Recent reviews by Grandest of Omens

I'm not condoning poor launches but... I'm liking this trend of games getting better, and attracting a ton of new players with a show.

Fun gunplay, interesting new perk system, and some pretty good quests onward from Wastelanders.

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So firstly, I'd like to note that DD:DA is one of my favorite games, so I am biased going into this. As of writing this review, I have completed my first run through the game. I definitely enjoyed my time in the new world it takes place in, but I should note that there are many flaws, much like Dragon's Dogma was pre-Dark Arisen. (PS3 days were rough)

- Game world is gorgeous and vibrant
- Combat is as strong as ever
- New vocations (namely MS) are really fun to play
- Character customization is phenomenal, and gets better mid-game
- Strong visual design of people, armor, weapons, and monsters
- Plenty of side content to keep you occupied outside the main story
- Ragdolling and other physics based interactions
- LOTS of wakestones throughout the game
- Pawn system is still kinda fun, can be a little immersion breaking
- Several new enemies, and reworked returning ones

- Rough performance at times, low frames in cities and towns
- Less armor slots, and less variety to work with
- Few ferrystones, and not many oxcarts for fast travel either
- Regarding the Dragon: that fight was... meh. Less emphasis in game than Grigori.
- Rewards, especially monetary ones, are scarce. Can feel grindy at times.
- Important characters (I'm looking at you, Brant) can get themselves killed during monster attacks.
- No Everfall or equivalent.
- Escort requests return, but now more radiant
- Fall damage feels like it occurs at smaller drops than in DDDA
- Pawns... still repeat things ad nauseam (LOOK, A LADDER)
- Denuvo

- Dragonsplague: I have read the horror stories, but have yet to experience it myself. From what I have heard, pawns have a number of tells if they are infected. Regarding the effect, Dragonsplague effectively nukes a settlement if gone unnoticed, however, I have heard NPC's will respawn after a little over a week... mitigating the effect to an extent, and diminishing it to more of an annoyance than a game-killer. Once identified, Pawns can be dismissed, or in the case of your pawn, thrown to the brine to avoid future headaches.
- Slower Pacing: Compared to DD1/DDDA, it takes you a bit longer to feel like you've really gotten into the groove of things. This is largely due to the size of the game. At low levels combat can at times be a bit tough, but fairly quickly becomes manageable. Leveling up feels slower, but apparently you can level up to 999 now.
- Slow Travel: Because there are so few ferrystones for most of the game, fast travel between portcrystals generally needs to be more strategic. I don't mind exploring the world, which is totally the intended goal of making this decision in development, but there is soooooo much running back and forth. Oxcarts only really go between major settlements and Melve, so any other location that you need to frequent absolutely needs a portcrystal. In addition, Oxcarts can be assailed mid-journey, and it will frequently result in the cart being destroyed. Meaning you have to hoof it to the nearest campsite or settlement.
- Microtransaction DLC: There is nothing sold for real world money that cannot be found relatively easily in game. Yes, it's dumb that Capcom does this sort of thing for every game. No, it does not ruin the game and everything about it for the sheer existence of said microtransactions. They're dumb, don't buy them, that's all.
- Issues were quickly addressed: A new game button wasn't always there, which was a design choice with an actual reason in the story, but it was a dumb choice initially. The option was added shortly after. Changing appearance is expensive, but with some rift crystals you can buy (consumable) Art of Metamorphosis books. There were two for sale initially, but that was changed to 99 after players were vocal about it. Performance in towns is actually somewhat better after that patch as well.
- Capcom knows what you did to Rook.

All that being said, the game is really enjoyable, and I'm really looking forward to starting NG+. I'm also eagerly awaiting any further news on the game, and what may be changed/added in future updates. I can't say it's one of my favorites as of now, but I bet that in time, it'll have a good shot.

I'm glad I can spend over a dozen hours making the perfect characters and NOT have it contribute to the actual game's playtime.

The movement and combat are incredibly fun, and the goblins T-pose when you disarm them.

DPS is very easy to learn. At worst: it can feel a bit clunky. At best: DPS is fun to use, and lets me create maps that I couldn't with pen & paper (mostly because I am lazy), or with markers on a battlemat. There's tons of content to look through on the workshop as well, expanding greatly upon what's already available.

*I should note this review this note has nothing to do with DPS 2.

The Evil's Protector theme unironically goes hard.

This latest update including DLSS actually brought me up to 60 frames. I'm impressed.

I'm surprised to say I actually found parts of this one enjoyable. Sadly, that was mostly due to the "Dustmoot" missions (and expansion). Certainly not a perfect game, yet moderately better than it was at launch. Gameplay (as well as many other aspects) are very similar to SR3 and 4, which may be good for some people, and a deal-breaker for others.

I bought the game while it was on sale, and would strongly recommend waiting to buy until another sale rolls around. As a final note, the game does not install EOS, like SR4.

Can we get this on CD or vinyl? Preferably in a case with really obnoxious art? Please?

Fairly short game, but very fun. Team Reptile stuck with the Jet Set Radio aesthetic after Lethal League, and more or less made the game in their own way. The story is okay, and the gameplay is pretty easy to get the hang of. The biggest draw (at least for me) was the soundtrack, in large part due to Hideki Naganuma, though pleasantly surprised with artists like 2 Mello, Soia, Klaus Veen (also back from LL), Skyblew, and Navo.