Found the internet!Mafia II - Shiny. Sadly disappointing.
Mafia II - Shiny. Sadly disappointing.
With the first Mafia game getting a remaster, I realized that I still had not played any Mafia game at all - and since I had both Mafia II and III unplayed in my library, I started with the older one. Note that this means that I went into the game with almost no knowledge or expectation. I knew that there was an "open" city to drive through, and that it was, well, about being in the Mafia in the 40s and 50s.
If you want the really short verdict, you got it in the headline so let me elaborate a bit: The game really looks nice, especially for a game that is a decade old - but even half an hour in, the game exuded the flair of ambition that raced face-first into executive meddling, and lost hard. Let's get to it, shall we?
Graphics, sound and performance: Well, as I said, the game still looks good. Everything you see in the game oozes the flair of the mid-40s to early 50s (even though there are some inconsistencies). The art team clearly worked their asses off in terms of quality. Quantity? Not so much. While there is a decent amount of different vehicles, many share certain visual elements, and soon, I had the impression I had seen it all (even though the game quite cleverly spaces out the appearances of newer models into later missions). Same for clothing: There is variety in theory - but in practice, you see maybe a handful of actually distinct outfits (a bit more if you count the DLC stuff that comes with the Director's Cut). The same goes for the radio and music you hear throughout the game: The music is typical for the time, but there is not that much of it - especially since in the version I had, apparently some songs were cut because of copyright reasons (there is a mod to fix this, but the game does not tell you any of this). Apart from that, I found that the little "news" snippets were a nice touch at first, but that there really are so few of them that I listened to some about five times while driving through the city. Over-all, the impression set in quickly that this was too little, stretched over too much space. This tendency will come up in other parts again. The VA, however, was another bright spot for me; I found it mostly pretty convincing and moody.
Performance-wise, I was dismayed, however; Even on my rig (i5-7600K@3.8GHz, 16 Gigs RAM, Radeon RX 5700 XT), installed on an SSD, the game displayed performance issues; Frequent microstutters as well as seconds-long loading pauses (even when you're just rounding a corner into a flat that has maybe three rooms) accompanied me through the 17 hours I played the game. Quite an achievement when you consider that, in theory, the whole game install would fit into my RAM, size-wise. To top it off, the game does not play well with high frame rates. There is a persistent bug that slows the entire game down to bullet time if the Police take notice of you while you have more than (apparently around) 120 fps. Thankfully, there is a workaround by de-assigning and re-assigning CPU cores to the title, or by using some sort of frame limiter. Lastly, the game isn't super stable. It crashed three or four times on me (always in the car select screen).
Story and writing: I read up on the reception of the title, and I know that I invite debate, but: I found the writing to be a mixed bag. The actual lines are usually decent enough, but the entire story has this tendency I noted above: Too little, too stretched. It introduces a lot of characters, then gives them a handful of lines, or maybe just one, and then it moves on, those characters forgotten until they surface hours later (or not), when you already have forgotten who that character is, and are used in a way that clearly is meant to emotionally impact the player (because it impacts the main characters), and you just know the guy from twenty seconds of dialogue. Or maybe even only from the previous game, or from a promotional tie-in (which I found out by reading the Mafia wiki). The effect was dire on me, and I uttered the eight deadly words more than once: "I don't care what happens to those dudes." In fact, I had the opposite reaction from the cast on occasion: I was delighted that a minor character died, just because he was annoying me (in-universe, the death is treated like a tragedy of epic proportions). In another instance, I thought that a death would have to have a profound impact on the cast member, but apart from one sentence, nothing. The writing here just is not consistent on any level.
The story does have twists and turns, as is tradition with anything about the Mafia - but they all dudded out for me, because they are written as pay-off of an investment to those characters that the writers never justify by having it built up. There is no build-up, there are no pointers for the audience as to the motivations of pivotal characters - sure, X betrays Y betrays Z betrays P... but why? No motivation apparent, it's just what happens when Mafiosi, uh, mafiate...? My impression was that the entire story moves more like a hastily drawn story board than an actually fleshed-out script. It all just feels like someone came in, really late in development, and forced significant changes to the entire story, if not the game. I cannot otherwise align the generally competent writing with the shallowness and perfunctory nature of the story as a whole.
Game play: I played the game on PC, and my verdict is: Obvious console port. The "normal" driving functions well enough on KB+M (no I did not try the realistic setting, I am not that masochistic), though I found that you better really like driving through a city while actually adhering to traffic laws and tempo limits. If your idea of a fun time is not "waiting on a virtual red light to turn green while listening to Baby, It's Cold Outside", you'll miss out on about half the fun Mafia II has to offer. Because you'll be doing a lot of cruising through the streets in this game, and if you violate traffic laws when the cops are looking... it's time to bring up the task manager and uncouple your cores from the game's exe again.
Content-wise, there is the main plot, and that is about it. You can sell certain cars, or crush any of them, to make a bit of money, but honestly: There is no need for it. There also is next to no need for having more than one car, or even tuning it up, or really doing anything other than the story missions. Not even building up an arsenal, or money, or anything really is worthwhile; It'll periodically get all taken away anyhow. Again: Big city, lots of potential to do things, but really nothing to do: Too little activity stretched over too large a playground. There are even gas stations that let you refuel your car (the game tracks your fuel gauge). I used that feature once during the entire game. Another hint that this game should have been a different one, and was heavily restructured.
That brings me to the last point: So, what is there to do, game play-wise, and apart from driving through the city? Three things: Cover-shooting, boxing and sneaking about.
Boxing barely deserves the name of activities; There is a set number of box fights in the game when the story demands, and the control scheme is insultingly simple: Holding the dodge button makes you virtually untouchable. From there on, you only need to counter-strike until your opponent is stunned, and then finish him off. The entire affair has: Movement keys, dodge button, hard and fast attack. That's it. Oh, and I don't think I have used the hard attack once outside of the tutorial combat.
