morrowind
i may have only been able to adjust to this game at the tender age of 12 because i had a dogshit pc that couldn't play skyrim without it looking it like runescape circa 2005, but i still enjoyed every second i spent with this game. replaying atm on daggerfall unity!
2023
it's rather difficult to improve on perfection, and in quite a few ways capcom has succeeded here, which is not light praise considering the original game is my 3rd favorite game of all time. will never replace the original game for me, but it isn't really meant to. this and the original complement each other in so many ways. god i love resident evil 4. i love leon s. kennedy
2009
this game was largely a waste of my time but i cannot deny that i had a lot of fun when i was unemployed, playing aram at 2 am while chiefing mid and listening to black kray
this shit went hard when i was a broke middle schooler with a craptop in 2015. this, dead pixels, quake 1, and warlords of draenor was most of what i played that year.
2007
better before they removed schofield from the starting loadout. many many fond memories playing this game with friends. pastor whiskey (rip)
blizzard ambience at the top of their game. this five stars goes for both the base game and LoD, though the sweeping changes that this expansion brought to the game (e.g. the inclusion of the assassin/druid, runes/runewords, and most important of all, the ability to play the game in 800x600) render the first 4 acts a vastly different experience.
2002
okay, so i wasn't able to help myself and so i decided to start a chris run, just to see how his gameplay experience is different. and yeah, i'm ready to say this is one of the best games ever made. a lot is said about jill being the easier character for a number of factors (access to the grenade launcher, you can get shotgun much earlier due to having barry, the lockpick, and of course more inventory spaces), but whether it was due to having just played the game or chris actually being easier, i found chris FAR easier. the fact he has more hp and a higher headshot rate w/ the handgun is so immensely helpful to me, and at no point did i find having 2 less inventory spaces anything more than a slight annoyance. as long as you're diligent about clearing out one safe path to an item room within the mansion (i chose the east wing), you're golden.
managed to get the achievement for completing the game in <5 hours by the skin of my teeth this run (4:55!), even with running to item rooms adding like 10-15 minutes. old keys aren't really an issue to collect, either. pretty much every one of them will be placed near an area that jill's lockpick would normally open. but whether or not you're playing jill or chris, you need to play this fucking game if you haven't already.
managed to get the achievement for completing the game in <5 hours by the skin of my teeth this run (4:55!), even with running to item rooms adding like 10-15 minutes. old keys aren't really an issue to collect, either. pretty much every one of them will be placed near an area that jill's lockpick would normally open. but whether or not you're playing jill or chris, you need to play this fucking game if you haven't already.
2002
despite having been a fan of resident evil for over half my life at this point (and in fact owning the game as a child), it's only now that i've beaten this game for the first time. you tend to hear people talk about REmake in hushed whispers, hailing it as not only the best resident evil game alongside 4, but in fact one of the best games ever made. i think i would agree w/ that assessment. i just wish the game didnt get easier once you got back to the mansion though. who cares if hunters can one shot you when you basically never run out of magnum/grenade launcher ammo? for the record i played on normal, i imagine that would be an entirely different story on hard.
2024
i loved this game before when i played portable on my piece of shit laptop over summer break in 10th grade, and i love it even more now. the new interactions & outings with party members added in this remake almost make me not really mind the absence (for now, atlus loves to make money) of FeMC & the answer. persona 3 in any of its many releases is one of the only games that i could genuinely say changed my life.
it's morrowind
2003
the perfect companion to silent hill 1. unlike silent hill 2, silent hill 3 is a return to form for the series, dealing primarily with a similar thing as the first game. while i think i enjoy silent hill 2 the most of these first 3 games, there is no denying that all 3 of them are essentially perfect games for me. heather is such an engaging protagonist
2020
i have some minor issues with this game that bring it down, but on the overall this game is great fun. there is a caveat however, that being that if you go in expecting this game to be like baldur's gate 2 and comparing the two games, you will be sorely disappointed. this game is not better than baldur's gate 2. however, they play very differently from each other despite being a part of the same series and can't really be compared as a result.
i found the companions to all be really interesting and fun, at least the ones i didn't miss in act 1 anyway. they all have their own unique struggles and personalities, and act in believable ways. as you learn more about them, you empathize with their struggles more, as all of them have something gnawing at them. it's astounding that this game made me go from disliking laezel to absolutely loving her. i have a really soft spot for shadowheart and astarion as well, with shadowheart being the character i chose to romance, and astarion being probably my favorite personality-wise. shadowheart and astarion have beautifully written companion quests, ESPECIALLY shadowheart. i seriously recommend keeping her around, and not just because clerics are strong in 5e.
though, i thought the character writing to be stronger than the actual main plot itself. i felt way more engrossed in seeing what happened next in the companion quests than i did the main story, and honestly i think the game doesn't do an amazing job at setting up a BBEG. i know i just said that you shouldn't compare baldur's gate 2 and 3, but it's difficult to step out of the shadow of jon irenicus, and this game doesn't manage to do that. i didn't manage to identify any deeper themes that run in the plot of this game, either. which isn't necessarily something that everyone craves within RPGs, but definitely something i do. it's for that reason why i absolutely adore planescape: torment, another d&d game. the main story of this game did feel pretty cut and dry. HOWEVER, you are given a lot of different options as to what kind of decisions you'd like to make. i've only gone for one ending so far, but i'm curious to see what the others bring.
i really fucking wish they would fix companion tethering, add group roll, fix the camera, and add a pause button. in the words of avgn:
"i mean, if you have to answer the phone or take a shit, it's like, tough shit if you gotta take a shit. you gotta take a quick shit. you gotta have turbo turds. i'm trying to play the game, i've got shit stains in my pants, and an answering machine that says sorry, i'm playing ghostbusters 2 on nintendo. what a selfish game. bottom line, have a fucking pause button, goddamn it."
