The Biggest Game Project on this Planet

Never Forget the Gate!

Just finished Eldorado Gate Vol.1 and moving on to Volume 2.
I won't make a review until I've cleared all volumes I own, cos these games should be viewed as one. The first volume had 3 scenarios clocking in at slightly less than 6 hours in total. I guess this is good, cos they really shouldn't've lasted much longer.

The game has this really static kind of battle system, very reminiscent of the Dragon Quest games, where you don't see any members of your party, just the enemies.
Also, attacks are indicated in letters and numbers (Gomez deals 16 points of damage to the Filthy Monster from a Nasty Place!), no animation, nothing. I hate that. It's boring.
Dungeon crawling isn't particularly interesting either. Some dungeons have some nice gimmicks and semi-puzzles, but most of them are your regular 'walk from point A to B' affair, with the added disadvantage of having to choose directions at every fork in the road, never knowing which way you should go. Or to put it another way: mazes.
I FRIGGIN' HATE MAZES!

There seems to be this completely unfounded belief in the Game Creator Universe that gamers like to wade through tunnel after tunnel, only to come to a dead end and backtrack the whole way, whilst dealing with an insane random encount rate. And that is why I say: "Please bring back the Death Penalty."
On the upside, every dead end in this game has some kind of treasure chest and they always contain something good. On the downside, this means that if you choose the correct way you will want to backtrack to get the goddamn treasure.
Did I mention I hate mazes?

Story-wise I really like this game though. You really feel like you're building up towards something. And this second volume has introduced the main hub, where you can store and buy items, and use characters from different scenarios together. I'm definitely intrigued, that's why I'm playing on, but I'm not having very much fun.

posted by Ingen! @ 4:42 PM