Cover-shooting is also not overly deep, even though the game has over a dozen weapons in theory. In practice, you can beat the game with whatever is at hand. Just use cover, and wait for an enemy to show themselves so you can blast them... in theory. In practice, you often work with invincible AI companions. And they tend to hog your cover. And an entrenched enemy AI only moves as you, the player, move. They also prefer you as target to your AI minions. And even on normal, you can die to one shotgun blast. And the game uses save points (no manual saves allowed) that, on occasion, are just too far apart. I had to replay one section about four times because the last wave of foes kept one-shotting me in a situation where all available cover had been hogged by my "friends", who kept urging me to hurry up while sitting on their asses. But all in all, the shooting proved simple, sometimes frustrating because of AI dumbness, but over-all fun - especially since the game uses physics to simulate destructible environment.
Similar to boxing, I can hardly justify giving "sneaking" its own category. There are two levels where it's optionally used, and that is it: Simply use the Sneak key, don't get in any guard's field of view, and that is it. You can sneak-kill them from behind if you feel particularly murdery.
...So again, too little stretched over too much game real estate. I'm currently one Chapter or so before the end, and I uninstalled the game. So shortly before I'm "complete", I do not usually do this, but when I tried booting the game up an hour before I penned this review, I had this sense of "Why, though? What do you think have you not seen yet? You know it's the end game, so it's probably full of stuff that stretches it out a bit, like prolonged gunfights, or a last-second hurdle of having to acquire so and so much cash. And even if it hasn't, do you really think writing this shaky will offer you a satisfying conclusion. And so I looked it up (the conclusion), and I am glad that I did not spend another two or so hours getting to it by myself. Which is a shame, really. Because I did like the city of... Whelp, forgot its name already. Steelport? Nah, that's Saints Row. I should play that again one day.
And that's my verdict, all in all: I can see the potential, I can see the game they wanted to make. But at some part, someone decided to make a different game. To cut corners, to restructure, to streamline and to probably appeal to the "bigger market". And there weren't enough resources (be it money, man power or time) left to make that new vision a good one. If you have fun just inhaling the atmosphere, there is no other game (sadly) that provides the late-WWII, post-WWII-flair like Mafia 2 does. If that does not tickle your fancy, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend the title.
This is, of course, merely my personal opinion, and you are welcome to love the game more than your dear mama and her zuppa di pollo.
edit: To clarify on game length: 17 hours is how long I had the exe running. That includes time I spent researching and fixing the "Police Bullet Time" glitch numerous times, replaying entire missions because of crashes, trying to out if I could pay off a debt early (not possible, it's scripted through a narrative trigger), trying to amass a small fortune by stealing rare cars from one end of the map and driving them to the selling point on the other end (only to have those 20K$ taken away from me in the very next mission), and leaving the game on idle in the background while I looked up "missable collectibles" during runs (of which there are many - without a guide, you cannot help but miss a decent number of them). All in all, I would estimate that the game takes roughly ten, twelve hours from start to completion.
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I thought it was OK. You're right about the wasted potential. I never paid to have cars upgraded, or ever bought weapons from a shop. I think I bought an outfit once, but then Vito changes clothes automatically later anyway. The gunfight at the endgame sucked. I think I had to redo it several times. I get why you quit, but I liked the ending OK. I was pleasantly surprised that Joe doesn't pull a heel turn at the end because I was totally expecting it, but I was disappointed that he dies off camera
He doesn't. He is shown at the end of third game, as Leo Galante's bodyguard or something.
I get why you quit.
Well, to be fair, it wasn't a "hard quit" as in "I cannot take this any more! That's it, I am OUT!" - more of a lack of motivation to get back to it again, which is highly unusual for me that late into a game. "Yeah, I should finish that thing, at least. ...Why, though?"
And I found that maybe what irked me the most: the game had a foundation I really wanted to like, but then just... did so little with it.
I know its not a perfect game but then again not all games are masterpieces. I like mafia 2 because of its setting, its tone and its driving mechanics are fantastic. Also it may have an open world but its less a open world game and moreso simply has one because it serves the story and setting quite nicely.
I thought the game had a cool setting, but the substance of it was terrible. Totally empty open world, lackluster gunplay and story. It could have been awesome if they spent more time on it but it feels like a linear game masquerading as an open world title.
Exactly! I really love the setting, and I wish I had stuff to do in the city. And the game gives you hints that there should be stuff to do - but then, it sabotages itself by not really giving you any reason to.
For instance, the gas station problem: The devs took pains to implement eight (I think) of them in the game, complete with animations and dialogue to show the refueling process. It then gives you a mission to visit them. ...And after that, you can beat the game without interacting with that game mechanic ever again.
Thanks for the write-up. The Mafia series is one I've seen on the shelves several times over the years and thought about buying... but I never did get around to it. With the remasters coming out now, it's nice to know I'm not missing out on a hidden gem. (I doubt they'll add that much of actual substance to the game.)
Not saying a game has to be 10/10 to be worthwhile, I'm sure it has its charms for those who like it, but I was already on the fence anyway.
I'm from the Czech Republic, where Mafia 1 is a cult classic, and some of your criticisms were super common around here after Mafia 2 came out. It was a controversial release to say the least.
Be aware that the original developers of Mafia 1 have nothing to do with the remake. The original Mafia 1 can still be worth playing if you can handle old games, the remake might be good or it might be nothing like the original, nobody really knows.
I loved Mafia 1 when i played it years ago. But nowadays i can't get past it's first mission without getting PTSD from how monotonous and needlessly hard most of it is. It was undoubtedly ahead of it's time but it's also extremely outdated nowadays.
My hopes for the remake being good are really slim tough. It's trailer felt a lot like Mafia 3 trailers where what they were saying made you expect something awesome while the footage was really lackluster. I belive they're pulling this shit out again and i'll absolutely not have any expectations about it. Maybe i'll play it years down the line just to see Lost Heaven modernized.
