ATOM RPG 0.8 - "The Global Update"

[The_Proletarian]

ATOM RPG is a Russian game heavily inspired by Fallout that was kickstartered last year. They're in early access on Steam and today they released update 0.8 which adds a lot of stuff. See the full changelog here.

 

[The_Proletarian]

It would now be time for an NMA preview I think. Is ATOM good enough? When all hope for a good Fallout is gone maybe games like this will carry the torch onwards?

 

[Mr Fish]

Sitting on Very Positive user review rating.
Buy it for me and I'll criticize it.

 

[The_Proletarian]

Sitting on Very Positive user review rating.
Buy it for me and I'll criticize it.

I'll think about it (when I get this months salary). But in that case we need a full preview from the NMA perspective. Maybe I should play it as well and give my thoughts, produce some committee shit

 

[reev4eg]

Hey guys!

I'll start with how awesome it is to be featured on your main page. Been lurking this website for mods, news, hints and quest sollutions since I was a teen, actually learned of Van Buren from here, and got the inspiration to make something along those lines, and now here's my team's game occupying this sacred piece of webspace!

It'd be both a bit scary and really exciting to recieve the NMA opinion on our stuff.

On one hand one would think we have little to fear - the game is huge, offering many tens of hours already in it's current state, almost every NPC has a portrait, a personality, a large branching dialogue, the quests are basically everywhere and have various kinds of solutions, guns and since yesterday's update melee and fist weapons as well as grenades are plentiful and have many uses, there are followers for everyone's taste, the world is functional and alive, and we really try to patially recreate that amazing atmosphere of the first games in the series we loved since our childhood.

On the other hand it's Early Access, so some things are left unpolished, the translation lacks in places, some things are still WIP or temporary.

We really hope you'll like ATOM, and in any case judge it for what it is. That might seem funny at first, but we're not actually making a clone We're translating the original and are applying it to our own thing - the Soviet Wasteland, which might seem familiar, but may become something completely new.

 

[mrapplecastle]

Bought it a few weeks ago, liked it so far, looking forward to seeing it finished

 

[Risewild]

I will probably get it in the future, seems pretty good.
But I will have to wait until it is released and cheap since I can only buy cheap games when I manage to get a Steam voucher as a present for christmas or something like that .

 

[Felipefpl]

We really hope you'll like ATOM, and in any case judge it for what it is. That might seem funny at first, but we're not actually making a clone We're translating the original and are applying it to our own thing - the Soviet Wasteland, which might seem familiar, but may become something completely new.

Your game seems really cool but i wanna give a small hint about the advertising: plz use imgs with small size, not everyone has a broadband connection with good limits and in a worse scenario the ppl with dialup are suffering.

 

[The_Proletarian]

A user on RPG Codex just posted this, it's his impressions of the game. There are some serious deviations from the Fallout formula in there. Levelscaling and a perk tree. This would be of great concern to NMA. It's not to late to change this!

Ok, I'm 20 hours in my 3rd playthrough (for a grand total of 48 hours spent in ATOM world's), and I am ready to deliver my feedback on version 0.8
The best format I could come up to do this would be a video comment showcasing everything i am going to discuss, but time is a luxury i do not possess.
And ofc, this post is going to be full of spoilers.

The last time I checked with ATOM was a couple months ago, possibly 6, and at the time, the game was beat-able in about 12 hours. The length of the game is thus twice as it was before (or about).
The notable additions to the game since i last played are:
- the many perks (distinctions)
- the followers
- the capital with NPC
- another big city with NPC
- the crafting system
- some new shiny armors and weapons
- the ''stronghold''
+ Otradanoye got some ''new content''.

