Vladeta
41 reviews liked by Vladeta
Slow Damage
2021
finally finished slow damage! took me a while to get into it esp since i finished lamento recently, but here we are, it's a very good game. continuing on i will write all my thoughts about this game and its routes so whoever wants to discuss more can freely comment their opinion, i would really love that! anyways.
slow damage looks gorgeous! every n+c game has amazing visuals that fit the overall theme of its games and slow damage is surely one of them, the art, atmosphere and soundtrack all compliment the dark and twisted nature of the protagonists mind and it truly is a breath of fresh air having a 'darker' mc unlike the mcs of the previous entries who are either demure or chipper.
in this game we follow towa who lives pretty self-destructively, reveling in his own pain and madness and living from today to tomorrow. with every route we play we get a fragment of his past or a glimpse of his personality outside his masochistic auteur facade.
as for the routes; i will be frank and say that fujieda's route is the absolute peak of this game, the route that made me obsessively sit in front of the computer and click click click until i finally put the pieces together and see them two live their lives unapologetically and happily.
the other route i also enjoyed very much was rei's. rei is such a good and lovable character, i just wanted to hug him and pat him on his head. also i loved his friend group so much, just a really fun route that also deals with his complex issues, don't want to spoil it much but all in all fujieda and rei are definitely the routes i enjoyed the most.
as for madarame and taku. honestly idk which route i enjoyed LESS. maybe madarame's lol. i know we all love and respect toxic yaoi, i do too, but i kinda feel that madarame had only that going on for him. i can see the appeal but honestly the execution could be better. he was too one dimensional for me to like him and tbh after playing rei's route, going for madarame just hurt and left a bad taste in my mouth. something didn't click for me and i say this as someone whose fave in tnc was shiki lol...
taku was just... boring LOL i really love the older man yaoi route but taku was not interesting enough. his bad end was interesting gonna admit but otherwise kinda stale....
yeah those are my thoughts! fujieda ryou lover forever peace x <3
slow damage looks gorgeous! every n+c game has amazing visuals that fit the overall theme of its games and slow damage is surely one of them, the art, atmosphere and soundtrack all compliment the dark and twisted nature of the protagonists mind and it truly is a breath of fresh air having a 'darker' mc unlike the mcs of the previous entries who are either demure or chipper.
in this game we follow towa who lives pretty self-destructively, reveling in his own pain and madness and living from today to tomorrow. with every route we play we get a fragment of his past or a glimpse of his personality outside his masochistic auteur facade.
as for the routes; i will be frank and say that fujieda's route is the absolute peak of this game, the route that made me obsessively sit in front of the computer and click click click until i finally put the pieces together and see them two live their lives unapologetically and happily.
the other route i also enjoyed very much was rei's. rei is such a good and lovable character, i just wanted to hug him and pat him on his head. also i loved his friend group so much, just a really fun route that also deals with his complex issues, don't want to spoil it much but all in all fujieda and rei are definitely the routes i enjoyed the most.
as for madarame and taku. honestly idk which route i enjoyed LESS. maybe madarame's lol. i know we all love and respect toxic yaoi, i do too, but i kinda feel that madarame had only that going on for him. i can see the appeal but honestly the execution could be better. he was too one dimensional for me to like him and tbh after playing rei's route, going for madarame just hurt and left a bad taste in my mouth. something didn't click for me and i say this as someone whose fave in tnc was shiki lol...
taku was just... boring LOL i really love the older man yaoi route but taku was not interesting enough. his bad end was interesting gonna admit but otherwise kinda stale....
yeah those are my thoughts! fujieda ryou lover forever peace x <3
Cyberpunk 2077
2020
"A thing of beauty, will never fade way."
There's a lot to talk about, and I don't think anyone can talk about this game without at least mentioning its disaster of a launch.
I recall pre-ordering this game before launch, getting super hyped due to my previous experience with all of CDPRs prior works, and whilst the main story didn't disappoint me personally, the open world, RPG mechanics, and overall buggy state of the game (not even talking about how broken the console versions were) left a lot to be desired and felt like a betrayal to a lot of gamers for good reason after the years of overhype and overpromising.
But CDPR never gave up on the game when a lot of other devs and publishers would've, and over nearly 3 years from launch, they continued to work, polish, refine, and eventually gave us the game that we all wanted back in 2018.
And hoo boy, is this game with both the 2.0 update, and Phantom Liberty, a genuine gem that should be experienced, especially for people who love thought provoking and dark narratives.
