RPGWatch Feature - Blade of Destiny HD Review

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The remake of Blade of Destiny was plagued by a large number of bugs upon release. Fluent checks out if the current state of the game is worth playing.

You shouldn't judge a book by its cover. You've heard that old saying before, right? It means: you shouldn't judge something based on its outside appearance alone, you must first explore its depths. Okay, English lesson aside, that little piece of wisdom seems to ring true for Realms Of Arkania: Blade Of Destiny (hereby known as RoA). The cover is a bit misleading here, as the jacket is slightly tattered, torn, missing parts of the binding and the pages are a bit yellowed with age. Okay, maybe it's not that bad, but it is a little rough at times. The character models aren't the prettiest, the combat animations are simply there to do the job and not much more, and there is little flash in the way of fancy cut-scenes or anything like that. However, there is much more beneath the surface here that deserves exploring for the benefit of the RPG fan reading this review. Let's take a look.
More information.
 
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Thanks for another interesting article, Fluent. I'm still working on Nehrim after your last piece, but I'm glad to hear that Blade of Destiny is getting better. I never played this one the first time around so I look forward to picking it up once it's been patched a bit more.
 
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While it's one valid way to judge the game for itself and what it is, I think an important question for the veterans from the old games is: Is there any reason you should play the new game instead of the old one?

And in that regard the new game only offers new graphics which still look bad.
The old game however is more polished and has much more charme. Starting right from the intro.

And while fixing the game makes the gap between these games smaller, I don't see how the new game can ever be prefered to the old one unless they actually change things in the design of the game. Like the intro or the interior of houses.
 
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Thank you for a very well-presented article, hitting on points I have been wondering about. I am going to wait quite a bit longer before I purchase this game, but I anticipate that I will eventually enjoy it.

"Is there any reason you should play the new game instead of the old one?"

Good question. My answer, without having played this one but having played the original a couple of times (once way back then and once about 5 years ago), is that this is something new even though it's a remake of something old. It's different and will inevitably have somethings different about it, or at least I would think that'd be the case. By contrast, Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition appears to me to be the same as the original game and using the same assets, albeit with some enhancements, so I won't be playing that one even though I enjoyed the original a whole lot. This is just my view, of course.
 
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Thanks for the informative article Fluent.

Guess we'll just have to wait a couple of months more.

Otoh, If they can get this up to snuff by my christmas vacation that'll be perfect ;)
 
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I actually started digging into the original again with my LMK party. Great fun! But since I also want to experience the remake at some point, I already bought that, too. Going to wait a bit more before playing, however. I'm seriously hoping the developers can eventually remake the sequels, too. Playing through the whole trilogy with the same party always was an incredible experience.
 
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Yeah, that's great fun indeed.

I just hope that if they make a remake of the 3rd one (Shoadows over Riva), they will add something to the game as I think it's the weakest of the trilogy. The adventure takes place in one town only, so it's lacking the great exploration part and imho has not enough to come up with in return.
 
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I actually started the original but was scared away by how outdated everything was, the game sounds fantastic, if they can keep fixing bugs and have things in a stable state I'll buy this. A pity they did not have more time and budget and beta testing, if it was released in a more stable state with some more polish it could've been superb from the start.
 
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Thanks for the review & the heads up about the game-breaking bug. I really want to buy this when it's more stable. It's inconceivable to me how the price has not dropped given the negative press & problems this game has had.
 
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No sight of the 1.31 MegaPatch.

Still maybe I will dare to install this in 2014.
 
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Thanks for the review & the heads up about the game-breaking bug. I really want to buy this when it's more stable. It's inconceivable to me how the price has not dropped given the negative press & problems this game has had.

I want to wait until more stable also-- but that presumes they will continue development. A lot of waiters on this one....
I am not saying they will not continue, just saying I hope they do, but not sure they will.
 
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I just hope that if they make a remake of the 3rd one (Shoadows over Riva), they will add something to the game as I think it's the weakest of the trilogy. The adventure takes place in one town only, so it's lacking the great exploration part and imho has not enough to come up with in return.
Well, exploration was reduced, but RoA3 was the most atmospheric of the three due to a denser, more focused plot. RoA2 was sort of in between 1 and 3 (hah!).
 
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Glad you guys liked the review!

I really enjoyed my time spent with the game, but was really bummed to encounter that serious bug near the end. Once that's fixed (hopefully in 1.31) I will pick it back up again and try to finish the game. It really is a breath of fresh air in terms of the difficulty and survival aspects of the game. Really surprised me. It's a very unique game and I just hope they get it all patched to completion. If they do that, it's a must-play, IMO.
 
Very good review, Fluent. You made me want to pick up the game despite the bugs, since it seems to have a lot going for it. I am especially keen to see the survival mechanics in action.

I'll probably grab it next time it goes on sale.
 
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Thank you for your nice review Fluent. Actually I bought the game one month ago in order to support the company. At least they try to patch their game to perfection rather than abandon it into oblivion (unlike other games - yes I'm talking about Legends of Dawn.) I'm going to play it when they patch it fully.
 
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Nice review. I would have chosen an more elaborate and distinguished language, but that's just me.

Figures of speech like "first, let's talk about the elephant in the room" are something I haven't heard before. It is clear what this means, but I just haven't heard it before.

You use a language which is more close to everyday common language, closer to slang or something in that direction, which I found a little bit odd for an preview, but in the end it doesn't add or take away from the review's quality. It's just that I'm unused to it.

What I had problems understanding is that "tome thing", too. I do know what a tome is, but to me, the sentences read as if there was an actual tome within the package, not an handbook. ;)

Your review gives me hope again, and I believe that it is safer now for me to buy this game for me as an Christmas present. ;)
 
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