Recenzii recente de FearDaGrimace

Im tired of this. Yes...the game is great. Even the PC port is solid as far as performance goes, so technically it's a thumbs up. That said...it's 2025! Square did better with the FF15 port than it has since. I'm tired of the half ass'd ports. I'm giving this a thumbs up, but moving forward, no matter how good the game itself is, if it doesn't include ultrawide, and proper HDR, and frame generation, and all the other BASIC requirements for a good port, I won't be paying them and instead, I'll cheat them the same way they cheat me. DO BETTER SQUARE!

I think we all owe Bloober Team an apology.... I'll start:
Dear Bloober Team,
I want to start by simply saying... I'm sorry. I didn't think you had it in you. I knew you had some pretty great technical skills, but everything I'd seen you do up until Silent Hill 2 felt somehow.... underwhelming. Somehow, despite my feeling that way, I'll admit that you've managed not just a GOOD remake, but an IMPROVED remake of one of the greatest games of all time. Full Stop.
Soon, I'll be going back and replaying "The Medium" at least, just to see if maybe I'd misjudged it.
Thank you so much for your hard work. Hopefully we can get the same treatment for the original, 3, and 4/"The Room", but I imagine you probably want to make some original content too. I'm torn on this, because I'd love to see the main sequence of games get the same love and attention, but I'd also love to see what you can do with the IP, when not held back by a pre-existing narrative. Either way, I'll be keeping an eye on what's next, and I promise to tell anyone who will listen that Bloober Team and Silent Hill (2024) are ABSOLUTELY worth their time. Oh, and you were snubbed at the Game Awards....

Goodbye Seoul's demo absolutely left me wanting more. I'll be watching it's development with great anticipation. If you're a fan of side scrolling, narrative platformers such as "Inside", "Limbo", or "Braid", then this is a must try. Here's hoping "Jino Games" can deliver on it's very promising premise.

So I just finished my first play-through, so I think I'm now officially qualified to talk about my (mostly excellent) experience. I'm going to come off as harsh because I'm a huge fan of the series, and while I really enjoyed my experience, I think there are some real opportunities for improvement. So here we go:

Graphics, Presentation & Performance:
This is, by and large, a great looking game. Some places, like the early zone, "The Greatwood", are drop dead gorgeous. When I first spawned into this location, I had to just sit for a minute, trying to recall a better looking forest...I couldn't think of one. But lot's of locations, like some of the villages, are a bit on the generic side. They aren't ugly, not at all... rather, just a bit dull. Also, I'm pretty disappointed we didn't have any true cities to explore. You do go into all of the capitals (which are quite beautiful btw), but only one visit to each (you can't visit after each relevant mission/act), so they all function basically as glorified dungeons. You go in on a mission while the city is under siege, you fight a whole bunch of enemies, fight a boss or five, and you complete your goal. There's no proper city with shops, NPC's and inn's akin to the fair that JRPG fans have come to expect and enjoy in games like this. The character designs and the animations are top notch. The facial animations in particular are quite good, with excellent motion capture, they give off lots of emotion. Lastly the performance: I had a mostly good experience. I run a Ryzen 7700x w/ a 4070 and 32gb ram, and I had 80-120 fps (w/ mods), averaging 100 most of the time. Stuttering was infrequent, but I know other's have had lesser experiences, so you're results may vary. Also, don't run this on a HDD. Use an SSD...trust me. On the downside, this game comes to us courtesy of Square Enix, so we've come to expect poor PC optimization/customization settings. It's very bare bones in terms of your options, and it doesn't support ultrawide without a mod (at time of writing). I also hardly noticed changes in performance when changing the settings, which i can't even begin to fathom. Going from maxed out settings to everything set to "min", MAYBE bought me 5-10fps. Square, I know the PC market is not a big priority for you (though it should be), but a real easy way to buy yourselves some good will, would be to offer great optimization options. You did great with FF15 (at least in this department), but since then, it's like you're not trying! Hopefully "Rebirth" proves me wrong but I doubt it. Feels lazy to me...

Audio & Writing/Dialogue:
The written dialogue and performances from the writers and English voice actors, are literally the best I've seen in a Japanese produced game. Usually JRPG's in particularly suffer in this department, but both the writers and actors have scored an absolute slam dunk. Everyone feels real and (at least by the end), fleshed out. I have no notes.

The Story:
Clearly taking cues from George R.R. Martin, this is a truly epic story. Big Kingdoms, big armies, and huge stakes. The whole world is at war, but despite that it still manages to find time for the more intimate moments between characters. Some things don't work, like I found myself kind of shocked when the romantic subplot popped up, as there had been next to no lead up. It wound up working, but at first I was surprised. The couple had seemed to have a more familial relationship, a la siblings, rather than romantic partners. Also, quite a few characters only get development in the last 20% of the game, and only if you do the side quests, which is a bit of a shame. but overall, they did good.

Gameplay:
So this has been a touchy subject for some. A lot of people were put off by the fact that this is the closest a main Final Fantasy title has been to a true action game, rather than a true JRPG. While I can understand the disappointment, I went into it knowing what it was, and as a result, I had a blast. This is "Final Fantasy" done "Devil May Cry" style. With actual input from Platinum Games, the combat is excellent, and only gets better the further in you get, though more difficulty options on the first play through would've been nice. The traversal is kind of rough though. Whether by foot or Chocobo, running the maps feels kind of stilted. Not bad, just not as smooth as the combat. I also wish there was more to do with all the crafting items you pick up, and more options in terms of leveling up, and customizing you're move set. In other words, I wish there was a bit more RPG in this "RPG".

