Probably more reviews point out the current status (R3 = 1st patch) of the MOD, meaning being alarmingly buggy. For the good part, I definitely appreciate complete overhaul, offering new world, story, side-quests, NPCs and followers. Feels like truly good game as well with a worthy plot. But then you encounter drop-to-OS issues, and after downloading 3rd party fixes from nexus, this drops become less frequent, but do not disappear. Then you ride a boat, while you cannot save for few minutes, just to be "pushed" from the boat into water, barred from moving/swimming, and getting 169 RADs per seconds (even with Rad-X) You enter an old academy, just to find out you cannot leave. You enter a robot factory, just to get stuck in a lift. You complete a quest, just to get broken dialogue instead rewards. As soon the mod team will tackle this issues, you can expect exceptionally good mod, but till then, rather steer away. First installment, curiosity took the better of me and using TCL or SQS / Setstage commands, I forced my way through London, ignoring the dozens over dozens DTOs. Reached level 42 and made some good progress, despite not even being sure, to what extend I broke the game by using console commands. Now I started after the patch anew, I am level 20 now, and while some parts got better, many still need polishing & fixing. As for the game play, some quests feel like they could offer more options/solutions, some characters feel deeper, and are probably downplayed. Some stories leave loose ends and questions. Very rarely there is LGBT content, but quite subtle, hence acceptable. Some parts I disliked are inherited from F4 - chaotic fights, where you can hit your ally, and unless you reload, you will lose all good relationship. Or you want to click during dialogue, and shoot the NPC instead ... but that's not problem of this mod. That's just lame bethesda.
Years back, there was free demo, I tried it. Then I thought, the reason I started "in media res" (already on a mission, no character creation, nor customization, et cetera) because it is a demo. So I didn't mind. Then the full version came up, so I was like "meh, I'll skip this one" despite Disciples is my deeply loved franchise. As time passed I eventually got my hands on it. Despite I am one-staring it, here are things I liked: - you can eventually unlock all main factions, each offering 4-5 unique units (empire, legions of damned..) - spells / skills are many (despite the Pareto of them are blending into a blur of kind-of-useless buffs/debuffs, very rarely practical) - As story does progress, your main character can evolve, unlocking unique skill trees and for mage-archetypes, also more spells (for warrior archetypes, combat maneuvers) - companions offering extra depth into the story, having direct impact on world travel (removing trees, corruption bulges, activating teleports, unlocking... ) - choices matter. Same quest can have multitude of outcomes, usually at least two, depending on your dialogue answers. - tactical battles full of unique setups (not only hex-map wise, but also adding conditions, when undead autorespawn, units not moving get extra damage, lightning strikes randomly ..) But what I did not like, and made me dislike the game to the extend of one star: - units that you can hire are early into the game very few, leaving you with basically no options, no variety - Spells are quirky, but despite you waste gold on their research, they turn out to be weak and take your MC action points - companions have very unpleasant tendency turning every dialogue into sex. - having only one playable character, despite the forking in development, is bleak for a game that hails from TBS like Disciples 1, 2, 3. Why the need of having one single MC? Answer: the story focuses on the MC, and pushes ugly babylonian agenda of depravity.
First of all, KUDOS to DEVs, who obviously put enourmous effort into this game. Unique RPG system, colorful and wide world, nearly giving the feel of 'living world'. This is by definition, one craves for when on hiatus from RPG games, especially cRPG games. On other note, I cannot comprehend the technical reason, I must wait 10~20 seconds between maps on a gaming rig in 21st century. I remember this from Baldur's Gate, which I played on a bit slower machine than recommended, so apart hours of installation from 5 CDs, I also learned to wait several or even dozens of seconda (sometimes minute or two) during various loading screens. But now, circa 20-30 years later, I don't get it. The game tells a good story and is well playable with patches that cover most bugs, so give it a try, but don't expcet having goose bumps from it.
