DrBloodmoney Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 (edited) 20 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said: Look at games like Call of Duty: World at War and inFamous. inFamous has in many respects, not aged well. We all know the graphics aren't that good anymore but comparing graphics to modern, post 2015 - 2017 era games is completely futile. There's no real argument to be won there because the fact is older games like inFamous had worse graphics because the technology just wasn't there to produce too much better. Even Uncharted 2: Among Thieves looks rather dated when compared to 2020 AAA games. Gameplay wise, inFamous has several gameplay mechanics that haven't aged all too well. Just controlling Cole in general can be at times frustrating. Contrast that with Sucker Punch's newer games, and I think we can both agree they play far better from a gameplay standpoint. Now if we were to play something like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on the hardest difficulty setting or were to earn all the trophies, some of these AAA games are still very challenging and difficult. But if we're going to compare AAA games of this generation to those of the PS3 generation in terms of just playing casually and beating the story, I'm going to say the games of the PS3 generation were far more difficult. That's because there have been substantial improvements to game mechanics, how gameplay is being handled, how fluid the game actually runs, and just being a bit more solid as a game. Look at inFamous 1, then look at Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. How the games play and how they perform is literally night and day. Sucker Punch improved and evolved over time. Those aren't unreasonable points, but it seems like you are approaching this on the grounds that gameplay improvements have made games less difficult, rather than an active decision to make games more or less challenging on the part of the developers. There, I agree with you... but I don't think it should matter for this kind of list, and I don't think it's something to look back on with rose-tinted glasses. For starters - difficulty that stems from bad (or at least, less refined) mechanics is not the good or fun kind of difficulty. As I said in the Moon Cresta Review - that game is almost broken in its difficulty, but that is because, well, the game is almost broken. It's not by design - it's an accident, and that kind of challenge isn't good or fun to play, and is certainly not something we want to return to. I think in terms of deliberate challenge, AAA games are roundly the same as a decade ago. Yes, they can feel less difficult, purely by the virtue of a lot of the 'accidental' difficulty being smoothed out of them, but really - no one wants accidental difficulty. We want deliberate, fun, challenge - not broken mechanics or poor checkpointing - to be the reason we keep coming back to a game over and over - and on that front, the Indie and smaller A games have us covered now in a way they never did in the PS3 era... much to my delight ☺️ Edited May 13, 2021 by DrBloodmoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 I am here just to say that I agree with Demon's Souls review may Lord Umbasa be with you! (0/10 you can't powerstance Smelter Swords in this game :> ) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 (edited) ?☣️☣️!!SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY UPDATE!!☣️☣️? After a (very reasonable) request from @GonzoWARgasm, I have made some additions to the main list post, adding a 'Batch Number' to each game on the list, and a set of links, allowing anyone to jump directly to the specific scientific update that contains the review for a specific game, if anyone wants to jump to one (for example, after being OUTRAGED by a game's placement on the list, and wants to pick apart my reasoning! ?) I'm also going to ditch doing the intermediary 'special updates' (Like I did with Twin Mirror) for new games I get the S-Rank in as separate posts, and just add the new ones onto whatever batch is currently being worked on, just to keep them all neatly together for these batch numberings. Hopefully, this is all clear, helps keep the scientific methodology user-friendly, (and works!) - it seems to, but let me know if it is useful, as this is the method I'll be using going forward unless otherwise advised/ yelled at! Edited May 13, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 6 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: Those aren't unreasonable points, but it seems like you are approaching this on the grounds that gameplay improvements have made games less difficult, rather than an active decision to make games more of less challenging on the part of the developers. There, I agree with you... but I don't think it should matter for this kind of list, and I don't think it's something to look back on with rose-tinted glasses. For starters - difficulty that stems from bad (or at least, less refined) mechanics is not the good or fun kind of difficulty. As I said in the Moon Cresta Review - that game is almost broken in its difficulty, but that is because, well, the game is almost broken.l It's not by design - it's an accident, and that kind of challenge isn't good or fun to play, and is certainly not something we want to return to. I think in terms of deliberate challenge, AAA games are roundly the same as a decade ago. Yes, they can feel less difficult, purely by the virtue of a lot of the 'accidental' difficulty being smoothed out of them, but really - no one wants accidental difficulty. We want deliberate, fun, challenge - not broken mechanics or poor checkpointing - to be the reason we keep coming back to a game over and over - and on that front, the Indie and smaller A games have us covered now in a way they never did in the PS3 era... much to my delight We always had the option to adjust the difficulty. That's exactly the same now as it was over a decade now. But despite that, I'm deliberately not trying to look at this through rose-tinted glasses, because there were quite a few AAA and AA games from the PS3/Xbox 360 generation that have not aged well. inFamous 1 is one example. I can argue that the grenade spam on Call of Duty: World at War was a bad gameplay mechanic, you would be inclined to think so as well if you played on Veteran difficulty like I did over 10 years ago. What I'm stating is older games, a majority of them fell under bad mechanics. That's why I mentioned Battletoads for the NES. Innovative and groundbreaking for its time, but a game with several bad designs and bad game mechanics. Many old games fell under accidental difficulty, I would be an idiot to say otherwise. People mentioned Jak II earlier in this thread, that's an even better example. The checkpoints were awful, the open world layout was purely to increase game time at the expense of the player, some of the missions had very noticeable difficulty spikes, and the controls were at times unresponsive. That's not me being nostalgic or seeing the game through rose-tinted glasses. That's me judging the game for all the flaws that it had. All the indie games I mentioned to you have deliberate, fun challenge. Resogun especially. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number has some bullshit A++ requirements, and the game puts far too much emphasis on windows and you often die a lot from gunshots off screen. Compared to some older games, Hotline Miami 2 still challenges the player in a good way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 (edited) 14 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said: We always had the option to adjust the difficulty. That's exactly the same now as it was over a decade now. But despite that, I'm deliberately not trying to look at this through rose-tinted glasses, because there were quite a few AAA and AA games from the PS3/Xbox 360 generation that have not aged well. inFamous 1 is one example. That's true - I tend to try and judge games based on whatever they consider their 'normal' difficulty primarily (though, I will take into account the highest difficulty if that is required for the platinum, and mention it if it is particularly of note.) Quote I can argue that the grenade spam on Call of Duty: World at War was a bad gameplay mechanic, you would be inclined to think so as well if you played on Veteran difficulty like I did over 10 years ago. Agreed - I did complete WaW to platinum - It isn't eligible to rank on this list, as I don't have the S-Rank (due to dlc), but while I though that was one of the best CoD games I played, the Veteran playthrough bordered on broken. Particularly the sections where it was a virtual necessity to completely clear out sections before moving forward, which on all other difficulties, were supposed to be chaotic 'duck and dive' runs through a hail of bullets, and Veteran turned them into a long, slow, painfully dull exercise in patience-testing. Quote People mentioned Jak II earlier in this thread, that's an even better example. The checkpoints were awful, the open world layout was purely to increase game time at the expense of the player, some of the missions had very noticeable difficulty spikes, and the controls were at times unresponsive. That's not me being nostalgic or seeing the game through rose-tinted glasses. That's me judging the game for all the flaws that it had. Don't get me started on Jak II - one of my most hated games, as my review here attests! Quote All the indie games I mentioned to you have deliberate, fun challenge. Resogun especially. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number has some bullshit A++ requirements, and the game puts far too much emphasis on windows and you often die a lot from gunshots off screen. Compared to some older games, Hotline Miami 2 still challenges the player in a good way. I roundly agree on this - we don't have a 1:1 overlap of challenging indie games, but we do have quite a bit of crossover, including Resogun and Hotline 2 - and Hotline 2, while still good, did overshoot the bullshit-difficulty that the first game managed to nail perfectly - an error that, I'm certain, will be reflected in it's placement relative to Hotline Miami when it gets ranked! Edited May 13, 2021 by DrBloodmoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 On 5/5/2021 at 7:43 AM, DrBloodmoney said: *sigh* ? Okay mate, listen... I don't like ruining the fun, and so this will be the only post in which I do this... I can't believe I actually have to spell this out to you...as it is so plainly, clearly and obviously apparent from the very beginning on my thread - and has been completely understood by everyone else, including people from all over the world whose first language is not even English - Reveal hidden contents THIS BEING 'SCIENCE' IS A JOKE. It is tongue in cheek! Of course these are opinions! Jesus Christ - a fucking child could understand that. I mean seriously, get a grip on yourself - did you actually even read the intro to my little project here? Did you actually think I, or any of the people following along are under the impression that i am conducting real 'science' here or am under any obligation to be 'objective' - whatever that could even be, where criticism of entertainment is concerned? These are my opinions, obviously - I am ranking MY GAMES, on MY PROFILE, and doing it on MY CHECKLIST. I am having some fun ranking my games, and some other people are following along. I'm happy to engage in spirited debate about my analyses, and I love passionate debate about games - but to complain about the whole endeavour conceptually, just because you are the one person in the entire site who didn't get the joke, and then to fill up massive posts like yours whinging about it, to the extent that I have to drop the fun of it for a moment, take you by your angry little hand and explain that to you, is so sad to me. You are only embarrassing yourself. I just had to have a laugh at this. I made a status update on a certain game a few months ago and he tried to hijack it by saying my opinions were woefully wrong and that I needed to correct my position. Not surprised to see he is criticizing the entire purpose of this thread. Some people on these forums... I don't know. We argued to each other for a while but once I read more of your posts I can see you are someone who is really well invested in this trophy hunting hobby and you express a lot of care and work into it. I can't say the same for everybody. