Recent reviews by LegionIscariot

Never played a Ys game before. And what better place to start than the one called Origin.
What attracts me to this game? I like the gameplay and the aesthetics.

Ys Origin is fun to play and fun to look at.
Combat looks simple but its more than just button-mash hack&slash. That strategy will only get you so far. Positioning is also important.
Enemies are fun to grind to a degree. And its worth the effort to make your character stronger.

Bosses are the biggest challenge. You may get your butt kicked at first. But once you understand the boss's patterns the strategy becomes simple enough.

You are able to unlock and strengthen weapons and abilities as you progress through the game.
You find keys/items to progress through areas.
You can run, dash and jump. You can even jump over enemies and not bother to fight them.

As you progress through the tower you encounter different and more challenging enemies with different attacks and defenses. Some enemies are best attacked from the front. Some the side. Some the back.

When you start a new game you are able to choose from 2 characters (with a 3rd character being unlocked after beating the game):
Yunica a female apprentice knight who wields an axe. She specializes in close range combat.
Hugo the spellcaster who uses ranged magic attacks.
Yunica is best gameplaywise. Her combat is much more satisfying. She cant use magic but that doesnt matter since she can still unlock special abilities.
Yunica and Hugo's campaign are pretty much the same so i see no point in playing as Hugo.
The third character offers a more unique perspective. However its still the same levels you'll be going through for the most part.

The game can be pretty tedious and repetitive.
The entire game you're just going up this one tower so its pretty much the same scenery over and over. Yes the levels have different themes like water or fire, but its still the same architecture over and over.
And you are stuck with the same weapon for such a long time. Even when you do unlock other weapons they are gimmicky for the most part. Your primary axe is reliable all through the game.

Your goal is to rescue these 2 goddesses, but the setup doesnt do a good job at motivating you. You the player never interacted with these goddesses or even seen them at any point until later in the game, and yet you the player is supposed to be motivated to save them.
So the story overall is pretty weak.

The port is nothing special. Its what you'd expect from a JRPG port. Graphics can only be changed in the launcher.
My biggest issue is that sounds are not separated properly. You have SFX volume and BGM volume. I typically dont like the fast background music of JRPGs, they tend to irritate and stress me out. So i mute the BGM volume. Problem is this also mutes the intro movies. And also disables certain sounds in game, like when you have to play the harmonica that sound is disabled.

Great game. But this version is an insult. They could have atleast made a little effort to make it run properly.
Keep in mind i may or may not have torrented this game in the past. And it may or may not have run way better than this...
All im saying is the p*rated version of this game works better than the legit version. That should not be the case.

Got this as part of the Deluxe Edition.
I dont understand the point of this dlc item. This item has the same problem as "Arisen's Bond" from the first game. Because of the way romance works in these games it doesnt guaranty that the npc you give it to will become your beloved so its pointless.

Portal RTX is another example of why I will always choose gameplay over graphics.
I like to play games...not look at games..
This game runs like @ss.

All these old games with rtx shoved in them (e.g. Quake 2 RTX) do nothing to improve the game for me personally since I’ve never been a graphics wh0re.

RTX actually ruins the aesthetics of old games.

Changing the graphics settings in this is so awkward requiring you to press ALT-X in order to open a strange out of place menu.

Its free so whatever I guess.

Some of these game design elements are ridiculous.

Firstly, why cant i have multiple profiles? Why cant i have multiple playthroughs? Why do i have to delete my current profile if i want to start a new playthrough?

You're giving me the option of 21 DLCs. But you won't give me the option to create multiple profiles. Because apparently thats too much option 🙄...

Speaking of new playthroughs...where the UFCK is the option to start a new game?! [fixed in an update]
I have to find and delete my save manually to start a new game!? Are you serious!?
You were able to shove all these BS microtransactions, which im not gonna bother complaining about because i dont buy microtransactions, but you ignore something as basic as New Game.

How about we remove the option to exit games too while we're at it. From now on all games need to be alt-tab to exit.

