Spiders. About the strengths and weaknesses of the studio, which decided to occupy a BioWare niche, on the example of The Technomacer.

The French studio Spiders is sadly known for its persistence in creating passing role -playing games. And I would like to focus on perseverance, because it is it that gives hope that the eternal outsiders will be able to finally do everything right and find their formula for success. Why am I so sure of this? Because their previous project The TechnoMincer has already managed to come close to the assessment. And on his example, I would like to show you what successes this dark horse managed to achieve … and what problems it still continues to suffer from. Get more comfortable, because we begin. Pleasant reading!

Perhaps it is worth starting with the problems that, I must admit, is not a few.

1. Fear of scaring the player.

Everything looks like spiders are panicky afraid to scare the player. For this reason, absurd and terribly awkward situations often happen in the game. You play for a young technomancer, but treat you like some kind of chosen messiah. Your mentor constantly reminds you that you are not like everyone else. The great master of the Order of Technomansers does not miss a single chance to praise a promising talent. Even the main villain is obsessed with the player – most of his actions aimed at capturing the main character. And as a cherry on the cake – the opponent of the protagonist is the despicable outsider. Your bosses literally reproach him at every mention (however, like your Sopartians). Perhaps I could not properly convey the degree of the absurdity of what is happening, but believe me, he is high. At such moments, I would like to call the game “50 shades of Mars”.

I already present a description to this masterpiece: A simple Martian girl from a slum discovered an incredible gift – she can control electricity. Now her life will change forever! What should she do? Who to trust? His caring mentor Shonom? Or the great master who believes in her potential? Or maybe a decisive and seeming so dangerous colonel Victor? Find out for yourself in The Technomincer: OTOME.

However, such an atmosphere is created only in the first hours of the game and only a few characters. The rest of the world reacts to the protagonist adequately, depending on his actions. It is very similar to the next “amazing” advice from marketers who do not understand the game community, but, sincerely believing in the opposite.

2. Combat system with a fictitious choice.

The Technomacker has four combat directions and three racks: a stand with a blade and a gun, a stand with a pin and a shield, a stand with a staff and the ability of a technomancer. Scarious choice, is it not true? Feel free to divide it into two, because because of the local pumping system you are unable to own all the racks equally well. Also in this game there is no more effective combination than the fight with a staff and technomagic, as they allow you to perform powerful AO-Ai-Stati. And with proper pumping, you will have only one series of blows with an electric fist to defeat most opponents in the game. The stand with a blade and a gun is still of some interest (I gently call it “Bloodborne on the minimum”), but a stand with a mace and a shield is definitely a bad choice, because in The Technomancer is much more important than armor.

In addition to skills, there are also attributes, without which you simply cannot pick up a normal weapon.

As for the dumps themselves – this is a real scourge of the game. Good news: your character can evade blows even at the last moment. Bad news: enemies can do the same. Terrible news: enemies can dodge, even if they are clamped. Disgusting news: sometimes your character evades enemies or on a blow line. Ambiguous news: sometimes he really manages to avoid damage in this way.

But this is not the worst. Almost all enemies in the game are purely territorial creatures. Sometimes The TechnoMincer turns into a survival simulator in a foreign area. Having turned the wrong way, you can easily pour on clear boys, ready to explain for the wrong geolocation. But, if you leave their patrimony, they will let them go back to their native assassin. It looks equally implausible and ridiculous.

3. The imperceptibility of game elements.

There is no sadder picture in the world than a technomancer rumbling along the garbage. However, this is exactly what you are offered to do it – heaps of garbage, burned corpses, numerous boxes and cabinets are scattered for all locations. You can also loot and steal – no one will say a bad word to you. Does it make sense to do this? Honestly, not really, because you quickly gain a critical amount of the local currency necessary for passing. And the pumping of equipment gives too insignificant increase in characteristics so that for the sake of it alone to bother.

Why do this game need money? Some characters can be given bribes, and during the passage you will have to buy clothes for disguise several times. And no, there is no social stealth in this game. You are simply forced to buy three sets of clothing (since you can disguise yourself alone, without the rest of the command – this is not an option) to advance according to certain missions. Moreover, one of them is the plot.

Interesting fact: You will need a disguise to get access to one of the plot missions. But the task can be safely passed without it, which is one of the optional options. Why force the player to buy this clothes anyway? Without a concept.

In addition, during the passage I really wanted to look into the eyes of the designers of levels that created locations as they are. No, they are quite picturesque, one might say, even beautiful. Game territories differ from each other: here you are slums, and the business district of one of the corporations, and the city of free merchants, and dark mines, and the Mars gorges, and t.D. But in these locations it is almost impossible to navigate! Of course, the situation is not so deplorable at corridor levels, but even they can cause an attack of acute topographic cretinism.

