Multibaker
Bio
they're masterworks all, can't go wrong
i play mostly single player/co-op games. huge mark for Character Action and Survival Horror.
they're masterworks all, can't go wrong
i play mostly single player/co-op games. huge mark for Character Action and Survival Horror.
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GOTY '23
Participated in the 2023 Game of the Year Event
1 Years of Service
Being part of the Backloggd community for 1 year
Early Access
Submitted feedback for a beta feature
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Gained 10+ total review likes
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Played 250+ games
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Played 100+ games
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Played in 2024
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This review contains spoilers
Well, here we are 12 years later. Much like the original, it's one of the best 7/10s I've ever played. This game plays wonderfully, the skills and climbing system mesh together to create a unique gameplay experience that is very fun to engage with. Once again, every vocation is overpowered in it's own way, but isn't always a one stop solution for everything, you need pawns there to help you. I finished the game around level 50, completed the postgame, and it was a good experience.
There's 2 major flaws with the game though. First up, the optimization sucks. Not a whole lot to say here, even my friends with way better PCs than mine were struggling at points. My setup rarely hit 30 fps, but that's to be expected, my GPU is the minimum recommended one. Most of the settings were Medium to Low, even then the game still looked great. The second major issue is the story, or lack thereof. I did most quests in the game, and had literally 0 idea what the story was or where it was going until the last cutscene with Phaesus before you fight the dragon. Until then all I knew was Disa was doing something to try and fake an Arisen. Also suddenly switching to helping Phaesus despite him clearly being the bad guy as soon as we get to Battahl was very odd. Why are we helping this guy who created all of our problems? You just walk up to Ambrosius and decide to help him. It's really really weird, but oh well. Postgame story is much more interesting and feels like the real 3rd act of the game, although I wish it ended with a boss fight rather than a cutscene and credits. It was kind of a let down, I think there should have been one last fucked up chimera of the Purgeners we fought or something. Oh well, good game overall but definitely not without its issues.
There's 2 major flaws with the game though. First up, the optimization sucks. Not a whole lot to say here, even my friends with way better PCs than mine were struggling at points. My setup rarely hit 30 fps, but that's to be expected, my GPU is the minimum recommended one. Most of the settings were Medium to Low, even then the game still looked great. The second major issue is the story, or lack thereof. I did most quests in the game, and had literally 0 idea what the story was or where it was going until the last cutscene with Phaesus before you fight the dragon. Until then all I knew was Disa was doing something to try and fake an Arisen. Also suddenly switching to helping Phaesus despite him clearly being the bad guy as soon as we get to Battahl was very odd. Why are we helping this guy who created all of our problems? You just walk up to Ambrosius and decide to help him. It's really really weird, but oh well. Postgame story is much more interesting and feels like the real 3rd act of the game, although I wish it ended with a boss fight rather than a cutscene and credits. It was kind of a let down, I think there should have been one last fucked up chimera of the Purgeners we fought or something. Oh well, good game overall but definitely not without its issues.
DOING MY PART TO SAVE SUPER EARTH
So far the game is pretty good, just lacking quite a lot in content. I'm a huge fan of PvE games, and Warhammer 40k: Darktide had the same problem on release of good gameplay, very fun just...not a ton to do. Still, it has been very fun for the first 10 or so hours, especially the fights against the automatons. The bugs just kind of mindlessly wander into things and die, but the automatons don't go down so easy, they're tough, have guns, and do a ton of damage if you aren't careful. Their dropships can be shot down, but only when the rockets are working correctly. The automatons definitely feel like the real game for lack of a better term. Anyway, time for the pros and cons
Pros:
- Gunplay feels great, weapons feel impactful when used for the right job
- Gameplay is very fast paced and tight, especially against the automatons
- Feels very fair, it's rare that a death feels super undeserved or cheap
- Normally I dislike Live Service as a model, but it actually feels fitting here, much like it does for Deep Rock Galactic
- Presentation is great, much like Starship Troopers this game is full of satire about hyper-militarization and propaganda and it lands very well, it's very funny
Cons:
- Very few weapons, there's 17 between the regular and premium battlepasses
- No saved loadouts, you have to manually input your stratagems every time. also you can't drop in with a support weapon which is just an odd choice
- Rockets are buggy, I've been using the Recoilless Rifle a lot and sometimes rockets just go straight through things. It's happened to enemies, to the dropships, even small buildings on occasion
- No weapon upgrades, this really feels like the type of game that would let you do that, but you can't which just feels weird
Overall, pretty great experience just a lot of QoL features and new content.
