This game is great but... (Spoiler Warning) - 24/07/14 08:11 PM
It has some serious issues (imho anyway). I just can't bring myself to agree with the ratings of 8/10 and 9/10 that this game is getting. The most I can bare to give it is a 7/10 and even that is being generous when I take some parts of the game into consideration.
Now before you go foaming at the mouth and telling me how I should have just not bought the game, or how I apparently just don't like Turn-Based RPGs or any other slew of rhetorical arguments, please hear me out. Firstly, I love Old School RPGs, turn based and otherwise. Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, Fallout 1&2, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, etc. I love them all. So I want to preface everything I am about to say with this: I like this game. I really do.
I'm really enjoying it, and I am by no means trying to say that I wasted my money. I didn't. I do not regret spending the money to buy it. I do regret, however, only hearing about this game a few months ago, and therefore not being able to throw money at the kickstarter campaign.
With that said, I still can't bring myself to give this game anything higher than a 7/10 in its present state. And let try and explain why.
The basic design of the game is, overall, very well done. But there are a few major potholes (of the 'so bad they will rip your tire to shreds' variety) that just ruin the experience in many parts of the game.
Tutorial and Introduction
The tutorial and introduction system is, frankly, horrendous. The introduction to combat is lazy at best and the introduction to pretty much everything else in the game feels more like someone standing behind me and asking me why I don't know how to play the game yet rather than a well made tutorial.
Crafting
There is no reasonable introduction to crafting. I had to figure out the crafting system by looking online. I should not have to figure out a core mechanic of your game by looking online. This is bad design -- unforgivably bad, in fact. The 'recipes' are sometimes worded in a way where they are confusing and hard to understand. There is no reason why you had to be special little snowflakes and write your recipes like some sort of silly journal entry. "Wool+Wool=Yarn" would have been perfectly fine.
At the very least, there needs to some sort of tutorial into the crafting systems. Even if it's just a book that explains how cooking works, how potions work, how blacksmithing works, etc. And if you are about to make an excuse about how this deepens the game somehow -- don't. That is an asinine argument and bears absolutely no foundation in rational thought. The way the crafting system is designed is depth. The way it is introduced (Or not as the case may be) is nothing more than needless confusion.
Combat
Combat, at higher levels, is a chore. It is not fun, it is not engrossing, it is boring and clunky. And no, this is not an inherent flaw with turn-based combat. There are many turn based games that have engrossing and fun combat (provided you like turn based combat anyway). Fallout 1&2, Xcom: Enemy Unknown, Shadowrun Returns, Final Fantasy Tactics, just to name a few.
I began dreading combat if there were more than four enemies involved. When a large majority of your game is combat, this is a bad thing.
Puzzle Design
The puzzles themselves are actually very well done. The problem is that they have no introduction and very little clues most of the time.
You wouldn't expect someone to know that you wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if the only thing you said was, "I have a kitchen." Likewise, you can't expect someone to even start thinking about how to solve your puzzle if the only clue you give is "here's a puzzle I made. Solve it."
Some of the puzzles in the game are the equivalent of giving someone a jigsaw puzzle to solve, except 50% of the pieces are missing and the only clue you give them to the location of those missing pieces is that you didn't put them on the moon. They have no idea that they are supposed to figure out that you buried the pieces on a random beach in southern Italy.
I have encountered this, "If we give them a reasonable clue the puzzle will be too easy," mindset of puzzle design before, and it never feels intelligent or witty or well designed. It always feels confusing, frustrating and, in some cases, insulting.
How am I supposed to figure out that the mage buried his magical barrier-breaking spell in a hole next to a box behind a bunch of traps in the forest, which is right behind a bunch of drunken goblins? As far as the game shows, I'm supposed to figure that out just by exploring. That is, frankly, horrific puzzle design. And this is just one example of many.
Story
The story is your run-of-the-mill 'find the magical sword and defeat the great wizard on top of Evil mountain' story. Which is fine. There's nothing wrong with going with the classics, as long as it works. This one doesn't. The story is convoluted, badly written, and feels horribly segmented and broken. There is no well-done conclusion, no well done climax, or really any major semblance of a well-done plot arc.
