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Expeditions: Viking Reviews

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
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Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
There aren't many.

http://www.gamespew.com/2017/04/expeditions-viking-review/

EXPEDITIONS: VIKING REVIEW

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Leaving behind the Conquistadors, developers Logic Artists take us to Scandinavia for this instalment.
Following the same format of their previous title, Expeditions: Viking is a historical strategy RPG that doesn’t jam the history down your throat. Here, it’s all about strategy, exploration, survival, and leadership.

Expeditions: Conquistador was a surprise hit when it dropped in 2013. The mix of historical narratives, strategy, and deep RPG elements struck a chord with fans of the genre. With some new additions, Expeditions: Viking follows suit with fluid combat, a vibrant world, and lots of depth. Step into the shoes of the new ruler following your father’s death and lead your clan to prosperity. Gain their trust, build your homestead, create alliances, and defeat your enemies. There’s a lot to balance, but if you are patient enough the game will reward you. Create your character through a fairly detailed customisation section, and jump into the world.

“Not enough can be said about the mass amount of useful information Expeditions: Viking gives you at all times.”
The main goal in Expeditions: Viking is to become the best leader for your clan. Doing this is far more difficult than it sounds, since the game gives you a lot to balance. How you react to situations, speak to others, build your homestead, etc. will affect how people view you. Each member of your group, your ‘hirdsmen’, individually reacts and bonds with you, and even though you’ll strive for a sense of community, each person, neighbouring clan, and townsmen must be treated as an individual. This feature of the game really gives you the feeling that you’re trying to be a true leader, as you endeavour to be friendly and diplomatic, both at home and away. However, after a while, it can become overbearing trying to keep each party member happy.

The hex-based combat system makes a return, along with a few additions, and it is still fantastic. You can fight with up to five combatants initially (though that number grows), controlling each separately. The game allows you to have an action phase, and a sort of set up phase. Use a skill, heal a teammate, or attack an enemy and then seek cover before the enemy moves. The combat system is simply brilliant. Intuitive, deep, and effective. Finding cover allows you to avoid certain attacks, and the new ‘Attack of Opportunity’ system adds a wrinkle into the flow of combat. Move across a hex parallel to an enemy, and they’ll get a free attack on you. It’s a simple addition that drastically affects lengthy battles. The combat never fails to be fluid and engaging, and it kept me hungry for more.

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When you begin to assemble your larger group of warriors, Expeditions: Viking does something really fantastic: you don’t just pick from a group of people, you create them. Their names, looks, stats, classes, abilities; all of it. It really lets you set up the game the way you want. Just be warned, your newly created hirdsmen won’t have weapons or armour, so make sure to equip them! Upgrading stats, choosing abilities, and managing your crew is daunting but doable if you pay attention to the excellent UI descriptions and tutorials. Camping is a vital process, with an insane amount of detail in it. With this process, you’ll basically keep your team alive, happy, and well fed. Divvy up time between hunting, healing, cleaning, and guarding. It’s another piece of the game that truly gives you the feeling of being a leader.

Expeditions: Viking isn’t without flaw, though. Loading times, whether between areas or just starting up, can drag on at times. The camera is lightly touchy and hard to control until you figure out the finesse of it all. Dialogue, while mostly enjoyable and well written, is sometimes littered with out of place vulgarity that seems unnecessary. It has more to do with the fact, I think, that whether the dialogue is actually spoken or not seems pretty random. It can be extra weird when random team chatter is going on while you’re in a conversation with someone else. It’s hard to read with talking in the background, or even worse when two people are talking over each other. But worst of all, by far, are the crashes. My game had a crash at least every other sitting.

Not enough can be said about the mass amount of useful information Expeditions: Viking gives you at all times. Hovering over enemies in battle, after selecting an attack or ability, will show hit probability, potential damage, block chance, and anything else you could ever need. One thing the game doesn’t blatantly tell you, that I wish I knew earlier, is you can search defeated enemies for items. Having resources is useful for trade (another great system in the game), building your homestead, and crafting equipment. No matter what element of the game you examine, there is loads of helpful detail and information for you to take in.

However you cut it, Expeditions: Viking is a great strategy RPG. There is more than enough to keep you busy, plenty of skills to customise your playstyle, and loads of quests and adventure. The combat system is near perfect, crafted in a way that gives the players control over every element. I constantly found myself enjoying something new each time I played. Layered with enough depth and intricacy for genre veterans, but loaded with fantastic tutorials and information for newcomers, this game welcomes all types of players. A formula that has been bettered, through and through, Expeditions: Viking is an absolute joy.