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 5 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said: I just had to have a laugh at this. I made a status update on a certain game a few months ago and he tried to hijack it by saying my opinions were woefully wrong and that I needed to correct my position. Not surprised to see he is criticizing the entire purpose of this thread. God, I know ? - I had to spoiler tag that just because I want this thread to remain a positive one, but...yeah... well done guy... way to miss the most obvious joke of all time! ? 5 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said: Some people on these forums... I don't know. We argued to each other for a while but once I read more of your posts I can see you are someone who is really well invested in this trophy hunting hobby and you express a lot of care and work into it. I can't say the same for everybody. Hey man, you and I might have had some run-ins here and there, but this thread is about nothing but the almost-fetishistic love of games in all their forms, and that is one area that I can't get enough of, and is something that (should) bring everyone on these forums together. Hell - we all ended up here because of one thing we all have in common - we all love games! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 ⚛️!!SCIENCE UPDATE!!⚛️ The next 10 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be: Dead Cells Final Fantasy XIII Heavy Rain Jacob JonesMass Effect 2 Rayman Origins Shatter The Spectrum Retreat The Wolf Among Us Zombie Driver HD Subjects in RED marked for ❎PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT❎ [Care of @GloriousFury9414 , @The_Kopite & @elpoko ] Can 'Current Most Awesome' game, Prey, cling to its title, or will it be a one-round champion? Is last-in-show Watchmen: The End is Nigh going to have any competition for 'Least Awesome Game' ? Let's find out! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soraking1991 Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 41 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: ?☣️☣️!!SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY UPDATE!!☣️☣️? I approve, for what it's worth 14 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: Hey man, you and I might have had some run-ins here and there, but this thread is about nothing but the almost-fetishistic love of games in all their forms, and that is one area that I can't get enough of, and is something that (should) bring everyone on these forums together. Hell - we all ended up here because of one thing we all have in common - we all love games! Yeah, it should... It saddens me to see so much hate towards the smaller differences amongst each other instead of embracing what makes us similar. But I guess that's the internet and the state of the world right now... (and you can even argue human condition). Anyways, related to Jak II... of the 3 mascot-platformer trilogies of the PS2 era, Jak & Daxter was the only one I couldn't finish back in the day. I adore Ratchet & Clank, I had great fun with Sly (actually, I skipped 1 initially because I couldn't find the PS2 disc on sale anywhere), and while The Precursor Legacy had me hooked from start to finish, I couldn't play past the first hour of Jak II. I couldn't look past the drastic change of tone and more GTA-esque mission structure. I eventually went back and played through all three collections on PS3 (and even the sequels and most spin-offs), cementing my younger self's opinion that overall Ratchet > Sly > Jak. Obviously, to each their own 7 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: Final Fantasy XIII [snip] Can 'Current Most Awesome' game, Prey, cling to its title, or will it be a one-round champion? Oooh! I'd like to see how Prey fends off FFXIII 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Vice Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said: ?☣️☣️!!SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY UPDATE!!☣️☣️? After a (very reasonable) request from @GonzoWARgasm, I have made some additions to the main list post, adding a 'Batch Number' to each game on the list, and a set of links, allowing anyone to jump directly to the specific scientific update that contains the review for a specific game, if anyone wants to jump to one (for example, after being OUTRAGED by a game's placement on the list, and wants to pick apart my reasoning! ?) Hopefully, this is all clear, helps keep the scientific methodology user-friendly, (and works!) - it seems to, but let me know if it is useful, as this is the method I'll be using going forward unless otherwise advised/ yelled at! YESSSSSS let the outrage commence ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elpoko Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 Thanks for including my suggestion Dead Cells in your next update. It's an excellent game but the Platinum is really frustrating and almost forces you to cheat and that it takes a lot of the fun away but maybe that says more about me than the game. From your last update I've only played Demon Souls. I agree for the most part with your assessment but I think you concentrate too much on the technical aspect of the gameplay leaving out what is the games best asset and thats the atmosphere it creates. I've never played a game before or since that creates such a sense of aloneness and isolation. I look forward to your thoughts on Dead Cells. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted May 14, 2021 Share Posted May 14, 2021 18 hours ago, Soraking1991 said: Yeah, it should... It saddens me to see so much hate towards the smaller differences amongst each other instead of embracing what makes us similar. But I guess that's the internet and the state of the world right now... (and you can even argue human condition). The way I see it, we live in a woke society that is overly politically correct. Everything is on the table nowadays to be erased, altered, changed, etc. I recommend the book The Coddling of the American Mind, which was a book someone recommend me a couple years back and I decided to buy it and read it for myself. Much of what you see today can be found or talked about somewhat in that book. That's not to say the past was any better, we got lucky or whatever. After having been on forums for the past 10 - 15 years and seeing my opinions get shot down no less than a few thousand times, I just had to do some research. And it turns out there is far more going on in the background than we think. You are from Spain, so some of the stuff written in that book probably doesn't apply but from what I read out of it I like to include the western world. If petty differences is enough for people to start spreading hate, then seeing hate on something as trivial as trophies is just sad. 18 hours ago, Soraking1991 said: Anyways, related to Jak II... of the 3 mascot-platformer trilogies of the PS2 era, Jak & Daxter was the only one I couldn't finish back in the day. I adore Ratchet & Clank, I had great fun with Sly (actually, I skipped 1 initially because I couldn't find the PS2 disc on sale anywhere), and while The Precursor Legacy had me hooked from start to finish, I couldn't play past the first hour of Jak II. I couldn't look past the drastic change of tone and more GTA-esque mission structure. I eventually went back and played through all three collections on PS3 (and even the sequels and most spin-offs), cementing my younger self's opinion that overall Ratchet > Sly > Jak. Obviously, to each their own Ratchet is definitely #1 in my book. Sly Cooper's first few games were good, but I didn't like Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time all that much. I enjoyed Jak 3 a lot moreso than Jak II, partly because it had a far more open open world as opposed to a closed off Haven City which was the entirety of Jak II. The Precursor Legacy is a great classic, and one that a lot of people shouldn't miss. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 14, 2021 Author Share Posted May 14, 2021 12 hours ago, elpoko said: Thanks for including my suggestion Dead Cells in your next update. It's an excellent game but the Platinum is really frustrating and almost forces you to cheat and that it takes a lot of the fun away but maybe that says more about me than the game. No problem my friend - happy that you are along for the ride, and keep the suggestions coming if there's anything you'd like to see in future ☺️ I've written and ranked Dead Cells provisionally now (I do these one at a time in a notepad before I actually put a batch up,) and let's just say... I loved going back to it for a bit of a refresher, and it has done well ? 12 hours ago, elpoko said: From your last update I've only played Demon Souls. I agree for the most part with your assessment but I think you concentrate too much on the technical aspect of the gameplay leaving out what is the games best asset and thats the atmosphere it creates. I've never played a game before or since that creates such a sense of aloneness and isolation. Oh, for sure, Demon's Souls has atmosphere seeping from every sweaty pore! ? There's only so much I can get into in each review - these have already grown from a few sentences to a pretty sizeable write-up, especially for games like Demon's Souls, where they are getting a high placement, and need an appropriate amount of explanation, so these reviews are certainly not exhaustive, but I will try to be more cognisant of the overall 'game feel' in future reviews. Tone and atmosphere are very important elements in a game for sure - and the Souls games do it marvellously - but in the Demon's Souls reviews, I guess I kind of feel like I need to be getting into more of the nitty-gritty of the actual mechanical differences between them, as the tone and atmosphere are basically brilliant across the board - it's not really a distinguing factor between Souls games, as every one of them does those aspects almost perfectly! On a side note - if you are looking to delve into games that use their mechanics to effectively create an incredible sense of isolation, I recommend checking out Dear Esther - a short game for sure, but one I found to be so lonely and poetically bleak that it almost brought out a tear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted May 15, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 15, 2021 ?? NEW SCIENTIFIC RESULTS ARE IN! ?? Hello Science-ladies and Science-gents, as promised (and in some cases requested), here are the latest results of our great