Recent reviews by vince

I'm having a blast with yet another imperfect game.
I'm going to be vague to avoid spoilers.

As far as RPGs go, this may be one of the best. There is enough here to support almost endless playthrough opportunities. While you get dumped into the main quest immediately, you can ignore it - treat it as a delivery job and go on with your life.
This thing is really 3-4 games.
There's the shipbuilder, which, once you hit level 60, can quickly become a game all on its own. It's a game of its own as early as level 12, but once you start, you'll want level 60 for access to all the parts.

There's the outpost system, which is left entirely to the player to figure out (bad move) and, given my limited experience with it - seems to have little purpose - except as a base-building game all on its own. This is one of the things that need to change - There is a theory that in an early version, it did serve a purpose, a vital one, but it would have meant that you had to get involved with outposts to even play the rest of the game - so, there was a change of direction. I'd like to see that purpose return, perhaps to survival mode.

There's the exploration game, which I find interesting and relaxing - it's a time suck. If you're ADHD and need constant stimulation, this might not be for you.

There is also the now ubiquitous minigame, which some of us enjoy and most seem to hate. Again, modding has essentially solved this "problem," and to be honest, you could just skip the digital lockpicking/hacking game and put those skill points into other things, and you won't miss much, and nothing critical.

Then there is "the game," the main quests, and all the side quests. And here, I think they made a significant step forward.

There's a lot about this game that I like and more than a few things that need to change.
Some of the changes that I think it needs may not ever come. Most of them will, either from Bethesda or from modders.
Some things are very BGS - the companions, for example, are wonderful, charming, and utterly annoying.
Like every BGS game before - I love doing the companion quests learning their stories, and then I never want to see them again.
The quests feel like a significant step up - the faction quests are outstanding. Many, perhaps most, of the side quests are significantly better than previous efforts.
I have not finished the main story - very much on purpose. It became clear to me where it was going, as it will to you, and you can choose to either go with it or do the 101,000 other things. I do not like where the main story is going - and I wish Bethesda had gone in a different direction. That's on me; that's my preference, so I won't knock the game for that. With at least one character, I will play it through and quite possibly NG+1 and maybe NG+2, but I'm unlikely to go more than that - again, that's just me. You might love it. I hope the DLC will provide an alternative, but I'm not holding my breath.

This is not a game of instant gratification. It's a simulator, and it's pretty darn good at it. If you love the outdoors and are interested in hunting - this is the game for you.
There are a few bugs but nothing game breaking.
The prices for ammo & guns are ... nuts, but then so are the cash rewards. So, when you get into the game and you need to pay $850 for 10 rounds of .30-06 don't panic - it's not a bug and it's actually not a big deal. Not sure why they chose to inflate the economy with $100 bullets and $70,000 guns - probably because the rewards for kills would be tiny if they priced the goods closer to real life. It works - it's weird, but it works. Like most games, by the time you get near to max level, you'll have more money that you know what to do with (although they have a solution for that too).

Episodes 1-3 are pretty good. Episode 4 depends entirely on you noticing a few very tiny details if you want to have a chance of understanding what the heck is going on. Episode 5 was I couldn't finish. Even after watching several youtube videos, I was unable to progress past the destruction of Terminus. So I set about trying to figure out why - at which point I decided I was just wasting my life, and it was time to move on.

I'm a bit over 1/3 done.
TL;DR Having a blast, and and just trying to ignore the broken story elements. Too expensive by maybe $10-$15 - wait for a sale I did. I'd call it a 7.5 out of ten - 8 if you are good at ignoring Story elements that are completely at odds with the world.

The good - it's easy to move around, and quite a bit of variety. Many of the quests get handled with humor - and sometimes a touch of self-awareness. This approach helps the typical go-fetch quests. Lots of variety in weapons and vehicles - there are even noticeable differences in how the vehicles drive/fly. The graphics are excellent. Not the absolute best, but it is a few years old at this point. The story premise is also actually quite good - but the treatment...

The not so good - The variety in weapons is mostly cosmetic. It's easy to spend a lot on cosmetics that frankly - you don't see in the game from the First Person perspective. The companions have very limited patter - and minimal control. It works but, I've hand stealth missions go south because my stealthy bow companion decided to set everything on fire or blow it up. - Nothing I can do about that.

The bad. The story had potential, but every time I start getting sucked in, something very jarring happens. I get a video feed while standing at the top of a tower, what the hell am I watching it on? I get abducted at will. If they can hunt me down and kidnap me at will even when I'm in a chopper 1000 feet in the air. Why do they allow me to run around and destroy everything they've built up if they can do that? I don't buy the "The Father wills it" crap - it makes no sense, he's got a mission, and I'm nothing more than an obstacle. The characters are psychologically consistent - John is a Sadistic Psyscopath - apparently caused by child abuse. Okay, that works. Jacob is a Violet Psychopath (not sure why yet). And Faith is... Well, she's a Female Loki - bad childhood and drug use gave her what appears to be drug-enhanced magical abilities.
The Seed family's behavior is just so broken; it completely sucks me out of the game every time. It's the absolute "apply magic here" approach - you continuously get abducted - nothing can prevent it, even though they just warned you. Faith is the Illusionist incarnate - they blame it on the bliss, but there's never any explanation for how she drags you into her illusion or communicates with you telepathically.

Have fun playing the game - just ignore the "Magic happens here because REASONS" stuff.

I thought long and hard before buying an EA game, but the videos of actual game play, and the early reports were so good, and then there was the fact that it's single player. I finally gave in. I'm not sure it's a $60 game, but, it's close enough. I have no regrets.

Take your time with the combat - pay attention, practice - and don't spam attacks or blocks. That will just get you killed. Timing is everything.

Spoilers below

You can skip every chest in the game except the Yellow ones - those you want. The rest are just cosmetic. I'm a completionist so I spend a lot of time exploring and revisiting places. There's a point on Dathomir when you will be forced to leave and head to Ilum - if you're a completionist, be careful here, when you reach your goal, once you leave that room, there is no going back as near as I can tell. Other than that, you can go back after you finish and find anything you missed.
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I like this game — a lot. I will say, starting on Hardcore mode is brutal. Once you get through the obligatory chase scene, which killed me a dozen times (or more) - Hardcore mode is challenging, quite fun, and kind of annoying. The bow takes a lot of practice, and I finally resorted to turning the bow reticule back on. Not having the timing hints in sword combat also takes some getting used to - but that happens pretty quickly - or it did for me.

There are a few missing features - only two weapon hotkeys, and you need four. 1-main weapon (you'll likely start with the sword), 2-bow, 3-secondary weapon (mace/axe) 4-Torch. Having to go into inventory to switch between sword and axe is annoying. Having to do that with the torch is even more annoying.

The graphics need some optimization. The quality is excellent, but you will suffer from low FPS in many places.

The story is fantastic - there's a constant sense of urgency and mystery. Many of the NPCs are well defined, although many are just your typical NPC filler. I do wish they'd work on the animations for people walking around town - it has sort of a zombie vibe, arms hanging limp as they stroll glassy-eyed from place to place. The main NPCs are very good, and I suppose they make the others look lackluster in comparison.

Highly recommended.