Recent reviews by Valence_Drive

I'm honestly just here because EA desperately needs competition & to stop being incredibly lazy resting on the laurels of Sims 4, which was a downgrade from Sims 3 at launch (and still kinda is).

That said, I'm genuinely impressed by how earnest of an attempt this game is. Way more on offer on launch compared to Sims 4 and doesn't feel like anything was compromised feature-wise. EA has corned the life sim market for too long and now has barely any of the original visionaries Maxis originally had working on it, so it's refreshing seeing another perspective on the formula come in and make such a strong first impression.

It's a little buggy and lacking some features, but it's early access, so I'm not worried. Devs seem eager to update the game without draining everyone's wallets, so the project will likely become everything people want it to be in due time. There's already way more on offer here than I would've expected from an early access game anyway, and I imagine making a life sim game that works well is no easy task for any dev team. Likely why the market was cornered for so long.

The cultural difference is nice to see and evident in the game, too. Lots of its Korean influence sprinkled throughout, noticeable even to someone familiar with the country at a surface level.

The only real complaint I have is its push for using AI for a lot of features. The dev team should have more confidence in themselves as artists who can create original works, rather than relying on generative algorithms that just borrows from everyone's hard work. Not all of its implementations are bad, e.g. I think the 3D printing aspect helping put in your images as objects is a great idea, but anyone who keeps up with current events knows how ethically troubled AI use is these days.

Will leave a proper review once the game is at its 1.0 state.

Honestly? I was expecting way worse. It's a "nodding head with a 'not bad' face and slight shrug" kinda good. (Judging based on Immersive Mode, because lol, Ghost Recon is not a looter shooter). The devs did an okay job cleaning up the laughable embarrassment it was at launch.

I just wish it wasn't marred with so much cynical modern Ubisoft bullsh*t. Also bad/bland UI and weirdly muted soundscape, giving the game a lack of soul. There's also all the Ubisoft bloat, but if you're someone who prefers an all-in-one package and/or you're tight on disposable income, you could see it as a good thing.

Grab it on a deep sale, get a certain unofficial thing that bypasses the Fee2Pay crap so you can actually use everything, and you could do worse for a MGSV successor with co-op. In another timeline under another company, I could see this finished version of the game getting more recognition.

Things that happened when I beat the game for the first time:
Being absolutely exhausted.
Slow clapped.
Said the most genuine "Holy f*ck" I have ever said in my life.

I could not be prouder to be an Armored Core fan since its very beginnings. Excuse me while I go recover from what I just experienced.

Dungeon Fighter Online is great, its FG spinoff with rollback is also great.

Lot of people out there have very shallow impressions of both IPs thanks to flubbed launches/presentation, misguided popular opinion, or unfair comparisons. Seems to be a curse that follows this IP around in the West. Both games, however, are doing well, and Duel's 1.40 patch just revamped the game drastically to achieve better balancing. Eighting's influence from its time with Marvel vs. Capcom is still strong as they figure out the growing pains of the 1v1 format.

It's still hits the goldilocks zone of Street Fighter accessibility and anime fighter wildness. Come give the game a look and see if it scratches that kind of itch for you. Talk to us in our communities, too. We never left.

- Sincerely,
A 10+ year Dungeon Fighter IP veteran

What I learned from playing with my friend is that if you lose at Connect 4, you lose at life.

Should only take you about 6 hours to figure that out. o/

It's one of the most video gamey video games that ever video gamed. If you want to play something that's completely self-aware & loves how much it just doesn't care in the face of pure fun, you play Saints Row 4. Maybe look into the past games a bit to have context for all the references dropped in the story, but otherwise, go in there and cut loose.

Fair warning, though: SR4 has a lot of unaddressed technical issues that are a headache to fix. You may need to look up some guides on how to stabilize it before you can sit down and play stress-free. Be ready to tinker with a lot of settings both in-game and out if it comes to that.

Also, it's a shame that SR4 locks away achievements and auto-saves if you use cheats. Toggling "Insane City" on, disabling warden spawns (since they kill the flow of combat with their forced cutscene), and turning the difficulty up to highest offers a smooth You vs. The World combat loop that can't be found without those cheats. It's a sacrifice that will have to be considered.

This is a now thrice-written review of this game. First publishing was back during base PSO2's run, first edit was during New Genesis' disastrous launch, and now this is during a time where I came back and have been legitimately impressed by the improvements the game has made. In other words, I'm someone who's seen the highest highs and lowest lows of this game, and now I'm back to tell you that:

It's pretty darn good again.


