First, wow, I'm surprised this slipped under my radar for so long. I never saw the original, expansion, or remastered version at a local store (or any adverts either). I just happened to see this hidden gem on my suggested list on Stardock's Impulse, read the description, downloaded the demo, and then bought the game the next night (thanks Stardock).
I have some questions and some comments from my limited play so far (only lvl 10 - just saw the dragon vision). The only thing I ask is please
NO SPOILERS. I like my first play through to be without guides, preconceived notions instilled from players further along than me, etc. Second play through I'll see what I missed to 'get everything'. I'm sure some/all of my questions and comments have been made before, but I'm hesitant to use the search feature since the game has been out for this long (spoilers tend to trickle in post as 'common knowledge' after enough time passes).
Questions:
1) Without specifics or names, are there any missable zones? As in an area is destroyed or inaccessible after event X, or can all zones be (re)visited at any point? So far the urge to explore has been greater than to move the story along. However I don't want to rush the plot as it thickens if it can cause me to miss out on some content.
2) In exploring everything before continuing the main story, I've already become overpowered at just level 10. I am playing as a ranger and at the start I had to kite mobs, actively dodge, and be careful when approaching groups or be killed. Now that I'm out of places to explore and continued the plot line, I can one shot most mobs and use scattershot to take out a group. If this is temporary, then great! I like seeing an advantage in power from exploring instead of rushing to the finish line. If it is a case of once you are ahead of the curve, the rest of the game is trivial, then I'm greatly disappointed. I'm hoping the mobs get harder when I go to the tower mentioned just after the vision (my save game is just after the vision and conversation with the wizard).
3) Are chest subject to a RNG? I'm assuming this is true as I opened a chest once, subsequently died, loaded my save and got different items. If so, great, this adds to the replayability as it won't be as predictable. The only thought that arises from this, are their some items that can only be gained from one chest but are subject to this RNG?
4) Is there a way to hide the helmet graphic? There were not a plethora of options in picking your avatar, but still the bare face is more aesthetic than all the helms I've found thus far.
Things I like:
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Side Quest / Exploration - This has been the biggest boon to this game so far and I've only scratched the surface I'm sure. I really hate when games have a RPG tag but are so scripted that, even if not a straight line, is still a line from A to B. The distraction of exploration coupled with hidden passages has hooked me.
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Dodge / Jump / Climb - These were all welcome additions. It always irked me when I could have the power to summon a wall of flame to decimate an entire army, but can't climb over a 1 foot tall rock due to game mechanics. The ability to dodge projectiles adds some skill to combat instead of just button mashing.
Things I did not like:
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Shiny keys - At first it annoyed me and I couldn't figure out why. Now I think the reason it bothers me is nothing else in the game is made to be so obvious. There are no shiny markers for quest locations/items, hidden passage buttons/levers don't have particle effects, some chest blend with the surroundings or are behind doors, etc. So why are keys special? It just cheapens it some as it is near impossible to not see the particle effect even from a distance.
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Shadows - I'm not going to post PC specs as I'm not trying to impress anyone, let's just say it is modern and above the recommended specs. If I turn everything to max (advanced box checked), I get consistent stutters. If I take the same settings and reduce just the shadows down one notch to High, the game runs flawlessly even with lots of moving characters on the screen. I don't notice a big difference between the two settings visually, so not sure why it is hiccuping?
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Decisions don't mean much - Maybe I got spoiled with the gravity of decision making in Dragon Age, but it seems picking sides (so far) doesn't have much effect other than a shop owner raising or lowering their prices. In fairness, I haven't gone that far into the game so maybe their are more important decisions ahead of me.
All in all, I think I've found an unexpected great game to keep me busy for awhile. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
