RPGWatch Feature - Expeditions: Viking Review

Myrthos

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Purpleblob sent us a review of Logic Artists' Expeditions: Viking and found some good and some lesser good.

Upon completing Expeditions: Viking, I sighed with the rush of mixed feelings. It was a fun journey, enough to revisit the game for the second time which is something I rarely do. Yet, it didn't provide me with the sense of delight and satisfaction I usually feel upon completing games I love. Certainly, Viking has many interesting qualities that caught my attention during the early game. However, my initial glee was replaced by disappointment the deeper I got in as the game fails to flesh out its implemented features and leaves one with the feeling it could have really benefited from some extra development time to address its flaws.

The game begins at a feast held in honour of your father, the late Thegn of your clan. His rule left the clan in a vulnerable position, and it's left to you to uphold your family's honour by strengthening the clan, and cementing your position as the new Thegn. You set your eyes upon the land across the sea, hoping to bring back whatever is necessary to improve both your clan's military power, and its prosperity.

Whether you decide to achieve this through bloody invasions or by using a diplomatic approach to establish trade and secure an alliance with the Anglo-Saxons or Celts, there is only one year left until the next Althing. Should you fail in your expedition, you will be made an exile by the King and lose everything you hold dear.
More information.
 
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Thanks Purpleblob!
 
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Superb review.
Can't add nor argue anything.
 
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Thanks, joxer :) Despite my criticism, I hope people will try out Viking, it is still a fun game!
 
I don't know, after your review, I think Vikings will go farther down my buy list. A 3 star review does not happen much on this site. The reasons you stated is why I have held out on buying this game for this long.

I love the viking era and a game like this would usually be an instabuy. I named my one dog Rollo for Woden's sake ;) He's an Icelandic Sheepdog. The ones the vikings used as watchdogs.
 
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I think I'm quite harsh on the rating than others :p I gave 4/5 for both Stardew Valley and The Aielund Saga, and I personally LOVE both games. But looking at RPGWatch rating system, I still think 3/5 is the right score for Viking.
 
For the record, a score of 3 means:
A score of 3/5 indicates a good game held back by obvious technical or design issues that limit the appeal. Games that score 3/5 will often split opinion, depending on how strongly the player perceives the flaws.
 
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Thanks, excellent review. Sounds like some more time to flesh out stuff and polish the game a bit could have made a big difference.
 
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when is the expansion coming ? december?

edit. nevermind. its just constant patches. gonna give it another year till its polished
 
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I don't know, after your review, I think Vikings will go farther down my buy list. A 3 star review does not happen much on this site. The reasons you stated is why I have held out on buying this game for this long.

I love the viking era and a game like this would usually be an instabuy. I named my one dog Rollo for Woden's sake ;) He's an Icelandic Sheepdog. The ones the vikings used as watchdogs.

I only played the first chapter, when I did the preview, and think that was worth playing (the first 12 hours or so) I think they balanced that part of the game well. From what I hear after that it goes downhill and becomes too easy. Its too bad with the bugs though. I know a ton of them were reported by the beta testers, but the second chapter was only available for testing shortly before release, and if it had as many bugs as the beginning, its no wonder that they couldn't get them all out. That said though, like an Obsidian game, this game's bugs and shortfalls have a lot to do with it being very ambitious. Make no mistake, E:V is a western CRPG with lots of features, its got complicated character and party building, a good story with dialogue trees, and its not linear. There aren't many games like this being made nowadays.
 
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I agree with forgottenlor. If they kept up with the quality of first chapter of the game, would have been one of my favourites but unfortunately they've bitten off more than they could chew :(
 
Thanks for the review!

Battles get very repetitive too and this is especially due to the lack of enemy variety.

This is probably one reason why there are so few historical cRPGs around. Mundane tactical combat simulation gets old quickly, at least prior to the 20th century.
 
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Great review, @purpleblob;! Well done :)
 
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Excellent review, @purpleblob;, you took the words right out of my mouth ! :)
 
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I only played the release version and I only skim read the review, but I agree with the points and the verdict. Balance was horrible (and apparently after the patch it's still bad), lots of the quests aren't really satisfying /badly implemented, resources feel somewhat pointless, exploration of the zone maps felt boring and looting all the crates was annoying, and the timer wasn't implemented well either. Instead the game felt rough and unpolished.

Of course not all is bad. I liked the story telling for the most part as well as the setting, graphics and music, even though it volume was broken back then at some places.

So all in all I gave the game a "neutral" rating, which is probably around the 3/5 given here.

I'd defenitely recommend Expeditions Conquistador over Viking.
 
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I haven't experienced initial release but from what I've read the game is much better received now. I would recommend people to revisit Viking once the higher difficult setting + iron made mode is implemented.

I was hoping that my review gave an impression the game is fun and worth the time, just fell short of its potential. I hope people don't focus too much on the score, its very subjective matter.

Anyway, all feedback is appreciated :)
 
I think I would have given it a 2/5, though for almost exactly the same reasons as @purpleblob; gave - so just a matter of taste there.

I see her seeing the same pattern as I saw: things start out great then die on the vine. In the early parts of the game when you're gathering the NPC party members, they've got great personalities. Then you get them in the party and they turn into a generic bag of skills. Camping was a fun, new thing in the early game but then you get enough party members to easily cover all the jobs and it turns into tedium. Combat is fun and challenging but then you get all the skills and it turns into the same battles over and over.

I didn't even finish the game. I was so underwhelmed by Ketill's personal quest that I stopped completely.
 
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And still no linux version - which the previous game had. With the ever-increasing number of games coming to linux as well, I really only make rare exceptions to buy Windows-only games.

Like D:OS 2, a worthy exception! And one I expect to be ported to linux as well at some point - D:OS 1 was as well, after all. And it is the same engine.
 
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