they somehow made Skyrim a tight traditional RPG, made the best representation of a city since Daggerfall and crafted a pretty good narrative. Big fan of Enderal.
@@Gniew2 I think he means in the Skyrim engine. And in that regard, Solitude with the Enhanced Solitude and Enhanced Solitude Docks mods. The entire city turns into a mini-Novigrad, extending from half-way to Dragon's Bridge to half-way to the Solitude Lighthouse outside the walls and doubles to triples in size inside the walls.
The narrative is basically a rehash of Mass Effect, almost to a T. If you played ME before, you realise it pretty quickly and from then on the whole story loses it's appeal because you know what is going to happen next. The only real difference is the scenography. I was sad and disappointed when I realised that.
The "child" voice actor is most likely an adult or at least adolescent female instead of a child. 99% of child voice acting is done by having women change their inflection.
Honestly reviewing Enderal critically is such a tough job for me. Because every time I find something I don't particularly like, or I have a minor bug take me out of the game I just can't stop thinking about the fact that this thing is free. Like, there are games that cost 60 bucks and take like 10 hours to complete. Enderal easily gives you over a hundred hours of (mostly) professional level content. Not to mention the fact that the DLC for the game was also free. Like, how can you compare that to anything else on the market rn. Is it the best game ever made? No. Does it have the best and most original story ever made? Also no. But it sure does an extremely good job at being an amazing game filled with unique characters, a solid overall plot and quests that will make you cry and question your entire existence. And once again, all of that whilst literally not costing a single penny. Even with all of its flaws, Enderal is and will remain one of my favourite games of all time, thanks to a dedicated and a hard working team wanting to tell their story.
What is also cool about enderal is that the development is very active. They frequently make bugfixes. I am 100% sure that surai patches bugs on this game better than Bethesda does
Enderal would be what Skyrim was meant to be all along if it was made by a large enough studio with a big budget. It's unfortunate that as you play you can always see the parts where they had to cut corners.
Right? Such a "human personality" too. Usually youtube reviews/video essays feel so fake, but warlock videos sound like i just handed my best buddy a beer and asked if he's "played anything good lately"
Sadly, it's not an RPG at least. I'm not sure it's going to be the same world either, and the main writer has left the company to do his own stuff. Still - I'm looking forward to it HARD. It has the potential to be as excellent as Enderal.
@@sebs-shenanigans The only thing I'm not sure about in regards to the above points is whether it's set on Vyn or not. I simply don't know. But I do know it's not going to be an open world RPG in the vein of Enderal. It's too much to take on for a tiny studio - the Creation engine, while ass, was an easement for them to do massive stuff like Enderal and Nehrim. While Enderal's cult following is massively loyal and wants to give them all the money, it's still just a niche release. Personally I just want some investor to give them a big fat check so they can go the path of Obsidian. But as is - niche, skilled team building a game following a great cult game. Not something that necessarily gives them money beyond landing some great jobs in the industry (which happened for a lot of the team, deservedly so.)
@@SephonDK for that I'd say one thing, patience. If these lads can prove they can create an independent game that sells well, their team can slowly start growing in numbers. Eventually they can reach the size of a proper openworld dev team.
Enderal, for all its faults and flaws, has me enamoured. Ever since I first played it years ago... The emotion, the fear, the intrigue it made me feel hasn't waned. It's very exciting to know when new people try it and hear their opinions.
In some way RPG fans never never stopped being dedicated nerds that can put entire lifetimes into it. Who cares if Todd Howards was in the chess club, that is the kind of token trait to be accepted, but not what makes a real roleplayer.
It's been like that for some time now for most forms of art since we started to get into late capitalism. Music for instance, it used to be that every single development in music was done by studios based musicians, sometimes hugely famous (The Beatles) and sometimes not so much (The Velvet Underground), but regardless they all had capital behind them. Now it's random individual people that post their music on the internet.
It was such a well done version of a fantasy world set during a Victorian-era Industrial Revolution. It's still to this day fairly unique. We have a modern-fantasy setting with Shadowrun, but I'm surprised there hasn't been another crack at the "What if D&D went through an Industrial Revolution/Napoleonic Era" type game. Think The 80 Years and Crimean Wars and African Colonialism... only with Orcs, and Dwarves. :P How would complex geopolitics and a massive history that'd have to be written and fleshed out effect a fantasy world with magic and dragons? Arcanum was a step in that direction... but no one ever took the next step and ran with it. Most games that do are in that fairytale area Warlockracy talked about, like FF7. It has radios and electricity and trains but it really had no impact on the story or even the feel of the setting, one could cut all of that out and with minor rewrites it'd make almost no difference. A fantasy game set during an equivalent of WW1 would be fascinating. But the amount of backstory to really give it the feel it'd need would be *staggering*
Loved Arcanum, the combat is really what holds the game but the setting and the narrative execution is just brilliant. Troika games was really something else, they really didn't last long and they were only able to release like 3 games but each of those games was crafted by devs who really cared.
@@planescaped I'd love to make a series of games based around that setting; start with like a Skyrim game, then move onto like a Victorian/Industrial Revolution game, then end the series with the WWI game that's been setup by all the other games, with decisions you've made in previous games shaping how the third game goes ala Mass Effect's choices
I love how you review games and mods - it's so unique and interesting, maintaining a comedic flow while also providing excellent feedback on the way these games actually work on a minute to minute basis. I've been watching some of your videos from oldest to newest just to see the evolution, and this two year old video goes hard today. Thank you for making my day better :)
Mechanically, Enderal is great. Pros: -Getting XP from enemies no matter how they die means you are rewarded all the same for killing them in unconventional ways, such as throwing them off ledges or having them step on flaming oil or other traps. You don't have the nagging feeling of "Yes that was good but I didn't hit them with my sword so I got no experience" when you actually outsmart an enemy -Perk trees make some specific playstyles like summoner or werewolf much more appealing. Unfortunately some others like unarmed fighter aren't supported. -Quality of life personal chests everywhere help you take a load off your backpack, which balances the absence of permanent followers -Loot and area difficulty are mostly fixed, with only bonus rewards being rolled from time to time. You don't miss out on scaled items by getting them early -Spells scale better with skill level and have different version of each, meaning you don't have to give up on your stream lightning spell once you start casting Chain Lightning -Armor sets with large bonuses to a specific playstyle let you stay ahead of the difficulty curve even before you can afford the crafting needed to create endgame gear -Carry weight is upgraded via ice claws, which means you don't get screwed out of carrying capacity if you don't upgrade stamina -The bank gives you a steady trickle income of money once you make a high enough deposit and a desirable target for burglary once your lockpicking is high enough Cons: -Learning skills from books getls very expensive -Limited Crafting points means you have to choose between crafting and utility skills like Rhetoric and Lockpicking -Perks with multiple levels are rare, which menas you won't have much to spend your points on once you've gotten all of the ones you need for your build -The Arcane Fever mechanic feels like an afterthought. By the time you reach Ark you can grab ingredients and craft Ambrosia in bulk, and since Ambrosia efficiency is fixed you can never level up Alchemy and still be able to spam healing potions with the only downside bringing about one ambrosia per 3-4 healing potions you have. -A lot of quest-related places have rough railroading or stonewalling to ensure you don't stray from the intended path
@@Oversensitive-S-postersnakerer takes a lot of inspiration from warlockracy. Of course they're all derivatives of hbomber while civvieis a derivative of mystery science theater. Civvie literally had the same idea I did. I gotta admit his lore building was better with his diabolical uncle and modern black site idea where mine was more sci Fi.
