SpellForce 3 Reforced + Soul Harvest & Fallen God standalone expansions

[Alienman]

Maybe not in gameplay per say, but it has a huge campaign, you collect and build your army, you get to meet a shit load of characters that has interesting things to say. You kinda travel around on the map in a similar manner, except the combat is in real time - finding small encounters, loot and quests.

 

[Drakortha]

<30fps on low graphics using a gtx980.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

I’m only just breaking out of the prison, but so far this isn’t quite doing it for me. Does it pick up?

 

[Urthor]

<30fps on low graphics using a gtx980.

what CPU?

 

[Drakortha]

<30fps on low graphics using a gtx980.

what CPU?

i7-6700k @ 4.00GHz

 

[thesheeep]

I don't think there are any common elements between this game and KB...

Well, if your taste isn't shit, you will like both.
You are the common element!

 

[fantadomat]

<30fps on low graphics using a gtx980.

You must be lying out of your ass mate!!! I am with 580 and play it on ultra with 60fps. Or maybe somebody steal your card and put some old shit in her place.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I'm not so sure it's the graphics card that matters so much for this game. I'm getting >30<50 FPS with two 670's on medium settings. It seems to me that the CPU is the more important component for this particular game.

deama I know you complained about a lack of buffing, and it may not be a perfect solution to your answer, but it does get better. After I unlocked the 3rd skill slots for spells, some of them became auras instead of castables. The White Magic regen spell becomes a regen / debuff dispelling aura, and more importantly, the melee damage haste ultimate becomes an aura as well. That is quite a huge boost in power for your army right there. The only offside about the regen spell becoming an aura is that only units within the casters area get the regen. The good thing is that the basic heal spell will now also apply regen at its final rank. I'm sure there's more, but I just don't know about it yet.

 

[deama]

I'm not so sure it's the graphics card that matters so much for this game. I'm getting >30<50 FPS with two 670's on medium settings. It seems to me that the CPU is the more important component for this particular game.

deama I know you complained about a lack of buffing, and it may not be a perfect solution to your answer, but it does get better. After I unlocked the 3rd skill slots for spells, some of them became auras instead of castables. The White Magic regen spell becomes a regen / debuff dispelling aura, and more importantly, the melee damage haste ultimate becomes an aura as well. That is quite a huge boost in power for your army right there. The only offside about the regen spell becoming an aura is that only units within the casters area get the regen. The good thing is that the basic heal spell will now also apply regen at its final rank. I'm sure there's more, but I just don't know about it yet.

Well, that's not too bad then; though I think I'll leave it for now, any idea if there's gonna be a mod scene for this? Cause I think I heard something about some easy kit getting released or something.

 

[Shackleton]

Does the encounter design get any better for the RPG parts? I've just got my hub opened and am doing the Orc map sweep before starting the RTS part and it's the encounter design that is spoiling it for me so far. It's just terribly dull. Either a few weak enemies with one stronger one I'll maybe need to interrupt, or one really strong enemy I might need to interrupt or move my melee away for a few seconds. It's not as much as a cross between RTS and RPG, but a cross between RTS and Dungeon Siege 2. Every encounter is very similar to every other one with limited room for different tactics.

Hoping it gets more interesting but between this and faffing about with the camera it's killing my urge to fire it up.

 

[Lacrymas]

Unlocking new toys sounds cool. Still a far cry from Spellforce 1, where you think your entire spell tree has like 5 spells because the merchants don't sell anything else, but it turns out more and more rarer spells drop from mobs further down the line, to the point of being unable to fit all of them on the action bar. Let's hope SF3 has even more stuff!

 

[Infinitron]

Seems like this game is pretty cool, if anybody wants to review it for the Codex we're up for it.

 

[Jaedar]

The balance in this game is weird.

I went to recruit the elves first, struggled a bit, wound up getting one game over (not entirely sure how... all my heroes were dead I guess? But I had plenty of res charges and a base...).

Then I went to orcs and accidentally conquered the final base with 30 goblins, bypassing pretty much the entire map...

The attack damage aura in leadership tree is a joke too. On units that previously did 40 damage, when boosted by level 2 aura their damage became an amazing 42.


I really like the fact that all resources in rts mode need to be moved manually. By hand within regions, and carts between them. Leads to some interesting logistical problem where doing stuff takes forever because even though you have 50 lumber lying around, it's on the opposite side of the map to where you need it. The workers assigned to carts seem to be global, not restricted to carrying stuff in/out of their origin region, which could be interesting.

 

[fantadomat]

Seems like this game is pretty cool, if anybody wants to review it for the Codex we're up for it.

If i find 1.14 and 1.15 for gog,i would be happy to finish it.

