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[Rannen]

This game has a fairly high rating among users and even the admin, but I'm gonna have to disagree. It's true that the game has some great positives, which I'll get out of the way so I don't have to worry about them while I discuss the problems.
-Truly unique and expansive cultures for each of the peoples introduced during the game. Each new civilization you're introduced to has a wealth of background information for those who are interested in finding it. Furthermore those who are not interested never need look for it in the first place, most of the cultural background is completely optional data. (However I highly recommend that you immerse yourself in each new culture you find, it's one of the strongest points this game has to offer)
-I very much like the idea of magic that gets stronger with use. Basically you can buy or simply learn new spells, as in Ultima, but when you do they begin weak enough to be called useless. Only by practice will you become a master of magic, which appeals to me as a nice character customization feature.
-Animebona/Animenka story bit was well thought out and quite interesting. I won't reveal the details, but I will repeat that the story and characters in this game are extremely well done.
-Dungeons were very interactive, puzzles were difficult enough to keep it interesting. Example: There's an enourmous gaping mouth in the floor, blocking your path. What do you do? Toss in a rock? Feed it some meat? Try to run straight over it? Although most puzzles in the game have only one solution, it will usually be a unique solution that you've seen nowhere else in the game as of yet.

Good positives gave it the potential to be a giant among games... however, it seems some rather nasty MAJOR flaws got mixed in as well.
-Every monster gives you exp more or less on the same scale, based more on how many monsters there were in a fight rather than how strong they were. The range of exp given for completing a battle successfuly is small, ranging only from 25 at the lowest to about 300 at the highest. This means that you can become very powerful by simply fighting weaklings forever, which I feel is a bit of a cheat. It also means that characters you don't use often will be impossible to level up quickly, and that the rest of the group will always be significantly ahead of them.
-A most serious flaw follows... one of the characters has a 'win every battle' spell called frost avalanche. It paralyzes ALL enemies for 3 rounds and makes it impossible to lose any normal battle. Why are you playing if you know you'll win every battle no matter what?! The story and puzzles become the only serious components to the game once this spell is learned.
-The quests are often ambiguous... I spent much of my game time wandering about the cities trying to figure out who I was supposed to talk to/kill/find/ect. to make the story progress. At one point, you actually don't have any specific quest. Your characters essentially agree to wander about and see if they can find out anything interesting. This can be very frustrating for gamers who need at least a bit of structure.
-Being able to cast spells using life points once you run out of mana was, I thought at first, a plus. Unfortunately you can also use this ability to cast healing spells. Towards the end of the game, I mowed down a whole army of powerful enemies without using one single potion... need more magic? Use life points to cast, then heal right up! It makes you able to use your most powerful techniques and heal for free indefenitely... just another 'win every battle' technical flaw.

and minor complaints:
-The music for certain cites, like Umajo, is bad enough to make me turn it off.
-Giving weight to the money is more realistic, but it can be irritating. Especially if you happen to have many items worth MORE than their weight in gold. You can try selling them only to realize that you have to dump have your money in order to move (at this point you may want to reload). The addition of some type of bank would ease this problem.
-The developers made a whole bunch of nothing to explore down in the southern desert... it isn't a game stopping flaw, but it does seem quite pointless.

Because I was enthralled by the depth given to the different cultures of Albion, I gave the game a 3/5 despite all the severe problems with the game. Without it, it certainly would get a 2 (or 1 if I was in a bad mood).

[Treewyrm]

Despite all those gameplay flaws I still give it top rating whenever I see it. It was one of those very rare games where you felt like you're reading awesome sci-fi book, just for the feeling of it I gave it 5. All those bugs and flaws _don't matter_ here because Albion isn't much about gameplay really, there isn't much rpg and it isn't turn-based tactical. What Albion is all and completely about is unique theme and brilliant story. Yes, while it gets a bit obvious after a while still there are twists and turns and also good character development. Dialogues are superb, you can really start to feel those characters are somewhat real. And just to think: game doesn't even have speech at all! Like I said, Albion feels much like a book and that stands for highest quality in my opinion. If only more games had such depth in them, but nowadays who cares about storyline, who cares about character development (and if you say so people will start to think you're talking about rpg stats!), technical graphics and dumb one button clicking reflexes is all what we have left to see.

[Rannen]

I understand and acknowledge the beautifully crafted, seemingly real world of albion. Unfortunately, when you take away gameplay from a game all you're left with is a book. What this review forum covers is games. Albion had the potential for solid gameplay, but the flaws I mentioned before are critical factors in reducing this game from the godly status it should have held. If you can never possibly lose a battle, as is made true by the sadly apparent gameplay issues, there's no point in fighting except as a means to progress the story. Many people are still willing to do this, including me, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it. 3/5 is the highest rating Albion should recieve as a game. (though you can sign me up now to vote on it for world's best atmoshpere/story)

[Treewyrm]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rannen @ Oct 30 2006, 09:03 AM) [snapback]264258[/snapback]</div>

I understand and acknowledge the beautifully crafted, seemingly real world of albion. Unfortunately, when you take away gameplay from a game all you're left with is a book. What this review forum covers is games. Albion had the potential for solid gameplay, but the flaws I mentioned before are critical factors in reducing this game from the godly status it should have held. If you can never possibly lose a battle, as is made true by the sadly apparent gameplay issues, there's no point in fighting except as a means to progress the story. Many people are still willing to do this, including me, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it. 3/5 is the highest rating Albion should recieve as a game. (though you can sign me up now to vote on it for world's best atmoshpere/story)
[/b]

I didn't use Frost Avalanche all the time even though I could. I knew it was incredibly lame and cheap way to win the battle so I just avoided using it unless it's really needed.

And I too understand flaws in gameplay, it's just that not every day you see a game like Albion with such story and atmosphere depth, for that I ignore gameplay bugs and issues, that's just my opinion. I just wish there was some sort of remake or a sequel with those issues fixed and done right

[duckpatch]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Treewyrm @ Oct 30 2006, 07:09 PM) [snapback]264265[/snapback]</div>

And I too understand flaws in gameplay, it's just that not every day you see a game like Albion with such story and atmosphere depth, for that I ignore gameplay bugs and issues, that's just my opinion. I just wish there was some sort of remake or a sequel with those issues fixed and done right
[/b]

I hint a plea from Trewyrm here.....

[Rannen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Treewyrm @ Oct 30 2006, 03:09 AM) [snapback]264265[/snapback]</div>

I just wish there was some sort of remake or a sequel with those issues fixed and done right
[/b]

Honestly, I'd love to see another Albion game out there. If we could just get the same realistic atmosphere without all the techinical problems, we'd have the best game ever created to date.