@@josephmatthews7698 I'm sorry, TehSnakerer takes inspiration from Warlockracy? Do you know how long TehSnakerer has been making RUclips videos? He's been around for quite a while. And I wouldn't say *any* of them are derivatives of hbomberguy - their writing styles, subject matter, editing techniques, etc. are completely different. Even when comparing their videos about games, they have entirely different approaches to how they critique them. Utilizing long-form analysis does not make them derivative of someone else. And while Civvie did use MST3K as *inspiration* for parts of his gimmick, calling it "derivative" is reductive when his channel is so much more than that. I just can't believe how certain you come across while being so off-base.
I remember once suddenly stopping for 10 mins in the middle of burglarising a tavern to listen to The Wayward Wanderer through a wall, with moist eyes. That was great.
I absolutely loved enderal, got a good 120 hours out of it just doing the main questline and a good portion of the side stuff. I can definitely see where other ppl are coming from when they say it's too exposition heavy but at the same time I think it's justified by just how much content is there in the whole thang. Also thought that point you brought up with the two axis, creativity vs technique, was super neat. It did really feel like I was playing a book sometimes. Though I really liked that about it :)
The Dorian Grey Eat The Rich side quest didn't quite come together for me. If there has been a pattern of behaviour with extremely wealthy and powerful people dying shortly after getting their portrait by the enigmatic recluse I think that's the kind of thing that'll get the extremely pious Enderaleans erecting a witch pyre by victim three.
Warlockracy says they die after a few "days" but the lady says "moons", which means something like months, so it would make a bit more sense that she wouldn't be caught.
Yeah, it would be the same as them dying a few months after they commissioned a famous carpenter to renovate their balcony. A string of coincidences, but not exactly damning.
Even more so if all these deaths are due to seemingly unrelated incidents. For them to connect it to the paintings there needs to be a plausible relation.
Man I just finished it, and I just have to say you have a really awesome style of... I want to say either editing or pacing but I guess they go hand in hand. I'm glad I didn't watch this while cooking or something cause I definitely lost track of time. Cant wait to see you tackle the side quests but at the same time I gotta finish them all on my end!!
I played through Enderal but stopped playing because I grew dissatisfied with a few things you'll eventually (probably) mention in later parts of the series and never beat the game because of it. However I love the leveling system, the world and everything else. The music is probably my favorite part, love to see these videos from you. They're very cozy to watch.
My advice: Finish it. The ending is easily worth it. Trust me. It's like the top 5 game endings of all time in my opinion, and I've been playing video games since the mid 90s.
Well... his choice was correct if he realized what was going to happen and wanted to avoid it. One could argue that the best ending to the game is to not play the game to the end. But if you think of it as a novel and separate yourself from the content, just like with a book you keep reading because you want to see what the story is going on.
There's a mod for Skyrim that turns all the books ingame into audiobooks, think it conflicts slightly with the reverb mod though. It's okay outside but inside the volume is way too loud and I couldn't find a slider to turn it down. It's pretty good though, you can carry on with your adventures while the voice narrates the stories. I think of it as your character remembering the book they read the night before as they set out for new adventures.
What a great channel, showing me a side of modding and role-play games that i never knew existed. Easily as good as the other deep dive game review channels.
Sweet mercy! I am very pleased by this commentary. I am not sure if I remember the last time I found something so brilliant in clarity coupled with hilariously sublime in the choice of words.
I love this game so much. When I first discovered it I played almost 20 hours without pause finished also half of the side quests and when I became a Keeper I decided to sleep. Next day my save file was corrupted and I didn't touched it for two months. Loved every minute of it!
Too bad you can't, like, play it twice. The twists are so good, but you kinda get everything out of the game in a single playthrough. It IS a massive game tho. Just not fit for that skyrim-ish "oh I am a simple town khajiit don't mind me" kind of gameplay. But the plot. Oh boy. The twists and turns are just brilliant.
I played it twice and the second playthrough you understand all the foreshadowing and hints so much better, you'll go 'ohh right that's what that is/what that meant!' There is way more replay value here than skyrim
You know... those black-outs at the beginning where you just lose conscience are intended for the message: "you are not in control of your actions" and at least for me, worked pretty well to understand what this game/interactive novel was going to be and that my character was just the protagonist of the story the author wanted to tell and I was needed to keep that story moving forward but certainly was not going to be what I would call my own and roleplay/write my own history. Edit: Because of that, when the story foreshadows things I understood and believed them. Just like when I read books and connect the dots in the argument.
I have a friend who tried Enderal and gave up in a puff of salt just when Jaspar cut him loose and the game actually started. He said the prologue was too long. I assumed he was an isolated case of dopamine dependant modern gamer psychology when it comes to pacing digestion, but now I've realised that there are a whole bunch of these creatures shitting up the discourse. Next they'll be saying they don't read every book they pick up and still expect to understand what's going on. I kid of course, but it is distressing how impatient players might be discouraging more sedate players from experiencing the game.
I had the exact same (sorta) thing happen! A friend of mine gave up on the game very early on. He streamed his first hour or two of gameplay and I painfully watched him skip almost all dialogue. When he later pitched his "review" to our friend group he claimed the story was poorly written.
While I agree with your point somewhat, as an adult with a job and very little free time I'm getting to the point where if a game doesn't grab me quickly it's hard to justify continuing to play it hoping it will grab me further. I don't know if it's necessarily fair to just blame it on "impatient gamers".
@@strangeledplanet9576 People with adult lives jobs and very little free time watch hours of netflix and other brainmelting trash while waiting for it to get good after the second episode. With that in mind, the commitment of patience required to process a 45 minute prologue with fifteen minutes of unskippable dialogue is pretty minute all things considered. Games made for mass audiences have primed players for pacing that demands as little of the player mentally as possible. Without the steady drips of dopamine most players can't process what has been put in front of them. Its not exclusively a repudiation of players, but the media that has been produced for them and thus the conditioning they have grown accustomed to. Enderal's intro will never demand from you more patience and mental alacrity then an average novel.
@@strangeledplanet9576 As an adult with a job and very little free time I am still capable of patience. Your own case might be different but I don't think it is necessarily unfair to blame impatient gamers.
I have have 320+ hours on this game and I play a different build each time. I love the characters in this game so much. They feel almost real. I love how much attention they gave to the romance arc and how much detailed and perfectly written the DLCs are. I heard many people say that this game doesn't have much replayable value but they are wrong. It hits so different when you play it again. That Ahh moments when you realise oh so this is what was happening. There is so many hidden things in the game. I love this game to the core.
"I am somewhat suspicious of 2D people" One of many gems I got a proper chuckle out of. Keep up the good work brother! I only just stumbled on to your channel (by way of the dark and winding RUclips road I found your Vampire the Masquerade video a few days back) - I have since made it a point to peruse your entire catalog... Not to ride your jock, but I'm glad I did, your content has proven to be genuinely entertaining. I'll say this: you seem to really enjoy the content you are making... I hope that's true! Obviously I have no real insight into your thinking or what it was that compelled you to start doing these, but I have always maintained a man's love of his craft shines through his finished products... All of that is to say that (selfishly, I admit) I truly hope this is something you enjoy doing and that you find a way to make your living doing it... Because I REALLY want to keep watching more of these!
Warlockracy, you crack me up so hard. Your deadpan sarcasm/sass has me LOL-ing for real. A friend of mine worked on this game, but I never got to play it. I was shocked to see his face in 22:20 on the right-hand side (black and white head), under "Gesucht wird Max Schönenbluts"
@@LoonAztec Arktwend (2007) is quite good [not on the level of Enderal, or even Nehrim, though]. At least, first half of it. Second one kinda drags on, and there is a lot of plotholes. . You will meet some important character from Nehrim, though and gameplay, including RPG part, is interesting. I had a lot of fun just exploring the map. Myar Aranath (2005). This one, I couldn't get to properly work. There is english translation, but it is kind of broken; I got races from vanilla Morrowind, instead of the Myar one. Story was pretty bad and is not really connected to the further games. If you can get it to work in english properly, or you just know german, it may be worth to try.
