Recent reviews by Kebablord

Well... if the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ autosave would work...
Now killed my progress several times.

Shame, bcs we are talking of the mother of IdleGames here. Nice for killing time and enjoying growing numbers. I just cannot recommend the Steam version so far.

Snowballing Simulator 4000.
Cheating and inconsequential AI, weird acting barbarians (that can spawn units for free that are higher tier than anything you or the other players can recruit) and game design choices that make tall-strategies nearly impossible and just favor wide-gameplay.
In fact: if you have a bad starting position with less production than other players you have already lost bcs the others can pump out settlers quicker and there is next to no penalty for too quick expansion. The first rounds already decide who wins, unless the leading players make grave mistakes.

Which is a shame, bcs the game offers some very neat systems and has some very cool elements.

I can forgive many issues (as for example you can see with my review on Stronghold: Warlords), but when the core gameplay loop is broken, the game cannot be saved. And since it is apparently hard-programmed that the AI has to start a world war in certain intervals (so that even allies turn on you), the singleplayer is also barely enjoyable.

I really wanted to love this game. I enjoy the visuals, the competition for great people, the new government system, the district system, the new conditions for world wonders, the climate change features of the Gathering Storm add-on. But no, I am sick of this pile of sh*t and wasting my time on it.

Don't get me wrong, I got 50h+ playtime because some matches worked okayish but that was basically sheer luck. Let's hope for Humankind to be a proper successor to this butchered franchise.

To make it quick: solid 7/10. Chance to become an 8/10 with more content and updates.

Graphics: 7/10 - Consistent but very outdated
Sound: 8/10 - Awesome soundtrack and sound design during sieges, voice-over however is questionable
Gameplay: 8/10 - Major improvements and solid core loop, but clunky. AI also works surprisingly well in skirmish
Interface: 7/10 - Comfort features missing, also easy to missclick
Content: 6/10 - Lacking AI opponents and skirmish / MP maps but good groundwork
Technical Stability: 6/10 - Very few bugs but performance issues in grand-scale situations even with the low unit cap


Here some unsorted thoughts:

-From all 3D Strongholds it is the one with the least design issues and best balancing. The gameplay systems work, the AI (in skirmish) as well.
-From the visual side it is consistent and sometimes quite beautiful but definitely outdated by at least 10 years.
-The soundtrack is epic, the voice-over however might not be for everyone.
-Major drawbacks however are the low unit cap (which can be extended in single player by altering a file manually) and the poor performance with many AIs and players.
-Also the game as of now lacks content in form of maps and AI opponents which will hopefully added later as DLCs as it happened in Crusader II.
-I don't see how Firefly will fix the performance issues, since they are already happening in Stronghold 3 and Crusader II which makes it seem that they cannot handle the engine properly. So this will most likely be an issue forever. But it definitely runs better than Crusader II.
-They found many solutions for problems though their solutions are often not elegant which makes the game seem clunky. Combat has improved a lot due to units now having proper collision.
-The warlords system works overall but feels too passive.
-Many comfort features are missing (lock cursor too window, windowed mode, antialiasing, attack-move etc)
-The stronghold gameplay formula really is indestructible.

Horrible onboarding and UI,
- Not allowed to get into the settings in the main menu
- Start the game with non-skippable cut scenes (and i don't mean the loading screen, which is cool)
- Finally allowed to get into the settings (and of course they were pre-adjusted wrongly)
- Restart required for new settings to take effect
- Having now either to continue playing with wrong settings for creating a save or restart and having to go through unskippable cut scenes again

When will devs finally learn that it is a bad thing to take control away from the player? You simply cannot foresee what the player wants to do. If you can't manage being artsy while still giving the player enough control to setup their preferences, then you failed UI/UX-wise. That easy.
This could have been fixed by including a button at the right point in the User's Journey (or if it was there, placing it in a way that it can be found more easily)

Same mistake as For Honor had before it got reworked.
Might be a nice game but if the onboarding is being done that wrong, I can't be bothered anymore. Absolute rookie-mistake.

I will update this review piece by piece.

Edit: 08.06.2016

Verdict: 7,4/10 with the potential to reach a 9/10 when more content and mechanics are added to the working core.

A detailed review with me participating can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzv9WswlA4Q
(don't forget: I am German, so I complain a lot and focus on negative things. Just because I have only few words for the positive sides doesn't mean that I don't value them ;) )
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The game is now running smoothly apart of some tearing issues which can easily be fixed by tabbing out and back in.

My complains about the visual side of the game still stand. While the units are great, the level design cannot keep up.

