Legends of Eisenwald

[El Zoido]

Anyone backed/playing it?

The game was made by a small studio from Belarus.

They did a Kickstarter, spend quite some time in Early Access on Steam and now it's finally released.

 

It's a tactics/strategy/rpg hybrid in the vein of games like the Heroes of Might and Magic series or Disciples.

The main story has you battling and questing through a series of individual maps while commanding a small squad of various troops (divided in melee, ranged and casters).

As your troops get more experienced, you can upgrade them in different ways (e.g. a noble can be developed towards a knight or a duelist) and equip them with different armors, weapons and trinkets, which offer additional upgrading/individualisation options.

 

On each map you are relatively free in where you are going and what you are doing first and many quests offer you different options in how you can resolve them, so there's some non-linearity to the game, too.

One of the strengths of the game is the writing, imo. The setting is low-fantasy, in a (fictional) part of the Holy Roman Empire during the late middle ages.

The main story is interesting and there are a ton of small stories to be found in the form of fairytales, fables or rumors, many of which tie into quests.

 

Combat system is fairly unique and interesting, if a bit simple at times (although that depends a lot on how quickly you go for the difficult battles, or how you compose your party). Battles so far don't require too much tactics (I'm only playing on normal, though), which is to some degree probably because individual battles play out relatively fast and mostly revolve around how to knock out as many enemies as fast as possible. There are some exceptions, though.

 

I do definitely recommend to check it out to anyone who enjoyed games like the aforementioned HoMM or Disciples.

There's also a fairly detailed tutorial series on youtube by a guy called Joe Fowler that explains the basic gameplay.

And lastly, the (in)famous rpgcodex.net has a review of the game...

Edited July 14, 2015 by El Zoido

[spellbound99]

I have this game! Bought when they hit Early Access and kind of hated the combat initially. But then it grew on me. Playing the main campaign now and God, this game change a lot since the 2013. Pretty much the only Early Access I feel happy about getting. I post more when I finish. Did the (in)famous rpgcodex trashed the game like they did PoE? Do they like anything? I will read it a bit later, afraid of spoilers.

[samm]

I backed it, but mainly because I liked the concept, the similarities to Disciples, and the devs, but was not really interested in playing it, so I just backed without rewards. However, after having seen some played scenes of the current version, I consider buying it.

[El Zoido]

 Did the (in)famous rpgcodex trashed the game like they did PoE? Do they like anything? I will read it a bit later, afraid of spoilers.

 

Actually the reviewer quite liked it, although he found the combat a bit too simplistic at times. Well, it does not offer too many deep choices once you have a fixed troop of soldiers with some upgrades to them. Then again I'm not too far in myself, so I can't say too much about the late game.

Review itself is not too spoilery, iirc.

[spellbound99]

Actually the reviewer quite liked it, although he found the combat a bit too simplistic at times. Well, it does not offer too many deep choices once you have a fixed troop of soldiers with some upgrades to them. Then again I'm not too far in myself, so I can't say too much about the late game.

Review itself is not too spoilery, iirc.

I still will wait. As for combat though - I didn't quite like it in the beginning, as I said. But then I played their new scenario, Damned Castle and I really start digging it. The thing is, it's simplistic in the beginning but when you get at least one level, it really starts being challenging. I played some battles like 20 times until I won. The campaign now I am playing chapter with Wolves Widow and Pastor, and that's ton of fun! Huge map, really. 

 

But having said that, I used to love Disciples 2 combat and LoE does remind me of that. Which is not the best things, Disciples 2 was rather simplistic but this is indeed innovative. I think cavalry is overpowered though, so I never use it. 

[Chilloutman]

nah, will probably stick to AoW3 for now

[spellbound99]

I just discovered that some legends you hear are for real! I used to skip reading them early on. That's a really interesting turn of events. That boss in Threver took me forever to beat. 

 

El Zoido, did you play the campaign already? I tried to read up on Steam forums but so many spoilers there, even the topics. Unsure whether or not to take a certain quest of someone whose name starts with Z... 

[El Zoido]

I'm still in "The Widow, the pastor and the wolf", so while I guess I met Mr Z, I haven't received a quest from him yet.

I could have gone on to the next chapter already, but I still try to figure out the location of a few of the undead you have to find for the monk Moritz.

 

The way rumors, stories and legends are woven into different quests is pretty cool, imo. Even though some solutions to the side quests can get a bit difficult to figure out (or at least require careful reading), it's a welcome turn of pace from the usual "follow the quest compass" routine for me. Admittedly I had to consult the net once or twice though.

[spellbound99]

I tried to avoid consulting the net but I had to do it too. Few times I found it annoying but then I discovered it was my fault since I just overlooked a few things in the quest log. 

 

I think I will postpone playing it until the weekend because I can't think of anything else now I find the moral dilemmas pretty deep. Played late into the night and had hard time doing my work in the office. I think the last time I was so much into the game it was King's Bounty: The Legend. For some reason these two seem to have similar vibe despite being so different in a story department. 

Edited July 15, 2015 by spellbound99

[El Zoido]

So I have met Z. in the next chapter now and been offered his quest.

Not sure either what I will do yet. I guess it depends on whether you want revenge nor matter what or might be willing to give up on it eventually.

Too bad I won't be ble to play much in the next 2 weeks, I'll be on vacation and my laptop can't run that game.

[spellbound99]

I went for his quest! I don't trust the others and him not so much but at least it sounds somewhat reasonable. I have a feeling it will have its downside but screw that, I want justice. How appropriate is actually the line in the game page description - and what is your justice, really? I am impressed by how well interconnected all pieces of the story are. 

 

Initially I thought my 4 year old Lenovo laptop wouldn't run the game. However, I read about Nvidia panel settings somewhere and after I added Eisenwald.exe and also the launcher to the panel to run on high performance Nvidia card, the game performs quite well! Granted, FPS used to drop below 20 on Chapter 4 but smaller maps it's all smooth and 30+. It's a nice change for me since a lot of other games don't run at all or run with a very low FPS. 

[spellbound99]

Finished the game yesterday. Final combat took me almost an hour to figure it out! All because I missed hints beforehand.

 

Overall, it's great and I think I will play more. I know now at least where one key decision lies and interesting to see if there are other endings. 

 

Good things:

• Combat is fun and stays fun pretty much to the end. However - only if you use different troops in your army. Put 4 mounted units in front and you will get much less tactical choice. I think it will hold true if you select the same units in your front line.
• Story. Really well written and folk lore is waved in really nice. Non-linear! The only minus so far - starts a bit too slow to my liking. 
• Customization and upgrades. Probably the most fun part. Growing your troops and equipping them is very satifactory, having 8 slots of equipment for each unit is really sweet (4 amulets, helmet, armor, weapon, second weapon/shield) plus two potions. Mounted units have extra slot for horse equipment.
• Immersion - if you like medieval times, this is like taking a trip.
• A lot of replay value - my playthrough took about 55 hours. Ultrahard level is really tempting. 

 

A few issues though:

• Interface is a bit awkward. I got used to it but still.
• Chapter 3 is weird, running away under time pressure without having it anywhere else in the game is not too bad but somehow feels out of place. 
• Was hoping for more strategy but this game is indeed more RPG. The only resource you got is gold. Doesn't make the game worse imho, I just had different expectations. 

If I had to rate this game, it's 9/10. Maybe should be a bit lower but this is one of the big pleasant surprises I ran into recently. For a small indie team to pull of a game with so much content is indeed a huge accomplishment. I hope it sells well enough so we get to see some addons and expansions.