Recent reviews by Fröb

Did it take CA way too long to add new content to the game? Definitely.
Is the DLC overpriced? Yeah.
Are the Chaos Dwarfs fun? Hell yes!

Despite being now the 24th faction for the game series, the Dawi-Zharr still offer a very unique playstyle on the campaign map, which is not only thematic but can also turn out quite challenging. Especially their unit roster is pure fun for people who love heavily armoured infantry in combination with artillery that can blast whole armies from the battlefield.
In my opinion the Chaos Dwarfs are one of the best races in the Total War: Warhammer trilogy so far!

Gothic I and Gothic II were major games of my childhood and their uniqueness regarding the gameplay, the story and the general world setting still fascinate me up to his day. So, I was very curious if The Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos would be a worthy addition to the Gothic universe. After 65 h I finished my first playthrough and now want to give a spoiler-free review.

• Amount of Content: As stated, I spent about 65 h for my first run. There is an insane amount of quests to do, secrets to explore and enemies to fight.
  
• Is this really a Mod?: The quality of the world, the quest design and the amount of love that went into this project is simply outstanding and is on the level what you would usually expect from a professional studio. As an addition, it is completely free!
  
• Skills: The mod creators tried their best to make every skill (hunting, smithing, etc.) useable and you can really feel it. Compared to the original games, this is definitely an upgrade.
  
• Stats: The stats (strength, dexterity, mana, weapon skills) which you can improve by a trainer are now separated from stat buffs by potions or food. So, you can use these buffs whenever you want and don’t have to spare them in fear of higher learning point costs.
  
• The World: The island Archolos as well as the big city are beautifully done. Nearly all places feel unique and are easy to remember. Furthermore, it takes place in the setting of the Myrtana universe – so, you will meet a few familiar faces which I think is quite nice.
  
• Characters: I thought I would miss the “Nameless Hero” but the protagonist Marvin fills his role quite good. While most of the other characters were not as charismatic as the ones from the original series, there are still some pretty unique ones.
  
• Gold: The economy of the game is extremely well balanced. I often had to look where to get more gold to purchase the things I wanted – even in the late game. So, the game limits you a bit in this regard but for me it never felt unfair.
  
• Difficulty: Like in the original parts of the Gothic series, the game is rather unforgiving. Personally, I really enjoy this but it might not be everyones taste.

• Language: I can’t speak Polish, so the audio sounds rather funny to me. Though, there are many translations for the subtitles already. During my whole playthrough, I was very impressed by the German translation and only encountered one or two minor mistakes. Nonetheless, I would have loved to have a German audio as well.
  
• Ending: The last act and especially the ending were way grimmer than I expected. Still, this fits into the Gothic setting and it’s not a “Happy Ending” like in most games.

• Permanent Guards: Especially in the areas of important or very wealthy people, there are permanent guards. You can’t loot any chests there, unless you beat them or put them to sleep with a scroll, which I found a bit odd.

Total War: Warhammer III was one of the most anticipated games for me in the last years. With over 1500 h spent in its predecessor, I knew already that this game would be a ‘must-have’ for me. Now I want to give my detailed review about the recently released last part of the trilogy (build 1.0.0). I want to add that I solely focus on the campaign side of the game and not on custom battles. Also, many points are meant as a comparision to Total War: Warhammer II.

• Prologue Campaign: The prologue campaign is very well made. It introduces the player to the story while explaining all the necessary basics and enables complete newcomers a good start into the series.
  
• Unique Races: All of the new races not only look extremely unique but also feature their own playstyle. Each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
  
• Diplomacy: Inspired by Total War: Three Kingdoms the new diplomacy system is now way more comprehensible for the player and offers new possibilities like the trading of settlements. Finally, it is possible to declare raiding and trespassing factions on your territory war, while breaking existing non-aggression pacts and trade agreements without receiving a diplomatic penalty.
  
• Military Alliances: You can now see on the campaign map where your military allies plan to go. And thanks to the new outpost mechanic you can help your allies to defend their major settlements as well as recruit some of their units to enhance your own roster. The AI is also able to use this system which causes very interesting army compositions.
  
