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Blog Your Current Game

Final Fantasy 7 Remake: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

I will start with the ugly, since that won't take long: Character hair. With the highly detailed character models, the horrible looking, and even worse moving hair looks creepy. "Creepy" is not a word you want associated with a character like Tifa, but hair does not move like that, or even kinda like that. It is really noticeable with some characters, and kinda noticeable with them all.

The Bad(this will take a little longer, but still not long):

Character animations: not the fighting animations, but the standing around having a conversation animations, which are weird, nothing like how people actually move, with gestures not one makes, and they make them constantly. Once you get to the third chapter it is really noticeable due to the busy residential section it takes place in.

English voice acting: using the word "acting" to describe it is being generous. This is a remake of FF7...spend the money to get real actors!

Combat: I have gotten it figured out, and am not bad at it(I still suck at dodging and blocking tho), but it just really is not terribly good. You start a fight spamming the square key to attack. Each attack builds the ATB bars(there are two of them) Once you fill a bar, you can use a potion, or a spell, or an ability, or every so often a limit break. Then you spam the square key again. You can dodge and black, but usually it is better to just keep attacking. You control one of the characters in the party, and can switch characters at will. The characters you are not controlling will be doing very little useful. Watching Barrett shoot at a mob with his shots blocked by the corner of a building is frustrating.

The good:

Visuals: with the exception of character hair, and the occasional weird design choice, the game looks just incredible. Despite being a console game, the graphics are up there with the best of PC gaming. The character designs are simply nearly perfect, bringing the old, blocky pixels to life. Hats off to the art team, they knocked it out of the park.

Story: Well, it is FF7, so you knew it would be good, but it is still worth raving about. Early on, Cloud has a flashback to Sephiroth in front of Cloud's home village, which is aflame, with Sephiroth talking about having killed (presumably in context) Cloud's mother. Cloud's shocked expression suggests strongly that like the original, his memories have been altered. Little touches like that are really great.

3:00 mark:



There are some changes and rearangments, but the main story looks to be sticking very close to the original, as it should. Side characters get a little more attention and help with the world building(I have fallen head over heals for Jesse...)

Quests: To flesh out the run time, a bunch of side quests have been added, they range from meh, to kinda cool. Overall a nice addition, but not great.

Overall score: 4 3/4 stars


I’d also like to add horrendous lighting transitions when entering and exiting buildings during the day to the ugly but im enjoying the game.
 
In the second tutorial I was attacking a bunch of enemies, but my own units steadily degraded to the point where they were so weak I couldnt attack anymore. Then the enemy counterattacked and wiped them all out. Can you reinforce your depleted units during the mission?

I do not remember the details of the second mission, but you can reinforce inmission. It is the plus on the vertical menu thing.
 
Crafting is pretty much a necessity in the game. The good news is that the most useful skill line, consumables, is also the easiest to max out. If you're a completion fanatic then you're screwed. Enchantments and jewelry take forever to max out. The Nirnhoned trait is also totally impossible unless you play Craglorn group events and even then it's a long haul unless you join a crafting guild.

The good news is that most sets can be crafted or discovered as a single player and will be fine for PvE play.

Yeah, I've got some ideas of some 8 trait crafting sets that I would want, but I have grown quite fond of the Rattlecage/Ice Furnace pairing, and when I get the right 5/5 of those two I will grind for the VoM monster 2 piece helmet and shoulders.

By then I'm guessing the wind will be out of my sails and I will set the game aside. I'm not really quite as driven now to max crafting now that I have the dungeon grind goal. I mainly wanted a Crit Proc DPS 5 piece, but I think the flat DPS bonus of Rattlecage is better, especially with the AOE proc from Ice Furnace.

I spent my time between dungeons this week collecting lore books rather than gathering materials, so maybe I'm already over the crafting grind but haven't told myself yet. :lol:
 
New X-com game is out, and it is very meh. However, Gears Tactics is out, which is X-Com without the strategic layer, but with chain saws. It is awesome!
 
New X-com game is out, and it is very meh. However, Gears Tactics is out, which is X-Com without the strategic layer, but with chain saws. It is awesome!

I was just coming here to talk about X-Com: Chimera Squad. It is indeed very meh.

Something kept nagging about me about the game that seemed very familiar and unpleasant but I couldn't put my finger on it and then it hit me and I laughed....

It has all the style and pace of an HR or OpSec training video...
 
Just a heads up for any interested, Tuesday will see the release on the Epic store of the Old World early access. The lead designer is the guy who was the lead designer of Civ 3 and 4(the high points of the series), and the game itself looks to be a cross between Civ and Crusader Kings, with gorgeous art. Guess what I am doing Tuesday...
 
Getting closer to the end of my Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced replay. Old games like that are the main reason I have Steam.

I also recently noticed there's a Baldur's Gate: Dragonspear set between I and II. Good thing I finished I but only barely started II. Guess I'll import the character and do that next.
 
Getting closer to the end of my Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced replay. Old games like that are the main reason I have Steam.

I also recently noticed there's a Baldur's Gate: Dragonspear set between I and II. Good thing I finished I but only barely started II. Guess I'll import the character and do that next.

Baldur's Gate II is great. Great story, great art, great characters.

It is also one of those few AD&D games that, like Planescape: Torment, delves into the world of the Level 20+ Demigods as player characters and does it well.
 
Baldur's Gate II is great. Great story, great art, great characters.

It is also one of those few AD&D games that, like Planescape: Torment, delves into the world of the Level 20+ Demigods as player characters and does it well.

I played the first Baulder's Gate on my Amiga a lifetime ago. How is the revised version?
 
I played the first Baulder's Gate on my Amiga a lifetime ago. How is the revised version?

