Northern Tales 6: Oath to the Gods Collector's Edition

[b]Note:[/b] A copy of this game was gifted to me by a friend. ^^ [i]Northern Tales 6: Oath to the Gods Collector's Edition[/i] is a time management game developed by ALPHANOVA and published by Qumaron. As the name states, it is the sixth game in the [i]Northern Tale[/i] series. You take on the role of Ragnar, the Viking king who was brought back to life by Odin, one of the great Viking gods, and even has his youth restored. After Ragnar closes a rift under orders from Odin, sealing away all the evil spirits, the underground dwarfs celebrate this victory by honoring Ragnar and his warriors with a feast. The next day, Ragnar and his men continue on their journey, only to learn that there's an even greater threat out there in which failing to stop it will bring about Ragnarok. Of course, it's up to Ragnar to stop this threat, but will he be able to do so? I'll stop my synopsis here to avoid spoilers and all that. As for the gameplay, it's pretty much the same as in previous installments with a few new additions. When you start up the game, you can choose from among three difficulty modes: regular (normal), legend (hard), or relaxed (self-explanatory lol). (For review purpos…

This will be my last review for the Northern Tale series, and unfortunately, it ends on a very sour note. To briefly reiterate what I said in my Northern Tale 5 review: The first three games are pure gold. The fourth was solid. The fifth was already a noticeable step down. This sixth entry, however, is where things truly fall apart. It’s immediately apparent that this game was developed by a different studio (ALPHANOVA) that is simply using the Northern Tale IP originally published and developed by Qumaron. That difference shows everywhere. Story-wise (even acknowledging that many people don’t play these games for the narrative), it’s painfully one-note and far less engaging than any prior entry. Dialogue is where things really go off the rails. While Northern Tale 5 had a few rough translation spots, this game’s English localization is often borderline illegible. Entire conversations read like nonsense. I genuinely found myself wondering how this passed QA at all. I pieced together the story as best I could, but most character dialogue was badly mangled. Art direction continues the identity crisis that started in the fifth game. The art style was changed there, then changed a…