But now to the Gameplay:
CA left the core-mechanic untouched which is good since it guarantees fun. The game has been simplified an many areas: internal politics, external politics, the number of buildings has been vastly reduced and the units now have next to no special abilities or formations. This might sound bad, but it allows new players to dive in.
On the other hand: CA added many new features: Magic, Beasts and the heros have been vastly improved. The game is way more battle focused than before and the battles in their core work well. They feel more fluid and due to the slower pace the player has now more time for executing the strategy. A lot of micromanagement has been thrown over board.

Compared to other installments of the TW franchise the factions have huge differences in their playstyle. Each of them is completely uniquie and sometimes even offers new mechanics. For example the Greenskins have the "waaagh!"-mechanic which lets an AI army spawn when the palyer keeps up playing aggressively while a defensive playstyle leads to negative effects. Such new mechanics add a new side to TW.
The downside is that (with Chaos) there ar eonly 5 playable factions in the game yet and each of them has quite the small unit roster.

Can I recommend this game? Only partly. The core works fine but the player needs to know what to expect. I perosnally miss depth in the game mechanics compared to other TW games. It is a quite polished barebone which is waiting for being expanded with DLC and other installments as well as mods.
As a Warhammer game TW: Warhammer is undoubtedly the best videogame depicting this era of the material.
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Original:
To be honest: This game is (at the moment)a desaster regarding technology.
Unfortunately I cannot judge the gameplay itself since the game refuses to run for longer than 5-10minutes.
3 out of 4 times the game doesn't even make it past the splash screen and when you think it runs well it crashes. Great. As far as I know I am not alone with the issues but I also know of many cases where the game runs just fine.

I was only able to judge a bit from the visual side, so here it is:

PRO:
- extremely detailed unit models
- fantastic animation work
- good unit textures
- great environment design

CON:
- The environment looks ugly as ♥♥♥♥. Don't get me wrong, the design is great, but the execution is bad. Clipping errors, extreme low texture resolution, flying objects, if I were to continue this list I would still sit here tomorrow.
- Clipping errors in the models. No matter how detailed they are, the immersion goes downhill when a unit rams its shoulder-plate into its own throat.
- Again the environment: Many objects are just missing. Things like stones are mainly painted on the ground, without bump maps and what so ever. This might work in WoW which has a quite low-poly and cartoony look but when units are displayed so realistic it only creates a quality contrast.

So visual-wise: The battles themselves look great but you shouldn't pay attention to teh environment. Which is sad, since the new direction of level design invites you even more to zoom in and enjoy the scenery. But the major flaws in the execution of the level building make you regret it instantly which leads the effort that went into the units ad absurdum.

At least in my case the release is worse than Rome IIs was and I just want to punch the art director in the face. In many scenes the game (on ultra-settings) just looks worse than Rome II. I can only warn everybody: Wait untill more patches are out there and see how the game develops. Atm it is a high-risk-buy.

EDIT#1_24.05.2016
Since it has been asked, here are my specs:
GPU: GTX980ti
RAM: 16 GB DDR3-1600
CPU: i7 3770k
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO

This may only serve as an early first impression. I might edit this review later on.

Blackguards 2 is a turn-based RPG/tactic game set in the Dark Eye Universe.

The graphics:
Blackguards 2 is not a AAA game especially regarding presentation techniques like graphics. But the artstyle is consistent. Some animations may be very rough and some textures only have a low resolution but in general the graphics look nice and atmospheric. 7/10

Sound:
The soundtrack is plain awesome! The music is atmospheric and fits the settings. ALso it doesn't repeat too often. Most voice-actors do a good job and the voices are fitting. 9/10

The atmosphere:
The world of Blackguards 2 is dark and brutal. The dialogues and the design of the locations and characters totally fit into that world and some locations are nothing less than epic. Unfortunately sometimes stiff animations break the immersion. 8/10

Gameplay:
The game is hard. Even in the beginning. Make one wrong step and you die. It is totally essentiall to know the skills of your characters. Every skill seems to be important. Though the skillsystem is slightly overwhelming at the beginning it allows carefull planning for the future.
There are often over a dozen characters at the same time in the battle and the arenas offer a lot of interactive objects. The developers used these to turn some battles into riddles. Tactic is much more important than luck!
The interface works well but is in some cases (especially trading and inventory) not very comfortable. 8/10

Writing:
The story is a bit confusing at the beginning and has several timejumps. The main protagonist Cassia is, to say it frankly, a maniac. To make it short: I personally don't like her. I must admit that I don't even care for her and her story. Hopefully that will change soon...
The other characters instead are super! There are cool dynamics between them, everyone has his habits and background. Most dialogues are very funny to hear. 7/10

So in general I would rate the game with a 8 out of 10 and I will definitely continue to play it.