Exciting concept
I complained mostly from bugs and nothing more in my review of guild 2 but Now with this add on ,I can concentrate my review on its features and gameplay value. First, this game is truly a fresh blood to the game industry with its innovative concept, moreover, it is quite exciting as you are able to run a dynasty with your own way. it is a relief to the players who are bored to death from games flooding the market with being clone of each other. THE GRAPHICS are well greased. The view of the town and scenery is awesome. Blooming effect adds to the game ambiance in nights. Wide variety of graphics options allows easy tunning for low end computers.
THE SOUNDS are good, tons of different and quality sounds make up the ambiance. But character voices might become repetitive as hours pass by. Game Music is proper for the era it reflects and, i encountered no single annoying music track.
THE GAMEPLAY is nice, there are numerous things you can do, although it requires lots of micromanagement. Even the most hardcore micromanagement fan could be frustrated during playing. In overall, with tweaks on interface and little fixes would be great.
Pros:
+ High replayability value
+ High FRP value.
+ Top of the line graphics
+ it creates ambition to earn money and political power later on.
+ Market fluctuations and goods demand & Supply models are well designed thus Simulating a successful economic dynamics. + Fallout style perks, abilities and experience system is very well implemented.
+ Tons of options in producing goods, running a facility, improve features of your buildings and more.
+ Politics and intrigues increases gameplay value.
+ Quite Addictive gameplay.
+ Kotor / Fallout style character creation / customization screen.
Cons:
- You can only add 3 people to your "group" (why a group is necessary, hard to understand)
- Courting noble women is almost impossible due to their enormous demands. - You don't gain the assets of serfs you marry. (Although it is stated as "rich" in the info screen)
- Sending carts forth and back especially when you have more than one facilities becomes frustrating
- Most of the time basic actions like compliment or court is not working in game. (bug?) Characters often look on each other doing nothing.
- equipping your henchman is possible but way too difficult.
- When your character dies, the equipment on him goes as well
- It is not possible to estimate the market fluctuations and when it does, the factors affecting is not explained to player. The prices just drop or increase with no apparent reason.
- Finding characters is pain in the rear. There is a shortcut on the left side of screen but it is not possible to commence actions via your henchmen, you have to go by yourself.
- I just couldn't understand for what increasing state taxes good for?
- There is no apparent outcome of talking people (action:talk)
- There is no reason to enter buildings (interior view) ? You can do nothing inside. Everything is ran by the "production screen" free of interior of the building.
- Sales of the buildings not confirmed to player. if you wish to sell it, You don't know the selling value even it is set as "on sale". The seller doesn't know his property's sales price? It is just sold out right away.
- When you assign a mission to a character, mission type icon is displayed on her face icon however it doesn't provide any information about duration, for whom the mission is set, etc. especially when yo have more than 3 henchmen, it is a total confusion which henchmen is following who.
Suggestions for improvements:
* Being able to enter buildings are although exciting, there is nothing you can do inside. The game: FABLE was much more innovative about it, you could decorate your house to increase its selling value, you could place pictures on walls or various exciting things could be placed increasing house value.
* In court screen, no information is available about the characters, often causing a confusion. Moreover, it is not stated why and what factors affecting the court's judgments for guilty or not guilty. The game should feed the player with more information. Like if a player uses his rhetoric ability it should be displayed as a floating rhetoric value above character just like XP gains do. or large arrows on the head of characters pointing him for who will use a vote on the round. (So that we can use our convincing abilities on them)
* Player should be able to set the selling value of his buildings. (And It should be related with his bargaining ability)
* Most of the items you purchase provides abilities for a certain time. It is not realistic. Like money bag improves bargain value. How come it becomes useless after 20 hours?
* Most of the textiles you wear doesn't provide you with anything. A Citizen cloth should improve character's say, charisma or rhetoric value. * Often catching up with other dynasties characters are frustrating. Why not there is a shortcut of dynasties and negotiate them from that friendly interface? Actions should not be forced through characters by person only.
* Interface should be improved for good. You need to search and find the character and assign him for a mission again dragging screen to the desired mission area. You should be able to simple point to a target character and set desired mission from a pop up menu showing for available henchmen. More friendly interface pls.
* Benefits of some abilities are not expressed well. Also Most of the Perks are much better than the others so improving your next character, you just go for the same slots. They should be more of an equal value for attractiveness and differentiation from each other. For example what the heck "emphaty ability" is good for? game says: judging abilities bla, bla, i already judge people by myself, what is the benefit of this ability to my character?
* Also what is the benefit s of shadowing someone over spying on someone? Not clear. They should be differentiated with sharp lines.
* Hiring a random employee is a bit limiting the player, you don't know the price upfront, no options are offered but only one candidate is shown. And he is always level 1. Player should be allowed to hire from a list of available people. Price vs Level must be offered. * Balance sheet is freaky. It doesn't show your fixed expenses like salaries and income like state office earnings. On the next page, there is only the revenues and expenses about the previous season displayed. This should be fixed.
* Also there is a "production cost" value shown on particular goods however it is not stated how it is calculated? material costs only? or labor costs included? a drop down menu could be helpful about that. * "Group rule" should be omitted. Why in the hell i need to group my family members? and for a max. of 3 people? Why can not i use them all? Also why in the earth my spouse can not work in my shop as well? Only one family member is allowed to work in a building. I just cant understand that!
* Education and apprenticeship for a child should mean a lot more. They are giving just not enough XP for the character. As you earn enough XP and level up to a point you desire, your character becomes 90 years old. And soon dies, making a hell of a lot of work useless.
* I don't see any point increasing item slots or item qtys for a "house" Just what the hell it is good for? House improvements should be changed, differentiated completely from a shop and added more nobility and political features. * In my game, a ship was not available to me. I had to carry all my goods via carts and they got robbed all the time. Is it because it is forbidden for players or only the certain classes have the ability to possess them? Not certain.
All in all, Guild 2 - Pirates of the European seas is an exciting concept. I always consider such games (other than clones) should be backed up and supported. 4Head Studios have accomplished a wonderful project yet still needs some tweaks and fine tuning. I recommend all players who likes this genre to give it a try. You might find this game just grows on you.