Typed all this on a phone, so there’s probably a bunch of typos or whatever.
My only experience with Jeff Vogel’s games are Avadon: The Black Fortress (played in 2011), and one of the Geneforge games (also played years ago). I really enjoyed those games except for one glaring issue that ruined my appetite for Spiderweb’s games, having to pick up and evaluate all the tons and tons of loot found in the world in a UI that grew increasingly frustrating to use because of how many awkward button presses or clicks it would take to get stuff done. I’m dead serious when I tell you that I’ve been waiting for this day, to play another Vogel game once the process of doing certain things wasn’t made significantly worse because the UI was a barrier between me and smooth game flow.
I can certainly understand and embrace an indie developer going back to the basics in the art and sound department because of cost, but I can’t tolerate frustrating enduser experiences that seem like they’d be cheap and simple to design correctly iteration after iteration.
Anyway, all that’s to say that what drew me to the game was all the talk about how Jeff was making an effort to streamline this game as much as possible. This means a ton less grinding, and less corpse & environmental loot management, which had the side effect of directly addressing my biggest complaint from earlier titles, having to open and close the inventory window (with different buttons!) 50 times in a room while scouring it for scattered trinkets and junk everywhere. By putting almost everything in chests, and by removing interactive junk everywhere, I’m already happy with my purchase.
Okay, so I’ve spent way too long here blabbing about a pet peeve, but I’ve been a bit obsessed over these issues since 2011.
As for the gameplay, I am enjoying it. I am playing on the second hardest difficulty level, Veteren, and it seems to be the perfect challenge for me. I haven’t had to repsec at all for any one encounter, but that’s probably because I’m constantly fiddling and tweaking my skills anyway, as I try new things.
I really do enjoy reading the GM/DM narration/description windows that pop up when I find a new area or creature. I also enjoy how “cut scenes” play out in these story pop-ups. I actively dislike cut scenes in every game, but reading about my character doing stuff is much more appealing on a personal level.
The forts seem like a good idea so far, because I can improve my situation without everything being so reliant on equipped items.
And I also like that the game gets right to it, there isn’t an hour of reading and wandering around before you do anything, there’s just a few minutes and then you’re out and about.
I’m glad the game is streamlined, so far I enjoy the skill system, I enjoy the moral and political choices I’m faced with, and their consequences, effects, and sometimes reprecussions. I also really enjoy that dungeons and encounters can’t as easily be cheesed like in other games where you can chip away at monsters little by little while resurrecting or resting along the way. Here you’ve got to manage your health and mana because it’s meaningful every step of the way (until you’ve cleared a place one way or another), and there’s no leaving without the dungeon/encounter resetting (monsters, not chests). Once cleared these places typically convert to your benefit one way or another.
I’m liking the game, and I’d say it took three or four hours of aimlessly doing my own thing (I like to ignore quests in RPGs for whatever reason) before it not only clicked, but sunk its hooks in me. It clicked right about the time I began seeing the benefits and coming up with plans for my realm’s expansion. I’d expect this to go faster for more focused players. But the game is open world, so who knows!