Oh dear...Bound by Flame. You held such promise...and didn't deliver on it.
I played the PC version of this game, eager to use some demon magic and to be all villainous and whatnot, with my weapons and fire ready to take on the undead ice lords.
But after finishing the game today after only playing it for 2 days, I can safely say it's an incomplete mess.
Bound by Flame talks a big game but can't deliver. From a crafting system that his little impact on gameplay, a story that is nonsensical at best and a disastrous mess at worst, combat that is clunky and ineffectual, and even a romance subplot so forced that it clearly screams 'bioware did it so we must as well'.
The game ends very abrupty after defeating only 1 of the Big Bad's in a very forgetful and otherwise boring and unimaginative boss fight...which makes absolutely no use of the fact that said boss is an undead ice necromancer, you have one little boss fight afterwords.
and the game ends.
I was confused, surely this couldn't be right...I only defeated ONE ice Lord! Surely there must be more to it, this is only act 1 completed!
But nope, the rest of the Big Bad's die off screen without you seeing them at all, and despite my best attempts to become an evil fire demon: the only thing i managed to do was get red eyes.
Woo hoo.
Player Choices have absolutely no effect on the story, so I may as well not be there, and the story itself bumbles along as if being told by a drunkard who can't remember half of it. Character motivations are confusing and despite failing several quests, things continued on as if I had succeeded them.
Several quests were bugged and altered dialogue, and the actual battles were so imbalanced it was embarrassing.
Bosses are capable of stun-locking you to death and do so with regular gusto, some of the boss scenario's are utterly ridiculous and take absolutely no notice of character builds, actively punishing you for not having certain party members at certain times.
the whole game feels like they ran out of time and money a quarter of hte way in, so they cut their losses and ended the game on a note that confused the ever loving hell out of me.
Voice acting is utterly attrocious, and the game is not very good looking either: it looks like a 360 launch title at best.
Of course we have their much vaunted customization system which while visually entertaining, has little if any effect on combat: the only upgrades offered are minor at absolute best and won't sway the shift of combat one way or another.
In the end, I would not suggest this game to anyone at all, it tries to be The Witcher and Dragon Age without the appeal of either, nor the skill to pull it off.
Avoid.
I played the PC version of this game, eager to use some demon magic and to be all villainous and whatnot, with my weapons and fire ready to take on the undead ice lords.
But after finishing the game today after only playing it for 2 days, I can safely say it's an incomplete mess.
Bound by Flame talks a big game but can't deliver. From a crafting system that his little impact on gameplay, a story that is nonsensical at best and a disastrous mess at worst, combat that is clunky and ineffectual, and even a romance subplot so forced that it clearly screams 'bioware did it so we must as well'.
The game ends very abrupty after defeating only 1 of the Big Bad's in a very forgetful and otherwise boring and unimaginative boss fight...which makes absolutely no use of the fact that said boss is an undead ice necromancer, you have one little boss fight afterwords.
and the game ends.
I was confused, surely this couldn't be right...I only defeated ONE ice Lord! Surely there must be more to it, this is only act 1 completed!
But nope, the rest of the Big Bad's die off screen without you seeing them at all, and despite my best attempts to become an evil fire demon: the only thing i managed to do was get red eyes.
Woo hoo.
Player Choices have absolutely no effect on the story, so I may as well not be there, and the story itself bumbles along as if being told by a drunkard who can't remember half of it. Character motivations are confusing and despite failing several quests, things continued on as if I had succeeded them.
Several quests were bugged and altered dialogue, and the actual battles were so imbalanced it was embarrassing.
Bosses are capable of stun-locking you to death and do so with regular gusto, some of the boss scenario's are utterly ridiculous and take absolutely no notice of character builds, actively punishing you for not having certain party members at certain times.
the whole game feels like they ran out of time and money a quarter of hte way in, so they cut their losses and ended the game on a note that confused the ever loving hell out of me.
Voice acting is utterly attrocious, and the game is not very good looking either: it looks like a 360 launch title at best.
Of course we have their much vaunted customization system which while visually entertaining, has little if any effect on combat: the only upgrades offered are minor at absolute best and won't sway the shift of combat one way or another.
In the end, I would not suggest this game to anyone at all, it tries to be The Witcher and Dragon Age without the appeal of either, nor the skill to pull it off.
Avoid.