If You just hold all heroes in one enemy, they will not hit him and then push selfs into all directions. This make a team work impossible... They just throw other companions from hill and restart mission...
AI movement [team] is terrible. They dont know how to get some points they walk into wall.
There is 10 enemys? Your other companions fight? Oh the enemy is 3 meters, not 2, so i wont attack them ...
Then when You find these dump mechanic gameplay, You just see the pause is must have to correct 90% of movement, fighting etc
God, game could be great if they hire somebody to use algorytm to movement...
Right off the bat, it is worth mentioning that this game is different from other isometric games such as Pillars of eternity, Baldur's gate, Neverwinter etc in terms of game mechanics and world exploration. Is it necessarily a bad thing? Well some people say that it's more of a visual audio book with RTS elements than an RPG game , while others might think that it introduces a breath of fresh air to the RPG genre such as myself. Ultimately it gets down to personal preference.
Saying that, let's get down to business with a list of pro's n con's about this gem of a game:
PROS:
+The narration and dialogues gives of a soothing and cosy atmosphere to the game. Fully voiced which is always great! I was hooked from the start and did not loose interest nor clicked away any conversations.
+The story and character development; As I advanced through this epic journey, I got more invested in the characters and their background stories. While being your standard RPG a la lord of the rings, the tale unfolded in an intriguing way, inviting some chuckle here and there, lots of smiles and a few sad events. The cutscenes enhanced the experience even further.
+Exploration of the world is approached via a worldmap with a vivid narration of events in which you sometimes had to make choices thus, to a certain extent, could influence the outcome.
+ Game mechanics; compared to other RPG you get to fight hordes upon hordes of orcs while using lots of AoE skills that could also cause friendly fire. Therefore, placing your characters and using the environment is a must to avoid being overrun by the mobs. Smash the orcs, knock em out then finnish them or just push em off the cliff! Whatever you decide there is a great sense of satisfaction!
CONS:
- Oh camera, where art thou?? Why not let us freely scroll over the battlefield to plan even better strategies?!
-The ending felt just a tad too rushed.
- Some health potion bugs which in some situations were rather frustrating.
... but is only mediocore.
Story is good, but that was clear from the beginning as it is very near by the book.
Combat is ... clunky and not really tactical or strategical, its more a lot of luck and the interface, the camera and the pace is ... well, lets keep friendly ... suboptimal.
Information during combat is bad and you mostly fight more with the interface and the camera, then with the enemy.
Game is not polished very well either, bugs still apear and sometimes make it impossible to end a mission.
Athmosphere is ok, graphics are mediocore.
Sound is good, but somehow the music does not fit the game.
Worth about 5 €, so if its on sale, grab it.
The normal price is a joke.
I got this game on sale and I got to say, I had greater hopes for it.
First and foremost, the good:
It is a pretty faitful adaptation of the novel ( I haven't read it in years, but I remember parts of it) and the story is pretty good.
game looks pretty good at times. Cartoony but it fits this game.
A huge variation of characters.
the bad:
gameplay is pretty simple which is not a bad thing. However, the camera often get stuck in parts of the world and it makes it hard to follow the action.
Sometimes, your special ability doesn't work at all. I have often done an attack that should connect but it did not.
In cutscenes, music often does not play at all. It remove the impact the scenes should have.
A lot of bugs and glitches.
Overall, I would recommend it, but only on sale.
The Dwarves is a mixed bag. The storyline is good and follows the book pretty closely with a few slight changes. Events that don't feature Tungdil are absent as are a few characters like Mallen and Sverd. There's a character in the game, Giralda who isn't in the first book, she's cool but could've been fleshed out a little more.
The way the game is narrated feels nice and cosy, although it is mostly done through voice over and text boxes on the world map. The voice acting and writing are good and the games greatest strengths. Big events are shown in cut scenes, which mostly look nice and show off the character design, which is a bit cartoonish but charming. Other storytelling is done through point and click adventure style levels. These work pretty well and you can tell King Art's team have some experience with that genre.
Unfortunately, the combat engine is really disappointing. The quasi tactical battles feel awkard on both a mouse and keyboard and with an Xbox controller. The way commands are issued feels sloppy. The companion AI is awful, ai characters either stand still or run to their deaths. Archers fight like melee characters. The power ups are bland. Enemies mostly just swarm, it's too chaotic for RTWP. The battles are repetitive with objectives mostly consisting of killing dozens of orcs or bringing your party to one end of the map. The boss fights aren't so much challenging as they are frustrating and time consuming, the bosses frequently teleport or heal in a way that extends the fights but doesn't make them more fun. The camera gets in the way a lot. It's somewhat easier to deal with using a controller, but it's still requires frequent adjusting. The menus on the character selection and equipment screen on the other hand, are easy with a mouse and keyboard but really hard to navigate with a controller.
Hopefully they'll make a better sequel. The story is great, and there's a lot of potential but it needs a lot of the kinks ironed out.
