Are we going to have a renaissance of team RPGs from the beginning of the century? – review of the game “GreedFall”

On September 10 last year, the relatively small French studio Spiders, known in recent years for such titles as Bound by Flame or The Technomancer , offered players another position under the sign of cRPG – GreedFall . It is clear that the game was designed to outshine its average-accepted predecessors, and the developers decided to pour their best ideas and wildest ambitions into it, clearly trying to compete with AAA’s works – despite a modest budget, lower market recognition and setting the story in a new one, an authorial world behind which there is no established brand. The effort is undoubtedly admirable, but what came of it?

Excuse me. What year is it?

The basic issue that will strike the eyes of every person, at least a bit familiar with RPGs of the last two decades, is a certain duplication of both many technical solutions and a general view of what a virtual role play for a single player should be . Interestingly, these references will go further than the high-profile hits of the last few years, which very strongly set modern standards. But let’s not be groundless – what are these similarities?

Apart from the overarching goal somewhere on the horizon, which is the search for a method of treating malichoric patients, i.e. a plague decimating the inhabitants of the civilized lands of the continent, the main plot of the plot is set around several factions crowded in a limited, not fully explored area, between which tension grows and peace hanging on a thread. Sounds familiar? (At this point, be sure to cheer up: Gothic !)

However, unlike in Gothic , where individual groups were simply different starting gates on our way from zero to the hero, here we will have to avoid unambiguous alliance with a specific group, acting as a mediator and arbiter in emerging disputes. We will be officially entitled to do so, holding the position of legate of the Merchant Congregation from the very beginning – so there will not be enough of the already worn-out thread of laborious climbing up the social ladder.

The exploration of the island will primarily bring to mind Dragon Age: Origins and The Witcher 2 . First of all, because of the movement, here and there on the Teer Fradee map, which is only a fragment of the world inaccessible to us, presented as it was in the case of Ferelden, and moving around locations in the company of two selected team members. The second, however, because of the picturesque and quite extensive locations, which, however, remain closed, as well as the constant “sticking” of our hero to the ground, with the exception of the ridiculously distinguished rock ledges for climbing, despite the presence of an arcade combat system that could give hope even for the possibility of free jumping.

And since we are talking about the combat system … the connection will probably miss many players and reviewers, because it will not refer to one of the timeless hits. As some of you may remember, even the old BioWare had stumbles, or at least peculiar experiments that did not meet the expected enthusiasm of players after the premiere. One of such monsters was Jade Empirefrom 2005. Real-time arcade battles based on skillful combining of attacks, dodges and blocks, making the general way of delivering blows and the pace of our movements dependent on the type of weapon used, as well as offering us the possibility of charmingly clunky firing of magic projectiles from our hands, immediately sparked in my mind a flood of memories associated with this very title. This is not a bad thing, because this aspect of the gameplay in the Chinese-inspired piece was warmly received in its time, and GreedFall successfully refreshed it, keeping what was good about it, but alleviating most of its disadvantages.

The story comes first!

If you agree with the above statement, you can reach for the latest creation from Spiders studio without hesitation – you will not be disappointed. I can honestly admit that the main plot of any role-playing game has not drawn me as much as this one for a long time. Today’s titles, even the best ones, such as The Witcher 3 or Skyrim , have accustomed us to the fact that the best fun and the most juicy parts of the script can be found on the outskirts of the presented world, performing side tasks. Main questshowever, they remain stiff, clichéd and at many stages simply uninteresting – we push them forward only because without them we will not get to the end or unlock further side activities. Here my feelings were quite the opposite: I was often reluctant to break away from the central sequence from the plot point of view, to carry out, out of sheer pragmatism, this or that mission to improve my relations with a faction or comrade.

