"The stage set for greatness with no audience to witness"

Perhaps Dragon's Dogma 2 can be summarized by its own credits song. A great game with potential to become even better but held back by its lifeless world and NPCs and a promising story with a lackluster finale, hence the "no audience to witness" and "stage set for greatness"

First of my two major complaints about this game is the NPCs. They come across as lifeless shells, aimlessly wandering and repeating their lines even amidst impending apocalyptic events. Ironically, the Pawns, known for their lack of true humanity, exhibit more personality than the entirety of the game's generic NPCs.

The second issue lies with the story. While it starts off strong, it loses momentum along the way. The concluding part feels vague and lacks adequate explanation, leaving much to the player's interpretation. The titular Dragon's role feels underutilized, almost as if it's there merely for the game's namesake. Despite the hyped-up finale, it feels disjointed from the overall narrative. Nonetheless, I found immense enjoyment in witnessing my Arisen and my pawn in the captivating and badass final cutscene.

One minor complaint I'd like to add to this review is the consistent superiority of shop/vendor loot compared to items found through exploration. However, it's a relief that we no longer have to resort to save-scumming to obtain desired items from chests, like we did in the first game.

Apart from that, I find that this game presents a truly captivating fantasy world and offers enjoyable gameplay, especially with its combat and exploration mechanics. Each Vocation (which are essentially the classes of this game) provides a unique and enjoyable experience, although Trickster might be an exception. I noticed that the magic-based Vocations feel a bit lacking compared to the first game since many spells from the first game is not included, even so I still find playing magic-based Vocations enjoyable, especially since being able to cast spells while moving makes a significant difference. On the other hand, melee-based Vocations feel very impactful. I had a lot of fun playing Warrior; knocking everything off balance and hearing that satisfying break guard sound every time my giant sword connects with something. The game map is vast but its usually filled with goblins, green goblins, wolves, and red wolves. This didn't bother me much, although I do agree with the criticism that the game lacks variety. Finally, the Pawns in this game feel surprisingly alive for some reason. Although they still repeat the same lines frequently, I can't help but feel attached to my main pawn when I reflect on the journey we had together after finishing the game in around 70 hours.

If you're able to overlook its flaws and the subpar optimization, this game provides a truly memorable experience, potentially standing out as one of the best in recent years. Hopefully CAPCOM will release a DLC soon, so I can return to adventuring with my main pawn.

"the cast take their place
raise the curtain and let the drama unfold

all told we'll be glad that we got to play"

It's like a less scary stalker experience with a car in it, featuring fun gameplay and progression. The pacing and storyline are genuinely intriguing throughout the journey. However, reaching the end, you realize that nothing significant unfolds. Instead of feeling a sense of accomplishment and perhaps a tinge of sadness that often accompanies completing a compelling game, you're left feeling disappointed. Despite its potential for a solid 4 perhaps a 4.5-star rating, I could only muster a 3.5 due to the lackluster finale.

This isn’t merely a game; it's an interactive portrayal of love. The intricate details woven into this experience are crafted with such care and affection. Like how each main character has unique color palettes and how they blend upon meeting, or how each represent different things... The journey through multiple endings becomes so rewarding when you finally hear the heartwarming true ending song and then seeing the actual true ending unveils the song's deeper meaning, creating a truly remarkable and touching experience—one that everyone should experience.

This ranks as the least enjoyable Bethesda game I've ever experienced. I want to emphasize that my opinion about this game is not solely influenced by my bias from playing Baldur's Gate 3, as many tend to assume when people critique Starfield for some reason.

EDIT: I am creating a entire section at the end of my review to log how many times I got softlocked in the game. So many of which happened in the main quest and I couldn't straight up progress if I didn't use console commands, on one instance I got softlocked twice in the same quest.


