as a fan of DD, BD was a big disappointment. immersive world, i can't say (bought the game but was left wanting).
my disappointment was in the game graphic's, storyline, and the fact that Larian was trying to say BD was not a re-hash of DD.
on the BD box, the product say's it uses Directx9.0b, even ask's to install Direct9 after game installation. why??? the graphic's were extremely poor, in fact they used the same tilesets from DD, how can one not compare the 2 titles, they use the same game engine, same tileset's but have slightly different game tweaks.
as for being a Directx 9 game, it is sadly not, the only great artwork in-game could be found on pieces of paper lying around, paper that weigh's a pound each :P.
don't get me wrong, the Divinity engine is truly unique and awesome. the capability of interacting with one's environment made me a fan of DD and Larian (still smile when i take a look at the house i had "furnished" in DD :P). trying to sell BD as a whole new game with new feature's imo is a let down, even if the title was Riftrunner, the 2 game's are too similar not to compare em. comparing BD to sacred well, apple's and oranges. seeing how sacred is a Diablo clone like soo many other title's, hack fest, heavy character developement geared for combat only, little to no storyline, linear quest's. (hack fest games can be fun, better for online play but should not be classified as an RPG)
if BD was sold or advertised as an extension of DD i wouldn't have been so keen and critical of the game, but it wasn't, that's my personal gripe.
the difficulty of the game came from the lack of information on equipemnt, lack of storyline (yes lack of a story, if one has played Neverwinter Nights, Knight's of the Republic, the BG or Icewind dale title's, Torment or even more classic titles such as Bard's tale or the Ultima title's, can't forget about the older Wiardry title's, the storyline is seriously lacking.)
as for the quest's, linear, one recieve's the quest, must find and fight a monster, kill it, return to the giver of the quest, return item, recieve reward, linear. i personally believe that Dungeon Siege's quest were more non-linear than BD's. if BD had a more immersive storyline, where a player could get lost in the history, culture, or feel of the world, than the linear quests' wouldn't be an issue. sadly most current "rpg" game quest's are like this, very few title's have it where one can go thru a deep conversation tree and "solve" the quest by talking or negotiating things out, very few title's....
game balance, well larian unlike other studio's listen's to their fan's and customer's, so the balance will be fine tuned, game play tweaked, but this is a minor issue, combat diffuclties is due to game style (BD is NOT a hack fest, buff up one's character and go kill everything, in fact larian, in their hint's state that one can not always kill everything....sneaking around monsters is better or come back later), understand that concept and the game is not too difficult...in fact it's easy.
imo if one is looking for a hack fest game, BD is not it, if one is looking for a "tactical" rpg, BD is not it, if one is looking for a truly immersive world to get lost in, BD is not it.
DD was a good game, BD feel's like a product that was rushed to market to satisfy customer demand. for me personally BD is not a worthwhile product. i do believe that Larian has the tool's to make a GREAT RPG, they have the Divinity engine, they have a loyal fan base, they as a studio listen to suggestions ( <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> and demand's heheh), they have a universe in which to expand on.
would i recommend one to purchase the game, even with lack of story, linear quest's, poor graphics, and me being personally dissapointed with the game, my answer would still be, yes.
because BD has enough creative aspects to it to make the game worthwhile, the skill tree imo is the best of all the approach of utilizing a skill tree (regardless of how many points are given), the Divinity engine is truly awesome (move that crate, or pile of trash, take that chest and use it to store item's, light up the torch, put out the torch, etc and now they added a Zoom feature :P) just wished they used different graphic tileset's or added new ones.
just with these key features, BD is decent.
as a hardcore gamer, a loyal RPG fan (been a fan since the beginning, pen & paper...still recall the ol Chainmail day's) i personally will support Larian, in the hopes that future Larian product's will have more, more graphics, more story, more non-linear quest's, more in character development for non-combat situations, more to satisfy my personal hunger for more <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
just my .02 cent opinion on a product that cost me 40 bucks
oh yeh, as for the bug's in-game, why complain. ??? in the Micro$oft world, bug's are common, should be expected. in fact it is IMPOSSIBLE to relaeas a product that will work flawlessly on ALL platform's. mix in the wide variety of hardware the problem's just gets compounded. bug's should be expected. are the bug's in-game that serious, no (the only one i came across was the memory leak in the skill plate window), the bug's are mere nuisances. frustrating at times but expected (in fact only one company releases product's in which i don't expect any bug's and that's Blizzard, just the mere fact that they will postpone the release of a title to the anguish of their fan's, just to work the bug's out first has made me a loyal customer for LIFE. sadly Blizzard's attitude is not shared with the rest of the industry. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> hope to add Larian with Blizzard in this regard...
another .02 cent opinion, would that make it .04 cents?? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
peace