The story we’ll be dealing with in GreedFall is first and foremost fresh. On the one hand, it uses well-known motifs and is a certain reinterpretation of historical events, on the other – it does not use anything in a straightforward and obvious way. We are saving the world, but not at all as we would expect, and in addition, this motivation will quickly change into the background, instead of being our main driving force. We are dealing with an obvious parallel to the colonization of the New World, but we will also come across a mass of motifs that make Teer Fradee natives as much Native Americans as ancient Celts, and the contact of different cultures will be accompanied by a commentary on the contrast between civilization and nature and its primeval spirit, a native of Conan the Barbarian .

The way the side quests overlap with the main story is also very interesting . Firstly, they are much less random than in most similar games and are almost always closely related to our duties as a legate, and secondly, the finalization of several of them will give us answers to some important questions, related to the mystery of our hero’s origin, and which never we will get to know by sticking exclusively to the mainstream plot.

Manager, give two zlotys … for a new mechanic!

Despite all his virtues and the warm feelings he evoked in me, GreedFall should be pointed out one thing: you can feel the breath of old age not only among his spiritual inspirations but also in the technical field. As we play, it will often cross our mind that the title seems simply unfinished, with obvious potential in some places that no one has used. In general, there can be two reasons for this – a merciless publishing deadline or too small budget. In this case, it is not difficult to guess that this is option number two.

The experience of such limitations in 2019 is in a way interesting, because it shows how much contemporary titles spoil us in many seemingly insignificant areas and what discomfort can be caused by an unexpected lack of this kind of goodies. It will not be possible to color the armor with dozens of colors – many of them do not even have a separate “female” version, so they will look identical when worn on a character of the opposite sex (lovers of the so-called bikini armor will be disappointed). There will be hundreds of hours of running after collectibles and grindingevery possible aspect of the game to achieve the “best” ending – everything is part of the central story, and the optimal results will be achieved by playing wisely, not for long. We will not sneak into the favors of our companions with gifts or taking them with us on specific missions, in which we will show off the attitude they approve of – we will have to understand their way of thinking and demonstrate it in direct conversation with them … there will not be many chances for it, and the consequences will be irreversible.

On the other hand, some of these shortcomings will not have any cognitive or educational value for us. They will only irritate or evoke bitter thoughts under the sign “and it could have been so beautiful”. The latter type of reaction has repeatedly appeared in my contacts with “detective” tasks. The title clearly lacks any investigation mechanics that would allow finding – and overlooking – clues, cataloging them, and drawing correct or wrong conclusions from it. GreedFall will treat us several times with interestingly written threads consisting in figuring out some kind of conspiracies or investigating, which also happened on the battlefield we found. Unfortunately, the charm of these quests begins to fade quickly when we realize that they are indeed very linear, and we will be led by the hand all the time, with no real possibility of making a mistake.

The same applies to the reputation system, especially with regard to relationships with our teammates – as I mentioned, they depend largely on just a handful of dialogues that appear after completing our little ones’ private tasks. As a result, the development of these relations is very jumpy and is quite artificial. Nevertheless, I probably prefer this to the nowadays popular, endearingly idiotic flirting with the help of the dialogue wheel, which boils down to “press the option marked with a heart until character X lands in bed with you.”

Of course, an indispensable element of the “unfinished” game are bugs or ill-considered technical solutions – and there are plenty of those in GreedFall . There is nothing drastic that would make it impossible to complete the game, but this or that can get under your skin. The quest tags are the most memorable for meforking into several paths that have been stuck on the world map for all time after I have not decided on a related solution and completed the mission without any of its stages, as well as the mechanics of tying groups of enemies to a specific and very narrow area. Often, to leave such an area, it is enough to perform a few dodges in the wrong direction, and this in turn will lead to a creature some half a meter away suddenly completely losing interest in us, and its health bar will immediately fill up again – unlike ours.

I could write about the latest work of the Spiders studio for a long time, because it is a title that evokes emotions and gives room for both its enthusiasts and critics to show off. I definitely like it and I personally hope that it will achieve great sales results, which will allow its creators to spread their wings on the next project. The renaissance of old-school RPGs is yet to come – one swallow doesn’t make spring. But we are on the right track!