I started with Yakuza Like a Dragon and wanted to jump to the start of the series after to get all the story I had missed. All the advice I saw online was insistent that the best move is to start with the beginning of the series in Kiwami and NOT the beginning of the story in 0. I ignored all of that and played 0 first, loving the game from start to finish. When I was finally done 100+ hours later I was eager to jump into the next game.

I don't want to have to just compare this to a different game, but I quickly understood why people are so adamant on playing this game first as it's very barebones compared to 0. I knew it would be but I didn't think it would actually affect my enjoyment, but I just can't enjoy playing it and can't make it far enough into the game to even give this a rating.

I read the warnings, I heard the warnings, and I ignored them all. I am Icarus, Yakuza 0 is the sun, and I got too close, had my wings melted and plunged into the ocean that is Yakuza Kiwami to drown in my own hubris.

The goal was to finish all the Yakuza games before the end of 2024. I don't think that's going to happen anymore but I will someday come back to this game and give it the playthrough it deserves once my palette is cleansed of a more modern Yakuza experience.

I used to play Smite religiously, starting at the beginning of season 3 and stopping 4ish years later. So how do I even put into words my feelings about Smite?

It was such a huge part of my life for years. I met new friends, I bonded with people, I laughed, and I cried playing this game. So why did I stop playing? Because I was miserable. It's a free game and I understand that cosmetics will be a part of just about ANY game nowadays and they have to make money somehow. But there was a pretty obvious shift that happened where the entirety of the games direction was based around getting people to buy skins. Gods that players were shouting were OP were getting tons of new skins, and any time you saw a buff due to "underperformance according to our metrics" in the latest patch notes, you knew who the next batch of new skins was going to include. Hirez balanced (or rather they unbalanced) the game based off of who they were trying to sell to you. After all, why would you nerf a character who's making money? It sounds silly to say it was actually mildly heartbreaking to see a game I spent so much time playing turn into something that I couldn't stand to boot up anymore.

I've been told that in the years since i've stopped playing that the game has gotten a lot more playable. And like, I believe you? I do? But am I going to play it again? I want to? But will I? Probably not.

So, how do I feel about Smite?

I fucking hate this game. There are few games in existence that I can say I dislike more than Smite. But deep in my heart, in my SOUL, I love this game. And I will continue to love it as long as it's not installed on any of my systems.

I am so torn on my opinion of this game and the sad part is that it has nothing to do with the game itself. The game is good but it isn't perfect and i'm genuinely concerned with getting flamed for having that opinion.

Some people say video games are an art form (I am some people) and like all other forms of art there are some people who are REAL snobby about it. I don't know exactly what it is about Undertale that has people so ravenous about a game where they cried because a goat lady gave them a slice of pie. There was a bit of a mob mentality when it came to Undertale to the point where even now every time I see it pop up I end up rolling my eyes in mild disgust even though I LIKE THE GAME. Maybe it was because I was still doomscrolling through the wasteland of Tumblr during this games height of popularity and watched it go from underrated indie to quite possibly the most overrated piece of media i've ever seen.

4/5 for just the game I guess?
2/5 for the game + the internet

When I was in college a friend of mind told me about this game and said I should give it a try. I had never heard of it, or MOBAs in general but it sounded like fun so I figured why not. I went home, installed it on my HP laptop and we played against some bots so I could get a hang of the controls. We eventually decided to try a regular game and when we got into the lobby we all called our roles. I called mid since that's where I went when practicing, but one person in the lobby waited until everyone was locked in to tell me specifically that they were going mid, and I needed to go top. I said no, they called me some slurs, I relented just to shut them up and said I'd go top. We get into the game, I go top with my friend, and 30 seconds later guess who came up top with us? They started going off in chat with some more slurs, telling me to go mid or they were going to DC. I didn't go, they DC'd, we lost.

I uninstalled after just one game and came to the conclusion over the years that nobody who plays this game actually likes it, or themselves and instead of going to therapy they play this game and take it out on everyone else who plays.

10 years later I found out that friend was talking about me behind my back, and I swore i'd punch him in the face if I ever saw him again. I should've known something was up back in 2012 when he told me I should try playing League of Legends.

With a lot of survival/looter games I tend to find myself drawn in by the concept before being turned away by the execution and Pacific Drive does just that for me. There are aspects of the game I like, and with a tweak here and an addition there I feel like I would really enjoy this game, but at the moment it just comes across flat. (Get it? like a tire)

Like all games of this genre there's the gameplay loop: go out into the world, gather resources, return home, upgrade yourself/things, venture out further into the world. Pacific Drive is the same. You fix up your car, head out into "The Zone" (no really), gather supplies to fix your car with, come back, fix your car, and head out again. The problem with Pacific Drive is it feels like it's a true loop. As in, I feel like i'm in the exact same spot once i've exhausted my resources as I was before I went out to get them in the first place. There's no real survival aspect, there's no base building or expanding to do that I came across. The resources you gather are mainly to repair the damage caused by going out on your latest run. You drive car, you fix car, you repeat. Now driving the car, gathering up stuff and exploring IS fun, I just wish it felt rewarding to do it.

Now you might remember how I said earlier that part of the "traditional loop" of these sorts of game involves venturing out further and further on each run. This brings me to my next issue with Pacific Drive which is that venturing out further consists of leaving the garage, hitting a loading screen, and the game putting you into a small map and telling you that you have gone further into The Zone (No... really). The game takes away the anticipation that should be building with passing familiar areas on your way to unexplored territory, by just putting you out there. And after you've picked up your supplies how do you think you get back the garage? Why it's another loading screen, once again taking away tension that should build with having your supplies and now needing to be able to make it back home with them.

I hate to sound like i'm just hating on this game. I do like the idea, I like the environment, I like the car, I liked playing the game up until the point where i felt like I had experienced most, if not all, of what the game had to offer. I feel like the addition of something else to put your supplies towards would serve the game well, like NPCs who need them to survive, bringing a choice of "do I give these to other people and leave my car lacking for the next run, or potentially harm others so my car is in top shape?" For the time being I think i'm done with Pacific Drive, but i'm hoping as time goes on there will be a reason to come back to it.

Jesus I don't even know where to start. I guess with the good because that's a really short list?

TLDR: This game is all about the quantity of things, with no quality to be found. Large map. Large roster. Nothing to do and the stalest gameplay to date in a musou game. If we never get a DW10 it would be a travesty that this series died here, but I wouldn't be surprised with just how bad DW9/Empires are.

First is the open world CONCEPT (not execution). I like the idea of these massive battles actually spanning across this large map, as well as the completion of lesser objectives around the map lowering the level of enemies to make the battle easier as you progress.

Now for the bad stuff:
Like I said the execution of the open world is awful. The map is massive and there's nothing in it. Every castle looks the same, every fort looks the same, every hut looks the same, all the structures are just copy/pasted throughout the world and there's no indication you've even gone to a new place except sometimes there's the usual nothing but with snow on the ground.
While completing objectives helps make the entire battle easier, the game doesn't need to be easier. It is without a doubt the easiest DW game to date.
The number of playable characters increased again but with the cost of unique playstyles. Much like the last time DW made a jump to a new gen of consoles the combat is stripped down so that the combos have less variety and multiple characters share the same default weapons
The game genuinely looks worse than DW8, some of the character redesigns look like but as a whole the game just looks atrocious
And last but not least the performance of the game is BAD. Musou games have never been optimized too well and this game continues the streak.