Targos is burning. Kuldahar has been out of contact for weeks. There are rumors that some unknown force is uniting and organizing the monsters of Icewind Dale in ways that have't been seen in nearly 20 years since Easthaven was destroyed. Some are even whispering that the aftermath of that battle has something to do with current events. Story: You are one of the mercenary groups that have arrived to help hold Targos. Whether you are there to help end the suffering or just collect a pay check, you soon find yourself leading the charge against the invasion force that threatens to bring the Ten Towns to their knees. Gameplay: Normal for this type of game. You control a group of six characters that you move around and interact with the world. IWD2 does have what was a newer rule set at the time. So the dice rolls behind the screen are changed a little bit and there are more customization options if you chose to create your own characters. There are also pre-made groups. Graphics/Sound: Normal for this type of game / time period. The graphics are a bit better than IWD. Overall: This game is an overall improvement over IWD. There is more story this time around and it does help with the feeling that the game is nothing more that one big never ending battle. It also helps that the player does occasionally have the option to talk their way out of a battle or influence the story in some way. Don't get confused though the focus of this game is the fighting and for the most part it does work well. All I can say is remember to save often, the game does like to play gotcha and you can end up getting wiped easily if you don't happen to be prepared for a massive battle at every turn or RNG doesn't go your way. Also this game does have bugs and other issues, thankfully with a quick search there are fan patches that fix most of the problems and even add QOL improvements. In summary if you like the first one and you like these types of games then pick this one up.
Welcome to the land of Arcanum; a land of magic, technology, intrigue, and betrayal. You come from far away; escaping a past that either promised much more adventure abroad or one that threatened to consume you if you stayed in your old life. In the end it didn’t it matter; you picked the wrong blimp and ended up coming down in a fiery blaze that was seen for miles around, far from your destination. Upon stumbling from the wreckage you are approached by what appears to be a monk babbling about you being the reincarnation of some dead god and he needs to get you to his mentor so you can fulfill some prophecy. Of course the blimp didn’t crash by itself and you seem to be attracting the attention of some people who would be rather happy if their were no survivors of the crash. With your slightly confused companion , Virgil, you begin the long trek to discover who is trying to kill you and why everyone seems to think that you will either bring a new age of peace to Arcanum or usher in its destruction. Despite it’s age this is still a pretty good Crpg if your looking for an interesting story to play through. The writing is pretty decent and there are some interesting twists and turns. The graphics are what you would expect for the time and do the job. The music is also decent and does the job. The one thing to keep in mind is that this game is a little clunky in the combat department and it is not always clear how you are supposed to accomplish what you need to do and it is possible to miss whole chunks of the backstory if you aren’t paying attention and exploring. The other side is that this game is a bit buggy and there probably wasn’t much gog could do about it considering that's how the thing was made. Thankfully fan patchs do exist and are very easy find with a search. They fix most of the old problems and even add back in some cut content. If you like these types of games its worth picking up.
You play a hero trying to save the lands of ancient Greece from a group on ancient baddies that are trying to bring back the Titans and rule the world. That’s all you need to know. Now go whack things. This game is a diablo clone but it does approach the formula a little differently. The best way to describe the loot system is to say that it is a percentage game. While a lot of the loot adds points directly to your base attributes, the more important loot adds points to your base attributes and a percentage to something else. An example would be a chest piece that adds +10 to your strength. That’s good but one that does that and adds 15% to your poison resistance and gives you a 8% life leech on every hit and adds 10% movement speed and etc. That’s great. The down side? The second breast plate only has an armor rating of 40 compared to the first ones 55. The other part of the game is the class system which lets you mix and match nine different classes. It’s not to different from what other games have done. The different combinations are neat to play with. Just be forewarned it can be easy to dead end your character due to some of the difficulty spikes in the game. Depending on how you developed your character and your luck in item drops there are only a couple of ways to get over this wall. Either grind until you find something with a resistance against whatever is killing you, respec your character so you have the right skills or start a new character, with a different class combo, and a new game. The last option isn’t as bad as it sounds since you can transfer the items in a previous play through to your new character and go from there. All in all if your looking for a decent diablo clone to pass the time then give this one a try. Time Played: 60 hours
