Recent reviews by BARBARA SPECTRE

This is the first time I play this kind of RPG and Might & Magic series RPGs(I am a huge fan of Heroes 3&4).
Since the time I am writing this I have 75.4 hours of playing and still I haven't finished the game, (I guess that I am close to the end) that means that this game is worth playing.. however

There are some minuses. It is not finished and polished like it should be. For example NPCs in the towns stay in the same location day-night. In 4A.M they are ready to sell you a potion of mana. For example when I was playing Arcanum (a game from 2001) , when there is night time, everything changes. Most of the business are closed, NPCs go to sleep, however taverns are open, and some people who are selling dark magic items works only at night and while there is a night, if you stray in wrong street , some orcs will ambush you and try to rob you(and kill) - like in most of EU big cities. Here, nothing. You enter the slums, and one of your heroes says: "here it is dangerous to walk in the night" - and of course nothing. There are some annoying sounds like , when you are walking in the night , like snoring ,just randomly coming and many many more. And a lot of NPCs are just copy paste one of the few models. Or you just go a few clicks outside from the town, and immediately you find a ruin, and you will get one of few generic comments like - "ancient ruins untouched for 5 centuries" etc. And there are 3 or 4 similar comments that are just randomly coming each time you enter some location, town or encounter the enemy. And the map is really small, you can literally walk 5 minutes from one side of the map to another. (In game it is a few days because mechanics). In Arcanum maps is a size of some bigger European state, and ancient ruins are far away from the towns. And the main story is .. I don't know what the main quest after 75 hours of the game , that tells you all.
However, the game is addictive, the music and atmosfere is charming, the game is hard, - me as a veteran player I remember how games were much harder in the 90's or early 2000s. For example I stopped playing Skyrim because after the first time playing, the game was so easy that It was boring..Most of the modern games are very easy to play, and this is not that kind of game. Here in the beginning the game can be very hard and sometimes you will need to use google for help. And you will need to use a brain as well and plan each turn and get serious blessings before important battles. Music is kinda nice. Character development is also very nice. Map although is small - it is quite densely populated with pesky dungeons. Sometimes you will enter one ruin/castle/crypt and you will finish half of the dungeon, and you will only be able to finish another half later when you obtain a special item or something else. I didn’t notice much of the bugs. Towns, although populated by boring NPCs, are charming, especially pirate towns(well that town because it is a pirate town, host diversity of races and cultures united with a common goal - to plunder surrounding area. - in that case - “diversity is our strength really works” :D ).
Overall 8/10 from my side.

I have many more hours than here on steam(played this game elsewhere). So this is my review.
Very very interesting and addictive game. Fun thing is that in battles you don't control the army! Spells are cast randomly, soldiers are moving on it's own logic and attacking on it's own logic. However for example spellcasters have few spells that they cast randomly and some of them they will skip. If you see that your next enemy will have a lot of fire spells , and now your warlock is able to cast fire resistance you will pick that spell and "pray" that he will cast fire resistance as soon as possible from a random choice of spells for each round. So in the end you really control the battle by choosing units, delegating items, spells etc.
Now the gaming interface can be weird in the beginning , you will be confused but once you learn it, it is easy. Shortcuts are important, for example when you are at your army screen, use shortcuts like Shift-S to remove slow units, Shift-I to select only units with magical items. Few of those tricks and you will be fine.
What are minuses for the game? For me it is graphics , to be honest I am the last guy to care for it, but sometimes units are so tiny and you are not sure if it is a spearman or swordsman and which of them has regeneration boots. If they could invest and bring a graphic interface to HeroesM&M3 it would be almost perfect. That is the main minus for me, although not a critical thing, just something that developers could improve if they have money and time.
Well for me an additional minus is that a lot of things are very very random. You can be at the top of the game, have a huge army and suddenly some hell gates are open(or from another dimension) and you are attacked by huge army of demons and.. you are done, main army destroyed, lvl 3 mage killed and all items lost. Just quit the game. You must be very careful each step. Bring a scout when exploring the land or you will be ambushed very soon , where the enemy will snipe your weak mage. For some people this is not an issue, for me lets say a minor issue. Some people complains for A.I , but I see it just fine. Not very intelligent but still OK to have a fun game. Of course that A.I will cheat on higher difficulties but that is kind a normal. However some improvements could be nice, but then - game would be perfect.
On the other hand atmosfere in the game is so amazing(music especially amazing soundtrack), like in the old days of HeroesM&M3. There are hundreds of units, each with its own story. Lots of totally unique fractions to play. Do you want to summon the demons and open the gates of hell? Sure. Raise the dead -yes you can. Have a fraction where angels from heaven will join you from time to time -yes you can. Wander around swamps and forests that everyone is avoiding and build your empire there and crush everyone later - you can do that. You can choose a Dwarf race where you can dig into the mountains, dig too greedily and too deep for riches of the underworld , build amazing forts and enchant your armies and siege weapons with magical properties or many many more. There are many many more interesting things that can keep you playing for hundreds of hours. 9/10 if you ask me- if they could have this game with nice graphics like HeroesM&M3 this could be a huge hit game but now it is a niche game and it is worth every €

