THE GOOD: + very long playtime + very true to the source material + kindom management optional (auto system available) + a lot of difficulty settings/customization + patch adds turn-based combat (only way to play!) + best D&D'esque ruleset + custom character portraits can be imported THE BAD: - still tons of bugs - even 3 years after its release - graphical style too cartoony, ugly character portraits - annoying character (Linzi) - realtime with pause (Command & Conquer-style) combat system! It was terrible in Baldu'rs Gate, it's terrible now! - random encounters with enemies way above party level are certain death (can occur in beginning areas!) - time limit on certain quests, failure is instant game over - no full voice acting - some voice acting just atrocious (Linzi!!!) - you can't kill Linzi - very slow character progression (leveling) - very steep learning curve, requires thorough knowledge of Pathfinder ruleset - permadeath option useless due to randomized encounters BOTTOM LINE: a decent RPG that is far from great or a masterpiece. It has technical and graphical deficiencies and a terrible combat system (real time with pause) with the option to go turn-based (servicable, but the game was not designed around that and it shows). Time limits on quests with game over are a no-go and PATHFINDER: KINGMAKER has this. Random encounters can be an instant game over as well, depending on the random creatures spawned. I still like PATHFINDER KINGMAKER and hope they make serious improvements for the sequel which I will be buying, too. There is a lot of content here and I appreciate how true the game is to its source material.
There's only 3 Build engine games worth playing: Blood, Witchaven I & Witchaven II! Finally all three of them are available on GOG, FINALLY! Witchaven I is my personal favorite game of all time. Thankfully this GOG release comes as the classic version AND the patched Enhanced version which features modern resolutions, modern controls (WASD + mouse look) and patches, this is the way to play it. Unfortunately the manuals and the Build Editor are NOT included.
... to the best game ever made!
is finally on GOG. Best game ever made, hands down! 'Nuff said
Crashes at the Prepare for Battle Screen. Every. Single. Time.
yes, I said it. Better than DARK SOULS 1, 2 & 3, better than DEMON SOULS. Firstly combat is BETTER: it is slower. You are wearing heavy armor, so no prancing around like a ballerina. It feels more realistic (for a fantasy game). Secondly, boss fights are fewer and not overly difficult. Yeah, yeah, I know, the "Git gud" crowd out there will hate it, but I play games for relaxation, NOT for difficulty. A game should be FUN, not hard work and frustrating. No, LORDS OF THE FALLEN isn't an easy game, far from it, but it isn't as frustrating as other games like this. Also you won't be stumbling over a boss every 5 minutes. There's 10 bosses in total, which is more than enough. Thirdly I prefer the art style in LORDS OF THE FALLEN. It looks better, sadly though the story isn't as dark. Still, I liked it. LORDS OF THE FALLEN isn't great, it's not the Second Coming of Christ, but it is a good game for those who don't want their games to be too frustrating. It is a fairer game than all those other "souls" like games out there. And at $30 this is definitely a buy!
One would think that a game solely focused on killing nazis would be as anti-nazi as it could possibly get, but you'd be dead wrong. Some overzealous SJW thought to stuff the Wolfenstein goose full of SJW BS until it bursts (o, how insensitive, the fat shaming! My bad). This isn't even funny anymore, you got hours of cringe-worthy crap scenes - I mean CUT scenes - of terribly written SJW playbook scenes, they literally went down their list to mark off every single social issue known to man - sorry WOman. Fat shaming? Check! Feminism? Check! Evil racist Christians? Check! "Communism = great" propaganda? Double check! Mandatory black super woman? Check! Breast feeding on screen? Check! The main female lead, a poor woman's 70s Pam Grier knock-off is just so atrocious it hurts to watch. She is a totally unlikable character and terribly written, and yes, a racist (she hates white people. And men apparently). Blazkowicz's dad is the stereotypical left-wing depiction of a Southern Christian man who beats up his wife, his child, his dog, openly defends the nazis (this type of stereotype is perfectly OK, I guess). This storyline is a total contradiction to what is mentioned in previous parts in the series. Then we get the over-romanticizing of communism worked into the background art in more or less subtle ways, ignoring the FACT that communism killed more people world-wide than nazi Germany did (and no, this is not to diminish the nazi crimes, both are crimes against humanity on an epic scale). Do yourself a favor: get Wolfenstein 3D, Wolfenstein 2009 and/or Return to Castle Wolfenstein but avoid this garbage like the plague that it is. The older titles are what Wolfenstein is supposed to be: shooting without hours of preachy non-skippable cut scenes. Keep politics out of entertainment!
DOOM II adds the super shotgun and a few new monsters, greatly improving the enemy roster. I still prefer DOOM I for its superior level design (and the 2019 release of SIGIL!). There are some improved textures and the enemy combos do require some tactical approach on higher difficulties. The "Enhanced" version adds a few quality of life improvements such as more options including resolution selection in the menu (including modern day resolutions), direct mod download (if you set up a Bethesda account which doesn't save your password and in a nuisance every time you start the game with various pop-ups) and some censorship (secret Wolfenstein levels have the swastikas replaced and feature a shaved Hitler, lol. I never was a fan of the Wolfenstein levels as they did not really fit in but I thought I'd mention it). Unfortunately the original versions (non-"Enhanced") are no longer available (if you were not lucky enough to grab them before they were removed for this edition). The enhanced version still is the best way to play these classic games in higher resolutions with better controls of you do not want to fiddle around with the source ports. I did not care for its heavy reliance on platforming sequences (despite not having a jump function), timed sequences or the "puzzles" (read: switch hunting). The level design is a bit off too compared to the superior levels of DOOM 1. Due to technical limitations of the time levels like "Downtown" look nothing like what they are supposed to represent. With this version you get the classic expansion from the 1990s such as Master Levels (good), Plutonia Experiment (overrated) and TNT: Evilution (meh), both of which were previously sold as "FINAL DOOM". As mentioned before with the Bethesda account certain expansions such as SIGIL or NO REST FOR THE LIVING can be downloaded completely free as well. DOOM 1 & 2 are must owns for shooter fans.
I prefer HEXEN to HERETIC. HEXEN tried to do its own thing with adding 3 playable classes and the hub system with sometimes infuriating "find-the-switch-the-find-what-it-did-on-another-level" puzzles. HERETIC is more akin to DOOM: no class selection, but quite an arsenal of weapons. No hub system and linear progression, but faster progression and gameplay. Simple key hunts but more focus on shooting. Whether you prefer HEXEN or HERETIC basically comes down to personal preference of these key elements. If you've played DOOM you will find that the weapons in HERETIC basically are just reskins. There's the staff which can be used as a melee weapon (DOOM's fists) or fire single shots (pistol), gauntlets (chainsaw), Crossbow (shotgun), Dragon Claw (Chaingun), etc. New to HERETIC is an inventory system that lets you collect artefacts. Many of these are the fantasy version of DOOM pickups, but unlike DOOM they are not used immediately but at will. I like the enemy design, some of them are even better than the ones in HEXEN (Iron Lich), while the level design and tilesets aren't as good. HERETIC has the linear progression of DOOM, meaning episodes with maps. Each episode can be selected in the menu, between episodes you start from scratch and lose all your weapons and items. Definitely worth picking up if you like old school shooters and prefer a fantasy ambience instead of the sci-fi setting of DOOM.
