"Ghost star, wonder where you are,
Ghost star, are you very far?
All night long, I will sing your song if you watch over me."
When Jedi: Fallen Order dropped in 2019, I immediately disregarded it for multiple reasons:
1. It's an EA game.
2. It's Star Wars... a universe I used to love unconditionally, but as we all are very much aware, is in a rough state right now.
3. It's a member of the populated Souls-like genre - I prefer the "real thing" that From Software releases over many of the knock-off games.
However, after a year of it being out, and all the good reviews and word of mouth, I eventually gave it a shot... and wow, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed my playthrough of it, and how wrong my initial assumptions ended up being...
Firstly, to counter my original 3 detracting points - this may be an EA published game, but it shows the developers over at Respawn Entertainment have it in them to still craft a great single-player experience. This also brought my love of Star Wars back; demonstrating that I still love this universe, when in the hands of a competent team of writers. And lastly, even though I can see the "Souls-like" influences, I'd consider this to be more of a 3D Metroidvania than anything else... which is another genre I'd consider to be one of my favorites.
So fast forward to 2023, and its subsequent sequel Jedi: Survivor. It is bigger and better in every conceivable way to its predecessor. Now a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, Cal is equipped with the same abilities as he is at the end of Fallen Order. This makes the traversal and combat much more fun and satisfying right from the very beginning.
The worlds are much bigger, there is good enemy variety, the customization is lightyears better (goodbye ugly ponchos, and hello Jedi/wanderer robes - oh, and long-hair/goatee Cal >>>>> all. I had my Cal looking like a prime Obi-Wan Kenobi out here), the cast of characters are great, its music fits Star Wars perfectly, and I enjoyed the direction the storyline took - so much so, that I am very curious as to where they take Cal's character in the final game...
Now one thing I should mention is that I didn't play this title immediately on release. And from the sounds of it, this may have benefited me from a technical issue standpoint greatly... (a sad trend of modern AAA gaming that I hope doesn't continue, but it feels like is here to stay in an era of Day 1 patches and releasing broken games.) There are still some technical hiccups, visual/audio glitches, and pop-in here and there, especially if you start going overboard with the garden like I did, but all in all, I never experienced a game breaking bug in my 60-70 hour 100% run.
One last thing I'll bring up that I loved - Pyloon's Saloon! Running into characters across the world and having them brought back to the "main base" of operations, talking with everyone each revisit to the cantina to see what they had to say, the DJ/music, mini-game Holotactics, and seeing the place come alive as you progress further in the game... all of it was right up my alley. Easily one of my favorite parts of the game.
Now I sit here eagerly anticipating the final game in this planned trilogy... when it finally drops, I will be there to see how the journey of Cal Kestis reaches its conclusion...
Ghost Star (Kata's Lullaby) Emotional Cover by "Jeremy Brauns Music"
I absolutely adored this little song when it played in the game...and this is a great addition to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wzq6RR_9Mk
--Be careful of spoilers if you haven't played the game. The song/video doesn't contain spoilers, but you have to watch out for Comments/Recommended Videos.
Ghost star, are you very far?
All night long, I will sing your song if you watch over me."
When Jedi: Fallen Order dropped in 2019, I immediately disregarded it for multiple reasons:
1. It's an EA game.
2. It's Star Wars... a universe I used to love unconditionally, but as we all are very much aware, is in a rough state right now.
3. It's a member of the populated Souls-like genre - I prefer the "real thing" that From Software releases over many of the knock-off games.
However, after a year of it being out, and all the good reviews and word of mouth, I eventually gave it a shot... and wow, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed my playthrough of it, and how wrong my initial assumptions ended up being...
Firstly, to counter my original 3 detracting points - this may be an EA published game, but it shows the developers over at Respawn Entertainment have it in them to still craft a great single-player experience. This also brought my love of Star Wars back; demonstrating that I still love this universe, when in the hands of a competent team of writers. And lastly, even though I can see the "Souls-like" influences, I'd consider this to be more of a 3D Metroidvania than anything else... which is another genre I'd consider to be one of my favorites.
So fast forward to 2023, and its subsequent sequel Jedi: Survivor. It is bigger and better in every conceivable way to its predecessor. Now a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, Cal is equipped with the same abilities as he is at the end of Fallen Order. This makes the traversal and combat much more fun and satisfying right from the very beginning.
The worlds are much bigger, there is good enemy variety, the customization is lightyears better (goodbye ugly ponchos, and hello Jedi/wanderer robes - oh, and long-hair/goatee Cal >>>>> all. I had my Cal looking like a prime Obi-Wan Kenobi out here), the cast of characters are great, its music fits Star Wars perfectly, and I enjoyed the direction the storyline took - so much so, that I am very curious as to where they take Cal's character in the final game...
Now one thing I should mention is that I didn't play this title immediately on release. And from the sounds of it, this may have benefited me from a technical issue standpoint greatly... (a sad trend of modern AAA gaming that I hope doesn't continue, but it feels like is here to stay in an era of Day 1 patches and releasing broken games.) There are still some technical hiccups, visual/audio glitches, and pop-in here and there, especially if you start going overboard with the garden like I did, but all in all, I never experienced a game breaking bug in my 60-70 hour 100% run.
One last thing I'll bring up that I loved - Pyloon's Saloon! Running into characters across the world and having them brought back to the "main base" of operations, talking with everyone each revisit to the cantina to see what they had to say, the DJ/music, mini-game Holotactics, and seeing the place come alive as you progress further in the game... all of it was right up my alley. Easily one of my favorite parts of the game.
Now I sit here eagerly anticipating the final game in this planned trilogy... when it finally drops, I will be there to see how the journey of Cal Kestis reaches its conclusion...
Ghost Star (Kata's Lullaby) Emotional Cover by "Jeremy Brauns Music"
I absolutely adored this little song when it played in the game...and this is a great addition to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wzq6RR_9Mk
--Be careful of spoilers if you haven't played the game. The song/video doesn't contain spoilers, but you have to watch out for Comments/Recommended Videos.