Bound By Flame - Highly anticipated game, deeply disappointed gamer

This will be a quick "first-glance"-review of this game which I downloaded yesterday and startet playing.This review is based on about 4h of gameplay. Hopefully, I will edit this review when done.

This is a game I've been waiting for for a long time, actually: one of those small, un-hyped games that appear every now and then. I am a big fan of RPG, but Skyrim rubbed me in all the wrong places. The Souls-games are good games. They do not do everything right, but they are always good, quality games. This game, however... I am starting to wonder if I overpaid for this game...

The story revolves around Ice Lords that are threatening the world. Some scholars and conjurers try to combine their powers to gain means to fight the dreaded Ice Lords. Vulcan, an androgynous character, gains demonic powers that proves to be the opposite of Ice...fire. Does this make us the Fire Lord? Mayhap...Anyway:

The character creation is sub-par: you choose between 5 faces and 6 hair styles for each gender. You can't choose the color of your hair, or add beards for the men. The hair options are horrendous. From this point onwards, I was already a little disappointed.

The graphics are very poor... and sometimes ok. The surroundings range from looking poor to looking ok, I would say. The foilage I first encountered had me appalled! Is this really a PS4-game? God's Blood...

The characters look okay, I guess, but the facial animations are pretty bad. The voice-acting is horrible! The female Vulcan souns like .... well, it's really poor. Some of the dialogue is also odd. I write dialogues for screenplays and have a MA degree in English Lit. so... I know a thing or two.

The fighting is aweful! Slashes and blows have no! impact on enemies and even when they take a super-charged "strong" attack to the face, they still keep attacking... uniterrupted. It all feels so... boring and stressful. You can lock-on to enemies, but all it does is "mark" that enemy. It would've been better if this option focused your movement around the focused target, like in most other games (Kingdoms of Amalur, Dragon's Dogma(?), Final Fantasy XIV: ARR). The fighting feels really frantic and forgettable at this point. I really want to like this game, which after 4 hours looks alot like "Dragon Age" (the first one), but ... the fighting have me really pondering if I should've bought "Sportsfriends" instead...

You can choose between two classes, three if your coun't "Strange" (pyromancy): which is ranger and warrior. Warrior wields a two-handed weapon: sword, hammer or axe. The ranger uses dual knives.They both have a set of move options: the warrior can do a guard brake if circle is pressed, while the ranger does a back-dodge. I really wish they'd added the option to play as a footosoldier wielding a shield and a sword, or a complete long-range character using bows.

Sorry for this quick semi-review. If you have any questions concerning the game, and wheter or not to get it, feel free to ask in the comments below. I will keep playing this game.

Yeah, I was curious about this game. Even though it's a bit of a sleeper, the videos they released for it go out of their way to make it sound like the first true, next-gen RPG. However, the gameplay footage that accompanied these videos was typically pretty underwhelming.

-Byshop

Don't tell me it's bad I just brought it as i'm desperate for something to play and bored of Elder Scrolls Online and it's pathetic attempt at keeping me hooked with 'veteran ranks'.

I decided to take the gamble anyway. I'm not expecting much, a £21 for a game on launch gives me alarm bells for a game of it's type.

This is their follow-up to Mars: War Logs. I actually quite enjoyed M:WL...it's clearly an underfunded company trying to produce content in the vein of a AAA RPG...in that respect, their first attempt felt like a poor man's Witcher set on Mars. Was about a 10 hour campaign with multiple paths chosen by the player (seriously, very much like the decision you make in Witcher 2 after the first act). Even the leveling aspects had been obviously inspired by Witcher 2. Still, for what it was, it was fun, and the unique setting really won me over... but then I only paid $13 on Steam for it.

I really want to play this game, but so much that I've seen strikes me as basically the same game in a fantasy setting (M:WL had a melee skill line, a ranged/thief skill line and a technomancer...sounds familiar. Itemization sounds exactly the same). And that's actually ok, because like I said, i did enjoy M:WL, but I'm not paying $50 for it. You can actually get it for around $33 on Steam right now. I think I'll wait until it hits around $20-ish on either consoles or Steam.

