Review Review of Lionheart at GameGossip

Ibbz · Sep 9, 2003

Tags: Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader

<a href="http://www.gamegossip.com taarget="_blank">GameGossip</a> have posted a <a href="http://www.gamegossip.com/article.php?id=27" target="_blank">review</a> of Lionheart, rating it at 83% which seems abnormally high, especially considering some of the comments:
 
<blockquote>Then there are a slew of "little" things that really irked me and made me realize that Lionheart simply is not as good as other role-playing games such as Neverwinter Nights. For instance on the mini-map there is no way to mark important locations and everything is left to memory. This can be fine for quests where you don't have to traverse a vast amount of land but for some of the longer quests remembering what building you came from is an unnecessary chore. The path-finding is also pretty bad and the developer knew it since they tried to cover up for it with a poorly implemented system where you can only move one or two screens at a time. In other words you must manually guide your character every couple of feet to reach his destination. A "friends" system is also included - sort of. Occasionally you will rescue a knight or a similar good guy and he will follow you to a certain place and "assist" in combat. The word assist is used in the loosest way possible considering their artificial intelligence and path finding is worse than your own character. No rest option was included either. This is a glaring issue and detracts greatly from how fun this game is to play considering how slowly your health regenerates. While not absolutely essential, having to walk away from a battle and sit still for five minutes while your health and mana regenerates is a nagging problem. It's only fair to mention that Black Isle has said this will be addressed in a future patch but as I write this no such patch has been released. </blockquote>
 
 
I somehow don't think a patch will cure Lionheart's many problems.
 
 
Spotted at <a href="http://www.rpgdot.com" target="_blank">RPGDot</a>

Voss · Sep 9, 2003

Yes, its good to focus on the minor problems.

Admittedly there some mention of the problems with the rpgness and action, but there is that

supposedly if you have high enough speech and stealth skills you can complete the game without killing a single being

Supposedly. This has been said a couple times, but has anyone actually done this yet?

And for a last, lovely though from the reviewer, about spirits:

I preferred the red one, which presumably represents the devil, because he is quite humorous and sarcastic.

That wacky devil. I feel sorry for him... all those years considered evil and dark and vile, and hey, really he's just funny and sarcastic.... he's a stand up comic!

unic · Sep 9, 2003

Another quote from the review:

The combat engine is interesting to say the least. Most obvious is the fact that it's in real-time where as most are turn-based nowadays (with the exceptions being Diablo and Dungeon Siege).

Hmm, I must have failed to notice most RPG's being turn-based nowadays...

Saint_Proverbius · Sep 9, 2003

You beat me to it, unic. Actually, that was the part I was going to post when I noticed Ibbz beat me to it. ToEE is turn based. Paradise Cracked is turn based. Golden Land is turn based. A lot of independent CRPGs, like Geneforge 2, are turn based. However, compare that to all the NWN expansions, Larian's upcoming Riftrunner, Lionheart, Bloody Magic, Wierd War, Gothic 2, Gothic 3, Dungeon Lords, Dungeon Siege: Legend of Aranna, Dungeon Siege 2, Anito, and so on.. It's hard to even claim most are turn based, because they're definitely not.

Elwro · Sep 9, 2003

Ibbz said:
<. The path-finding is also pretty bad and the developer knew it since they tried to cover up for it with a poorly implemented system where you can only move one or two screens at a time. >

Come on, it's still way better then in NWN. You don't get stuck behind barrels.

Voss · Sep 9, 2003

That isn't so much a credit to the AI as it is a credit to keeping the handful of paths through each map clear of obstacles.

Elwro · Sep 9, 2003

Well, sometimes in NWN if you stand close to e.g. a tree and click on the opposite side of it, your character will begin moving and suddenly stop. In Lionheart such things don't happen. But you're right, of course, that the citizens of Barcelona do not have the strange habit of putting their belongings in thousands of barrels scattered throughout the city.

Spazmo · Sep 9, 2003

Lionheart came out over a year after NWN, though. They had time to remove all the barrel loot.

Ibbz · Sep 10, 2003

You beat me to it, unic. Actually, that was the part I was going to post when I noticed Ibbz beat me to it. ToEE is turn based. Paradise Cracked is turn based. Golden Land is turn based. A lot of independent CRPGs, like Geneforge 2, are turn based. However, compare that to all the NWN expansions, Larian's upcoming Riftrunner, Lionheart, Bloody Magic, Wierd War, Gothic 2, Gothic 3, Dungeon Lords, Dungeon Siege: Legend of Aranna, Dungeon Siege 2, Anito, and so on.. It's hard to even claim most are turn based, because they're definitely not.

I thought about using that quote, but instead i thought i'd focus on the bad points in Lionheart.