It's time for some piracy privateering!
(https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skidrowcodex.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F05%2FHorizons-Gate.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
Horizon's Gate is a Final Fantasy Tactics-like squad-based game. You run a crew of pirates/privateers seeking treasure and power in a quest for revenge. I'm currently obsessed with this game, so I figured I could try doing a Let's Play since I haven't in a few years and never on Bay12.
Some info on the game itself:
FF Tactics is basically the game.
There's a simple tactical sea-battle map, but mostly I just get close, board, then go to FF Tactics style combat.
There are 2 pre-made NPCs that join your crew and aren't customizable. One is optional, the other, will be me, I guess. All other crew are customizable.
I will end up with about 20 pirates by the end, so if you want a toon, just chime in below. 5 are active in combat at any time.
Notes for this play through:
I'll be playing Ironman style - the LP will end if the party is wiped. (Ships being sunk ignored...)
So, about this game. You play as a fully customizable character who is The Commodore in the Dominio Navy. Your options are as follows:
(https://i.imgur.com/zcqNi9v.png)
Humans get XP faster.
Scurio are a little faster (usually go first in initiative.)
Rasmen are immune to blind and dodge a little better.
Fareem move a little further, but are slower in initiative.
(https://i.imgur.com/QjY9qRY.png?)
Aphest are stronger and move further in straight lines, but slower in initiative.
Falpa get more MP.
Ferren have stronger magic defense.
Wilderi are stronger and resist attacks from behind.
In my experience so far, this choice isn't huge beyond aesthetic reasons.
This game is very class-flexible, but give me a direction to start in. As you might expect, the base class is Sailor, then the three focuses are Fighter, Scout, and Scholar.
(https://i.imgur.com/7Jh8pwF.png)
In general, the left tree is melee focused (pushing and pulling, taking and dealing damage in melee.)
The central tree is ranged focused (shooting, giving status effects, moving around enemies.)
The right tree is magic focused (preventing status effects, dealing damage in large areas, protecting/defending.)
Skills work just like FF Tactics - you spend XP to unlock them, then can mix and match 2 classes' skills to be active at any time.
All good classes require you to have experience in other classes, usually across two or more trees. Generally, melee deal more damage to single targets faster, while magic hits multiple but take time to cast.
This game also allows you to side with a faction, for various boons (such as better ships, military escorts, and cheaper prices.)
(https://i.imgur.com/sl5a9KT.png)
The three factions offer mostly the same stuff. Jobs, opportunities, and ships. Each faction has their own "special" ship when you've increased your reputation with them greatly.
Jasce: Dedicated to the god-king Jasce, this mostly Scurio faction control the western part of the map. Aztec-esque designs.
Seartia: A republic of elected officials, this mostly Rasmen faction control the center of the map. Classic medieval/futuristic designs.
Rumane: A congregation of clans, this mostly Wilderi faction control the north-eastern part of the map. Nordic designs.
What good pirate game doesn't let you go it your own, though?
The pirate's life offers many of the same benefits, plus if I get good enough, I can just steal the good ships.
Those are the 4 options: Jasce, Seartia, Rumane, Freelance.
-------
So! What should The Commodore be, ye scallywag? Who should we side with, or should we strike it alone?
Also, if you want a sailor named after you, just list a race and what type of character class you'd like. I'll do my best to find the land-lubber in the game!
Part 1: Snake? Snake! SNAAAAAAAKKKKKEEEEEEE
Pull up a stool, why don't ya, and listen to an old Falpa tell you a tale. No worries, the beer's on me. Name's Reeve, but you might have known me by some other names. Lieutenant Reeve “the Dragon Tamer”, Reeve the Revenant, Wavebreak Reeve? If not, well... you're too young.
(https://i.imgur.com/bzJj8kW.png)
Let me tell you the story of an old pirate – the real eyepatch and cannon type. His name was Iroquis Pliskin, you might know him as Captain Pliskin the Snake, the scourge of the Southern Sea. I was there, at the start of his story – all those years ago. We were aboard the Windjammer, sailing out from Dominio in search of wealth and glory.
(https://i.imgur.com/ULzU1Th.png)
Then, one night, a storm started brewing. An unnatural storm, it turned out. Lightning struck the ship and I darted below deck to put out a fire. Not seconds later, Barr, our Pilot, shouted out “Black sails on the horizon!” Pirates, with the ability to summon storms and shoot lightning. Well-paid pirates, I'd guess.
(https://i.imgur.com/UzoZ2gS.png)(https://i.imgur.com/oQIH9G7.png)
I could hear the boarding party arrive, but the fire was near the powder, and needed my attention. Better to put it out than to win the fight only to be blown sky high. Pliskin filled me in later – Lagan, the captain of the Stormcutter, made allusions to being paid. We found out by who later.
(https://i.imgur.com/kP4Ngp3.png)
The fighting on the deck started to slow. I knew that was either very good or very bad for me. Vang ran up to join the melee either way. Next thing I knew, the fire wasn't a problem as the sea started to swallow the ship. I managed to swim to shore, dragging Barr and Vang with me. I lost Mirra in the waves, didn't even see Pliskin, Shanks, or Dar.
I met up with Pliskin and Barr later. The lucky snake washed up on a beach not far from Barr and gave him a hand with some “negotiations.” I was about to come to an “agreement” of my own when the two of them spotted me on a bridge.
(https://i.imgur.com/mA0VNb8.png)
I was happy to teach them some lessons. Pliskin was a great sailor and captain, but he was new to the ways of blood – the way of the pirate. Rule number 1, kill the mage first.
(https://i.imgur.com/HJeUysO.gif)
The three of us found a cove – the real classic piratey type. Snooping around, we saw that rat Lagan talking with the Admiral of the Dominio Navy – which meant something bad. Someone – probably someone in charge of us - either wanted us dead, or cared so little about us, that they were willing to throw away our lives for their goals. Doesn't due us nicely.
(https://i.imgur.com/RW3SLH4.png)
We caught up with Lagan, but found no real evidence that we could use in court. Barr got it right – there's no going back to Dominio for us. Oh right, that's also when I died.
