Posted January 24, 2015
There are SPOILERS ahead. Just a warning for those that don't want to see any.
As a big fan of the Dark Eye, I just want to express my opinion on this game. That's all.
For me, this game is so disappointing!
This game has to have one of the worst stories I have ever seen in a game! The way Niam died was just so stupid! I've played many Russian games, and a lot of them are quite good, but what makes them bad is the horrid translation into English. Even those bad translations make better stories than the story in Blackguards. If the game had a narrator like so many olde RPG's, then it might have been better, but I doubt it. And I don't care that Niam died, not one bit, just the way it was done was just laughably stupid. Niam isn't the only dumb story part, mind you. But really, was I suppose to "feel" sad about Niam dying? She was in my party a very brief time, I didn't even get to use the spells of hers that I was training to use, then, oh, she dies and all the characters in my party are sad about it. Puhlease!
And I thought I was the party "leader"? Guess not! I don't get to make any decisions, they're already made for me, and most of the time by the other party members. I want to kill so many characters in this game, it isn't even funny. I want to MURDER my own party members. "Absurd!" you might say? Not really, many older tactical RPG's let you murder your own party members. I absolutely hate a few of my party members, they alone might make me not finish this game.
What other than the story makes it so aweful? Lack of character choice for my party. In a tactical game, it's crucial to give the player choices. I have ZERO choice over how I want my party to be. I can't even solo in this game like so many olde tactical RPG's. Choice choice choice, well, not in this game.
The way the battles can play out is so annoying! I just fought Lysander, and I wanted to kill him too, but the game did not let me and I was very, very sad about that. Now, get this, during this fight, those tentacles come out of the water and smash those bridges, knocking out a path between you and Lysander. THREE times in a row the bridges were broken that led to a path to Lysander, which meant I could not reach him! What in the Hades!? I am a melee character, I have no way to fight him with range combat, so the fight ends in a stalemate, in other words, I can't continue in the game and I get stuck. THREE times! Okay, fine, on the fourth time, I get to Lysander, I start fighting him. He runs over a bridge and takes a healing potion, then a tentacle comes out of the water next to the bridge he just crossed, then smashes it! For a fourth time in a row, I cannot reach Lysander to fight him. Yes, on a fifth try, I was able to finally kill him, well, beat him anyway, I wanted to kill him.
Maybe there was another way to fight Lysander or reach him, but pressing "v", nothing useful shows up, and nothing obvious that helps me. Regardless, really annoyingly designed.
That's just one thing about the fights that's so badly designed in this game mind you. And did I mention the game can be so slow? I am not talking turn-based, I'm talking animation and movement speed. The game needs a "fast" option for animations, the game so purposely drags out fights on some of them.
Overall, in my opinion, the game is a fine game if you just look at it as a rushed budget tactical game, but everything else in this game falls so short. Daedalic seems to think of themselves as story tellers and they seem to proudly mention it as the most important feature in their games, personally, I think their stories could use a lot of work. I don't know if the game players are always telling them on their forums they have great stories that makes them think this? But playing this, this story is just weak in so, so many areas. I love so much to hear the lore in the game relating to the Dark Eye, but it almost makes me hate it due to the bad story and bad presentation.
I could go on, but yikes, this game is just a sad attempt at a Dark Eye game, if the story was better and I had more choice like I should have, I probably would enjoy it much more. I can't even create my own character! I want to be an elf, or a dwarf, or Thorwalian! For me personally, it's sad to see something I love so much like the Dark Eye be used on a game like this, instead on something that could be much, much more.
I never really got why the Dungeons and Dragons fans didn't like some of those Dungeons and Dragons video games, but I think I have a better understanding now! :)
As a big fan of the Dark Eye, I just want to express my opinion on this game. That's all.
For me, this game is so disappointing!
This game has to have one of the worst stories I have ever seen in a game! The way Niam died was just so stupid! I've played many Russian games, and a lot of them are quite good, but what makes them bad is the horrid translation into English. Even those bad translations make better stories than the story in Blackguards. If the game had a narrator like so many olde RPG's, then it might have been better, but I doubt it. And I don't care that Niam died, not one bit, just the way it was done was just laughably stupid. Niam isn't the only dumb story part, mind you. But really, was I suppose to "feel" sad about Niam dying? She was in my party a very brief time, I didn't even get to use the spells of hers that I was training to use, then, oh, she dies and all the characters in my party are sad about it. Puhlease!
And I thought I was the party "leader"? Guess not! I don't get to make any decisions, they're already made for me, and most of the time by the other party members. I want to kill so many characters in this game, it isn't even funny. I want to MURDER my own party members. "Absurd!" you might say? Not really, many older tactical RPG's let you murder your own party members. I absolutely hate a few of my party members, they alone might make me not finish this game.
What other than the story makes it so aweful? Lack of character choice for my party. In a tactical game, it's crucial to give the player choices. I have ZERO choice over how I want my party to be. I can't even solo in this game like so many olde tactical RPG's. Choice choice choice, well, not in this game.
The way the battles can play out is so annoying! I just fought Lysander, and I wanted to kill him too, but the game did not let me and I was very, very sad about that. Now, get this, during this fight, those tentacles come out of the water and smash those bridges, knocking out a path between you and Lysander. THREE times in a row the bridges were broken that led to a path to Lysander, which meant I could not reach him! What in the Hades!? I am a melee character, I have no way to fight him with range combat, so the fight ends in a stalemate, in other words, I can't continue in the game and I get stuck. THREE times! Okay, fine, on the fourth time, I get to Lysander, I start fighting him. He runs over a bridge and takes a healing potion, then a tentacle comes out of the water next to the bridge he just crossed, then smashes it! For a fourth time in a row, I cannot reach Lysander to fight him. Yes, on a fifth try, I was able to finally kill him, well, beat him anyway, I wanted to kill him.
Maybe there was another way to fight Lysander or reach him, but pressing "v", nothing useful shows up, and nothing obvious that helps me. Regardless, really annoyingly designed.
That's just one thing about the fights that's so badly designed in this game mind you. And did I mention the game can be so slow? I am not talking turn-based, I'm talking animation and movement speed. The game needs a "fast" option for animations, the game so purposely drags out fights on some of them.
Overall, in my opinion, the game is a fine game if you just look at it as a rushed budget tactical game, but everything else in this game falls so short. Daedalic seems to think of themselves as story tellers and they seem to proudly mention it as the most important feature in their games, personally, I think their stories could use a lot of work. I don't know if the game players are always telling them on their forums they have great stories that makes them think this? But playing this, this story is just weak in so, so many areas. I love so much to hear the lore in the game relating to the Dark Eye, but it almost makes me hate it due to the bad story and bad presentation.
I could go on, but yikes, this game is just a sad attempt at a Dark Eye game, if the story was better and I had more choice like I should have, I probably would enjoy it much more. I can't even create my own character! I want to be an elf, or a dwarf, or Thorwalian! For me personally, it's sad to see something I love so much like the Dark Eye be used on a game like this, instead on something that could be much, much more.
I never really got why the Dungeons and Dragons fans didn't like some of those Dungeons and Dragons video games, but I think I have a better understanding now! :)