An island paradise in the 17th century is discovered by colonial forces. De Sardet, a noble of the Merchant Congregation, travels to the newly-settled island of Teer Fradee to act as the capital's diplomat and to find a cure for the "malichor", a deadly plague on the continent.
Right out of the gate, I loved that the protagonist had a name and presence in the world - a family, obligations, friends... they weren't some random person with amnesia that shows up under mysterious circumstances. Companions were mostly just there. They have distinct personalities and start out interesting, but nothing ever really changes with them. Each one has an individual questline that opens up new conversation options with De Sardet. Of the five party members the player is given (one from each faction), only Kurt's quest added some depth to him by exposing a softer side to the hardened mercenary. Outside of their personal story quest, party members rarely interacted with De Sardet, each other, or their own faction. If the developers had added even just a few extra scenes to establish some sort of friendship with Sardet or slice-of-life moments, it would have gone a long way in terms of fleshing out the cast and making the world feel alive and connected.
The game has romance options but they were clearly an afterthought. I honestly only felt a loving 'familial' bond between Sardet and Constantin (Sardet's cousin). It is shown in-game that the two have a history as childhood friends and support each other unconditionally: Sardet is often stuck cleaning up after Constantin or having to save him from danger, but doesn't resent him for it. Sardet also comforts Constantin in sickness and anxiety, particularly during his "fear of dying" break down. In turn, Constantin verbally expresses his endearment for Sardet and appreciation for what s/he accomplishes. Constantin even continues to think of Sardet as family after learning they are an adopted Native, and after going mad he spares Sardet (and only Sardet) from harm, offering them a place beside him as a deity.
The story started out strong, then petered out during the latter half when it started getting a little heavy handed with the mysticism and environmental message: pollution as the source of the malichor. I mean pollution will cause any number of health problems in real life so pollution causing the malichor is grounded but a little underwhelming for this kind of fantasy setting. The starting objective of diplomacy and finding a cure for the malichor even gets lost (dropped?) in favor of a new plot thread involving Constantin going mad with power stolen from the island deities. I was also a little disappointed with how much Teer Fradee is made out to be this untouched, unexplored land, only to arrive and find that it has already been settled with some buildings having been constructed over eight years ago.
Aside from how to approach a quest objective there weren't any
major plot choices and with a reputation system and a diplomat for a
protagonist you'd think siding with different factions would have more of an impact. I mean there are colonists and natives against each other, and two large private guilds both vying for power and influence. Why are there no spies, alliances, pacts, wars, or sabotages? The writing also seemed afraid to paint any of the faction leaders as nefarious. Whenever a scientist in their employ is caught performing immoral experiments or a religious leader they follow is caught persecuting "heretics", the faction leader is always conveniently oblivious to it.
Some quests had a little too much legwork. I loved them, but some could have been condensed. For example, to complete the side quest "Logging Expedition" you have to jump between several maps and loading screens multiple times:
(map 1) Talk to a Native Elder.
(map 2) Travel to logging camp.
(map 2) Speak to Doctor.
(map 2) Examine bodies.
(map 2) Speak to Doctor again.
(map 2) Speak to Hunters.
(map 3) Speak to De Couracillon.
(map 3) Speak to Laurine de Morange.
(map 3) Return to De Couracillon.
(map 1) Return to Native Elder.
(map 2) Visit mine.
(map 3) Return to De Couracillon.
(map 3) Speak to Laurine de Morange again.
(map 3) Speak to Master Maillard.
(map 3) Return to De Couracillon.
(map 2) Return to mine.
(map 1) Return to Native Elder.
This is one of the worst offenders in the game, and my problem isn't with the interactions themselves, but how often you need to jump between maps and the amount of time spent walking to the quest objective on each map. Roughly 90% of the time spent on this one quest is spent on traveling.
The environments are gorgeous to look at.