I gave it 5 stars for all the breathtaking graphics, music and also the story weaved around and above. But know this, without a controller, meaning when you play with keyboard + mouse, the interaction is like learning Monglian with a thorn in your tongue. It's darn painful. I can't finish the game, as the controls are 'crazy', as said at least. Would there be an option to re-assign keys & mouse buttons, it would turn into something I would wholeheartedly love. (If there is such option, I apologize, I simply missed it) But common, letting you command a game with far-away keys (Enter, Backspace, Spacebar, WASD and mouse, I feel like needing 3rd hand or a good shrink and advanced ninja training)
Just what Fallout 3 did to Fallout 2, but in a good way. Top down fantasy strategy King's Bounty (DOS) was remade to beautiful, also top-down modern game several years ago. Acclaimed remake had plenty DLCs, and then went silent. Then the successor of the remake was created, with the twist: you travel in the world via follow camera and are emerged fully in 3D environment. Game is tailored to tell a story, with all the good attributes (music, voiceover, effects, twists, beautiful sceneries) Despite I am a fan of 2D graphic (or pre-rendered), KB2 didn't lack in beauty. Adding the quirks of 'searching for hidden areas/treasures', getting lost in complex areas, enjoying views, emerged in altitude-various platforms, either from a tower from a castle, or beholding the same castle from a nearby mountain. Battles are chronologically setup to offer unique experience and constant challenge. I much more miss open world game, but I get that the remake wants the player to stick with the story and try out all premade enemy armies with unique warlords (or priests/mages). Just like KB remake, also here you can select from 3 archetypes (Warrior, Priest, Mage), just named to make them more real to the world (and the story) With a twist: Instead of 3 skill trees, you have four, and you can combine them (kind-of freely) While limited by your archetyped, your ingame actioons will shift the potential of the four skill trees and eventually opening any two at maximum level (or half-opening their combo, despite they are designed to dual-mutually-exlusive) Mutually exlusive are: Might vs Magic Order (Good) vs Anarchy (Evil) But it is eventually possible to jack of all trades but master of none. Luckily, games is not set to torture players with meaningless 'fetch' or 'find' quests, and the few still there are meant to make you explore, not just waste your time. Game full of eye-candies, twists and plenty of choices that make a real difference for the progress. I liked this sequel
Team Thalion, that was quite active in Amiga gamemaking business (Ambermoon, Amberstar) started their new project, but joined BlueByte -> Ubisoft. We know it all, all about small studios getting "owned" by big companies. This time it had no impact on the true story and message guys from Thalion wanted to share with the world, with us. Their previous projects were already full of fantasy + sci-fi, interweaved with stories about end-of-the-world, catastrophe that changes daily live, heroes (of course), family ties, responsibility, and not very mainstream reference to alien life, travel trough the universe and visiting distant stars. Very much "from where we hail, where we are going", just adding "be a part of the change by making difficult choices". And of course, learning something of the world, no one knew. So we have now Albion, much more "grown-up", mastered from video/audio/story perspectives. Much more straight forward, no more hiding behind metaphors, and calling out real history/present dogmas as they are. Also there is a twist in the details, that the game starts as "sci-fi" and reveals fantasy/history, what is compared to previous projects new. But the best is how the game reveals a story so deep, that it literally touches you souls in its true base. Gameplay: well, visuals are great for the time the game was released, nowadays we have to be very understanding to see the beauty in it, which is there and is huge. Same goes for music and audio. So we have a game that reaches out to our inner art-loving beings and captures them. At the same time the game can leave us off-guard by throwing us in somehow open world, where we can get lost, bombards us with text we have to "decipher" to learn how relevant it is to the story / game or if it is just add-on-value. And just when the game seems to be just a normal adventure, we have to fight our first RPG fight. Here is one of the few negatives, the game is somehow "slow" on combat and also requires a lot clicks.
Look for mods, some add new races, spells and make the game more stabile
