Restricted Area...

in out in Germany and Switzerland. Any German fans played it already? How good is it?

All I saw from the box cover I help in my hands Saturday is that the game has some mighty impressive boobies.

 

I tried to read this review through Babel, but its not making much sense.

Ok, that's a great way of describing the human condition, we are all but collecting tanks constantly busy with buying better articles, but is the game any good?!

Think of it as your duty, Astro - buy the game, play it, tell us if its any good. Please.

 

You unmitigated immigrant....

It's like a philosophy paper....

 

can't, I don't speak German

 

We might have this seriously diverse community going here, but I can't for the life of me remember if we have any german posters? I know that RPG Dot has some Ger-maniacs on staff, so there's bound to be a review there soonish I guess.

 

What Restricted Area boils down to -according to the "gamigo AG" review- is Diablo in a Post-Nuc setting, only without a Multiplayer option.

Spielprinzip: Einfach aber genial
Wer das große Vorbild Diablo kennt, der weiß was ihn so ungefähr erwartet. Viele Gegner die erledigt werden wollen und entweder Geld oder besondere Gegenstände verlieren. Hört sich simpel an? Von wegen, denn meist sind es die einfachen Dinge im Leben, die einen faszinieren, das stellt auch der Spieler in Restricted Area schnell fest.

My rudimentary Translation:
"Game play, simple but brilliant"
Everyone who is familiar with Diablo knows what to expect. Kill lots of monsters who drop money or (special) items. Sounds simplistic? Most often the simple things are fascinating in life, which is exactly what the player finds in Restricted Area.

 

Thanks for the translation, Sabotai. With the help of the I Ching and some fresh tea leaves I got the same general impression. It didn't seem like a very thorough review though. I checked Gamigo for a review of Harbinger for comparison, but no dice.

Well, here I was thinking that all Euros could speak multiple languages, communicate beyond cultural boundaries, and all that crap, and it turns out you're just as ignorant as the rest of us!! So how do you communicate in Switzerland if you don't speak German, Astro?

By the bye, there's a new trailer with 45 seconds worth of action cutscenes to download.

 

Proud Mary overshadows Humble Joseph.

Peut-etre il parle francais?

 

Bah, I speak two languages fluently - have 3 neighbouring countries were my native tongue should make me understandable, know enough of an additional language to understand basic text and grammar and ask directions and critical questions in yet another. And I'm quite average for my country I believe...

... but I wouldn't sit down and watch an untitled french movie or play a game voiced in german. That'd be a chore rather than a pleasure...

 

Well, someone get the game! I took 13 years of spanish and can barely speak a damn word of it, so, fuck me trying to learn german.

 

Well, my company employs people from 14 countries, last time there was a count, from Algeria to Checkoslovakia. So we speak English. I also speak Portuguese, can speak Spanish when pressed, can make myself understood in Italian (the three are very similar) would speak quite decent French if not for lack of training (watched Le Pacte Des Loups unsubtitled, and would again) and can buy groceries and do basic German. If RA was a supermarket emulator I would rock it to the core.

Thanks for the review Sabotai. You've been stalking me for HOW long exactly now?

I was hoping for an impression from people with the particular local brand of, erm, quirkiness (hello kids, welcome to politicallycorrect day) but I guess this will have to do for now. If Master Creating would publish a language pack I might buy this now, but their publishers would probably kill them.

 

I have the advantage of buying German computer magazines, even though my native language is Dutch. But I have to agree that the review is extremely short and not very informative. The review can be summarized in three words: Post Nuc Diablo. The reviewers seem to like it, but I'm always slightly hesitant towards German reviewers reviewing German games. They tend to give it slightly higher marks.

Astro, I have been stalking you way too long (still looking for that gaming-wife of yours). It's probably time to change my profile and come up with some new witty location. Although time is somewhat in short supply these days due to the fact that I recently got a son and bought a house (like you). This also means less RPGCodex time.

 

So the last count seems to have been quite a long time ago

 

erm, whooops.

I'm just an seventies child, ya know?


