I love the art direction, voice acting is solid, game play is good. . .But after the prologue I found I came out of most battles at a loss, frequently receiving no loot whatsoever -and usually on battles that were very costly in terms of health and armor hits. Probably not an issue at higher levels, definitely is a wall at lower levels. No offense, but when I play a tactics game I am not really interest is resource logistics. I get it, that is draw for some people, but I'm not one them and I feel pretty confident most people aren't excited about it either even if they might be more accepting. I find buying groceries tedious, I find telling my guys to go to the doctor to be an annoyance, and I find battles where the only reward is survival removes all motivation to take any risk. -I want to take risks. I want to push my limits. I also want to be rewarded for my accomplishments -especially when I am saving a town from what look like giants that are massacring the guard. And I get nothing? Okay, but nothing is what I'll give you in return, not my money and certainly not my time. What I am interested in is strategic placement and skill use. . .Except unit placement in this game is sort of imprecise and there aren't a hell of a lot of skills early game and with that stamina limit it again becomes another resource thing which doesn't enhance anything I do enjoy and brings me right back to things I don't. I do love that everything you equip changes the art of the person it is placed upon though. That is really satisfying. And the variety of loot is good. The game isn't bad, it just may not be what I am looking for. If this game were more like Wartales and less like Battle Brothers it would be perfect for me. Wartales is a great game with a shallow setting that run really poorly. This has a promising setting, runs really well, but centers around stuff I don't really want to do. I spend more time caring for my for my retinue than using them for anything, which seems a strange choice to me in a tactics game. You could kinda, sorta, make the argument that is realistic, but lets be honest, realism isn't what anything in this game is going for. While I am sharing my complaints, man, that travel speed on the map is horrendous. At least give us the ability to set the speed ourselves because if I only have forty minutes or so to play, I don't want to waste interminable minutes watching my dudes crawl after a patrol of monsters. I am not going to take this off my wishlist, but if I am being honest I was about to. I am posting this review instead.
I am on a mission where I am chased by four Ogres, their movement makes it look as though they are body blocking one another. I manage to stealth sprint my way to where I have to fight them, After taking out the first one I try to face them on the bridge, I find out they can move through each other, I get surrounded and lose half my health. I pull nothing but travel cards the next round but have nowhere to travel to that doesn't trigger more enemies. This game is more annoying than fun. I don't want to play the same levels repeatedly until unlocking the bonuses I need to beat them. This was advertised as Strategic and Tactical, not Rogue-like. Not worth the price even on sale.
Its a tactical game of with limited choices and "gotcha" encounters where there are always reinforcements, when they appear they immediately act, and then they enter within striking range so you will always take damage. . .Until you memorize everything and act in anticipation -all of which goes against the spirit of a tactical combat game. Even on sale this game is overpriced, but then I wouldn't play it if it were free. Wish I could refund.
Its a tactical game of with limited choices and "gotcha" encounters where there are always reinforcements, when they appear they immediately act, and the enter within striking range so you will always take damage. . .Until you memorize everything and act in anticipation -all of which goes against the spirit of a tactical combat game. Even on sale this game is overpriced, but then I wouldn't play it if it were free. Wish I could refund.
Wish there were more like it.
The enemy AI just cheats, that is all there is to it. Plan an ambush where the enemy doesn't have LOS and should walk right into it. . .They won't. They must be psychic. They always know which units are on overwatch and where they are looking. But even if overwatch is broken, at least combat is fun right? If by fun, you mean endless slogs where you miss 75% of the time and enemy always hits then sure, its a blast. I'd like to believe it gets better, but I'm really not sure which is poorer game design. . .frontloading all the worst mechanics in the first ten hours of play or just making that the state of play through the entire game. I might not mind all of this is leveling made an impact, but it doesn't. Every "class" has skills available at random levels so you can't plan progression, and its a sample from a bunch of skills so you aren't even guaranteed to get all the ones you want. . .And most of them are terrible. Yeah, give me the five shot burst with reduced accuracy on the guy who is still level one after his fourth mission because he has yet to hit anything in combat. Of course there is still the story, which from what little I have seen, is just a bunch of dudes with gravelly voices posturing aggressively at one another while you babysit them emotionally and admonish them with "Don't Hit!" as they try to ineffectually undermine one another. Phoenix Point? More like Apocalypse Au Pair.
Not perfect, but good. Final mission for the story is a little annoying though
A brilliant and satisfying franchise. Pity it couldn't live
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