Bought this game on sale a while ago, but only got around to playing it now. The reviews I read for this game were mixed and that worried me. Thankfully, I found the game really fun. I’ve spent about thirteen hours playing it on the PC.
Visually, it holds up well despite coming out a while ago. The environments are detailed and I really have to applaud the art direction of the game for such varied environments.
The story has the feel of a Quentin Tarantino/B-movie. It’s a fun, light story.
Voice acting ain’t bad. I recognized Vivica Fox. The portrayals are generally over the top, but so is the story.
Music is pretty good.
Gameplay is what you’d expect for a stealth game (like Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid). There are elements of action, but it’s mainly meant to be played like a stealth game. The main distinction in this game is the use of disguises. I wish more games had this feature and that it was more polished. In this game, there are a lot of kinks left to work out to make the disguise system more fun.
Score: 6.9/10 Really enjoyed the game. I only wish they didn’t penalize you for killing people other than the target. Splinter Cell: Blacklist rewarded players for whatever method they chose to take to finish a mission. I wish this game did the same.
Dragon Quest VIII was recently re-released on iOS, Android, and 3DS, pretty much all the mobile systems. It originally came out on PS2 and that is the version I played. It was also English dubbed.
Before playing, I read many reviews on the game. Most of them were very positive with the same specific caveat: this is a classic/old school Japanese role playing game. What I found during my playthrough was that this was a euphemism for grinding, repetitive, unoriginal, primitive gameplay.
But first, let’s go over the good parts of this game.
The first thing that amazed me was that all the music in this game is fully scored by a live orchestra. Even in this day and age, synth music is popular and practically much cheaper and less of a hassle than hiring a full orchestra play your music. Dragon Quest VIII ignores that and opts for the live orchestra for every song, something even Final Fantasy X did not do even though it was a system seller back when the PS2 was released. You need to also remember that this was years ago, back during the time of the PS2. Games were far less popular than they are now. Even still, they opted for the orchestral music and I am glad they did.
Voice acting is all right. Everyone has some kind of accent from the United Kingdom for some reason.
Graphics are all right. It’s an old game. I do appreciate the nostalgic Toriyama art style.
I think most people agree that the strength of a good role playing game is its story. The story here is satisfactory. It’s a classic tale of a nameless hero saving the world.
I also think most people would agree that the greatest weakness of role playing games is the gameplay. Even with the years of progress made in this genre of video games, I think most people would agree the weakest parts of games like Witcher 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition was the unimaginative combat and gameplay. The same is absolutely true here.
Dragon Quest VIII self proclaims that it wants to remain true to the “old style” of Japanese rpg’s, but what comes across to me is old primitive it is and how lazy the developers must have been not attempt any improvements to the old formula.
The games basic structure is this: you travel through an open world from town to town, dungeon to dungeon. Each town has plot point. Each dungeon has a boss and an associated plot point. Town’s are safe areas while everywhere else is not. That means that if you walk through these unsafe areas, you are subject to random encounters (based on the number of steps you take) with enemies who you have to battle. Battle is turn based. You have up to four playable characters and you and your enemies take turns casting spells and performing attacks.
It’s a tried and true system… except role playing games have come leaps and bounds since the inception of this genre and playing into these outdated systems leaves much to be desired. For instance, there are only four playable characters. A remedy to the old problem of how boring only four playable characters are is to add more character to the plot who play differently. Further, there aren’t that many spells nor are they sufficiently flashy. In the past, old role playing games would create massive, cinematic spells to help ease the boredom of turn based combat and alleviate the repetitiveness of seeing the same spells over and over again. In Dragon Quest VIII, I’m just bored. There aren’t enough spells. Furthermore, the lack of a journal or some method of keeping track of quests just makes playing the game a hassle. I literally have to memorize or write down what I was doing or else be completely lost in what I’m supposed to do. As an adult who takes breaks between gaming sessions, this is a hassle.
