This game has its quirks, that's for sure. Some of the combat balancing leaves "something to be desired", but it does include a changable difficulty slider, just in case you're having trouble with one of those "must be done" combats. And some combats, you really need to know in advance how tough they are, otherwise it's the classic "oops, load again". With the right prep, some of those make a good challenge; I think the piece of the puzzle that's lacking is a mechanic for scouting that doesn't take you forever (running ahead with your scout, and then having the party inch up). There are of course, the 'randomly appearing monsters in an encounter, which just happen to spawn in the middle of your defensive party', which can be amusing, if not exactly realistic. That's pretty much it for the bad. On the good: There's some reasonably interesting characters (and you can get a laugh out of their cross chat at camps) which weave into the larger (and boy, is this LARGE; I'm over 100 hours into it, and about halfway through, and that's not including the DLC stuff, and there are still things I haven't had time to look into). It's a grand RPG in the vein of Neverwinter Nights (as the closest I can think of for it in feel). Well, Neverwinter Nights if they'd included all the expansions in the core game (I think there are 6 sub campaigns in the grand story arc, each of which could almost be a full campaign at contemporary game sizes. You do have to use the scenery to achieve some victories (but hey, in a decent RPG, you should; using terrain is at the core of tactical play; this isn't "cheese" style using terrain, but proper tactical use of choke points and so on). And on top of that, there's the setting up of your Barony! That's just a whole other level to keep the eyes on that I find kinda fun!
It actually makes me motion sick. This is the first game I've encountered in about 40 years of gaming that's managed that, though I suspect it's not an achievement the devs were after. As far as speed goes, I'm finding it just fine (running on an AMD R9 280, with an 8 core Piledriver chip from 2014). I ran it in 'Beautiful' setting (1920x1080) and it felt smooth. The crafting side (and having to sneak around, find ingredients, and trade for what you need) is looking very nice indeed. It's a great premise, but that whole motion sickness issue is preventing me playing more.
For a deckbuilding game, it's certainly fun, and there's a decent learning curve to start off with. But one of my irks is the time wasted because of the random number generator. It'll take half an hour to realise that the cards you've been offered don't amount to a hill of beans. So restart. And with a good build, you're still completely at the mercy of the random number generator (I can't count the amount of times that I've had almost exclusively defensive cards when I needed to play offensively, followed by no defensive at all when most needed). There are cards that let you retrieve others, but you need to be offered them in the first place. If they never appear, then you're out of luck. I've put in over 30 hours, which is testament to it being fun. Certainly interesting enough a challenge to want to beat, but at the end of it, its lifetime with me was limited due to the frustration factor.
I played this game when it was first out, and was stunned. To this day I'll occasionally bring it out and re-run it. The storyline was quite simply immersive and detailed, drawing your in and suspending disbelief. Like a good book, you pick this up and (as long as you aren't put off by the dated controls and graphics, which come with the territory of its age) will not be able to put it down at the end of the day.