- The best feature of PSO2, its combat, is far better in NGS compared to its earlier days. Every class is now rounded out to feel closer to the Scion classes of base PSO2*, having 4 varied Photon Arts (PAs), a normal attack, a step dodge/counter, and a (usually) multi-functional Weapon Action (WA). The skills of every class has been expanded substantially, too, giving them more depth without needing to add more PAs to clutter the weapon palettes. The multi-weapon (aka 2 weapons in one) system became more realized thanks to these changes, encouraging depth through weapon switching. Without going on and on, I'd consider the game's combat comparable to Kingdom Hearts, with it being both more and less intensive than it in different ways.

- It's a visually gorgeous game. Always was, but had a lot of kinks in the gears early on. With various graphical and aesthetic adjustments, though, alongside the addition to use an (optional) cel-shaded look, the world of New Genesis just feels really dang nice to live in and explore. Absolute eye candy for people who love nature, anime aesthetics, and sci-fi alike.

- It took a hell of a long time, but as of this writing, I can finally consider the game content-dense**. A player is spoiled for choice for things to work on in endgame and, in all likelihood, will be working on all of them simultaneously due to how the progression system is structured. You have your traditional combat zones, you have a randomized, roguelike-ish quest zone that keeps you at odds with the environment as much as the enemies you fight, you have a 32-player zone to work towards gear resources you can't find elsewhere, and you have top-of-the-line challenges against the most difficult bosses (or series of bosses now, as of the most recent patch from this writing) for chances at the best gear. There's more than just these, but one could consider these the major 4 points of endgame. Also, all of it is regularly scaled up as content progresses and is rarely obsoleted.

- The story is taking some interesting directions lately and hints at some interesting possibilities for the future, making it clear that SEGA wants to play the long game here. More on this in a different section, though.

- The game is famous these days for its customization and socialization systems. For customization, I'd argue Black Desert has it beat in facial detail options, but in all other aspects? It's a complete wash. The game also allows so much personalizing in how you socialize with others that, whatever presence you decide to be in-game, it will always be definitively Yours. If nothing else, NGS reins supreme in the amount of self-expression available to you.

- Creative Spaces was added this past summer, which one can think of as Minecraft-level object building and terrain editing, sans the crafting barrier to entry. It's not as deep as most crafting games, but one could easily lose hours of their time making some truly beautiful spaces here, if the other self-expression options weren't enough. It's not a feature I engage with much, but the appeal is very evident.

- I haven't felt any pressure to use the game's premium services since coming back. NGS offers plenty of ways to give what you need without having to go that extra mile, which is not only an improvement from launch, but is respectable design in a sea of games that want you to to be their trust fund daddy for the barest minimum of benefits back.

- Base PSO2 is still there to play if you decide to download it. It still slaps. It forever will.


- *It's important to say they're -comparable- to Scion classes of base PSO2, not equal to. While the combat is leagues better than how it used to be, it hasn't quite reached the same level of depth yet. With the results of a class rework and PA customization system added as of this recent writing, though, I would say it's more a matter of "when" than "if." Depending on the lens which you view this game's combat, it might feel lacking at times.

- **Content-dense, but not content-rich. Though this problem is gradually being eroded away, NGS doesn't use its gorgeous world to its fullest extent yet. You'll find yourself fast-traveling around more than freely exploring, with the current incentives to explore ending rather quickly if you decide to scour for all the collectibles and secrets. Guild Wars II is still the benchmark all games need to take notes from in terms of keeping world content relevant.

- Though the story is taking some interesting directions lately, I must admit, most of it ranges from meh to boring. Compared to the absolute wildness that was base PSO2's story, NGS plays everything super safe, to its own detriment. It takes longer than necessary for a player to start seeing when the writers begin really cooking, but even then, it's only the occasional morsel in a sea of milquetoast appetizers.


- Most, if not almost all, of the game's vast customization options are behind gacha systems. It does offer a few ways to grab what you want without having to spend anything or contend with RNGesus, but a lot of the heavy lifting is done from players who spend real money and sell in the player shops. There's also customs that have no ways to acquire outside spending real money, whether they're for you or for putting up on the player shop for others to buy F2P. There's nothing P2W here and its not the most egregious thing out there, but gacha is gacha, and it's just not a practice I've ever been a fan of.

