This is what I like to call a 3-Star Classic. There are so many interesting ideas in here and even though most of them fall apart at the seams it's an absorbing experience nonetheless. I love the realistic historical setting, the main quest story is fantastic, and I love that at the beginning you're not just low levels, you're actively bad at things until you do them more and level up your skills. Once you get the hang of the systems it's all so engrossing. But it's held together by dissolving glue.
Combat falls apart once there are more than 3 enemies and in the big battles, it's a glitchy unintuitive mess. There are a total of many 5 different NPC models in the whole game. The world is beautiful until you get too close to something. There are low-res bushes all over the world that you can't walk through and stop you in your tracks like a titanium barrier. The music is good until you realize you're listening to the same few tracks the entire time. Side quests are only mildly interesting at best.
Despite all that — and I'm sure many of the problems came down to the budget being too small for everything they wanted to do — I was immersed and invested the whole time. I loved riding my horse through the world. I loved getting Henry to go from hapless blacksmith apprentice to charismatic knight who can talk his way out of anything just as well as he can cut his way out, I loved getting ambushed by a group of bandits and coming out on top. I can't wait to see how they improve everything in the sequel.
Combat falls apart once there are more than 3 enemies and in the big battles, it's a glitchy unintuitive mess. There are a total of many 5 different NPC models in the whole game. The world is beautiful until you get too close to something. There are low-res bushes all over the world that you can't walk through and stop you in your tracks like a titanium barrier. The music is good until you realize you're listening to the same few tracks the entire time. Side quests are only mildly interesting at best.
Despite all that — and I'm sure many of the problems came down to the budget being too small for everything they wanted to do — I was immersed and invested the whole time. I loved riding my horse through the world. I loved getting Henry to go from hapless blacksmith apprentice to charismatic knight who can talk his way out of anything just as well as he can cut his way out, I loved getting ambushed by a group of bandits and coming out on top. I can't wait to see how they improve everything in the sequel.