Mtwelsh821

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

For all the flaws and ups and downs… played destiny for over a decade and thousands of hours… had countless hours of fun with it at the end of the day

I’m not sure how they could have made this game better… I don’t play roguelites or card games… I played hundreds of hours of slay the spire on my way to beating a20 heart on all of the characters… it’s impossibly deep and balanced… on the highest difficulty it’s punishing but fair and you know why you went wrong although it may be a while until you’re in a similar situation to adjust… each character has many unique ways to win… there are so many interesting interactions between cards and relics… it’s just brilliant… deep deep strategy that brings out a great sense of accomplishment when you manage to succeed… I’d want my kids to play it for the critical thinking it requires..

I’ve certainly played better RPGs but I enjoyed my time with this. -gameplay-felt like an improvement over the original but yet still didn’t have many modern staple mechanics… kinda feels like that’s a choice where they are in many ways making it feel like an rpg of 10-15 years ago?…wasn’tso poor that it negatively impacted my experience… felt like there’s a small difficulty curve early but once you max out you chosen skills I felt way overpowered for normal difficulty… slightly modded AR was chewing through giant mech in 2-3 seconds… didn’t really try much stealth socan’t comment here -story- the universe is interesting enough… the various parties are such extreme caricatures of their ideas but it’s all humorous enough and doesn’t take itself that seriously that it works…didn’t really feel like I cared all that much about any of the individual characters but the world did feel like your choices were very consequential… definitely makes replays with a different character theme and set up seem worth it… being able to talk your way through and out of major encounters I’m a fan of… Game was solid and didn’t overstay its welcome… I’m glad I played it

Certainly one of the best games I've ever played and while and incredible story is probably what drives that I think basically every aspect of the was exceptional. -Gameplay-I haven't historically played a lot of turn based RPGs but I found the combat systems very engaging. Each character had their own interesting gameplay flares, themes and styles and you could do some very interesting and creative things with setups to tackle all kinds of challenges. It felt incredibly for a long time and then I messed around a bit more in the endgame and had a ton of fun finding unique ways to become impossibly overpowered. Tons of unique enemies, interesting bosses with varying themes, probably was an 80-100 hour playthrough and I never got tired of it. -Story/Atmosphere- I believe this was the best story of any video game I've played in my 30 or so years of gaming. The atmosphere and world building were excellent with constant mystery always pressing you forward to learn more. The world they created initially felt unique but as the twists and new pieces of information came it just became more and more impressive. So many interesting threads tie together in unique ways and again learning more about the world just made me more interested to keep learning. It's rare to feel so much mystery as deep into a 60 hour story. There were numerous exciting twists but nothing that felt out of place or pushed to far once you accepted the underlying fictional facets of the universe you were in. The character development and the breadth of different and changing motivations for something like 10 pivotal characters was just exceptional with incredibly mature and complex themes constantly making you think. Characters make stunning decisions constantly that at first shock you but after a moment of reflection it all makes sense as they deal with loss, grief, pain, uncomfortable pasts and uncertain futures. There is no main character and there isn't even right or wrong: there are what feels like a bunch of extraordinary human beings navigating a fairly unfathomable plot that is grounded in real, emotionally gripping themes and concepts. There are no "good guys" or "bad guys" and instead every character, even the major enemies, feel like they are real, making reasonable if not difficult decisions based on their own perspectives and moral compasses. It would pass for an A+ high budget and critically acclaimed TV show which is insane for a video game. The ending is exceptional and you make decisions where no matter what you choose it pulls at you. 10/10 doesn't do the narrative justice. -Content- There's tons of it and it's all good. All of the background information and even the "end boss" enemies you can go hunt down have interesting story and lore behind them. Easily got 80-100 hours out of the game completing it all. -Music- would be remiss if I didn't note that the soundtrack is exceptional. I think the Witcher 3 is still my favorite game of all time... but Clair Obscur makes a compelling argument. It's a masterpiece.