TheMilio
27 reviews liked by TheMilio
I want to start this off with a statement: it's not the best Armored Core game, not by a long shot imo...Yet it's easily one of my favourite ones, as well as one of my favourite Fromsoft games to date.
That's because Fires of Rubicon not only aims to be an entry point for newcomers of the franchise, not only is a return to form for one of the most important franchises for this insane software house, but it's a statement of caring about what made From Software the studio it is today, while welcoming all the progress and experience they made through time.
If you look in the dev team you'll immediately notice how it's a group made of very talented newcomers along with older figures who worked on several entries in the franchise, which only strengthens my point. Love for its past, and understanding for the progress it has been made.
The game itself simplifies a lot the formula from past entries: no optional parts, no tuning, no radiator, no inside, no extensions, no hanger units, a lot of stuff is missing. This is an absolutely intended choice, because everyone who's not used to these games can very easily become overwhelmed with the amount of stuff you have to understand before making your mech; this might be a low ball for vets of the series, but personally I'm okay with it.
Because the combat is so good I could play this forever, while not getting tired at all.
In one week I clocked 50 hours which included:
-All the routes
-All the achievements (which include all battle logs, all secret chests, all S-rank missions and of course all parts bought)
-Some PvP with friends
I really thought I'd be burnt out after all of this but...I really was left wanting MORE, this was like that one fine dish that just hit the spot for you so good that, even though you ate so much, you couldn't help yourself but keep going and, once you finished, with a grown ass belly, you just go "oh, man, I'd really like some more". For reference I still run some bosses just because I want to have an excuse to play more of it (yeah, surprise to no one, ACVI has the best bosses in the franchise so far).
What I also couldn't get enough of is the INSANE art direction, it's so good it's unfair it makes me mad for how good it is; also the characters are some of the absolute best Fromsoft has ever pulled out, with Rusty being someone I wish was real and with me and telling me everything's gonna be okay.
It's been a very long journey, I'm so happy I chose to play most of the franchise, but the last thing I expected was this:
I want more Armored Core.
That's because Fires of Rubicon not only aims to be an entry point for newcomers of the franchise, not only is a return to form for one of the most important franchises for this insane software house, but it's a statement of caring about what made From Software the studio it is today, while welcoming all the progress and experience they made through time.
If you look in the dev team you'll immediately notice how it's a group made of very talented newcomers along with older figures who worked on several entries in the franchise, which only strengthens my point. Love for its past, and understanding for the progress it has been made.
The game itself simplifies a lot the formula from past entries: no optional parts, no tuning, no radiator, no inside, no extensions, no hanger units, a lot of stuff is missing. This is an absolutely intended choice, because everyone who's not used to these games can very easily become overwhelmed with the amount of stuff you have to understand before making your mech; this might be a low ball for vets of the series, but personally I'm okay with it.
Because the combat is so good I could play this forever, while not getting tired at all.
In one week I clocked 50 hours which included:
-All the routes
-All the achievements (which include all battle logs, all secret chests, all S-rank missions and of course all parts bought)
-Some PvP with friends
I really thought I'd be burnt out after all of this but...I really was left wanting MORE, this was like that one fine dish that just hit the spot for you so good that, even though you ate so much, you couldn't help yourself but keep going and, once you finished, with a grown ass belly, you just go "oh, man, I'd really like some more". For reference I still run some bosses just because I want to have an excuse to play more of it (yeah, surprise to no one, ACVI has the best bosses in the franchise so far).
What I also couldn't get enough of is the INSANE art direction, it's so good it's unfair it makes me mad for how good it is; also the characters are some of the absolute best Fromsoft has ever pulled out, with Rusty being someone I wish was real and with me and telling me everything's gonna be okay.
It's been a very long journey, I'm so happy I chose to play most of the franchise, but the last thing I expected was this:
I want more Armored Core.
Chris Redfield looks like a gym teacher
Dragon's Dogma II
2024
Stuck with this slack-jawed pawn with bug eyes. There's literal stink lines trailing off of him and he keeps rubbing blood from his diseased gums on the dungeon walls.
For some reason the game runs at 20fps when he's around, please advise.
For some reason the game runs at 20fps when he's around, please advise.
Dragon's Dogma II
2024
Can gamers at least try to be consistent when trashing games for having MTX, it feels like such random games always catch heat for it when there's much bigger offenders even among Capcom's own library (Monster Hunter World & Rise lmao)
I can at least understand people being upset over optimization (even if in my experience I've had little to no issue in the 5 hours I've played so far), but obviously the issue differs from person to person.
Game is fun tho, I'm having a blast, this really is just an improved version of the original Dragon's Dogma and I'm all for it.
