Operencia: The Stolen Sun - Review @ Gamespace

[HiddenX]

Gamespace checked out the dungeon crawler Operencia: The Stolen Sun:

Operencia: The Stolen Sun invites to crawl into its dungeons

Operencia: The Stolen Sun is a dungeon crawler RPG set in a first-person view that I crawled my way through square by square to explore the depths of its old school mechanics and the world's lore. I was not disappointed by what I found as I dug deeper into what lurked below. This is our Operencia: The Stolen Sun review.

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Summary
Overall Operencia: The Stolen Sun is a good introduction if you've never played a dungeon crawler type RPG before. It has a few rough edges and a tutorial that had me wishing it was over sooner. But this is balanced by some really great world lore, tons of great voice acting and great level design.

Score: 8/10

More information.

 

[crpgnut]

I tried this and it seems better than some, but I just can't do the cardinal direction dungeon crawlers. It isn't 1991.

 

[the_dagon]

I tried this and it seems better than some, but I just can't do the cardinal direction dungeon crawlers. It isn't 1991.

You’re missing my 2019’s GOTY...

 

[Kordanor]

Only played for 20 hours yet, and while not perfect, it does a phantastic job in balancing different aspects of the game. Good combat, good puzzles and good "story", and with the last thing I neither mean the actual story, nor the voice overs, but overall "presence" of the story and how it is reflected in the game, whereas there is absolute zero in Grimrock.

Overall would (so far) say, that it's at least the best crawler of the last 20 years. Maybe even of all time, if you leave out nostalgia.

And I have to leave out Wizardry 8 which I haven't played long enough. Question is if that is considered a crawler though, depending on definition as you dont move tile wise there.

 

[JDR13]

I found it average at best. It's good for a low-budget game by a mostly unknown studio, but it's nothing special.

 

[Kordanor]

I found it average at best. It's good for a low-budget game by a mostly unknown studio, but it's nothing special.

Do you dislike crawlers in General? Or is there any other Crawler/Blobber you would rate higher (which released in the last 15 years). Like MMX, BT4 or Gimrock. And if yes, why?

 

[forgottenlor]

Only played for 20 hours yet, and while not perfect, it does a phantastic job in balancing different aspects of the game. Good combat, good puzzles and good "story", and with the last thing I neither mean the actual story, nor the voice overs, but overall "presence" of the story and how it is reflected in the game, whereas there is absolute zero in Grimrock.

Overall would (so far) say, that it's at least the best crawler of the last 20 years. Maybe even of all time, if you leave out nostalgia.

And I have to leave out Wizardry 8 which I haven't played long enough. Question is if that is considered a crawler though, depending on definition as you dont move tile wise there.

I found it Operencia good, but not great and would certainly rank it under Might and Magic X, Stranger of Sword City, Legend of Grimrock 2, Eminage Gothic, and Lords of Xulima, if you want to consider the latter a crawler. Operncia is good in every aspect and its story and atmosphere are as good or better than those in most of of the other crawlers I mentioned, and it is at least as pretty, if not prettier. But Operncia lacks the depth and complexity of all the other games I mentioned, except Grimrock 2, which has much better level design, puzzles, and secrets. I enjoyed it, but the focuses of most crawlers are combat, character building, and level design, and I don't think Operncia shines in any of these categories, though it is certainly competent.

I would say though that its a good crawler for those who normally don't play them or aren't normally fans of crawlers, as it is more accessable than most.

 

[Kordanor]

I found it Operencia good, but not great and would certainly rank it under Might and Magic X, Stranger of Sword City, Legend of Grimrock 2, Eminage Gothic, and Lords of Xulima, if you want to consider the latter a crawler. Operncia is good in every aspect and its story and atmosphere are as good or better than those in most of of the other crawlers I mentioned, and it is at least as pretty, if not prettier. But Operncia lacks the depth and complexity of all the other games I mentioned, except Grimrock 2, which has much better level design, puzzles, and secrets. I enjoyed it, but the focuses of most crawlers are combat, character building, and level design, and I don't think Operncia shines in any of these categories, though it is certainly competent.

I would say though that its a good crawler for those who normally don't play them or aren't normally fans of crawlers, as it is more accessable than most.

You played on release though on normal difficulty, right? (when was the only one back then)
Maybe you would reconsider when you played now.

