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the mighty stamar
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Posts: 602
Location: arcata ca, humboldt county |
Im at lvl 8 now and ive been through 2 dungeons.
Ive had a lot of fun and some frustration.
;
Heres where the game is sort of like a toothache: When youre going through the mazes youre fighting for your life theres so many monsters. Youre running away its sort of reminiscent of might and magic 7 to me.
but theres no automap. So you have a hard enough time trying to figure out where you are but the monsters break your concentration. So youre lost constantly.... hopefully i described that well. Its sort of draining after a long session
The city of fargrove is mostly barren. It takes a long time to walk from place to place business to business, and in between theres just vacant houses. Its a huge area in terms of square feet. It looks nice but the total relevant content in the city is relatively small. There was a rampant troll several businesses.... there is a castle. The average townfolk of which there are very few anyway have nothing to say.
The dungeons are really cool with their puzzles. Ive done a magic mouth and a candle puzzle and im looking forward to doing more.
The outdoors areas are huge, another place to easily get lost. walking from fargrove to i think its called arindale took 45 mins.
Theres lots of skills. I dont think i made my character very efficiently but this means Ill need to get more experience to finish the game.
Theres a lot of written content in the game you get from the npcs. The parts that deal with where you have to go... you have to write them down because you only get the directions there when you talk to the npc it doesnt keep track for you. and believe me you can get lost trying to find it i spent about 2 hours lost in the wilderness and ran into nothing but a campfire and random wolves for the whole 2 hours in an area around the lake.
Some of these impressions seem negative but im enjoying the game definitely. I would like to see a map im getting used to it but i think that the game itself makes you very lost |
Mon May 16, 2005 5:27 am |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
I've just read Gamespot review of this game. After reading it, I'm not sure if I should buy this game.
How about reading that review and compare it to your personal view? It would certainly be most useful for me. But probably asking for too much :] |
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Wed May 18, 2005 7:28 am |
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the mighty stamar
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Posts: 602
Location: arcata ca, humboldt county |
Ok...
It is similar to morrowind in these ways:
the outside world has great graphics and its huge. And most of it has nothing in it just a lot of forest and nice looking water.
There are lots of random encounters. The npc interface is similar. the npcs mostly stand and seem dead
There are tons of experience points to add to your character to customize it. not as many as morrowind. your class is how much it costs to add to each thing
its similar to gothic in that its action combat and you can dodge. you ready spells and cast them. eventually you do combos. You dont want the enemy to flank you like gothic. Its similar to gothic in that numbers make any monster dangerous so you do run away.
similar to diablo in that you kill millions of monsters, they generate randomly and sometimes they accumulate in a huge horde and you run the hell away. random loot and many different items. You click a lot maybe even more than diablo there is a lot of combat.
Its similar to wizardry in that the dungeons have puzzles to open different areas. There are many classes, and there are the japanese classes and weapons. You only have one character so many of the classes you wont be able to play your first time through. Similar to wizards and warriors in that you have to be a class for while to get to another class, and then do a quest to join the other class. picking locks has a little graphic mini game. Its also the first rpg ive seen in a long time that your character is put into 'states' such as frozen, poisoned diseased stoned etc that you have to have to antidote for.
The dungeons are the best part of the game i just entered my first big one fathien keep and its really a blast. I didnt like the time ive spent disoriented and lost the world is very large
there are indeed parts that are incomplete. I havent really run into any bugs but i played with the 1.1 patch.
as far as the gamespot review it seems good but it doesnt mention the dungeons enough that is a part that seems really positive to me so far. |
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Wed May 18, 2005 9:07 am |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
Ok, thanks.
I'm still not sure about this game. There's so many people out there complaining about missing (yet on the box and in manual and even in UI announced) items (maps, chang of appearance...).
I guess I'll have to give it a try. |
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Thu May 19, 2005 7:25 am |
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arnox
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 17 May 2005
Posts: 25
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this game is like a trip to the nudy bar, very enjoyable but frustrating to the core....also simular in that i keep going back.  |
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Thu May 19, 2005 8:20 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
To be honest Dani, I think the "missing" stuff is less of a problem than some of the basic design concepts. It's pretty ridiculous for any modern RPG to not have a map but it's not that big a deal during the game. Same for the customisation - once you start, you won't really think about it again. Play the demo and if you like the combat (and you can live with empty towns and so on) - go for it. The combat is the centre of the game and the other elements are too weak to carry it on their own, so it rests on the combat.
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Thu May 19, 2005 10:22 am |
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txa1265
Magister of the Light
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 390
Location: Marlborough, MA USA |
I thought that the GameSpot review was pretty fair in its' description (as opposed to the other two reviews which were useless) ... I don't care about the score.
I keep going back to the game as well, and have been pretty much playing continuously since the game came out.
I like the combat, find the dungeons and puzzles satisfying and challenging, and enjoy roaming the open lands.
I wish the towns weren't empty, I would also like some 'real' side-quests, and I absolutely hate the journal.
Mike
_________________
Dopelar effect (n.) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Check out my blog. |
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Thu May 19, 2005 1:06 pm |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
It's the best review so far, I agree. I would be a little more harsh in a few areas...I don't think the magic and character systems mesh with the combat oriented gameplay as well as they could and the dialogue is very disappointing. I look forward to reading your review, Mike. 
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Fri May 20, 2005 5:42 am |
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txa1265
Magister of the Light
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 390
Location: Marlborough, MA USA |
quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
I don't think the magic and character systems mesh with the combat oriented gameplay as well as they could
I wasn't sure about the magic system, but as a level 20 Wizard, with 10 ranks of Spellfire, I knock out a Blast Nova and take out a mob of just about anything ... I still mix in a bunch of melee, but my balance of magic has increased greatly as the game progresses.
quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
the dialogue is very disappointing.
I wouldn't mind it as much if there was a decent journal. But the way in which getting certain quests seems tied to selecting the right choices at the right times from the keyword system ...
quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
I look forward to reading your review, Mike.
That's funny ... I'm not sure I'm looking forward to writing it ... 
(actually, it is in progress since I take notes as I go along ...)
Mike
_________________
Dopelar effect (n.) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Check out my blog. |
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Fri May 20, 2005 11:29 am |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
Thanks for info.
I've some more time to make this decission. The game will be probably publushed here in two or more months. |
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Mon May 23, 2005 12:25 pm |
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