Now, before you go all "this is just your opinion," on me, that is not the argument that I am making. I am not saying that, in my opinion, this story is bad. I am saying it doesn't work. it is the difference between saying "I hate the look of that car," and "That car isn't going to work because you put a bunch of bananas where the engine should be." You can claim difference of opinion all day long, but those bananas are never going to turn into an engine block.
The story does have a bunch of very nice kernels, but they don't fit together well. There is no major climax. Where do the characters hit a major block that they must get past? Um.... never. They beat the bad guy at every single turn. Every. Single. Turn. Where do the characters hit the climactic battle in the story where they either feel a momentary sense of false victory, or are beaten severely? Well... never.
Where do they have their darkest of days moment, when everything seems lost and they feel that they will never be able to win? Never.
Where do they have their shining moment of awakening when they finally awaken to merge the thesis world with the anti-thesis world and become something more than they were before? Well.... you can sort of make an argument that they have this when they find out that they are the guardians, but that is not preceded by any major moments of darkness, so it doesn't really count. After all, you can't awake if you aren't asleep.
Where is the final showdown with the enemy, the great darkness? Well... it's there, but it's just another fight. You get a short bit of dialogue that means very little, and then boss battle. That's it.
Where is the final conclusion and the wrapping up of the story? It doesn't exist. The story ends, and then you get a short cut-scene with the imps, showing that Mr. Time Travel was telling the story the whole time. That's it. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Just YOU WIN THE GAME THE END. At that point, you might as well just have a button at the beginning of the game that says, "Press this to win forever."
You cannot have a good story without conflict, and you cannot have conflict if the main characters overcome every single obstacle you put in front of them with ease. Does the magical sourcerer defeat you at every turn? No. Oh, you're burning the temple down? We escape. Oh, you're making a giant blood stone? We broke it. Oh, you're here at the end of the game for our final confrontation? No, here's a magical spell that turns you good again for no explainable reason and removes you as a threat. Buh-bye.
The story just does not work.
These are not all the flaws the game has, just the largest ones that I can see. Again, I do like the game. But I just can't bring myself to agree with the 8/10 and 9/10 ratings that it has been getting everywhere. I just can't.
And that makes me sad because I had such high hopes. Then again, maybe that's why I was so disappointed.
Now before you go foaming at the mouth and telling me how I should have just not bought the game, or how I apparently just don't like Turn-Based RPGs or any other slew of rhetorical arguments, please hear me out. Firstly, I love Old School RPGs, turn based and otherwise. Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, Fallout 1&2, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, etc. I love them all. So I want to preface everything I am about to say with this: I like this game. I really do.
I'm really enjoying it, and I am by no means trying to say that I wasted my money. I didn't. I do not regret spending the money to buy it. I do regret, however, only hearing about this game a few months ago, and therefore not being able to throw money at the kickstarter campaign.
With that said, I still can't bring myself to give this game anything higher than a 7/10 in its present state. And let try and explain why.
The basic design of the game is, overall, very well done. But there are a few major potholes (of the 'so bad they will rip your tire to shreds' variety) that just ruin the experience in many parts of the game.
Tutorial and Introduction
The tutorial and introduction system is, frankly, horrendous. The introduction to combat is lazy at best and the introduction to pretty much everything else in the game feels more like someone standing behind me and asking me why I don't know how to play the game yet rather than a well made tutorial.
Crafting
There is no reasonable introduction to crafting. I had to figure out the crafting system by looking online. I should not have to figure out a core mechanic of your game by looking online. This is bad design -- unforgivably bad, in fact. The 'recipes' are sometimes worded in a way where they are confusing and hard to understand. There is no reason why you had to be special little snowflakes and write your recipes like some sort of silly journal entry. "Wool+Wool=Yarn" would have been perfectly fine.
At the very least, there needs to some sort of tutorial into the crafting systems. Even if it's just a book that explains how cooking works, how potions work, how blacksmithing works, etc. And if you are about to make an excuse about how this deepens the game somehow -- don't. That is an asinine argument and bears absolutely no foundation in rational thought. The way the crafting system is designed is depth. The way it is introduced (Or not as the case may be) is nothing more than needless confusion.
