Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Игра вообще отлично зашла. Этакая смесь скайрима и дарк соулса, только без перекатов и долгой беготней после смерти. Мрачная, открытый мир, море всякого лута, крафт всякий разный и прокачка от действий.

The storytelling seems pretty good, but I just couldn't get over how bad the (early game?) combat is.

Arthurian fantasy, but can't even pronounce Tintagel correctly... Ugh. Clearly a labour of love, and with some great lore details lashed into the endless stream of somewhat mandatory flavour text collectables, but... damn if it isn't dull. Doesn't land the ARPG combat at all, doesn't carry any immediate sense of immersion, and the 'moody' environment just devolves into a drab mire that you wade through, looking for the next container to press interact on. I really wanted to love it, and the initial plot hook is pretty cool, in a 'King Arthur meets H.R.Giger' kinda way. But... Likely would have made a better visual novel, tbh. Just not for me.

Estaba esperando a terminar este juego para escribirle reseña pero es que es muy bueno. Incluso me atrevo a decir que es mejor (gameplay e historia) que los juegos de The Elder Scrolls (Oblivion y Skyrim). Visuales y gráficos. Siendo honestos, les falta. Todo lo relacionado con la apariencia del juego (animaciones, gráficos, optimización...) no se siente como un juego moderno. El estilo y estética del juego ES HERMOSO, ÚNICO, MAJESTUOSO. Historia. no la he terminado pero se siente interesante. Gameplay. Es lo que soñé de un rpg de primera persona.

Самый настоящий хидден гем. Разработчики как будто бы взяли Скайрим, Готику и Ведьмака, а потом запихнули их в шейкер, а на выходе получился Tainted Grail. В игре куча разнообразных, и главное, не линейных квестов, многие из которых явно останутся у вас в памяти на долго совершенно по разным причинам, будь то какая-то интересная история, либо из-за юмора(местами чёрного), которым задания тоже не обделены. Мир не прямо такие огромный по современным меркам open world rpg, но исследовать его безумно интересно, а главное - игра награждает за это. Больше всего мне понравилось, что в игре практически все данжи сделаны ручками, и построены они не банально "зайди тут, пройди по кругу, потом выйди по сокращённому пути к выходу и гуляй дальше"; Каждый данж имеет в себе кучу ответвлений, шорт катов или даже секретных комнат, которые легко можно пропустить, если просто лететь вперёд. Б*я, да я в прологовой лечебнице провёл без малого 3 часа, надо ли объяснять, что обычно прологовые локации ограничиваются парой врагов, демонстрацией нескольких основных механик и дальнейшим выбрасыванием в основной мир спустя 20-30 минут обучения. В общем - игра реально кайф, твердейшие 8.5/10. Сюжет, сеттинг, доп. квесты, билдинг, боевая система, юмор, стилистика настоящего дарк фентези - это те вещи, за которые можно простить любые недочёты. Однозначно одна из лучших ролевых игр, в какие я когда либо играл.

The beginning was phenomenal and fixed much of what has become intolerable about Bethesda games. The dodge and parry mechanics and more lethal Soulslike feel made combat feel tense and challenging, and fast paced. Far more skill based, and you had to learn your enemies. Then after about 10 hours, I could feel it slowly slipping into the Bethesda trap. Then about mid-game, it just felt like playing a Bethesda game at mid-game. Complete with ten straight minutes of whacking an enemy 572 times to kill it with your five appropriate level summons. But with one big difference: they still kill you in 5 hits just like the beginning. About 50 hours in with the strongest gear in the game and recommended level, I finally put cheats on because I was intent on finishing it for the story, but man was I burned out. I no longer got excited about bosses, just looked at the clock wondering how many whacks this one was going to take. I was so happy to be able to play something else by the end. Super disappointing to start off SO strong and seemingly defeat so many of the issues the genre is known for, only to bait and switch straight back into those issues full force, maybe worse.

