I'll be honest, this game has some really nice graphics, sounds, ambiance and music. The story was shaping up to be rather interesting as well. Unfortunately all of that is killed by the absolutely godawful combat mechanics, most specifically the stamina system which is probably the stupidest design decision I've ever seen in a game. Everything you do in combat (except walking) drains stamina, from hitting things to casting spells, to BEING HIT. And once it's gone you're like a rock in the mud barely able to hit anything and unable to cast spells. Did I mention it drains extremely fast? In order to make up for it you'd have pump points into stamina boosting stats and chug potions out the wazoo to survive (The reviews stating you need to dedicate a huge portion of your inventory for potions or die are correct). Who thought this was a good idea? Second to this is the nearly equally stupid stat/skill system. For example in the beginning you have 0% chance to cast one of the first level noob spells found in a scroll on the floor. 5 levels later after putting points into the skill that raises casting chance I still only had a 20-something % chance to cast it. Other things like identifying and equipping certain items had the same idiotic ratios (6+ points into swords and I still can't use the crappy noob level broken sword I found on the ground because my 'skill is too low'? Give me a break) I'm sorry but this is bad game design. Admittedly I didn't get too far into the game, but from what I've read it doesn't get any easier in fact it gets even WORSE! With enemies and bosses that stunluck or perma-drain stat points and all sorts of other cheap moves. No thanks. I could've saved $15 and downloaded one of the endless imbalanced monster mods for Skyrim or something game where the maker was either a complete nub or sadist and made everything super 133t by giving them 231719 damage and health. At least it would be free punishment.
