Rapidly hit the point where the thought of booting up Marvel's Midnight Suns felt like punching in to work, and that's a damn shame considering how much of an X-Com mark I am. I signed up for tactical card-based RPG gameplay and base management, not a social sim with uncarbonated, room temp Joss Wheadon writing.
Every character here is reduced to one or two notable elements that are constantly harped on. Tony Stark, played by Josh Keaton under explicit instructions to do his best Robert Downey Jr. impression, is constantly making cracks about having to operate out of a scary magical castle. Dr. Strange's magical prowess is constantly under scrutiny, a dotard in a room of quippy millennials - "Dr. Spooky," they call him. Sister Grimm rearranged one of the clubs' acronyms so it spelled out "EMO KIDS" because she's so clever and quirky. Peter Parker LOVES pizza, can SOMEBODY please get Peter Parker a slice of pie!? No deep dish, it's gotta be New Yawk style, wooo, love da big apple!
Another way to put it would be if the beach scene in Persona 5 kicked off a running gag where characters had to constantly bring up Yusuke buying lobsters and equate some part of every conversation involving Yusuke to lobsters for the rest of the game. Just... close your eyes and imagine that. Lean back, get comfortable, absorb yourself in how "good" that would be. Congratulations, I just saved you $20.
I remembered Deadpool was in this game and that was the point I decided I needed to get out. It's not that it's overly snarky or self-depreciating in the same obnoxious, overbearing way the MCU is, Midnight Suns is to its credit more confident in its setting, but it's just so lame. Unfortunately, socializing with your team is a major component of the game - so much so that it's disproportionate to the actual tactical RPG elements - and unless you're willing to mash through all the tiresome character dialog to get to the conversation options that let you scream "do you ever shut up" and tank your friendship rating, you'll just have to put up with it.
Every day you have to run around this castle talking to heroes to raise their bonds, break down materials, craft new cards, fuse duplicates together, train with heroes to get daily stat buffs, send heroes you aren't using on away missions... Navigation around the castle grounds feels cumbersome, and you have so many tasks to do before you're ready to head out that combat starts to feel secondary against the lethargic pace of base management.
The tactical card-combat? It's fine. There's not really a whole lot I have to say about it. The early missions are decently challenging, and each character comes with their own attributes and pool of cards that helps give them defined utility in battle, like Sister Grimm, who is essentially your defacto buff/debuffer in the early game. Combat encounters still feel somewhat samey, but I was only about five hours in when I bailed, I'd have to imagine they get more diverse over time.
The most I got out of Midnight Sun was when I went on a nighttime walk with Blade and he mentioned not being able to see something, to which the protagonist quipped "that's because you wear your sunglasses at night."
"Hey, it's a fashion choice."
Blade was not wearing his sunglasses. I gifted him a skull I found on the ground. He seemed to like it.
Every character here is reduced to one or two notable elements that are constantly harped on. Tony Stark, played by Josh Keaton under explicit instructions to do his best Robert Downey Jr. impression, is constantly making cracks about having to operate out of a scary magical castle. Dr. Strange's magical prowess is constantly under scrutiny, a dotard in a room of quippy millennials - "Dr. Spooky," they call him. Sister Grimm rearranged one of the clubs' acronyms so it spelled out "EMO KIDS" because she's so clever and quirky. Peter Parker LOVES pizza, can SOMEBODY please get Peter Parker a slice of pie!? No deep dish, it's gotta be New Yawk style, wooo, love da big apple!
Another way to put it would be if the beach scene in Persona 5 kicked off a running gag where characters had to constantly bring up Yusuke buying lobsters and equate some part of every conversation involving Yusuke to lobsters for the rest of the game. Just... close your eyes and imagine that. Lean back, get comfortable, absorb yourself in how "good" that would be. Congratulations, I just saved you $20.
I remembered Deadpool was in this game and that was the point I decided I needed to get out. It's not that it's overly snarky or self-depreciating in the same obnoxious, overbearing way the MCU is, Midnight Suns is to its credit more confident in its setting, but it's just so lame. Unfortunately, socializing with your team is a major component of the game - so much so that it's disproportionate to the actual tactical RPG elements - and unless you're willing to mash through all the tiresome character dialog to get to the conversation options that let you scream "do you ever shut up" and tank your friendship rating, you'll just have to put up with it.
Every day you have to run around this castle talking to heroes to raise their bonds, break down materials, craft new cards, fuse duplicates together, train with heroes to get daily stat buffs, send heroes you aren't using on away missions... Navigation around the castle grounds feels cumbersome, and you have so many tasks to do before you're ready to head out that combat starts to feel secondary against the lethargic pace of base management.
The tactical card-combat? It's fine. There's not really a whole lot I have to say about it. The early missions are decently challenging, and each character comes with their own attributes and pool of cards that helps give them defined utility in battle, like Sister Grimm, who is essentially your defacto buff/debuffer in the early game. Combat encounters still feel somewhat samey, but I was only about five hours in when I bailed, I'd have to imagine they get more diverse over time.
The most I got out of Midnight Sun was when I went on a nighttime walk with Blade and he mentioned not being able to see something, to which the protagonist quipped "that's because you wear your sunglasses at night."
"Hey, it's a fashion choice."
Blade was not wearing his sunglasses. I gifted him a skull I found on the ground. He seemed to like it.
As a huge Marvel fan, I loved everything about this. As a gamer, I loved everything about this.
178 hours, 100%, and at the end I still had the volume cranked up. The effects and sound during combat are SO satisfying.
Unlocking heroes, cards, modifiers, and additional research gave a nice feeling of progression. Being able to bring your favorite heroes into battle is incredible, and they nailed the "feel" of each hero. Captain America is absolutely there to protect you and set you up however needed. Spiderman uses quick actions and environmental attacks to do his part...
The Abbey felt like home and this was surprisingly one of the "coziest" games I've ever played. It's raining outside and Dr. Strange is inside by the fire reading a book. Wolverine and Deadpool are having a drink at the bar. On my first playthrough I skipped zero dialogue, but I can see where that would weigh some people down; there is A LOT of it.
I'm a firm believer in "the right game at the right time", meaning X or Y isn't always a BAD game, it's just not a good fit for your mood/head space right now. Midnight Suns was the perfect game for me right now and if you like this type of game and are on the fence at all, I strongly encourage you to go for it!
178 hours, 100%, and at the end I still had the volume cranked up. The effects and sound during combat are SO satisfying.
Unlocking heroes, cards, modifiers, and additional research gave a nice feeling of progression. Being able to bring your favorite heroes into battle is incredible, and they nailed the "feel" of each hero. Captain America is absolutely there to protect you and set you up however needed. Spiderman uses quick actions and environmental attacks to do his part...
The Abbey felt like home and this was surprisingly one of the "coziest" games I've ever played. It's raining outside and Dr. Strange is inside by the fire reading a book. Wolverine and Deadpool are having a drink at the bar. On my first playthrough I skipped zero dialogue, but I can see where that would weigh some people down; there is A LOT of it.
I'm a firm believer in "the right game at the right time", meaning X or Y isn't always a BAD game, it's just not a good fit for your mood/head space right now. Midnight Suns was the perfect game for me right now and if you like this type of game and are on the fence at all, I strongly encourage you to go for it!