This may have had a very rough start, but the patches and English dialogue overhaul make it a great experience for anyone who enjoys meaningful quests, a believable world, and realistic characters. My only recommendation for anyone considering purchasing it is to watch a gameplay video showing the combat, because it's likely to turn certain people away immediately. Try to play it like a hack & slash and you will die endlessly. Currently, it has its share of tiny errors that can be easily missed if players aren't looking for them. To avoid bugs/glitches, update your computer's graphics controller, audio controller, and verify the integrity of game cache before playing. The level design is so well thought out that the entire world feels expansive and every location feels like what it is. An hour into the game, the level design reminded me of Phantom Dust. Fourteen hours later, it still did. This isn't a negative trait in the slightest. There are more than enough non-mandatory side quests that get players more engulfed in the game world. Not a single quest is dull and pointless. All bring the world together and add character to its many inhabitants. Quest can go anywhere from helping prostitutes and mutants to stopping serial killers and spying on a political figure. Get ready for some odd situations you may not have been prepared for. The party members are interesting characters with their own motives, back-stories, and personalities. They actually comment on Roy's decisions (serum extraction and dialogue) every now and then. Those moments help breath life into his character and theirs. Conversations are well written and funny. Thanks to the dialogue, I've found myself caring about the characters I met throughout the game. The actual war logs used in the game is a nice touch. It adds first person perspective immersion for those who are interested. Think of the journal from the Elder Scrolls series or, more accurately, Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura.
Yeah, this is pretty solid. Think Darkest Dungeon's sudden banes/afflictions mixed with the need to memorize Dark Souls: PDE's enemy patterns. Now add more pixilation and a random loot system that seems to scale to... your items? It's the kind of game that wisely rewards long dungeon runs. I find myself not wanting to stop for the sake of keeping the all-powerful items I've accumulated over the hours... and then I die. Then I head straight back in out of spite... and eventually die. For those who aren't aware, dying means losing everything but your boons/blessings. Restarting the game in any way means losing everything entirely. Your progress through the dungeon and interactions are seamlessly saved without any notification, mind you. Other than the joy of finding better items and defeating bosses, I really dig the lore. There are letters, books, NPC's, and item descriptions to read through for those interested in the plot. The game even has an unlockable library that stores all of the first two. Bug-wise, I think I've encountered on or two, but nothing major. Recommendation: Don't treat it like a hack & slash, do exhaust NPC dialogue, and do pickup (most) equipment even if it's just to switch back to the previous. That is all. Post-13.5h Update: I've since encountered a minor, moderate, and major bug separately. The moderate one was annoying. The major one was during a specific boss fight and required me to restart the game.
More relaxing than action-heavy most of the time. Its strength lies in its dialogue primarily, its artwork secondarily, and its soundtrack tertiarily. The dialogue has a realistic feel to it with the way the characters interact and discuss politics, strategy, and their own lives. It's consistently interesting enough for me to wantingly talk to every NPC twice in order to see what else they'd reveal about the game world, their lives, and other characters. Speaking of which, the conflicts between the main characters and certain NPC's were always thrill to witness. The best parts of the dialogue are the intriguing political and tactical discussions. The Big Three's discussion of how best to proceed with the upcoming battle caught me off guard. The artwork is so appreciable. It accomplishes two things: 1) Impresses with its lovely intricacy and 2) Maintains interest by being distinctly different from most RPG's of similar style. It's got such a look of something that was carefully crafted that I often gazed upon it in appreciation. I'd like to see how it holds up in ten years' time, especially in contrast to others. The soundtrack caught me off guard a bit. Didn't expect it to fully take me in like that from time to time, and later bought it on Bandcamp. Do yourself a favor, do not listen to it before defeating the Enders. You'll ruin atleast one hell of a moment for yourself if you do. As for the rest of the game... Its Easy mode feels unchallenging until the Enders, as intended. Hard mode was ridiculous at first, but I eventually realized it was designed to force players to think. It took quite some time for me to settle on character builds. The ending was definitely something to think about, but I felt somewhat deflated by the way the game stops. While the developers clearly put some work into it, I'm gonna suspect spreading that very-ending across 6 different characters had a lot to do with the lack of... well, what the game does best. Still worth it, though.
Life is Strange is a game for people who enjoy engaging with diverse characters who all have their own lives to deal with. It's a game for people who love character studies. For people who prefer to reload a save just to see what would happen if they chose the other option. For people who prefer bright-colored, dark-themed experiences. It's a game for people who want to hurt. And at the very end of Chapter 4, with 25 hours on record, I realized something: Right now, I just can't. (Oct 28, 2017) The game was later finished that year, and I hurt so much while and after finishing it. Enjoy the experience knowing as little spoilers as possible.
Played the first game years ago in high school and got excited upon seeing it in the store today. Beat it 1.5-2 times (Nature all the way) and really appreciated the work that went into it. Its cell-shaded style gives it a different look, its physics cause those creepy Water Spider to become silly when they drop dead, and its world gave the impression of mattering in a sense. It's been too long, so I'll just list out things that y'all should be aware of if considering it. 1) The party members all differ in personality, side quests (oh, boy), skillset, and how useful they are based on your build. 2) Speaking of build, Morka (buff, freeze, slow, and healing spells) and Dril (debuff, poison, and healing spells) were always one of the two companions I ran with. Always. 3) A certain party member has the saddest side quest, lemme tell ya. Try to avoid that spoiler so you can experience it raw. 4) Admittedly, I usually made Hulart (Druid) the 2nd companion once I found him because he was 100% Nature. 5) The loot system's great. Had a lot of fun switching stuff out and debating between different sets. 6) Getting to see the result of my Nature/Technology decisions in the major cities was visually wonderful. They looked completely different depending on the path chosen. 7) The end boss fight was... an interesting implementation. My only complaint about the whole game, actually. I just didn't care for the way they went about it overall (pre-battle scene and the fight itself). That being said, I recall the battle feeling intense but I don't recall if it was challenging. 8) Having briefly played Diablo II before it and abandoned the game because it felt like a plot-less loot-grind, I must say that I really enjoyed Silverfall. 9) Keep in mind that the game's modable. 10) Admittedly (and shamelessly), I primarily became interested in the game because of its cover. Few times in my life has such a decision seriously paid off.
This is a political choice game where you decide laws and such while taking your council's ~~compromised~~ differing opinions into account. Tax the churches? Advise your (hot) Lizard/Elf/Dwarven/Undead princess wife to sentence the (racially) accused to death? Support gay marriage? Every choice has tangible consequences in the RTS (Risk & Combat) phases. And you will face them everytime in every battle. Like it or not, an entire faction (race) disagreed with your decision enough to make every battle you have on their territory more difficult. Will you be a pragmatist to ensure the ~~death~~ defeat of your siblings in the war for the throne? Or will you turn the kingdom into socialist haven while risking it all? Goodluck. While I never finished Dragon Commander, I did enjoy the lot of those 23hrs (with a guide >.>). Figuring out effective (and efficient) strategies for those naval maps and flying back-and-forth from one small battle to another on the land maps. Don't like switching up the RTS by being a dragon? Don't use it (until you have to). Rather be a dragon for every battle? Well, there's a limit to how many battles you can use it in, so work that Risk map like nobody's business. 👍🏿 Having last played it in 2018, I can't say much more than I loved the political (Raven) phase, but I don't recall any frustrations or bugs. 🤔 Which makes me wonder why I gave it a 4/5. 🤷🏿♂️ All I can really say is that if the description I gave suits you, you'll probably enjoy atleast half of the experience.
