I waited for this release to come out on GOG specifically because I would be able to play it offline. However, this "DRM-free, no internet connection needed" game comes with 3rd-party DRM agreement from Plaion GmbH. You will also need an internet connection. Plaion GmbH is the new name for KOCH media, the company that bought up Warhorse studio. I spent hours DL the files due to metering from GOG, and after that experience, the game refused to run - with or without the internet. I'm disgusted with both GOG and Plaion GmbH, so I'll be asking for a refund.
Distant Worlds 2 is a complicated 4x space game with some nice moves, but also some real problems. Being able to design your own ships is a nice touch, but the restrictive nature of the game means that your faction has essentially one frame for each class, and you can't do much about that. There's only so much room. Much of what occurs in the game is probably best left to automation, but there are some exceptions, notably research. It's hard to colonize without colony ships (and your early frames are really too small to support colony modules, or else the module makes the ship to expensive in rare materials), and colony ships should be one of the first things the research, when automated, should look into, but it won't. Controlling individual ships can be problematic, as even on manual control, getting them to actually go where you want means they are likely to hang up on pathing. Combining ships to make fleets is easy enought, but automated fleets are clunky. Getting a fleet to move anywhere is clunky. The tutorials are NOT well-thought-out. They overlay the action, which complicates everything, deal with issues piecemeal, instead of making of a comprehensive whole which a walkthrough (join campaign) would do. Then there are the frequent random crashes for unknown reasons. It's not EA, so that shouldn't be happening. I'd wrap it up by saying the game is very nice in concept, but only average in execution.
I waited a long time to get the game, because I knew it would have issues. I even knew what those issues would be. I knew that many would never be resolved, because many of the same issues were never resolved with their last title. Pros: the battlefields are attractive, things are better detailed, and many things work. The company has slowly been improving play, as you would expect 10 years in. Cons: The game is horribly repetitive. In fact, there aren't enough adverbs to describe how utterly horribly repetitive the game is. Ugly, ugly characters. The map is unrecognizable as Calradia. The GUI and controls are clunky. The game itself is clunky. The price is abusive. The fanboys are abusive. Most of the mods don't work, and a lot of the modding community has simply abandoned the game. Refelection: well.... I don't know if you're allowed to have an EA title for $50 and after 10 years of development. Perhaps one day, thiis game will be exceptional... but not today. Today, when I removed, DL, verified, and reinstalled a new version, the game no longer worked. It had worked perfectly previously. Yes, I've walked through all the checks and fixes, but it simply doesn't work. $50 for an EA title that doesn't even work. I'm asking for a refund, but since CDProjekt took over, I doubt I'll get one.
Pros: looks good. detailed, HD materials make a nice addition. Unrealistic plot, but it's about what you would expect. Cons: combat is pretty bad. looses compared to titles like Victis or M&B. Starting quests are poorly documented and poorly realized, and it doesn't really get much better. Conceptually sound, but poorly realized. Disappointing, but it was on sale, so I can say that it was worth the price... but only the sale price.
I played this mod back when it was free. It was a lot of fun, but had a lot of bugs. It's still available on the Taleworld's Forums, and frankly, there are times I wish I had stuck to that version. My game experience has been one of nearly constant frustration. I have yet to be able to complete the campaign game, or any other form of this stand-alone mod. Not because of ability, but rather because of the mass of corrupting bugs I have encountered. As with the free version, saving often is an absolute must, HOWEVER, saving often does not stop that save from becoming corrupt, and that ultimately leads to constant crashing past a certain point, with no hope of being able to work past that point. That's a game-breaker for me. If I had it to do over again, I would not have purchased this particular title, and would instead have saved the money for the eventual release of Bannerlord.
I'm no stranger to M&B, and I've never been a fanboy. I continue to pay it because it STILL has the best non-target combat experience in a game, and I can usually feel a sense of accomplishment. Also, the game is still simplistic enough to allow players to modify most game experiences through modifying the scripts. After reading reviews on both here and through Steam, I knew this title was problematic. Based on the free mod, Brytenwalda, I couldn't really see paying full price for it unless it was exceedingly better. The free mod was a decent piece of work, if you ignored some major gameplay issues. The reviews I read indicated that it was not. Then came the re-release, with more fixes and content, and lately it has been on sale, so I decided "what the heck, why not?" One of the reviews summed it up "They fixed it everyone! Come back!" But they didn't.... not really. I have yet to be able to even play a full game. My game crashed to desktop frequently, leaving no error log regarding the incident. It does this more than the original mod ever did. Because it's a mod, not a game, these are almost certainly scripting mistakes that cause the game to halt. In game play, the formation controls are frustrating, and cannot really be turned off. You troops will never be exactly where you want them to be, and will not behave as you would like them to, and that's with formations on. Turn them off, and your troops ignore all other commands to run way off to the left, do not stop, do not properly advance, and all your positioning must be done with the realization that the mod creator has no idea how bad a job he did on them. With the free mod version, I ended up going in and ripping the script responsible out of the game. I'm sure eventually I'll do the same thing here, since it's exactly the same as before. The quests are annoying, and clog up the notes menu even if you have declined to participate. The winter moral penalties continue, even if your units are nice and snug inside a town or castle. The NPCs marked a essential to completing some combat requests do not work and play well together. All quests should have an alternate completion method, IMO. It has an "unfinished" feel to it. Describing itself as "vast" is misleading, because it really isn't. The world isn't remotely polished, it just fades off into unfinished terrain tiles. I cannot recommend this incarnation of the Brytenwalda mod. It simply doesn't work well enough for me to inflict it on other players. The combat, instead of being M&B enjoyable is frustratingly clunky. It's a sloppy title, IMO.
NWN 2 is what I would classify as a "C" class game; it wasn't really even good when it came out. As far as the original Diamond edition, I got mine off of a shelf at a Walmart for $2.99, back a few years. In no way is the package deal worth even $10. Don't get me wrong, I support GOG.com; but not when they pull crap like this. Now, on the off-hand that someone bought the rights and is re-releasing it for more money, again, GOG should have recognized that and not gotten dragged in. Again, send them a message that games as old as these two should be priced accordingly.
This game got a lot of press at the time of its release, and accumulated quite a number of fans, despite some annoying and blatant issues. Undoubtedly, some people will enjoy it. No, I don't know anyone who still plays this, or even anyone who played it more than a couple of times. You see, even by 2004 standards, the interface and graphics arrangements of Nexus are primitive. There is no wide screen setting, despite a clear indication that widescreen would be prominent in the future, and the solid fact that multiple screens were already possible (you can try going around the game limitations, but you will end up not entirely pleased with the results). There is no GUI for changing key bindings, and the controls and navigation are anything but intuitive. The tutorials, by which one might eventually learn the controls, are completely inadequate. They are inferior even next to an old game like FreeSpace. At this point, I'm not amused, and the best thing I can say about the game is that I paid virtually nothing for it. This is fortunate, considering how unlikely it is that I will ever actually play it again.
