starglimmer
This review contains spoilers
slightly better than baldur's gate 1 and with a more compelling story, better side quests, and improved companions, although that doesn't say much
my biggest problem with the story is the game's refusal to let you side with caelar argent in any meaningful way. her stated goal to go into hell and liberate the damned souls is incredibly cool, but you can only give extremely vague approval that everyone brushes aside anyway. not that any of it matters, since the story becomes very weak and disappointing near the end of the game anyway when it's revealed she never was too concerned with those souls but only her uncle's soul that she was responsible for damning when she was a child. so the game doesn't end up engaging with the question of whether the deaths and chaos caelar's crusade caused were justified by her goal of saving the damned souls from baldur's gate hell. she just selfishly wanted to save her own relative. boo! boring! lame! it doesn't help that she's being manipulated like a complete idiot the entire time by the most obviously evil man in history
but hey, otherwise the story was a step up from baldur's gate 1. i enjoyed how you being the bhaalspawn is more relevant and how mixed people's opinions on you is because of that. the lich and temple of bhaal side quests were pretty good as well. glint and m'khiin are also pretty good companions -- at least compared to the main game. corwin and voghiln are alright i guess.
unfortunately the game crashed quite a bit, especially near the end. i played on ps5 so getting into the game again took like 5 seconds and i saved plenty so i never lost much progress, but still really annoying
overall: it was decent enough. 6/10 i guess
my biggest problem with the story is the game's refusal to let you side with caelar argent in any meaningful way. her stated goal to go into hell and liberate the damned souls is incredibly cool, but you can only give extremely vague approval that everyone brushes aside anyway. not that any of it matters, since the story becomes very weak and disappointing near the end of the game anyway when it's revealed she never was too concerned with those souls but only her uncle's soul that she was responsible for damning when she was a child. so the game doesn't end up engaging with the question of whether the deaths and chaos caelar's crusade caused were justified by her goal of saving the damned souls from baldur's gate hell. she just selfishly wanted to save her own relative. boo! boring! lame! it doesn't help that she's being manipulated like a complete idiot the entire time by the most obviously evil man in history
but hey, otherwise the story was a step up from baldur's gate 1. i enjoyed how you being the bhaalspawn is more relevant and how mixed people's opinions on you is because of that. the lich and temple of bhaal side quests were pretty good as well. glint and m'khiin are also pretty good companions -- at least compared to the main game. corwin and voghiln are alright i guess.
unfortunately the game crashed quite a bit, especially near the end. i played on ps5 so getting into the game again took like 5 seconds and i saved plenty so i never lost much progress, but still really annoying
overall: it was decent enough. 6/10 i guess
i despised this game at first because i made the foolish mistake of having the difficulty setting at Normal. it's not even that the combat was hard -- although i certainly died plenty and relied on save scumming -- but that it was extremely tedious. at some point i was watching my character and a random wolf in the overworld repeatedly miss each other for like i swear a half a minute and felt a deep hatred for baldur's gate 1. so then i had the idea of simply starting the game over and putting it on Easy this time, and my experience improved
i guess to me that is the game's biggest failing. i find the combat and equipment management of this game severely annoying at worst and unengaging at best. i have absolutely no knowledge and experience with dnd, so maybe that's why.
my opinion on the story, the side quests, and the companions is only marginally better. there isnt terribly much to any of those three things. i cant say i found the story or any of the side quests very interesting, although there is a twist later on in the game about you and the main villain that i thought was pretty cool. i dont particularly like any of the companions and i dont think any of them have much depth, although i do find some of them endearing in a way (like imoen, who ironically has like next to no unique dialogue or party banter. or at least i didn't get any. i just think shes neat!)
but still, the game must have done SOMETHING right or i wouldnt have kept playing it. 5/10 isnt quite right for the game -- it's more of a 5.5/10. but i cant give it a 6/10 because there is too much about the game i couldnt engage with
oh also i may as well mention The Black Pits. there isnt terribly much to it, just a few combat arenas with extremely minor story elements. it was ok. if you really like the game's combat or baeloth, you'll probably get more out of it
i guess to me that is the game's biggest failing. i find the combat and equipment management of this game severely annoying at worst and unengaging at best. i have absolutely no knowledge and experience with dnd, so maybe that's why.
my opinion on the story, the side quests, and the companions is only marginally better. there isnt terribly much to any of those three things. i cant say i found the story or any of the side quests very interesting, although there is a twist later on in the game about you and the main villain that i thought was pretty cool. i dont particularly like any of the companions and i dont think any of them have much depth, although i do find some of them endearing in a way (like imoen, who ironically has like next to no unique dialogue or party banter. or at least i didn't get any. i just think shes neat!)
