RyanB
Legacy of Elijah Guild Leader
First, I'll mention the flaws:
* Cam is bad because when you zoom into "third person", there is a ton of space on the screen behind you...and you can't see in front. So bird's eye view is the best
* There are a few bugs that were (and will) never be fixed. The developer is out of business. Most notably the blacksmith skill does nothing, and there is a game-breaking bug if you run ahead in a certain area before you are supposed to be there. Just check the bug reports before playing if you get this; these are easily avoided.
* Some of the female armor is scant (bikini-esque). No male option for female classes, either. Not a big deal in game because the camera is so high up, but zooms in on them when you talk to merchants, etc. Easy to block with the "details" pain, but just mentioning.
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Ok, now for the good: This game is as big as you want it to be. You can casually go through the game @ 10 hours doing only the main quests and picking whatever skills...or you can delve deep into the side quests, looting, advanced diffficulties, etc, and play for hundreds of hours.
Console gameplay video to give you a good idea of what the game is like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSkMQIrZC7o
* Mostly top-down due to the camera hack 'n slash gameplay. Like WKC, it has its flaws but a great game is to be found here anyway.
* VERY "deep"; this is the type of game where you are reading up forums for mechanics on how skills interact so that you can punch the digits into your spreadsheet to calculate the best path to go - because there is no respec. This makes one think very long and hard about skill choices and decisions, because there is a lot of give here/take from there. It's fantastic if you like that sort of thing, and extremely rewarding.
* A lot more return for your investment as far as loot/etc. There's so much money, weapons, armor, relics, rings, etc to find it's crazy. Money actually means something if you take the bargaining skill, which greatly improves the stuff you can buy. Survival bonus builds as you fight without dying, so don't die! 500 sidequests to be done, etc.
* The world is beautiful, huge, and hand-crafted...but the flawed cam hurts a lot because it just doesn't look as pretty from up high. Map exploration yields bonuses. It's the kind of world where there are so many hidden things off the beaten path, it's fun just to explore for the sake of exploring.
* Trophies for this game are great. It just seems to me that they're all fun to do (like beat a campaign without dying, beat game without buying from a merchant, etc), and nothing seemed too much like a chore to do.
* Playing online CAN be a bit tougher because you must be within 10 levels of each other. This is easily avoided if you designate a "play together" character with someone, but still an annoying restriction. Also toons play on the light/dark campaign, so you can get segregated that way. Game's been out a while and online community is going strong, though.
* Items...so many items. The weapons and items are fun to find, buy, customize (at the smith), etc. You can find rings and socket them into items, change the damage type, etc. There are also sets, unique, legendary items, etc, all which typically have several slots. I really like the way they handled sets in this game - they have leveled versions. IE: a level 15 version of a set item isn't as good as the level 30 version. Sets were fun in Diablo, but low-level sets only got you so far. This makes sets a lot more useful.
I currently have a level 62 pyro high elf, with 0 deaths @ about 70 hours of gameplay on her. She is a beast to be reckoned with, as I have designed the build myself. Of course it's similar to other pyro elf builds, but I've been able to do more with less, I think, due to spotting some un-optimal choices others have made. I'm getting close to platinum, but plan on going all the way to 200 with zero deaths, if possible.
Of course, I'll also be happy to play one of my low-level toons should any fellow CGA friends pick this game up...and supply us with some high-level +skills rings to socket into our armors to get us going.
* Cam is bad because when you zoom into "third person", there is a ton of space on the screen behind you...and you can't see in front. So bird's eye view is the best
* There are a few bugs that were (and will) never be fixed. The developer is out of business. Most notably the blacksmith skill does nothing, and there is a game-breaking bug if you run ahead in a certain area before you are supposed to be there. Just check the bug reports before playing if you get this; these are easily avoided.
* Some of the female armor is scant (bikini-esque). No male option for female classes, either. Not a big deal in game because the camera is so high up, but zooms in on them when you talk to merchants, etc. Easy to block with the "details" pain, but just mentioning.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, now for the good: This game is as big as you want it to be. You can casually go through the game @ 10 hours doing only the main quests and picking whatever skills...or you can delve deep into the side quests, looting, advanced diffficulties, etc, and play for hundreds of hours.
Console gameplay video to give you a good idea of what the game is like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSkMQIrZC7o
* Mostly top-down due to the camera hack 'n slash gameplay. Like WKC, it has its flaws but a great game is to be found here anyway.
* VERY "deep"; this is the type of game where you are reading up forums for mechanics on how skills interact so that you can punch the digits into your spreadsheet to calculate the best path to go - because there is no respec. This makes one think very long and hard about skill choices and decisions, because there is a lot of give here/take from there. It's fantastic if you like that sort of thing, and extremely rewarding.
* A lot more return for your investment as far as loot/etc. There's so much money, weapons, armor, relics, rings, etc to find it's crazy. Money actually means something if you take the bargaining skill, which greatly improves the stuff you can buy. Survival bonus builds as you fight without dying, so don't die! 500 sidequests to be done, etc.
* The world is beautiful, huge, and hand-crafted...but the flawed cam hurts a lot because it just doesn't look as pretty from up high. Map exploration yields bonuses. It's the kind of world where there are so many hidden things off the beaten path, it's fun just to explore for the sake of exploring.
* Trophies for this game are great. It just seems to me that they're all fun to do (like beat a campaign without dying, beat game without buying from a merchant, etc), and nothing seemed too much like a chore to do.
* Playing online CAN be a bit tougher because you must be within 10 levels of each other. This is easily avoided if you designate a "play together" character with someone, but still an annoying restriction. Also toons play on the light/dark campaign, so you can get segregated that way. Game's been out a while and online community is going strong, though.
* Items...so many items. The weapons and items are fun to find, buy, customize (at the smith), etc. You can find rings and socket them into items, change the damage type, etc. There are also sets, unique, legendary items, etc, all which typically have several slots. I really like the way they handled sets in this game - they have leveled versions. IE: a level 15 version of a set item isn't as good as the level 30 version. Sets were fun in Diablo, but low-level sets only got you so far. This makes sets a lot more useful.
I currently have a level 62 pyro high elf, with 0 deaths @ about 70 hours of gameplay on her. She is a beast to be reckoned with, as I have designed the build myself. Of course it's similar to other pyro elf builds, but I've been able to do more with less, I think, due to spotting some un-optimal choices others have made. I'm getting close to platinum, but plan on going all the way to 200 with zero deaths, if possible.
Of course, I'll also be happy to play one of my low-level toons should any fellow CGA friends pick this game up...and supply us with some high-level +skills rings to socket into our armors to get us going.