scientific endeavour! Dead Cells Summary: A pixel-art platforming action rogue-like with a light smattering of metroidvania and a compulsively addictive loot and weapon unlock system, Dead Cells is exactly what great rogue-like should be - simple to pick up, difficult to master, and impossible to put down. Dead Cells is a game that is mechanically simple -the game does little in terms of environmental obstacles beyond platforming, enemies and boss fights - and that's fine, because it doesn't have to. Don't be misled - the variety on show in its procedurally generated levels, both in terms of artistic design across different biomes and enemy sets, or specifically in terms of the varying layouts within said biomes as each new game generates from a new seed are impressive, and more than able to keep a player interested over the course of the hundreds of runs they will likely make in attempting to conquer the game - but the actual understanding of how to traverse levels, and what to do is apparent from the outset, and never really changes. That simple core is the absolute key to Dead Cells' appeal. You know what you need to do immediately. Doing it though? That requires a lot of a player, and the lack of mechanical complexity is the perfect base upon which Dead Cells layers its most impressive features - a breadth of variety in terms of weapons, spells, skills, builds etc that is fucking mesmerising. Rivalling Souls-Like games in terms of build variety, Dead Cells' fifty-odd weapons (each of which has its own attack animations) and its variety of skills and abilities to unlock - every one of which can be taken advantage of in different ways depending on play-style - creates a game in which experimentation is rewarding and tremendous fun, and mastery of the game is an endlessly enjoyable (and formidable) task. With so many weapons, and such a variety of enemies, that every one feels appropriately balanced is incredible - but they do. Every single one. The controls and movement of the game are something to behold. With an aesthetic straight out of the SNES era (one that is both as familiar to 16-bit veterans like myself as a warm embrace, and a testament to how evocative and effective pixel-art can be,) seeing a still screenshot might suggest a fairly slow and deliberate movement, but Dead Cells is anything but slow. The game moves with a fluidity, speed and intensity that is uncanny - and outdoes even famously well-controlling games like Guacamelee and Rayman Origins. The game encourages speed - a timer that begin ticking the second a level is started and awards the player better goodies if they can traverse the level before it runs out is a constant monkey on your back!), but this isn't just saying "Hurry up." It's saying "Hurry up, but be fucking careful." Dead Cells is difficult. The game never feels unfair - certainly, across the several hundred runs, I don't recall ever once feeling like a death was the result of anything but my own failure - and as brutal as it is, it does allow for the occasional mis-step, but never more than a couple in a row. The swings from a good run to a quick death can happen - as with everything else in the game - blindingly fast - a gameplay choice only sustainable due to the appallingly addictive, endlessly compulsive, brilliantly balanced and perfectly executed nature of the game. The tremendous strength of the games design allows essentially the same game to keep getting more and more difficult (a 'stem cell' mechanic, whereby each victory unlocks the ability to play on a harder setting, means the skill ceiling just keeps raising every time you manage to brush your fingertips against it), and like all the best rogue-likes, the procedural generation makes learning the maps and enemy layouts impossible. You can't just learn the map, so victory is only available to those who can master the rules and mechanics. The long journey towards that mastery, while difficult, is deep, nuanced, variable, satisfying, and - most of all - as fun as all Hell! Dead Cells is a harsh mistress, but not a cruel one, and she is so gorgeous and fun to be with, that every time she slaps you, you know you deserved it and it only makes you love her that much more. The Ranking: The only rogue-like on the list so far is Void Bastards, and while I remain a big fan of that game, Dead Cells is on another level in terms of length, versatility, variety and controls, and zips past it handily. For higher comparison points, we need to look to sister genre 'souls-like' for guidance. Dead Cells' incredible movement and controls, coupled with its brilliant art-style, compulsively addictive nature and lack of any real faults is enough that I am comfortable placing it above Demon's Souls, and while Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has a lot of things in common with Dead Cells in terms of the extreme speed and precision of its combat, and outshines Dead Cells on visuals, its lack of variety in builds and limited scope for experimentation or development of a players 'signature style' means Dead Cells is able to vault that game too. Dark Souls, on the other hand, had all the positive things Demon's Souls and Sekiro have in combination, including the variety, and is also markedly bigger and artistically more impressive, so Dead Cells will not place above that game. Slightly lower, Transistor has a different flavour of build-style - one offering perhaps a little less variety, and less variation in specific animations of weapons etc, and it a little less repeatable (though not being a rogue-like means it doesn't need to be.) It does, however, have the incredible cohesion of aesthetics, music, voice work, world-building and lore - all areas in which it outdoes Dead Cells, and so retains it's place above Dead Cells. This was, however, an incredibly difficult call to make, and it is therefore only right that Dead Cells take its rightfully high spot just below that game, and among the towering titans near the very top of the current list! Final Fantasy XIII Summary: The first Final Fantasy game to appear on Gen-7 consoles, FFXIII continues in the mould set by FFX on PS2, with a more linear structure (particularly in the first half of the game,) and a focus on visual splendour and world-building over the more traditionally 'Final-Fantasy-esque' gameplay tropes of free exploration and open-map wandering. Note - I am a Final Fantasy fan, and grew up on these games. My FF credentials are pretty long-standing, and while I have not completed every game in the series, or played either of the online entries FFXI or FFXIV, I have played a good chunk of almost every other main series entry, from the original right through to FFXV. Like FFX before it, FFXIII was somewhat controversial in its linearity and, even more so than that game, caught some flack for lacking meaningful variation in the early portions of the game, limiting exploration, even within its smaller areas, drastically, and heavily hand-holding early on, giving an overly-tutorialised feeling to the first 10 hours or so. For the most part, I tend to agree with the content of such criticisms, if not the voracity of them. The early portions of the game are certainly lacking in much of what made me a Final Fantasy fan in the first place, however, I think to focus only on what the game lacks is a rather negative and unbecoming thing to do - especially when - as in FFXIII - it is more than clear that those sacrifices were to accommodate improvements in other areas that certainly do outshine its series predecessors - an absolutely astounding level of visual integrity, art-design and graphical prowess. The game is gorgeous. It moves and feels great - on a level that was hinted at in FFX, but never fully realised until this game. Graphics and animations are on a whole new level for the series, and are perfectly serviceable even now, 13 years and two console generations later. Sound design is good, the UI slick and works well, and while musically the game is weaker than some other FF games (and has one of the oddest choices the series ever made in the overabundance of J-Metal in boss fights and while riding Chocobos,) for the most part, is fine. Not as memorable as the true series highlights, but still high quality. Story-wise - a major factor in any FF game - the game probably falls somewhere in the middle of the FF pack. The world building is extremely detailed and hints at a vastness that could (and did) support multiple games, though I'd be lying if I said every part of that world is clearly defined or that the lore is the best FF has ever offered. The abundance of unusual terms - "Fal'Cei", "Cei'th," "L'Cei" etc. - lends the lore a complexity that is laudable, but not always easy to follow. The game's attempts to ensure you are keeping up are also, often, a bit all-over-the-place. Sometimes, a huge amount of exposition is used to hammer home small, less significant details, but enormous, sweeping concepts are rushed through, leaving the player to either work them out for themselves, or hit up Google for some explanation. Characters in the game are relatively strong in terms of carrying the specific story being told, though not nearly as iconic or memorable as those in some other entries. Show me a silhouette of Cloud Strife, or Barret, even Auron or Yuna or Squall Leonheart, and I will know them in an instant. The same may be true of Lightning - the principal protagonist of FFXIII and the first female lead in the series since Terra, in 16-bit (and personal series highlight) FFVI - but not of Vanille, Fang, Hope, Snow or Sazh - each of whom does feel a little like an amalgam of previous, more memorable characters from other FF entries. Take Luna from FFX and add a dash of Paine from FFX-2? - Here's Fang. Cross Rikku from FFX with Yuffie from FFVII? - You have Vanille. Barret from FFVII and Setzer from FFVI? - Sazh. Mix Vaan from FFXII with Zidane from FFIX? - Hope. There is nothing wrong with cribbing aspects of previous characters from a long-running series like FF, but they are a little less memorable as a result - I actually had to look up a couple of characters' names for this review - something I would never have needed to do for some previous entries. While these aspects - story, world, characters - are somewhat middling in terms of comparison to prior FF games is concerned, there is one area in which FFXIII shines among the brightest of entries though - combat. The battle system in FFXIII is wonderfully put together. Atypically fast, deceptively complex and striking a great balance between action and strategy. The Paradigm system, in which each character can switch to one of six 'roles' on the fly, each with different strengths and weaknesses, offset by their own character strengths and the specific enemy encountered, gives the fast-paced combat a highly variable and dynamic edge. The ability to pre-set combat 'rules' based on pre-set conditions, a-la Dragon Age, adds a strategic Macro to the dynamic Micro in a way that remains a blast to play throughout the entirety of a very long game. It's also worth noting for this ranking - the platinum journey requires a massive post-game grind for materials, and that grind necessitates such specific enemies to be farmed, with such low frequency item drops, that getting the plat is guaranteed to test the players patience immensely. The combat is great, but not so great that fighting the same enemy type over and over for dozens of hours can possibly be anything but a slog, and that hurts the game from