Finished it recently myself. I liked it, worth playing, but probably wouldn't play it again, as the plot was interesting but not driven enough, and I explored pretty well the first time. Some pieces had a lot of slow (maybe just my pc) running around, and the combat behavior didn't vary as much as I hoped for. A larger party might have helped, and less focus on melee combat. I should not be so blind as to see creatures only when a) they can see me in every case and b)only have time to get off one arrow shot before a horde descends on me.
I thought the death knight was funny, didn't really mind the voice, though there is room for improvement with all the voice acting. Music was good, as expected.
I was hoping for slightly more dramatic spell and weapon effects - especially weapons. Diable 2 did this well, especially with special weapon attacks, most games I play mages just because I like the flashy attacks <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
Hitting multiple opponents is nice too - warriors are usually at a serious disadvantage in that sense, and more true here, since whirlwind doesn't work unless you use poison, which is bugged (poison hits every attempted strike). (which I used mercilessly <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> )
Yep, not as good as DD, I think. I prefer a really open environment for a large game, makes me feel a greater sense of freedom and makes the world seem larger. Aside from the dark graphics, the game felt very confining at times, especially in how certain characters and quests had to be approached. Some of that was bug issues, but not all. This game seems easier to play from an "evil" side, so more balanced in that sense - but also much less relevant (no real emotional consequence). I'd rather an RPG focus on a good storyline and not falsely claim you can be successful playing as an "evil char", like DD did - it was so much harder and you missed you much by comparison it would be foolish to do. BD was an improvement, but it felt less rewarding either way, which I consider a greater loss.
The ability to shift characters skills was more of a distraction and concern for me than a bonus. There shouldn't be "mistakes" when making a character, but in practice I found that to be true, like keeping the sharpening skill available. For the vast bulk of the game it winds up being useless, and I could really transform my characters by dropping it for something else until I needed it. Much better, IMO, to have merchants offer to do something like that.
Overall I like the available options for character building, except for the small fact that many seemed totally worthless....spells for example, most of which I would never consider using because they didn't do enough damage. I used 4-5 spells once I experimented with them all, and realized that maxing out a direct fire attack simply had nothing when compared to using the actual fireball spell. And your mage really needs to stand back with the other char draws away meelee swarms, so the radius spells were pretty useless, the cone attacks were nice, but again, compared to nature spells, I never used them.
Another thing is in the same vein - the skill balance and weapon damage didn't make choices very realistic - I mean, a single sword plus shield is a far more effective combo in the game than any two handed weapon combo, where I'd just get slaughtered before getting a hit off. (and yes, I pumped a LOT of points into speed) Fighting multiple opponents all the time just made it impractical to use a 2h weapon AND expect to be as effective. I think the 2h weapons should have done 2-3 times as much damage as they did.
It was difficult to select options in the game due to limited descriptions, like the missing bow refire rates, impact of speed on weapons, spell descriptions were sparse. A little more info, already present and used in the game, would have helped me a lot.
The battlefields did seem like a distraction, and the ability to "bug out" of combat anytime really seems out of whack. It was nice to have quick access to merchants and see a wider range of items, in my XP it was the only way to see of lot of interesting things, but I avoided it whenever possible for a more focused gameplay experience. I would have liked to have aboveground quests in the battlefields, instead of all dungeons. The battlefields also kind of destroyed the skill balancing IMO, but it also permitted to choose some options for char building much earlier and made the game more fun.
A complaint I had from DD - spells and arrows really don't work very effectively, because the games range is so short. It's only at the end of the game where you can increase sight enough in DD that you really benefit, so that was disappointing in BD as well. I never did find a way to unlock the sight skill, as I recall.
There was a lot about the plot and missions I liked, the variations and characters you spoke to were interesting, being able to watch guards fighting creatures was nice (though instead of battlefields, myself, I would have preferred more wandering merchants and respawning monsters - makes the environment seem more alive, just have the respawn shut down if you kill off every monster cave around, etc. so you can control that behavior in game)
Basically, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> , a great job Larian, lots of detail issues I wish were different, some technical implementations I didn't like as much as I wanted to, but overall a fun game, thank you.
However, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/down.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/down.gif" alt="" /> , I do have to say that I expect companies to make an effort to tell me when their product has problems, and roughly what they are doing about it. The worst thing you can do, IMO, is simply not communicate with people. The FAQ is awful, in the latest patch version there are a series of known problems which I couldn't find posted in one location anywhere, and it greatly increased my frustration with the game. I think, in buying the product, Larian has an obligation to tell me what problems they know exist so I can work around them in game, and prepare for them. Forcing me to avoid the support section of the site as being largely useless and ask people on the forum really doesn't show me that Larian itself is committed to supporting it's product. There are people here dedicated enough to help Larian with that work for free (creating faqs in the support section, creating files and pics to help)- but I don't see that anyone was ever even asked OR that the bulk of such available content is readily linked here, much less included here. If your short handed, than asking for help is appropriate.
Aside from the known bugs, not hearing about what is being actively worked for the next patch, or even a rough eta, IMO is completely unacceptable. Every software company knows perfectly well how many people they can assign to bug fixing AND roughly how long the bugs will take. If your software and support managers aren't at least that competent you couldn't have put a product on the shelf to begin with. I'm not asking for a committment and legal contract - is the next patch coming out tomorrow, in 6 months or 6 years? It doesn't take much effort to narrow it down and be considerate enough for your customers to tell them, in a general way, what you plan to fix in the next patch and roughly when. The fact that such information can change isn't relevant - it's like telling a retailer you won't give them cover art and a game description because something "might change". As professionals you can be generic enough to cover contingencies...the question is do you care? Because the evidence from the website says you don't.
I find that difficult to believe, and several people have tap danced around this issue in the past, trying fruitlessly to argue that "behind the scenes" support qualifies as a committment to help people. In my experience it qualifies as an effort to hide problems WHILE helping people, which isn't the same thing as being supportive and standing by your work.
If I had purchased a car, you wouldn't conceal from me the fact that the windows didn't roll down all the way. You WOULD tell me it was being fixed AND roughly when I could expect a recall. Otherwise it would constitute fraud - since this is a game, your not going to be jailed or sued for it, but let's call a spade a spade. Larian is aware of problems with the game, and making no active effort themselves to inform their customers. Where is the faq from Larian staff in the support section telling me that in the current patch, Lockpick doesn't work? That I should use the battlefields if my characters get stuck someplace? I don't recall seeing a notice on the box for the game that says I as the purchaser have the obligation to visit the Larian forums AND other sites AND ask for help, not to mention apparently requiring me to have an internet connection in the first place...
There is room for improvement, let's say. I've done a lot of software support myself, so I will say again, the WORST thing you can do is simply not communicate with your customers.
