Road 96 is a piturbation that romanticizes third world country problems from a Western perspective. Everything feels like a children's fairy tale when you listen to the worthless stories of caricatured characters who are affected by an order in which people suffer more and more each day, while walking on the roads full of so-called "terrible" country conditions. In order not to stereotype their work even more, an American-like atmosphere was created by avoiding Middle Eastern country aesthetic but it only made it clear that these writers were very foreign to reality. This game is nothing more than a cheaply formulated interactive Netflix project with Hollywood-like action sequences, characters who always act optimistically, an unnecessary traumatized serial killer plot, thieves who were created for comedic relief but emptying the game's entire message and illusions of impactful choice. The intersections of each character's stories feel as disconnected and inappropriate as can be. While there is a revolution down at the gate, an irrelevant family reunion with poorly written dialogue creates a huge disconnect between two situations. It is a really brazen work that fetishizes the suffering of people and hopeless society with many sentences such as "I went through difficult roads but what I went through changed me and this is a good thing.". It's also extra frustrating that game tries to transition into a heart-wrenching experience thanks to the cheap act of revolution in finale, as it reveals that this studio is pontificating in a fantasy world where they thought everything could be solved by riots. I didn't look at who made the game on purpose and when I saw French names in the credits everything fell into place.

Fuck French people

the collective excitement of my friends and i after watching the starfield direct was palpable, i couldn't wait to dive into what bethesda had to offer next. however my experience with starfield was far from what i had hoped for.

what didn't work for me? the first half of starfield. the initial hours of the game were painfully slow and tedious, the characters felt like brick walls. interacting with npcs was a frustrating experience, they lacked depth and emotion rendering it impossible to establish any meaningful connection. conversations felt robotic and unresponsive, diminishing my immersion immediately. the story failed to engage me. it felt cliched and predictable, lacking the intrigue and originality that previous bgs titles like fallout and tes delivered. pacing issues were apparent and made it tough to stay invested, i often questioned why i was bothering to continue. the ui was a major failure. it felt clunky and counterintuitive, making the most basic tasks like managing items or customizing something a chore. navigating menus became an exercise in frustration. performance issues plagued my entire playthrough. starfield felt unoptimized presenting frequent frame drops and crashes. it was clear that the game had been designed with consoles in mind first, the pc version suffered as a result. needing to mod in dlss to achieve above 40 frames indoors felt fucking bonkers, do not partner with a hardware company if you want to make a good game. the performance hindered my ability to fully enjoy the game in it's best moments as i constantly had to contend with tech issues. the insignificance of background and trait choices was disappointing. despite the promise of allowing players to shape their character's background these choices had little to no meaningful impact on the experience. the perk system felt utterly lifeless, each and every node lacking vibrancy. one shining gem stood out in the first hours of the game, the mantis side quest. i was immediately engrossed in unraveling the web of secrets behind the mantis, this marked the first instance i experienced immersion in starfield. leaving the lair with meaningful rewards evolved the quest into a satisfying and worthwhile endeavor. where starfield begun to hit its stride was the second half. the story took a surprising turn, offering much needed depth and cause. although the npc development remained lamentable, i found myself caring about my own fate somewhat. the dramatic shift in narrative didn't catapult the experience into greatness by any means, however it offered a glimmer of what the game could have been. it managed to salvage what had initially been a lackluster subpar experience into something i felt compelled to see through to the end.

i intend to explore some side content i missed in ng+ and give the ship/outpost systems some time. other than that, ill see you again when the modding scene finishes what bethesda started.

oh also, the asking price of 120/170aud is fucking disgusting.