Praise the Obsidian Lords

[anom9n]

I can’t find major topic for first impressions.

140 hours. Just finished. Love the game and Obsidian. So, here is my list of complains and delights.

 

Bad stuff:

• Bugs and loading times. (better than nwn2 situation tho)

• Pathfinding during the battle.

• Insane combat speed limiting the quantity of tactics.

• Spells missing targets, spell range, only 4 spells for spell level, no buffs before the battle, friendly fire, spending money for learning spells (!) and mages as the first target of any enemy. Yeah, some classes fall from grace. Very sad thing.

• Dragons. Dragons are so generic and boring. Please, no more dragons.

• Endless Paths. Just fighting monsters, disarming traps, maybe four short dialogues? No puzzles? Very icewindish or even diabloish. And there is only head, hands and feet of the giant. Where is the rest? Expansion should add secret location - Adra Pantaloons Of Od Nua. Nipple area will also work. ;D

• The Master Below. I was expecting Demogorgon.

“Can I ask you something?
  What did you expect?
  So disappointed
  With what you get
  Do you ever want to
  Just get out of here?
  So disappointed
  You Disappear”

• Music. This game deserves much more. Justin Bell’s work is totally mediocre and definitely too short. Repetitive for sure. No final battle theme? Really?  Main Theme is not memorable. It’s bland like some random plains theme from random game. Eternity is not random. Soule’s Icewind Dale (1) Theme and Neverwinter Nights (1) Theme, Hoenig’s Baldur’s Gate and Shadows of Amn, Zur’s Throne Of Bhaal Theme, Brandon’s Mask of the Betrayer Theme,  Romero & King’s Heroes of Might and Magic IV Theme are great examples of right thing in the right place. Timeless pieces of art. Emotional, powerful and gentle at the same time. What happend to Michael Hoenig? Is he dead or imprisoned in the asylum on the far away island? He created two masterpieces and vanished just like that?  This is what i will do in my next playthrough:

• Backer NPCs aka godlikes everywhere. :/

• Defiance Bay is too small. Still the best crpg city since Athkatla. (Obsidian’s vision of Neverwinter sucks big time, now they’re came back)

• Stronghold. I am a fan of economic strategies, city builders, stuff like that. Very dead genre. (fall of Tilted Mill and their cancelled last hope project Medieval Mayor was horrible. I hope they will have a chance someday... (hello Paradox))  After Obsidian’s brilliant ideas of trade in Storm Of Zehir and decent NWN2 Stronghold my expectations… You know. Caed Nua is just a small minigame full of nothing. But with CHAIR. Resting bonuses are funny.

• Lack of interesting talents

• Group stealth or no stealth at all. Can’t hide during fight? Something is wrong here.

• Too much violet colour in visual effects.

• There is no info about monster type in bestiary - vessel, wilder, primordial etc.

• More portraits for humans and elves rather then godlikes, aumaua, orlans. You can find portraits for humans and elves everywhere… While godlikes…. Well, good luck.

 

Good stuff:

• Story, writing and the final plot twist. Oh dear, so extatic. ;D

• Atmosphere

• Quests, side quests

• Lore

• Best reputation system ever. Please, continue expanding this idea.

• Beautiful graphics. Outstanding enviroment, art style. Details, details, details. Thousands of them. I spend a lot of time just admiring enviroment.

• No experience for killing. It’s all about *knowing* now. Dak’kon approves.

• I like that max level is reachable before end of the game even with 5 companions. This allows selection of quests that match personality of main character. There is no crazy need for XP.

• Good variety of weapons and armors.

• Chanter mechanics. Absolutely cool.

• Druids have their moment of glory. They deserve that.

• Antagonist

• Lack of romances. Surprisingly refreshing.

• Character creation, races, classes.

• Background and culture.

• Eora looks like very promising world to discover.

• Well designed creatures.

• Ooze

• Fine crafting

• Kana Rua. My first character was an scholar cipher aumaua from Rauatai. I was happy to travel with someone from my people with similiar hunger for knowledge. :D

• You must gather your party before venturing forth.

• Narrator with sliding text <3

 

Neutral stuff:

• Interface - not irritating, not impressing. I prefer much more BG style: options, tabs on the left, portraits on the right, abilities, spells and tactics down. I don’t like everything in one place.

• Companions. Too early to make a verdict.

• Not sure what to think about might for everyone. Need time.

 

Sorry for terrible english.

[gkathellar]

Well said. This pretty much encapsulates my own feelings.

[Ramireza]

Clap, clap, clap... This sums it up perfectly!

 

Only for one thing : I like the music

[Excalibur_2102]

Only thing I think a lot of people will disagree with you on is the music.  A lot of people seem to like it, including myself.  However lack of music could be an issue with me.. Like you say, no boss music etc.

[bimpnottin]

I like the music and the main theme.  It gives me a feeling of traversing a mysterious environment and adventure  I find the icewind dale main theme agitating tbh.. Thank you Justin Bell

[Macro]

well with 140 Hours you are quite slow underway

 

first playthrough on normal....

 

 

63 hours With ALL sidequests

 

some people even only needed 30 or 25 hours to beat the game.

 

personally ? i rly hoped for more. ..

 

well time to turn up the difficulty and collect the left arcivements and so on...

ps:

that list sums it up

 

one thing you have forgotten :

 

the monster variations. there could have been a bigger variety here

 

in the game there is a little shortage about monster types

Edited April 13, 2015 by Macro

[apolloooo]

pretty much , agreed, except music. i find NWN music boringm but pillars is excellent. mask of the betrayer music tho, is really good