I cannot judge grimrock 2 as I havent played it, Xulima was extremely grindy though and I wouldnt consider it a crawler. But Xulima and MMX also had a big issue of a unintuitive character system which you had to learn before even starting the game on high difficulties.
MMX and Bards Tale 4 however also had horrible balancing issues, which basically broke the combat at about 2/3 of the games length. BT4 had multiple overpowered talent combinations which even on high difficulty made everything extremely easy. Pretty similar to MMX where everything was just dieing by itself at the end, mostly due to attack stacking (e.g. magical weapons which attacked twice, each time with multiple procs, then a skill to attack twice and you know where this is leading). I mean if you check my LPs of back then...the last phases of both games are ridiculous.

I would say that they "feel" better due to a better interface. But they don't have more depth or better balancing than Operencia (which I havent finished yet, so maybe it also breaks in the second half)

 

[duerer]

To me, this game is the kind of "middle road" games, that I find very risky:

Not hardcore enough to please a certain crowd (ahem, looking around)
… yet tries to be faithful to its roots: grid movement, party management, etc

Not casual enough to please the uninitiated youngsters
… yet tries to be casual with presentation: bright colors, simple world, story and NPCs

Personally, I didn't like Operencia that much, compared to these gems:
* Vaporum was more enjoyable as a low-budget indie blobber,
* Stranger of Sword City was more experimental and fresh
* Might and Magic X was more traditional and focused (nice to see that it gets some well deserved love here!)
* Grimrock is well.. Grimrock. Accessible AND traditional. Perfect.

 

[SSIGuy]

Agree with a lot of comments here that Operencia is a good game - but not better than some other more recent blobbers. I enjoyed Might and Magic X and Grimrock 2 more... and even Bard's Tale 4 was more enjoyable too for me (I didn't hit any bugs I noticed in a recent playthru of that).

 

[JDR13]

Do you dislike crawlers in General? Or is there any other Crawler/Blobber you would rate higher (which released in the last 15 years). Like MMX, BT4 or Gimrock. And if yes, why?

I quite like dungeon crawlers when they're good. I haven't played BT4 yet, but MMX, Legend of Grimrock, The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians, Grimrock 2, Vaporum, and StarCrawlers are all games I preferred over Operencia for various reasons.

Mainly because the setting is important to me, and I didn't care for the generic high-fantasy world in Operencia or the aesthetics in general (too bright and colorful for my taste). I wasn't impressed by the characters or dialogue either.

 

[forgottenlor]

You played on release though on normal difficulty, right? (when was the only one back then)
Maybe you would reconsider when you played now.

I cannot judge grimrock 2 as I havent played it, Xulima was extremely grindy though and I wouldnt consider it a crawler. But Xulima and MMX also had a big issue of a unintuitive character system which you had to learn before even starting the game on high difficulties.
MMX and Bards Tale 4 however also had horrible balancing issues, which basically broke the combat at about 2/3 of the games length. BT4 had multiple overpowered talent combinations which even on high difficulty made everything extremely easy. Pretty similar to MMX where everything was just dieing by itself at the end, mostly due to attack stacking (e.g. magical weapons which attacked twice, each time with multiple procs, then a skill to attack twice and you know where this is leading). I mean if you check my LPs of back then…the last phases of both games are ridiculous.

I would say that they "feel" better due to a better interface. But they don't have more depth or better balancing than Operencia (which I havent finished yet, so maybe it also breaks in the second half)

I've played through or will play through all the games I listed twice or more. I played through MMX twice already and will play through it again because I still have classes I'd like to try. I see absolutely no reason the play through Operencia again. Its true that MMX gets easier after the first 2/3, but I still really enjoyed the game and the less than perfect balance didn't reduce my fun in the least. But hard combat is not a prerequisite for me enjoyed a game. I know from your past commentaries that a game which doesn't present very challenging combat, ruins a game for you. I enjoyed Torment for example (though I wouldn't call it a great game) and I know you didn't.

 

[Kordanor]

While I don't see any reason to play MMX twice, I see your point. I am always going for one single experience, and very, very rarely play anythinge more often unless the game itself requires it (FTL, roguelikes). And yeah, together with that combat preference I got quite a different viewing angle.

But regarding the difficulty I found it important to mention as no skill system in any game really shows its strength unless you also play with systems which profit from it.
You will never notice if the one spell doess 100 and the other 200 damage and the balance is right if the enemy already dies after 50 dmg if you get what I mean.
Thats also one of the reasons I always play on highest difficulty.
Ofc there are also games which grow an imbalance on highest difficulty and where systems start to make less sense. But I'd say thats the minority.