This game is tough but not especially memorable, and as far as being enjoyable- less so.
You will definitely waste a lot of time without character optimization around one, maybe two, key skillsets, maximum. To that end character creation guides were a must-read to get going properly.
I made…essentially a Charismatic, Intelligent craftsman/alchemist who wore heavy armor, a tower shield, and was passable with a spear.
The rest of the game was poking people back in narrow confines with a stick, when talking failed. It was boring. Very boring. The text descriptions were fine. The storyline was vaguely interesting. I ended up "beating the alien entity" and becoming immortal, or something.
It all felt like a dull, grey, drab, long and endless (and pointless) errand. There was nothing "lively" about the game, or epic about the few world-changes that your (positive) actions affected, and the locales felt colorless and static. The characters, too - this was less about the actual graphics and animations (poor as they were) than simply boring, stale characterization and crating of motive. You help some slightly less uncivil types kill other groups, or maybe you kill them all, and the world still a shitty and terrible place. Why were fanboys so eager to defend this sort of uninspired drivel?
If that was Vince D. Weller's intention, he certainly succeeded: he crafted a story that slogging through felt worthwhile - barely - only once.
You want post-apocalyptic RPG gems? Well, compared to the original Deus Ex, or Wasteland 2, or Fallout 2, or Underail - it simply isn't fun.
