Played it through on french with english subtitles, Some of the humor suffers from localization, especially the german one (which on the other hand becomes funny again for obvious direct or missing translations). The game loop is typical for old-school games, no bad design decisions like "level scaling". Each battle is solveable by different ways: Brute force (obviously not always workiing and not the best choice)/using environment puzzles or speicla items/basic tactics depending on opponent. Pros: - solid gamesystem - more than one approach to battles - even while using "archetypes", you can actually customize the party a lot - story twists that fit the gameworld/setting - the humor (if you like it, with lots of culture references through the whole crpg and media era from 80s to 2000s) - easter eggs and replay value (choices DO matter, if you have them) - never got boring and just fun to watch the party move and fight and talk Cons: - no disabling of bloom - optimization which forces you to disable and fiddle with a lot of settings on older machines, but i got it run smoothly - navigation needs a bit to get used to, since every keystroke makes the party stop. So you basically navigate with keyboard while keeping one key pressed and using a second for changing directions or camera. Use only one key or a third: party stops - guess the humor and chatter (if you do not like it). But chatter can be disabled or customized - german localization and translation - some puzzles are language based, so tough or unsolveable with some translations A shame the books, comics and animated of the series is so hard to find in another language but french.
Background: Iplayed the original C64 and MS-DOS versions and recently the so called original classic. General: - apart from taste issues and bugs, this version does almost everything the old versions did, only better Pros: - save system. You have autosave AND saveslots. - Journal (where you can review passwords, paragraphs and statistics) - cutscenes (skipable, narrated) - combat feedback (sound and graphics) - immersion, atmosphere and presentation. Managed to update the graphics without loosing the original feel. Due to more realism you loose some instant recognition and speciality highlights, of course. - sound - since i never used macros i did not miss them and btw, they seem to have been added now. - feedback in the way your first char looks and what weapon is currently used as well. Different genders/nationalities/NPCs look different on the map Cons: - bugs, though probably better than you could think from the reviews. Few freezes under windows 7 when the engine wanted to start a cutscene. Brother had random freezes under windows 10 that increased in probability the longer he played (making him stop on that PC). Changes: - gameplay changes noticed: when you party is uncounscious and you wake up, it does not go into combat automatically like in the old versions. This allows for complete usage of medic/doctor/weapon swapping (but if you want the old way, you just hit E). - After you solve the game, you now have some more feedback What could they have done better? - you still loose all items you drop and any NPC you disband. Shops still keep items sold, though, Some storage or the NPCs going back or staying somewhere would have been a nice feature for a remake - the quest system is basically just a measure how well you stick to the wasteland 2 lore, no real choices except "do or do not". But it works fine as checklist. - more character design options After all a decent update in the reviewd version (1.24).
I have mixed feelings about this. The story and setting sound very appealing and it is very good. The characters are interesting. The game technically worked fine for me and ran fluently. I liked the game system a lot more than pillars of eternity, too. I especially liked the combat system and character development system. By learning by usage, the character really felt "growing" and did not feel too limited. Level-ups were also not too impactful, but everyone mattered. The first chapter is everything promised and i second all 5 stars reviews for it. But... ,,, from the second chapter onwards my experience slowly went from "excellent!" at the end of chapter 1 to "annoying" when i stopped even playing after a big reveal. The advertised "choices with consequences" are really that...just not as i expected.. Once you made your choices in the first chapter, you can only change them either by "doing everything as told" or "complete betrayal and killing every friend you made". This was too much "bad roleplaying and out of character" for me. Especially annoying was that it all was forced upon you without even being necessary...explaining it would require spoilers, but just play the beastman chapters as non-rebel and you might understand.. If you expect "evil" or "cunning" decisions and stories of intrigue and betrayal as for example "fallout", you will be disappointed. The second disappointment came with realizing how the game system handles encounters. It was not as bad for me as in pillars of eternity (where you could get stuck storywise for lack of progression), but i really hate scaling enemies. And this game has them, so better include it in the cons. Especially if you advertise your game as "return to the old-school"... So here the game system and mechanics loose a star for me. Combined with the roleplaying flaws (5 stars in first chapter to 0 in the last one i played), i can't see more than a three star from an old-school (played almost every RPG from ultima, bard's tale, wasteland to fallout 3, pillars and tyranny) perspective. I bought it on discount and i had a lot of fun (and hours of gameplay there alone) during the first chapter, so that i my moneys worth and if you don't get annoyed by the third chapter, you might enjoy the game till the end.
