Here's my thoughts about the game by notes while I played it. - Great engaging music. - Zoom and hear soldiers marching, creating a great atmosphere. - The Unnamed faction and its hero are huge sized. - Maps to explore hiding treasures and monsters. - Customization on character. - Lots of items and well organized for you to pick. - Items match you character looks (cloth, armor, weapons). - Good voicing. - Stunning graphics for an old school rts feel. - Advanced interface on character skill/magic casting, very easy to use. - Mix of RTS and RPG seamless. - Characters join hero party, balancing all round skills. - Skill/magic tree to build character for all companions. - Interesting story adding new and creative lore on fantasy worlds (not just orcs vs humans stereotype). - Various game modes. - Released late because of Jowood's internal problems (bankruptcy), thus its delay for such a long time. - Cutscenes are joined weirdly. Beginning of the story jumps straigh to a dialogue hard to pick up (needs to be corrected by devs). - There were long times during the base building that no music kicked in rare occasions. - Unit animation is well done, with fluid moves . - Day and night provide different atmosphere. - A great game to create a DOTA style of play map. - Few games of nowadays that actually kept lan mode to play at home with friends. - Unit animation when hit by enemies. - Each race has a Champion unit pretty well designed and nicely textured, your own Colossus to rally behind. - Not for COD & Battlefield players: you can't have a game with those graphics in a RTS game, so don't wine about it. It's better than most mmo's around anyway (I've seen the graphics argument on youtube and it's ridiculous, pure gratuitous bashing). - Allows to be played on older pcs since its graphical detail can be easely modified. - Your hero can mount a Dragon. Never seen in a RTS besides mmo's. - You can choose either to be nasty and devious or kind hearted and righteous in the outcomes of small quests (lie, help for example) - Unique sets to equip characters with bonuses found throughout the game. All in all it's a fundamental "must have" on rts based games ownership. There isn't much of this kind of quality games anymore and if you're a fan already of the series, it can be easily purchased on steam for example. Look for gameplay videos on youtube and check the site out and decide for yourself if it's worth or not, at least it's not a hyped game and from big corps advertising it everywhere and promising what they don't deliver. This is just my recommendation. Cheers!
I like it. It's not a simple stand-alone addon, rather than a worthy successor, respectively continuation of the Spellforce Series. The new levels are challenging but looking pretty good. Thumbs up and I hope we will get some DLC for it. Also a big highlight are the creative cut scenes, the intro as well as the outro. Fresh and stylish! And for 19,99 a good value for money!
Pros:
- Good story
- New Maps
- New Multiplayer Mode (Domination)
- Dragon Riding!!!
Contras:
- Old Graphics, but still looking good / ok
- Only Drawback, no free game mode in the game anymore
- Only male Shaikane playable :(
SpellForce 2: Faith in Destiny is dated, but that's no surprise. What does surprise is the complete lack of imagination and at the same time a unique and seamless transition between RTS and hack and slash. What it does well, is offer a fun time for those with somewhat lower standards.
It's hard to find reasons to play this standalone add-on. It is outdated, visually not really appealing, offers no challenge and minimal multiplayer options.
I imagine that some of the SpellForce fans will love this expansion.
For the rest of the world, it's a weird genre hybrid with horrible
graphics, silly premise and dubious gameplay mechanics.
While I still found a way to enjoy the new story segment, Faith in Destiny has been the first "dent" in the Spellforce series. It felt different compared to the other game entries, the story was somewhat weaker and bugs occured more often. If you are in the mood to play through all of Spellforce adventures, it likely wont stop you though.
Now, considering this is a standalone EXPANSION pack, this game adds quite a bit. It continues the storyline and add new units. The graphics haven't changed much, which, for me, is good. This wouldn't be a spellforce 2 game without the same graphics. The inventory system hasn't changed and there aren't any new skills or abilities (which I really expected). Some of the fetch quests are extremely stupid and boring and the expansion is a bit too short (max 12 hours of gameplay). However, the gameplay is EXCELLENT. A must buy for everyone who likes Strategy games.
This game is actually not worth it's price. It has what made the Spellforce franchise great, but it's short and i'll risk to say that it has the worst story of all the Spellforce series, based on the cliche that you have to do everything "because it's your destiny". However, if you like Spellforce mechanics you can still find this game enjoyable, and if you like the single player free mode it will be worth it for you.
Beware, however, that you won't be able to play with your friends if they own this game because the servers exist no more. You may try to find a way to play online with a program like hamachi, but I can guarantee that it won't be easy.
This expansion is a vast let down. If you love the previous spell force games, just give them a replay. This game is short, yet tedious and has literally 3 stores for you barter with. There are occasional fun parts reminding me of the previous titles, but with me saving character points while searching for weapon types all the way till the disappointing ending, I just can't recommend this game.
SummaryWhat will lie beyond the gates of reality? SpellForce 2: Faith In Destiny finally brings all the different storylines from the previous SpellForce titles together. Combines Role Playing & Strategy Genre in a uniquely successful way New Multiplayer modes and maps guarantee a richer SpellForce experience both online and offline (MMO-li...