Anyone tried this new game from Piranha Bytes (the makers of Gothic and Risen)?
(The AI problems he mentions in this review were fixed by the day 1 patch, as far as I can tell)
I don't know what to make of this game. By any conventional standard, it's a mediocre(or even sub-par) game. The graphics are outdated, the controls are clunky, the acting sucks, the sounds are meh, the music is forgettable, and the characters lack any real depth. Even the dialogue is weak.
And yet, I am completely addicted to the game. Loot is very rare, combat is very difficult, and the world surprisingly feels lived in.
For all of its faults, the developers managed to do the exploration (for money & loot) just right, and they created an interesting science fantasy world--not for any individual characters so much as the overall atmosphere, which changes drastically for each faction and the zones they control. For example, the tree hugging, technology hating Berserkers personify the "fantasy" archetype with medieval lifestyle and magic use, while the Clerics are sort of this world's version of the Brotherhood of Steel.
It's definitely not a game for everyone. And if I gave it an honest review, I'd be hard-pressed to give it anything higher than a 7. Maybe 7.5. And yet it has me more hooked than any game has for many, many years. It's like they got all of the tangibles wrong and all of the intangibles right. Not sure what to make of that.
Anyone else playing this game?
(The AI problems he mentions in this review were fixed by the day 1 patch, as far as I can tell)
I don't know what to make of this game. By any conventional standard, it's a mediocre(or even sub-par) game. The graphics are outdated, the controls are clunky, the acting sucks, the sounds are meh, the music is forgettable, and the characters lack any real depth. Even the dialogue is weak.
And yet, I am completely addicted to the game. Loot is very rare, combat is very difficult, and the world surprisingly feels lived in.
For all of its faults, the developers managed to do the exploration (for money & loot) just right, and they created an interesting science fantasy world--not for any individual characters so much as the overall atmosphere, which changes drastically for each faction and the zones they control. For example, the tree hugging, technology hating Berserkers personify the "fantasy" archetype with medieval lifestyle and magic use, while the Clerics are sort of this world's version of the Brotherhood of Steel.
It's definitely not a game for everyone. And if I gave it an honest review, I'd be hard-pressed to give it anything higher than a 7. Maybe 7.5. And yet it has me more hooked than any game has for many, many years. It's like they got all of the tangibles wrong and all of the intangibles right. Not sure what to make of that.
Anyone else playing this game?
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