I've played for about 4 hours now, and I just wanted to list some initial impressions:
Fore the record, I am running a PIII @ 700mhz, 128meg RAM, Voodoo3 2000 (OCd to 3000 level) Win98 First Edition.
Graphics Setting: 1024x768 D3D
Monsters: Seldom, normal
Difficulty: normal
I am quite impressed with the graphics of this game!! Perhaps I'm easily amused, but I was very pleased with the ambient effects; the vultures circling in the forest, the gentle flitting of the butterflies, the fish.. Oh, and especially the fireflies at night! A wonderful touch. Also impressive to me is the ability for these ambient beasts to be affected; for example, I saw a butterfly fly into the windmill, and get mushed! Very nice.
The monsters seem to be amazing; among the best I've seen in a 3D environment; very little tearing or jaggies, and the attack animations look great!
The spell animations are so-so, but there seems to be a good variety of spells.
The monster AI seems to be good sometimes, then poor at othertimes; I see a lot of beasts get stuck on corners, etc. Othertimes, I've noticed them track me a considerable distance after I've wounded them and had to retreat!
Difficulty: Maybe I'm just a wimp, but I found myself dying numerous times at the start of the adventure. I think each of my characters died at least 3 times, and my first two hours were spent killing beasts to get gold to resurrect my fallen party members! I like this, though; games which are a challenge are my favorite!
So far, everything seems pretty "formulaic".. a lot of FedEx Quests, but I also like the element of having a few more mysterious ones; for example, Ukabu. What the heck is Ukabu? Talk to Ekdu. Who's Ekdu? greatest toad warrior! Hehehe
I also found the Mendosa toad (or whatever his name was) to have an interesting conversation style; did anyone else notice his reciprocal affirmations? (I'm sure English majors will have the correct term, but this will suffice for now.) "Ukabu need toads. Toads need Ukabu!" Little nuances like this are what make or break a game; I enjoyed the inclusions.
Sound: I think the sounds are quite excellent! The screams of pain, the shrieks of terror, the howls of rage from descending beasts, the gut-wrenching moan as you cleave a beast into bloody, twitching chunks; nice! I just wish the corpses were persitant for a much longer time, like M&M; I like to walk amongst the bodies of my foes, whistling a merry tune!
The combat system; at first, I hated it, but now I'm getting used to it; the only thing that irks me is that the monsters keep moving (not necessarily attacking) while you're accessing your spellbook! There should be a "quick-spell" list of your last 4 or 5 spells that pops up when you hover over the spell icon.
And now, the big conclusion; you know what this game reminds me the most of? Ultima: Ascension! A beautiful game, with a lot of potential, but a number of serious bugs and shaky design decisions. Even the way it looks, the way it feels; it reminds me a lot of U:A. To me, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
My final question: What the heck is with the rotating vegetation along the shorelines? Are these secret satellite dishes being used by the trolls so they always know where I am? It sort of freaked me out.
Peace, I hope you hear your viewpoints, and happy gaming!
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