Well, I ostensibly finished up Antharion last night. Whilst the level of challenge started to disappear by party level 19- 20, I still got 38 hours total out of this humble little game and found the early-mid section quite enjoyable to play.
Forgottenlor is quite right in pointing out that the ending is haphazardly put together. Choices are almost forced upon the player whilst certain expected options are simply not available (keeping the Staff of Ascension for oneself for instance) meanwhile others aren't as satisfying as they should be.
A couple of other mechanics I observed didn't appear to be fully functioning: The spell "Spell Shield" for instance didn't appear to work to any great degree, as I'd be constantly hit by spells when I had it on. Confusion was a difficult spell to avoid when cast upon the player to the extent that I'd often just wait it out.
I'll certainly be curious to see whether what improvements Orphic will make in the future patches. To improve the game, I think more unique scripted and dialogued encounters would have been useful, especially in dungeon exploration, to break up monotony and create more atmosphere. Eschalon and Avernum do this well; including descriptive text. I also like the possibility of allowing NPCs to join or making it possible to have less party members to give variance to the four character experience. This would also enable players to pick and mix based upon the existing skill set of their party.
As Sanglon pointed out, Antharion has a good game-play flow and is perhaps slightly more welcoming to newer players than Eschalon (which often has a grinding element) or to a lesser extent the Avernums are; as the combat is easy to learn and quite "pacy" for a turn-based system.
In conclusion, I'm happy to have picked it up, as it was a fun little adventure and fills the void until Avadon III nicely.
Pros:
Party based, turn based combat, ability to create your own party.
Interesting skill system (somewhat reminiscent of Eschalon in part)
Exploration is vital and rewarding (lovely big world to explore)
Fun alchemy system
Non-level scaled encounters
Spirited soundtrack with a host of different influences (Morrowind being a key one)
The sound fx! (I might be unique in enjoying this a little too much!)
Cons:
Some mechanics are iffy in their functionality
Too much familiarity in combat patterns; many fights playing the same.
Dungeons are fairly one-dimensional
Lack of significant interaction with NPCs
Ending breaks down/doesn't conclude well.
Final Party:
All level 21 in-game time (76 in game days)
Ruffy (Human Fighter) (Two handed/Barter/Defense)
Cass (Felmur Ranger) (Archery/Lock-picking)
Mithrilana (Necrophil White Wizard) (Persuasion/White Magic)
Vigamortis (Elven Black Wizard) (Alchemy/Black Magic/Lore)
Forgottenlor is quite right in pointing out that the ending is haphazardly put together. Choices are almost forced upon the player whilst certain expected options are simply not available (keeping the Staff of Ascension for oneself for instance) meanwhile others aren't as satisfying as they should be.
A couple of other mechanics I observed didn't appear to be fully functioning: The spell "Spell Shield" for instance didn't appear to work to any great degree, as I'd be constantly hit by spells when I had it on. Confusion was a difficult spell to avoid when cast upon the player to the extent that I'd often just wait it out.
I'll certainly be curious to see whether what improvements Orphic will make in the future patches. To improve the game, I think more unique scripted and dialogued encounters would have been useful, especially in dungeon exploration, to break up monotony and create more atmosphere. Eschalon and Avernum do this well; including descriptive text. I also like the possibility of allowing NPCs to join or making it possible to have less party members to give variance to the four character experience. This would also enable players to pick and mix based upon the existing skill set of their party.
As Sanglon pointed out, Antharion has a good game-play flow and is perhaps slightly more welcoming to newer players than Eschalon (which often has a grinding element) or to a lesser extent the Avernums are; as the combat is easy to learn and quite "pacy" for a turn-based system.
In conclusion, I'm happy to have picked it up, as it was a fun little adventure and fills the void until Avadon III nicely.
Pros:
Party based, turn based combat, ability to create your own party.
Interesting skill system (somewhat reminiscent of Eschalon in part)
Exploration is vital and rewarding (lovely big world to explore)
Fun alchemy system
Non-level scaled encounters
Spirited soundtrack with a host of different influences (Morrowind being a key one)
The sound fx! (I might be unique in enjoying this a little too much!)
Cons:
Some mechanics are iffy in their functionality
Too much familiarity in combat patterns; many fights playing the same.
Dungeons are fairly one-dimensional
Lack of significant interaction with NPCs
Ending breaks down/doesn't conclude well.
Final Party:
All level 21 in-game time (76 in game days)
Ruffy (Human Fighter) (Two handed/Barter/Defense)
Cass (Felmur Ranger) (Archery/Lock-picking)
Mithrilana (Necrophil White Wizard) (Persuasion/White Magic)
Vigamortis (Elven Black Wizard) (Alchemy/Black Magic/Lore)
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