but still, the game must have done SOMETHING right or i wouldnt have kept playing it. 5/10 isnt quite right for the game -- it's more of a 5.5/10. but i cant give it a 6/10 because there is too much about the game i couldnt engage with
oh also i may as well mention The Black Pits. there isnt terribly much to it, just a few combat arenas with extremely minor story elements. it was ok. if you really like the game's combat or baeloth, you'll probably get more out of it
2015
This review contains spoilers
yakuza 0 is a game of contrasts. the story starts as interesting, then peters off, then picks up again, then peters off, then picks up AGAIN and goes full throttle until the credits roll. the final act of the game is particularly gripping, although not without flaws -- the biggest one in my opinion being how the game keeps organically building up to kiryu and majima eventually meeting and protecting makoto together, but it just never happens. instead they randomly meet in the second after credits scene. i know many people love that moment, but i found it extremely anti-climactic -- and i havent even PLAYED the other yakuza games as of yet
the contrast is again present in the major side quests (the real estate business and the cabaret club), sub stories, and mini games. some mini games are fun, some are painfully boring. some sub stories are hilarious, some are just trying to teach you sappy morals you'd see in a my little pony episode (and not one of the good ones). the real estate storyline is a lot of fun and it's great to see kiryu kicking smarmy rich people's asses, but then it also tries to make most of the antagonists sympathetic which it's really BAD at. the cabaret club storyline does the same thing, although i will say that the cabaret club mini-game is strangely absorbing. the hostess girls are also stronger characters than the two characters in kiryu's real estate storyline, but their conversations with majima are incredibly repetitive. just about all of them gradually fall in love with majima who is oblivious to it but they can't spit it out and it got REALLY old really fast
the combat works, i guess. i didn't find it particularly engaging, but it's alright. i had more fun with mahjong which i hadn't known a single thing about before playing this game
this game also has a pretty annoying sexism problem with makoto and some side content, particularly the cabaret club. while i like makoto, she is perpetually victimized by the story to an almost obscene degree and spends most of it just dragged along by everyone without any agency. when she actually tries to be proactive near the end, she completely fails and just ends up being vicimized again for majima's character development. i also like the cabaret club girls, but their talks and substories with majima can veer into rather blatant chauvinism. which kind of puts a damper on the whole storyline, really
still despite my criticisms, this is a good game. i'd give it a 7.5 instead of a 7 if this site allowed it, but i don't think i like it enough for an 8. it's good! just don't try to 100% complete it or you'll go insane
also: yuki is the best. i wish she was a major character in the franchise. she's that great.
the contrast is again present in the major side quests (the real estate business and the cabaret club), sub stories, and mini games. some mini games are fun, some are painfully boring. some sub stories are hilarious, some are just trying to teach you sappy morals you'd see in a my little pony episode (and not one of the good ones). the real estate storyline is a lot of fun and it's great to see kiryu kicking smarmy rich people's asses, but then it also tries to make most of the antagonists sympathetic which it's really BAD at. the cabaret club storyline does the same thing, although i will say that the cabaret club mini-game is strangely absorbing. the hostess girls are also stronger characters than the two characters in kiryu's real estate storyline, but their conversations with majima are incredibly repetitive. just about all of them gradually fall in love with majima who is oblivious to it but they can't spit it out and it got REALLY old really fast
the combat works, i guess. i didn't find it particularly engaging, but it's alright. i had more fun with mahjong which i hadn't known a single thing about before playing this game
this game also has a pretty annoying sexism problem with makoto and some side content, particularly the cabaret club. while i like makoto, she is perpetually victimized by the story to an almost obscene degree and spends most of it just dragged along by everyone without any agency. when she actually tries to be proactive near the end, she completely fails and just ends up being vicimized again for majima's character development. i also like the cabaret club girls, but their talks and substories with majima can veer into rather blatant chauvinism. which kind of puts a damper on the whole storyline, really
still despite my criticisms, this is a good game. i'd give it a 7.5 instead of a 7 if this site allowed it, but i don't think i like it enough for an 8. it's good! just don't try to 100% complete it or you'll go insane
also: yuki is the best. i wish she was a major character in the franchise. she's that great.
sometimes you just gotta play games for little babies
i would have never played this if i hadn't gotten it for free via ps plus but nonetheless. it is fun to jump around and hit robots as spongebob squarepants (THAT said, sandy is definitely the most fun character to play with)
i would have never played this if i hadn't gotten it for free via ps plus but nonetheless. it is fun to jump around and hit robots as spongebob squarepants (THAT said, sandy is definitely the most fun character to play with)
2019
this game is fucking good when you don't got a smarmy dickhead in your ear telling you it's mid
2023
this game is a lot better than i thought it'd be
the world and lore are way more interesting and unique than i would've given it credit for, the combat is fun and (literally) colorful, lots of interesting story beats and threads (some of which don't pay off admittedly), the dialogue is mostly AWFUL but the characters are pretty likable nonetheless
kind of a shame it flopped at launch. i wouldn't mind seeing a sequel
...
errr, she's right behind me, isn't she?
the world and lore are way more interesting and unique than i would've given it credit for, the combat is fun and (literally) colorful, lots of interesting story beats and threads (some of which don't pay off admittedly), the dialogue is mostly AWFUL but the characters are pretty likable nonetheless
kind of a shame it flopped at launch. i wouldn't mind seeing a sequel
...
errr, she's right behind me, isn't she?