Just wondering if any other Dakkaites have tried this game?
I bought this off of Steam about a week ago, and it's absolutely fantastic. The game has a
DnD/Pen and Paper feel, mixed with a Total War game in the form of a 3rd/1st Person
RPG. It's completely and utterly open ended in the fullest way. On that note, don't buy it if you want a story-driven
RPG that shoves you down one single path and gives you the illusion of choice, even though all you get is "different" endings. If you're one of those folks, that's all good and well, but this game won't appeal to you.
However, if you're one of the people that love true
RPGs - purely open ended, no pre-determined story, you make your own name for yourself in the game world - then this is a must buy. Players start from very humble beginnings - an immigrant from a faraway land with a choice of several combinations of 4-point beginnings that will yield different assortments of starting stats. Once you choose a nation to start at (Choice of several themes: Nordic land, Britonic land, Franco/Germanic land, Eurasian land, Arabian land, or Mongol land) you're plopped by the Capital and so your story begins. You can take a number of career paths - Caravan Merchant, Mercenary General, Bandit leader, Nobleman/Woman, Tournament Champion, Even King of one of the Nations, with enough illustrious service and support from other Nobles (Be warned, you'll more than likely need to win a Civil War to take the Throne, however). If you amass a large enough Army to begin capturing Castles as a Mercenary, you can even declare yourself the Lord of your own realm.
As mentioned above, amassing armies is something you'll often need to do to some degree. And let me tell you, riding on campaign alongside 6 to 8 other Nobles, each with armies of around 200 men, is something awesome. Going to battle alongside those armies is equally breathtaking - and yet strangely enough - not tolling on the
PC's abilities. Granted, the graphics are a few years old, but this was made by a very small-time studio. In my opinion, they still managed to outdo themselves. Just take a look:
As you can see, the Graphics aren't -quite- on-par with most 2009/2010 games, but they still manage to impress. The real good stuff is in the combat system though. Aside from beautiful Combat and Death animations, the actual way that combat is handled makes it much more interactive than most
RPGs. Forget blind hack-and-slash tactics. You won't kill anything by just clicking the mouse. Instead, the trick is to move the mouse in the direction of your swing and click at the same time. So for a left-hand swing, you would move the mouse left, and click. For a right hand, you would move it right and click. Overhead swings are an up and click, and thrusts are down and click. When mounted, diagonal down or up movement will result in a back or forward downward slash, allowing you to cut down fleeing enemies or those that surround you and your horse in a battle.
While this combat system takes some getting used to, once mastered, it gives an almost artistic feel to the game's fighting. Timing and placement of attacks becomes crucial, as stabbing ahead of you at an enemy that's to your left won't exactly work. And the fact that your character can become so drenched in blood by the end of a battle that Khorne himself would be jealous is a nice bit of detail. There's something satisfying about running around a battlefield with your armour and weapons coated in dark crimson. Enemies, horses, and allies also get some nice blood effects all over them by the end of a battle, and it's good fun chasing down blood-drenched, wounded enemies and cutting them down as they plea for mercy.
Politics are handled quite true to the times, where your rewards and positions are earned through marriage, conquest, friendship/support of other Nobles, and arse kissing the King. Players that choose a woman or a common/non-noble background will be much harder pressed to gain the support or appreciation of the Noble Houses, and players of Female or Commoner characters should be wary if on campaign with the noble families, as they may abandon you in battle and sacrifice your troops to kill off some of the enemy before they devote their own 'more worthy' soldiers. It's a cheap, spineless, and cruel tactic. It's also a very widely used tactic during the medieval era. Sacrifice the lowly peasants and save your own forces for the glory of victory as they deserve. The AI's arrogance certainly made me shout many curses at my monitor for a good number of my early campaigns as the General of a Merc army, but I loved it all the same for the realism.
As far as non-military professions go however, you're rather limited. You can be a travelling merchant, a Bandit, a Landlord (Though you'll need to likely build relations with the King and Nobles through military means to begin with in order to be awarded feifs) or make a living travelling from Tournament to Tournament but that's about it. Sadly you can't breed horses, smith, work leather, or run a farm/ranch, which is disappointing considering the depth that's in the other 2/3rds of the game. Nonetheless, Tournaments are a great way to build your combat skills and your renown risk-free. You may even be granted a feif now and then if you manage to be a recurring champion.
Last, but certainly not least, is the Multiplayer. Forget the Battlefield Series for big matches - these games top out at 150 players each! Now, I'm not sure if that's 150 players PLUS added
NPC troops, or just 150 total, but that still makes for some rather insane battles either way.
There's much more to this game, like Lording over a Castle (or Castles) and feifs/villages, ransoming noble prisoners, training and upgrading your forces, courtship and marriage, holding feasts, plotting/expanding influence, and so on that I won't cover for the sake of saving some room, but I will repeat that if you're a fan of
DnD style open-ended true
RPGs, then this game is $30 well spent at the Steam store.
PS: This game gets extra win-points for having
no Elves. It's purely just a Medieval-style, 6 Human Kingdoms at war, Fantasy
RPG.
