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Do you enjoy games like Knights of the Old Republic or Dragon Age Origins? How about the companion interactions in games like Mass Effect or Fallout 3? Greedfall releases on September 10th and it’s an action RPG that is looking to offer up many aspects of those classic games while also providing a new spin of it’s own.
There used to be a time where a title like Greedfall’s eminent release would be a much anticipated affair full of buzz and speculation. Development studio Spiders low profile and reputation for releasing somewhat spotty AA games is probably the biggest reason why Greedfall is flying under the radar. Combine those facts with the litany of large scale AAA level RPG’s available today and I supposed the subdued excitement isn’t too much of a mystery.
Whatever reason for the low level of awareness, here at Omni Game Player we like to highlight good games that may be getting over looked in hopes of helping other gamers discover what may be their new favorite game. Greedfall is looking like a title that has tremendous potential to be just that for any long time RPG fan. Let’s take a look at why you need to give this game a shot.
What is Greedfall?
Greedfall is a party based action role playing game. The setting takes place in a fantasy realm with a colonial period inspired aesthetic. Your party has to navigate their way through political factions and a hostile environment while adventuring through a new world filled with its own history of people and culture. Here is an official excerpt from the Greedfall website.
The Old World is dying. The continent is polluted, overpopulated, and plagued by a deadly, incurable disease. Its weary population grows desperate.
Greedfall.com
But there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon – an Island, remote and hidden, has been discovered. Teer Fradee… a land spared by the Malichor plague, a haven of life, wild and untampered by mankind. It is the promise of riches, but also represents the best hope for mankind to find a cure to the Malichor. On the hunt for the cure, explore a fresh new world as, alongside settlers, mercenaries and treasure hunters, you set foot on this remote island seeping with magic.
What we have here is a brand new game world to explore full of loot, stories, and companions. A new action RPG in a similar vein to games RPG fans have loved for decades. It would be foolhardy of me to tell you that Greedfall will surpass all of the classic RPG’s that have come before it, with Spiders small development team of only 20 people that would be a miraculous feat indeed.
Though it may not surpass or even quite match up to the gold standard of the past games it emulates, Greedfall is giving gamers a new entry into the Biwoare like RPG pantheon of games and that’s something to be excited about.
Why RPG Fans should keep and Eye on Greedfall?
A lot of my anticipation for Greedfall stems from Spiders last game, The Technomancer. The Tehnomancer was a AA quality title through and through. It clearly had a decent budget but it wasn’t as pretty or polished as the some of the major AAA RPG titles that get most of the spotlight.
Technomancer while fully realized and fun, suffered from a litany of ugly spots, visually and gameplay wise. Sometimes the player would run into the odd glitch, the voice acting wasn’t always great, and the production values were pretty noticeably beneath the high end range we see so commonly.
With all that said, The Technomancer was still a title I have really fond memories playing. What I loved most about Technomancer is that it brought me back to the days of early Bioware games. Dragon Age Origns, Mass Effect, Knights of the old Republic. Classic RPG’s that I played on the OG Xbox and Xbox 360. Technomancer never quite managed to hit the heights of those games and thus it was viewed by many as a cheap imitation but I would argue that even a poor man’s version of Knights of the old Republic can still make for a pretty enjoyable game.
It was clear to me that the DNA of Technomancer was engineered from some of the greatest games of yesteryear. This experience was yet another one that lead me to the realization that I Love AA video games. I gravitate towards them in great part because they often aspire to be something different among the frequently monolithic approach to high end AAA games.
Every game today, including western RPG’s seems to want to be everything for all gamers. Fully Open world, 100 hours long, with ten million side missions. Spiders seems like they just want to be a classic action RPG, hone in on what makes those older games tick and just master that. I find that purity of vision invigorating.
Greedfall seems like a nice step up from Technomancer while still offering some of that old Bioware charm. Like a Bioware game Greedfall will have stories for all in game companies that you can chose to play through. One of the best moments in games like Dragon Age or KOTOR where those quiet conversations you had with your allies. Greedfall is also not a fully open world RPG, it has smaller game areas that are segmented from each other similar to other games in the early of the genre.