• Battle Maps: The new battle maps are gigantic and extremely versatile. Land battles, minor settlement battles and siege battles feel now way more epic! The AI is also able to handle itself on the huge battlefields. Though, this layout also puts a heavy focus on fast units and artillery. Furthermore, reinforcements won’t join the battle immediately. Instead, it can be determined where they should spawn, enabling more tactical planning.
  
• Defensive Supplies and Capture Points: The idea for the defender to construct barricades and towers with defensive supplies adds lots of variety to the battles. On the other hand, the attacker gets additional buffs for capturing certain points on the map to gain momentum as a compensation.
  
• Items and Ancillaries: Low quality equipment can be fused or transformed into gold if not needed. This helps to get rid of unwanted items and to keep the character window a bit cleaner.
  
• Graphics: The graphics are simply stunning! Lots of love and effort was put into the units and the environment. From the blossoming lands of Grand Cathay up to the surreal Realms of Chaos the visual aspect of the game is outstanding! Compared to Total War: Warhammer 2 the overall setting is a bit more grim which fits the narrative.
  
• Difficulty: Playing on very hard/very hard the campaign is challenging but not to the extent where it starts to get frustrating.
  
• Ogres: One of the most anticipated and epic races finally made it into the game!

• The Realms of Chaos Campaign: The campaign map is nicely made. It really feels like you have to race against the other factions. Though, when entering the chaos realms you have to spend lots of ressources, time and troops… while gaining nothing in return in the end. There should definitely be some additional benefits for defeating the 4 demon princes because you have to invest a lot to do so. So, currently the game punishes you for progressing the story. All in all it is still a big step forward compared to the ‘Eye of the Vortex’ campaign of Total War: Warhammer II.
  
• Optimization: The optimization of the game is currently in an acceptable state. The battles themselves are very smooth and load quickly. But on the campaign map you will sometimes encounter FPS drops when finishing/starting a turn. In 15 hours of gameplay, I had only 1 CTD.

• Auto-Resolve: Auto-resolve is completely unbalanced on higher difficulties. Especially on higher difficulties you have to fight ridiculous battles manually because otherwise it will wipe half your army. It doesn’t make any sense that an attack of a full stack of ogres against 10 units of Kislev would result in a ‘Valiant Defeat’. As soon as you enter the battle map itself the balance of power bar looks way like it should. I can’t see a reason why the AI should get buffs for auto-resolve additional to the already given difficulty buffs.
  
• Items can be equipped immediately: While most of the possibilities to cheese were removed, this allows you to transfer your best items from army to army and just use them in every single battle.
  
• No Respec Button: Wanted by the community for a long time, the possibility to respec your lords and heroes whenever you want (f.e. after a confederation) was not introduced into the game. I think CA has a reason not to do so, but I am still a bit unsatisfied about this missing feature.

Age of Empires is one of the biggest representatives of the strategy game sector. Many people of my generation grew up with AoE1 or AoE2 and so the announcement of Age of Empires 4 as a more modern version of the series was greatly anticipated. After taking a first look in the game I now want to give my opinion about it (for the build 7274).

• AI: The AI is not a cheating mess like in AoE3 DE but yet also not as skilled as in AoE2 DE. Still, it varies its tactics, often uses early rushes to put pressure on the player and can sometimes build appropriate walls.
  
• Stone Walls: Units can now be placed on stone walls. Furthermore, archers can’t shoot above them and only siege units can actually damage them, which makes them really feel like a bulwark.
  
• Recruitment Time: Due to the overall high recruitment times you won’t encounter endless waves of units and actually will have an advantage once you destroy your opponents army.
  
• Landscape and Building Graphics: While I would describe the buildings as good looking, especially the landscapes with the varying altitude levels look beautiful.
  
• Gunpowder Units: All gunpowder units from infantry to siege cannons feel very impactful due to smoke effects and sound design.
  
• Sound: The sound of this game is simply amazing! The language of the units changes depending on the age as well as on the terrain your units are and the battles feel way more authentic due to the battle noise.
  
• Technical Aspects: Regarding the technical side there is nothing I could complain about. The performance is good as well as the loading times. In my first 16 h of playing I have not experienced a CTD once.

• Unit Graphics: Unfortunately, the level of detail on the units is so low that they look like they were made back in 2008.
  
• Build-Up Time of Siege Weapons: Siege weapons can build up and dismantle way too quick which not only feels weird but also makes them unbalanced.
  