My favorite thing they did was the magic. To start off, I didn't know what to expect from this, so I started with the good old stealth archer and on the side, I specialized in Psionics (Illusions) and Entropy (Conjuration) since I needed allies to help in fights and I really liked that some Psionic spells can do things like paralyze targets on top of doing damage. Anyway, I eventually found myself struggling to do enough damage with the bow so for the heck of it, I used some Psionic spells and immediately fell in love. Turns out there's tons of amplifiers aside from enchantment that make spells much stronger. I loved that I was able to have fun and enjoy a build aside from stealth archer, especially a magic one.
Totally agree with Age of Decadence being in the top tier with how it tells it's story. If any game deserves a Warlockracy video, it's that one. Also love that you take swing at the writing in Baldurs Gate 2. There's a reason I always go solo whenever I replay that game.
I played Nehrim and some Enderal before, should find the time to finish it. My favorite part from the games is the the dungeons. They are just so creative and unique!
thats called an intro, in Skyrim you don't know anything they talk about in the intro if you aren't familiar with the TES universe. you can skip the video sequences in the mod configuration but if you in general don't care for the story then it's maybe not the right game for you but yes I agree it's a bit much at once
@@overdev1993 Skyrim cares about presenting and the quality of the story as much as Bethesda cares about TES lore - not too much. Enderal gives arguably a better experience. TES and other RPG games alike most prominent point in the gameplay is freedom. Stopping the player to listen to a cutscene too often can get in the way of that. Overall it wasn't that big of a problem, but thinking about the flaws of the project, this one surely is the first that comes to mind.
@@overdev1993 i really hate this argument regardless of where it is used. Cutscene skipping is a QoL for both replaying as well as curating your own experience; having lots of locked cutscenes, while fine on itself, goes against the entire core design of this kind of fpa games that are all about freedom and dynamic, interactive story (in a way of having control of your player actions most of the time). What's worse, is that this argument of "if you don't care for story..." can be used to defend literally everything. Don't like how some game has horribly paced like naruto filler walking segment that has literally nothing happening or even worse, exposition? I guess you are too impatient to care about the story. Not a fan of how it is presented? I guess you don't really care then. Don't like how it untintantionally implies horrible stuff? You think too deep and don't care about the core story enough to enjoy it, etc, etc. Enderal is good, but you can't shrug any critique under the "not for you then" banner
@@TheBard1999 i am more than sure that this can be mitigated (via moving player to the state they would be by the end of it for example) Hovewer, my comment was not so much about enderal (i don't have any problems with this type of presentation as long as it is done well, and in enderal it is done much better than some of skyrim and ESO stuff where you have control) but more about how people defend it or other stuff (you did, however, made a valid point though)
It kinda flips the chosen one component on it's head by the end though. Chosen ones are supposed to be special hero's who save the world. [Spoilers]: Yet you're just a pawn who plays into that role in order to end it.
@@PrimusGladius Teenage me would have loved that archetype. Right now, I would have loved to play it as a merchant bodyguard, as a town butcher, etc. Being the protagonist just don't fill it anymore, I don't know.
@@DanTheIsh Now that would be true freedom in roleplaying. I myself always liked the idea of being the everyman. Picture a grand narrative unfolding in a world, yet the hero is some NPC you interact with sparingly, while your own story is the real tale of the game.
@@PrimusGladius The idea of a world that is not handed to you nor is it design to support the choices of a few chosen ones. Exactly what I've been looking for on an Rpg, of late. That world building that makes you feel like "there is much happening around you, not all is on your level".
I found this channel yesterday after some youtube magic and a few scoobadiving into the fallout 1/2 mods search, and oh boy I love you man. Keep it up, i want to see you with sseth and mandalore on the same throne!
I'm about 70 hours and I'm really enjoying it. I did the Black Light quest with Ryneus last night and I won't lie, I teared up a bit at the end. The child in that story and what he had been through broke me. I haven't been that emotional over a video game since Geralt found Ciri on the Isle of Mists in Witcher 3.
I just discovered your channel and loved your take on one of my favorite games. The question you asked at the end may be answered for you if you do a quest you can get from Frostcliff Tavern. All you have to do is listen in on a conversation and the quest begins. This quest is a new one added by the dlc . If you do this quest, and I highly recommend it, make sure to read the relevant book that you find at one of the many locations to which you have to travel. The castle in the Dark Valley, is home to a book called The Book of Kadath. I believe this is the only book on the subject of who is behind the cycle, in the game. I also believe there is only one copy as I haven't been able to find it anywhere else. Whether or not you believe what is in the book is up to you, but it makes a lot of sense to me. Also, if you want to do a charming little quest involving a ghost pig by the name of Cuthbert, read a notice in Duneville I read that the mod authors were kind of upset that almost all of their quests had questionable endings, to say the least, and they wanted to do one that ended in a way that makes you feel really good. It is kind of aggravating as you have to literally walk on a tightrope in order to talk to the quest giver in Duneville and I'm afraid of heights, so there is that. By the way, you have a new subscriber. Great job!
Hearing these names and plot points, all I can think is that this mod really could've done with being less generic fantasy. All the good qualities of the mod hardly can keep my attention with MMO level writing.
Thanks to Warlockracy's videos warranting multiple views =) I finally got around to play Enderal and finished it Its a great game, kinda hard to go back to Skyrim after
Love your videos Warlock, but not a big fan of Enderal - as few people mentioned, it has way too big reliance of cutscene incompetence, the play on "you can't change anything bubba", but it has some good character characterization and background lore. Not fan of it's main story and villain, but overall, it isn't bad. (BUT AOD IS, ELEVEN FUCKING YEARS). I love that someone already mentioned Gothic, love that game and Risen even more. Hope these two big mods will be released.
a bit late to the party here but like damn. Even with this games flaws it truly is one of the best games that exist on the creation engine. Its just soo damn GOOD
I’m sorry, but AoD’s writing is anything but concise. The text dumps in that game, sometimes being mostly descriptions and not actual dialog, are huge and edited in a way that’s cumbersome to read; Torment’s writing is leagues above it.
I don't know if you'll see my comment but I've been binge watching your content, at first I didnt vibe with the style of your videos but after watching more and more I've fallen in love with how unique it is and notice the sheer amount of effort you put into these that I couldn't help but subcribe and create a list of these mods and place some of the games you review on a wishlist. Keep it up you're awesome I've already started reccommending your vids to my friends.
@@Warlockracy oh you missed out then. There's also a lot of mods for Gothic 2, including two Polish mods that are like Beyond Skyrim or Enderal. (still in production). ruclips.net/video/GSZ43HENq0I/видео.html&ab_channel=KronikiMyrtany and ruclips.net/video/fgiqs1Ukdtk/видео.html&ab_channel=DziejeKhorinis Gothic 2 is "kind of like Oblivion" (and i mean that as in the setting) to Gothic's 1 Morrowind: more based in medieval fantasy. But it's definitely better than Oblivion. It's a better continuation to the previous game.
Opening scene is properly creepy. Overwritten but creepy. After that though the dialogue gets pretty purple, enough to put me off before the finishing the intro dungeon. You're right though, those voice actors are VO-ing their little hearts out. Breathtaking world to explore though, gosh.
This game sports the single best in-game book series I've ever had the pleasure of reading ever, called The Butcher of Ark. I've actively hunted down the volumes of that book.
"enderal maybe better than even gothic" send me a friend, telling me about your review. we both were .. well.. we disagree heavily :O Anyways, I've to watch the video to say anything further (and I wanted to play Enderal + dlc again as well to see how my memories hold up). It's a bold statement!
