Blood Magic - very interesting magic-inclined Action-RPG.

[Balor]

Too bad that Blood Magic will not be out this year for international audience, cause it's really fun and rather complicated action/RPG. I bet it would kick Sacred and DS2 in the nuts take the throne of Action-RPG of the year otherwise.
A few features:

Magic system that has about 100 spells in 12 spell schools...

Bone Magic
Blood Magic
Fire Magic
Water Magic
Earth Magic
Air Magic
Alchemy
Pentagram Magic
Blessings
Curses
Light Magic (More like Nuclear magic, heh)
Summoning

..that are combinable (like learn fireball + fireblast + ignite -> you have fireball that explodes and ignites enemies) and MORE combinable - for instance, you can add Fire Mastery for extra fire damage, or Boulder to drop above on the head of the enemy, doing quite a bit of physical damage.
An other level of 'combinability' - have monsters trapped inside a pentagram that enemies can enter, but cannot leave and cast plague - a spell that steadily poisons the enemies and spreads to other enemies nearby.
And you can further combine it with Intoxication that make enemies take more poison damage and Blight curse (that lowers poison resistances) to deal completely insane amount of damage.
More then that - all those spells WORK and rather nicely balanced (safe for a few WAY too powerful combined casts like 'Instant Area spell + Bones', but that would be fixed ASAP, I guess).
Of course, you can hardly specialize in ALL magics (cause they get to cost progressively more as you train them up), but it's really up to your personal preferences, and you must remember that enemies may have resistances and/or immunities for your damage - so, better spread you damage types wide.
Btw, there are 7 types of damage:

Physical
Fire
Cold
Electrical
Poison
Radiation
Blood

Some are easier do get defenses against, some harder.
Spell mastery - one of 'spells' in 8 of available to a school - passively increase resistance and immunity to one of the damages, anyway.

Also you have forging - ability to add materials to items, rune inscription + rune words (actually meaningful English words, heh - like Fu + Ry, or Mo + On, etc), alchemy - think horadric cube, only it require special 'poison' potions for it's recipes.

Loving it so far. Nice intro, too.

 

[LlamaGod]

so when it is coming to amerikkka?

Sacred rules the roost of action RPGs for not just being bigger and better in every aspect, but also being well designed.

You can throw a bunch of features into a game and hambone it up, but it takes work to make sure it all goes together well.

 

[Jason]

Any links?

 

[Atrokkus]

Shit shit, so many games pass me by these days... too much work. WEll, in like 3 months or so i'm gonna get back on gaming track and give all this a try.

I've been interested in this game because I love non-orthodox magic systems, though I would rather have an RPG instead of hack-n-slash, but hell these days you can't be too picky.

 

[Balor]

Well, me too, but we HAVE it already, so, why not give it a try?

And links - nothing besides what you can google.
Only links I can give to you are Russian, and, well... let's say that Russian is not English .

 

[Deacdo]

Tough to get excited about something that may not get released in English and, if it does, will probably have a crappy translation

The concept is definately cool, though.

 

[Atrokkus]

Okay, my friend grabbed a copy several days ago, and I drop by now and then to play this bloody shit.

First off, just a reminder: this is not an RPG. It's a Diablesque hack-n-slash, though with a bit more roleplaying elements (or at least illusions).

Teh magik. What can I say? It's surely not revolutionary, it's not really innovative. Same old mana system, pretty standart spell-learning techniques. Spell-combo thing is pretty well-implemented, but the concept of it is also quite old.
Don't get me wrong, though: the implementation of this standart magic system is very good. The problem is that I expected something more complex, more innovative... But oh well, it's a hack-n-slash, not a tactical or RPG.

The graphic department kicks some serious butt, although the character models are somewhat primitive. The magic FX, environment, shadows, lighting -- very nicely done. And hell: graphcis are important in hack-n-slash games.

OVerall gameplay is pretty fluid, although not flawless. I hated the huge towns where you could like run across the street, see no house, and just a single one-linered npc, and run some more to reach a point of interest. Also, the "walled-in" feature of the first town is pretty fucked up: you can't get outta town without teleporting across the wall. By the way, monsters can be lured into the town (but it seems with this particular town devs didn't want to bother with defending civilians).
Item system is good, but still it wouldn't beat Diablo2's. However, crafting is better, though it's really not that useful.