EXPEDITIONS: VIKING IS AVAILABLE ON PC.

EXPEDITIONS: VIKING REVIEW
Battle system is nearly flawless
Fantastic UI, tutorials, and detail
Great freedom in character and party development
Truly makes you feel like a leader
Some camera issues
Seemingly random nature of spoken dialogue
Game crashes

Overall Score 8

http://cogconnected.com/review/expeditions-viking-review/

EXPEDITIONS: VIKING REVIEW – CHOOSE YOUR OWN (BLOODTHIRSTY) ADVENTURE

Expeditions: Viking Review
The year is 790 A.D. Your father, one of the noble Thegn’s of the Norse, has died in pursuit of treasure said to be found on foreign shores across the sea, to a place no one has ever set foot. The burden of leading the clan now falls to you under the guidance of your grieving mother and closest friends. However, you have been blinded to the disdain the other Thegn’s had towards your father and your family. Betrayal is at hand, and the High King will do nothing to help you.

Published and Developed by Logic Artists, Expeditions: Viking is a phenomenal journey through history, weaving a tapestry of realism and clever RPG gameplay into a satisfying experience that drags you into a world not yet civilized. Players will begin by customizing their character, with the options they make here cleverly adjusts your characters biography to reflect who they are: my green eyed and red haired Viking with a penchant for axes was described as having “captivating green eyes and hair the color of fire”, as well as classing me as a known Berserker. It was a small but appreciated touch.

The story follows your character shortly after the death of your father, the Thegn of your region, leaving you to take his place as ruler. It takes little time to discover that the other lords are not happy you were handed your crown without having earned it and a plot is forged to take your land. This begs the question: what kind of ruler will you be? Expeditions: Viking gives players multiple options when confronted with various scenarios: some will show you are a merciless and bloodthirsty Thegn, others show you are kind-hearted and wise. Each decision will affect the future of your clan in very real ways, and even failing to complete a quest opens up new avenues to explore as you write your own history. It’s a fantastic and thought provoking mechanic, but it also means that losing a battle is not an option, as it could lead to the downfall of your people.

______________________________

The graphics are generally pleasing – if a little dated – and reminiscent of the Dungeon Siege titles. For all the detail and texture that goes into the game, it’s a pity the camera remains pulled back; I would have liked to zoom in more often and get a good look at characters and their surroundings. Of course what good is a Viking game without solid combat? Expeditions: Viking uses a turn-based strategy approach reminiscent of Dungeons and Dragons, where characters are able to both attack and move during their turn, as well as use special abilities in relation to their equipped weapon. Once you have engaged an enemy face to face you will be locked in combat; any attempt to move away from them will result in a free hit as you turn to leave. It’s an amusing mechanic that makes you consider your parties strengths and weaknesses.

Characters are accompanied by immaculate voice work, each feeling very much alive and real. Several times I found myself engrossed in the game’s story and wanted to learn more about each person, I needed to know more, I was compelled to get to know who they were. This kind of engagement made me feel more motivated to be a strong leader and protect my people because I actually cared about them. The ambient sounds and inspired soundtrack are crisp and perfectly honed to the game’s persona, but it truly is the voice acting that stands out.

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Expeditions: Vikings will also see players upgrading their homestead and turning it into a worthy capital to stave off invaders and those who would try to enslave your people. Throughout your journey, your party will collect resources to build and upgrade your modest home into a proud stronghold. You can also craft your own gear in true Nordic fashion by bringing the necessary materials to the local smithy.

This game has a lot to do: from leveling up, to crafting, upgrading your home, foraging, and protecting your people, it does a good job of introducing you to each new feature so you don’t feel overwhelmed when you realize just how much there is to do.

With fully flushed out characters and serious consequences for your actions across multiple paths, Expeditions: Viking finds an excellent balance between historical realism and RPG mechanics. Voice acting is a highlight of the game, however the soundtrack and general ambient noise – while good – was lacking. Combat is newcomer-friendly to the tactical genre but characters had too few skills available to them, which could make for some repetitive gameplay. All in all, this was an immersive and delightful experience I found myself getting lost in, full of rich culture and overall stunning presentation.

