ravenblade

Many official reviews are based on first impressions or story playthroughs. ARPGs, however, have to be evaluated differently, and similarly to MMORPGs, should be based on reviews-in-progress or delayed by a months based on endgame experience. Blizzard missed the mark with their third installment and didn't bring the genre forward like it did previously. They had years to learn from successful competitors like Grinding Gear Games' Path of Exile. So, there was much hope that part IV will do much better. However, it appears that Blizzard, again, has to go back to the drawing board because many design decisions made do hamper the long-term replayability and question whether anything has been understood about the genre they once championed. This is fatal for a live service game. As said, the story itself isn't what should be talked about, rather whether the game provides a satisfying endgame loop. This is where they're outright falling flat. This is just a summarization of issues (by the time of writing, some changes may be made later and already have been announced): — the most effective way to level to 100 is grinding nightmare dungeons. This is highly repetitive by nature, but even more so if there's a cap on XP buffs, but you will still run at least 6–8 times until the next level. Thereafter, yes, nightmare dungeons are still the way to go. There is no variation to this formula. It's all there is. — you will eventually feel like a trash panda, given that the game fails to provide any form of loot filtering. At least they did away with having to identify items. — gems are dropped plenty but thanks to their reusability there is no need to keep them unless you want to stuff your limited inventory with them — inventory space is overall abysmally small, worse even, some inventory is intentionally limited, there is no search function, and if you thought that gems shouldn't take up as much space as an axe then you are out of luck. Blizzard has always been stingy with inventory space, but this isn't acceptable in a modern ARPG anymore. — some stats like resistances don't either work at all or poorly. Other stats are overpowered to the level of necessitating to build your character around it, this is due to a stat bucket system where certain stats share the same stat domain while others have their own. Given that stats are the mechanical core of any ARPG it is very puzzling to see a developer like Blizzard stumbling over such basic issues. — given how the stat system works, it should be no surprise that there is immense stat bloat, with lesser versions of the same stat class occupying the same space. Currently, there are about 576 stats to roll from. With only a maximum of four available per item, an eternal grind for the perfect roll is ensured. Until then, you will either end up as a gold billionaire or as a walking warehouse of crafting materials. — the game likes to waste your time: from the aforementioned lacking loot filter system, over meandering dungeons even requiring backtracking to events requiring you to listen to a prologue of lengthy dialogues of NPCs, and many more things, it has it all. — at the time of writing, the first season is running and exposing some serious design lack of conceptual proofs during development. A design that requires you to run up to boring dungeons to chase an item that not only provides borrowed power, a concept that Blizzard has stumbled over many times. It also floods your regular inventory space with items that are season-limited, and cannot be praised at all. There is no added depth and feels uninspired overall. A part of general criticism is also the world. Previously, Blizzard stuck to a zone-based design, this time they went for a world-based design, where players have to unlock some settlements, do quests, kill world bosses, participate in various events like Helltides or PVP. But it seems that with every change Blizzard makes, the world becomes irrelevant. This appears to be symptomatic for Blizzard: they are certainly capable of crafting beautiful worlds, but they are torpedoing their value by committing players to forced claustrophobia to have any meaningful character progression. Another issue is camera zoom, which can lead to instant character deaths due to monsters engaging you from off-screen, like skeletal artillery or turbocharging monsters. So, is there anything good? Yes. The story is certainly more mature and gritty than in the previous installment. The game runs smoothly in many configurations, the foundation is there, but the interior is lacking. Overall, this means however that as an actual ARPG it is a rather mediocre experience.

