I'm nearly halfway through the game so far and I have to agree with much of what has already been said by the reviewer, Saint_Proverbius here: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=29
I would have just tacked my comments unto that thread, but since it was under the RPG news section, I felt the game deserved its own thread in the general rpg section.
This game really forces you to pay attention. Combat does stay interesting due to two facts already stated; that two separate but similar packs of enemies are going to fight at different variations of difficulty due to the five ring system, and since respawning enemies will sometimes appear right next to where your melee combat is taking place. The first fact is intentionally coded into the game as part of the game world, while the second seems more due to poorly thought out coding. Either way, it pays to be aware and not to get cocky lest you suffer a total party kill in an area you had just been completely owning.
Although our Codex reviewer found the poor translations charming like an old kung-fu movie, I had some trouble with it. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't enter a series of caves in one part of the game. The only message I received when trying to click on one of these five caves was something akin to 'There is danger and you cannot enter without cave.'
Also, while some of the supporting cast of voice actors at least try to make an attempt at inflection and emotion, the person voicing the main character is quite bland, especially when you consider he's playing a fugitive on the run whose family members are being eliminated. That's not a spoiler by the way. The whole story is pretty much told to you in the manual. Other actors sound as if they were chosen from the developer staff and told to read lines from a piece of paper before they had their morning coffee.
Character creation doesn't exist, the skills available are plentiful but with only a limited amount of skills to invest you aren't likely to put points into many of them, and your fellow NPCs often perform some stupid moves in the midst of combat such as when the wizard steps away from an oncoming enemy soldier, just to back up into several of the soldier's antagonistic allies. Or when your assassin steps away from danger so far that she walks around a corner and becomes useless. You'll have to micromanage in a number of battles.
And despite all these complaints, the game has grown on me. Most NPCs aren't given names but generic descriptions when your roll the mouse over them. Yet you still should make the attempt to talk as these people, identified as 'old man', 'middle-aged man', 'bad child', 'hooligan' and so on, often will give you quests or items that give permanent stat boosts just for talking. Again, you have to pay attention and actually take time to talk and explore in order to gain reward. Some side quests you encounter early on may be beyond your ability to handle, requiring you to move on with the intention to try again later. Some people are not always what they at first seem, for good and for ill. The violence and morbid fates of your protagonists' friends and family seem almost laughably over-the-top... and then you remember that the game is based on real events and actual Chinese records and your smirk at the dialogue from sneering villains fades as your touched by the tragic elements that must have actually happened. Reading the game manual about the amount of people killed just in the building of the Great Wall during this time gives you a sense of the desperation normal people must have felt.
So I won't be putting this game on a top 25 CRPG list anytime soon. But I will say its a flawed and forgotten gem that I must recommend. Though I am nearing the halfway point, my enjoyment of the game is increasing as I continue my play through and simultaneously absorb information on Chinese history, culture and lore. Take that for what it's worth and have a Merry Christmas while we are at it.
I would have just tacked my comments unto that thread, but since it was under the RPG news section, I felt the game deserved its own thread in the general rpg section.
This game really forces you to pay attention. Combat does stay interesting due to two facts already stated; that two separate but similar packs of enemies are going to fight at different variations of difficulty due to the five ring system, and since respawning enemies will sometimes appear right next to where your melee combat is taking place. The first fact is intentionally coded into the game as part of the game world, while the second seems more due to poorly thought out coding. Either way, it pays to be aware and not to get cocky lest you suffer a total party kill in an area you had just been completely owning.
Although our Codex reviewer found the poor translations charming like an old kung-fu movie, I had some trouble with it. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't enter a series of caves in one part of the game. The only message I received when trying to click on one of these five caves was something akin to 'There is danger and you cannot enter without cave.'
Also, while some of the supporting cast of voice actors at least try to make an attempt at inflection and emotion, the person voicing the main character is quite bland, especially when you consider he's playing a fugitive on the run whose family members are being eliminated. That's not a spoiler by the way. The whole story is pretty much told to you in the manual. Other actors sound as if they were chosen from the developer staff and told to read lines from a piece of paper before they had their morning coffee.
Character creation doesn't exist, the skills available are plentiful but with only a limited amount of skills to invest you aren't likely to put points into many of them, and your fellow NPCs often perform some stupid moves in the midst of combat such as when the wizard steps away from an oncoming enemy soldier, just to back up into several of the soldier's antagonistic allies. Or when your assassin steps away from danger so far that she walks around a corner and becomes useless. You'll have to micromanage in a number of battles.
And despite all these complaints, the game has grown on me. Most NPCs aren't given names but generic descriptions when your roll the mouse over them. Yet you still should make the attempt to talk as these people, identified as 'old man', 'middle-aged man', 'bad child', 'hooligan' and so on, often will give you quests or items that give permanent stat boosts just for talking. Again, you have to pay attention and actually take time to talk and explore in order to gain reward. Some side quests you encounter early on may be beyond your ability to handle, requiring you to move on with the intention to try again later. Some people are not always what they at first seem, for good and for ill. The violence and morbid fates of your protagonists' friends and family seem almost laughably over-the-top... and then you remember that the game is based on real events and actual Chinese records and your smirk at the dialogue from sneering villains fades as your touched by the tragic elements that must have actually happened. Reading the game manual about the amount of people killed just in the building of the Great Wall during this time gives you a sense of the desperation normal people must have felt.
So I won't be putting this game on a top 25 CRPG list anytime soon. But I will say its a flawed and forgotten gem that I must recommend. Though I am nearing the halfway point, my enjoyment of the game is increasing as I continue my play through and simultaneously absorb information on Chinese history, culture and lore. Take that for what it's worth and have a Merry Christmas while we are at it.
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