Recent reviews by vampirecosmonaut

The sound design in this game is absolutely incredible. The environment is gorgeous and varied. The game is incredibly immersive (haha yes). However, the lack of weapons and the pacifism of the main character are just too contrary to my way of thinking. Perhaps I'm just a bad person, but I'd rather use the advanced technology of the Alterra Corporation to defend myself by eliminating threats rather than hiding from them. Unfortunately, the blueprints needed to create weapons are not available. There's been plenty of talk about this design decision and I cannot help but mention it in my review. Despite my reservations, I still give this game a thumbs up. It's a good game, but it is not a good game for me.

The game is just clumsy. The controls are configured in a launcher and are inaccessible while the game is running. I had to launch the game several times to get the configuration correct and ultimately I still haven't got it where I'm satisfied. Also, there's no setting for a dead zone for the controller. There's a setting for sensitivity but I had to choose between unresponsive controls on aiming or the cursor floating away.

The levels that I tried were very easy despite the AI spawning significant numbers of enemies in an attempt to stop me. I simply attacked them from outside their range with my laser gun and killed them without risk. Also, certain combinations of towers makes the AI just hopelessly die in droves.

Here's an edit for context:

One of the developers flagged this review as abusive [i.imgur.com] and left a different developer response than the one below. The current developer response is a separate developer apologizing for the original developer's comments and behavior.

The original review continues below:

Ultimate Fishing Simulator supports controller input but it does not show controller button prompts in the UI. The game will continue to tell you to press keyboard and mouse buttons while you are using the controller. I found it to be difficult to play with the controller because of this.

My response to developer's original comment:

There's no set rules for game tags on Steam. Assassin's Creed Odyssey, MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD, or Stardew Valley, for example, are listed as "Partial Controller Support" and those games all support the controller with UI controller button prompts and nearly native support.

I've enjoyed this game a great deal so far. As of this review, I have around 85 hours played. I've had no issues with crashing or stuttering. I have had issues with NPCs getting stuck underground, but that is fixed by reloading.

The ability to craft better and better items has been a smooth progression for me. I got lucky with the research and I've gotten the blueprints I needed when I needed them. Crafting the larger objects is fun, building and hand placing components on the skeleton of the device that I am building feels fun to me. Also, equipment doesn't wear out or break, I'm so tired of repairing or recreating pickaxes and the like in other games.

The social system is simple enough to understand and there's no degradation of relationships over time. This game has been like a vacation compared to the games I usually play, like Monster Hunter, 7 Days to Die, Dark Souls, etc.

My only complaint is that the game only saves when you go to bed and end the day. There's been plenty of days where I got a lot of things accomplished but I have to stop playing and it's only halfway through a day in game. I have to either play more and get through the day or just forfeit the progress that I have made.

Despite the saving issue, I give the game a thumbs up for being a relaxing vacation from hardcore gameplay.

I decided to reinstall this game and give it a try again after playing EDF 4.1 recently. I haven't played this game since around the time I purchased it in December 2011. After doing a couple missions, I was very surprised at how bad this game is when it is compared to the "real" EDF games. They added squad chatter that sounds just as embarrassing as the dialog in Ghost Recon Future Soldier. In the original EDF, the squad sings their silly battle songs and the game has a light and silly B movie feel. This game tries too hard to be serious with story based missions and a gritty story. It just doesn't work for me now that I've seen how fun the "real" EDF games are.

From the first mission I played, I knew this game was special. It's like being a part of your very own "B" monster movie. The production values are roughly the same as those old movies as well. It's almost as if we are on the set and blowing up a cardboard city for the amusement of some children on a Saturday morning television program. The weapon variety is incredible and the grind for armor upgrades looks like it will be more fun than tedious. I really enjoy the class variety as well. Your experience with the game can be greatly affected by your choice of character. Whether you are zooming around as a wing diver or blasting away as a fencer, it's all very satisfying.

This game is unbelievably dry. There's a serviceable tactical combat system but strategy and positioning don't really seem that important. You can pin an enemy between yourself and a piece of terrain and that reduces their damage. You can flank and surround enemies also. But even with all this, it's just rudimentary tactics. It doesn't really do much to excite me. Also, the special abilities and spells are functional but not exciting.

The stash in camp starts with 20 slots for your character and 1 slot shared with your characters. It costs 7000 Medallions to add ONE slot to the shared stash. Adding a slot to your individual character's stash is also one slot at a time but you can use in game materials and Triads, the money that drops from monsters and shopkeepers. Everything is similarly monetized, "do you want more than ONE crafting skill per character?" "That will be 5000 Medallions please." The coins are priced at this moment at 4000 Medallions for $5 USD. These space upgrades and character upgrades seem to be too expensive. Giving a character just one crafting skill seems to be a little too strict.

The reason why I make such a big deal about the stash is that the game throws TONS of crafting materials and items at you. Many items need to be refined with machines that you can place in your BOO. That's right, your camp is actually called a "BOO" in game. This stands for "Base of Operations." Upgrading your BOO from just a sleeping roll, tiny chest and a cart is very expensive and basically the goal of the game. If you do not upgrade your BOO, there's no space to place the crafting stations or refiners that you need to use the raw materials. I'm surprised that none of these crafting stations exists in town, I suppose everyone crafts in secret in this world while hiding in their basements.

