Fallout offers a good old RPG experience. Okay, compared to the sequel, there's a lot less ... of anything, I guess, and not much variety or use of the RPG elements. There are a lot of perks, traits or skills that you never use because there are few occasions in the game where you really need them. So it seems like there are few builds you can really do (and forget the predefined classes), unless you want a really weird challenge (like having less than 4 in intelligence...you'll have trouble speaking at all). The downside is it is in a buggy and unfinished state. It really annoyed me that you can't really get a good ending for each settlement, because there are unfinished/not implemented quests in the game that you need to get the best ending. And I'm kind of a completionist. Not to mention all the bugs in the game: quests don't start properly, quests aren't crossed out, when they're finished, my inventory icon turns black and I can't click on it, etc etc. I could go on and on if I wanted to. There are even some exploits that could be considered cheating (getting unlimited XP or caps), but of course I didn't use them. But luckily there are fan-made patches for these problema. I already used a High Defnition patch to be able to play on a modern PC with high resolution, but there are also fan-made patches like Fallout Fixt that fix most of the complaints I had with the game. Too bad I only discovered this when I was halfway through and didn't want to start over. I just played with this patch for a while after finishing the game once and it was great. Companions can be pushed to get out of the way, aren't limited to weapons, can also wear armor, it has a better interface, various bugs have been fixed, ... Therefore I give a cautious recommendation to play this game, but not without this patch. Unless you're a purist, but then you know what you're getting yourself into.
I was really surprised by TESA: Redguard, as it is sometimes frowned upon by TES fans, but I didn't bother with much of the content before because I wanted to play the game myself at some point. And i kinda liked it. The game feels like a real adventure: solving puzzles, navigating parkour passages, fighting enemies, and talking to quirky NPCs. It’s a mix between Monkey Island and Tomb Raider, with an engaging story and a world that while not huge offered plenty to explore for its time. The gameplay is varied, not strictly linear, and the puzzles can be quite tricky. NPCs are simple but unique and recognizable, with plenty of dialog options to guide you or flesh out the lore. Everything is voiced, though quality varies, some actors voice multiple characters and exaggerate certain quirks, which can be weird. Overall, the presentation feels a bit junky, but that gives it its own charm. But now to the negative points, starting with the inventory and the combat. The inventory is messy: every collected item stays, cluttering the screen, and managing it is inconvenient. Combat is also poorly executed. You only have one attack combo and moves like parrying and dodging are possible. It isn’t too difficult, but it rarely feels fun. Boss fights too, suffer from bugs, sometimes you can cheese them without taking damage. Although it wants to be like Tomb Raider, the game doesn't do it quite as well. The controls are imprecise, the camera unhelpful, and clipping issues often make jumps unreliable. Some Situations often turn into trial and error, with constant saving and reloading, not because of difficulty or skill issue but because of technical flaws. I can only recommend the game to fans who have always wanted to try out Redguard anyway and are interested in the story or would like to recapture the nostalgia, who are not put off by technical difficulties and shaddy controls, because the content of the game already has a certain charm.
It's some sort of strategy game and dungeon builder with two layers of gameplay: Managing your dungeon and clean sweeping the overworld of nasty heroes and adventurers. Balancing these layers is the key here. Having your units in the underground producing things or sending them out fighting. The difficulty remains very low for most of the campaign. It's a little bit more challenging if you play with friends. The DLC significantly ramps up the challenge. Still it's pretty basic compared to other strategy games. The main selling point is probably the humor. A narrator guides you through missions, frequently commenting on your actions and providing story context. Much of the humor relies on parody, referencing popular franchises like The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. Sometimes the jokes hit the mark and add charm to the experience; other times they feel a bit overdone. Still it did a pretty good job in telling a story, where you play as the evil beeing. Sometimes it was so bland, that i did not even remember the narrative anymore, even after i played some months ago. Like the jokes, it often seems as if elements have been borrowed from various other games. Warcraft, Dungeon Keeper, etc.. And that's why it doesn't really stand out in the genre. The Winther DLC is good though. You play as Arthas ... i mean Barthas as he joined the Legion of the Undead and fight against the remaining living Heroes he once accompanied. Kinda sounded familiar... anyway. Despite some people hated it, i really liked the difficulty here. I would probably enjoyed it even more, if the base game was a little bit harder.