(https://i.imgur.com/hQMZX4g.gif)
A few shattered bones, ripped muscles, and considerable brain damage later, I was still walking. It takes a lot to put down Ol' Reeve. Not sure what happened with Lagan, but by the end of it, Vang was back and we were looking at three sailboats full of food and gold. We split paths, Vang setting off as a merchant, Barr to find a quiet life, and Pliskin and I – out for revenge. Pliskin was newly promoted, but I'd put in 35 years in the Navy. I wasn't going to let this pass. But I needed time to heal, and Pliskin needed to find a crew, and some better ships before we set out for blood.
(https://i.imgur.com/NxsbOaF.png)
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me...
-=-=-=-
Some commentary on gameplay:
This first part is a pretty long tutorial, though you can breeze through it if you've done it before. Most of it is inventory management - since there's a lot of things you can pick up, but not much space in your inventory. You control your character and Barr, Reeve is an uncontrollable NPC (Also, an astronomical level fighter. Reeve has over 100 HP, when you finish this game, you have about 40.) Her "death" de-levels her to 1, and gives her a rusty appearance. She's a unique crew-member and has specific dialogue, including some recommendations on quests.
Exploration is a driving motivator in this game. Specifically, the examine function pays dividends. Let's look at Pliskin here. Using the 'L'ook key, you can examine the rubble, the plank, myself, and the crab here.
(https://i.imgur.com/mTzDlF9.png)
Everything you examine has a little journal entry. That star on the top right shows its rarity (-, *, **, ***...). Some NPCs called researchers will pay you for the information in your journal – more for more rare things, but still something for common things. These payments are a one-time deal, so it's worth examining everything all the time.
(https://i.imgur.com/9Y24xa1.png)
The game will also directly reward exploration by giving you rewards for figuring out ways around problems.
(https://i.imgur.com/Y3kpeHL.png)
I used planks to build a quick bridge, but you could also use a dash/jump ability to get across here, or some magic teleportation.
(https://i.imgur.com/BnMeiaQ.png)
-=-=-=-
Reeve's nickname in the game is Dragon Tamer, which I was certain was a reference to an old game. I guess I was thinking of Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest. You decide.
(https://i.imgur.com/g5qMKhi.png)(https://i.imgur.com/NwLK4xT.png)
Part 2: At least I always fought for what I believed in...
Now the real piracy starts – here's a sea shanty (https://youtu.be/rmZVQmxrwx0) for you.
-=-=-=-
You ever been to deep sea, sailor? Been out to Dominio, or what's left of it? All sorts of beasts come up from the sea-floor, tired of chewing on Alvora's bones. Us Dominio dogs, well, we sail around on the damn things. We're used to 'em. In the Great Sea, there's only a few Megarays – nothing more than gunnery practice, if you ask me.
(https://i.imgur.com/GeJz6ov.png)
Unless you're in a sailboat, slow as sand and unarmed, that is. That's where Pliskin and I were as we pushed Northwest looking for shelter, ship, and crew. We lucked upon Port Midos, a Jasce town. The Megaray didn't manage to keep up with us, and sunk back into the deep blue.
(https://i.imgur.com/VeND3Hk.png)
I was a bit more cautious in those days. I pushed Pliskin toward a Cog or a Caravel. Something either with a lot of cargo space, or quick enough to dodge any pirate pursuers. Pliskin's blood was still hot, though, and wanted to take it out on the world. He purchased a Pinnacle, spent the rest of our gold on cannons, and named it the Ocelot.
(https://i.imgur.com/Bv725AG.png)(https://i.imgur.com/NuXmlRS.png)
As we headed back to the dock, a haggard old sailor got our attention – he was looking for a ship, and fast. We were lacking enough men to get the Ocelot running at full speed, so an agreement was struck. Hagger joined the crew.
Back in those days, everyone was itching to get on a ship. Cafes were packed with travellers and sailors looking for a captain who'd take them on board. We met a Rasmen named Jack, but Pliskin just called him Luke and he didn't seem to mind. We got him aboard. We'd doubled our crew, loaded up on guns and food, and were effectively out of money.
(https://i.imgur.com/1wlHtDr.png)
As we left harbor, Hagger pointed out a neutral trading ship in the distance. He seemed very familiar with it, and I got the suspicion that he was running from someone on board. Now an unaffiliated ship is safe from the other nations, as they don't care enough about them to hassle them. But for pirates, it's ripe fruit just hanging from the branches. Sink it, steal it, nobody chases you up on the crime.
(https://i.imgur.com/XdQepbq.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/7gQpsQl.png)
The Ocelot pursued with all fury, we caught up with the grey sails and moved to engage. Two Cogs, should be full of goods. We rolled up next to the bigger of the two and boarded, weapons flashing as we jumped from deck to deck.
(https://i.imgur.com/z9sfCM7.png)
They held out as long as they could, but eventually fell. Hagger and Luke tipped the balance in our favor. They unloaded a swivel gun into our broadside, though, and Pliskin saw reason when I suggested to let the other Cog flee and focus on patching up our hull instead. We sailed away with another gun, some equipment, and half a cog worth of trade goods.
(https://i.imgur.com/19hFarD.png)
We limped the captured Cog back to port, passed another neutral ship, flipped the Cog, repaired the hull and checked the cafe for more crew. Five is a good fighting force, six is enough to run two ships at full speed. We found another Rasmen named Krea-wren, putting us at 5.
(https://i.imgur.com/cTKnUAb.png)
We chased down the other trader, sank one and the other got away. Wraele, a small port, was just around the corner. Worth visiting for crew, work, and for selling our ill-gotten goods. This was the first bit of real piracy I'd been involved with. Pliskin took to it like a fish in water, and the rest of the crew had no restraints. Can't say I was the same, at the beginning. I was looking at things more cautiously than Pliskin. It'd take some time for me to get used to the real pirate's life.
It doesn't take long to get used to having a crew again, though. Luke looks like a madman with a crossbow in one hand and a machete in the other.
(https://i.imgur.com/6ZfaWL9.png)
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me...