Every story-related combat encounter in Mafia 1 was intense and memorable. The encounters were usually set up incredibly well, and combat was lethal so you had to pay attention. In the fourth mission you were fighting a handful of guys at a shitty motel, and it felt great when you managed to pull it off.
In the fourth mission of Mafia 2 you're gunning down policemen by the dozen, and it barely registers with you because the cover system is basically doing the fighting for you. Just pop those moles at your leisure and proceed to watch the next cutscene.
i stand in solidarity with you on this. if we get crucified, so be it. mafia 2 is overrated and tedious because of the padding and repetitive gameplay
I have so many games I want to play, and yet I never want to start any of them. The combination of impending time commitment, mind constantly jumping to different games i have on my mind, and the desire to play with friends some nights (and therefore not progressing in any of these solo games) just gets so overwhelming. Like I want to play a game, but don't at the same time.
I just beat RE2 Remake, my first resident evil game. Loved every second. Would make sense to want to jump in to RE3 Remake, or the Remake of the first one, maybe the Ethan winter games. I have a million RPGs that all would be wonderful, but just can't seem to get started with any or get into it. I've been wanting to play FFXIV but that time commitment just seems overwhelming.
I dont have the biggest library/backlog but somehow it seems overwhelming and I don't know how to pick a game or where to even start
- Story: I had watched the Witcher series on Netflix prior to playing the game and I definitely think this enhanced my experience. I don't think the game did a tremendous job at introducing characters and back-stories and had I not watched the series first, I would have missed out on understanding the depth of the relationships between characters. I love how most dialogue options and side-quests contribute to the final outcome of the game without you even realizing it in the moment. I'm mostly happy with the good ending I got with one major issue regarding Radovid however.
- The world was was rich and vast without being overwhelming. Different locations encompassed different people, cultures and sceneries. This was reinforced by the fact that different locations also introduced different soundtracks. The music was phenomenal and truly suited the vibes of the environment in which it was found. Darker/Sinister locations had more somber music, while more lively locations had more upbeat soundtracks.
- Gameplay/Mechanics: I'm a person who gets easily overwhelmed, therefore I did not focus on any of crafting or alchemy. I only focused on Signs and acquiring weapons and gear from looting the world. I appreciate the game for not forcing onto you major RPG elements. However I had serious issues with the mechanics. Geralt's movements felt very "heavy"...especially during combat and horse-riding. Geralt would get stuck numerous times during combat, resulting in damage or death. The aspect that bugged me the most was when Geralt would lock-on to a target at a time when I'm trying to sprint away. Frustrating to say the least.
- My favourite location was Kaer Morhen, It was peaceful and ideal for riding around mindlessly. My least favourite were Velen and Skellige. First was too depressing and the other was too bland. My favourite quests were the Kaer Morhen quests with other witchers as well as the Last Wish sequence with Yen and Through Time and Space. My least favourite were the quests with Freya's Gardens and Morkvarg and anything with Dijkstra and Keira Metz.
Overall, I love the game and its atmosphere. I do think it set a prime example of what open-world RPG games should look like. I don't believe I would ever replay the main game, simply because of its sheer size but I am excited to continue with Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone when I'm over the "Witcher burn-out"!
The first time I played Factorio was back in v0.16 and let me tell you, it was not pretty. There's a reason why fans of the game call it Cracktorio.
The start of the game is fun enough: It teaches you how to mine, then it teaches you how to automate, then it teaches you how to take the next few steps to getting your base up and running. Then you start a freeplay game - a real attempt now - apply what you've learned, craft, build, defend, generate some power, engineer production lines, make mistakes, dismantle, re-engineer production lines, repair your stuff that have been destroyed by the biters, get frustrated, then start a new game all over again.
You build better defenses this time, explore, finally get trains researched, you create remote mining outposts, which almost get destroyed by biters again except that now you know better. But then you bang your face into your keyboard because you can't wrap your head around how rail signals and circuit networks work. The next thing you know your trains have crashed into each other, your turrets have run out of ammo, your oil refineries and chemical plants are backed up because you have nothing to process your oil byproducts, and the biters are overrunning your base again. You get frustrated, shake off the cobwebs, and prepare yourself for another run.
But all of a sudden sunlight comes through your window, you look at the clock and it's 5:30am. Your wife gets up to pee but stops by your desk on the way to the toilet, then she looks at the clock, squinting, sort of confused why you're still wide awake and gaming.
"Have you been up all night?"
"Um," you awkwardly start, "...no?"
After a judging pause, she goes about her business and then back to bed for another hour or two of sleep - a concept that has all but escaped you at the moment. Then you think that maybe you have just enough time to start a new game, smoothly get a starter base up and running, and then you can stop playing once your wife gets up again and go about your day. Spoiler: In Factorio, you never have enough time.
Then at the end of it all - maybe after weeks or months of skipping meals, personal hygiene, and skimping on your responsibilities so much that those close to you have considered arranging an intervention - once you've overcome all the odds and get that rocketship up and running, you suddenly realize: You've come into this alien planet, uninvited, unwelcomed, plundered its resources, wiped out all of the locals - who were just defending their home - with nuclear warfare, all for your own benefit. And you ask yourself: "Are We the Baddies?" Yes, yes we are.
Now I've pulled myself back into this game again. Pls.... send elp.
this post is satire. though of course satire is always fueled by the truth ;)
I love video games not just because of the entertainment they provide, but also as a form of art.
That is why I try to play as many genres and classics as possible. I want to experience as much as there is to experience. I also want to be able to talk about classics to other passionate video game fans. And this also entails trying out classics I have never played before.
For some reason, even though I had a SNES, I never played Super Metroid. I just started the game a few days ago on Switch. I know it's still seen as one of the best metroidvanias and that it was instrumental in creating the genre.
I did enjoy it at first, but even before getting to Maridia it was becoming frustrating. I discovered I really dont enjoy not knowing where to go. And now in Maridia I'm just not having fun. So i dont think I'm gonna finish it. But this still makes me feel kinda guilty - because I think it's a classic one should have played and finished at least once.