*** PC key provided by the publisher ***

79

The Good
  • Superb voice acting
  • Historical inspiration
  • Make-Your-Own-Path storyline
The Bad
  • Repetitive combat
  • Limited camera
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
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Messages
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
You should get entries for your games on OpenCritic.
 

Kuattro

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Location
La Font del Gat
I thought IGN Spain would be butthurt about the game not having Spanish language, but apparently that's not the case. They don't even mention it, which is quite surprising with Spaniards.

Too much difficulty at the beginning and too little once you have a decent party (could they be playing at insane difficulty as this was left as the standard difficulty by mistake?); not very interesting party management and too few abilities to choose from, "halfway through you already have the ones you wany maximized, and then the rest you choose almost at random"; almost impossible to run out of resources as it happened in Conquistador; and quite a bit of bugs.

All of this according to them of course, I've not played enough to form an opinion.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
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Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.destructoid.com/review-in-progress-expeditions-viking-433317.phtml

Review in Progress: Expeditions: Viking
Your pillaging experience is loading


Your father is dead, pretty much everyone wants your territory, and your only allies are in the mysterious lands across the seas. You're forced to kill your cousins at your father's remembrance for their impudence, and forgiving their uncle for his ignorance will damn you in the eyes of your people. Expeditions: Viking developer Logic Artists wastes no time in emphasizing that your normal fantasy-style RPG morality need not apply here. Certainly, there is a peaceful route to be had, but the time period – and Vikings as a whole – are not known in popular culture for their peaceful and loving ways, and one may need to be cruel to be kind.

Unfortunately, a vast array of (hopefully soon resolved) pre-release bugs and an endless stream of patches has prevented me from finishing my journey of conquest (or “trade”) before its release, but there's still plenty to talk about this sequel (and precursor) to Expeditions: Conquistador.


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Expeditions: Viking (PC)
Developer: Logic Artists
Publisher: Logic Artists
Released: April 27, 2017
MSRP: $29.99


Your titular character is whatever you make of it, and it's easy to be overwhelmed once you hit the character creation screen. I am reminded strongly of Wasteland 2, where a limited number of choices, aesthetically, leads to a complicated statistics/skills chart. Here, it's taken a step further, with upwards of a hundred active and passive skills. At a loss, I picked the “Leader” preset, making my character incredibly strong, endlessly charismatic, fairly perceptive, kind of squishy, and a goddamn butterfingers. Seriously, I couldn't get a critical hit if the enemy threw themselves onto my sword (my chosen weapon, alongside a sturdy shield and a variety of support buffs). Are the presets perfect? No, but they give you a pretty solid idea of what skills and statistics complement each other.

Viking appears to be broken into two campaigns; your initial setting in Denmark, and across the seas in Britannia, each with a strict time limit. The former can be thought of as a surprisingly lengthy tutorial; building your longship, filling out your crew, and righting wrongs… or causing additional wrongs, probably because they're in the way of something shiny. You'll need a lot of those shiny things (represented by the “valuables” commodity) to make up for any situation where stabbing doesn't work.

Despite what I just said, a surprising amount of the game can be resolved directly through being a general dick to everyone you meet, then stabbing them. It even seems to be fairly profitable – churches in particular are quite vulnerable to the ol' “stab and grab,” but when your goal is to make allies as much as earn wealth (It does seem that outright conquering may be an option), there are times you have to play along. There are also times the game outright makes you play along, just to make sure you don't muck it up.

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If you do choose to play along, there are a lot of quests as you progress. So far, I have never felt overwhelmed by sidequests, but while the lords acknowledge me as a powerful foreign dignitary, everyone else says, “Oh, a Viking. Can you go stab this guy for me? I'll give you this item.” It seems even in a historical RPG, I'm solving everyone's problems for them, with some being legitimately involving, and some being tedious busywork, but in all cases, smartly and often wittily-written. The main quest-lines I've explored have been thematically interesting, but involve a great deal of going from Point A, to Point B, and repeating this extensively. While they remain enjoyable, the constant backtracking really slows things down.

Overworld movement drops the hex tiles of Conquistador entirely, and navigation is fairly simple, although the camera does like to reorient itself anytime a screen load happens. Like any good Western RPG, the key feature is less about finding quests and more about finding items that don't belong to you – I feel like an inordinate amount of my time has been spent breaking open barrels and crates for the various crafting and trade resources. These lootables are scattered across gorgeously-created landscapes and villages, and when you're done smashing everything for tar and rope and iron, it's all just lovely to look at.