-=-=-=-
Some commentary on gameplay:
Two neutral ships was incredibly lucky – the game WANTS me to be a pirate. Normally these non-aligned ships are few and far between. Maybe encountering one every couple of days.
Ship combat is rather simple in this game. Move, shoot, etc. You have to be aware of the wind a little, but mostly you're just focused on whether your broad-sides are facing the enemy. Later, there are much more insane weapons you can get, but for now, we're just using simple cannons.
To board, you need boarding equipment on your ship and need to close the distance. You have a limited time to kill all the crew in order to claim the ship. Midton's crew took three boardings to kill, meaning they got 3 shots on me with their guns. If they had serious weapons, this would have been a problem.
Combat includes a Divinity-esque elemental interaction system. Check out this combat gif and I'll explain what's going on here.
(https://i.imgur.com/dcWQNAK.gif)
Luke uses a crossbow and pops a water barrel, spreading the “wet” condition to Mior and pouring puddles all over the ground. Mior takes 3 points of damage for being in the blast.
Hagger moves to stand in the water, and lashes at Mior with a whip.
Mior dodges, as she took an action earlier in this combat to have higher evasion.
The initiative order at the top shows that combat will be ending soon (time limit on boarding). All damage and conditions persist between boardings, so Reeve gets a light hit in then moves back so she doesn't get hit twice before the end of the fight.
Pliskin moves beside Mior and hits her with a lightning spell, doing normal damage, bonus damage because of the wet condition, then additional damage for standing in water – note, the electricity runs through all the wet tiles, so Hagger takes some damage too.
These can get exceptionally complicated later on. This is just the first actual fight the crew gets into.
Crew and Experience:
Crew cost 10 to recruit, then 1 gold every day, plus they require food (3 gold every day + cargo space). Hagger doesn't require pay, so he's just working for food. He's a unique uneditable crew member like Reeve. He has extra dialogue, but not as much as Reeve. I'll keep bumping him down the list as we get more named crew, since he basically is the same just runs at 75% cost.
Crew are completely customizable within their race. So "Luke" was Jack when we recruited him, with that goofy mask. I changed his name and appearance to something more reasonable.
Experience comes from combat, and is in short supply in this game. Dungeons, sites, and encounters are pre-made. There are a few randomly generated combats that come from quests at the guild (next update.) That means there is a limit to how much XP you'll get easily, and so prioritizing who gets experience when is a bit of an issue. Otherwise, ships give experience and can be ground into infinity, I believe. There is also a way to get XP-giving items infinitely, as long as you have the cash, which is pretty easy.
Each ship has a minimum number of crew to move at full speed. Most ships are 3, but some are much higher, and a couple are just 2. So I'm aiming to gather 6 men, then surf at that for a while until I can get another ship. Your overworld speed is determined by your slowest ship.
-=-=-=-
Krea-wren is up for grabs if somebody wants him, otherwise I'll just name him after a Metal Gear character. KingZultan, I ran around the map with my other save and couldn't find any Ferren recruits. I'm not sure how common they are for picking up. Rasmen, Scurio, and Humans are far and away the most common, Fareen and Falpa show up sometimes, too. I can either mod one in or cheat to change the appearance of someone, though – I'll try to get you in as the 6th crew member.
Part 3: We've managed to avoid drowning! Good job!
Back to work, ya scurvy dogs! (https://youtu.be/20n3N1uhztc)
Ya ever had Moss Malt? It's a rare brew, rarer than an honest man and worth more than a Jascian pearl. Now Eral's beer is fine, but Moss Malt, well, they say it awakens something in your mind – expands it somehow, and that effect don't wear off. Pliskin had a taste for the stuff, rare as it was, but we found it at times. Usually hidden behind some Cleevers or other nasty business.
We'd spent a month around Wraele, ravaging trade routes, fighting Cleevers from the deep. We were scrounging together some funds for better equipment. A stronger cannon here, a better weapon there. All the while, throwing ourselves at every ship that wanted to fight, and any neutral traders who didn't. The combat practice did well for the new crew, and started me recovering.
On one of those runs out of Wraele, we found an old abandoned house on an island. Pliskin said it was worth checking out, as we sailed up, the shambling mounds of spikes that are Cleevers could be seen digging through the scraps of the place.
(https://i.imgur.com/pFD45V5.png)
Now Cleevers aren't the most dangerous of creatures, but their weapons are as sharp as any others. They're known to give merchants a run for their money if sail too close to deep sea. We'd been taking them on whenever their Shellships floated up from the deep, so I was confident we could take them out. One of them lashed out and shattered my axe at the beginning of combat, though. A change I took to nicely, as I shoved my fist through his shell.
In the ruins of this place, we found a bottle of that fabled Moss Malt, a few beers, and a left behind keg. We all rose a bottle in victory, the best went to our Captain – after a month of successful pirating, we were all a bit stronger and richer. I guess the Malt did its thing, because Pliskin had much bigger plans from there on out.
Wraele had been our base of operation. It was a small, unnoticed port, good for dipping in and out. They had plenty of food, and didn't ask any questions about our trade goods being covered in blood or why we were selling cogs with holes in the side. Pliskin took a mind to do them some service in exchange for those questions never being asked. There'd been rumor of monsters in the mine, which we cleared out without a problem.
(https://i.imgur.com/FO16WhK.png)
The townsfolk gave us a little gold for the trouble. We approached a local trainer, who told us about the art of Breaking – the same thing that Cleever had done to my axe. I was interested right away.
(https://i.imgur.com/j8crXHM.png)
Finally, we took some work from the Guild. A word to the wise, son, you make the Guild happy, you could spit in the God-king's face and walk away from it. They control the money and the trade, which means they control everyone. We started doing them favors, in exchange for gold and future favors in case our piracy rubbed anyone the wrong way.
(https://i.imgur.com/PBrImTA.png)
They sent us north to kill a few Spides. Nothing for this crew now.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZF2Dbk7.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ifJz79D.png)
With a few favors done, we loaded the Ocelot with bullion and pushed off toward Jascias. Pliskin was looking for better ships and a bigger crew. We managed to capture all three cogs of a trader just outside of Jascias. The last big city Pliskin and I had been was Dominio. The golden streets of Jascias were a refreshing sight.