The old skill/perk system was completely thrown out and rebuilt from scratch with skills having more worth and sometimes giving you new abilities and features like being able to air dodge, leap from cars into the air to get a drop on an enemy, or God of War style finishers to restore HP.
The loot and equipment system was also retooled from the generic Borderlands-y bigger numbers RNG bullshit into a more tier based upgrading system, meaning you can keep a favorite weapon or three, continue to upgrade them throughout the game, and actually build around them instead of ditching weapons every other fight for something that has +5 DPS.
The music was also always top tier even in the base game, and Phantom Liberty managed to add even more amazing tracks, some becoming personal favorites.
Characters are well written and the main highlights of both the base game and expansion, with most of them feeling like real, flawed, broken, but also likeable characters, with even the most hardshelled and volatile ones like Johnny Silverhand having understandable reasoning as to why they are the way they are.
I think one of the few flaws the game still has and will always have is the amount of junk feeling open world content in the base game, whilst they did improve on the way they were designed in the expansion, the gigs in the base game feel a bit detached, with there not being much communication with your client or fixer outside of an email giving background lore on the jobs which you can entirely miss out on. Which makes me feel less invested in the stories behind the gigs than I'd like, especially in comparison to the ones in Phantom Liberty, or the contracts in Witcher 3. The NCPD busts are also entirely junk open world content that feel just there to pad out the map with shit to do.
Hopefully with the second Cyberpunk game, they manage to match the gig quality with the ones in PL, and add more interesting things to do around the city like Yakuza/GTA style minigames, friend hangouts, or stuff like that.
Overall, this is a game I can't recommend enough, and as time goes on, it only becomes even more of a personal favorite of mine that is near and dear to my heart, and it is very commendable that the devs were given the chance to save this game from being a complete failure like so many in this industry end up being.
That being said, it should've never released in the state it did, and I can only hope going forward that CDPR has learned their lesson and won't do this again, as I don't think you can pull this off twice. And as we have learned from recent industry failures, the rest of the gaming industry sure hasn't learned anything
There's a lot to talk about, and I don't think anyone can talk about this game without at least mentioning its disaster of a launch.
I recall pre-ordering this game before launch, getting super hyped due to my previous experience with all of CDPRs prior works, and whilst the main story didn't disappoint me personally, the open world, RPG mechanics, and overall buggy state of the game (not even talking about how broken the console versions were) left a lot to be desired and felt like a betrayal to a lot of gamers for good reason after the years of overhype and overpromising.
But CDPR never gave up on the game when a lot of other devs and publishers would've, and over nearly 3 years from launch, they continued to work, polish, refine, and eventually gave us the game that we all wanted back in 2018.
And hoo boy, is this game with both the 2.0 update, and Phantom Liberty, a genuine gem that should be experienced, especially for people who love thought provoking and dark narratives.
The old skill/perk system was completely thrown out and rebuilt from scratch with skills having more worth and sometimes giving you new abilities and features like being able to air dodge, leap from cars into the air to get a drop on an enemy, or God of War style finishers to restore HP.
The loot and equipment system was also retooled from the generic Borderlands-y bigger numbers RNG bullshit into a more tier based upgrading system, meaning you can keep a favorite weapon or three, continue to upgrade them throughout the game, and actually build around them instead of ditching weapons every other fight for something that has +5 DPS.
The music was also always top tier even in the base game, and Phantom Liberty managed to add even more amazing tracks, some becoming personal favorites.
Characters are well written and the main highlights of both the base game and expansion, with most of them feeling like real, flawed, broken, but also likeable characters, with even the most hardshelled and volatile ones like Johnny Silverhand having understandable reasoning as to why they are the way they are.
I think one of the few flaws the game still has and will always have is the amount of junk feeling open world content in the base game, whilst they did improve on the way they were designed in the expansion, the gigs in the base game feel a bit detached, with there not being much communication with your client or fixer outside of an email giving background lore on the jobs which you can entirely miss out on. Which makes me feel less invested in the stories behind the gigs than I'd like, especially in comparison to the ones in Phantom Liberty, or the contracts in Witcher 3. The NCPD busts are also entirely junk open world content that feel just there to pad out the map with shit to do.
Hopefully with the second Cyberpunk game, they manage to match the gig quality with the ones in PL, and add more interesting things to do around the city like Yakuza/GTA style minigames, friend hangouts, or stuff like that.
