Confrontation- pc review
Confrontation is a board game conversion which I hoped would be the multiplayer competitive rpg/strategy I've been waiting for. Magic the Gathering tactics went the same route as Pox Nora in terms of being Freemium (pay-to win) so I was glad to see a game where everyone will be on a equal playing field.
At the moment I haven't had a chance to play the multi-player so will just be reviewing the single player.
You control a party of up to four members. There is standard rpg fare such as experience points and levelling. As you level up you select which attributes to upgrade. Unlike in many rpgs of late you cannot choose which skills to learn but you can decide which skills to improve. Again unlike many similar games your units can't spam skills as their stamina/faith/mana is used up very quickly. You therefore must decide whether to focus on certain skills which you'll use often or to split evenly amongst skills and then use whichever seems to be most useful for that situation. In this picture you can see Lanwyn, who is a versatile support character. He has group heals (divine favor and cleansing) as well as skirmish which improves his melee ability, and a couple of power shots, one of which also decreases his target's armor.
Instead of finding new weapons and armor you find glyphs which can be used to increase stats/attributes to do with attack, defense and support, as well as armor and weapon upgrades. You get to choose between two options when upgrading weapons and armor, for example between increasing magic or physical armor, or between accuracy and critical chance for weapons.
In the first chapter you are fighting against technomancers, and spend much time underground. The graphics won't blow you away but aren't particularly ugly either.
In terms of what I've said so far it may seem like a hybrid between Dungeon siege and the Dawn of war series. However, it is very different in terms of you not fighting through hordes of enemies. Generally you are fighting against parties of similar numbers and strength as your own. It doesn't make you feel particularly heroic knowing that you can't charge in without care but it is rather satisfying when you use a combination of skills to survive for example when you stun a melee unit, silence a mage and then focus on killing a third target. It's less fun when you are on the receiving end of your units being stunned, charmed or running around in fear. In terms of how unforgiving combat is it's more reminiscent of old school rpgs such as Pool of Radiance.
In the first five missions you are introduced to the ten heroes you will use. From mission six you can choose who you want in your party. Before this the synergy of the party is not always good so it's nice to finally be able to play as you wish.
Many have complained about the path finding and targetting of the game. Sometimes your team members do get in each other's way but as placing your units so your tanks block enemies reaching your fragile units is important this seems unavoidable unless there is a whole different collision detection for inside and outside battle. Targetting the unit you wish can be tricky but seen as you can pause combat it's not such a big problem.
Careful tactics are important but as there are a lot of enemies and skills to keep track of it's easier said than done. There are 13 different units you come up against in chapter one, most of which having 4 skills so remembering which unit has which skill and what you have to be worrying about in each battle is difficult.
There is also an annoying bug which sees your units start a mission on the wrong side of a locked door/gate. Having to reload numerous times is particularly annoying when it means you have to redo the upgrading of skills and abilities from between the missions.
If you like your battles more tactical than action packed this may be worth buying but at the moment I'm dubious about it. Targetting problems are likely to be worse as there is no pausing in multiplayer. The units in multiplayer are also completely different yet you have no way of learning about them in skirmish mode against the computer which seems totally bizarre.
I'll go into more detail once I've played a bit of chapter 2 and multiplayer but at the moment I think it may be best to wait and see whether a patch changes/improves things or whether the price goes down to make it more reasonable.
Edit- after 19 April patch
The game plays much easier now. Think they've decreased the to hit chance and damage done by enemies.
Restarted and managed to get through first 3 missions with dying once. Only time a couple of characters did was when the dreaded second mob pitched up mid- battle, which would almost certainly mean game over previously. You know don't have to worry so much about defensive skills and preparing carefully for each fight so the pce of the game is a lot quicker. The first boss fight is now a joke. Can't complain too much I guess as you can always play on hard mode if the game stays too easy.
In terms of pathfinding it seems your characters can now hit enemies over the shoulder of your other characters so they don't block each other as much. Also not had any problems with missions starting with characters in wrong place e.g on wrong side of locked door.
