GameBanshee has finally managed to post their review of Daedalic Entertainment's SRPG Blackguards. The reviewer comes to the conclusion he can't recommend it.
More information.
Blackguards - Review @ GameBanshee
- Thread starter Couchpotato
- Start date
What I liked about the game:
-Turn Based Combat
-The difficulty
-character build options
What I didn't
-story (predictable and dull)
-The main character is a mere spectator (even your companions make choices over you)
-companions (few, uninteresting)
-not rewarding at all (little reward for winning a difficult combat)
-lack of content between combats (call it story, NPCs, dialogs, side activities, etc.)
Honestly I finished it because of the "difficulty factor" but really this game deserves a 6 (if you don't like difficult games maybe a 5).
I saw they (Daedalic) are publishing D:OS on Europe, so they know what a good RPG is. I think their first try on making a RPG was rushed/ poorly planned (maybe they weren't trying too hard?).
-Turn Based Combat
-The difficulty
-character build options
What I didn't
-story (predictable and dull)
-The main character is a mere spectator (even your companions make choices over you)
-companions (few, uninteresting)
-not rewarding at all (little reward for winning a difficult combat)
-lack of content between combats (call it story, NPCs, dialogs, side activities, etc.)
Honestly I finished it because of the "difficulty factor" but really this game deserves a 6 (if you don't like difficult games maybe a 5).
I saw they (Daedalic) are publishing D:OS on Europe, so they know what a good RPG is. I think their first try on making a RPG was rushed/ poorly planned (maybe they weren't trying too hard?).
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hairyscotsman2
Watchdog
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I enjoyed it right up until I didn't, which was early Act II. Can't face going back there without some serious patching.
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I don't think patch will resolve anything. I mean, I finished at the time it was released on Steam, I got 3 or 4 'Hangs' (opponents refusing to finish their turn), but nothing else. You mean patches with added content?
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GothicGothicness
SasqWatch
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I loved the demo, but the game is getting worse instead of better after that unfortunately. Also didn't get past the ACT II boredom as of yet.
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Not a very good review at all imo. Blackguards is a lot better than he makes it sound.
DungeonHack
DOS Addict
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For me it was midway through act 3. The story was dragging, my party finally hit that point where they couldn't grow anymore, and I didn't feel motivation to go forward. Which was a shame, since I was to review it for the website I write for and had to give it a score in the 70s. Fun, but seriously lacking in substance.
I figure we won't be getting review copies of their games anymore.
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S
sakichop
Guest
I put 105 hours in to it and beat it once while playing chapters 1,2 and 3 several times during early access.
I thought the beginning of the game was better than the end. It started to get repetitive. My biggest complaint was balance issues. The numbers they let you see often didn't seem to match the results I'd get. Like having a 96% chance of success but failing 3 times in a row. Towards the end where I pretty much played the last quarter of the game poisoned ( before they patched it out) was very annoying as well.
Overall I though it was good though maybe a 7/10. If they would have kept expanding on using the environment for battles, improved the story and made me care about my companions it would have been much better.
I will buy a sequel if they make one. Not interested in the dlc they made though as it focuses on a character I cared nothing about.
I thought the beginning of the game was better than the end. It started to get repetitive. My biggest complaint was balance issues. The numbers they let you see often didn't seem to match the results I'd get. Like having a 96% chance of success but failing 3 times in a row. Towards the end where I pretty much played the last quarter of the game poisoned ( before they patched it out) was very annoying as well.
Overall I though it was good though maybe a 7/10. If they would have kept expanding on using the environment for battles, improved the story and made me care about my companions it would have been much better.
I will buy a sequel if they make one. Not interested in the dlc they made though as it focuses on a character I cared nothing about.
Thrasher
Wheeee!
Well I liked it more than the reviewer, who seemed to experience more bugs and problems than I did. And I played early access, so something doesn't ring true.