Ironically, someone on another site made a thread with a quick review and praised combat saying that it weight like dark souls and that you had to figure out enemy attack patterns. Now, from what I saw, it seems like the combat is fun but not put together well. Now I was always kind of put off with how Dark Souls had slow combat and that you and your enemies had few attacks, but all the mechanics balanced each other out and made it feel complete. The videos I have seen do show enemies being attacked and barely reacting if not at all.

Be that as it may, I am not going to judge the game as a whole because I have not played it.

I wonder how GameSpot and other official reviewers will rate this game. I have a feeling it'll be under 7 (GameSpot).

@Evil_Saluki : Well, it's not bad and it's not great. It's closer to "bad" than "good", I'd say. I can't hide the fact that I am disappointed though. I guess I expected a AAA-game.Who knows? Maybe you'll love it.

@arb0rv1r : No need to apologize. Next time I'll proof-read it :)

@Ish_basic : I haven't played M:WL. I would say that this game is very similiar to "Dragon Age". The fighting however, is mostly button-mashing, (some parrying and dodging) and the leveling has me a bit worried as I've almost maxed out the "Ranger"-tree after 4-5 hours of gameplay. I'd wait for the price to drop...alas I've already bought it.

@cooolio : The fighting is "mostly" button-mashing (I do hope my character learns some other/more combo-moves soon).It reminds me of "Kingdoms of Amalur", but not as good. The omission of a proper lock-on function doesn't help the game. You can "lock-on" to targets, but it doesn't really "lock-on". It only "marks" the target. I fail to see any likeness to the Souls-game's tight combat. I will say this though: I'll try really hard to enjoy the game, if that makes any sense :) the smithing-part of the game is actually pretty cool.

@_Judas_:

Now I just feel like a jerk! I apologize for being the spelling/grammar nazi in this thread. It appears that I am have become too accustomed to the hostility of System Wars. Carry on!

@_Judas_: I wonder how GameSpot and other official reviewers will rate this game. I have a feeling it'll be under 7 (GameSpot).

4. Read it, and a lot of it sounds like i remember from M:WL, which no one reviewed on this site. I would be curious to know Vanord's opinions on M:WL just for the sake of comparison, because they really seem like identical games save for the setting. 10-15 hours, heavily and obviously inspired by the Witcher 2 and woefully under-budgeted for the attempt they are making. And I agree with pulling no punches on the review just because they didn't have the money to make a proper Witcher style game...you have to take budget into account first and foremost when you're trying to decide what kind of game you're gonna make.

I actually think Spider has got some great ideas, particular when it comes to the item/crafting system which is very cool and actually makes sense - it's not so much about boosting stats as it is building a loadout that complements your character build. I still very much plan to try it when it drops in price, as M:WL just somehow wormed its way into my heart. Would love to see what this company could do on a AAA budget.

Thats sucks dude, I was wondering about this game too. The gameplay videos kept me from buying it tho. The combat looked so sub par to me. I'll read this review once you update it.

But if anyone wants a good rpg you should look at Arcania. I know, I know it sounds crazy, but the game is good. It starts kinda meh, but once you upgrade your character and get a bit further into the game, its pretty effing great. Nier, Kingdom of Amalur, Mini Ninjas are all pretty good too.

During Kevin's review the gameplay footage didn't even look half as fun as Kingdoms of Amalur and that's the kind of action-rpg that I'm looking for. Oh well.

@ristactionjakso : Cool, thanks! I'll try to make it short, my user-reviews usually end up being long and, for some, a boring read. I am a big fan of "Kingdoms of Amalur". The combat is a major drawback in "Bound by Flames", but I will admit, it did get better towards the end. I did try the demo for Arcadia a long time ago, but I've never tried Nier.

@jasonredemption : my friend, that is exactly what I was hoping this game would be like. There are similarities between the two, but Bound by Flame, in my opinion, is a pretty poor game.

Nier is a good game, just starts really slow. Arcania demo threw me off. I didn't like the demo. But during th $5 sale I bought it. The game gets better further into it.

I purchased the PS4 version because I though the 1080p graphics/lighting would be better, boy was I wrong. Should have saved $10 and got the 360 version!

The combat is appalling!!

I don't think any of you have quite put across just how bad this combat is. Pretty much every battle is you vs a few baddies with a mixture of archers and melee. You have to hold down the block button because there is an endless stream of attacks coming your way from the sequence of baddies attacking you directly, if you let go of block for a quarter of a millisecond you just been hit and your taking damage, sometimes this means you were stunned for a second and that means you pretty much die, sometimes you can hit through the damage and deal one tiny hit on an enemy before you have to hold block again and wait for your health to recharge back up again as that fraction of a second you were not guarding, you just been hit 7 times!

