The rating from folks that haven't even played the game, are basically a protest vs GOG, not the game itself. Verified Owners rating of 4.9 of 5 tells the story. Being a Dik is extremely enjoyable, well written, great character development bar none, replayable, meaningful, terrific, and the story is still evolving, interesting stuff. Acting Lessons is also pretty good. It is the AVN that most often is referenced as setting the bar that all other AVNs are compared to for a reason. And it Season 3 is in active development with the Interlude and Episode 1 already completed. As I read on another's post, even if you took the graphic/adult part out of the game, it would still be good. I'm as straight as it gets, but one of my favorite characters is a dude, Derick. He is so funny, The girls are all different and not cookie cutter. It's all a good time. I just wished Sally had a bigger part. *sigh* (fyi, Sally is a side character that I like)
There are a few other great ones out there. There are a couple just hitting completing season 1 (with a dozen episodes give or take in it) that are really good. This one really is at the top though. It's ok if you like another better though. Point is you will not be wasting money on this game. It is great. Season 1, Season 2, and an Interlude are complete and Season 3 is in development with the final touch up stages on episode 2 which should be out in the next 4-6 weeks. The Seasons are long, which is excellent. A few reasons why this is at the top of AVNs: **Replayability is phenominal and everything gets better as it goes unlike some where it starts off good and gets worse. **Choices are meaningful. **The Seasons aren't short. **The renders are terrific from the very start and like the entire game, continue to get even better. **The coder is extremely active working on the rest of the story and you won't be left in the lurch which sometimes happens with AVNs. The current two seasons are so long and replayable that if you haven't started, you have plenty to keep busy with until Season 3. **The dialog is top notch, the characters are diverse in that each aren't cookie cutter, and each personality is well developed. Downsides: It does take nearly a year for each episode, so if you have played thru the Seasons and interlude multiple times (which is a pretty big and enjoyable undertaking) and are waiting for the next episode, you have to have patience. But I will add, that even if another part didn't come out, while I would be sad, what is out there is just so good I'd never regret the time spent so far on it. If you play it as your first AVN (like I did) then you will compare all other AVNs to it and most will fall way short, ruining some OK AVNs. There are a few that are comparable out there though. So not to knock other top notch AVN's out there, and there are several, but this one reigns atop the list.
Some high end games (BG3), I struggled to create characters that looked good. This game the end results were plesant. Along with backgrounds, you choose personalities. 2 based on character, 2 whatever. Changes the dialog/banter and makes it more real to listen to. A1 Possibly changes some gameplay? The tutorial comes across as part of the story of each character and I thought it was accomplished fantastically. Outstanding. I like the world/story. Others often have contrived stories or characters are the 'chosen one' (cough bg3). I found the world really cool. It didn't slow down gameplay or have you read long books you find laying around. There weren't barrels everywhere that you felt obligated to loot for the odd gold piece and didn't have seashells/splinters/flowers around every corner. Thank the gods. The crafting system is remarkable. So much better implemented than a witcher type or OS:2 with their endless barrels and seashells. The User Interface is smooth as butter and visually well done. Nothing seems to be forced down your throat to do this action or that leaving you options. If characters go behind a large obstruction and your camera isn't swung around to see, a circle or hole in the obstruction still shows your characters. So good. The closest combat to table top since ToEE. A review online about RNG: "The biggest problem with combat... rolling dice makes for an... unpredictable experience... approaching a fight the exact same way over several attempts led to different outcomes each time." It's like the person is saying the results should be concrete. Sometimes things aren't going to go your way, and to me that is A1. I just don't see it as bad that an enemy saves or a sword misses. There were no Social and Political agenda items layered into the game, although an option to be called a "they" was a minus. But anyone should be able to play the game without feeling these things are shoved down their throat (looking at you Pathfinder WotR).
For those that aren't aware, of the characters you can recruit, a majority are deviant lifestyle characters. Name your letter. While a Succubus type demon would be something you'd expect this from, having less than half of the recruitable characters straight might be something you want to be aware of before buying. I think it breaks down to 1 straight male, 1 straight female, and the rest are bi, trans, etc.. I'll leave the gameplay to others. But the feel of it is very much like a remaking of their Original Sin 1,2 rather than BG3. The opening beach scene after a crash is almost an exact look alike to OS 2. Would be nice to play a game without delving into societal issues of the day.
