[Backpack Battles] Resident Evil 4's inventory system meets auto-battlers!

MNC Dover

Have you ever wished you could min/max your inventory system in RE4 and have it fight other inventories? Well now you can with Backpack Battles! Here's some gameplay:

Hafu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp9TBMCrBVA

Rarran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bGXMJOmIlk

Northernloin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak8DmmkzYew

Download the demo now. Full release is planned for April 2024. Give it a try and see if it's up your alley.

Tofystedeth

This is neat though I'm not sure I like that it seems to be "pvp" only. Being an auto battler it feels less intimidating than actual live PVP where I can fail in real time. But also being inventory based is like I'm opening the door the room where I shove all the crap I haven't found a shelf for and saying don't judge me.

MNC Dover

If there weren't player names, I'd assume I'm facing CPU opponents. But I'm sure the game will go through a lot of changes since it's not scheduled to go live until April.

discrider

So, overall the game feels solid.

I'm not sold on the strategy diversity; seems too easy to put all your stock in food and just win.
But I've had a play around at bronze/silver level with thorns, and poison, and luck, and cards, and they all seem to pay off, so not sure.
My weakest game was with the spear, but then the game seemed to throw me at people with a hideous amount of armour to compensate?

Which brings me to, I'm not sure that all these opponents are human.
Seeing people with like 4x holy armours, or 4x dark potions, and I'm just gobsmacked by the consistency in their shops.
Unless they're re-rolling a whole lot more than me.

My other complaint would be that my runs appear to clock in at around an hour long.
So I could really use some sort of save function at the shop, to play a bit, and then drop.

But overall, it's a pretty neat puzzle game, and it's really great when your inventory starts clicking over.

Tofystedeth

I've definitely seen multiple holy armors in a run. I never ended up buying one, but I had a run where I saw 3 of the notBuster sword

MNC Dover

My first run was two flutes and two horns, causing tons of stuns, stamina decreases, and buffs every second. The rest was lifestealing the opponent to oblivion.

Even better though was both my kids got very into watching me play and reorganize my stuff. My 5-year old even saw a way to max out my stars on an item that I totally missed. My 8-year old wanted to play, but it was late (and I don't like her playing games on my PC). I'd totally pick it up for her on the Switch if that becomes a thing.

urahonky

I was doing really well and the game crashed on me which made me sad. Pretty fun little game.

Tofystedeth

A single dark crystal in the backpack feels like it's almost enough to carry a run. I've seen people with like 3, but they always have them in armor or weapons, and I'm like, why, when you can add fatigue stacks?

akThera

This isn’t just a Backpack Hero knockoff?

MNC Dover

akjak wrote: »

This isn’t just a Backpack Hero knockoff?

It's pretty different. The inventory system is similar, but the game play is an auto-battler (TFT, HS Battlegrounds, etc) instead of Backpack Hero's Slay the Spire deckbuilder theme.

discrider

Playing Yssagrdail or whatever:

I dropped a match early on because of buying shields but otherwise.
This match came pretty close.

My potions are pretty dubious.
Poison is just going to trip immediately, and try and activate the health.
And banana potion is not being consumed because too few weapons.
Probably should have avoided the stamina potion and just lined the other three up in the 2xpotion belts.

Tofystedeth

I uninstalled the demo so as not to hit it too hard before release, but I had a run go all the way to the end of survival where I won at least 3 matches with single digit HP including one that was well into fatigue with the lead flipping back and forth that I ended up winning with 1.

Garthor

Tofystedeth wrote: »

I uninstalled the demo so as not to hit it too hard before release, but I had a run go all the way to the end of survival where I won at least 3 matches with single digit HP including one that was well into fatigue with the lead flipping back and forth that I ended up winning with 1.

One small detail is that in the event of a tie, you always win with 1hp remaining.

And ties happen really often actually, with fatigue and poison being simultaneous damage.

Tofystedeth

Ah I'd just assumed that with all the various heals and whatnot I'd legitimately squeeked it out.
Do you know if matches happen for both players or if it's more like a lot of the mobile games with asynchronous PVP where it's basically only real for the initiator.

discrider

Progressed to mid-gold tier and everyone is suddenly good.
I do wonder about how easy it would be to modify store contents or your inventory through hacks, as it seems like that's all client-side.
But that's probably because I'm getting rolled.

MNC Dover

I found a post on Reddit that featured the Thorn Whip + Lifesteal sword combo. I never actually built anything based on one weapon, so I thought I'd give it a try. Turns out, having just one weapon can work and work well.




Got the build to work twice, with both wins one-sided blowouts. The first picture is closest to the original build, missing just one Pineapple, the gemstone box, and one Vampire gloves. The second had a more complete build, though I did vary it a bit. You gotta take what the store offers.

Essentially, you're building around the Sword with 2-3 gloves increasing it's attack speed and 2 acorn rings to increase it's critical. Everything else is about getting more Thorns, Regen, and Lifesteal any way you can. The Sub-Class Arrow allows you to go absolutely turbo on the critical rates.

Give it a go sometime. It's actually a pretty easy build to assemble, with a few subs easy enough to find. Typically, I'd roll 1-2 weapons, then transition once the sword becomes available.

Beasteh

Gave this game a try a few months back and it feels too basic for me to fully invest in also the art style is weird

Was briefly fun tho

BahamutZERO

your art style is weird!

