w00ds98
2023
I heard somebody say, that this is the adrenaline shot to the heart, that the shooter genre needed and I couldn't agree more.
It's always been insane to me, that no major shooter over the past decade, seemed interested in borrowing Battlefields destructive environments. It's been a feature thats kept the franchise unique and made it stick out amongst a sea of pretty same-y multiplayer shooters. And if you think about the fact that Battlefield really hasn't been such a relevant name in the space for the past few years, its even more mind-boggling that its destructive environments never became one of those game features that got re-iterated left and right, pushing its capabilities in the Gaming Space forward. Until now that is.
Considering Embark Studios is made up of quite a few ex-employees of Dice, its no surprise that, when they developed a new shooter, they felt the need to put in destructive environments. What really blew me away is just how much better they are than they've ever been in any battlefield title. Entire houses can be leveled in seconds if you know what you're doing and have the right gear. Sometimes its even the tactically sound move, instead of like battlefield where for 90% of the time you did it for shits and giggles.
Beyond that I also want to commend the Devs on successfully creating something unique and innovative within the multiplayer shooter space. If the deluge of Battle Royales hasn't already made it obvious, its not really a space brimming with originality. But Embark managed to go against that and create their own thing, by looking at the best gameplay elements from their past work and combining them. Thats how we get a game that has elements of the Parkour and Aesthetic of Mirrors Edge, with the Gameplay Pace of your average round of Rush in Battlefield. Couple that with the destruction and you'll get something that feels both familiar and completely new.
Most of all I love the polish. I know it says a lot about the sorry state of Triple A gaming, that not being broken on launch is seen as a positive nowadays, but I can't help but mention it. I watched Skill Ups Review and in it he mentioned that this game feels in Season 1, like the average Live Service Game Feels by Season 3 or 4 and I can't help but agree. It feels like QA wasn't neglected and the Devs worked really hard on ironing out any major issues before launch.
All in all this is a great time and its been the first game in damn near 20 years of gaming, that has made me purchase its battle pass and buy a couple of Skins. Again maybe telling of the sorry state of Triple A Gaming, but I can't think of a higher honor that I can bestow on a game than that.
It's always been insane to me, that no major shooter over the past decade, seemed interested in borrowing Battlefields destructive environments. It's been a feature thats kept the franchise unique and made it stick out amongst a sea of pretty same-y multiplayer shooters. And if you think about the fact that Battlefield really hasn't been such a relevant name in the space for the past few years, its even more mind-boggling that its destructive environments never became one of those game features that got re-iterated left and right, pushing its capabilities in the Gaming Space forward. Until now that is.
Considering Embark Studios is made up of quite a few ex-employees of Dice, its no surprise that, when they developed a new shooter, they felt the need to put in destructive environments. What really blew me away is just how much better they are than they've ever been in any battlefield title. Entire houses can be leveled in seconds if you know what you're doing and have the right gear. Sometimes its even the tactically sound move, instead of like battlefield where for 90% of the time you did it for shits and giggles.
Beyond that I also want to commend the Devs on successfully creating something unique and innovative within the multiplayer shooter space. If the deluge of Battle Royales hasn't already made it obvious, its not really a space brimming with originality. But Embark managed to go against that and create their own thing, by looking at the best gameplay elements from their past work and combining them. Thats how we get a game that has elements of the Parkour and Aesthetic of Mirrors Edge, with the Gameplay Pace of your average round of Rush in Battlefield. Couple that with the destruction and you'll get something that feels both familiar and completely new.
Most of all I love the polish. I know it says a lot about the sorry state of Triple A gaming, that not being broken on launch is seen as a positive nowadays, but I can't help but mention it. I watched Skill Ups Review and in it he mentioned that this game feels in Season 1, like the average Live Service Game Feels by Season 3 or 4 and I can't help but agree. It feels like QA wasn't neglected and the Devs worked really hard on ironing out any major issues before launch.