Combat
Combat, at higher levels, is a chore. It is not fun, it is not engrossing, it is boring and clunky. And no, this is not an inherent flaw with turn-based combat. There are many turn based games that have engrossing and fun combat (provided you like turn based combat anyway). Fallout 1&2, Xcom: Enemy Unknown, Shadowrun Returns, Final Fantasy Tactics, just to name a few.
I began dreading combat if there were more than four enemies involved. When a large majority of your game is combat, this is a bad thing.
Puzzle Design
The puzzles themselves are actually very well done. The problem is that they have no introduction and very little clues most of the time.
You wouldn't expect someone to know that you wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if the only thing you said was, "I have a kitchen." Likewise, you can't expect someone to even start thinking about how to solve your puzzle if the only clue you give is "here's a puzzle I made. Solve it."
Some of the puzzles in the game are the equivalent of giving someone a jigsaw puzzle to solve, except 50% of the pieces are missing and the only clue you give them to the location of those missing pieces is that you didn't put them on the moon. They have no idea that they are supposed to figure out that you buried the pieces on a random beach in southern Italy.
I have encountered this, "If we give them a reasonable clue the puzzle will be too easy," mindset of puzzle design before, and it never feels intelligent or witty or well designed. It always feels confusing, frustrating and, in some cases, insulting.
How am I supposed to figure out that the mage buried his magical barrier-breaking spell in a hole next to a box behind a bunch of traps in the forest, which is right behind a bunch of drunken goblins? As far as the game shows, I'm supposed to figure that out just by exploring. That is, frankly, horrific puzzle design. And this is just one example of many.
Story
The story is your run-of-the-mill 'find the magical sword and defeat the great wizard on top of Evil mountain' story. Which is fine. There's nothing wrong with going with the classics, as long as it works. This one doesn't. The story is convoluted, badly written, and feels horribly segmented and broken. There is no well-done conclusion, no well done climax, or really any major semblance of a well-done plot arc.
Now, before you go all "this is just your opinion," on me, that is not the argument that I am making. I am not saying that, in my opinion, this story is bad. I am saying it doesn't work. it is the difference between saying "I hate the look of that car," and "That car isn't going to work because you put a bunch of bananas where the engine should be." You can claim difference of opinion all day long, but those bananas are never going to turn into an engine block.
The story does have a bunch of very nice kernels, but they don't fit together well. There is no major climax. Where do the characters hit a major block that they must get past? Um.... never. They beat the bad guy at every single turn. Every. Single. Turn. Where do the characters hit the climactic battle in the story where they either feel a momentary sense of false victory, or are beaten severely? Well... never.
Where do they have their darkest of days moment, when everything seems lost and they feel that they will never be able to win? Never.
Where do they have their shining moment of awakening when they finally awaken to merge the thesis world with the anti-thesis world and become something more than they were before? Well.... you can sort of make an argument that they have this when they find out that they are the guardians, but that is not preceded by any major moments of darkness, so it doesn't really count. After all, you can't awake if you aren't asleep.
Where is the final showdown with the enemy, the great darkness? Well... it's there, but it's just another fight. You get a short bit of dialogue that means very little, and then boss battle. That's it.
Where is the final conclusion and the wrapping up of the story? It doesn't exist. The story ends, and then you get a short cut-scene with the imps, showing that Mr. Time Travel was telling the story the whole time. That's it. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Just YOU WIN THE GAME THE END. At that point, you might as well just have a button at the beginning of the game that says, "Press this to win forever."
You cannot have a good story without conflict, and you cannot have conflict if the main characters overcome every single obstacle you put in front of them with ease. Does the magical sourcerer defeat you at every turn? No. Oh, you're burning the temple down? We escape. Oh, you're making a giant blood stone? We broke it. Oh, you're here at the end of the game for our final confrontation? No, here's a magical spell that turns you good again for no explainable reason and removes you as a threat. Buh-bye.
The story just does not work.
These are not all the flaws the game has, just the largest ones that I can see. Again, I do like the game. But I just can't bring myself to agree with the 8/10 and 9/10 ratings that it has been getting everywhere. I just can't.
And that makes me sad because I had such high hopes. Then again, maybe that's why I was so disappointed.