Outstanding game if you value immersion
Very few games have affected me as much as this one. By the end I was emotionally involved with both the characters and the story, and the finale is a real kicker. I hope intensely for a sequel in which I can meet the cast again.
I agree with some who consider the writing a little clunky. I did, at first. It seemed awkward and somewhat cliched. However, as the story progressed I became increasingly fascinated by the blend of traditional RPG and Sci-Fi elements, and my desire to find out how it would play out became intense. Early on it seems that the story is 'tacked on' and superfluous, but by the end I found it completely engrossing. I would suggest not judging it by the early stages.
The game itself is not quite AAA standard, but it works well, crashed only about twice during my playthrough (which may not have been the fault of the game), and is very well thought out and executed.
Your party 'crawls' through the mysterious inverted tower in fairly traditional style, seeking to uncover its mysteries and what lies at the bottom. At any time you can exit temporarily to a 'town', where character upgrades are performed, using gold rather than experience points. I played on normal difficulty and never had a shortage of gold - I was able to upgrade all of the characters to very powerful standards. Of the characters you recruit you can take any four into combat, which makes for great variety in battle tactics.
The battles themselves I found highly enjoyable, making extensive use of the excellent slow-time system as I am not a fan of frantic clicking. There are many ways to approach combat, and there is always a way to win. Some of the battles are truly epic and I felt a huge sense of achievement winning them.
To sum up. It's not perfect (what is?), but the exploration/combat/crafting/enchanting/loot variety are all excellent and combined with an intriguingly original story to create one of the best game experiences I've had. Highly recommended. 'H' key reveals loot!
7 gamers found this review helpful