All in all this is a great time and its been the first game in damn near 20 years of gaming, that has made me purchase its battle pass and buy a couple of Skins. Again maybe telling of the sorry state of Triple A Gaming, but I can't think of a higher honor that I can bestow on a game than that.
2023
I don't know when I was last this addicted to a game. Some friends and I discovered this at a LAN Party and we've been playing it religiously for the past 3 weeks now. I'm pretty sure even after this addiction phase wears off, this will be in my regular rotation, for when friends visit and we need something to play. Absolutely knocked it out of the park.
Well I did not expect to score this game the same as the previous one, but for all its improvements in graphics and storytelling, the combat system is simply abysmal and its not the only gameplay decision that leaves me baffled.
For one I just will never understand why devs feel the need to put carry limits in their RPG's. The only semi-plausible reason I've come up with, is that a player could pick up everything and become too rich too quickly. But merchants only having a certain amount of gold, like in Skyrim, would be an easy fix for that.
The handful of stealth sections in this game feel gimmicky and tacked on. I don't have strong feelings on them, just think they weren't needed.
Killing a monster that spawns in the wild, saving right after and reloading, will lead to that monster respawning immediately. Kinda shitty when some Monster Bossfights are near normal Monster Spawns. You have to clear them out every time you get killed by the boss.
The Hitboxes are about as reliable as Dandelions Ballads are at conveying the truth without exaggeration.
Small Bookreader nitpick, but I gotta bring it up since I read all 8 books just for this game, as I'd heard the book context adds much to the enjoyement of the Story of 2 and 3. The game really did reward me in that aspect, except for a single time. Killing off Assire var Anahid, one of the most important and interesting members of the Council of Sorceresses, so unceremoniously, just felt like a bad decision. Would've loved to see her in Witcher 3.
The Gargoyles are pretty much the worst enemy type I've ever had to fight in a casual action adventure type game. Every now and then they will block a hit and give back an attack that is too quick to dodge or block. If you play on the Dark Difficulty, this will turn a simple monster hunting sidequest into the hardest and most frustrating fights in the game, because you can take exactly 3 of those unavoidable and unpredictable hits, before you die. Seriously fuck that Enemy Type, nothing enraged me more in this game than them.
This game might contain one of the worst Dragon Boss Fights in a Triple A game. Underwhelming and frustrating on higher difficulties due to the aforementioned Hitboxes.
So after getting all that out of my system. Some things I really liked, to end off on a positive note.
The first game already had compelling characters, but this game went even farther.
Ioverth, despite his violent tendencies and hate for humans, was much easier to get behind than Yaevinn. I loved developing my bromance with him.
I also liked that Vernon, the leader of a genocidal Special unit that hunts non-humans, is actually a pretty cool and loyal dude. It reflects how racists aren't just raging assholes, but scarily human.
Saskia being a dragon and the daughter of Borch Three Jackdaws is so fucking cool and out there and it shows a type of love for the source material, that is getting me really excited to finally play the 3rd entry. Well that and everybody fawning over it for 8 straight years now.
Radovid and the way his relationship with Phillippa developed between the books and the games, was perfect. When he monologued about her stone cold demeanor and how he learned from it, subjugating everyone but Phillippa herself, my inner eye saw his story play out in vivid detail. Because it fit both their characters from the books so well.
Phillippa and Sile were written fantastically. They were very much the scheming sorceresses that I remembered from the books.
Letho was the perfect Witcher antagonist. Not really evil, but very much beyond the point of being redeemable. Like most Witcher characters, hes clad in shades of grey.
The Worlddesign was so good. I loved the woods with their enormous trees, Vergen with its Dwarven Architecture and Loc Muinne, the first big elven Ruin I've gotten to explore.
The Visuals hold up incredibly well for a 2011 game.
I haven't yet looked up all the endings and the effects that all my choices had throughout the game, but I felt like this game had more consequences for my choices than most RPGs I've played in all my years of gaming.