So to sum up, if you can accept that this isn't as much a JRPG as it is an action game w/ JRPG elements, and you have a rig that can run it well, then this is a strong recommend from me. It has some weaknesses, but it's great to see a true AAA game that isn't just like all the others. I think that fact, in and of itself, makes FF16 worth trying and supporting.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? It's a BEAUTIFUL game, with a great story, writing, acting and LOADS of heart. The puzzles range from moderately challenging, down to: "why'd they even bother?", but they help mix things up and can sometimes be fairly rewarding. The combat is "Souls-like" mechanically, but is MUCH more forgiving...So much so that it might not provide enough of a challenge for some, but I really enjoyed it. All the enemy's, and the player's moves have great impact so combat feels awesome, and the addition of auditory cues from the "Voices" are a really cool touch. My only major nitpick is related to performance. I've got a Ryzen 7 7700x3D, 64gb DDR5 ram, and a MSI 4070 Ventus and the game still hitches (roughly) every 15-20 seconds, and changing settings doesn't seem to solve it. That said, I haven't researched if there's a solution, but the game is several years old and was a huge success, so unless I'm the only one suffering from this, then it should've been resolved by now. It didn't hurt the gameplay but it's definitely annoying and it's not great for immersion's sake. So with all that said, I might be the last person who wanted to play this who hadn't yet, but I can strongly recommend this to anyone even remotely considering it. If you like a strong narrative with your single player experiences, then this is a no-brainer. Give it a shot and thank me later.

Now to find out if the sequel is as bad as some say....I've been told as long as you expect a short experience, you should enjoy it if you liked the first one....So it's time to find out!

"Helldivers 2", is by far the most fun I've had in YEARS playing a "live service" game. Admittedly I'm not the main demographic for LS games, at writing I'm a 38 y.o. "Millennial" who usually looks down on the model (especially free to play), as they rarely offer genuinely rewarding experiences. "Helldivers 2" is COMPLETELY different, in that the developer's seem genuinely passionate about the game they made, and the experience of the players...even more than monetization. They fought back with the players against the authoritarian behavior of their publisher, Sony, and even though it wasn't a total victory ("Helldivers 2" still isn't available in a huge # of countries), it did win PC players the right to decline a PSN account. The Dev's also engage actively w/ the community to make the game better, and they openly communicate their plans, and even their failures. It's so refreshing. Then there's the game itself. It's buggy, it's often frustrating, but it's simply the most fun I've had in a game in years. The sense of accomplishment you get when you barely manage to edge out a win w/ a good team you just found on matchmaking, is unlike anything else I've experienced. It's the kind of game I think about all day at work, and I haven't had that experience in years. The community is fantastic, so even if you opt to mostly use matchmaking, you'll find yourself in great groups more often than bad ones, and you'll almost never come across trolls. I suppose that's a testament to the community management of the devs, because that kind of thing doesn't happen by accident.
With all that said, my recommendation is simple: GIVE "HELLDIVERS 2" A SHOT! Because unless you hate fun, you're simply bound to have a great time. Keep up the great work Arrowhead! "FOR DEMOCRACY!!!"

Well Bandai, I gotta say I'm impressed. You've really got something special here. I'm assuming you (and devs GYAAR studios) made, published and released what is, in essence, just a demo as a means of testing the appeal the concept has. If that's true, and your planning a full game if the reception is good, I feel confident saying you can go ahead and begin development. It's been a while since an original game with concept driven game play has impressed me like this, probably not since "Neon White". If the level design is handled well, then this could really be great. I wish more devs and publishers would take chances on new ideas. Not every game needs to have a AAA budget, or fit neatly into an established mold. New concepts are worth exploring. Now hopefully other people feel like same. Everyone should give it a try! It's free after all!

PS: Since I wrote this review as a letter to the dev's/publisher, I feel I should include the following request...because why the hell not?: Please add 21:9 and other Ultrawide options. Or at least add an easy way to modify the config file for those of us w/ UW screens. Not just here but all your games. It's an easy way to further endear yourselves to the hardcore gamer community! ...just sayin!

If you're a fellow fan of "The Expanse" then this is probably a no-brainer. While it doesn't pick up after the "finale" of the show, it lets us look a bit deeper into the life of fan-favorite "Camina Drummer". While it's no classic compared to either the show, or previous "Telltale" efforts like "Wolf Among Us" or "The Walking Dead", it's certainly a solid enough story and for fans, it's just a great opportunity to drop back into the universe of the books and show. It runs well for me and it looks decent (some odd character models aside). I just wish there was a bit more variety in terms of locations, and yes I know that the locales are mostly true to the show, but that's whats great about games...you don't need to build expensive sets, so you can go a bit crazier. All that said, if you're a fan of the show in particular, definitely pick this one up. If however you're not yet a fan, this is not an appropriate point of entry.

Good Job Telltale! Welcome Back!

Another excellent re-release from EA. It's just a solid example of developers changing what should be changed but leaving the heart and soul of a classic completely in tact. The only negatives I can think of, are foundational, and a result of tropes from the days when the game original came out. In particular, the last level...following the marker through room after room just killing enemies. It got dull, and maybe that could've used more reworking...but that's nitpicking. Honestly this is just a great example of a classic game, and should be used (along with RE2, RE4, and Mass Effect LE) as an example for how to make a GREAT remake/remaster.

An underappreciated gem. It has a compelling anime style story line and great fight mechanics. The week points are the mostly static cut-scenes, dressed up as panels from a manga or comic book, but are definitely more cost cutting than creative choice. It also is missing ultra-wide support (though there are fixes), which is fairly typical of most east Asian games, but is definitely getting old in 2023. I safely recommend Scarlet Nexus if your a fan of Japanese storytelling and/or a fan of good hack n' slash games.