Antharion

The last patch was 3 weeks ago. But it's not like there were any bad balance problems which needed to be fixed.

Only thing regarding that was a lack of mana, so you exclusively used mana for heal / cc. They adjusted mana in 1.1.8 but I can't say how much of an inpact that made.

I'm playing it. It's a very fun experience. It's sort of like an Elder Scrolls game in cartoon form. Lots of rewarding exploration and plenty of secrets to uncover.

This game doesn't play around. I can't remember the last time I was killed by rats in an RPG.

Are there any magic or skills that are a must have? Right now I'm messing around with a party consisting of a Fighter, Ranger, Thief, and Gray Mage. Haven't yet decided what my party will be when I'm ready for a serious playthrough.

I'm using:

Male Human Fighter
Male Elf Ranger
Male Wolfkin Thief
Female Human Sage

The Ranger is nice because they started with a huge headstart in Archery, so he is my most powerful character.

The Sage is important because of the Lore skill which can unlock secret doors. She's also great at Alchemy which is a very important skill if you aren't using White Magic, since you can craft a bunch of health potions to keep your party alive.

Foraging is an important skill for a character to have, since it helps determine how good the loot is that you find. I would also suggest using a Wolfkin Fighter with a high Defense skill to absorb the damage on the front lines. You can pick off the enemies with a Ranger or Thief.

Also suggest training the Sage in Black Magic, so that she has a decent attack to use. I also gave her a bit of Dexterity so she can use a bow in a pinch, but I'm focusing more on her Black Magic for attacking.

The game definitely doesn't play around. I have died a lot thus far and even encountered some enemies where I had to go and level up, get stronger and come back later. Great stuff.

Polymorph (Grey Magic Start skill) and Minor Heal (White Magic Start skill) are actually the two skills which help you most during the biggest part of the game. There are a couple of other good ones, especially one in back magic. But it will take quite a while till you get access to that.

Originally Posted by Fluent
I'm playing it. It's a very fun experience. It's sort of like an Elder Scrolls game in cartoon form. Lots of rewarding exploration and plenty of secrets to uncover.

I was considering buying this game, it sounded a lot of fun!

But if the gameplay is like in an Elder Scrolls game and it has cartoonish graphics, in that case thank you for saving me the money!!

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
I was considering buying this game, it sounded a lot of fun!

But if the gameplay is like in an Elder Scrolls game and it has cartoonish graphics, in that case thank you for saving me the money!!

Gameplay is turn-based with a party, it doesn't have much in common with the Elder Scrolls. It feels similar to a Spiderweb Software game to me.

Originally Posted by azarhal
Gameplay is turn-based with a party, it doesn't have much in common with the Elder Scrolls. It feels similar to a Spiderweb Software game to me.

That's a relief, than I'll give it a try, it sounds fun!

It's definitely similar to a Spiderweb game, but it has elements of Elder Scrolls as well (large open-world, plenty of optional caves, mines, dungeons to explore, skill system similar to Morrowind, etc.). However, it has no level-scaling that I can tell, hand-placed loot similar to Morrowind and of course, turn-based, party-based combat.

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
That's a relief, than I'll give it a try, it sounds fun!

For the price, it's definitely worth at least trying.

Antharion is nothing like an elder scroll game, and not cartoonish at all, in my opinion. I'd agree with the Spiderweb comparisons, and if you enjoy older type turn based games, I think you might enjoy this one.

I find it boring almost immediately since the majority of combat is vanilla attack. 3/4 of my party have zero abilities or anything of interest to do except "autoattack" and despite showing 80+% chance to hit they miss most of the time. Yawn. Maybe it gets better later on but I'm doubting it. I don't find it particularly difficult or challenging other than trying to come up with a reason to play. We'll see how it goes but thus far not my cup of tea. I think I shoulda got telepath tactics instead.

If you don't have fun at that point, there is no reason to go on. It won't drastically change.

Originally Posted by Voqar
I find it boring almost immediately since the majority of combat is vanilla attack. 3/4 of my party have zero abilities or anything of interest to do except "autoattack" and despite showing 80+% chance to hit they miss most of the time. Yawn. Maybe it gets better later on but I'm doubting it. I don't find it particularly difficult or challenging other than trying to come up with a reason to play. We'll see how it goes but thus far not my cup of tea. I think I shoulda got telepath tactics instead.

How many abilities did you expect to have with level 1 characters?

Well, it's not like you get more at a later stage.

You're talking about non-combat abilities then. You get more spells though which leads to having more options during combat.

Yeah, but that is what he was talking about I guess, as the alternative he mentioned is autoattack

Originally Posted by JDR13
How many abilities did you expect to have with level 1 characters?

I would hope that out of 4 characters somebody might be able to do something other than vanilla attack. Good to know there's more to it later.

I play a lot of RPGs of all types and maybe I'm just spoiled by the vast majority of them giving you some options, even if they're simple options.

I was willing to try to stick it out and see how it goes, since the game is so highly regarded here, but I also had technical issues with the game and ended up requesting a refund. I'd rather play any of the 100+ games I have installed that run without issue than troubleshoot (a game that hasn't hooked me yet).

Enjoy!