I don't mind spikes in difficulty, unless I can't get past them, which wasn't the case for Blackguards. Not sure I understand the repetitiveness complaint. Almost all the battles offered some variety, either in map layout or inventive environmental puzzles or obstacles.
I don't mind spikes in difficulty, unless I can't get past them, which wasn't the case for Blackguards. Not sure I understand the repetitiveness complaint. Almost all the battles offered some variety, either in map layout or inventive environmental puzzles or obstacles.
Thrasher
Wheeee!
Compared to Heroes and King's Bounty, the battles were much less repetitive, so that criticism seems lacking.
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Bugs? What bugs? I've played another game then…
Blackguards is a pretty hard game even on the lowest difficulty (at least upon the release, I know there was some balancing in later patches). But the refreshing thing is that being hard is not because of unstoppable respawning hostiles. And I love that game for that. It didn't need an annoying filler nor grinding on every single turn. It uses many different "arenas" instead. Of course, there are players who don't like when every area is different and where you can't grind your way to the victory. This game is not for those people.
While very good, it's not a masterpiece. To be that, it needs an integration of TDE social (and antisocial) skills, a better story implementation and nonstatic towns. Hopefully those things will be included in it's sequel.
Blackguards is a pretty hard game even on the lowest difficulty (at least upon the release, I know there was some balancing in later patches). But the refreshing thing is that being hard is not because of unstoppable respawning hostiles. And I love that game for that. It didn't need an annoying filler nor grinding on every single turn. It uses many different "arenas" instead. Of course, there are players who don't like when every area is different and where you can't grind your way to the victory. This game is not for those people.
While very good, it's not a masterpiece. To be that, it needs an integration of TDE social (and antisocial) skills, a better story implementation and nonstatic towns. Hopefully those things will be included in it's sequel.
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You have to be suicidal to admit you hate the game on these forums.
As for me I don't hate the game. I just never finished it as I got bored very easily. In the end I decided to play a different game in my backlog instead.
I may go back and finish it one day in the future.
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I'm honest about what I like and don't like, so I always say what I think!! I chose not to finish and therefore not to review the game as THAT would have caused some backlash!!!!
I chose not to finish and therefore not to review the game as THAT would have caused some backlash!!!! 
JonNik
SasqWatch
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- October 18, 2006
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- 1,734
I think it was a very decent first attempt and a good game for those interested mainly for combat (*). Decent character customization and a very good variety of maps enemies and challenges.
(* Definitely not me, games I love are usually experiences that are more than the sum of their parts, especially the more technical bits. Combat to the exclusion of everything else bores me alas)
Its just that it started overstaying its welcome after the middle of chapter 4 or there about, and while I am always very enthusiastically pro for very large games, this one may have been favored a bit by trimming some of the endgame content. Some repetition of ideas, concepts and enemies (poison overuse, tentacles from the deep, some ideas for map challenges, some maps starting to look too familiar towards the end etc.) could have been avoided.
Definitely buying their next. This is a decent outfit. I need to get an equally excellent price for it though (pre-access + Steam sale I payed less than 13 euros for it) this kind of limited combat only SRPG not being my main fare.
6/10 is very harsh imo…
(* Definitely not me, games I love are usually experiences that are more than the sum of their parts, especially the more technical bits. Combat to the exclusion of everything else bores me alas)
Its just that it started overstaying its welcome after the middle of chapter 4 or there about, and while I am always very enthusiastically pro for very large games, this one may have been favored a bit by trimming some of the endgame content. Some repetition of ideas, concepts and enemies (poison overuse, tentacles from the deep, some ideas for map challenges, some maps starting to look too familiar towards the end etc.) could have been avoided.
Definitely buying their next. This is a decent outfit. I need to get an equally excellent price for it though (pre-access + Steam sale I payed less than 13 euros for it) this kind of limited combat only SRPG not being my main fare.
6/10 is very harsh imo…
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