This game didn't use to have a launcher, now it does. I had to install an extra program to run this launcher and then was forced to make an account to play the game. Just annoying and not user friendly practice.
While I enjoyed the majority of the previous game, this new one is just bad in so many little ways.
All of those are mechanical or design choices.
All the below are played on normal (classic) difficulty mode:
1) The enemies all have far higher stats then your characters can have, at the same level.
2) Almost every encounter is a spawn; meaning that the enemies are literally popped into existence only when you trigger the encounter.
This is shitty, lazy design and undermines the entire immersion factor.
3) The ai is not setup to behave realistically, like the first game; instead it always attempts to gain the maximum tactical advantage.... flanking, protecting their back from backstabs, etc.
No average goon is going to do this.
4) When the ai manages to charm one of your characters, instead of looking out for themselves when at almost no health, they will ALWAYS buff another of the enemy characters.
This is stupid, because of the laws/motivation of self preservation.
5) EVERY single enemy has teleport!
This ruins the game; there is no tactics because of it!
I'd like to be more eloquent on this point; unfortunately I just can't come up with the words, unless I resort to profuse swearing.
This rather stupid design means there is NO possibility of a front and back line.
You CANNOT protect your casters, archers, etc from attacks.
This forces you to build every single party member with maximum armour, forsaking damage output to ensure survival.
One of the most important elements of every RPG, the story, is just plain simply bland in this game. The same old "The Chosen One" that is repeated over and over again throughout the game until the main characters starts oozing Source from all of it's bodily orifices.
Gameplay mechanics, too dependent on environmental effects with too much focus on AoE. Not only that but the combat is almost exclusively putting the player team in a disadvantageous position at the start of every fight. There is no way to actually make use of sneaking because even if you do the character that does the sneaking will often be considered as the only one to enter the battle.
Too much candy loot. The game almost feels like an MMO.
Too few armor and equipment in the starter zone. The game practically gives you only one choice to properly get equipment at the start - kill and loot everything you see. Even then, it's barely enough to get balanced fights and you'll keep dying over and over again until you pass the first third of the game.
With all the effort that was put in the game it's incredible how the whole setting just feels sterile and boring.
3/5
Like the public enemy song.
Pros:
-Nice map designing. I really liked the whole world tbh. They did a really good job in that section so that people can allow to exploit differnt tactics in combat.
-Nice graphics as well. The game is really beautiful. I am a sucker for isometric rpgs and this looks briliant.
Cons:
-Now this game IS NOT an RPG. It's more of a tactical strategy than rpg. The writing is so shallow and boring(with the rare excpetion of Fane for some reason) and the choices that you have are good or evil. The story is bang average. Save the world. OH YEAH! We are in 2018 and people still make games were the world needs saving. I call it bs. So yeah Larian you should really step up your game in writing. You have below average writting since divine divinity.
-Difficulty scaling: They say that the options are easy. classic, hard and very hard. I say it's easy, very hard, impossible and stockholm syndrom. Learn how to scale the difficulty OMG!
- Numerous journal bugs that results in various quests unable to be closed.
- You need to take positions prior the fights begin. Now that would be good if you could see for example some monsters on the road for example. But there is not reason trying being tactical when you are initiating a dialog with everyone that might be an enemy or in a place where a battle will probably take place after performing a specific action. That is bad designing.
- The AI is bad. It's 2018 and Larian didn't invested any resources doing a proper AI. So how are they counterbalacing it???
-By making the enemies a lot stronger than you. The enemies will eventually have more hit points than you. More armor, more magic armor and of course MORE ACTION POINTS. So how are you going to win in a combat where you are in a disadvantage? By using the best spell in the game. TELEPORT. There is nothing about tactical combat now. It's all tactical teleporting.
I can't believe I've wasted so many hours to finish such a bad game.
DON'T BUY
The game is entertaining enough at first, but has obvious flaws that make it fall flat by the end.
You will spend the entire game underpowered, both in gear and in level. Enemies destroy your armor on the first turn or two, while you struggle to scratch away at one of the simpler enemies. Items become worthless within 2-3 levels. Enemies are always optimally positioned with scripted openings, but your own party will be uselessly bunched up and short on actions. Cursed surfaces only exist to ruin your day with status effects you can't counter effectively.
The UI is buggy too. Button clicks don't activate, even though there's a click sound. Clicking a moving NPC is near impossible. Party grouping is still broken. Inventory is abysmal. You will be stuffed with books, papers and keys, with no clue which are still useful and which aren't. Crafting is tedious and unrewarding, grenades are useless.
For a game that claims to reward choice, the final fight is also a giant middle finger, with seemingly no way to tip the scales in your favor with dialog, exploration or questing. Planescape Torment, this is not.