(https://i.imgur.com/R5NFEwk.gif)
((Running a screengrabber, loading a new area, and having other windows open tanks my framerate. I tried this a couple times - this is the best one...))
Hagger told us that they had another special brew here – Blood Wine. With the profits from the bullion, Pliskin treated the crew to a round of drinks. One of the patrons at the tavern mentioned good ships for sale in Runewald.
(https://i.imgur.com/wyshB0M.png)
We loaded up with Jascian pearls and set sail Northeast, toward Runewald. The Ocelot sailed across the waves at ease, and we made the trip in record time. The shipwrights here can make Drekkar, a proper combat ship. It'll take 6 men to run it, though. We convinced one of the local Wilderi to join the crew bringing us to 6. Seems like a quiet, sleepy fellow.
(https://i.imgur.com/XDFXNf2.png)
The Drekkar's price tag is a bit steep. Even with our plundering, it's unlikely we could afford one without starving ourselves out immediately afterward. I recommended to the captain to find a researcher and cartographer. We'd seen plenty in the last month to sell the info, and cartographers are always looking for updated maps. Perhaps set sail for Searth and finish our tour of the main cities. It was either that, or we bought another Pinnacle and started trying to take down bigger fish.
(https://i.imgur.com/8JPoXCj.png)
Either way, I knew the gold would keep flowing, and that path was paved with battles which needed fighting.
(https://i.imgur.com/kKK5TSq.png)
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me...
-=-=-=-
Some commentary on gameplay:
Morale:
Morale is by far the worst system in the game, as it is particularly punishing for the player, but not the characters. The premise is that poor morale will lead to worse performance in combat, and a good captain needs to keep tabs on morale.
In this image, you can see the enemy crew was at low morale as we boarded. Makes sense, since they're merchants and we're heavily armed pirates. Morale effects combat scores, and there are several abilities to raise or lower morale in combat. Bad morale is effectively a -1 to attack, defense, and dodge. Good morale is a +1. (There are two or three levels of both good and bad morale).
(https://i.imgur.com/z9sfCM7.png)
The issue is that the game naturally depletes morale constantly from your crew. Keeping them fed and alive isn't enough. They don't seem to gain morale from combat victories, either. They will gain morale from treats at the cafes (like the Blood Wine) – which gives about 10% morale and costs around 20 gold per crew-member. That adds up to a lot, but the real issue is that it is just busy-work. It's easy to forget, and then suddenly you board and your crew have a static debuff to all of them. Enemy AI don't need to worry about this upkeep.
Luckily, there is a setting for the morale decay in the options. I set it to slightly easier – which means morale should stay good as long as everyone is fed, which can become a problem in long trips.
Classes, cont.:
Classes in this game are locked behind two walls:
First, you have to get the appropriate experience in another class or classes. This is usually pretty easy, but it does require some decision making on which class abilities are active at any time. I dislike the Sorceror class, but I'll need to get experience in it to move to further classes – so right now, Pliskin is staying in Scholar to unlock several abilities which I'll use until I unlock two classes that I want to specialize in later. I have to make this decision now, since I need experience in Sorceror, but won't want to have it be my active class for long, because the abilities aren't my favorite.
These are specific to each character – so unlocking classes as Reeve won't unlock them for Pliskin.
Second, you need to find a trainer to unlock the class. These are in towns or ports, sometimes blocked. This one, the Breaker trainer, was blocked by a pillar which required a hammer to break. Luckily, you could buy a wooden hammer at the shop in town. The price for unlocking a class can vary – usually gold between 150 and 250. Sometimes it requires exploration experience, or significant amounts of gold. Depends on the place and the class. I think some even require quests.
(https://i.imgur.com/j8crXHM.png)
The pillar is directly in front of Pliskin
Reeve will eventually take the Breaker class, so I paid the price now. The Breaker can disable opponents' equipment, helping to neutralize threats. These classes are unlocked for all other characters, as long as they meet the experience requirements.
Guild quests:
Guild quests will give reputation with a faction if you're allied with that faction which controls that town. Otherwise, they're just a nice source of money and randomly generated quests. There are basically 4 types of quests:
Supply trade goods (they'll ask for a random trade good, and will pay extremely well for it. If you're lucky, it's just the trade good from one town over.)
Hunt Ship-sized critter (Such as kill a Megaray or take out a pirate fleet. This is very easy to basically impossible and pays accordingly.)
Deliver letter (To a guild hall of another town. This is tough at the beginning, since they don't tell you where the town is.)
Deal with some monsters (Randomly generates a 1-room dungeon with a single monster encounter and sometimes a little treasure.)
I think there are others, but the pay for the jobs isn't much so I usually don't bother with them. However, the experience - especially from monsters - is a nice addition.
Part 4: La Li Lu Le Lo??
Setting aimless sail after this. (https://youtu.be/7-UEJjyA43Q)
Here's the thing about revenge, lad, often ya become the one you're out to kill. Same happened with Pliskin and I. Lagan's crew became what we drank and breathed – boiling with hate for those scallywags. It kept our wounds fresh, kept the wind in our sails, and the blood on our knuckles. But in so doing, we sent plenty of men to the deep... Far too many. Just like Lagan.
The times weren't all bad, though. When you're fighting a lot, you learn to like it. You only regret it when you're an old salt like me. The crew and I rolled up and down Rumane waterways looking for opportunity to better our skills. Found ourselves another seadog looking for a ship to take them far away from their troubles.
(https://i.imgur.com/sHB5e7P.png)
In those days, Rumane was willing to block up rivers for tactical advantage. I mused about the possibility of a quick escape route, should we need it. Krea-wren, who had picked up the name Fatman after taking an interest in the Bombardier class, thought he'd have a way through them, if we entered from the far side. Believe it or not, it was The Ocelot that opened the old water-ways again.
(https://i.imgur.com/JUOAC4k.png)(https://i.imgur.com/YRX9rir.png)
We tried our luck in Redens a few times – did well, for first timers, but you know the competition is fierce there. Then we turned tail and headed back to more populated waters. The cold and I don't get along anyway.