In my quest to play through all the Elder Scrolls games, I knew I would come across this game too. Now that I've played through it too, I can see why it wasn't a great success. The game actually adds value to the lore and world of Elder Scrolls. It goes into great detail about the Daedra and their clans and deepens their history in the world. Without these approaches in Battlespire, there would certainly be no TES IV: Oblivion. And the game goes deeper into their philosophies and customs than Oblivion ever did. Here, every enemy is also an NPC with fully voiced dialog. But what's so bad about the game? Battlespire is in a technically desolate state. These include some small but also fatal bugs that can ruin your progress if you don't attach much importance to backup saves. What's more, some of the levels have platforming passages frequently. The jumping mechanic in this game is partly a dice roll. So it can happen that the character simply jumps and misses its target or get stuck on an edge. Most of the time you can't get away from it, so you have to reload. Also a annoying feature of the game is the fact that enemies can knock you away. In this case, it can happen that you are knocked back meters, sometimes even down chasms. My last point concerns the dialog and the ability to talk to enemies. It's a great idea, no question and sometimes it's necessary to get tips on how to progress, but in reality I don't think it helps. Of course, if you're open to dialog, you get a bit more lore, but most enemies of the same type talk the same stuff and you often present less variation. And looking for unique npc is a pain because they all look the same. Even though the game takes an interesting approach and contributes a lot to the lore, it was just a lot of work for me to finish the game. I can only recommend it to hardcore fans for whom the story is important enough to subject themselves to such suffering.
In my quest to play through all the Elder Scrolls games, I knew I would come across this game too. Now that I've played through it too, I can see why it wasn't a great success. The game actually adds value to the lore and world of Elder Scrolls. It goes into great detail about the Daedra and their clans and deepens their history in the world. Without these approaches in Battlespire, there would certainly be no TES IV: Oblivion. And the game goes deeper into their philosophies and customs than Oblivion ever did. Here, every enemy is also an NPC with fully voiced dialog. But what's so bad about the game? Battlespire is in a technically desolate state. These include some small but also fatal bugs that can ruin your progress if you don't attach much importance to backup saves. What's more, some of the levels have platforming passages frequently. The jumping mechanic in this game is partly a dice roll. So it can happen that the character simply jumps and misses its target or get stuck on an edge. Most of the time you can't get away from it, so you have to reload. Also a annoying feature of the game is the fact that enemies can knock you away. In this case, it can happen that you are knocked back meters, sometimes even down chasms. My last point concerns the dialog and the ability to talk to enemies. It's a great idea, no question and sometimes it's necessary to get tips on how to progress, but in reality I don't think it helps. Of course, if you're open to dialog, you get a bit more lore, but most enemies of the same type talk the same stuff and you often present less variation. And looking for unique npc is a pain because they all look the same. Even though the game takes an interesting approach and contributes a lot to the lore, it was just a lot of work for me to finish the game. I can only recommend it to hardcore fans for whom the story is important enough to subject themselves to such suffering.
After playing all modern entries in The Elder Scrolls series, I decided to go back and see where it all began. What I found was a game that clearly laid the foundation for the series identity, with mechanics and ideas that are still present today. There's plenty to do here. The quests themselves are basic and often templated to simple fetch quests but it's understandable within the context of the limitations of its engine. Dungeons are another beast entirely. They are fully 3D and often feel like sprawling labyrinths. There's a sense of scale and confusion that's hard to replicate today. But the best part of the game is immersion. You're not the center of the universe here. You're just one person in a huge, living world, and it behaves more like a simulation than a typical RPG. The main quest isn't urgent. In fact, it often pauses for ingame weeks until the next letter arrives. In the meantime, you're free to do whatever you like. Buy a house or a ship. Travel the wilds, worship Daedra and earn rare gear. Or break into someone's home, get arrested, go to court and spend a whole ingame year in prison because you can. It's all part of the world, and it never pressures you to follow a specific path. Of course, it's still an old game. Accessibility is a hurdle for modern players. Thankfully, there's a version running on the Unity engine. This brings quality of life improvements plus full mod support. Imagine how important this game is to fans, carefully porting it into another engine and preserving the experience. And with mods you can also have your waifu experiences in Daggerfall. Great isn't it? It is glitchy and janky but still worth trying. With the Unity engine and because you can play it for free today, there is no excuse not to give it a try if you're curious about the roots of the series.
