Lords of Infinity Reviews

I really want to recommend this game/series but the lack of any sound, art, and anything to make it not just a book, i can't. The series's story is really good but it feels like the game wants to make you go to sleep.

I would like to say that I enjoyed my attempt to get through to the end of this highly anticipated instalment, but as other non-recommenders have highlighted, it doesn't seem to be worth the hassle - which is sad for both wanting to get this far and my wallet. What I originally liked about the first game is that, although had the constraints of building both characters and its world, it felt a lot less punishing and restrictive in what its story had in mind. Although I didn't enjoy the somewhat anti-climatic ending, it at least lent itself well to carry on the second game (or so I thought). Somehow, even though we can choose two differing paths in this one (and slide over to the other if we prefer - but not be allowed to go back to the other place from what I've seen), this story is more tedious and wasteful of my time than I could possibly have expected. Unfortunately, the majority of decisions don't feel respected at all in both the time it takes to read the outcomes of them and what I envisaged when I selected/reacted to a choice/situation. It's one thing to say, look, you'll have a better time having made certain stat choices in the first game and specific choices thereafter in that and the second game to fully enjoy the third game. But, even with having chosen 'sub-optimal' 'choices' in the past, it is really dreary to have the same negging text of "you choose something and it worked... until it didn't because of this next situation... and actually you chose poorly because he's another bad consequence/event." I don't know if that's actually every single path in the game that is written this way (in which case the writing's presentation is not for me) or because actually there's only one optimal path and personality that can feel like they're 'winning' or enjoying themselves in the story. Either way, it wasn't good I was asking myself repeatedly throughout playing "am I really enjoying this?" and "can I be bothered continuing the story further?" when it seemed like almost every decision since the last game felt like there were no good choices to be picked. It sucks that almost everybody written in at this stage expects the world of the main character not to stuff up and yet, themselves, have no real agency to not be a jerk or so ungraceful in their interactions with their environment and the reader. Maybe that's part of world-building and having a more politically-charged story, but I think we are asked too much for too little in return with the way the options are presented. The concept of managing a fiefdom falls flat as it seems no matter how generous you are, the renters are always leaving more than they come or stay (never-mind the bandit problem didn't actually end well but somehow we moved past that?). Switching to the city... well, kind of made me wish I knew what I was getting into from the beginning if I knew how things were going to turn out. From a technical standpoint, although I enjoyed not encountering a game-killer chapter that I couldn't force myself past (as all the options led to death during the first battle of the last game, so I had to restart from the beginning), I did find it frustrating that there's no indication based on stats whether a choice will succeed or not. It might be a departure from the series and a lot of these games from this publisher, but maybe it would add to the enjoyment of having more information before blindly selecting an option that you don't actually want. OR, if that's too hard for future instalments, put more options in that either clarify/explain/double check because I do not enjoy accidentally committing to something that I otherwise did not want to select (haphazardly selecting feifdom upgrades without meaning to was very off-putting). I'm not replaying the chapter because I made that minor of a mistake in selecting something accidentally because frankly I'm not convinced the options would lead anywhere that great anyway. I know this is also a text novel with limited pictures, but it would have been nice to have fleshed out the world with some more pictures. This volume tried to do so more than the other two, but it got tiring trying to keep up with how everything looked in my head while recalling characters, places, etc.. at some point it just got old trying to keep the story straight in my mind. This is also a minor language gripe, but if the style of language used is of an older English dialect, I wouldn't revert to words like 'publick' with the 'k' unless there's precedent more obvious uses of other words... just my incredibly nitpicky preference though. Unfortunately, I will probably not be revisiting this game to finish it or play any subsequent releases because, again, it just feels more like a ungrateful chore to get through, despite whatever eventual payout there may be from further playthroughs. Feels bad I didn't catch that feeling from the first game and I'm pretty certain that I'm done with this style of game, probably forever. Whoever made or makes comparisons to Suzerain with this series needs to make a donation to a charity... or get their head checked because there is [i]extremely, EXTREMELY[/i] little crossover enjoyment to be had - coming from a huge fan of Suzerain.