All in all, what could be a better follow up to Witcher 1, than another game that refuses to just be good or bad. Like its Prequel, the gameplay is so bad at times, you want to rip your hair out, while the writing and world building easily outdo most Triple-A RPGs out there. Because of all the hype over the years, I'm expecting Witcher 3 to finally be the one where CD Project Red manages to match its ambition, with the actual end product.
Except for the Combat System. From what I've heard, they still haven't gotten that one quite right... sigh. Well it surely can't be as bad as the one in this game... I hope.
For one I just will never understand why devs feel the need to put carry limits in their RPG's. The only semi-plausible reason I've come up with, is that a player could pick up everything and become too rich too quickly. But merchants only having a certain amount of gold, like in Skyrim, would be an easy fix for that.
The handful of stealth sections in this game feel gimmicky and tacked on. I don't have strong feelings on them, just think they weren't needed.
Killing a monster that spawns in the wild, saving right after and reloading, will lead to that monster respawning immediately. Kinda shitty when some Monster Bossfights are near normal Monster Spawns. You have to clear them out every time you get killed by the boss.
The Hitboxes are about as reliable as Dandelions Ballads are at conveying the truth without exaggeration.
Small Bookreader nitpick, but I gotta bring it up since I read all 8 books just for this game, as I'd heard the book context adds much to the enjoyement of the Story of 2 and 3. The game really did reward me in that aspect, except for a single time. Killing off Assire var Anahid, one of the most important and interesting members of the Council of Sorceresses, so unceremoniously, just felt like a bad decision. Would've loved to see her in Witcher 3.
The Gargoyles are pretty much the worst enemy type I've ever had to fight in a casual action adventure type game. Every now and then they will block a hit and give back an attack that is too quick to dodge or block. If you play on the Dark Difficulty, this will turn a simple monster hunting sidequest into the hardest and most frustrating fights in the game, because you can take exactly 3 of those unavoidable and unpredictable hits, before you die. Seriously fuck that Enemy Type, nothing enraged me more in this game than them.
This game might contain one of the worst Dragon Boss Fights in a Triple A game. Underwhelming and frustrating on higher difficulties due to the aforementioned Hitboxes.
So after getting all that out of my system. Some things I really liked, to end off on a positive note.
The first game already had compelling characters, but this game went even farther.
Ioverth, despite his violent tendencies and hate for humans, was much easier to get behind than Yaevinn. I loved developing my bromance with him.
I also liked that Vernon, the leader of a genocidal Special unit that hunts non-humans, is actually a pretty cool and loyal dude. It reflects how racists aren't just raging assholes, but scarily human.
Saskia being a dragon and the daughter of Borch Three Jackdaws is so fucking cool and out there and it shows a type of love for the source material, that is getting me really excited to finally play the 3rd entry. Well that and everybody fawning over it for 8 straight years now.
Radovid and the way his relationship with Phillippa developed between the books and the games, was perfect. When he monologued about her stone cold demeanor and how he learned from it, subjugating everyone but Phillippa herself, my inner eye saw his story play out in vivid detail. Because it fit both their characters from the books so well.
Phillippa and Sile were written fantastically. They were very much the scheming sorceresses that I remembered from the books.
Letho was the perfect Witcher antagonist. Not really evil, but very much beyond the point of being redeemable. Like most Witcher characters, hes clad in shades of grey.
The Worlddesign was so good. I loved the woods with their enormous trees, Vergen with its Dwarven Architecture and Loc Muinne, the first big elven Ruin I've gotten to explore.
The Visuals hold up incredibly well for a 2011 game.
I haven't yet looked up all the endings and the effects that all my choices had throughout the game, but I felt like this game had more consequences for my choices than most RPGs I've played in all my years of gaming.
All in all, what could be a better follow up to Witcher 1, than another game that refuses to just be good or bad. Like its Prequel, the gameplay is so bad at times, you want to rip your hair out, while the writing and world building easily outdo most Triple-A RPGs out there. Because of all the hype over the years, I'm expecting Witcher 3 to finally be the one where CD Project Red manages to match its ambition, with the actual end product.
Except for the Combat System. From what I've heard, they still haven't gotten that one quite right... sigh. Well it surely can't be as bad as the one in this game... I hope.