There have been other classics I've struggled with, while others I have loved. Pls do share your own experiences, too.
EDIT: I'm surprised this topic got so many replies, but I'm thankful for it. It's good to know there are others who feel this way, and others who convincingly argue why one shouldnt feel guilty or like every classic. It certainly has helped me a lot. Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply! I have read and will read EVERY comment, so feel free to keep sharing, I find this all super interesting and I love the different takes.
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Back when I actually started the games, I was absolutely not into text heavy games and turn based games. Divinity was a double whammy in this regard.
Tried playing DOS2 a friend, but he already had 300-400 hours in the game.
I didn't feel like playing with him because he knew too much and killed those "EUREKA" moments for me by telling me what to do.
But I also got hooked through ONE moment when I played with him. I remember being in an underground dungeon sort of thing. Got into combat. He was a hydrosophist mage and I was an aerothurge melee guy. He covered the area with water (using rain probably) and I did an electric attack before he could stop me from doing it. Was supposed to electrocute one enemy from attack but the water made all enemies as well as myself electrocuted. Then my mind was blown and I started the game on my own a month or so later. Haven't stopped loving it.
I love the reactive world-building, quests as well as super in-depth combat that truly makes you feel like you are progressing in the game.
As an exclusive console player for the past two decades, I finally got a gaming pc at the beginning of 2020 for a long work away from home trip. After being a very patient gamer for a lot of these classics I’ve never been able to play (most have console ports but I chose to wait); here are my mini reviews of some of PC gamings greats:
Half Life:
Wow what a ride. Of all the games I’ll talk about this one surprised me the most with how well it holds up for its age. Aside from the obviously aged graphics this game still plays like a dream even when held up to modern standards. The atmosphere of Black Mesa, the enemy variety, those damn marines, G man and even Xen; all top notch. I can’t even imagine how this must have felt at release.
System Shock 2:
One thing all of these games have in common (aside from perspective) is: atmosphere. And damn is SS2 just dripping with it even compared to the other standouts here. The sci-fi horror on display is top notch, and the voice acting is great. Shodan never stopped giving me chills, and as a huge fan of Arkane’s prey I definitely felt alot of shared DNA/influence. The aesthetic holds up well enough, but the controls and menu navigation could use an overhaul if there is ever a remake. The ending was laughably bad but certainly left a lasting impression.
Deus Ex:
I love immersive sims so this was a must. This game was both the most interesting design wise, with so many possibilities it was a bit daunting; I would be very interested to see a tree/guide with all possible choices and outcomes. Easily the most interesting and well written story on this list. That said it was also the most frustrating: the shooting was very strange, the leveling/perks were confusing, some skills felt useless, and the voice acting and graphics hold up the least. Absolutely deserves a remake or remaster, will definitely play again with mods if not.
Thief:
Garrets voice is superb, and the level design is as well. I am a stealth nut so I really enjoy the light system and sneaking through manors stealing was a joy. The sound design puts a lot of modern games to shame. All that said, this was the hardest for me to stick through. Any time the zombies or monsters were around, satan was on screen and especially the thieves guild mission dropped my interest to near zero. Very high highs, very low lows.
Half Life 2:
A true sequel, this game is bigger and better in every way. Though I still prefer the original (not even sure why) this game and story up the ante in just about every way. My god that gravity gun is pure happiness! My only real complain was the driving sections; they just didn’t work for me. I can see why fans have been desperate for a third for so long. I look forward to playing the final episodes.
Portal:
Having already played the sequel, I knew the twist. Even still, I truly believe this 2 hour game is absolute perfection. While it isn’t in my personal top 10, if you asked me to pick what I believed to be a truly flawless game it would be this one. If you haven’t yet, go play it.
Thanks for reading my ramblings! Tell me your thoughts.
walking in games its fun and claming just like in real life (though you get a workout irl) anyway just moving from point A too Point B is relaxing, you dont need loud fking guns and flashing colours non stop too keep yourself entertained! For example i were playing borderlands 3 after a HORRENDUS work day. And all the action, bright lights, stupid voice lines, bullets everywhere, player character moving in mach speed, it was the the exact opposite of calming and just made my bad mood even worse.
I dont know why games like death stranding gets so much hate for being about walking there is a market for people who dont want over the top balls too the Walls flashing bright colours gameplay all the time, its fun sometimes but Most time not so much.
So make games like flower, death stranding, botw, red dead 2, skyrim, overall games where walking feels good and are relaxing.
I've spent a little time reflecting on my backlog recently, and I came to a conclusion that perhaps my gaming taste and habits from childhood -- favoring games with lots of replay value and depth so they're worth the money -- resulted in adding large games to my backlog. This clashes with being an adult with a job, partner, etc, so I've amassed quite a few RPGs in my backlog. I can't stand single playthrough games, they feel like a big waste of money. I grew up only getting 2-3 games a year, if that, so I made sure the ones I got were really good and I developed a taste for games I could play over and over, but differently each time.
So fastforward to today, and I have to seriously tell myself "no" to newer games that I know I will love, but honestly just don't have the time and energy for. Even maintaining Patience, there are just so many games now.
Due to issues in my personal life, I'm making changes that will give me more free time, so with that will be a little more game time, but I wanted to see if other patient gamers were in the same boat.
How do you guys drill out time for RPGs?
Final Fantasy XV is one of the most wonderful games I have ever played - close to Final Fantasy VI, which holds that precious first place in my heart. This game has earned its position regardless of what a mess or how incomplete it is at times. For some reason, regardless of all of its shortcomings, this game has induced feelings of joy, adventure and heck, just feelings in general.
Story
First and foremost, the story is a mess and the deeper you dive into it, the messier it gets. There is also some rather awkward dialog writing going on, paired with at times egregious voice acting. But at the same time the whole world feels alive and brilliant, the tiny story snippets that you find along the road are rather interesting reads - I particularly enjoyed the ones in the infamous Chapter 13 - and the voice acting just sounds great at times. The banter between Noctis and the others is extremly fun, Ardyn's lines are wonderfully delivered and written, making him my favorite villain after Kefka.
