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Vindictus finally has a sequel after 14 years (Vindictus: Defying Fate announcement)

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From the Steam page:

ABOUT THIS GAME​

Welcome to the world of 'Vindictus: Defying Fate,' an adrenaline-fueled action game currently in the pre-alpha stage, where every clash is a symphony and every step is a dance with destiny.
Immerse yourself in a dark and intense odyssey, where you'll face towering adversaries and navigate a 3D world teeming with mystery and danger.
Embrace the challenge, embark on the journey, and be a part of the saga that defies fate.


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Action Game Full Of Excitement

Experience a combat system that redefines intensity. Every battle is a test of skill, strategy, and reflexes. Engage in heart-pounding clashes with enemies that dwarf your stature, providing an unparalleled sense of challenge.​

Create Your Own Character

Each character is unique not only in appearance but weapons and combat style, allowing you to choose the combat experience that suits your playstyle and personality.
Customize your character with high-quality outfits that express your chosen character's persona and specialty.​

Monstrous Adversaries

Drawing inspiration from creatures and monsters in Celtic mythology, brace yourself for epic encounters that demand not just strength but cunning. Learn to adapt, anticipate and attack your foes until you've overcome their legendary prowess in battle.​

Immersive 3D Environments

Immerse yourself in a visually stunning 3D world that pushes the boundaries of what's possible in gaming. Traverse diverse landscapes, from haunting dungeons to desolate landscapes, each meticulously crafted to enhance the overall gaming experience.

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Director's Statement:
Hello! I’m DEV Alannon, the director of Vindictus I’d like to share the official stance of our development team with Vindictus players regarding the upcoming new game, “Vindictus: Defying Fate,” which is being developed using the Mabinogi Heroes IP. While “Vindictus: Defying Fate” features familiar characters, NPCs, locations, monsters, and some costumes from Vindictus, the closed alpha is a single-player game aimed at console and PC platforms, with a different direction and unique gameplay experience compared to Vindictus.

Rest assured that the development of “Vindictus: Defying Fate” will not impact the Vindictus service, both in the present and in the future when it eventually launches. We have exciting plans for Vindictus, including structural improvements in April and a level cap expansion in May, ensuring an enjoyable and stable gaming experience with various short-term and long-term content offerings.

We will continue to actively communicate updates and value the valuable opinions of our players. Through “Vindictus: Defying Fate,” we hope to showcase the appeal of the Vindictus IP to a wider audience, while also maintaining the original quality and unique charm that Vindictus has built with its players. We sincerely appreciate the continued interest in Vindictus from our cherished players, and we wish you happiness and good health. Thank you!

Pre Alpha Test period:​
[Pre-Alpha Test Schedule]​
  • March 13th, 2024 18:00 ~ March 18th, 2024 1:00 (PDT)​
  • Available Platform: Steam​
Game data created during the pre-alpha test will be reset when the pre-alpha test ends. Two playable characters - Lann and Fiona – are available in the pre-alpha test.​

Full controller support and future Console versions confirmed on the FAQ​
 
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Second trailer has been released, this time focused on Lann.



Animations, hair physics, lighting, and cloth physics all looking quite good. Also, more good news, it looks like Lann has kept his dodge i-frames from the first game.
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Hmm even more armor mods for Skyrim
 
Hmm even more armor mods for Skyrim
Warning for anyone who browses GAF at work: this link is very NSFW.
 

DavidGzz

Member
So you can opt in for the alpha and download it now. It's a lot of fun. Souls combat but it's a little faster and doesn't rely on stamina. Also you have special moves ala Dragon's Dogma. The graphics are really pretty. Invisible walls galore so it feels more like an arena style boss rush game like the first.

Also, for all the coomers it has an outfit you will love. The physics are crazy on the booba. Since you can't play Stellar Blade right meow, this may be a nice replacement if you own a gaming PC.
 
