Pretty much all the aspects of an open world cRPG are made excellently: the story, the exploration, the character progression, the items, the music, the characters. This game is also huge, and that's the only reason, why I probably won't be replaying this anytime soon. I really enjoyed the choices and consequences, to me the game tried to show the gray morality (with the aim of being realistic) and that's prabably also inherited from the books. This sometimes makes the game feel depressing, but it might just be my view on this.
Ultima IV is a very unique game in terms of its main goal. In a way you're meant to take something out of this experience into your own life and the eight virtues are actually cobining into a really good code of morality. The gameplay has of course aged, so it's not very sophisticated, but it plays overall very well despite this. Its core is timeless though and this is what truly matters.
Witcher 2 is a very good game. Compared to the first game it is much shorter, but intended for multiple playthroughs with some interesting choices. The atmosphere is quite dark, there are more politics and intrigue, less adventures and exploring. It is more cinematic with QTE and epic monsters, with more arcade combat (dodge-roll for the win). The main story is the focus, but from a certain point the ending is a bit predictable. The itemization is more interesting and has much more options, though the character progression is a bit bland. In general, a very good experience, not much worse than the previous game.
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is a really good continuation of the first game. All gameplay elements shine here: - Big and rich world to explore freely - Combat is varied and well thought out - Level progression has useful options and makes sense - Lots of uniqe items to find and interesting enchantments - Dialogue is fully voiced and important words are highlighted with short description (just like in Tyranny) - Different factions fighting for dominance Personally I prefer the story and the atmosphere of the first game as here I don't enjoy pirate/tropcal world as much. The story was a bit less involving this time for me, in the end it felt as I didn't do that much, only watched as the events unfold. Overall a really good experience, both games are what I missed for all these years - classic team-based cRPGs.
This expansion is all about choices. Even the order of exploration changes the storyline. The story ties quite nicely to the main game and there are a few difficult encounters. Pretty good addition to the main game.
This expansion focuses mostly on combat enounters. While the story is unfortunately secondary, those encounters are very creative and unique. Not much to explore either, but overall a fun addition to the main game.
Though not a full blown expansion, the Beast of Winter adds a really interesting encounters and sheds some light on the events from the past. This adds a lot to the world building and ties the story of the fisrt game with the sequel. Really interesting story line, I wish it was longer.
This is one of those games that makes you want to see more of its world. Really interesting characters, story and setting. In some ways it reminded me of Gothic series, and I very much enjoyed my time with this title. Definately got me interested in the world of Witcher. There are only two things that I've found annoying: 1) The equipment - there's way too many usless items flooding and very limited access to the stash during the last chapters. 2) Respawning enemies - too many of those, they provide no challenge and very little experience.
Storywise, an amazing experience, very well written plot and additions to the lore. The exploration is great as was the main game and the first part of the expansion. Combat unfortunately is still the weakest point of the game, but it's not bad by any means, so it doesn't ruin the overall experience.
Unfortunately Blood II is not a worthy sequel to the amazing game that Blood is. There's a potential with weapons, some of them are really nice. However the enemies and level design ruin pretty much everything: fanatics with assault rifle will murder you in a matter of seconds due to their impossible reaction time and aim, yet some later enemies, like a behemoth are only a bullet sponge and way too easy to kite. It's quite easy to get lost in some levels and the worst is probably a necessary jump between two trains that's almost impossible to pull off and results in instant death when failed. With enough patience the game can be completed and I would only recommend it to those that are curious or want to complete the whole series. The Nightmare levels don't attempt to fix any of the issues, some nods to the first game are nice, though.