Watched Watchief, 2024 german movie. Damn, it's like being in one of those SureAI games! They talk all the time about some strange philosophy, the worldbuilding is extremely in your face and on the nose, the flashbacks to the parents being horrible, everybody has a skeleton in their closet. I guess, that's just how Deutchland does its fantasy. ^_^' 😅
Comment N°1 (too impatient of a manchild I am): In all honesty I always found the levelup to be vastly flawed in both Skyrim and Enderal (personally i think this is worse in the latter). In the former, you practice yourself into an utter genius who knows all and does all, in the latter you can't lift a rock without consulting an encyclopedia. I believe mixing those two would be a right call, I.e you can perfect yourself up to some level but cannot evolve past a certain threshhold unless you do some research and reading of your own. While I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, I also think the mechanics of leveling up skills is delivered somewhat poorly which is why i barely got off the begginner level after doing what, 78% of the game.
Skyrim still allows more specialization than Morrowind or Oblivion, weirdly enough, despite having no classes. In Morrowind you train a skill to 100 and you're pretty much the best at that skill, train every skill to 100 (tedious but doable) and you're the best at everything. Meanwhile in Skyrim training all skills to 100 will give you 80 perks, which in vanilla is about enough to fill 6 or 7 skill trees, so you can master one of the three archetypes, or a less complete hybrid of several, and you'll be good but not great at the rest of the skills. Of course, in Morrowind you don't even need to train skills to become a demigod, just brew a thousand ash yams into The Ultimate Galaxy Brain Skooma and you're good to go
Can't believe the authors of this mod missed an opportunity to disable the immersion breaking marker compass. -- "Hey pal, take a look at the kilometres of this beautiful scenery we spent days constructing! Do you appreciate how much effort went into that? Oh you can't? Your eyes are glued to the top of the screen 60% of the time? Sucks to be you I suppose."
Dunno, I guess that would be the problem mostly oh the user's side. I never had a problem with marker compass during my playthrough, and I absolutely loved freeroaming and exploring the land of Enderal
I get why they kept it. You need to design around not having a marker. You know, implement detailed descriptions of where to go for quests, build a map that's complimenting that design decision and all that. Enderal is technically still a mod, so I get why they didn't do that.
43:50 *Winces in literature student* We create stories by assembling a plot that fits with and allows us to transfer a pre-existing perception of the world, because in all cases that word is used, that is what we are doing. Anyway...
15:28 No, dude, Enderal is actually the far, far past. You know that greek dude that got stoned out of his mind all day and talked about ALIENS and ancient astronauts? Nonsense. That's just idiotic and farcical. In reality it was the Lightborn all along! And that's a FACT!! Also, I was just thinking about the magic system in vanilla Skyrim and this mod. I thought about it and the idea came to me that you could make some extremely savage and awesome spells for the different schools of magic already in the game if you are a bit creative about it. For example, it occurred to me that you could have an alteration spell that turns an enemy's eyes to stone. They can't see anything and swing wildly. Also, they scream in agony and it's actually a bit disturbing now that I thinj about it more. Anyway, they just scream and ruan and swing in every direction. You could even make a master spell just like that but with a bigass area of effect. Damn, Son. Also, another example: a destruction spell that either cools down a lot or heats up way too much the blood of your enemy. They start screaming and drop like a stone to the floor. They drop their weapons. They keep screaming (Jesus, so much screaming). Final one that comes to mind (worth mentioning anyway...): an illusion spell that makes you appear ultra-buff, basically a chad predator of your species of choice and also gives you a huge claymore, like twice the lenght of the next longest reaching wewpon. Your enemy (especially mele fighters) panic and only very zealous or dumb enemies (like Fornsworn or Spriggan) rush at you like normal. All others try to keep their distancd. Do they scream? Maybe. Must be quite the picture anyway. And you just can fucc around with them, maybe make them throw themselves off a cliff. I am sure they would scream all the way down from High Hrothgar. They sure scream a lot these nanies. FACTS.
This is prbly the most disjointed incoherent essay I've ever watched, yet somehow entertaining. Also, the way you play this game completely out of order is giving me anxiety
I feel like guns in the elder scrolls could work. Tamriel is a world were magic exists, so guns would be a good way to level the playing field for a non-magic user on the battlefield.
"Well i don't respect their culture either, so i'm gonna rob their crypt" - basically any player action in games in a nutshell
they somehow made Skyrim a tight traditional RPG, made the best representation of a city since Daggerfall and crafted a pretty good narrative. Big fan of Enderal.
I'd say the best city would be Novigrad. Especially the poor district.
@@Gniew2 I think he means in the Skyrim engine. And in that regard, Solitude with the Enhanced Solitude and Enhanced Solitude Docks mods. The entire city turns into a mini-Novigrad, extending from half-way to Dragon's Bridge to half-way to the Solitude Lighthouse outside the walls and doubles to triples in size inside the walls.
@@mortemtyrannus8813 Thanks for the recommendation!
The narrative is basically a rehash of Mass Effect, almost to a T. If you played ME before, you realise it pretty quickly and from then on the whole story loses it's appeal because you know what is going to happen next. The only real difference is the scenography. I was sad and disappointed when I realised that.
@@dzejrid A ME is a carbon copu of 3 previous Bioware games. I cant complain
The "child" voice actor is most likely an adult or at least adolescent female instead of a child. 99% of child voice acting is done by having women change their inflection.
The German voices are a lot better. Got many professional speakers, all for free
Honestly reviewing Enderal critically is such a tough job for me. Because every time I find something I don't particularly like, or I have a minor bug take me out of the game I just can't stop thinking about the fact that this thing is free.
Like, there are games that cost 60 bucks and take like 10 hours to complete. Enderal easily gives you over a hundred hours of (mostly) professional level content. Not to mention the fact that the DLC for the game was also free. Like, how can you compare that to anything else on the market rn.
Is it the best game ever made? No. Does it have the best and most original story ever made? Also no. But it sure does an extremely good job at being an amazing game filled with unique characters, a solid overall plot and quests that will make you cry and question your entire existence. And once again, all of that whilst literally not costing a single penny.
Even with all of its flaws, Enderal is and will remain one of my favourite games of all time, thanks to a dedicated and a hard working team wanting to tell their story.
Enderal plot blew my mind to be honest i really like it and its enderal being free is crime
What is also cool about enderal is that the development is very active. They frequently make bugfixes. I am 100% sure that surai patches bugs on this game better than Bethesda does
I truely feel many of its problems are due to the limitations of the engine. But just how I feel about New Vegas, it doesnt stop me from loving it
Let's be honest the soundtrack is the best ever
Enderal would be what Skyrim was meant to be all along if it was made by a large enough studio with a big budget. It's unfortunate that as you play you can always see the parts where they had to cut corners.
So they were given a toy box made by Todd Howard and made a story with the toys they found
that's an oversimplification of modding but yes.
Not really, I'd say by using the toys they found and bringing some of their own the lads managed to craft enderal.
Yeah
Remember when gamers used to believe that Todd Howard was one of the good guys in the gaming business, now his a meme.
@@ronb7189 when you're balls deep in such vast businesses. Being good or bad stops being important. The cash you bring in on the other hand...
I've been binging your reviews for the past two days, a very underrated and entertaining channel, hats off to you :D
Right? Such a "human personality" too. Usually youtube reviews/video essays feel so fake, but warlock videos sound like i just handed my best buddy a beer and asked if he's "played anything good lately"
Me too!
Nice to know Ondusi the scroll guy is still canon in this universe
Lmao yeah
Also, I've heard that SurAI are now working on a third game built on Unreal engine.
So we might experience Vyn in new shades soon enough
Sadly, it's not an RPG at least. I'm not sure it's going to be the same world either, and the main writer has left the company to do his own stuff. Still - I'm looking forward to it HARD. It has the potential to be as excellent as Enderal.
