izigame.me

This is a game that I love the idea of, but just do not like in practice. I love a good tactical RPG, and don't mind unforgiving games, but this is an unforgiving tRPG that just doesn't gel with me. Honestly, I think it's a death by a thousand cuts situation - this game has a lot of small issues that lead to big frustration. Let me explain:
1) You have a Might-and-Magic-style over world that requires you gather and manage resources to survive.
This is a Fantastic idea that is tedious in practice. When moving on the over world, the camera is often obscured by trees or some other aspect of the environment, which is very annoying and often makes navigation more frustrating than it should be. In general, the controls feel a little clunky as well, two mouse clicks or a mouse click and the space bar to move - if you used the space bar to move to resources, about half the time you won't collect them when you arrive. You have to stop and camp about every minute, which requires you to sift through a camping menu (to assign tasks and food consumption) which is interesting at first, but quickly becomes dull and tedious. This can be automated somewhat, but to get the most out of the camping you need to manually change a few things most every time. Finally, RNG plays a huge role in your resource management. Camp on a road, or just get unlucky (seems like it happens quite often) - well, you just lost a whole bunch of money and/or supplies.
2) Balance of tactical combat/encounters.
I appreciate difficult games. I do not appreciate games that feel unfair. I have fought in multiple battles in this game that feel unfair. For the most part, the story battles seem very well balance - they require tight tactics and a modicum of thought as you are always outnumbered, but they are very doable. What feels unfair are some of the random encounters. These can be very difficult, can happen very early in the game, and can soft lock a play through if you get multiple in a row (which has happened to me multiple times I've tried get into this game). It's fine for a game to throw you an unwinnable battle every now and then - it can make for an interesting set of events - however, it's not fun to get hit with 3 of these in a row, each one while you're still recovering from the last. The prevalence of these encounters needs to be tuned down, or they need to kept until later in the game, because they are quite frustrating when they happen early and often. Additionally, you can pretty much screw yourself right at the beginning and make the game pretty much unwinnable (pro tip: don't take more than 1 scholar, maybe don't even take 1 and don't spec your character into medicine).
On the positive side, I think the presentation of this game is fantastic. The visuals show their age but hold up OK, the music is enjoyable (but can get a little repetitive in long sessions), and the art style is great. The writing is also top notch. I really wish I could enjoy this game, as there is a lot going for it. However, the issues discussed above make it hard to actually have fun while you're playing it. If you think you can get past those issues, give it a shot. For everyone else, I've heard the other games in the Expeditions series better.