Enderal - Review @GameStar.de

[Gorath]

The German mag GameStar - a few years ago the world's biggest PC game magazine - posted a very enthusiastic review of SureAI's Skyrim total conversion Enderal. I'll post more details than usual because this is the first published review for this game.

GameStar's test is accompanied by a 15 minute long video in which their editor in chief and two other editors explain why they've decided to review a free mod and which standards they'll apply. Their answer: Enderal's quality is on par with other full price AAA RPGs. They'll apply their normal review standards for a 50€ game, without any bonus. GameStar didn't review mods in the last couple of years. They want their review to be seen as sort of a reward for the developers.

Here are a few translated quotes from the article:

Enderal's biggest USP compared to Skyrim is the story. While it's only more or less an attachment in Bethesda's classic, it plays a key role in Enderal. The first ten minutes prove this impressively. The intro is disturbing and poses a lot of questions. [...]
Who wants to save virgin vampirewomen while riding a dragon is wrong in Enderal, though. It doesn't make epic heroic deeds its focus, but rather personal fate and the human abyss [This half of the sentence is in plural in the German text - ed.]. It discusses questions about religion, idealism and ethics.[...]

GameStar explains that although some of the dialogs seem a bit excessive at times, Enderal succeeds in finding the sweet spot in the mix of story and quests. The main storyline is "wonderfully told".

An enthralling story needs a believable world around it though [...]. And the Enderal devs overcame this challenge too.[...]

This was flashed out a bit in the video. The editors said the whole world feels handmade. Not even the dungeons leave the impression of being made with a construction kit. The world oozes with attention to detail.

The verdict:

Heiko Klinge:

Enderal is great RPG-art on world class level. The start is so dramatic, fast paced and - gameplay wise - exciting that even masters of the craft like Bethesda and CD Projekt are welcome to take several leaves out of [SureAI's] book. And after that Enderal serves a magnificent adventure from start to finish, which hardly leaves anything to be desired. [...]

The only mentioned weeknesses are:

• quick travel is unconvincing
• balancing is only okay
• a couple of technical issues

A summary of the good stuff:

• great story, deep characters, all with background story
• good quests with a lot of diversity
• no level scaling
• 6 difficulty levels
• graphics upgrade compared to Skyrim
• superb sound track
• professional voice acting (GER / ENG)

The Rating:

89%, 2% deducted for technical issues, means 87%.

More information.

 

[Gorath]

Additional infos:
GameStar obviously concentrated on the 30 hours long main quest.

SureAI is patching Enderal almost daily. So the game has seen a couple of patches since the GameStar review.

The criticism about the inefficient quick travel isn't clear. According to the SureAI forums there is a consistent means of quick travel integrated into the world. So you're not pulled out of immersion. And there are two other devices too, one of them a Lloyd's Beacon style return marker. Maybe GameStar didn't pay enough attention to them.
There was also another quick travel related feature, which has been developed to the end but was cut because Skyrim couldn't handle it. I forgot the details mentioned in the video interview at GameStar last week.

Quests are explained as weaker than Witcher 3, but still good, very diverse and no obvious filler. Plus you have to use your own brain, at least more than in other recent RPGs.

 

[redman5427]

It sounds like a mod that I would have willingly paid money for. Hats off to the devs and I can't wait for the translation.

 

[crpgnut]

I thought the level design in Nehrim was great, but the story was very forgettable. I've seen the trailers and gameplay for Enderal and it seems the same. I wonder if something gets lost in translation.

 

[joxer]

Quests are explained as weaker than Witcher 3

The mod is not on TW3 engine so I'm not sure why are they comparing it with TW3.

Anyway, if I'll believe that review, seems the mod is better than the game itself.
So Skyrim fans, and I know there are thousands here, please do test this mod and share your thoughts. For some odd reason I trust players more than gaming mags.

 

[Mic]

The English version isn't released yet? All the download links on http://dl.enderal.com/ for English seems empty?

 

[Deleted User]

Story in Nehrim was far from forgettable for me. I thought the entire design of every aspect of the game was excellent. Gothic meets Elder Scrolls, basically. Also said this before but I loved the Game Jam content that opened up after the main quest was completed and the credits rolled. There was a bunch of creative content after you "beat" the game, and I thought that was really clever.

 

[rune_74]

I'm looking forward to trying this, but I am a bit worried it won't look as good as my current game that has a ton of mods on it. I wonder if they borrowed a lot of high res textures to assist....

