And the reason why I absolutely hate Reus.

Good to hear. =) Thanks for the info update!

Yeah, the 5 missions campaign is clearly a little too short.
I can understand why they did it :
- To encourage me to try the other characters as you only get to play 3 of the 20 chars during one game,
- And to force me to make decisions : Which equipments and skills to chose? Do another easy mission, or try the more lucrative one, at the risk of losing everything? A longer campaign would allow me to do both, and "grind" the easy explorations to get more money and xp before I tackle the harder stuff. With the short campaign, a five-star expedition like Shandri-La is still something that you can think of as "too difficult for this group", even in the endgame, and building the perfect group to tackle it is a goal in itself.

So it makes sense in a game design point of view, and it probably allows for a longer lifespan as it encourages me to play another game, and another one, and... (whereas with a longer campaign where I could "do everything" in one game, I would probably stop playing after the first campaign, as the only real new stuff would be the group and some random events during explorations)
Right now, after 2 games, I have shops I never visited, hirelings I never hired, equipments I never tried, many artefacts I never saw, and several adventures I was too busy (Or too squeamish) to undertake. The beast of the hungarian forest that destroyed my first group is still unconquered, and several other epic monsters are probably roaming the world. I stumbled on several mysteries and smaller optional adventures that I wasn't able to win, but I know I'll try again to get to the heart of that mysterious cave in Scotland. And my main rival is still gloating at me from the top of the score chart. So I know I will probably play several other games.

But it's clearly frustrating, yes. 5 missions is short! ^^

How is it? I was very curious about this game for a while, but then forgot about it

I can only comment on the Twitch stream that I watched from E_A and Piranjade (which you can still view - like I did - in the GOG past broadcast archive). It's a TBS game. You're given a limited number of moves to explore an area with a specific goal of a certain location therein. Each location offers certain resources which you can collect and then after the mission spend on upgrading your group members.

At the beginning of each game you choose 3 characters out of something like 20 possibilities, each with their own strengths. In each area, only certain members will be able to collect certain resources as you explore the island (or at least they'll have a better chance than others).

The whole game is built upon the ultimate goal of becoming the ultimate explorer against a rival that you're introduced to in your first mission. He is, of course, a complete jerk, the most classic of motivations.

You're generally given an indication if you are going to encounter a combat as you explore the area, though the "boss battle" at the end of each area seems to always be a combat encounter, but combat is rather unique in that it doesn't necessarily involve "fighting". Interestingly, fighting moves aren't just punching and swinging swords. You can also defeat your foes by insulting them or even making them too "happy" to continue fighting. Each foe has a different weakness, so some may be susceptible to insults and some may have a greater weakness to physical force or happiness, and the game rewards you with bonuses for "attacking" using those weaknesses.

The combat is hex based, but the combat areas are rather open. I'm used to being able to position my characters to block enemy attack on weaker ones - like in the HOMM games where you corner your ranged units and surround them with other creatures. That strategy just doesn't seem to work here.

Depending on how you built your party, you may not even have a character that is able to attack the preferred way or explore a certain area. As Kardwill stated, it's designed to make you want to go back with a different party and try things differently in your next playthrough, whether by actions or upgrades, etc.

The art design and animations are darn cute. I got a real kick out of seeing a mean wolf "happied" into liking you too much to continue fighting, wagging his tale in pleasure.

I think the ultimate test will be seeing how rewarding it is to play a game to the end, regardless of failure or success, instead of the 2 hours of gameplay that I've observed so far. I continue to be worried at the average game length, as I am as much a big fan of grinding and upgrading as I am of game play variety.

Erm thanks, but I meant Clash of Heroes^^

Ah, sorry, that wasn't exactly clear to me.

COH is a match three/RPG lite dueling game. Match vertically and you create an attacking formation. Match horizontally and you create a blocking formation. The goal in each fight is to get your attacking formation to the opposite side of the battlefield to cause damage to your opponent. All gameplay is turn based.

The matching part of the game can actually be quite deep. You get a certain number of moves per round, but different things you do can add turns to your round, like making 2 or more group matches on one turn. When you make a match, the attack group needs a certain amount of rounds to "power up" before the attack. Different creature power up for different amounts of time. If group attacked when powering up, the damage inflicted is removed from the potential damage when that attack is launched. If the full potential damage is removed from the attacking group, it is eliminated from the battlefield entirely. If the defending group finds itself unable to attack in time, they can builds walls of a sort by matching horizontally in order to blunt the force of the attack. Unmatched creatures in the way of an attack also blunt the force of an attack, but not nearly as much.

I absolutely love the game. It's very balanced with each of the 4 different classes having different strengths and abilities. There are ability affecting artifacts to choose from. And multiple creatures to unlock over time in each class.

The campaign is quite long. You can rush headlong forward and also grind if you like to make the game easier over time, though it isn't necessary. There are boss fights where the objective to the duel is slightly different than a normal duel, such as attacking 3 specific points simultaneously, requiring you to time your attacks. There are also puzzle fights where you have a certain group of creatures pre-set and only a few moves to create the proper attack formations to complete the puzzle.

It's got a nice little story that ties in to the HOMM 5 plot. Excellent art and character design as well...

Definitely one of those games where you just want to take one more turn over and over and over again.

Sounds exactly right for me, thank you for the detailed report!

Glad to help. It's one of those games that you just can't recommend enough. I've beat it twice, on PS3 and Android.

I like Reus - the entire concept of the game, its length and simplicity in gameplay and ... you get the point.

I would like to grap a copy of Renowned Explorers to support the Developer, but I already have a three-digit backlog and too many games that I can't complete, due to various reasons. If I purchase this one it should be my cup of tea.

I wonder if someone who already played a couple of rounds can clearify some things.

Is R.E. a kind of ' Reus - The adventure game', which means you have several explorers to choose from instead of 4 giants. You start at the beginning of an era / at one of several locations you can choose from. During the game you can improve your characters/giants by purchasing equipment or picking up ambassadors. The game ends after a specific period of time / moves. Maybe you were lucky/skilled enough to reach certain developments / grap artifacts which unlocks more powerful skills / equipments.

Did I get the point?

I haven't played it or Reus but I think this is the general gist of it - I've been drooling over the thing and might even end up breaking down and grabbing it.

HOWEVER I was always under the impression that Reus was more of a "puzzler" where this is more in the vein of a turn based tactical RPG. Regardless *bump* in the hopes that someone who has played both chimes in!

yyahoo did a really good write up of this one a few posts up if you're interested.

You mean just like all the steam_api.dll files that they havent removed?

That's a different issue. (lazy game devs) I also know I'm asking for too much. Who'd want clean installers anyway? Customers? Nah. ;)

Neat I didn't know that! I looked at the game once and initially thought it looked like a "god game" / stategy sim but I can't remember if it was a review or two that caused me to chance my mind and think of it more as a puzzler (it holds much more interest to me as a god game than a puzzle game).

LOL and I didn't mean yahoo the search engine I meant yyahoo the GoG Forum User. (S)He has a forum post a few posts above yours describing the gameplay of Renowned Explorers.