We just put it down after the 2nd campaign. Plan to pick it up again, maybe alternating it with other campaign games. But the gear grind and map fights being exactly the same for each campaign really makes it lose its luster. The prospect of spending 30+ hours running around the same map with the same fights, getting different named weapons and armor that are actually just the same +1 stat bumps as in the last campaign is a real motivation killer. We will definitely be employing some shortcuts for the next two campaigns. I’d like to see what they did different in campaign 5, if we can manage to get there. But if we knew before buying what we know now we might’ve skipped this one altogether.
Edit: Oh, and you are correct about the balance. In campaign 1 it’s a bit worse because they’re stronger characters. We actually added extra enemies and stats to everyone during the fights in chapter 4 of that campaign. But we didn’t in the 2nd campaign (not realizing that we should have after losing to a bounty) and absolutely stomped the last couple of boss fights without even taking damage.
So after finishing up the fourth campaign, I decided that since:
I had to pack up the game to make room for Christmas entertaining
I’m unlikely to (and lacking motivation to) be able to finish it off after Christmas
Arydia is arriving probably early January
I’d just read through the final campaign content and read through the story.
Overall I’d say that all the campaigns shared the same problems, which everyone here seems to have pretty well identified and agreed on. The 2E enhancements do definitely help make it a bit more interesting during each chapter, and help to reduce the grind, but overall it’s patches on some core mechanisms that probably need a more holistic rebalance.
Some spoilers/thoughts on what I read in Campaign 5 (not sure how to mark these as spoilers… so just stop reading!):
Chapter 5 was even more on rails, because you don’t have any choices, and pretty much just walk down a single path on the map. (also one thing that is a bit weird about the game, is the use of mini maps that don’t actually do anything gameplay wise)
Being able to mix and match guards for the final battles sounds interesting, but actually the book/bag keeping of switching guards around is one of the more annoying bits of the game, so I was un-motivated to try it.
Looking at the abilities of Dunamis, he had an attack that did -2 armour straight up, which I feel would have just re-enforced the current “winning” meta of armour reduction, and probably make the final fights not that exciting.
The story also went a bit weird… way more metaphysical than I quite expected (although maybe on reflection not that surprising). So less of what I thought was most interesting (guards facing interpersonal challenges), and just all-in on the very black and white moral, good vs evil stuff.
The final chapter gearing is also a bit weird. You can relatively easily upgrade gear for everyone it seems, but as @Not_People says, because most gear is just a combo of +1 stat bump, gem slots and maybe a chip, they won’t be that exciting when you get them
In the end I haven’t changed my opinion much on what the “root causes” are of the game’s problems:
scaling across the chapters is lumpy, and provides weird incentives to the way you level up your gear
there’s a plethora of potentially interesting skill choices and combos, but because there’s a dominant combat strategy, there’s little reason to explore them
I think this game is so beautiful and epic. I think the rulebook is one of the best I’ve read in a long time. For a game of this weight, it sure is easy to get started.
But I’ve never had a game that needed so much space, and the intense grindiness of it means I likely won’t be playing this one much more, if anymore.
I put it away when Maladum came, and now that Arydia is inbound, I’m sure I’ll never get it back to the table.
I will look to sell Isofarian Guard despite its beauty. I respect the game and its design but its just not for me.
Not sure. The variety is already pretty decent. And because you are never quite sure what you are going to face, you are limited in how much you can specialise your kit…
I didn’t feel Daniel would love this game because it is passive storytelling where you just read or listen to the story which is not particularly engaging. It could’ve been a sandbox and it would’ve been a lot more fun