This review contains spoilers
I've left a negative Review for this thing back when it released, because I believe that shitty performance on launch day should be reflected in the review score. I originally planned to wait a few months, play it and then write another review, but I was told that the performance gets better after Koboh. So I went back, only to find out that "better" just means "less shitty".
But to get past Koboh, I had already put in 15-20 hours, that I was unwilling to replay, so I kept going, fully determined to finish it and I am sad to say, that this probably is the Star Wars Game kid-me always wanted, but I will never remember it that way. The Performance issues just thoroughly soiled the experience.
I haven't played a game this broken on launch since Cyberpunk 2077 and honestly I'd call this worse than cyberpunk, because at least I could enjoy the story, world and gameplay in CP77 (as long as I ignored all the promised features they cut). This Games issues corroded nearly every element to a point where its hard to enjoy anything about it.
The Cutscenes are hard to appreciate, when everything looks super pixelated and blurry, because the game can't handle high resolutions. As is the gameplay, when the FPS is more inconsistent than Kanye Wests political beliefs. Its also difficult to get into the "build your own town" aspect of the game, when 90% of those characters are in a bar, where every visit includes a 60 second wait at the door, because its still loading.
Really the only thing I could enjoy here are the characters. I really loved where they took Cal, Merrin, Cere and Greez. All of their start and ending points in this game perfectly line up with who we've gotten to know them as in the last game. New characters are also a hoot. I loved talking to Skoova, Moran and Pili, because of their varied vibes and insights into the Galaxy.
Cody Fern absolutely crushed it as Dagan, but his performance wasn't quite enough to save a Villain with such severly underwritten motivations. Bode is the most interesting Dark Side Antagonist we've gotten since Kylo Ren (pre-RoS), but also needed some work in the motivation department. Its just hard to believe that a guy like him, would needlessly shoot Cordova or even escalate things to that level in the first place, before they ever visited Tanalorr. To make these actions make sense, all of Bodes good Character Qualities would have to have been fake, which fits a spy I guess, but makes for a boring Villain.
In the end, I really wanted to see this game succeed. I wanted to see it realize its full potential and soar. Not just because I loved Fallen Order. Not just because I have been following and loving Respawn Entertainment since their inception. Not just because I am a huge proponent of Homeoffice and this is the first Triple A Game to be fully developed from Homeoffice and thus important for setting a standard in the industry.
But also because Mainstream Star Wars is currently in a tough place (Comics and Book Fans be eating tho). And seeing a good Star Wars Story squandered hurts that much more, when you only get 1-2 per Year on Average.
But to get past Koboh, I had already put in 15-20 hours, that I was unwilling to replay, so I kept going, fully determined to finish it and I am sad to say, that this probably is the Star Wars Game kid-me always wanted, but I will never remember it that way. The Performance issues just thoroughly soiled the experience.
I haven't played a game this broken on launch since Cyberpunk 2077 and honestly I'd call this worse than cyberpunk, because at least I could enjoy the story, world and gameplay in CP77 (as long as I ignored all the promised features they cut). This Games issues corroded nearly every element to a point where its hard to enjoy anything about it.
The Cutscenes are hard to appreciate, when everything looks super pixelated and blurry, because the game can't handle high resolutions. As is the gameplay, when the FPS is more inconsistent than Kanye Wests political beliefs. Its also difficult to get into the "build your own town" aspect of the game, when 90% of those characters are in a bar, where every visit includes a 60 second wait at the door, because its still loading.
Really the only thing I could enjoy here are the characters. I really loved where they took Cal, Merrin, Cere and Greez. All of their start and ending points in this game perfectly line up with who we've gotten to know them as in the last game. New characters are also a hoot. I loved talking to Skoova, Moran and Pili, because of their varied vibes and insights into the Galaxy.