Though it WAS Checkoslovakia when the guy was born there, so yeah, that'll be my defense

 

Subotai, congrats on the kid and the house. I know how hard only one of those is, the two together must be, er, "fun"

Though I'm practicing on my cats. Matter of fact, I'll be going to Holland for a weekend in December to pick up my third one.

Did you start giving your kid dice yet? Can't start soon enough, you know...

 

gamers.at (Austrian) has a somewhat okay review, not artificial nice and not a lot too friendly but instead quite objective. In the end they gave 67% on the 1-100% scale -- as this is the Codex, substract another 5 or so percent and you should be fine. I'm also not going to translate the whole review as it's mostly general description of the game and you can get that out of an preview too. -- But I'll be listing the so called "pros and cons", here you go:

+ Interesting cyberpunk theme and four different...
+ interweaved stories and characters.
+ Good synchronization. [possibly german version only]
+ Thought out inventory.
+ Nicely presented story. [please note, that not the story itself is rated good, but its presentation]

- Monotonous and bleak [dire, drab or dreary; not sure] regions [levels/stages] without much diversity.
- Bugs, bugs and bugs again. [to this date, there were like three patches released]
- Catastrophical multiplayer mode. [some reviews say it is pretty much non existent or at least not playable]

gamestar.de -- Germany's #1 mainstream hype magazine -- rates Restricted Area 75% while naturally stating some clearly false facts; like a playtime of 60+ hours -- I doubt that. However, here comes their pros and cons, have a laugh:

Graphics
+ Nicely rendered.
- Rough animations. [or: coarse, raw, gruff -- not sure about the right adjective to use here]
- Too dark.

Sound
+ Music.
+ Voices.
- Non dynamic soundtrack.

Balancing
+ Easy to get into.
+ Motivating EXP hunt.

Ambience; Atmosphere
+ Cyberpunk theme.
+ Very detailed.
- Monotonous regions. [stages/levels]

Handling
+ Inventory management.
- Items and doors hardly noticeable.

Scale; Comprehensiveness
+ Every character with own story line.
- Only four characters.

Quests
+ Interweaved into story.
+ Random quests.
- Similar regions/stages/levels. [monotonous]

Characters
+ Different characters.
+ Interweaved stories.
- Stereotypes. [cliché-ridden]

Combat system
+ Proven hack and slash click fest.
- Fights confusing.

Items
+ Implants.
+ Upgrades.
- Few weapon types.

It seems to be a so-so Diablo clone with hectic & confusing combat; bug-ridden and on the 1-100% scale, somewhere between 50-70 percent -- depending on your liking, of course.

 

Welcome and thanks for the extensive post.

 

damn, thats a great review/summary, thanks.

 

I have played Restricted Area some the latest week and I'm rather impressed. I don't speak alot of german but I understod the most important stuff (with the help of a dictionarie).
I have played through the game on normal difficult with two of the characters, Johnson and Kenji, which focuses on ranged and close combat. I have played a little with Victoria who focuses on battle through proxys ala diablo necromancer (though she has some standard combat abilities and can stand her own in combat, at least in the beginning), I have not come very faar with Victoria so I don't really know how she is supposed to be played. As four the fourth character, Jessica, I haven't thuched her at all. I think she is supposed to be a "magic" user (and i hate playing mages ).

Role-Playing: Well it ain't fallout but it's not trying to be that either. I would say that the role playng extends to about the same amount as diablo 2. You get to place atribute points and skills but you don't really give your character any personality. You may choose what to say in some conversations (unlike diablo) but it dosn't really matter what you say (not that I really knew what i was saying) the resoult is always the same or you have to speak to the person again and say what you are supposed to say to get somewhere.
The main quest is linear quest that (probably) are story related. The story circulates around some company called Oxygenetic and the man supplying the missions is called Mr. Jones. The missions are rather simple but to an extent different for the 4 characters.
The side quest are provided by a guy named Mr. Smith who is some kind of contracter. All the missions Mr. Smith gives are random, which means 5 levels of dungeon crawlning and finding a box/person/boss. A good thing with the quests are that when your done you can simply press a button and *popp* your back in the city, so no running through 5 levels of empty corridors (1 or 2 exceptions).

