In short, I find Balor very well balanced, cleverly designed, pretty open-ended and much more of a challenge than some of the other PC-based KOEI titles. They really put a lot of effort into this, and it shows. Shame the company decided to pull the plug on its US-based, PC operation directly afterwards.
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I have to say that the fact you find this a very balanced game boggles my mind. Everthing, even mundane things, is geared to give the computer controlled players the advantage. I really can't make sense of that. Perhaps it was done due to the fact that a really good AI wasn't possible at that time.
There is really very little about the magic classes that was done very well. It wouldn't have been so bad if NPC's also had to learn or pay for spells, but they don't. As pointed out in other posts, computer players are furnished with a complete list from the begining. I know some found they liked this since it gave them a sense of accomplishment but for me it lacks common sense. This is strategy game not a riddle game. There really isn't a good point to be made in trying out different runes in either battle or prov modes when the results are sooo random. If they had wanted to keep casters from being to powerful there are better ways to handle it then having a totally random factor in either a misfire or breakage. The resists would have made more sense if they had a ruling factor, such as level or some stat number, but that is random as well. I'm not going for a maxed caster ( in level and ability ) blowing their first spell in combat and breaking all 3 runes in the process. That lacks common sense. A short list of basic spells that you start off with would have made more sense or a very resonable price per spell. I hardly think that 35 cows per spell is resonable to a begining player coupled with the fact that npc's have them free.
In many games random events are a bonus. They keep the replay factor high and adds to the fun of a game. But in this title it's just to random. There really isn't much that isn't random. From learning skills, to gathering resources, to gaining new recruits from battles. To much is just " a roll of the dice" luck factor and in that sense I hardly think that resetting the game because you didn't like the results could be called cheating. As far as I can tell the only real cheating is the fact that computer controlled players have the upper hand in everything.
The fact that Koei closed it's offices just after this titled was released, adding the lack of features that are standard in all the Koei games I have played, and the lack of balance makes me think that this game was not really finished. I think the devs were told to wrap it up and ship it out before they were really done.
The features I'm talking about are little things like being able to get heros to defect, picking who would be in leader in a prov, alliances with other rulers, and covert activities. Those are all standard fare in Koei games. Especially the defection of heros. This game really is all about heros and how many you have. You can't take or keep control of provinces without enough of them. Why make it level and/or combat based only? Any prov that has a previous tribe ruler makes him/her the defalut leader of that prov. The fact that being a higher level then who you are recruiting ( ronin) is required makes this an issue. I have to quickly get rid of that leader by moving or scouting to get the new recruit. That sometimes messes up battle plans I had in the making.
Don't get me wrong there are features in this title that I wish had been added to some of their other games. I like the way you get the personal feel over prov's and heros. I really prefer the prov interface verses just watching the numbers go up like their other games. It's a pity that building up the prov's doesn't really have a game impact though. Yes you gather grain but prestige doesn't really have a true game function. I think it might have at one time but that was scrapped for some reason.
I think to overlook game flaws is fine but it is never wise to pretend they don't exsist at all, especially when pointed out by others. You risk losing creditability.
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