Cody Fern absolutely crushed it as Dagan, but his performance wasn't quite enough to save a Villain with such severly underwritten motivations. Bode is the most interesting Dark Side Antagonist we've gotten since Kylo Ren (pre-RoS), but also needed some work in the motivation department. Its just hard to believe that a guy like him, would needlessly shoot Cordova or even escalate things to that level in the first place, before they ever visited Tanalorr. To make these actions make sense, all of Bodes good Character Qualities would have to have been fake, which fits a spy I guess, but makes for a boring Villain.
In the end, I really wanted to see this game succeed. I wanted to see it realize its full potential and soar. Not just because I loved Fallen Order. Not just because I have been following and loving Respawn Entertainment since their inception. Not just because I am a huge proponent of Homeoffice and this is the first Triple A Game to be fully developed from Homeoffice and thus important for setting a standard in the industry.
But also because Mainstream Star Wars is currently in a tough place (Comics and Book Fans be eating tho). And seeing a good Star Wars Story squandered hurts that much more, when you only get 1-2 per Year on Average.
It was pretty good until I had to face the Tyrant Bossfight with no ammo. Decided to give up because I didn't want to replay the last few hours of gameplay.
Edit: I've since went back, finished it an did a new review.
Genuinely unplayable currently on the Xbox Series X. Put in almost 10 hour, but am going to give up and start a new playthrough in a few months when they patched this shit into a playable state.
Leaving this review because this shit shouldn't be normalized. Its not ok, no other product in the world except videogames can break false advertisement laws so clearly but receive 0 consequences.
None of the trailers featured an average of about 20FPS in larger areas. Or FPS drops every 5 fucking seconds, when it does manage to go above that. Or the game looking PS3 Level ugly in Performance mode, while still having the aforementioned FPS drops every few seconds. So why tf are we not entitled to full refunds, when the actual product does feature these issues?
Genuinely unplayable currently on the Xbox Series X. Put in almost 10 hour, but am going to give up and start a new playthrough in a few months when they patched this shit into a playable state.
Leaving this review because this shit shouldn't be normalized. Its not ok, no other product in the world except videogames can break false advertisement laws so clearly but receive 0 consequences.
None of the trailers featured an average of about 20FPS in larger areas. Or FPS drops every 5 fucking seconds, when it does manage to go above that. Or the game looking PS3 Level ugly in Performance mode, while still having the aforementioned FPS drops every few seconds. So why tf are we not entitled to full refunds, when the actual product does feature these issues?
2023
I have rarely felt such a spectrum of emotions while playing a game.
One moment you will feel incredibly relaxed and happy, enjoying the beautiful views, while building your base, thanking Virginia for that fish she brought you and laughing with your Coop buddies at Kelvins stupid grin.
The next you will feel disturbed, as that cannibal you just fought fell to the ground in his last moments, desperately trying to crawl away from you, with animations so detailed that you can almost feel his fear as he takes his dying breaths, shortly after which a female cannibal, presumably his wife or daughter, runs up to his corpse and starts crying.
And shortly after that the only thing you will be able to feel is panic, as that Cannibal fight cost you a lot of gear and you are trying to retreat, while the Cannibal friends of that guy you just killed chase you through the forest, hiding in the bushes, jumping from tree to tree, making sure you only hear or see them when it is already too late.
I have rarely played an early access game that already had such a complete vision of what exactly it wanted to be. While there is still a bit of a lack of story and content in here, with a good heap of bugs on top, the core of what will one day make this game great, is already here and I am happy that I got to experience it, even it wasn't yet enough to sink 100+ hours into.
One moment you will feel incredibly relaxed and happy, enjoying the beautiful views, while building your base, thanking Virginia for that fish she brought you and laughing with your Coop buddies at Kelvins stupid grin.
The next you will feel disturbed, as that cannibal you just fought fell to the ground in his last moments, desperately trying to crawl away from you, with animations so detailed that you can almost feel his fear as he takes his dying breaths, shortly after which a female cannibal, presumably his wife or daughter, runs up to his corpse and starts crying.
