Expeditions: Conquistador (2013)

Overview

Expeditions: Conquistador is an interesting concept that is sadly crippled by poor design choices.

Positive (good features)

• Unique setting. I can't think of any other game set in this time and place (+++).
• Women are 99% equal to men which sadly makes E:C stand out (+).
• Serious themes are implemented in a mature way (+)
• There are no "noble savages" and not every Spaniard is a goatee-stroking baddy (+++).
• Offers more 'real' choices with consequences than most games (+).
• Multiple solutions to problems (+).
• They tried to make combat different from other games (+).
• You can be really cruel to your party members (+).
• With Montoya as last name you get 'Iñigo' as first name.
• Occasionally touching.

Neutral (average/expected features)

• The guitar music is nice and soothing but there doesn't seem to be much variation in music.
• I like that the narration is done by someone Spanish but he makes too many mistakes which makes it seem a bit comical.
• Adequate graphics.
• Some party members develop as characters, most don't.

Negative (bad features)

• Tedious, awful, boring, pointless camping menu (----).
• In the rations menu you can't sort by morale and the buttons are unresponsive (--).
• You get the same events too many times (-).
• No quicktravel (-).
• At the end of every day you have to ensure you don't camp on the road (-).
• Higher party survival skill doesn't translate into more food (--).
• Trading is boring and poorly implemented.
• Unequal starting skills.
• You can easily cripple yourself during character creation/party selection (--).
• Unless you have a high Tactics skill, traps are mostly useless (-).
• Equipment is 100% generic (-).
• Boring skills system (--).
• You have to travel back to your fortress over half a dozen times to order a new construction.

Conclusion

I waited a long time to play this game and i really wanted to like it. E:C has elements from some of my favourite games; Party skills like Mount & Blade, role-playing like Baldur's Gate and turn-based combat like X-Com. On top of that the setting is unique and implemented nicely, morality isn't black and white and it treats the player as an adult.

Unfortunately, it seems they wanted to implement so many elements that many of them turned out badly. Normally in a RPG you find increasingly superior equipment with a variety of traits. Here equipment is just a generic "x" in someone's profile. There's a variety of traps to use in combat, but you can't place them very far and they take up slots that can be used for cannonballs and the like. Every character including the player has 6 skills, but especially on party members these don't seem to help much.

The absolute worst part of the game is camping. First you have to make sure to not camp on the road so you won't get robbed. Then you have to distribute food in a poorly designed menu with buttons that don't always respond when clicked. There's a handful of tasks but most of them have little effect on the game. And no matter how much you improve your party members' skills, the end result is still so random that it becomes a frustration. I almost quit several times because of this nonsense. It's incredibly annoying and adds nothing to the game and you have to sit through it over a 100 times at least.

Obviously they wanted to make you feel you have to survive in the jungle, but they managed to implement it in a way that completely takes you out of the experience.

Details

• Experience with genre: Since the 90s.
• Experience with game: Completed.
• Rating: 3 out of 10
• Recommended to: People who like having conversations in games and have the patience & willpower to deal with its severe flaws.