A diamond in the rough. I am enjoying this game. The more I get into it, the more I like it. Yes there are some issues, and it lacks a lot of polish, but if you can get past these issues the game itself is quite engaging.
Do not expect this game to hold you by the hand and point out where to go, or what to do. You are dumped into this world and you are on your own to figure things outA diamond in the rough. I am enjoying this game. The more I get into it, the more I like it. Yes there are some issues, and it lacks a lot of polish, but if you can get past these issues the game itself is quite engaging.
Do not expect this game to hold you by the hand and point out where to go, or what to do. You are dumped into this world and you are on your own to figure things out which is not for everyone I know, but this is a part of why this game is becoming more endearing to me the more I play.
Alright lets address some of the game issues the controls are not what you are used to, for a top down isometric. There is not point and click movement (yet the devs are looking into implementing this), movement is WASD (personally I mapped this to a gamepad using xpadder). The screen rotates by right clicking and holding and it is sort of awkward as the right mouse button is also used for virtually all actions as well. As of right now this is a little buggy if you rotate the camera and pass the cursor over an interactive item or an open menu it gets stuck until you click the mouse again. This is a minor annoyance once you know how to avoid it, and is also one the devs are aware of and are looking to patch.
The quest dialogues are sketchy and not well translated or organized, and in some instances confusing. There are some quirks there. For example one very early quest has you fetching beer for a drunken individual. In the dialogue he implores you not to tattle to someone what you are doing. When you hand the quest in, regardless of whether you warn this person or not he tells you off for narcing him out. These are annoyances, yes, but ones that I can look past, and ones that I imagine will be straightened out in time.
The graphics are not pretty, do not expect eye candy from this game it is not what it is about. It was billed as an old school game, and that is what it looks and feels like.
I am sure there are a few other quirks I am overlooking such as leaving you to figure out some game mechanics on your own such as identifying magic items (what a joy it was to discover how to do this!), and learning what effect certain foods or potions have by trying them out yourself. I have seen many people also having issues figuring out how to open locked containers, it is explained in the manual, but not in game. Basically there are sets of different colored tiles (runes) with multiple icons on them, when you open a locked container there is a grid of symbols with 2 highlighted, and you need to make a bridge between these highlighted symbols using the runes in your inventory. The catch is that each lock has a certain color associated with it, and you have to use the runes of the correct color on that container. Runes are picked up by looting, and at first your "kit" is quite incomplete, but as time goes on you get more tiles to work with and are able to open more locked containers.
Creating spells also uses runes, each rune corresponds to a certain effect. For example there is one rune with a symbol of fire on it, and then another with a heart on it. You select the spell type (protection, missile, or ward) and add up to six of these runes into the spell. The more runes you use the more faith it requires to cast the spell (faith is used as you would expect mana in other games). Using a fire rune in a protect spell gives you protection against fire, using the heart rune in the same gives you added vitality combining them gives you both in the same spell. Using the same runes in a missile spell will give fire damage to your foe and lower its vitality, while a ward would do fire damage over time and lower the vitality of the mob in the area covered by the ward spell. The ability to design a wide array of customized spells quickly and intuitively is a great aspect to this game IMO.
I have not played enough yet to see how vast the world is, but there is joy in exploration, and in discovering things as you go. If you are a game player who likes to explore and check out every nook and cranny this game will be right up your alley. If you are not, then you may want to give this game a pass.
All in all, I find this game to be a good time killer, getting past the first part of it and accepting its quirks is difficult. This game is not for everybody, but the more I get into it, the more I find myself liking it. Yes there are many things that still need ironed out in this game, but despite this there is a solid framework and a lot of potential here. It is a small indie team that developed this game, and from what I am reading they are working diligently on ironing out the kinks and delivering a product that satisfies their player base. For now it does feel like you are playing a beta version of the game, but if isometric RPG's that do not hold your hand are up your alley, it is worth looking at or coming back in a few weeks after there is some more polish on this gem.… Expand
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