maximumpayn
2024
I honestly don't get the hatred besides speculation this might be AI generated - I have yet to see proof of the claim besides the "it took too little to make all the 100 Pals" all in the same breath as "they ripped off Pokémons" and considering people are starting to throw around the accusation to everything and everyone, I'll wait for concrete evidence before throwing a spear their way.
I'm pretty sure the low development time on designs maybe comes from them being Fakemons. There's 100 of them and some have variations of their elements (Broncherry, Broncherry Aqua, Relaxosaurus, Relaxosaurus Lux, Jolthog, Jolthog Cryst, Mau, Mau Cryst) and the rest of the assets are semi-recycled from Craftopia (which people were mad about because it took heavy inspiration from Breath of the Wild).
If there is one thing I need to concede is that the studio behind this game and Craftopia tends to take very popular ideas that sold well in the past and make them on PC - which was what Pokémon was lacking as a market.
That said, it's a dumb fun game to play with friends where you mix up ARK style gameplay with Craftopia/survival-genre adjacent mechanics.
Playing it on GamePass at the moment. Would honestly play this rather than the shameful Open World experience in Scarlet/Violet.
I'm pretty sure the low development time on designs maybe comes from them being Fakemons. There's 100 of them and some have variations of their elements (Broncherry, Broncherry Aqua, Relaxosaurus, Relaxosaurus Lux, Jolthog, Jolthog Cryst, Mau, Mau Cryst) and the rest of the assets are semi-recycled from Craftopia (which people were mad about because it took heavy inspiration from Breath of the Wild).
If there is one thing I need to concede is that the studio behind this game and Craftopia tends to take very popular ideas that sold well in the past and make them on PC - which was what Pokémon was lacking as a market.
That said, it's a dumb fun game to play with friends where you mix up ARK style gameplay with Craftopia/survival-genre adjacent mechanics.
Playing it on GamePass at the moment. Would honestly play this rather than the shameful Open World experience in Scarlet/Violet.
2012
This review contains spoilers
This was the experience for me: none of the other MMORPGs I had played until that point and the ones I played after ever came close to the same hype and love I poured into this game.
The story was unique and seasonal events built upon the overall lore of the world while establishing canonicity to some of the larger speculations (take "The Seven Silences" or "The Meowing"), reinforced the presence of entities we had only glimpsed at before.
It's such a shame it ended how it ended. It was janky and poorly maintained but it was my neglected child.
The story was unique and seasonal events built upon the overall lore of the world while establishing canonicity to some of the larger speculations (take "The Seven Silences" or "The Meowing"), reinforced the presence of entities we had only glimpsed at before.
It's such a shame it ended how it ended. It was janky and poorly maintained but it was my neglected child.
2018
Amazing artstyle coupled with a fluent and vibrant gameplay and dotted with NPCs with their own motives and reasons. Despite taking artistic liberties in their designs, it's so easy to tell at a glance which God an NPC is supposed to be (aside from being outright told to you).
I haven't gotten around to finish it but it's still one of the best rougelites out there.
I haven't gotten around to finish it but it's still one of the best rougelites out there.
2020
This review contains spoilers
The game is "just okay".
The characters are written okay, some of them excel in their writing material (Astarion) but the others have their meat and giblets offered to you by mid-Act 2 if you've been diligent with not pissing them off and haven't gone the "other way" with the story; I wouldn't mind it if it weren't that it offers such a different experience between differing gameplays.
The plotline is "just fine": it's your average WOTC campaign without a human DM.
The mechanics are "just okay": while using D&D 5e as a base core system, the games chickens out of taking the full potential of spells and mechanics due to restrictions of the core game itself. Biggest gripe I have is that a fight can last way longer than it's meant to be due to fumbling rolls consistently for multiple turns on end, on multiple characters. Is it mechanic-adherent? Yes, but a DM can usually intervene to fix the pacing while in BG3 you're only at the mercy of whenever your dice will roll decently or Karmic Dice will either help you or screw you over.
The enemies are "okay", they're your standard fare for a D&D 5e experience: goblins, gnolls, kobolds, mindflayers, some higher CR enemies sprinkled there and then. I was pleasantly surprised by the Shadow-cursed enemies in Act 2 and the Underdark's presence in Act 1.
The Dark Urge writing was put together with a lot of care and thought, which made for an enjoyable second playthrough that felt a bit more different than the first complete one.
All in all, it could've been much better as an experience but it's a good starting point to see where it'll end. Definitely made some of the lore of D&D more accessible to people.
The characters are written okay, some of them excel in their writing material (Astarion) but the others have their meat and giblets offered to you by mid-Act 2 if you've been diligent with not pissing them off and haven't gone the "other way" with the story; I wouldn't mind it if it weren't that it offers such a different experience between differing gameplays.
The plotline is "just fine": it's your average WOTC campaign without a human DM.
The mechanics are "just okay": while using D&D 5e as a base core system, the games chickens out of taking the full potential of spells and mechanics due to restrictions of the core game itself. Biggest gripe I have is that a fight can last way longer than it's meant to be due to fumbling rolls consistently for multiple turns on end, on multiple characters. Is it mechanic-adherent? Yes, but a DM can usually intervene to fix the pacing while in BG3 you're only at the mercy of whenever your dice will roll decently or Karmic Dice will either help you or screw you over.
The enemies are "okay", they're your standard fare for a D&D 5e experience: goblins, gnolls, kobolds, mindflayers, some higher CR enemies sprinkled there and then. I was pleasantly surprised by the Shadow-cursed enemies in Act 2 and the Underdark's presence in Act 1.
The Dark Urge writing was put together with a lot of care and thought, which made for an enjoyable second playthrough that felt a bit more different than the first complete one.
All in all, it could've been much better as an experience but it's a good starting point to see where it'll end. Definitely made some of the lore of D&D more accessible to people.
2015
One of the best ARGs Alice&Smith has put out - while I do like Nite Team 4, the original two titles (TBW and Ahnayro) are overall just better experiences overall.
With the advent of 2024, A&S has relaunched the game and fixed everything that had slowly gone out of hosting and was not reachable anymore, along with an ARG teser to crack names Rose Cottage.
9/10 recommend if you are into heavy puzzles.
With the advent of 2024, A&S has relaunched the game and fixed everything that had slowly gone out of hosting and was not reachable anymore, along with an ARG teser to crack names Rose Cottage.
9/10 recommend if you are into heavy puzzles.