Without having played the first one, the beginning was rough. After reading through a guide it helped understand the gameplay which is based on classic RPG party-based games. There are only four movement directions, N E W S, which is literally less than the original Zork text adventure! Once I adjusted to the wonky gameplay it became quite enjoyable. The texturing is excellent, and there are an amazing number of maps and areas to explore. Even though I picked random party, there are tons of character customizations. Puzzles are realtively simple and the combat feels balanced althrough its set to easy mode. Legend of Grimrock 2 is an intriguing blend of classic and modern RPG dungeon elements that is worth the effort of learning how to play.
Out around the same time as Elder Scrolls Daggerfall, Albion was an ambitious adventure combat story rich game. There are three game engines used in Albion, an isometric real time where most things occur, a top down turn-based combat, and 3D simulated dungeons. The story was cool, although I was unable to progress very far because the 3D dungeon kept crashing the game. After reading some guides I realized this game is an elaborate scavenger hunt game where you have to get all the stuff before progressing. it just seemed too tedious for my liking, and the combat was complicated. In fact, the game manual was like 60 pages explianing everything. It would take quite a slog to get through it, but from what I read on wikipedia the story sounds like it could be worth it. Glad I played it a bit but will move on.
Its great that GOG has this game and its free, it worked perfectly without any crashes or issues. The graphics look dated even for the mid nineties, but then again it was one of the first 3D games like doom or wolfenstein 3D. The controls feel pretty bad and the starter dungeon is too difficult. Like others I found Daggerfall Unity elsewhere and it vastly improves the graphics and controls. However, the general gameplay is still kind of boring, there are endless tasks of picking up and dropping off things in samey-dungeons and towns. I'm glad to have tried this game out, moving on to Morrowind now.
It was worth the few hours I spent playing to find out how the series started. The graphics, combat and navigation systems seem really dated, and the difficulty is old-school hard mode where your character can just die suddenly. Saving a lot helps, and pressing QBX brings up a helpful minimap that makes it playable. Aside from being a historical curiosity, its not a game I see myself wanting to finish. Daggerfall Unity version is a similar experience with updated features, its worth checking out too. Glad this game still exists on GOG and can be played!
Graphics, sounds and voice acting all top notch. I could listen to Patrick Stewart read the phone book all day. The character customization is very deep, you can even customize the shape of the face, colour and everything. Using easy settings, the tutorial dungeon that starts off the game helped learn how to play, although some features required a bit of extra reading like how to hotkey weapons. There seems like a lot of stuff to do in this game, I will definitely keep playing to find out what happens next.
Morrowind really welcomes you into the adventure from the very beginning in Seyda Neen, the starter town. Deep character customization seems natural and offers a lot of variety. With game play diffulty sliders in the menu, it was easy to get into as a beginner. From the looks of it there are dozens of quests and a whole world to explore. The background music and shadow effects are cool. When day turned to night and the stars came out I was hooked. I am just trying out all five Elder Scrolls games for first time and Morrowind is most enjoyable so far.
The drawings, music and general vibe are a masterpiece, its enjoyable as interactive art. The game play is mostly incomprehensible, some screens must be ignored until much later, then there are a dozen hyperlinked warp locations., but there is no way to know if you should fiddle on a screen or walk past until some random other action is done. Walk here, walk there, get this get that, yet another door or compartment opens with another random object. Since walkthroughs exist thankfully, somebody could figure all this out, but its far too tedious, maybe just a genre not for me.
When I played with toy cars as a kid, this is what I imagined it was like. With tons of cars and tracks to race, and various game modes, there is a lot to explore here. It has the look and feel of retro game with smooth performance and options galore. The racing is pretty standard arrows control, with a momentum transfer upon contact with other cars, and accelration in slipstream. The only issue so far has been trying to get the correct car for the particular races, its not always clear what cars are eligible at first. I recommend this game for casual racing, great vibe and tons of modes.
High speed crashes all the time, dirt tracks, ovals, long road by coast. The car just keeps on going. Great music and sound effects too.
Complete with the airplane crossing the globe and iconic music, this adventure game has a lot of humor and interesting situations. The graphics are highly pixelated but it still looks great. Some of the quests felt circular, like going places just to have a conversation then returning with an object, maybe thats just part of the genre. I read a walk through to solve things. Definitely worth a try.
