I ran this on linux mint, so be forewarned. Ran like a charm for me. I think it might have crashed once, during two whole playthroughs. Okay, the story was a bit incoherent and not up to Larian's usual standards but it was still better than 90% of the dross out there so until I can only take off half a star, I'll let it slide because the rest of the game was just *so darned fun!* The companions were not deep but they were enjoyable with their own sidequests and bits of input into the main characters and quest. There were some fetch quests, but some were deep and others fed directly into the main plot--making the main story more interesting that it otherwise, might have been. The battle mechanics were well...joyous. Blast baddies off a cliff, rain down a firestorm, make enemies slip n slide on ice puddles while another party member hacks them down, use the environment to your advantage in a tough battle and turn the tides on their ambush of your party... Absolutely great replayability although not much of the story will change. It can be played through with a weaker party for those who want to play for characterization as well, or instead of pure battle and for me, that is the mark of a well-made game. It's Larian goodness through and through so whether you're new to Larian games or have played many of them--this is a good choice. It has plenty of Larian's famous quirkiness and hours of entertainment for players of all stripes.
Just. Ugh. I played this right through to the end. I'm really fond of clever games and good story and characters, with or without much combat. The combat system is horrendous. Don't even get me started. In the beginning, prepare to die. By the end, it's tedious and winning is a foregone conclusion. The story blithers about from place to place and while I'm a grand fan of lots of dialogue options, the majority of them are pointless except for giving you *more* dialogue about more stories that are meaningless to what actual little plot it has. The reason Torment was so amazing is that the dialogue wasn't just there for the sake of exposition dumps--it was there in relation to the main character and story arc. The exposition dumps in this would flunk a grade 10 creative writing class. They're just there for the sake of dumping and without them, there's next to no actual story or game, left. The side characters are just...annoying, for the most part. Rarely do I say that about side characters, I usually love them but these are half-baked ideas, not fully-fleshed out individuals there to give weight to the plot and main character's arc while maintaining individuality. The only one that has any strong emotional impact by the end of the game is essentially--a jelly puppy. Everything in this has been done in another game, better. I wanted to like this, I really did. It just had zero resonance. The only thing I felt by the end was, "So, that was IT? Argh, I should have skipped all that reading and just sped to the end." The problem with this game was lots of interesting ideas strung together with little cohesion. Too meandering to be a novel, too mechanically stunted to be a game.
This was the best of the Bravelands series. It plays the longest, it's the most challenging and for most people, likely the most engaging. The story is simple and the strategy part is simplistic with enjoyable cartoon stacks (the cooks rock, keep your cooks, they're lifesavers). It's just plain fun. Nothing fancy but the artwork is whimsical and the music, endearing.
I played this through several times. Can't say that for very many games these days. It held my interest. Lots of character development options, fairly easy to grasp, can be played by someone with less dexterity on a lower level or played by a more agile player at higher levels. Some games are just plain fun. This is one of them. The graphics are fun, the mechanics are fun and responsive, the world is interesting. Not a fascinating story but then--it doesn't really need one. It's a murder hobo and lootfest, dream.
I picked all three Bravelands up on a sale. They were simple strategy games, great for kids and those who aren't strategy-savvy. Lovely artwork, simplistic and a whole lot of fun to play especially if you're busy and need a pleasant game that can be played at leisure, stop and start. For strategy afficiandos they're probably too easy but for kids or people who like casual, turn-based strategies they are a pleasant day of playing.
All-in-all a good little time waster for the money. I found this game closer to Divine Divinity than Diablo with it's exotic outdoorsy settings. Far fewer gloomy dungeon crawls. Has the same kind of light-hearted quests too. The main game is good fun but I must say, the add-on has a huge jump in skill level that makes it ultimately frustrating and I changed my build a bit to suit it and still didn't enjoy it nearly so much as the main game. As well, the original ending was well-paced while the add-on just seemed redundant and grindy. The music is fitting, too. The skill levels are fun to play around with and because it's a loot-fest (I have millions of gold and nothing to spend it on) even if you mess them up a bit you can change them later in the game to create a more suitable play style. The setting is amazing. It's beautifully artistic and fun to spend hours in play and exploration. One other drawback is the saving mechanism. It can become quite tedious to try and get out of the game when necessary since you will respawn at a restore point. Some of them are spaced apart a bit too far. The poor saving mechanism and tacked on ending with skill jump and some moments when the fighting doesn't "click" are the reasons I knocked off a star. Good replay value even if the story is a bit thin.
