In the modern era, creating an RPG that can compete on the market is no small feat, almost mammoth if you don't have a high budget. This latest generation of consoles alone has brought games of the caliber of to the fore The Witcher 3 e Dragon Age: Inquisition, sacred monsters that are nearly impossible to match or dodge from their throne. GreedFall for obvious reasons it does not try to compete with such titles in the least, but in its own way tries to place itself in the same slice of the market. How does it do it? Simple, trying to tell a "different" story in its own way, implementing it to a fairly deep and rewarding gameplay.
However, as already mentioned, being able to develop a satisfying RPG that respects the classic canons is a really difficult undertaking, and don't be fooled by some gameplay videos of your favorite youtuber or by the classic trailers assembled to perfection, pad in hand the title. hides some obvious problems but which, at the end of the fair, does not affect the enjoyment that much. I'll explain this last step better: the players more knowledgeable about this particular type of products will find everything fun and enjoyable, those less accustomed could turn up their noses. GreendFall is a hallucinating contradiction: it passes from moments of epicness and in-depth writing, to sterile moments, things already seen and that I don't add anything new.
What to expect from the plot
Let's start by saying that, even if the narrative premises are quite original, after a few minutes it will be clear and obvious that everything the background of the protagonist will be useless for the purposes of the general plot, but not for the main goal. Let's go in order: GreedFall starts from a strong and very fashionable imagination, and certainly the development house has focused on this historical context to get closer to as many fans as possible. In the game, in fact, you will be catapulted into an eighteenth century fantasy style, where the line between reality and the arcane is really thin. Religious faith is blind and does not admit reasons to the contrary, so much so as to defeat and kill everything that goes against the dictate or that questions its beliefs.
In contrast to these strong beliefs, there are indigenous peoples who, like the American Indians, exploit nature to survive by respecting and drawing strength from it also through magic. This broad and layered scenario will not be explored in depth, because immediately you will understand that the plot can only take only and exclusively two paths, both dismayed by many secondary quests of little importance and not at all engaging, except for a few. The first way you will have to go will be that of the salvation of Europe, since a strange form of plague is called Malicore it is exterminating the population. The second instead will be to become a diplomatic figure to mediate between kingdoms, which seems to us quite far-fetched, if we think that the protagonist is indeed a noble, but only because of a strong dowry obtained through the commercial activity of the family. .
Soon we will be the person who will solve the problems for the entire population, foiling plans of young and cruel nobles or helping some poor wretch to save the skin. All of this seems tremendously out of context: why should all these people rely on us? If we wanted to turn a blind eye, we could, but some questions obviously remain unanswered. Although the dialogues are really, and I really stress, well written, the few insights do not give the opportunity to discover more than is necessary, both in terms of history and on the knowledge of the various characters. Remains clear as day that the entire game world has a very specific history, with wars that have been fought and with civilization you are advancing inexorably destroying the peaceful life of these natives, but the whole is explained in a somewhat veiled and bite-free way. Even the members of the group were poorly characterized, soon becoming forgettable supporting actors and devoid of any kind of enthusiasm or characterization. The game then brings into play a reputation system that immediately bodes well, but you will soon realize its uselessness and its approximate development, which is really a big shame given its potential within the economy. of game. Even the choices you make will be important - some even decisive - do not think they will have too specific a weight: in the long run the plot will take you where it wants, without particular jolts or striking originality. There are obviously some moments that can give emotions or positive feedback, but they are tremendously rare within such a rich imaginary that, unfortunately, it has not been fully exploited.
A praise, however, to the secondary quests, some of them written better than the main plot, with interesting ideas and unexpected implications. GreedFall gives the player the opportunity to approach missions in different ways outline, and although in some it will be enough to kill all the enemies or corrupt a certain character, you will always have several possibilities available: for example, a simple change of clothes, so as to disguise yourself among the enemies and go unnoticed in areas otherwise not accessible . Will these actions lead to reactions? Certainly, but only in the inherent mission: in rare cases our certain behavior could alienate or annoy a certain member of the party, for the rest whatever our decision or approach, the repercussions will be minimal and insignificant. Was the system of choices and reputation managed well in the end? The definitive answer could be summed up in the more classic "he is good but he does not apply", a real shame in short.