a completionist point of view. Overall, I don't consider FFXIII the series nadir that some fans believe it to be (for me, that would fall on FFII), and as a FF series fan, I can still appreciate the focus on cinematics, visuals and story linearity over the more open nature of some other entries for what it is, though it does lessen my personal love a little. FFXIII is a game I enjoyed, but would be far down the list of games in the series that I would feel the desire to go back and replay in full. The Ranking: The good aspects of FFXIII, which are many, carry it well above the median line on the current list, past gorgeous games with less meat on their bones, like Detroit:Become Human, and past flawed action RPG Alpha Protocol, but even with a metric ton of world-building, the less memorable and engaging storyline of the game gives it trouble with deeply effective and affecting story-heavy games like The Walking Dead. That game is far less ambitious in terms of gameplay, of course, but what it does do is far more effective, and given that FFXIII is far from the best game in its genre or series, stack-up against best-in-class The Walking Dead, it cannot pass on pure awesome points. Heavy Rain Summary: Fahrenheit (aka. Indigo Prophecy) may have been the first Quantic Dream game to show the genesis of where David Cage's company would be headed with its output for the foreseeable future, but Heavy Rain is the game that really planted the flag. Likely the first time most game players came to know Cage as a household name, it was the first of their games to really cement the signature style that they have become known for... for better or for worse. The game follows 4 characters through a convoluted plot around a serial killer's abduction of a child. Ethan, the child's father; Madison, a motorbike riding - and ill-advisedly boob-showing - reporter; Jayden, a seemingly clean-cut police detective with a bizarre, poorly handled drug addiction and insane (and inane) high-tech set of magical, detective-vision spectacles; and Scott Shelby, a low-tech, noir-style private investigator, who is the clear highlight of the game, both in terms of actors performance and writing. Almost all of the aspects - good and bad - that have come to define Quantic Dream games are present here: Extremely high-quality and technically-advanced visuals, great facial mapping and motion-capture, unusual and interesting UI and controls, an extreme focus on narrative and cinematics over traditional gameplay, and a branching, variable story so self-serious, convoluted and lacking in irony or humour as to push all the considerable technical merits to the very limit of their ability to contain the game's credibility. Modern Quantic Dreams games all have essentially the same strengths and the same set of flaws, and the degree to which each is present can vary wildly from scene to scene within them. In Heavy Rain, like the others, actual interaction with the game is relatively minimal, and boils down, in-lower stakes moments, to simple walking around and interacting with prompts, and in high-stakes moments, to QTE sections. These are simple, but generally well done, with a few notable exceptions where the length of the section is a bit too much given the accuracy of the input required and the sometimes janky duel-shock motion controls (a not-great aspect all but dropped in future Quantic Dream games) - for example the lengthly 'drive-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road' section of the Ethan storyline. The technical aspects of the game are beyond reproach. Visually, Heavy Rain was extremely advanced for the time, and at 12 years old, it still looks extremely good. Some 'uncanny-valley' issues with faces and animations is present, but expected and forgivable given the era.) The artistic side of the game is excellent across the board - camera shots are cinematic, cuts and pans and lighting have a televisual quality that really aids the game's credibility as the 'interactive movie' it sells itself as, and the 'scene-by-scene' narrative is plotted and paced in a way that takes its cues from cinema rather than gaming, and generally works. Quantic Dream are not afraid to have a long, seemingly pointless scene of a character setting a table, or working from home, which might feel dull, but allow the player time to appreciate the artistic craft of the games, and serve the same purpose they would in a film - establishing character and setting - in a way that is unusual enough in gaming that it remains a novelty. All of this good stuff goes a long way to offsetting (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) the most glaring and egregious fault that lies at the core of Heavy Rain: David Cage's writing. Cage, who takes principal writing credit on all his games, is a reasonably good writer in terms of plot - and here, the detective noir vibe, already a heavily stylised genre, helps offset some pretty convenient plot twists - but the same cannot be said of his ability with dialogue. Interaction between characters, and in particular expositional dialogue, is often so clunkily unrealistic and inept, that it raises a chuckle - and the self-seriousness and lack of irony that is Cage's wheelhouse really doesn't help. The games are virtually devoid of intentional humour, so the unintentional humour, which is often in abundance, is heightened drastically. The fact that Cage seems to believe his games are of a writing quality that simply isn't there, and treats his stories with a reverence they don't deserve, means what could be a five-star, fun, knowing, B-Movie romp, slips to a 3-star, sometimes-good-but-most-just-okay attempt at A-material - and one that swings wildly from good to bad scene-by-scene. There are more moments that work than ones that don't, but because of the abject earnestness on show, and Cage's total unwillingness to even hint at any self-aware irony, the moments that don't work REALLY don't work. A scene involving a flashback of two boys on a trailer park, for example, is so messily handled and poorly written (and acted in this case,) that it saps all meaning from what is ostensibly a poignant scene. A sex scene between Ethan and Madison that happens at one point is so cringe-inducingly handled that it becomes difficult to look at the screen long enough to see the button prompts. These moments are what drag the game down a a bit - they exist in all Cage games to some degree, but here, unlike in Detroit: Become Human, they are more persistent, more egregious, and more common. Heavy Rain remains a signature game - one that is laudable in more ways than it isn't, and if you are willing to overlook the flaws, you can have a hell of a good time - just know that you might have to put your brain on the floor for a bit, and go along for the ride. This is David Cage's car, you are the passenger, so try not to criticise his erratic driving, and just let him do his thing. You'll get to the destination, and it will be mostly worth the bumpy ride. The Ranking: Obvious comparison is Detroit: Become Human, and Heavy Rain, while coming first and therefore more original, is not as good, plain and simple. It has all the same flaws, but in a much greater quantity, and the visuals, while still impressive, are notably less able to gloss over the cracks. Next, lower, comparison is similarly earnest and self-serious Mafia II, and it's a closer fight, but Mafia II has more in the way of gameplay, and a massive city to render with its great visuals, rather than just discrete scenes. It takes Heavy Rain in the fight, but it's close, so Heavy Rain takes the spot just below it. Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery Summary: I played only the first episode of this series. It was intended to be a 5 episode game in total, but unfortunately, only 2 episodes made it out before the games were cancelled, which is a bit of a shame, as the game showed promise, and episode 1 really feels a lot like set-up for better fare down the line. A 3D, kid-friendly adventure game / puzzler, Jacob Jones is a pretty charming and somewhat free-roaming game, with nice visuals, good voice work, a simple but effective story premise and a selection of Professor Layton-style puzzles. The puzzles are all pretty distinct and interesting, though - this being aimed at the 10-12 age range, they are all pretty easy. The story is good for what it is, though really, this episode is mostly set-up for a future game that never happened, and so it does feel like it ends awfully abruptly and without future instalments to finish off the story, it makes story a tough sell. A decent hint system to ensure kids don't get stuck for long is a good idea, and well implemented, and the ability to be somewhat free-wheeling in terms of which puzzles to do in which order - or to skip some entirely and still progress - is smart in a game for the young-uns. Controlling and running well on Vita, the game is unlikely to challenge any puzzle-veteran in any real way, but its charm and above average voice work and cute animations are easily enough to sustain its short length. The Ranking: A good start that never got its chance to truly shine, and subsequent lack of story conclusion mean this has trouble making it too far up the list. Beats out other short and more throwaway puzzlers like Gem Smashers and Chronovolt on sheer personality, but its short length and lack of challenge mean I can't in good conscience, place it higher than longer, more flawed but ultimately more involved and ambitious Dokuro. Mass Effect 2 Summary: The middle chapter of Bioware's epic, sci-fi magnum opus had arguably the easiest path to greatness of the three games in its trilogy - benefitting form all the groundwork and world-building done in the first game, but not being boxed-in or beholden to any requirement to bring the story to a conclusion like the third - but that isn't to say it couldn't have gone awry in about a thousand different ways, and every decision made in the creation of Mass Effect 2 was a home run. The space opera is a tough genre to nail - particularly in videogames, where the level of art design, the scope, the tremendous amount of lore and huge technical requirements of crafting a multi-planetary and multi-species epic are formidable, and out of the reach, or the ambition, of most studios. With Mass Effect 2, Bioware took a pre-existing universe crafted for the blockbuster original game, and expanded it in every direction, fleshing out aspects only hinted at before, and crafting a continuation of Commander Shepherd's story that is interesting, exciting, nuanced and incredibly engaging. That, combined with the technical improvements, streamlining of the action mechanics (most of which were well received, and even those that were divisive, such as the inclusion of 'thermal packs' that are weapon reloads in all but name, in my opinion are still improvements) and the doubling down of the core concepts that made the first game great - complex and interesting ideas, well-written dialogue, difficult choices, a televisual 'episodic' format to the mission and story structure - serve to craft a game that is a genuine modern classic. After an early disaster and almost (actual?) death, Shepherd is recovered and nursed back to life by one time adversaries, Cerberus - a group of Humans-first private mercenaries, led by Space-President Bartlett The illusive man, and enlisted to lead the fight against a new universal and existential crisis in the form of the Collectors - an alien