And I haven’t even gone into the time consuming grinding required to progress in the game. At many point in the game, the difficulty of the game spikes and there is no way to progress unless you spend substantial time grinding out levels and items so that you can be strong enough to defeat the enemies in that area. Normally, you can attribute this to bad or lazy game development. Developers are supposed to organize the pacing so that players get some kind of payoff as they play through the game, be it in items or story progression. Subsequent games after the old Japanese rpg’s, like Dragon Age: Inquisition or Witcher 3, have introduced many side quests with meaningful storytelling instead of requiring dull, repetitive combat. In Dragon Quest VIII, there is none of that. I just waste time grinding out levels. It’s extraordinary frustrating as I am working adult and I just don’t have as much time to attribute to such mind numbing game play.
Score: 5.9/10 A fun game, if not for the grinding. I spent around sixty seven hours playing this game, maybe thirty hours of it just grinding and leveling so I can progress. I don’t have the time for this. There are plenty of better role playing games to play that reward the time spent much better. I would only recommend this game if you’re looking for a time killer, feel nostalgic about old Japanese role playing games, and you have a 3DS, android, or iOS device. Otherwise, avoid it and go play Witcher 3, Dragon Age, or any of the other million role playing games that that better respect your time.
Details: Played on the PC for about forty four hours.
Valkyria Chronicles is a tactical role playing game release back on the Playstation 3. It was re-released recently on Steam for the PC and I picked it up. I was ecstatic when it was released because I wanted to play it back then, but I didn’t have a PS3 so I gave up on it. Now I get my chance. Additionally, all the PS3 DLC is included in the PC version.
The story is great, as it should be in any RPG. It takes place in a pseudo Europe in a World War II type time period. The empire is invading and it is up to you as leader of the militia to defend your country. There are a few twists and turns as well as sad moments that genuinely moved me. It’s a great story with a satisfying ending.
Visually, it definitely holds up despite being released so long ago. It only supports wide screen ratios so you should think about your screen resolution before purchasing. The style is really what keeps it good. It’s an anime, painterly style with a kind of scribbly matte for texture. It looks just fine.
The audio is fantastic. The game provides English dubs and Japanese voice work with English subtitles, which will be greatly appreciated by those who enjoy anime. The music is also great and I still get chills when I hear that orchestral song during the intro.
To sum up the gameplay, it’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but with anime. You are assigned missions and you can choose your squad for these missions. There’s potential perma-death if a squad member dies, which always adds tension. The power of soldiers is sort of rock-paper-scissor-ish. Certain units are effective at fighting certain units. You get experience for your missions and you can level up your soldiers as well as purchase new equipment. It’s turn based and every turn, you get a certain number of actions. You can move a soldier, tell him to attack, defend, repair, etc. Missions are varied and there are multiple narrative and gameplay developments during missions, so you have to adapt and change strategies as the missions progress.
The only downside is Alicia Melchiott. She is way over powered and if you figure out how to use her right, you can finish most missions in one or two turns. Otherwise I love the gameplay.
Score: 8.9/10 Great. After I finished the game and it’s fun DLC, I really wanted to play the sequels. Here’s hoping they port the sequels to the PC. This game also regularly goes on sale on Steam, so keep an eye out for those sales.
Details: Played on PC for about twenty eight hours.
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is an action, role playing game released back in 2011. The Enhanced Edition was released in 2012.
As I played through the game, it was clear that the developers tried to create something many games try to: they tried to create a large, complex story that gave the player choices with real consequences. They also tried to make it so that there were no correct choices. Whatever you choose, there will be consequences both good and bad. Consequences will not be what you expect them to be. In this regard, the Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is a resounding success and wonderful adventure.
