This game is the ABSOLUTE definition of wasted potential.
It has top-notch world-building, art and sound design. Even when I wasn't completely sold on the universe they built, I couldn't help but admire it. Even if there were holes in the lore, I was eager to learn more.
There are, however, inconsistencies in other departments. By inconsistencies, I mean utter failures. And those other departments are the story, the gameplay and the characters.
The one that, I could agree, is more up to debate, is the characters' department. There are plenty of reasons to love them. To me, however, they are actual psychopaths incapable of self evaluation most of the time. I STILL LIKE THEM, but their choices and lack of growth are nausating at best.
The gameplay and the story are far less redeemable. I liked the RNG elements, they were interesting and mostly non-intrusive. I enjoyed the resource management and the map exploration. I didn't mind missing items because of the RNG. I DREADED the 2D side-scrolling exploration because it was a "move to the right" snooze fest most of the time. There were some sections that were smart and creative but there were very few of those. The puzzles can't be called puzzles by any means. At all. So this leaves the gameplay side of the game in a very unbalanced position I'd say.
And the story. God darn it, the story. The only reason I didn't fully hate the story is because the characters are too damn likable. I guess it's not the story what I hate so much but the characters' motivations, which I find to be a cliche of a cliche. And that ending... what a waste.
However this is a remarkable game. It is truly outstanding that the game doesn't collapse by the weight of an awful narrative and poor gameplay decisions. It's just built on a very sturdy art direction. I just wish, when developing the game, they'd spent half of the time refinating the story instead of the lore.
You may not believe me but it took me more than 25 hours to beat. I explored everything there was in the map. I still liked my time with the game but I'm unsure about going back and playing the rest of the Opus series.
It has top-notch world-building, art and sound design. Even when I wasn't completely sold on the universe they built, I couldn't help but admire it. Even if there were holes in the lore, I was eager to learn more.
There are, however, inconsistencies in other departments. By inconsistencies, I mean utter failures. And those other departments are the story, the gameplay and the characters.
The one that, I could agree, is more up to debate, is the characters' department. There are plenty of reasons to love them. To me, however, they are actual psychopaths incapable of self evaluation most of the time. I STILL LIKE THEM, but their choices and lack of growth are nausating at best.
The gameplay and the story are far less redeemable. I liked the RNG elements, they were interesting and mostly non-intrusive. I enjoyed the resource management and the map exploration. I didn't mind missing items because of the RNG. I DREADED the 2D side-scrolling exploration because it was a "move to the right" snooze fest most of the time. There were some sections that were smart and creative but there were very few of those. The puzzles can't be called puzzles by any means. At all. So this leaves the gameplay side of the game in a very unbalanced position I'd say.
And the story. God darn it, the story. The only reason I didn't fully hate the story is because the characters are too damn likable. I guess it's not the story what I hate so much but the characters' motivations, which I find to be a cliche of a cliche. And that ending... what a waste.
However this is a remarkable game. It is truly outstanding that the game doesn't collapse by the weight of an awful narrative and poor gameplay decisions. It's just built on a very sturdy art direction. I just wish, when developing the game, they'd spent half of the time refinating the story instead of the lore.
You may not believe me but it took me more than 25 hours to beat. I explored everything there was in the map. I still liked my time with the game but I'm unsure about going back and playing the rest of the Opus series.