@@SephonDK wait wot? Far as I knew it was set in Vyn as well, on one of the continents mentioned in lore. Maybe I'm wrong though
@@sebs-shenanigans The only thing I'm not sure about in regards to the above points is whether it's set on Vyn or not. I simply don't know. But I do know it's not going to be an open world RPG in the vein of Enderal. It's too much to take on for a tiny studio - the Creation engine, while ass, was an easement for them to do massive stuff like Enderal and Nehrim. While Enderal's cult following is massively loyal and wants to give them all the money, it's still just a niche release.
Personally I just want some investor to give them a big fat check so they can go the path of Obsidian. But as is - niche, skilled team building a game following a great cult game. Not something that necessarily gives them money beyond landing some great jobs in the industry (which happened for a lot of the team, deservedly so.)
@@SephonDK for that I'd say one thing, patience. If these lads can prove they can create an independent game that sells well, their team can slowly start growing in numbers. Eventually they can reach the size of a proper openworld dev team.
@@sebs-shenanigans oh god I hope so!
My jaw dropped when you revealed that all the stuff you covered was only Act 1.
And there are two more quests in Act 1. It’s a huge game.
It is insane the amount of effort and research that you do just for a single, about one hour, video
Enderal, for all its faults and flaws, has me enamoured. Ever since I first played it years ago... The emotion, the fear, the intrigue it made me feel hasn't waned.
It's very exciting to know when new people try it and hear their opinions.
I love how enthusiasts are the main driving force behind role-playing games evolution
In some way RPG fans never never stopped being dedicated nerds that can put entire lifetimes into it.
Who cares if Todd Howards was in the chess club, that is the kind of token trait to be accepted, but not what makes a real roleplayer.
It's been like that for some time now for most forms of art since we started to get into late capitalism. Music for instance, it used to be that every single development in music was done by studios based musicians, sometimes hugely famous (The Beatles) and sometimes not so much (The Velvet Underground), but regardless they all had capital behind them. Now it's random individual people that post their music on the internet.
"I never expected these feels from a video game"
Me, a Planescape Torment Fan: First time?
Arcanum is my all time favorite setting for an rpg
Arcanum owns dude
It was such a well done version of a fantasy world set during a Victorian-era Industrial Revolution.
It's still to this day fairly unique. We have a modern-fantasy setting with Shadowrun, but I'm surprised there hasn't been another crack at the "What if D&D went through an Industrial Revolution/Napoleonic Era" type game. Think The 80 Years and Crimean Wars and African Colonialism... only with Orcs, and Dwarves. :P
How would complex geopolitics and a massive history that'd have to be written and fleshed out effect a fantasy world with magic and dragons? Arcanum was a step in that direction... but no one ever took the next step and ran with it. Most games that do are in that fairytale area Warlockracy talked about, like FF7. It has radios and electricity and trains but it really had no impact on the story or even the feel of the setting, one could cut all of that out and with minor rewrites it'd make almost no difference.
A fantasy game set during an equivalent of WW1 would be fascinating. But the amount of backstory to really give it the feel it'd need would be *staggering*
Loved Arcanum, the combat is really what holds the game but the setting and the narrative execution is just brilliant. Troika games was really something else, they really didn't last long and they were only able to release like 3 games but each of those games was crafted by devs who really cared.
@@planescaped I'd love to make a series of games based around that setting; start with like a Skyrim game, then move onto like a Victorian/Industrial Revolution game, then end the series with the WWI game that's been setup by all the other games, with decisions you've made in previous games shaping how the third game goes ala Mass Effect's choices
@@Paul_Vaughnwelp, get you a couple million buckaroos and get to work.
The most direct translation of Wiedergänger I could think of is revenant. Its literal translation would be "Again-walker", so revenant fits best.
@@himlensvapen Ayy!
I wouldn't mind if Skyrim's books were voice acted. Voiced by Dagoth Ur of course.
I love how you review games and mods - it's so unique and interesting, maintaining a comedic flow while also providing excellent feedback on the way these games actually work on a minute to minute basis. I've been watching some of your videos from oldest to newest just to see the evolution, and this two year old video goes hard today. Thank you for making my day better :)
Mechanically, Enderal is great.
Pros:
-Getting XP from enemies no matter how they die means you are rewarded all the same for killing them in unconventional ways, such as throwing them off ledges or having them step on flaming oil or other traps. You don't have the nagging feeling of "Yes that was good but I didn't hit them with my sword so I got no experience" when you actually outsmart an enemy
-Perk trees make some specific playstyles like summoner or werewolf much more appealing. Unfortunately some others like unarmed fighter aren't supported.
-Quality of life personal chests everywhere help you take a load off your backpack, which balances the absence of permanent followers
-Loot and area difficulty are mostly fixed, with only bonus rewards being rolled from time to time. You don't miss out on scaled items by getting them early
-Spells scale better with skill level and have different version of each, meaning you don't have to give up on your stream lightning spell once you start casting Chain Lightning
-Armor sets with large bonuses to a specific playstyle let you stay ahead of the difficulty curve even before you can afford the crafting needed to create endgame gear
-Carry weight is upgraded via ice claws, which means you don't get screwed out of carrying capacity if you don't upgrade stamina
-The bank gives you a steady trickle income of money once you make a high enough deposit and a desirable target for burglary once your lockpicking is high enough
Cons:
-Learning skills from books getls very expensive
-Limited Crafting points means you have to choose between crafting and utility skills like Rhetoric and Lockpicking
-Perks with multiple levels are rare, which menas you won't have much to spend your points on once you've gotten all of the ones you need for your build
-The Arcane Fever mechanic feels like an afterthought. By the time you reach Ark you can grab ingredients and craft Ambrosia in bulk, and since Ambrosia efficiency is fixed you can never level up Alchemy and still be able to spam healing potions with the only downside bringing about one ambrosia per 3-4 healing potions you have.
-A lot of quest-related places have rough railroading or stonewalling to ensure you don't stray from the intended path
Warlockracy is the Civvie 11 of video game mods.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks!
He's more like the tehsnakerer of video game mods but with a bit more brevity imo.
He's kind the warlockracy of youtube channels@@Oversensitive-S-poster
@@Oversensitive-S-postersnakerer takes a lot of inspiration from warlockracy. Of course they're all derivatives of hbomber while civvieis a derivative of mystery science theater. Civvie literally had the same idea I did. I gotta admit his lore building was better with his diabolical uncle and modern black site idea where mine was more sci Fi.
@@josephmatthews7698 I'm sorry, TehSnakerer takes inspiration from Warlockracy? Do you know how long TehSnakerer has been making RUclips videos? He's been around for quite a while. And I wouldn't say *any* of them are derivatives of hbomberguy - their writing styles, subject matter, editing techniques, etc. are completely different. Even when comparing their videos about games, they have entirely different approaches to how they critique them. Utilizing long-form analysis does not make them derivative of someone else. And while Civvie did use MST3K as *inspiration* for parts of his gimmick, calling it "derivative" is reductive when his channel is so much more than that. I just can't believe how certain you come across while being so off-base.
I remember once suddenly stopping for 10 mins in the middle of burglarising a tavern to listen to The Wayward Wanderer through a wall, with moist eyes. That was great.
I absolutely loved enderal, got a good 120 hours out of it just doing the main questline and a good portion of the side stuff. I can definitely see where other ppl are coming from when they say it's too exposition heavy but at the same time I think it's justified by just how much content is there in the whole thang.
Also thought that point you brought up with the two axis, creativity vs technique, was super neat. It did really feel like I was playing a book sometimes. Though I really liked that about it :)
Enderal, now thats a game i need to play... maybe after i finish morrowinds main quest
Skyrim is my playground, Morrowind is my home.
Two minutes in and you already got me laughing
The Dorian Grey Eat The Rich side quest didn't quite come together for me. If there has been a pattern of behaviour with extremely wealthy and powerful people dying shortly after getting their portrait by the enigmatic recluse I think that's the kind of thing that'll get the extremely pious Enderaleans erecting a witch pyre by victim three.
it's one of them "Enderal is a fairy tale" things
Warlockracy says they die after a few "days" but the lady says "moons", which means something like months, so it would make a bit more sense that she wouldn't be caught.
