Pros: Stirred up feelings that I haven't felt since Baldur's Gate II. Very immersive, beutiful, and replayable. Feels like a combination of what is good about Infinity engine games and Lego pirates. Overall, I am very satisfied. Cons: Combat seems a bit too easy when playing on Path of the Damned. (As an IE veretan, I would like the encounters to be more challenging; that is, "spending at least a day on trying to kill a dragon" challenging). No procedurally generated locations on world map (would appreciate some in upcoming DLCs). Looking forward to all of the DLCs. :)
Unlike most people who took it upon themselves to review the game, I will choose not to use don on my “nostalgia goggles”. There are several gripes that I have with the game. The player is pretty much a passive observer of unfolding events I felt the game just presented its content before me and the choices that I made really made no difference on the world (aside from modifying a dialogue option here and there). During my playthrough, I eventually got to the point when I was too tired to care about the unfolding events, as there seemed to be no visible validation of my in game choices. All encounters boiled down to exhausting dialogue trees, which was a swift process (due to gamer’s intuition), but very unrewarding. This passiveness is associated, to a degree, with the next issue on this list. Leveling is redundant The character creation system, while innovative, contains several redundant skills. What is more, it feels to me like there is no real point to levelling at all, as everything can be accomplished through the use of in-dialogue skills and resting abuse. The turn-based combat feels like a punishment This issue is self-explanatory. What should be an exciting part of the gameplay experience has been turned into a dreaded chore. While I do like it when a game lets you shrewdly manipulate your way out of combat using your silver tongue and shrewdness of mind, I think that introducing the tedious crisis system was a huge mistake. The player is essentially faced with a situation in which even simple encounters can take an extremely long time to complete. The battles feel random and there is no sense of control or tactics to them (which is a big con for me, since I also enjoy strategy games). Overall, I feel this game takes one aspect of Torment to a twisted extreme, reducing the player to little more than a voyeur bearing witness to an orgy of oddities.
This is not merely nostalgia, I dare say. This game was made with a certain sort of passion and dedication that is hard to find in most contemporary equivalents, including its (still excellent) sequels. This is visible in the details: the panoramic menu, the artwork, and the unit descriptions. A true gem.
