Re: Konjad's cRPG of 2010™ prestigious award

Re: Konjad's cRPG of 2010™ prestigious award

Konjad's cRPG of 2010™ prestigious award

List of cRPGs released this year:
- ArcaniA: A Gothic Tale
- Divinity 2
- Two Worlds 2
- Avernum 6
- Alpha Protocol
- Eschalon: Book 2

Some could also consider these games cRPGs:
- Mount & Blade Warband
- Mass Effect 2

While M&B Warband is a great game and definitely one of my the most favourites I don't consider it a cRPG. I have not played ME2 but as far as I know it's more of a FPS than ME and less of a cRPG than ME so I guess I shouldn't consider it a cRPG. I didn't like ME so it wouldn't win anyway I guess.

Let's put on stage the contestants…

Avernum 6
More of the same. Another Avernum game. I have not played it long enough to finish it. Damn, I haven't even finished the demo version, although as you may know Avernums' demos are long. This series always bored me after some time unlike more interesting Geneforge series of the same developer. I'd consider it mediocre due to focus on the combat and not much else. The graphic is - as always - pretty nice. Surroundings looks interesting and the art is good. The setting's pretty interesting as well but we know that from previous games of that series. The writing's also mediocre therefore I will give it four out of ten potatoes. I can't remember the music though. Was it even there? I would recommend getting Geneforge series and skipping Avernum one.
Overall score: 4/10


Eschalon: Book 2
Second game from the Eschalon series. This time we've got more character creation options, higher resolution and more of the same. The music is very good (although I prefered Book I's main theme much more), graphic is one of the best 2D ones and it's only drawback is damned resolution which cannot be changed. The setting is your typical fantasy, although writing's pretty good though there isn't much of dialogues. As I said - it's more of the same but although I really liked the first game this time I did not buy this game after completing the demo… it just felt kinda empty. I'm not saying I will not buy this but I'm more likely to play the first game and finally finishing it. After that I may consider spending my cash on a sequel.
Overall score: 7/10


Two Worlds 2
Third game in a row that I have played only the demo version. Bored me to death and insulted my intelligence with it's 'next-gen' elements (although it's not as bad as ie. Fallout 3 in that regard). Combat is one of the worst ever yet implemented in many games: click as fast as you can in melee combat to win (blocking isn't really necessary although sometimes was useful). Magic system was rather okay but the archery was the most retarded part: you can shoot 3 arrows at once killing 3 different enemies. Dialogues are bad. Boring and make you want to skip them, unfortunately it's not even possible in many ocassions. Dubbing fits the quality of writing - it's just as bad. I can't say anything about story or C&C because I have played only the demo version. Music was generic fantasy crap you heard many times and there was no single track you would want to listen again. The setting is just another fantasy with orcs and mages you saw hundreds of times. The graphic uses all new technologies but lacks everything in art deparment. Everything is dull and the same as in all other typical fantasy games or movies.
Overall score: 3/10


Divinity 2
Here comes the game that many like but I don't see it as a good game. It's not that bad but I couldn't play it for more than a few hours. The graphic's good when it comes to all new technologies but it's another fantasy world you've seed many times before. The setting's pretty much the same - copied from all the other fantasy games. That's too bad because Divine's Divinity art was pretty good. The combat's rather bad - just slash the enemies as fast as you can, although it's not always easy. Unfortunately the game's not really challenging but it uses level scalling where you can't kill the enemy few levels higher but you can slash thousands of enemies with level lower than yours. Where's the level scalling in that? Well, you will have to slash all the enemies in one location to get to another because if you avoid combat your level will be too low and you will end up dead. The music is another mediocre-to-bad recopied stereotypical fantasy crap. The game has full dubbing which is very mediocre to bad. I wouldn't recommend it to others but I've seen on forums many people like it though so I don't know… for me it's boring.
Overall score: 4/10


