I love the way exploration works here; the refusal to budge on fast travel save for diegetic ox carts, snatching back dark arisen's infinite ferrystone, and stretching the landmass both horizontally and (especially) vertically is wonderful. in many, many ways it's a bigger, slower, denser game, and they did it all while focusing on the most mundane environments devoid of giant theme park attractions bulging from every flat surface

likewise I love the idea of elaborating on the sense of traversal and moving toward a holistic spirit of adventure. deteriorating health ceilings aid attrition and help answer the inherent slime of menu heals, and having campfire rests operate as something of a risk/reward mechanism goes a long way toward giving each journey a greater heft and substance

even something as transparently gamey as designing the map as a network of funnels and chokepoints stippled with smaller threats and crosshatched with bigger ones was very clever; it's all just nouns crashing against nouns as they fire down chutes, but when coupled with the meaty physicality of the game's interactivity it goes a long way toward building up those Big Moments

but the consequence of trash mobs operating as speedbumps means moment-to-moment encounters operate more as filler than anything you could consider independently engaging scenarios. it also means that despite the map being several times larger than gransys it ends up feeling a lot more suffocating due to all the overlapping nouns slamming and interrupting each other without end

I just about luxuriated in the rare opportunities to enjoy brief spells of negative space; I savoured it like one of those FMV steaks. I'd kill for more moments like the arbor or the battleground where I was able to inhabit the world as a pilgrim or wanderer rather than serial wolf slaughterer or battahl sanitation expert, but they're very few and far between

there's no escaping the impenetrable walls of goblins, wolves, harpies, and saurians polluting every inch of the world. the already slender DD bestiary's been ported over nearly 1:1 with about as many additions as subtractions, and between the absurd density and massive landmass the variety ends up looking and feeling significantly worse than it did when it was first pilloried twelve years ago in a notoriously incomplete game

when the Big Moments do happen they're often spectacular, and it's easy to see why the chaotic intersection of AI, systems, and mechanics was prioritized so heavily and centered as the focal point of the entire experience. early on every bridge that breaks behind you, every ogre leaping from city walls, and every gryphon that crushes your ox cart feels huge and spellbinding; the game's at its best when all the moving parts align just right to achieve dynamic simulacrum, leveraging unpredictability to carry encounters well above their station

where that stuff loses me most is in the complete lack of friction. for a game with so many well considered means of drawing tension out of discovery it manages to render most of them meaningless when you're never being properly threatened enough to let them kick in. camping, eating, crafting, consumables, ambushes, and setpieces all take a significant blow from the chronic lack of bite, and it's frustrating to see so much potential go to waste when everything's already set up unbelievably well for success

even if you choose to go it alone, or do as I did and run with a party of two (ida + ozma: wily beastren + weakest creature), it only does so much when every corner of the map has CAPCOM Co., Ltd superpawns and npcs popping out of the ground to aid you unbidden and monsters are all mâché sculptures begging to be stunlocked. where's hard mode? why does it feel like everything DDDA did right got ignored? we just don't know

I'd have been happy if the game yanked a bit of control back with some kinda endgame/post-game dungeon, but there isn't one; there aren't really dungeons in general. in opting for quantity (50+!!) over quality we end up with none of them feeling particularly curated, and none of them having the scope or menace of the everfall, let alone bitterblack. no ur-dragon either, which is just baffling. the entire run from endgame to post-game is a gaping hole where something oughta be but certainly isn't

when I hit credits I felt almost confused, like I'd just been tricked into playing a remake or reboot of the original dragon's dogma that somehow had less material stretched even thinner. I enjoyed what I played for the most part, but the more thought I put into it the more it feels compromised and unfinished in all the exact ways itsuno promised over and over it wouldn't be this time around

there's a lot to love here: stuff like fucked up modular teeth, the sphinx, seeker coin platforming, pawn bullshitting, the dragonsplague, cyclops ragdolls, opaque sidequests, intentional tedium, and routinely bizarre interactions. much of what was good in the past remains good, and even bits that stumble backward generally land someplace close to decent regardless. some of the vocation/gear downgrades aren't to my liking, and there's an odd shallowness that hangs over the experience, but I think I liked it?

I just don't really get it

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a fun, hilarious, action-packed thrill ride from beginning to end with a great choice system, circa Tell Tale Games, and addictive combat that is more sophisticated than I thought it would be. It is the closest we may ever get to a proper Han Solo simulator, and I love it! This is a game made for the fans, both film and comic alike, with lots of great easter eggs and surprises along the way. Eidos Montreal successfully gave us the Guardians single player experience we wanted, and I really can't wait to see what they have in store for us next. If you played Marvel's Avengers, then you would be forgiven for being hesitant at the prospect of another Square Enix produced Marvel game. Don't worry, I felt the same way. But, after finishing the game and seeing everything it has in store, I was pleasantly surprised with the end result. The story is at the forefront of this game, and it is very enjoyable. As you make choices, you create different outcomes, and your team will react differently. I absolutely loved the character progress of both Peter Quill and his allies. You start off at each other’s throats and by the end you are a tight knit unit. Combat is a lot of fun, though the control scheme did take some getting used to. Using each Guardians abilities by giving them commands works really well and allows for some really sick combos. My only big negative is the number of bugs and glitches I came across that hindered the experience. Also, I really wanted more ship focused missions!! They give you a couple to wet your appetite but I really wanted more and more. Also, and maybe this is just me, but I found some of the unlockable costumes to be lack luster. Overall, this is the Guardians of the Galaxy experience I hoped for.

man, i love this game. some people probably won't fuck with this game, which is understandable. its gameplay is arguably basic, the way it handles progression is insane, and the final boss is arguably impossible without a a guide, and i love it. its the perfect amalgamation of chaos. this game is perfect dark fantasy, all the main characters are terrible people. one of the fucking characters is a child cannibal! don't even get me started on fucking Leonard. Caim, the mc, is a bloodthirsty psychopath. I love it so much. all of ending d and e are like some of my favorite things in any video game ever. everything about this game is amazing imo. i love yoko taro so much.

If you're reading this log, I guess I didn't make it. We all knew the Company would be the death of us, but I think we all kept hoping it would be the next job that did us in. Ben didn't even make it into the factory; he lagged just a bit too far behind, and that sand worm was in the mood for a snack. Maybe he was the lucky one. Claire fared a bit better but she didn't see the sentry in time. And then I guess all the noise lured that... Thing. Patrick kept it at bay - it wouldn't move as long as one of us was looking at it. Too bad for him, then, that it brought friends. I wouldn't be writing this if not for him. But I fear his sacrifice was in vain. I'm thirty credits shy of our quota, and the deadline is tomorrow. I've heard what happens to employees who don't pay their dues.

While I was sprinting for the door, I saw a rubber duck resting on a broken catwalk. That should be worth at least something. I can't go back empty handed...

I doubt I'll be giving this an actual review any time soon, as I'm typically loath to make a final verdict on games that don't have the word "final" in their vocabulary. Even if the core mechanics largely seem to be in place, Lethal Company is notably light on content. The game is obviously in a nascent state of its life and I fully anticipate that its creator will use this tidal wave of interest as a driving force for filling in the cracks. I just wanted to give credit where credit is due for releasing the first game I've played in a long while that made me belly laugh and scream bloody murder in one session. This game's foundation is rock-solid. Please take care in constructing the house.