Posted January 14, 2016
So, I've played through once on normal. Feels basically like Fallen Enchantress II, only more casual.
The biggest difference I noticed was that cities were bland. Only one type exists, you don't get Conclaves and Fortresses and Towns, and while they level more, you don't get specialization choices. That was disappointing.
Also, you can no longer design units. Crafting still lets you create unique units, but this is a two-edged sword. Each unit has twelve potential gear slots, all of which you can craft. Furthermore, each piece of gear can have up to four enchantments crafted onto it (at least, that's what I could do at the end). That's basically sixty options you have with a base unit!
That's cool. What isn't cool is that there's no way to design a unit and then stamp out more of them. Got a great combo? You have to do the same sixty clicks over and over again if you want more of that kind of unit. That's a shame, because I really liked how you could design units in Fallen Enchantress and then build them as long as you had the resources.
I also was disappointed that the system in which you could research and add more members to a squad is gone.
Your sovereign is no longer a hero on the map. Since you start with a hero, this makes little practical difference, except that your sovereign can cast a limited number of spells in combat.
The different kinds of shards are now one kind of shard. Research has been replaced with a balance system that produces mana, researches spells, and levels up your sovereign, all at the same time, powered by those same shards. I didn't mind this. Again, though, it felt simpler. Not as many options.
Heroes can no longer specialize; each has their own upgrade track.
Army units, pioneers, outposts, and mines now cost logistics. This worked for me early in the game (I had to work hard for logistics), but mid-game somewhere I had more than I ever needed.
The little quests you could find on the map were fun. The loot systems was more rewarding, and crafting for my starting heroes was fun (though I didn't do nearly as much as I could have; I just didn't need to).
Autoresolve generally worked better for me than fighting battles manually. That was disappointing. I suspect it's because autoresolve doesn't take special abilities into account. I never auto-resolved an uncertain battle, but autoresolve would give me lossless victories in battles I couldn't possibly win myself without losses due to enemy abilities.
City screens were much easier to understand. The only real interface confusion I had was that I missed the enchantment pane in the crafting window for half the game.
The doomsday timer never got anywhere; I think it was near zero when I won.
Diplomacy was easy: don't engage them, let them come to you. Trade if you don't have mana, and if you have 100+ mana, buy favor. Once you get five favor, they automatically ally. Only the Swamp Giants didn't talk to me, probably because I never opened up their corner of the map (factions are locked away from each other).
Overall, while it was still fun, the game felt more casual. The text was more humorous than the darker, serious feel of Fallen Enchantress, and gameplay was simpler. I guess most of my disappointment came from how it backed off from things I thought Fallen Enchantress had done right.
The biggest difference I noticed was that cities were bland. Only one type exists, you don't get Conclaves and Fortresses and Towns, and while they level more, you don't get specialization choices. That was disappointing.
Also, you can no longer design units. Crafting still lets you create unique units, but this is a two-edged sword. Each unit has twelve potential gear slots, all of which you can craft. Furthermore, each piece of gear can have up to four enchantments crafted onto it (at least, that's what I could do at the end). That's basically sixty options you have with a base unit!
That's cool. What isn't cool is that there's no way to design a unit and then stamp out more of them. Got a great combo? You have to do the same sixty clicks over and over again if you want more of that kind of unit. That's a shame, because I really liked how you could design units in Fallen Enchantress and then build them as long as you had the resources.
I also was disappointed that the system in which you could research and add more members to a squad is gone.
Your sovereign is no longer a hero on the map. Since you start with a hero, this makes little practical difference, except that your sovereign can cast a limited number of spells in combat.
The different kinds of shards are now one kind of shard. Research has been replaced with a balance system that produces mana, researches spells, and levels up your sovereign, all at the same time, powered by those same shards. I didn't mind this. Again, though, it felt simpler. Not as many options.
Heroes can no longer specialize; each has their own upgrade track.
Army units, pioneers, outposts, and mines now cost logistics. This worked for me early in the game (I had to work hard for logistics), but mid-game somewhere I had more than I ever needed.
The little quests you could find on the map were fun. The loot systems was more rewarding, and crafting for my starting heroes was fun (though I didn't do nearly as much as I could have; I just didn't need to).
Autoresolve generally worked better for me than fighting battles manually. That was disappointing. I suspect it's because autoresolve doesn't take special abilities into account. I never auto-resolved an uncertain battle, but autoresolve would give me lossless victories in battles I couldn't possibly win myself without losses due to enemy abilities.
City screens were much easier to understand. The only real interface confusion I had was that I missed the enchantment pane in the crafting window for half the game.
The doomsday timer never got anywhere; I think it was near zero when I won.
Diplomacy was easy: don't engage them, let them come to you. Trade if you don't have mana, and if you have 100+ mana, buy favor. Once you get five favor, they automatically ally. Only the Swamp Giants didn't talk to me, probably because I never opened up their corner of the map (factions are locked away from each other).
Overall, while it was still fun, the game felt more casual. The text was more humorous than the darker, serious feel of Fallen Enchantress, and gameplay was simpler. I guess most of my disappointment came from how it backed off from things I thought Fallen Enchantress had done right.
