Welcome to the decade where everything is hyperbolic. Movie, game, song - doesn't matter what - it's either a masterpiece or worthless trash. BG3 has: Repetitive and boring combat that feels like full time job after 5 encounters. Loot system that turns you into a hoarder. Predictable characters with unrealistic attitude written all over them. Story that makes me wonder why anyone would want to go through this game again. So what is good about it ? It's actual real RPG based on 5E of D&D. I am convinced that someone should write scientific paper explaining phenomenon why this particular game got such a snowball effect of positivity. Larian previous game Divine Divinity 2 is basicaly a twin sister of BG3 and mainstream gamers didn't cared about that game at all. It's a freaking mystery to solve. Baldurs Gate 3. Average game that got lucky.
I wont go as far as 1 star like some others did. It would be unfair in comparison to regular trash that AAA gaming is often serving. This game at least has art direction and somewhat unique world design. So if to me The Witcher 3 is easly 5 stars game ( hell, i even consider first CDPR game, TW1 to be 5 stars ), Cyberpunk 2.0 + PL in comparison appears to me like a average game that was very expensive to make. I am convinced at this point that Cyberpunk 2077 exists just as a "tool" to wow people with: A). New Nvidia hardware B). movie stars C). Aggresive promotion of controversial things like Twitch streamers, Youtubers etc. Nothing ruins my immersion more then yelling twitch streamer standing on the street in very prominent spot where my character has to go back dozens of times. Now about patch 2.0 and PL. Call me stupid but to me this is not a Roleplaying game. I never feel even for a second that my character has actual stats, atrributes, skills etc. PL has engaging story, well written characters ( mostly ) sure, but then there is endless push for action and over the top drama. Both, Phantom Liberty and legacy Cyberpunk are games worth playing for characters, story and original soundtrack. Gameplay mechanics are below average and RPG'ness of this game is non existent to me ( especialy since overhyped patch 2.0 ). What also annoys me is the economy at NC. Random garbage looting arround the world gives 20 times more money then completing a GIG or a mission where V is risking her/hes life. Math was never good in any CDPR games and they are still bad at it. I am hyped for The Witcher 1 remake. It can't be ruined since it's a remake... unless they add bunch of gaming "personalities" as NPC's (God, please no). But I fear for the new Witcher games cause CDPR has changed beyond recognition. Used to be super talented indie studio under the label " We are Rebels ". Now it's super rich studio with label " Above average with fancy graphics ".
Oh my, where do I begin. What I really want to express, this launch feels like something went wrong during developement. It looks to me, a lot of content got cut short. Negative feels first - mostly things that feel like they've got cut - and than I'll explain why 5 stars. - game doesn't have opening cinematic trailer ( real shock ) - no free DLC's at launch like TW3 had , with hair styles etc. - our apartement is boring and serves almost no purpose except "for flavour" - two interactable sex workers in the huge city of lust and decadency ( The Gummibears forest is more lewd) - calls from all NPC's are automaticaly ansered by V ( immersion breaking ) - game cuts into black screen - moves us - too many times without giving us any choice. It just happends becouse " it had to " (" everything from V's perspective " huh?) - no hair stylist in the entire game ( really ? even Witcher 3 had multiple barbers and it's a medieval fantasy world ) - the clothing shops are laughable, very few items to choose from even with high street cred. (fashion is important .. ) - it barely matters which lifepath we choose. Lifepaths were hyped too much, so it feels now like it was a lie about how important this decision was. -crafting sucks All of the above really feels like a bunch of content that was cut short or they wouldn't realese this game even in the 2021. So, why I'm giving Cyberpunk 2077 five stars after this "rant" ? Becouse this is amazing game that will make you smile and cry. Great story, characters, fluid combat, different approach to missions, fantastic open world, quests decision making... ...and the most immersive NPC interactions I have ever seen in my life. Motion capture on characters, voice acting, writing, music in the background... goosebumps. To me, Cyberpunk 2077 launch is a full price worthy beta version of what will come later. They have playfield now of what to do with this game, and I have real belief that this is only the beginning.
Beneath a Steel Sky is not timeless classic but it's worth playing. This game is free, and if you like point click adventure games - try it.
I was beta testing this game for 2 years. Final version that came live is very different game. They've added ton of features that does nothing for complexity of the game. Game is slow, tedious and solution for that are animations so fast, you can barely tell what is going on when special card is played. Gold limit got removed and now all the strategy you need is to draw full hand of gold cards in Round 3. In Beta Gwent there was insane ammount of synergies between the cards, and bronze cards mattered. Now bronze cards are garbage you throw away in Round 1, and only reason you adding them to the deck is provision system that forces you to fit into specific points limit. Every time when there's new expansion I'm giving new Gwent a chance, and I'm edning up uninstalling it after few games becouse my jaw hurts from all the yawns. 2 stars just for the art and Witcher universe. This is awful game.
POE2 is RPG that we don't see very often lately , designed at its core to be computer version of pen and paper roleplaying game , and that itself gives this game high rating just for beeing a gem among stupidity of modern dumb console gamepad friendly action types of "RPG's" that polluted the earth. Worth to mention - this game feeds on nostalgia, there is no doubt about it , fans of Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale or even Planescape Torment, can find home in POE world . But this is a good thing, I rather see clones of great games than something i could barely call an RPG . Couple of things i really hate in POE2 . The World - I'm not big fan of Fantasy world where you cannot tell in which real world era game is set . Couple of examples, if you see Conan, that is ancient era type of Fantasy, if you see Lord of the Rings, that is Middleages world type of Fantasy, Medieval times with magic ,dragons etc . What is POE2 than ? I HAVE NO IDEA . It's like you take typical Fantasy world and throw it into 17th18th century colonial times mixed with Fantasy Medieval Era . Bows, Knights... Pirates, Guns... Elves,Druids...Cannons,Machines, Colonial type of town with fairly modern spanish carribean architecture ... all of the sudden dun dun 11th century CASTLE guarded by a dragon :P The Combat - it has been proven on multiple occasions, turn based combat works much better in highly complicated games with insane ammount of abilities . But yet again, they HAVE to make combat similar to old cRPG's like Baldurs Gate becouse that is their main audience . However there is option to set combat in slow motion which really helps so we dont have to spam spacebar every 0,5 second to catch a grip on what is going on . Aside from some problems, gaming world would be much better place with RPG's like POE2 as standard.
Great game and alterantive to Panzer General if you're not into WW2 . Superb design, multiple strategies,units can get experience , heroes, upgrades, research, everything what turn based strategy should have . Campaign is challenging and you neeed to carry on with units that survived previous missions, very tough game to beat which makes it super fun to play . I rememeber having this on CD-ROM and it was my first strategy of this type . Maybe nostalgia is speaking but to me this is 5 stars game in this genre and i got it for free from GOG <3 :)
You can very mixed feelings about this game . Mix of amazing story and mediocre gameplay . Three core offensive units are basicaly balanced arround rock,paper,scissors game . Mobile artilery is good against armored units, Armored units are good against fast small units, and fast small units are good against artillery . It doesn't feel very appealing . Other problem is multitasking, I find this game very difficult to play, everything is happening at the same time, you just got message about discovering new artifact, meanwhile your units are attacked, resources are depleted, main character is at 75% of her life , builder got destroyed and enemy units are spotted on multiple locations - you got the picture . Story is amazing and very engaging , you dont have "whatever i dont care - SKIP " moment in this game. Everything is told in interesting way. But my main issue is optimalization, game is very demanding and frame drops are all over the place , which is probaly fault of Unity Engine . You need to have top notch PC to run this game at stable 60 fps .
