Recent reviews by TheYardbird

I specifically waited for DLSS support before writing a review and I'm still disappointed. This game's performance is dismal on my RTX 2080 with an intel i7-13700k. If I can play Cyberpunk, Baldur's Gate, and Red Dead without any performance issues, there's no reason that Starfield can't also. It's not like it's any more detailed or complex than those games. Bethesda seems proud that Starfield pushes the limits of hardware, but why? It's no more visually impressive than others in its league, just with worse optimization. Every other game in my library runs well.

I can forgive the fast travelling, the loading screens, the poor variety of weapons, and lack of combat classes. If I can just wander around tilesets exploring procedurally-generated structures using the same five guns all the time, that's fine by me as long as I can do it smoothly. But sadly that's not the case.

I know it's not what we were promised. I know the interactive choices aren't as deep, the skill tree isn't the best, it's a resource hog, the physics don't always make sense, certain gameplay aspects with the early game aren't intuitive... but I love it. Haven't played much of anything else since I bought it. Currently on my second playthrough, which is rare for me. You have a lot of variation in the way you play your character. My first character was a tech weapon/hackerman build, this time I'm going full mantis blades as soon as I can. Dialogue choices do matter, (a la Witcher) and can affect your outcomes. Side characters have a lot of depth and I found very few besides the generic quest machines that didn't grow as people throughout the story. V themself is kinda onenote, despite your choices, but still charismatic enough to keep me engaged and feel pretty cool spouting technical jargon to character's who couldn't care less what's in that compromised brain of theirs. Then there's also the good old skulllcracking fun that we all use as an outlet for our personal lives. Good times.

It's Mass Effect. If you don't already know, now's a good time to find out.

I really want to watch a let's play of this game by a flat earther

Edit: I feel the need to write a real review. This game has one of those extremely rare feel-good comeback stories. A few years ago, like many people, I loved to hate on Sean Murray. Now I realize he was not a PR guy at all, he was the lead developer of a small team who built up way more hype than they were ready for. With no PR management, and a scope larger than they could really handle, the launch was a big disappointment. A lot of statements turned out to be unfeasible and the community took those as broken promises. I don't really blame the community for this. If you go on national television and claim something is in the game, it should be. So, I villainized Hello Games at the time. But since then they have done a phenomenal job of making up for it. They could easily have taken the money and run, but they put their nose to the grindstone and they turned it into a game I really enjoy. I now have a massive respect for Sean and Hello Games. I'm sorry for being a part of that toxic community at the time of release. I love exploring worlds, finding a crashed ship and restoring to its intended glory, taming pets, building bases, learning to communicate and trade with aliens, and even taking contracts for them. The combat, however, is relatively simple and isn't a big draw in my opinion. There are still "broken promises," so to speak, but I think the features they've added that weren't even advertised more than make up for it. I plan on spending more and more time in this game, especially if I can get my friends to join me. Which yes, you can do that now!

This game is at its best when you have a team of four who know their role and how to play it. If you agree upon this with your squad, it's great. Demolition clears large groups of trash, protect your medic, single-target classes focus on the big guys. My problems with this game begins with the technical problems that just make me go back to playing solo. Frequent crashes, lagging out of servers where I'm connected with <60 ping, and matchmaking only setting me up with rank 0-1s on normal difficulty all take away from my desire to play. I'd prefer to play on hard but I just can't find any games available that will function. I'd prefer not to play solo, as sometimes you just really need that extra role filled, but it's the only way to ensure things will work out.

Aside from the technical function of the game, its mechanics have changed in a way I can't stand. It seems like Tripwire has put more effort into the cosmetic system than any of the above issues. There is a wide array of colorful garbage you can slap on your character, and skins that make your weapons look like a preschooler's crayon box, which really take away from the style of the game (and this is coming from the guy that played as the robot chicken in KF1). Not only is it all ugly, it's so transparent that they're not making money on game sales so the microtransactions keep this game online.

Another change I really dislike is the "objective areas" added to the survival mode. An area of the map is circled as an "objective area" and the players receive a cash bonus for fighting in that area specifically. This is probably to dissuade players from the game's broken, but sometimes only viable tactic. Run away, group enemies behind you, occasionally turn around and shoot, repeat. So while I understand the purpose behind this change, it's a band-aid solution that's not intuitive or fun in the slightest.

Overall, I'd say this game WAS great. I played in 2016, based on the hype I have for KF1. There were still bugs back then (many of which stuck around), but squads were relatively easy to find, the cosmetics hadn't infected the game, and the game's mechanics were sound. Four years later, and it's a very different story. The pieces of a great game are all still there, but it's gonna take some work for me to come back.

