I have yet to finish the game, but so far I'm highly impressed. Just wow, this is a legit great RPG and surpassed most RPGs released in the past few years. It feels like Gothic meets Morrowind.
The world is pretty dense and rewarding to explore, with lots of hand-placed loots scattered in the world and/or dungeons. The dungeons are very complex and deep, with lots of dead ends as well as verticality. There's no fast travel like in Skyrim, but it's replaced with a flight path system to surrounding towers like in WoW, and you can go back to a city/town with teleportation scrolls. There are puzzles too, but they're mostly seen in main quests. Everything from settlements to ruins feels handcrafted and makes sense. Economy is well-handled too, I always found myself looking for scraps and loots to sell, because I always need more money to learn skills and/or upgrade my gears. Skills are gained by reading the corresponding book, and merchants sell them.
Quests are pretty good and varied. There are simple quests like bounties which you can take in the notice boards, and there are also chained quests from important figures in the city. But most quests are not a simple go here and kill/gather that. Even the simple side quests have several steps to complete and going to multiple places, and have their own small twists. There are guild questline too, but what makes it different in Enderal is that they are trading guilds with their own ways and interests instead of fighter/mage/thief, or some political guilds like what you can find in a lot of RPGs. For some quests, there are no clear 'good' or 'bad' choice, sometimes you have to make tough choices (even side quests), which may impact the reward, your companion's view on you, or the fate of the NPC. Yeah, there's NPC relationship system in this game, they may like/dislike what you say so you have to keep that in mind, even in non-decision making dialogue. I love how your actions and dialogue choices directly affect the outcome of a quest and/or NPC relationship. With how well-written and loveable the characters in Enderal are, you wouldn't want to screw them off.
The main highlight for me is that I totally like the progression, that feeling of helplessness in early game where everything can wreck you easily. You have to run, but then you come back several hours later with better skills and gears to get your sweet revenge. The combat is very strategic, and every encounter can Iead you to your demise if you're not careful. Archers are deadly, and mages are even more deadly. With the warriors and rogues defending them from the front, you need to think you strategy carefully before engaging a group of enemies. Enderal has also incorporated lots of QoL, fixes, and graphical mods from Skyrim so you barely need any mod to enjoy it. I do still install a few mods though.
The story is also interesting (it's a nod to a certain game's plot) and I'm eager to see and explore more.
The world is pretty dense and rewarding to explore, with lots of hand-placed loots scattered in the world and/or dungeons. The dungeons are very complex and deep, with lots of dead ends as well as verticality. There's no fast travel like in Skyrim, but it's replaced with a flight path system to surrounding towers like in WoW, and you can go back to a city/town with teleportation scrolls. There are puzzles too, but they're mostly seen in main quests. Everything from settlements to ruins feels handcrafted and makes sense. Economy is well-handled too, I always found myself looking for scraps and loots to sell, because I always need more money to learn skills and/or upgrade my gears. Skills are gained by reading the corresponding book, and merchants sell them.
Quests are pretty good and varied. There are simple quests like bounties which you can take in the notice boards, and there are also chained quests from important figures in the city. But most quests are not a simple go here and kill/gather that. Even the simple side quests have several steps to complete and going to multiple places, and have their own small twists. There are guild questline too, but what makes it different in Enderal is that they are trading guilds with their own ways and interests instead of fighter/mage/thief, or some political guilds like what you can find in a lot of RPGs. For some quests, there are no clear 'good' or 'bad' choice, sometimes you have to make tough choices (even side quests), which may impact the reward, your companion's view on you, or the fate of the NPC. Yeah, there's NPC relationship system in this game, they may like/dislike what you say so you have to keep that in mind, even in non-decision making dialogue. I love how your actions and dialogue choices directly affect the outcome of a quest and/or NPC relationship. With how well-written and loveable the characters in Enderal are, you wouldn't want to screw them off.
The main highlight for me is that I totally like the progression, that feeling of helplessness in early game where everything can wreck you easily. You have to run, but then you come back several hours later with better skills and gears to get your sweet revenge. The combat is very strategic, and every encounter can Iead you to your demise if you're not careful. Archers are deadly, and mages are even more deadly. With the warriors and rogues defending them from the front, you need to think you strategy carefully before engaging a group of enemies. Enderal has also incorporated lots of QoL, fixes, and graphical mods from Skyrim so you barely need any mod to enjoy it. I do still install a few mods though.
The story is also interesting (it's a nod to a certain game's plot) and I'm eager to see and explore more.