That’s not to say there aren’t flaws. The primary flaw is unfortunately related to this games greatest accomplishment: its story. There is just so much story and the Witcher 2 does not spoon feed you its lore or its story. It instead throws you into the deep end head first. So many names and countries come your way that it is easy to get lost and to feel apathetic to everything going on. You really have to try to care and remember what things are and — if you do — you will be rewarded with a deep story and a detail oriented world. I did not play the first Witcher game, but I imagine that would have also helped in immersing myself in this world. There are also a series of books the game is based off of if you want even more immersion.
With that said, the story is pretty great. It’s all very Shakespearean/Lord of the Rings-y/Game of Thrones-esque with all the blood, guts, nudity, and sex you’d imagine. There are numerous choices which branch out in meaningful and distinct ways. One decision in particular during the first act/chapter drastically changes the whole story for the rest of the game. To truly get the full experience from this game, you would have to play through at least twice so as to make both decisions and see how they play out.
It’s an impressive and daring way to design a game. Most games of this genre often have choices in them, but build into the game a canonical story line. This is sometimes called the “true,” the “complete,” or the “perfect” story line which the player only achieves if he makes the “right” choices and completes all the necessary quests provided in the game. The Witcher 2 does away with that by creating a story line where bad and good things happen regardless of the choices you make. There is no right choice in this game, no “perfect” course of events and that is an amazing things. When I played this game I played it a little like real life; I made my choices to the best of my ability and I lived with the consequences. Some players might play the game twice so that they can see everything, but I did not. I treated my choices and this story with respect because the game treats the gamer with respect. There is no definitive right or wrong in the world of Witcher 2 and no matter what you choose, things often don’t turn out the way you expect.
Also worth mentioning is that this isn’t an open world game. This is a linear story and you travel to new locations as you progress through this story with no option to return to prior locations. There is some element of exploration, but it is very minor.
As for gameplay, the Witcher 2 is an action RPG somewhat reminiscent of Dark Souls/Bloodborne. You run around, swing your sword, do a dodge role, cast magic, lay traps and throw bombs. It’s all very fun and maybe a little simplistic. There is certainly some difficulty involved and the player is expected to treat the combat like they would treat the story: with respect. With that said, all I really did was hit the dodge button, roll around, attack, rinse and repeat. The gameplay could use some tweaking.
The graphics and art direction are amazing. Easily the best part of this game. It is a very detailed, gorgeous world and pleasure to look at. The only thing that bothered my were the shadows. I thought something was wrong when I saw them but, after searching the internet, it turns out they were intended to look that way. They look kind of cross-stitched at times. I mostly forgot about it as I progressed through the game.
The music is wonderful. Large orchestral pieces as expected of the fantasy genre. The more action-y parts were well scored, too.
Score: 8/10 Great game. Hyped me up for The Witched 3: Wild Hunt. I will probably get Witcher 3 sometime in the future, after the two expansions are released.
To this day, I think most people will agree that Mass Effect 2 was amazing. This is true even in spite of the controversy with Mass Effect 3’s ending. In my opinion, it is in the same category as Final Fantasy VII in terms of legendary role playing games. It is Mass Effect’s The Empire Strikes Back. Mass Effect 2 is, in my opinion, an unparalleled masterpiece and there are so many reasons for this. Spoilers ahead.
Graphics, Music, Voice Acting
Let’s get the basics out of the way. At the time of release (2010) Mass Effect 2 looked amazing. It still looks amazing and holds up surprisingly well (as you can tell from the trailer). The music is great. It’s the exact kind of electronic-classical space opera-esque music you look forward to when approaching this kind of science fiction. The voice acting was also top notch and includes some familiar and experienced voice actors.
Gameplay – Combat, Character Progression
While the visual and audio elements of Mass Effect 2 were clear improvements over the first Mass Effect, whether or not the gameplay improved is debatable. The action was not original, but it didn’t need to be. It was essentially Gears of War-ish third person shooter with a similar cover system. Biotics added another element to the combat. I think most people were okay with this; the real problem was the simplified leveling. I can see how some might feel that it dumbs down the difficulty and removed strategy and planning from the game. Personally, I enjoyed the simplified stat allocations and equipment. It let me focus on the story and the action rather than the mathematics of leveling up. I can understand if some feel otherwise and desired a more complex leveling system though.