Combat: The combat is simple but good. when you click the enemy your character attacks. There are some aktiv combat skills in the characters skill tree but most off them are passiv and boosts attackrating, damage, defense etc.
The whole combat system actually remindes me alot off diablo but it's still different somehow.
all weapons may be upgraded several times at a NPC in town (costs an eponential amount off money)

Character system: the game has six different attributes to spend 3 points on at every level-up. Almost all of the stats are important to all characters to a deegre.
Strength: Close-combat damage, ability to use equipment.
Konstitution: Life amount.
Dexterity: Attack rating, Ranged-combat damage.
Intteligense: "Mana" (Non-existent for Johnson?)
Reaktion: Defense
Willpower: Resistans to damage and stuff

all characters have two skill trees in pyramid form:
| -
| - -
| - - -
| - - - -
| - - - - -
This means every character has 2*15 skills to spend points in. One skill tree is the same for all characters the other one is personal.
Every level up you get like 10 skill points to place, the higher up on the pyramid the more expensive the skill is, the more levels you obtain in a skill the more expensive it gets. For some money you may change your skill decisions when you are in town which can come in handy when you explore the game for the first times.
I like the chracter system, its simple, straightforward and probably easy to understand if you know the language.

Items in the game comes in three shapes: White standard items, blue items with a different number of improvments (the most common form) and Unique yellow items which for the most time susks pretty hard :\
The weapons in the game ranges from katanas to machineguns. shotguns, pistols, flamethrowers and fully automatic plasmaguns.
The other equipment consists off bioware or robotic parts which you miraculesly attach to yourself anytime you want. You got two legs, two arms, three various internal organs, a brain ad an eye. The legs and arms are either right-arms/legs or left-arms/legs but they can be reversed for a price at the NPC.
All items has a manufacturer name. There are 6 manufacturers and if you have two or more items of the same manufacturer you get a bonus to one of the attributes (the weapon gets a damage bonus).
All in all i like the item system it gives you that "must-find-a-better-item-feeling" which makes you play a couple of extra side missions before going to bed and the manufaturer thing gives it an extra dimension.
One very neat thing is that when you store your things you have one staorage space which is shared by all your characters. This means tthat if you find a nice machinegun with Kenji you can transfer it to Johsson. Very Neat!

As a conclusion I can just say that I totally love the game even though I don't understand much more than the basics. It dosn't do anything revolutionaire but it gathers what all other games in the same genre has done good and improves it.
Its weak side is in the ROLE-play, it's a diablo-type of game and it dosn't pretend to be anything else. If you hated diablo skipp this one, if you liked diablo (like me) get it as quick as you can. The cyberspace environment gives it a good distans to diablo so it dosn't FEEL like a diblo-clone even if it might play as one.

Some last tips if you decide to get Restricted Area:
*Johnsson and Kenji are rather simple characters start with one of them.
*Willpower (willenskraft) improves damage reduction (widerstand) which, a least for Kenji and Johnson, is critical.
*Reaktion improves the ability to dodge an attack (auschwishen, or something) this is also important.
*Get Items which improves Widerstand and Auschwishen. (both point-wise and percentage-wise)
*When your inventory gets full, dump stuff that isn't worth much so you can pick up more expensive stuff.

GAAAH!! That was way more than I intended to write! Well no harm done i guess

 

don't think of getting it. the first 2 hours may be promising but the third is enough to recognize its soulless nature - even for hardcore hack & slashers.

 

Yeah, It's an awful game mainly because it's short, really fucking short. It's about the size of ONE(!!) Diablo 2 chapter. If you're quick you can probably complete it in about 3 hours. Of course there isn't much story(or anything else, for that matter) to find in a game of such extremely limited proportions.

 

Oh, nice to know. For a while there I thought that it might have been a halfway decent game, but apparently it's not. I suppose that you're expected to get 4x3 hours of game time by playing all four different characters?

 

Well, we have Michael Wolf (the administrator of www.troikachronicles.com and a registered poster here) .

 

Yeah, I know of Mike - but he's not the active type over here. None of the regulars are german as far as I seem to remember?

 

I'm reading almost all postings, but usually I don't have much to contribute. I don't know if this qualifies me as a regular or not ...