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It wasn't really a MMO. It was more a lobby-based co-op game in the style of, say, Monster Hunter World.
Oh right, my memory is fuzzy, and I'm probably mixing it with the hundred korean online games out there. Yeah I think I remember it was somewhat instance based, and a lot of premium skimpy clothes
 
Oh right, my memory is fuzzy, and I'm probably mixing it with the hundred korean online games out there. Yeah I think I remember it was somewhat instance based, and a lot of premium skimpy clothes
Well then you have better memory than me. All I remember is quitting after a few hours because of the terrible grind (and I'm saying that after having played Ragnarok Online for 10 years). Fighting with a huge fucking stone pillar was fun, though.
 
Well then you have better memory than me. All I remember is quitting after a few hours because of the terrible grind (and I'm saying that after having played Ragnarok Online for 10 years). Fighting with a huge fucking stone pillar was fun, though.
I played some RO too lol. Yeah any asian online / mmo from anywhere is obviously based on endless grind, it's a genre I despise. But that doesn't stop me from having tried a lot of them over the years with friends, a few hours each
 
I just wanted to clarify some things in this thread...
Vindictus? The mmo?
Yes.
It wasn't really a MMO. It was more a lobby-based co-op game in the style of, say, Monster Hunter World.
Oh right, my memory is fuzzy, and I'm probably mixing it with the hundred korean online games out there. Yeah I think I remember it was somewhat instance based, and a lot of premium skimpy clothes
Both are technically true. Under the very technical definition of 'massively multiplayer online' it does not qualify. However, everyone (including even store outlets) put it under the category of 'MMO' same with Guild Wars.

I'm glad it's single player.
This is only confirmed for the Alpha. They have clarified in stating that the full game will have co-op options. I'm assuming based on this newer gameplay loop it will be summon-based.

Well then you have better memory than me. All I remember is quitting after a few hours because of the terrible grind (and I'm saying that after having played Ragnarok Online for 10 years). Fighting with a huge fucking stone pillar was fun, though.
I played some RO too lol. Yeah any asian online / mmo from anywhere is obviously based on endless grind, it's a genre I despise. But that doesn't stop me from having tried a lot of them over the years with friends, a few hours each
To help clarify: The original Vindictus was only grindy if you were either not doing quests or if you were grinding endgame armor. Otherwise, if you followed the quests you would level rather easy and rather fast. Also, with every new expansion, they would greatly increase the drop rates for the previous expansion sets. The strat among quite a few(including myself) was to simply wait to play an expansion until after the latest one came out. That way the grind would not be insane and you'd be having fun.
 
I wanted this post to be separate to clarify more:
So you can opt in for the alpha and download it now. It's a lot of fun. Souls combat but it's a little faster and doesn't rely on stamina.
This is true to a certain degree, but I wanted to clarify further so that soulslike fans are not expecting deliberate, with weapon drops and slower combat with experience that can be lost between 'bonfires'. Vindictus 1 did predate Soulslikes, and this game(Defying Fate) is using Vindictus 1's amazing combat system but with an added lock on feature that is present in soulslikes. Other than that and the newly added bonfires, it's DNA is very different than what soulslikes are, and I think this will be quickly realized when people are able to level up Lann beyond this alpha or eventually play as Hurk or Karok.

Each character is a different class and has their own unique weapon sets. There won't be different weapon drops like soulslikes. Fiona will always have either sword and shield, or shield and mallet. Lann will always have his Twin Swords or Twin Spears. The armor sets are the main thing that you find, craft, and purchase that are actually different, have different stats, and show on the characters.
Also you have special moves ala Dragon's Dogma.
This is true. Each character/class has starter skills. Those starter skills have their own level trees and there are further skills you can unlock while playing.
The graphics are really pretty. Invisible walls galore so it feels more like an arena style boss rush game like the first.
This is because they went for a hybrid style. Vindictus 1's original gameplay loop used to be like Warframe's or PSO 1. You are in a lobby, you match up with 4 people, and you go fight from area to area until the end boss fight. Each area was sectioned off by loading doors. One of the smarter choices they made back then was to make more and more boss fights their own levels, so that you didn't have to fight through a bunch of mobs to get to the main event. This new game has a seamless map style with checkpointing/bonfires that's more modern in execution.
Also, for all the coomers it has an outfit you will love. The physics are crazy on the booba.
Very true, also Vindictus 1 was notorious for having fun and sexy outfits and underwears locked behind MTX. That same coomer audience was part of what kept their game alive this whole time, and it also was the thing that pressured the devs into breaking their traditional character releases of Male then Female then Male then Female, into Female-Female-Female-Male releases.
Since you can't play Stellar Blade right meow, this may be a nice replacement if you own a gaming PC.
I'd rather not compare the two. Vindictus is a game where I as well as others have acknowledged how insanely well made the combat is. The dodge windows felt perfect. The hitboxes felt perfect. The parries felt perfect. Aside from the rare occasion of matching up with a laggy host, there was never(and I truly mean never) a moment in Vindictus where I felt 'this is the game's fault'. This was highly important for characters like Lann, Karok, and Hurk, who's dodges and parries felt absolutely crucial to their kit.