- Drop rates of the rarest high-end equipment and upgrade items can be really, really bad. This has been a problem for Phantasy Star's games all the way back to PSO1 and it's only slightly been alleviated with each installment. Even so, your chances can be abysmal at times and can make the effort of optimizing yourself very discouraging. Thankfully, there is gear you can earn in reasonable time that performs perfectly well when upgraded and you don't NEED the highest end gear to clear the hardest content; skill is always the critical factor between whether you breeze through or faceplant dead. If you like being the highest of the high endgame, though, be prepared for some long, long hours.

- New Genesis, while absolutely a game worth your time now, always has this lingering cloud hanging over it that it could be more than what it is. It would require listing too many details to explain properly, and would require solid familiarity with base PSO2's content to understand, but NGS is always playing catch-up to what came before. Some players are too blinded by the trees to see the forest NGS has become now, but it doesn't change the fact that the players lived in a rich rainforest before this new rendition.

---

(I should note that due to how old this review is, the awards its received may not reflect what I have written here now. I would retain what those old reviews said, but the character limit would eventually cut them off and I'd rather not risk devaluing them through a summary. Still, I thank everyone who considered my words worthy of Steam's little medals, and I mean that sincerely.)

[Updated from a year-old review]

Disclaimer:

• The recommendation for this game is tentative, due to the fact that the devs felt it necessary to announce another big game project (Palworld) despite not finishing this one yet. While I don't expect Craftopia to be a masterpiece, since it's a small team and this game's goals are extremely ambitious, I do at least expect the game's vision to be finished. Since the devs gave themselves a shaky reputation abandoning their last game, Overdungeon, for this, there's worry of them doing it again for Craftopia. If that happens, I'm changing my review to negative and rewriting it.

First things first, I perhaps play Craftopia for different reasons than others. I don't really take the game too seriously and see it purely as one of the best "unwinding" type of games out there, due to how much charm it has in spite of its currently jank state. I've tried a variety of chill crafting survival games and this just hits the most, but I don't go super hard in it trying to be 100% completionist, not really using multiplayer, making crazy builds and super-efficient farming methods, etc. I play Craftopia to keep my hands busy while I watch a video essay or listen to a podcast, then move on when I feel satisfied.

That said, I genuinely love this game. It's unfinished, it's pretty jank, and its biting off so much more than it can chew, but I have to respect the ambition and charm. Despite, as another reviewer put it, being "Great Value BotW" on the surface, it is rather unique. I can't think of many games where I can be completely relaxed mining / logging / crafting / fishing / etc., only to swing around dual swords / spellcast like I'm playing a freakin' anime action game in the next instant, then go right back to vibes. It's such a weird smorgasbord of neat things smashed into one game and I kinda love it for that.

It is, however, quite jank and really lacking polish. The devs have been updating often to bug patch and add in new content, but considering the scale they're aiming for despite their team size, there's gonna be a lot of loose ends. Enemies can shoot arrows at you through walls, combat in general is hella awkward, objects won't place in the world sometimes unless you restart, the story is the definition of "a lazy excuse to make this concept," there's only a few songs and the sound design is strange at times, so on and so forth. I haven't played multiplayer yet myself, but other reviews elaborate that its stability Ain't Great, so approach that side of the game with caution. It definitely deserves the "Early Access" moniker, so expect Craftopia to be annoying and frustrating in a handful of ways.

In my opinion, though, I can look past a lot of it. I know "charm" doesn't mean a lot to some people, but Craftopia oozes charm to me, despite blatantly taking cues from a lot of other games. There's really no regard for thematic consistency and just throws everything, including the kitchen sink, in there, making your character's resumé say they're a "Beast-slaying logger miner house flipping factory owner farmer scientist, obscenely physically fit and trained in weapon arts. Also a mage." Honestly, though? Sometimes it's best to not care and go ham, throwing in a bunch of things you find cool. That's Craftopia's best strength.

I hope Pocketpair doesn't sleep on the potential they have here. Like I said, I don't expect them to fully meet the Kuiper Belt's level of ambition they set for this game to meet, but I'm more than willing to wait out the journey with 'em. BotW has vision, Genshin has gacha. I'd love to see Craftopia come out in the end saying "Bruh, I just got STUFF, come chill!"

So, blazing through both vanilla WO4 and WO4U for the first time, and getting somewhat up the final tower in Infinity Mode, I think I'm finally in the position to give this game a proper review.

TL;DR: It's an extremely solid entry in the Warriors lineup, especially considering the combat from both DW8 & SW4-II are here + Sacred Treasure system, so I feel it's worth a purchase. However, it is undeniably weaker compared to WO3U in terms of richness of features, and presentation in terms of visuals, story, and unique environments.