force abducting humans from colonies all over the galaxy. Over the course of the game, Shepherd recruits a new crew (and some old friends) to aid in the fight, while navigating the internal Cerberus and external, wider space-politics of former friends, enemies and warring races to rally a coalition to victory. The mission structure of ME2 is roundly similar to the previous game, with a significantly more action focussed (and competent) flavour, and the individual stories and set pieces are uniformly excellent. Of particular note are each recruit's character specific missions, each of which is extremely well written, and give considerable dimension to every individual character. Doing these missions is not only beneficial in a gameplay sense - they also serve to provide some of the less mission critical, but often more interesting and world-building stories of the wider universe. It is difficult to get to the finale of Mass Effect 2's epic main storyline anf not feel an incredible sense of attachment to each of the rag-tag crew, to the extent that having them survive (or not) the final mission is not simply a case of wanting a trophy or a 'good' ending, but rather a nail-biting exercise in desperation, ans you want to see the characters you have come to love make it through. Art design is gorgeous throughout, both graphically, and in terms of design - the Mass Effect universe has the distinction that very few games manage - it is a universe that I believe could very easily support numerous non-game media, like movies or long-running television shows, and is able to hold up against for example, the Star Trek or Star Wars universes handily. Sound design is excellent, voice work and motion capture are at a high (with a particularly excellent protagonist voice track provided by Jennifer Hale - yes, I play 'Fem-Shep' exclusively, and find it impossible to picture male Shepherd in these games at all - Hale is my Shepherd as much as Nolan North is my Nathan Drake!). The voice work by Martin Sheen for the Illusive Man is also top-notch, and an inspired choice. It is also worth bringing up the incredible game music provided by Jack Wall, conducting a full scoring orchestra, which can sit proudly among the best soundtracks film has to offer. It was totally unsurprising to me to hear the finale music playing on Classic FM radio at one point! The game is long - clocking in around the 50-60 hour mark for a completionist playthrough, and is complimented by a host of good dlc, all of which is meaningful and seamlessly integrated, but particularly of note is the 'Lair of the Shadow Broker' dlc, which is not only a ton of fun, but also fills in an absolute wealth of background info on the characters, and an absolute must when playing - but the time absolutely flies by. Yes, it has the occasional issue - the 'mining' mechanic that has to be engaged with to some extent, is pretty boring. The rate at which the side characters are made available ensures some don't get quite as much time to breathe as they should (Thane gets particularly short shrift here,) but it is hard to hold that against the game, given that the reason you want more time with the characters is that they are so damned interesting, well rounded and fun! The final boss battle is also - both story wise and gameplay wise - one of the weakest points off the entire trilogy... but that isn't why we're here. We're here to spend time with great characters, forge complex and interesting political and social alliances, explore a breathtakingly well crafted and interesting universe, and feel wicked-bad-ass while we do it. In Mass Effect 2, that's exactly what we get. The Ranking: We're jumping right up to the very top echelons of the list with this one. The sheer breadth and excellence of the story, coupled with the length and somewhat variable approach and choice in both story and combat is enough to jump past Bioshock. Even The Last of Us, with its great, cinematic story and stonkingly good multiplayer, cannot really compete with Mass Effect 2 on longevity. Newly ranked belter Dead Cells and one-time top-spot Transistor have a huge lead over ME2 in terms of repeatability and variable gameplay, but Mass Effect 2 is not slouching on that front entirely, and its tremendous world-building and story can take it above Dead Cells, and its incredible music and great voice work means it (unlike many games) can compete with Transistor on that front, and ultimately overwhelm it with it's size and ambition. I believe that some FROM software games still to be ranked do outdo Mass Effect 2... certainly ME2's boss fights are nothing in comparison to any Souls boss, and the combat is a very different (and less complex) experience... but the overall atmosphere and polish of ME2 does compete, and the cinematic qualities, music, story and world-building mean it has enough to just squeak out a win against Dark Souls. On those qualities though, while there are some that can outdo Prey (music for example), they simply cannot combine to best it. Prey, also being set in space, has a similarly brilliant aesthetic, is also a long (if less complex) story, but what it lacks in comparative scope, it more than makes up for with variability and variety of approach. In Mass Effect 2, you can be Paragon or Renegade. In Prey, you can be everything from a human to an alien to a coffee cup, and everything in between.Prey holds onto its crown for now. Rayman Origins Summary: Ive never been a fan of 3D platformers - a very good one can still draw me in, but I have always preferred my platforming in 2D - and so beyond the original 1995 game, I have largely ignored Rayman as a franchise, considering it a less-good entry in a genre I already had little time for. Origins, however, slapped that notion down quick. The return to the 2D plain got my attention, but that wasn't what kept me - it was the incredible hand-drawn art, the tight, fluid controls, the sense of humour and whimsical nature, the awesome music and the Mario-rivalling level design that planted Rayman's flag so deep in my wheelhouse, that would take a hell of a lot to make me ever sniff at any future instalment. Origins is a fast moving, frenetic, colourful and super fun romp through a hand-animated world that is incredibly fun in single player, and only made better in couch co-op (with up to 4 players.) Visually, it cannot really be overstated how good the game looks - every world is distinct and vibrant, the levels are all animated and full of life, and Rayman himself, and all his buddies, move with a fluid and clean animations that stand out just enough to never get lost on the screen, but look exactly right against the backgrounds. The game is long, taking around 15-20 hours to finish, but the levels are varied and interesting. Tricky at times and requiring some pretty precise platforming, but rarely enough to get truly stuck. The game also actively encourages replaying levels, with additional prizes included for beating various timed challenges, as well as each one being filled with secrets an collectibles to find, meaning there is always something to aim for beyond simple progression. The co-op mechanics are very well implemented too - allowing for people of different skill levels to play together, as the 'bubble' mechanic, in which a player who is knocked out floats along in a bubble until popped by another player - means that progress is tied to the efforts of the most skilled player, not tethered to that of the least. Everything about Rayman Origins seems to be just the right. It's not too tough, but not too easy. It's not too long, but not too short. It's not too smart, but not too dumb. It's not too childish, but not too grown up. Some of the games that I get primarily to play alongside the good lady Ms. Bloodmoney are a ton of fun in co-op, but less so in single player (as with something like Castle Crashers), and some I end up having to play on my own, because the co-op experience is lacking (a-la Cuphead). There are only a few I can truly say I would happily play solo or as a duo, or with a bunch of people, and have a great time whatever way, and Rayman Origins is one of them. The Ranking: An easier one to rank than I was expecting, as the two games that came to mind when ranking are right next to each other - Dead Nation and Cuphead! All three of these games are primarily - in my mind - co-op purchases, as each was bought to play in tandem with Ms. Bloodmoney.Cuphead, while featuring a hell of a good single player, and also based on a cartoon aesthetic (and arguably a better, more unique one) is still unable to beat Rayman Origins due to its limited nature and borking its multiplayer by increasing the difficulty too far in co-op to be appealing to less skilled partners. Dead Nation on the other hand, has both the brilliant co-op, and a shockingly fun single player, and has the length, so still outdoes Rayman Origins on those fronts, so Rayman finds a snug spot, nestled in-between. Shatter Summary: Like Pac Man Championship Edition DX, discussed previously, and some of Housemarque's fare still awaiting its time in the ranking ring, Shatter is one of those games where a core concept from an old arcade game is being brought up to date - in this case Arkanoid. Like those games did with their respective inspirations though, this is not a simple rebranding, or an exercise in lifting the mechanics whole-hog, and just releasing them with a soundtrack, some UI updates and maybe a bit of a visual clean-up. In creating Shatter, developer Sidhe has taken every part of the original game, broken it down to its core elements, looked at where it can be improved, modified, corrected or finessed, and them put it all back together, retaining only the very best, core elements of the original game, but creating a new beast that - while recognisably of the same genus, is so much more advanced that looking at the two side by side would be like looking at me next to the T-1000. Arkanoid is clearly still in there - you are after all, still breaking blocks with a bouncing pong-style ball and paddle, but everything else that could possibly be added without messing with that core is here. Varied and dynamic levels? - Check. Powers and power-ups? - Check. Bosses fights? - Check. Slick visuals and particle effects? - Check. A 'Suck' mechanic, allowing for trick shots and after-touch? - Check. The ability to say "fuck it" and fire all your balls at once, for a super-chaotic, and potentially record breaking score? - Check. A soundtrack so goddamned banging that I bought it on iTunes, and have had it on my home playlists for over a decade? - Check. Everything that had been added is in service of one goal - making an already very fun game mechanic even better, and work in a modern videogame landscape. And it works. The game does have a few slight let-downs - it only has 10 levels, which is a decent length, but they do not vary in layout, so repeatability is a little lessened - and there is little in the way of other modes - a challenge 'squash' mode in which you try and keep 3 increasingly fast balls in play on an empty field, and a timed boss rush mode (which is the source of the games most difficult trophy!) A few extra additions could have helped the longevity here - particularly some kind of competitive 2-player mode, a-la pong. I can't help but feel, looking at the power set and mechanics, such a mode could have become a real hit - a kind of modern Pong / Windjammers style repeatable bout, and with just a few field layouts, could have been