JustADude15

The HD2D games have so much potential, but this is basically an ARPG Octopath traveller with all the same warts. Visually pretty, mechanically serviceable, narratively bad, and the characters and voice direction are bad enough to warrant skipping the game if those are things you care a lot about. Elliot is a bland, one-note protagonist. The voice direction sounds somewhere between audiobook narration & highschool stage play. I really wish they’d put some effort into the dialogue scripts. If you’ve played the other HD2D games you more or less know what you’re getting into in terms of vibes. For $60 I am just not impressed & Noisy Pixel’s review glazing the story is just absolute nonsense.

The HD2D games have so much potential, but this is basically an ARPG Octopath traveller with all the same warts. Visually pretty, mechanically serviceable, narratively bad, and the characters and voice direction are bad enough to warrant skipping the game if those are things you care a lot about. Elliot is a bland, one-note protagonist. The voice direction sounds somewhere between audiobook narration & highschool stage play. I really wish they’d put some effort into the dialogue scripts. If you’ve played the other HD2D games you more or less know what you’re getting into in terms of vibes. For $60 I am just not impressed. Noisy Pixel’s review is absolute nonsense.

Pros: Music and VA quality will surprise you. Creative and novel idea, which I do think is important. Cons: Deckbuilding vets will not find a ton of depth here. There’s plenty of variety and meta progression… but if you stick to using suits to telegraph info about your deck (stick to one suit with a 2nd suit of face cards), only ever “mark” your ace, and limit your deck size — there is no unlockable / progress-gated goody or boon that exposes a more effective strategy than the simplest & most minimalistic available. The wildcard decks don’t feel significantly more powerful than the suits you start with. To me it feels a lot like vampire crawlers — in that I had fun with it while it lasted. Not every game needs to be a huge timesink. But a roguelike could stand to be a little deeper than this IMO.

Believe the hype. It’s an entirely unique experience that matches the heights of the mediums capacity for storytelling while modernizing the turn based RPG experience in ways that will appeal to a broader audience & fans of action. Personally, found this to be one of the most engaging combat systems I’ve been exposed to. Nevermind the soul and spirit of the 30-person dev team that shines through every moment of the adventure. I won’t say too much because you should experience this blind, but if you are afraid of the parry— just know that dodge is entirely viable the whole game & you will not be punished for failure. It takes a minute for the training wheels to come off, but once you get a feel for its systems you are in for an absolute treat. We’ll be talking about this one for a long time. Well done Sandfall & co.

Game World Navigator weighing in 3.5 months late with the 88 hot take — and leading with “rather short” lol. Refreshing to play a focused game that’s honed in on providing a consistently engaging / evolving experience from start to finish, rather than padding out unrewarding time. I don’t know about you, but 40 hours is enough for me (especially when it’s stuffed with never ending surprises). I 100% completed, which I rarely attempt, and will likely do it again. Guaranteed joy.

Do you like JRPGs & action games? Don’t pass on this one. Some advice… 1) Play it subbed (English VAs are just bad) 2) Do the side content, READ THE LORE —seriously, they put so much effort into this. You are missing out if you try to go in a straight line. Lore makes you really feel like a detective uncovering an epic sci-fi mystery 3) Rest assured, if the character design puts you off or breaks your immersion— there are many modest outfits available in the game. Red Passion is a good one to grab early on. Combat, exploration, skill progression, and music get A++. Platforming can get wonky sometimes, but it’s not enough to cause any significant frustration.

i just read a 4-point user review that criticized the MUSIC. There is a moment in chapter 4 where there is a live band playing off in the corner of a building in the fortress city of Junon. If you walk near the stage, you’ll be treated to an 8 minute Afro-Cuban jazz jamathon— provided you remain there for the duration. Through 4 chapters, there have been at least 40 distinct and substantial OST tracks. A few *side quests* have gotten their own dedicated pieces. The compositions are varied and brilliant. Genius level stuff — same goes for the players actually performing the ones with live band recordings, it’s just relentless. We criticize AAA game development, justifiably at times… but if they keep ANYTHING from this formula, it has to be the dedication to music. Generally one of jRPGs best contributions to gaming. Happy to report FF remains at the top of that mountain.