i found the companions to all be really interesting and fun, at least the ones i didn't miss in act 1 anyway. they all have their own unique struggles and personalities, and act in believable ways. as you learn more about them, you empathize with their struggles more, as all of them have something gnawing at them. it's astounding that this game made me go from disliking laezel to absolutely loving her. i have a really soft spot for shadowheart and astarion as well, with shadowheart being the character i chose to romance, and astarion being probably my favorite personality-wise. shadowheart and astarion have beautifully written companion quests, ESPECIALLY shadowheart. i seriously recommend keeping her around, and not just because clerics are strong in 5e.
though, i thought the character writing to be stronger than the actual main plot itself. i felt way more engrossed in seeing what happened next in the companion quests than i did the main story, and honestly i think the game doesn't do an amazing job at setting up a BBEG. i know i just said that you shouldn't compare baldur's gate 2 and 3, but it's difficult to step out of the shadow of jon irenicus, and this game doesn't manage to do that. i didn't manage to identify any deeper themes that run in the plot of this game, either. which isn't necessarily something that everyone craves within RPGs, but definitely something i do. it's for that reason why i absolutely adore planescape: torment, another d&d game. the main story of this game did feel pretty cut and dry. HOWEVER, you are given a lot of different options as to what kind of decisions you'd like to make. i've only gone for one ending so far, but i'm curious to see what the others bring.
i really fucking wish they would fix companion tethering, add group roll, fix the camera, and add a pause button. in the words of avgn:
"i mean, if you have to answer the phone or take a shit, it's like, tough shit if you gotta take a shit. you gotta take a quick shit. you gotta have turbo turds. i'm trying to play the game, i've got shit stains in my pants, and an answering machine that says sorry, i'm playing ghostbusters 2 on nintendo. what a selfish game. bottom line, have a fucking pause button, goddamn it."
2005
it's still as perfect as the first time i played it. despite the presence of a remake, the original still holds up beautifully. i've beaten this game probably 7 or 8 times. i'd beat it another 7. shit, another 70.
2016
8/10 story, 10/10 multiplayer. every day i pray to god respawn fixes the servers and announces a sequel.
it is astounding how disappointed i was playing this game. i'm a big fan of crpgs, in fact i'd probably say they're my favorite genre, but i wasn't impressed by kotor.
i DESPISE binary morality systems in video games. it's a pretty common criticism of bioware's other games such as mass effect, but i rarely see discussed how egregious it is in this game. THIS game is the genesis of that awful fucking trend in bioware games, NOT mass effect. in pretty much any situation where you as the player character are presented with a choice, you have the option to either be jesus christ, hitler, or hitler but he wants money.
the game doesn't force you to make difficult moral choices, unlike other RPGs i've played with morality systems, e.g. disco elysium, new vegas, fallout 2 etc. you're simply given an option of what you'd like to do. as such, it's difficult for me to engage with the dialogue choices beyond simply thinking "alright, what gets me the most value?" because what i'm being presented with doesn't even remotely entice me to pick the light option.
the combat isn't anything to write home about, either. it's just modified third edition d&d but with less spells. why the fuck would i play this over something like baldur's gate? seriously.
speaking of baldur's gate, one thing i think that game did EXTREMELY well was its companions. every single companion in both 1 and 2 are well-written and interesting. the same cannot be said of this game. party-based rpgs like this live and die by the quality of the party members, and there just isn't anything to speak of there. for the most part, they're not super interesting and they don't have much depth to them. i do not see a single person ever talk about any party member in this game that ISN'T HK-47, and while he's cool, the meatbag bit gets old really fast.
it should be said that i was aware of The Big Reveal years before i fully played this game, but imo that's not really something that'd invalidate what i've said. and honestly, it's not like a huge secret or anything if you think about it for more than 5 seconds. it doesn't even reinforce the game's themes, like it did in bioshock.
so, with all that, what are you left with? a pretty enjoyable romp, but not a terribly memorable one. what i most remember about this game was vacillating between being pissed off by taris and being bored by it.
i DESPISE binary morality systems in video games. it's a pretty common criticism of bioware's other games such as mass effect, but i rarely see discussed how egregious it is in this game. THIS game is the genesis of that awful fucking trend in bioware games, NOT mass effect. in pretty much any situation where you as the player character are presented with a choice, you have the option to either be jesus christ, hitler, or hitler but he wants money.
the game doesn't force you to make difficult moral choices, unlike other RPGs i've played with morality systems, e.g. disco elysium, new vegas, fallout 2 etc. you're simply given an option of what you'd like to do. as such, it's difficult for me to engage with the dialogue choices beyond simply thinking "alright, what gets me the most value?" because what i'm being presented with doesn't even remotely entice me to pick the light option.
the combat isn't anything to write home about, either. it's just modified third edition d&d but with less spells. why the fuck would i play this over something like baldur's gate? seriously.
speaking of baldur's gate, one thing i think that game did EXTREMELY well was its companions. every single companion in both 1 and 2 are well-written and interesting. the same cannot be said of this game. party-based rpgs like this live and die by the quality of the party members, and there just isn't anything to speak of there. for the most part, they're not super interesting and they don't have much depth to them. i do not see a single person ever talk about any party member in this game that ISN'T HK-47, and while he's cool, the meatbag bit gets old really fast.
it should be said that i was aware of The Big Reveal years before i fully played this game, but imo that's not really something that'd invalidate what i've said. and honestly, it's not like a huge secret or anything if you think about it for more than 5 seconds. it doesn't even reinforce the game's themes, like it did in bioshock.
so, with all that, what are you left with? a pretty enjoyable romp, but not a terribly memorable one. what i most remember about this game was vacillating between being pissed off by taris and being bored by it.