I hate to say it, but as someone who's played every installation of Galactic Civilizations in the last two decades, this one is outright the least fun experience I've had with. In general, it feels like a very conservative iteration of its predecessor which I am sad about because it always, even in the weaker part 3, it felt there was a major direction and an overarching design goal. The first two games did thrive on quirky humor and comical approach to morality. As someone who even did have a stint on the metaverse (the original global scoring system) I'm aware that this game allowed for traditional as well as exploitative gameplay altogether. Evolving from that into a serious game can be a challenge, and I feel that the developers seemed to have got too scared of that after they tried it with part 3. There are a few aspects that really draw criticism from me, and which feel like a let-down, especially when you know that 4X games are still popular. There are competitors on the market who really have shown that evolution is still possible. The previously defining aspects for this game’s series seem to have all but gone now. There is no United Planets anymore, morality has been replaced by a ying-yang’esque set of ideologies that form the basis for factions. Since no game ever lasts long enough to make use of this aspect, it feels like a waste of potential. Combat for instance has always been an oversight of the series and never been a staple since you could still win in different ways. However, while you could excuse the lack of complexity and scope by lack of technology, experience, and manpower, this doesn’t work two decades later anymore. It feels archaic, clumsy and much like a token feature with a very non-intuitive nature, and I know that **** is capable of developing combat systems. Worse yet, the ship editor, a staple of this genre, feels like an afterthought too. Like never before I felt the need to not bother at all. Research and economy feel a lot more stripped down this time around. I'm not a fan of the tile bonus system on planets, since it feels like you could ignore it altogether or use it and be less efficient overall. It's like a minimalistic attempt to emulate the tile bonuses from Civilization 5 and 6. Another core aspect were starbases, it is also exemplary for how a developer struggles with finding a working iteration. In part 2 you spammed constructors until starbases were fully upgrades, in part 3 they added modules and in part overcomplicated it for balance purposes, this time around you only place a starbase once and then start spam-building modules at your shipyards. This is probably the best approach so far; however, the upgrades are still a mess, since you still must figure out in-depth what each starbase is missing. In general, the game could do better with information. A lot of information is simply not available. Do you want to see the tile layout of a planet? It’s not available until colonization. You want to see what modules are missing on a starbase? You must get into the screen. Do you want to see what protects an anomaly? Save, test and reload! Obscurity is not a good feature anymore in 2022! The sector system is a new feature whose existence could only be explained by technicality. It doesn’t really add fun to the game, its control is easily cheesed, and the AI will still spam your sector even if it has plenty of space in its own home sector. In the late game, some sectors will be swarmed with pirates, space monsters and precursors, making settling it feel like cleaning up a flea-ridden attic. They are an annoyance without a major threat. The last two issues I have concern balance and technical issues. You can win the game through accumulation of prestige. However, prestige is the sum of several powers, and these powers are not calculated in a normalized fashion. For instance, there is a species that gets a duplicate, albeit weaker ship after building one. Ignoring that the combat system favors swarms anyway, it is also handsomely rewarded by score. Lastly, like its predecessor, the game still struggles with parallelism, which result in stuck turns or UI elements blocking turn progression by being placed in front of critical dialogs or other elements. In conclusion, there are a host of issues that probably get resolved over time, but the initial player base is already smaller after the disappointment of its predecessor. It being available on Epic store only is an even worse decision. It adds another limiting layer of exclusivity, causing a major lack of interest in a franchise that could really need some innovation. If the initial base after a release is too small, then no amount of DLC can revive it. This is more so true for Galactic Civilizations, which once stood at the forefront and now has been marginalized to a game that barely registers on the radar of 4X enthusiasts.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

As a platinum backer I been disappointed several times throughout its development but let's keep it short and stick to the game at hand: It still needs a lot of work until it's in actual release-ready state. Mechanics feel clunky, animations feel drawn out, the storytelling is a bit lacking in regards of depth and and in general after a short time you've had already your fill of the game. After all the trouble I really thought the team could pull at least something on XCOM 2 level but this feels like are just only aspiring to be as good as Firaxis latest sequel in this series which started off as Gollop's brainchild after all.

You can't fault the developers for trying but you can't shake off the feeling either that it's been an over-sized project for a too small of a team. The result has been a severe cut-down of features,that couldn't have been realized anyway given the limited resources,which were seemingly being replaced with boilerplate ARPG features instead. Between systems that barely seem to mesh together, noticeable bugs and a host of other gameplay issues especially in regards of balancing and skill functionality, you'll find a visually nicely crafted game that often gives you a feeling of déjà-vu in terms of gameplay and is held together by a continuously character-narrated story that didn't really capture me. However ARPG storylines are traditionally railroads to the final boss. I'm not sure whether any developer would like to see an "Okay" seal of approval for their work but it's sadly just that: an okay game especially once issues have been ironed out.

This game surprised me in how much I got glued to it from the beginning. It's been a while I've played an actual role-playing game where the emphasis on role-playing and by that extent the associated freedoms you do expect from playing one. The dialogues and character writing has clearly been a world of love so has been the world. A garishly colorful world accompanied by a great soundtrack that's only being hampered by its rather simplistic combat system which makes almost all combat a run-over. However this can be forgiven by the fact that it's clearly not a combat-centered game however if you're playing solely for the combat only then this iteration of the game isn't going to satisfy you. Although the world design is great it is clear that it is as open as any old Mass Effect game, meaning there is no endless exploration which in the end contributes to its rather shortness of the game of about 40 hrs. of game-play. Given that it was never developed or marketed AAA game I still have to commend Obsidian on showing us that old virtues of creating a good game that runs without a hitch and without telling me that I need to spend more money in order to get the amount of fun that I have hoped for when buying it.

