•4 months ago
One and a half years after the release of Grimlore Games’ debut title SpellForce 3, we have been greeted by a follow up standalone add-on; SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest. After fans and critics were left disappointed by its predecessor, criticising it for its buggy gameplay, lack of polish and inconsistencies within the game’s lore, Soul Harvest promises to amend by fleshing out the flaws and offering a more enjoyable experience overall; But does it deliver on that promise or does it, yet again, fall short?
Like I’ve mentioned, Soul Harvest is a standalone add-on, meaning that owning the base game in order to play it isn’t a requirement. Good as this may be for potential newcomers to the series, it does raise the question of alienating the already small player base, spreading them thin across two titles. While to multiplayer in Soul Harvest is different to what we saw in SpellForce 3 (more on that later), the developers have promised to mend potential problems by updating the base game soon after the add-on’s release to make sure the players who weren’t able to pick up the new title on release.
SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest aimed to improve the base which SpellForce 3 had established and this time, they delivered. The gameplay feels better, fresher and most importantly, it’s a lot of fun – all of which made me really enjoy it and gave me that good old SpellForce feeling that I’ve been missing for so long. 2 days ago “So many RPGs give you positions of power and authority but then just throw a few arbitrary choices your way; SpellForce lets you actually wield that authority, both as a sword and a hammer.” Rock, Paper, Shotgun “SpellForce 3 is one of the best blends between RTS and RPG in gaming.” 8.5/10 – Hooked Gamers. SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest - Permanent Potions / Empyrian Artifact By Tommy / Jun 9, 2019 Guides List of Permanent Potions Location and Empyrian Artifact Stats. SpellForce 3 goes back to the roots of the SpellForce saga for a compelling mix of RTS and RPG play. The story takes place before the acclaimed SpellForce: The Order of Dawn and the players. SpellForce 3 Fix performance issues - SpellForce III tweak driver for gaming - SpellForce III increase fps in game - SpellForce III gameplay great improvement See more tweaks or fixes. Created by Costica Gordon today on: 2017-12-07.
Short disclaimer before I start, I won’t spoil any of the story ofSoul Harvestbeyond the first 30 minutes of gameplay!
Now, to dive right into the meat and potatoes of this review, I want to first take a look at what exactly Soul Harvest did to improve on the gameplay of the base game. Let’s get the obvious out of the way first; the two new races – The Dwarves and the Dark Elves. I don’t want to dwell on them for too long, but it’s worth mentioning that, unlike in SpellForce 3, these new races do feel different in how they play and feel.
No revolutionary strides have been made, but it’s nice to see that you get exactly what you expect. The Dwarves a slow and take time to really get going, but hit hard when they do, the Dark Elves play function as their opposite, focusing on swarming your enemy early and now allowing them to build up momentum. The factions of the base game, Humans, Elves and Orcs, are still present, but only the two new ones + Humans are playable in the campaign of the game – the rest is limited to PvP. Although I’m not a fan of the RTS (Real Time Strategy) system introduced in SpellForce 3, I must to admit that the different factions work well and offer options to players with different preferences.
Regarding RTS, I was pleased to discover that work has been done in order to reduce the grasp the sector system held on the player by making all resources global among all the sectors and removing the carts that had to deliver them first – but sadly, that’s as much as we get. It’s definitely a step in the right direction, but I would have loved to see more, alas, we’ll probably have to wait for another add-on for more drastic changes to happen.
To round up about strategy, I must mention the addition of flying units which do change up the gameplay, however, Soul Harvest still has a problem that SpellForce 3 had, and that is base rushing – which is now made easier by using said units. This holds especially true on lower difficulties, as soon as you have a strong enough force, you can simply rush the enemy base, destroy their main building and that’s it – you win! This is largely the fault of the sector system (and another reason why I dislike it), but it has somewhat been improved in the campaign by pre-placing enemy encampments and forcing you to build up a sizable army first before daring such an attempt.
The other units have seen change as well. By introducing new factions, the developers decided to reduce the number of low-tier units per one which does mean that the start of each skirmish is going to consist of the same two to tree unit types before the tier two resources start coming in.
In terms of how the units interact with each other, Soul Harvest stick to the rock – paper – scissors principle which seems to work for the game.
What I was more interested in, however, was the RPG part which boasts some nice changes of its own. While the number of magic “schools” you character can have has been reduced from three to two, the number of options to choose from has been increased, which I see as a very positive change overall. They have also introduced special abilities called synergies which you can level up depending on which schools of magic you choose to combine. With the add-on being shorter than the base game, clocking in at around 20 hours if you complete all the side quests, this is a nice way to max out your character and unlock some of the heavy hitter spells and perks available on later levels.
Another addition to the RPG system is the introduction of mercenaries. The game allows you to choose, equip and skill up two of them at a time which did allow me to set up a party to my liking. That being said, I often found myself using the already pre-determined story companions, as those offer more lore and story options which I prefer. Even so, the mercenary system is certainly a nice addition to the series, especially considering that their skills aren’t set in stone once you choose them at the start – the game allows you to swap out mercenaries at any time! (Oh, and did I mention that you can make them any race you want?)