(https://i.imgur.com/Jcpqy5w.png)
Old Iroquois Pliskin was obsessed with Lagan and Storm Cove. He was young and bloodmad, I don't blame him, but as the days wore on, my better judgment got the best of us. Let's scout it out, get an idea of what we're up against, then work toward that, I told him. Build a fleet, train a crew, but have something more than murder in mind. He saw the reason and the “all hand hoy” went up. We rolled back to Storm Cove on choppy seas.
(https://i.imgur.com/T4V6yNx.png)
Lagan we could probably take one on one on a deck battle. But with Dominio backing, he'd outfitted two monsters of deadly ships. The Ocelot couldn't take a hit from even the furthest range of these. We thought on how to either out gun, out run, or insulate our ships.
(https://i.imgur.com/Noo0Bax.png)
With that in mind, we started roving wild – looking for new tech, new gear. It became about the crew. Making ourselves the best we could be. That revenge started to wear off, but the violence...well, the violence never stops on the sea.
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me...
-=-=-=-
Commentary on game design:
I'm going to do less Reeve point of view for a while now – as this has basically revealed the entire game, and writing as Reeve takes more time that I'd fancy.
Here's the premise of Horizon's Gate: “This is the boss battle – you can do it at any time. It is very difficult, but it's basically the end of the game.”
Personally, I'm a big fan of this - but there are a few steam reviews that complain about the game being very short - which it can be.
There are multiple ways to go up against this fight – the easiest is to ally with a nation, earn favor, then basically ask them to do it for you. What we'll be doing is making our own pirate fleet capable of taking them on. To do that, I'll need money, lots of it. And some weird ships... Exploration is the best way.
Commentary on gameplay:
To clear those two blockades, you need to approach them from the other side – which means hugging the shore around the continent and finding the river through. This is the main way the game asks you to explore the map. Ones on the east and ones on the west. Outside this main thoroughfare, there are not many ports, but the ports that are there are much more interesting (well, except the ones that aren't). The lack of ports means lack of resupply, so The Ocelot simply can't do it – we don't have enough cargo space to hold the food to get us there. I've got enough money to buy a merchant vessel or three, so this is what I'll be doing next – uncovering most of the map. I'll share images of the interesting ports and monster lairs, most of which I haven't personally seen yet. There are quite a few.
The Redens Arena:
The Redens arena has a cool gimmick – you enter two combatants from your team, who face two AI enemies. If you win, you pick one of those enemies to join your team, then face 3 opponents. You earn more money depending on how many rounds you can go and the grand prize is simply game-breaking (an upgrade that allows a character to have abilities from 3 or 4 classes rather than 2.)
It's good fun, and you can participate every week – it helps to think of good synergies between two classes.
Dojos:
(https://i.imgur.com/31CZsfu.png)
Redens also has the Fist Dojo – a place where you can fight some incredibly hard opponents who wield fist weapons. There are several Dojos around, each dedicated to a different weapon, but they're beyond boss fights. They're like tutorial Reeve – 60+ health and knock out your dudes in two or three hits. I don't even know what reward you get from them, I guess it's something very very good. I'll see what I can do about challenging these guys. I'd love to beat one, but I never have (to be fair, I also gave up real early.)
Research and Cartography:
The way these work, you find an associated NPC and enter a contract with them – the contract means you won't sell info to anyone else but them. They'll let you leave the contract, at the cost of 300 gold, which isn't much for what they pay you, but still effects profits. I chose a researcher and cartographer in Port Otype and Port Alphe – since they're close to each other.
(https://i.imgur.com/GLkSkWW.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/IeLCTKy.png)
((Current map))
Classes continued:
Classes range from “normal” (like Sharpshooter or Warrior) to wacky (this guy.)
(https://i.imgur.com/VotIXz6.png)
Bat Handler is actually one of my favorite classes because it offers a bunch of weird buff and debuffs (static damage to all enemies, increase dodge or decrease dodge to allies/enemies, summon Zoarbat, etc.)
Each class generally fill a niche, and their abilities can combine into some pretty cool combinations. All new recruits simply have the “Sailor” class. The sailor class is awful for dungeons and places like the Arena – but is excellent in ship combat. When you fight on a ship, you can push people overboard. The Sailor class has a passive ability you can unlock which just pushes anyone who hits them 3 squares (often enough to throw them off the edge, or put them right next to it for the other ability Heave (jump forward and push some squares).
For those interested, I took another video of combat and will explain how some class combinations benefit each other. I'll also explain initiative as far as I understand it...
So, in ground combat, the enemies always win initiative (you always win it in naval combat) but you get the arrange your guys within some limitations before the fight starts. Initiative is related to your class and marching order (as far as I can tell...a bit mysterious for me too.) Actions cost time units, so if you don't move or act, you regain some initiative. This doesn't matter much because there is an 8-15 point gap between you and the enemies almost always, so the enemies will still go before you even if you did nothing on your turn – you're just likely to go before the rest of your team in that situation.
Some spells and abilities take time to trigger. Frost, for example, a 5-square cold attack, takes 8 time units to trigger after your turn. That means it is likely to go off after all your guys move but before the enemies move, but not always (if they didn't move, or initiative has been scrambled for another reason.) The game gives you some visualization on this before you confirm the spell, though, so it's simpler than it is to explain (the red arrow on the initiative bar).
(https://i.imgur.com/JJAfAW8.gif)
Let's look at the video. These guys already took a turn trying to hurt me and buffing themselves. They made a poor choice fighting me.
Reeve goes first, positioning herself at the far end of these two dudes. She is currently a “Brawler” who use their fists to do damage. She has steel knuckles in both hands. One of the steel knuckles has an ice-trigger augment (doing additional damage on a hit).
She uses the Warrior ability “Bash” which pushes the enemy three squares as well as doing 90% damage. Reeve has the “Thousand Fists” passive ability equipped, meaning if she makes an attack with her main hand, and has a fist weapon in the other hand, she'll make a second attack automatically.
The attack hits, dealing 90% normal damage, extra from the augment, a second hit from the off-hand, then pushes this beetle boy into his companion, dealing 3/square of push (so, 9) points of damage to each. This turns the beetle into a fine mist and harms his ally.
