Demonicon - Review @ Saving Content

Couchpotato

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Saving Content has posted the next review for The Dark Eye - Demonicon. The review while scoreless calls the game entertaining, but warns it does get annoying at times.

Demonicon has a lot of potential, drawing from The Dark Eye leaves room for sequels and improvements on the core mechanics that makes this title standout. As it stands as a solitary title, cannot be recommended at full price. It’s far from broken, in fact it works and plays well, but it isn’t a very polished game. Over the course of 20+ hours, it definitely gets its hooks into you, but those hooks tend to get annoying and you’ll want to be done before you see the credits roll.
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I read "checkpoints" for saving and I stopped reading.
 
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I read "checkpoints" for saving and I stopped reading.
Good for you it's a well known fact on this forum already. It's been talked about many times already. It will be a deal breaker for some.
 
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I dont get it mate. COnsidering you have some choices in the plot/quests .. why would you be allowed to save before making one?

It can be improved though.. as the game froze a few times on me and the save wasn't that close.
 
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I dont get it mate. COnsidering you have some choices in the plot/quests .. why would you be allowed to save before making one?

It can be improved though.. as the game froze a few times on me and the save wasn't that close.

The issue isn't really about saving before a choice, although I some times play a game that way for a variety of reasons. The issues is if you are gaming for some length of time and you want to stop gaming. You want to stop gaming. I certainly don't feel like gaming some more just to reach a check point. And if it is some kind of family issue that comes up, family time trumps game time.
 
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Checkpoints are a negative but not a deal breaker for me.

My problem is I can't decide whether or not the game is good enough to put up with the checkpoints.

The C&C sounds good, story sounds adequate but I haven't been able to tell what the combat is like exactly from reviews and since I'm a combat first player that will be a make or break thing.
 
Checkpoints are a negative but not a deal breaker for me.

My problem is I can't decide whether or not the game is good enough to put up with the checkpoints.

The C&C sounds good, story sounds adequate but I haven't been able to tell what the combat is like exactly from reviews and since I'm a combat first player that will be a make or break thing.

The combat involves lots of rolling about, if you like that kind of thing. It is passable, but the boss fights feel like some kind of fighting game - well, to me at least. You have to take AoE powers/attacks because you are constantly swarmed in encounters. Every encounter. I'm a story& mechanics person first, and I prefer turn-based or RTwP. Turns out you can actually dig around in your inventory while in combat, which I only discovered recently - so the game does pause ;-) The combat feels bit clunky, but it's not that bad. I would not pay $40 though (having already paid that...) So unless there's a demo, I would wait for a sale.
 
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My take after some playing:

- Good story, weak main characters - the love story and how they talk about it is laughable, however decisions and strong secondary characters liven it up.
- The city looks good and people are everywhere, sadly most of it is non-interactive - every interactive spot can be seen from a mile.
- Lots of character development options, not enough help about them and how they affect your character - I had to enter Moloch mountain again to see how perception works (same as everything else - big hotspot).
- Combat is clunky as previously described, you're usually overwhelmed and hit by several waves of almost identical enemies - I really see no point of having so much of them. After becoming a member of the Guard I get attacked on every corner by the mob... Where the heck are they breeding them? :)
- And the nail in the coffin: how in the world a game that is driven by choice and free roaming (limited though) is having checkpoint saves? I probably could have lived with it if they at least had auto saves on zone transitions...

Even with all its weaknesses I listed, I still like the game and continue to play it. But it could have been so much more if done right... Shame.
 
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My game crashed at a bossfight. It's not a big deal, it was the first crash in about 15 hours of game time.
The big deal is, that the savegame got corrupted and I need to replay half an hour now. :(
 
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I dont get it mate. COnsidering you have some choices in the plot/quests .. why would you be allowed to save before making one?
If that's their logic, it's a fail one, your decisions do not have any major impact on the game.

There is really no reason for banning the quicksave option and relying only on autosaves apart from deliberate decision to annoy the audience.
Another possibility is that quicksave exists in the code but is disabled due to some unfixed bug in certain areas/spots.
 
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The combat involves lots of rolling about, if you like that kind of thing. It is passable, but the boss fights feel like some kind of fighting game - well, to me at least. You have to take AoE powers/attacks because you are constantly swarmed in encounters. Every encounter. I'm a story& mechanics person first, and I prefer turn-based or RTwP. Turns out you can actually dig around in your inventory while in combat, which I only discovered recently - so the game does pause ;-) The combat feels bit clunky, but it's not that bad. I would not pay $40 though (having already paid that…) So unless there's a demo, I would wait for a sale.

Thanks for the info, I'll probably wait for a sale as it seems to be the general consensus that it's not worth the full $40.
 
If that's their logic, it's a fail one, your decisions do not have any major impact on the game.

There is really no reason for banning the quicksave option and relying only on autosaves apart from deliberate decision to annoy the audience.
Another possibility is that quicksave exists in the code but is disabled due to some unfixed bug in certain areas/spots.

I suspect that this decision is to increase the game length by making the player go over repeated regions/fights when they die. A console tactic, not very professional.
 
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