Yeah, it would be the same as them dying a few months after they commissioned a famous carpenter to renovate their balcony. A string of coincidences, but not exactly damning.
Even more so if all these deaths are due to seemingly unrelated incidents. For them to connect it to the paintings there needs to be a plausible relation.
@@convenientEstellemisunderstanding “moons” to mean “nights” instead of “lunar cycles” is understandable.
this channel is criminally underrated
Man I just finished it, and I just have to say you have a really awesome style of... I want to say either editing or pacing but I guess they go hand in hand. I'm glad I didn't watch this while cooking or something cause I definitely lost track of time. Cant wait to see you tackle the side quests but at the same time I gotta finish them all on my end!!
Thanks!
I played through Enderal but stopped playing because I grew dissatisfied with a few things you'll eventually (probably) mention in later parts of the series and never beat the game because of it. However I love the leveling system, the world and everything else. The music is probably my favorite part, love to see these videos from you. They're very cozy to watch.
My advice: Finish it. The ending is easily worth it. Trust me. It's like the top 5 game endings of all time in my opinion, and I've been playing video games since the mid 90s.
Well... his choice was correct if he realized what was going to happen and wanted to avoid it. One could argue that the best ending to the game is to not play the game to the end.
But if you think of it as a novel and separate yourself from the content, just like with a book you keep reading because you want to see what the story is going on.
There's a mod for Skyrim that turns all the books ingame into audiobooks, think it conflicts slightly with the reverb mod though. It's okay outside but inside the volume is way too loud and I couldn't find a slider to turn it down. It's pretty good though, you can carry on with your adventures while the voice narrates the stories. I think of it as your character remembering the book they read the night before as they set out for new adventures.
This channel is severely underrated.
Tell me where you rate YT channels and I will consider voting.
@@ahenathon You click the like button and post the video on relevant discord channels.
@@BobExcalibur I do not use discord. I am a lower level nerd.
What a great channel, showing me a side of modding and role-play games that i never knew existed. Easily as good as the other deep dive game review channels.
Thanks!
>mentions Age of Decadence
I hope that means we can expect a review on this at some point
For sure. But I’ll prolly first need to make a historical vid about THE DECLINE of olden style RPGs in order to provide context for AoD.
@@Warlockracy Of course! AoD isn't thinkable without the prehistory of Vince D. Weller and his disappointment with THE DECLINE.
Sweet mercy! I am very pleased by this commentary. I am not sure if I remember the last time I found something so brilliant in clarity coupled with hilariously sublime in the choice of words.
I love this game so much.
When I first discovered it I played almost 20 hours without pause finished also half of the side quests and when I became a Keeper I decided to sleep.
Next day my save file was corrupted and I didn't touched it for two months.
Loved every minute of it!
Too bad you can't, like, play it twice. The twists are so good, but you kinda get everything out of the game in a single playthrough. It IS a massive game tho. Just not fit for that skyrim-ish "oh I am a simple town khajiit don't mind me" kind of gameplay. But the plot. Oh boy. The twists and turns are just brilliant.
I played it twice and the second playthrough you understand all the foreshadowing and hints so much better, you'll go 'ohh right that's what that is/what that meant!' There is way more replay value here than skyrim
Totally! The world is shaped around the main and side quests and the "chosen one" main character makes the roleplaying part minimal. Such a shame!
yeah the only real replayability is to do it for trying different builds
the plot itself is hard to do again
Yep
also since the enderal lore is evolving with stuff like the latest book that retcons some stuff on purpose
Enderal is definitely the best German RPG. One of my favourite games of all time even.
Someone's never played Gothic.
@@josephmatthews7698I have and I stand by what I said.
I actually enjoyed this mod a lot. The story was pretty cool and the atmosphere was amazing.. anyways, thanks for the video. Cheers.
Dude you here? This causes confusion and delay...
@@sapiensfromterra5103 I like RPGs. Glad to see you're also a man of high culture.
@@misterkefir Me too, best genre really. Good taste in "non game-related" content you have! :D
You know... those black-outs at the beginning where you just lose conscience are intended for the message: "you are not in control of your actions" and at least for me, worked pretty well to understand what this game/interactive novel was going to be and that my character was just the protagonist of the story the author wanted to tell and I was needed to keep that story moving forward but certainly was not going to be what I would call my own and roleplay/write my own history.
Edit: Because of that, when the story foreshadows things I understood and believed them. Just like when I read books and connect the dots in the argument.
Damn I love your reviews. I could watch your videos for hours
this video, much like exploring a game world, felt like i was being immersed in a whole new experience with each scene change. subbed.
Thanks!!!
I have a friend who tried Enderal and gave up in a puff of salt just when Jaspar cut him loose and the game actually started. He said the prologue was too long. I assumed he was an isolated case of dopamine dependant modern gamer psychology when it comes to pacing digestion, but now I've realised that there are a whole bunch of these creatures shitting up the discourse.
Next they'll be saying they don't read every book they pick up and still expect to understand what's going on.
I kid of course, but it is distressing how impatient players might be discouraging more sedate players from experiencing the game.
I had the exact same (sorta) thing happen!
A friend of mine gave up on the game very early on. He streamed his first hour or two of gameplay and I painfully watched him skip almost all dialogue.
When he later pitched his "review" to our friend group he claimed the story was poorly written.
While I agree with your point somewhat, as an adult with a job and very little free time I'm getting to the point where if a game doesn't grab me quickly it's hard to justify continuing to play it hoping it will grab me further. I don't know if it's necessarily fair to just blame it on "impatient gamers".
@@strangeledplanet9576 People with adult lives jobs and very little free time watch hours of netflix and other brainmelting trash while waiting for it to get good after the second episode. With that in mind, the commitment of patience required to process a 45 minute prologue with fifteen minutes of unskippable dialogue is pretty minute all things considered.
Games made for mass audiences have primed players for pacing that demands as little of the player mentally as possible. Without the steady drips of dopamine most players can't process what has been put in front of them.
Its not exclusively a repudiation of players, but the media that has been produced for them and thus the conditioning they have grown accustomed to.
Enderal's intro will never demand from you more patience and mental alacrity then an average novel.
@@strangeledplanet9576 As an adult with a job and very little free time I am still capable of patience.
Your own case might be different but I don't think it is necessarily unfair to blame impatient gamers.
@@nathanheadcrab2448 Not what I said but Okay
sheds a lot of good light on a mod I dropped halfway through the tutorial. Perhaps I'll give it another try. great vid as always
My favorite mod and favorite youtuber combinded.....can't wait for more!
Always a good way to end my workday when Warlockracy posts a vid.
I have have 320+ hours on this game and I play a different build each time. I love the characters in this game so much. They feel almost real. I love how much attention they gave to the romance arc and how much detailed and perfectly written the DLCs are. I heard many people say that this game doesn't have much replayable value but they are wrong. It hits so different when you play it again. That Ahh moments when you realise oh so this is what was happening. There is so many hidden things in the game. I love this game to the core.
"I am somewhat suspicious of 2D people"
One of many gems I got a proper chuckle out of. Keep up the good work brother! I only just stumbled on to your channel (by way of the dark and winding RUclips road I found your Vampire the Masquerade video a few days back) - I have since made it a point to peruse your entire catalog...
Not to ride your jock, but I'm glad I did, your content has proven to be genuinely entertaining.
I'll say this: you seem to really enjoy the content you are making... I hope that's true! Obviously I have no real insight into your thinking or what it was that compelled you to start doing these, but I have always maintained a man's love of his craft shines through his finished products...
