Recent reviews by Winking Wizard

说出来你们可能不信，906小时没有打过3个以上剑冢，就跟我骑砍1000多小时没有统一过一样，逛街种田私奔下蛊偷东西，什么道德败坏人心不古的事情都干了个遍，今天EA版永久进入历史舞台，但我不会忘记这段时光。

10月23日更新：
今天的神一品更新后忍不住夸一下，我从EA刚出第一天就期待着人物关系页面的超链接，像CK2一样。EA只能看到人物位置，现在有悬浮信息，可以点，还可以后退前进。就这一下我游戏体验可以提高25%

我横竖睡不着，仔细看了半夜，才从字缝里看出字来，百种结局满本都写着四个字是“良心游戏”！

This is not a "hidden gem" or "diamond in the rough" the same way you don't call soup with broken glass pieces "gourmet that needs patience".

This is the product Owlcat chooses to publish, with gamebreaking glitches as of Oct 11, 2021, super broken difficulty tuning (mobs are consistently much more powerful than named bosses, on core difficulty), a mess of an inventory UI, infuriating encounter design (90% are either choke point with Aoe spammers or they just spam out of thin air right at your backrow). It's a game where the DM is actively trying to make you miserable.

Is the story good? Do I like the characters? DId I enjoy the choices and consequences? The answers matter as much as whether the soup with broken glass is delicious.

I played through PoE, Divinity, Dragon Age, NWN, Planescape, Shadowrun, Kotor, and survived all of their flaws (especially in some of the combat design). cRPG combat is traditionally hit or miss and generally, the worse the combat plays the more complex the system is. However, I have never been as infuriated as I was playing this game. This is 244 hours dedicated to a long mistake. Don't be like me.

Very pleasantly surprised by the amount of efforts put into the game

Just about everywhere I look there are QoL upgrades as well as new contents put into the game. I was expecting nothing more than a small wonky mission chain, sort of like AP with one more story mission that bridges the gap between AP and X4.

Boy was I wrong, FL can 100% legitimately be called a new expansion for X3. In fact, I dare say the amount of new contents maybe even exceeds what we got from AP (over TC).

No matter what I did I couldn't help screaming "that is a thing now?". For example, the lifesuit alone has two big QoL upgrades (pre-installed seta, and beam no longer flickering at low energy). Massive overhauls on player station, hyperlinked encyclopedia, faster/no more station build cam, equipment fitting, non-intrusive seta, etc. I also notice the amount of "rare" prototype/advanced ships roaming around now, which is very welcoming for a ship collector. It is very apparent everyone in the team has played AP for years.

In general, I was expecting NOTHING but surprised big time. It truly feels like playing X3 for the first time yet again.

ZTD is what the second game should have been as it clears out a lot of the "mechanical" confusions such as what rooms are on the map. The floating fragment system works wonder and goes really well with the amnesia thingy. Each team's story is a bit varying quality-wise (between great, good and acceptable), and might be seen as a weak point for new players. But for those who have played the first two game ZTD is definitely very enjoyable in just about every aspect.

Oh, uh, the animations. They are bad, but not as horrible as those in VLR, the second game. At least now the models are good; it's just the way they moved...

I'm glad this game stayed on my radar (aka wishlist) through a whole year before I finally gave it a chance. It was recommended by someone in the comment of another story-driven game where the protagonist travels around to collect different versions of folk tales. The name escapes me.
Anyway this game is an outstanding example why video game can be a media on par with the likes of movie and book. It allows a seamless transition between narratives which, coupled with moody music and timely voice over, is pretty great at presenting a story.
Yes it's a two-hour game but so are most movies.

Praise aside, some of the mini stories, or chapters, whatever you call them, in the game feels a bit rushed or at least inconsistent. Several people just striaght up disappeared, which does seem rather lazy to me. But no matter this is a game I do not regret spending $10 on and would definitely recommend.

The first 30 hours were really enjoyable, like, favorite RPG of all time enjoyable. The last few, however, showed that the game is clearly rushed but overall it's still one of the most story-rich, roleplaying-rich RPG classic out there. I'd say it's slightly better than PoE, much better than the likes of Neverwinter Nights or SWKotOR.

The price is outragous but the content is solid.

When it's the 700th hour you spend in the game and you're 99% you know everything.

A few moments later you find yourself doing something entirely new and exciting once again, while constantly looking up stuff and exchanging ideas with others.

I'm 99% sure I'm not gonna do another playthrough in the future.

I'm 100% sure I said that before, at least three times.

It's like pokemon, but instead of pokemon we have orcs. Instead of catching them we wipe their minds. Instead of leveling them through battles we do that by murdering other orcs. Good time.