Boy that first island was a chore!
go talk to this guy, then this guy, then back to the same guy, kill your hundredth undead army, talk to this other guy, go talk to the same guy again, now track down 4 evil heroes, who just happen to have....undead armies! Meanwhile, the experience is very slow, I am sitting on a ton of scrolls because I've got a lot of mana, but I haven't gotten enough magic runes to even obtain Order or Distortion Magic to start using them. Plus Rage isn't advancing by design so I keep casting the same Viking rage ability for 4-cost once per turn hoping to cause a little damage to the same undead.
Not something I am eager to go through in multiple playthroughs.
/rant off
Hopefully the 2nd island will be better, though from the slight exploring, it looks pretty linear.