Your Character's personality is mostly predefined; you will always play a diplomatic noble with a somewhat amiable attitude. You can choose your gender, class (warrior, technician, mage, or hybrid), attributes, and talent set. "Class" determines what combat abilities you have, like trap setting or stasis (paralysis), and what weapons you can use (blade, gun, or ring). "Attributes" are divided into six trees: strength, agility, endurance, willpower, mental power, and accuracy. They effect your character's overall stats, like the size of your health and mana pool or your damage output, and determine what medium or heavy gear De Sardet can wear. If you create a warrior, it makes sense to focus on endurance and strength. If you want to play as a mage, you will need willpower and mental power. "Talents" are also divided into six trees: vigor, charisma, science, lockpicking, craftsmanship, and intuition. They can also be used outside of battle to open up new paths in the environment, quests, and conversations.
Your chosen skill set and how you choose to approach a quest objective are at the forefront of GreedFall's gameplay. General quest design (besides the occasional spotty scripting) is very good - no fetch quests, some clue collecting, pulling rank, and fixing things by talking to people. The combat is secondary to the role-playing elements, and that is probably GreedFall's strongest selling point. Skill checks are everywhere, from conversations to the environment. Intuition for example, allows Sardet to make astute observations. Science is used to analyze evidence, lockpicking can find hidden evidence, and vigor can open new pathways in the environment. You can even wear faction armor as a disguise to sneak in through the front door of tightly controlled faction locations. Sardet's five companions are also associated with different factions, so bringing the correct companion along on a quest can help in avoiding conflict, passing skill checks, and avoiding reputation loss. It isn't a good idea for example, to bring Petrus, who is allied with Saint Matheus, to the palace of their enemy in the region of Hikmet. Taking Aphra, a Hikmet scientist, to the palace instead will make them more cooperative and willing to share sensitive information.
Increasing reputation with the different factions and allies is a major element in the game. There are two types of reputation in GreedFall: "Faction Reputation" and "Companion Reputation". Both function in similar ways but with subtle differences. Faction reputation effects an entire group of people, usually influenced by quest choices and the resulting consequences. Every time the player increases their reputation level with a faction, special rewards are shipped to the player house or camp chest. That faction may become more willing to assist Sardet in the future, negating some skill checks. Companion Reputation as you would assume, is tied directly to an individual. They are rarely influenced outside of their personal questline and dialogue choices. Improving relationships with your companions provides an added bonus in the form of a talent boost whenever they are in the active party: Siora (vigor), Petrus (charisma), Aphra (science), Kurt (craftsmanship), and Vasco (intuition). It makes them extremely useful in the beginning, given how rare talent points are (1 every five levels).
How you interact with each faction, who you travel with, and the choices you make all effect your reputation.
The map is made up of multiple open zones that are connected by a fast travel system. Quests eventually take the player through every area of the game, so there are no rewarding surprise side quests, encounters, or places to find in the world. As an avid explorer, I was especially disappointment by all the areas with no quests or objectives, just explorable little alleys and cliffs that served no purpose. The maps also felt large for the sake of being large, leading to a lot of time spent running around empty spaces. The aesthetics, especially the wooded environments, are stunning the first few times you see them, but by the fourth or fifth area they start to get stale. More variety, like beach or basalt columns, would have alleviated some of the visual monotony. At some point I even started running past monsters because they were re-used one too many times, including the bosses. Considering Spider's small team size, it is understandable but noticeable.
There are about 7 enemies in total, not counting re-colors.
There are some rough edges, including at least one game breaking bug, but where GreedFall shines is the not-so-generic stuff. The colonial fantasy setting is fresh and the skill-based story system is solid. The social skills of the protagonist aren't just a sideshow but a core part of the game and the side quests all feature unique little adventures with multiple approaches. There is no doubt that lots of love and care went into making Greedfall. At times I couldn't believe I wasn't playing a triple A budget title. Spiders hit their stride here. Greedfall feels like their best work so far and it was a completely enjoyable and impressive experience from such a small team.
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