So, anyone here playing it? It has a free demo on their website and the download is only around 300mb.
I downloaded the demo and have messed around with it. First off, the game is real time with pause; despite the fact that a turn based system would have greatly inclined the game the devs decided to go for this. I have no idea why, perhaps they wanted to copy the flaws of Darklands (shitty combat) in addition to the graphic style?
I like the graphic style, but I do feel many, including rpg fans, will be turned off by it. The font needs improvement though, because sometimes due to transparency some words become impossible to read.
The animations are not bad. Some are quite charming, such as gory death animations.
The character system is surprisingly fun. It is simplistic true, but warriors get battle skills to use instead of just hacking away, while spellcasters get a nice variety of spells. Due to the class-less nature of the system, you can mix and match character types. You could make one character a warrior-mage, another a Sword and Shield weilder who is also a crack shot with a bow (as battle skills/book of war has abilities for many weapon styles, including bow and arrows)
Amusingly, elixirs can be used in combat and have corresponding battle skills.
I am as of yet unsure how much of an effect stats have on different abilities. My starting characters we similar with only a small die worth of difference in stats depending on how I allocated the starting stats, as you only get 2 points to allocate at char gen.
Interesting to note there is no mana in the game. Spells can be cast indefinitely, what matters is casting time. This can be decreased by pumping the dexterity(sp) stat, but at the expense of other stats.
Combat has potential. Your characters do not start off as movers and shakers* and I feel they never will be able to wade into an army and mow it down. This is dark fantasy folks, not forgotten realms, but even keeping that in mind you are not Conan or Elric, but rather Fafrhd or Croaker. Then again this might change by game end and leveling, but I doubt it.
Combat suffers from other problems though, mostly due to the RTwP nature. You will need to constantly pause and unpause to give orders and move things along. Due to the long casting time of spells vs enemy movement, your area effect spells end up being not very useful thus far. This could change by increasing casting speed via leveling.
There is a shape-shifting school I found to my amusement. You can start out by transforming into a cat. I see a lot of potential in this if more powerful forms are available.
The game lore is immersive, and the writing is ok. But nothing to write home about. The UI is butt ugly and intrusive. Combat log text is too big, and hard to scroll through.
* There is an issue with the story I have. You sort of do start out, storywise, as a mover and shaker, as the main character is supposedly a deity. But he is stuck in mortal form and is thus weak as a mortal. Meh, I wish they had not done this. Still, you get to form a party of upto 5 PCs from the getgo.
You can also recruit companions along the way if you have room (max limit of 5 applies) I don't really know if the companions add anything storywise to make it worth taking them
The demo is worth giving it a shot. It's free and a very small download. Try it out, especially if you are a fan of Darklands.
I downloaded the demo and have messed around with it. First off, the game is real time with pause; despite the fact that a turn based system would have greatly inclined the game the devs decided to go for this. I have no idea why, perhaps they wanted to copy the flaws of Darklands (shitty combat) in addition to the graphic style?
I like the graphic style, but I do feel many, including rpg fans, will be turned off by it. The font needs improvement though, because sometimes due to transparency some words become impossible to read.
The animations are not bad. Some are quite charming, such as gory death animations.
The character system is surprisingly fun. It is simplistic true, but warriors get battle skills to use instead of just hacking away, while spellcasters get a nice variety of spells. Due to the class-less nature of the system, you can mix and match character types. You could make one character a warrior-mage, another a Sword and Shield weilder who is also a crack shot with a bow (as battle skills/book of war has abilities for many weapon styles, including bow and arrows)
Amusingly, elixirs can be used in combat and have corresponding battle skills.
I am as of yet unsure how much of an effect stats have on different abilities. My starting characters we similar with only a small die worth of difference in stats depending on how I allocated the starting stats, as you only get 2 points to allocate at char gen.
Interesting to note there is no mana in the game. Spells can be cast indefinitely, what matters is casting time. This can be decreased by pumping the dexterity(sp) stat, but at the expense of other stats.
Combat has potential. Your characters do not start off as movers and shakers* and I feel they never will be able to wade into an army and mow it down. This is dark fantasy folks, not forgotten realms, but even keeping that in mind you are not Conan or Elric, but rather Fafrhd or Croaker. Then again this might change by game end and leveling, but I doubt it.
Combat suffers from other problems though, mostly due to the RTwP nature. You will need to constantly pause and unpause to give orders and move things along. Due to the long casting time of spells vs enemy movement, your area effect spells end up being not very useful thus far. This could change by increasing casting speed via leveling.
There is a shape-shifting school I found to my amusement. You can start out by transforming into a cat. I see a lot of potential in this if more powerful forms are available.
The game lore is immersive, and the writing is ok. But nothing to write home about. The UI is butt ugly and intrusive. Combat log text is too big, and hard to scroll through.
* There is an issue with the story I have. You sort of do start out, storywise, as a mover and shaker, as the main character is supposedly a deity. But he is stuck in mortal form and is thus weak as a mortal. Meh, I wish they had not done this. Still, you get to form a party of upto 5 PCs from the getgo.
You can also recruit companions along the way if you have room (max limit of 5 applies) I don't really know if the companions add anything storywise to make it worth taking them
The demo is worth giving it a shot. It's free and a very small download. Try it out, especially if you are a fan of Darklands.
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- Dec 16, 2010
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