Not sure why this has such a low rating unless people just don't understand old school arcade style games from back in the day. Of the set, I'm most fond of Centipede, which yes is a touch different from the original I played in the 80s, but it gets the same feel. All in all they're fun, good for a short window to just blast a few things and go on about your day. Excellent for the person who don't want to constantly invest hours into any game they sit down at, or those who just want a bit of nostalgia fueled relaxation.
Short, easy, and basically a relaxing nostalgia run through things that reminice of days long gone. Little to no real gameplay, just watch your health bar and run back to town regularly and you'll never die.
I have been playing Lands of Lore since it the original was released on 8 floppy disks. The third installment is, sadly, a brutally unfinished work rushed to market from a declining studio. It has a tremendous amount of potential, but it falls flat when you realize how bad the UI is and the bugs make you wonder if you need to call an exterminator. Yes, for those who love the series, a play through is warranted, if you can get anywhere without constant crashing. Some of the alternate worlds you visit are interesting. But it is not, in the end, a game that aged well. If someone were to remaster it? Sure, it could be. Even a bug fix would go a long way, but in its current state? Skip it. Go play the original, maybe the second, but pass on this disappointment.
I want to love this game. I like it well enough, but it is just missing some things that would really make it better. A few of the things that really kind of bother me: Preset parties to start, you get very limited options in your opening character choices. Also, your "ranger" is really what most of us would call a thief in other games. Ranged weapons options are very limited. Your stat upgrades are rather random so maximization is hard when you can't even opt to put points into your key stats when you level up. Characters seem to gain traits randomly and often they are negative with no sense as to why that character is suddenly interested in, oh say, using slave labor. Managing relationships is fine, but when you have such limited control over the conversations with almost all outcomes having negative effects, it gets tiresome. Very repetative feeling combat. Same monsters, poor formation choices, and poor range options. The *only* way to heal is to find random plants to eat, and that is no more than 3 or 4 points and a clearing of the damage debuffs. The stacks of poison, bleed, and burning are incredible energy sinks and both poison and flame can impact you even after you eliminate the opponent. Armor mechancis are meh. An absolutely terrible lockpicking mechanic. Lots of little subquests that have you running all over the map constantly fighting fatigue and hunger. After about 10 hours of that you're done with that mechanic. I rather like the open world, but the erratic nature of the quests means a lot of retracing steps multiple times. In a game that focuses on food and time, that's obnoxious. Level scaling has a bit of a rubberband effect. Your level 4 is not the enemy's level 4. Especially since you're often outnumbered. Yeah that's a fair bit of compliants. It's not all bad. The concepts and basic ideas are good. The maps are nice, the overall feel is solid, and the open world is a nice change and I really do appreciate that.
I remember playing the original Knights of Honor years ago, so my views are mixed with some nostolgic feels for the first version. Some Pros: + Prettier graphics and better sound than the original, but it's also more "realistic" which means tones are muted more. + More buildings options + More diversity in merchant and spy activities. + Better family trait bonuses. + Crusades and Jihads seem less over powered than the previous version. Still annoying but not nearly as devistating. Some Cons: - New buildings don't really seem to add anything really astounding. Amusing, but don't improve gameplay. - Diplomacy is still HEAVILY weighted against you. The computer is set up to constantly ally against you. Your approval decreases far faster than you'll ever improve it and often for bizarre reasons. (This really isn't a change from the original game.) You'll find yourself ganged up on regularly because of this. - Vassals are basically worthless outside of extra cash. You have basically zero ability to stop them from starting wars with each other or demanding ridiculous things and then getting mad at you (and then revolting). - I swear the computer is playing with unlimited cash some days. Like where did this itty bitty kingdom suddenly get 32,000 gold to ransom their king all of a sudden? Yeah. You'll be confused by how fast they seem to build improvements too. - Not as many unique troops as the previous version. They're more grouped by cultural group and the province specific troops like the Normans are gone. Which I find to be really sad. - The fight your own battles option is inferior to many other games like this (e.g. Total War series). Overall, it's still a decent game still, mostly a nostalgia kick for a lot of us I think. Get it on sale, obviously, and don't expect anything supurb, and you'll be fine. It's easy to win several diferent ways. If you want a real challenge work on diplomacy options or try to do a full map conqest.
Not hard, not complicated, cuter than it has any right to be, and generally just pretty relaxing. A good purchase for a casual gamer or someone new to puzzle games. Not a bad back up game if you're looking for something to just chill for a bit on.
So much potential. So much waste. This game becomes a slog fast. The story which starts out so strongly isn't enough to keep you interest as you plow through infinitely respawning areas that all feel the same, just with different skins. I want to like this game. I want to enjoy the pretty feel of it. But I can't. I finally just gave up as it just ended up feeling like wading through a swamp of disappointment and eventually just boredom. There never got to be a point where I felt I had accomplished anything, despite the piles of quests. What went wrong? I don't know. But something did, and it means you should probably pass on this one. There are better RPGs.
If you're really into this odd mix of shooter and rpg, this is a gem and I was glad to find GOG had it after I long ago misplaced the CD version I had. It's slow early, a lot of players are going to get frustrated by the "clunky" feel of early areas, but as you progress and upgrade it gets much smoother. The early frustrations are a feature, not a bug, because this character does really grow with you in terms of speed, firepower, and magical combat. Yes, there are some levels that ramp up the difficulty, but that's typical of older games. This game might act like it is going to hold your hand, but surprise! Nope, you get blasted from the sky. So yeah, not everyone's dish, but it is mine. I love this game.
A somewhat basic roguelike that doens't really offer a lot, but is easily replayable, and offers a quick gaming fix for those of us who can't always sit down to be engrossed for hours at a time. I also recommend it for novices to the rogue-like dungeon crawlers. Good randomness, good variablity. decent long term incentives to keep playing until you max out everything, which can take a while. Plus multiple difficulties. Overall a nice little package.
Bought this on a lark, as I haven't really ever been into this style of game but figured what the hey. It's short. Correction, very short, and the solutions are too limited. You can really only progress if you figure out exactly what they want, which isn't too difficult. Not terribly inventive, and I probably won't ever play it again. I am perhaps most disappointed that there aren't some "free build" options to really experiment with.
