Yet another Baldur's Gate clone, unfortunately it does not allow for turn based combat and only has the terrible realtime with pause system that was already garbage in Baldur's Gate 1. The 2D graphics are alright but nothing to write home about, character models however are mediocre. Everyone who's played Pillars of Eternity or BG will recognize the HUD and have no problem with the controls. Black Geyser really isn't sufficient nourishment for RPG-starved gamers out there. It anages to be even duller than the mediocre Pathfinder games.
A successor to PLANESCAPE TORMENT? Really? The only two things I found these games have in common are 1) they both have the word torment in their titles and 2) they're more like interactive novels While PLANESCAPE TORMENT (the far superior "Torment" game) is a pure fantasy game, this one mixes fantasy in sci-fi (which I'm not a fan of). TTON ditches the terrible "real time with pause" combat system (which was never good to begin with) and replaces it with an unpolished, equally sucking turn based system. Just like PT the focus is not on combat, so if that's what you're here for, you'll be disappointed. TTON is about reading, reading and more reading. Few lines are actually voiced, so expect to do some serious reading for about 99% of the time. The classes you play as are the equivalent of fighter, rogue and mage (how ingenious!) otherwise expect the same old as in any isometric RPG. In no way does this game live up to PLANESCAPE TORMENT. The setting is replaced by a bland sci-fantasy mix and the game fails to provide PST's captivating macabre atmosphere. Don't waste your time here, read a book instead!
The Good: NOTHING! The Bad: ----- cliff hanger ending - additional content coming requiring a SECOND SEASON PASS -- low level party -- 2 NPCs MUST be in your party and MUST survive - side show cast Bottom Line: Lesson learned: it was the first season pass I bought and it will be the last. It will also be the last item from Owlcat Games for sure. Until now the season pass has not paid off. The DLCs were piss-poor. This second story DLC is the worst. It also comes with a cliffhanger ending - a continuation will follow but you'll have to fork out more $$$ because it is part of a 2nd Season Pass! Well, I'm out!
Pros: + lots of fighting + nicely drawn environments + create a party of 6 (no NPCs) Cons: --- terrible Command & Conquer style passive combat (real time with pause) -- very little voice acting (prepare to read A LOT) - braindead AI - starts at level 1 with mages being near useless (1 spell per rest, 4 hit points) - pathfinding is horrible - Infinity engine's capabilities are very limited (fighting, reading dialogues) Bottom line: The first two BALDUR'S GATE games have to be the most overrated cRPGs of all time. Not only did they introduce a very crappy combat system where combat is mostly automatic and you just interfere by pressing space bar to pause and issue commands which the characters briefly follow before returning to their suicidal behavior (mages with 4 hps will rush into melee combat). Tactical turn-based combat is the only way to go in this type of game (unless it's a solo character game which can get away with DIABLO-style click-to-hit). The pathfinding is atrocious - you need to bring your party to a point at the end of the map, you'd better "lead" them in baby steps to that point or they'll just get lost (or stuck). Wanna leave the area? Prepare to hear "you must gather your party before venturing forth!" - yes, pixel exact placement of all six characters at the exit, one pixel off is a no-go. Due to the game engine's (Infinity, what a joke!) limitations you'll be doing two things is abundance: fighting and talking to NPCs (reading, lots and lots of reading, because only every other sentence is actually dubbed with mediocre voice acting). Enhanced Edition? Well, Beamdog did add higher resolutions, but using them makes everything look washed out and blurred, so don't expect any miracles here. If you intend to get ICEWIND DALE 2 note that that has NOT been "enhanced" and it recycles a lot of areas of ICEWIND 1.
Forget DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION, this is the actual GOTY of 2014! The Good: ++ old school dungeon crawler with tile-by-tile movement and 90 deg turns ++ expands on the already great LEGEND OF GRIMROCK with 5 races and 8 classes ++ not an RPG "lite", more DUNGEON MASTER than EYE OF THE BEHOLDER + difficulty can be customized (three settings, plus optional automap, Iron Man mode) + best looking dungeon crawler, very atmospheric locations + breaks with cliches The Bad: - less dungeon crawling and more outside dungeons - not for beginners despite 3 difficulty settings (the enemies and the puzzles are HARD, even on "easy"!) Bottom Line: GRIMROCK 2 is on my top 3 dungeon crawler list right behind BLACK CRYPT and DUNGEON MASTER 2. Just as those two games it is clearly meant for "advanced" dungeoneers. If you come from the EYE OF THE BEHOLDER trilogy or SKYRIM you will most certainly have a rude awakening. The puzzles are more substantial than the common "find the switch" puzzles, some require timing and some are actual head scratchers. GRIMROCK 2 breaks with genre cliches, classes don't function as in other games of this type. Planning your build is mandatory and there is no respecing option. For fans of games like DUNGEON MASTER this is an absolute must play! 5 out of 5!
