Posted March 17, 2015
Hello everyone, I just completed this game and enjoyed every minute of it. I was not able to post my review on GOG because it was too long, but I managed to post it on steam here:
http://steamcommunity.com//id/paul_snow/recommended/241620
Here is my review of the game:
Wow, I just finished this game after almost 200 hours of gameplay, (197 to be exact). The game does not necessarily take that long to complete but I really enjoyed it and wanted to explore every dungeon, kill every enemy, read every detail of the story and lore of the world, and complete every side quest. Honestly, it could probably be completed in 140 to 150 hours. This very involved, isometric, action RPG offers a lot for your money and has a very engaging story. It takes place in a fictitious continent strongly modeled after medieval Europe, with a theological system loosely based on Roman Catholicism. The name of Jesus is changed to “The First Prophet,” but there are crosses and crucifixes decorated throughout the game.
Without giving away any of the story, you are a paladin, priest, or thief, (your choice) who is asked by emissaries of the Holy Mother Church to investigate a gruesome murder in the northern territory of Hillbrant. From that starting point, you are drawn deeper into a dark, heretical plot that goes all the way to the capital itself. An evil centuries old plot is underway that involves black masses and demon resurrections. Heretics are planning to summon Satan’s four chief demons into the world who in turn plan to reek chaos as well as having other intentions that I won’t give away. The story, while quite graphic at times, dealing with such issues as rape, necrophilia, Satan worship, torture, ect., is incredibly engaging and gradually unfolds and reveals itself to the player over the course of three acts, spanning three areas of the continent. Each of the three acts is nicely balanced between combat and story.
In the story part of the game, you act as an inquisitor for the Holy Mother Church and you need to talk to everyone in order to gather clues so you can determine who the heretics are. Once you gather enough evidence, you can extract confession by means of torture and then burn them at the stake. The combat system is, in my opinion, the weakest part of this game. It is quite clunky and initially, (until your character builds some dexterity) will result in the majority of your strikes missing. It takes getting used to as it is not as fluid as other action RPGs. But once you get the hang of it and you build your character, it is just fine. Fortunately, one thing you will not have to do in this game is grind for experience points and gold to build your character. Each of the three acts is divided into various areas that you must explore and clear of enemies. Once the enemies are cleared, you do not have to wait for them to respawn and repeat killing the same enemies over and over again for experience, (only a very small percentage of enemies respawn anyway). Clearing each area once will provide more than enough experience to build your character sufficiently to progress through the game. But keep in mind, this game is HARD. The battles are not easy at all, especially the ghosts and specters that are introduced to you in act II, (which require magic to beat – since I was a paladin and weak at magic, I had to use flame sword and seals) and the werewolves introduced in act III. You will find that fighting monsters in groups is a bad idea and most of the time you will have to resort to hit and run tactics where you slowly walk up to a group of enemies, lure one or two away from the group at a time, and kill them individually. If you are anything like me, you will be using that tactics for most of the game. Also, even though this world is strongly modeled after medieval Europe, they also mix traditional rpg monsters and mythology in the mix such as orcs, trolls, ect., explaining them as hellspawns, remnants of a dark and foreboding pagan world long since conquered by the true faith, or monsters summoned in black masses, ect. Of course, there are also plenty of demons from Judeo-Christian and gnostic literature as well. It makes for an interesting mix.
I found the magic system in the game to be impressive, not so much because it was terribly complex, but for the fact that a world modeled after medieval Europe, where magic would be considered heretical, would have a magic system at all. On top of that, there are in fact SEVEN schools of magic in the game, each one consisting of spells that are each given their own history and background, (as are all the items in the game!) If you choose to play the game by the rules as I did and be obedient to the Holy Mother Church, then there are four approved and sanctioned schools of magic that could better be described as feats of faith and divine intervention. There is magic of faith, magic of miracles, divine magic, and inquisitional magic. If however you choose to dabble in heresy, (at risk to your own soul), then you can also learn pagan, heretical, or the ever dreaded Luciferian magic. Playing as a paladin, I didn’t get to use too much of the later levels of magic, but what I used was quite effective in the gameplay.
So my assessment of this game is that it was very engaging, very involving, very well written with a fantastic story, and quite lengthy. Be prepared to invest some time into it. The mechanics of the game were quite rough around the edges and takes some getting used to. You will get stuck often, and when you do, the GOG and Steam forums will prove to be a God send. One thing that this game requires a lot of, (throughout the entire game but especially around the beginning) is that you carry LOTS AND LOTS of health, stamina, and (if you’re a priest) mana potions with you at all times. You will find that dungeon exploring consists of you getting as far into the dungeon as you can until you run out of potions, (which you will burn through quite quickly), making your way back to the surface, buying more potions, and progressing further into the dungeon. Get use to that cycle. Also, there are a few bugs in the game that have yet to be polished out, all of which you can find solutions for on the GOG and Steam forums. One bug in particular that effected some players, (including myself) involved a crucial NPC named Tinthan who is necessary to complete the main quest, not always showing up where he should be in act II, thus not allowing you to progress in the game. If that happens to you, it’s an easy fix that can be resolved by typing the following console command:
- Press ~ (next to 1)
- Type \addbeing_afriend Tinthan -1 -1
- Press “enter”
- You can also find the solution here: http://www.gog.com/forum/inquisitor/where_is_thintan/?search=Tinthan
This game has tons of atmosphere, lots of charm, and gives you many unique options and story driven tasks. Its soundtrack adds to the atmosphere very well and comes with the game. It sets the mood well and I even put it on my iPod. Throughout the course of the game, you will fight for or against Satan, defeat corrupt priests who sold their souls, perform exorcisms, summon the dead, summon genies, (save them for bosses – trust me), torture heretics, explore a continent, read a novel, and of course, (my personal favorite) rescue damsels. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and have fun.
http://steamcommunity.com//id/paul_snow/recommended/241620
Here is my review of the game:
Wow, I just finished this game after almost 200 hours of gameplay, (197 to be exact). The game does not necessarily take that long to complete but I really enjoyed it and wanted to explore every dungeon, kill every enemy, read every detail of the story and lore of the world, and complete every side quest. Honestly, it could probably be completed in 140 to 150 hours. This very involved, isometric, action RPG offers a lot for your money and has a very engaging story. It takes place in a fictitious continent strongly modeled after medieval Europe, with a theological system loosely based on Roman Catholicism. The name of Jesus is changed to “The First Prophet,” but there are crosses and crucifixes decorated throughout the game.
