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Renerocks9
Reviews
Dragon's Dogma (2012)
Generally Great Game; Lacks Fluidity
Now let me start off by saying I'm not picky with video games, this is just my honest opinion. This shouldn't contain too many, if not any spoilers either, and also, for some reason this seems to be the first review for the game, but whatever.
I like the concept of this game. It is essentially a fusion between Shadow of the Colossus and Final Fantasy (without the turn-based element). You basically run around doing somewhat interesting, yet monotonous quests, and ultimately fight boss enemies which have very cool concepts. There is also a day & night cycle, which has a very survival-esque feeling to it in the sense that death is inevitable if you just wander around outside at night. You also get to manage your own 'pawns' to decide the course of action in your various adventures & battles, which is fun because of the element that only some of your pawns will be effective against some type of enemies. Overall it seems like a fun game, but I feel like it just lacks something more.
For one, the level-up system. I cannot begin to put into words at all how I can despise a level-up system in a game like this. Let me explain.
When you pick your classes in the game, you are basically given 'set' attributes that are auto-levelled when you level-up, and these attributes are dependent on the class you picked (e.g. Strider = Dexterity) You cannot set these attributes yourself, you are instead forced to let the game choose instead of being given the creative knowledge to do so yourself. This will ultimately lead to giving the player less creativity with their own characters as it prevents them from focusing on one attribute that could be more important.
Another thing I'm not too fond of in the game is the fluidity in combat as well. While the concept of working as a team is nice, there is no option to lock-on to an enemy you're fighting, and as a result, you'll probably miss about 30% of the time. However there is sort of a 'magnet' effect when you're close enough to an enemy which will sort of force your character to attack in that general direction. This however is no excuse for the lack of a targeting or lock-on system. Although before I eat my own words, I should mention that there is a class which lets you lock-on; The Mage. From what I can tell that's the only class, and it's range with the targeting is limited nonetheless.
A Slightly less bothersome part of this game is the graphics. Let's be honest people. What year was this made? 2012. Surely anyone would find that a game should have socially acceptable graphics in 2012. The graphics in Dragon's Dogma are essentially the same as Final Fantasy X's graphics.. just slightly more polished. As for animation; namely with the way the character's lips move, abysmal. I wouldn't be a reviewer if I didn't mention the Pro's and Con's of a video game, but honestly. Just abysmal. In fact, when I made a new character just the other day, I noticed a 'preacher' of sorts in the intro who had the lip-sync of a modern-day Madonna, and the lip-animation as if someone stretched and ironed their lips. But that's it for Con's as far as I can tell, let's get into the Pro's.
Game-play Wise; Not too bad. I just mentioned that the combat and graphics weren't so hot, but the gameplay in general is actually decent. You basically run off of quests to complete the game. Most of which are basic-to-advanced gathering quests, and some of which are escorts and timed quests which can actually have a severe detriment on your playthrough if you neglect them. As I mentioned before, you also have the Day & Night cycle which is a basic fundamental in any open-world game, but is more expanded upon in a game such as this due to the more threatening factor that nighttime withholds. You also have random merchants in the game that act as Rescue quests since they're being attacked by enemies. Speaking of enemies, they're mostly randomized around the world you're exploring, since they're always a constant threat. It ranges from Bandits, to Goblins, to Wolves and much more.
Sound-wise; Not too fond of it. The title screen music sounds almost like a Swan Song as if someone's dying, which makes little to no sense considering the theme of the game is more-so about saving people/killing bosses rather than blood/death/violence.
Control-wise; Not too fond of this either. The controls in this game are all generally good for the most part, however the controls in combat almost feel like you're supposed to be extremely precise and fluid with your button combinations in order to win. I'm not too fond of that at all, but for the most part it's OK. I do like the grabbing mechanic a lot, as it allows most enemies to be KO'd through vulnerability, and bosses to be climbed upon and dealt extra damage.
Replayability; Excellent. This game probably has more replayability than any other game I've played in a long time, and that's mostly due to the different multi-class combinations you get later on, as well as the different pawn/team setups.