- DW8's & SW4-II's combat systems are finally combined, and let me tell you, that REALLY carries this game. I consider both of those systems the best versions of Warriors' hack-and-slash formula to date, and being able to switch between both with just a character choice feels incredible. It's one of the few strengths WO4U has over WO3U, since while the DW7/SW3 systems used in that entry were solid, it's sometimes very difficult to go back to after playing the entries that followed them. If gameplay feel is all you care about, this is the biggest reason to get WO4U.

- The Sacred Treasure/Magic system. Initially, it came off as gimmicky, but started to shine once I experimented with different treasures on a character (which vanilla WO4 didn't have, which is just... yikes). Finding the right treasure that fits both the character and your playstyle can really help make your favorites feel fresh again, since it gives them combo, cancelling, and/or area control opportunities they otherwise wouldn't have. Not all of them are useful, and a number of them share similar uses with a different coat of paint, but still, I was rather surprised at the amount of diversity available. The fact that it gives everyone an additional, unique musou attack is also a great touch.

- The girth of content available. Between the ridiculous character count and all the kinds of fights you can do, in various formats and difficulties, you really won't ever be short on things to do in this game. Tons of unique playstyles under the Warriors' tried-and-true light and heavy attack formula, all of the battles the story offers, the 5 different difficulties, the side quests, the DLC quests, the optional objectives in every mission, the random and secret missions, weapon earning/crafting, the Battle Arena PvP mode, Challenge Mode, and Infinity Mode... you'll certainly get your fix here.

- The music. With how much I heard of vanilla WO4 being a disappointment (we'll get to that), I expected the music to be lackluster, too... but nah, there are some real bangers here. A lot of returning songs from older Orochi games, as well as DW and SW, are here as usual, but the new mixes are pretty damn sweet as well. The remix of "Welcome to China" particularly stood out: It sounds nothing like the original, but became a great beat all of its own. "Twilight of the Gods" is also incredible.

- It's Warriors Orochi, man. The only Warriors game where you can tag between 3 different characters of your choosing, from any original Warriors franchise, and wreck house with your squad of favorites. It's the best example of all the games' strengths by default, and always a good time~.

- It doesn't struggle to reach 30 fps like WO3U, and can actually reach 60 fps. It's a miracle.


- The fact that people who already own base WO4 pay more for the upgrade to WO4U compared to people that just buy WO4 with the Ultimate expansion. That legitimately makes no sense to me and is a big slap in the face to players who put up with vanilla WO4's disappointments. Lower the price, Koei, ffs.

- There's a lot of features missing from WO4U that made WO3U such a complete, feature-rich package. No color edit mode, no alternate color costumes, 4's Battle Arena is pretty sad compared to the chaotic Duel Mode of 3, no unique Triple Rush tag combos between certain team setups (replaced by a generic "everyone gets together" nuke), no Musou Battlefields (a.k.a. player-created combat scenarios that are shareable), no 3-at-once toggle for your team, no team musou attacks, and Infinity Mode is only an "okay" replacement for Gauntlet/Unlimited Mode, at best. More on Infinity Mode later, but yeah, one could only hope Koei patches these features back in... but wouldn't get my hopes up. There's enough for me to still recommend WO4U, but this game should be an upgrade to WO3U, not a sidegrade.

- Vanilla WO4's story sucks, lol. No ifs, ands, or buts, it just sucks. I'm specifically referring to Chapters 1 through 5 here, which is where a lot of time is spent initially & where you go to unlock most of the characters to play as. I would never tell anyone to play a Warriors game for the story, as it's often predictable, overly melodramatic, and kinda dumb, but at least it's been consistently entertaining in its simplicity up until this point. Vanilla WO4, though?... it's just bad, predictable trash. A lot of the characters repeat what's already been established, or say things anyone else could say, everything is an "All according to keikaku" twist, and the ending is abysmal. Chapter 6 and onward, which is Ultimate's territory, is a redemption arc for the story, imo, and helps make everything you did feel much more impactful & offers great closure. But man, that's a lot of crap you need to go through to get to that point.

- Presentation in this game is really lazy, honestly. I don't mind the camp from WO3U not being here, I prefer a lively menu to get to things quicker, but the camp UI design really needs a rehaul, even after the expansion's tweaks to make vanilla WO4's menu look less... awful. There's also the fact that a lot of the combat environments you fight in WO4U are literally just the same maps as DW8 or SW4-II, only in a different time of day, with the odd object here and there that signifies world distortion. WO3U literally smashed some environments together and introduced a few never seen before, including ones you'd never think an ancient Chinese dude would walk through, like a modern cityscape. It made fighting in WO3U feel awesome, and that's pretty much absent in WO4U aside from near the end.