So LaD1 is definitely worth it — incredible story. But if you want to jump right into this one, the YouTube story recap is a very viable option. This one is a must play for RPGers. All lower reviews are from longtime fans complaining about either 1) recycled minigames or 2) $15 NG+. If you’re new to the series, you won’t notice recycled minigames, and I’m not playing NG+ in a linear game with this much to do anyway. If you’re not new to the series, you’re buying this anyway.

This should be must play. Forget the fact that it’s an indie, I have nothing bad to say about it. The length is just right, and there is plenty for the completionist to do in postgame. Combat and handling of difficulty curve is very under-appreciated from what I’ve read. Sure it is challenging, but in a balanced and fun way that doesn’t make learning unnecessarily frustrating. If the game didn’t carefully introduce you to new enemy mechanics without ever punishing you too harshly in that learning phase— some boss fights would seem impossible at a glance. Unlike souls games however — the combat is fast & responsive, the challenging bits are fair, and you’ll never have to run a 15 minute gauntlet just to get back to a boss. The final boss even has phase checkpoints. Combat really starts to shine as you unlock or upgrade more spells & weapons provide a nice option for different playstyles. The spell upgrades are easy to miss, but some of them really enrich the game (upgraded hook shot in particular is a lot of fun). The music is fantastic! The story and characters are genuinely charming, but at the same time there is serious existential depth to the narrative. Exploration is a blast, they strike that perfect puzzle balance of the original BoTW where the puzzles and secrets are very satisfying to figure out without being so obtuse they have to be looked up. I actually love the graphics with the dioramas/tilt shift + monochrome hub. It has a lot more style than it gets credit for due to the very basic 3D environments — but I hype style over graphics every chance I get. Sitting at 85, this is better than a lot of 90+ scored games I’ve played this year & probably in my top 15 all time. Try it out.

Are people over the “die, figure out an exact solution to a particular gimmick, rinse/repeat” formula yet? I’ve been over it for 10 years. What **** is, as a mech game, this was almost irresistible — and many more could have enjoyed it with the simple addition of accessibility settings. But then FS wouldn’t be FS & all their hardcore fans would riot. Unless you are a souls fan, I urge you to resist.

IF you missed BOTW, this is a must play. But listen carefully… If you didn’t miss BOTW (no matter how much you loved it) — TOTK plays and feels like a poorly timed remaster (on a console at the end of its lifespan). I hate to say it, but the folks looking forward to this game most will likely be the ones most disappointed. In the time since BOTW left its mark on gaming, we’ve seen its mechanics recycled 100 times over in other games. This might sound like typical sequel nitpicking, but I enjoyed both Ragnarok and Forbidden West quite a bit despite beating the original releases… The problem is that BOTWs unique charm was largely a product of its inventiveness and novelty — in that way, the sequel is NOTHING like its predecessor… closer to the opposite. Iterative installments work better when leveraging improved tech to benefit QOL / graphics. This is literally the same game with superimposed map expansion & some minor tweaks. TOTK is not bad, but it is essentially large DLC & the critic reviews are EXTREMELY hyperbolic. Maybe I would have enjoyed it had I not sunk 400 hrs into the original, but that was a long time ago — I felt nothing on this one.

I feel for anyone who had issues with launch, but I have no idea what people are griping about beyond that. They put a lot of TLC into this, and every detail feels inspired. Tone and world building is KOTR inspired Gameplay: > Combat is god of war spinoff (that is not a bad thing) > Exploration is Metroid prime-ish > Platforming is some of the most creative & best implemented out there — won’t spoil anything but some of the time trials feel a little like “Neon White” > Replayability value is very high with all of the different build possibilities, but individual trees are fairly straightforward > Bonus: respec is free, so you don’t have to NG+ to experiment with different styles > Music is phenomenal. Story and characters are better than any of the recent movies

