If I had a nickel for every time I played an action game about a sexy android lady enlisted in an elite military unit of other sexy android ladies whose stated mission is to eradicate a monstrous threat from Earth so that humanity can finally return to the surface after a war forced them to evacuate to a space habitat, only to become the sole survivor of that unit after an assault on the surface goes horribly wrong and meet up with some guy who agrees to provide hacking and recon support so she can still continue her mission, before her time on Earth exposes her to information and viewpoints that contradict the dogmatic authority she's been unquestioningly loyal towards and eventually cause her to have a crisis of faith as she uncovers more about the true nature of her adversaries, her allies, and herself, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
...well, maybe it's not that weird. As much as I love NieR: Automata, I'll admit that there are axes on which it's not exactly difficult to outdo. And Stellar Blade chooses its battles wisely, with expanded combat mechanics and massively increased enemy variety that make the whole experience so much more fun to get through on a moment-to-moment basis. Although you only have one weapon, melee combat is made more demanding by the addition of Sekiro-style perfect parries and color-coded telegraphed attacks that warrant more specific responses. This system isn't perfect - Eve has a nasty habit of dodging backwards when I press forward+dodge which I never figured out, and the separation of "shield" and "balance" into separate indicators is a tad clunky - but at the end of the day, the animations and timing have the juice they need, so it by and large feels good. On Normal Mode (you don't unlock Hard until you beat it), I managed to just barely beat most bosses on the first try, with 0 or 1 Estus-equivalents remaining. To me, that's an ideal dramatic experience, especially at a time when games are coming out so quickly I can't hope to keep up, but given how I usually am with action games that probably means it will be too easy for the rest of you.
Throughout the game, you unlock other combat mechanics, some of them late enough that I won't say exactly what they are in case you consider it a spoiler. But suffice it to say that I found every addition to the melee combat useful, and I worked them all into my toolkit without much fuss even though I'm not usually the type. You also get non-melee options in the form of a few gun options for your drone and some consumable bomb-type stuff. I didn't use these much, but they don't seem to be complete afterthoughts - there's a section soon after you unlock the gun where you're forced to use it on its own, and it's easy for a premise like that to go horribly wrong, but I found that section surprisingly fun with a unique flavor to it. I honestly think the game should have done more to make you lean on your gun, like including fragile sniper or support types in encounters.
The non-gameplay parts don't lend themselves nearly as well to comparison. The plot is about as predictable as you'd expect from the top paragraph - the only times I was surprised by a plot twist were the times I was surprised something was a plot twist, and not something all the characters were supposed to have known already. The locations and music are good on their own, and provide a lot more variety than Automata, though they don't cohere quite as well and there's not much I think I'll end up remembering about them in the long run. The enemy designs are the real standout: there are tons of them, including a bunch of unique bosses, that run a wide gamut of aesthetics without ever feeling out of place (until some truly ridiculous shit shows up at the end, anyway).
The character designs are... about exactly what I expected after learning that these guys made NIKKE. On the one hand, character customization is one of my favorite features in any game, and going into Stellar Blade blind I didn't really expect it at all, so unlocking literal dozens of unique outfits and accessories over the course of the game was a real highlight. On the other, it kind of sucks that nearly all of them feel a need to "sex it up" in some way or another. Before you press "submit" on that comment you just wrote, please know that I don't have any problem with the existence of sexy outfits (and I spent more time rocking the swimsuits than I would care to admit). But at times, the gacha-gooner mentality of the outfits feels almost like an infection, taking otherwise good designs and cutting random, ugly holes in them, as if signaling sex appeal is more important than having appeal of any sort. If anything, the most fetishistic outfits are some of the best, just because no one felt the need to ruin them (if anyone asks, that's why I picked the swimsuits). To show how serious I am about fashion, I will cap this section off by saying that the deciding factor for me in giving this game a 3 instead of a 3.5 was that the ponytail is non-optional even though all the alternate hairstyles were clearly designed without it in mind and it makes them all look stupid.
In summary, Stellar Blade is a fun game and I recommend it. It steps very deliberately into the shadow of NieR: Automata and for a lot of people it will probably hold up in that comparison. It's not going to be an all-timer for me, though. Stellar Blade didn't make me cry.
(well, not through my eyes at least HEYOOOOOOOOOO)
...well, maybe it's not that weird. As much as I love NieR: Automata, I'll admit that there are axes on which it's not exactly difficult to outdo. And Stellar Blade chooses its battles wisely, with expanded combat mechanics and massively increased enemy variety that make the whole experience so much more fun to get through on a moment-to-moment basis. Although you only have one weapon, melee combat is made more demanding by the addition of Sekiro-style perfect parries and color-coded telegraphed attacks that warrant more specific responses. This system isn't perfect - Eve has a nasty habit of dodging backwards when I press forward+dodge which I never figured out, and the separation of "shield" and "balance" into separate indicators is a tad clunky - but at the end of the day, the animations and timing have the juice they need, so it by and large feels good. On Normal Mode (you don't unlock Hard until you beat it), I managed to just barely beat most bosses on the first try, with 0 or 1 Estus-equivalents remaining. To me, that's an ideal dramatic experience, especially at a time when games are coming out so quickly I can't hope to keep up, but given how I usually am with action games that probably means it will be too easy for the rest of you.
