PC - Interplay
The game starts with an atmospheric movie sequence, well directed and with excellent sound, to reveal the setting for the game. The menu is short and simple and you quickly start a new game. You then get a longer movie sequence showing the back story of the game, again very well directed and it really gets you in the mood.
Character creation is simple yet indepth, allowing you to create a well customised player although there is no option to change appearance. Once tyou are done you get your final movie sequence introducing your goal in the game and setting you on your way, it again maintains the atmospheric feeling of the game very well.
The game play begins quite slow paced and easy so there is plenty of time to figure out the controls and how everything works. It is all pretty intuitive although the addition of optional tooltips might have been usefull at the start. The goals are intitally clear, you know where you have to go but soon lots of sub-plots start cropping up to add new elements to the game.
The game manages to mix a great character development system with a surprisingly fun and exciting turn-based action system to create a very enjoyable RPG. The quests and story lines are well written and involving, with the addition that they are not afraid to add a bit of humour every now and then to lighten the mood. Most of the fun comes from the fact you can customise your character to play any way you like and there is not just one route through the game, if you have a role in mind you can really create it. This creates the element of 'cool' and makes you really feel involved with you character.
The visuals are pretty basic but it does have some usefull features such as enemy and item highlighting and making walls etc invisible if you stand behind them. It is also good as the highlighting can be deactivated if you do not like it.
The game intelligence is quite high, the different characters and opponents you meet seem to have real personalities and will react to you accordingly, they also act pretty intelligently in a fight although they will occasionally do something completely stupid.
The intro videos really get you feeling immersed in the game and everything afterwards keeps you that way, the whole game and UI is designed to maintain the feling of the game. Also the addition of 3D animations for some characters in the game helps you feel like you are interacting with more real people rather than just lines of text.
The fixed issometirc viewpoint is simple but effective and is all that is needed really. However the addition of a mini-map in game would have been usefull so you can more easily navigate around rather then having to look at the main map all the time.
The controls are simple and operated from the mouse, there is quite a few options on the UI that are a bit bewildering at first but after a few minutes playing with hem you can quickly figure out what is what.
The main thing that makes it stand out from other games is the setting, which is used really well with teh story to create an interesting experience. The character development system is also really effective at allowing you to customise the character to the way you want, which is sometimes lacking in other RPGs. Also, having computer controlled friendlys who will join you, rather than them coming under your direct control, is refreshing as you can concentrate on your character and they wil intelligently fight by themselves.
The main thing that makes you want to go and play again is that you can create multiple different characters that can play through the game completely differently. It is also good as you are not forced to follow a set route through the game but can wander feely whereever you like, making it quite likely that you missed a lot of content on the first play through.
Everything is done well in this game; the story, setting, characters and missions are all excellent and they create one of the best RPGs out there.