I don't really know how to describe this game in a way to justify a review. The overall dialogue is ok, the overall storyboarding sucks, the individual minutiae in writing was much worse, the characters average at mildly interesting, the pacing is confusing, the game looks really good, the animations sucked something horrid, the sound design must have been good cause I never noticed it, the licensed music choices are baffling and the non-licensed are forgettable, the gameplay elements are slightly better than you'd expect, the gameplay systems are very well polished (despite a lack of necessity), and the UI is great. It's not overall a positive experience and yet I still felt positively impacted by my time playing.
New Tales felt like a genuine accidental faceplant from people who tried really hard to care, and not a 'oh no, I'm going to fall over and hurt my beautiful visage and gameplay-ability weally weally hard, don't get mad at me ;(' like from many examples that could be listed (Eg: Gollum). The only explanation that I can think of for this game being the way it is, is that a completely fresh team of creatives were told to make another game like the original Tales but given no other direction besides a list of qualities to include that clash with any ideas they had. Though, to be fair, the game is not all bad, it's mostly negative to various degrees minus LOU13 (which is a genuinely good character and arc), the sheer amount of comedy crammed into this thing which statistically means jokes will eventually land, and the Tediore guards (the best part).
It's real telling when the most emotionally impacted I felt from a narrative adventure is during the credits, specifically from all the messages the creatives at Gearbox left for their friends, family, and/or the player. The worst part is that they already did this with Wonderlands, and so despite the genuinity it feels hollow/shallow/deceptive coming from the company which fired most of it's workers without promised bonuses after it's most successful game release in years (Borderlands 3). I only played this game on a whim after buying the Pandora Box at a steep discount (which lives up to it's name in this aspect).
I don't know how to feel about this game (despite the score, that's more for other people to understand my opinion of their likely enjoyment of the game), and especially this franchise as a whole. It keeps seeming lately that with every video game that releases critiquing art under capitalism or highlights the corruption of corporate greed over individuals and culture, the same game highlight's it's own company's/art's flaws and failures the most eloquently and loudly (Cyberpunk, Steamworld, Borderlands, Respawn Entertainment as a whole, etc). Unfortunately this is one of those games that sucks as a metatextual thing to own, despite the wishes and wills of the creatives to make something special and worthwhile. I fear deeply for this franchise, despite the obvious emotional detachment I should feel, and many studios like it that find themselves in similar holes of production oversight, forced franchise building, visions and scopes beyond their creative limits, and art for the sake of consumerism. Fuck Randy Pitchford, and thank you the many creatives at Gearbox who still tried anyway.
Really makes you feel like listening to the same old New Tales from the Borderlands
New Tales felt like a genuine accidental faceplant from people who tried really hard to care, and not a 'oh no, I'm going to fall over and hurt my beautiful visage and gameplay-ability weally weally hard, don't get mad at me ;(' like from many examples that could be listed (Eg: Gollum). The only explanation that I can think of for this game being the way it is, is that a completely fresh team of creatives were told to make another game like the original Tales but given no other direction besides a list of qualities to include that clash with any ideas they had. Though, to be fair, the game is not all bad, it's mostly negative to various degrees minus LOU13 (which is a genuinely good character and arc), the sheer amount of comedy crammed into this thing which statistically means jokes will eventually land, and the Tediore guards (the best part).
It's real telling when the most emotionally impacted I felt from a narrative adventure is during the credits, specifically from all the messages the creatives at Gearbox left for their friends, family, and/or the player. The worst part is that they already did this with Wonderlands, and so despite the genuinity it feels hollow/shallow/deceptive coming from the company which fired most of it's workers without promised bonuses after it's most successful game release in years (Borderlands 3). I only played this game on a whim after buying the Pandora Box at a steep discount (which lives up to it's name in this aspect).
I don't know how to feel about this game (despite the score, that's more for other people to understand my opinion of their likely enjoyment of the game), and especially this franchise as a whole. It keeps seeming lately that with every video game that releases critiquing art under capitalism or highlights the corruption of corporate greed over individuals and culture, the same game highlight's it's own company's/art's flaws and failures the most eloquently and loudly (Cyberpunk, Steamworld, Borderlands, Respawn Entertainment as a whole, etc). Unfortunately this is one of those games that sucks as a metatextual thing to own, despite the wishes and wills of the creatives to make something special and worthwhile. I fear deeply for this franchise, despite the obvious emotional detachment I should feel, and many studios like it that find themselves in similar holes of production oversight, forced franchise building, visions and scopes beyond their creative limits, and art for the sake of consumerism. Fuck Randy Pitchford, and thank you the many creatives at Gearbox who still tried anyway.
Really makes you feel like listening to the same old New Tales from the Borderlands
HenryVines
4 months ago