Beasteh

Can't argue with that

MNC Dover

Beasteh wrote: »

Gave this game a try a few months back and it feels too basic for me to fully invest in also the art style is weird

Was briefly fun tho

I hear you there. They've been doing weekly(ish) patches with new items, balancing items, and creating new combos of items. It reminds me of Vampire Survivors during it's EA phase. With launch being scheduled for April, there should be a lot more meat on the bones by the then.

Tofystedeth

Yeah, I basically played the two character demo a bit ago and shelved it. Like I think when there's actually a full game there it'll be worth sinking time into. But the demo felt very demo. A delicious one and done taste. This isn't the 90s where all I have is a dozen shareware collections borrowed from my friends.

MNC Dover

Next two classes revealed!

https://youtu.be/qqhlUfR3B2Q?feature=shared

MNC Dover

Backback Battles has officially gone into Early Access with the two new classes. You'll need to buy the game to play, currently ~$12.

Tofystedeth

I managed to get it for a little over $10 as part of a "bundle" with Slay The Spire.

I already had StS so the bundle was just the one game for like 15% off

discrider

I enjoyed this, but by the time you got to Diamond rank, it seemed like any build inventiveness was punished, and you just rolled Ranger for crits.
I don't know; I think I'm just burned out on ladders.

MNC Dover

Fire! Fire! Fire!



I started the fight with 3 Regen, 6 Vampire, 1 Mana, 22 Heat, 405 Max Health, and 164 Armor. The Phoenix deals 10 damage to me when it attacks for 15-20 damage. The Vampire Armor deals 10 damage to me to give me 20 Armor. The 4 Chili Peppers give me 4 Heat and heal me for 20 every 3 seconds. Basically, from the start of the fight, I'm just about breaking even on the damage dealt vs healing.

By the end of the fight, my Heat was so high that my Phoenix and Vampire Armor were triggering every second and my Chilis every 2 seconds. My opponent had a similar build with Dragon splash. When they died, they had 39 Heat which converted into 390 Health (basically a full heal) and they still didn't get through my first life. My Phoenix still didn't activate it's special ability.

It's still Bronze rank, but damn if this build didn't dominate. Only took the 1 loss vs a mass Crit/Bow Ranger.

https://youtu.be/XchwE9zVdnw?feature=shared

Tofystedeth

I had a very silly berserker run where I just kept seeing rare weapons in the store. Axe before round 1, dagger by round 2, another dagger a couple rounds later. Managed to turn both of them vampiric, and got good topaz and ruby in the axe for speed and ramping damage/heals. Also ended up with 3 corrupted crystals (though I used 1 to make corrupted armor).

Towards the end I was regularly ending fights near full health. Also corrupted crystals are very silly. If you can last to nightfall they're basically a win condition.

MNC Dover

Tried out the instant-kill Flame Shield build:


*The Flame Shield deals 4 damage whenever a nearby Armor gains 10 Armor. Stone Armor gains 80 Armor at round start, meaning 32 damage ([80/10]*4) per Stone Armor touching a Flame Shield.*

This is the game right at the 0:00 second mark. Pretty close to an instant-kill. I think I might have gotten there if I put an Armor in the lower right for more burst damage. It loses hard to anything with Lifesteal, but is very satisfying to watch go off.

discrider

I would have thought it would lose hard to anything with a helmet honestly.
30% damage reduction for the first three seconds is going to put a rather large dent in the burst.

You might get lifesteal to kill itself with Vampiric armour, honestly, which would be funny.
Depends on how quickly the lifesteal ramps to cover the initial -15 HP, +armour deficit.

MNC Dover

I made the eight dungeons from the original NES Zelda game into Backpack Battles! As a bonus, I marked the locations of the dungeon items, compass, map, boss, and Triforce.

BahamutZERO

Alright now do link's awakening

MNC Dover

BahamutZERO wrote: »

Alright now do link's awakening

I considered it, but the backpack area is only 7x9. That's why some of the maps had to be built sideways then I rotated the pictures. Not sure I could do much more in terms of dungeon designs.

Maybe I'll turn to pixel art. Although given the small space, not sure I could do much their either.

BahamutZERO

oh I didn't realize LA dungeon grids were bigger than LoZ's

MNC Dover

BahamutZERO wrote: »

oh I didn't realize LA dungeon grids were bigger than LoZ's

Not only that, they have the unusual sizing like LttP does. Nothing is a perfect square, which sort of ruins the BPB recreation.

MNC Dover

Going into Survival rounds with this build. It's a bit stamina heavy with the trio Gun build, but the burst damage from the Grenades helps close games out fast. Triple healing Sprays and blinds from Flashbangs help in longer games. Looking to pick up a Green Herb for the Red/Yellow combo. Thoughts?

BahamutZERO

this new class feels kind of off somehow, doesn't really mesh with the rest of the game well

MNC Dover

Yeah, Leon is a bit of an odd addition to the group, but I think his kit is solid. Solid burst damage, healing options, and of course the Flashbangs for defensive builds.

MNC Dover

With The Bazaar being the hot thing right now, I thought I'd check into Backpack Battles again. Wow, they added a ton of new content, in addition to replays and build history.



Here was my last game. A full food + monster spider build w/no weapons. I worry I may be falling down the BPB rabbit hole again...

Tofystedeth

That spider is kind of adorable

MNC Dover

Another win today. Went with the mass Armor + Garlic Badge again, only this time, I used a single Holy Spear to obliterate the enemy's armor. The Bag Badge is also insane, granting me tons of Armor and Cooldown allowing all my potions to activate and my Holy Spear to attack once per second. The rest of the build is healing from the Cauldron and Heart Container with a splash of "random buffs go!".

Backpack Battles got the hooks in me again.