Overall, this is a game I can't recommend enough, and as time goes on, it only becomes even more of a personal favorite of mine that is near and dear to my heart, and it is very commendable that the devs were given the chance to save this game from being a complete failure like so many in this industry end up being.
That being said, it should've never released in the state it did, and I can only hope going forward that CDPR has learned their lesson and won't do this again, as I don't think you can pull this off twice. And as we have learned from recent industry failures, the rest of the gaming industry sure hasn't learned anything
Control
2019
This game is... something... The gameplay is fun,the story confusing but its written by sam lake what did i expect lmao,playing this after playing alan wake 2 really sets up the "connected " universe thing everyone is doing nowadays but honestly i think remedy has something with this,hopefully control 2 is much better,the only factors that i found profoundly interesting is Ahti the janitor,and Dr darling. Ill tell ya, that "take control" level,i want more of that in future remedy games.
Alan Wake II
2023
This review contains spoilers
A step up from the last game,the game always keeps you on your toes,the new mechanics with the mind place and writers room is genuinely the best feature,along with light switching scenes,just great. The map and puzzles can get confusing to the point where if ur running from something its probably gonna take you a few tries to get it right. Other than that the story is great, Alan,Saga,Casey,great performances,oh and the soundtrack rocks Poets of the fall dont miss with remedy.
It took only 4 years of convincing for me to start playing this game and now I can't shut up about it honestly....it's just THAT cool and awesome!!! As an enjoyer of puns, I absolutely adore Geralt because he is an absolute pun machine and he delivers them in such a dry way that I always laugh about it...the best man ever, especially when I can punch everyone that disrespects women WHICH I DID BTW!!! Therefore, I'm super happy about these parts.
The most obvious part which impressed me is the story, I mean the storytelling is honestly insane with so many details about each and every quest, side quest and minor optional quest which you can accidentally come across! Once I did a super minor quest about chicken stealing (I know) and came back afterwards to see if the way I solved it had any consequences, AND IT DID. I never thought that so much effort would be put into such minor characters, and it really made me happy that I had that kind of effect in the story...Every quest was more or less memorable for me as it had a story of its own and it helped with understanding of the world we are exploring and about the diverse problem every region has. The Easter eggs are super funny as it has something from Kill Bill, Fight club and Twillight which were extremely funny and if you're playing read all the books and letters because they serve as an excellent intel and can be really funny at times. The main story is out of this world, and I teared up several times...
With all this said I also loved that we always had a choice in everything we did, but the part that stayed with me is that there weren't "good or bad" choices because nothing is black and white, but mostly you had to choose a "good" choice which is actually a lesser evil without knowing about it with Geralt saying that evil is evil and "If I'm to choose between one evil and another, I'd rather not choose at all".
Characters are also very well written, and everyone is interesting in their own way so you get to discover all the layers and grey areas which they have throughout the game which I will stay silent about for now...but Yennefer is THE mother and girlboss ever and Yen and Geralt just belong together I don't make the rules. I read some comments about Yen being bitchy but honestly? I don't see it. She is just strong willed and knows what she wants, likes and what is sometimes cruel but necessary so if you don't like women with a strong character and an existing personality of course you'll think she is only bitchy. This is only one character among so many of them so....find out about their awesomeness on your own because if I don't stop now, I'll write a novel instead of a review ig.
WITH THAT SAID I was completely mesmerized by this and so many other aspects of this game as for the enemies, fights, music, Gwent etc. and I will always recommend this game because it really is 5-star worthy and it can be so well adjusted to every kind of gameplay whether you're here for the story, combat or both it can be well adjusted and tailored for your wishes specifically so yes! That is how the game won me over ( •̀ ω •́ )✧
The most obvious part which impressed me is the story, I mean the storytelling is honestly insane with so many details about each and every quest, side quest and minor optional quest which you can accidentally come across! Once I did a super minor quest about chicken stealing (I know) and came back afterwards to see if the way I solved it had any consequences, AND IT DID. I never thought that so much effort would be put into such minor characters, and it really made me happy that I had that kind of effect in the story...Every quest was more or less memorable for me as it had a story of its own and it helped with understanding of the world we are exploring and about the diverse problem every region has. The Easter eggs are super funny as it has something from Kill Bill, Fight club and Twillight which were extremely funny and if you're playing read all the books and letters because they serve as an excellent intel and can be really funny at times. The main story is out of this world, and I teared up several times...
With all this said I also loved that we always had a choice in everything we did, but the part that stayed with me is that there weren't "good or bad" choices because nothing is black and white, but mostly you had to choose a "good" choice which is actually a lesser evil without knowing about it with Geralt saying that evil is evil and "If I'm to choose between one evil and another, I'd rather not choose at all".
