I haven't checked this thread since a few weeks back, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the last post contained a quote from an earlier rant of mine... nice! Kinda makes this forum feel more homey, y'know?
Anyway, on to my impressions. I have been playing as solidly as I can since I got the game on Thursday (the 20th), and I must say that after having climbed out of bed at 6:30am this morning and playing all day, I am well impressed. From the posts I had been reading until just before I bought the game, I was quite sure I was going to have somewhat of an unfocused, unbalanced mishmash of a game that tried to please everyone and ended up pleasing no-one. Well guess what? Those impressions were HORRIBLY wrong! They were all completely and totally unrepresentative of the full game, because I have been playing for over 12 straight hours today and I have loved every minute.
Every minute! Even the minutes that were spent re-loading because I died from some trap or another despite having full health, even the minutes when I had to close the whole program when I died (I pressed the Load Game shortcut key shortly after the fatal blow was delivered and that somehow froze the game to the point where I couldn't even press Esc to go back to the main menu). Believe it, this game has hooked me like no other this year, EVEN FAR CRY!
Yeah, okay, so maybe I am exactly the type of gamer that Larian was targeting, and maybe I am really patient and not against reading manuals, trying things out, checking the forum for answers, and maybe the timing was just right since I have been playing with v1.44 installed from the beginning. Maybe all those things have conspired to give me the huge amount of enjoyment and satisfaction that I've had today, or maybe, just maybe Larian made fewer mistakes in game design choices and interface implementation than has been implied in the many dissatisfied posts I've read over the past 4 weeks.
Truly, this game kicks mountains of [nocando]! It is EXACTLY what I have been wanting in Divine Divinity's followup. I don't care that the graphics aren't completely 3D (in fact I prefer total 2D to the 2D/3D hybrid that BD is), I don't care that it is not a new game engine, and I REALLY don't care that this game is not going to be considered "cutting edge" anything by anyone that hasn't been living in a cave for the last 20 years. This game has heart and soul that just about every other game I've played lately just hasn't had. It is obvious in every facet of the game how much Larian loved putting Beyond Divinity together, and that makes a damn strong impression on me as the gamer that their efforts were ultimately directed at.
Granted, I am only at the Imp village, but in the 16+ hours it has taken me to get there, I have had so much fun that the hours have just flown by. The skill system isn't as awkward as I had feared it would be, and unlearning skills is not a major drain on my finances and neither have I needed to unlearn many of them. Monsters haven't been overly difficult to beat (I am playing on Tactical) and I am enjoying putting a lot of consideration into my character's develiopment and trying out various configurations until I find the one I like the most. There are SO MANY options in this game that I am going to play it over and over and over again, guaranteed! Don't want to fight? So sneak. Don't want to sneak? Then draw steel and gut some evildoers! Charging your enemies with your head down with no consideration for tactics not working? So change your tactics.
I think my point here is there is definitely more than one way to get to your goal in BD, and having that choice is making all the difference in the world. It means the developers respect me enough to give me the options and then leave it entirely up to me how I want to put them to use. As Swen said in the manual, sure they made some questionable design decisions, but it has been Larian's experience that gamers adapt very easily and they eventually come to see the benefits of having the game laid out the way it is, and that is proving to be very true, at least in my case.
About the only thing I can't get my mind around is how on earth Kiya got through the citadel without visiting the Battlefields. I won't say I am struggling, but even with my level 12 characters I sometimes come close to dying in combat, despite the ridiculous damage my DK can dish out. I have gained at least 5 levels by fighting in the battlefields, and find it hard to imagine people getting through it all with only level 7 (or whatever) characters. But there again, that is how versatile the game is, that someone at a relatively low level can make it through.
Wow, Larian, I am truly, truly impressed. BD has far surpassed my expectations, and I am going to be playing it for a LONG time to come. Thank you from the bottom of my gaming heart!!
Right, now it's back to the game... catch you on the flip side!
