For me, Souls-Like Games have always been not entirely clear: in them we will enter into brutal contractions over and over again, during which we inevitably die and start first. And so, until we select our ideal tactics, which will allow you to pass a small piece of the game, after which we are faced with new enemies, about which our old tactics breaks and we have to compose a new one. And this is repeated dozens of times. Hundreds, thousands of deaths expect an unprepared player in such games. How much do they exhaust the nerves, how many burning sofas and chairs leave behind. And all for what? And for the sake of sweet victory and satisfaction with the final credits … tell me: is this not madness?
I want to make a reservation right away, I am far from a fan of Souls-Like games, and I did not play either Dark Souls or Demon Souls, and therefore I will not puff and compare the Lords with them. In general, let’s already start ..
The game meets us with a pretty cinema in which a certain severe bald uncle beats with some kind of monster to get a beautiful relict hammer. Then we are sharply transferred to another episode, where the hero, already with this holy pot, rushes into battle with an even larger creature, but at the most crucial moment they suddenly stop and look like a gigantic stone hand sticking out of the ground on the horizon, comes to life ..
In the world of Lords of the Fallen, any sin is considered a crime no matter how insignificant it is. What did the main character do (for which Rock noted his face with incomprehensible runes) we can only guess.
Pretty chaotic, do not find? To be honest from this introductory video at first I did not understand the devil at all, and, to tell the truth, even after passing I didn’t really understand, because they did not give me any explanations anywhere. Immediately after Intro the game begins. A brutal man who is familiar to us on the screensaver, whose name is Kharkin,, together with Lame Santa Cloland, arrive in an abandoned monastery in search of a certain antanos. And that’s all the player knew to go to crumble skulls. At least the developers decided so. Without going into details, Harkin under our control, clinging to the hilt of the hammer … or Kinzhala moved in the direction of the nearest creature, and behind her to the next, third, fourth, tenth, and so on until the first boss. Only then do we begin to throw fragments of some plot nuances, and then only some.
As it turned out, it was not for nothing that the Glaveroi was endowed with the appearance of a notorious recidivist. Kharkin really managed to sit behind bars, from where he was pulled out by the same Kallo in exchange for help. For which the GG did not even tell us into the dungeon, it even reminded me of the nameless from Gothic, well, it doesn’t matter. The hero needed grandfather as a bodyguard, well, a guy who does all dirty work, in this case, exterminates monsters, cleansing the path for the old man. The monsters themselves, called horn, invade the world of people from a spatial fault that leads to their own world. And they are guided by the Lords – those very terrible bastards, in the battles with whom we had to sweat the most. And all this happened because of the harsh local God of Adyr, who, because of his resentment, decided to take revenge on miserable little people, for the fact that in time immemorial they overturned him. And our heroes are just trying to prevent him and save the world.
The plot in the game is simple, predictable and cannot boast of an abundance of vicissitudes and unexpected turns. And yet I would not say that he is bad. This is such a classic heroic epic filled with pathos and of course an epic. But the game is weak. Yes, in some places it is replenished with some information, but in general the picture is quite scarce. The general concept of the world of Lords of the Fallen is interesting, it just lacks more descriptions and explanations. But this is not my only claim.
There are no characters in the game. It is the characters. There are heroes, but they are all cardboard and are remembered only by virtue. The light of hope flashed when Kharkin met Yetka. No, I did not expect that the spark would flash between them, but in the girl I saw the ghost of that very nature. Alas, but in a full -fledged image it never developed.
We were offered a choice of 3 classes: a thick churchman, a clever tramp and a moderately well -fed warrior. At first I had a fool, I chose a churchman, creaking my teeth reached the first boss and simply could not cope with him, so Kharkin was slow, clumsy and awkward against the background of the enemy. After a dozen deaths, I could not stand it and began on a new one, taking the brilliant scout already, and now the game passed with him until the end. The difference between the classes is felt enormous: the thicker the skin is more powerful, and, accordingly, the weapon, the more slowly the Harkin fights, and vice versa, the easier the armor and blades, the more agile the hero is more agile.
And besides the class, one https://nogamstop-casinos.co.uk/mobile-casinos/ of the 3 types of magic could be chosen: one allowed to carry out distracting maneuvers so that the hero could go to the enemy into the tail and hit very painfully; Another type was responsible for protection and healing; Well, the third was intended for those who rely on coarse power, prefers not to steam and go straight in the forehead. And thus, combining the basic classes and types of magic, we turned out as much as 9 class subspecies.
