Completed Greedfall.
The game becomes slightly tedious towards the end, but same could be said about any Mass Effect as well. The monsters do not level up with you, which is good, but you still have to fight them every time you enter a region. I miss the system from Witcher, where underleveled monsters would run away from you. But I think that’s the only game that ever implemented it.
The story is still good, though. It’s not groundbreaking, but it has this nice back-and-forth, showing that someone understood what they were doing.
We need the High King of the Natives in order to understand the nature of the plague. But he secluded himself on the mountain, and only his girlfriend knows where to find him. She is held by scientists, but since we rescued them once, they release her without a fight. She tells us where to find the High King, but turns out he’s evil, killing one of the native shamans and kidnapping our plagued cousing. And we fight and kill his girlfriend, who we rescued recently, in the process.
Here it is a bit disappointing, as you cannot negotiate with her or him, no matter what. And natives will get angry at you for that. But I guess there had to be some conflict.
Final confrontation has your companions stay behind one by one. I think Mass Effect 2 did the same. Then you need to pick between sacrificing your cousin, who did you no wrong and your companions. Picking your cousing is considered the bad choice, although it’s not clear to me why, as even at the end of the game he doesn’t act as a tyrant.
Tag: Greedfall
Still impressed by what this game has to offer. I assumed that if I completed Kurt’s quest before the coup, he may stay with the band, and the game didn’t disappoint. There’s also quest for Vasco, a sailor. All of the sailors have Maori-like facial tattoos and once you complete his quest line, his appearance also changes. Well done indeed.
It’s not all rosy, of course. The idea of the combat system is that you would first break opponents armor with a blunt weapon, then switch to a sword to finish them. But with the upgrades, you can easily create a weapon that works well against both armored and unarmored opponents, completely negating the point in switching between weapons.
There’s also a reputation system, but story-wise, it is heavily skewed towards natives. You will inevitably loose reputation with Mercenaries during the coup, and since the only healer that can actually help Constantin is the native healer, you will loose reputation with “Spaniards” as well.
The story did manage to lul me with some predictable plot-twists (protagonist being a Native, his cousin sick with the plague) just to completely blindside me with betrayal of one of the companions, that ends in his death. I wasn’t prepared for this, nor did the game prepare me, as it ruins good half of side-quests. It is still brilliant, though.
What isn’t as brilliant is the battle system. Around level 15 you unlock your “ultimate” skill, which for fighters is simply a rage buff, and that’s it, really.
I’m used to games raining items on you all the time. Not Greedfall. I’ve been running with a yatagan picked from the crab-man miniboss chest for a few hours, and ended up replacing it with a two-handed sword bought from a random merchant.
What I do like about the combat mechanics, though, is a honest cleave. You hit everything with your weapon, no matter if it’s a one-handed or two-handed sword, not only the target.
It’s fascinating to play Greedfall after Far Cry 6, as Far Cry 6 has breadth, but no depth, with it’s tons of repetitive and shallow missions, while Greedfall has a lot of variety in its quests, but those are few. It becomes quite obvious as you visit San Matheus. I was expected to be flooded with new quests, but there was literally one waiting for me. Also, all three royal palaces have exactly the same layout. Which might be a blessing, though, as you know exactly where to seek audience.
After Kingdom Come Deliverance, it also takes time to adjust to the fact that there’s no “property”. You can pick any loot, and if you have the pick locks skill, you can also lockpick any chest in front of everyone.
Speaking of skills, you get those rarely, and when I started the game, I picked up “Charisma”, which should have allowed me to convince people during some dialogues. The problem is, this is chance based, and if you fail, you don’t get a second attempt. So either you save/load or bribe, when it’s an option, which actually works every time.
There are companion quests, which are broken into multiple phases. Those are great, except for the fact that once accepted, you must hang with that companion until this phase is complete. Taking into account that you can have just two companions at any time, that’s quite the commitment, as I discovered while accepting quest from the “Pirate”.
I didn’t expect this game to blow me away, but it did. Maybe because the expectations are so low nowadays. But it has this crisp introduction, that clearly outlines the character motivations and the world, without throwing walls of text or monologs at you.
Then it has this ambiguiness in quest design. Early in the game you are asked by Alchemist Guild to unmask a charlatain that sells potions. But turns out he isn’t a charlatain, but a former member of the guild. But turns out that he does sell fake potions. But only because he wants to experiment on people to try and cure the plague. But Alchemist Guild also experiment on people, with deadlier results. But now the townfolk wants to lynch him, because he was selling them fake remedies. And now you decided if you arrest him, or try to sneak him out of the inn he’s holled in, or negotiate with the mob. And all that is just a sidequest.
The fighting system is Assassin’s Creed, although I haven’t played Assassin’s Creed in such a long time it might have a changed since then. Lock, LMB to attack, RMB to parry. There’s also a rage meter that builds up and allows to unleash a more powerful attack. A mechanic I last saw in Mass Effect, I think, is that first you need to strip the armor from enemies with blunt weapons, then switch to swords to finish the job.
