I want to extend my big thank you to GOG.com for your great cultural achievement in making old games available in this way. I had never heard of "Albion" before, so I have no nostalgic feelings or anything, but somehow I found it here recently, and I got the impression that it could be something I would really like. I just finished it, and being very happy, I felt should write a few words here. I am very fond of role-playing games, and even though I like fantasy and horror very much, I am most of all a science fiction fan. However, science fiction RPGs seem to be much more rare than fantasy ones, so I am always excited when I find something like this. Even though "Albion" plays a lot like a fantasy RPG, the overarching story is certainly science fiction, and that in itself makes a lot of difference for me. The story and world-building is amazing, and as a huge Phantasy Star fan I really enjoyed the shifts between the top down 2D and first-person 3D perspectives. The rather high difficulty level combined with very little hand-holding made the experience truly enjoyable. It is a good thing that there are many save slots, because a few times I realized that I had acted too rashly and wanted to go back to an older save in order to prepare better before entering certain places. I advice players to be patient, do things carefully and save often. A highly recommended gem for people who like old-school RPGs combining science fiction and fantasy.
This was certainly not a game for me. I love role-playing games and was encouraged to play this by people who strongly recommended it as something funny and unique. Therefore, my expectations were turned up and thus really let down. First of all, I really disliked the characters and jokes, which other people have said should be charming and funny. For me, all is just silly, like an obscure and ugly web-comic. It did not feel like a well-written RPG at all, but rather a parody of some kind. Moreover, the fighting system is really terrible, one of the worst I have ever encountered. I was told that I would be able to talk to my enemies instead of fighting, so that I could be a pacifist throughout the game. I was really looking forward to that, since I feel that it is an option missing in most RPGs (Phantasy Star being a great exception). However, the fights are made like little "bullet hell" mini games, where the player must avoid missiles instead of speaking to the enemies. Extremely terribly executed. Sometimes I managed to end the fights peacefully, but the quickest way to stop the pain was usually just to kill the monster quickly. I cannot understand why anyone would love this fighting system, since it has nothing to do with the story, taking place in caves inhabited by friendly monsters. It is a huge mystery to me why this game is loved so much by so many people. My real quest now is trying to find out why people recommended this is the first place. What makes them so positive? I really wonder.