• Unit Pathing: Usually, the unit pathing is ok but especially if you construct siege engines on the field or have a big battle the units start ‘sliding’ alongside each other which looks ridiculous.
  
• AI Representation: The AIs have no unique names anymore (like in AoE2) and don’t mock you anymore with messages (like in AoE3) which makes them feel a bit more lifeless.

• UI: The UI is very minimalistic, easy to read but a bit in contrast to the otherwise colourful game.
  
• No Friendly Fire: There is no friendly fire which is especially impactful when using mangonels.
  
• Guided Missiles: Sometimes the projectiles fly in a weird arc to hit their target. On the other hand, this also means that no excessive micromanagement is necessary like dodging arrows in AoE2.
  
• Victory Conditions: The victory conditions are a little bit different compared to the older games. You don’t have to destroy your enemy completely anymore or wait for him to resign – instead you must destroy his landmarks. But this means that you can also destroy your enemy by sniping his landmarks and he will automatically loose even if he still has a running economy and/or a huge army. Also, relocating your base in case your original spawn point gets overrun is only possible if you can construct a new landmark somewhere else, otherwise you will lose.
  
• Campaigns: I haven’t played the campaigns a lot since the custom matches are the major aspect of Age of Empires. So, I can’t say much about them. I only noticed that the video scenes between the missions were incredibly well made. But somehow, I have the feeling that resources which were spend for this should rather have been invested in the unit models.
  
• Population Limit: The population limit is currently 200 which feels balanced and sufficient. Still, it can be seen a bit like a downgrade compared to the custom population limit of the other parts of the series.
  
• Civilisations: The base game has currently 8 civisations which are very different and have their own mechanics each. This might seem like a loss compared to the 20 civilisations in AoE2 DE but on the other hand they really offer different play styles. Only the unit variety feels a bit lacking since all of them share the same base units.

• Map Editor
  
• Custom Player Colours
  
• Mod Support
  
• 'Random' Option for Civilisation Selection

With Cyberpunk 2077 representing one of the most anticipated games of the last years, I was now able to finish it after 80 h, while completing nearly every side quest. The review hereby represents my experience for the version 1.06 on hard difficulty.

POSITIVE:

• Main Story: While being shorter than most would’ve expected, the main questline is catching and leaves no time for boredom.
  
• Combat: With a mainly shotgun-focused build, the combat was very dynamic and fun. All in all, gun-play feels on point. Regarding melee or hacking builds I can’t give an opinion.
  
• Graphics: Thanks to raytracing, based on a RTX 2080S, the game has outstanding visual effects and one of the best graphics I’ve seen in the last time.
  
• Sound: The english voice acting is perfect and the soundtrack gives every scene their special touch.
  
• Night City: The general picture of the city feels fitting and persistent. Especially its verticality is a unique quality.

NEGATIVE:

• Bugs/Glitches/Performance: During my whole playthrough I experienced only 2 CTDs. Besides, the bugs and glitches were mainly limited to graphical problems (f. e. floating NPCs). I only encountered performance issues in act 1. The only major problem I encountered was the ‘calling system’ of your ingame handy – it can happen that you get two calls at once and they overlap, or quest breaking issues, if you get a call during certain points of quest lines.
  
• Side Quests: Most of the side quests are the so-called ‘gigs’. Unfortunately, they are all based on killing or stealing something and are quite repetitive.
  
• Cut Content: Your lifepath doesn’t matter, downgrades in the character creation (just compare V from the E2018 to the new default female one), few romance options, simplified hacking, many missed opportunities (story lines for Adam Smasher, Meredith Stout, MAX-TAC, etc.), no possibility to buy new houses,… - there are many missing features, which hopefully will be added by DLC.
  
• AI: There is no real driving AI ingame. Furthermore, the combat AI might be able to put up good fights, but despite taking cover there is not much included.
  
• Balancing: Around level 35 or so no enemy is a real thread anymore. Melee with its constant staggering of opponents seems broken, while hacking allows you to kill everybody without even engaging a fight.
  
• Physics: Especially the physics for vehicles and the driving feel very weird at the moment.
  
• ’Style is Everything’: Because of the common loot and equipment system, your items don’t fit to each other and you look like a clown most of the time. Furthermore, it is currently not possible to edit your characters looks during the playthrough which does really not fit a setting where everyone runs around with implants and cyberware.
  
