Legends of Eisenwald - Review @ Gamespot

Brett Todd (Gamespot) has reviewed Legends of Eisenwald - some snippets:

Legends of Eisenwald Review

Get out the beer and the lederhosen.

Legends of Eisenwald has just about everything except Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses on a church door. Developer Aterdux Entertainment has traded in the usual Dungeons & Dragons-influenced fantasy realm common to tactical role playing for a more realistic story and setting based on medieval Germany at around the time the Reformation was starting to annoy the popes. The concept brings a unique feel and an absorbing (if occasionally workmanlike) campaign to a been-there, done-that genre.

Nevertheless, the heart of Legends of Eisenwald is based on the same structure that has powered fantasy role-playing/tactical combat since the glory days of Heroes of Might and Magic. Differences between this game and traditional tactical fantasy role players seem rather superficial, at least at first. The three available Knight, Baroness, and Mystic character classes match up almost perfectly with the standard Warrior, Ranger, and Mage/Cleric found in standard swords-and-sorcery gaming. Both heroes and the mercenaries you employ level up and come with assorted skills, special upgrades, slots for a full range of gear and armor and weapons, and a range of stats for hit points, attack, willpower, and so forth. […]

A few aspects of the design are somewhat problematic. Quests are not always spelled out clearly. At times this is good, as it promotes more exploration. At times this is bad, as you can get lost when a destination and/or the maps are too dark and cluttered with complicated terrain features. Some quest descriptions leave a lot to be desired, and locations are often given different names in quest dialogues from the maps. Also, be wary of bugs: I had the game crash to the desktop with exception errors on a few occasions, although generally the game was stable.

Visiting a virtual medieval Germany probably isn't at the top of the to-do list of any tactical RPGers, but maybe it should be. While Legends of Eisenwald is something of a grim, brutal experience much like the land in question back in the 15th century, the game is certainly a unique addition to a genre that has mostly settled into a high-fantasy comfort zone. Strong storytelling and sheer novelty make guiding Heinrich and his pals around the dark forests of old-time Deutschland enthralling…even if you do miss the magic missiles and elves every so often.

The Good:

• Atmosphere blends fantasy into real medieval Germany to create a unique game world
• Deep RPG elements and solid, if traditional, turn-based combat
• Absorbing storytelling
• Stylishly gloomy aesthetic

The Bad:

• Quest instructions can be confusing
• Combat gets repetitive

Final Score: 7/10

More information.

Quest instructions can be confusing? - hmmm - Not for me.

Originally Posted by HiddenX

• Combat gets repetitive

I always end up feeling like that about turn based combat. That's usually because there is too few tactical options available or you end up using the same one over and over again because there is too few variety in enemies.

I still need to start a Legends of Eisenwald playthrough though.

Originally Posted by azarhal
I always end up feeling like that about turn based combat. That's usually because there is too few tactical options available or you end up using the same one over and over again

Really? It sounds like you describe standard AAA action combat or cooldown spamming.

Originally Posted by Farflame
Really? It sounds like you describe standard AAA action combat or cooldown spamming.

Spamming a skill because it's the character turn or spamming it because it's off cooldown is similar in term of monotony.

Although, I don't spam skill off cooldowns unless I'm playing a tab-target MMOs which is not even considered action in the MMO world…

Game looks interesting but I'll wait for a sale. There are so few units with so few abilities and very tiny battlefields - so yeah, I think it'll get repetitive fast.

7/10 from Gamespot is pretty good for a game of this nature.

Combat in disciples is way more repetitive. Eisenwald is a great game and I find it a lot more fun then the Disciples games.

Great story line and it is really awesome to upgrade armor and weapons. I am glad i bought it last week, a lot fun even after 20 hours as a mystic.

Originally Posted by azarhal
I always end up feeling like that about turn based combat. That's usually because there is too few tactical options available or you end up using the same one over and over again because there is too few variety in enemies.

I still need to start a Legends of Eisenwald playthrough though.

I don't know about LoE, but turn based combat tends to be more varied, as you have time and tools to make more tactical decisions that in a real-time combat engine.

Either way, if you keep using the same strategy over and over, then it's your fault you're not creative enough, playing always the same way with the same type of characters.

Originally Posted by Gwendo
I don't know about LoE, but turn based combat tends to be more varied, as you have time and tools to make more tactical decisions that in a real-time combat engine.

Either way, if you keep using the same strategy over and over, then it's your fault you're not creative enough, playing always the same way with the same type of characters.