Character Creation
Mass Effect 2 was one of the first games which allowed a male and female protagonist in the character creation. Both the male and female protagonist were fully voiced. It was a thoughtful inclusion and greatly appreciated by many who did not want to be forced to play as a male character.
Story/Narrative
Now we get to the good stuff. Mass Effect 2’s story is essentially that of a bank heist movie. You have this big job you need to pull off (head to the center of the galaxy and defeat the Collectors) and you need to assemble a crew of multi-talented individuals to fill the roles needed to pull this job off. It is a tale that has been retold many times in mainstream media, but works wonderfully.
Every time you meet a character you’re left wondering if this person is someone who will help you or someone your gonna have to fight later on. You’re never sure. You see familiar faces from the first Mass Effect and you hope they join your crew. Some do. Some hate you and don’t. It’s a surprising story and there are many twists for who joins your crew and how they join your crew.
After you assemble your crew, then you’re encouraged — but not forced — to do a favor (a loyalty mission) for them in order to build camaraderie and morale. Additionally, the missions for each of your crew members are some of the best missions in the game.
For instance, Garrus’ (who returns from the first game) loyalty mission requires hunting down someone Garrus wants dead. Eventually, you find your target and Garrus tells you to go distract the target while Garrus sets up a sniper rifle to pick off the guy. During this sequence, you see things from the perspective of Garrus’ sniper scope and — depending on your decisions — you can convince Garrus to spare the person or let Garrus kill him. There are times during this mission where you can step in front of the sniper scope in order to block the shop and protect the target. It’s a creative and tense mission that at the same time empowers the player with the choice of killing or saving.
Mass Effect 2 is an intimate story. Very much like how the first Star Wars movie’s main accomplishment was the establishment of this vast world, so too does the first Mass Effect game. Now we get to the emotion and intimacy of the characters. Now we get The Empire Strikes Back; we figure out what makes our characters tick. Mass Effect 2 brought color to an otherwise conventional science fiction narrative.
All these elements lead to — what is in my opinion — the most monumental aspect of Mass Effect 2 and what puts it into the class of legendary games like Final Fantasy VII or Shin Megami Tensei Persona 4: the ending.
That damn, amazing ENDING. OF COURSE THERE’S SPOILERS.
So you’ve assembled your crew. You’ve upgraded your ship. You’ve gathered all the clues you needed from the main plot line and you’re ready to launch the final (and likely suicidal) assault on the Collector’s main base in the center of the galaxy and defeat them once and for all. Everything you’ve done in the entire game was for this. Save your game. This is the final mission. This is spectacular.
The final mission is broken up into multiple phases. First is your arrival. You’re ship jumps through the Warp Relay and arrives in Collector space. There is debris everywhere. You’re ship is crashing into just about everything. Turns out, the Collector’s home base, the center of the galaxy, is a space ship graveyard. Among the debris are enemies and they come to attack and board the ship.
It is here that you get your first real wake up call. A laser from an enemy fighter clips through the ship and — if you upgraded the ship armor like Jack told you those hundred times — you would be fine and you’ll survive. If you DID NOT UPGRADE THE SHIP ARMOR, then JACK WILL DIE. Permanently. All that time spent fighting/leveling along side her, bonding with her and uncovering her past, and possibly pursuing a romance with her ARE NOW OVER BECAUSE YOU DID NOT UPGRADE THE DAMN SHIP ARMOR. And now you realize, if you did not spend the time to do every damn thing that your crew has been telling you to do the entire game, someone is probably going to die for it. Someone you care about. It is a stark moment and — if Jack died — a moment you realize that everyone on this mission may very well die by the end of this game. At the very least, we know that Jack ain’t coming back for Mass Effect 3.