The ending, [SPOILER] while controversial, is gut wrenching and in my opinion, well realized. You have this sword of Damocles hanging over Noctis' head at all times that eventually falls - leaving Noct to inevitably accept his fate. A wonderful presentation of one's growth as a person.
Graphics
The game is absolutely gorgeous and holds up very well 4 years after its release. The movement of the characters feels fluid, natural and great and the effects are truly wonderful. I like the little detail when an enemy steals one of your items the item actually appears in their hand. The world is breathtaking and feels alive, with a great variety in landscape and enemies.
The animations during cutscenes and during gameplay both deserve praise. It is rare to see in games this much attention put into characters appearance in terms of motion. Noctis' movement is light with some tenseness always present, Ignis is determined, cool and methodical, you see no clumsiness in his actions - not even later, apart from a few stumbles. Prompto is hip, extremely clumsy, at times almost cheerleader like - and you can see just a hint of nerve that is part of his personality. Gladio brings power with all of his moves, always ready to squash anyone that would dare to threaten the group. Ardyn at times moves like a trickster, sometimes like a jester. You always know there is something malicious behind his actions, as if he were getting ready for something big. My favourite is when his body and his face are not in sync - like [SPOILER] when Lunafreya talks to him before her death and grabs his arm. He is smiling with malice but his body is tense, he clenches his fist in annoyance, seemingly accepting her help before delivering a final blow to her. He is a man in constant pain, rotten by betrayal, with only a glimps of good left in him. Truly amazing.
Sound
The sound, apart from the varying quality of the voice acting, is just amazing. The music is probably my favorite of any game so far, I can't really pick any song that I particularly didn't like. Brings everything together, Yoko Shimomura really knows what these characters feel, what the weights of the events are. My absolute favorite track, however, has got to be Ardyn's theme - it conveys the character's personality incredibly well, you can feel the mischievous act and the malice reeking through it. You just know that he is a person not to screw with and that you should watch your back.
However, the sound mixing at times... god, that is awful. When you have got an emotional scene with wonderful music... BLASTING through your speakers, making the voice acting a mere whisper. Incredibly annoying and unprofessional.
Characters
This brings me to the characters. Ardyn is a wonderful villain who has an interesting and complex backstory. As to why Noct, I have to give credit to the game, because while the majority of the story is messy, this is really logical. [SPOILER] Noct is the True King and Ardyn was supposed to be the one as well. He is hellbent on proving that the Crystal, the Astrals were wrong and that is why he constantly threatens Noctis, enrages him and takes thing away from him - he wants to rot him to show the Astrals that Noct is just as tainted as he is.
I actually grew to really like Noctis - he starts out as an arrogant, annoying boy but slowly grows on you and in the end, he is a really nice person. He is awkward and seems often annoyed - but in reality, why wouldn't he? His father just died, he has incredibly weight on his shoulders - always had - and in all honesty, the future does not look bright. Ignis is a lovely person and he has probably the best voice acting after Ardyn - except when he shouts these lines at you "DID YOU FORGET TO BRING SuNscREEn NOCT?". He has probably the most interesting personality out of all the companions. Gladio is like a big brother, often annoying, but he always has good in his heart. Prompto is a hip and over-the-top dude who can be too much at times, but honestly, the creators have really nailed the "always wants to fit in and say the perfect thing" persona really well. They all feel alive and you will really care about them.
Presentation
The story is alright. It would be pretty good if it wasn't that messy and broken into thousand pieces. But even with all that in place, it wouldn't be that bad - if it wasn't so horrendously presented at times. Very often you can tell that a certain scene was just simply too quickly over - like the fight against the Hydraean. The big fight begins in a city that has been destroyed into bits, and you are planning to deliver your first attack - just to be immediately knocked down and to be shown a cutscene. It just feels... off, no build up, nothing, your first attack knocks you down immediately. I get it that it is meant to convey that the Hydrean is incredibly strong - but it just feels like Noctis is weak as hell. I would have loved a little hopeless fight that would have perfectly connected into that scene.
At other times scenes are just timed poorly. Characters almost speak over each other, while in other cases they have awkward pauses. This brings me back to the voice acting, which just honestly baffles my mind. At times, it is truly wonderful while at other times it is clear that the actors had no idea what a scene was about or what tone the other actors hit. In my opinion it is very apparent for example in the Titan boss, where Noctis and Gladio fight and the whole scene... just feels off and lightweight. In Japanese, while I don't speak Japanese, the scene didn't sound off.
Conclusion
Even after all my negative jabber, this game just carved a very special place in my heart. I don't know why, but despite all the glaring issues, I just enjoyed the whole journey and I just didn't want it to end.
It could be because of the wonderful combat that many describe as "simple" and "boring". My only gripe with the combat is that you can get very easily overpowered and this way it doesn't really prove a challenge - because you are so strong that it takes nothing else from you than just to press and hold the attack button. However, if you play it at a lower level, it is a true delight - precise dodging, counterattacks, warping are required to survive. Sure, it sucks you need to do this, but it is what it is.
Or it could be that I knew that the game did not take this shape because of mere incompetence and laziness. This game reeks of love and care, which is shown by the tiny attentions to detail I have highlighted above. It is just clear: poor management resulted in a very hectic development that ended up deeply hurting the game.
Whatever it is, Final Fantasy XV is a fantastic but very flawed game that threw me back to being a kid again who experienced FFVI and FFIX for the first time. It became one of my favorite gaming experiences and I just can't wait to replay it - either normally or with a LVL1 challenge to truly experience the combat.
This game deserves 8.5 chocobos out of 10.
This sub is called patient gamers for a reason, so I'd like to know what games you guys are putting off/waiting patiently to play for a while, either because you don't feel like paying for it at its current price or you're just not bothered with it.
