This was a really fun, challenging game. I played it after Ys Origins, so I was a bit leery that it would be a step back since that came out afterwards, but it really wasn't. For one thing, they added voice acting which was actually pretty good. Supposedly this was done earlier in 2020. The music is just fantastic and the story was good as well. The overworld is admittedly quite small for an RPG, but that's ok. I only really used a guide to know if I would miss an achievement if I progressed too far in the game. Other than that, I didn't really need to consult one at all. Maybe some of the bosses would have been easier if I had, but that would take the challenge out of the game. I would like to add that this game worked better with the Galaxy Client than Ys Origins in regards to achievements. Every one of my achievements showed up immediately upon attaining them, so either this game is better integrated or they've recently worked out the kinks. One thing to note is that you need to run the config client either from the folder or through the additional executables command in the Galaxy client. You can set up better graphical options and configure a controller from here. Also, you should change the default executable to ysf_win_dx9.exe under Manage Installation --> Configure. If you don't, the game will run the DX8 version instead. This will keep you from being able to enter the Elderm mountains once you get there. Those are galaxy client related nitpicks, but all in all this is another solid entry in the Ys franchise that's definitely worth a try.
Since I had the original Diamond version of Neverwinter Nights, I didn't consider getting this, but GoG gave me a great deal on the deluxe version of this game that I had to take advantage of. As part of this upgrade, I was able to get this soundtrack. I've listened to both versions and I really think that they did a good update here. The presentation and layout alone is much improved as the previous soundtrack layout was a bit of a jumbled mess. As to the music itself, it's from Jeremy Soule so you know it's going to be awesome. You can definitely tell his style as it sounds very much like what you'd hear in an Elder Scrolls game. If I was to be nitpicky about that, I'd say that this game doesn't have that awesome title screen music like you hear in Oblivion or Skyrim. Definitely get this soundtrack, even if you have to wait for a sale. It's a good upgrade even for owners of the original.
Let me start off with saying that there's a massive amount of content for this game that will keep you busy for a long, long time. And that's before you even get with the DLC or download for free off of the internet. I had the original Diamond edition prior to getting this which is basically what this is. GoG gave me a great deal on upgrading that I just couldn't turn down because it was so good. I've only played the original campaign, but I wanted to get this review in now because it will probably take me a good year to get through all of the added content here. This game played like a dream on my Win 10 system. I can't even remember suffering a single crash while playing the game. Let me get my few negatives out now which I feel realistically make this a 4.5 star game. For starters, the GoG version doesn't have achievements. Why? That's something Beamdog just can't seem to get right on any of their games. They have achievements on Steam, but not here. They really need to sort this out. Secondly, there really isn't a party system to speak of in the game as you can only hire one henchman at a time. On top of that, the henchmen that you can hire are fairly bland. After having played the Baldur's Gate games, this was a step back. Finally this is based off of D&D 3.0 rules. This is me being an old stickler really, but the 3.5 rules are a big improvement over what we have here. If you must have 3.5, then NWN 2 may be your go to here. I can deal with it even if they gimped my poor ranger. :) To sum up this whole review, you can't get a better value than you can here. Yes, Beamdog just cleaned up an already great game, but they did a good job here and everything just worked right out of the gate. If you don't have any version of this game, then I can't recommend this enough. If you already have the original Diamond edition, then I would recommend getting this but when it goes on sale.
I have over 200 hours in this game and that's without mods which would add even more variety. I personally bought the Mercenary collection and I have no regrets doing that. If you have even a passing interest in the BattleTech universe, you need this game. Period. It's a fairly faithful adaption of the tabletop game with some Alpha Strike elements thrown in. It's not a one for one conversion, but it's definitely familiar for fans. The campaign is pretty fun with a decent story, but I enjoyed playing the career mode much more. Playing on IronMan mode is a good challenge and one thing about this game is that you can tweak just about every aspect of it to customize how challenging you want it. I also played through the game using the Galaxy client and the achievement integration with that works flawlessly. I recommend getting the Mercenary collection without any hesitation, but if you are on the fence with all of the DLC options, then I'd suggest getting the Heavy Metal DLC at a minimum. It adds a lot more mechs and the flashpoint campaign that it introduces is my favorite of all the flashpoints introduced in the DLC packs. There are several mods for this game that I haven't tried out yet, but many of them look really good. In short, you will get a ton of replayability with this game. It's just awesome, destructive fun.
I thoroughly enjoyed this game putting in well over 50 hours and that was just with the 3 story mode playthroughs only. I went to a website called Digital Emelas that recommended playing this game after Ys 1 and 2, and I can say that's definitely a good suggestion. The style of play is much different than those two games and every game after them plays more like this one. I thought one of the things that would hold this game back is that it doesn't have an overworld that you ever get to interact with. Even without that, however, it still has a really good storyline. I played the characters in the order of Yunica, Hugo and The Claw. From a storytelling perspective, that order was actually great as more details got revealed with each playthrough in a logical progression. Unlike Ys 1 and 2, I didn't need a guide to get past any point in the game. It wasn't an easy game, mind you, just not cryptic with what you need to do to progress through the game. Let me get the minor issues out of the way now. First, if you're using the GoG Galaxy client, you'll need to go into your game folder and run config.exe if you want to change your controller inputs and set up higher resolutions. Second, several achievements failed to register. I had 6 unmissable achievements that didn't show up even though later ones did. I wasn't a big fan of hard or nightmare modes as it took much longer to level up and introduced a lot of grinding that I didn't have to deal with on normal mode. Normal mode isn't easy, but it's definitely better balanced so you don't have to spend several extra hours grinding just to have a chance at survival. Other than those things, this is a really fun game that should appeal to many people.
