Just how big are the maps?

Thanks..and it works fine for me. But that might help others :)

If you want to get more tempted, I wrote a first night "after action report" and initial impressions:

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/release_legends_of_eisenwald_dd51c/post184

I'm on the second one and... it's a pretty good size. Not so big that I feel overwhelmed though (like in the "4X" type of games - Disciples, HoMM, etc). I get a kick out of the fact that I can't scroll the map when ingame - it's locked to a certain "radius" around my character (I think anyway). It forces me to open my map screen and actually look around on it to find distant castles / locations / mine / etc. I actually really like this, as it feels authentic - like I really am a noble traipsing about looking for Castle Sturmgard or whatever.

*Big good night hugs*

Just watched the last episodes of Firefly with my wife. Such a shame, wasted potential...

Everyone prepare the +1 hammer for Rayman since he has just gifted me Painkiller and Pier Solar!

I have to watch this some day. I've caught a few marathons of it and have watched a few episodes but I think I have a lot more to watch than not.

The one where their old "war buddy" shows up dead, and the one near the end of the run where they protect the brothel always almost bring a tear or two to my eyes!

Who is Rayman?

Thanks for that. I makes it sound really appealing, the type of game you experience as well as play. I'll be getting it at some point :-)

World in Conflinct is the most epic strategy game out there! Buy it mate! I have it on disc.

Good moaning We mourn for the series, and burn Fox executives in effigy... because we can't get our hands on the actual bastards!!!

The movie serves as an epilogue but, while tasty and filling, feels both rushed... and has a somewhat sour aftertaste that spoils the overall flavour.

Hurm, the X-series games do look nice. But I think I'll wait and see. If nothing else catches my magpie-like eye, then I'll snatch them.

If there isn't an encore... meh.

Busy day today. Had to go in the morning for... wait for it... volunteer training. I'm volunteering for computer literacy courses. Mainly because it gives credit, but mostly so that I can feel the wonderful frustration of people claiming to have intermediate level with office software trying to move the mouse literally on the screen; and not being allowed to shoot them. Is there a better feeling in the whole world?

Depending on your tastes... I found the X-games (played 1+2) more like management games with the occasional space battle. If you're into that, that's hundreds of hours of fun in that package.

I think I'll go sleep, I've been incubating a cold all day and I'm doubtlessly not going to be fine tomorrow.

What kind of management?

I hereby declare open my birthday party!

Yeah, I'm off too.

So, all kinds of management. You build like a trade empire, an economy, with factories, mines etc supporting each other. And since there are hostiles around you manage combat fleets to protect your ships and stations. And you can lead your own combat fleet to crush the enemies and even wipe out factions.

The special thing is, you start small, with a single ship and everything takes place from the cockpit and computer there. There's no top-down view. A little bit like Mount and Blade in space maybe, but a lot more complex and huge.

Hello, again! I could not sleep and so I figured I would come share my first impressions on Never Alone while I wait for my mind to slow down a little more so I can get some sleep as I have a lot going on in this skull of mine at the moment. Not all nice stuff, sadly. It is funny how life loves to keep kicking you while you are down, then doing a few more kicks just for fun. Oh well, that is life, as the old saying goes. All we can do it make the best of what we have and the time we have. Anyway, sorry about that, I am not in the best of moods at the moment.

Anyway, on to something else. So me and my partner played a little Never Alone this evening, mainly as Soccorro wanted my option on it and as he was kind enough to gift me the game the lease I could do was give it a quick play. I do like the mix of game and documentary the game has. I love documentaries and learning new things in general, be they via video documentaries or books, so this insight into the Iñupiat people is very interesting for me. Granted the videos so far are not the most in-depth (I have seen only about a dozen or so of the 24 so far on the base game, I am not sure if there is more to read/see as the game goes on apart from these 24 videos), but then this is a game after all, not some high budget BBC documentary.

You can play the game with more than one control input, but we just played the game single player with the XBox controller, well, my partner did and I watched for the most part, as I still can't play a game and stare at a monitor for too long without it making my migraines worse. The game itself is a nice little platformer, sadly not as polished as other games, and quite simple with a few annoying elements, nothing too bad, but something that I think will put a lot of people off. Perhaps this is due to this game's focus on teaching you about the Iñupiat, rather than being just a game. It is 3D but has a 2D platform style to it. The opening has you chased by a Polar bear, and soon demonstrated the game's co-op options by allowing a second player to control a white fox. In single player you switch between controlling the girl and the fox (which you will need to do now and then for the simple puzzles and obstacles).

I like the aesthetics of the game, the unique animation style of the opening cut scenes (which I think is called Scrimshaw style?), for example. It seems to be narrated in the native Iñupiat tongue, or at least a non-English language, which is really nice, as it immerses you more into that culture. We only played for a short time, but we will see about playing some more this week, and given the apparent short length maybe finish the base game in the next sitting, so I can't really give a full review, but overall the game is very nice, although apparently it is very short, so maybe given that the game is nothing special in terms of mechanics and the looks (the game backgrounds and setting so far are very basic), the asking price may be a little high for many people, so maybe wait for a sale. You do get a DLC and the soundtrack, so that will add some time to the overall play time.

The only negative aspect I have seen so far is that when playing single player, the AI controlled character can get killed quite easily and if one dies, you die as well. I was at a part where you had to dodge rocks, and the AI character just sat there and kept dying when the rocks hit.

The game is very charming and something a little different, with a nice little story that seems quite dark at times so far. The feel of the game reminded me a little of the game Year Walk, which was another game that was built to teach you about something, in the case of Year Walk it was Swedish folklore. Just be sure you go into it for the whole package, as an indie educational game teaching you about the Iñupiat people, rather than just a game. If you want just a platform game then there are many better ones out there with better looks, mechanics, and storyline, but if you want an interesting educational, albeit basic (from the little I played), game with some interesting videos, good aesthetics, and some nice information about the Iñupiat, then this is a good game to get. Oh, and the music is nice as well, although the sound effects could be a little better, like having crunching of snow sounds as you walk, little things like that. So far I am enjoying it, I like the game and what it was trying to do (educate people about a relatively little known culture), but it is definitely nothing special in the gameplay department, an interesting idea, but perhaps it should be longer and with more videos and other resources on the Iñupiat (maybe adding textual elements as well as video would allow them to teach a lot more about the Iñupiat culture). If you don't mind spending the money, don't expect too much from the game, and the topic interests you, then I am sure you will like the game. Just don't hate me if you get it based on my little review and dislike the game. :-(

So thank you Soccorro for the lovely gift. *big thank you hug*

Okay, that is enough for my rambling. I hope someone at least found the review helpful. If not, tough! I suck at reviewing things. :-)

(P.S. I did not proof-read what I wrote, so if there are any mistakes just ignore it and blame it on my dyslexia and me being tired, unless it was a funny error, then it was obviously done deliberately. :-))