It's weird because on paper this game is kind of crap, but in my heart it is one of the games that I truly loved playing. The story isn't special, the combat is janky, the world is sometimes pretty bare, and there is the typical Bethesda jank sprinkled on top. Why do I like this game so much?

Simply put, It's one of the few open world games that actually earns the moniker, this is not a game where you just run from one quest marker to the next and stop every now and then to climb a radio tower to unlock a portion of the map. This is a game where you pick a direction, go exploring, and within a few minutes you will find something that pulls your attention-- An abandoned factory, a bandit camp, an NPC asking for help, or a group of Radscorpions ready to tear your face off. New Vegas also continues Bethesda's trend of masterful environmental story telling. Not every building you enter has a quest per-say, but pretty much every one has some sort of story to glean from the environment.

Fallout New Vegas is not the best open world game ever made but it does meet all the specific criteria of what I look for in an open world game. To me a large percentage of open world games don't really need to have an open world because they are mainly focused around doing story missions and the open world elements are repetitive and usually boil down to running from one mini-map icon to the next clearing objectives like some checklist. To me a good open world game rewards exploration and curiosity, be it with new gear, a cool boss fight, or an interesting piece of storytelling. Where you feel like you might be seeing something that no-one else has seen. Where you are given the agency to complete a mission in whatever way the games many systems allow for and not held to some strict sequence of actions to complete a mission successfully. New Vegas hits this nail on the head and for that I applaud it.

This is an open world game that follows all the tired tropes of most modern open world RPGs that I usually hate but actually quite enjoyed. The concept of the game is just super interesting to me: a world thrown back into the stone age with a new top dog on the food chain, rediscovering the events of the past in hopes of building a better future. It's just a really good idea and I was immediately enthralled by the contrast between the super high tech AI machine animals and the primitive existence of the humans.

The combat is made fresh by adding problem solving elements to each enemy type where you have to find and target weak spots and are encouraged to set up traps and ambush them rather than just running in guns blazing. This sophisticated combat system and some really cool enemy design leads to engrossing gameplay that feels new and fun.

The game is at its best when you are just exploring the open world, delving into the cauldrons which are interesting little mini dungeons that provide backstory, or finding vantage points which show you a glimpse into the past. The main story missions are where this game is lacking, the story is interesting enough but most of the main plot is pretty bland and predictable. Still well worth a try though, plenty to enjoy here.

When this game was first released I just didn't like the look of it. Not exactly sure if it was the graphics or the world in general but it just didn't look interesting. However I added it to my backlog and figured I'd give it a chance eventually assuming it would be a pleasant surprise seeing as it has mostly glowing reviews. I must just be a fundamentally different type of person to most gamers because after finally playing this game I found it to be uninspired, bland, and a total waste of an interesting world.

I feel like what makes FF games so good is the character development, and not just that but interplay between characters. Seeing the bonds that form between party members as their faults and flaws begin to show instantly adheres you to characters. I felt this was an element that was totally lacking in this game. In my opinion FF12 totally failed it's characters in almost every way and with better writing there could have been some really good stuff here instead of carboard cutout characters and vague evil baddies who all wear similar helmets so it's hard to tell them apart.

We never really get to see what is driving any of the characters besides the initial information given at the start of the game. We hardly ever see any backstory as to how a character became who they are-- for example Fran's backstory choosing to leave her people is like 20+ hours into the game and is barely referenced before or after. How did she wind up with Balthier? We never find out. Everything is just surface level. I feel like this game is essentially a really interesting novel but where 9 out of every 10 pages has been torn out, but making sure to leave in all the main story beats. It's hollow, missing all the world building, character development, and backstory of everything important. So many questions unanswered.

This issue with characterization is made worse by the license system where you can assign any job to any character. This just makes the characters feel more like malleable putty with no personality. Characters like Auron from FFX for example are defined by their skillset, he's a man of few words, a walker not a talker, and he carries a massive sword and plays the big bruiser role. It all fits. This is elementary stuff man, I don't get how they dropped the ball so badly in this department.

Another thing is that no one except Balthier really has any personality, they are all just drab and uninspired. There is no optimistic happy go lucky character, there is no silent bad ass, no obnoxious overly confident character, no den mother figure, just a bunch of vaguely neutral characters who never seem to show much emotion or personality at all.

The combat is fine and fun to tinker around with at first, but once you get to a certain point you have essentially automated the gameplay. The decision to make a combat system where the end goal is automation is an odd one, because once achieved you don't even have to play the game, you just run from one mob to the next and watch them die. Excluding bosses I don't think I had to touch my controller more than a couple of times in the last 10 hours of gameplay when in combat... Fun, fun.