So we get through this. We fight off the enemies and crash land at the Collector base. Here we come up with our plan. First, we need to pick a tech specialist to climb through a vent and open an door. After watching Jack die, you now realize you need to be fracking careful and pick someone who is ACTUALLY A TECH SPECIALIST and who you’ve DONE THE LOYALTY MISSION FOR. It’s Tali or Legion. And who knows, whoever you send is probably going to die anyway. Legion it is. Next you need to divide into two squads: a diversion squad and your squad. You also need to pick leader for the diversion squad. It’s gotta be Miranda. I totally romanced the crap out of her, but she’s loyal and genetically predisposed to lead so I’ll take that risk. If Bioware decides to disintegrate the entire diversion team, so be it. I’m tired of Bioware’s crap. At least a loyal Miranda will increase the likelihood they survive. You then pick who is in each squad. Of course I pick the people I would like to live the most (I’m looking at you Tali) into my squad. I send the people I don’t care for, ironically the toughest looking guys into the diversion team and into their likely deaths. Hmm… maybe they’ll live after all. Oh well. Now we disembark and I tighten my butt cheeks for whatever comes next.
From this point onward, WAVES upon WAVES of enemies will attack you until you reach the final boss. It is endless. The level is also incredible. Platforms rise and fall and the terrain constantly changes. Harbinger, the big baddy who has been trolling you this entire time, continues to TROLL YOU by possessing a random enemy and becoming super powerful. And you have to kill all these dudes and survive the endless onslaught.
But priorities first: someone’s gotta go into that damn vent and unlock a door. So Legion gets into the vent and screw him because he’s just a walking iPhone. You fight waves of enemies and unlock valves blocking Legion and — to my surprise — Legion makes it. He gets out of that death trap of a vent and unlocks the door. As you run inside and Legion is closing the door behind you, A RANDOM ENERGY BLAST FROM NOWHERE HITS LEGION AND HE FRACKING DIES. WHAT THE HELL. He survived the vent only to get hit by some random gun blast and DIES?!?! ANYONE CAN DIE AT ANY TIME. NO ONE IS SAFE. Damn you Bioware… my anus is now perpetually clenched.
So we get through and now we split up. Diversion team holds the line while me and my team go kill the big bad boss. We say our goodbyes and I silently acknowledge that I will likely never see any members of the diversion team ever again. Goodbye Miranda. Our love was short, but at least I have Ashley/Liara still waiting for me somewhere.
We come up to room of pods with people in them and find — thank goodness — our old pal Kelly in one of the pods. Unfortunately, we can’t get her out fast enough and she GETS LIQUEFIED IN HORRIBLE AGONY. WHAT THE HELL BIOWARE. ARE YOU JUST TROLLING FOR FUN?!?! Anyways, we save half the crew while the other half dies in horrible agony. Dr. Chakwas is happy to be alive but mad at us for not saving everyone. I read somewhere later that if you came to the final mission the moment it became available, you would’ve saved everyone. FRACK. I just had to do that last side mission. Sorry Kelly.
So we send the survivors back to the ship along with one of my crew mates. I have no idea if I’m sending the surviving crew to their deaths or saving them so I send someone at random. Bye Jacob. We get to the next part and we need a biotic to put up a force field against clouds of locusts so we can progress. Thank goodness I kept Samara because if not, sending Jacob back with the crew would likely have been the death of us. We fight our way through and Samara looks drained. I’m fully expecting Samara to die even though I killed her daughter in that loyalty mission and gained her damn loyalty. Luckily, she lives. Phew. Thanks for letting someone live Bioware.
We progress through another room and meet with the diversion team. Miranda gets shot, but lives. I read somewhere later that if the leader wasn’t loyal, they would die. Further, if the biotic from the last part wasn’t loyal, the biotic (Samara in this case) wouldn’t die, but the poor bastard protecting our rear would be CARRIED OFF BY A SWARM OF LOCUSTS. Thankfully, I don’t remember anyone dying here for me.