First and foremost I would encourage you to disregard reviews unspecific about what they enjoyed or did not enjoy — There is probably more positive propaganda from butthurt Russians than negative from SJWs. Pros: 1. Soundtrack 2. Graphics Cons: 1. Not easy to navigate the main quests — objectively frustrating and frequently disrespectful of player time. Bunch of fetch quests in corridor mazes where map/navigation assistance is useless 60% of the time. And that’s probably a generous figure. Also long and completely unskippable dialogues/cinematics. 2. Wants to be an action RPG & also a survival game & also a looter shooter & also a walking sim / visual novel? No mechanical synergy, just **** thrown at the wall. 3. FPS optimized very well, but don’t be fooled by that — it is a very, very glitchy game. Laughed at reviews lauding optimization just because motion is smooth, when you can easily get locked in place by the environment requiring restart in a game that uses save stations… 4. ^An action game that uses save stations^ 5. Combat revolves entirely around crowd controlling brain dead hyper aggressive enemies that, for the most part, just want you in a corner. Reverse difficulty curve isn’t very satisfying in endgame + enemies are all bullet sponges. 6. Trying to navigate swimming through polymer 7. Not sure if I love or hate the “force pull for loot” mechanic. Might be better with a mouse than controller. Lots of time spent looting… not a lot of loot. Summary: Think of this as an experiment by an indie developer with action that controls like it was designed as a PC or VR game (think subnautica), and you will appreciate what they’ve done here. If you go in expecting a tight shooter looter like borderlands, you will be disappointed. Overall most of the good manifests as unrealized potential. It shows promise as an iterative IP, but it’s hard to recommend the debut in a vacuum. Get this on sale or if your are just mega bored and intrigued by the setting.

The users complaining that it’s iterating on the GOW formula must just not like GOW, because this is one of the greatest games ever made — easily the best presentation of a story ever told through the medium & some of the best action combat I’ve ever witnessed. Nevermind that other IPs iterate without changing anything, there is PLENTY new here to enjoy coming from someone who played through immediately after replaying the prior installment… never felt stale. No idea how it’s possible for this to have a lower composite score than elden ring considering there are no mixed critic reviews.

Best-in-series combat & story — only overhyped element here is the soundtrack. It’s very generic and does not come close to touching XB2. Not a dealbreaker but worth mentioning. The scaling of maps is still bloated. While I certainly appreciate the epic scope & variety of worlds, there are still a few spots of 2-minute wide barren deserts — fertilized only by a few collectibles likely also available elsewhere. This has always been a gripe with this series, and prior to BOTW it was considered a fair trade-off — but now we’ve seen the open world optimized for broad scope without feeling bloated & it’s been hard not to notice excessive map-filler ever since. If you like any of the other series entries you will enjoy the heck out of this.

Having a blast with this despite the 8 reviews & sub-80 composite. If you enjoy these games, pick it up. Spellshot is the most fun class to play since Brick’s explosive punch build. Even more fun with co-op. Elden Ring is in vogue, but I’ll personally be putting many more hours into wonderlands. No they didn’t reinvent the wheel here, but IMO they didn’t need to. The formula still works & this is arguably its best iteration.

It’s FromSoftware. Nothing new to see here. Likes: > Art Style > Lore > Depth of customization > Throttling of features / new mechanics to discover Dislikes: > Usual FS combat — Slow, with few inputs. Boss fights are a matter of memorization and trial/error. FS elitists will call it skill, but it’s no reflex test — all about memorizing hitboxes / what you can or cannot parry/block / understanding timing of dodge and lack of input cancelling > Do you like to play games by googling what to do at every step? This one is for you. Do you like to keep a journal to manually track your own quests — I’m glad someone’s providing that opportunity. I give it a 7 because the world they’ve built is beautiful, but if you’re like me the gameplay loop and dated engine will get old fast. Full disclosure: Beat a few bosses including Godrick pretty easily. Combat is hard unless you’re a souls vet or until you figure it out — then it goes from hard to boring. This is my opinion but I prefer combat extremes like the player agency provided through reflex-based action OR the calculated strategy availed by turn-based. FS is you observe and then strategize when you should utilize one of two options: “dodge or hit”. It’s just not for me, at least not as a solo experience.