- bug-ridden
Mostly visual glitches, for example the terrain turning black. There is stuff like this, but no bugs in story or content. So im happy to say I finished all quests so far
- overly simplified environments
The whole world uses grid-based maps, even towns are grids (think early M&M games). Seems awkward at first, but easily adjustable to. However , this is not the problem. What i DO mind, is absolutely no content that seems optional. There is no secrets, no hidden quests or locations, no marginal content. The whole environment , every town or dungeon, is just so streamlined and linear, you get the feeling how every playthrough can only be the same . This is my biggest gripe with the game, absolutely streamlined design of environments. Its like playing a kids platformer when moving on the map
- overly suggestive information (big flashy PRESS [E] TO USE on every object)
Annoying as hell , and is something you'd normally see in console titles.
- worst character creation I've seen in my life
I am serious. And i played a lot of RPGs in my life. Worst RPG i played was Dungeon Lords (?) , a clone of sorts , but even it had better chargen. Hideous "arcade-like" windows with concise or no information. Add to this 3 pathetic classes per race and you got yourself a nightmare
- hideous UI elements in general
The game actually is close to gorgeous. But the HUD and UI elements are just HIDEOUS, as if taken straight from an arcade machine (think Golden axe UI). The World map is as if taken from a random facebook game (!) which alone deserves a facepalm. Portraits/heads are pretty good though
- Broken tooltip information and vague tooltips
Sometimes you will hover the cursor over Attributes and other stats, but wont see anything. Or you'll see broken text most of the time. During char creation and early stages of the game, its very hard to figure out what each statistic does. Albeit after awhile you'll get some understanding and this does get less annoying
now some stuff that's good, off the top of my head.
- Good looking game
Despite everything, this game is close to gorgeous. Some caves and an inside of a well were breathtaking. Generally, interiors are beautiful and hold huge potential. Outdoors and Towns are more like some 2004 game but okay. I also like how they did shops etc. (in a traditional M&M kind of way)
- DEEP tactical combat that's VERY fun
Really i cannot stress this enough. Combat is grid-based and turn-based. Your characters have no formation but rather are located in the same plane (Much like M&M games). Every character can evade, or block and has 1 action per turn (drinking potions , curing disease also consumes a move) . But there is so much combat development its just insane. For example my Elf started with 1 attack per dagger, now i have 7 dagger attacks per action
, a real flurry of blows! Also weapons can spawn mods with retaliation or somesuch mechanic that further deepens combat. For example a sword that strikes twice, or a Shield bash that follows a successful critical strike. Bosses and other opponents have special mods, like every inflicted 'miss' or 'block' action gives a free attack, making bosses sometimes wipe parties with dual-wielders etc. etc. I feel sorry for this aspect of the game the most- Nice game pace and progression
Really compared to other RPGs this game feels like Diablo. I for one dislike sluggish games that dont allow lengthy character development (level 7,8 was realistic for completing Baldurs Gate 1). I play just a couple of hours each day and this gives me the impression im getting better. And with such a fast progression, one doesn't waste time to theory-craft (kills the fun) but rather just play
.Expect to reach level 35+ in this game- Decent tiered skill system
Or should i say talent tree. Well, despite everything its fairly good. After reaching certain thresholds in skills (novice, expert, master, grandmaster) you'd require a trainer to 'authenticate' your development. Only then could you move forward. These tiers all give something specific, for example, Expert tier axe gives more lethal axe crits, Dagger Master gives extra block/attacks etc. etc.
- The little things inherited from earlier entries in the series
Well thank god they remember those games still .. Things like barrels can sometimes hold bubbling liquid that can increase one of your party members resistance permanently. Enterable wells or Magical fountains, being able to dig out any tile on the map, stuff like that
CONCLUSSION - A legendary franchise (and a game with high potential) , ruined by incompetent devs and greedy chiefs at Ubi
So from the start , the marketing was really shit. It was obvious they wanted to make an old school game (inspired by huuuge KS successes of Wasteland, Project Eternity and Torment). However , this team obviously had no passion for this kind of game. Maybe they had knowledge, resources and maybe they displayed some EFFORT. But no passion or love whatsoever. So during mid to late development phase , they did this serious of blogs about what you wanted to see or play etc. They did this for a few months which left me with an impression that these guys didn't know what to do (!) . Now im all for communication with the fanbase (look failed TES:O) , but these guys clearly overdid it - they asked the community about EVERYTHING
So anyway, shortly after I guess the game didn't perform well in sales , there was only a single patch total and these scumbags LEFT THE PROJECT. They left some sort of bullshit announcement "The End of an Era" or some shit, which was just an excuse the dump the project downstream. I've NEVER in my life seen someone in the industry just WALK AWAY like this , hell these scumbags couldn't even do 1 full year of support (they did around 6 months)
/rant over
