Zhorge

Galaxy sized sandbox. Two cups of sand. Great game for four hours. Then you'll play the same game until you die. Over-and-over-and-over-and-over. Not for $60. This should have been a $15 game on Steam.

I'm a long-time fan of the BG series. I've played every original release and original XPAC of the game through multiple times. I think it's one of the greatest CRPGs ever done. This not a worthy addition to the BG Universe. Rather, this is a fourth-rate, bug-filled disaster that's being over-accoladed because of the controversy surrounding a character. Frankly, pretty much nobody cares but for the fact the character was a ham-fisted, poorly-written token to modern political BS. That ham-fisted approach was just one symptom of the overwhelmingly ham-fisted, juvenile writing. The new characters are shallow, superficial and uninteresting. The dialogs are poor. Even beloved characters were wrecked. Add in the game play is even more linear than the original and choices are mostly inconsequential coupled with crashed, the UI being utter garbage, I can't see anyone wanting to waste their $20 on this disaster. Also, FWIW, I did not finish the expansion. It was that bad. My only regret is that instead of bailing early enough to get my Steam Refund, I held out hoping it'd improve. It did not.

This may be her depression, but it's not mine or anyone that I know who has ever been depressed. It's much more of a self-indulgent sado-masochistic romp through wallowing in victimhood than anything I, or anyone I've known, has experienced. Even worse, it plays like was written at the last minute by some HS slacker who stayed up the night before and rushed it out the door.

The downsides of Sunless Sea are that this game has a steep learning curve, some grind and a lot of resource management that can't be ignored. In short, it hasn't been dumbed down to a modern console-port CRPG and has some old-school elements that require attention to detail (in story and action) and putting in some effort in resource management. It's also not a combat-oriented CRPG/adventure so the combat system is simple compared to the button-mashing-special-attack fests of the modern games in the genres. But I consider that a feature, not a bug. You have a small variety of choices in your 'win game' goal. My current 'win game' goal is to find my father's bones and bury them. There are three others. The stories and characters are interesting and will engage the serious, and many of the casual, CRPG players. The game has various port challenges with multiple outcomes (RNG or choice) possible. You can make mistakes and they are fatal at times (my first Captain was murdered by his own crew!). You control the plot pace and are not forced down a linear path. You have stats to upgrade, ships to purchase and upgrade, crew to hire and upgrade, a world map that is reshuffled with every new captain. Combat can be avoided, or taken on. In the UnderZee you are rewarded, or punished, for your choices and your impatience, or patience. And when something bad happens to you, it's always because of what you did. Or failed to do. No deus ex machina garbage to hamper (or lift) you.

I've been waiting for this game for over 20 years now (Frontier Elite II, 1993). Many of my fondest gaming memories include FEII. But this game is not the game I've been waiting for all these years. It's just a shell **** with some rather underwhelming and annoying 'features.' My first issue is that the control system is clunky and harkens back to the bad-old-days of second-rate flight sims. I would have thought by now we'd have gotten past third-rate, crap-fest controls but I guess not. My second issue is the unnecessary pre-flight controller checklist that must be passed the first time you play the game (or major update) or you can't launch your ship. And if there is a problem with the game registering one of your control-binds, you're just stuck there. (Which happened to me until I changed from Joystick to Keyboard/Mouse even though my joystick controls worked 100% fine with the tutorial and every other game that uses it and the forums are full of threads with people sharing the same exact issue -- joysticks not registering, keyboard key-bindings not registering, mouse controls not registering -- so it's hardly me.) Next, navigation through the menus is so antique and clunky I had research how to move through an interface that should be point-and-click with a mouse! Seriously, do they not have mice in the future? Or are they all limited to the keyboard? So I take two points off for the poorly-thought-out gate-keeping and antique control system. There's just no excuse, even for a game that's primarily a sim, to be so clunky in it's control layout or force people to pass arbitrary gate-keeping checklists. Once in space, I've had other issues. The KB/M controls are bad. If switch back to the joystick, the controls get fouled up in the transition. So, after crashing my first ship trying to transition over, I feel like I'm stuck with KB/M for now. So I took another point off that. After getting past that... Well, it's kind of duller than I expected. I would have thought with all the money they begged off of people, plus having a successful, large company, Frontier might have put a little more effort into the universe. But, really, it just plays like a reskin of a 20-year old game and not a comprehensive reboot **** franchise. And while things are promised for the future, right now the game is shallow, superficial missions and a really messed up trading economy. I really expected some improvement in the missions and I'm not seeing it. So another point off for giving us 1993 all-over-again. In a few years, if Braeban actually delivers on his promises, this may be a great game. But right now, it's mediocre. So the best I could give it is a 6.0. Not because I'm a hater. But because this game has ignored 20-years of improvements in game-design and just didn't get much beyond a 'recycled feel.'

I wasn't going to buy another BioWare product after getting burned with the SWTOR, ME3 and DA2 fiascos, but my daughter talked me into it. I have been pleasantly surprised. It certainly has it's flaws and warts, which include: 1, The campaign is stuffed full of MMORPG grind quests. 2. Too many generic FedEx quests. 3. Bad tactical/party controls. 4. The stupid ME dialog wheel where, all too frequently, what you say is a surprise to you because it doesn't even remotely match the option. 5. The 'open world' isn't that open and is more like a bunch of really big rooms with artificial movement constraints rather than the openness of a Morrowind or Skyrim. 6. The jumping controls and platforms are so bad that the minor jumping puzzles scattered about are nearly impossible. 7. The inventory and save systems both ****. But the game, despite the flaws, has been very enjoyable. It's amazingly good looking on my computer (top of the line video) and it's been relatively bug and crash free for me, though it does crash hourly on my daughter's computer for reasons we don't understand. It can be a little lagish, despite my i7 processor, but nothing terrible, just the odd pause every now and then. But most of the time I get great frame-rates with no stuttering despite having the graphics turned way up. The world, which is really a bunch of big rooms, is still amazingly good looking and, hands down, beats every other CRPG I've played in looks. The best part was the ocean which is, simply put, the best rendered ocean in any game I've ever played. Ever. Regardless of genre. t's amazing and a far cry from the joke water of SWTOR some of their other titles. The main quest does a great job of tying in DA:O and DA2 into a uniform whole. Many of the non-FedEx side quests go well beyond 'mere-filler' are very interesting. The dialog, when it's not coming out of left-field, and NPCs are really well done. The crafting system is enjoyable and not overly tedious. My rating rating is 80/100 because of the MMO-grind elements and some gratuitous padding with FedEx quests.. My daughter, who isn't a driven completionist, gives it a 95/100 since she doesn't let herself get **** into the MMO-like aspects..