Throughout the game, you unlock other combat mechanics, some of them late enough that I won't say exactly what they are in case you consider it a spoiler. But suffice it to say that I found every addition to the melee combat useful, and I worked them all into my toolkit without much fuss even though I'm not usually the type. You also get non-melee options in the form of a few gun options for your drone and some consumable bomb-type stuff. I didn't use these much, but they don't seem to be complete afterthoughts - there's a section soon after you unlock the gun where you're forced to use it on its own, and it's easy for a premise like that to go horribly wrong, but I found that section surprisingly fun with a unique flavor to it. I honestly think the game should have done more to make you lean on your gun, like including fragile sniper or support types in encounters.
The non-gameplay parts don't lend themselves nearly as well to comparison. The plot is about as predictable as you'd expect from the top paragraph - the only times I was surprised by a plot twist were the times I was surprised something was a plot twist, and not something all the characters were supposed to have known already. The locations and music are good on their own, and provide a lot more variety than Automata, though they don't cohere quite as well and there's not much I think I'll end up remembering about them in the long run. The enemy designs are the real standout: there are tons of them, including a bunch of unique bosses, that run a wide gamut of aesthetics without ever feeling out of place (until some truly ridiculous shit shows up at the end, anyway).
The character designs are... about exactly what I expected after learning that these guys made NIKKE. On the one hand, character customization is one of my favorite features in any game, and going into Stellar Blade blind I didn't really expect it at all, so unlocking literal dozens of unique outfits and accessories over the course of the game was a real highlight. On the other, it kind of sucks that nearly all of them feel a need to "sex it up" in some way or another. Before you press "submit" on that comment you just wrote, please know that I don't have any problem with the existence of sexy outfits (and I spent more time rocking the swimsuits than I would care to admit). But at times, the gacha-gooner mentality of the outfits feels almost like an infection, taking otherwise good designs and cutting random, ugly holes in them, as if signaling sex appeal is more important than having appeal of any sort. If anything, the most fetishistic outfits are some of the best, just because no one felt the need to ruin them (if anyone asks, that's why I picked the swimsuits). To show how serious I am about fashion, I will cap this section off by saying that the deciding factor for me in giving this game a 3 instead of a 3.5 was that the ponytail is non-optional even though all the alternate hairstyles were clearly designed without it in mind and it makes them all look stupid.
In summary, Stellar Blade is a fun game and I recommend it. It steps very deliberately into the shadow of NieR: Automata and for a lot of people it will probably hold up in that comparison. It's not going to be an all-timer for me, though. Stellar Blade didn't make me cry.
(well, not through my eyes at least HEYOOOOOOOOOO)
infelizmente esse não me agradou tanto quanto gostaria, botei muita expectativa em cima (talvez tenha sido erro meu) e acabou que o jogo sofre de inúmeros problemas quanto a conteúdo, criatividade e etc, tentaram chupar ao máximo a formúla de NieR/NieR Automata e fizeram algo bem abaixo do esperado (sério, não só a estrutura, designs, lore e etc mas até o PLOT do jogo é IDÊNTICO a obra de Yoko Taro)
Mas claro que tem pontos positivios, a gameplay é uma delícia e extremamente viciante, desafiadora e satisfatoria, os cenários são belos, a trilha sonora é encantadora e o level design de sessões lineares é mágico, remetendo games de PS2.
O verdadeiro problema é o conteúdo medíocre e fraco que o jogo oferece em meio ao semi open world falho (e chato de explorar) e todo seu conteúdo maçante, genérico e repetitivo. A história é extremamente fraca e pouco inspiradora, nada me cativava para prosseguir jogando a linha principal, os personagens são apáticos e nenhum pouco memoráveis, a lore por ser um clone fraco de NIER se torna esquecível, etc.
Sinto que se o jogo fosse LINEAR, só andar para frente e bater, minha opinião final seria diferente, mas no geral ainda sim é um jogo legal que da para se divertir quando ignoro esses problemas.
Mas claro que tem pontos positivios, a gameplay é uma delícia e extremamente viciante, desafiadora e satisfatoria, os cenários são belos, a trilha sonora é encantadora e o level design de sessões lineares é mágico, remetendo games de PS2.
O verdadeiro problema é o conteúdo medíocre e fraco que o jogo oferece em meio ao semi open world falho (e chato de explorar) e todo seu conteúdo maçante, genérico e repetitivo. A história é extremamente fraca e pouco inspiradora, nada me cativava para prosseguir jogando a linha principal, os personagens são apáticos e nenhum pouco memoráveis, a lore por ser um clone fraco de NIER se torna esquecível, etc.
Sinto que se o jogo fosse LINEAR, só andar para frente e bater, minha opinião final seria diferente, mas no geral ainda sim é um jogo legal que da para se divertir quando ignoro esses problemas.
Wife’s Reaction:
“You knowingly married an outspoken feminist, and yet you bring this into my house?!”
Nearly NieR:
Stellar Blade wears a lot of its inspiration on its sleeve and it all works amazingly. I’m a big fan of the combat with its speed and impact, and the game’s soundtrack is awesome. But the game falters by not diversifying its gameplay enough and having a lacking story.
“You knowingly married an outspoken feminist, and yet you bring this into my house?!”
Nearly NieR:
Stellar Blade wears a lot of its inspiration on its sleeve and it all works amazingly. I’m a big fan of the combat with its speed and impact, and the game’s soundtrack is awesome. But the game falters by not diversifying its gameplay enough and having a lacking story.