Soloing 8-man raids was even encouraged due to how good the combat was. Raid solo examples:




At higher levels and with good skill, the combat would not only look graceful, but feel graceful as well.

I still feel to this day that the director of combat for Vindictus is so good that his name should be up there with some of the best names in Capcom and Platinum games, however he has been shackled to one franchise for years. A franchise that he seems to love dearly, so I personally just have to cope with that fact. If the publisher were smart, they would be using his team's expertise with any new release that had a combat focus for consultation.
 

DavidGzz

Member
Thanks, March Climber, I played this back in the day. I made one of my most convincing looking Drizzt characters in it. It was a blast for a while. I'll definitely give the full game a try. I beat the first zone, the end boss was fun AF and tough, and got to the boss in the second zone before having my fill for now.
 
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Pejo

Gold Member
I never played the first one because I thought it was a Korean MMO (which in my mind in those days meant GRIND FOR 200000 HOURS). Turns out it's not so much an MMO based on what I'm reading here?

Anyways, I requested access on the Steam page, I'm willing to give it a go.
 
I never played the first one because I thought it was a Korean MMO (which in my mind in those days meant GRIND FOR 200000 HOURS). Turns out it's not so much an MMO based on what I'm reading here?
Much like Guild Wars, this was one of my biggest problems with Nexon being the ones in charge of it.

Most of what Vindictus is at it's core, didn't really fit into what Nexon was back then. Hell, it didn't even fit the franchise it was based on 'Mabinogi' which was a much slower, clicker-based MMO that matched a ton of what was out there in the 2000s.

Vindictus is pure, skill based action. The start of it will ease you into the experience, but it will quickly slap you in the face once you reach your first raid around level 20, because around level 20 the game has removed the training wheels and wants you to use what you've learned, which meant blocking, parries, dodging, spacing, and knowing your attack strings and distance of attacks.

I put a side tangent in spoilers. No story is spoiled.
The only character you could argue that completely ignored this skill-based gameplay was Kai(the archer) and for years fans of the game have argued back and forth about him being too easy of an addition, which ended up in him being nerfed and buffed endlessly until they could figure out how to fit a fast and agile long range character into a game that was mostly balanced for melee. Because they always made it a point to make every character play as cool as possible, Kai also had to play this way, which meant you were essentially controlling a ninja-archer who was doing backflips and slides. If they do include him this time hopefully they balance his bow gameplay and movement better so that the game isn't a complete cake walk the minute you select him.

Also like I said above, the endgame gear grind was always the main grindy part of Vindictus, but if you simply waited until the next expansion, the previous endgame would then have increased drop rates to the point where it was no longer a grind, because they wanted people to get to the new endgame grind as fast as possible. This will be my tip for this new game if they end up doing the same, so that many of you can save time.

When I was on reddit, youtube comments, digg, 4chan, and other forums back then ranting and raving about Vindictus and Guild Wars, I was at least happy that Guild Wars managed to shed itself of the image of 'a Nexon game'. Still, Vindictus wasn't as fortunate, partly because it's devs were Korean and didn't really interact with other audiences from other countries back then. So the general consensus when people would see at first glance with Nexon's logo popping up, is 'just another grindy Korean game' especially since Nexon's bread and butter franchise was Lineage 2, the grindiest of games.

