I have to admit that I agree with some of the criticisms above. Being at the Alpha stage I didn't expect it to be slick and polished but, after reading the Kickstarter pitch which talked of wanting to add some special extra icing to an already good cake, I didn't expect it to be quite as cliched and unoriginal as it seems at the moment. Seems more like the same rather stale old bun we've seen before, rather than a delicious new recipe.
Every stereotype and cliche from past rpgs seems to make an appearance, from the orcs, zombies, skeletons, etc through to vain aristocrats, wicked wizards, stuffy military types, dull tavern patrons, price gouging market traders, and - well, you tick them off they're all there. And then there's the endless bloody junk loot. "Oh goody, that giant spider just dropped a piece of armour. Or somebody has left another chest or crate in the street with 3 gold coins, a cheap shirt and an apple in it" or whatever devices are used to keep the steady flow of rubbish coming. I've just about had enough of games that treat you like a four year old with an attention span of ten nano-seconds and think you must have some pathetic little treat every few metres, regardless of whether it make the story look ridiculous or not (For the record, my attention span is at least eleven nano-seconds and I can walk past several whole houses without needing some stupid barrel to peer into to check for random rusty daggers.)
I enjoyed Divine Divinity a lot , and thought that the Dragon Knight saga was really excellent. For my money, it struck a good balance between traditional rpg elements and adding some fresh and original touches. But this one feels uncomfortably like Beyond Divinity, which had the smell of a pot-boiler cranked out to a budget to keep some cash coming in while they worked on a new engine for their other project. Unfortunately, stuff that was fine in games ten years ago risks feeling dated and flogged to death now.
This one certainly does look pretty but the content just seemed cliched and, well, uninspired. Just one example: You arrive in town on a quest to find somebody - the commander, the wizard or whoever it was and can you ask all the NPCs the most obvious question "Hey, where does X hang out?". No. Instead, you can ask them all the same generic lines of stuff and get the same boring answers, over and over. Then you can search every pixel in town until you locate your quarry. Surely it can be done better than that?
And the battles didn't really fire up either. Half the time it felt like the same lumbering pack of enemies were shuffling toward us but with different faces painted on them.
I guess it's my own fault for being too willing to believe all the pre-game promises, and there will obviously be lots more improvements made before the final release. But the keen anticipation I felt a few months ago has certainly evaporated. Maybe I've just maxed out on this style of game and others will love every click of it?
And who knows? In a few months the final game might look all sparkly fresh and enticing! For Larian's sake let's hope so. Good luck Larian and keep working hard.