Without giving away any of the story, you are a paladin, priest, or thief, (your choice) who is asked by emissaries of the Holy Mother Church to investigate a gruesome murder in the northern territory of Hillbrant. From that starting point, you are drawn deeper into a dark, heretical plot that goes all the way to the capital itself. An evil centuries old plot is underway that involves black masses and demon resurrections. Heretics are planning to summon Satan’s four chief demons into the world who in turn plan to reek chaos as well as having other intentions that I won’t give away. The story, while quite graphic at times, dealing with such issues as rape, necrophilia, Satan worship, torture, ect., is incredibly engaging and gradually unfolds and reveals itself to the player over the course of three acts, spanning three areas of the continent. Each of the three acts is nicely balanced between combat and story.
In the story part of the game, you act as an inquisitor for the Holy Mother Church and you need to talk to everyone in order to gather clues so you can determine who the heretics are. Once you gather enough evidence, you can extract confession by means of torture and then burn them at the stake. The combat system is, in my opinion, the weakest part of this game. It is quite clunky and initially, (until your character builds some dexterity) will result in the majority of your strikes missing. It takes getting used to as it is not as fluid as other action RPGs. But once you get the hang of it and you build your character, it is just fine. Fortunately, one thing you will not have to do in this game is grind for experience points and gold to build your character. Each of the three acts is divided into various areas that you must explore and clear of enemies. Once the enemies are cleared, you do not have to wait for them to respawn and repeat killing the same enemies over and over again for experience, (only a very small percentage of enemies respawn anyway). Clearing each area once will provide more than enough experience to build your character sufficiently to progress through the game. But keep in mind, this game is HARD. The battles are not easy at all, especially the ghosts and specters that are introduced to you in act II, (which require magic to beat – since I was a paladin and weak at magic, I had to use flame sword and seals) and the werewolves introduced in act III. You will find that fighting monsters in groups is a bad idea and most of the time you will have to resort to hit and run tactics where you slowly walk up to a group of enemies, lure one or two away from the group at a time, and kill them individually. If you are anything like me, you will be using that tactics for most of the game. Also, even though this world is strongly modeled after medieval Europe, they also mix traditional rpg monsters and mythology in the mix such as orcs, trolls, ect., explaining them as hellspawns, remnants of a dark and foreboding pagan world long since conquered by the true faith, or monsters summoned in black masses, ect. Of course, there are also plenty of demons from Judeo-Christian and gnostic literature as well. It makes for an interesting mix.
I found the magic system in the game to be impressive, not so much because it was terribly complex, but for the fact that a world modeled after medieval Europe, where magic would be considered heretical, would have a magic system at all. On top of that, there are in fact SEVEN schools of magic in the game, each one consisting of spells that are each given their own history and background, (as are all the items in the game!) If you choose to play the game by the rules as I did and be obedient to the Holy Mother Church, then there are four approved and sanctioned schools of magic that could better be described as feats of faith and divine intervention. There is magic of faith, magic of miracles, divine magic, and inquisitional magic. If however you choose to dabble in heresy, (at risk to your own soul), then you can also learn pagan, heretical, or the ever dreaded Luciferian magic. Playing as a paladin, I didn’t get to use too much of the later levels of magic, but what I used was quite effective in the gameplay.
So my assessment of this game is that it was very engaging, very involving, very well written with a fantastic story, and quite lengthy. Be prepared to invest some time into it. The mechanics of the game were quite rough around the edges and takes some getting used to. You will get stuck often, and when you do, the GOG and Steam forums will prove to be a God send. One thing that this game requires a lot of, (throughout the entire game but especially around the beginning) is that you carry LOTS AND LOTS of health, stamina, and (if you’re a priest) mana potions with you at all times. You will find that dungeon exploring consists of you getting as far into the dungeon as you can until you run out of potions, (which you will burn through quite quickly), making your way back to the surface, buying more potions, and progressing further into the dungeon. Get use to that cycle. Also, there are a few bugs in the game that have yet to be polished out, all of which you can find solutions for on the GOG and Steam forums. One bug in particular that effected some players, (including myself) involved a crucial NPC named Tinthan who is necessary to complete the main quest, not always showing up where he should be in act II, thus not allowing you to progress in the game. If that happens to you, it’s an easy fix that can be resolved by typing the following console command:
- Press ~ (next to 1)
- Type \addbeing_afriend Tinthan -1 -1
- Press “enter”
- You can also find the solution here: http://www.gog.com/forum/inquisitor/where_is_thintan/?search=Tinthan
This game has tons of atmosphere, lots of charm, and gives you many unique options and story driven tasks. Its soundtrack adds to the atmosphere very well and comes with the game. It sets the mood well and I even put it on my iPod. Throughout the course of the game, you will fight for or against Satan, defeat corrupt priests who sold their souls, perform exorcisms, summon the dead, summon genies, (save them for bosses – trust me), torture heretics, explore a continent, read a novel, and of course, (my personal favorite) rescue damsels. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and have fun.
Post edited March 17, 2015 by totaldepravity
