Eukarion Tales 2

Classico RPG tipo Flash. Molto carino, ho apprezzato particolarmente la mappa (enorme), e la facilità nell'apprendimento del gioco. Divertente e rilassante, bella anche la grafica old school. Vale assolutamente il prezzo!

Un gioco ben fatto, con l'idea interessante di ricreare l'atmosfera di certi vecchi giochi. Godibile.

[h1][i]“The past is dead and buried. But I know now that buried things have a way of rising to the surface when one least expects them to.”[/i] ~Dan Simmons, Prayers to Broken Stones[/h1] Lord, give me strength with this one... K, let's start with what this is all about. There's that Italian company called [b]Age of Games[/b] that makes simple (and rather crappy) games since early 2000. Exactly since 2000, actually, if we'll believe their website. Believing these guys, though? Not... really a good idea. Let me provide you with one of their old claims – “Age of games is the beginning of a new universe. We're building a world without boundaries that will expand in multiple creative directions.” It was said about a couple of years before this game came out and, well, you can always tell when somebody trying to bulls**t you in such an obvious matter. You know this kind of claims. That [b]Fallout 47[/b] just works, that [b]Skull and Bones[/b] is a “quadruple A” game and so on. Except [b]AoG[/b] are way, [i]way[/i] cheaper than that. Why? Well, because all that above was told... about [b]Flash[/b] games. You know. [b]Flash[/b]? [b]Macromedia[/b]? [b]Adobe[/b]? [i]That[/i] [b]Flash[/b]. Anyway, while promising us “world without boundaries”, the guys have released a painfully lame and crappy [b]Diablo[/b] variant. Again, on [b]Flash[/b]. It was called [b]King's Island[/b] (or [b]King Island[/b] as it was renamed for much later [b]Steam[/b] release). It sucked. It was ugly, it was clunky, but it was free, so... Yeah. 2000s, schools with their free Internet connection... You know how it was. Now. In 2008, after some sequels, [b]AoE[/b] went for re-skin. Which... only had 16 tiny screens to clear. Dunno 'bout you, guys, but this “creative direction” smells funny already. The game was called [b]Eukarion Tales: Marcus the Knight[/b]. Or simply [b]Eukarion Tales[/b] as it was referred on websites that published [b]Flash[/b] games. Now, with [b]Flash[/b] being no more and disabled by default in each and every progressive web browser, the guys, as I've already mentioned, decided to bring their old stuff to [b]Steam[/b]. And [i]technically[/i], there was nothing wrong with that. Games preservation? I'm all in. Their approach, though? Was rather fishy. They've renamed the game to [b]Eukarion Tales: Origins[/b], they've claimed that it was released in 2023 on a store page (while in reality game came out in 2010) and, well, there were tons of reviews that looked obviously paid. Not like I have proofs, but hey. When reviewer praise story in a game, where all the story is you being a knight who must slay the undead mage? It says something. But oh, well, [b]ET: Origins[/b] is completely free, so... It's forgivable. Right? [i]Except...[/i] Yeah. Right in the main menu there was a big link to this. A sequel. Which, of course, isn't free at all. Or is it? The first thing you should know about [b]Eukarion Tales 2[/b] is that it's actually a completely free game. Like its predecessor, it's a free [b]Flash[/b] game, which is still available on at least one website that provides such entertainment. Quite officially too. Yet in [b]Steam[/b] it costs [b]$2.99[/b]. Funny. OK, OK, I admit. Everybody can afford to spend three bucks. I mean, there's nothing to be ashamed about being poor, but those who can't clearly won't be here, in [b]Steam[/b]. Right? Also, even I can come up with some excuses for this to be like that. It can be a price for porting an old game to modern systems or simply a tip to developers. Why not? Well, I'll tell you why. First, like with [b]Eukarion Tales: Origins[/b] (feel free to check out my review in a case you want more details about it), what we've got here is not really a port. It's the same old game, running through [b]Adobe Flash Player[/b]. In a bloody 2023. Joy. Second – unlike [b]Origins[/b], it's buggy as F. On decent PC that can easily run, say, [b]Witcher 3[/b] in [b]4K[/b], it gave me, like, 10 FPS on lowest settings ([b]Flash[/b] settings that were accessible through [b]Windows[/b] UI in [b]Origins[/b] are now integrated in game's menu) and I actually managed to get into a game-breaking bug when player started to give me errors every time I tried to move from one area to another. So, paying for a port? No. They played it a bit more fair this time by openly saying “[i]It's an old game, we hope it'll work.