a banger. Still though - there is plenty here to justify a purchase and then some, and I highly recommend this one to any fans of arcade style games! The Ranking: Comparison game Pac Man Championship Edition DX certainly does similar things with an old classic, and Shatter does have some aspects in which it outshines that game - or one at least - the fucking awesome soundtrack. On merit though, the job DX does in modernising Pac Mac results in a slightly more impressive final product, and the overall package has a lot more in the way of tertiary additions. Working downwards, there are quite few games that just offer more in great quantity and quality than Shatter is able to compete with, but size isn't everything, and the most important quality is Awesome! Finally, in Hitman: Blood Money, Shatter meets a game where the unkind years (and superior subsequent games) have diminished its once crowning awesomeness enough for Shatter to get a foothold, and it takes a spot just above it. The Spectrum Retreat Summary: A 1st Person, story-driven 3D-Puzzler, The Spectrum Retreat is essentially split into two parts: a mysterious hotel that cannot be left, and is empty (save for your character and a staff of faceless, menacingly pleasant automatons) where the bulk of the story and the mystery take place including some light environmental puzzle-solving, and a more abstract set of puzzle rooms where the 'real' puzzling takes place (Think Portal / Turing Test / Q.U.B.E type-environments). Our character essentially has to work his way up to the roof of the hotel one floor at a time, and for each floor he goes up, must find a door code to access a set of puzzle rooms, then solve that set of puzzles, all the while unravelling 3 compound mysteries: What is the Hotel? Who is he? Why is he in the Hotel? The answers to all three are well worked out, and the rate at which information is discovered is well handled and keeps the mystery intriguing. The voice work and the script are both good, the environments simple, but effective. The controls are simple, tight, and never let me down on the puzzles. The player always knows exactly what is possible, mechanically, and what isn't, so solving the puzzles is about, y'know, solving the puzzles, and not struggling to figure out if one is supposed to be able to do this or that. The puzzles are very good. Tricky, veering towards fiendish towards the last few, but never so difficult that they seem impossible. All hinge on a simple 4 -colour 'swapping' mechanic, with each floor adding new little sub-mechanics (barriers / teleporting / 3d 'twisting' of the environments etc. Each single puzzle seems well crafted. The designers clearly didn't feel compelled to add any unnecessary padding, as the number of puzzle rooms on each floor is not uniform - while floor 2 has 10, floor 4 only had 5 or 6. Each mechanic is explored to it's extent, but never over-used or extended into superfluous, additional puzzles using the same mechanic for too long. There is a bit of a completionist annoyance, in that there are two endings, both of which must be seen for the 100%, and the game has to be replayed in it's entirely to get both (no save-scumming possible!), and since those two endings essentially amount to a binary choice at the very end, it means the 2nd play through is largely identical to the first. All in all though, a very good, if non-repeatable set of puzzles, in a well-crafted, suitably mysterious package. The Ranking: Has more character (and less filler) than similarly 3D Puzzler Q.U.B.E. Directors Cut, and the pacing, and the mystery hook and story elements are enough to outdo surprising treat Type:Rider, but the one-and-done nature of it gives it a tough time against highly repeatable and awesome fare such as the original Pac Man games or Castle Crashers, and it finds a spot just below them. The Wolf Among Us Summary: Telltale's follow-up to The Walking Dead stuck with the mould they had created on that game, focussing on branching narrative and interesting dialogue over the more traditional Adventure game puzzles that had been their prior milieu. Drawing on another comic book property in Fables, this time Telltale were going for the players curiosity and imagination more than their heartstrings, and the more whimsical nature of the source material is both a blessing and a curse. Whimsy and imagination are more of a cerebral stimulation, and can be more satisfying for multiple playthroughs, but the raw emotional content of The Walking Dead has more of an instant impact, and leaves a more lasting memory in its wake. It's maybe worth noting - I am a comic book guy, always have been, and while I personally have never much cared for The Walking Dead comic (and actively disliked the TV show it birthed,) I consider Fables among, if not actually, my favourite series of books. As such, there are inherent biases to my approach to these games, in the sense that I went into The Walking Dead with pretty low expectations (and familiarity,) but The Wolf Among Us with them both considerably higher. Also, my familiarity with the comic made me perhaps more critical of the decision to set the game before any of the events of the books - while Bigby Wolf was still the Fabletown Sheriff, and only featuring a handful of bigger characters from the books. I am aware that The Walking Dead also made such deviations, but given that I didn't have any love for the book, that mattered less to me! The story is fun, dabbling in the expansive lore of Fables, but without going so deep that someone who doesn't know the books would get lost, and there is a whimsical, yet oddly gritty tone that is right out of the books. Most of the game is structured well - there is a bit of a hold-over from the previous games in the sense that completionists needed to do multiple playthroughs, and chose specific directions for the story if they wanted to milk all the trophies, which is a problem The Walking Dead avoided - letting trophy hunters still play any way they wanted without losing out on the platinum. The story is well plotted, and Bigby retains enough of his comic-book origins to be recognisable and fun to play as, though the lack of a 'Clementine' - a character for us to feel protective of, does make the game feel more frivolous, and the lack of a constant threat like The Walking Dead had, does make the game feel longer than that game did. The Ranking: Not quite on the level of the first Walking Dead - that game took a bad comic and made a great game, this one takes a great comic book and makes a decent one - but not markedly worse, and certainly still good and fun to play. Finds it's spot a few rungs lower, outdoing Split/Second, but not quite pipping Headlander. Zombie Driver HD Summary: As it turns out, one learned a lesson in the construction of this list: If a zombie game has "Dead" in the title (a-la The Walking Dead, Dead Space, Dead Nation,) it's probably good. If it has "Zombie" in the title (a-la Zombie Apocalypse, Zombie Driver HD,) it is probably not! Zombie Driver HD is a top-down isometric game, similar in look and tone to Zombie Apocalypse, but this time crossed with the early, top-down GTA-style games. You drive a car (or sometimes a bus / limo etc.) equipped with a bunch of weaponry around an open world(ish), zombie infested city, hitting checkpoints and killing zombies for points, blood and gore. That's pretty much it. Its a fairly simple affair - and not inherently a bad one - after all, part of the problem with Zombie Apocalypse was the lack of environments, so an open-plan city is - at least on paper - alleviating some of the issues, but unfortunately, fo every problem it solves, Zombie Driver HD adds two more. For starters, the city is not much to write home about. It is big enough, but fairly bland, and lacking in any real sense of variety. The mini-map sat-nav is going to be your best friend, because there isn't much in the way of landmarks or diverse differences across the city to allow you to easily know where you are without it. Also, what is slightly gained by the open world, is doubly lost in the lack of the only thing that was really Zombie Apocalypse's saving grace - multiplayer. This is single-player only. There is no sharing the burden - this one is all on you. There is a story here - but a very poorly implemented one. It's aiming for camp and over-the-top, but isn't quite extreme or silly enough for that, so ends up just being a dull delivery mechanism for amateurish voice acting. The controls are stiff and a little cumbersome, which is not really forgivable in an action-heavy arcade style game like this, and it is made all the more obvious by the games biggest, most egregious fault: While Zombie Driver HD looks like a twin stick shooter, it isn't one. The weapons that are attached to your vehicle don't swivel - you can only shoot in one direction relative to your car. That means, rather than tearing up through a horde of blood and gore, screeching to a halt, blasting all around you and then tearing off, or drive-by blasting a travelling horde, (you know, stuff that might be... what's that word again? Oh yeah... fun...,) more often than not you are sitting in the centre of a mass horde, limply trying to 16-point turn your way into facing them so you can finally fire the damned weapon in their direction... taking damage and losing points (and the will to keep playing) all the while. It actually took me a while to recall what exactly it was that gave me the will to purchase, and to finish this game. It was only when I realised that, prior to Zero Zero Zero Zero coming along in 2020, this was the only game with a platinum I had that began with 'Z' that I remembered - I played this to complete my 'A-Z Platinum List' for the game over on that thread! That's what you get when you try to pick games by alphabetical constraint rather than trusting your instincts I guess! Not a very good time overall. When it works, it works okay, but it rarely does. A decent idea, and one ripe for some fun carnage, but here, the many questionable decisions and notable cut-corners and design faults make it a bit of a chore to play. The Ranking: Starting point is Zombie Apocalypse, but despite this games slightly greater ambition, the final product is notably worse. Keeps slipping down past other flawed games - I'd rather have an hour's blast on Kung-Fu Rabbit or Arcade Archives: Renegade before picking it up again, but I'd certainly rather do a full playthrough of Zombie Driver HD than even a single level of Jak II, so there it finds it's parking spot, and begins a laborious 32 point turn to get into position. ⚛️⚛️BONUS GAMES!:⚛️⚛️ 1 additional game S-Ranked this updates! Concrete Genie Summary: Concrete Genie is essentially a collectible-heavy 3D platformer, but it's hook - in which the main character can paint most of the surfaces on his surroundings with magical, living pictures and interact with his painted 'Genies' - is where the all the games personality lies. The player controls Ash - a quiet, introspective young boy living in a dilapidated, run-down fishing village. Ash is artistic and quiet, and the subject of much ridicule and bullying by a mean-spirited group of local children who, at the outset, are responsible for ripping his sketchbook containing his drawings, and scattering the pages to the winds. A mysterious Genie called Luna seems to take pity on the bullied boy, and befriends him, bestowing a magical paintbrush, and setting in motion the game. The game short, and is essential split into