Grab it on sale!
It's not a bad game. It's not a good game. The game has a fun, old-school approach and creates an old-schoolGrab it on sale!
It's not a bad game. It's not a good game. The game has a fun, old-school approach and creates an old-school challenge...
...right down to flat, clunky, nearly-broken mechanics and frustrating sections relying ENTIRELY on random chance to proceed. Many battles are going to boil down to whom the RNG gods favor. Strategy, tactics, meaningful application of character based skills = bleeping jack all.
And yet...it's not bad. Magic is meaningless. Armor is pointless. Everything revolves around your ability to cause more damage than your enemy, and melee combat characters are king(s). Peripheral skills (lockpicking, lore, alchemy, and [sadly] magic) are basically trade-offs that mean:
"You can control what type of BS will make your game artificially more difficult. You must have strong melee characters in your party of 4 -- or you automatically lose! Now, how else would you like to be unfairly screwed as you save and reload?"
-Would you like to miss out on almost all loot? Forego lock-picking!
-Would you like to be raped by merchants to identify potentially worthless items? Forego lore!
-Would you like to rely on random, horribly unbalanced spells that can potentially fail completely even at high levels? Forego alchemy!
-The game will cater itself to your desired level of pointless frustration!
All of that (warranted) aggression against the game aside...it's not "bad"! I had a decent time with it. (Not a "great!" time, a "decent" time.) The art style is quite good! I love the attention to detail in the character models and overall visual aesthetic. Combat was still fun, in an amateurish sort of way. I really wished for real, tactical options that mattered, as I think this game's best selling point would be a solid combat system.
The story is ham.
The execution is lack-luster.
The length is...well...short.
COMBAT is what -*should*- be carrying this game.
Hopefully in the future, the dev(s?) will learn from this experience and provide a model of gameplay based more heavily on an established trope: D&D Gold Box, Final Fantasy Tactics, XCOM, Fire Emblem...
For now, $14.99 is...just arrogant. I'm sure the developer(s) put a lot of time and work into it, but pricing must somehow represent quality. This is the equivalent of paying $15 for a cup of mediocre instant coffee. It's not gonna gag you, but if you intend to spend that type of money -- head for a professional barista.
If you can find this on sale for $4.99, grab it!… Expand
