Blackguards Special Edition

I've read positive and negative reviews for BSE and thought I'd give this game a try. Because I caught it on sale, I'm glad I did purchase it. I would have felt ripped off if I had paid full price. I liked the dialog, music and the voice acting is not bad. I liked the leveling-up system. I liked the turn-based method of battle. I wasn't crazy about the story/plot. Although I liked the turn-based method of battle, I didn't like the long, tedious battles which took, what seemed like, forever to finish. I did not like that once you progress so far in the game you can't go back to previous locales. I did not like the absence of random battles. In RPGs, I'm one of those people who do not mind grinding for extra XP. Those are the things I liked and disliked about this game. I can't tell you it is a good game or a bad game because only the player (you) can decide. Some folks loved it, some hated it. For me, however, I probably will never play this game again. I just didn't like it that much. It really wasn't interesting to me and was almost a chore to complete because of the long, drawn-out battles. If you're reading reviews to help you decide whether to purchase this game, do like most folks do and wait until it is on sale. If you don't like it, you'll only be out a few bucks. If you do like it, you'll feel like you got a bargain.

Story: Taking place in Germany's low fantasy Dungeons and Dragon's Dark Eye, you the custom-generated, player character find yourself framed for murder and are on the run from the conspiracy that entrapped you with a party composed less-than-upstanding citizens. Starting with a paranoid, but battle-hardened dwarf warrior, a playboy mage that oozes of "Sean Connery 2.0" and a stoner, half-elf rogue. Basically your text-book, Chaotic/Neutral Good fantasy anti-heroes. Gameplay: Before I start, fair warning; this RPG is NOT beginner friendly! You're best off switching easy mode on when you're in a frustrating disadvadvantage. Not helped by the game's anti-grinding features that kept Knights of the Old Republic from being a perfect game in my book. Both equipment, items have to be purchased wisely and XP has to be spent carefully, and believe me, your character attributes are very broad like the source material. So my other advice is to manually save often till your confident your characters can adapt to any scenario. Combat is by far the most perfectly-translated Tabletop RPG experience I've ever seen. Combat-system wise it plays like a tactical RPG ala Fire Emblem where you move your characters into position displayed by hexes. But the most standout feature is the environmental interaction. Party members and enemies can slip or get stuck on wet or muddy hexes, hide behind archer barricades or pikes, or knock boxes or other loose objects down as makeshift barricades or time them to drop them on enemies, as well as destroy them when they block your path. Conclusion: A worthy contender to Baldur's Gate and an underratted RPG. If you want a darker-edgier Baldur's Gate experience or an RPG with Witcher-style grit, this is the game for you. If it had an outright more stellar tutorial to jump you in to the game's play style or a reasonable amount of grinding to save you frustration, I'd give it a full five stars.

I really enjoyed this game. To win efficiently requires a strategy which means developing characters along a carefully planned path from begininning to end. It is extremely unforgiving of bad (inappropriate) decisions and this gets exponentially worse as bad decisions accumulate. However if you are patient enough to bumble through it once (making heavy repeated use of the quick save/quick load facilities) you can develop a strategy of character development that makes a second playthrough fairly straightforward. It's a bit like a simultaneous equation with a large number variables which I know probably doesn't sound overly exciting but if you like puzzles which take a lot of perserverance and you want to try to hone the answer towards the best you can it is very well worth the price.

Not bad, good title, a must have turn-based strategy game when it's on sale. I start with the bads: fights are too influenced by randomness (even 90% chance to hit is lowered by dodge/parry of enemy) and early battles are too repetitve (too few skills at the starting chapter). The goods: the story is fascinating and the twists are well done, the characters are interesting and the skills tree if variegated and full of options. Maybe 3.5 is a more accurate vote, anyway i found it enjoyful

This game is different and trying to be different than any other RPG in the market nowadays. It has it's own originality, it's moment, it's depth as well. I say, this game has a feature similar to AD&D and has a interactive dialog like Dragon Age or Baldur's Gate. This game by no means casual! The reason why I give this game 5 stars is because it is trying to be different and original, that's in my opinion, deserves 5 stars. The Storyline is great, not too complex but has depth and easy to understand. The Graphics is very much average, but for me, gameplay and storyline is more important than graphics. Conclusion, this game isn't for casual or everyone but for a serious gamer that enjoy being challenged, thinking and willing to take time to master the mechanic.