For me, I have two: The Last of Us II and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Last of Us, despite being a massive fan of the first game, the general discourse around the sequel has completely put me off starting this. On top of that, I don't feel like putting so much time into a game that, while it may be fantastic to play, it could also be a depressing experience.
Horizon looks like a fantastic looking game, but I'll be honest, the prospect of a game that seems to be like every other open world game combined into one doesn't sound like a fun time. I definitely think I will give it a go at some stage soon, but for now I need some linearity
What games have you been putting off for a while, and how come?
Over in r/FinalFantasy, I read the familiar complaint that Kefka is an uninteresting villain, a second-rate Joker whose over-the-top evil is not compelling. I was thinking on it, when it hit me: FFVI was never *Star Wars--*it is Dr. Strangelove, and Kefka is the madman with access to the nuclear bomb. Here is what I wrote:
For me, it is hard to separate my love of Kefka as a villain from (1) Uematsu's ingenious leitmotif/theme for Kefka, and Dancing Mad, and (2) the fact that I played FFVI when I was 9. I was young enough never to have seen anything like Kefka's escalating, nonchalant brutality.
But as I've gotten older, I start seeing much more nuance in what Kefka represents. Kefka is not The Joker, but North Korea, the madman with the nuclear bomb. And the story presents this as subtly as good literature.
The first half of the game has often been compared to Star Wars--an evil empire is building a weapon of mass destruction, and a rebel force assembles to stop it. At a glance, Locke is the roguish Han Solo and Kefka is the menacing Darth Vader astride an evil Emperor; it is easy to see it as a simple Light Side v. Dark Side heroic epic.
But Kefka isn't Darth Vader--he's Dr. Strangelove, following no ideology but destruction. And FFVI isn't Star Wars--it's a cold war, an arms race that erupts where one side lets a madman near the big red button. The main evil of the game isn't Kefka, but the institutional recklessness and ambition that overwhelms judgment in the pursuit of world-ending power.
Indeed, the opening sequence of FFVI foreshadows that its story is about the folly and inevitable self-destruction inherent in arms races. Almost immediately, the narrator describes the War of the Magi from 1,000 years earlier, when natural magic was harnessed into unnatural weapons of mass destruction that resulted in total annihilation. The threat, it is made clear, is that the Gestahl Empire is repeating that history, in increasingly dangerous ways. It is a slippery slope from Magitek armor operated by loyal soldiers, to disloyal generals infused with destabilizing magicite, to the world-ending power of the goddess statues on the floating continent.
Just as the atomic bombing of Japan during WWII should have led the world to demand disarmament, the War of the Magi should have taught the World of Balance to keep magic locked away. And just as our nations allowed nuclear proliferation to the madmen of the world, the Gestahl Empire made Kefka a madman with nuclear power.
FFVI illustrates over and over that Gestahl should have seen red flags that he would be unable to control his WMDs. In the opening sequence alone, a frozen esper (i.e. living plutonium), evaporates his soldiers; within the hour, he loses control over his enslaved half-esper soldier Terra, who promptly joins the resistance and slaughters an Empire battalion. Gestahl ignores the clear signs that he cannot control the awesome weapons he is creating.
Soon, Celes, one of two Empire generals infused with magicite--the other is Kekfa--defects to the resistance. Gestahl, blind with ambition, does not consider that Kefka might similarly go rogue.
Indeed, Gestahl barely reacts when Kefka does go rogue*.* General Leo, representing the voice of reason in the room, recognizes the danger Kefka represents after Kefka goes against orders and on a whim poisons Doma Castle's water supply. Gestahl ignores Leo and sides with Kefka--even after Kefka kills Leo, supposedly the Empire's finest general. So overwhelmed with ambition is Gestahl that he even overlooks Kefka's treason. Why? Because Kefka enables Gestahl's lust for the bomb.
The World of Balance ends with a subtle bit of irony. When the rebels fight through the floating continent and reach Gestahl and Kefka at the goddess statues, Gestahl chastises the rebels for trusting Celes, whom Gestahl notes has proven herself untrustworthy and disloyal. But Gestahl makes this speech with his back to Kefka, his other disloyal magicite general who is manning the ultimate WMD.
Kefka is not given, nor does he need, an elaborate backstory or complex machinations--indeed, these would interfere with the story actually being told. Kefka's overt evil is the point, and is there for Gestahl to overlook. FFVI is a cautionary tale about arms races: world-ending power cannot be obtained without madmen in the room, and the Kefkas of the world will inevitably wield it.
Ok so I usually don't judge a game this fast especially a game with so much praise and positive reviews. However, the thing about games is that if the game play is fun, then the rest is just a bonus (be it OST, story, characters, graphics...etc). We have seen tons of games with great stories and mediocre gameplay and vice versa but with Lisa, the game felt as if it was something that was done for me.
Ok so my main problem was the gameplay, I absolutely have nothing negative to say about the story (40 minutes so didn't see much, but from what I saw it is quite interesting). So the game is a 2D, meaning you are limited with your movements, BUT the game presents a massive world, one where you want to roam around and explore, yet it is so tedious.
I don't have a map so I can keep track on where I am going, the movement is slow, the climbing and falling (which results in taking damage) is ridiculous. like at least game such as 2D Zelda give you more roaming freedom since it is a top-view game. I understand Lisa's limitations but it just feels tedious (Especially for someone like me who likes exploration in games), let alone the combat mechanics where barely anything is explained and even then it feels boring.
I have never given up on a game this fast and I know 40 mins are not enough to judge a game but if a game is not fun for me then I don't like to force myself to play it.
Anyways guys, what did you think of the game? This might sound like a rant but I just wanted to speak about the game and know your opinions about it, I might watch videos on it on Youtube since I might actually like the story.
So the closest thing to LISA that I have played recently would be OMORI. So OMORI took me by surprise since I had no idea what it was but heard lots of positive reviews about it. So I gave it a shot, completed it and overall loved the game. However when I was still playing it, mid way through I had a question, "Am I enjoying the game, or am I forcing myself to complete it to see why it got so many positive reviews?"