Brothers and sisters, it is with heavy heart that I must share this ancient message with you. Bear witness to a horrific truth that only has been spawned recently from the depths of the abyss from whence an old comrade has returned and who has left it to me on old charred parchment that I had to rip of his blood-clad hands with an inhumane force that was granted to me eons ago by beautifully sinister forces. However as we all are striving to perfect ourselves and we always see when one of our fails and when that happens we all mourn for eternity. It is therefore with great sorrow that the knowledge of Star Wars: The Old Republic having enjoyed a greater depth and passion in its story than that of Mass Effect: Andromeda must pass onto our next generation and with it our hope that such abomination might never repeat itself for otherwise we might as well be doomed for eternity.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Basically this game does many things right which the 2nd blockbuster successor of that game which this genre owes existence has failed to deliver on many levels. Even though you will inevitably find some quirks they are not going to become a fundamental game-stopper. It runs smoothly in single-player mode, there is useful loot to be found without having to give a jealous glance at some item shop your game is balanced around, there is no need to bore yourself through three rounds of easy mode before finally meeting a challenge as you can pick your appropriate difficulty mode from start, there's modding support and lastly and most importantly the game sticks to the guns and doesn't try to marry with MMO mechanics. What this means is also that there are no silly balancing efforts as well as other deterrents not adding to gameplay. Matt Uelmen's soundtrack adds perfectly well to the atmosphere, the sound is crispy and if you don't mind comic-style graphics and nonsensical story which does at least not try to take itself as serious and impose itself on the player then you can't go wrong with this game.

People expected a new reference for a good dungeon crawler and hack'n'slash game and renewal of the old item hunt formula. Unfortunately this is not what Diablo 3 will represent, instead people will get a game which will keep them entertained for a while until they stumble over the many shortcomings of its design and either continue to play until Blizzard has addressed them

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This is my 2nd review of this game, in my first one I barely touched the game. A second review should be common thing these for MMO reviewers anyways. I will start with what keeps me playing this game for now: Story. Story is the strong point of this game although when talking about story I have to emphasize on class storylines because alot sidequests get lost in the same stereotypical "be a hero and save the world." theme not being shy of being hyperbolic in many cases. It is quite common to spend more time listening to the voiceover quest dialogue than for the quest itself. # As hinted sidequest content qualities are not exactly an evolution and often backwards, bonus objectives in 99 out of 100 cases start with a kill x of y and if there are stages involved they are often followed up by a x of 5*y type of kill quest. Alot sidequests simply don't go beyond kill x, catch y, click z to destroy/interact. There is no timed challenge, no mini-game which could spice it up and certainly no alternate paths involved which would hint the same level of evolution they offered via their dialogue/voiceover introduction.# Speaking of alternate paths it needs to be mentioned that all quest progression follows the same road for every class, the game is heavily guiding you through content while also limiting you in your abilities to explore. Random invisible walls and entire area potential wasted for instancing, some even class-specific are common and a step backwards. If that didn't wreck your immersion already then the fact that despite all the instancing the game does it knows little to nothing of story persistence aka phasing. At least, you could say, you can have world PVP, but unfortunately there is little of that.# World PVP is again very limited to a few planets and even then it is better to go your way because on the occasion you have met - which is very difficult with the few Republic players out there - you have almost no incentive to do anything than classical ganking. It is in fact easier to group for instanced PVP.# Instanced PVP as well as the only exclusive world PVP zone in this game suffers from the same thing as other games within the genre: It is too much of a treadmill and hindered by mechanical as well as technical limitations. Especially the latter deserves some mentioning.# The biggest issue of this game is its lack of fidelity. The reason for that is a blatant neglect of technological standards and a very unpolished client design. It is very common for some players to deal with the lack in case of many players being in the same area. Even then if you can enjoy higher framerates it becomes quite clear that beyond the poor optimization, animation, texture resolution and shadow qualities are one of the worst I have seen in a long time. Adding to that world design qualities are greatly lacking, the amount of sterility and lifelessness, the impression of a paint brush effect, the lack of small details and variations are putting quite a dent into the immersion and cannot be fixed by the sheer existence of voiceover alone anymore.# With this said I want to add that I have left out alot of other things especially spoiling ones and things like companions, travelling nightmares and crafting imbalances but these are what I see as biggest outstanding issues. Bioware emphasized too much on voiceover and hoped that it will be the strings that tie the game together. Unfortunately their new pillar of gameplay may break under the burden if they are not beginning to be a little bit more critical of their own design and design choices and start improving. As of now the only saving grace is it being in the Star Wars universe but it will have a hard time to stand up against contenders in this genre who in fact are making and already have made a leap of faith forward.

Eventually they will fix this game, by then most interested people will however already have forgotten about it. The rest will have a hard time spreading the message. Kerberos itself now has a reputation and credibility problem which not even Paradox could fix. It was not Paradox' fault here, it was Kerberos' fault, just so you know before you bash Paradox. Advertising the game when there are so many people warning about it and its developer company would need a miracle or a professional spin-doctor to make it actually work out in favour and turn it into profitable franchise. As an indy company they should never have got to that point. About the game itself there is not much to say about yet as I have yet to finish a game. I always hit a game-stopping crash even after nearly 1.5 months after release. It is shaping up, things are improving, and alot of things finally getting functional. It is almost as watching game development live. As if you are part of their QA team. There is no doubt about it they are really trying to fix it up. But they are already over their promised deadline. If things are going as they are now then I'd say they will be done around end of February 2012. Which should have been the official release date.