I can at least understand people being upset over optimization (even if in my experience I've had little to no issue in the 5 hours I've played so far), but obviously the issue differs from person to person.
Game is fun tho, I'm having a blast, this really is just an improved version of the original Dragon's Dogma and I'm all for it.
Dragon's Dogma II
2024
DRAGON’S DOGMA II TASTES SO GOOD WHEN U AIN’T GOT A BITCH IN YA EAR TELLING YOU ABOUT THE MTX THAT CAN BE EARNED NORMALLY IN GAME
Most fun I've had with a videogame ever. Finished after 102+ hours because I love farming and this game is so addicting I LOVE the gameplay so much it's unreal. Even with the crap AI and some unpolished jank here and there and weird game design choices this is a unique experience. I can't imagine what Dragon's Dogma 2 can be if THIS is a 5/5
Exoprimal
2023
Y'all did NOT play this game
Xenoblade Chronicles
2010
Highly recommend it if you’ve never watched a shonen anime before so you’ll think it’s doing something new
Trepang2
2023
This review contains spoilers
i don't think i ever had this experience where a game i was loving so much, soured so spectacularly. the first few hours of it, i was ready to give it 5 stars, gushing with praises about the impact of weapons, the shotgun specifically that melts people at close range and evaporates heads while a brain flies of to some random place in the room, the perfect emulation of john wick and how sliding into a group of enemies is like a strike in bowling.
and then the problems started. sure, as a fear spiritual successor i was expecting horror, and so the goop zombies although not great enemies felt ok, and the mothman was kinda even cool, but the level design started to become boring.
and then it nosedives, with a jumpscare i actually groaned at it. a forced stealth segment with the dumbest most youtuber spooking ass monster you ever saw. and then, why not? the backrooms. not inspired or anything, the actual backroom, just because it automatically makes the game scary i guess? even though it makes no sense?
this soon is followed my a succession of awful bosses, weird story, dialogue and NPCs and the dumbest and most predictable betrayal ever written in video games. and in this torrent of bad stuff, the mediocre edges start to surface. the repetitiveness of the combat, the emptiness of the hub in-between missions, the lack of any uniqueness and originality in the design of characters, levels and even the world.
i am actually annoyed not just at the game itself, but at how much it goes downhill after a few short levels. started with a strong 5 and ended with a 1, so i guess a 3 is fair score overall.
and then the problems started. sure, as a fear spiritual successor i was expecting horror, and so the goop zombies although not great enemies felt ok, and the mothman was kinda even cool, but the level design started to become boring.
and then it nosedives, with a jumpscare i actually groaned at it. a forced stealth segment with the dumbest most youtuber spooking ass monster you ever saw. and then, why not? the backrooms. not inspired or anything, the actual backroom, just because it automatically makes the game scary i guess? even though it makes no sense?
this soon is followed my a succession of awful bosses, weird story, dialogue and NPCs and the dumbest and most predictable betrayal ever written in video games. and in this torrent of bad stuff, the mediocre edges start to surface. the repetitiveness of the combat, the emptiness of the hub in-between missions, the lack of any uniqueness and originality in the design of characters, levels and even the world.
i am actually annoyed not just at the game itself, but at how much it goes downhill after a few short levels. started with a strong 5 and ended with a 1, so i guess a 3 is fair score overall.
The Last of Us
2013
looking back to the miserable state of the games industry in the seventh generation, i have to say that the feverish cries to find the citizen kane of gaming - basically paltry, philistine shorthand for the holy grail of the medium, a work that legitimizes the practice and is enshrined in the canon - were super funny, not only because of the obvious nod to that works strengths with relation to filmmaking (which cant be replicated in games wholesale), but also way more specifically because that movie is the direct result of several contextual, social, and political factors that basically 100% mean games will literally never, ever get their own citizen kane. the last of us, for a time, was that 'citizen kane', in the eyes of many. which is insane because this title introduces literally nothing new in the AAA environ through either storytelling, mechanics, or structure (even when it was released it was patchwork pastiche of everything that came before it) and on top of that it was heavily corporate funded focus-tested prestige slush which in effect fully betrays the idea of this game being a ‘citizen kane’ type. a citizen kane of the medium would have to do more than be soulless and perfunctory interactivity Big Video Games decide for you has artistic merit - i'd even go one step further to say that if anything, Big Video Games would probably frown on the citizen kane of video games, similarly to how orson welles legacy was attacked and dismantled by hollywoods vanguard again and again, and again and again and again. it amuses me this is happening yet again with god of war but what can i say i guess it's tough being a sore winner