Loki: Failed to shine?

[alexei]

Hi guys. I've played Loki last year. Since it is an ARPG, a rare breed of genre, plus with gorgeous graphic in the video, i decided to buy it. Turn out, it's totally a let down.

The thing I like about Loki is, hmm..many, the story (mythology), graphic, inventory system, loots, monster and boss, quest and many others.

But all of the quality is so unpolished, at least to make the game satisfiable. UI is a bit crude. Class system is a bit ok, with skill build and the altar system but not much fun.

Graphic. This is the most trouble me. I tried it with ATI 2600xt and geforce 250gts, both look terrible. Look likes lighting and shadow not properly rendered. totally not like in the gameplay video i watch at video. Maybe because of video driver but i always up to date with that. I don't bother to update loki patch (didn't know if there is any). It turns out boring after fighting fenrir and some more run so i quit.

With metascore only 61, I think loki is good in many ways but it is rather a rash product to ship. It has the potential to come out as good as TQ but doing a bad job polishing it. What do you guys thinks?

Loki still lurk in my pc :) i might come back again someday when gforce 580gtx come out:D

[Renevent]

I think it was a pretty sub-par game...and even if it was polished I don't think it comes anywhere close to TQ. Most of the game's underlying systems are kind of shallow. The enemies are way to repetitive and simple. Level design for the most part was unimpressive and had little variation (they were just square areas like Diablo 2). Item system was ok though, not as good as TQ but more promise than the majority of ARPG's I have played. Bosses were cool as well, give them credit for that.

Overall there are a lot worse games in the genre...but personally I couldn't stomach the game past the second act, which for me was the Egypt level (you can choose in Loki).

[Chronikuz]

Well, I played it two years ago. I liked most were the legendary armor, very nice especially the Nordic. I have the same problems with the grapics, Nvidea 8500 and never can play in full grapics level.

The reason why I stop playing were loads of screens and the sensations that did not advance. I miss them a lot of polish.

But, agains... the armor of the nordic are cool:

http://www.juegomania.org/Loki%A0/foto/pc/10/10783/10783.jpg/Foto+Loki%A0.jpg

http://i.neoseeker.com/p/Games/PC/Action/Adventure/loki_profilelarge.jpg

http://www.ataquecombinado.com/files/2007/09/loki_271206_47.jpg

That are armor!!! the items is the only thing that motivated me to play.

[Renevent]

Never got that far but those armors definitely look nice. Maybe I ought to reinstall the game and try it again.

[alexei]

You got that right. Never see such armor in any arpg. But still, with the graphic too bad, i'm still not feel the motivation to go there once more.

[Chronikuz]

I wanna begin agains... but when I think in the loads screen... how the latins says "Que va!!!" (No way)

[shawnmck]

I thought it was okay. It definitely had potential, & is good in some areas, but ultimately disappointed.

For starters, I hated the exaggerated characters. Many of them were hulking buff figures with proportionately small heads, or stick thin figures.
The armor & weapons (loot) were a mixed bag. Some were really nice, but others were awful. I also didn't like the way armor repeated. You went up the chain of better armor, & then it re-cycled starting from the bottom up. Huh ? You also wore the same armor for five levels, as you got one (& only 1) armor type to use for a five level period (5-10-15-20-25-etc).
Special armor & weapons usually looked exactly like the normal ones, so that was disappointing as well.
The combat was real good though, & some of the boss fights were pretty good (unique design).
I didn't much care for the skills though.
I haven't played a game that let you play in a aztec like environment, so that was nice.
The ending sort of pissed me off though......(Spoilers, kind of) > When you got to the end of the game, some geezer who can control time tells you that you must have missed something, & so you must go back to the very beginning to try again (which is the reason for starting over again in a new difficulty). I was like WTF ? Am I going to have to do this exact same thing 2 or 3 more times on all difficulties to get a decent ending ?