Luke goes up next, using only abilities from the Sharpshooter class. Luke has the passive ability “Shrapnel” equipped, which does additional damage to adjacent targets. Luke attacks with Multi-shot, aiming at one enemy and the square next to them. The first shot hits, dealing some damage, then the second shot hits the ground, causing minor damage to both enemies and also extinguishing the bonfire. Multi-shot eventually gets up to 4 arrows, and boy... that's just a bunch of fun.
Krea-wren goes next (this is before he takes Bombardier and gets renamed.) He's currently enjoying the Rogue class and uses the ability “Poison Tip” to deal half damage, but apply the poison condition. This can be used with any melee weapon, as he is using a spear here. He does minor damage, gives the poison and ends his turn. Poison deals around 5 points of damage at the start of the enemy's turn.
Mushroom takes his first action in combat ever by invalidating Krea-wren's choice by dealing a whopping 15 points of damage with a big hammer. Mushroom is just really strong (partially from being a Wilderi). He has two cheap abilities (push 1 and pull 3), as he is a freshly recruited sailor at the time of recording.
Pliskin moves forward, drops a Frost spell, which will go off in 8 time units, before the enemies go, so it triggers immediately, dealing damage to the last standing enemies.
Humorously, the enemy uses the ability “Brave” after this.
Here is a link (https://steamah.com/horizons-gate-all-classes-guide/) to a list of all the classes and their abilities, though I guess some of it won't make sense if you're not playing the game.
Luke, I'll probably go spell-mixed archer for you. Mushroom is going to be our healer/buffer, since we need one, and you can hold your own in combat. KingZultan will get two guns and eventually take that Batman class.
Part 7: Kuwabara kuwabara...
Finally, a bit of revenge. (Not a shanty, but still a nautical song) (https://youtu.be/iPAr7kL-mmg)
(https://i.imgur.com/h6NpwE6.png)
The day before a big fight is always a tense one. We sat around the Port Midos table, sipping beers in quiet, exchanging reassuring glances, trying to bluff our way into confidence. The crew'd made a lot of progress. We'd been all over the map, discovered half of it ourselves. We'd re-opened water-ways, slain huge creatures, and found ourselves some of the best ships on the sea.
But eventually, what revenge is all about, is facing the thing you hate the most, looking it dead in the eye, and making sure it's gone from this world.
(https://i.imgur.com/9LUefMZ.png)
After we killed Lagan, a giant Gate appeared and we went to Graven... Hey, wait! Where are you going?! I'm not done with my story!
(https://i.imgur.com/Z3aEs5M.png)
-=-=-=-
Commentary on gameplay:
Last Class Trainers:
Quick aside, in case you play the game, there are two trainers you are likely to get stuck on trying to find them, all the others have pretty obvious buildings and tell you what they want. Also, the Gatekeepers will say that you have to wait 9 months to get access to their training or pay 5000 right then. That's not bullshit - if you wait 9 game-months, you can return and get it for free.
Here's where to find the likely last two and how.
The Shiftcloak trainer is in Bagu's Rest, a town to the West a bit north of the equator. You're likely to find it when running the blockade on the Western side.
(https://i.imgur.com/hcXbEW5.png)
Xander is hiding in the corner of the map.
Tsavor is an easy town to miss - it's in the Northeastern part of the map. There's a small inland island there. You might find traders running in and out of the river that leads down to it, if you're lucky.
(https://i.imgur.com/tWEfrpP.gif)
The pillars will not move, but any ability that would let you move ignoring the ground can get you there - so Gate or Flight are good options. Stuff like Krakenslayer's Jump won't work.
So here's the end game for you:
Lagan's Fight:
With this many ships, I can sink all of his in the first round before he gets a chance to fight back. In order to capture a Stormcutter, we boarded and killed Lagan.
(https://i.imgur.com/HStxJrm.png)
Ship combat isn't particularly difficult at this point. We have a lot of crew and a lot of good ships, so we can hold out and win just by pure numbers. Everyone has a couple of abilities at this point, meaning no one is likely to get killed instantly. The rain here benefited us more than hurt us – since I gave a few people Lightning triggers in their weapons (extra damage to wet targets.)
(https://i.imgur.com/TKChVKG.gif)
((Unfortunately, it was just some mook who killed Lagan.))
A Stormcutter is a good ship – as fast as a Corvair but a bit stronger. They also left us with 2 thunder cannons which deal decent damage in a straight line. We are done with ship combat for now, though.
After Lagan's fight, you get access to the secondary main mission - to open a mysterious door which the Admiral mentioned. Using a mega-bomb to blow it open, you'll be confronted with a plain boring room. If Reeve isn't in your party, you don't get the text which encourages you to keep looking. I would say this is a design flaw, since on the Steam Discussion board, some people talk about the game being unfinished and I think this is why. You can find a button behind the curtain.
(https://i.imgur.com/IgWbIoa.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/aNl7rpD.png)
This opens a gate on the overworld and gives you the opportunity to recover and return later. We dive right in.
(https://i.imgur.com/Z3aEs5M.png)
We enter a dreary world which Reeve identifies as Graven, an entirely different world from Eral. Alvora Tactics (another game) takes place in the 3rd one - Limroft.
(https://i.imgur.com/CS7v4HA.png)
Walking forward, you encounter two very easy guards. A room full of basic treasure, and then encounter the Admiral on a bridge.
Bauen's Fight:
Bauen is an as-of-yet unmentioned character just thrown in to pad out the end game. The Admiral tells him to kill us and disappears down a hallway. Out of the wings, two dudes on each side appear.
(https://i.imgur.com/u6Pv1np.png)
Bauen's fight is tough, but not impossible. Bauen is vastly overleveled with about 80 HP. The other 6 dudes are tough and likely to get a hit on you in the first turn before you can even move. They can be trivialized by this fight being a bridge – so I just shoved two of them off and then the fight becomes much more reasonable. I recommend killing Bauen the old-fashioned way because he has a cool sword which is a pity to lose to the abyss. Unfortunately, no one on the team is using swords right now. Watch out - the enemy casts Cyclone often, which can push your dudes into the abyss, immediately removing them from the rest of the fight.