After playing LISA I realized that OMORI was actually a fun game where I didn't force myself to play it
7/10
I played this game over the past few days. It's a massive improvement over the original.
Pros:
Top notch graphics. The amount of detail that they've put into the city is obscene.
Story driven: The game is linear set in an open world, and each mission takes you to the next part of the story. You don't have the choice of when to start the mission, as in they start one after the other. In my opinion, that keeps the game brisk and keeps up the stakes. Unlike RPGs where the world won't end if you don't follow through the story.
Immersion: The game has 4 levels of difficulty, with classic being the most realistic. Bullets become lethal, enemies coordinate, no health regeneration, weapons feel heavy, cover disintegrates, vehicles become unmanageable at high speeds, as much as they could be controlled in the 1930s. Ammunition in clips is lost if you reload, making each shot counts for more. The cops will be brutal and respond to most crimes, but speeding and red light infractions are alright as long as you don't do it in front of them. Quite realistic I must say. Even the radio gets static when you go through tunnels or get far enough out of town.
Mission diversity: since there isn't much to say in the form of side quest and missions, the story is all you get. But each mission feels different, and the different set pieces give a lot of colour.
Character arcs: The original game had characters akin the caricatures of the Godfather characters. Not anymore. Characters feel independent, they have different hopes and aspirations. The added dialogue flesh them out much more, making you empathise with them that much more.
Cons:
Side content: nearly non existent. There are some collectibles, but apart from that and some small secrets in free roam, nothing. That puts the gameplay at roughly around 10-14 hours, depending upon how much you do.
The goddamn race mission: The one mission that really sucks the joy out of the game. Lifted straight from the original game, this mission is still as mind numbingly difficult as it used to be. It requires the perfect run to win. Not near perfect, not almost perfect, exactly perfect. There is also no way to progress beyond this mission without winning it. What the hell hangar13. I personally only managed to clear it when I decided to reduce the difficulty for that mission. However if you want to feel like Sisyphus, you're more than welcome to do it on the classic difficulty.
Cut scenes: Being a story driven game, there are bound to be cut scenes, but some of them were so long I forgot that I was playing a game, and not just watching TV. Although I really liked the fact that all cut scenes were(or atleast looked like they were) rendered in game.
So I rated it 7/10.
Story :8/10
Graphics: 10/10
Characters:9/10
Side content: 2/10
Tell me what you thought if you've played it, or if you plan to play it later.
So, my best friend recently got a job working at a golf course. Whenever I talk to him now, he seems adamant that I come down to play a game of golf with him. But for some reason I was never crazy about golf. I always kind of considered it an old man's sport where you just hit balls and see where it goes. But then I started getting a tick in my brain to play a golf video game. I used to like one of the Tiger Woods games on PS2 and a couple others that probably nobody has ever heard of, and I haven't played a golf game in years.
So then I was browsing the PS store and came across "Everybody's Golf" which I guess is a sort of reboot of the series. I'd heard about the series for years but never bothered playing it. It was only 10 quid and I figured wow that's great value. So I took the plunge.
So I've put about fifteen hours into the game and I just love it! Everything about this game puts me in a good mood. The atmosphere and music are great, and the golf courses are all very well designed. It is satisfying to upgrade your skills as you play and you can really feel yourself getting better with each swing. The feeling when the ball goes exactly where you want it to or you somehow make an impossible shot is out of this world. The character customisation is robust and you can really make your character look however you want them to. The putting is really satisfying when you get the hang of it and the feeling when you get a nice chip-in is one of the best ever. I can't really think of any flaws other than it being a bit grindy to progress and the DLC being a little pricy, but otherwise it's a near perfect golfing experience.
Anyone who owns a PS4 and has even a passing interest in golf should think about picking this up. I wasn't keen on the sport before but this has definitely peaked my interest, and maybe I'll get around to that real life game of golf now.
EDIT: Monolith Productions, not soft. sighh.
F.E.A.R. is a wonderful game by Monolith Productions with eery atmosphere, great and action-packed gameplay, and wonderful accurate environment design. I loved it, and I ended up playing through the whole series (for better or for worse). But I waited on playing Condemned for a while after. The gameplay looked slow, and pace completely different. But I'm glad I eventually did play it.
GETTING IT RUNNING
I got the game on Steam, and it ran fine. I recommend Condemned Widescreen Fix and to change the FOV, all on PCGamingWiki. But otherwise, perfectly fine. I clocked in around 7 hours.
GAMEPLAY
Condemned is a first person game with a heavy emphasis on melee combat. What guns you do get have very little ammunition and you cannot collect more or reload them; if the enemy fires their gun at you the bullets in the clip are spent and you have less ammo (which creates an interesting strategy of rush the enemy and get a fully loaded gun or let the enemy run out of ammo and take them out easily.) Melee combat is weighty, and when you do have a firearm the bullets are very valuable and it feels tense when you miss a shot and only have one bullet left in the clip. Combat is full of panic and rough. You can hear the enemy panting and waiting behind pillars to surprise you, and the fights are frantic. The combat is a lot less fast paced than FEAR, but it is no less exciting, in short. Various enemies and weapons have strength and weaknesses. If you get hurt in a fight there is almost always a medkit on the wall, which you can also double back to get later.
Movement is very slow, and so it the speed of the weapons. You have a short sprint meter that doesn't really add much speed. All the weapons have a long wind up animation, which makes them feel very heavy. You can block your enemy's attack and retaliate with your own. It's very visceral.
The other element of gameplay is investigation. This part is alright. It's very linear: you take a blood sample or a photo, and you talk on the phone with the lady about what you saw. Some parts it lets you open in a full house or area and lets you investigate, which is much more interesting.
Exploring can yield better weapons or collectable birds/scrap metal. It employs an almost metroidvania strategy where different weapons unlock different doors, though you can only hold one at a time and have to drop the previous (so axes for wooden doors, sledgehammers for locks, etc.)