And shortly after that the only thing you will be able to feel is panic, as that Cannibal fight cost you a lot of gear and you are trying to retreat, while the Cannibal friends of that guy you just killed chase you through the forest, hiding in the bushes, jumping from tree to tree, making sure you only hear or see them when it is already too late.
I have rarely played an early access game that already had such a complete vision of what exactly it wanted to be. While there is still a bit of a lack of story and content in here, with a good heap of bugs on top, the core of what will one day make this game great, is already here and I am happy that I got to experience it, even it wasn't yet enough to sink 100+ hours into.
2023
I'm convinced a lot more people would be criticizing this game if the controversy surrounding it wouldn't be a strong motivator for progessive gamers to not talk about it at all and edgy gamers to support it fully, as a way to "trigger the libs".
At the end of the day, this is as mid as it gets. The Combat, Characters, Story, Dialogue, Exploration and Base building all feel like somebody just put a Harry Potter skin over one of the latest Assassins Creed iterations. In other words: the game is fucking boring. Which really is the worst thing art can be.
Its only saving grace are the pretty graphics and that hogwarts itself, unlike the rest of the open world, is actually fun to run around in (altough that might just be my childhood nostalgia).
And on top of all this, Ubisoft- errm I mean Avalanche managed to ship the game with major performance issues. Hogsmeade? More like Bugsmeade... Yeah its time to wrap up this review. My jokes are getting as stale as this game.
At the end of the day, this is as mid as it gets. The Combat, Characters, Story, Dialogue, Exploration and Base building all feel like somebody just put a Harry Potter skin over one of the latest Assassins Creed iterations. In other words: the game is fucking boring. Which really is the worst thing art can be.
Its only saving grace are the pretty graphics and that hogwarts itself, unlike the rest of the open world, is actually fun to run around in (altough that might just be my childhood nostalgia).
And on top of all this, Ubisoft- errm I mean Avalanche managed to ship the game with major performance issues. Hogsmeade? More like Bugsmeade... Yeah its time to wrap up this review. My jokes are getting as stale as this game.
An exhilarating adventure, that is exactly what you'd expect from Star Wars tonally. It has stunningly designed planets. It has a ragtag group of misfits fighting for whats right. And most importantly it has hordes of space-fascists to cut your way through.
But under the fun action-adventure exterior, it also has this genuinely touching story about trauma, the crushing effects it has on a person and the struggle one has to go through, to overcome it. Pretty much everybody, even minor characters like Taron Malicos or the ninth sister, has gone through Trauma in this story. Some choose to overcome it, others let it overtake them. Of course a Story about Trauma is nothing special, but its the successful combination of your everyday Trauma story, with the easygoing Star Wars Adventure, that impressed me.
I've played this game before and recalled its story being good but nothing outstanding. So imagine my surprise, when it managed to consistently make me cry and heavily empathize with many of its characters, during my replay. I guess sometimes the story doesn't need to grow on us, but we simply need to grow ourselves.
I do have some minor complaints like non-humanoid enemies not telegraphing effectively, the map being horrendous and a bit of a lack of Enemy variety. But all in all, the good far outweighs the bad, making this a light of hope, in what was a very dark time for Star Wars Gaming.
But under the fun action-adventure exterior, it also has this genuinely touching story about trauma, the crushing effects it has on a person and the struggle one has to go through, to overcome it. Pretty much everybody, even minor characters like Taron Malicos or the ninth sister, has gone through Trauma in this story. Some choose to overcome it, others let it overtake them. Of course a Story about Trauma is nothing special, but its the successful combination of your everyday Trauma story, with the easygoing Star Wars Adventure, that impressed me.
I've played this game before and recalled its story being good but nothing outstanding. So imagine my surprise, when it managed to consistently make me cry and heavily empathize with many of its characters, during my replay. I guess sometimes the story doesn't need to grow on us, but we simply need to grow ourselves.
I do have some minor complaints like non-humanoid enemies not telegraphing effectively, the map being horrendous and a bit of a lack of Enemy variety. But all in all, the good far outweighs the bad, making this a light of hope, in what was a very dark time for Star Wars Gaming.