Legionwood 2; up to chapter >3 : PLAY IT.
A lot of people insist on a scoring system and use trivial things such as music, graphics, design, etc. What you will read here is somewhat of a plug of what I feel is a game that has gone largely unnoticed in its potential. I will assign my own arbitrary values, and what I feel are the games strengths.
Any normal rpg requires grinding efforts, that usually have massive windfalls which result in you winning through Empirical conquest by having health potions/mana potions and 20,000hp @ lvl 99.
Legionwood 2 challenges this mold.
x1x In recognition of this, the cost of items, and how fast you can accumulate any amount that effects your game play greatly is set higher than just about any game i've played to date. With that said, obviously it's not an impossible barrier to breach but it does require a high level of effort to stay ahead on the 'bills' (even in the event of the player cheating). Granted we've only seen the transition through two chapters, this may change over time.
8/10 rating
x2xIn terms of difficulty, the angles of design are present. The articulation of the dungeons has taken some work and include more elements so the player doesn't feel as if he is linearly progressing through each floor. This makes each tileset you get to exciting, what's it going to be now? switches? traps? pushing rocks? AN AWESOME 3 DIGIT COMBO LOCK MATH PROBLEM,CLUE,RIDDLE?*1* While maybe not the newest feature for an rpg to have, in this game the variety is clearly present, and the designer is trying to make you work for what he wants to offer you. However, through the save design, the true challenge of "dungeon-crawling" meets its natural enemy. Perhaps in the future game settings 'Difficulty Settings' will exist, as for now, you can save anytime you can access your status menu.
7.5/10 rating
x3xBattles in LW2 are a bit different than a typical rpg in that the turn based element is actually based on your agility, in relation to your opponents and divided, what this means to an idiot (assumable) is your turns no longer follow mine>enemy>mine; the flow becomes something like >hero1>hero2>enemyA>hero3>hero4>enemyB ;; and this is just one example of how a battle might flow. This allows for agi changes throughout combat to have massive effects, and over-all is an enjoyable feature for both friend and foe. Casting off the chains of rigidness allows the user more control during each enemy engagement, considering which target to slow, or which hero to haste takes on a new level of exploit. which makes each fight a bit more unique. Specifically, in relation to anytime you would have to re-attempt a boss, or while clearing trash multiple times. The variance is wonderful, allowing for plenty of the games more subtle rouge-like appearances to take some shine. As they say RNG is a b*tch!
8/10 Rating
x4xBattles: nothing stands out better in my mind than the ability for all heroes, to be all classes, while not at the same time (limited to 2 at a stat disadvantage) allows the player to adapt their game play to their environment, or however they want to play the game. If you want to be a pack of four rogues, you can do it. If you want to be 4 mages, you can!, the choice is yours. While some people might see this as exploitable class abuse, The abilities in Legionwood2 stand out differently from a typical game. In a typical RPG you are expecting the latest and greatest; Legionwood2 shines from design elements of simplest, and crudest. Tools just efficient enough to get the job done, and nothing more. And it makes the experience more enjoyable when you use them to any greater more complex strategy.
8/10 Rating
x5xThe story, stemming from an author about to launch his first novel (congratulations) provides a rather well-balanced story plot **spoiler** A tale of love; friendship; conquest; Morality and glory, all before saving the world ;) ***spoiler*** But, in light of this, he has made a lot of heavy handed attempts to draw you into the characters, making some likeable, some objectively driving the story. You get hit with a sense of predictability you rely on, only to have it cast away from you in the very next line of dialogue as you choose to befriend, or hate those around you(effecting your morality and story!). While Legionwood had lengthy texts, the >3 chapters, have been typically straight forward, only diddling off on the story path in times where it is actually needed (recapture your attention), allowing a user that typically doesn't care for a story to nod off and wake up where he wants to be, on the battle field! This becomes somewhat of an incentive with multiple plays through, but in general a 1st time player will appreciate one particular characters candor and bluntness that usually sums up each story setting and next plot point. This for me is a particularly ideal, mostly because as good as a story is any real life scenario pulling you away usually means you forget just where you are going! However, background story, and further descriptions are included in the game, with a back-drop libraries for the references to the original and the world you are currently in, if you happened to misunderstand it. This provides a better environment for both styles of gameplay, and both types of players.
10/10 Rating
x6xTime in the game seems to pass effortlessly you aren't having to spend your time agonizing over interfacing, or understanding exactly where to be, or what to do, most of it is enjoying the elements of an rpg most of us enjoy, treasure hunting, adventuring, battling, and enjoying the struggles, that said, in the three times i have played this game, all three times have built an unparallelled time warp seven hours later, each a unique experience, i have skipped meals to keep playing, tinkering with stats, items, characters. Just to see what I can do with what was given to me. In a very unique sense in the way of the original having its own formulas of success; Legionwood 2 remains an enigma with only its >3 beta release. Which in plenty leaves more than enough game content undiscovered, and ready to smash any conceived beta formula win strategies in the face.
10/10 Rating
x7xOne thing that truly stands out in my mind more than all of these things, is the developer. More over a developer that will listen to just about any suggestion, the developer is truly wonderful in this respect, between bugs, and problem solving within the beta (some i have found, and some that have been answered in the main page thread) have always gone with some level of response, and while still up to objectivity (obviously) you will be heard. And while that may not be in the best interest of a major developer, for an indie title, having connection to yours testers, players, and community is very important not just to resolve issues but to improve content!
10/10 Rating
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If you followed the arbitrary point system, 61.5 total, weighted against a total of 70.0points, rounded up a score of 88%. Since arbitrary systems only work in increments of .5; I'll set my mark at 4.5;
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Arbitrary values disregarded:
Quality of Music has already improved (wasn't bad to begin with), and I absolutely refuse to score a game based on music as a factor.
Quality of graphics while high, I absolutely refuse to score a game based on graphics.
Completeness and bugs -- game is in beta? duh.
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If more people were able to play and test the game, I feel like its potential in the chapters "3 >" will come to be something this community will revere for years to come. Any effort you put forth to help the developer, whether enjoyable or not (in your experience), has a result. And even if that result is only a paragraph of disappointment, you can be rest assured the developer +-*will*-+ read it. My over-all arbitrary recommendation of "Legionwood 2; up to chapter > 3" is that it is primed for success, and hopefully will be that "game" one day, that everyone recommends.
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*1*Would love to see more of these, or larger versions, mayhaps a pyramid involving a series of 9 numbers, some through clues, some through simple math, some through monster drops and books? The capacity is present to design some really cool stuff future number codes!
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tl;dr version = Play it!
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