[/i]” right at the beginning, but store page still says “2023”, while, let's just admit it, “[i]It's old, deal with it.[/i]” is not an excuse when you ask money. [b]Warzone 2100[/b] is old. It's [b]Steam[/b] works just fine [i]and[/i] it's completely free. Do some work maybe? Also, yes, Our usual (almost exactly the same) amount of positive reviews is suspiciously presented. So yeah. You paid for this? Even during the sale, when it's usually, like, a single buck? You're robbed. But enough 'bout that. Let's look at the game already. Is it better than [b]Origins[/b]? Well, its terrible shape aside... yeah? I mean, at least it isn't another [b]King Island[/b] re-skin. Instead of 16 tiny screens we've got 12 regions, each usually divided in three areas. Those are still somewhat similar size with those from [b]Origins[/b], but at least it's a progress. We've also got a couple of optional quests, even though most of the time it'll be “visit a new area, kill the boss, move to another” kind of gameplay. There are two characters now too. Our ol' pal [b]Marcus[/b], the knight, and elf(ish) lady. There's no real difference as far as I can see and both can still be leveled in an old way (which means you can turn every character in either warrior, archer or a magician. Or both, since there's no level cap again), but that's just how things are with [b]ET[/b]. Things like balance, proper progression and so on are for the real games. This here? It's “something-something, kill the mobs”. Here's an example. Unlike [b]Origins[/b], [b]ET 2[/b] provides us with a difficulty selector. But guess what? It doesn't make any sense without level cap. It's all about how much time you're ready to sacrifice to beat another ugly creature. That's the only difference. Well, that and the achievements. Because yes, there are the achievements. Don't look at the store page, though. Even though games took its old achievements with it, [b]AoE[/b] didn't even bother to integrate those in [b]Steam[/b]. Again, you sure you want to support those people? Then again, what can you expect from a game that claims that all the translations are unofficial during tutorial? Heck, I'm pretty sure they even messed up the original release year when they made that excuse about game being old. Pretty sure it came out in 2011, not 2010. But whatever. What's important for us to understand is that yes, this game is better than previous [b]ET[/b]. But totally not enough to actually pay for it. Like [b]ET: Origins[/b], it's something you'd probably play at school or college and only because it was free. Even in 2011 (or 2010, don't care) wasting time on pretty much anything else was much better idea. In 2023? While actually paying for this? Well, I can see only one reason for you to do that – in order to finally experience purchase regret. [i]Years[/i] before the original release of this nonsense, [b]Travis Baldree[/b] released his [b]FATE[/b]. The one that will later spawn [b]Torchlight[/b] and still stands pretty strong, while costing [b]$7.99[/b]. [b]Dink Smallwood[/b] is available on [b]GOG[/b] in HD for free. And so on. Even if we'll forget [b]Steam[/b] and try to review the free version of [b]Eukarion Tales 2[/b]? Nope. Still doesn't worth it. Just because we all have only one life and wasting it on something like this is a crime. Even more so with everything said above in mind. Guess, the fact that “map” option in game still opens your browser and shows you some screenshots speaks for itself. Some things do deserve being buried in the past. The deeper – the better. Dixi.

10 Stunden Goblins, Orks und böse Magier zerschnetzelt. Fazit: Wald gerettet! Level 24. Kurzweilig, angenehm unterhaltsam-öde.

Juego entretenido

This game is a little gem from the past. Despite it's a simple hack & slash game, it has a pretty complex progression system and the possibility to equip different weapons and armors. The fantasy setting draws on elements of European culture, making the world of Eukarion unique. I appreciated the auto-attack feature, which allows you to quickly farm through levels if you're well equipped for the area you're in. But if you arrive in a new higher level area it is better to deactivate it, to avoid being overwhelmed by enemies. recommended not only for retrogaming lovers, but also for those who want to rediscover a different way of making video games

Just like when I was a kid playing online. 10/10 glad I can finally beat the game and play as the Elf.

lit

oldie but a goodie

Got it for $.74 and it's pretty good for that price tbh. At the full price of $3. It'd also still be pretty decent.