I haven't tried the revised version. You can also buy them for Android and, I assume, iOS.
 
Old World is awesome, and really tough. It looks so much like Civ with better art, but if you try and play it like Civ you will get your ass kicked. Some neat innovations for 4x games:

1: Leaders have stats, and getting stats is important. But your leader will only live so long, so you also have to get the heirs stats. Plus you want minor characters you can put in positions like general, so you need them to have stats. Oh, and they all can gain experience, which is important too.
2: Orders. You get a certain number of orders each turn(and there are ways you can increase the number you get), and each time you move a unit, you use an order. That means you can move a unit multiple times a turn(up to the units fatigue limit). So early game, you can move your scouts long distances, but later, when trying to move a big army, orders will be a big limit and you may not be able to move all your units.
3: quests. You actually win the game by completing a certain number of quests.
4: tons and tons of scripted events.
 
Playing Battlefield 1, and... boy its so much killing, my brain goes numb after about 15 minutes. Jesus. I dunno if Im even enjoying this or not. :wow:
 
Playing Battlefield 1, and... boy its so much killing, my brain goes numb after about 15 minutes. Jesus. I dunno if Im even enjoying this or not. :wow:

Battlefield 1 wasn't perfect, but I always liked the game because it felt like an honest labor of love; the animation quality, the small details, grand operations, all made it seem like the design team really poured their heart into it.

Battlefield V by comparison felt so rushed and incomplete. They're ending support for the game and they never even introduced the Eastern Front at all.
 
Started up a Planescape:Torment (Enhanced) game. Very promising.
 
I played Torment a long time ago, when I first started out as an expat. One of the few D&D games I didnt finish, because I was confused by what was happening, so I just gave up. The whole thing seemed pointless.
 
I played Torment a long time ago, when I first started out as an expat. One of the few D&D games I didnt finish, because I was confused by what was happening, so I just gave up. The whole thing seemed pointless.

It seems to be a game where one must pay attention, remember things, and think. There's more to do than just pew pew.
 
It seems to be a game where one must pay attention, remember things, and think. There's more to do than just pew pew.

Thank you, Capt. Obvious. :roll: I played many different types of games for years, its just that Torment's plot in particular was so opaque I had a hard time figuring out the whole story. Feel free to enlighten me if your experience proved otherwise.
 
I played Torment a long time ago, when I first started out as an expat. One of the few D&D games I didnt finish, because I was confused by what was happening, so I just gave up. The whole thing seemed pointless.

Without going into too much depth, Here is the basic plot (might be slightly spoilery?)

You are an immortal. Your body carries the scars as evidence that you have died many times, usually horribly, but you always come back to life. Each time you seem to lose some memory. On your latest reincarnation you have forgotten everything, including your own name. You are confronted in the mortuary by an apparition of a woman who you might have once loved who tells you that there is something important that you must remember. The rest of the game is a quest to rebuild your memory, learning who you were and measuring that against who you wish to be. This same plot extends to those who follow you through the story as you help them each on their own journeys, some fulfilling some real world quests, others entirely cerebral.

How the game plays out for you and those around you is heavily dependent on the character you develop and the choices he makes along the way.

It plays kind of like a cross between an adventure game and an RPG.
 
Without going into too much depth, Here is the basic plot (might be slightly spoilery?)

You are an immortal. Your body carries the scars as evidence that you have died many times, usually horribly, but you always come back to life. Each time you seem to lose some memory. On your latest reincarnation you have forgotten everything, including your own name. You are confronted in the mortuary by an apparition of a woman who you might have once loved who tells you that there is something important that you must remember. The rest of the game is a quest to rebuild your memory, learning who you were and measuring that against who you wish to be. This same plot extends to those who follow you through the story as you help them each on their own journeys, some fulfilling some real world quests, others entirely cerebral.

How the game plays out for you and those around you is heavily dependent on the character you develop and the choices he makes along the way.

It plays kind of like a cross between an adventure game and an RPG.

Oh I know all that, its just that the quests I was doing didnt seem to add up to unraveling the overall secrets in a satisfactory way for me. I guess I just didnt grok it, and ended up quitting after playing it for days. Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale on the other hand, were awesome- because they had a clear story as to what was happening and what you needed to do.
 
Without going into too much depth, Here is the basic plot (might be slightly spoilery?)

You are an immortal. Your body carries the scars as evidence that you have died many times, usually horribly, but you always come back to life. Each time you seem to lose some memory. On your latest reincarnation you have forgotten everything, including your own name. You are confronted in the mortuary by an apparition of a woman who you might have once loved who tells you that there is something important that you must remember. The rest of the game is a quest to rebuild your memory, learning who you were and measuring that against who you wish to be. This same plot extends to those who follow you through the story as you help them each on their own journeys, some fulfilling some real world quests, others entirely cerebral.

How the game plays out for you and those around you is heavily dependent on the character you develop and the choices he makes along the way.

It plays kind of like a cross between an adventure game and an RPG.

BLAH!
I wish we had proper spoiler tags on this site.

I worked out that every time for him is the first time. You couldn't miss it. "Immortal" goes a bit farther than I figured, unless that's only a loose reference to the advice given by said apparation.... something that must be given up......

Quasi-immortal, perhaps.

At any rate, it is story-heavy and very intriguing. It also happens to follow a theme that for some reason I keep coming back to, in both literature, TV, etc. Around and around a loop, on and on, perhaps self-damnation even in a good cause.

I only hope I manage to pay enough attention to remember it all. Several months ago was a long-hour blur of work, the last few months....what it has been....and I've got other much bigger things on the very near horizon. It's nice to have a game that isn't mostly killing things, though I do like those quite a bit.
 
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