The main problem with ‘professional’ reviews of the game is the forest fire of excitability surrounding the game’s legitimate successes, both within the gaming the community and, it seems, Larian itself.
Simply put, this game has virtually no competition, particularly in the vapid world of commercial gaming. It trounces rivals with regards to ambition, originality and just the balls to do things differently. It’s the equivalent of The Sopranos, or The Wire – it shakes things up so dramatically, and so shamelessly, that we’re naturally inclined to be far more forgiving of imperfections.
However, there are some serious imperfections in the game that hardly constitute ‘minor flaws’. The story suffers from some kind of narrative ADD, starting a plot thread, only to abandon it completely for another one over and over, as if it’s constantly reinventing itself, never confident enough to stick to one thing and develop it properly – a problem that exists right until the end. Think of characters like Dallis who are introduced and completely forgotten about for vast stretches, only to get the most hare-brained character reinventions at the last minute. Dallis, in particular, sums up all that is wrong with the story – without going into detail, there is no story in game, just a series of stopping and starting narratives and character introductions with no development, no ‘arc’, no emotional or psychological meaning.
The better parts of the plot consequently get lost – especially the void creatures, which largely, and wisely, go without spoken lines, and remain a vicious, mysterious presence throughout, with enemies on all sides.
Gameplaywise, the battles, although always enjoyable, have taken a massive step backwards in the invention department. How many can you actually remember? Roughly 5% are brilliantly conceived, easily the best any game has offered. The other 95% are the same battle over and over. Same number of enemies, same types of enemies (just reskinned), with only bigger stat points. Combat is a key feature of the game, and, with the exception of some outstanding set pieces, it simply doesn’t get the same creative treatment it got in the previous game.
Armour, also a huge feature of the game, clearly never evolves according to plan, and becomes a very obviously broken mechanic, particularly at higher levels, where both armour bars are inflated to comical proportions.
These are just 3 random ‘big features’ of the game – story, combat variety, armour – that clearly don’t hold up. There are many others that I’ll avoid mentioning for the sake of brevity.
But really, the biggest issue is Larian’s seemingly self-congratulatory stance on all of this. Just look at the last video update on the modding community. Sven quoting the positive review stats on steam and metacritic, as if it’s as simple as high numbers = job done. Or Sven quoting the number of bugs squashed in the latest patch – 1000s! – as though it’s once again a numbers game. There’s just no real acknowledgement of the specifics mentioned in the community’s feedback on abstract, more creative issues that numbers alone won't solve. There's just a very general thank you for the feedback at the end of the video – but what feedback in particular?
That’s what everyone really wants to know. Because the majority of the game’s issues have very simple solutions that many in the community have brainstormed and devised, only for it all to disappear into the black hole left by Larian’s silence on the topic.
Perfectly put. My crappy english skills prevent me to write a well thought post like this one, hehe.
What I hate most?
Fellow members that keep telling me about how simple minded and stupid I am because I don't dislike the same things they dislike.
Even if they don't dislike the same things I dislike.
I don’t believe anyone’s doing that friend. Certainly not me. People will have critiques of the game that don’t mesh with other people’s views, but that’s just the nature of the critiquing business. There’s no insult to anyone’s intellect going on there.
And where are all these wives coming from that love to play the game with their husbands? I’m not saying my mot doesn’t like the thing, but it clearly doesn’t quite light her fire either – different strokes for different folks, maybe… Happy hunting with your wife anyway. If you managed to get her to play more than three hours of it, that’s something I’ve yet to see myself.
I think he's talking about the ingame NPCs, who constantly treat you like some kind of retard who can't figure anything by his own.