I was also very glad to see a particular quality of life changes that has been implemented: skill bar has been expanded to 24 slots and can now be moved to the bottom of the screen like in the older SpellForce titles – although the skill bar is still shared by all your companions.
Other than that, the RPG aspects have mainly stayed the same, you still level up, get points and upgrade your spells and skills, the latter of which allow you to use stronger gear – typical RPG.
To finish this part of the gameplay section, let’s talk CO-OP. I was a big fan of it when I head the announcement back when SpellForce 3 got released in 2017. It was something I always wanted to see within the series – but man was I disappointed. CO-OP in the base game felt more like a support mode, more like you’re watching the other person play while you twiddle your thumbs and press a few buttons once in a while. That’s why I was delighted to learn that the CO-OP on Soul Harvest actually means CO-OP. Still playable by up to three players, the coop allows to assign tasks to all of them, be it hero or army management, base building etc. What really makes it for me though, is the fact that there’s even an option for everyone do to everything! Everyone can build, recruit, control heroes (which have to be toggled to jump to another player in-game) and everything in between. All of this is also completely adjustable in game, and something which I’ll be using much more than I did while playing the base SpellForce 3. There is also a downside to this however, as it seems only the progress of the party leader is currently being saved, meaning you can’t continue the adventure solo unless you were the host and the save game got saved onto your system. You are, however, able to join an already hosted game at nay point during the campaign, regardless of your level or equipment - the level is scaled up/down but the equipment doesn’t get carried over which is a shame, but nothing that seemed to be in the way of the actual gameplay.
The base gameplay mechanics are looking good, but what aboutadditional features? Fate stay night anime episodes. Sadly, modes such as the Free Game Mode (FGM) won’t be present in Soul Harvest, at least not at launch. Same goes for the 3rd person mode, however a mod for that will be provided by a member of the community shortly after the game drops.
Looking at it altogether, the gameplay has certainly improved and unlike the base game, I had an enjoyable time playing the add-on. The RTS side of things is still a weak point, but it’s a good sign that the developers realise that and devote a big part of the campaign to RPG sections. Not to say that RTS isn’t present at all, but it is clear they tried to focus on narrative, rather than big fights and battles – which is also proven by smaller and more frequent indoor levels that are more present in Soul Harvest. This ratio ends up working wonderfully and delivers a very solid experience overall.
And a sweet note at the end to remove the bitter tasteSpellForce 3left in many-a mouth;Soul Harvestshould be close to bug free and completely playable on release!
STORY
I won’t deny it, SpellForce has always been about the story for me, but recent titles, including SpellForce 3, left me wishing for more – and not in a good way. The flow was boring, the characters not fleshed out nearly enough and I legitimately had to force myself to go through some playthroughs of SpellForce 3.
That is why, once again, I was so happy after finishing Soul Harvest. While still not perfect, the story felt like a breath of fresh air for the series. Without going too much into it to avoid spoilers, the story picks up a few years after the events of SpellForce 3. You, Aerev, are a former Empyrian commander who has been called back to Nortander to serve as the new General of the Wolf Guard.
Throughout the game you learn about his conflicts and inner demons as the plot thickens which really allowed me to connect with the character – although I still wished to have a bit more at times. The side characters also didn’t disappoint. Unlike last time, you only get a handful of them, however, all of them develop beautifully and end up meaning something to you by the time you finish the game. The have individual personalities, individual characters and I dare to say thatSoul Harvestshows some of the best side characters (or party members if you will) in the whole series!
However, nothing is perfect and the same holds true here. For as much as I enjoyed the main story Soul Harvest had to offer, the side quests were just, for the lack of a better word, “meh”. They aren’t horrible, but they also aren’t very memorable. They feel like tools to gather more EXP or get better gear, but without trying to tell a narrative of their own.
As the trailers and pictures show, Soul Harvest and SpellForce 3 in general always delivered on this front. The environments look beautiful, so do the buildings. I was especially impressed by the indoor levels that I mentioned earlier, and artworks present inside the game - they give out a very immersive feeling. The one problem I do have are the character models. They just don’t speak 2019 to me and look very dull and lifeless (though it is worth noting that this isn’t as noticeable while playing in the intended top-down perspective). Other notable visual changes would be in the way the main menu (which has gotten a very nice overhaul) is presented, as well as your hero selection before each mission
Sound is also phenomenal (but I expected nothing less when it comes to SpellForce in this area). It helps to join everything together and really push you into this epic zone in ways only music can. The voice acting is also good, and I can’t really say that anything stuck out as bad or not-up-to a desired level to me.
Combined, sound and visuals are definitely the strongest point ofSoul Harvest**.**
REPLAY VALUE
This is a tough one to answer. No, Soul Harvest won’t offer much replay value if you’re looking for alternate outcomes or different paths you can take. You are given hints of it, but ultimately, they all lead to the same thing.