Again, you now pick a team to hold the line while you go kill the big boss. I pick my favorites: Tali and Miranda. The rest hold the line led by my boy Jacob. Jabob’s loyal, which is the best I can do for him. Now we go and fight through waves of enemies and make it to the final boss. It is a giant human shaped Reaper. This is why Kelly was liquefied in agony; to make flesh for this giant killer robot. Which we now have to kill.
Before going further, you need to know about the M-920 Cain. The M-920 Cain is essentially a mini-nuke. It has very little ammo, can be upgraded for even more damage, and you will likely kill yourself with it. From the moment I found this baby, I have wanted to use it. However, there has never been a good time; no enemies strong enough to warrant a nuke and never enough ammo to use it haphazardly. Until now.
The moment I saw that giant human-sized reaper crawl up and into its final form, I fracking knew. I knew that I carried this piece of crap gun throughout the entire damn game just so I could use it on this bastard. I spent all my fracking minerals upgrading this ridiculous gun to maximum damage just so I could hit this guy with it. And that’s what I did. It wasn’t easy; the gun needs time to charge up and there is also the travel time of the rocket. Missing is commonplace. But somehow… I shot this baby and it landed right in between the big bosses eyes. And you need to understand, I had no idea how much damage was going to be dealt. I never fired this gun before. So when it hit, IT KILLED HIM IN ONE HIT. I freakin’ one-shotted him with a NUKE. Like David and Goliath, except I used a NUKE. Damn, it felt so good. Ecstasy.
The rest is a blissful blur. The survivors and myself run back to the ship. I read somewhere that your companions from the final fight can die as well as the protagonist. Luckily, there were no more deaths in my play through and I was grateful.
It was a massive mission and we took heavy casualties (sorry Jack, Legion, Kelly, and half the crew), but we won.
In Conclusion
I loved, loved, loved this game. Afterwards I played through it again on New Game Plus mode and this time, everyone survived. It was a nice change to that terrifying first play through. But man oh man, what a play through that first one was. Ultimately, Mass Effect 2 is an experience I will likely remember for the rest of my days. My hope is that future Mass Effect games can in some ways replicate the tension, the fear, and the joy produced from this game.
To The Moon is a PC game released back in 2011 using the game making program RPG Maker XP. It looks like the old school games for Super Nintendo.
The game can take anywhere from one hour to three hours. No action or anything since it’s an adventure game or visual novel. You just walk around, look for things, and interact with them.
The music is nice with some SNES style imitation music and some actual piano. There’s also a voiced music track. The music definitely adds to the atmosphere of the game.
The story is interesting. I’ve read a lot of reviews saying how big a tear-jerker it was. I appreciate the story but the old school visuals do take away from it in my opinion. With that said, it was nice and nostalgic seeing a game using that old pixel-y style.
Score: 5/10 It’s an interesting game. I can easily see how some people might love this game with it’s story and graphical style. It’s on sale now on Steam’s summer sale for $2.49. That is exactly the price point I feel this game is worth. Maybe a little less.
Details: Played on the PC for at least a hundred hours.
Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls is an expansion to the action role-playing game Diablo 3 which was released years ago. Diablo 3 had much controversy and in the time since Reaper of Souls was released, the general consensus on the internet is that Reaper of Souls fixes everything wrong with Diablo 3.
I’ve played a substantial amount of time on the game and my conclusion is this: it’s not worth more than $20. Currently prices are from $25 to $40, which means I don’t think it’s worth purchasing or playing.
If you need an explanation why then read on.
The expansion doesn’t add all that many changes. There’s a higher level cap for heroes. There’s a new Act for the story campaign. There’s a new hero, the Crusader (my personal favorite).
