Spellforce 2 offer

[BobTD]

Looking around the internet today I came across an article about games that tried to blend RTS and RPG into one smooth game, and the challenges it presented.

The game that best accomplished this is said to be the much underrated Spallforce2. Lo and behold, the universe conspired to have me play the game, for the first thing I see when I load up Steam today is a Spellforce 2 gold edition special offer for...

$7.50!

I'm downloading it now, and I hope to update this thread with some first impressions. I actually really cant help buying things on sale from Steam because they don't often let me down.

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/5911/sf2c.jpg

[jango]

sounds interesting .. i'm working thru the new borderlands dlc and the anno1404 expansion so don't rly have time to try another game atm. would be interested in how well the blend works tho .. once u get a chance to get ur feet wet in the game etc.

[BobTD]

So far I really like it. Once you get the hang of it, you can switch between a WOW perspective and an above view tactical view easily. And the levels in the game are more like stages, once you progress far enough in the storyline you can portal between maps to go back to towns to shop or explore areas you missed.

Advancing the storyline brings you to more instances where you will be given a zone to control by RTS means, and while switching to creating buildings never feels quite like the same game your hero and his companions remain the grounding factor.

Multilayer however is an entirely RTS version of the game, and I haven't yet played enough to decide how well balanced it is, but from what I have seen its very fast paced and challenging. The computers are a bit relentless but it made finally defeating one all the more satisfying.

[jango]

i'll try and remember to load it up over the weekend and give it a try

[BobTD]

I actually found a third game mode called free play that's pretty fun. It reminds me of when players tried to make a starcraft rpg.

Basically you create a hero and you can take him into a town map to buy and trade equipment, or enter different rpg or RTS maps built for different level characters and hunt for loot. You can redo any map as well if you missed anything or just want to level up. To leave the map you enter a portal that saves your heroes progress.

There are new maps for each expansion to the game as well, and actually there is a ton of gameplay and re-playability in that game mode alone.

One last thought, you can choose your faction I think to in free play, so there might be 4 different free play games. Not sure yet, but its pretty cool having the choices of leading an army of undead, human/dwarf/elf alliance, Ork, or Dragon Blood alliance.