Characters are also very well written, and everyone is interesting in their own way so you get to discover all the layers and grey areas which they have throughout the game which I will stay silent about for now...but Yennefer is THE mother and girlboss ever and Yen and Geralt just belong together I don't make the rules. I read some comments about Yen being bitchy but honestly? I don't see it. She is just strong willed and knows what she wants, likes and what is sometimes cruel but necessary so if you don't like women with a strong character and an existing personality of course you'll think she is only bitchy. This is only one character among so many of them so....find out about their awesomeness on your own because if I don't stop now, I'll write a novel instead of a review ig.
WITH THAT SAID I was completely mesmerized by this and so many other aspects of this game as for the enemies, fights, music, Gwent etc. and I will always recommend this game because it really is 5-star worthy and it can be so well adjusted to every kind of gameplay whether you're here for the story, combat or both it can be well adjusted and tailored for your wishes specifically so yes! That is how the game won me over ( •̀ ω •́ )✧
This review contains spoilers
as per usual, when i play a game that is almost perfect to me, a game that leaves me speechless, crying and wanting to spend more time with the cast and the whole atmosphere, i let my thoughts ruminate for a day or two and then i decide to write up said thoughts here. but with such an ambitious game and farewell to our beloved dragon of dojima, it really is hard to be coherent and straight to the point, the thoughts are just wilding.
anyways; i will be frank with the 'bad' parts first. i say 'bad' but they didn't really hinder nor change my overall opinion of the game, but it needs to be said.
-it is an ambitious game. rgg team tried to pack as much content in this game, be it minigames or side stories but also the main plot. i didn't mind the side stories at all, in fact, that was my favourite part of the game since bonding with the gang and just seeing their journey and growth is everything to me.
yes, the main plot. it got overwhelming after the half point and by the end of the game i honestly didn't care about the main antagonists, they were just cartoonishly evil and a bit flat. i liked ebina maybe a bit more than bryce but they're both pretty flat and playing gaiden before this, gaiden final boss solos IW final bosses.
-hanawa. hanawawawawa my heart hurts, it's evident that they wrote hanawa in gaiden after they finished iw and it's just sad how wasted his potential is. i was really sad and lowkey petty over it but alas.
-i may have wanted a bit of a better haruka and kiryu reunion but i will pretend that this thing they done in the game hits harder and is more poetic, whatever
now for the positives. which are. almost infinite HAHA.
first of all. i will say that i absolutely adore ichiban and i will stand my ground by saying that i enjoyed him more than 1-7 kiryu. IW kiryu will have a paragraph dedicated just to him. ichiban's whole story and kindness and never giving up even when there's no hope AND FORGIVENESS OVER ALL literally made me ugly cry and sob, it just spoke to me, he is so human and his kindness saved his whole party and gave them inspiration to go on with their lives when they thought there is no way out. i absolutely adore chitose and tomizawa, their whole dynamic with ichi is so organic and natural and fun and genuine and i could play 5 more games with just them in it. the drink links and learning in every corner of the city more and more things about them and their habits was so good and made me feel connected to the characters.
i admit that ichi's story was rushed somewhat because i feel kiryu was once again given the spotlight, which i will forgive considering his circumstances, even though i wish some things were maybe a bit more explored.
-ichi and the LAD gang are also so so so good i missed them so much. i love how seonhee and joongi got more screentime and trivia and just fun stuff about them because i loved them so much in LAD. i am though a bit shifty when it comes to saeko, i liked her more in LAD, they kinda fumbled her character but. whatever. seonhee forever.
-YAMAI????? i didn't expect at all to love him as much as i am now, he was truly a delight to see and hear and his whole arc is so appealing, esp his past and ties with tomizawa, 10/10 for me.
-as for the kiryu's side of the story, first of all i am glad to see emotional kiryu and kiryu who is relying on other people and learning that people love and appreciate him, not hate or curse him for coming into their lives. i also need to mention date, who is honestly kiryu's best man, friend, companion, the way he went to such lengths to convince kiryu that HE IS IMPORTANT TO OTHERS, OTHERS LOVE HIM. just brings tears to my eyes.
-kiryu's dynamic with ichi's gang is awesome, if anything i think IW nailed the character relationships because they're so human and belivable and AAA love it so much.