 

[Alienman]

I'm closing in on the end now I think, I won't give any spoilers, but it has been a fun ride so far. But there is one major issue with the game, and that is: The only viable way of doing RTS missions (the later ones at least) is by constantly attacking/rushing with your four man RPG squad. I have no idea how else to proceed in these missions. Even if you take out all of the minor enemy bases the AI keep attacking like a madman, and his army just gets bigger and bigger. I have no idea what is going on here, but I'm leaning on that the AI cheats somehow to provide a challenge. The problem is that this challenge fucks up the game totally, I haven't even made it passed tier 2 buildings and troopers because you are not allowed any breathing room. I don't want the AI to be passive or some such, but I have a feeling the game wasn't intended to be played this way.

 

[Jaedar]

I'm closing in on the end now I think, I won't give any spoilers, but it has been a fun ride so far. But there is one major issue with the game, and that is: The only viable way of doing RTS missions (the later ones at least) is by constantly attacking/rushing with your four man RPG squad. I have no idea how else to proceed in these missions. Even if you take out all of the minor enemy bases the AI keep attacking like a madman, and his army just gets bigger and bigger. I have no idea what is going on here, but I'm leaning on that the AI cheats somehow to provide a challenge. The problem is that this challenge fucks up the game totally, I haven't even made it passed tier 2 buildings and troopers because you are not allowed any breathing room. I don't want the AI to be passive or some such, but I have a feeling the game wasn't intended to be played this way.

The ai cheats in resources like a motherfucker. Huge shame really.

 

[thesheeep]

I'm closing in on the end now I think, I won't give any spoilers, but it has been a fun ride so far. But there is one major issue with the game, and that is: The only viable way of doing RTS missions (the later ones at least) is by constantly attacking/rushing with your four man RPG squad. I have no idea how else to proceed in these missions. Even if you take out all of the minor enemy bases the AI keep attacking like a madman, and his army just gets bigger and bigger. I have no idea what is going on here, but I'm leaning on that the AI cheats somehow to provide a challenge. The problem is that this challenge fucks up the game totally, I haven't even made it passed tier 2 buildings and troopers because you are not allowed any breathing room. I don't want the AI to be passive or some such, but I have a feeling the game wasn't intended to be played this way.

The ai cheats in resources like a motherfucker. Huge shame really.

And iirc it was the same in the other Spellforce games.
Yeah, definitely a shame.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I'm closing in on the end now I think, I won't give any spoilers, but it has been a fun ride so far. But there is one major issue with the game, and that is: The only viable way of doing RTS missions (the later ones at least) is by constantly attacking/rushing with your four man RPG squad. I have no idea how else to proceed in these missions. Even if you take out all of the minor enemy bases the AI keep attacking like a madman, and his army just gets bigger and bigger. I have no idea what is going on here, but I'm leaning on that the AI cheats somehow to provide a challenge. The problem is that this challenge fucks up the game totally, I haven't even made it passed tier 2 buildings and troopers because you are not allowed any breathing room. I don't want the AI to be passive or some such, but I have a feeling the game wasn't intended to be played this way.

This is a problem of mine as well. It's even worse in some missions where there are two enemy AIs working against you. I just lack the ability to micro my towns while defending 2-3 separate fronts as my outposts constantly get attacked. My only solution is to crush the enemy with my heroes because I get completely overwhelmed if I try to actually build up an army. Having towers would be a solution that fixes this problem entirely, but the towers are really weak, and you need 2-3 workers to man them and that's an unreasonably large amount since I really need those people to cut wood, farm or something else. I never feel like I have spare workers for towers and even if I make an entire sector dedicated to towers, they still aren't able to stop a squadron of enemy units.

 

[Parabalus]

I'm closing in on the end now I think, I won't give any spoilers, but it has been a fun ride so far. But there is one major issue with the game, and that is: The only viable way of doing RTS missions (the later ones at least) is by constantly attacking/rushing with your four man RPG squad. I have no idea how else to proceed in these missions. Even if you take out all of the minor enemy bases the AI keep attacking like a madman, and his army just gets bigger and bigger. I have no idea what is going on here, but I'm leaning on that the AI cheats somehow to provide a challenge. The problem is that this challenge fucks up the game totally, I haven't even made it passed tier 2 buildings and troopers because you are not allowed any breathing room. I don't want the AI to be passive or some such, but I have a feeling the game wasn't intended to be played this way.

The ai cheats in resources like a motherfucker. Huge shame really.

From what I saw most enemy bases have a non-interactable building which spawns a blob on a timer, even lazier than giving them resources.

 

[Lacrymas]

And iirc it was the same in the other Spellforce games.
Yeah, definitely a shame.

Kind of. Enemies in SF1 don't have bases and don't gather resources, they just spawn indefinitely from a spawn point until you kill their buildings. It's possible to do the RTS part, though, because they don't send huge waves at you at first. You have to be fast, however, like immediately start attacking them when you have a small army going (like 10 units) and try to take out at least 1 or 2 spawn points. At the same time you have to worry about macro and getting stronger units out there because the enemies are also getting stronger and stronger. I guess it keeps the game dynamic and you are never just standing there waiting for your army to build up, but, on the other hand, it's cheap difficulty that can easily be surpassed by not taking a monument and devastating whatever mobs are on the map with your hero.

