I've beaten the game once with an undead good character. It was an enjoyable experience. But at the same time I could feel the limitations that came from how it's not really feasible to rewrite the entire game around undead characters so there was a lot of strange moments where things just don't mesh. For example, your character getting drunk with someone (wut? I don't even have a liver) or you just wandering around town with an open face helmet and no one cares.
In that playthrough I had Fane, Red Prince, and Sebille. By the end I only really liked Sebille as the other two were so boring. Sure, Red Price was smarmy and posh and suave but his entire story is so boring. Don't get me started on Fane. He's like that really nerdy DND loser who refuses to admit he's a fucking loser and thinks he's so superior to everyone because his fantasy barbarian is awesome. I hated his stupid ass. I only didn't kill him because I was roleplaying a good character.
So I did all that, got one of the good endings, blah blah. Overall I would rate that campaign as a 7/10. I also actually finished it, which speaks volume to its quality as I very rarely finish RPGs.
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But that's not all.
A few weeks later I was itching to try it again. I was just planning on trying out new builds and play on Honor since I actually knew how to play now. I became an Elf, cause Elf is easily the best race in the game with a free bonus AP skill that also gives 10% extra damage. How the hell does anyone compete with that? It's so damn good. Having an extra AP point straight up makes you 20% stronger than anyone else without that. Breathe fire? Everyone gets +1 in stats? A worthless petrify? Playing dead? That's all trash compared to extra AP.
Anyway, since I completed all the good stuff and pretended to be a hero and all that already, this time I decided to actually play how I wanted to play. This time I fucked everyone.
Oh my god. This campaign I'd rate at a 9/10 easily. It's so much more fun. I can't believe the amount of content the devs put into the asshole, evil, and barbarian actions. The reason I normally play the good guy even though I don't like to is because generally speaking you're forced to be the good guy anyway. It doesn't matter if you want to kill everyone, most games find some contrived reason to make you be a good saintly person anyway or straight up prevent you from doing the things you want to do. But here? The game doesn't care if you straight up murder the main quest giver, which I do. All the time. I kill everyone who sassed me. Killed all the magisters. Ate everyone's souls. Murdered everything. My current character has no time for shit and no time to be insulted.
And I enjoyed the fuck out of it. I love how people react to you when you are some kind of demon god. All the [VILLAIN] tag options. The [BARBARIAN] tag options are particularly my favorite, since you basically tell everyone to shut up. My very first response to Fane was to break his face and it felt so good. I slaughtered the Red Prince when he sassed me. I stole all their shit and I felt damn good.
When you learn how to control your power from your teacher in act 2, and she's so happy that you're on the path to becoming the new divine as she sends you to your next destination. You say thanks, then eat her soul. Her only response is an "ah". But she says it in such a way that you can feel the betrayal and the realization of what she's done. I fucking love it.
I highly recommend it. It's so rare that a game just lets you do whatever. I think the only real limitation I've had was how I can't kill Malady. That's kinda about it. I should also point out the combat in Honor mode is really good but there's no way in hell a newbie can do this difficulty so I only recommend it for those with experience.
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In regards to the combat itself. In general I think it's really good, but there are a few things that bug me. For example, I really don't like how the turns are locked to YOURS > ENEMY > YOURS > ENEMY, etc. So your turn priority is completely stupid as you always end up with opposing factions alternating anyway. This makes that stat completely and utterly worthless. I also don't really like how the game kinda incentivizes you to either go full physical or full magic. Because trying to go both makes it that you spend too long trying to whittle down both armour and magic armour in order to CC the enemy. Most people probably complain that solo mages can't do shit since the mage has to spend all his AP just destroying the magic armour before he can even status anyone. It would have been way better if there were more status effects that could penetrate them, making mixed parties more viable.
But that's about it. The combat is excellent otherwise. The biggest thing I think to learn about the combat is that there's no "fixed classes" in the game. Just take all the skills you want from any class. My current character has 2 in necromancy, 2 scoundrel, 2 huntsman, etc. etc. I just take everything and grab specific skills. No reason to lock yourself to a specific skill tree. There's absolutely no reason why an archer cannot have teleport, and you totally should have teleport. Makes for super fun classes since you start to plan really complicated builds.