-i have nothing more to say tbh just wanted for kiryu to get a bit more closure than we got in the game, but i can hope we'll get that in the new entry eventually, where kiryu won't be a protagonist, just a cameo character.
i could talk about this game so so much more but here are so me of my thoughts. i will play it more, still, need to finish some dungeons and just fool around some more because i am not ready to say goodbye yet.
until rgg 9, bon voyage!
anyways; i will be frank with the 'bad' parts first. i say 'bad' but they didn't really hinder nor change my overall opinion of the game, but it needs to be said.
-it is an ambitious game. rgg team tried to pack as much content in this game, be it minigames or side stories but also the main plot. i didn't mind the side stories at all, in fact, that was my favourite part of the game since bonding with the gang and just seeing their journey and growth is everything to me.
yes, the main plot. it got overwhelming after the half point and by the end of the game i honestly didn't care about the main antagonists, they were just cartoonishly evil and a bit flat. i liked ebina maybe a bit more than bryce but they're both pretty flat and playing gaiden before this, gaiden final boss solos IW final bosses.
-hanawa. hanawawawawa my heart hurts, it's evident that they wrote hanawa in gaiden after they finished iw and it's just sad how wasted his potential is. i was really sad and lowkey petty over it but alas.
-i may have wanted a bit of a better haruka and kiryu reunion but i will pretend that this thing they done in the game hits harder and is more poetic, whatever
now for the positives. which are. almost infinite HAHA.
first of all. i will say that i absolutely adore ichiban and i will stand my ground by saying that i enjoyed him more than 1-7 kiryu. IW kiryu will have a paragraph dedicated just to him. ichiban's whole story and kindness and never giving up even when there's no hope AND FORGIVENESS OVER ALL literally made me ugly cry and sob, it just spoke to me, he is so human and his kindness saved his whole party and gave them inspiration to go on with their lives when they thought there is no way out. i absolutely adore chitose and tomizawa, their whole dynamic with ichi is so organic and natural and fun and genuine and i could play 5 more games with just them in it. the drink links and learning in every corner of the city more and more things about them and their habits was so good and made me feel connected to the characters.
i admit that ichi's story was rushed somewhat because i feel kiryu was once again given the spotlight, which i will forgive considering his circumstances, even though i wish some things were maybe a bit more explored.
-ichi and the LAD gang are also so so so good i missed them so much. i love how seonhee and joongi got more screentime and trivia and just fun stuff about them because i loved them so much in LAD. i am though a bit shifty when it comes to saeko, i liked her more in LAD, they kinda fumbled her character but. whatever. seonhee forever.
-YAMAI????? i didn't expect at all to love him as much as i am now, he was truly a delight to see and hear and his whole arc is so appealing, esp his past and ties with tomizawa, 10/10 for me.
-as for the kiryu's side of the story, first of all i am glad to see emotional kiryu and kiryu who is relying on other people and learning that people love and appreciate him, not hate or curse him for coming into their lives. i also need to mention date, who is honestly kiryu's best man, friend, companion, the way he went to such lengths to convince kiryu that HE IS IMPORTANT TO OTHERS, OTHERS LOVE HIM. just brings tears to my eyes.
-kiryu's dynamic with ichi's gang is awesome, if anything i think IW nailed the character relationships because they're so human and belivable and AAA love it so much.
-i have nothing more to say tbh just wanted for kiryu to get a bit more closure than we got in the game, but i can hope we'll get that in the new entry eventually, where kiryu won't be a protagonist, just a cameo character.
i could talk about this game so so much more but here are so me of my thoughts. i will play it more, still, need to finish some dungeons and just fool around some more because i am not ready to say goodbye yet.
until rgg 9, bon voyage!
This happened to my buddy Eric
I was held at gun point to play this game,still interesting tho
Despite alerting almost constantly and killing over 100 enemies, this was a masterclass of a game. This story really made me cry, and feel pure emotion. Despite the remake being made by Konami, I am interested to see how that plans out.
It was pretty fun and big (that's what she said) but jokes aside I enjoyed the game!!! I am very happy with the house I chose and I felt really glad when I could see how the characters are progressing throughout the game. As for the characters...there are so many of them I'm sad that I couldn't get to know more about some of them but that's okay since I've got to know SO many more.
Story was nice although some things moved very fast and some things fell flat....thankfully there was the gameplay which pulled through. But if we ignore that it was a very fun experience!!
Story was nice although some things moved very fast and some things fell flat....thankfully there was the gameplay which pulled through. But if we ignore that it was a very fun experience!!
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