GOG has a stupid review length limit that it wont even tell me. I'm not chopping my review any more and I spent like a half hour writing this so Here it is. I talk a lot about the historical issues of this game. Overall I'd give it somewhere between 3 and 4 stars.

This game puts you in charge of an expedition into the "new world" in the period after Columbus's voyage, putting you in the shoes that Hernan Cortes would have filled, but with a bit of a twist. Your character is portrayed as an RPG hero, faced with black and white "moral choices" and inter-party dilemmas that await your "adventure" of the new world. When you get to your party recruitment screen, you will notice that at least half of your options are women, some women of color. As you sail into the new world you see a vignette of men and women sharing the troubles of the high seas, their "friendship strengthened" by said challenges. You then land in Hispaniola with your little politically correct rainbow coalition of 2 dimensional tearbags to re-enact the genocide of the Taino people (who are now extinct by the way)....well sort of. The game allows you to be a "benevolent" explorer and diplomatically maneuver your way through the game, rejecting racism and slavery. It's an obvious nod to bioware games like Baldurs Gate 2 and Mass Effect. The problem with this game is that it tries to inject political correctness into a time where there was but mistrust, greed, rape, racism and slaughter. I have no problem with playing games that put you in the shoes of morally objectionable people. I love playing Paradox grand strategy simulations as they help me understand the logistical challenges of some of the worlds most ruthless empires. The problem with this game is that it does not reject the historical basics enough to be considered "alternate history" (like you know, letting you play as the natives and turning the tide) but it softens the more blunt truths of imperialism with soap opera narratives and new age political correctness, making it as I said, a whitewash. This type of writing style has creeped into a lot of games and TV shows lately. I like to call it "rainbow imperialism." These are but my personal issues with the game. I understand it is perfectly reasonable for one to enjoy the story of this game for what it is, and still understand the real story.

Despite these issues I still enjoy this game quite a bit. The combat operates a lot like D&D 3.5 or pathfinder on a hex grid system. Along with combat you will have to worry about logistical things as well, as you travel in a Heroes of Might and Magic III manner you will need to camp, which will cost food resources.. You will need to figure out your camping system by deciding who forages for food and who guards the camp. If you fail to guard your camp you can be attacked by thieves, which will prompt a combat round in which you have to kill all the enemies before they escape, or you lose pretty much everything you have. This gives you a real sense of danger to exploring, making every move a tactical decision and a risk. The game has somewhat of an open world RPG feel to it, allowing you to chart the area at your own pace and build each and every one of your party members the way you would like. However, You will always choose your party from the same limited pool (you can't create party members), you cannot even determine what equipment each character uses, only which of their weapons to upgrade (by assigning equipment points.) While there are random events all the quests themselves are the same. It lacks the complex inventory management of games like Baldurs Gate, Fallout, Neverwinter Nights etc. I cannot really see myself replaying this game once I'm done.

Although I do not think that people interested in buying a game will search through forums and not review-sections , I will still post my full review here since GOG won't let me write more than 1500 characters there.

My husband bought Expeditions: Conquistador for me at the GOG summer sale, knowing that I’ve enjoyed King’s Bounty and HOMM. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that is so much better and complex than them. This game is not only a turn-based strategy. It has great RPG elements, resource management, a trade system and a very well written story.
Characters
When you start the game you choose a party of 10 followers. Each of them is very credible, has his own personality, skills, detailed biography and interesting dialog. They are not stacks of elven archers-puppets! Once you progress in the story, you can recruit another 9 or 10 characters, depending of your choices. You can even have romance if you want to. Of course, the dialog is not voiced, which can break the immersion a bit, but it’s captivating nevertheless. Morale plays an important part in game, your companions are responding to almost all of your choices, depending of their personality. You can level up your followers, giving them new combat skills and improving their camping skills. You can also equip them, increasing their chances in fights.
Combat
The game, as I see it, is not about combat. Of course, there is fighting, but don’t expect this to occur at every step. Many of the quests or encounters can be solved in a peaceful way, with no loss of xp. However, the fighting experience is very exciting and challenging. In most of the fights you get to choose 6 companions and have a preparation faze in which you place different helpers on the ground (traps, barricades, etc). Almost all combat skills are interesting and useful. Another thing that I liked is that not all the battles have the same wining conditions (kill everybody). There are fights in which you must resist 10 rounds or must escape to safety zone. I think this adds greatly to variability and replayability.
Exploring and camping
These 2 will occupy most of your time. Exploring is very rewarding, you will find not only resources, but encounters, special events, hidden quests and powerful items too. If you stick to the main quest, you’ll lose 80% of the game! Exploring respects the old rule of limit of steps and when you reach that limit, instead to press the next day button you make camp. When camping, you must feed your people, heal them and assign them different chores (hunting, tinkering, guarding and patrolling). Most of the random events will take place at the camp: robbing, attacks, dialogues, etc. I find the camp micromanagement a genial addition to the game.
The non-combat RPG elements like decision-making, moral choices, party dialog and management, the historical setting and the realistic approach of the gameplay make Expeditions: Conquistador truly memorable and fun to replay. My only regret is that it is to short and I can’t stop hoping for a possible expansion, even if some time has passed since the release.
Cons:
Not truly cons, but features I would have liked to have:
- a quicksave/quickload option,
- unique look for the companions in combat and unique equipment,
- achievements. The Steam version has them and I hope once Galaxy is in place we can have them too.

Although the companions aren't unique, you can easily tell a scout from a soldier from a doctor for example.

Also, did you notice that the soldier graphics update as you improve their equipment? I mention this because I didn't realise this either until someone pointed it out.

And to be honest although I was originally baffled by the way equipment upgrades are handled - and in many ways it's not realistic, since you can move "equipment" around at will - in the end I found this system to be pretty good, since it's both very flexible and yet still limits the equipment somewhat based on character class/type. Besides, it's not like it would be "realistic" to magically come up with brand-new Spanish-made rifles in the middle of Mexico anyway... (BTW I realise your point wasn't about realism per se, but due to the setting and the way it's depicted part of me wants as much realism as possible without spoiling gameplay).