Epic, hard-core, non-linear RPG with real consequences
Welcome to Eupherea, adventurer!
Tortured Hearts is a quasi-sequel of two NWN1 mods, made between 2001 and 2007. This particular game started off as the 3rd one, but after a while I decided to make a commercial product out of it. It took 12.5 years to finish because it’s not very easy to create games of this scope alone. Ok, not entirely alone, because I’ve had help from a few others. Thank you Tony (Pixelcrushers, see link below) & Myce (Miklós Hámor) in particular.
In order to clarify: this standalone game has NOTHING to do with NWN 1. It’s my own game developed using the Unity Game Engine. As a matter of fact, it was a very difficult run because basically I had to recreate most of the game features of NWN 1. The prototype was made in the Aurora Toolset for 4 years and Tony made me a tool that can convert NWN 1 conversations so that I can use them in Unity. An awesome piece of software indeed.
The game is hardcore on purpose, it doesn’t want to appeal to everyone. It is difficult and long. The story is heavily non-linear, there is no modern handholding. You have to read lots of texts that feature complex sentences. Your choices have consequences and there are multi solutions for many situations. These are exactly the qualities that are required by a solid rpg in my opinion. Just like in the “olden times”, back in the 80s and 90s.
Your characters have 6 abilities, 22 skills (protagonist has an additional 7 sideline skills), instant death resistance, Fear resistance, Tactical trait reuse, threat (aggro), damage resistances, incoming & outgoing healing amplification, parry, dodge, action resistance, action crit resistance, action chance, action crit chance and crit multiplier.
Combat is an essential part of the game, but unfolding the storyline is still more important. There are important choke points that can only be accessed if you defeat some enemies, let it be some common mob or an important boss. Combat is turn-based using directives. For each member of the team you can adjust these according to what you would like them to do in the next round. The AI tries to use the best optioin available based on the particular person’s skills.
You can either automate the rounds or wait for the directive panel to pop up at the end of each round. This is the point where you you can adjust your directives or invoke the inventory to equip/unequip an item, use a potion or something similar. When it’s set to automatic, you can’t do these. There are other options on the panel, namely FLEE, PARLEY and BERSERK. All of them can be very useful in situations. You can reload your game between rounds.
Combat is difficult. Don’t go into battle without good tools of war, proper skill and buffs. Combat heavily relies on having been buffed either by using potions, food and whatnot or buying some from vendors. For more information, please refer to the document attached to the game and also the combat section of the in-game help. There several small functions that can make your life easier. If the particular combat situation is difficult, run away
Although you can play the game solo (which becomes increasingly difficult as you forge ahead), you can hire party members of various kinds to aid you along the way. All of them have different pros and cons and their alignment also affects your partnership. Some of them are friendly and loyal, others not so much. It’s up to you how you solve this problem. if you adventure together long enough, you can even fall in love with one of them, but this has some conditions, so it’s not trivial.
There is an enormous amount of companion banter in the game, either in conversations with other NPCs or between you and him/her. This gives you a greater insight into their personalities, adds lots of flavor, humor and thought-provoking ideas. As you progress, it is very pssible that your and their alignment will change for the better or worse. This will affect some decisions and equipment usage. Some of the party members outright hate each other.
Due to the extremely non-linear nature of the game, it is possible that you can’t find all of the possible companions or even if you can, they refuse to join for some reason. If you have more than your party can hold, It is a good practice to park them and use their skills eventually when you can’t get through a particular obstacle. your journal will record where they have been left behind so that you can find them more easily.
There is crafting equipment scattered around the world everywhere and there are few crafting camps as well where the most serious business (ie. fetching ingots) can be carried out. It is possible that you won’t be able to train every crafting skill to high levels, so focus on a few. However, you can find items and buffs that help you overcome this hindrance. In general, sidelines are very handy and you can even get a few quests too if you immerse yourself in sidelines.
Crafting will fill your inventory quickly and the products will also weigh you down. This is why you need more party members, higher strength and carrying capacity. If you can’t get these, you can still contain your finds in containers all around the world. You just need to remember where you left them behind. If you don’t want to “waste your time” on sidelines, take ragpicker. It’ll help you find more loot in chests and on defeated enemies.
