6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Fun, beautiful but WAY too long
Date of Review: Nov 30, 1999
I think that I have started and restarted this game more times than I want to count. It has high replay value because you can customize your character completely, its appearance, voice, and attributes are all up to you. The storyline changes slightly with the choices your character makes in the game so there is some variation in the quests available and order of events. Unfortunately the game is just WAY too long to finish. This is especially evident if you are very unhappy with your character. The first I created had some major flaws but it was not until I reached higher levels that I realized my mistake. I began again. Then I patched the game to fix some bugs and that ruined my old save games so I began yet again.....
On the upside, the graphics are amazing. The backgrounds were all hand drawn, so the detail is very good. The lighting really shows off subtle details added by the artists. Each area of the game is large and sometimes contains dungeons to expand the area to explore even further. It is not hard to get into the game, but very hard to shut it off. There is always the lure of what looks like a cave over the next hill, or a suprise attack that hooks you in for just a couple more hours.
I really like the interface as well. Everything is point-and-click with icons that clearly represent the action to be performed. Your party is fairly easily controlled by choosing different formations from a list. There are some problems maneuvering them around in tight spots but patches to the game and suggestions from the programmers have fixed most of the pathfinding problems.
Another big draw to this game is the ability to customize your party and adapt it to the task at hand. Although you cannot remove the main character created by you at the start of the game the other five party member slots are filled by NPC's (non-player characters) that you meet and interact with during the game. You can swap members out of your party at any time and add new ones as your goals change. You may also equip your characters with different types of weapons and develop their skills in the areas you choose as they gain experience.
All in all this is a very well designed game and worth the money. The graphics are amazing, it is easy to use and a lot of fun. Although I love playing it I was upset that it was so long. I would have rather had a shorter game with more add on packs so that I could take the game a little at a time. This game was designed using rather complicated Dungeons and Dragons rules, but they are so well integrated into the game that people, like me, with know knowledge of D&D can find it fun.
