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Last finished game - your verdict?

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zherok:

--- Quote from: AceHigh on March 13, 2012, 09:31:36 AM ---You know the funny thing is that on a PC you have a much better camera control because of the mouse, so even if the game is console-ish, a keyboard+mouse still offer some advantages over a gamepad.

--- End quote ---
Somewhat. Even on PC though, it's got a lot of issues. One is that the camera and the targeting system likes to snap to characters who aren't necessarily who you intended to be targeting. For bows this might actually be characters that despite the camera adjusting towards them don't actually appear on screen. Occasionally it actually moves YOU offscreen too, trying to get some middle ground between what you're targeting and where your character is.

Another is it's way too damn close. Also, it appears to be facing somewhat downward. You can of course, look up whenever, but the game's default view is angled so you really can't see very far above you. In a typical recent 3rd person game this is nothing new, and to no surprise, the game features an alarming number of narrow corridors. At the same time however, while the game isn't going to win any awards for it's character models, it has some rather amazing scenic views at times. Many of which you would never actually realize are there, because the camera is again, perpetually too close to the player character and angled downward. It's almost as if they designed the game for 4:3 or something; had their world designers create these huge vaulted ceilings, open cracks in caves to reveal sunlight shining in, ceilings covered with tons of fluorescent flora, gigantic trees filling the open forests, and then had a completely different team design the camera with no knowledge that there was anything worth seeing above head height.

Anyway, while I haven't finished it, I'm not sure I can agree with the last few posters on the game so far. The setting feels a bit generic, and while it has some interesting hooks (one race is an essential a variation the elf archetype, detached from permanent death, where they repeat the events of their history endlessly, with new players moving into fill in the roles), I'm not sure it really takes advantage of them (such as the fact that while you're essentially detached from fate, you're still pretty railroaded into the same major events.)

Gameplay-wise it's not bad, with the game letting you mix the three archetypes however you feel like and never punishing you or really forcing you to do any one thing, though I'd argue the AI is incredibly predictable and dumb as toast. And as an unusual complaint, I'd say the game is too big. It's a complaint actually shared by the game's universe and lore creator, R. A. Salvatore. The issue is that the game has so many side missions and things to do, so many people to talk to, that you lose the plot easily. It bothers my OCD-like compulsion to complete games fully something fierce. I find myself forgetting what the main mission really is, and actually stumbling upon the threads of the core plot when I accidentally happen to stumble upon their locations because they share locations with side quests.

Again it's an odd complaint, but I'd argue a lot of the side quests aren't terribly unique, and could be parred down so the main story shines more. It also does some weird things to the leveling curve. I'm in what's probably the game's second major area (admittedly the first is gigantic) and without having completed that yet, I'm already high enough to run into the game's fifth tier of items, which unfortunately for me, is the last. By a view of the game's map, there's still much of the second major area left for me, and something like three more fairly large game sections, on top of the game's first DLC, which is a sizable portion itself. A bit disappointing to be nearing the end of the equipment curve that "early" into the game if you actually bother to do all the many quests they have in the thing.

Garret02:
Legend of Grimrock

Weak start, strong middle, weak finish.

It's a grid-based, dungeon crawling, old-school cRPG. You start by creating up to 4 characters for your party. The choice is poor as you only have 4 races and 3 classes to select from. Then you are dropped into a dungeon with very little storyline setup.

Now this is the most fun part which is quite surprising considering I don't usually like dungeon crawlers (I like me some storyline, character developement, side quests and interaction with the world). Though there aren't that many monsters to slain but there are lots of "hidden" switches, secrets and even some puzzles. And it's not that long a game so looking for those shouldn't become boring before the end of the game.

The fighting system some might like and some not. It's not turn based combat. It's based on exploiting the grid system to avoid getting hit while doing damage. There is also a thing that unless you focus on one single skill when leveling your characters, you won't be able to max out anything. Though when starting a new game you can choose a dungeon (obviousy at this point there is only one) so new dungeons, where you will be able to play with your party, should be added (if the game will earn enough profit). But then, if the form will be the same, it will become boring pretty quickly.

Unfortuantely replay value is pretty much non-existent. One ending, few races/classes and the same placement of everything throughout every new game doesn't encourage you to beat it again (though you can unlock a solo run of a character you found notes of while going through a normal run). On the other hand I much more prefer to find awesome weapons/armors/items with fixed stats this way than random stats by a random drop. The rest of the game just need to encourage you more to beat it again (eg Baldur's Gate 2).

By far the worst part is the storyline. I understand that this is not the type of game where there would be a lot of story but this is much too little (and the little story there is, it's terrible, but I'll be back to that in a while). After finishing the game you get 3 pictures about what happened and that is all. You don't get congratulations, information, nothing. Not a single word. You found every treasure? Good for you, game doesn't care. You don't even know if your party is alive.

And the storyline is a joke
(click to show/hide)You are prisoners banished to mount Grimrock dungeons(that part is ok). Throughout your run you discover that these dungeons were made by some order to keep some terrible being in shackles (about which the king that banishes people there apparently doesn't know). They are also apparently still alive and well because someone has to reset the dungeon before new prisoners arrive. And what is this terrible being?... A cube. Yes, a cube and its only attack is rolling over you. FUCKING EPIC... And it's not even that big, it takes just one grid. Oh, and it's called "The Undying One". So how do you kill it? Well... by simply beating it. Well, you have to go and take some weapon that was left in case the cube would be set free but it only stuns the cube for a while so you can take out four parts that YOU PUT IN IT YOURSELF just a little while ago. Then, without these four parts, you can simply attack it with normal weapons. That means that everbody, EVERYBODY could kill this thing before. It was certainly not worthy to build 13 level dungeon in a solid mountain rock. And after you kill it, it blows up with a whole mountain. What happened to this order of something? Did they die (there had to be someone in there to reset the dungeon)? What about the king? Won't he be pissed that he lost a place to banish poeple to? But nothing, the mountain blows up, the end.

Sure, it could be just a trail made to find worthy people to do something but this thing was there for a long time. Unless this "something" was being king's personal guards or something similiar, I bet the porblem is long after its expiration date.
So, my opinion? If you're fine with stupid-to-none storyline and/or like dungeon crawlers (especially old-school, Wizardy, Eye of Beholder and such) it's a fun game. If not you may still like it. I enjoyed it, though ending broke it up for me a little.

saber101:
mass effect 3 game is great the ending basically f*** the whole game for me. If it wasnt for the crap ending i'll properly have a few play through.

ASecondChance:
nier...........it was a kind of a "meh" nice game it had some good potential still im trying to do a game plus

Takeshi:
Legend of Dragoon. 7/10.

Well, it's got lots of faults. "Attack" when you're in Dragoon mode is annoying as hell, and FMVs are really bad both in case of syncing and voice acting. Probably better in Japanese. It's annoying you only got room for 32 items at any given point. The graphics aren't good either. This came out around the time of Final Fantasy IX and only compares to VII in terms of graphics. Though IX was really one of the best looking games on PSX so it's not fair to compare, really.

Then comes the good stuff. A surprisingly good story, good characters, fairly complex attack system, and just a joy from getting to play one of the RPG games of the PSX era. Plus some good nostalgia since I played the demo of this 8-10 years ago.

Funny how this guide I was following recommended sky high levels for my characters. The levelling up is really tedious so I never meet his criteria.

Definitely recommended for fans of old-school Japanese RPGs.

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