Your block by the way, is you holding your sword up in front of you like it's some sort of force field, no deflective impact. You do a counter attack but that means your not blocking so you just end up dying.

1v1 it's a fairly easy game. You can just stab away and only knock downs bother you but you tend to recover between them, and basic attacks are easy to force field (i mean parry) against. Swarms of baddies mind and the game falls on it's face.

Also health potions work like this... Stop blocking for a nanosecond to drink a health potion... Die.

well, as to that...good. I hate games that let you potion quaff/eat food through combat. It's ridiculous. Which historical battle went like "I'll have your head, kna...ooh, good, they've opened a salad bar!"

Witcher is the only game that gets it right - you take your coffee breaks before and after the battle, not during...and it's possible to have too much coffee. I particularly enjoy the games that feature a potion quaffing animation where you're strafing around sword blows as your character tosses one back....it's an absolutely moronic scene that should clearly illustrate why potion quaffing needs to die in videogames.

Sounds like Dark Souls

I've got to the General and I feel like my character is not competent to be playing the game. I got a lot of game experience behind me but I think i'm penalised at the moment because I didn't focus my powers into the ranged fireball move. It seems to demand ridiculous amount of reactions if you try to play it focus two handed style mixing with fire buffs.

You know I am starting to like how hardcore this game is, it is like Dark Souls.

I have no trouble with the aforementioned pet-peeve, I do think it adds a sense of tactic to the battlefiel.But I do not like the combat in general. I've finished the game thrice now (yes, I actually have... the shortest playtime was around 6 hours), and all times I've started out as a Warrior, to give it a chance, but I quickly switch to Ranger-stance. I just feel the ranger stance is way better.

@Ballroompirate : though many aspects of the game might "look" like Dark Souls, this game is nowhere near the Souls' games.

I have had to restart because the way I was playing it is almost impossible. I was using the crossbow as a range move while smacking the hell out of everything two handed but some of the creatures demand a more hit and run style that you can only do with ranger. To be honest I could never beat the general in the swamp section of the game with isn't all that far into it using my build. You can try to time as many blocks as possible and try to run out of the AOE's but the moment you get caught up in the frozen aura your stuck, which is inevitable the moment he starts to focus his attacks all on you. I can see how it could of been an easy fight had I been stocked up on mana potions and just shot fireballs at him, had I also leveled up the fireballs, but because of my play-style I have to restart.

It's Deus Ex all over again, those players who went all stealth and hacking suddenly have to go toe to toe with a guy with a minigun.

Actually you know what, the game sucks I got better things to do.

@Evil_Saluki: which, actually, sums up the game pretty well :p there are better games to be played.

It is flawed but it's pretty playable, although the cutscenes are beyond annoying

Graphics look alright ay?

@BattleSpectre: Mediocre, not next gen. I playe this game on PS4 and it didn't show...

Weapons,most armor, faces, hands look ok, but monsters, surroundings/environments, bosses, hair, look very mediocre. I'm impressed by some of the cool looking swords, actually, but the armors look very alike. The graphics have a strange "aura" about them... they almost look a bit "cell shaded". This makes everything look kind of weird. I first noticed this when talking to the steward. I looked at the bottles standing on a shelf in the background. At first I laughed because the bottles looked like sprites. Itook a closer look and noticed they were 3d.

The worlds are nothing but crowded corridors with the occational open area. The foilage (grass, bushes and stuff) looks horrible.

@_Judas_: What a shame, just watched some gameplay and this game had potential.

I don't recall myself or anyone I know, for that matter, to "highly anticipate" this game.

Knew it was bad by just looking at the trailer

@toughtrasher: yeah, the title might have been misleading, sorry. I had high hopes for this game. I "highly anticipated" this game, and I ,aswell, am the "disappointed gamer" :)

@BattleSpectre : I totally agree.

@_Judas_:

Thank you for the warning. The game has good ideas and is very tantalizing, but they seemed to not execute them well.

I have played about 6 hours so far, IMO it's getting a little better, maybe because I'm learning how to play.