Necroscope
Arcane
33 days in and I finally consider giving up. I don't even know why I'm still playing...
UI: Simple but does the job, or at least doesn't annoy.
RPG Elements: Most of the non-combat skills are useful only for the shelter management, which renders them a total waste given that you want your character in the scavenging team. Other than melee/ranged, the only two usable skills are Medical for combat healing and Mechanical for lockpicking; Medical is a waste because you've got a medic among your allies since the very beginning (and if you need more than one healer in your team it means you're playing it wrong), Lockpicking is a waste because you can bash any lock with brute force - this will attract zombies, but from my experience they always end up attracted one way or another either by you or some looter brainlessly taking shots at your team. In other words: simply choose between melee or ranged, then redistribute the remaining points between Negotiation and Leadership for better dialogue options. Any jobs in the shelter can be covered by your allies while you explore with your raiding party. So much for rpg elements.
Graphics and Sound: Passable.
Combat: Snoring fest. The biggest annoyance is what should have been it's biggest feature - the zombies threat, which supposed to force the player into different tactics and weapons. The problem is, that as soon as the zombies in the area hear you fighting, they automatically engage in the encounter - so if there's a dozen of them around (and there usually is), you have to wait up to a minute once every turn reshuffle before all of them spend their moves catching up witch you from all the remote corners of the map. This is extremely frustrating and annoying. And yes, I play on maximum speed.
Non-Combat Gameplay: The game follows the same routine over and over again and doesn't even try to cross-reference combat and non-combat areas of gameplay (A siege maybe? No? Okay...). Every day looks the same: you deal with some quarrels and requests in the morning, then assign jobs and gogrindfesting exploring. Once in a rather long while there's some bigger event like "Oh shit the toilets are broken, you need to spend additional resources or ppl start loosing morale and shitting their pants".
Pacing and Player Motivation: As long as you're under the illusion that something interesting is going to happen (a break-in, war between groups, some huge crisis, or at the very least some biowarian plot twist) it somehow manages to entertain. Unfortunately, at some point comes the realization that "gather resources till the game ends" is what this is all about.
Writing, Story, and Atmosphere: A few interesting dialogues and radio transmissions is all I can say about the story and writing so far - because this is all there is really. If you're a storyfag this game is not for you, that's for sure. As for the atmosphere, it lacks but manages. Exploring growsbland Ayleid after a while and there's only Fallout 3 "skeleton holding hands" level of dramatization.
Technical: I'm yet to encounter anything game breaking, but there's an issue with different levels of the same structure turning invisible when moving between floors that annoys me. Also, somequests goals won't check off, which is a know bug from what I gathered.
Overall Balance: Shit. Most of the gameplay time is spent effortlessly filling backpacks with loot and stomping zombies/looters. There's absolutely no feeling of struggle or hopelessness - and maybe that's the biggest problem a game set in a zombie apocalypse world can have.
UI: Simple but does the job, or at least doesn't annoy.
RPG Elements: Most of the non-combat skills are useful only for the shelter management, which renders them a total waste given that you want your character in the scavenging team. Other than melee/ranged, the only two usable skills are Medical for combat healing and Mechanical for lockpicking; Medical is a waste because you've got a medic among your allies since the very beginning (and if you need more than one healer in your team it means you're playing it wrong), Lockpicking is a waste because you can bash any lock with brute force - this will attract zombies, but from my experience they always end up attracted one way or another either by you or some looter brainlessly taking shots at your team. In other words: simply choose between melee or ranged, then redistribute the remaining points between Negotiation and Leadership for better dialogue options. Any jobs in the shelter can be covered by your allies while you explore with your raiding party. So much for rpg elements.
Graphics and Sound: Passable.
Combat: Snoring fest. The biggest annoyance is what should have been it's biggest feature - the zombies threat, which supposed to force the player into different tactics and weapons. The problem is, that as soon as the zombies in the area hear you fighting, they automatically engage in the encounter - so if there's a dozen of them around (and there usually is), you have to wait up to a minute once every turn reshuffle before all of them spend their moves catching up witch you from all the remote corners of the map. This is extremely frustrating and annoying. And yes, I play on maximum speed.
Non-Combat Gameplay: The game follows the same routine over and over again and doesn't even try to cross-reference combat and non-combat areas of gameplay (A siege maybe? No? Okay...). Every day looks the same: you deal with some quarrels and requests in the morning, then assign jobs and go
Pacing and Player Motivation: As long as you're under the illusion that something interesting is going to happen (a break-in, war between groups, some huge crisis, or at the very least some biowarian plot twist) it somehow manages to entertain. Unfortunately, at some point comes the realization that "gather resources till the game ends" is what this is all about.
Writing, Story, and Atmosphere: A few interesting dialogues and radio transmissions is all I can say about the story and writing so far - because this is all there is really. If you're a storyfag this game is not for you, that's for sure. As for the atmosphere, it lacks but manages. Exploring grows
Technical: I'm yet to encounter anything game breaking, but there's an issue with different levels of the same structure turning invisible when moving between floors that annoys me. Also, some
Overall Balance: Shit. Most of the gameplay time is spent effortlessly filling backpacks with loot and stomping zombies/looters. There's absolutely no feeling of struggle or hopelessness - and maybe that's the biggest problem a game set in a zombie apocalypse world can have.