Basically, on paper, everything is really juicy. In practical, some items of this list are... kinda... ''old''.
The reason I mentioned I was a bit skeptical about the dev being capable of achieving some stuff is this:

- The world is level-scaling capitalist scum.
You are level 1? Well good, because the cultists that you are about to meet are naked, they will attack you with a brick in their hand.
You are level 1 and lost in the forest? Good because the wolves are 16 Hp.
And you want to shop at the store? Well... this part is less attractive for you dear level 1, because the shop only sells one rusty marakov pistol.
BUT now! look at you! You're level 16! Great, the wolves are now 68 HP, the cultists are much more numerous and equiped with armors, helmets, firearms (although rusty). AND THE SHOPS! Dear, what a marvel, you're now able to buy the pricest weapons and armors.
Thus, there is no ecosystem in trade, the world pretty much evolves with the level of the player.
Fallout to name the prime reference of ATOM, didn't do this mistake. The hub Armor Combat and Super Hammer were there from the start of the game. The only thing dictating the capacity of the player to procure those items wouldn't be his level, but his money.
The plastic of ATOM is really crying authenticity, but its inner soul is sometimes telling a different story.

- The item slots of the loose
In Fallout 1 and 2, you could equip 2 items. Those items are initially your capacity at using your fists or your legs in combat. Which means, you can equip a pistol on your leg quickslot, but then, you cannot use your legs to kick someone if you are using that pistol. You would need to go back into your inventory to deposit the gun or else to drop it on the ground to use your legs.
That's nonsensical, and imo, a limitation of the time.
ATOM is new and fresh. It could be somewhat progressive in its approach. But in many aspects, it's older than the oldies. And it really likes to throw its references to the player (Planescape Torment, Fallout, possibly Wasteland...).

- The Perks and Perk tree
For that one I should really have brought some screenshots.
Ok, so the devs are toying with the perks, throwing some % here, and some x there. Just to get their feet in this system and to later adjust it.
But atm... one can really wonder wtf is going on.
Where to start. As I mentioned earlier, the perks (aka distinctions here), although there are 3 sort of different distinctions in ATOM. But anyway.
The starting perks bring minimal properties to the player in the form of ''you get +1 there but -1 there'', but ill not spend more time explaining the issue, i already did in the past:
This game guide otherwise does it perfectly: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1413991946

But I'd like to talk about something new: The perk tree, because this thing is new to me.
I am R.E.A.L.L.Y glad that perks are a thing in ATOM. Even as it is, it gives it, something ''kewl''.
But, again, Fallout did it correctly, as well as Underrail, as well as many other games, and I am a bit astonished that ATOM devs didn't go the... prestigious way and instead went with a tree.
So basicall you got branchs of perks, evolving in trees and if one perk interest you, you need to pick every other perks in the path.
Thus, lowering the kind of versatility that your imagination might have brought and forcing you to pick what you need to unlock ''that'' specific perk.
Just as a reminder, in Fallout, some perks were not accessible to every player. Which means, you couldn't just pick whatever you wanted: you had to have specific stats to unlock them.
Thus, the decision between having 7 or 8 in perception was a major deal, because at a later time it could unlock SNIPER (the funniest perk of Fallout for sure).
The guy behind Underrail understood that as well. Stats are not just going to bring +1 damage, +2% treshold. They lock or unlock specific perks that change the whole process you can build up your character.
That's far superior from having a tree which force you into a role.
But, it's not just that: There is a trait which makes poison to heal you instead of hurting you. I would rate this kind of perk ''Mutation'' (there is mutation ingame and some guys can do crazy thing), but in the perk tree of ATOM, the first perk you need to pick in order to unlock this is: +10 in First Aid.
So basically, the game is telling us: Because you are better in First Aid, when you get level xx (awesome), ''yo'', you can heal with poison.
It kills the charm of me/you thinking about your char having mutated, and instead, present a completely irrational bs, because it decided to have skill-tree system for its perks.

Should I keep on? No because, there is really, some funny things in this tree.
There is a special melee tree. When evolving upon this tree, you get and increase in the melee damage you can make.
The increase is 50%.
And, there is a universal branch which tells you ''Double damage''.
So you have to choose between one universal branch which affects melee, unarmed, ranged damage to do Double Damage, and one branch which will increase your melee damage by half.
Ok, sure. This is pre-alpha, and the devs are possibly at this time brainstorming everything...
But still, ''wtf''.


