Honestly, the first time that I fired this game up I had bailed because I thought that the learning curve was hellacious! It turns out that an NPC says "don't go that way!" seconds before the encounter. I am glad that I restarted it! I really enjoyed the puzzles! The first thing that you have to discover about the puzzles "is what in the hell is the puzzle?" There is a variety of different aspects differentiating one puzzle to the next... mostly. My three favorite puzzles were 1) the block puzzle that you have to solve twice: once for a key and again for a chest, (Specifically the one where you can push a taller block into a hole. You will know it when you wee it!) 2) "Laser" (not laser) puzzle where I was pulling my hair out to discover that you have to give a valve two feeds for a third to flow (Mainly the first one! Once I got a feel for it my hair had a chance to grow back) 3) The derpy logic puzzle with the statues and the weekdays. Lots of old school fun. Lots of derp. The overall experience has beautiful visuals, although not as interactive as a fallout 3/NV/4. I was happy to see that one NPC had a more significant role than I had originally anticipated. All of the actors stand pretty immobile, other than the very scarce patrol. OH! 4) Pixie golf! Loved it! Did it wrong... still overcame. Nice. All in all, I loved that combat was relatively simple: 3 stats, 4 conditions, 2 types of damage. There is a little bit more tactical stuff, but your squad will always have 6 or fewer and your adversary will have 8 or fewer. 4X4 grid! Easy-peasy! The limited range of a lot of the skills can be easily defied using the taunt skill, and I found that the magic/opportunity/charge system had a divergent flavor to it! In the end, the only thing left that reminded me of the original three BT were a few names/lore, and I was apprehensive at first learning to work with skill trees. DONT PANIC! Equipment is your friend! My favorite gadget let my rogue shoot sharpened lightning! :)
Is good.
I had no intention of liking this game, but, with a little help from youtube, I found this to be an absolute delight! I took it upon myself to collect every set of armor, and found this endevor to be entirely unnecessary to enjoy the game. I loved how the game hands you your ass over and over to eventually overcome and gratify! After awhile you just find a suit that suits you and you plow through your adversaries like a hot knife through butter... with a chunk of your ass handed to you for desert! I loved the environments and the way that paths double back into a wealth of shortcuts and hidden areas. I am really appreciative of some of the equipment given by some of the DLCs, like the device that beeps at you when you near a goody!I must admit though The Good the Bad and the Augmented, although a cute and interesting in its own way, was an absolute distraction from the world provided in the main game. I however thought that A Walk In The Park was just the too good of a dystopian environment to append to the main game! I mean, smushing robot mascots! and they eventually transform and get rougher! I love it I love it I love it! Anyerwho, buy the game, beat the game, gloat that you beat the game! Have weird dreams... you know the drill! Out! -J
I admit that I watched a few playthroughs to get the bosses, which I oddly enough didnt follow. This game reminds me of Let it Die, except with decent interfacing and no pay to play. This game isnt even my genre and I am having a great time! The graphics flow nicely, I havent experienced any stuttering or slowdown (cept on criticals, then I found the toggle! :P). The game is rather punishing compared to zelda and most slug'em ups. If you play loosely, like I do, then you will occasionally just get mobbed or mauled, and sometimes you will hit a giant sweet spot! All in all I would say that It was a great game to get on sale! Maybe even worth the ticket price! Who knows, right?
I really wanted to like this game! I was excitedly awaiting it on sale to sweeten the experience. What I got was a glossy nothing. Seriously, there are only 10 quests! Although I enjoyed the classic character creation style, as well as the new special skills each class possesses, the overall gameplay was sorely lacking! I felt that the game just suddenly ended without any pizzazz. There were no puzzles, no riddles, no npc companions and no depth. This game felt like something along the lines of a kiddie console game, or the early efforts at a kickstarter! I personally feel that this game is worth more around the 5 dollar range. I mean, the pictures are pretty, but the game has no... purpose. Also, I would like to know what they are screaming whenever they get hit! It is all in Japanese, which in itself is no negative, but I like to pretend that they are swearing like sailors! That was pretty neat....
I have recently (well not too recently) purchased Bad's Tale Trilogy Remastered, and have had a wonderfully nostalgic time playing them. Sadly, or oddly, the game that I found in B4 has very little to do with the old series. The first and most obvious thing is that you do not get hit points when you level. There is a tier based leveling system wherein you can choose to buy "con" with your skill points. Second, combat is neither simple nor repetitive. This might not be important for new players, but the old grind is part of what made the old games fun! And finally combat; seriously! You have to move your characters around the grid offensively and defensively during combat. All in all, this is a pretty well made game, but it, other than the wealth of references to the older game plots, is not the old school Bard's Tale! Not upset!, just... Huh?