This is the first FF game that I have actively disliked and that was really disappointing to me. Had high hopes for this one.

BioShock Infinite was a rocky release as the fanbase was essentially sold a lie and were rightly angered by this fact. I am no fan of manipulative advertisements and think that jacking up graphics for marketing and releasing the game with significantly lesser graphics is terrible and should be illegal.

Luckily enough I didn't actively follow gaming media at the time so all I knew about Infinite was the release date. So going in with zero expectations this game was really good to me. The gameplay was fun but man what a story-- I've seen some people boil this game down to escorting a Disney princess through a sky city but there's so much more going on here.

The backdrop of a city built in the sky based on American Exceptionalism and an extreme version of the "God and Country" crowd is well done. Everything seems all happy and good until those layers start getting peeled back and you see some of flaws in the system. This setting is interesting and is used to loosely explore themes of racism, patriarchy, and even the slaughter of Native Americans. This would usually annoy me as I typically hate politics in my video games, but it didn't feel like it was making a comment about today to me but rather sins of the past.

The most interesting theme to me is that of destiny, fate, or inevitability. The idea of "constants and variables" as it's put in the game where regardless of what timeline, and what choices you make differently, there are certain things that you are essentially predestined to do is an idea I found really interesting. They essentially used science to create time travel to figure out that there is a sort of master plan working in the background and even with the marvels of science we could not be the masters of our own universe, we are not gods. This is where the scientific rubber meets the religious road so to speak and I loved this concept.

The ending is also simply awesome with a heavily flawed character making the ultimate sacrifice to make right a series of wrongs. Ultimately this game didn't meet the environmental perfection of Rapture, but made up for it with a mature, deep story that asks so many questions and will leave the inquisitive mind pondering for long after the screen fades to black.

A fun turn based strategy game with easy to learn but hard to master gameplay with interesting squad and base progression. Probably the game I would recommend to people as an entry into the genre.

The main criticism I see about this game is how there is a lot of random stuff that can happen to quickly and unceremoniously lose one of your best soldiers, and this can leave to a lot of save scumming. To me this defeats the purpose of the game-- an untimely massive crit, or turning a corner to see a sectopod and berseker right in your face is bad luck and does suck. But that's kind of the point, war sucks, and casualties happen, especially if your enemy is vastly superior in terms of military technology. If you refrain from reloading when your best guy dies you will find yourself actually caring about the death of a seasoned veteran. It really does add a whole new element to the game.

A massively political, cynical, and nihilistic narrative paired with some of the least entertaining gameplay I've seen since Space Ace from the 1980s. This has become one of those games that has developed social pressure to say you like because if you don't people will call you stupid or assume you "didn't get it" or some other pretentious drivel. I just don't like to have a college freshman level understanding of politics be the lynchpin of a game I'm playing. But if you are one of those people that can't have a conversation for more than 5 minutes without getting political, enjoy wallowing in hopelessness, cynicism, and desperation, or enjoy being insulted by a video game for not being an extremist then maybe this game is for you.

A really well made reboot with an interesting premise. Kratos has grown tired of slaughtering gods and retired to a different world where Norse gods reign supreme. We pick up some time into his new life with his partner having just passed away leaving Kratos, a man of very few words and a gruff demeanor, to look out for and raise their child by himself all the while dealing with the grief of losing his partner. This leads to some really emotional story beats that I won't spoil. I'll just say it's very well done.

This quite endearing story is paired with a beautiful, mostly open world just begging to be explored and a combat system that may feel strange to the God of War purists as it feels influenced by the more deliberate combat of Dark Souls. This isn't to say that you will be cowering behind a shield the whole time, there is plenty of hacking and slashing, but you have to dodge and parry or you won't last. Took some getting used to this new combat and over the shoulder camera style but it grew on me. Simply put this game is really good and there isn't much I didn't like about it.

I seem to be in the minority here, but I love FFXIII. It's not my favorite FF game, but imo it is objectively one of the best if you sum up its individual parts. Some of the best graphics in the history of the franchise, Probably the best voice acting in franchise history (maybe 7 remake beats it), some really good character work where every character has a compelling arc of some kind, and an interesting world that is complex and deep. I also personally really liked the combat and the whole stagger meter system. I guess you just have to be able to get past the pretty linear game design through the first 10 or so chapters. I understand why people don't like this but it does make the world suddenly feel huge when it all opens up finally.