OK, let's start with the bad.
The combat in this game is, at its best points, quick and unobtrusive. Real time with pause is a fucking scam and I can't believe every D&D-related game at the turn of the century got tricked into using it. There are sections which are just a long string of fights, and these are the game's nadir.
I have no idea how anyone who doesn't already understand AD&D knows what the fuck is going on mechanically. AC is descending, but items that improve it will be written as plusses. THAC0 isn't impossible to understand, but you need to actually explain it. How do saves work? Planescape will not tell you.
I also encountered a late game bug that wouldn have hard stopped me from finishing if I didn't use console commands. It's from that era of jank I guess.
So why 5 stars? What makes this an incredible experience for me is the world, story, and the characters that inhabit both of these things. It's a tale that tries to tackle personhood and the nature of belief and while it hardly nails it every time, this ambition leads it to some fun, clever, sad and unique places you probably won't see anywhere else. It's a central ethos that is reflected in all things.
It's amazing how often Dungeons and Dragons, a game that is notionally about exploring worlds beyond imagination, is afraid to truly get fantastical, and this is maybe the only official thing that's stepped up to the plate.
I wish I'd stuck with this when I first had a go back in the mid 2000s, it probably would have taken root firmly in my brain and never left. As it stands, I'm incredibly happy I gave it a second chance.
The combat in this game is, at its best points, quick and unobtrusive. Real time with pause is a fucking scam and I can't believe every D&D-related game at the turn of the century got tricked into using it. There are sections which are just a long string of fights, and these are the game's nadir.
I have no idea how anyone who doesn't already understand AD&D knows what the fuck is going on mechanically. AC is descending, but items that improve it will be written as plusses. THAC0 isn't impossible to understand, but you need to actually explain it. How do saves work? Planescape will not tell you.
I also encountered a late game bug that wouldn have hard stopped me from finishing if I didn't use console commands. It's from that era of jank I guess.
So why 5 stars? What makes this an incredible experience for me is the world, story, and the characters that inhabit both of these things. It's a tale that tries to tackle personhood and the nature of belief and while it hardly nails it every time, this ambition leads it to some fun, clever, sad and unique places you probably won't see anywhere else. It's a central ethos that is reflected in all things.
It's amazing how often Dungeons and Dragons, a game that is notionally about exploring worlds beyond imagination, is afraid to truly get fantastical, and this is maybe the only official thing that's stepped up to the plate.
I wish I'd stuck with this when I first had a go back in the mid 2000s, it probably would have taken root firmly in my brain and never left. As it stands, I'm incredibly happy I gave it a second chance.