Alpha Protocol
Playing this game makes me feel like taking a part in a hollywood movie with all it's pros and cons. The setting is pretty original - it's modern world with all the technological advances… unfortunately developers thought modern world is too boring as it is so they have added a… magic. You can become invisible or do many other things that are not explained by technological advances yet have critical consequences on the gameplay and the setting. The graphic is very good - it does not only use all the new graphical possibilities thanks to technologies - the art's very good and the characters look great! Unfortunately I totally disliked the music. It's horrible. Dialogues vary from good to mediocre and bad. Writing's just very irregular. The dubbing is mediocre. I loved the Mina's voice but I hated the protagonist's one and unfortunately I had to listen to him in every dialogue. All the others were pretty mediocre. What REALLY annoyed me was the dialogue minigame. You couldn't see what your character is going to say: you just had options like "nice", "sarcastic", "badass". That turned out to be the worst dialogue tree mechanic ever in my opinion. Oh, and you have limited time to choose your selection. Not that it matters since you have no idea what you will say anyway. The gameplay is horrible due to modern day setting and everything but really unrealistic combat, especially with the 'magic' system. Although AP has some pros all the cons destroy the enjoyment of them. It's a horrible game in nearly every way and what could be an interesting setting turned out to be fantasy bullshit set in modern times. Oh, and dialogue minigame is not all that there is to have additional fun. There's lockpicking minigame, hacking minigame etc. and every of them is forced shit that you will have to do every half of a minute. C&C are non-existant - you just select the mission order and if there are some C&C from time to time they generaly just change if you will have to kill in another mission enemies with blue or red shirts (with some rare exceptions but I can't recall them at the moment).
Overall score: 2/10


Fallout New Vegas
This game has great writing, story and dubbing. One of the bests actually. I can say that only Bloodlines is better in terms of dubbing. The story is actually pretty well made. You don't feel like you're railroaded or that you're 'important' in this world. All you want is to get the guy that nearly killed you and everything else comes to you 'accidentially' but you're never a man that changes the world (although technically you are defining the future by choosing the faction that you help. You just don't feel 'special' at any moment). The graphic is as well awesome - it's beautiful due to both art and use of new technologies. When it comes to art it's very similar to old Fallouts, of course, and when it comes to technical aspect it looks great as well (actually haven't seen 3D game that looked so good before). Music is also great, fits the game and makes the atmosphere of uneasiness when needed or of solitude and apocalypse. The setting is known from old Fallouts. It's not real world but alternative history with low non-realistic parts (well, the only unrealistic part is FEV but it has enormous influence on the world). The combat on the other hand… VATS mode is bad as it was in FO3, fortunately real time combat has been greatly improved. With turned off crossair you have to use iron sight to aim and the game feels at that part as a FPS. It's still 'good for what it is' at best though. Quests are often surprising and original, while you have very often several possibilities to solve them. Choices and consequences are very well done, it's rare to see them so much emphasized. It has the feeling of the first Fallout and it's no worse. Actually it's my favourite cRPG game ever along with the first Fallout.
Overall score: 9/10


ArcaniA: A Gothic Tale
Last but not least. ArcaniA is supposed to be a new Gothic game and it… fuck, if I wasn't an atheist I would pray to gods to erase all my memories of playing this FUCKING PILE OF SHIT. In comparison to this even the Oblivion or Gothic 3 look like a masterpieces. I'm not enough strong-willed and my hardiness is not enough pimped out to make me able to even write anything about this abomination. For more info look at Darth Roxor's review at RPGCodex, a man that sacrificed himself for the greater good to warn others and save them from insanity. This game consists dumbfuckery beyond imagination. THIS IS DEFINITELY THE WORST CRPG EVER.
Overall score: -1/10


Clearly the winner is Fallout New Vegas. Obsidian made a great game that I will play for years. It's one of the best games ever. If it's not perfect for you it can be easly modified by editor. There's no runner-up for the award, although if I was to select best games of 2011 in general M&B Warband would be my second choice after FNV. If you're a fan of cRPGs and especially Fallouts you ought to play New Vegas.

I disagree with a number of things but I'm going to focus on the indies for the moment...you gave the "kinda empty" Eschalon: Book 2 a 7/10 but Avernum 6 a 4/10? Based on what?

On how much I liked them.

Reviews based on playing only the demo are nothing but a joke!!

these aren't reviews. don't you think few random sentences would be kinda not much of a reviews? These are just my impressions in short

Konjad said:

On how much I liked them.

