Stars Arisen

This is another game with a tentative recommended. Honestly, I think it's just not for me. For the backstory, I went back to it and gave it another chance after falling utterly in love with "Specters of the Deep" (same author). I disliked "Heroes of Might" very much, but on my first try, I just got bored with "Stars Arisen" and ended up dropping it. Now on this second try, I actually finished my playthrough. And my opinion is "it's not bad once you get through the start, but also not great either". Setting is good and premises are interesting, but I feel like aside from Vivian and Em, the ROs (and characters in general) are a bit on the weak side. In a way, while "Specters of the Deep" has incredible characters that are really the driving force of the game in a lot of aspects, in this case I think the characters are devices at the service of the plot rather than what moves it. Some people may prefer that, but it's not really for me. Next part will be a bit spoilery, so read at your own discretion... Based on the premise you probably read, the game offers you a few "mindsets" for your character to be in, which could be broadly divided in: - Want to take back your mother's th…

I didn't enjoy this one. The writing is clunky; the silly "they/thems" characters are annoying to read. How would you even call a stranger a "they"... unless they have two heads or sport a potato sack while being mute. It's just silly. The only character I liked was the ghost, but there isn't enough of him to keep reading. Other characters that took his place seemed rather blank, like a series of descriptions. I think the main issue for me is that all the lore and factions got dumped onto the MC during one-two (?) days. There wasn't enough time for me to get interested in ideas and opinions of these new people... Maybe it would have been better with only a ghost as a companion, or at least with no more than two main companions.

Bought the threefer from this author when the new book came out, felt that one suffered from arrested development of a sort (the description and reality are technically the same but I felt off), decided to give the rest a shot and....Idk my man, couple hours in and I had to tap out. Could just be a taste but but felt very YA section and like there were two versions of a charecter you could be....naive puppy that love mommy and petulent child that hates mommy. Both were weird. IMO? Unless you've gone through and done all of the good COG/HOG collections I would not glance in the direction of this. IF that sounds too harsh, I will say this is far from the worst one I ever saw.

First half is pretty damn good but the 2nd half gets so convoluted and repetitive, it becomes really difficult to shape the story how you wish to.

I see complaints about the romance options being rebels. They are by people who have not figured out the correct way to play the game. That being as a complete psychopath who sleeps with someone days after killing their father, then, when they find out, kills them. This is good game design. The setting itself is well-crafted and the story largely delivered on a magical counter-revolution and twisted family relations it promised. Though I wish it spent some more time on the epilogue, you saw how the city and its politics changed after the Sorceress's absence, it would've been cool to see it changing in response to your actions in the end in more detail. The skill system was fine, never particularly punishing, sometimes a bit vague or unintuitive. For example it seems Strength means both physical prowess and the capability for destructive magic, which is somewhat odd (Pretty funny though, imagining a caster character I pictured as quite frail successfuly tackle a veteran soldier twice her age). Enjoyed my time with it. Happy to recommend.

Pretty good story with plenty of choices to alter your path and shape your protagonist. My only complaint is that the skills of the character are a little ambiguous, and it's not always clear when a particular dialogue option is going to apply them. This has led me to pick options that I thought were just branches of the story, only to find out they were a skill check for one of the skills I did not specialize in. (e.g. I stand between a character and their attacker, turns out to be a strength skill check and I just get pushed aside) Aside from that, though, its a good novel and I'd still recommend it.