RPGWatch Feature - Expeditions: Viking Review

Originally Posted by Pladio
Might be worth adding this to the review … Makes it more informative in my opinion.

At the end of every review there are a set of links. One of them is "How we review". Just imagine where that leads to

Originally Posted by Myrthos
At the end of every review there are a set of links. One of them is "How we review". Just imagine where that leads to

I bet it leads to Codex.

Originally Posted by Myrthos
At the end of every review there are a set of links. One of them is "How we review". Just imagine where that leads to

I am lazy, I know….

Nice review, I agree with it, for the most part. It's a good game, but the difficulty / balance is certainly lacking by the time you leave Denmark. LA has made a few tweaks since release and I think the new difficulty settings will go a long way towards improving the game. In hindsight Logic Artists probably should have released it in Early Access or got a third party to do Q&A for them but at least they do seem to have taken player feedback seriously. I hope for an expansion.

And I hate all of the loot strewn in random containers throughout town and wilderness areas. I don't know why so many CRPG developers fall into this trap. It isn't fun or interesting to have so much junk collect, it's just tedious. You can safely ignore it, unless you're like me and feel a compulsion to pick it all up just in case.

In my experience I didn't find the game "riddled with bugs". Only bug I recall encountering was one where fire (from fire arrows) would cause the game to crash in some of the larger battles, but this was fixed in a patch awhile back. But I know there were a few other bugs that should have been caught before 1.0. I would probably lean towards giving it a 4/5 stars (if not now, then definitely once the difficulty patch is out). Definitely recommend it though if you like classic CRPGs with turn-based combat.

As I mentioned before, the score is very subjective matter. In the early game I thought Viking will be 4/5, but towards the end game, I thought it has enough issues to bring the score as low as 2/5. At the end, I felt 3/5 fits Viking the best overall.

From my experience, encountering so many bugs also contributed to bring the score down to 3/5. Or course, everyone will have different experience, while you encountered hardly any bugs, some may have encountered more than both you and I. But from what I've been reading, bugs/technical issue is definitely present and affected many players.

Originally Posted by daveyd
In hindsight Logic Artists probably should have released it in Early Access or got a third party to do Q&A for them but at least they do seem to have taken player feedback seriously. I hope for an expansion.

We did use a third party QA company, but it went as it went. I'm sorry so many experienced bugs. We're taking steps to avoid making the same mistakes for the next game.

Originally Posted by daveyd
And I hate all of the loot strewn in random containers throughout town and wilderness areas. I don't know why so many CRPG developers fall into this trap. It isn't fun or interesting to have so much junk collect, it's just tedious. You can safely ignore it, unless you're like me and feel a compulsion to pick it all up just in case.

You'll be happy to hear we'll change how loot works in the next game then.

"Next game"? Do tell us

Originally Posted by Myrthos
"Next game"? Do tell us

Expeditions: Barbarians! Where you are a tribe of barbarians being raided by the Huns and you have to locate a new homeland for you and your people, eventually kicking Romans' arses.

@Nova: I'm also eager to find out about the next Expeditions game. I know you've already mentioned in Steam forums that it will be very different to both Viking and Conquistador, but I do hope one day you will develop another narrative driven RPG like Viking.

Originally Posted by Myrthos
"Next game"? Do tell us

Not quite there yet

They should make one about medieval Japan.

I am not really familiar with Japan, but was there lot of "expedtion"/"exploration" done?

One setting which offers itself if Africa ofc like seven cities of gold.
ofc sience fiction also always works with exploration.
Maybe something more trade related like the britains in india but I am not sure how well that works.
Or the romans. Lots of opportunities there.

Excellent review, purple, definetely worth a 10/10. I found it easy to read at bedtime hours at the end of a busy Sunday and it gave me a good understanding of several important aspects of the game. Thank you!

Thanks, Eye!! Your kind words made my day

I'm not too well versed with history so can't really think of a nice setting but I wish LA all the best and hope the next game will kick ass.

@Nova If you guys decide to make an expansion for Viking I will absolutely buy it on GoG day one! If your next game is an RPG or turn-based strategy I'm definitely interested.

Also, I forgot to mention my biggest disappointment with the game: finding out that Aife was not romanceable

I quite enjoyed both games, the first one slightly more than the second, and should there be a third I'll be there to buy it. I just won't be doing it on day one this time.

One day I will remember to buy this game. It keeps sneaking under my radar when I'm in the mood to purchase something.
Good review

I'm playing Expeditions Vikings for the first time now and about 35 hours in. I love the game and glad I waited. Playing on hard difficulty. The battles can be pretty hard to keep everyone up. I got the game on the 50% off Steam sale and wish I would have payed full price to support them more. Nice solid and simple story that did not bore me like so many other games do. I tried The Banner Saga but the story and switching players isn't for me.

My question is this, will I enjoy Expeditions Conquistadors as much as Vikings? I would give Vikings a solid 4.5/5 or as PCGamer used to do in the magazine a solid 90%.

I would recommend that people that played the game to early to maybe give the game another try. I think it's fantastic. For those that don't know I enjoy open world, turn based games that have a simple and realistic stories the most.

Originally Posted by Hastar
I'm playing Expeditions Vikings for the first time now and about 35 hours in. I love the game and glad I waited. Playing on hard difficulty. The battles can be pretty hard to keep everyone up. I got the game on the 50% off Steam sale and wish I would have payed full price to support them more. Nice solid and simple story that did not bore me like so many other games do. I tried The Banner Saga but the story and switching players isn't for me.

My question is this, will I enjoy Expeditions Conquistadors as much as Vikings? I would give Vikings a solid 4.5/5 or as PCGamer used to do in the magazine a solid 90%.

I would recommend that people that played the game to early to maybe give the game another try. I think it's fantastic. For those that don't know I enjoy open world, turn based games that have a simple and realistic stories the most.

There are many elements which are similar in both games, so probably yes.

The main difference is in how travel works. Essentially you travel around an overland map for the entire game and need to manager your suppliers/camping/guarding and so on. There isn't the same level of detail where you and speak to different NPCs in the same way.

If you enjoyed the combat and C&C in Vikings though then I would recommend it anyway. I think Vikings is certainly superior, but the setting in Conquistadors is almost unique and the choices feel like real ethical choices sometimes.

I tried playing as a racist party and I just couldn't, as it's not me

This game had quite a few problems when it launched, and I remember starting to play on day one, then taking a break for like five or six months. Once they fixed a few issues, this turned into a stellar game, one that I look forward to replaying sometime and doing a few things differently.