Ok. After few tries finally passed the game. I was reading that Arcanum is one of best RPGs ever, which is kinda true. It is interesting that although Skyrim is open world like Arcanum, you have feeling that Arcanum NPCs have more soul. Also depending from your intelligence, charisma, beauty or race, the talk with NPC can go to totally other way.

Before you play this game on Steam, you have to know that original game was full of bugs. SO go to "guide section" of this game on steam, and use instructions and install fan made patch MultiVerse edition. With this patch, you will have bugs removed, game more balanced, and graphics improved. Dont forget to turn-off some anti-viruses(during installation or play) , to avoid crushing the game . After you made this, you can really enjoy playing.


So first i ll talk about negative aspects of game. Bugs - however with fan made patches, 95% of bugs are removed. If you get sometimes bug, for example you hero stuck after the fight or in fight, just go to option and switch to real time fight , then return to turn based fight and you are fine. I didn't notice much other bugs, so fan made patch was great.

Now second negative aspect - it is fighting system. For me, i get used to it, it is fine, but people are talking that it is unfinished. Use turn based fights, sometimes you can combine with real time. You need some times to get perfect in those fights , after few hours you should master fighting system and you will be fine. So bugs -mostly fixed , fight system -not that bad.

Now focus on game. Its amazing. Huge world. 2million of square kilometers of territory - although its mostly empty. However there are huge amount of quests that can go different way. NPC that you feel like they are real persons, especially some followers. I finished the game, and follower Raven before last fight said that she has fall in love with me <3 . Probably bcause i invested some points into beauty and i was half-elf and good align .
You can be evil guy, rob stores, steal their property and magical items, do nasty things , and gather crew of evil followers. You can be mage (i think it is easiest way to win), or you can be knight with magical swords, or engineer with master degree in mechanics and electrical engineering or explosives and guns .
I never seen other game offering that much variety. Also before you start the game, you have so much races, "background stories" (for example poor guy with more strength but less money, or raised by monks or you can start as super-model with high beauty and charisma and walk through game by talking with people, or you can play as stupid half ogre). Also game is hard. Very hard for fist time playing arcanum. Also it will be almost impossible to pass it alone first time, so my advice use on-line guides to help you about some quests. You can follow main story, and go around. For example when you reach early capital city , dont go straight for main quest. Clean the sewers , it will be hard but you will get few levels and lot of bounty that will make than main quest easier.