Circle of Eight ( CO8 ) mod makes this a great experience. If you want to up the game even from that, then Temple+ mod will give you many options that make quality of life ( QOL ) better and experience deeper. As far as the game, its Temple of Elemental Evil ( TOEE ) on computer. (or Keep on the Borderlands if you download that too). What stands out, by a country mile, is the combat. This is the best adaptation of a rules set on any game I've seen. Talk about having options in combat. Out of spells, your quiver is empty, what can you do? Quite a lot actually. This is the cream of the cream when it comes to rules implementation and combat. A dungeon crawler at its peak in my opinion.
Good game. The story is good so far, and I like the character development. Voice acting is pretty good. They need to have an addon for the LGBTQ crowd in my opinion. Or an option. The severe gayness of men coming onto my character and people in my party is disgusting. If it was once, then ok, that's about probably about right, but it is quite prevalent. Even those that have girlfriends seem to be as open as rain to having sex with my male character. Leave the politcal correctness at the shore, or at least have a way to turn the foul stuff off. So far, I don't have any complaints about the rest of the game. I've had it for a bit, but after trying it for an hour after first buying it, I sat it asside. I've gotten to the point where sexual deviation became pushed into my face repeatedly, and now I'm unsure if its worth playing.
This game is interesting. Just because it does skills and fights differently not neccessarily mean its bad. But my goodness, it does get old after the polish has worn off. I go back to it, I'm on the floor that is supposedly right before the last level, but urrgghh, it is torture to play. The fights are boring as heck at this time. I bypass every quest I can that doesn't plop right in front of me. The level design is frustrating. I just want it to be over. Items, you would think, by this level would be great, but every item has detrimental effects, even the top tier items. I got better gear that is two or sometimes three tiers below the top tier. So close, but I don't know if I will ever finish this. If it had ended 5 floors ago, then my review might have been better.
MAD about the game first/foremost, and about the reviews I read getting downvoted because of explaining what makes this version bad. trusteft gave a superb review of the actual game (giving it a generous 4 stars) and was downvoted because it was negative? First game I've seen on GoG get that treatment and makes me suspect something fishy. Conspiracy theories aside, This game isn't XCOM: Enemy Unkown. That is what I thought I was buying. I was sorely mistaken. I bought XCOM: Enemy Unknown Complete BS. This re-imagining of the game dumbs down many options that made the original such a great game. Read the reviews that got downvoted to see many examples. The opening hour of the game, where in the normal game you could place how your facility goes, it doesn't work the same, with you being force fed how to do it. I kept thinking, this introduction part is sure lasting a long time. Basically the entire game you are in a tutorial with them holding your hand and never given the freedom to manage like the original version. I can't give as good a review as some on here. I suggest before buying to read those and know they are not just blowing smoke. Do yourself a favor, and see if you can find the original and get it to working. This version gives XCOM: Enemy Unknown a bad name.
I've only played the opening sequence, but it is riddled with questionable things. A fight where there is a bad guy going to kill me, gets interupted. I want to use that to my advantage and take him out, but he is unkillable in the presiding fight (for storyline purposes). Once I found that out, I tried to back out of the fight, but it wouldn't let me. So I had to restart. This was just after a decent fight. So that was two fights, followed by another smaller fight. 3 fights, with no rest. I was a shifter, with one use of Drow Warrior (which has a high SR). I was in that shifted form, when I entered the place where the bad guys (everyone alive except townsfolk) had ran, so I go in. Once the scene plays out, it kicked me out of my shifted form. So I was there, a shifter, in normal form and spells raining down on me. Since I only have one use at level 15 of that form, and it kicked me out, I have to start over and use something else and save that form with the high SR for that fight. A form is supposed to last until you change out of it. This 'bug/feature' ruined another playthrough. The story seems very interesting, but so far the execution is pathetic.
