Overlord, a good deal

[EvilElitest]

I've been considering getting Overlord (or Dark Messiah or Lost Odessy). Is it a good game?
from
EE

[BRC]

I played it from gametap and enjoyed it a good deal.

[Hermit]

I played the demo and rather enjoyed it, though my complaint from the demo was that the game seems to actively discourage actual evil acts. The Demo mission sees you save a village from attacks by evil halflings, with the end result that the villagers celebrate your actions. It seemed rather contrary to the whole "Be an evil overlord" angle. I tried killing a couple of the villagers, but my Goblin advisor complained that they may not like it. I would have thought that was the point, but still.

That said I liked the system of ordering round the Goblins and all, and it played well enough. I was going to pick it up cheap at some point, though I did hear there was a PS3 version coming and I thought I'd wait to see if it gets any additional content in it.

[SolkaTruesilver]

I found the game really, really enjoyable. Nothing beat sending dozens of minions to destroy everything in a room.

Almost a perfectly enjoyable game, except the "you have to help peoples" side. But if you want, you can actually kill everybody and become a total jerk. You gain corruption, and I heard you gains things out of it.

[warty goblin]

I've played Overlord and Dark Messiah on the PC, and since you are considering Lost Oddessy I'm guessing you have a 360, no?

Overlord is plenty enjoyable. The gameplay can sometimes be frustrating (Heaven's Peak sewers, I'm lookin' at you...), but the humor is great. I agree that being seriously evil isn't quite encouraged, but it is a viable option. The thing to bear in mind is that most of the time you are better off taking the good solution, then switching doing evil stuff later to get all the corrupted goodies. Either that or just be evil and farm a few more souls to make up for it, it's not like they are hard to get or anything. Also, commanding the goblin hordes of death is a joy, particularly when they go a-lootin' and come back wearing pumkins and brandishing the decaying arm-bones of zombies. Then you order the little bastards to jump into a massive cauldron of molten metal all for your own greater power and glory. Yep, it is a good time all right.

Dark Messiah, at least on the PC, is a great slash-fest. It is also not for the faint of heart or anybody with an aversion to spreading bits and pieces of their enemies all over everything. In fact, that's pretty much what makes the game worth playing, since the story is bleh and the characters somewhere between non-existant and forgettable. On the other hand decapitating an orc with one swing, then amputating his buddy's leg on the backhand, all in glorious slo-mo is pretty awesome. Ditto casting an ice spell on the ground as you flee, causing one of the nasties following you to slip, then quickly impaling him before unleashing a hail of fireballs on his companions. On the other hand I've heard that it has serious optimization 'issues' on the 360, and even on the PC can be a bit buggy.

Can't really speak to Lost Odessy though...

[Elliot Kane]

I love Overlord, I have to say. If you can see something you can probably kill it or loot it (Unless it's your Mistress or other servant :D) and it has a lot of replay value simply because of the number of different ways you can approach things. Many missions have both a 'good' and an 'evil' solution, and your Overlord can be loved or feared, depending on your choices.

It is a bit linear, but not so much so that it feels like you're always on railway tracks. It's fun and funny :)

[Belteshazzar]

I liked the game. The final boss is hell though I think there is a pattern to killing him without losing almost everyone but i didn't bother for a second go. The morality is almost between Diskworld's Ventari style evil (fitting as I believe Pratchet was involved in the game's plot design) or being a total ass.
I for one prefer the first path as it includes having a good redheaded mistress who is more than willing to get with the dirty work of running a dark empire. As opposed to a vapid vampire who looks at you as her sugga daddy (not that the other one won't show her appreciation for you buying nice things for her!)
The bosses are all based off of twisted versions of the stereotypical adventuring party so it's fun guessing who is next on the list (I preferred Oberron's levels the most for some reason.)

[Dragor]

Both very good games, though I preferred Dark Messiah more- it has a solid story, an excellent combat system, and you'll replay it at least once after you've completed it. Also a looker too.

I've always said that Oblivion would be godlike if it had Dark Messiah's combat system.

[Captain van der Decken]

I'd agree - both games are great, but I definitely preferred Dark Messiah.

When it wasn't crashing.

Hell, I made it through the game with it crashing every couple a' hours or so. Now if I try to play, it crashes around every five minutes. I have yet to find a fix that worked, which is unfortunate since it was such a fun game.

[warty goblin]

Both very good games, though I preferred Dark Messiah more- it has a solid story, an excellent combat system, and you'll replay it at least once after you've completed it. Also a looker too.

I've always said that Oblivion would be godlike if it had Dark Messiah's combat system.

Indeed, if Oblivion had combat as rock-solid awesometacular as Dark Messiah, it would be a truly amazing game. It wouldn't even need to be as graphically violent either, but letting you actually see your body and hold power attacks as long as you wanted would really go a long way. That was, to me anyway, what made Dark Messiah really work, is the way it really captured the feel of being a hack'n'slash melee warrior, with coordinated moves and a definate rythm to combat (kick slash slash kick power slash kick impale...). Of particular joy, at least to me, was the way that you would actually kill enemies faster by concentrating your attacks on specific areas, since that could net you a quick delimbing with only a few attacks. It really gave combat a nice tactical depth, much better than simply going for the headshot every time...

[DemonicAngel]

you never tried Oblivion modding scene, have you? they already got Oblivion combat levels to those of Dark Messiah.

well, Overlord was fun and all. a bit annoying if you don't have enough time to run an empire (like myself)

[Elliot Kane]

I liked the game. The final boss is hell though I think there is a pattern to killing him without losing almost everyone but i didn't bother for a second go. The morality is almost between Diskworld's Ventari style evil (fitting as I believe Pratchet was involved in the game's plot design) or being a total ass.

Rhianna Pratchett, not Terry. She's his daughter :)