outlet

Atari (publisher) and Troikka (developer) have done a great disservice to the consumer public by releasing this game. After purchase, I attempted install on 3 separate systems that met the recommended specs and was never able to get the game to even start. I immediately returned the game the next morning. After a heated "discussion" I was refunded my money. I am not willing to spend valuable time attempting to diagnose a product. I don't do that with a car or television...I am not doing that with a game.

Atari has taken the stance that they will not refund money for the game and has specifically stated that you must fight your retailer to return the game.

The Internet was not made as an excuse for computer companies to release unfinished product. Producing a patch available at a later date over the web to repair an obviously flawed product does not redeem the company.

This product should never have been brought to market in this state.

This game has by far the closest implementation of the D&D rules of any game I've played. While the developers of Neverwinter Nights changed the 3E rules at will, Troika has gone out of their way to implement the rules faithfully. The turn-based combat is the most enjoyable of any RPG I've played and reminds me of the fun I had playing Jagged Alliance. You have dozens of options in battle, from charging to launching full attacks to preparing an attack to interrupt an enemy spellcaster. The game has over three hundred spells which grants your spellcasters a multitude of ways to deal with hostile situations. The graphics are beautiful and highly detailed. Every time you put a new hat or cloak or robe or piece of armor on your character, the model is updated. I spent quite a great deal of time dressing up my characters so that each would have their own distinctive look.

The game does have some bugs. I myself only experienced a single CTD and a couple of the item crafting bugs. From time to time, the game has also been a touch sluggish when there are a lot of NPCs on-screen. However, a patch is already in the works by Troika so these problems should be rectified within a week or two.

This is a five star game that I'm giving four stars to because of the bugs. Sure you may say all games have bugs especially rpgs but some of the bugs I'm seeing there's just no way any QA person could have missed them. There's no excuse for releasing a game with those kinds of bugs. That being said the bugs are not show stoppers. There are a lot of bugs but they are minor and the game is very playable. The graphics are excellent and the combat is challenging. Even though it's turn based the combat is quick (the exact opposite of PoR). Definitely reminds me of Baldur's Gate, and the character interface is very similar to Planescape: Torment.. which had one of the best. Items in the game have no descriptions and are bland. It's sad, really this game is excellent and has a lot of potential but it falls just short because it seems unfinished. Perhaps a patch will fix much of the problems but there are some design problems that they aren't likely to fix. Hopefully a sequel is in order using this engine with the problems worked out. A very enjoyable game as close to PnP as you can get.