I'm three hours in. I haven't left the starting zone because I'm bad at these kinds of games but I also refuse to play on any difficulty below "hard," and I also refuse to turn on aim assist reticle. Doesn't matter. Having fun. No ragrets.

The quintessential RPG. Compelling story, tactical combat, beautiful soundtrack and great visuals. If you're a fan of Dungeons and Dragons like I am, this game will offer a similar experience (and a few nods to the tabletop game). I love the power fantasy that RPGs can offer, and Divinity provides that in spades, but also challenges the player such that they may feel overwhelmed at times. Keep your cool, remember to quicksave, and remember the road to success is paved with failure. Even on "normal" difficulty, you will be killed if you charge into every battle without a plan. Still, make whatever character you want. There are companions offered early on that can fill the gaps in your party.

Notice how most of the positive reviews for this game start with "it's not as good as BL2, but...?" With the replay value that Borderlands 2 offers, I can't really find a reason to spend money on this game. I suppose, if you're tired of the same story over and over again, but want something similar, this is a decent choice. However, The low gravity and oxygen management take away greatly from the fun, in my opinion. In Borderlands 1-2, movement was fast-paced and rewarding. Here, however, it's too floaty to feel satisfying. The only new addition I like is the laser weapons. I also felt that previous games were paced far better, whereas this game tends to drag or move too quickly at times. Finally, I found that many combat encounters proved somewhat unbalanced at the 5-10 level range. There have been times when I've seen up to five legendary (badass) enemies at once and get shredded in seconds.

This is one of those games that makes me wish Steam had a more intricate review system. But, since my experience with the game thus far has been largely positive, I'll rate it as such. Overall I'd give it an 8/10. Let's start with the good.

* I really appreciate any game that clearly has a lot of effort put into its lore, and Kingdoms of Amalur delivers this in spades. I find the concepts of the Fae, Fateweavers, Tuatha, etc. very compelling.

* Player choice exists! I've found a few instances where I chose a dialogue option that opposes what the quest giver told me to do. I expected to be railroaded into a decision I didn't want to make, but to my surprise the game allowed me to play my character as I intended.

* The combat is largely satisfying. There are a variety of moves and abilities your character unlocks as they progress that keep things interesting throughout. I do have one minor gripe about combat detailed below.

* The world design is beautiful. This obviously isn't a recent game, but it still managed to find the environmental visuals very enticing. I love the design of the armor, buildings, and various locales.

* The characters vary greatly in their personality. They're far from the blank slate narrative pieces you find so often in RPG/adventure games. There are cliches present, but in my opinion these somewhat add to the charm of the game.

I do have a few complaints, but the good definitely outweighs the bad. Don't let the quantity of negatives steer you off, as they don't impact the game nearly as much as the positives. For example,

* Any time you take damage, you are staggered for a brief moment. I don't have a problem with this in concept, but when fighting groups of enemies (ie those damn spiders in Webwood), it often turns one hit into five hits since you're stun-locked. The "Might" skill tree does have an ability to negate the stagger in exchange for a nerf to damage resistance, but it doesn't last long.

* While this is a minor gripe, it's continued to annoy me as I play. The camera is relatively poor, in my opinion. When not in combat, it's uncomfortably close to the player character, such that they take up an excessive amount of screen space. I found myself moving the camera left and right to see what was right in front of me. In combat, the camera is better. It scales to show the player their character and any aggro'd enemies. Sometimes, however, the camera did not scale at the start of combat, but rectified when I dodged once. I'm assuming this is a bug.

* The blacksmithing system is excessively simple. Instead of crafting a weapon from raw materials, you find individual parts in the world (or obtain them from dismantling weapons) and put them together. Perhaps a lot of players enjoy this system, but it's not to my taste.

Overall, I've been enjoying my time in Kingdoms of Amalur. I've been looking for an RPG like this for a while, I don't know how I've never stumbled upon it before.

First off, in terms of technical compatibility, this game has not aged well. Many users are having trouble getting this game to run on modern hardware. However, there are many workarounds to be found in guides and forum posts that fixed all the issues for me.

In terms of the gameplay, this game has aged beautifully. It is the pure essence of an RPG set in the Old Republic Star Wars Universe. Your character begins as a clean slate; a fresh recruit that shows remarkable promise, but has yet to prove him/herself. From there, you can build them to be whatever kind of combatant you prefer. While the combat lacks some of the elements we've grown to expect from titles like Dragon Age or Mass Effect, it still offers diverse player choice and strategy. Most importantly, winning a combat sequence is very satisfying, and that's all you really need from it. The story is among the best you could ask for, and any Star Wars fan would find it extremely engaging. I'd be hard pressed to find a better RPG for the price.