Inquisitor Review

The RPGWatch is offering their own review for Cinemax's Inquisitor, a long-in-development old-school isometric fantasy RPG. They award it a 3/5, noting that the game suffers due to filler combat, repetitiveness and poorly documented mechanics, but praise the atmosphere, "old-school" design and the amount of content.

Here's a snip:
I played as a Priest (surprise, surprise). There are only five attributes in the game: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence and Speed. Everyone needs Con and Speed, while the others are obviously class based. Each has a cap level determined by class as well. You get four attribute points each level and that was never an issue; by the time my character was over level 30, I had more points than I really needed. You also get four Skill points each level and here's where the challenge lies. There are not only a great many possible skills where you can spend them, but as you increase the levels, it takes more skill points to increase one level in a skill. For example, as a Priest there are seven spell books which I can learn. Each book contains the possibility of learning two or three spells at each of four tiers. You have to find or purchase spell scrolls to '˜write' in the books. Now, to increase my skill level from 0 to 5 takes 5 skill point to increase from 5 to 10 takes ten skill points. It then takes 15 points for the next 5 levels and twenty for the final 5 levels. To max out one spell book costs 50 skill points and you only get four each level. You have seven possible spell books and there are other skills which you need as well and they all operate the same way. The problem is obvious; you MUST specialize.

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In my opinion, fights become tedious after awhile, especially as you reach the fifth level of a dungeon facing hordes of the same critters. One of my biggest criticisms of the game would be too much filler combat in an already overly long game. There is also a '˜sameness' about each act. The NPC's are just a little too stereotyped and similar in each city. While act 2 is more complex than act 1, much feels like little more than a variation or repeat of the same themes. It holds your interest for 2 acts, but you dread the thought of more of the same in act 3.

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The quests in the game are many and varied though most are connected in some way to your central job of figuring out what is going wrong. To accomplish this you have to root out heretics, find thieves and murderers as well as long lost artefacts or books. Whether you turn in the thief, or recruit him, let the murderer go, or burn him/her at the stake is up to you. You'll search out treachery and help shopkeepers recover missing wine, or a father his missing son. There's something there for every taste.

In summary then, what we have here is an old-fashioned RPG where you really have to bring both your mind and your physical skills to the table. Nothing is made easy for you and while parts become tedious overall I found the game to be fun and enjoyable. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you enjoy this type of game then it is well worth the price.