From everything I have seen it looks like we are getting a distilled version of what an RPG game was 10-15 years ago; although the medium has evolved quite a bit since then, we have lost some of the straightforwardness and purity of those earlier titles. Greedfall could be a welcome respite from the mega RPG of the modern day and offer up gamers a trip down memory lane while still being something fresh.
The game is looking Deep
Another reason why I enjoy AA games so much is that they generally try to pack in the same type of content we get in a AAA title but they do it in a much more concise way. If Technomancer is any indication, Greedfall may be doing just that. The game appears to be quite deep with many ways to play and interact with the world but it may be squeezing all of that into a package that is significantly shorter than their AAA counterparts.
As reported by Escapist magazine, GreedFall looks to be 30-40 hours long as oppsed to the 60-100 hours that so many other RPG’s of the day aim for. This can be a refreshing change of pace as a 30 hour play through can allow for multiple cracks at the game story in the same time it would take to play through many other games once.
Spiders has already confirmed that there will be 5 party members who will join you in your quest and during Gamescom, they have released some more information and a trailer to detail them. Here is the video and a brief written breakdown of each of the characters.
–Aphra: Long range sharpshooting scientist from the Bridge alliance. Sounds like she will need to be protected from melee combat but she’s very effective with range.
-Siora: A native of Teer Fradee , she will be the one character in the party who knows the land and customs. Her combat style revolves around magic and I am sure she will be very interesting to have around during some of the political negations.
-Vasco: Pirate captain with a closed off personalty who can open up if the player puts in the work. He is a duelist who relies on agility and range.
-Petrus: A father figure character who is a mercenary veteran. He is said to be good with his words and while he comes off as a supportive, wise mentor, he may have his own designs, possibly nefarious designs.
-Kurt: Melee combat specialist who can wear armor (apparently not all characters can). Looks like he will be the tank of the crew., designed to get up in the faces of enemies and hold their attention while other members attack from other angles.
There seems to be a strong roster of characters who will bring interesting personalities and dynamics to the overall game mix. I imagine that everyone will have their favorites not only for gameplay reason but also for personality reasons such as likability.
Not only do we get an assortment of characters to engage with, we also get over 200 pieces of equipment from weapons, armor, and other gear. There is also be a robust character leveling system where it appears we will choose from several skills along a skill tree to strengthen our party members.
Greedfall also promises to offer multiple styles of play. We can choose to approach situations head up, and opt for violence. We can decided to try and get through a situation by using stealth to sneak our way to a solution.
The game also looks like diplomacy will be a major factor and yet another avenue that can be utilized to pursue our means. There doesn’t seem to be any shortage in the ways we can decide to adventure through Teer Fradee and that’s a common element that many of the best RPG’s present to players in spades.
Greedfall is just a Few weeks Away
Watching the gameplay trailers and the raw gameplay footage that has been released, Greedfall is looking like the greatest game that Spiders has crafted to date. I enjoyed Technomancer but it had its rough edges, visually it didn’t look great for a current generation game and the gameplay was a little stiff but I thought well implemented.
Greedfall seems to have polished a lot of the initial rough edges found in the companies earlier titles. The graphics have an extra level of sheen compared to Technomancer, the animations look pretty great, and even the performances seem to have taken a step up. It’s hard to believe that a small team of 20 people has put together a game like this.
Added to the already tantalizing mix is the wonderful composer Olivier Deriviere who has had his hands in a litany of great video game scores. From the critically acclaimed A Plague’s Tale to Remember me, Black Flags, The Technomancer, and much more. He has composed what are probably some of your favorite pieces of video game music in recent years and Greedfall will undoubtedly have a compelling score to properly season the entirety of our adventure.
The game is just a few weeks away and if it’s good I am sure the profile of Greedfall will be raised quite a bit. I hope after reading this many of you are also looking forward to what this game will bring this September. Let me know what you think when you get your hands on it and don’t be surprised if it is your next favorite RPG game.
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