I completed this now, after years of on-and-off playing. It's just okay. I'd rank it above Queen's Wish in most ways, though I guess the combat in Queen's Wish was a bit better (though still bad). The game took me 50 hours to complete, but I am pretty sure I had to restart partway through due to losing my saves when I got a new computer. I reckon it actually took about 40 hours, though I skipped a lot of the optional stuff... for example, I didn't reach max level for any character, though I think it's easily possible if you explore a lot.
A few things kept me from really getting into this game:
- The main quest is quite linear and the game seems to be story-focused, but the story goes absolutely nowhere for the middle 30 hours, during which you are just getting sent from one kingdom to the next settling disputes. You don't really feel like an elite representative of a hegemon, but instead just an adventurer going around with two other guys shooting arrows at lizards. Queen's Wish had a similar issue in that you are supposed to be a prince of the most powerful empire in the world, but spend the whole game tediously killing every spider and wolf in the world.
- I hate using this term, but it's trash encounters from beginning to end. Enemies just run straight at you. During the last 25% of the game, you are basically immortal, yet every single enemy is hasted/frenzied so you are sitting there watching every single enemy attacking 2 times each, missing each time, waiting for your turn. Enemies almost always take 2-3 hits to kill no matter what, so you never really feel like you are getting more powerful.
- The three-person party is really a drag. There is no room for tactics, but on Normal (which is allegedly what the developer balanced the game around) anyway, you don't need any. The same tactics from Queen's Wish apply: stand back and use ranged weapons, then switch to melee once enemies are within range (or step one square away and just keep using your ranged attack).
- The overall structure of game has you operating out of a central base, with locations/missions unlocking as the story progresses (or you find subquests). In other words, Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Although there is plenty of exploration within each area (way, way, way better than Queen's Wish), I missed having a world to explore. I don't think the story/companions make up for this at all.
There seem to be a lot of meaningful choices to make in the game, though I'm not interested in playing a second time to find out. The achievements do suggest that there are multiple conclusions to certain quests, including the main quest. I ended up siding with Redbeard, FYI.
Although this sounds like damning the game with faint praise, it was a decent RPG to play while doing other things, such as listening to music, watching videos, etc. Unlike with Queen's Wish, I could see myself playing through the Avadon trilogy. I've heard that the second game is a big improvement. I might play that one on Hard, though I'll have to do some research and see if bumping up the difficuly just modifies enemy HP/damage, or actually adds something interesting.