Quite honestly, the combat system takes good ideas from different genera's... and makes it absolutely boring as hell.

Loot based characters.... but combat is long, tedious, and boring. Diablo offers actual stores (other than just gambling) if you wanted to build a character a certain way as getting some of the right gear upfront makes it even more fun to build a character up (so you can go slaughter the enemy!)... and slaughtering the enemy over and over is actually FUN... not just grinding.

Turn-based combat... without any of the fun that normally goes with turn based combat. Turn based normally has STATS so you can make your characters act faster in combat, or deal more damage... wait... you need to find the right loot to do stuff like that but to find loot you need to be combat effective hmm... turn based won't restrict the types of attacks you can do either to only 5... and turn based gives all kind of fun you can do to the enemy and draw it out as long as you want (while keeping the enemy suppressed) or as short as you want. Final Fantasy is fun (I still play them sometimes), this... is not.

Team game... but none of your team mates have any personality.... and pretty much everyone is just a damage dealer because the game nerfs everyone's damage as it expects everyone to be a damage dealer. Having one fragile damage dealer, and three people on crowd control.... tends to have the people on crowd control be dealing as much damage as my damage dealer. LAME!


At this point, the only thing remotely interesting is the story.... I am wondering if it is really that good given how bad everything else is.

However, NOTHING can be as lame as the combat

There are the eon cubes, but I see your point. Well, that is a design choice. There is a lot of gambling in the game, with a full tree for the Smuggler based on it. It might provide an emphasis on uncertainty, which fits the theme well. But those who dislike gambling are allowed to avoid it (such as truly yours). Go for the eon cubes and the loot, I guess. Measure your risks when going to the Black Market (it is called that for a reason, not many guarantees there). Just like in Diablo and most RPGs, nothing new, right? "I need to be more powerful in order to progress, and I need to progress in order to become more powerful." Balance that, then you have a game.

Maybe you are playing with a difficulty too low? Lose a character durin a tough fight, you will invest more in it. Also, higher difficutly makes money much more scarce, you will need to make the best out of every penny. False. That has nothing to do with turn based mechanics. It is a design choice, either if we like it or not. It can be frustrating, although it makes you think deeply about how you want to develop your characters. Then, it is quite easy to respec skill trees.

That said, as a design choice I am not sure about it. Maybe the developer felt that it would be too easy if the characters managed to complete most of the skill trees? No and no.

The team mates show more personality than in most games of this kind. Wizardry or Might&Magic characters had lots of banter between them? Addictions such as drugs, hard cash or killing humans? Did they express it when they got in flow state at work?

And about everyone being a damage dealer: wrong! That is the way you developed them!!! There is a damage focused branch in each skill tree. Why don't you try out the other two? Just take them to the clinic for a healthy respec. Did you notice that the Hacker may works as the healer in the game? And that the Prototype may save the bottoms of your other party members? If developed well, the characters have options to complemente each other instead of making all of them damage dealers (plus, it is more fun). Really...?

Surely you missed the very neat relationship system with the factions. It fits the theme greatly and ought to weight heavily in mission choice. It is a very innovative mechanic that works well.

Then, missions can be played for cash, for loot, for improving the reputation with a faction... If you want the latter, you might finish it early. If you go for the loot, you might want to explore everything.

Hacking mechanics and especially their integration with the overall game deserve some love. The developer has been honest about it. Kudos for keeping at work on this game, and for daring to make it different.