STORY
You are a cop in a dark and damp city, where people are going crazy and birds are randomly falling from the sky. Your partners are killed, and you are framed for the murder You investigate a series of killing by various serial killers. I liked the twist of how it was a serial killer killing killers with their own methods. It all ends with a final showdown against the killer and against a literal demon right out of hellraiser? That was awesome The game gets weirder as you go along, with enemies going from human to something entirely different, crawling on the floors and ceilings. They discover that you are some superhuman, which explains why you can get beat up so many times I guess. All in all, a satisfying and unnerving story with a choice of endings, though I don't know if that actually has an impact. Some nice hallucinations/haunting a la FEAR.
GRAPHICS
The game was released the same year as FEAR (2006), and the graphics are very similar. Condemned has dark and mundane environments which you navigate with a flashlight, which gives the whole thing a found footage look. Great looking for the time. Some great normal maps and texture work, and all the levels feel unnerving and like real places. Besides some blurriness, I would say it has aged very well. The UI, however, is not as polished. The menu looks amateur compared to FEAR's. Still, that's such a small element of the game, and the HUD is fine.
IN CONCLUSION
A great game with immersive melee combat and fantastic atmosphere. Still worth a play in 2021. Any fans of FEAR or first person melee combat should give it a go. 8/10
I was so excited when I heard that AC Origins was going to be set in Ancient Egypt, one of my favourite time periods (as I'm sure it is for many people!) and when the game came out I was not disappointed in the presentation of it. The rendering of Egypt is absolutely stunning in the game, and there have been so many times that I just sit on top of one of the pyramids and just look around.
I also enjoyed the game itself for a long time, but then started to get really fatigued by it, which was in part due to the repetitive nature of the quests, but moreso the way I approached the game. In previous AC games, when I opened a new region, I would complete or mark off all the little activities within that region before moving onto something else, but with the sheer size of Origins, I found that I became really jaded by it. I wasn't doing it for fun or progression, I was doing it because it's there. I also turned on auto levelling because I found the combat, even on Nightmare, to be far too easy and not very challenging, which is where I get a lot of the fun in the combat from. So because I was a bit fatigued by the game I put it away and stopped playing. For months it sat there, till I was seeing which games to put on Ebay, and was really reluctant to put this one up, as I hadn't finished it yet. Enough time had past that the fatigue was over so I fired it up again.
But this time, when I played, I just did the quests, and found that I ended up going to a lot of the locations in the game that I had already cleared once before, so there was no reason for me to go there as early as I had. I was going to these places for a reason now, and not just because and it just made it a much better experience. I also turned off the auto levelling and reconciled with myself that yes, there will be times I'm overpowered for a certain mission but that's fine because that won't always be the case.
I've now ordered Odyssey which I'm also looking forward to because I love Ancient Greek stuff almost as much as Ancient Egyptian, but this time I'll play much more organically, and not try and clear whole areas for no other reason than 'just because'. If by the end of the game there are still things to do, I can mop them up then. Already looking forward to it!
A month ago, I finished up Sekiro (will do comparison with DS3 later) and was in the mood for a similarly "active" game. I loved how Sekiro implemented movement as opposed to DS3, so I Googled games with unique or fun traversal mechanics and hit upon two gems: Sunset Overdrive and Dying Light. The former has been talked about a lot on this sub, and the appeal is apparent, so ill be discussing the latter.
Voice-acting: Let me start by saying that this game has some of the best voice-acting I've seen in any game, and I've played proper RPGs like the Witcher, Skyrim, etc. I'd say it's up there on par with dialogue-heavy games like Detroit: Become Human and Persona 5. At first, I thought the MC was trying too hard, but every line felt so natural, so emotional, that it grew on me fast. By the end of the game, I was feeling what the MC was feeling, and he vocalized the player's thoughts so well. For example, when an extremely inconvenient mob of zombies showed up just in time to stop you from finishing a mission, the MC echoes your feeling perfectly with a loud and emphatic "Oh what the fuck?". The side characters are pretty emphatic as well, in voice if not in visuals.
Mechanics and engine: I believe the game uses similar movement and combat assets to other first person games like Skyrim and Dishonored. The combat is so simple that anyone could pick it up. As for the parkour, man, all I can say is that this is one of the very few games where I'm fucking delighted that there aren't any fast travel points. Going places is fun as shit.
Zombies: So here's a big part of the game. I really like how they implemented the zombies, with different types requiring different strategies. However, I do have a few qualms about them. Difficulty in the game is just a buff to zombie HP, and some UI changes, so I think that could've been better. The most dangerous zombies only come out an night, and there aren't enough night missions, or any other incentive to go out at night, for them to be a threat at all. Other than these points, I've never loved a zombie survival game more. Being forced into cramped situations with them actually terrifies you, when you're in open areas, you always look out for those pesky running ones, it's all just good fun.
Crafting: Whatever you do, please don't let the presence of crafting turn you off from this game. It's almost inconsequential to its progression, unlike games like Subnautica. Sure you can make your life easier, but I never felt like I was forced to farm at all.
Plot: Great story, very easy to get invested in, clear problems and solutions, wonderful character involvement, a few nice twists to keep you on your toes, and a fucking disgust piece of shit antagonist that you can't wait to stick a shiv in. When characters die, you feel sad that you couldn't have done more, when you save people, you actually feel proud of yourself, and when you see how people can be so shitty, you lose faith in humanity. All in all, great experience.
Music: I'll start with audio in general. The open world music is very good at keeping the ominous ambience, and not loud enough to mask the eerie silence and zombie noises you need to look out for. But when there's a chase, or a particularly active part during a story quest, that's when the heart-pumping EDM kicks in. Imagine Ghostrunner music, but timed perfectly to bring you to the precipice of a heart attack until you reach a place of safety.
I haven't tried the multiplayer aspects yet, and this is a review of solely the single-player campaign. As it stands, I would put this game above Bioshock:Infinite and Dishonored 2, maybe on par or a bit better than Dishonored 1.
Highly recommended.
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