Anyway i can talk all day about this game, it is amazing, one of the best RPGs ever made. Some stuffs made in this game are still unparallel to any other game even almost 20years latter. I finished game as a good mage, fallen in love with Raven NPC, had sex orgy in StillWater village after i finished one quest, maybe i ll try now as Engineer. Install fan made update that you can find on steam, (turn off antivirus while installing and playing) and use help of online forums when get stuck. I played this and Skyrim and i found Arcanum more interesting (Skyrim is great game tough)

I am changing this rate from positive to negative.
Why?
First this is a great game. Very complex, very deep, very fun. It has some minor minuses, like A.I could be better after all those years and less relaying on cheating on higher difficulties. But OK .

Now why negative?
it is crashing non stop .
I dont know why. I start a game, I go to some mid game, then crash. I tried re-load, and again crash. Everything wasted.

OK, that can happen. I start again. And again after few hours- crash.
Ok, let me try again third time. Play few hours- crash. Reload from your save, reload autosave - nothing - it just decide to crash on specific turn.
I cant believe after the game has been on market for so many years, they cant make it stable.
If someone know why game is crushing , what can I change in settings, or if they fix this sh*t, I will return my review to positive, because it is still great game . But what use of a great car if you have engine failure every few hours.
For now avoid this game if you doesn't like broken product.

Nice

I will not play this game without CONFLUX town... my favourite town.. until that i dont recommend

Time to edit and update review: after playing in 3 days this game i can only say that i like it very much.
I read all those negative reviews i think that they are to harshly. but lets start with negative stuffs -that is what are most people interested in.

1)they said that game lacks of tutorial - well thats actually true, but it is still easy learn able for average 4x space fan. There is also community that can help you. But still game need more explanation about some weapons /armor etc. After losing lot of ships in battle, i learned that you need to put nuclear weapons in stand of laser canons if you are going to bombard and attack planet defense :)



2)most people hate battle system - actually that is true. after some 10hours of game i play space battles in "auto mode". Just put right weapons on your ships and press "auto" and enjoy in battle. Conquering planet could be confusing, i dont know why my transport ship goes first with battle ships, in galactic civilization transport ships stay behind in fleet battle. So i just bombard planet, destroy the colony and settle my colony :).. There is an option when you conquer with invasion to - exterminate alien race, assimilate, and third option... nowhere is written what that means... i guess u need some time of learning the game to fully understand ship battle system and eventually manually play -

Edit: i played few hours and i couldnt counqer one heavliy defended planet. So i proceeded manually and manage to conquer. -well some detail tutorial could be fine.

But also in Galactic Civilization space battles are done automatically.

3)most of sounds and animations in game are just great expect of some races - i think Tactic race :D - so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ annoying sound. no a big deal.
4)some things are "unreal" - like terraforming Pluto planet - its fine to terraform Mars because it lies in habitable zone, but it is impossible, even in any possibility to terraform Pluto- to looks like small Earth.. no way.. and terraforming some Volcanic planet to Earthlike planet. Noway. And terraforming although you have to pay, still it is going very fast... in few turns from Mars to Earth... In reality it would need centuries or at least few decades for "future high tech race". I ll put this on Horizon forum and ask developers to "fix this".

5)expansion oriented game - so far didn't see that you can skip expansion and try aggressive game play... so formula is simple - expand and expand. because investing in expansion gives more in return. Developers should make some patch to make expansion little more expensive or something.. but then they need to tweak A.I :) lot of work

But mostly those are tiny/small negative stuffs that i noticed - with current discount price - game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ great.

It has nice micro and macro management of your empire (i read that they fixed it in last few patches -for me its works nice) , very nice atmosphere , very real economy system, nice planet development, so far excellent AI -and you can automate your battles or planet management. Graphics if also fine for this kind of game, interesting tech system. Game looks like very solid simulation of realty for hardcore science fan (♥♥♥♥ i hate terraforming its so unreal :D )

Even if there is something negative about this game, it could be fixed /upgraded.
I think that i ll play this game very very long :)

Excellent game. I ve spent years playing this game. It is very fun, although new players need few months of playing to fully understand game mechanincs. After few months of playing only the sky is limit.

And best thing - game is free.