I really liked the idea of changes in char. appearance under the influence of magic. However, I must admit that I expected more drastic transformations...
I'm not sure if that could count as a magic system element, though. It's really just a graphic element.

The setting/atmosphere/graphic design: It's a real mixed bag, shit with gold. Mostly shit, though. I mean, it is not a serious fantasy setting. It's more like one big hairy bloody easter egg. References to Night Watch, even Harry Potter... Lots of funny stuff like Satan Helpers, Meateating Rabbits as mobs. The boss 1 (priest) of Act 1 keeps chanting Latin proverbs, which sounds real stupid (=fun). Another boss is a copy of Gollum. And I've seen only a half of the game.
On the other hand, the world does not seem to be wholly warped and twisted. It has some pretty stern and serious elements, in setting as well as the story.
I must admit, though, that I actually liked this concept. It's fun, it's not really serious, it's just a fantasy parody. It's not RPG, so it suits just fine.
The overall graphic style is realism , though.

There is even a pretty funny song that you can listen to if you pay a local bard (in the first act) a 100 coins. I wonder how are they going to translate it... substitute, that is.

The movies contrast with this laughable atmosphere of the gameplay, setting a pretty stern mood and offering a rather solid story. The animation quality is superb. It's the first Russian game (among those I played) that has demonstrated such CG mastery.

The music is very vague and far in the background. It's a very subtle ambient all the time. It's not really bad, but I expected some mroe catchy themes, like in Diablo. However, I loved the battle-cries and natural ambience, so it's just as good I guess.

The NPC voice-acting is horrendous, for the most part. Most actors were seemingly oblivious of their character's role and the current situation and emotional state. The result of such confusion is ear-wrenching. Or maybe it's part of the parody?
On the other hand, however, the in-battle voice-overs are funny in a good way and well-done. There is a humanoid monster called Marauder (he runs around the battle field and steals your l33t lewt), and damn he sounds funny, with all this gabbling and snide giggling.


Overall, the game is a very solid hack-n-slash. There are some pretty dissatisfying and boring moments, but still the game grabs you pretty tightly.

 

[Twinfalls]

Nice summary, Metallix - thanks for that.

 

[Balor]

*nods*
Agree with everything.
however, transformations and all will be tweaked...
And, I think, Russian voice acting is not something to worry about for people abroad - it will be localized, anyway.
I do find it jarring, myself.

 

[Atrokkus]

Didja hear that bard, in Avon? That was pretty funny -- it poetizes the Diablesque gameplay very precisely.


Oh, and just so our english-chirping friends know: there certainly will be an English version, and I wager it's already done, but just awaits its release. Hell, they even didn't want to bother with different intro-movies for Russian and English versions, and decided to make it English for both (there is a Shakespeare's quote without translation, and the name of the game etched on the ground).

however, transformations and all will be tweaked...

Well, I downloaded hotfix, but still no tweaks. Waiting for a patch.

 

[Balor]

I did
That was fun, indeed.

I heard there are more easter eggs in the game - like a 'werewolf in shoulder straps', literally, heh.

 

[Atrokkus]

Entire game is a big hairy easter egg.

 

[Deacdo]

Entire game is a big hairy easter egg.

That's a put-off

 

[Balor]

Well, I suspect 'international' audience will miss most of the 'egginess' and, therefore, it may not be that 'offputting', heh.
However, I agree - I'd prefer more serious setting, myself.

 

[Atrokkus]

They won't miss the "Satan's Helper" jest, that's for sure.

But I assure you: there's nothing wrong with that. This game miraculously lumps the two extremes together, and hell, this is a goddamn hack-n-slash, so there's nothing much wrong in that.
Of course, Diablo is much more serious and interesting story-wise. It has its easter-eggs, but they are subtle (just as they are supposed to be, in fact), but the overall theme is pretty solid and consistent.
Blood Magic, however, has lots of fun: those eggs, the flashy slaughter animations, etc. It also has the looks and a pretty friggin beautiful style, actually. Some of the creatures were really well-done (Modo, etc).

 

[Balor]

Well, actually, I'm spend more time fiddling with runewords and stuff then actually played it
Even made a program to dictionary hack runewords, he-he-he.

 

[Atrokkus]

Hentai, you!