A great game...if you steer clear of what frankly I consider to be trap options in character creation. Which it definitely does NOT help you with. A bunch of the classes have some pretty glaring weaknesses, especially at the start, and in a vacuum of information it's very easy to pick a combination of characters that may struggle (several are good against enemy types that do not appear frequently, while others take a LOT of money to support - money you won't have at the start). Once you get going, it goes from 'hard' down to 'pleasant as long as your brain stays on.' But the getting going is the tricky bit. Oh, and the writing has some glaring weak spots...every single in-universe datapad I've discovered was clearly written by someone so far up their own ass they could never find outer space again and would be lost eternally in their own intestines. Possibly that was the intention, but sadly I don't think so.
A five star experience dragged down by a ton of easily-spotted bugs that get in the way of all kinds of things. A shame.
Amazing story, well-executed, fun exploration, satisfying combat. Personally, I cheated and ramped up my character's stats slightly - you can be good at combat or good at talking, and there's enough unavoidable combat it's irksome to have to pick. But genuinely an amazing game.
Look, I can beat some pretty hard Arkham boss fights etc. I can do a game that's quick responding to blocks etc. But if the game demands that, the controls need to allow that. And they don't. It's hard to tell what attack the character's going to do, precision movement is very difficult, and while I have made it only to the first boss fight (and that's 4% of the game, for comparison. I am barely out of the tutorial) I am now supposed to fight an enemy where I need to maneuver somewhat carefully and dodge precisely - and the controls do not allow for this. They do not allow for quickly turning around. The attacks are tailored for large groups, and so do really badly at hitting the singular boss. Oh, and there's often enough red or blue in the background that it's hard to see the enemy move warnings, though that's a more general critique. When it does work and things flow smoothly, it's fun. But it doesn't work so often that it's frustrating. It might get better with a game pad. I think, sadly, I will not be finding out.
I did not expect to like this game much when I downloaded it. This is the most fun I've had in years. You are a prince, sent to a lost colony and commanded to retake it. You have a party of soldiers to assist you, and rebuild forts and acquire resources to support the forts and the support buildings you construct. Build a fort in a country, you get to recruit them as auxiliaries. You are trying to restore the empire, with diplomacy and force. The game minimizes busywork. Fast travel, thorough quest log, instant respeccing, all loot is usable, all loot is in easy-to-see chests. Die, you pop back up in your central fort. The focus is the story. And it's a good, entertaining story, taking fairly simple elements and combining them well. More room for roleplaying than in most games, too. I'm especially impressed by the cultures (which feel fairly real, specially by fantasy CRPG standards). You are a conquering invader imposing an empire, and it feels like it. A note re the graphics: the switch away from isometric actually helped a lot. The graphics now feel more stylized, and so the amazing-for-what-Jeff-says-he-spent sound design makes things surprisingly immersive. There ARE some downsides. There are lots of quality of life issues and little inconsistencies. I expect a lot to be patched out. But this is very clearly the first game in the engine right after release. Try this. Even if you wait for a sale, try this. There is little or nothing else like it.