- Infinity Mode... could've been a lot more. Gauntlet/Unlimited Mode from WO3U is still one of the greatest ideas Omega Force has ever had, and why they decided to scrap it for this stripped down version, I don't know. For comparison, Gauntlet/Unlimited Mode let you have 5 characters out at a time instead of 3, you used team formations (think football formations, that kind of stuff) to buff your team in various ways, and you constantly struggled with tons of enemies while they were becoming gradually stronger through a mechanic called "Miasma". Meanwhile, Infinity Mode has only 3 characters out at once, the most you can do with them is tell them to attack with you, explore, or heal, the enemy density is lowered, and it takes forever for the miasma mechanic to be re-introduced. It's serviceable as an endless mode, but once you've experienced Gauntlet/Unlimited mode, you really can't go back.


If WO3U didn't exist as a comparison point, WO4U would be an excellent entry into the Orochi franchise and definitely the best. Unfortunately for it, 3U does exist, and constantly looms over 4U like a bad omen. 4U does break through the clouds with strengths of its own, and does perfectly fine being a damn good Koei hack-and-slash, but it could've been so... SO much more. For me personally, going back to WO3U after playing WO4U is a hard sell since I love DW8's & SW4-II's combat so much, but there's definitely going to be a constant yearning for it to be more than it is, and that sucks.

Also, if you're wondering why I didn't mention the Deification system, that's because it's literally just there. Strikeforce transformations, these are not.

I should preface this saying that I do not own VR, and that I don't plan on getting into VR in the near future, so nothing I say here will relate to that feature.

Pros:

- Consistent 60 fps, allowing the game to play the way it was meant to. At least, for me. More on that.
- Looks, sounds (more on that), and plays amazingly. Game is a real treat to the senses.
- "Pro Controls" and "Quick Unlock" settings were genius ideas. Huge QoL improvement with controlling Jehuty, and the pace-killing awkwardness of switching subweapons is gone. (Classic scheme is still there, though.)
- While pretty much fluff, the "Model Viewer", "Cinematic Theater", and "Hangar" bonuses offer some nice casual enjoyment to the game. Plus, there's a funny little easter egg minigame in the Hangar that was a nice touch.
- Everything you enjoyed about Z.O.E. 2 brought back in a fresh new package, done (mostly) well this time. Looking at you, HD Collection.

Cons:
- Odd sound bug in the game making the audio very quiet, and broken in some instances. Can be worked around, but it hampers the enjoyment of experiencing the redesigned sound. Definitely the main priority for a patch.
- Certain resolution settings kill the fps and performance of the game. Not something I'm experiencing, but I see others with the issue in the Community Hub.
- Any controller that isn't a natively detected Dualshock 4 can't use the "Positive/Negative Response" feature for certain dialogue prompts. It's a really minor feature to be bugged, but Dingo lore is important, yo.
- Unable to save after completing the story, instead being auto-saved. Irrelevant for casual players, but hampers speedrunners for getting an accurate file timer for their run.
- Privacy Policy is apparently hit-or-miss bugged for some people, making them unable to play. Be wary.
- Denuvo is a thing. It doesn't really affect me, but it does bother some people, so it deserves mentioning.
- No Japanese VA option, though I don't mind the English dub. Possible cheap money-grab DLC for the future? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I grew up with Zone of the Enders as one of the most influential games to come across my long library over the years, with The 2nd Runner being my absolute favorite. It feels incredible playing it again with not only a fresh, beautiful new look, but the unlocked and consistent 60 fps it deserved to be played as. Plus, now that I'm more savvy with video production and streaming, it feels great making content for a game I want to bring as much attention to as I can.

However, as of this writing, the port needs some work. The sound bug is the most prominent flaw by far, but overall the game runs well, only needing some minor fixes here and there. It shouldn't take much at all to get this port to 100% performance, but this is Konami we're talking about. They don't have a great track record, so I can't say "Everything will be fixed" with full confidence.

The PS4 version apparently has none of these issues outside of the JP dub, so if you want a less worrysome experience, get that version for now. I'll be sticking with the PC version since it allows me to make content for it easier, but if nothing's fixed, I'll likely get the PS4 version for speedrunning purposes.