Stryker_777

Most linear game of all-time. These days, I accept that some games are gonna be easy and linear. It's irritating but many games have options and mods to increase difficulty and reduce handholding. RDR2 is another matter. The mission design is shockingly inferior. There is no game here, you are constantly ordered around. It is vital for a game to have player agency. I have never seen the complete removal of player agency in a game before. I am disgusted they got away with this lazy, incompetent mission design and I will never touch a Rockstar game again.

I wanted to like this but there's simply not enough content to justify the high scores, I'd give it a 6 or 7 but 2 to balance out all the gushers. Maybe it's not my cup of tea, but fighting the same enemies and the button mashing gets really old, when one is accustomed to more advanced and complex games, this games seems to cater towards casual players. You will inevitably get stronger and encounters will get easier, so at some point it feels more like a progressive grind where skill doesn't matter and there's no real learning curve. Just play and play until eventually, you finish it. Art style and voices are top-notch, its a pretty good game but the scores its getting are way too high for what it is.

This game is quite underrated. For someone like me who can't stand modern games for how linear and easy they are, Pillars of Eternity is highly relieving and satisfying because it is built on an old-school formula that made games deeper and more open-ended. I especially like to customize my party with custom portraits and unique characters that I designed. So in a way, I get to participate in the storytelling. The combat is much better than Baldur's Gate IMO. On Path of the Damned it is challenging enough without being frustrating. There are myriad ways to solve battles and the creativity strategizing in combat is one of the richest aspects of the game. They've done it well. I wish there were more types of enemies, some of them are reused too much. There's weird moments like looting an item that you can't equip because it went straight into your stash, but you can't access your stash until you campfire. So basically it prevents you from equipping an item you just found! That is a totally unnecessary mechanic. The itemization is fine to me. Some people complained about it but I don't see a problem. There are enough unique items and finds along the way. The loot is similar to Baldur's Gate, it 's somewhat sparse and not the main focus of the game. This ain't Diablo. You can also upgrade any of your favorite items so none of them become obselete, which adds a nice element of gear customization that didn't exist in Baldur's Gate. The game doesn't constantly reward you, sometimes you'll just waste your time or do a dungeon only to discover a very mediocre item in the end. Unlike modern games it doesn't pander, there is no such thing as an "Achievement" (which I've always thought were pointless) and it won't string you long with shiny rewards. You have to roleplay a lot and become immersed, and what did it for me was having my own unique 6-character party and imagining their personalities as I went along. The stronghold also adds to the roleplaying giving your character a home in the world and getting to roleplay as a Lord sitting in his throne, hearing petitioners and while the events are inconsequential, it still adds a lot of roleplaying & immersion. The setting is unique and really has its own flavor, it is somewhat reminiscent of Planescape: Torment. Some have called it trite but I disagree, it is perfectly dark for me and while I never read any of the in-game books or know much about the overall lore, I still enjoy what I've absorbed as I played through. This is the ultimate evolution of Baldur's Gate, a highly refined game and a true RPG so don't listen to the critics and give it an honest attempt! You might fall in love.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Monkey bars? Janky nonsensical combat? What the F is going on with the chainsaw. The chainsaw in DOOM is a fun way to kill enemies. It's fluff. Its there to make you feel badass. What could be better than optionally choosing to kill an enemy with a chainsaw? It's an option. I like options in games. Is being pigeonholed and forced to play only ONE way a console thing? Console players like to have their hand held every step of the way. They like being told exactly what button to press and when. I like options! Like randomly executing a pinkie with a chainsaw if I'm in the mood. But here.. it's how you get ammo? They've turned the coolest weapon in the game into a repetitive, chore. W T F. Are the enemy demons like pinatas stuffed with ammo? So why is only the chainsaw able to get ammo? THIS MAKES NO FRIKIN' SENSE whatsoever. Why are all the happy reviewers overlooking this? The chainsaw mechanic makes no sense WHATSOEVER! It's so frikin unrealistic! Is this a magic chainsaw or what? Wow these decisions make me rage. Who's calling the shots up there??? Who came up with this ridiculous half baked idea that killing demons with a chainsaw magically makes them give you ammo? WTF IT'S UNACCEPTABLE DAMMIT I'm sure this game **** for the same reason Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout whatever... all those trash Bethesda games FML Go to hell Bethesda

I really appreciate that the game is non-linear and has a rich, believable world. Dishonored 2 does away with many of the things I can't stand about AAA titles (or at least lets you turn them off in options menu) i play with everything turned off, a clean interface without those abominable objective markers. There are so many directions you can go. So many nooks and crannies. Exploration is actually usually NOT rewarded, but it helps make the game immersive, like you're wandering in a big city or a big mansion and it isn't some arcade-y treasure hunt where the developers conveniently hide loot for you to find. At best you'll find bonecharms which are decent, but not mandatory. The rest if what you find, should you choose to wander about and explore, is only really books and documents that help flesh out the lore and explain the politics of the game world. I read them all and never got bored -- because I was so INTO the game as I'm playing it. In modern games I HATE hand-holding and linear gameplay. In Dishonored 2 I didn't have to deal with any of that. The art direction, characters and writing is exqusiite. All these positives add up to make a game that is very immersive, I am already **** in after 5 minutes of playing. Stealth is drastically harder than just going in and killing everything. You have plenty of gear like mines, grenades, special bolts to easily dispatch enemies. BUT the most effective thing about this game is that you truly feel guilty if you spill too much blood. Just something about it . I felt bad about killing enemies and doing things the messy way. Getting through an area cleanly and stealthily was more rewarding, without needing any artificial in-game rewards. The sense of reward is the accomplishment of objectives -- the mark **** game. And if you do it the dirty, bloody way, not so rewarding but you still got 'er done! I love games that are versatile, non-linear and immersive and Dishonored 2 delivers on those three critical aspects.

They fixed the biggest weakness of the series by making it more difficult. I appreciate the intelligent design. Darksiders I and II were way too easy. I don't like running a knife through butter. When it takes a long time to kill a boss until you finally figure out the right strategy and beat him after a million tries, it is much more rewarding.

Don't get me wrong, this game is phenomenal. Something about it, though, is overly polished. They were so true to the original, except in one place: the pacing. Doom 2016 becomes completely predictable because the (well-made) music is synchronized with the action. It's always the same, you always get a checkpoint when you're done, its cool the first few times but they use this mechanic over and over again the entire game. You enter an area, the intense music comes on, you defeat a wave of demons, the music crescendoes into some epic stuff, you defeat the big mega demons (quite easily with a few rockets, gauss rifle shots or one big BFG blast) , and then the music dies down and you roam the level freely, knowing that nothing's gonna jump out at you because the music isn't hinting at it. You get more than enough ammo and upgrades, more than you'll ever need. (caveat: I should have played the game on Nightmare, didn't wanna start over but Ultraviolence is WAY too easy) The original Doom just had monsters everywhere, they didn't come in predictable waves that you clear out. It was just an endless stream of monsters without the music conveniently telling you what's gonna happen next. I wish they would do ths in Doom Eternal but probably not gonna happen cause console fans