In fairness, it is worth noting that it was possible to pass the game quite and without the use of spells, although it is somewhat more complicated, but, nevertheless. Each type of magic offers a player for 5 abilities. They are not available at once. First they need to be opened, having previously pumped the “faith” indicator, that is, here it is something like “wisdom” or “mana”. There are all characteristics of the hero 6, and everything is quite banal: strength, survivability, faith, endurance, dexterity and luck. I think you don’t need to explain them. It was not necessary to pump everything, moreover, part of the skills was simply not needed for certain classes: for example, for my vagabonds, power and endurance turned out to be useless, and I also scored and pumped only survivability and dexterity on faith with luck, it was quite enough for me.
In such games, I was always surprised by how with such weapons and in such armor, the heroes remain such mobile. It’s not that I am strongly advanced for realism, but, you must agree when you are on your character half a ton of steel plates, and even a giant sword behind your back, like in some kind of anime, you simply don’t feel it, because the hero remains mobile, as if on him are a light pajamas. Lords of the Fallen pleased me in this regard. If you put on Harkin in heavy armor, it turns into a real tank, not only because it becomes relatively impenetrable, but also by its movements: how slowly it makes attacks, how it rolls, and even just how it stomps. You literally feel all this severity on yourself, and I really liked it.
With heavy equipment, Kharkin looks very impressive, but at the same time you have to sacrifice speed and maneuverability in battle.
Armor and weapons can be improved, but for this you will need special runes. They everywhere fall out of monsters, broken pots and chests, so their search for the problem will not be. Runes have their own hierarchy corresponding to their strength, and all of them give different effects. Before applying for equipment, they must first be “printed”, but I would advise you to leave a couple not open: some locks on the doors and chests require a rune to open them, so you should always have a small stock with you.
On the way you will come across many elements of inventory, and most of them will not be in demand, as weapons and armor fall under any class by chance. This is a small problem, not even a problem, but rather a nuisance. Everything that you found is stored in the inventory menu, and with all these clothes, except to shoot and put on anything else, you can’t do anything more: neither sell nor throw it away. As a result, all this trash with huge lists will hang in the equipment menu and delve into it each time, looking for new boots, somewhat uncomfortable.
With huge bosses in the game, the game is not very dense, but those that are impressive and remembered, such as this handsome man, whom I called the Troll.
The battles at the beginning seem very difficult, until you get used to it and find the equipment more abruptly. Kharkina is killed literally in just a few strokes, especially if you put him in light armor, and there are opponents who, having overturned the hero to the ground, does not have time to rise, knocked it over again, you don’t even have time to come to your senses, as the boot screen appears and throws you to the nearest checkpoint.
What was wildly frozen in BloodBorn-the only Souls-Like that I tried to play before, is the absence of saves. I erupted in half through the crowds of monsters, reached the boss, killed, and I had to start the entire level first with a complete loss of progress. And now I am not talking about the loss of experience, but about the fact that I had to beat the same creatures again and again, so that in the end I would again kill myself about the boss and start over again. It devours a lot of time, and I did not receive any pleasure from this action at all. There is no such problem in Lords of the Fallen. In locations, albeit not often, but there are shining scarlet crystals that serve as points of conservation, replenishment of the stock of healing potions, and only next to these crystals can a hero be pumped. If … that is, when Kharkin dies, he is reborn next to this thing. The monsters also respond on the entire location, but you no longer need to go from beginning to end. By tradition, a white cloud is in the place of death, which contains all the experience that you gained by the time of death, and it can be returned, but if you do not have time, then after some time the cloud disappears.
Basically, all the battles come down to duels one on one: in a fight with several opponents, it is very easy.
Another curious detail that allows the player to establish the difficulty is associated with the conservation points. The fact is that preservation occurs only at your desire, and it is not necessary to activate the crystal at all. Moreover, the longer you do not persist, the more the modifier of the gained experience becomes, and the chance of falling out more cool clothes is growing. But here you need to be careful. Not only, or rather not so much because you risk dying and losing all progress, but because Lords of the Fallen can simply fly out at the most unexpected moment. Actually, because of this, at the first time after the release, the game was thrown with rotten eggs. Although the patches were later released and the problem seemed to be resolved, but I, for example, have a steam license and once for one passing, it flew out of me. At the same time, one of my comrade, who played a pirate, said that he had everything smoothly and without a single departure. In general, everyone can behave differently, but better get ready, just in case.
