I went into this game expecting it to be absolute ass, but turns out, it was only moderately ass! Shame it's so buggy it's almost literally unplayable :,)

I'm not joking when I say that I had to conduct a six-step ritual in order to start this game up. You had to open origin, start game, end process, restart game, DO NOT IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE TOUCH A BUTTON, sit through a 30 min loading screen and then- voila. And it's not much of a voila either, considering how pouring half-an-hour into getting past the start screen wasn't a guarantee the game wouldn't crash once running. Oh and if I left the game unattended for more then ~7 minutes it just... froze? Which is pretty bad, considering the game is not good enough to bother EXORCISING BACK TO LIFE.

In all seriousness, it really wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. It has a touch of the soullessness I find plagues many modern triple-A releases with far-too-large open worlds (DA:I, Fallout 5, etc etc.), but it's not incoherent or unenjoyable- it's just meh. Story is meh. Ryder is meh. Companions are meh. Mechanics are meh. I like the concept itself well enough- in the beginning I was even enjoying myself- but the further the game went the more I just wanted it to end and to punch the shit out of Ryder and that dumb AI and the companions whose personality can be boiled down into one singular character trait that they kept nagging to you about over and over (Vetra and her sister, that engine guy's desire to have a child, Cora and THE ASARI YES WE GET IT- and so on).

On the plus side, this game really turned me off gaming, which is perfect in time for summer!

*slaps divinity original sin 2* this bad boy can fit so much fucking gameplay in it

this game absolutely rocks and I don't think I will ever shut up about it. not only is it a close-to-flawless RPGs on its own, it also features a multiplayer implementation(!!!!) that is absolutely stellar. there is so much I adore about this game and I don't think anything is ever going to come close to it in terms of personal attachment anytime soon. I could spend hours praising the combat or the writing or the music, but what really made this game for me was the insane attention to details. I was constantly amazed by call-backs to what at the time seemed like minor interactions and choices, even if just mentioned off-handedly. everything in this game is just brimming with /love/, from the carefully crafted companion storylines to details such as allowing the player to choose a personal instrument to carry the soundtrack. I don't usually like to replay games but I don't think I will be able to keep away from this for too long!