 

[crpgnut]

So, perhaps it is made for a much younger audience. I found it silly. You are forced to support this godlike character that is a total jerk. Even though you seem to be much more powerful than he is as the plot progresses. It just didn't make any sense. I would have supported his nemisis, except they killed that dude off with almost no explanation; at least that I could follow.

However, outside of the plot, I found the game VERY worthwhile. As I said, the level design and the way character leveling worked was great fun. It was a mix of Gothic and Elder Scrolls that worked very well.

 

[Gorath]

The mod is not on TW3 engine so I'm not sure why are they comparing it with TW3.

Probably because they consider it the most similar newish AAA RPG. They mention elsewhere that Enderal doesn't feel like a mod at all.

Anyway, if I'll believe that review, seems the mod is better than the game itself.

That's how I understand it, too. Enderal 2016 seems to wipe the floor with Skyrim 2011. The focus is different though. Enderal is heavily story driven, according to the article, although there seems to be a lot of content outside the main quest. The world seems to be ca. 70% the size of Skyrim. Hope I got that right.

So Skyrim fans, and I know there are thousands here, please do test this mod and share your thoughts. For some odd reason I trust players more than gaming mags.

Yeah, they don't disguise for a second that they had a blast with the game. This could inflate the rating by a few percent. I have no doubt it's good. But how good is it?

 

[Gorath]

I'm looking forward to trying this, but I am a bit worried it won't look as good as my current game that has a ton of mods on it. I wonder if they borrowed a lot of high res textures to assist….

One of the two project leads said in a video live interview last week that they strongly recommend not to mess around with the stuff shipped with Enderal at the moment. Because you might break things you don't expect. The mod comes with masses of new textures and assets in professional quality. So it looks significantly better than Skyrim. He suggests to wait for mods which are explicitly compatible with Enderal. This happened with Nehrim, he says, and he expects it to happen again.
So just give it some time.

The English version isn't released yet? All the download links on http://dl.enderal.com/ for English seems empty?

Official word:
"the german version of Enderal ist out since the third of July. The english version (fully subbed and voiced) will be out at the end of July."
"The Quality is the same. (e.g. Dave Fennoy )"

edit:
That's probably an advantage. SureAI is fixing a lot of minor bugs now.

 

[crpgnut]

[that]So Skyrim fans, and I know there are thousands here, please do test this mod and share your thoughts. For some odd reason I trust players more than gaming mags.

Since we only have about 650 members in total, I doubt if RPGWatch has thousands of Skyrim fans …but this nut will be happy to look at the game and I hope that it amazes us all and that SureAI goes on to develop a game on their own merit someday instead of riding Bethesda's coattails.

Edit: I got my figure from a search on any members with more than 10 posts and have posted in the last 18 months. To me, if a member doesn't post, then they're worthless.

 

[Lynchden]

I wonder why they aren't interested in making commercial games?

 

[fragonard]

I wonder why they aren't interested in making commercial games?

I think they are. Last year one of the crew said that after this game they would try to go professional.

 

[SonOfCapiz]

Anyone know if Enderal has the same ridiculous weapon reach as vanilla Skyrim?

 

[Darkheart]

I think they are. Last year one of the crew said that after this game they would try to go professional.

Of what I read, they are (in part) still going to university learning game design related skills, but want to do a commercial game next.

I really hope they succeed and I will definitely buy anything they produce. The only thing I can see that might make it hard for them is that the topics/themes of Nehrim/Enderal seem to be very "German", meaing philosophical, thought-heavy, a bit grim... you know what I mean.
But maybe this is what many RPG players are waiting for.

 

[Morrandir]

The only thing I can see that might make it hard for them is that the topics/themes of Nehrim/Enderal seem to be very "German", meaing philosophical, thought-heavy, a bit grim... you know what I mean.

You mean like The Witcher?

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Well if it's German, then it means npc routines are always clockwork right on time.

 

[Darkheart]

You mean like The Witcher?

LOL, yeah! ^_^

Btw, I like your Shaw quote! I'm a bit of a fan myself.

 

[Kordanor]

Played like the first 10 hours and it's great!
Especially the German voice acting is convincing. There aren't many games with better voice acting. The introduction in the first 20 minutes alone is extremely great in that regard.

The biggest negative impact has the old AI from Skyrim. It is having a hard time with any elevations. It's enough if you stand on a small rock for the AI to be unable to get to you. At least it runs away most of the time then, but it's still very easy to exploit.