And lets not forget the optimization, oh boy. This is the hardest to run game ive ever played. I have played games that look and run better than this. It doesnt matter if i play on high or lowest settings in runs like $h!t. The game is un-enjoyably in its current state.

The lack of fast travel probably would be less of an issue if there was variety when it came to exploration. But everywhere looks the same. Green hills and valleys. Not to mention its the same 3 enemies over and over.

Playing this just makes me want to play Dark Arisen instead.
Also this game's opening is so boring compared to Dark Arisen. In Dark Arisen you fight a dragon and get your heart ripped out. Here you carry rocks...exciting.

And why did you split the Strider into two classes? Now i only have a bow and no daggers.

There is no double-jump or rolling 😔

Why is examine/talk the same button as dash?
Why is there an ugly vignette over the graphics?

The game is also very tedious.

My Pawns and other friendly Ai keep throwing themselves into the Brine. Not being able to swim in this game gets pretty annoying. The Brine worked in the first game mainly to keep you from going out too far at sea. Here it just serves to make long trips even longer. A hazard that you have to constantly avoid.

Ive only found 2 things about the game genuinely entertaining. Highfiiving your Pawns after a battle. And the fact that my Pawns constantly comment that im building a harem 😂

CONCLUSION:

After beating the game i can make a final conclusion.
Dragon's Dogma 2 feels like an inferior remake of Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen.
Nothing was learned from the first game. All the flaws from the first game have been repeated. Except this sequel has none of the charm of the first game.

It doesnt have interesting characters. Romance is worse. The story is an inferior rehash of the first game.
Major plot elements are resolved off screen. The final confrontation with the secondary antagonist is very anticlimactic. The dragon boss fight at the end is literally the same as the first game minus the epic chase sequences.
Maybe in the future with an expansion this game will be better. But at the time of writing i just dont feel like this is a good game.

The BFG Edition of DooM 3 is still a masterpiece despite its missed opportunities.

THE GOOD:
+You get DooM 1, DooM 2, and DooM 3 + Expansion Resurrection of Evil. And also an extra expansion The Lost Mission.
+The graphics are improved.
+An FOV slider.
+Framerate above 60fps.
+Controller support.


THE UGLY:
-This may be a positive or negative, but the flashlight mechanic where you have to choose between either holding a flashlight or a weapon is gone. Would have been nice if players had a settings option where they could choose to keep this gameplay mechanic or not.
-The autosave function isnt smooth. It pauses your game for a second instead of just happening seamlessly in the background.
-Cutscenes cant be skipped.
-DooM 1 and 2 are censored.
-DooM 1 and 2 dont come with any options. Would be nice if you could enable things like crosshair, mouse look and jumping.

Stephen King the game.

You get shot with too many arrows from an incompetent cupid in training.
So now every woman in the vecinity has the hots for you.
Now you have to fight them off with an orgasm gun.
While trying to make the girl you actually care about fall in love with you.
If you can learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the sun sets, then the spell will be broken. If not, you will be doomed to remain a beast for all time.

A well made game with intriguing and very charming characters.

It has a nice open world that feels genuine.

Good main and side missions. Different spells to learn.

The skill tree is nice and simple. You level up natural through quests and tasks. Spells are obtained naturally through story progression (going to classes).

You find clothing from chests and through rewards that you equip to improve offense and defense, etc. You wear so many different pieces of clothing you look like an absolute clown compared to the other students in their traditional robes.

The game also includes 3 side stories revolving around 3 other students. Stories that revolve around danger, and dark magic. But also friendship and closure.

The main villains are interesting but dont show up in the story much. And the end fight is kinda unimaginative. The kind of climax you've seen a hundred times.

You dont need to know anything about the Harry Potter IP to be able to enjoy this game. Its an rpg involving witches and wizards casting spells.
And what makes it so great is the fact that its an original story that stands on its own.

If you are a Harry Potter fan this is the game you've been waiting for. You get to create your own character and go on a grand adventure.

A mixture of Fable and the minions from Despicable Me (before it became an obnoxious franchise)