Story: The land of Rivellon is in turmoil. The humans, orcs, elves, and dwarfs are in constant conflict with each and war threatens to break out at any moment. An ancient evil has risen from it's sleep with the help of a half forgotten cult that is dedicated to avenging the defeat of the demon overlord at the hands of the council of light many centuries before. You are a human that was rescued from an ambush that would have left you as dead as you were pretending to be if the healer that had saved you hadn't wandered by. Your enemy doesn't give up easily and it soon becomes apparent that you have a bigger influence on the fate of Rivellon than you ever thought possible or may have ever wanted. Gameplay: What one would expect for the time it came out. It plays like your run of the mill hack and slash, click something till it dies and hopefully get a shiny. Graphics are decent and for the time detailed. There are lots of shiny's to find and equip your character with to make you an unstoppable monster mashing machine. There are also plenty of skills to customize your character with, though this can be a bit of a problem if aren't paying attention. The thing about this title is the writing. It's good if you like the type of story that doesn't take itself very seriously. Some of the conversations you can have had me laughing out loud. If you want a serious story then this is probably not the game for you. Thoughts: I enjoyed this game, I got my money's worth annnd I couldn't finish it. This is one of those games where I recommend looking up what kind of build you should have to beat the game. If you don't it's very easy to get a character that works just great until you get to the end. Then the brick wall appears and no further progress will be made. It just wasn't worth it to me to play through again, I just looked up the ending. If you like quirky humor and can deal with a few rough edges, find a character guide and give this one a shot. m.a.c
Randall is a sarcastic slacker. He also has a lot of other issues such as kleptomania. This pretty much explains why Randal, after a night of wild drinking to celebrate his friend's pending marriage, takes said friend's ring after he accidentally it drops it in a alley. Now this would be bad enough on it's own, since he doesn't give it back right away, but it's even worse since this is a *magic-evil-I- what- I-want-ring*. Randal soon parts ways with the ring and finds that his world has gone a bit strange. He keeps waking up and it's Monday. Every day is Monday and every day his friend finds a new way to die since he thinks he lost the ring he was going to give his soon to be wife. Randal knows, now, that this has something to do with the ring and he needs to get it back. The ring doesn't want to come back though, it's having too much fun. What follows is a pop culture referencing, ground hog day / bedazzled mix, space time tearing romp through several Mondays as Randal desperately tries to stop screwing things up and get the ring. He may even learn a little. Don't get your hopes up. This was a good game. It's got a lot of references and quite a few are funny. How much you get out of it probably depends on how familiar you are with pop culture. There's quite a few Star Trek and Star Wars references that most will probably get. There is also quite a few video game references and 90's movie references that might be a little harder for some. This is also one of those games where you might want to play it with head phones on since the language can get a bit salty without warning. Beware the Jay and Silent Bob cameo. This is a T rated game at best and a M rated one on occasion. All in all it was a fun game to play through even though some of the puzzles can be a bit "really?" on occasion especially since the game keeps saying they are all logical. Thankfully there is a built in tip system. If your looking for a funny game give this a shot.
That's all you have when you enter the ancient keep of shadow gate. It won't take you long to find more things to put in your satchel though. You have many puzzles and riddles between you and the warlock that lies waiting in the depths of the castle. Time is not with you as the warlock comes ever closer to finding the true treasure of the castle and using it for his own dark ends... That's the just of the story and I'm sure many people already know it as this is a remake of the old NES game ShadowGate. The studio that did this really nailed the feeling of exploring the cursed castle and hoping against hope that the next corner would bring a desperately needed torch or at least a empty stretch of corridor that didn't have anything that was trying to eat you. The game has been completely remastered from the ground up and various modern bells and whistles have been added to make this an almost completely different game. Not that that is a bad thing. I enjoyed trekking through the castle and uncovering it's secrets. Except I was only playing half the game. The one complaint I have about this game is it's difficulty system. You have normal and classic. Normal is basically the highlights and let's you get most of the story so you can get to the end. Classic on the other hand is actually closer to how the game was originally play and has more story elements and puzzles. Unfortunately this is not explained very well, at least to me, and it was kind of annoying once I completed the game and was left scratching my head as to why it seemed like I was basically playing a fetch quest with no obstacles. Going back and looking at the other modes classic: journeyman is very close to how the original game played and has most, but not all, of the puzzles. There is one more classic mode called master, which is more or less the challenge mode. Completionists will have fun. Despite that complaint I recommend this to anyone looking to have a old fashioned time in a new skin.