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Huh. You didn't put that across very well in your summaries. "Kinda empty", "typical fantasy", "isn't much of dialogues" and you didn't even finish the first game. Though you do say "writing's pretty good" versus Avernum's "writing's also mediocre", so we're so far apart on taste it isn't worth commenting further.

His take on Divinity 2 is flat out wrong. I am not sure he's even played Dragon Knight Saga. There is no level scaling and you can kill things higher level than you. At least I have. I'm not sure what this guy is even talking about. I give his post 2/10.

I have never heard of this prestigious Konjad award.

4 ... 3.... 4.... 2 .... negative 1 ... Pretty harsh scores.

You forgot to list your winner among the games that were released this year. Kind of threw me for a minute. And I disagree with leaving ME2 out -- that's where my award would go (FNV disappointed me; at least it has so far) -- but hey, it's your awards show...

Well, that kind of level scaling was in Ego Draconis, but it was removed from DKS, so there. That's part of the reason, some people dubbed DKS "much easier" by the way. In DKS version of the game you CAN hurt higher level enemies. I wonder which one you actually played. Also, calling the music in this series mediocre is truly a sign of either missing hearing or questionable taste. In my opinion Kirill Pokorkovsky is overall one of the most underrated videogame composers ever, based on his work with the whole Divinity series.
Oh, and your honourable mentions are any day better RPG-s than Arcania.

I mostly agree with the ratings , +1 for the butthurt avatar.

Anderson said:

I have never heard of this prestigious Konjad award.

4 … 3…. 4…. 2 …. negative 1 … Pretty harsh scores.

You forgot to list your winner among the games that were released this year. Kind of threw me for a minute. And I disagree with leaving ME2 out — that's where my award would go (FNV disappointed me; at least it has so far) — but hey, it's your awards show…

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I agree, this is a harsh list

2/10 to Alpha protocol for instance sounds quite weird. I'd myself give the rpg of the year title to Alpha protocol. Both the setting and the gameplay felt so fresh. This is the splinter cell rpg and there aren't many of those. Despite few minor issues, the ammount of choise in this game is just overwhelming. You can blame it for some things, but linearity is not one of them.

Fallout new vegas has certainly more depth in both gameplay and story area which makes it a better rpg on paper. I haven't played it yet though, so I can't say how it compares on AP, but I can't belive that the difference in quality would be so huge as Konjad claims.

Lastly about those notorious dialog trees. Timelimit made dialogs quite tense and i actually liked it. This method would have not worked in a more traditional rpg such as NWN2, but in a spy rpg it makes sense and feels natural. The best part is that you have to live with your choises. The outcome of a certain dialog choise may present itself much later in the game and thus you can't just reload to get better choises. I loved this aspect in witcher too.

Well, that was prestigious, Konjad.

Since DeepO´s also-rather-prestigious-to-be-frank award goes to Fallout: New Vegas as well, I agree with your conclusion.
Since you pointed out most of your other conclusions are based on demos, well there´s not much to discuss, unless we´re in a demo awards section.
Few things I´d like to point out:
Divinity 2´s soundtrack isn´t stereotypical fantasy crap unlike, say, DA:O´s.
It sorta sounds like it was composed by a keyboardist from a symphonic metal band, yes, but that´s a rather different set of clichés, you don´t hear such rock-y soundtrack in fantasy RPGs often.
Two Worlds 2 is not just another fantasy with orcs and mages. There are also ostriches.
Also, I can´t believe in this time and age there are still people who haven´t managed to recognize that Alpha Protocol, in fact, kinda rulez.

Anyway, my top 3 would be:
1. Fallout: New Vegas
2. Alpha Protocol
3. Mass Effect 2
Even though I consider Vegas to be overall the best game released this year and it´ll most likely become a sorta golden standard by which I´ll judge other modern sandbox games, I have to say that Alpha Protocol takes the first prize for being the most memorable. It was simply the most distinct playing experience for me this year and while I certainly wouldn´t want every game be like it, I´d sure as hell welcome its sequel.

Most disappointing was Two Worlds 2, because, well, I expected it to be better.
Zero exploration, shallow quests and dull loot were the main culprits.

