Grimoire : Heralds of the Winged Exemplar (V2)

so I got wizardry 6 a few months ago, mainly because I heard it was one of the originator series of the old school dungeon crawler, and I had never really given any a proper shot. So I got the oldest one available on steam and I've played it for around 13 hours at this point and have genuinely been having a great time. I'm trying out mapping by paper and pencil for the first time, all the rough jank and obtuse systems all make for what is a really interesting and charming experience which should by all means be considered painful and a terrible experience, but when you get into it, it's a great time. So what I didn't mention is that I picked up 6-8 and threw on Heralds of the winged exemplar off of a recommendation. I was told that this was made by one of the original guys and that they had pretty much been working on this since he left and that it goes really cheap and it's worth checking out. Now, I wasn't expecting to read the wiki page for this game and find out that this game has pretty much been in development for 2 decades. I'm poking my head into this game just to compare since I've barely scratched wizardry 6 and I'm extremely shocked to find that the game is just as obtuse, janky, rough and hard to learn as wizardry. I further can't believe just how much the bad art was preserved. Not knocking the game but the main screen painting of characters compared to the character sheet images are completely different and then those are different from the face portrait options which are all different from the combat screen representations of the enemies of the same species. It's hard to explain exactly how frankensteined together this game feels with it's art direction which might just be a product of the development. Honestly I kindof love it, it's weird that this game exists, it's weird what was improved for qol and what wasn't, nearly every part of this game is baffling in some way and I nearly absolutely love it for that? There's not a single aspect of this game that doesn't feel like someone just really really really wanted to make an rpg and they felt like shoving this in at the last moment. I don't think any part of this was laid out and instead this is what results from a 20 year long fever dream where someone just got up in the middle of the night and shoved this aspect they thought was really cool into the game, but that's kindof exactly what I want from a game like this? This game goes on sale for around a buck or less, it'll be worth your time as long as you're aware of what you're in for.

The UI is so bad I can't get a screen resolution that works for me. Terrible product, it reminds me of competitions to see who can design the worst interface. Grimoire wins. The actual game has some nostalgia value, but it mostly reminds me of how difficult OG gaming could be, before the internet became a thing and games got fixed. What a waste of time.

The Dev is a real piece of work. Use any LLM you choose and search his name + controversies. You will pull up a couple of pages at least. Tbh, its a wonder Steam ever even platformed the guy.

This is the second most obtuse computer game in history, behind Battlecruiser 3000ad. It's the first time I've been strongly tempted to remove a game from my account without refunding it. I just don't want to see it in my library. What I'm saying is, it's the rpg equivalent of slamming your fingers in a car door over and over. There might be a fun game after you crush your fingers into hamburger but you won't be in the mood to play it, because your fingers are gone.

Once thought to be the rambling of a madman, this game finally came out, and I was not prepared. Revisiting it after a couple of year, it's great. If you grew up in the 90's with computer rpg games it is a very nostalgic example of the period and here I am playing this instead of crimson desert. If you arent prepared to play a throwback game avoid, but it's a very good classic blobber Recommend having a grok window up as you play to make the experience smoother. (yes I am serious)

********************* NO I DONT RECOMEND THIS GAME ( sorry about cussing this really frustrated the hell out of me ) A 71 ♥♥♥♥♥♥ LOCK PICK SKILL AND I STILL COULDNT ♥♥♥♥♥♥ LOCK PICK A MINOR LOCK ON A CHEST........ A ♥♥♥♥♥♥ 71 SKILL.... WHAT THE ♥♥♥♥ DO I NEED A ♥♥♥♥♥♥ LOCK PICK SKILL OF 10,000????? LOCK PICKING MECHANIC IS THE WORSE IN ANY GAME I HAVE PLAYED IN ALL THESE YEARS.... I HAD AN AVERAGE SKILL OF 52 AND STILL..... DOORS I GET A TON OF QUESTION MARKS I KNOW WHAT ANSWER IS TO RIDDLE BUT I GO TO TRY AND UNCOVER ONE ♥♥♥♥♥♥ QUESTION MARK AND BOOOM ♥♥♥♥♥♥ TRAP GOES OFF... JUST ♥♥♥♥♥♥ SELECTING THE FIRST OR SECOND QUEST MARK. ITS BEEN TH IS ♥♥♥♥♥♥ WAY THE ENTIRE ♥♥♥♥ GAME. I CANT KEEP MY SKILL HIGH ENOUGH!!!! THE SAME WITH CHEST PICK THE 2ND OR 3RD CHAIN AND BOOM SCREW THIS STUPID ASS LOCK PICKING ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ UNINSTALL DELETE FROM LIBRARY PERMANTLY! ********************************* Other reviews are correct BOSSES ARE STUPIDLY OVERPOWERED I WAS PLAYING ON NOVICE 30 TRIES ON NOVICE IT TOOK ME TO DEFEAT JACKALOPE. AGAIN I WAS NOVICE DIFFICULTY AND PARTY WAS LEVEL 5 FIRE SHILED DID NO GOOD ARMOR PLATE DID NO GOOD AND EVEN SHIELDING SELF DID NO GOOD IN ONE 1 ROUND IT DID ENOUGH DAMAGE TO TAKE MY WARRIOR DOWN My lockpick is 50ish... Im still in starting town and have done most of the start areas.. THREE TIMES WAS I SUCCESSFUL ON PICKING LOCKS!! Have a vampire in your party? 9/10 if you fight fire bugs they will target your vampire with fire AND BAMMM! DEAD AGAIN! It just happened again.... Fire bug target vampire necro on back row.... Vampire Dead..... You no what... I have had enough of reloading every time this happens.... I have lost all interest in playing this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game... Try again later *** I went and gave it one more shot... and sure enough fire bug.... target vampire and he dead again... **** I AM NOW CERTAIN THIS CODED IN GAME AND ITS NOT RANDOM... 19 TIMES THIS HAS HAPPENED! SO BASICALLY... METALMSITHING IS USELESS DUE TO LACK OF FORGES ( see below ) VAMPIRE CHARACTERS ARE USELESS DO TO PROGRAMING TO TARGET THEM ********************** Not for Me.. Was enjoying game I really like skill based game.... Own all the wizardry games!! but.... when I spend 3 hours googling and searching in game for a forge and still cant find one or find anything on line about where one might be I have no desire to play it any more because my frustration gets to much. I.E. Hearths all over the village of cowl but not one FLIPPEN FORGE!! Why do you have a metalsmith character if you cant have access to a forge? Frustration to HIGH! Will try again tomorrow too frustrated

If you loved Wizardry 7 then this is a beautiful sojourn back in time.

I got filtered. Sad to say it.

Blobber heaven honestly, have only scratched the surface.

its a good game exactly what you expect an old school 90's dungeon crawler