Original rating 6/10, post patch 6.5/10
Value (at $39.95) 5/10
At the moment I haven't had a chance to play the multi-player so will just be reviewing the single player.
You control a party of up to four members. There is standard rpg fare such as experience points and levelling. As you level up you select which attributes to upgrade. Unlike in many rpgs of late you cannot choose which skills to learn but you can decide which skills to improve. Again unlike many similar games your units can't spam skills as their stamina/faith/mana is used up very quickly. You therefore must decide whether to focus on certain skills which you'll use often or to split evenly amongst skills and then use whichever seems to be most useful for that situation. In this picture you can see Lanwyn, who is a versatile support character. He has group heals (divine favor and cleansing) as well as skirmish which improves his melee ability, and a couple of power shots, one of which also decreases his target's armor.
Instead of finding new weapons and armor you find glyphs which can be used to increase stats/attributes to do with attack, defense and support, as well as armor and weapon upgrades. You get to choose between two options when upgrading weapons and armor, for example between increasing magic or physical armor, or between accuracy and critical chance for weapons.
In the first chapter you are fighting against technomancers, and spend much time underground. The graphics won't blow you away but aren't particularly ugly either.
In terms of what I've said so far it may seem like a hybrid between Dungeon siege and the Dawn of war series. However, it is very different in terms of you not fighting through hordes of enemies. Generally you are fighting against parties of similar numbers and strength as your own. It doesn't make you feel particularly heroic knowing that you can't charge in without care but it is rather satisfying when you use a combination of skills to survive for example when you stun a melee unit, silence a mage and then focus on killing a third target. It's less fun when you are on the receiving end of your units being stunned, charmed or running around in fear. In terms of how unforgiving combat is it's more reminiscent of old school rpgs such as Pool of Radiance.
In the first five missions you are introduced to the ten heroes you will use. From mission six you can choose who you want in your party. Before this the synergy of the party is not always good so it's nice to finally be able to play as you wish.
Many have complained about the path finding and targetting of the game. Sometimes your team members do get in each other's way but as placing your units so your tanks block enemies reaching your fragile units is important this seems unavoidable unless there is a whole different collision detection for inside and outside battle. Targetting the unit you wish can be tricky but seen as you can pause combat it's not such a big problem.
Careful tactics are important but as there are a lot of enemies and skills to keep track of it's easier said than done. There are 13 different units you come up against in chapter one, most of which having 4 skills so remembering which unit has which skill and what you have to be worrying about in each battle is difficult.
There is also an annoying bug which sees your units start a mission on the wrong side of a locked door/gate. Having to reload numerous times is particularly annoying when it means you have to redo the upgrading of skills and abilities from between the missions.
If you like your battles more tactical than action packed this may be worth buying but at the moment I'm dubious about it. Targetting problems are likely to be worse as there is no pausing in multiplayer. The units in multiplayer are also completely different yet you have no way of learning about them in skirmish mode against the computer which seems totally bizarre.
I'll go into more detail once I've played a bit of chapter 2 and multiplayer but at the moment I think it may be best to wait and see whether a patch changes/improves things or whether the price goes down to make it more reasonable.
Edit- after 19 April patch
The game plays much easier now. Think they've decreased the to hit chance and damage done by enemies.
Restarted and managed to get through first 3 missions with dying once. Only time a couple of characters did was when the dreaded second mob pitched up mid- battle, which would almost certainly mean game over previously. You know don't have to worry so much about defensive skills and preparing carefully for each fight so the pce of the game is a lot quicker. The first boss fight is now a joke. Can't complain too much I guess as you can always play on hard mode if the game stays too easy.
In terms of pathfinding it seems your characters can now hit enemies over the shoulder of your other characters so they don't block each other as much. Also not had any problems with missions starting with characters in wrong place e.g on wrong side of locked door.
Original rating 6/10, post patch 6.5/10
Value (at $39.95) 5/10
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