All in all, I give this game a 7/10. I feel that it would be more deserving of an 8-9/10 if it had a slightly better front on the animation and sound, as well as the level-up system. In fact, I might be willing to push this to 9/10 if the level-ups weren't fixed. Nonetheless, I can safely recommend this game to any fan of Medieval RPG's.
Dark Souls (2011)
Not perfect, but certainly a great game!
Now I'm gonna go in-depth with this one, but it's really complicated regardless, so hear me out.
You start as a hollow in the Undead Asylum, which is your prison of sorts. The place where you were trapped on your way to fulfilling your destiny and inevitably failing. It is up to you; the player, to find out how to get out, challenge the demons on your way, and beat the game. Of course towards the end you also have a choice to go light or dark for the ending, which is really cool.
Another interesting pointer about this game is it's difficulty. The game is really only difficult to the people who don't have patience or strategy in getting through different areas or past hordes of enemies. I personally died quite a few times on my endeavors here, but through time & patience, anyone can beat this game.
Probably the biggest pointer about this game's potential is it's exploration. There is virtually no way of knowing where to go in the game without an explanation through the description of an item you picked up earlier. It is quite challenging in the respect that it doesn't play fair, and doesn't intend to. Most players will always go to either the New Londo Ruins or the Graveyard first, which of course is a horrible mistake. However difficult, the game never punishes you for taking a wrong direction, rather a more difficult challenge.
Graphics-wise; Not the greatest. It's certainly what I would only consider average for a game released in 2011, however in my opinion the Havok engine cancels out the negativity of the slight graphical issue.
Sound-wise; Absolutely beautiful. I can't tell you how many times I wish I could restart an easy boss battle just to listen to the awesome music. It really fits the theme of Dark Souls as an RPG in general.
Control-wise; Eh. It's really great on the PS3, not as great on the Xbox, and absolutely horrible on the PC. (bear in mind this is control-wise) I can't begin to tell you how much trouble I had with the PC version due to the sheer lack of playability, really. I recommend to almost anyone with the PC edition to buy a controller as you will soon come to realize that the port is not very great at all.
Game-play wise; Amazing. Absolutely amazing. There's not a single nook or cranny that any RPG fan would find in this game that would upset them. I can't even think of one myself, and I'm not all that capital on RPG's. Nevertheless, the game is at least a rough estimate of 10-15 hours for a new player, and maybe 4 or 5 if a recurring player.
Replayability; Great. Not the greatest though. There are plenty of other RPG's like Final Fantasy with more replayability, but this one certainly has an edge as well. Mostly due to it's New Game+ mechanic which will increase the difficulty by 20% on the first rerun, and 8% on the second rerun onwards. While you may think this has a lot of replayability, the item variation really doesn't. I suppose the only other comment on the matter would be the various character builds you find online which are certainly up for grabs with a simple google search.
Anyway, time to wrap this up. All in all, I give this game a 8/10 because of it's vast and recurring ability to give the player new and exciting weapon/armor variations as well as brand new experiences each time. It isn't perfect, but it is certainly a great game!
Loiter Squad (2012)
Misleading and Awful
I feel as if this is one of Adult Swim's attempts to make a jackass series on television, only about 10x more stupid than you think.
Mind you, this is a review, but what I've just described is this entire television show in a nutshell. They constantly make attempts to lull the audience into believing that stupid actions are funny when also mixed with a factor of randomness.
In fact, just the other night I saw a promo for the show, and it was essentially a man standing on top of a cooked chicken flying in midair while being shot at by a giant, two-headed person. Yeah... I'm.. I'm not sure what this is supposed to be? A Godzilla parody? Laughable.
I'm not sure if these people have ever been to school, but the horrendous display of incompetence with comedy is utterly humiliating. Almost to the point where I want to scream at my TV.
To top it all off, I'd like to read from a defining excerpt on the show. The fact that it's called 'Loiter' Squad obviously insinuates loitering correct? Wrong.
Definition: To stand idly about; linger aimlessly.
Not a single time since I've watched this show have I seen anything relating to loitering. There's not much beside the jackass-style stunts and random acts of stupidity which set the mood for this abomination of a show.
Nevertheless, I am just a reviewer and it's up to you to see this for yourself. I strongly recommend against doing so.