Beyond wanting to try out different character builds, there’s nothing really new that the average player will experience by playing the game a second time.
That being said, Soul Harvest offers quite a bit of fun for people who really like to dig deep into a game in the form of back-tracking, and plenty of it which is done surprisingly well and doesn’t come across as boring. A neat chance to get some new items or expand the story in some areas, so I would recommend revisiting past levels at different points throughout the campaign.
Although this technically fits under the “gameplay” category, I decided to dedicate a small section to address it. “Multiplayer” won't have a seperate verdict at the end but will instead be included withn “gameplay”.
I had touched upon this at the start, but besides PvP, Soul Harvest doesn’t offer much. There are no PvE game modes besides the main campaign (fully supported in CO-OP), which is a real shame in my opinion. To compensate for that, Grimlore decided to jump on the PvP hype train and introduce a fully-fledged ranked system. Not what I’d have done personally, seeing what happened to the PvP scene in SpellForce 3 (spoiler: the player base is as good as dead). But I am willing to give it a chance and I know for a fact that there are a few aspiring PvP player among the community – it’s just too bad that it’s the vast minority.
SUMMARY AND VERDICT
SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest aimed to improve the base which SpellForce 3 had established and this time, they delivered. The gameplay feels better, fresher and most importantly, it’s a lot of fun – all of which made me really enjoy it and gave me that good old SpellForce feeling that I’ve been missing for so long.
The campaign delivers a solid and well-polished 20-hour narrative which does a good job of balancing RPG and RTS – the two big trademarks of the series and at only 25 Euro at release, SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest is definitely a game that is worth its price and that I’d recommend everyone to put into their gaming library!
Ratings (out of 10):
Gameplay: 8.3
Story: 8.9
Visuals: 9
Sound: 9.6
Replay Value: 7.5
Final Verdict: 8.66
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The third installment in a fantasy game series launched in 2003, which combines elements of RTS and RPG. The title was produced by Grimlore Games, a studio founded by the series’ publisher, which employs some of creators of the first two SpellForce games.
Strategy|fantasy|RTS|RPG elements|multiplayer
publisher: THQ Nordic / Nordic Games
Game mode: single / multiplayer
Multiplayer mode: Internet, players: 1-24
GuideNews 3PreviewVideos 5Files 32Images 70ExpansionSeries
SpellForce 3 for PC is the third installment of the series of RTS and RPG crossover games from the Grimlore studio, the creators of the previous two editions of SpellForce, who work under the wings of the Nordic Games company.
Spellforce 3 Gameplay Cz
Plot
The storyline of SpellForce 3 takes place before the events of the first installment of the cycle, before the fantasy world has been torn into relatively small islands. The new time setting causes a complete change in the structure of locations – instead of dedicated regions connected via portals, the production features a consistent, large continent.
Gameplay
The player controls his character and directs its progression similarly to a standard RPG title; the creators have prepared a variety of abilities, classes and specializations, which can be freely drafted to suit your playstyle. The main protagonist is accompanied by other heroes, during the exploration of dungeons and catacombs we can control a group of up to five characters; when running a larger team SpellForce 3 resembles some of the hack-and-slash type productions. The gameplay is focused around fighting small groups of enemies, solving puzzles and avoiding traps.
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On the planet’s surface the players can establish a camp and recruit troops to aid them in battle. The scale of skirmishes in the newest installment of SpellForce has been increased, which is also why the men we hire could easily be considered regular soldiers, who understand the meaning of strategy and can work together in fighting formations.
Apart from the main story-focused missions the developers have prepared plenty of side quests and also a well-developed multiplayer mode. For the purposes of their new title, the Grimlore studio has created a Battle.net type service – SpellForce.net, which offers various options for interaction between players.
Technology
Spellforce 3 Gameplay Battle
SpellForce 3 uses a brand new game engine, capable of generating a detailed open world with entire virtual civilizations living within it.
Game score 8.245 / 10 calculated out of 280 players' votes.
Expectations before the premiere: 9.3 / 10 calculated out of 696 players' votes.
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System requirements
Spellforce 3 Gameplay Pl
PC / Windows
Spellforce 3 Heroes
Recommended: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6 GHz/AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz, 8 GB RAM, graphic card 4 GB GeForce GTX 970/Radeon R9 290 or better, 15 GB HDD, Windows 7/8/10 64-bit
Minimum: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4 GHz/AMD FX-6350 3.9 GHz, 6 GB RAM, graphic card 2 GB GeForce GTX 660 Ti/Radeon 7850 or better, 15 GB HDD, Windows 7/8.1/10 64-bit
Minimum: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4 GHz/AMD FX-6350 3.9 GHz, 6 GB RAM, graphic card 2 GB GeForce GTX 660 Ti/Radeon 7850 or better, 15 GB HDD, Windows 7/8.1/10 64-bit