All of that is to say that (selfishly, I admit) I truly hope this is something you enjoy doing and that you find a way to make your living doing it...
Because I REALLY want to keep watching more of these!
Warlockracy, you crack me up so hard. Your deadpan sarcasm/sass has me LOL-ing for real.
A friend of mine worked on this game, but I never got to play it. I was shocked to see his face in 22:20 on the right-hand side (black and white head), under "Gesucht wird Max Schönenbluts"
Now I really need to play this and that Oblivion "prequel" mod
There is a Morrowind pre-prequel but I don't recall its name
There are two of them actually. SureAI website has both.
@@Warlockracy Every day is a school day!
@@LoonAztec Arktwend (2007) is quite good [not on the level of Enderal, or even Nehrim, though]. At least, first half of it. Second one kinda drags on, and there is a lot of plotholes. . You will meet some important character from Nehrim, though and gameplay, including RPG part, is interesting. I had a lot of fun just exploring the map.
Myar Aranath (2005). This one, I couldn't get to properly work. There is english translation, but it is kind of broken; I got races from vanilla Morrowind, instead of the Myar one. Story was pretty bad and is not really connected to the further games. If you can get it to work in english properly, or you just know german, it may be worth to try.
First I learned I have no classes and then you upload a video? Christmas has come really early it seems
Wait. Three years ago??? I've followed you for over three years now? Oh my god. Time flies fast
this channel is brilliant.
My favorite thing they did was the magic. To start off, I didn't know what to expect from this, so I started with the good old stealth archer and on the side, I specialized in Psionics (Illusions) and Entropy (Conjuration) since I needed allies to help in fights and I really liked that some Psionic spells can do things like paralyze targets on top of doing damage. Anyway, I eventually found myself struggling to do enough damage with the bow so for the heck of it, I used some Psionic spells and immediately fell in love. Turns out there's tons of amplifiers aside from enchantment that make spells much stronger. I loved that I was able to have fun and enjoy a build aside from stealth archer, especially a magic one.
Totally agree with Age of Decadence being in the top tier with how it tells it's story. If any game deserves a Warlockracy video, it's that one. Also love that you take swing at the writing in Baldurs Gate 2. There's a reason I always go solo whenever I replay that game.
I played Nehrim and some Enderal before, should find the time to finish it. My favorite part from the games is the the dungeons. They are just so creative and unique!
Try Arktwend (2007) for Morrowind too. You will met some important character from Nehrim...
Enderal, also known as "End those unskippable cutscenes, the amount of them is unreal"
thats called an intro, in Skyrim you don't know anything they talk about in the intro if you aren't familiar with the TES universe.
you can skip the video sequences in the mod configuration
but if you in general don't care for the story then it's maybe not the right game for you
but yes I agree it's a bit much at once
@@overdev1993 Skyrim cares about presenting and the quality of the story as much as Bethesda cares about TES lore - not too much.
Enderal gives arguably a better experience. TES and other RPG games alike most prominent point in the gameplay is freedom. Stopping the player to listen to a cutscene too often can get in the way of that. Overall it wasn't that big of a problem, but thinking about the flaws of the project, this one surely is the first that comes to mind.
@@overdev1993 i really hate this argument regardless of where it is used. Cutscene skipping is a QoL for both replaying as well as curating your own experience; having lots of locked cutscenes, while fine on itself, goes against the entire core design of this kind of fpa games that are all about freedom and dynamic, interactive story (in a way of having control of your player actions most of the time).
What's worse, is that this argument of "if you don't care for story..." can be used to defend literally everything. Don't like how some game has horribly paced like naruto filler walking segment that has literally nothing happening or even worse, exposition? I guess you are too impatient to care about the story. Not a fan of how it is presented? I guess you don't really care then. Don't like how it untintantionally implies horrible stuff? You think too deep and don't care about the core story enough to enjoy it, etc, etc.
Enderal is good, but you can't shrug any critique under the "not for you then" banner
@@GrayFoxHound9 unfortunately those are not cutscenes and skipping them might break the game.
@@TheBard1999 i am more than sure that this can be mitigated (via moving player to the state they would be by the end of it for example)
Hovewer, my comment was not so much about enderal (i don't have any problems with this type of presentation as long as it is done well, and in enderal it is done much better than some of skyrim and ESO stuff where you have control) but more about how people defend it or other stuff (you did, however, made a valid point though)
Enderal is great!
Beautiful world, nice quests. What breaks it is the "chosen one" main character. Don't think I like that too much
It kinda flips the chosen one component on it's head by the end though. Chosen ones are supposed to be special hero's who save the world.
[Spoilers]:
Yet you're just a pawn who plays into that role in order to end it.
@@PrimusGladius Teenage me would have loved that archetype. Right now, I would have loved to play it as a merchant bodyguard, as a town butcher, etc. Being the protagonist just don't fill it anymore, I don't know.
@@DanTheIsh Now that would be true freedom in roleplaying. I myself always liked the idea of being the everyman. Picture a grand narrative unfolding in a world, yet the hero is some NPC you interact with sparingly, while your own story is the real tale of the game.
@@PrimusGladius The idea of a world that is not handed to you nor is it design to support the choices of a few chosen ones. Exactly what I've been looking for on an Rpg, of late. That world building that makes you feel like "there is much happening around you, not all is on your level".
I found this channel yesterday after some youtube magic and a few scoobadiving into the fallout 1/2 mods search, and oh boy I love you man. Keep it up, i want to see you with sseth and mandalore on the same throne!
Thanks!!!
I'm about 70 hours and I'm really enjoying it. I did the Black Light quest with Ryneus last night and I won't lie, I teared up a bit at the end. The child in that story and what he had been through broke me. I haven't been that emotional over a video game since Geralt found Ciri on the Isle of Mists in Witcher 3.
I just discovered your channel and loved your take on one of my favorite games. The question you asked at the end may be answered for you if you do a quest you can get from Frostcliff Tavern. All you have to do is listen in on a conversation and the quest begins. This quest is a new one added by the dlc . If you do this quest, and I highly recommend it, make sure to read the relevant book that you find at one of the many locations to which you have to travel. The castle in the Dark Valley, is home to a book called The Book of Kadath. I believe this is the only book on the subject of who is behind the cycle, in the game. I also believe there is only one copy as I haven't been able to find it anywhere else. Whether or not you believe what is in the book is up to you, but it makes a lot of sense to me. Also, if you want to do a charming little quest involving a ghost pig by the name of Cuthbert, read a notice in Duneville I read that the mod authors were kind of upset that almost all of their quests had questionable endings, to say the least, and they wanted to do one that ended in a way that makes you feel really good. It is kind of aggravating as you have to literally walk on a tightrope in order to talk to the quest giver in Duneville and I'm afraid of heights, so there is that. By the way, you have a new subscriber. Great job!
Such an underrated channel, keep up the good work bro
Hearing these names and plot points, all I can think is that this mod really could've done with being less generic fantasy. All the good qualities of the mod hardly can keep my attention with MMO level writing.
Another great video. I had a bit of trouble getting into Enderal but this definitely makes me want to give it another shot.
I'm definitely going to give this a try--after my massive gaming backlog is shaved down a bit
Thanks to Warlockracy's videos warranting multiple views =)
I finally got around to play Enderal and finished it
Its a great game, kinda hard to go back to Skyrim after
your uploads delight and entertain me, thanks for the content.
Love your videos Warlock, but not a big fan of Enderal - as few people mentioned, it has way too big reliance of cutscene incompetence, the play on "you can't change anything bubba", but it has some good character characterization and background lore. Not fan of it's main story and villain, but overall, it isn't bad. (BUT AOD IS, ELEVEN FUCKING YEARS). I love that someone already mentioned Gothic, love that game and Risen even more. Hope these two big mods will be released.
a bit late to the party here but like damn. Even with this games flaws it truly is one of the best games that exist on the creation engine. Its just soo damn GOOD
I’m sorry, but AoD’s writing is anything but concise. The text dumps in that game, sometimes being mostly descriptions and not actual dialog, are huge and edited in a way that’s cumbersome to read; Torment’s writing is leagues above it.