Jeez, make a negative comment about Turn-Based and everyone gets up in arm trashing real-time despite you make not comparison to it in your post.

Although, I'm questioning how many TB games some of you have played. Most of the one I have played had very few, if any, abilities per units (from the Heroes of Magic games to the recent stuff like the Shadowruns/Wasteland games). Divinity Original Sin had more and started with lots of choices but with all the damage immunities on the later mobs it became repetitive.

Originally Posted by Gwendo
Either way, if you keep using the same strategy over and over, then it's your fault you're not creative enough, playing always the same way with the same type of characters.

Really? And here was I thinking that intelligently designed strategy/turn based game should force player to use different strategy for different encounters and that it shouldn't be up to a player to change tactics just as a monotony relief…

Originally Posted by zahratustra
Really? And here was I thinking that intelligently designed strategy/turn based game should force player to use different strategy for different encounters and that it shouldn't be up to a player to change tactics just as a monotony relief…

Depends on a difficulty level though. On easy there is usually no need to do lots of tactics.

I wasn't talking about LoE Aterdux. I haven't had the chance to play it yet. Still, talking in general, you are right but how many people you know who buy TCGs to play them on easy?

Originally Posted by zahratustra
I wasn't talking about LoE Aterdux. I haven't had the chance to play it yet. Still, talking in general, you are right but how many people you know who buy TCGs to play them on easy?

Well, surprisingly many play on easy I watched a few streams and many enjoy just roll over the enemies on easy.

I'm playing on normal and fights only become easy after a while in each map. Or let me rephrase that, you can win most fights without good tactics (think I've only game over'ed once), but you need to win without losing too much, as the attrition will get you (having to pay for heals after every fight means you won't be able to afford a mercenary or buy better equipment).

Originally Posted by Farflame
Really? It sounds like you describe standard AAA action combat or cooldown spamming.

A badly designed turn based combat can be worse than a cool down spamming action combat.

Also spamming skill in fast paced action combat system isn't bad thing compared to spamming the same skill in turn based combat. For an action combat, the key ingredient is player reaction so you can have great action combat with just 1 or 2 skills. In fact most FPS are just like this. So spamming those 2 skills isn't bad as you make it out to be.

Originally Posted by Aterdux
Well, surprisingly many play on easy I watched a few streams and many enjoy just roll over the enemies on easy.

Well, many ppl are taught by AAA mainstream that easy way is normal, so…. they are probably accustomed to play without challenge. Also kids are not really fans of challenge nowadays.

Originally Posted by lostforever
A badly designed turn based combat can be worse than a cool down spamming action combat.

Everything that is badly designed is usually worse than something that is well designed. But to claim something like "very bad TB combat can be worse than good action combat" isnt really an argument… or very valid argument. Using the same logic you can for example claim that "Hitler could be better than UFO annihilating whole planet" but it really doesnt make Hitler great.
Of course, you can state obvious.

Originally Posted by lostforever
Also spamming skill in fast paced action combat system isn't bad thing compared to spamming the same skill in turn based combat.

What do you mean by spamming in TB combat? Is that possible? Do you mean using some skill every turn or "too much" (what is too much)?

Originally Posted by lostforever
For an action combat, the key ingredient is player reaction so you can have great action combat with just 1 or 2 skills. In fact most FPS are just like this. So spamming those 2 skills isn't bad as you make it out to be.

Except the fact that me or azarhal didnt say anything like that. Show us where I claim something like "spamming 2 skills isn't bad as you make it out to be". How do you know how bad I think it is? This claim is just fabricated by you.
Its pretty funny how some ppl quickly jump to defend combat which they obviously (probably) prefer.

Originally Posted by Farflame
Except the fact that me or azarhal didnt say anything like that. Show us where I claim something like "spamming 2 skills isn't bad as you make it out to be". How do you know how bad I think it is? This claim is just fabricated by you.
Its pretty funny how some ppl quickly jump to defend combat which they obviously (probably) prefer.

Maybe we have misunderstood each other The post of yours, I quoted sort of implied that AAA Action combat is some how inferior to turn based combat since you spam skills in action game and not so in turn based game. I personally prefer turn based combat over action combat since my reflexes suck however I do not consider AAA action games as inferior to turn based combat since they test two different human skills, hence my original reply

Originally Posted by Farflame
What do you mean by spamming in TB combat? Is that possible? Do you mean using some skill every turn or "too much" (what is too much)?

Using the same tactic every for most encounters.