@WolfGrey @miser_cz @Kevin-V I had bags full of arrows of every type I found on the way, why should anybody bother crafting them? Food is usefull maybe few hours in, later it makes no difference.
Skillbook making is the only thing which is quite handy, agreed. Far from essential, but handy, yes.
@Kevin-V @miser_cz I expected this game as new revelation, I backed it up on Kickstarter, I was avidly watching developer diaries. Today, I finished the game.
My thoughts?
First off, this game is something me and a lot of old school players were waiting for. We´ve finished Baldurs Gate many times, and we´re starved to death. No suprise we are ready to overlook caveats, and focus only whats good.
We praise:
1) Combat: it is complex, fun, turn-based. Working with elements and combining them is refreshing technique and is very well implemented. It is great fun and the main highlight of the game. But - continuous turn-based/realtime system in Baldurs Gate IS FAR SUPERIOR.
2) Graphics, atmosphere. This depends on your taste, but the game is meticulously crafted, there is no deny. But, why do have to male protagonists look like STEROID BUFFED ANIMALS? They are literally looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his best years, even fragile wizards types! But, you can design your underwear. This game can be weird. Some call it humour, not me. The progression of your character´s visuals doesn´t work also. Remember how in BG you were looking like truly menacing wizard, after you´ve finally found that great robe? There is nothing like that in here, you look insignificant at the end same way as you were at the start (this applies mainly for wizards). A robe is robe, it has one look and that´s it.
3) Music. Again, your taste. For me, its nowhere near Baldurs Gate 1 brilliance, but good enough to not be distractive.
Blunders we overlook:
1) Story: nothing to write home about. It is uninteresting at the start, it gets somewhat intriguing in the middle, only to finally become big letdown in the finale. Bottom line: if you want to make Baldurs Gate successor, you don´t have to make 2 of 4 protagonists ex-demigods. It´s worn idea of long gone novelty. As if this wasn´t enough, one of the companions just happens to be ex-king. Do writers thing that great story can come only through gods and kings? Come on.
2) Useless features: - crafting is absolutely useless, it only makes your inventory clutter in epic way. Finding out what ingredients you need to combine is quite tiresome. You need to find books, get through blocks of irrelevant texts to realize you need to mix mushroom with stick to get something. It is so cumbersome that after I tried to make few things, I ditched it forever. It just is not worth the trouble. You find tons of items on the way, which are the same meh quality as the one you make, so why bother.
- blacksmithing: see above, apart from making more junk, you must repair your weapons and armor. Is it fun? No. Is it tedious and superfluous? Yes.
- lockpicking: this buffles me the most - lockpicking in Baldurs Gate was blast, you´ve found dozens of mysterious chest with great loot, you could burglar random people´s houses, so it was VERY WORTHWILE feature. Here? It is ABSOLUTELY useless, not even kidding. Every chest in this game can be opened with a key lying around. There are like 4 chests in THE WHOLE game, which actually require lockpicking.
3) Loot This game has really bad loot system, even worse than vanilla Diablo 3. The items are randomly generated, very often giving you heavy armor with intelligence bonus, wizards staff with strength bonus etc. It is annonying to kill bad ass boss only to be rewarded with this junk. Very often you will find yourself playing with lvl 15 characters, which wear 5 lvl items, because nothing better dropped for the last 15 hours of gameplay.
4) Inventory and management Do you remember how many inventory slots did we have in Baldurs Gate? 20? At max. It was great. You weren´t feeling like travelling gipsy wagon, you carried items that mattered. Here, you´ve got LIMITLESS inventory space, and believe me, there are moments when it almost feels it is not enough. So, be prepared to spare much of your time tidying up your inventory, rearranging hundreds of items which you won´t ever use. It really is not right when you feel like a clerk while playing a game.
5) Puzzles Most of the puzzles are unfair and uninspired. Either it is about pixel hunting small switches, or trying to follow instruction of some obscure guide you´ve found hours ago, granted that if you´ve kept it at the first place. You WILL be searching on the internet A LOT to get through. The teleport pyramid technique, although interesting at first, grows VERY INCONSISTENT later. In some situations it work, in some it doesn´t, you never know when, so you just try it all the time.....
6) Dialogues and co-op Co-op dialogues turns to save/load fest thanks to the stats you get if you answer "correctly". You will find yourself answering not how YOU would like to answer, but the way so your character gets some special bonus. Depending on what you choose, you become e.g. Romantic, which will get you +1 charisma, or Pragmatic +1 to intelligence, etc. Your decision are commanded by which class you play, not by your conscience.
@AzureBonds76 @Dark_Rage Not truth, DS2 is just another hack and slash for me, but Divinity is divine RPG revelation, messiah I thought wouldn´t come. He definitely CAN go wrong.
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