Hailing from good ol' Germany, Spellforce 3 for me is the epitome of a game that's typical for German culture. Thus, the pros are: - Meticulously crafted (OK, that's a lie, there were a lot of bugs, but reasons for the rushed release are unknown (profit maximization, anyone?), patches were provided asap and they are gone for good) - Incredible eye for detail (especially in the graphics and design department, the environments are gorgeous) - Meaningful, comprehensible & coherent (the story is top notch, the conversations and relationships between characters are well thought out and actually make sense) - Epic scope (well, being the old guy I am I needed 50+ hours to complete the main game, and for sure the future of the world as we know it is at stake here) - The soundtrack is actually really epic, too, and there's voice over for all conversations (the English ones are really good, don't know about the German VO, though). However, as usual, there are cons: - Being a RTS/RPG-hybrid, the RTS part is boooring (I think due to many reasons, e.g. units are not easily distinguishable from each other visually, the rock-paper-scissor-system is not very apparent, the gorgeous environments are too distracting because units are kinda lost in scenery) - Loading screens are too frequent and take too long which is really distracting (travelling to a location and back just ot talk to an NPC takes ages, and yes it's a 980 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD, guys) To sum it up, if you like it slow, sometimes boring, but also epic, coherent, beautiful and are fond of a good story being told then this is your game.
It is old. It has flaws. It lacks instant gratification and many quality-of-life features of "modern" RPGs. But I think there is one thing that sets this game apart from any modern AAA-RPGs released over the last two decades: the people who made this game poured their heart and soul into it to create a unique, meaningful, fun and lasting experience for the players. It was not designed with profit maximization in mind. None of it's parts are very special, by today's standards at least. Graphics are indeed retro at best, especially the 3D parts (exploration is mostly 2D, dungeons are 3D). Character development is superficial apart from stats-boosts gained at level up and combat ability points earned via trainers in exchange for money. Music and sound effects lack the bombast of the genre's modern contemporaries, and the combat is very standard round-based RPG stuff. Suprisingly, combined they make for the most beautiful, well-sounding, unique and immersive RPG experience I ever had the pleasure to play through. The premise: You are a shuttle pilot on board of a colossal spaceship sent to a remote, unexplored world by a megacorp in order to strip said world of its resources. Upon getting near your destination you and a scientist are sent ahead to scout the situation on-site. Something goes wrong, and... the plot that unfolds is hundred times deeper than modern standard cookie-cutter RPG garbage. It is mostly not predictable, unique and full of surprises. To this day I re-play Albion every year for 17 years straight. Need I say more? It's a true gem. With any kind of marketing or adivertisement (which it lacked completly) it would have been an all-time classic.