• No Cutscenes: Shown at the E2018 but not included in the release version – why include a character creation when you can barely see yourself?
  
• Night City: As mentioned, the city might have an impressive look but it is not very interactive. Many players even describe it as ‘lifeless’, despite the tons of citizens.

Cyberpunk 2077 is by far not a flawless game and was not able to keep up with the overhyped expectations – shockingly, I still had a lot of fun playing it! At its current state I would give the game a 80/100. Once all bugs are fixed, the performance is optimized and some of the missing content is added, it could be a 95/100.

Would the developers had been given the time they needed, the game could have lived up to its hype representing the best game of a decade.

Regarding the last gen issue – to expect this beast of a game to run on hardware from 2013 is foolish and naive, from both sides (CDPR as well as the gamers). All in all, the effort to make the game compatible with last gen was/is a lot of wasted effort and resources.

Edit: After rewatching the presentation of the E2018 and noticing all the unfulfilled content, I would rather give the game at the moment a 70/100.

Nach nun ca. 80 Stunden habe ich Enderal: Forgotten Stories beendet und dabei so gut wie jede Nebenquest mitgenommen und die Welt komplett erkundet. Aufgrund der alten Engine kann das Spiel grafisch zwar nicht mehr mit aktuellen Titeln mithalten, aber dafür weiß es mit seinen Geschichten und Entscheidungen zu fesseln!

Positiv:

• fesselnde Geschichte
  
• abwechslungsreiche Quests
  
• super Vertonung und Soundtrack
  
• einprägsame Charaktere
  
• Mod-Support
  
• kostenlos

Negativ:

• "veraltete" Grafik und Animationen
  
• dadurch, dass ich sehr an Skyrim gewöhnt war, war der Einstieg und dessen Menge an Inhalten etwas erschlagend. Aber das hat sich schnell gelegt und ich zähle es nur auf, damit ich überhaupt etwas "Negatives" schreiben kann.

Alles in allem ist Enderal ein wunderbares Spiel, das besonders durch seine Geschichten und schweren Entscheidungen fesselt! Ich kann es jedem Skyrim-Liebhaber nur empfehlen!

Spoiler:Bezüglich dem Ende der Story hätte ich es dem Schwarzen Wächter eigentlich gegönnt, seinen Plan für eine neue Menschheit selber durchzusetzen. :P

Positive:
[ ] beautiful graphics with impressive ingame cutscenes
[ ] unrestricted character development regarding the skills and the overall build (you are not bound to special sets like in Diablo 3)
[ ] varied character customisation (appearance)
[ ] dynamic gameplay

Neutral:
[~] to finish the story you need about 15-20 hours
[~] uncertain, how long the endgame mode keeps you motivated

Negative:
[-] once you finish the story you are around level 40. But the max. level is 90. So, you must spend about 50 levels in the endgame mode.
[-] bugs in the passive skill tree
[-] minor animation bugs
[-] minor translation mistakes (at least for the german language)
[-] completely unbalanced act bosses

Conclusion: During my gameplay I did not encounter many game-breaking bugs (I only lost my stash once). But to take the servers offline on the launch weekend was really not a wise decision, which caused the steam reviews to drop immensely. The game also has a lot of bugs and therefore needs to be polished in the future. I would still recommend Wolcen, because it still makes a lot of fun based on the free character development and the dynamic combat. The game has really great potential once all the bugs have been taken care of and with the possibility of future content.

Ein Klassiker meiner Kindheit, endlich überarbeitet! Besonders dank der Grafik kann ich das Spiel nun auch im Jahr 2019 noch einmal neu erleben und erneut genießen. Es ist schön zu sehen, dass eins der komplexesten und umfangreichsten Aufbau-/Strategiespiele weiterhin gepflegt wird und somit nicht in Vergessenheit gerät.