Saying this game is bad would be generally unfair. Bioware's biggest mistake in this case wasn't the game not being a true sequel but being advertised as such even though it is realistically a separate game. Think of Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate both playing in Forgotten Realms but being two separate story-lines where the events of one may be referred to in another. It's title should have been Dragon Age: The Kirkwall Chronicles. Story-wise I do have mixed feelings. I am not happy about the lack of alternative storyline aspects but the few being there are still entertaining enough to keep a player happy for a while. Companions still have their own personalities and your personality being a lot less mute than in the original Dragon Age titles certainly helps to blend in. On dialogue side the game presents you with a classical Mass Effect style wheel giving you options for certain type of straight answer or investigative questions - but unlike in Mass Effect series the obvious outcome is not always that clear and not always wholly different for the entire dialogue regardless of which conversation path you chose. Sadly the exploration side got a bit of a short straw, it is still there but due to lack of big locations quite limited. It seems a bit symptomatic for recent Bioware games: Exploration getting steadily removed from games altogether. However as saving grace it should be noted that the game allows you to progress in the main plot at your own terms without too much prescribed linearity. The combat system got a major overhaul but while it can be challenging on its own terms especially on higher difficulty modes. Its shortcomings are minor compared to the original Dragon Age title, in this case the lack of tactical camera, enemies coming from thin air and Nightmare involving some several issues making making it favour single target ranged combat should be noted. I believe the latter will be addressed by Bioware soon. Talent trees got improved a lot and leave a lot of room for experimentation and replay. Personally I found the issue of fixed but upgradeable companion armor quite an interesting idea. It would have been better though if upgrades would allow more flexibility. The old crafting system got replaced by a less hunter-gathering aspect but more one which people who played Mass Effect 2 are familiar with. Instead of gathering the resources into your backpack you are now mostly out for finding resource locations you'll have to tag/unlock depending on the locations you are visiting. The more resource locations you find the higher classes of runes, potions and poisons you can craft. Crafting also isn't done in the same spot but done at certain shop-like locations. While this hurts any fan of the classical gathering & crafting game I feel the old system did not actually limit you aside from backpack size whereas the new one obviously uses your cash as limiter. In the end I personally liked the old system more but to be fair the new system is achieving the same results in the end without forcing the player to reserve a large part of his backpack for resources and materials. Graphically it's looks are stunningly good even though it does lack the deliberately dark look of its predecessor title. Animations are well-down although the game overdoes a lot on the explosions side making it unnecessarily messy-looking when there is no reason for it. I do miss effects on weapons from runes and the lack of a bit more beautiful inventory graphics. The game's locations are well done although a lot of quests do lead to several previously locations. This does lead to a certain level of repetition but amusingly also to a lot of familiarity. The game however does a good job in keeping Kirkwall more than just one town although its lack of aging, progression and liveliness as the story goes on does make the town feel static and lacking the realistic feel of years spent within it. The whole story could be in fact one of a single 24 hrs. day when taking the persistent looks of the town's scenery into account. The GUI has been overhauled quite well and it's quite intuitive from the get-go. Nothing more to add this one is done well. What needs to be left noted is the relative subtlety of game's score, even though the score is quite excellent it does lack the certain epic factor which the original title was known for. Otherwise the atmosphere, combat and ambient are in parts a lot better done than in the original titles. In conclusion I think it is worth buy if you see it as a game within the Dragon Age universe or setting. If you are truly seeing a linear successor to the original Dragon Age titles you might not like it. It certainly does come with a lot improvements of its own but also another set of issues left to be addressed in another possible upcoming Dragon Age title. Perhaps both titles will give Bioware sufficient amount of material to find the real alchemy for an ultimate Dragon Age game.

The good things first, wars are more fun now and less of a dice game. It does look really good in DX11 mode. Alot things have been streamlined and even so playing it still gives you the typical Civilization feeling. However there is alot of things which clearly were not mentioned in official reviews at all. Despite best intentions the game is still littered with exploits, game-stopping bugs and ghastly performance issues being the result of poor optimization with the latter two coming to bear in games featuring large and huge maps. The UI is tends to be a cause for frequent lock-ups and confusions and also feels rather clunky. The AI behaves rather erratic and illogical, refuses to cooperate and to be offensive altogether even when it would be far better for it to do so. On the sound side there seems to be a step back altogether, whereas Civ4 would offer era-typical scores for your cultures it is now just back to using licensed scores of somewhat awkward choice and mediocre quality.