two halves. In the first few hours, the player spends most of the time collecting pages, painting, solving light 'match-the-required-picture' type puzzles in a few separate areas, and learning the mechanics. This is fun, and while not particularly challenging, does allow the considerable artistic prowess of the game to shine. The town is well designed and lovely to look at. The whole game has a slightly 'puppet-theatre' look to it, with buildings all slightly crooked and fairytale-esque, and the human characters heavily stylised, and resembling animated wooden marionettes. It's a unique look for sure, and really works. The painting mechanics are fun to use - these can be done using motion control or the analogue sticks - and while the limited and discrete number of paintable items limits creativity far more than, say, a Little Big Planet, it does make creating artistic, beautiful scenes easy, and possible even for younger children who might play. The second half of the game is a little weaker than the first, and eschews the more free-painting mechanics for a less well realised set of fighting mechanics, as the bullies - in breaking Ash's paintbrush, release the darkness that their negativity has allowed to envelop the town affects the genies too, causing them to become hostile and run rampant (and entrap the bullies themselves.) It is up to Ash (with the help of the bullies he frees, and reconciles with,) to tame the genies once more, and save the town. The fighting mechanics do let the game down a little. They are incredibly simplistic (which makes sense for kids playing) but oddly difficult to control (hurting that argument.) Fighting the genies also takes a strangely long time - with fights lasting up to two or three un-checkpointed minutes at a time, and the final one lasting at least five, and lack much in the way of feedback as to whether you are succeeding or not, beyond an enemy health-bar that is pretty small and difficult to see, as it follows the genie rather than overlaying on the UI. That means that for younger kids, I can see frustration causing the controller to be put down - meaning they might miss the finale - and in this portion of the game, it is not possible to engage with the painting mechanic that likely drew them this far into the game. Missing the ending would also stop them seeing the lesson the game is supposed to be teaching too... ...though I do wonder if that is necessarily a bad thing, as it's one I take a bit of issue with :That bullies aren't really angry at you, but at other things that are going on in their lives. That message, of course, is a sweet one, and sometimes true, though I do wonder how useful it actually is for the bullied child to hear. Certainly, I'd imagine that kind of message could be helpful in teaching kids not to bully someone themselves, but hearing that the 'real victim' of playground bullying is actually the bully themselves, and that you should feel sorry for them and try to help them is not a particularly helpful thing to tell a victim of bullying, and likely the last thing they want to hear as the target of their behaviour. When you are being victimised daily, hearing that it isn't your fault might feel nice, but positing that the bullies themselves are the ones who need help and doing something about that is really an issue for the adults to deal with - not the bullied child. It is only likely to unfairly marginalise and diminish their own feelings of torment. It is also, frankly, a bit of a naive point of view. Yes, some kids bully due to their own trauma, but that's not to say that is fixable - especially by any action on their victims' part - and it ignores the nasty truth of the schoolyard: Some kids aren't bullying due to their own sadness, some are just sociopathic, psychopathic or sadist. After all, there are plenty of adults who are so, and they were all children at some point. Anyway. Generally the game is engaging enough - the drawing is fun and looks great, letting the player put their own, permanent mark on a nicely realised (if small) game world, and that helps to gloss over some pretty rudimentary, and in some cases outright dull or bad, game mechanics. At around 6-8 hours in length, the game doesn't lose focus though, and doesn't wear out it's welcome. Also of note - there is a small VR portion of the game - this was my first VR experience with PSVR, and it is short and sweet - just a painting tutorial and free-paint, but it is pleasant and works well. The Ranking: Concrete Genie as a straight, kid-friendly platformer would probably lose to Naughty Dog's good offering in Jak and Daxter, however, Concrete Genie has more to it than just platforming. The artistic side of the game, the great visuals, and the laudable (if slightly naive) message is enough to jump it above that game, but as kid-friendly games in general go, there is enough additional repeatability, fun and co-op on offer in Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing, and so it finds a nice wal between the two and starts painting a fabulous living mural. So there we have it folks Thanks to @elpoko, @GloriousFury9414 & @The_Kopite for putting in requests - hope my reviews are acceptable, or at least sufficiently explanatory if not! An exciting round! - Prey manages to cling onto 'Current Most Awesome Game' despite a serious showing from new No.2 spot Mass Effect 2! Watchmen: The End is Nigh remains the current 'Least Awesome Game', still not seeing any real competition for the bottom rung, yet again! What games will be coming along next time to challenge for the big chair... or the rainy door stoop? That's up to randomness, me.... and YOU! Remember: SPECIAL NOTE If there are any specific games anyone wants to see get ranked sooner rather than later - drop a message, and I'll mark them for 'Priority Ranking'! The only stipulation is that they must be on my profile, at 100% (S-Rank).... and aren't already on the Rankings! Catch y'all later my Scientific Brothers and Sisters! ☮️ 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious Fury Posted May 15, 2021 Share Posted May 15, 2021 Thanks for the ME 2 review. Certainly based on your glowing praise I'll have to play it sometime soon. I'd been advised to play it quite a number of times in the past, so was expecting a fairly high placement but perhaps not as high certainly when up against Dark Souls, Bioshock, TLOU, Dishonoured. Love the passion you put into this. Tempts me to do a list of my own sometime! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 15, 2021 Author Share Posted May 15, 2021 13 minutes ago, GloriousFury9414 said: Thanks for the ME 2 review. Certainly based on your glowing praise I'll have to play it sometime soon. I'd been advised to play it quite a number of times in the past, so was expecting a fairly high placement but perhaps not as high certainly when up against Dark Souls, Bioshock, TLOU, Dishonoured. Love the passion you put into this. Tempts me to do a list of my own sometime! yup - it’s a hell of a game - actually, doing this review was bringing ups such good memories of the game, that I just bought the new ‘Legendary Edition’ trilogy myself ?? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted May 15, 2021 Share Posted May 15, 2021 Hello, my humble Doctor, I have come to request some medicine. A really severe ache ails me, one that can only be cured by... bowling. Lots and lots of bowling. Preferably with a cousin, for some good company. And maybe some yellow cars too, if that can be arranged. Jokes aside, really neat idea and will be keeping an eye out for this. Also, if anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about, I'm referring to GTA IV. Admittedly, haven't checked the thread to see if it's been suggested before, but if it has, consider my suggestion as yet another person in need for some bowling in their life. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 15, 2021 Author Share Posted May 15, 2021 1 minute ago, BRKs_Eagle said: Hello, my humble Doctor, I have come to request some medicine. A really severe ache ails me, one that can only be cured by... bowling. Lots and lots of bowling. Preferably with a cousin, for some good company. And maybe some yellow cars too, if that can be arranged. Jokes aside, really neat idea and will be keeping an eye out for this. Also, if anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about, I'm referring to GTA IV. Admittedly, haven't checked the thread to see if it's been suggested before, but if it has, consider my suggestion as yet another person in need for some bowling in their life. Absolutely mate - hasn't been suggested so far, and so I have added to the Priority list, courtesy of your good self ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted May 15, 2021 Share Posted May 15, 2021 (edited) On 15/05/2021 at 0:07 PM, DrBloodmoney said: Choppy -Choppy Those are some great write ups man, I really enjoyed reading through those, its nice to see so much time effort and passion going into all of this. Nice and light hearted too for the most part, this isn't about me obviously, but I'm a little worried I've derailed my own thread a bit the last few days by posting about some fairly as Neil from the Young Ones would say "heavy" subject matter, so I'm looking forward to returning a bit of light hearted fun myself. Nice to see Final Fantasy XIII getting a fair critique as well, I feel like too often people just hammer that game into the ground like a tent peg. It isn't perfect sure, but I could think of plenty of worse JRPG's and even Final Fantasy games that deserve a good old hammering way more. I couldn't agree more with your musings on David Cage in your Heavy Rain write up either. I can't help but enjoy his games - but man does he think he's gods gift to Screenwriting. The irony is if he was actually a film-maker I don't think he'd be viewed in that different a light to Uwe Boll. (Maybe not that bad, it depends how much control he has over how the "camera work" is utilised in his games.) I used to think that MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, you could put the fact his use of exposition feels so stilted and just "off" sometimes, is due to the fact he isn't a native English speaker; to be honest though, I think that's cutting the guy a bit too much slack. The problem is he just gives a bad account of himself in interviews, I think he really believes that he's the video game equivalent of Ingmar Bergman or Francois Truffaut. You hit the nail on the head with the whole "self awareness" thing when talking about Heavy Rain's plot as well I would say. Like, in that part of the game where an old guy gets bonked by a phone. For a tubby lad, Scott Shelby either moves faster than Usain Bolt on a cocaine bender or he just defied physics and summoned all his chi energy and teleported across a room. It is what it is, I suppose. I had to smile about what you put about Zombie Driver as well. that game is almost remarkable in how unremarkable it really is, astonishingly so. I've actually fallen into the trap of playing a game to tick a letter off myself, so that did make me chuckle a bit. Mine was Q if you were wondering haha! As I'm sure everyone is, I'm really enjoying these. Great stuff. Edited May 16, 2021 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 15, 2021 Author Share Posted May 15, 2021 (edited) 59 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: Those are some great write ups man, I really enjoyed reading through those, its nice to see so much time