Redglyph
SasqWatch
I completed Expeditions: Rome on normal difficulty (with permanent death for companions), I'm at about 140 hours of play too, and the in-game time shown for one saved game near the end is about 100 hours so the rest is demo / reloads / tests of different outcomes and so on.
It's a very good game, and I agree with what @daveyd; said above.
The fights take a good part of the time because they are turn-based. They are not very hard on normal if you take advantage of the terrain layout. I felt a little "hollow time" in the middle of the first act when the side quests dried out and there was only more sector conquests to do. It didn't last too long fortunately, and I haven't felt the same in the remaining part of the game.
Each act and each region feels different enough, except the fact you have to gain a number of sectors. The third act in Gaul is the best IMO, the story takes more importance and is richer in twists and developments, which is rare and highly commendable in an RPG.
The fact there are companions with their own personality and well-rendered historical figures is a big plus, that and the story are a big improvement on Viking. The choices may not always have a huge impact but many of them are remembered, and will come back to you. And the variations… little adjustments like a dialogue that changes depending on the time of the day. Or more significant ones depending if you play as male or female. I can't imagine how many alternatives they put in conversations, but there must be many of them.
I enjoyed the romance part too. It's not just a one-night event, the dialogues are influenced by it until the very end of the game and its conclusion. It even added a somewhat surprising option in the companion's quests. It's not a lot of extra content either, but it felt just right.
Some choices at the end of the game will change the game flow completely, and the conclusions show interesting differences in the outcome, some more dramatic than others.
What else to say? The legion battles feel quite random indeed - and on purpose, it will be worth trying the new version when it comes out. But it's fun all the same and doesn't take much time. Just .. save before
Some fights don't let you take your companions. Instead, one companion will go with more generic praetorians (though you may recognize known names). It bothered me a little at the beginning, but it's a good way to test other abilities. It does require to manage more inventories and level-ups though. Usually fights are done with a party of 6 max (not enforced) but it varies.
The one design reproach I have is a few occasional side quests that you play as one of your companion. It felt entirely wrong because the player's MC is not supposed to know some facts about them, and when you play them you have to select dialogue lines as if you knew those facts. It's a design to make you learn about your companion… which is just odd. And there is the fact you must roleplay as someone else. It's pretty rare and quite short thankfully, but it's a bad choice IMO.
Less critical for me, but which could be more problematic for others, is the simplified character build. No class attributes to assign, only 4 classes (each with 3 skill trees), and a reduced number of skills in comparison to Viking. The whole game feels like they focused on the essential - shorter but meaningful dialogues, core skills, core classes. Clean and efficient. The features are well-chosen fortunately, but again, you only have 3 weapon skill slots and 6 class skill slots, which is a little frustrating sometimes, even if you can swap between fights.
Expect frequent humour, but with a good taste and which blends in very well. Some of it can already be seen in the menus. Some can be seen in the character's names, or as an allusion to historical figures. There are a few references to fantasy characters too.
In conclusion: I really loved this game, I will surely get any DLC without hesitation, and perhaps try it again with a female character to see the differences.
It's a very good game, and I agree with what @daveyd; said above.
The fights take a good part of the time because they are turn-based. They are not very hard on normal if you take advantage of the terrain layout. I felt a little "hollow time" in the middle of the first act when the side quests dried out and there was only more sector conquests to do. It didn't last too long fortunately, and I haven't felt the same in the remaining part of the game.
Each act and each region feels different enough, except the fact you have to gain a number of sectors. The third act in Gaul is the best IMO, the story takes more importance and is richer in twists and developments, which is rare and highly commendable in an RPG.
The fact there are companions with their own personality and well-rendered historical figures is a big plus, that and the story are a big improvement on Viking. The choices may not always have a huge impact but many of them are remembered, and will come back to you. And the variations… little adjustments like a dialogue that changes depending on the time of the day. Or more significant ones depending if you play as male or female. I can't imagine how many alternatives they put in conversations, but there must be many of them.
I enjoyed the romance part too. It's not just a one-night event, the dialogues are influenced by it until the very end of the game and its conclusion. It even added a somewhat surprising option in the companion's quests. It's not a lot of extra content either, but it felt just right.
Some choices at the end of the game will change the game flow completely, and the conclusions show interesting differences in the outcome, some more dramatic than others.
What else to say? The legion battles feel quite random indeed - and on purpose, it will be worth trying the new version when it comes out. But it's fun all the same and doesn't take much time. Just .. save before
Some fights don't let you take your companions. Instead, one companion will go with more generic praetorians (though you may recognize known names). It bothered me a little at the beginning, but it's a good way to test other abilities. It does require to manage more inventories and level-ups though. Usually fights are done with a party of 6 max (not enforced) but it varies.
The one design reproach I have is a few occasional side quests that you play as one of your companion. It felt entirely wrong because the player's MC is not supposed to know some facts about them, and when you play them you have to select dialogue lines as if you knew those facts. It's a design to make you learn about your companion… which is just odd. And there is the fact you must roleplay as someone else. It's pretty rare and quite short thankfully, but it's a bad choice IMO.
Less critical for me, but which could be more problematic for others, is the simplified character build. No class attributes to assign, only 4 classes (each with 3 skill trees), and a reduced number of skills in comparison to Viking. The whole game feels like they focused on the essential - shorter but meaningful dialogues, core skills, core classes. Clean and efficient. The features are well-chosen fortunately, but again, you only have 3 weapon skill slots and 6 class skill slots, which is a little frustrating sometimes, even if you can swap between fights.
Expect frequent humour, but with a good taste and which blends in very well. Some of it can already be seen in the menus. Some can be seen in the character's names, or as an allusion to historical figures. There are a few references to fantasy characters too.
In conclusion: I really loved this game, I will surely get any DLC without hesitation, and perhaps try it again with a female character to see the differences.
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