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| I'm retracting this old review. 2.0 redeemed Fictorum. by Mischief Maker 12/09/2019, 4:21pm PST | ||||
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| How could I not retry the game after seeing this trailer?
So yeah, they've optimized the engine (still runs the GPU hot and stutters at particle-heavy spells), enemy AI is improved (though they do derp out and run past you to a waypoint before engaging sometimes), and added a shitload of new spells (like the earth spell school the trailer shows off pretty heavily). Now part of this change of heart is from me realizing the firebrand class' starting fireball spell is supposed to be used up close to cluster all the explosions on a single enemy. But yeah, now this is everything Lichdom Battlemage should have been, albeit with significantly crappier graphics. The premise is you're the last of the most powerful school of wizards in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world who willed himself back to life after being executed by the inquisition, and now you're going on a cross-country rampage to get revenge on the grand inquisitor who killed you. Your journey is basically FTL, where you move from node to node picking up new magics and the money to upgrade them while a pursuing army slowly advances across the map, and at the left side there's a node with a boss encounter. The combat encounters play as a third person shooter with a heavy emphasis on its physics engine. Magic comes in all forms, from enchantments on your armor like boots of haste, to enchanted rings that control basic defensive spells with a cooldown timer. But your main attacks come from spellbooks that can have up to three runes slotted into them which have powerful secondary effects. A multi-strike rune can turn a basic fireball into a swarm of them, an explosion rune can increase the size and intensity of the impact blast. There aren't many restrictions on combinations and some can get absolutely ridiculous. One time I took the meteor spell, and added a sentinel rune that summons a glowing tower that fires the spell automatically at nearby enemies, a multi-shot spell to multiply the number of meteors, and a chaos rune to cause the meteors to shoot random fireballs in all directions as they fall. I dropped the spell in the middle of a town crawling with enemies, even though it drained all my mana in a single go, then made a run for it. The result was...apocalyptic. In moments the entire town was reduced to rubble by swarm after swarm of flaming meteors and accompanying fireballs. Not since Dominions have I played a game that gave you this much of a feeling of power. The one thing discouraging absolute wanton destruction is some buildings have treasures inside of them and if you destroy the chest or cabinet containing the item, it's lost. I also really appreciate that as the difficulty of the game increases, the number of enemies increases instead of their hitpoints. This game is a one-trick pony, but it's a hell of a trick and really addicting just to see what kind of crazy spell combinations you can try next. This game is an absolute playground of destruction. If you see it on sale, don't hesitate to snatch it up. |
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Fictorum by 09/08/2018, 10:19am PDT  I'm retracting this old review. 2.0 redeemed Fictorum. by 12/09/2019, 4:21pm PST You son of a bitch. I'm in. NT by 12/09/2019, 4:52pm PST Fistobum revisted: 10/10 NT by 12/09/2019, 5:05pm PST |