Firstly, the surroundings are difficult to navigate. And I’m talking about situations when there is enough turning 180 degrees to confuse you! Where did you come from? Where do you need? Having opened the card, you are unlikely to facilitate your position very much – there are few slices in the game. Traveling around the city are hooking. It seems that the developers are afraid of straight lines! Secondly, there is no designation of the north on the minicart, which reduces its usefulness several dozen times. What is the condition for this decision? I don’t know, but I sincerely hope that they will not do this anymore.

You can’t keep silent about the mass. The https://www.popularslotgames.co.uk/ locations are filled with the same type of statists who have one unpleasant habit – to materialize from the air. What is their goal? Depict boiling activity … just standing a pillar or going from side to side. Honestly, even mannequins would have come out better. True, you can interact with some of them – with merchants. But here Fiasco – when talking with them, you can try to get information, but this function works only when the quest calls directly to do it. Otherwise, they will pretend to be a hose.

At some point, you just begin to ignore others.

There are complaints to tasks. During some of them, a timer appears. You either need to hurry (twice per game) to have time to fulfill it, or you need to wait until the character does something. Both options are absurd in their own way. During the mission, in which you need to get to the city gate to the sunrise, you may encounter an unpleasant obstacle – monsters that love to bury underground, where it is impossible to cause damage. Right in front of the damn gate! And no, go to the city, running them out, you can’t. And with expectation is still better – you just wait. You can sleep or move for 10-15 minutes, after which everything will happen. Why such mechanics to play, where there is no timeage management? In the journal of tasks, you will definitely not find the answer to this question. It is generally difficult to navigate on it. If not for the markers of tasks, a break would even introduce a player into a stupor for a day, since according to the magazine itself it is absolutely impossible to determine what exactly they wanted from you.

4. Lack of smoothness.

How can you turn diversity into a lack? Easy, just cut almost every transition in the game! You have a cool musical accompaniment? Let it constantly change! In one dialogue, I managed to count as many as five different compositions. The characters are vividly react to the actions of the player? Great, we coped with our work! But in some scenes the same character, calm replicas can alternate with hysterical. Apparently, Spiders simply did not have enough time and resources for the final grinding.

5. The tightness of the gameplay.

The Technomacer dynamics also leaves much to be desired. Many elements will be available only in the second act: from access to a complete list of partners to the opportunity to travel on the world map. However, the markers of the exit to the world map and the change of partners will be available in the first act. And, no, they disappear to the second, so it is absolutely pointless.

The player often will have to visit shelters … to sleep and miss the waiting time.

But the main problem that does the passage is monotonous is the backing. How bad everything is? Very, given that opponents like to respond with enviable regularity. There was a moment when when communicating with a character in the inaccessible zone, a timer appeared for 12 minutes. Like, come back later. However, it was so dreary to get there that I decided to just wait, looking at the character that was supposed to go to the archive. Of course, after 12 minutes a divine revelation descended on that character – there was no need to go anywhere.

After such a long list of shortcomings, many could decide that the games of this studio should not be approached even a kilometer, but this is not so. The Spiders Studios has been hidden by a couple of aunts in a sleeve that can pleasantly surprise starving lovers of the role -playing genre.

1. The main character came out interesting.

What I mean by this? Firstly, Zachariah very adequately reacts to what is happening. For example, if something greatly shocked the protagonist, then he can react to such an irritant with anxiety, depression, etc.D. Just like a living person, but this is in games, you know, it is rare. At the same time, he does not have pronounced repulsive qualities, which allows him to empathize with his ease.

Moreover, the protagonist is far from the only interesting character in the game.

Secondly, Zachariah knows how to pathos. And I’m talking about situations where the player is really interesting to listen to the protagonist. Also, this skill includes sane argumentation when trying to persuade, and not as usual – “well, please” or “you are sure that you don’t want to betray your master?”.

2. The combat system is hardcore.

Despite all the problems of the combat system in The TechnoMincer, it is not taken away from it – it is quite complicated and demanding. Sometimes, by maneuvering between enemies, you forget how dangerous they are, but it is not for long – they usually have enough of one blow to remind the presumptuous technomanser that he is fighting for his life. And it works. Thanks to the feeling that you are wandering around the edge, the battles are felt more dynamic and delaying, and when the protagonist is killed, you feel that this is a direct consequence of the choice of incorrect tactics (except for those situations when this is true the game has set you up).

Flutter like a butterfly, sorry like an electric pass.

3. Your actions have consequences.

Stumbling block for all role -playing games, not otherwise. Nonlinearity is as desirable as costly and laborious. And what nonlinearity can be discussed if your actions have no consequences? Many projects stumble on this, but in The Technomancer, to my surprise, your actions affect further passage. Passed a person to local special services? You can meet him in a concentration camp. And believe me, this meeting will not be pleasant. Helped the bandits? They will help you in response. We quarreled with the bandits? Look for another way to achieve your goal. Allowed to kill their partner? Then do not be surprised that he will really be killed. And this was able to achieve a small studio. Impressive, to be honest.

