McBuscus69
2010
*Played via the Legendary Collection on PS4
Still the G.O.A.T in terms of the characters and interactions between your party members. I am knocking it down a point for the fact that despite the wonderfully told and written main story - including everything to do with your team and their loyalty missions, dialogue, etc. - the side content is actually really fucking boring. Scanning planets for resources sucks ass, the side missions themselves suck ass, and all of it feels very inconsequential and unnecessary.
I actually took a few months' break from the game during the Act 2 of the story because I was just so bored with doing the side content. My gaming OCD would never allow me to just shotgun main objectives without doing side missions first, however, so that soured my playthrough of the game for a little while until I had taken enough time to return to the game and complete it finally.
Still the G.O.A.T in terms of the characters and interactions between your party members. I am knocking it down a point for the fact that despite the wonderfully told and written main story - including everything to do with your team and their loyalty missions, dialogue, etc. - the side content is actually really fucking boring. Scanning planets for resources sucks ass, the side missions themselves suck ass, and all of it feels very inconsequential and unnecessary.
I actually took a few months' break from the game during the Act 2 of the story because I was just so bored with doing the side content. My gaming OCD would never allow me to just shotgun main objectives without doing side missions first, however, so that soured my playthrough of the game for a little while until I had taken enough time to return to the game and complete it finally.
2007
*Played via the Legendary Collection for PS4
This was my first time experiencing the original Mass Effect because I never had a 360 back in the day and the PS3 somehow only had 2 and 3 available.
I gotta say, I actually enjoyed this game a hell of a lot. I had been told numerous times by friends who had played it that it was rough and not as good as 2, so I thought I wasn't missing much, but the writing in this game is brilliant, and I enjoyed the hell out of my time with it.
This was my first time experiencing the original Mass Effect because I never had a 360 back in the day and the PS3 somehow only had 2 and 3 available.
I gotta say, I actually enjoyed this game a hell of a lot. I had been told numerous times by friends who had played it that it was rough and not as good as 2, so I thought I wasn't missing much, but the writing in this game is brilliant, and I enjoyed the hell out of my time with it.
The gameplay is really fun and feels good, which is a definite plus. The downside, however, is that there's just no real story here and the entire game took me like 2 hours to complete, so there's not a lot of meat on these bones. I did see it was supposedly made by one guy though, so mad props to him for creating something like this.
2021
It's got an interesting premise and good design, but it's honestly bogged down by it's bad story and voice acting. If the dialogue had at least been skippable, I might have been more inclined to actually try and finish the game, but I made it to Chapter 6 and just couldn't bring myself to continue on.
2023
This game is really, really good, and I recognize that, but I also have a hard time playing it. It's beautiful and plays well and seems to have a very in-depth levelling and upgrade system. Unfortunately, the level design irritates me to no end.
I made it to the Resting Village (the first time you see non-hostile NPC's) and by then the amount of unexplored paths I had left behind in every level was infinite and I would never be able to remember all of them.
I already have a very hard time with Metroidvanias due to my own gaming OCD of wanting to explore every nook and cranny and being unable to until you get some upgrade, but most of them have like obvious places where you need a new ability to access some secret. In the really good ones - like Hollow Knight - you can mark your map so that you know that's an explored pathway you need to return to later.
This game, however, has those little inaccessable areas in almost every screen. Little pathways you need some kind of roll or crawl to get under, ledges that are just out of reach and probably need some kind of double jump. I literally got the dash ability and spent an hour teleporting back to the first checkpoint so that I could run through everything again and dash to ledges I hadn't explored, and that just revealed even MORE areas I needed other abilities to access. I know that this is 100% a "me" problem.
I'm shelving this because it is very good and I do want to maybe return to this again, but I don't know if I'll be able to overcome my own mind goblins to be able to actually complete this game.
I made it to the Resting Village (the first time you see non-hostile NPC's) and by then the amount of unexplored paths I had left behind in every level was infinite and I would never be able to remember all of them.
I already have a very hard time with Metroidvanias due to my own gaming OCD of wanting to explore every nook and cranny and being unable to until you get some upgrade, but most of them have like obvious places where you need a new ability to access some secret. In the really good ones - like Hollow Knight - you can mark your map so that you know that's an explored pathway you need to return to later.
This game, however, has those little inaccessable areas in almost every screen. Little pathways you need some kind of roll or crawl to get under, ledges that are just out of reach and probably need some kind of double jump. I literally got the dash ability and spent an hour teleporting back to the first checkpoint so that I could run through everything again and dash to ledges I hadn't explored, and that just revealed even MORE areas I needed other abilities to access. I know that this is 100% a "me" problem.