Let's say that you just want to sell the items and move on. Well, there's no easy way to sell them. You can rent a stall in town or add the items to your stall in camp. I added several items to my stall in camp and nothing sold. You have to advertise what you are selling my marking it individually with an AD icon. First one is free, but then you have to pay unless you want to wait. It is also free to take an item down, but after that you have to pay or wait. Of course the stalls in town cost money, your choice of medallions or Triads with various rental periods. The next issue I had with selling was that the populations is so small that the player driven economy doesn't really exist. Prices seem to fluctuate wildly and other players, and their stalls, are the only method to do a price check.

I purchased the bundles from Chrono.gg and Otakubundle and they provided me with premium convenience items and 2 mounts. I found the mounts were underwhelming as they are just pieces of gear you equip and never see. I'm supposed to use my imagination I suppose, which is something I am capable of as I was playing Original Dungeons and Dragons before many of you were born. Even with XP Boost potions and some upgrades, I didn't feel like the money was well spent. I ended up using my currency on a bag slot and a larger bag to carry around with my starting backpack. It wasn't a very exciting purchase.

I ended up starting my first character over because I realized that male magic users, the Elementalists, NEVER wear a shirt. There's a costume system that covers your gear and locks you into your starting character's appearance. It looks like it changes in increments of 5{?} 10{?} levels with crafted costumes that you can wear. There was only two costumes available in the Medallion shop per class and the Elementalist ones were fancy but still shirtless. I asked other players and they basically told me "I chose the no shirt life." That's when I decided to start a new character.

When I made my new character, I had to juggle my account bound items from my old character one at a time using the one slot shared stash. Eventually my wife took pity on me and made an account and a character and she helped me move my remaining possessions. The shared space is SO small, it's hard to accept. This is especially a problem considering that you can only learn one crafting skill per character and you need to juggle materials between them. Obviously many of these problems can be mitigated by guild mates but the population of the game is very low. As of this moment, the population is very low. Here is a link to the Steam Chart for Stash.[steamcharts.com]

Another interesting feature is that the creator of the game has a character and is parked right next to the only city in the game at all hours of the day. He is denoted as staff by the lilypad next to his name. He spams the entire screen with advertisements for events and special equipment packs. He's obviously very devoted. If you complain about the game, in game, you will face the game creator and his minions. The ultimate boss battle! I'm half heartedly joking here, but it is kind of true.

Overall this game can be best described as a stale lemon cookie. At one time it was delicious, but now it's difficult to eat and the chef still insists on selling it to you for full price. I'm going to try and put some more time into the game and talk to the veteran players to get an idea of anything I missed or misunderstood. This review many be subject to change, but for now it is a thumbs down.

EDIT:

I purchased a $50 Limited Stash pack and really gave the game a good try after this review. The pack gave me a full suit of purple armor and recreated my elementalist and got him some levels with a shirt on. I'm staying with a thumbs down. I feel that I wasted my money and time.

I bought this game for $8 USD in January 2017. I thought it was fun for what it is. The developers then added $77 USD in DLC almost two years after release. Worse yet, the DLC is advertised in game. I cannot recommend this game.

Lost Castle is a side scrolling beat em up with role playing elements. This game falls short in many ways.

The controls are awkward at best. When you attack, you are frozen in motion for a significant amount of time. It's difficult to attack and dodge attacks. It can be done but it feels like you are fighting the controls more than the enemies.

The character you start with is randomly generated and only minimal customization is possible before you exit the starting area and enter the dungeon. Your starting weapon and armor can be changed by NPCs in the beginning but that needs to be unlocked through progression and it's still not enough of a choice. I found myself killing characters early to get a character that I wanted to start with.

Finally, you gain souls as you progress through a play-through and when you die you can spend them to upgrade the starting area and future character's stats. If you do not have enough souls to buy an upgrade, they are deleted when you start a new character. Later runs are pointless for progression unless you get an amount of souls that can buy an upgrade.

The game was simply not worth my time. There's far better games in this genre. Rogue Legacy is superior in every way, I'd also consider Castle Crashers as a superior non-rogue choice.

Thumbs down, my impressions:

- Combat is best when flying in circles and letting the ship's AI fire the weapons. Ramming is a very viable, and boring, option. I ended up using 4 three slot wings with fighters and bombers. I would just park and win the battle that way.

- Ship level determines a successful battle. There's no strafing or avoiding shots really. You can easily grind out a win without putting much effort into it.

- Random parts are simply too random. It's not my ship, it's the RNGs ship. You can order specific parts, it's expensive and really only an option at late game.

- The strategy layer feels tacked on and is spoiled by the poor combat. Building your own faction isn't really that exciting either.

Rebel Galaxy does the combat better.

Mount and Blade Warband does the strategy layer better.

EDIT:

I put more time in after my review and considered changing my recommendation. I just finished the campaign mode and I've decided to keep the "thumbs down." This game is a disappointment compared to SPAZ 1. I wish I had refunded it.