Ignis knights are useless here, as the ground doesn't burn and that's basically the condition that makes them truly thrive. Reeve is a Brawler in the last fights, using Krakenslayer abilities as well.
Note: getting knocked out lowers your maximum hit points for a short time. There are 3 boss fights and one additionally difficult fight in here, which can attrition your team by the end if you're not careful. Sorry, I didn't get good screenshots of this fight - I was distracted while I did it...
After the fight, you can find a dissection room where clearly they've been working on these giant worms. The journal informs you that these worms have the ability to create Gates naturally and can teleport between worlds.
(https://i.imgur.com/i1ADCXg.png)
You end up in this room looking for a way forward. Eagle eyes will notice the grate on the top left.
(https://i.imgur.com/gPpH2fB.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/xsHQNni.png)
Note: you can also just Gate up there.
Dominio Squad Fight:
This fight can be completely avoided with Gate or the Sharpshooter's longshot ability.
(https://i.imgur.com/PLZysOv.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/50n2lvM.png)
The point of it is to get that rifle to shoot at the lever to open the bridge. This fight is weirdly more difficult than Bauen's fight, since there are slightly more dudes and in this open room, they're basically coming at you no matter what – it has real Fire Emblem Awakening vibes as just being a brawl fest. We take out the team and check the room for goods. It's almost all mythril goods.
The game provides a forge and anvil after this, so you can melt down and reconstruct all of the mythril gear, if you want. You can also swap in triggers to add elemental damage. We're basically set on equipment. All I do is switch Pliskin's shield to a mythril one.
Admiral's Fight:
You enter a long hallway with ominous music and see larger and larger specimen of the Ruluorns. Finally, you stand in front of the biggest one.
(https://i.imgur.com/SFgKrLt.png)
The camera does a great thing where it pans down to reveal the Admiral.
(https://i.imgur.com/nhN6wK0.png)
All of the Admiral's conversation paths reveal the same: He set you and Reeve up to die because the other three nations were on the rise to destroy Dominio. He is patriotic to a fault. He is aiming to recover lost technology from the Gate Wars to create a Voidspire (see the first Radcodex game: Voidspire Tactics.) The general idea is that he's going to pre-emptively destroy the other three nations because they're looking for the same tech. For this play-through, I chose the cocky straight to the fight dialogue options:
(https://i.imgur.com/7lC75T0.png)
The fight with the Admiral is rough. He immediately summons 5 additional units, tougher than the other mooks we've fought so far. He's got a good amount of abilities and his dudes have tons of buffs and AOE attacks. Note, you only need to get the Admiral down on health to win this fight – the other dudes will warp out if he's taken down, so prioritize damaging the Admiral. This is still very difficult as his allies will buff him with Gate Shield (immunity to a ranged attack), Negate (a buff that cancels 1 attack), and he'll throw out Now! (an ability giving an ally an extra turn) or Discipline (curing all status ailments). He's tough.
(https://i.imgur.com/Icxcre3.png)
That said, enough stun and poison effects work well to slow him down and open him up to Pliskin's Ruin Touch (deals extra damage for each negative status effect on an enemy.) Disrupt Shot (from the Spell Archon, I believe) is also good – if you can get it to land – for killing his buffs.
Mushroom struggles here, as any buff he can give out is negated by all the attacks with the same attack area the enemy will get off in the same amount of time. I did pop off a Ward (resist magic damage) in this fight, but honestly I'm torn on what is a good strategy here.
Either way, if you can get him down to less than 20 HP – you've won:
(https://i.imgur.com/U1CqQF9.png)
...
(https://i.imgur.com/FQ8qFC7.png)
OH DID YOU THINK ALL THIS METAL GEAR SHIT WAS FOR NO REASON?!
Next time: a very fucking hard boss fight.
(https://i.imgur.com/I0c8g1L.png)
The final update. (https://youtu.be/4fVQwzv5Qfc)
No more from Reeve, time to just straight-up LP this game.
The Admiral gives some excuse why this mech is in this pirate game. The journal will say that it normally has treads at the bottom to allow it to move.
(https://i.imgur.com/9ju5eL6.png)
This boss fight is hard. No two ways about it. It's also the "second phase" of the fight, so if you fuck up, you have to fight the Admiral again. That's where the strategy is mostly located - you want to leave the Admiral fight with everyone alive and at decent health - with any sort of buff preferable. I did this fight about 7 times last night, twice again just now before getting it. It's really a tough fight. There's a few reasons for that, but lets look at the attacks first - the Old Mech will do whichever can hit most people - if an attack can't hit half, it'll do Omniblast. Some of these screenshots have the game difficulty set to low, so the damage is...inaccurate.
Crush:
(https://i.imgur.com/Tvam4Dh.png)
This small area of affect hits for about 70% of your HP, and pushes back to the edges of the hurtbox. It will also stun slightly, if your characters survive it. It's nasty, and just there to prevent you from standing around it and beating the thing to death.
Energy Culverin (a type of cannon)
(https://i.imgur.com/Fl5U4lo.png)
This attack has a circular area of 13 squares and does moderate damage - roughly half a usual characters' HP. It is the most easy to dodge or resist, but only comes up if you've grouped together at the edges.
Plasma Wave:
(https://i.imgur.com/gfwwICp.png)
Plasma wave is a two part attack, the first time doing a small amount of damage across the entire field, then leaving behind orbs of energy, which explode some turns later to deal additional damage.
(https://i.imgur.com/Yr9j10h.png)
Omniblast:
(https://i.imgur.com/3BBxQ4C.png)
Firing the cannon straight up, every character is marked to take damage in a couple turns. This includes characters who are currently unconscious, too. I didn't realize this, but it doesn't include Zoarbat summons... There's basically no way to avoid this damage - it's about 30-50% of your health. This ability will follow - which is rare for magic in this game. Normally, you set a marker and if the enemy doesn't move, they take the damage. Here, moving doesn't avoid it.