I think this was the most depressing game I ever played. Misery piled on misery and I happen to like some horror games or those with sad/difficult themes. For some reason, the writers forgot they were writing a video game where even in a forcibly limited context (such as Bioshock) the player should feel they have *some* agency. I actually wound up yelling at the screen "For F-sake, WHY are you taking orders from your mother and a nine year old girl about WAR?!" and yelling at certain characters to shut the F up since it was clear, they were babbling useless nonsense in the middle of crucial decisions. Getting proper information is crucial to anyone in a position of power--there was none to be had, making it all excruciatingly unrealistic. The whole mess was depressing. It was misery piled on misery then torture with no end in sight. No "good" moments. It flitted from protagonist to protagonist and not enough time spent to LIKE any of them, or even appreciate their viewpoints. *Every* decision felt wrong. What kind of moron KEEPS going into battle with too few troops? Didn't this idiot figure it out the first time? It wasn't even a matter of grey choices such as the Witcher--it was a matter of no real choices and no creativity in those choices. Most of the characters were so incredibly stupid, I wanted to slap them all upside the head. Only Ethan was entertaining to play at all. There was no "playing the long game" as is so entertaining in the show GoT--every single decision was made short-sighted. The Big Twist could be seen coming almost from the start, it was that obvious--and anyone too stupid to see it coming had no business being the Lord of the Outhouse, never mind a wealthy stronghold. Much as the first GoT game had it's frustrations, it was written 200% better and a far better story and decisions actually counted. Save your money. There's a better GoT game out there and better Telltale games such as The Wolf Among Us and Walking Dead.
I never thought I would enjoy this as much as I did. I'm not much of a point n click fan. Most I find tedious with puzzles that distract from the plot. Not so, here. The puzzles, for the most part were extensions of the "detecting" rather than random silly puzzles slapped in the middle of the game to distract the player from the thin plot. Here the characters and world-building are thick and rich. This is a good game for those who aren't fond of Point N Clicks or detective tales. It's story and character-driven. I was also surprised, given the level of graphics, how immersed I was in the story-telling world and how much I cared about my pixelated characters. While I'm not a graphics freak, pixellated figures don't usually grab my attention with this kind of depth. It kept me up late, worrying I needed to get to the next plot point with my blocky little friends and their snappy relationship. For a few dollars on sale I was thoroughly entertained all weekend and bought the successor to polish the story off. Get this bundle. It's good entertainment for a few dollars.
I liked this so much I played it twice in a row. Can't say I've liked any game enough to do that for at least a decade. While the standard complaint about Telltale adventures is that your choices as a player don't make a huge impact on the plot what they WILL do, is make your relationships with other characters and what kind of information you are privy to, a very different experience depending on your responses to those NPCs and how the plot unfolds. The story was well written and a fun noir about "fables' aka characters from fables living in the mundane world. You play as Bigby who is trying to reform from his place in fableland as the Big Bad Wolf to a position of respect as the sheriff. You can respond as Bigby either as a BBW trying to put his blackhearted past behind him or as an "end justifies the means" pragmatist and numerous gray shadings in-between. The character development is fabu and there are plenty of varied characters with personal motivations that drive the well-devised, plot. It's less emotional than the Walking Dead but it's far less depressing and more plot-driven which I liked. The fighting sequences [I thought] were better than the Walking Dead's but in all the TT games, I found the Hollywood flash editing of changing camera points of view in the middle of the altercation beyond annoying and frustrating. Fortunately, it tends to save a lot so Bigby doesn't have to fight the entire scene if the player doesn't immediately figure out exactly which control is the one that will actually do the job. It's mainly an interactive story which, if you are okay with that, will provide you with a superior entertaining experience.
While I see the purists are fairly happy with the new edition I am coming at this from the perspective of someone who was around during the first game's release but never played it and someone who isn't a huge adventure game fan. Sorry fellow Goggers but I honestly don't get the fanfare for retro graphics if better ones are available ;) This was an entertaining splash into the pool of GK games. In fact, I put the other titles ones on my wishlist after I played this just for the storytelling appeal. The plot pulled me in and was entertaining to the end. Most of the puzzles made good sense and were not obtuse, with a little thought. The characters are well drawn and the acting, serviceable. The humour scattered about the tale added to the characterization without distracting from the urgency of the plot. And please, someone pull that music score OUT of my head as it won't shut up! I agree with the reviewer who said the graphics in some areas would have been more effective with additional creep factor. I gave it 4 stars because it tends to be crashy in the beginning for some reason so save early and save often especially at the start to save frustration. Other than that, the point&click system works fine. This one is worth your money for a few evenings [depending how skilled you are] of entertainment.
