A good game that could have been great. How many times recently has that been said about a CRPGs? It's really too bad when companies get so close to a classic, but just miss. The Good: Graphics - the graphics are outstanding. Great use of color and 3D effects. Sound - The sound is good. Nice voice overs and music and background sounds. Turn-based Combat - The turn-based combat is a welcome change from all of the click-fest games (of course you have to like turn-based combat to agree with me). The Bad: The game has lots of nagging bugs. It is certainly playable and finishable, and Bugs - I encountered no major bugs, but there are dozens of little ones from spell effects that don't work right to reversed bonuses on certain types of armors and shield (i.e. you get minuses instead of plusses). Turn-based Combat - The only problem with the turn-based combat is that they offer you no quick way other than the survival skill for random outdoor encounters, to quicken or avoid combat. This is the same mistake POR2 made, and I'm not sure why nobody is willing to offer either a quick combat or avoid combat option for combats that provide no challenge (and hence very little experience in the 3.5 D&D rules). Overall I think the game is worth buying and playing for any D&D PNP fan, and certainly worth buying and playing for fans of turn-based CRPGs. I think it may frustrate the Diablo click-fest CPRG crowd because it won't be fast paced enough. Since I like turn-based combat for party-based CRPGs (real-time is fine for a single character CRPG, but I really prefer turn-based for party-based), I recommend the game. If you're concerned about the bugs, rumor has it that Troika is set to release a patch soon, and a user has already released a patch that can be uninstalled when the official patch comes out that addresses most of the known bugs. If you play this game, be sure to run the tutorial and then ask yourself why the actual game didn't include all the great descriptions and dialog present in the tutorial. That would have really added to the game and given much more of the DM/module atmosphere.
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