2021
I did not complete this game. I thought it was great. I reached chapter 5-1. I was playing it as a shared app from the original admin of my Quest 2. The device started bugging out. I factory reset the machine. My save data was deleted. I now know that save data is not backed up to your account if you are playing a game that is being shared with you. Why do companies do this. The whole mess is unjustified and I am tired. That is all.
2011
I can fully understand someone hating this game; if I was not using the wiki while playing I would have given up an hour in. However, I have now put over 700 combined hours into base Terraria and tModLoader (Calamity alone), and I find the progression of your character's strength and abilities to be consistently engaging and rewarding.
There are several different classes and sub-classes you can play as, all offering tailored experiences (to the extent of the collection of materials that benefit your specific class, mostly in the form of fighting enemies). These help to differentiate your runs and give you a better handle on all of the content the game has to offer. While on paper it does not sound all that interesting or unique, the art direction and sound design really bring together what the game is aiming for, in my opinion anyway.
I think that the building is a great system, but I am not nearly creative enough to come up with super interesting builds to focus my runs on. Exploration, too, feels great; the rapid progression of being able to maneuver your way around underground and in the sky is very nice. The bosses and combat are the real stand out of the game for me, though. It is extremely satisfying to finally beat a major boss after several hours of collecting the right materials to make a cool new weapon and learning an enemies attacks.
I also believe that multiplayer is pretty much a necessity for having the most fun playing this. If I had not been playing with a friend, I am not sure how much I would have enjoyed it, considering how slow it can be at times. In totality though, I have really appreciated all of the time I have poured into the two iterations of Terraria that I have played.
There are several different classes and sub-classes you can play as, all offering tailored experiences (to the extent of the collection of materials that benefit your specific class, mostly in the form of fighting enemies). These help to differentiate your runs and give you a better handle on all of the content the game has to offer. While on paper it does not sound all that interesting or unique, the art direction and sound design really bring together what the game is aiming for, in my opinion anyway.
I think that the building is a great system, but I am not nearly creative enough to come up with super interesting builds to focus my runs on. Exploration, too, feels great; the rapid progression of being able to maneuver your way around underground and in the sky is very nice. The bosses and combat are the real stand out of the game for me, though. It is extremely satisfying to finally beat a major boss after several hours of collecting the right materials to make a cool new weapon and learning an enemies attacks.
I also believe that multiplayer is pretty much a necessity for having the most fun playing this. If I had not been playing with a friend, I am not sure how much I would have enjoyed it, considering how slow it can be at times. In totality though, I have really appreciated all of the time I have poured into the two iterations of Terraria that I have played.
2001
This review contains spoilers
(Major spoilers for Mulholland Drive & Silent Hill 2)
The parallel between this game and the film Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch) is extremely interesting to me. They were both released in 2001, and they are the exact opposite in their interpretations of the exact same subject; guilt.
In the "Leave" ending of SH2 (the one that most players will get the first time around), after all of the hideous monsters and terrifying locations that James has fought his way through, he is granted an ending of redemption. Alongside Laura, he moves past the guilt he feels and sets himself free from his nightmare version of Silent Hill. In Mulholland Drive, we see the opposite. Diane imagines a magical fantasy world in which she can be with the one she loves guilt free. We then see the dream collapse into itself, and, Diane, not being able to handle the guilt in the real world, takes her life.
The major difference between the two is that in Silent Hill 2 there are several different endings. We only ever see Diane's story end in one way, but James' story has multiple different outcomes. On the whole though, they both deal with guilt over the murder of their loved one, and are unnervingly, at times beautifully, ethereal.
The parallel between this game and the film Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch) is extremely interesting to me. They were both released in 2001, and they are the exact opposite in their interpretations of the exact same subject; guilt.
In the "Leave" ending of SH2 (the one that most players will get the first time around), after all of the hideous monsters and terrifying locations that James has fought his way through, he is granted an ending of redemption. Alongside Laura, he moves past the guilt he feels and sets himself free from his nightmare version of Silent Hill. In Mulholland Drive, we see the opposite. Diane imagines a magical fantasy world in which she can be with the one she loves guilt free. We then see the dream collapse into itself, and, Diane, not being able to handle the guilt in the real world, takes her life.
The major difference between the two is that in Silent Hill 2 there are several different endings. We only ever see Diane's story end in one way, but James' story has multiple different outcomes. On the whole though, they both deal with guilt over the murder of their loved one, and are unnervingly, at times beautifully, ethereal.