Here's just a small reason this game is hard to review: In the video, it says "264 character types." I'd say you'd have to at least triple that, depending on alignment and where you want that character to go. There are several win-conditions that alter how you play the entire experience. Modern gaming is shying away from D&D's class system in order to provide "freedom," but really all it's usually for is streamlining dev processes to give the most robust experience to the playstyles that they know 90% of the playerbase is going to assume is the default. ADOM is from a time before that thinking caught on and radically embraces class and race to have impacts on the minutest decisions. If you love character customization, this game ticks every box except for maybe aesthetic (YMMV). If you're familiar with rogue-likes but not ADOM, I would recommend it because of its dedication to the genre without ignoring what is fun about RPGs. Other roguelikes I've played either avoid or circumvent the need for RPG depth and number-crunch. The only exception I know is TOME, but TOME's problem is ballooning power-creep. Unless played specifically to undermine its leveling mechanics, ADOM is a stable experience throughout -- it won't feel that way when you get your ass kicked, but on later plays you will see just what you did wrong and get a second chance. My one complaint is that some of the best things in the game are locked behind wildly time-consuming games of chance that are overwhelmingly stacked against the player. I have received the best weapon in the game, Justifier, just twice. Those situations are uncommon, but still annoying. I know it is not the first and many may reasonably say not the best, but it is certainly the best at what it does to the point that I cannot play other roguelikes without referring back to ADOM as the definition of the genre.
I play a lot of D&D, so my comments expect a working knowledge of those systems. ARMOR CLASS Plenty of people hate AC as an abstraction. IDK why. D:OS2 replaces the system behind AC with two armors; magic and physical. This works because, unlike D&D where the DM is often roughly tailoring the experience to the party, video games can't do what D&D does; the virtual DM is both pre-decided and procedural. So, unlike D&D, D:OS2 REQUIRES a custom balance of powers in the party that is very satisfying to nail. CLASSES The biggest divergence from things like D&D is that mult-classing is not optional or semi-discouraged. It is key to survival. This is a game of D&D with an epic ruleset (such as Ultimate Pathfinder) because this is a story about capital-G Gods. It's a rare gem that matches mechanics with narrative, and D:OS2 is a helluva nugget in that respect. Classes and skills are similar to FF Tactics, but no "jobs" to slot into. I.E., bring a Necro-Rogue/Fighter if you want to live: Game never tells you that. BATTLES Three things. First, it is not grid-based, which works uncommonly well, but still not great. It is imprecise too often, and straight-up buggy often enough. It manages it because of the second thing, which is terrain effects. Your elemental spells reshape the field of play in EVERY WAY IMAGINABLE. This cannot be stressed enough. You will die if you fail to grasp it--because the AI certainly grasps it. Third thing is the turn order. It is initiative-based, but with rules I regularly try to house-rule to facilitate manipulating turn order. Tactics fans know this is one of the most satisfying elements of a tactical RPG that is somehow left out all too commonly. VERDICT Must buy. Do not wait for sale. Pay full if you can. Support an industry milestone. This is what AAA games are supposed to be and virtually never are. If you feel D:OS1 was not for you, this is as different as Dragon Age: Origins is to Pillars of Eternity in terms of how it feels to play.
I have almost all of the GOG cRPG collection, and I'd like to disagree with many of the reviews here. Yes, you cannot get away from Baldur's Gate comparisons, but this game stands on its own. It's not a homage or a play on the nostalgia. I played this game first, and its quality of life, ease of use, and accessibility are beyond anything else in the genre. The storytelling and characters are a great, if imperfect blend of serious and fun. It is sometimes on rails, but I never felt "railroaded." Except for bugs, its freedom to do what you want is only limited by your strategic expertise. Even if its not your cup of tea to play the battles, the game on Easy is a great romp with engaging and resonant characters, especially Eder and Aloth. I'd recommend Hard for anyone who isn't put-off by the combat mechanics, though. The only real criticism I have, one that doesn't subtract stars, is a general criticism of cRPGs. The pause-and-play is nicely done here, but true turn-based is simply mechanically superior. The more intense battles, such as if you bum-rush the first real bosses available, feel so pause-heavy that I could not help wonder why this wasn't just a true turn-based tactics-style simulator, potentially even with a square or hex grid (the pathing is sometimes rage, especially battles around doors, but only enough for losing half a star; I rounded up). Turn-based tactics have none of those problems, and it is the dominant combat method of actual tabletop pen & paper RPGs, as well as many JRPGs that should honestly be industrywide points of reference, despite that I like western games better. I've always been at a loss for why this game in particular instead relies upon somewhat dysfunctional and at-times highly imprecise mechanics that honestly worked much better in the 80s-90s, but became unwieldy as settings became more complex. I only say this because, if you're coming from a background of tactics rather than cRPG, it might nag at you.