4. Interesting setting.

Life on Mars is full of difficulties: acute lack of water and food, terrible mutations, constant wars and conflicts, high crime, extremely aggressive animals, etc.D. And the world here is hidden in accordance with these factors: anti -utopia, decomposing under a heavy load of decline and degradation at all levels of public life. This is really interesting! The protagonist is part of such a flagrant imperfect system, and only on his actions depends on how he will get along with all this. And the reason why everything became so bad, intrigues to the very end of the game … Let, from the point of view of elementary logic, a simple telescope would be enough to understand this.

In Ore, life usually changes according to the principle – from bad to worse.

5. Sometimes they come out a year.

Spiders developers, despite a very modest budget and technical restrictions, managed to make several incredibly steep scenes that cause a storm of emotions. I honestly admit, even in PoE II there were no equally impressive situations. Perhaps the most epic moments are the interchanges of the plot lines of your companions.

The player can help Amelia (the driver/mechanics of the group) in search of her father. First you must steal the records of your other companion – Scott – since they were friends in the past. Of these, you will learn that Scott had a mutant son, whom he, being a geneticist, tried to save with his research. Amelia’s father helped him in this, but they failed-because of which Scott drank himself.

Upon learning in which direction Amelia’s father went on his last journey, you go in search. As a result, you find the skeleton of an all -terrain vehicle and a dying entry, which turns out that Scott was killed by Amelia’s father, damaging an important detail in his vehicle. My reaction at that moment was something like this – “what? This is what a real conflict in the party?”. Moreover, Amelia’s father admits that he himself provoked Scott to this, trying to take his son in an unknown direction … so that his friend will cease to be killed by what can no longer be changed.

And here they give you a choice, hide this information from Amelia or tell her a bitter truth. Of course, I chose the second, after which I had to persuade her not to kill the old man on the spot. And it was fun! Why do the developers do not do this more often?

As for Scott himself – during the search for his son, the protagonist will find out the details of the experiments conducted by him. Когда вопросов накапливается слишком много, Захария зовёт пожилого ученого к себе, где тот всё и рассказывает. About how frenzy he tried to save his son. About how he moved away from his family because of his research. About how he agreed with the military on financing. About how he put experiments on two boys with the early signs of a mutation – Zakharia and Andrew (another satellite of the protagonist). The fact that it was this experiment that made them technomansers, eliminating the slave fate in the pen of mutants. The fact that to save his son was already too late … And the fact that Scott killed him to save him from complete suffering.

Compared to this, Andrew’s storyline seems very simple and unpretentious-his abilities were too uncontrolled, which is why the guy lost his hand as a result of an accident. The very case during which the main character received his scars. Zachariah can help Andrew, collecting him a cyber-profile of his hands and learning the paths of the Technomanser. As a result, the main character goes a long way from a student to a mentor. The culmination is the initiation of Andrew, which is equally important to them both.

And in the end of the storyline of the niche. In it, Zachariah should understand the reasons why the girl, along with her friends, ended up in a concentration camp. At first, the niche blames in all of the bandits, stitching denunciations of special services, but he explained his act by the fact that one of the girls in her group – Gloria – brought him to the niche, saying that she wanted to hand over their gang to the authorities. However, the bandit decided to play it safe and brought the whole group right away.

Of course, the niche did not want to believe the words of this person, but doubts overwhelmed her. As a result, you go home to Gloria, where you find her hanging. And this scene was just amazing! When the niche began to read out the suicide note of her friend with a trembling voice, in which she confessed to everything that was done … It was a very strong moment that allows you to feel the whole depth of remorse for the pain that the girl caused to herself and her loved ones. And all this because of the most ordinary envy.

Spiders is a studio with a very difficult fate. They go to the top for too long – so long that only a few believe in their success. But, apparently, the studio itself does not lose confidence in its abilities. In a recent interview, the general director of Spiders Samante Nelson said that his studio intends to fill in the vacuum left by BioWare:
https: // dtf.RU/Games/64537-Spidders-CHOCHET-FULT-WACUUUUUUM-ON-BIIVAR
HTTPS: // VBV.Escapistmagazine.COM/V2/2019/08/13/Spiders-Wants-GreedFall-Fill-Bio-Vid-Gehanne-Roosseau/

And they can do it! Judge for yourself – Spiders has practically no competitors. BioWare is fighting in the dying agony, and from numerous leaks there is a persistent feeling that the affairs of Dragon Age IV are extremely lousy-EA even want to turn it into a game-service game! CD Projekt Red is a real mastodont of the industry, but they are engaged in long -term construction, working on a five -year or even longer cycle. Obsidian Entertainment could only return to the creation of role -playing games that are not taking place in isometry. In Larian Studios, they firmly stained the niche of isometric role -playing games with a cooperative. Inxile Entertainment is being skidded on the spot for several years. Well, Piranha bytes … They just refuse to study on their mistakes.

More suitable moment for Spiders may not be presented. Therefore, I urgently urge to take a closer look at this studio – perhaps their upcoming Greedfall project will be the very breakthrough that they needed so much. And for Sim everything. Thank you for your attention!