Those are the 4 attacks this thing has, plus a mountain of health. If you're lucky, and your troops are all still alive from the Admiral fight, they will definitely be taken down by the first hit of any of these attacks. While you're scrambling to revive them, Plasmawave and Omniblast aim to keep them down. The orbs left over from Plasmawave especially do that, since they're likely to go off between the time the ally is revived and before the ally can move. Omniblast will track currently unconscious characters, so if you revive them with anything less than 50% health, they'll just go down again when Omniblast hits.
The Old Mech ignores all tertiary effects of attacks. That is, Reeve's flurry of blows doesn't do anything. Pushes don't provide any damage. The shrapnel feature of Luke's arrows always miss. Mushroom and KingZultan were consistantly the only ones who could stay up during the fight. KingZultan thanks to the increased maneuverability of his features and Mushroom thanks to the tankiness of healers in this game. All of Pliskin's Ruin magic has no effect on the mech. It has no vulnerabilities to types, and is immune to almost all conditions.
So, what's the strategy? Well, Stun still works. So does Burn. Switching to Ignis Knight might not be a bad idea here - since fire effects it normally, though the ground is still not flammable. You want to give it the Burn debuff as often as possible, as it'll take damage on each of its turns from that. Stunning it is good so you can move away from Crush's range - Mushroom's anchor has a stun effect and allowed Reeve to toss out a Now! to move Mushroom away. A burning target is also weak to fire damage, so Pliskin returned to classic Scholar to just throw instant fireballs as often as possible. Blind, silence, itchy, poison, decay or any other very good debuff don't work at all - it is also morale immune.
Basically, I DPS raced it. It's too hard to keep everyone revived and bring them back and by sacrificing the turns you end up worse off than before. I gave Zultan some revive items and used those a couple times to get Pliskin back up to toss out MP recovery to everyone before getting killed again. Zultan can dodge almost everything and can move across the map more than anyone else. The guns did consistent damage as well. Luke's fire arrows kept it burning and if Pliskin, Reeve, and Mushroom were up, their attacks did a good amount of damage before they were put down again.
The same issue as the Admiral fight happens here - there's no safe space to group together and buff up, so you're looking at individual buffs instead of Mushroom's area ones.
It's a tough but very rewarding boss fight. I'm sure there are ways to cheese it better, but I'm not very good at video games, so who knows.
When you get it to zero, the Admiral calls you a fool because the Mech was running on the same power as the facility. The floor begins to collapse - he takes some pleasure knowing you'll die here with him. But then!
(https://i.imgur.com/keKB7as.png)
The Ruluorn began to glow.
(https://i.imgur.com/Hxd0pCv.png)
Then they warp you out of the arena. I grabbed this screenshot that I thought was hilarious: they didn't warp out Zultan's Zoarbat summon - committing the creature to death in the collapsing castle.
(https://i.imgur.com/TlQRkeV.png)
Reeve comments that the creatures saved you. The castle in which these fights took place explodes - then the quest log comes up and the game strikes out the mission: Bring the Admiral to justice. This is decently satisfying.
Then credits roll which are mostly music credits since Sean Hayden and two other Haydens made this entire game (I believe, his wife and brother).
Beating the game unlocks 3 features:
First, you unlock 4 races to play as, listed here:
(https://i.imgur.com/Q8885vy.png)
Third, you unlock the XP modifier - which allows you to change the percent at which you gain XP. This is really nice for a second play-through - just boosting it by 50% or so makes the game a lot less grindy.
Post game:
There isn't one. The credits end with a "Thank you for playing" and boot you back to the main menu. You can reload your old saves, but there's no way to play with the Admiral dead. I dislike this, but it's fine for such an open game - there'd really be no difference.
-=-=-=-
My favorite boss fight:
Go to Precipice Gaol, sort of to the Northeast.
(https://i.imgur.com/63fjAS4.png)
Inside you find a cool little dungeon with some jumping mazes and an easy fight with some Zoarbats. When you get to the bottom of the dungeon, though - there's something weird about it. It's very atmospheric, and the emptiness of the dungeon puts you on edge.
(https://i.imgur.com/q1hqkF6.png)
Moving forward, you notice something is watching you...
(https://i.imgur.com/8EYpOsp.png)
You can pull up the "l"ook function to try and figure out what it is, but...
(https://i.imgur.com/yXLhYsu.png)
Aspect is a returning enemy from Alvora Tactics (maybe Voidspire, as well -shrug-). As you approach, combat starts and immediately, about 8 other enemies spawn out of the darkness. This fight is similar to the Admiral's, though, in that only Aspect needs to die for you to win. You also start at low morale, and Aspect will hit anyone who looks at it with a lower morale debuff.
(https://i.imgur.com/UHq2pgF.png)
The fight is actually not that hard - just pile on Aspect and you can win it. Oil, wet, or slow-down debuffs are excellent to keep Aspect within range of your melee fighters. Basically ignore the chaff. When you win, Reeve gives you a little extra info:
(https://i.imgur.com/ZyczHAs.png)
She's understandably disturbed. I believe Hagger and Coss probably have extra dialogue here as well - though I haven't seen it myself. Perhaps, you will.
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me...
-=-=-=-
Anyway, that's all for Horizon's Gate. I left out a lot of the exploration, as it's the best and most interesting part of the game. I really recommend you pick this one up, or if you're unsure, Alvora Tactics is cheaper and has basically the same combat system (boats excluded.) Fans also suggest Voidspire is the most "complete" of the games - in that it has a much more in-depth story than the other two. I've just started playing, and am enjoying it a lot.
You can find them on Steam and itch.io.
Thanks for reading!
Looking at the last picture it appears I'm dead and so are two of the others, does that hurt your chances against the big robot guy?
I did try to finish that run - which was last night, I think - and lost within two attacks from the Mech. It's no joke. I would argue that going into the fight with more than 1 ally down means you need to restart, but that depends on party composition, I suppose.
I should mention - when I beat this game the first time, I just turned difficult to minimum after two attempts at this fight. I thought I had over-prepared this team for it, but I was wrong - I think I'm just about on par for what is expected - the boss is possible, just takes attention and a little luck.