So far the game is pretty good, just lacking quite a lot in content. I'm a huge fan of PvE games, and Warhammer 40k: Darktide had the same problem on release of good gameplay, very fun just...not a ton to do. Still, it has been very fun for the first 10 or so hours, especially the fights against the automatons. The bugs just kind of mindlessly wander into things and die, but the automatons don't go down so easy, they're tough, have guns, and do a ton of damage if you aren't careful. Their dropships can be shot down, but only when the rockets are working correctly. The automatons definitely feel like the real game for lack of a better term. Anyway, time for the pros and cons
Pros:
- Gunplay feels great, weapons feel impactful when used for the right job
- Gameplay is very fast paced and tight, especially against the automatons
- Feels very fair, it's rare that a death feels super undeserved or cheap
- Normally I dislike Live Service as a model, but it actually feels fitting here, much like it does for Deep Rock Galactic
- Presentation is great, much like Starship Troopers this game is full of satire about hyper-militarization and propaganda and it lands very well, it's very funny
Cons:
- Very few weapons, there's 17 between the regular and premium battlepasses
- No saved loadouts, you have to manually input your stratagems every time. also you can't drop in with a support weapon which is just an odd choice
- Rockets are buggy, I've been using the Recoilless Rifle a lot and sometimes rockets just go straight through things. It's happened to enemies, to the dropships, even small buildings on occasion
- No weapon upgrades, this really feels like the type of game that would let you do that, but you can't which just feels weird
Overall, pretty great experience just a lot of QoL features and new content.
This review contains spoilers
Overall, this game is a solid 8/10 and I greatly enjoyed the experience. Very very good CRPG and the plot overall is fine, unfortunately the companions stories leave a lot to be desired. Gonna be comparing it to Divinity Original Sin 2, so spoilers for that as well.
SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT
I understand that this game is going to be a lot of people's introductions to both Dungeons & Dragons and CRPGs in general. Not wanting to do anything too radical with the story is understandable, and I think the story was pretty fun and interesting. The Elder Brain reveal at the end of the Shadowlands was cool, and finding out the Netherbrain was actually manipulating the Dead Three from the beginning was a great twist. However, the ending of the game feels very under baked. I did every sidequest in the game, rallied my allies for the final push, and it changed almost nothing. The ending cutscene had Shadowheart and Halsin say something extra, but despite doing everyone but Astarion's and Lae'Zel's quest, it didn't feel like it impacted anything. The only thing that really changed was Wyll going to Avernus with Karlach, which the game blocked me from doing despite me romancing her. Then the game just ended and it felt very unsatisfying.
TL;DR, Story was fine overall, the ending just fell flat.
SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT
I understand that this game is going to be a lot of people's introductions to both Dungeons & Dragons and CRPGs in general. Not wanting to do anything too radical with the story is understandable, and I think the story was pretty fun and interesting. The Elder Brain reveal at the end of the Shadowlands was cool, and finding out the Netherbrain was actually manipulating the Dead Three from the beginning was a great twist. However, the ending of the game feels very under baked. I did every sidequest in the game, rallied my allies for the final push, and it changed almost nothing. The ending cutscene had Shadowheart and Halsin say something extra, but despite doing everyone but Astarion's and Lae'Zel's quest, it didn't feel like it impacted anything. The only thing that really changed was Wyll going to Avernus with Karlach, which the game blocked me from doing despite me romancing her. Then the game just ended and it felt very unsatisfying.
TL;DR, Story was fine overall, the ending just fell flat.