrough.

Yes is still in beta but you can pre-order if you don't mind a few bugs. The game plot is complete though

Ended up buying Loren and was totally worth every penny ^^



Hope stronghold and loren prove succesful enough to encourage ye to make more rpgs

Thanks Yes I plan to make more in any case because I like doing them, even if they're really hard to make! so I think I will make 1-2 a year max and then during the "relaxing pauses" will do my other simpler games

Count me in as surprised to discover this game. I had no idea it existed until it popped up in my Desura rss feed.

My surprise in particular comes not from the fact that I'd read people speculating negatively about the game style - I hadn't read anything about it. But more from the fact that I don't even like final fantasy type combat. But something about it made me want to at least give the demo a try.

And sure enough, the same as the OP, I'm loving balancing the attack type, number of attacks, accuracy, agro, resistances etc.



I played the demo through to completion and was so impressed it even inspired me to download the demo's of several other games using this combat style in case I'd misjudged them. I hadn't! There really is something remarkably addictive about the combat in this game compared to the repetitiveness of similar games.



Really, the only negative thing about it is the price. Which whilst it's certainly reasonable is quite a premium over what I've been used to seeing Indie games priced at over the past year or two! But as it's the best in sub-genre in my eyes, I guess there's a certain amount of you get what you pay for here. I haven't quite convinced myself to spend that much on it just yet but I probably will when I've finished other games in my to play list. If it were a bit cheaper I'd have bought it already. In any case I've spammed it on a gaming forum I frequent suggesting people try the demo.

Thanks for the post and... the spamming of other sites

A thing about the price is that unfortunately, until I get on some big portal (and Desura sadly isn't) I can't lower it, otherwise would be at loss. See what Spiderweb did - as soon as he got on Steam he decreased all his game prices from $29+ to $19.99. I would be more than happy if my games were cheaper so that more people could enjoy them, and at same time I could keep making them without having to live under a bridge (OK I'm exaggerating of course, but you get the idea).

So thanks for the word of mouth, maybe once 1000 people send emails to Steam telling them to distribute my games, prices will be lower

Yeah I googled the games name and steam earlier and saw you'd tried to get it on there but was unable to. I did think at the time it's a shame as the greater exposure would get a lot more sales and allow lower prices. I do have Spiderwebs Avadon on Steam and read a blog from him about pricing so I'm with you there!



God knows what criteria they judge games by because there's a lot on there that are outright terrible. I've also seen articles on them misjudging and missing decent games too.

I haven't quite convinced myself to spend that much on it just yet but I probably will when I've finished other games in my to play list. If it were a bit cheaper I'd have bought it already.

Unless it has ended, you can pay 15 dolars for the game + guide (or 9 dolars without it) using this coupon: SavyGamer5.

Link:

http://savygamer.co.uk/2012/05/02/savygamer-is-five-anniversary-sale/

It's worth it, in my opinion.

God knows what criteria they judge games by because there's a lot on there that are outright terrible. I've also seen articles on them misjudging and missing decent games too.

Hehe people call it "Steam lottery" for a reason I guess

Today Planet Stronghold the 9th most popular game on Desura, so maybe people are starting to take note of it. If only the journalists would take note too...

I haven't quite convinced myself to spend that much on it just yet but I probably will when I've finished other games in my to play list. If it were a bit cheaper I'd have bought it already.

Unless it has ended, you can pay 15 dolars for the game + guide (or 9 dolars without it) using this coupon: SavyGamer5.

Link:

http://savygamer.co.uk/2012/05/02/savygamer-is-five-anniversary-sale/

It's worth it, in my opinion.

Thanks, I kind of favour getting my games retail if possible or steam/desura if not. It is tempting and I am torn by the obvious price difference but I know from past experience that what will happen is I'll just end up buying it again in some future sale on desura (if one happens) for convenience. The combined price of buying it twice will likely mean I may as well just get it now. :D Still thinking that one over. I'm sure I'll end up with it sooner or later, I was glued to the demo!

Timing is slightly against it, I already have 3 games I've pre-ordered or plan to buy over the next 8 days! Though I do need something to play today... :p

Well I am quite new to Desura but I think I can generate keys like other developers do for Steam, so anyone who bought it from me can also get a free key to play it on Desura (I'm going to check more carefully but I really think should be possible).

So what are you waiting for???

OK, you got me! Bought it, using the code. :D Thanks for letting me know about it.



What should I do about the possible Desura code? Will you post back here after you've looked into it more or should I email a request to you or something? I appreciate you said 'think' so it might not work out but hopefully it does. Sorry if I'm a pain, I try to counter it by promoting the game elsewhere! I think I'm borderline OCD with how I like things organised in my life is all lol.

I just tried it, you should get an email with a code. Let me know if worked

You're a star! Thank you very much. I got the email and I just had to click a link from the email which added it to my desura account then another one to set it downloading. Ran it and it came up as the full version. One happy customer here!