Thankfully, now Korean devs have been seeing an avenue of entry in the west aside from just MMOs. They have taken tons of interest in not only console experiences, but also AAA experiences. So this means potentially great news for this game, which was long overdue for a console version/modern entry as this franchise's gameplay perfectly fits console.
 

Pejo

Gold Member
Much like Guild Wars, this was one of my biggest problems with Nexon being the ones in charge of it.
Interesting. I put hundreds of hours into the first GW, GW2 I hated for the "oh no we can't have the trinity healer/tank/damage" stuff. But I get that you're saying it's instanced with hubs and kind of a shared world, but not really MMO.
Vindictus is pure, skill based action. The start of it will ease you into the experience, but it will quickly slap you in the face once you reach your first raid around level 20, because around level 20 the game has removed the training wheels and wants you to use what you've learned, which meant blocking, parries, dodging, spacing, and knowing your attack strings and distance of attacks.
This is music to my eyes. I'm really excited to try it now.
I put a side tangent in spoilers. No story is spoiled.
The only character you could argue that completely ignored this skill-based gameplay was Kai(the archer) and for years fans of the game have argued back and forth about him being too easy of an addition, which ended up in him being nerfed and buffed endlessly until they could figure out how to fit a fast and agile long range character into a game that was mostly balanced for melee. Because they always made it a point to make every character play as cool as possible, Kai also had to play this way, which meant you were essentially controlling a ninja-archer who was doing backflips and slides. If they do include him this time hopefully they balance his bow gameplay and movement better so that the game isn't a complete cake walk the minute you select him.
Also like I said above, the endgame gear grind was always the main grindy part of Vindictus, but if you simply waited until the next expansion, the previous endgame would then have increased drop rates to the point where it was no longer a grind, because they wanted people to get to the new endgame grind as fast as possible. This will be my tip for this new game if they end up doing the same, so that many of you can save time.
I only play characters based on aesthetics or moveset. Relative strength within the game world means nothing to me, but interesting nonetheless.
When I was on reddit, youtube comments, digg, 4chan, and other forums back then ranting and raving about Vindictus and Guild Wars, I was at least happy that Guild Wars managed to shed itself of the image of 'a Nexon game'. Still, Vindictus wasn't as fortunate, partly because it's devs were Korean and didn't really interact with other audiences from other countries back then. So the general consensus when people would see at first glance with Nexon's logo popping up, is 'just another grindy Korean game' especially since Nexon's bread and butter franchise was Lineage 2, the grindiest of games.
I honestly didn't spend much time looking into Vindictus other than seeing stray screenshots, but I was certain it was like a Tera ripoff or something more along those lines. I had no idea it wasn't like that at all.
Thankfully, now Korean devs have been seeing an avenue of entry in the west aside from just MMOs. They have taken tons of interest in not only console experiences, but also AAA experiences. So this means potentially great news for this game, which was long overdue for a console version/modern entry as this franchise's gameplay perfectly fits console.
I assume it's got full controller support on PC? That's a must for me for character action games. I can't stand M/KB for action combat.
 

Larxia

Member
Tried it for about 5 minutes before quitting. It really didn't feel good for me.
The mouse movements are very slow and floaty, there is also a lot of motion blur that we can't turn off, and the combats in general from what I briefly tried just didn't feel good, it reminded me of some action mmo from 10 years ago. I know it's pre alpha, but it still gives me an idea of the style they are going for and it didn't feel good to me.
 