I've never played any Ys games prior to these two, but I'm really looking forward to seeing where the series goes from here. I say that because I know moving forward the gameplay will be drastically different. As you can tell from other reviews and the game description itself, this is the only release on GoG to use the bump combat system. It doesn't take long to get used to really. The visuals in these games are actually really, really good. I love the anime aesthetic too. The music is also just amazing. I will say that the first game was much more difficult than the second. The very first boss was one of the more difficult ones to me honestly. I mean, he's nowhere near as insane as the final boss, but it could be a downer for people who've never played these games thinking that it's going to be super difficult throughout. It really isn't though. The second boss was a cakewalk comparatively. The second game to me is not only more fun, but also has quite a bit more to do. The main drawbacks for me with these games are that there are areas that don't really feel super intuitive and I had to consult a guide here and there. This was more prevalent with the first game, but there were a couple of times in the second game where I was left scratching my head. Much less so though, so it's once again an indication of how much better the second game is. Overall I'd say the first game is good albeit fairly difficult, but the second one is great. I definitely got my money's worth out of these games.
I spent well over 100 hours with this game and I'd like to say this is a great follow-up to the first Baldur's Gate. Not only that, but the enhanced editions now flow together much better since all of the options in the second game are in the first one. I did run some minor mods from the Gibberlings website to make the game a little closer to PNP, but for the most part I didn't mod it up too much. One thing I'd like to comment on is the added characters that Beamdog added to the game. I only have experience using Dorn, but his companion quest in this game was really, really well done. Hopefully the other characters are just as well done. The Throne of Bhaal portion of his companion quest was pretty difficult, but it too was really good. Speaking of the Throne of Bhaal, this was my first time playing through that expansion and I have to say that the level of difficulty is extremely uneven. Never before in either BG or SoA did I ever have to resort to cheese tactics the way I was forced to here. That definitely hindered my enjoyment of the expansion to say the least. Some of the super difficult fights would then be followed up by a boss that was an absolute joke. The only place from SoA that you can go back to is Watcher's Keep as well. This makes the expansion much more linear than SoA unfortunately. Still, even with these complaints out of the way, I'd probably give this whole package a 4.5 stars realistically. The main game is great, but the expansion is railroady and very difficult.
I'm not going to harp on some of the other issues that many people point out with this expansion in regards to the social commentary. Yes it felt out of place and forced, but ultimately it was forgettable and nothing to dwell on. What is more glaring is that this is like an old railroad module, and not in a memorable way. You only have so much free roaming that you can do and what is there is a bit boring honestly. From a player perspective, the choice of companions is pretty sparse as well and doesn't make much sense. Having Viconia in your party if you're good aligned just seems like something that shouldn't be forced on you, but she's the only healer you have available to you for a long while. It didn't bother me much since I felt like being LE this time around, but even from my perspective getting all evil companions sprinkled with a couple neutrals was a bit difficult. Here's the ultimate sin, however. You basically go to Hell to save the city of Baldur's Gate. Yes, you heard that right. Afterwards, an incredibly lame event happens and everybody hates you and you have to flee the city. I mean, seriously? I just went to freaking Hell for you morons! Next time, watch the stupid city burn. I would have rather gone back to play Tales of the Sword Coast after defeating Sarevok than play this DLC. I do have a few of positives to point out. It's nice that you have your old companions for the first chapter of this DLC before they leave. They also increased the level cap, so after you get done playing, you should have a little bit of a leg up going into BG2. Every little bit helps. The music is actually pretty good too. Oh, one more thing. Some of the battles actually were kinda neat and had a mass combat feel to them. If you feel like playing this despite the negative reviews like I did, don't pay full price. Wait for a sale.
I just recently completed this game and it's nice how they incorporated many of the changes that were in Baldur's Gate II into this game such as kits, half-orcs and so on. Sure you could probably get those same functions with mods, but it's nice to be able to just install the game with those features already there. Speaking of mods, you can still use a whole bunch of mods. I used the tweaks anthology from gibberlings3.net to customize the game to my tastes, and I'd probably recommend the same for most players. Incorporating things from 3rd edition like mages being able to wear armor albeit with a spell casting failure percentage is pretty awesome. As for the story itself, it's still the same great story from before. I do wish there was a better postgame. Once you get to a certain point in the game, it just doesn't feel right to be going off and doing sidequests after the return to Candlekeep. The whole Tales of the Sword Coast expansion would really be better suited to being played after defeating Sarevok. I'd much rather do that than play Siege of Dragonspear, but that's another review. Once you defeat Sarevok that ends the game, so you can never get back to those other quests if you didn't complete them beforehand. Some of those quests are pretty difficult, thus the increase in level cap. That would be a feature that would definitely help out this game in my opinion. One other small, minor quibble I'd like to add. They redid all of the movies in this game. Maybe it's just me, but I'd like the option of being able to view the old movies from the original release after completing the game. Long story short, if you are a fan of the original game and/or AD&D, you can't go wrong getting this version of the game.
The early maps are pretty fun, but the game quickly turns into an exercise in futility where you are completely outnumbered from the beginning with your enemies already at your doorstep. Back in the day I pushed through this insanity, but with my time being relatively limited today and with so many games available, there are better things to do with your time. I'm looking forward to playing Heroes 2 which if I remember correctly was a much better game in every area. Maybe get this is you want to complete the collection, but it's too frustrating to recommend over the later games that have everything this one does and more.