I never played these when it came out in '93, so the nostalgia for these titles isn't there, unlike titles such as Dungeon Master, Black Crypt or Eye of the Beholder. Unlike these "step by step" scrolling titles, the Underworld games have aged rather badly. This goes for almost all of the 90s "soft scrolling" titles: the sprites are very pixelated when you get too close, the graphics are terrible, and the sound, OMG! The sound and music I had to turn off immediately, the beep sounds whenever you move or pick things up is just atrocious. Then there's the controls: just terrible. It might have been a benchmark title in 1993, but if you haven't played it back then and try it out today, it's nothing but a nauseating experience that also makes your ears bleed. I am happy for everyone who enjoys playing these titles, have fun, it's just not for me. Dear GOG, please give us the Dungeon Master games!!!
The Good: + new chars start at Level 20, it can be used as a build preview The Bad: - tedious puzzles - story and setting are unmemorable - 10 hours - no char progression (already maxed out at the start) - story lacks dilemmas and consequences (besides the ending) - enemy variety lacking Bottom line: Inevitable Excess is just that... EXCESS. It's a bad and tedious DLC. I found the puzzles in the OG annoying, they're even worse here. A story is almost non-existent, you get puzzles & combat for 10 hours and zero character progression since you already start at level 20. If you have the season pass - you get to feel ripped off - and can use it as a build preview. If you do not have the season pass - well done! - save your money! If you like killing monsters and solving puzzles and don't care about a compelling story with dilemmas, consequences and well fleshed out characters but like starting maxed out this might be okayish for a couple of hours, but I'd still waith for a discount.
When it comes to ports from PC and console devs go out of their way to make it work on consoles, latest example the DIABLO 2 RESURRECTED console version actually puts those players at an advantage control-wise. Unfortunately that is rarely the case with PC ports of console games. A terrible example would be DARK SOULS. BALDUR'S GATE: DARK ALLIANCE isn't an terrible port, but it still is a bad port. While graphically it's been scaled up, the controls are just terrible with mouse & keyboard. Yes, the game was designed for consoles, but devs make games designed for PC work well on consoles and given the extra time between the PS5/XB1 release and the PC release of the game what we get is unacceptable. The controls are unintuitive and clunky. For the little effort that went into this port the price of $30 is an audacity.
PROS: + large open world to explore with no hand-holding + no map full of question marks and markers + blends fantasy, sci-fi & post-apocalypse + jetpack allows for (limited) vertical exploration + actions and consequences CONS: -- combat is typical Piranha Bytes jank: it's terrible - mediocre presentation, outdated graphics, wooden animations, bad sounds and mediocre voice acting, repetitive character models - AI pretty bad - conversations carry on during combat - menues are horrible to navigate - "cold meter" (this game's version of a moral meter) is only shown as a single word - bland quests - bad writing/script BOTTOM LINE: If you are like me and love to explore huge open worlds to the fullest but hate the hand-holding and map markers and flashy GPS symbols everywhere, then ELEX will keep you occupied for a very long time, if you are willing to ignore the typical Piranha Bytes jank and baggage. The combat is clunky and bad. It is easily the worst part of the game and somewhat reminiscent of their earlier games (GOTHIC series). It also maintains key features of these games, such as the slow progression from stick wielding wimp to somewhat capable fighter, the division of the games in difficulty zones (you are free to go wherever you want but the enemies are not scaled to your level), and the different factions. On the ugly side you got the mediocre presentation: while the landscape looks good and offers a lot of diversity, character models don't, many of which a copy & paste jobs (female models in particular), animations are stiff, sound effects poor and the voice acting mediocre at best. I did not care for the writing in the game and the quest design, which kind of makes you everyone's biatch with your tedious, standard fetch & collect quests. Overall I kinda liked it for the most part, but it has some serious flaws and jank to it as well. I recommend buying at a sale ($10 max.).
... for my taste. Also, the passive nature of the game is a huge turn-off. I mean, what's the point?
