Hi, i wanted to create a new thread to share my opinion but let's use this one instead.
I'm not going to comment on the 20 years wait since i found out about this game only after it's first release, it's probably a good thing someone has enough determination to keep going that long, even if it has its flaws.
About my gameplay, i played it once upon release and got stuck on the first part of the game, milked it as much as i could and stopped after i got bored for being stuck.
I tried again with the latest version a couple of days back, still on the first part but playing with the walkthrough support.
Started with 7 chars aiming to fire one to recruit rosy and the human cleric.
Starting party was 2 berserk (one to fire), one warrior, one ranger, wiz, sage and bard with the intend on multi-classing (berserk> ranger - warrior > berserk - ranger > assassin - cleric > paladin - wiz > sage - sage> thaumaturge - rosy > necromancer - bard > jester )
The Good :
- Wizardry like system (mostly because of nostalgia )
- Blobber gameplay
- The many NPC and the ways to get them
- The scent of nostalgia (yeah, it counts twice, what can i say, positive arguments are hard to find )
- The quests are well done and interesting
- I really like how detecting secrets works (true sight kills a bit of the fun though )
The Bad :
- The UI isn't terrible, it's just bad, no tooltips is a pain, you need to put a character to assay, then take an item and click it on the assay icon ...
- the attack stab / thrust / swing options that sometimes prevent you from starting a combat turn, just another nuisance (and so UNnecessary )
- Generic loot (just not fun )
- Level scaling, they say ? I didn't notice it, looks like the mobs get weaker and weaker, i even OSed the mummy in AQUAVIA with the cursed dagger (maybe a lucky lethal blow trigger, didn't see the message but the dagger was destroyed so might be the dagger, disappointing )
- the auto-level up screen, a terrible idea, if i want to get the better of my level up, or at least not the worst, it becomes a real pain, specially to get some hp on the magic users
- the inventory, of course, well, not that bad but if you start to shoplift and hoard things, you find out it's extremely limited
The Ugly :
- The windowed mode, even on fullscreen (fullscreen with black borders doesn't count ), TERRIBLE, specially when i'm used to play far away from my screen and i can't read SHIT (windowed + small font )
- Early on, it can be extremely tough, then, it's just a breeze, no idea which area to take on to get an even experience but it's probably not possible
- Balance is terrible, on my second try, i started in the skull area, had to avoid random encounters, luckily it's short and jump to Crowl through the portal only to fight firebugs at level one ...
Then, searching for the tavern and exploring (should have stayed outside with swarms of firebugs but it was dangerous as well ) some houses, i fought a helldog or whatever that was which wiped half my team which was already crippled
- The closed looped you're imprisoned on in the first part of the game, if you outlevel it (level 3/4), you're still stuck in and need to endure its lame and useless battle, i just wish we could skipp it and go on with the rest of the game
- walking decreasing STAMINA with less than half encumbrance (one char) and less than fourth encumbrance
- having to sleep regularly to recover STAMINA (might be vitality but i replayed Wiz 8 with enhancements so i'm a bit confused with the vocabulary )
Conclusion :
From my point of view, it's a shame, i want to like it but the engine is too lackluster, it really shows its 20 years, also, the level scalling isn't working very well (although some monsters still hit hard when they land a crit )
I recently played elminage gothic (didn't finish it) and original (same ), wiz 8 enhanced (with the fast battle/anim mod wich is life saver and The Quest : islands of ice and fire (halfway)
Grimoire could be the game of the year or even the best rpg of the last 10 years with a better engine from those games (i don't like the city exploration system from elminage, though)
A real playable fullscreen is a minimum, being able to switch to check the walkthrough another requirement
So, it's good, it's bad and it's terrible altogether, not sure young players can stand it though, probably only playable with the oldschool rpg nostalgia.
Really, with the quest engine which isn't much and some UI fixes it could be the game of the year, right now, i think it's failing to target even its audience.
Also some questions :
- i've read from multiple sources dwarves (barrowers) have the best mana regen and picked one as a wizard and an aeorb.
Not only Rosy (feyfolk ) regens mana as fast (possibly faster ) but her STAMINA regen is far better, is it a bug ?
I'm starting to think feyfolks is the only viable option for magic users.
What about drows ? Do they have a better stamina regen and a good enough mana regen ?
- anyone with a save right after the first part of the game ? Maybe i would enjoy it more from then, not sure i can muster enough strength to get past it.