I finally stopped playing Skyrim long enough to get this. I am SHOCKED at how much I love it. I'm usually the first person in line to bash these kinds of RPG-lites, but it really hits the Fable-but-better sweet spot. The game, first and foremost, is gorgeous, in that Blizzardy way. The textures aren't impressive, taken separately, but everything fits so well into the scene, and everything looks painted by real artists, not just photoshopped together.
Combat is actually fun. The eight weapon types all behave just enough differently to make you seriously consider which one you want to use. The spells are fairly well-balanced and their gameplay effects can be radically different. Lightning bolt is nothing like poison blade which is nothing like Earthquake which is nothing like Mark of Flame. The character class system is a little weak, but it does allow great flexibility, and few powers or upgrades leave you wondering why on earth would you buy them.
But the really criminally underrated aspect to this game, imo, is the writing. Sure, it's troperrific, but Salvatore really nailed it. The fae are NOT elves, they're old irish style fae, and they're brilliant. The central theme is perhaps the most boring aspect, but the races are really solid, the world is inspiring, and the writing is generally as good as it gets. The voice acting lets the writing down on countless occasions, and is a prime example of why the practice of fully voice acting rpgs is usually ruining them. Important scenes are usually done well enough (with typically weak scripted animation), but the re-use of four main actors for every bit role, and the weak direction on the majority of those lines, kills immersion. Most of the fae shffer most, with their silly phaser voice and weak direction, which makes them all sound identical - and boring.
Still, this is a promising game, with a lot of replay value and a careful system. It would be basically perfect, for an aRPG, if it weren't hopelessly too easy. I play with a modified version of YSA mod (actually a trainer script for Cheat Engine), which makes things perfect. Combat is deadly and every step is worth thinking out. Stacking percentages can still make blacksmithing far too uber, so tread lightly on that regard and the crafting is super fun.
Lastly, that idiot from Oblivion decided that the best fix for levelled enemies was level locks, which means if you're an explorer, like me, you'll lock all enemies to their minimum level, regardless of when you actually go questing there. I highly recommend the forum's level locks .pdf, but you'll do ok if you just limit random exploration to outdoor areas - dungeon delving too early can ruin the game.
Tl;dr - game is much more brilliant than people give it credit for. The art direction goes places dungeon siege and nwn wish they could. The writing is tropey but unusually high standard without resorting to DARRRRK FAAAAANTASYYYYY. ;p and the gameplay is everything fable 3 should have been.
Combat is actually fun. The eight weapon types all behave just enough differently to make you seriously consider which one you want to use. The spells are fairly well-balanced and their gameplay effects can be radically different. Lightning bolt is nothing like poison blade which is nothing like Earthquake which is nothing like Mark of Flame. The character class system is a little weak, but it does allow great flexibility, and few powers or upgrades leave you wondering why on earth would you buy them.
But the really criminally underrated aspect to this game, imo, is the writing. Sure, it's troperrific, but Salvatore really nailed it. The fae are NOT elves, they're old irish style fae, and they're brilliant. The central theme is perhaps the most boring aspect, but the races are really solid, the world is inspiring, and the writing is generally as good as it gets. The voice acting lets the writing down on countless occasions, and is a prime example of why the practice of fully voice acting rpgs is usually ruining them. Important scenes are usually done well enough (with typically weak scripted animation), but the re-use of four main actors for every bit role, and the weak direction on the majority of those lines, kills immersion. Most of the fae shffer most, with their silly phaser voice and weak direction, which makes them all sound identical - and boring.
Still, this is a promising game, with a lot of replay value and a careful system. It would be basically perfect, for an aRPG, if it weren't hopelessly too easy. I play with a modified version of YSA mod (actually a trainer script for Cheat Engine), which makes things perfect. Combat is deadly and every step is worth thinking out. Stacking percentages can still make blacksmithing far too uber, so tread lightly on that regard and the crafting is super fun.
Lastly, that idiot from Oblivion decided that the best fix for levelled enemies was level locks, which means if you're an explorer, like me, you'll lock all enemies to their minimum level, regardless of when you actually go questing there. I highly recommend the forum's level locks .pdf, but you'll do ok if you just limit random exploration to outdoor areas - dungeon delving too early can ruin the game.
Tl;dr - game is much more brilliant than people give it credit for. The art direction goes places dungeon siege and nwn wish they could. The writing is tropey but unusually high standard without resorting to DARRRRK FAAAAANTASYYYYY. ;p and the gameplay is everything fable 3 should have been.