Basically, Tortured Hearts is conversation-driven. This is the prime mover to advance in the game. There’s a lot of text to read, the number of words in conversations is about 512,000, just companion banter is approximately 150 k. Depending on what you say, there may be different outcomes that can advance a quest, gain a friend, a story option or start a fight. There are over 400 ability and skill checks throughout the game, so… good luck for them. Hint: equipment and buffs help…
Companion interaction is also managed via conversation. They will frequently react when you enter an important location or advance a particular quest. Sometimes they will or will not like what you’re doing and it’s possible to even make them angry. NPCs are no expections. It is advisable to save before you start a new conversation, although the plotline can’t be screwed at all. Sometimes you talk to yourself…
Due to the non-linear nature of the game, some important NPCs will have new things to say after a while, even if you think the area has dried out, so to say. If you quit a conversation, it’s strongly advisable to check if the guy in question has something else to say. If a character has a one-liner only, there’s a 99% chance that he won’t say anything more. In order to keep the game beatable, plot critical characters cannot be slain
There is an enormous amount of companion banter in the game, either in conversations with other NPCs or between you and him/her. This gives you a greater insight into their personalities, adds lots of flavor, humor and thought-provoking ideas. As you progress, it is very pssible that your and their alignment will change for the better or worse. This will affect some decisions and equipment usage. Some of the party members outright hate each other.
Due to the extremely non-linear nature of the game, it is possible that you can’t find all of the possible companions or even if you can, they refuse to join for some reason. If you have more than your party can hold, It is a good practice to park them and use their skills eventually when you can’t get through a particular obstacle. your journal will record where they have been left behind so that you can find them more easily.
There is crafting equipment scattered around the world everywhere and there are few crafting camps as well where the most serious business (ie. fetching ingots) can be carried out. It is possible that you won’t be able to train every crafting skill to high levels, so focus on a few. However, you can find items and buffs that help you overcome this hindrance. In general, sidelines are very handy and you can even get a few quests too if you immerse yourself in sidelines.
Crafting will fill your inventory quickly and the products will also weigh you down. This is why you need more party members, higher strength and carrying capacity. If you can’t get these, you can still contain your finds in containers all around the world. You just need to remember where you left them behind. If you don’t want to “waste your time” on sidelines, take ragpicker. It’ll help you find more loot in chests and on defeated enemies.
On top of exploration, questing and combat, you have the opportunity to hone your crafting skills as well. These are: Mining, Gold Panning, Herbalist, Fishing, Alchemy, Junk Art & Ragpicker. Using these isn’t compulsory, just highly recommended. I mean, really highly recommended. 🙂 With a little more time invested, you can get that extra edge to make yourself more effective in combat or other situations. Not to mention the material benefits you can use in shops and during questing.
There is crafting equipment scattered around the world everywhere and there are few crafting camps as well where the most serious business (ie. fetching ingots) can be carried out. It is possible that you won’t be able to train every crafting skill to high levels, so focus on a few. However, you can find items and buffs that help you overcome this hindrance. In general, sidelines are very handy and you can even get a few quests too if you immerse yourself in sidelines.
Crafting will fill your inventory quickly and the products will also weigh you down. This is why you need more party members, higher strength and carrying capacity. If you can’t get these, you can still contain your finds in containers all around the world. You just need to remember where you left them behind. If you don’t want to “waste your time” on sidelines, take ragpicker. It’ll help you find more loot in chests and on defeated enemies.
There are buffs and debuffs of many kinds in the game. They are listed at the top of the screen, but you can also manage them on one of the tabs of the inventory menu. Many of them are timered, so they’ll come off after a while, but some of them are permanent, like fake or true titles. You can use 1 fake title at a time, but your true titles are in fact achievements and you can have multiple of them. Working toward these titles can get you very, very good permanent buffs.
Another special kind of buffage is being used in combat. These can be combat actions generated by the characters while fighting or combat only consumables (potions, food). These special ones last for a given number of combat rounds and cease to exist when combat ends or get debuffed. A few of these can be removed using an especially expensive special product. A good example of this is the so-called Afterdeath Trauma. Having this on you is not very helpful.
many areas feature the so called environmental effect. This means, as long as you are situated on that particular area, the buff is on you and your party members. Although there are beneficial ones, many of them are not so much. If you are a fervent crafter, you can fetch an item that helps you get rid of it. This could really come in handy in tough situations or in case of difficult skill checks, but you have to work hard to get them.
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