Recent reviews by Bouken

Embarrassing display by Fromsoft.

I really want to like Vikings because Expeditions: Conquistador was a gem but holy mother this game, at least in its current form, is just an exercise in frustration. The trademark gameplay of Roleplaying <-> Combat <-> Survival is still intact here but there is an utter lack of polish in Vikings that ruins my time with the game every time I feel like I'm finally into it.

There is no reason for every single combat animation to be this slow and for archers to be so mind-numbingly overpowered. Just now the game forced me into a fight that took easily 40 minutes to finish only for a completely disconnected group of other enemies to show up and immediately start a second one—with even more units on the screen. It took me another 20 minutes to get even halfway through that fight and then the game just crashed. Needless to say I couldn't save during either combat encounter and the game didn't bother to auto-save inbetween them so that's that. It wasn't the first crash either.

If Vikings was really special I could see past the time-wasting animations. I could also see past the tedious barrel and crate looting that you need to do in every single village just to find a damn pig bladder. Unfortunately Vikings also lacks the roleplaying standards that defined the previous game. Conquistador explored a clash of cultures and gave the player so many ways of respecting or disrespecting the indigenous people he met. So far the only thing I've done in Vikings (and I'm over 20 hours in) is choose an ally and then fight his enemies for him, or choose no allies and fight everyone. No good character building, no good side-stories, just combat mission after combat mission.

I appreciate that you can at any point betray your alliances and start working with someone else—a lot of other modern RPGs don't even allow such consequence-heavy decisions. The combat is simply not enjoyable and polished enough for the amount of fighting Vikings throws at you though.

My recommendation is to follow the patch notes and come back in a few months.

Even though on itself this game is rather mediocre, the series it concludes is without a doubt one of the greatest video game franchises of all time and with that it warrants a recommendation.

Those who know the Legacy of Kain games know that every one of them has had some misstep in terms of gameplay and Defiance is no exception. The combat is very flat and samey and the mechanically bland design of enemy types doesn't justify the hordes you have to wade through on every screen. Also if there isn't a law yet against fixed camera angles in 3D games, there needs to be one. But However troubled the gameplay may be, it's never a deal-breaker.

Where this game shines is where all games of the series shine: storytelling, world-building and voice acting. Once you're invested in the story and you reach the second half of the game, you'll get to experience all the major plotpoints of the final Legacy of Kain entry as well as the conclusion of the whole story. It's worth playing for that alone.

So I strongly suggest to find a way to play to play Blood Omen 1, Soul Reaver 1, Soul Reaver 2 and Blood Omen 2 in that order and then come back to Defiance.