Summary
Decent combat rules implementation - really really bad UI. What happened to Troika?
The Good
If you are looking for a PC game with some of the tactical depth of the better console RPGs, or are bothered by the liberties that Neverwinter Nights takes with the D&D3 rules, you might like this game.
It's also pretty, and it even sports the rules updates for D&D 3.5.
If you try to stay out of the towns, talking to the characters in each building only once to get them to put things on the world map for you, and replace the minor XP you would have gotten from doing their quests with lots of random encounters (just camp in "yellow" areas), you will play to the strengths of the game and avoid the worst of the weaknesses.
The Bad
The UI is *terrible* and sluggish. The in-town side quests are arranged to maximize travel back and forth within the town, which is painful. The automap doesn't auto-note what's in each building, and if you try to manually note that you will hit a maximum number of notes before you are done. Some of the quests are broken if you don't do them just right. In combat, there is no way to tell what areas are passable/impassable. There is no adjusting the camera angle, so clicking on bodies to loot them is hard. The treasure share distribution for hired NPCs gives them first pick on everything, so if a monster was carrying only one thing they will hog it.
The Bottom Line
Some nice ideas, combat is fun, but overall I'm terribly disappointed. I really wonder how Troika, who brought us the Fallouts (back when they were working for Interplay) and Arcanum, could have made a game that's so unplayable.