Unmodded, the game is a 3.5, I would say. The reason is that the game needs to be modded to a 5. Which is okay, as I would even argue that old games need that treatment. The vanilla game is unplayable to me after installing Dragon Age Redesigned, Combat Tweaks, and basically half of the other stuff on the Top 100 List over at the Nexus. I'm not talking about overloading a game with eye candy and items, but actual improvements to the original vision of the game. Redesigned in particular does things that you're shocked to see gone if you replay without it. Once you've really sunk your teeth into the game, I've always found the difficult curve to crack and I'm ripping stuff apart with two-handers and a mage. Difficulty mods need to be toyed with to fix that. On top of that, faster animation mods (there are many) are key, as well. I'm guessing they made it so slow because it helps the player and the PC from bottlenecking, which leads to the last point that I think is the most critical for any PC player. If you're coming from console, just because this game was fun on an Xbox, or even on your old computer, you may run into a problem playing it now that I haven't seen anyone else talk about. I have one of the best i7's, 16gb ram, and a decent card, but there are still times when the game suddenly stops calculating numbers. Animations are running, abilities are used, prompts are carried out, but the processor hits a bottleneck. Suddenly, the computer would chug and spew all the numbers out at once. This happened on four very different processors, which means this is a programming issue. Too many things happen at one time. This can happen without mods. That is why the unmodded game is a 3.5, I'd say it loses an entire point to this occurrence alone. Modded, the game is a 4, but almost no mods seem capable of fixing the bottleneck 100%. It's a beautiful game, maybe one of the best to ride the LotR films' stylistic coattails, and Alistair's story alone makes it worth it.
So, everyone else on here talking about their experiences and how the game is, that. That. That all over. I'm going to talk about mods. - There are mods for every style and personality. If you are willing to learn to mod yourself, this is a difficult game to do it in, but not as hard many other famous modded games. - Adding mods is a cinch with all the new tools... IF YOU KNOW HOW TO READ. "Readme" is an old Dunmeri word for "We're watching you... scum." - The only thing that cannot seem to be truly effectively modded that newer games such as Skyrim do "better" is combat. Morrowind's combat is like RPG combat in a game like Baldur's Gate, etc, but... instead of telling your PC whom to attack, you have to mindlessly mash your mouse. Not awesome. What it does do better is its levelling system for loot and enemies... because there is no system. Everything is static. Dremora will kill you if you run into them at the wrong time (unless you know what you're doing). - The #1 thing, in my unshaken opinion, that Morrowind modding does better than anything... is companions. Not followers. Not meat shields. This review, in essence, is a review of Grumpy's "Companion Script" mod and Kateri's "Julan Dark Elven companion" mod (http://lovkullen.net/Emma/Kateri.htm). Julan is unbelievable. No companion comes close to him in my mind -- and I've played them ALL. Not only is he interesting, hilarious, complex, and well-written, he is a part of Morrowind's story -- not just a unique commentator like so many other "immersive" followers. Your decisions affect him. He's not even that great of a fighter for most of the time I've used him -- he's just so damned fun to have. Morrowind is an excellent game, but its community keeps it excellent.
This is a solid 3 star game. I played this when it came out because of the hearty boasts of a good story, which I am a sucker for. Arguably, as a younger kid, this is what got me to accept D&D as "cool." There are a number of things it does great... with a catch to all but one. Robust amount of visual upgrades, though customization is purely preferential by the end. A diverse bestiary, if a little repetitive. Combat feels satisfying even by today's standards (which aren't that high). But the voice-acting... Holy CUSS. Khelben Blackstaff is Patrick Stewart and he is incredible. A good chunk of Hollywood does not have actors as good as this game and most games are awful in comparison. Cireka is semi-forgettable cuz you can't understand her, but Ygorl is Michael Clark Duncan. For the main characters, Rannek is Alduin from Skyrim (I know, it's not on GoG, but still), Zhai is Wonder Woman from Justice League, and Illius is a guy I didn't recognize, but was perfect for carrying exposition. This all helps a somewhat trope-ified story feel better than it is. The story of three misfits with uncanny ability forced together is called stale by some, but have they played cussing Mass Effect? People throw themselves at your feet to be in the party, there is NO beginning character arc for some of the most popular options, they're as flat as my white-boy gamer chest. Demon Stone isn't original, but its 3 main characters all feel driven and well made and each has a satisfying climactic event towards the end of the story. Defeating the Red Dragon, while a little clunky and frustrating, felt as awesome as any D&D team working together. The "Power of Friendship" ending is better than that found in Guardians of the Galaxy, to say the least (which is totally an RPG party). I would not recommend grabbing this solo unless you've played it before. Otherwise, you'll get it in a bundle w/D&D essentials or something and find a real hidden, if uncut gem.