Another aspect of Loki that really annoyed me was how over-populated a lot of levels were. They were just so packed with enemies it was ridiculous. Especially towards the end. It just bogs down the progression to a snail's pace. Most of the environments are just large square or rectangle designs that are packed with enemies.

I liked the way you got various materials & could then have a blacksmith re-forge weapons & armor using the new material. You started off with leather, but worked your way up to iron, then silver, then gold, then various other nice materials (usually made up) like Jade or draconium or whatever.
The various materials changed the color of the item also. So if you used gold then of course it turned whatever gold. Mithril was like a blue, etc.

Overall it was a decent game, but nothing I could literally play over & over again like Titan Quest.

You might want to also try Legend: hand of god, & Sacred 1 &/or 2. Both of which are decent, but not great.

[k4llu5]

Tried this for a little while, but could not under any circumstances get this to run fluidly. It wasn't really that bad and actually could have turned out better if some more patches were in the works. Oh well.

[alexei]

I also have tried Legend: hands of god but it was like you said, decent but not great. it have potential but weak.

i've tried a lot of arpg but it looks like just like some people said, a great genre but with many rubbish. only some i remember to give me real pleasure, and of course it is the big player of aprg; diablo 1, D2, dungeon siege 1 & 2, titan quest of course and IT, nox and latest torchlight. Most people said FATE is great but to me it is boring random dungeon (although it is really well made, i will give that). But i just played FATE for several up to 10-15 levels. Other than that, there are some mmo ARPG like dungeon runner, mythos and some other but i didn't play many mmo.

Look like we have to look forward to only big player for great ARPG. And 2011 and 2012 is promising with GD and D3.

ARPG is a genre of games that need a lot of commitment to achieve greatness.

[shawnmck]

I read somewhere that Asceron is going to make a Sacred 3.
So you can add that to the list (if it's true). Doesn't mean it will be any good though.

BTW
Another game that I really liked, but that is pretty old is Blood Omen: Legacy of kain for the PS1. There was a PC release, but it plays so fast & twitchy now. Not too deep, but I thought that the story was excellent.

but yeah, ARPG's are a tough genre. There aren't that many around, & of those few only a a small fraction are any good. But that's okay, because then I don't have to worry about not having enough time to play them all.
;)

[chris01]

i have loki its a good game so far although i havent played it much:p

i started with the norsk then with the amazone

[alexei]

I not really into sacred although Sacred 2 really look awesome. I might gets my hand on it in the future. Look promising. But i heard they said that Sacred 2 expansion give too much power to character and as a result make the game rather too easy.

[Father Squid]

I read somewhere that Asceron is going to make a Sacred 3.
;)

Didn't Ascaron fold?

Checked it out and it appears that even though they did go bankrupt, they do have plans for the franchise....

http://www.bluesnews.com/s/97580

Not sure whether there's anything more on this... oh there is.....

http://www.sacred2.com/en/news/show/detail/Sacred_3_Arbeitstitel_in_Planung.html

Different company though...

[The Old Farmer]

i have loki its a good game so far although i havent played it much:p

i started with the norsk then with the amazone

Played the full 4 player coop campaign in Loki as the Bow amazon found the game a bit rough around the edges but not bad. Loot drops in MP was too low though ( only slightly more than single player) and there was this glitch/feature? where monster toughness was based on how many characters were allowed in the game not on the actual # present. Was a real bitch at start until we figured this out as we just maxed the number allowed.

[alexei]

duh the more we discuss more weakness surfacing. Is this studio Cyanide still in the game?

[Jean]

Yes, they've made Bloodbowl. Loki 's patches caused almost more bugs than the original game ...

[Llama8]

Didn't Ascaron fold?
Yes, they did. :( Their Western European publisher Deep Silver bought the IP for the franchise & announced plans for making S3, though not with Ascaron, obviously.

[shawnmck]

That's strange.....if a Publisher is looking to make a sequel, why wouldn't they use the same team that was responsible for the previous 2 ?

If a sequel did so poorly, then why bother to pick up the franchise ?

???
This does not sound well.