Decent but flawed, the game's lore and main story are really good, but the game suffers from poor balancing and the choices in most quests seem rather weak, most quests you are forced to help while there is little choice to do stuff through skill checks, there are but way less than expected. Performance is ok, game should run way better for how it looks, some of the areas are beautiful and the art direction is really good, both the lore and the art direction carried the game for me. Worth grabbing if you enjoy the lore and/or the genre if you dont mind a bit of jank or unbalanced combat.

This is the best game I've played since BG3, which isn't to say it's comparable; that's just my personal taste. I started off as a crappy mage wondering why I did more damage with a dagger than my spell, running for my life most of the time. Now in NG+ I'm zooming around in a Jester's outfit with a hat on that looks like a demon got stuck in a beehive, flinging fireballs left and right and melting everything. At my side, a hilariously cute pet and an assortment of undead knights having mental breakdowns. This game has fascinating lore, a creepy, dark setting, secrets and hidden quests, references to music and literature, and a healthy dose of humour. It can be a bit glitchy; I had to use console commands to retrieve some items that got eaten by the Wyrdness, but other than that it's a 10/10 from me.

(Build advice at the end of review for those interested) Pros: - Great worldbuilding and exploration - Great variety in armor and weapons offering many build options (though most are unfortunately shallow) - Arthurs voice actor needs a raise, absolutely stellar work. Overall voiceover quality is very high too (with some rare exceptions) - 2 handed weapon animations and soundwork is very impactful and satisfying - Some spell VFX felt awesome (looking at you Scorching Blaze) Cons: - Spells are extremely generic being either a magic gun or a summon. There are a few exceptions but most are poorly thought through and just get clunky to use. The light/heavy cast producing different results was a good idea that was underutilized at best and misused at worst. - All weapons except 2 handers did not feel particularly nice to use. The game heavily emphasizes parrying and you need to either use 2 handers, dual wield or have an empty left hand for that. Empty left hand wastes damage, dual wield had only 1 power attack animation which got too spammy too quickly. Also 1 handed weapons are held straight up like 2 sticks which is such an old and boring way to do things. Please use your reverse-grip animations more! I know you have them in there for sneak attacks, make them happen for stuff like sprinting, charging heavies, crouching, etc. So yeah, anyway, 2 handers is the way to go. - The story does a great job of building up suspense for a final conclusion, unfortunately that conclusion is a disappointment. Instead of making 1 really good ending they went the route of making 10 subpar endings. I wouldve preferred the former. Even the "true ending" given by finishing almost all the content (which i did) is really unsatisfying. Bonus build advice for readers: I had waaay more fun in this game once i, after many hours of trial and error, found a non-clunky and mechanically deep build. This is not easy to do as depth in this game is generally puddle-level. Weapon sets: 1. 2 hander of choice 2. scorching blaze + any mage ward 3. tidepiercer + weightbound 4. Thunder lash + merlins thorn You can get all of this in act 1 except weightbound, use flame torrent instead until you get weighty. Perks: - Spells with less cost than the previous has a 100% crit chance - Spell crits apply a 30% damage debuff - Crits apply bleed 50% of the time - Status effects apply a 30% damage debuff - Status effects are quicker to apply when one is already present (use to make it easier to burn/freeze enemies with weapon oils) Gems: - Bleed gem on tidepiercer Tactic: - Open fights with ward + blaze, has 100% crit - Power attack with tidepiercer to apply/extend bleed while casting weightbound with offhand - Fight with 2 hander until one of the following happens: 1. Bleed is about to fall off: Shoot a new tidepiercer wave and a weightbound 2. Spell crit debuff is about to fall off: Use merlins + 2 x thunderlash for a triple crit 3. Mage ward has been consumed: Reapply it and shoot a blazing scorch afterwards This combat loop is very enjoyable and capitalizes on all the most satisfying combat elements of the game. Have fun!