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Melee combat is not an option here, and it never feels needed. Play But provided your system can handle it, these concerns never entirely undermine Lichdom: Battlemage's primary goal of taking the archetypical mage class and realize its full potential by unshackling it from the mana bars and cooldowns that normally confine it. On the bright side, the striking, ivy-laden ruins and snowscapes that follow pull up much of the slack, even if the CryEngine 3 engine that powers them was prone to crashing my mid-range PC (especially on the first level). Your opposite-gendered companion can point out the proper path by spitting forth a purple falcon, but it's rarely necessary unless you're hopelessly turned around while hunting down hidden snippets of lore or extra spell components down the few short side paths. It makes for progression that's in far better company with the likes of Call of Duty than Skyrim, and while the loss of true exploration feels painful, the design makes a bizarre sort of sense considering its almost shooter-style gameplay.
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It's harder to get lost in the gigantic levels themselves, which unfold with enough monotonous linearity down corridors and mountain paths that Final Fantasy XIII would blush in its presence. Further exposition reveals itself in the purple "echoes" enacting scenes from the past, but it tends to get lost among the banter and superior performances of voice actors Jennifer Hale and Troy Baker. Choose the male, and the roles are reversed. Choose the female, for instance, and the male alternative becomes a sidekick that flits in and out of reality and informs you of what lies ahead.
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Developer Xaviant here gives us a flimsy tale of revenge against some ruffians known as the Cult of Malthus, but the hows and whys of the simple fiction are never so meaningful as the playful relationship between the two playable characters. My early troubles were appropriate for a first-person roleplaying game that follows the exploits of a mage that only learns his or her craft after a grizzled wizard slaps some magic cuffs their wrists seconds after the opening cutscene.
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