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?
Pros: + good Rogue-like concept Cons: -- poor execution/bugs (enemies spawning in locations where they are impossible to kill such as walls, floors, making progression impossible) -- comic/cartoonish art style -- enemy design (walking carrots? really?!) - repetitiveness - room clearance becomes boring fast - poor selection of weapons - "level" design (or lack thereof) Bottom line: A good concept with really poor execution, terrible design choices when it comes to art style and enemy design, add the repetitive nature of the game and you get a terrible, poor man's Heretic. And with the superior HERETIC now being available on GOG why would anyone even bother with this garbage?
THE GOOD: + very long playtime, epic content + a lot of difficulty settings/customization + optional turn-based combat (only way to play!) THE BAD: -- no real improvements from PATHFINDER: KINGMAKER -- graphical style too cartoony, ugly character portraits, no graphical improvements from its predecessor - still not fully voiced (expect to read A LOT) - realtime with pause (Command & Conquer-style) combat system! It was terrible in Baldu'rs Gate, it's terrible now! BOTTOM LINE: I find PATHFINDER (II) - WRATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS rather disappointing: there is no real improvement over its predecessor, graphics are the very same, the game still is not fully voiced so be prepared to read A LOT. PII:WOTR retains the (ugly) cartoonish style of its predecessor, complete with very few whacky looking character portraits, but luckily you can import your own. On the plus side they added new races (some of which never appeared in any CRPG before) and a lot (!) of new classes and sub classes. The kingdom management has been scrapped, you know have a Crusade to fight (think HEROES OF MIGHT & MAGIC-like sieges) which is meh. If you liked PATHFINDER: KINGMAKER you will probably like PATHFINDER: WRATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS, too, as it improves (gameplay wise) on the system, but otherwise feels like a lazy sequel. If you aren't going to make a technical leap forward at least improve the faults the previous game had: fully voiced dialogues, a narrator, you know, as in BALDUR'S GATE 3 or DIVINITY: ORIGINAL SIN 2. Oh, and Owlcat, ditch the horrible realtime with pause combat system, that is just awful. Sure you can switch back and forth between this abomination and turn-based, but the game was clearly made with the first in mind.
IRATUS is an almost copy & paste job of DARKEST DUNGEON, but where the original was *original* and had some fresh ideas for a "rogue"-like game, IRATUS' only claim to fame is, you play as the bad guy. This ditches the "insanity" meter, a core gameplay element of DARKEST DUNGEON and replaces it with... nothing. While the art design of DARKEST DUNGEON was artistically very original and destinct, IRATUS looks cheap. The undead look rather goofy than scary. All in all, this is a second rate DARKEST DUNGEON that omitts DARKEST DUNGEON's core element, adds nothing new and does everything just ok'ish. 1 hour in I found myself wanting to play DARKEST DUNGEON instead and ended up refunding this. I guess it's ok if you can get it on sale (like for $10). It does offer good tactical combat and the voice acting is done by Blood's Caleb guy. Yeah, they even copied that narrator only monolgues from DARKEST DUNGEON. Do let's sum it up: Pros: + tactical combat (not as difficult as DARKEST DUNGEON) + voice acting Cons: -- carbon copy of DARKEST DUNGEON - ditched the insanity mechanic withouty a replacement - graphics look goofy - rather poor when compared to the far superior DARKEST DUNGEON Bottom line: Go play DARKEST DUNGEON instead, you'll be happy you did!