The first three bosses give the player a call, at least it seems so at first glance, but then you will click them like seeds. I really often had to be harder with some ordinary monsters than with the bosses subsequent after the lord in the cemetery. But then, getting to the finale, when in the catacombs I met with two hollowers, I just exhausted all my nerves, burned four chairs with my back, froze Batkin cognac, revised all the episodes of my father’s daughters … In short, it was very sweaty. Well, about the final boss, I’m generally silent.
The difficulty in Lords of the Fallen (if you compare it with the narrative in works of art) is not monotonous, but has several downs and climaxes: the beginning of the game seemed to me fiercely difficult, but after I got quite steep armor, the bosses (starting from the 4th) were not a problem for me (much more complicated with some types of ordinary monsters), but closer to the end (the latter (the latter 2 “Boss-Arena”) The difficulty jumped sharply and … it was very painful.
Although our main task is the search and killing of the Lords of Demons, but sometimes we are also thrown by additional tasks: to kill some creature at the request of the knights, bring a dozen skulls for a good horned or remove scalpes from deserters and bring them to the commander. But among these banal “Kill-Brothers” there are also quite interesting, albeit very short quests: for example, at the beginning of Kharkin there is a monk, who was bitten by a poisonous spider, you can leave him to die, or you can cut off your hand and, perhaps, he will survive alive. There was another funny moment. Wandering around the catacombs of the citadel, I came across two prisoners who asked them to free. But the problem is that along with them in the cells and sleeping guards were locked, which will wake up as soon as we open one of the grids. And the prisoners at the same time Salt swear and blame each other in their position. Again, you can just leave and leave them to rot there until the end of the time or free one, but sacrifice others.
Most of all in Lords of the Fallen I liked the atmosphere. Gloomy, oppressive, as if the end of the world has already happened, and we, as representatives of the remnants of mankind, make miserable attempts to survive when everything is already lost. Of course, in the plot this is not entirely true, but I had just such an impression. I categorically disagree with those people who say that there is no place for hopelessness, for me everything is quite the opposite. And it was thanks to the atmosphere that the game kept me at first when I didn’t figure it out yet and I was just not comfortable to play.
How was I afraid of this creature when I first met it in the location of the Temple of Rogarov and did not know how to deal with it … I shoot, bite a lot and painfully, is treated, and in general my friend is inadequate.
Not least, I want to note the graphic component. This is not the main thing for me, and I have already said this many times, but the lords are really beautiful, and even in 2019 it looks great, in my opinion. Particularly sunk into the soul of armor, they are so chic, they are drawn, each of their elements, from the simplest armor to the enthusiasm of the sets available in the end. I pleased the design of the monsters, even if not all, even if some of the bosses were not particularly remarkable, but the rest fell directly: hell with a scythe in a cemetery, that one Rubler “Guy” on three paws from the world of horns, a smelly acidic troll, which suddenly jumped on me near the citadel, eventually a demon in the temple of Rogarov, who reminded me of a great unclean and unwashed of Waha … There are also breathtaking views that can stand for a moment and simply admire. The only thing that upset is faces. In addition to Kharkin, all other characters did not even have faces, but some remnants, I’m not talking about their animation, but against the background of everything else it was just a zilch.
Most of the game is absent in the background, appearing only during fights with bosses, at other moments, if it was, then I simply did not notice it. Yes, it is heterogeneous, some compositions are remembered, others immediately fly out of my memory, but in general I really liked the soundtrack, and I even added a couple of compositions to my playlist. And what about the sounds of the environment, the growls of monsters, the clang of armor and everything else, then all this is just fine and here, perhaps, I have nothing more to add.
I would say that Lords of the Fallen is a great game that can attract even such enemies to Souls-Like like me. She did not have enough polishing before leaving, for which the publishers paid, and I honestly insulted that the lords grabbed so many cuffs after the release. Nevertheless, I believe that this is a very worthy, suitable product that was not worth missing. I lacked more background, outstanding heroes and repair of the remaining glitches, but in all other things, this is an excellent action-RPG in the spirit of Dark Souls, so I strongly recommend it to everyone.