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« on: February 17, 2018, 05:22:41 pm »
i...just did a 12ish hour binge of this game. holy shit.
thoughts:
the optimization and bugs are shit, indeed. patching shall be needed. bows and ai unreachable locations mean easy victories from what i've seen but i will be abstaining from trying to game it too much.
the combat is amazing if a bit harsh but then, you are an upjumped peasant. no years of training, just a few basics and you're off. the feeling of getting stronger and more skilled is palpable. but damn, when you go from barely putting down unarmored footpads to going 2-on-1 with a couple cumans and winning, you feel sooooo badass. in many ways, the tone of the combat reminds me of the stalker games. if you slip up, you can easily die.
the acting is a bit stilted but ehh, the story is just gripping enough that i want to continue but it has this air of, like, a good b movie. one of those you rent on a lark but end up enjoying. i still find it amazing that henry gets away with all the shit he does before he becomes a sworn man or squire to a noble. before then, he's just a middleclass nobody and yet he gets away with disobeying nobility.
the atmosphere and setting are spot on. i find myself thinking in real life on occasion: "oh its getting dark, i'll probably talk to the dude in the morning, i'll hit up the inn and grab a sausage, some bread and a beer. i'll hit up the smith and sharpen (repair) my blade in the morning."
the armor system is astounding, i believe at least 4 hours of my binge were of me sitting at the armorer and tailor to find the best combination of dress clothing and armor. i settled on a light layer of a dress shirt, a shortened hauberk, a leather jerkin and a red outer jacket. very protective but still allows fairly free movement and looks good.
it's...most definitely a b-game attempting to be AAA, made by a developing indie studio. this doesn't mean its bad but it does have ups and downs; some moments of amazing voice acting but then bad stilted voice acting (srsly sir radzig sounds like some dead inside middle manager), part times good writing (im thinking of a certain priest we met and have a friendly drink with) and part times pretty bad (how henry gets away with anything before aforementioned squiring is beyond me), all tied together by good atmosphere and combat.
ive heard the complaints about bugs (which will be fixed) and the saving system but because of my reallife takes on the game, i haven't had any issues with the saving. i consistently sleep at night to keep my energy up and i eat breakfast which lasts most of the day. the game autosaves everytime i wake up, so my saves are all mostly current.
all in all; a solid 8/10.
i neglected to take my screenies while i got absorbed. i'll probably playthrough this once and then work on it.
also, i don't know if its because ive been playing as a good guy in clean armor and committing no crimes, but my reputation in every town has soared. everyone says "hi henry!" and "god save ya, henry" and stuff and being raised in a tight knit suburban community where this kind of stuff was common, it adds to the game for me but i could see it easily becoming annoying for others.