Positiv: Neuerungen im Gegensatz zur HD Edition
- neue Grafik
- neue herausfordernde KI
- Möglichkeit der KI Build-Orders oder andere Befehle zu geben
- unglaubliche Menge an Inhalt für einen angemessenen Preis
- automatische Felder- und Reusenerneuerung
- Zoom
- Waypoints

Negativ:
- Steam-Workshop wurde von einem internen Mod-Manager abgelöst
- Spielabstürze, verursacht durch das UHD-Packet

Dungeons 3 ist das moderne Dungeon Keeper, was ich mir schon immer gewünscht und nun endlich mal getestet habe. Auch wenn es Jahre her ist, dass ich das Meisterwerk von Bullfrog gespielt habe, so hatte ich doch von Anfang an in Dungeons 3 wieder das gleiche Spielgefühl wie damals.

Der Erzähler und der Humor des Spiels kamen mir anfangs etwas befremdlich vor. Aber ich habe mich schnell damit zurechtgefunden und auch meinen Spaß daran gehabt. Die Kampagne erzählt zwar eine absehbare Story, bietet aber durch immer neue Mechaniken viel Spielspaß und man freut sich immer auf die nächste Mission.

Dennoch wäre für ein Dungeons 4 noch etwas Luft nach oben:
- „Possess Creature“: Dieser Zauber von Dungeon Keeper hat die Möglichkeit gegeben eine ausgewählte Kreatur in first person zu steuern und aktiv im Kampf mit einzugreifen, was etwas Abwechslung bieten würde.
- Mehr Creeps: Auf Dauer ist es doch etwas langweilig nur Spinnen, drachenartige Echsen oder Helden im Untergrund zu finden. Weitere Möglichkeiten wären z.b. das „Tentacle“ aus Dungeon Keeper oder andere merkwürdige Wesen, die weder zu den Helden noch zur Horde/Dämonen/Untoten zählen. So haben mir die Zentauren und Bären der Oberwelt sehr gut gefallen, da sie doch mal etwas anderes waren.
- Realistischerer Stil: Auch wenn ich verstehe, dass der stark Comic-artige Stil besser zu dem Humor des Spiels passt, so hätte es doch etwas düsterer ausfallen können. Besonders Einheiten wie den Grabgolem oder Zombies fand ich zu sehr stilisiert, wobei gerade diese ja die Möglichkeit bieten weitaus diabolischer dargestellt zu werden.

Als Fazit möchte ich trotzdem nochmal sagen, dass Dungeons 3 ein großartiges Spiel ist, welches nostalgische Erinnerungen aufleben lässt!

Als Fan der Gothic-Reihe habe ich mich schon länger für ELEX interessiert, war mir aber wie die meisten nicht sicher, ob ich es mir holen soll. Jetzt habe ich nach ca. 50 h meinen ersten Durchlauf beendet und kann nun selbst etwas dazu sagen.

Positiv:
gute Lichteffekte
abwechslungsreiche und schöne Landschaften
interessantes und gut umgesetztes Setting
gute Story mit unerwarteten Wendungen
sinnvolle Dialoge
sehr gute deutsche Vertonung
sehr schwerer Start (eben typisch Gothic)
gute Ausrüstung ist teuer (man muss also immer auf seine 'Geld' achten)

Neutral:
~ respawnende Gegner: hält zwar die Welt lebendig, aber ermöglicht unendliche Ressourcen; es entsteht nicht das beklemmende Gefühl der Jagd nach EXP, was für mich in den alten Gothic-Teilen immer wichtig war
~ Elextränke: passen gut in das Setting; sind teuer; sind aber mehr oder weniger ein Gamebreaker da man seinen Char unendlich damit verstärken kann
~ Kampfsystem: nicht mehr so schlimm wie es früher anscheinend war, aber ohne Erklärung für Einsteiger unverständlich; man findet sich aber mit der Zeit zurecht; weder Schilde noch Paraden scheinen einen Sinn zu ergeben

Negativ:
- zu wenig fraktionsbezogene Quests: Ich habe ca. 25 h fraktionslos in Passus/Akt 1 verbracht; habe mich dann für die Kleriker entschieden und konnte ich innerhalb von 2 h auf den höchsten Rang bei ihnen aufsteigen, was der Sache den Reiz nimmt; die fraktionsabhängigen Quests machen gefühlt 2 % im Spiel aus
- hässliches Interface
- etwas schwaches Ende

Fazit: Ob ELEX nun seinen Vollpreis wert ist, kann ich schlecht beurteilen. In einem Sale würde ich es aber aufjedenfall weiterempfehlen, vor allem für Fans der Gothic-Reihe.