I'm shelving this because it is very good and I do want to maybe return to this again, but I don't know if I'll be able to overcome my own mind goblins to be able to actually complete this game.
2023
First-person Dark Souls was a mistake. This is just annoying to play to be honest. I was interested in the setting and the game world for like a minute, before I found out that you only have 4 inventory slots, and combat is an unfun mash and parry fest against spongey enemies that take way too long to be killed.
Beautiful, but dull. I think that about covers this game in its entirety.
2023
I put way too many hours into this and I didn't even enjoy it. I realized halfway through assaulting one of the way too many outposts and just watching my little golem things punching the millionth fucking structure while swinging my sword around at random that I hated this game. Took me way too fucking long.
I'm shelving this for now because, from the 5 hours I played, nothing seems to have changed from the game's previous version besides less clunky combat. Not to say the previous game was bad in any way - in fact, I love it very much - but I'm not at a place right now where I feel the need to return to it.
I'll likely come back to this at some point when I feel the urge to play through the first game again.
I'll likely come back to this at some point when I feel the urge to play through the first game again.
Handling two party members at the same time for not only exploration and puzzles, but also boss fights gave me a headache. I really like the aesthetic of the game, and the little hub you get with the side quests, but my brain and my fingers could not handle the gameplay aspect at all.
Shelving it for now, but I don't know if I'll ever return to it. It's just one of those games.
Shelving it for now, but I don't know if I'll ever return to it. It's just one of those games.
2004
It's pretty fun as far as survival horror goes, with a cool unique gimmick in that you can switch your party members around. And the cast is all a bunch of 2000s B-Movie goobers. Actually really liked that aspect of it a lot.
I really don't have too much to say about it other than I had a good time playing it, even though the difficulty spike in the last area gave me a fucking haemorrhage.
I really don't have too much to say about it other than I had a good time playing it, even though the difficulty spike in the last area gave me a fucking haemorrhage.
Pretty fun overall. The environments are gorgeous and fun to explore, and the combat is satisfying for the most part, if a little too simplistic. The story is actually pretty good as well, but the pacing does feel off coz some moments feel rushed and have little impact. Still better than the last movie trilogy though, so it's got that going for it.
The only real gripe I have with it is the inconsequential loot. Really would have liked to be collecting stuff other than cosmetic items, but hey, what can you do?
The only real gripe I have with it is the inconsequential loot. Really would have liked to be collecting stuff other than cosmetic items, but hey, what can you do?
2018
Honestly really good and very interesting world and premise, but it is just so fucking hard. No shot I'm ever getting through this game, even though I managed to scrounge together an entire party. I just hit a wall where the areas I have left to explore are too challenging to get through and having to constantly run back to the one safe place to save after exploring bit by bit became more tedious the more progress I was making.
It would be much better - or I would at least be more inclined to complete this - if there were some more save points so that hitting some unexpected coin flip kill point or having to reset due to a lousy battle didn't feel like so much work and wasted effort.
It would be much better - or I would at least be more inclined to complete this - if there were some more save points so that hitting some unexpected coin flip kill point or having to reset due to a lousy battle didn't feel like so much work and wasted effort.
Honestly didn't have as much fun with this one as I did with Stick of Truth back in the day.
2022
Honestly, the older I get, the more I realize how much I hate time-wasting mechanics.
I really dislike stamina bars and time restrictions that limit what I can do in a "day", especially when that stamina bar dictates everything - from exploration to combat - and does not regenerate automatically for some fucking reason. I dislike trekking through overly-long levels and dungeons with a bunch of inconsequential loot as a reward for exploration. I dislike meandering story-telling where all of the characters are idiots and the pacing is constantly slowed down to explain things to you or being forced to "regroup" and stop your exploration.
I've just been having such a hard time getting into JRPGs lately, even though it used to be one of my favourite genres to play, and I dislike that I don't have the patience for this genre any more. As an adult and having to manage my time to make a place for things I enjoy like gaming and movies and reading, I really appreciate a game that doesn't waste my time more than anything else in the world.
I really dislike stamina bars and time restrictions that limit what I can do in a "day", especially when that stamina bar dictates everything - from exploration to combat - and does not regenerate automatically for some fucking reason. I dislike trekking through overly-long levels and dungeons with a bunch of inconsequential loot as a reward for exploration. I dislike meandering story-telling where all of the characters are idiots and the pacing is constantly slowed down to explain things to you or being forced to "regroup" and stop your exploration.
I've just been having such a hard time getting into JRPGs lately, even though it used to be one of my favourite genres to play, and I dislike that I don't have the patience for this genre any more. As an adult and having to manage my time to make a place for things I enjoy like gaming and movies and reading, I really appreciate a game that doesn't waste my time more than anything else in the world.