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I enjoyed my time with Greedfall. The story was mostly simple and straight-forward without much intrigue. The combat was about the same, even magic was a lot too simple. But in spite of its simplicity I still mostly enjoyed the game, its world, and story.
Date Completed: 2021-04-04
Playtime: 31h
Enjoyment: 7/10
Recommendation: I enjoyed it well enough. Go for it.
First Playthrough: Medium Difficulty / Pure Melee Build
Being free on PS Plus I will admit I went into Greedfall with little to no hype or expectations and only a passing experience of Dragon Age-esque RPGs. But I will say here the generally high level of quality on display here makes very enjoyable to play despite its many shortfalls. The storyline is engaging an intertwining to the point where even the shortest side quest feels set up with the time and care of a main quest quick keeps the overall story ever engaging despite the unimaginative writing, sometimes stiff voice acting and one-note though overall decently likeable characters.
Although this engagement comes at the cost of a combat system that feels incredibly shallow and monotonous, especially in the end game, yes there are 3 distinct play styles and a multitude of weapons included in each, but when they all have the same moveset and when combat generally boils down to two buttons, maybe a binded broken healing spell, and one special move it is bound to feel tiresome, even grating when you account for your companions incessant one-liners throughout. Speaking of, the games simplistic approach to RPGs is no more prevalent than in its companions as due to a lack of controllable companion levelling or any combat interactivity with them at all, makes them feel more like minions and damage sponges rather than 2/3rds of a coherent and organised team. The lack of different set-ups and playstyles of these companions definitely hurts the replayability although the differing dialogue they offer in missions adds some flavour to the proceedings, it is not enough to keep people coming back.
The lore of the world and the characters is also interesting although it is held back by it being told nearly exclusively through dialogue with basically no in-game texts expanding on it. Just another part that looks intriguing but is too shallow to make an impact. Although it can look fairly underwhelming for a 2019 release, the scenery looks stunning at points and exploration is encouraged, the maps are fairly small in number and size but Spiders clearly put time and care into making them all look unique.
All-in-all a fairly enjoyable experience whose grand and complex vision is clearly held back by budgetary constraints. I would be interested in a Spiders game with more time and money put in as this clearly shows heart and passion for the genre and is rather well-made and bug-free. I wonder if my magic-focused second playthrough on extreme will give me any different impressions.
ENDING SPOILERS: One of my most major gripes and one that left me with a sour taste in my mouth as the credits rolled is the ending, not the final Fallout-esque epilogue sequence but the whole “final battle” itself. It builds it up as some final big defence with all the major factions against Constantin’s beast army. And I’m sure that battle was grand and all but having you come in with all 5 of your companions at the big fight has ended in some kinda Avengers Assemble moment only to fight 3 small groups of stragglers before you battle the Midir-like final boss left me incredibly underwhelmed, especially as the build-up was so engaging throughout.
Being free on PS Plus I will admit I went into Greedfall with little to no hype or expectations and only a passing experience of Dragon Age-esque RPGs. But I will say here the generally high level of quality on display here makes very enjoyable to play despite its many shortfalls. The storyline is engaging an intertwining to the point where even the shortest side quest feels set up with the time and care of a main quest quick keeps the overall story ever engaging despite the unimaginative writing, sometimes stiff voice acting and one-note though overall decently likeable characters.
Although this engagement comes at the cost of a combat system that feels incredibly shallow and monotonous, especially in the end game, yes there are 3 distinct play styles and a multitude of weapons included in each, but when they all have the same moveset and when combat generally boils down to two buttons, maybe a binded broken healing spell, and one special move it is bound to feel tiresome, even grating when you account for your companions incessant one-liners throughout. Speaking of, the games simplistic approach to RPGs is no more prevalent than in its companions as due to a lack of controllable companion levelling or any combat interactivity with them at all, makes them feel more like minions and damage sponges rather than 2/3rds of a coherent and organised team. The lack of different set-ups and playstyles of these companions definitely hurts the replayability although the differing dialogue they offer in missions adds some flavour to the proceedings, it is not enough to keep people coming back.