 

[fantadomat]

Yeah the enemy do have a spawn point. I found out that the best thing is to just send your dudes in and watch all those soldier die in two or tree AoE skills.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Finished the game. The sad thing about good games is that they end.

 

[Cyberarmy]

How's the replay value?

 

[Hobo Elf]

How's the replay value?

There are many choices with consequences of varying size so I'll be glad to do a new play and see how things can play out differently, eventually.

 

[fantadomat]

Just finished the game and feel satisfied. The best thing about the game is the writing and the end music....after i finish this post i will go search it in the internet. My biggest problem with the game is the there was not enough of commander Katras,that mate was certainly made to be your companion but the studio run out of money or/and time. If this snarky bastard was with you from the beginning i would have been happy as pig in mud. Sadly i never managed to make him my axe wielding ravager.....

The game as a whole felt unfinished not in way that is detrimental,more in the "We wanted to make massive game with crafting and a lot of quests and rpg shit,but we got realistic." way.You can see it in how big and filled with places the world map is and how you are not able to visit them. There is a lot of a inventory items that are never used because they never made the quests and because they didn't put in a crafting system that they were clearly planing to. By the end you are filled with all kind of crafting materials and artefact pieces. They don't get in the way,but are just there.

The story is well made,no loose ends or questions by the end,decent premise and amazing writing. The worst thing in the story was the pointless "Vader" shit after the middle.For those who want to know.

Spoiler

During the middle you found out that your "mother" is a shaper that gets kidnapped in a way and writing kind of expects to give a flying shit about it. The good thing is that it give you the option to be a stoic bastard that doesn't give a shit about it...kind of. It feels like some random dude that you have never seen and he have never do anything for you comes to you and says "I am your dad." expecting you to care. The whole thing would have been better if there was some magical artefact or something.

Characters are very well written and feel like real people. You meat all kind of interesting character that have flaws and positives. I even didn't beat the crap out of my gay companion because he is a gay but because he was doing stupid shit. I can't believe that will say this but even get attached to my sandnigger companion....yeah that is some good writing to me. The bad guy was interesting,he didn't felt like a cartoon villein but more a radical person that can see the things that he is doing but he believe that they are right. He never felt delusional or insane to me,just a dude with different views than you.

The rpg elements are not that amazing,the standard skill tree and pointless equipment. The skills do become pretty potent by the middle of the game and after that you just become some desalinating beast. Once you have some good dps weapons and some high armour in the beginning of the game you hardly have to change it. There is not much variants for the equipment when it come down to stats,in the last 5-6 maps i haven't even used the inventory screen. What is good is the dialogue system,it feels like actual dialogue and not just exposition text wall. Also it have some C&C in it. If the game have mod support there could be some pretty cool rpg adventures made. Annoying thing is that there is no archer companion and most of them are some kind of magician,it ties well with the story but it could be little bit annoying when it comes down to the game aspect.

The strategy part is the weakest thing in the game...for the campaign that is,in multi there is some hope for it. In the single it is just run to one building,smash it twice with the raze ability and the end. You can end the final strategy mission. I haven't made a single army after the middle game. Also big problem is that enemy just spawns units endlessly and some time they just come from fixed points on the map behind you. It doesn't make the game hard,it just makes it tedious. Problem is that there is no practical way of defending your sectors from one or two units that run around like chickens without heads. In multiplayer i can see being fun strategy game with constantly pushing players. Another thing i didn't like was the upgrades,they are extremely generic and pointless. The first upgrade that i bought was before the final mission. If you guys want to buy upgrades go for the humans,you use them most missions. In only two missions you have a choice to play as another race(it could have been bug now that i think about it) and you have four other mission where you play as orks or elfs,they are about recruiting and upgrading them. Oh almost forgot,there is a few maps that get reused a few times and it fells annoying.

The technical side of the game is pretty good in my book. I run the game on GTX 580 on ultra and 60 fps. I never had any crashes or problems. The engine is pretty good and i would love to see more games with it. The game looks.....good or beautiful....it is very subjective thing. The great show of its power is Everlight map. There is ton of units and npc yet it doesn't have problems.


Even if it was/is a buggy mess the game is in a decent state by now(16 patches later) that you can plough trough it. As a whole i would recommend the game more to the rpg crowd than the strategy one. The game is a good mix of them both but rpg part is more polished and the writing shines. If you are story/writing fag and you are thirsty for a new thing then you can buy it now. The game is patched enough to have a smooth ride more or less. If you can wait then wait a until after the new year. The game is worth the money it asks or at least it is a discount buy.

I have no regrets playing the game,only happy memories .