It's been 5 months and I finally finished it. 69,9 hours of my life and another one to write this post and sort the screens. Honestly the last month or so it was just about finishing it. While I definitely enjoy the game mechanics and graphics I felt like the plot was just too long. Overall, compared to the Armored Princess the game felt somewhat raw and buggy. Maybe it's just me but I just don't trust Russian companies, they just aren't thorough enough. Especially 1C. I still remember them releasing Heroes III and IV in the 90's and 00's with horrid sloppy translation and tons of bugs.
Other things I found unsatisfying:
- while I liked the idea of playing as the usually hostile races the plot was all over the place and the ending was just dumb.
- the worst thing was that many quests were almost impossible to figure out on your own. Sometimes you had no idea how to solve them and sometimes you couldn't find the character you had to speak to to proceed. I bet everyone who played this had to use the forums every once in awhile. I also noted how multiple choice quests ended up in failed quests if you considered your options.
- the way the troops's special powers and effects affect other troop. For example, making fire elementals bleed or poisoning the skeletons should not happen.
- the ridiculous sexism - the female outfits and demoness animations were outrageous. I got itchy looking at Neoline's naked ass riding a horse and whatever. I also decidedly ignored the island of Amazonia because no matter how I look at it it's a rather blatant parody of feminists.
Despite my bias the game is still good overall but it could really use some revision and beta-testing.