The lore of the world and the characters is also interesting although it is held back by it being told nearly exclusively through dialogue with basically no in-game texts expanding on it. Just another part that looks intriguing but is too shallow to make an impact. Although it can look fairly underwhelming for a 2019 release, the scenery looks stunning at points and exploration is encouraged, the maps are fairly small in number and size but Spiders clearly put time and care into making them all look unique.
All-in-all a fairly enjoyable experience whose grand and complex vision is clearly held back by budgetary constraints. I would be interested in a Spiders game with more time and money put in as this clearly shows heart and passion for the genre and is rather well-made and bug-free. I wonder if my magic-focused second playthrough on extreme will give me any different impressions.
ENDING SPOILERS: One of my most major gripes and one that left me with a sour taste in my mouth as the credits rolled is the ending, not the final Fallout-esque epilogue sequence but the whole “final battle” itself. It builds it up as some final big defence with all the major factions against Constantin’s beast army. And I’m sure that battle was grand and all but having you come in with all 5 of your companions at the big fight has ended in some kinda Avengers Assemble moment only to fight 3 small groups of stragglers before you battle the Midir-like final boss left me incredibly underwhelmed, especially as the build-up was so engaging throughout.
A really good clone of Witcher 3 in many ways. In fact, blend Witcher 3 and a few bits from Fable 3, and you have this game. Game play, navigation and open world are fun and full with perks. Missions are well thought out and your actions play essential part in the way game take turns. Graphics are good, just not great. The combo of six factions: The Bridge Alliance, The Coin Guard, The Congregation of Merchants, Theleme, Nauts, and Yecht Fradi are the heart of the game. Very well balanced. Hoping for a sequel.
«Can’t stop playing»
«Liked before it became a hit»
Charming game that overstays its welcome with fetch type backtracking sidequests and a few too many technical issues.
A 20 hour game stretched thin to almost 50 hours if trying to do everything, which is required to do because of inconsistent enemy balance.
PROS:
- Character design
- World design
- Armor design
- Armor visual upgrades
- Companions
- Character combat customization
CONS:
- Technical issues
- Unoptimized console port
- Story intro too short and lacking any emtional bond to the main protagonist
- Heavy invisible walls around many objects
- Character getting stuck under trees geometry
- Potion use requires character to stand still causing combat flow to stop for animation ingestion ending
- Bad face shadows
- Low res textures on npc armors
- Inconsistent lighting
- Assest reuse, especially in faction different towns
- Voices not matching character age
- Enemy unbalance in the early levels and last bosses
- Poison at low levels is too extreme
- Chain stun from certain enemies is near unexcapable
- Mage ranged only build is not viable
- Melee only is not viable and requires ranged support for certain type of enemies and bosses
A title that despite the mentioned flaws deserves to be played, atleast in lower difficulty to speed througth it. Not worth the full price so wait for a sale.
A 20 hour game stretched thin to almost 50 hours if trying to do everything, which is required to do because of inconsistent enemy balance.
PROS:
- Character design
- World design
- Armor design
- Armor visual upgrades
- Companions
- Character combat customization
CONS:
- Technical issues
- Unoptimized console port
- Story intro too short and lacking any emtional bond to the main protagonist
- Heavy invisible walls around many objects
- Character getting stuck under trees geometry
- Potion use requires character to stand still causing combat flow to stop for animation ingestion ending
- Bad face shadows
- Low res textures on npc armors
- Inconsistent lighting
- Assest reuse, especially in faction different towns
- Voices not matching character age
- Enemy unbalance in the early levels and last bosses
- Poison at low levels is too extreme
- Chain stun from certain enemies is near unexcapable
- Mage ranged only build is not viable
- Melee only is not viable and requires ranged support for certain type of enemies and bosses
A title that despite the mentioned flaws deserves to be played, atleast in lower difficulty to speed througth it. Not worth the full price so wait for a sale.