Recent reviews by Good Night Owl

If you were to ask me what my earliest memory is, it was when I was 3 years old, at the zoo, crying because my mom wouldn't carry me because she was pregnant with my brother, and my aunt getting very angry with me that I was unhappy that she was carrying me instead...

But if you were to ask me what my earliest GAMING memory is, it is sitting with my mom and dad in their basement bedroom at grandma's house in the middle of nowhere watching my dad play Final Fantasy 7.

It's strange getting to play a remake of a game I never played, but always told myself I would play some day, and it's refreshing to visit a formula in JRPGs like this because it is one most don't visit: Telling a story. Creatively. No Anime tropes, at least not right out the gate, but pure creativity, while putting extra work into making the characters likeable, and giving them their fair share of screen time, and splitting it all up with entertaining game play encounters. These encounters are also split up by the occasional twist of their own using the story.

By nature this game is very linear, but it is linear in the best possible ways in that it is entertaining. Linear games are never a problem. Games that can't achieve being fun are.

The game is great. I'm not the biggest JRPG style fan, but this is one of the few that I like along with Chrono Trigger.

The characters are well written, and aren't stereotyped, which is a breath of fresh air. Characters have solid motivations for their part in the story, villain and heroes alike. Characters will banter, and interact with each other and form believable relationships, which I really enjoyed.

the world exploration is very well done with secrets, and loot scattered around. This is even the focal point for a couple side quests, which is handled very responsibly, as the tasks feel very achievable unlike other games that make similar tasks. Other quests feel very engaging, and blend well with the story and the characters.

Combat is balanced really well. Approachable for someone new, and the difficulty settings even give you accurate details of what to expect from each one. Every character has a use. This isn't a game where you are clearly being pushed to use specific characters, they all have specializations, and uses for the many unique types of battles you'll encounter. Enemy variety is spread out really well too. I never felt like I was doing the same thing for an eternity.

Game design overall is well done. Controls and UI are easy to understand, and are not overwhelming at all. The game seemed to have a really stable launch, and oh my god, the soundtrack. Very well selected, and I bet days went into getting those tracks so that they fit the theme for each location.

Very well done!

A fun, simple open world indie game.

I think this game has a lot going for it,
A relatively robust auto save system for the most part
A relatively large world
A wide variety of enemies for the length of the game
A surprisingly story driven quest line. Games in this style aren't often done in this way
Experience is earned through exploration by finding rifts. Opening up scenes of the past to uncover stories, and piece the story together bit by bit!

But while it has a lot of fun things going for it, this game has a lot of minor bugs, that became more and more frequent the further I got. Of all the games I've played, this one had some of the weirdest bugs I've ever seen. Thankfully, most of these were minor, and were not progress blockers, but some of them seemed like the definitely could be under certain circumstances, Save manually, and save often (although the auto saves are reliable most of the time. Don't be afraid to use those as well).

I also feel that this world could have used a side activity, or mini-game in between questing. This is a game where there really is no reason to play on the harder difficulties. Not because you can't handle it, but because the fights drag on for so long, after a while you just want to finish up so you can get to the next quest. This isn't really a flaw with the game, but is pretty common for open world RPGs.

All in all, I enjoyed this game for what it is, and appreciated what it went for. A lot of care went into what they were making and I saw that in the fact that it is a voiced story (The important bits are), a lot of different play styles, a decent variety of enemies, a *beautiful* world, and a very responsive developer(s).

The game is good, but definitely look up a beginners guide, there's no tutorial and mechanics aren't explained to you. Also read up on some beginner's tips because this is A game where the less you know, the more of a drag it is. This game can turn into a total grind fest if you build your team wrong.

Fun, but... Feels more like a remaster with DLC than a sequel.

The amount of changes from Warband are few in number, but the right things to change (Siege weapons, graphical upgrades, improved AI), but aside from those few things, the game lacks just as much depth as it's predecessor in a lot of the same respects.

People say Warband modded is better, and after playing this for the first time (modded on the first run as well), I agree. The mod catalog for Warband is so much better than what you will find here. Play Perisno Warband, you will not regret it.

Oh, and this game was supposed to release in 2016 (December, I think) btw. When release day came, they quietly took that date down, and released 4 years later... In nearly access. Most people either forgot or didn't realize, but I sure as heck noticed.

This game is spectacular. Just be warned that it is HEAVILY story based, and very cut scene heavy. Also you're taking the role of Geralt. It is a ROLE PLAYING game in the very literal sense. So you can't behave like you do in Skyrim and just do whatever you want. You aren't building a character, you are playing as one that is already well established in the lore of The Witcher.

Also be warned that this game is based on/inspired by the books. It is not based of the TV show, and the TV show is not based on this game. So some of the characters you know from the show will look totally different in this game. This may bother some people, but tbf some of the characters are more accurately depicted in line with the books in this game than they are in the Netflix series (Triss being a huge example of this)

It's been a long time since I played a game that had almost NO BUGS at release. That is super impressive. You like stealth, beautiful graphics, and being told a story? This is the game for you.