effort and passion going into all of this. Nice and light hearted too for the most part, this isn't about me obviously, but I'm a little worried I've derailed my own thread a bit the last few days by posting about some fairly as Neil from the Young Ones would say "heavy" subject matter, so I'm looking forward to returning a bit of light hearted fun myself. Thank you very much mate - that's really nice to hear ? I do enjoy writing these - the intention at the outset was never to do a full 'review' for each game per-se, but they were getting longer and longer anyways, so really, they are getting closer to that. To be honest, now the list is bigger, I need to collect my thoughts in order to rank the games, so I figued I might as well write down everything I'm thinking of - that way I remember it all, and people can at least see where I'm coming from, even if they massively disagree ? I wouldn't worry about your own list btw - you write well, and its a good read - and to be honest, I can't speak for everyone but for my part, as a reader, in these checklist type threads I think that variety is the best way to go. Obvious this one has a more specific goal, but when I read someones personal checklist, I like that it feels less like a specific topic thread, and more like checking in with friend about the games they've been playing - sometimes it's a gushing recommendation, sometimes a tear-down of something crappy, sometimes just a checklist of stuff, and sometimes it goes way off piste, and end up wildly off topic ? Quote Nice to see Final Fantasy XIII getting a fair critique as well, I feel like too often people just hammer that game into the ground like a tent peg. It isn't perfect sure, but I could think of plenty of worse JRPG's and even Final Fantasy games that deserve a good old hammering way more. Absolutely. Is it the best FF? Not even close. Does that mean it's terrible? No way! Frankly, even if it was the worst one, the worst in a great series in still worth playing - and better than plenty other games. I don't think it was the masterpiece some of its predecessors were, but it had some really good aspects and some smart ideas - and it's a shame they tend to get overlooked by people only concentrating on what it didn't have or didn't do so well. Quote I couldn't agree more with your musings on David Cage in your Heavy Rain write up either. I can't help but enjoy his games - but man does he think he's gods gift to Screenwriting. The irony is if he was actually a film-maker I don't think he'd be viewed in that different a light to Uwe Boll. (Maybe not that bad, it depends how much control he has over how the "camera work" is utilised in his games.) I used to think that MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, you could put the fact his use of exposition feels so stilted and just "off" sometimes, is due to the fact he isn't a native English speaker; to be honest though, I think that's cutting the guy a bit too much slack. The problem is he just gives a bad account of himself in interviews, I think he really believes that he's the video game equivalent of Ingmar Bergman or Francois Truffaut. You hit the nail on the head with the whole "self awareness" thing when talking about Heavy Rain's plot as well I would say. Like, in that part of the game where an old guy gets bonked by a phone. For a tubby lad, Scott Shelby either moves faster than Usain Bolt on a cocaine bender or he just defied physics and summoned all his chi energy and teleported across a room. It is what it is, I suppose. Yeah - I would still call myself a tepid Quantic Dream fan too - I still like the games, and will play any future one, but I think DotNod have proven false the old argument that Cage's writing is as forgivable as we all once considered it. They also aren't native English speakers, and can have some clunky dialogue, but in their games they have a bit less self-seriousness, a bit more humour, and a slightly ironic wink once in a while - and it goes a hell of a long way. (or, should I say, a Hella long way ?) Quote I had to smile about what you put about Zombie Driver as well. that game is almost remarkable in how unremarkable it really is, astonishingly so. I've actually fallen into the trap of playing a game to tick a letter off myself, so that did make me chuckle a bit. Mine was Q if you wondering haha! Aw man - I had to choose a Q game too - but that one was a nice surprise - I did Quest of Dungeons - not a brilliant game, but far better than I was expecting, and actually a pretty neat little dungeon crawler. Edited May 15, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted May 15, 2021 Share Posted May 15, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: I do enjoy writing these - the intention at the outset was never to do a full 'review' for each game per-se, but they were getting longer and longer anyways, so really, they are getting closer to that. To be honest, now the list is bigger, I need to collect my thoughts in order to rank the games, so I figued I might as well write down everything I'm thinking of - that way I remember it all, and people can at least see where I'm coming from, even if they massively disagree I totally get that yeah, I don't know if you are the same, but I'm almost finding I'm having more to say about things I've played years ago than things I've played in the last few days. Strange old thing the memory. I feel similar, in that you might as well get it down and then at least it reads as much like your thoughts as possible, one of those where its better to get it down than to just let that fall out of your brain. One of my lecturers years ago always use to say "Don't get it right, get it wrote" I know you can pick holes in his grammar but English wasn't his first language so he deserves a free pass I think, because the sentiment is a good one. Also, even if people do massively disagree then at least it opens another avenue for discussion. I'm genuinely thankful you helped me see the "Trophy Shop" thing from NieR in a different way. severe lapse of perspective on my part. So the more healthy debate the better I think. 5 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Yeah - I would still call myself a tepid Quantic Dream fan too - I still like the games, and will play any future one, but I think DotNod have proven false the old argument that Cage's writing is as forgivable as we all once considered it. They also aren't native English speakers, and can have some clunky dialogue, but in their games they have a bit less self-seriousness, a bit more humour, and a slightly ironic wink once in a while - and it goes a hell of a long way. (or, should I say, a Hella long way ) Another good shout. Although admittedly my experience with DontNod are fairly brief at the moment. I've only played Life is Strange and I don't think the prequel was done by them. Not touched The second Life is Strange as I've heard a lot of people say its a whole lot of, well not a lot I suppose. I guess I should play it myself and see. I started Vampyr recently though which DontNod did, and I really dig their approach to storytelling, it looks like they had quite a concise plan with how all the characters interlink with one another, which if it actually sticks the landing will be quite the feat considering how many characters the game seems to have. Ambitious but brave.Unlike the more seat of their pants style of writing Quantic Dream tends to use, where I think sometimes Cage just forgets pieces of his own plot's which are usually quite important and hopes nobody else notices. 5 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Aw man - I had to choose a Q game too - but that one was a nice surprise - I did Quest of Dungeons - not a brilliant game, but far better than I was expecting, and actually a pretty neat little dungeon crawler. Not much to pick from really is there haha. You might have had a better choice than mine though - I went with an Artifex Mundi game, I kind of figured you know what to expect with those so I knew it was a fairly safe bet for that one. The real irony is after going out of my way to get that last letter I've still yet to actually post in that A-Z of platinum's thread, which seems a bit daft. I might have a look at Quest of Dungeons just to see what its like. Edited May 15, 2021 by rjkclarke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 16 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Nice to see Final Fantasy XIII getting a fair critique as well, I feel like too often people just hammer that game into the ground like a tent peg. It isn't perfect sure, but I could think of plenty of worse JRPG's and even Final Fantasy games that deserve a good old hammering way more. @DrBloodmoney and @rjkclarke I couldn't agree more. It was rather refreshing to see an honest and respectful analysis of FFXIII. It was my wife's first proper FF and she really enjoyed it, and from there I was able to get her to play more FF's properly, so it will always hold a special something for that alone, but it certainly isn't the worst FF ever like some want to claim. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 (edited) 10 hours ago, The_Kopite said: @DrBloodmoney and @rjkclarke I couldn't agree more. It was rather refreshing to see an honest and respectful analysis of FFXIII. It was my wife's first proper FF and she really enjoyed it, and from there I was able to get her to play more FF's properly, so it will always hold a special something for that alone, but it certainly isn't the worst FF ever like some want to claim. That's an awesome story. I love that video games essentially have the power to do that sort of thing. Strange to think of FFXIII being a gateway drug to the series for some people, but in reality its probably quite common, all the Lightning avatar's all over the place probably cement that. I can't say I've played every single Final Fantasy game myself, but I do consider myself a big fan of the series. Probably the most glaring one I haven't played is IX actually, I've owned it on several consoles and still just never gotten around to it, but I do plan to soon. As the good Doctor said above, even if XIII was the worst one its still worth playing. Edited May 16, 2021 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 17, 2021 Author Share Posted May 17, 2021 (edited) ⚛️!!SCIENCE UPDATE!!⚛️ The next 10 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be: Arcade Archives: Crazy Climber Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and InkDark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin LEGO Legends of Chima (Vita)Metro 2033 Redux MotoGP 13 Compact Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Shadow of the Colossus (PS3) Shadow of the Colossus Remake (PS4) Skeleton Rider Subjects in RED marked for ❎PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT❎ [Care of @Copanele & @Soraking1991 ] Can 'Current Most Awesome' game, Prey, cling to its title once more? Is last-in-show Watchmen: The End is Nigh going to ever have any competition for 'Least Awesome Game' ? Let's find out! Edited May 17, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 3 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: - start of quoteDark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin - end of quote Let's find out! Oh boy, the "bear seek seek lest" game is here! Prepare the Estus Flask and raise your adaptability stat lads! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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