There are 2-3 big dumps in this game, the rest is concise.
Its a damn shame that they cant really get legally paid for this. Unless it on creation club... but i digress
I really like your takes on mods
RUclips has forsaken me by recommending this part 1 released 3 years ago. I guess it's fair since I was binging your older content.
I don't know if you'll see my comment but I've been binge watching your content, at first I didnt vibe with the style of your videos but after watching more and more I've fallen in love with how unique it is and notice the sheer amount of effort you put into these that I couldn't help but subcribe and create a list of these mods and place some of the games you review on a wishlist. Keep it up you're awesome I've already started reccommending your vids to my friends.
I would say... Gothic 2 is my favorite German rpg
I only played 1 and 3 lmao
@@Warlockracy oh you missed out then. There's also a lot of mods for Gothic 2, including two Polish mods that are like Beyond Skyrim or Enderal. (still in production). ruclips.net/video/GSZ43HENq0I/видео.html&ab_channel=KronikiMyrtany and
ruclips.net/video/fgiqs1Ukdtk/видео.html&ab_channel=DziejeKhorinis
Gothic 2 is "kind of like Oblivion" (and i mean that as in the setting) to Gothic's 1 Morrowind: more based in medieval fantasy. But it's definitely better than Oblivion. It's a better continuation to the previous game.
Love the imagery you use to represent red madness in this review.
Ohh yes im soo excited for your next Enderal video. I could watch this video for another like 2h
You must be one of the few gaming RUclipsrs who I always gladly watch a 50 minute video. Keep up the great work!
this mod is doing the lords work
Great video, love your review style, very refreshing and unique. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for making this video. I loved every second of this game, and I am glad to see others having fun with it too.
Opening scene is properly creepy. Overwritten but creepy. After that though the dialogue gets pretty purple, enough to put me off before the finishing the intro dungeon. You're right though, those voice actors are VO-ing their little hearts out. Breathtaking world to explore though, gosh.
Literally started playing this a week ago!
This game sports the single best in-game book series I've ever had the pleasure of reading ever, called The Butcher of Ark. I've actively hunted down the volumes of that book.
"enderal maybe better than even gothic" send me a friend, telling me about your review. we both were .. well.. we disagree heavily :O
Anyways, I've to watch the video to say anything further (and I wanted to play Enderal + dlc again as well to see how my memories hold up). It's a bold statement!
I mean the main plot in gothic kinda sucks...
Watched Watchief, 2024 german movie. Damn, it's like being in one of those SureAI games! They talk all the time about some strange philosophy, the worldbuilding is extremely in your face and on the nose, the flashbacks to the parents being horrible, everybody has a skeleton in their closet.
I guess, that's just how Deutchland does its fantasy. ^_^' 😅
I first played Enderal years ago, it still gives me chills to this day. Freaking brilliant!
It's worth noting that Medieval and Renaissance people believed that were diseases that could be cured by touching a king, like the King's Evil.
"I'm having second thoughts about giving the bio weapon samples to the government"
Hilarious line!
Comment N°1 (too impatient of a manchild I am): In all honesty I always found the levelup to be vastly flawed in both Skyrim and Enderal (personally i think this is worse in the latter). In the former, you practice yourself into an utter genius who knows all and does all, in the latter you can't lift a rock without consulting an encyclopedia. I believe mixing those two would be a right call, I.e you can perfect yourself up to some level but cannot evolve past a certain threshhold unless you do some research and reading of your own.
While I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, I also think the mechanics of leveling up skills is delivered somewhat poorly which is why i barely got off the begginner level after doing what, 78% of the game.
A better system would be something like Nehrim-but-with-perks (psychologically satisfying, enables build theorycrafting, provides a money sink).
Skyrim still allows more specialization than Morrowind or Oblivion, weirdly enough, despite having no classes. In Morrowind you train a skill to 100 and you're pretty much the best at that skill, train every skill to 100 (tedious but doable) and you're the best at everything. Meanwhile in Skyrim training all skills to 100 will give you 80 perks, which in vanilla is about enough to fill 6 or 7 skill trees, so you can master one of the three archetypes, or a less complete hybrid of several, and you'll be good but not great at the rest of the skills.
Of course, in Morrowind you don't even need to train skills to become a demigod, just brew a thousand ash yams into The Ultimate Galaxy Brain Skooma and you're good to go
Can't believe the authors of this mod missed an opportunity to disable the immersion breaking marker compass.
-- "Hey pal, take a look at the kilometres of this beautiful scenery we spent days constructing! Do you appreciate how much effort went into that? Oh you can't? Your eyes are glued to the top of the screen 60% of the time? Sucks to be you I suppose."
Dunno, I guess that would be the problem mostly oh the user's side. I never had a problem with marker compass during my playthrough, and I absolutely loved freeroaming and exploring the land of Enderal
I get why they kept it. You need to design around not having a marker. You know, implement detailed descriptions of where to go for quests, build a map that's complimenting that design decision and all that. Enderal is technically still a mod, so I get why they didn't do that.
Not a huge fan of downer plots and endings, but boy is that a project worthy of respect.
43:50 *Winces in literature student*
We create stories by assembling a plot that fits with and allows us to transfer a pre-existing perception of the world, because in all cases that word is used, that is what we are doing. Anyway...
Love the video! I'm amazed by the amount of work put into these mods.
22:41 "penisy" caught me so off-guard that I just about fell out of my chair laughing
What an incredible amount of work for a free game that plays and is written better than the game it’s built in.
15:28 No, dude, Enderal is actually the far, far past. You know that greek dude that got stoned out of his mind all day and talked about ALIENS and ancient astronauts? Nonsense. That's just idiotic and farcical. In reality it was the Lightborn all along! And that's a FACT!! Also, I was just thinking about the magic system in vanilla Skyrim and this mod. I thought about it and the idea came to me that you could make some extremely savage and awesome spells for the different schools of magic already in the game if you are a bit creative about it. For example, it occurred to me that you could have an alteration spell that turns an enemy's eyes to stone. They can't see anything and swing wildly. Also, they scream in agony and it's actually a bit disturbing now that I thinj about it more. Anyway, they just scream and ruan and swing in every direction. You could even make a master spell just like that but with a bigass area of effect. Damn, Son. Also, another example: a destruction spell that either cools down a lot or heats up way too much the blood of your enemy. They start screaming and drop like a stone to the floor. They drop their weapons. They keep screaming (Jesus, so much screaming). Final one that comes to mind (worth mentioning anyway...): an illusion spell that makes you appear ultra-buff, basically a chad predator of your species of choice and also gives you a huge claymore, like twice the lenght of the next longest reaching wewpon. Your enemy (especially mele fighters) panic and only very zealous or dumb enemies (like Fornsworn or Spriggan) rush at you like normal. All others try to keep their distancd. Do they scream? Maybe. Must be quite the picture anyway. And you just can fucc around with them, maybe make them throw themselves off a cliff. I am sure they would scream all the way down from High Hrothgar. They sure scream a lot these nanies. FACTS.
Such an underrated channel. Keep up the good work!
This is prbly the most disjointed incoherent essay I've ever watched, yet somehow entertaining. Also, the way you play this game completely out of order is giving me anxiety
WOOOOOOOO thats what we've been waiting for thats what its all about!
I just found this today and haven't really played much but it looks awesome! Can't wait to hop in!
BABE WAKE UP IT'S WARLOCKRACY
I feel like guns in the elder scrolls could work. Tamriel is a world were magic exists, so guns would be a good way to level the playing field for a non-magic user on the battlefield.