Most laughable game was ArcaniA, no doubt.

Interestingly enough, 4/10 and 7/10 came to my mind as well after trying Eschalon 2 and Avernum 6 demos, just assigned other way round.

DeepO said:

Divinity 2´s soundtrack isn´t stereotypical fantasy crap unlike, say, DA:O´s.
It sorta sounds like it was composed by a keyboardist from a symphonic metal band, yes, but that´s a rather different set of clichés, you don´t hear such rock-y soundtrack in fantasy RPGs often.

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You are correct. The composer Kirill Pokrovsky used to play keyboards in a russian rock group called Aria.

Demo might not always tell the whole truth, like in case of Drakensang.

Agree with the part that Mass Effect 2 is not a RPG, it's scifi action or adventure. STALKER is as much, if not more, RPG.

I also think New Vegas is the best game released this year.
I haven't got so much fun with roleplaying game since Arcanum.
However your other scores are pretty harsh.
I haven't tried every game on that list, but I heard many good things about Divinity 2, which I will probably buy soon.
Alpha Protocol deserves much more than 2/10, it is a very fresh aproach to roleplaying and choices & consequences, sure it isn't as polished and doesn't have the depth of New Vegas but still it deservves at least 7/10.

There hasn't been a demo released for Two Worlds 2 unless you played some kind of game show crap in the box-The patched version is extremely fun and playable so there is no accounting for taste
I think Fail-out NV is a bug fest-how can you give it that high of a rating without one mention of the bugs?
I agree somewhat with you on Arcania-lite
Divinity2 is a great game especially with the new release including it's expansion

I also think Alpha Protocol deserves a 7 and the others I haven't played more than a demo either so I can't comment

tolknaz said:

Well, that kind of level scaling was in Ego Draconis, but it was removed from DKS, so there. That's part of the reason, some people dubbed DKS "much easier" by the way. In DKS version of the game you CAN hurt higher level enemies. I wonder which one you actually played. Also, calling the music in this series mediocre is truly a sign of either missing hearing or questionable taste. In my opinion Kirill Pokorkovsky is overall one of the most underrated videogame composers ever, based on his work with the whole Divinity series.
Oh, and your honourable mentions are any day better RPG-s than Arcania.

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I played only Ego Draconis, haven't bothered with anything released later by this dev.

However your other scores are pretty harsh.

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True but I rarely think of a game 'mediocre'. Most of them are either good or shit for me.

Since you pointed out most of your other conclusions are based on demos, well there´s not much to discuss, unless we´re in a demo awards section.

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There was no point in getting full version of the game if I didn't like the demo, so yeah I might be wrong and they may be much better later. I don't feel like giving them a chance. There are other games worthy of giving a try much more than these.

Divinity 2´s soundtrack isn´t stereotypical fantasy crap unlike, say, DA:O´s.
It sorta sounds like it was composed by a keyboardist from a symphonic metal band, yes, but that´s a rather different set of clichés, you don´t hear such rock-y soundtrack in fantasy RPGs often.

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Idk, maybe I got something wrong with 'fantasy crap' but for me it's still crap. Tbh I liked DA's music a bit (especially the main theme) while I totally disliked Divinity 2's.


As for AP… it's the worst obsidian't game (and the only one I consider shit) and one of the worst cRPGs imo…

Alpha Protocol is certainly a flawed game, but i think it mostly fell victim to idiot journalists and the avalanche kind of went from there. Yes, it features a bunch of questionable design decisions, such as timed dialogue, closing off parts of levels etc. To balance this out, it does some things really well however, such as superb writing, C&C and NPC influence system. I certainly enjoyed it as a stealth game (i'm a Thief veteran, so i play stealthy whenever i can) and even played through it several times to see different outcomes to sucking up to different NPC-s. I'd give it at least 8/10 if not 9/10. A much better game for me than Mass Effect and its sequel for example.

Konjad said:

I played only Ego Draconis, haven't bothered with anything released later by this dev.

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Then, simply put, shut up. You're not talking about the game released this year. My rating of your post lost a point. You're down to 1/10! Better watch out.

Well, wasn't English version released in 2010?