Interesting. I put hundreds of hours into the first GW,
Same. Amazing game. GW 2 was great for different reasons, but there was nothing quite like the narrative experience that was GW 1.
But I get that you're saying it's instanced with hubs and kind of a shared world, but not really MMO.
Exactly, like PSO 1, Warframe(kind of), etc. The gameplay loop is meeting up in the hubs and going on runs in different levels. The hubs even had these big campfire areas where people would sit at and get a light 'campfire buff' to their health. Once entered, each level would have 2-5 different sections(less sections when there was a boss). The sections sometimes had findable items through either puzzles within the levels, breakable objects, or hidden enemies(similar to a goblin with an item sack in a D&D-esque game).
This is music to my eyes. I'm really excited to try it now.
Try Lann's gameplay, and I think you'll start to see what I've always seen with this franchise. Just keep in mind this is an alpha. Lann and Fiona barely even have voices.
I only play characters based on aesthetics or moveset. Relative strength within the game world means nothing to me, but interesting nonetheless.
It was less about strength but more about mechanics. The main issue with Kai was that he simply that he broke the game. He's fast and fun, but without needing to even be close to enemies you could just spam arrows and use his shotgun arrow skill, then roll through almost everything.
I honestly didn't spend much time looking into Vindictus other than seeing stray screenshots, but I was certain it was like a Tera ripoff or something more along those lines. I had no idea it wasn't like that at all.
No, and because of that Vindictus spoiled me. I tried a lot of those MMOs like Tera and BDO that were advertised to be more 'action style' but none of them could hold a candle to Vindictus. They all felt too stiff, too floaty, too janky, or had F2P MMO-style hitboxes.
I assume it's got full controller support on PC? That's a must for me for character action games. I can't stand M/KB for action combat.
Yes, full controller support is enabled for the alpha. Console editions were also announced.
 

Denton

Member
Ngl, this game looks really good (UE5, right?) and is really heavy on hardware (although I can run it at 60fps on ultra). It plays pretty well, I hope the final game will be storydriven with actual story and not just some typical Fromsoft lore bullshit.

Some of the cave interiors actually reminded me of the good old Deep Down tech demos.

And of course, the shameless sexiness on display is always welcome, given how rare it is in games these days (yes I know Nier Automata and Stellar Blade exist).

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DavidGzz

Member
Tried it for about 5 minutes before quitting. It really didn't feel good for me.
The mouse movements are very slow and floaty, there is also a lot of motion blur that we can't turn off, and the combats in general from what I briefly tried just didn't feel good, it reminded me of some action mmo from 10 years ago. I know it's pre alpha, but it still gives me an idea of the style they are going for and it didn't feel good to me.

I get it if you're a mouse and keyboard guy or bust, but this is a controller game though and through. Even the menus made me realize how laggy this felt on a mouse.
 

ssringo

Member
It's pre-alpha so I won't harp on any issues but will say that it was good enough that it's staying on my wishlist so I can keep an eye on it.
 
The current alpha is single player only. Online play will be added but we don't know if it will be summon-based like souls or town lobby-based like the first Vindictus.

When I first saw this I immediately recognised it's a Korean based multiplayers game which might have tons of microtransactions and p2w formulas with bunch of dlc's. They make really good characters, especially lucrative ones to get the most attention and fall for the trap. If they settle for Single player focused with optional co-op or multiplayer than I'm so up for this one.
 
When I first saw this I immediately recognised it's a Korean based multiplayers game which might have tons of microtransactions and p2w formulas with bunch of dlc's. They make really good characters, especially lucrative ones to get the most attention and fall for the trap. If they settle for Single player focused with optional co-op or multiplayer than I'm so up for this one.
Vindictus was known for mostly cosmetic MTX over P2W. The main item I remember that would kind of help and kind of be considered P2W was an additional paid potion slot you would use when you ran out of actual potions during a level, but this never became an issue because the game provided enough potions, and if you were skillful enough you didn't have to worry about it. They would also give out free batches of paid potions for weekly logins and usually one free MTX cosmetic per season.

I expect this new game to keep the cosmetic MTX going, especially for the female characters.

Also to clarify for the thread, Vindictus is not Gacha. There was no rolling for strong weapons, you earned those through gameplay. There was no rolling for 5-star characters, you leveled them up the old fashioned way through gameplay. There was no instant win mechanic against bosses, you earned your wins through skill, leveling, and gameplay.

I look at Vindictus like how others here look at Path of Exile. The core of it is a good videogame regardless of the MTX surrounding it.
 
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