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Once in combat, those tiles come right back, and you're popped into a fairly traditional turn-based strategy system. Your melee attacks will always hit, while ranged attacks, which are even more powerful, are tempered by a more traditional percentage-based system. I personally found all of the weapons to be useful, but the structure seems to be based around a rock/paper/scissors counter system: You need axes to beat shields, shields to beat bows (and slings), and bows to beat everything else. Thrown into the mix are blessings of the Norse gods, witchcraft poisons, tripwires and caltrops, and Christian guilt (really) to mix things up. Skills are earned so quickly, it's a while before you very suddenly realize your enemies have advanced to a point where you desperately require every one of those skills to survive. Unlike Conquistador, failure does not appear to be an option.

When it works, the combat is satisfying and possesses a great deal of impact, heads and arms flying with each critical. I'm still running into a lot of problems that sully this experience. When you run into combat from the overworld (say, ambushed in town), the enemy will go first. There are no formations, so your leader is in front. By the end of the first round, your leader will be dead. During a particular boss fight, this lack of ability to pick formations meant my leader or chief damage dealer were taken out immediately.

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There are also currently a great number of crashes and bugs. I cannot possibly list for you every one of them I have run into; at a certain point, I've started to feel less like a reviewer and more like a QA tester. Characters will be missing from scenes, descriptions routinely missing from the UI and the game. A particular fight took me two hours because they kept using fire arrows, and extensive fire particles seem to crash the game (ruining my favorite item, the fire pot). Other fights had me win, simply because the AI forgot to spawn.

The game has an extensive morale system, where your choices affect the moods of your hird (your party), based on their ethical standings. Your character is a self-insert, and should always have great morale – they're the Thegn, the leader of your people!

My morale is -8. The normal cap is -5. I drop to enemy mental attacks like a sack of potatoes. Anglo-Saxon potatoes!

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Logic Artists seems genuinely interested in fixing these bugs, even if many of them continue to be present for launch today. Ideally, the game will continue to be patched as I make my way towards the end. While I've enjoyed my time with Expeditions: Viking so far, despite its problems, there is still much to see, many to meet, and at least one more church to loot.
 
Last edited:

SniperHF

Arcane
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Aug 22, 2014
Messages
1,110
https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/expeditions-viking-review/1900-6416676/

Reviewer got hit with a lot of bugs (or read about them and felt obligated to pretend he did....)
Liked and considered the setting well implemented but didn't like when they drop it on occasion (must say I agree there's a few times where it's jarring, more so than AoD which got similar complaints)
Seemed to like the combat/character building.
Didn't mention many specifics about the mid-late game.
 

Jrpgfan

Erudite
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
Messages
2,008
https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/expeditions-viking-review/1900-6416676/

Reviewer got hit with a lot of bugs (or read about them and felt obligated to pretend he did....)
Liked and considered the setting well implemented but didn't like when they drop it on occasion (must say I agree there's a few times where it's jarring, more so than AoD which got similar complaints)
Seemed to like the combat/character building.
Didn't mention many specifics about the mid-late game.

"Tactical options galore--and challenging encounters will ensure they're put to work"

Seriously?
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
I think if you run an all Unarmed Party, the encounters would be extremelyl difficult
 

Imperialist

Novice
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
26
A lot of things I like about this game. One thing is the how the dialog branches giving options that convey meaningful points of view for instance if you want to be barbaric you have the reply option or if you're diplomatic that also exists. Oddly, the dialog isn't murky or muddled, it really moves the plot along. Camping in most games is boring, but here if you don't eat you loose stats, which I find interesting. For the me the good outweighs the bad by a huge margin, the bad is so minor I really don't notice.
 

GloomFrost

Arcane
Joined
Dec 9, 2014
Messages
993
Location
Northern wastes
Yep. One of the things i like the most about this game is that you dont have to read the walls of text and yet you still get all the information you need. Damn that feels good after "playing" numanuma. When you meet and talk to someone for the first time you just need to read a short (very short) description. A nicely made portrait of this character, some traits like (aggressive, greedy, peaceful) and little bit of VO tell you more then enough about the person you are talking to. Fargo and co should really check it out before they start making another "spiritual predecessor".
 

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