(Warning: A barrage of personal opinions follows)
Bethesda needs to seriously evolve. They've stuck to the same gameplay formula since 2002? I mean, Skyrim was a blast in 2013 and remains one of my all-time favorites, but it's clearly lost its charm in 2023. This game probably boasts even more loading screens than Skyrim. Its gameplay is undeniably more tedious compared to Skyrim and Fallout 4, which, I admit, also weren't known for thrilling gameplay, but we're comparing their past titles here. This game occasionally crashes when I fast travel, and you do a ton of fast traveling in this game. On one occasion, fast traveling actually caused my PC to completely shut down – I saw a bunch of green pixels on a black screen, and my PC just rebooted. For the record, I've checked for overheating issues, and that's not the problem. I haven't completed the main storyline yet, but it's been dreadfully dull so far. I don't typically pass judgment on things I haven't finished unless they're exceptionally bad, and this falls into that category. It's just a slog to trudge through the main quests. However, the side quests and faction quests seem somewhat more enjoyable. Strangely, stealth doesn't function properly, yes, in a Bethesda RPG. Enemies can spot you from the opposite side of a building with their backs turned, and the entire building goes on high alert to your location. Everyone seems to praise the lockpick system, but to me, it's dreadfully dull and feels like a chore. I often skip containers when I see them, and, honestly, they usually just contain Junk(2) or Crap(5) anyway. The starship's function is practically nonexistent since you fast travel most of the time. You only use the ship for mandatory quests and random space battles. Not having maps didn't particularly bother me, but it's a peculiar design choice. The UI is a mess; do yourself a favor and download StarUI. There are no ground vehicles; you essentially bunny hop across the planets for literal kilometers. You can come across the same building/cave twice within 10 minutes. I cleared a building in Luna and traveled to Mars, first thing I find is exactly the same building with exactly the same enemy placement. Empty random generated planets, which aren’t really planets, just square areas you land on with invisible walls. Players get stuck on completely flat floors, NPCs glitch through walls – you know, the usual Bethesda bugs. The fact that they're still using the Creation Engine in 2023... Well, that's a whole other story. I might add more thoughts as they come to mind. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

!!! Following are the softlocks that I've encountered;
The Empty Nest main quest; "Take the artifact" wouldn't proc even if I did picked it up(and the event that's supposed to occur when you get out of the cave wouldn't occur), so I had to use a console command to progress the quest to next step.

All That Money Can Buy main quest; Near the end of the quest you have to talk to Walter before taking off from Neon, if you talk to him you can't leave the conversation and locked in a staring contest, your only option is to load a earlier save. I fixed this with a console command to progress the quest.

All That Money Can Buy main quest(2); After I fixed the conversation the quest progresses into "Take of from Neon", I take off, nothing happens. I can't fix it with console commands, if I do I can't control my ship for some reason. So I go switch my ship to "Wanderwell" instead of the "Frontier" I've build from scratch(deleted everything and made something new from the tutorial ship) and when I take off with that ship the quest progresses and the event that's supposed to proc in space once you take off happens.

Overdesigned side quest; Again you get stuck in a conversation with Walter when you try to complete the quest, granted this completes the quest but you are still stuck. But this time I can't leave the conversation even with console commands; "disable/enable", you can use "coc" command to teleport out of the Lodge and come back but Walter remains untalkable, like forever. There is no "Talk" button on him, so in fear or breaking things even further with the main quest because you literally can't talk to him I just forcefully completed the quest with a console command.

Nearly all Power from Beyond (power quests); all of the bugged after some point, and I don't know why. I land at the planets to find the temples, no scanner distortions, no nothing. If I find the temples by sheer luck, they are unnamed, just "Temple" and they don't give any powers.

Revelation main quest: The quest tells me to go to the Masada III. I jump there and what do you know, there is a floating quest marker. I assume it's supposed to be a ship but can't interact with it no matter what I do.

the only good things about this game are good music and mechanics and systems that got added to Genshin after the community cried their ass off are included in the game right from the launch so you can waste less of your time when grinding for 31 more damage.

boring gameplay and not because it's turn based, literally nothing to do besides lame quests, probably is a grindfest once you finish the available content.

lastly; story of the game takes itself too seriously, like I have no idea what the fuck is happening and people are still explaining random ass events and stuff to me. gods this gods that, except that particular lore it's just there to make gacha mechanics work. you can say that how are you planning to understand the lore/story when you don't care about said random ass events and stuff and my answer would be fuck you I don't care. I shouldn't need to read a goddamn novel to understand the world of a game. In my book if you need to sit through shit ton of dialogue to understand miniscule amount of the world, the game is inherently bad and lacks good narrative.

This game is truly exceptional, packed with a wide range of engaging activities, hidden treasures to discover, formidable monsters and bosses to confront, and captivating locations to explore. I don't know if people still say that but it is NOT the same game, it offers a fresh and unique experience and you will start to notice this after one or two hours.

The adaptive soundtrack adds an immersive touch, dynamically responding to your surroundings and actions. Building goofy ass contraptions, crafting sick ass weapons from the spoils of your foes, responsive and reactive controls (horses still suck don't ever use them, instead just build a bike and live out your Akira-inspired fantasies.) There is so much to praise about this game that this review would extend far beyond necessity.

Lastly, it is absolutely imperative that you avoid any spoilers for this game. I strongly advise disconnecting from all social media platforms and refraining from searching for any information about the game. Dive into the game without any prior knowledge and fully immerse yourself in its captivating world. Trust me, the last boss sequence alone will be an incredibly rewarding experience if you approach it with a blind playthrough. So, go ahead and indulge in the game without any hesitation or preconceptions. Enjoy every moment to the fullest.