The biggest change is the inclusion of bounties and Nephalem Rifts, which fundamentally changes the endgame. I will try to explain why…
Diablo 2, the predecessor of Diablo 3, was a much beloved game that fans spent hours playing. The main attraction of the game was the constant grind of redoing quests from the story campaign in hopes of finding better equipment and items in hopes of becoming more powerful. Like in most role playing video games, when you kill an enemy, they drop items (swords, armor, etc.) which can be equipped by the player. Thus, players were encouraged to kill as many enemies as possible in hopes they would drop powerful items. It’s a mentality similar to the elderly who are addicted to slot machines. Keep doing this repetitive task and maybe you’ll get a reward. Like slot machines, I think most fans will agree they loved Diablo 2. Collecting all these powerful weapons and armors also gave players a sense of earned progression.
Diablo 3’s biggest problem was that the method used to determine whether or not loot would drop was made much more stringent. They lowered the chance powerful items would drop so that most players were stuck with crappy items, if that. It was like playing a slot machine that never won, not even small prizes. Furthermore, the developers of the game exacerbated the situation by creating the auction house; a place where players could sell their items to other players for real money. This made Diablo 3 feel more like a game of Candy Crush versus a game that rewards time and effort. Why would anyone whose not rich purchase and waste time on this game if all you needed to do was spend money to be powerful? The answer was, you wouldn’t. You’d either focus on making more money in real life or play another game.
And that’s what a lot of people did. Since most people didn’t have money/time to burn, most people hated this. Accordingly, the developers of the game have spent all their waking moments trying to fix a game that is arguably broken.
Reaper of Souls is another attempt at that. They’ve removed the auction house and bound the most powerful items to the player that finds and equips that item, thus forcing players to earn their progression as they used to and removing the possibility of “pay[ing] to win.” They’ve increased the drop rates of powerful items so that your playing of the game is positively reinforced more often.
They’ve also created bounty quests and Nephalem rift quests. After you finish the story campaign, you can switch over to Adventure Mode. Here, you do random quests (“kill x and y”) and collect items which let you open rifts. Rifts are higher level areas where you need to clear (“kill x and y again”) and get an item where you can open greater rifts. Greater rifts are a higher level that scales with how powerful your character is. Each higher level yields a higher chance of more powerful items. You can also increase the difficulty in the options menu. The longevity of the game depends on how many times you can endure grinding out dungeons before you tire of the gameplay.
As you can tell, it’s a repetitive, uninspired system. However, it’s what fans want. At least it’s what fans wanted before they left the game in droves. At the present time, barely anyone plays Diablo 3 now.
Score: 4/10 A boring game that mainly appeals to those with addictive personalities. Reaper of Souls doesn’t last long and isn’t worth it’s purchase price. Avoid this game.
On a side note, in order to play this game, a constant internet connection is required. This wasn’t the case with prior games in the franchise and, in my opinion, is a depressing step down. Clearly, Blizzard Entertainment is worried about piracy and this is one way to stop it. However, Valve’s Steam platform has already introduced a way to protect intellectual property without requiring a mandatory, constant internet connection. That Blizzard has not adopted a similar method shows how primitive and slow the company is. With the money grubbing nature of the auction house and the necessity of a constant internet connection (and this is not even going into the micro-transaction laced Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm), it’s not hard to realize that the upper management of Blizzard Entertainment care more about making money than making a satisfactory product. It’s sad to see what was once a great company with a collection of beloved, unique franchises degenerate into something like Electronic Arts. This isn’t to say that Electronic Arts is a bad company, it’s to say that Blizzard Entertainment used to be better. Now, based on their decisions for new projects and game designs, I see little difference between the two. All that likely matters to them is the bottom line (i.e. money, $$$).
Details: Downloadable content for the Battlefield 4 game. Played on PC.
There aren’t any servers playing the new maps. Only thing of note is the new shotgun, which is arguably the best shotgun in the game. Only bought it because of premium, which I bought because of the new carrier Titan Mode which comes out in March.
Don’t buy this individually, but an acceptable purchase with premium I say.
Muse Bank 