- The stronghold.
Do you remember this stuff?
From BG 2, from Pillars of Eternity if you played it...
This shallow thing (BG2 still handled it ''ok''), that was just there to satisfy the people who wanted a house?
But which could really harm any feeling of RP because everything was so... stupid... so robotic...
Well, welcome to ATOM RPG stronghold, keeping up with the tradition.
There is a guy, and... he knows somewhere that we can make a ''town'', and maybe people will join.
But we should keep it secret because we are part of ATOM, but yo, people will join anyway.
And dude... was he correct, because as soon as we get there, there are already traders bumping upon this otherwise unknown location, spreading the words, and the random guy from the wasteland already knocking at the door to offer his services.
BUT NOPE. The dude is not random at all, he can make ammo.
He is not like ''yeah maybe i can go to the capital and become rich because i am skilled'', not man. Lol. Are you serious? Are you capitalist too or what?
No, i tell you. He comes to you. Because your ''town'' is desert, and he heard some traders... and you know... well think of something!
And so... you have this ''technician'' guy who is sitting on a chair and you give him 2000 gold for a kitchen, 4000 for a cat on a table, 6000 for your special dressroom, 8000 for a ken and barbie etc.
And he will take 1 day, or 2 days, or 3 days, or maspjfas
f\8as5f84as48f4 4g684g684g8g4s6g4sdfg4sdgsdg6sd4gsd6g4
AND then, suddenly, your sense awake, and you remember that you were previously playing a RPG.
Not just any RPG, a russian post-apo euro-jank RPG.
You know, this kind of game that makes you erect.



I think I had a bunch of other things to write, but time is really not on my side. This is big text already.
The idea is not to be un-supportive of ATOM, despite what I wrote I like this game a lot, mostly for its ambiance. But at this point, it's really for me what's saving it.
I would also like to say that the very beginning of the game is where it is at its best (at least for me).

 

[reev4eg]

A user on RPG Codex just posted this, it's his impressions of the game. There are some serious deviations from the Fallout formula in there. Levelscaling and a perk tree. This would be of great concern to NMA. It's not to late to change this!

Hi there! Well, just like we replied to the thread you linked - the game has F2's scaling percentage for random encounters. That means in random encounters, the higher your level the more chances you have to meet strong enemies, and in shops you have a higher chance to get good loot for sale. However, all those tough enemies and good loot items are available since you are level 1, it's just that the random chance to find them is somewhat lower. Thus, scaling only covers around 10% of the whole game, if even that. Quest NPCs, city NPCs monsters in dungeons and strong enemies you meet on some of the map areas are all of a fixed level. For example the next few updates will add a second world map, where the random enemies will be of a fixed high level akin to F2's Death Valley. So it's honestly a non-issue. As we learned later, the poster you cited just had an unlucky run. Our testers went to the same location he went on level 1 and found both strong enemies and good loot without leveling up once. You might remember how it went - going to NCR for a Bozar or something, only to find the dwarf selling 10mm's and hunting rifles despite your high level, or getting a Bozar right away on level 3...
As for the skill tree - the skills themselves are WIP, but the tree structure is what our players asked for in very large numbers, so we can't dissapoint

Your game seems really cool but i wanna give a small hint about the advertising: plz use imgs with small size, not everyone has a broadband connection with good limits and in a worse scenario the ppl with dialup are suffering.

Never thought of that! We'll use smaller ones next time

I will probably get it in the future, seems pretty good.
But I will have to wait until it is released and cheap since I can only buy cheap games when I manage to get a Steam voucher as a present for christmas or something like that .

Well good luck getting that voucher, since we're entering special sales from time to time with the price dropped! Hope you'll like it!

Bought it a few weeks ago, liked it so far, looking forward to seeing it finished

A huge thanks for the support!!!