Halfway between free character creation and the imposed hero, Greedfall invites us to embody De Sardet, a diplomat by profession but man or woman according to your convenience. Once the appearance customization stage has been completed (or not, because the face chosen by default by the developers is very suitable), it is necessary to choose skills, attributes and talents. All of these abilities roughly lead to three different archetypes. One warrior, adept at hand-to-hand combat, the other technical, amateur of traps and pistols, and the third magical, who favors spells. Do not panic, it is possible to mix the different techniques of these true-false classes, and even to reset the distribution of points during the game. It is therefore easy to find the shoe that suits you and create the character that suits you. better to our favorite style of play. In any case, this hero evolves in a rather singular European-post-renaissance-fantastic universe. Finding yourself in a seventeenth century mixed with supernatural elements (magic and monsters) is a pleasant change from the eternal medieval-fantasy, or the dystopian futures that have been very fashionable lately.
The scenario features the Malichor, a kind of plague that slowly but surely kills a large part of the population, as well as Teer Fradee, a newly discovered island that may well provide a cure for this plague. This universe allows the player to survey both urban environments and wilderness. Either way, the art direction hits the mark. Whether it's the sets, the characters, their outfits or even the lighting effects, the game manages to impress, despite a purely technical aspect not necessarily at the cutting edge of progress and a level design that blows hot and cold. cold. We also regret that Greedfall is not an open world, while the concept of the island to explore, even colonize, lent itself particularly well to this mode of representation. In the end, we have to be content with several large hubs and fast travel, the latter requiring us to stop at an intermediate camp, in order to be able to change equipment or companions as desired.
FACTIOUS AND FACTIONS
As in a good Bioware, Greedfall indeed offers us several companions. And like a good Gothic or Risen, the adventure also asks us to take into account the presence of several factions on the island. In the end, we end up with a hero belonging to the Merchant Congregation and five potential companions, respectively belonging to the Nautes (navigators for whom the sea is a true homeland), to the soldiers of the Coin Guard, to the Natives of Teer Fradee, to the ultra-religious of Thélème, or to the Alliance du Pont, a scientific community inspired by the Middle East. De Sardet's activity as a diplomat then takes on its full meaning since it is necessary to constantly try to spare the affinities and the susceptibilities of each other, knowing that certain factions are openly hostile to others. We will therefore take care to discuss with our companions to learn more about them, to pay attention to the dialogues that they can sometimes have between them, to choose the right teammate for the right quest, to calm the ardor of one when he finds himself face to face with an enemy interlocutor, etc. Obviously, it is still possible to be rough from formwork, even if it means definitely upsetting this or that character.
...the artistic direction hits the mark. Whether it's the sets, the characters, their outfits or even the lighting effects, the game manages to impress, despite a purely technical aspect not necessarily at the cutting edge of progress and a level design that blows hot and cold. cold.
More generally, most quests can be solved in different ways. Depending on our talents for example, since Charisma or Intuition can for example unlock additional dialogue options. Deception, persuasion, threat, creation of specific objects or, in the worst case, combat, are also possible options. Some quests can even be solved via a simplified form of infiltration. The game indeed allows us to crouch to be more discreet, and it equips certain enemies with a detection icon. But these components are far too rudimentary for infiltration to be considered really viable on its own. For quests taking place in places that are forbidden to us, it is best to put on an outfit belonging to the master faction of the place. This allows you to enter freely and avoid any combat, and therefore any loss of reputation with this faction. Problem: the outfit of our companions is not taken into account by the game. This simplifies the gameplay, but the immersion takes a hit since the guards absolutely do not react to the presence of these intruders.
A STUDIO CALLED TO REIGN?
Fortunately, the fights are much more successful than the infiltration component. They revolve around a system combining lock, parry, dodge, simple blow, powerful blow and fury charging over the blows received and given. It is possible to assign up to twelve quick skills on the controller (four on the D-Pad, four on the D-Pad by pressing the right trigger, and another four on the main buttons by pressing the right trigger), which makes it possible to develop relatively complex tactics. Crafting is classic and effective, since it allows you to craft weapons, armor, potions, traps, ammunition and certain quest items from components collected in the wild, in city chests, from merchants or on enemies. All this results in a game that works quite well, and that we enjoy browsing. This is partly due to the high quality of the English audio dubbing, which uses involved and credible actors. Some players will regret not having access to French voices, but we can never say it enough: better a good VOST than a bad VF.
Closer than ever to the great role-playing games, Greedfall nevertheless retains certain defects typical of Spiders productions. We can thus regret the fact of having to make many round trips in the world, certain interiors copied and pasted, and the presence of some badly done quests. During the quest of the charlatan, one can for example "not-attend" the escape of an enemy interlocutor, who disappears in a completely artificial way during a fade to black while he was cornered. We could also mention the quest asking us to confuse a pathologist. After being asked to observe a body in the morgue, we are asked to find proof of the doctor's guilt. No problem, this written confession is clearly visible, and highlighted, twenty centimeters from the stiff… But it is above all the technical problems that prevent the game from being close to perfection. Dialog option that does not appear and blocks the resolution of a quest, hero who passes like a ghost through the body of the giant creature he has just slaughtered, pure and simple crash, #GUI_CRAFT_RECIPE_NOT_OWNED message that appears in the interface, and other nonsense of this kind are included in the program. On this specific point, Spiders reminds us more of Bethesda than Bioware or CD Projekt. But for everything else, Greedfall is much closer to its masters than the studio's previous productions!
