After about 60 hours (just entered into "act 3"), I must say that a lot of the hype about this game seems to be well orchestrated marketing. I really enjoy it where it reminds me of the old BG's and addons (e.g. the encounter with Elminster). It is challenging. I like round-based battle, that there are many dialogues, stealth options. There's a lot to be excited about, sure, just see the reviews online. Yet there is also a massive amount of severe logical flaws, bugs, annoyances. Some examples. - I'd rather have stranded from a pirate ship than a Nautiloid. Act I was nice, except for that: Goblins, Druids, a hag, the underdark, Gnolls, spiders, Grym. - Act II was linear. - There suddenly is a giant, evil, humanoid squid brain with tentacles and a Netherene crown. Wtf. Why not also a corrupted unicorn? - At just level eight, I just fought one of The Three. wtf. - Every cult has their parallel dimension: the astral plane, the weave, shadowfell, death (necromancy) ... running out of ideas? - I stealthed Kethric's room in Act II, before seeing him, found all kind of evidence for invasion and conspiracy; no consequence. - Voss just teleported to my camp. They could have come there all the time. - gore is unnecessary, e.g. Thorm doctor - romance is unnecessary, too easy, predictable - All (!) characters basically have the same "rebel against their oppressor" story. - For many many dialogues, I get multiple options, but it seems that the answer would fit either of these (no real choice). - Lae'zel keeps saying "Vlak'kith's will done" after defying the queen. Who cares? Me, it's an RPG! - Hirelings aside, my group too crucially depends on Astarion for (too many) sneaky tasks; he's the only "dexterity" character (would love a non-vampire monk or something). - Jaheira is Lvl 7 when I meet her. Minsc - will see. It is "eat or die" with the famous old companions. - I found few good "feit"s for casters, none for healer/supporters. There's more, just char limit here. Pity!
I bought this game together with a "moonlander" keyboard, and want to polish up my ten-finger-typing. I am used to typing "Eagle-Search-System", i.e. with index/middle finger claws while looking at the keyboard, and actually I can go quite fast with it. Now, thinking about ergonomics, this is a bad habit because I look up and down all the time. SO my main quest is to learn proper typing. With this setting, I went into "Nanotale". It is visually appealing if you like the comic-style. The story reminds me a bit of "Avatar", but it also has its own twists. You don't gain experience/levels by killing enemies, but by exploring and "documenting" plants and critter. I found there are too few side-quests, but the ones which there are are entertaining and diverse. Beasts are rather boring - no magic or distance attacks, and slow (I'll try re-play on higher difficulty level; I wish it had a "random character" mode for typing practice because words are repetitive). The main quest is rather linear, except maybe for the third act. I enjoyed the interaction of spell elements. The game is robust, not super immersive, but it's entertaining, if you like to follow. And for the typing: the regular "events" in which you are constrained to a battleground and fight waves of enemies what made the typing flow; those are the game changer. It's no use staring at the keyboard and screen in turn all the time. I had to focus on what is going on in battle. Especially the guardian fights and the Serpent were interesting, because they made use of the spell system. In the beginning, I was super clumsy with these events, but I quickly developed routine. And I got much better at typing last week, in big part due to this game! I used this to complement a rather dry typing trainer (fjfjffjjff) and must say it is a very welcome refreshment. So I can highly recommend it for learning to type. Or for distraction. The only downside is that it was too short. I'm afraid I'll have to move to Epistory.
