I bought Spellforce2 on GOG last month and have given it a good run so far, i'm up to the forge for the ring to see invisible units.

It is quite an enjoyable game, the only other game i played which is most similar is Lionheart legacy of the cruisader but with a few notable differences.

Spellforce 2 has better graphics
Spellforce 2 has piss poor unit upgrade complexity
Spellforce 2 has much better companions

I also find that i feel less involved in combat in Spellforce2 than Lionheart.... i just tell the units where to go and they do their own thing, i may try to use spells but it is usually a bit hard to see the effects if any.... Lionheart is NOT like that at all.

I take it you are writing a review since the game was removed?

Not really a review, ,,

It is my usual practice to give feedback on games i bought on GOG.... just to make conversation and see what other people have to say.

I don't know anything about Spellforce 2 being removed?

But i do find it amusing to imagine game rights holders always love to think their game is too good for GOG and that such a moron out there somewhere thinks that about Spellforce 2,,, hahahaha

I bought the whole series before it vanished. Haven't tried them yet, but they look pretty fun. Got a couple extra copies in the stockpile, too.

Bought it during the sale - haven't played it yet. It's buried deep in my backlog right now.

Wait? Spellforce is gone?! But....o.o Darn it. My wishlist is messed up again T.T Least they gave me the Fallout's before they removed them.

I saw a bundle during one of the big sales, and it caught my attention then. When the games went on sale individually I took a look and grabbed Spell Force 2: The Shadow Wars. Very pleasant surprise! I wish it were a bit more "useful" to play in the beautiful third person mode, but even as a pure vanity angle it's nice to have.

I heard they were huge games, and I really only wanted to commit to one - Shadow Wars seemed like a good choice (I figured it would be a graphic and gameplay "step up" from the First, and the most recent one seemed to be a step back - at least according to a lot of the reviews I read). I love the main character / companion upgrades - a lot of options and they really do have a huge affect on how combat plays out. The RPG aspects are fun, and I'm not really an RTS gamer (I always hit a wall in them and tend to find them a bit hectic) but this game does a nice job of keeping me engaged, excited and not overwhelmed with that part of the game. I'm sure an RTS genius would find it a bit thin, but I seem to have enough fun spamming the units I like, and balancing them with groups of other units to support. When I first saw the game I had an idea "in my head" of what I hoped it would be and it's really been all that. Fun to find and equip new items that feel like they make a difference, and always good to level up a hero.

Actually, the game has a great mechanism to encourage the player to spend upgrade points. I'm an admitted "point hoarder" - I'm sure others out there like me exist - you can't wait to level up, you get those shiny new points / tokens / skills to assign... and you don't because you want to dump then in that magical be all end all skill, or you're afraid that two hours from now you'll realize you should have bought something else. This game's skill tree gently nudges you to spend those points, while always moving you toward the "big" abilities and still forcing / giving you choices. I really liked the way the game handles it.

Actually, games like this are big reasons I like GoG - I can stumble on something I hadn't heard of or missed previously and really end up getting a lot of enjoyment out of it.

Are we talking about the same game? The game where you get only 2 choices, magic or combat and are then forced to spend upgrade points on, um, 'everything' in order to reach next level upgrades???

But as shit as the character upgrading options are, at least equipment is far more interesting to make up for it.... were it not for that, i would never have been able to bother continuing on with the game.

There are two Spellforce 2 games I think

LOL different strokes for different folks! Yes I'm pretty sure we are talking about the same one. For some reason I liked the fact that it prodded me to dump my points into a smattering of skills, while still giving me several choices for my focused path.

Having to spend extra points on everything forced me to actually spend them, not hoard them. And having a few options at the "ultimate" level still let me tailor my character a bit instead of being a total jack of all trades. I also liked being able to swap the skills I thought I would use in and out as I saw fit after I acquired them.

What i think i understand about this game now, the character upgrade system is different to most games in a unique way.... where most games you find equipment to suit your character build, in this game your character build is subservient to equipment!