Pad in hand
We talked extensively about the narrative structure of GreedFall, now it is right to examine what you will do in the game pad in hand. Let's start by reiterating what was mentioned previously: the missions are extremely linear, all of them will lead you to perform the exact same tasks, while you will be guided by the game itself that will show you the right way. This turns out to be a problem, as apparently we as players should have a variety of choices in approach. Unfortunately, however, since we are always and constantly accompanied by the hand of the title, we "stop playing" and only begin to follow a line, completely ousting the playful component.
The product differs in three macro areas, not particularly brilliant for differentiation but which, in their own way, are able to offer unique and very evocative views. The general context, however, is too little to remain particularly involved, also given that the recycling of various assets between one city and another is undeniable. Added to this is a very limited variety of enemies or monsters: the development house did not waste much time to propose a rich and varied bestiary, which when combined with almost all the same missions results in excessive redundancy, which will inevitably lead to the average player getting tired. The character progression system, on the other hand, is well balanced and structured, in addition to the classic skill points that will improve the statistics of the main character, there will be talents and other peculiarities to be unlocked: for example, we will be able to increase our agility, so as to be able to climb walls very steep and access otherwise inaccessible areas, or increase the charisma so as to convince a certain character to confess his darkest secrets.
The combat system mainly revolves around three classes: wizard, warrior and a third who exploits traps. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, but if you start the game with one in particular, nothing will stop you from unlocking the abilities of the others and so on. You can therefore create a wizard capable of breaking any type of lock, or a warrior who manages to use basic magic to get the better of certain clashes. The latter are slightly clumsy, but they return pleasant feedback. The fights turn out to be more than dances, made of dodges, imbalances, lunges and all the other elements given by the gameplay, which still remains very simplistic, but in this case perfectly consistent with the context on which it was created. RPG purists will also find the tactical break, useful to stop the clash and calmly prepare the most effective strategy. As far as the management of the equipment is concerned, we found it absolutely varied and level: although the characters will mainly use the same weapons, you will find a large number of blades and armor that will suit you. In all this, if you push on the “Artisan” skill, you can become top quality blacksmiths and build significantly better objects yourself. The management of the party is unfortunately limited to the equipment, not only in depth not only in the knowledge of their background but also in their use.
More evil than the sword
Another sore point of GreedFall is the technical aspect. In terms of graphics in itself it is not too bad, but if you pass under a closer eye you immediately notice some problems. The first - and in my opinion the largest - is related to light management: the game has a dynamic day-night system, in the sense that time passes within the game and it is a fairly common thing within modern games. . The problem is that from dawn until night the general light does not change, always remaining the same shade, only to disappear in the darkest hours. with an almost comical result since you can suddenly find yourself in the dark without a minimum notice. the music seemed quite forgettable to us, even if in the cities you will be accompanied by cute and catchy tunes. The facial animations struck us as questionable enough, but they definitely aren't the ones that undermine the overall experience. The game is also quite stable when it comes to the frame rate and we didn't find any major bugs that ruined our adventure, indeed, very small stuff that we don't feel like reporting.
In conclusion we can say of GreedFall is a great wasted opportunity: RPG fans will find bread for their teeth, an excellent pastime able to amuse and entertain, but it is clear that compared to more famous titles it suffers in many - and far too many - aspects. Personally, in the long run I enjoyed myself, completing everything after about fifty hours, entertaining myself abundantly with the secondary quests, really well written. The game is full of things to do, but it is a pity that everything is limited to the usual actions on the cross without particular prominent moments. When the plot should take off instead it does not, nor does it deepen some really interesting ideas proposed by the development house, thus limiting our knowledge on the proposed imagery, a very evocative context but which certainly needed to be better exploited. In some cases, unfortunately, you have to be honest, GreedFall is a nice game, and if we consider the budget and size of the development team (i.e. Spiders) it is clear that they have done a truly mammoth job for them. In my opinion it would have been better to use all the energy on something smaller and easier to manage, rather than such a demanding and dispersed work. The talent and the desire to do have been seen, but there is still a long way to go to carve out their own space in the RPG market. The beginning partly bodes well, if properly supported this software house will be able to give some small pearls in the future.
