... title is all you need to know.
- Visuals with crushing black shadows - No tooltip on abilties with controller - Small UI - Boring combat - No manaul save Not worth the 3 bucks from the sale.
Is it the gaming revolution we where promised? No. Is it a good game? Yes. But also No. The cyberpunk universe has lots of potential for interesting translations into gaming, but this title feels half cooked. The main story is drowned in a see of openworld sidequests, icons and secondary fluff. It is visually the most stunning example of what current graphics can do on PC, but it is also mixed with the most broken aritficial intelligence of enemies and npc. The cinematics are good but still behind even those of the original Mass Effect. The most memorable moments dont come from the main story but from sidequests. The core loop of the game is going from one main quest to the other, while doing some sidequest to grind the cash needed for the very expensive gear and all that while driving for the most part. The issues start here: the driving is below average, even worse then GTAV and that's an achievement on his own. The combat with a controller, even with snap-targeting is clunky. The economy is unbalanced overall with excessive prices even for mid-tier level items, which causes the player to ignore shops and loot everything, triggering the next issue: unsatisfactory loot. Character progress is boring with perks giving "10% more damage on torso shots". Player starts out with a small apartment, gets a few smaller apartments later, but no garage or car personalisation. Gear wise you have the choices between high level stats or looking like a colorblind anti-fashion snob. The most annoying aspects are the user interface, especially the crafting section. The rest of the UI is bad in terms of usability with popup windows full of small unreadable text. No option for changing the HUD color from the default distracting red. Health bar placed in the top left corner forces the palyer to constantly switch sights from the center of the screen, where the attention is required, to the borders and back, which will increase the sense of frustration.
Unfortunately this spiritual successor broke the already fragile combat balance of the original title in a result that is simply not fun and that quickly leads to frustration. Story progression also suffers from a lack of clear narrative path and heavily relies on discovering hidden info on characters to attempt a bond with what feels like shallow figures. As a huge fan of the previous title this was hard to write but in the end not having fun is a death sentence for any game.
Another game where looks cant save an utterly frustrating game in both combat balance, combat mechanics, fights lenght, healing mechanics and becomes a chore after just a handful hours. You will fight and hate the combat, not the enemy. Easier game difficulties cant save a broken core combat. Crafting takes lots of items that can only be used once. Tank fighter has to be in front row and the moment it is incapacitated the baklines will fall in a couple hits (on easy). Imagine going against a group and you will get wiped in two rounds if you have a bad roll start.
Beautiful graphics alone cant keep this boat afloat. Unbalanced, grindy combat with difficulty spikes at every new area. Economy is a joke and getting even basic potions to keep you going is a slog. Grind for crafting materials to create a new piece of equipment only gives a slight bonus in damage while sacrificing as much in other parameters. Basic and bland story. Characters introduced and thrown into your party like a hitchhiker. Barely one sentence of text and off you go. Not worth 5 bucks, not worth your time.
Beautiful visuals, annoying camera, slow fights and a bloody sudden spike in difficulty just a few steps into the story quickly make you realize your time is better spent elsewhere.
Every now and then a little game comes out that ticks all the right boxes and this one is almost perfect, save for the very short campaign that ends too quickly once you have your classic RPG means of mobility, crew and understanding of the game mechanics checked.
A downgrade from the previous title, Neon Chrome, which had better item management and level progression. In this title moving to a new map requires a certain amount of stars, gained via challenges, which are scarse and comprised of many objectives that are frustrating to finish, with no options to choose a different set of challenges, lower difficulty or skip it. Quickly hitting a wall in difficulty, frustration and fun the game offers no alternatives to bypass such flaws.
Bland, stereotypical, slow and boring expression of the sad state of actual JRPG. PROS: - Visuals (on high settings) - Textures (aside from terrain) - Combat CONS: - Story (military settings is just a setup for boring school chores and fetch-quests) - Story progress (same fetch quest loop multiplied on different towns) - Character stereotypes (especially female misrepresentation) - Dialogues - Dungeon and landscape design (almost as bad as Tales of Berseria) The game doesnt get the lowest score as it doesnt have frustrating mechanics, game breaking bugs or difficulty spikes but it remains an expensive bland and not worthwhile JRPG that is cut short on the finale, asking for more money to continue the chore in the next title. Not worth on sale. Not worth your time.
