Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

Welp, I wasn’t expecting to put the game on my wishlist and then immediately have it pop up on sale. 😅 It just got discounted to $5 in this most recent sale, so now I’ve got a decision to make. For the price of a taco and a soft drink I might consider nabbing it for the backlog. @Malaise

@Th3solution It would be fun to play a game like this on Game Club. I haven't participated in a long time, but I'd love to start now with a game like Adr1ft as I also have it in my backlog.

@Malaise I’m happy to use my cosmic wishlist powers. I also have the power to have something immediately added to PS+ if you want me to purchase something. 😅

@LtSarge Yeah, Walking Sim type games would be good for the Club. We did Stray a few months ago and it was well received and it motivated me to try and and I ended up really liking it.

@Yousef- Nice. I never played the Wii original, but enjoyed my time with RtD Deluxe when it was ported. Very traditional Kirby experience, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Definitely one of the better Kirby games overall, although it definitely sits under Planet Robobot and Forgotten Land.

This last decade has been very, very good for Kirby games.

The original Kirby's Dream Land is near the top for me, but almost exclusively because it was one of my first video games and I'm incredibly nostalgic for it.

I finally made it to the end of Dragon Age Inquisition - possibly the most boring RPG ever made.

It's an overlong, grindy, slog of a game, with combat, skill trees and progression that seems designed for a game about a third of the length it actually is. How people were able to invest hundreds of hours into this, I do not know.

I finished it in around 50 hours - well, that is sort of a half lie. It was more like over a hundred hours, in total. Both times I have tried to play this, I hit the same wall in the last 20 or so hours. The first time though, there was no new Dragon Age just a few months away, so simply cutting my losses and doing something more exciting like watching paint dry was an option. This time, not so much. As such, I engaged with a 20 or so hour battle to not give into the tedium and play literally anything else.

You need to finish this, I kept telling myself, you need this knowledge for The Veilguard! But it's so boring I’d whine back to myself, I just don’t know if I have the strength to keep doing the same static combat encounters and the same two world activities over and over again, I would plead with myself. I’d take a deep breath, grip my controller firmly and look ahead - I know, I know, I would say to myself like All Might trying to reassure a civilian trapped under rubble - But have no fear, my friend! You’ve only got to kill ten more rams and we can do the next story mission!

I dunno, maybe in 2014 this open world design was considered good, I appreciate the open world fatigue we have today was not the same ten years ago, I also appreciate we had recently come from Dragon Age 2, which took place in about four or five unfinished environments in a loop. If you had lived in a basement your whole life, even a carpark must seem quite exciting if its got a blue sky above it. But all I can say, is 2024 me doesn't like that Inquisition is just a big, empty, parking lot filled with MMO style busywork to create some sort of unneeded pacing mechanism that makes the whole game worse by existing.

And I mean Inquisition certainly reviewed well on release, so clearly some people stepped out of the unfinished walls of Kirkwall and looked upon Inquisition with wonder. But if you do a search for Inquisition online in 2024, many results are negative. I mean it's the internet, so that probably hasn’t shocked you. But I feel like the devil is in the details here.

You see, many of the replies aren’t the usual - I must run to the defence of a game I like and I must take your criticism of a game I enjoy, whether fair or not, like it's a personal attack on me and respond with that context in mind! No, most replies are a sort of silent, indirect no eye contact nod as they say something like “hey man you know, not everyone’s definition of fun is the same man. Heheh.” and then slide you a piece of paper across the table all secret agent style, eyes darting around the forum hoping no one is watching.

You look and see its 20 links to NexusMods, all of which are mods which introduce either basic quality of life additions that are baffling to not be included or mods that have been created over the years to address and carve out much of the game's most tedious aspects. The guy then gives a half smile, nods knowingly at the document in your hand, and shuffles away with sad slumped shoulders.

And while this whole review may all seem like wry bile, I promise it comes from a good place. I love the Mass Effect trilogy. A series I revisit every few years. The cinematic BioWare RPG just isn’t really something that exists any more. And also sorta never had, especially not within the triple A space, anyway. We don't really have any other game series quite like Mass Effect or Dragon Age.

At the heights of Inquisition's biggest story beats, its grand set pieces, its dramatic staging, its operatic score and then in all those quiet moments in between with your wonderfully written and performed companions, you’re reminded of that now much meme’d “BioWare Magic” and just how special it once was. How it once meant something and was the glue that held these games together.

You never played the original Mass Effect for its combat, as chucking a biotic dropped your framerate into single digits and your companions ran into walls, no, it was for all the moments in between those moments. Combat and missions were just something to overcome, to get to the good parts. The story, the next dramatic choice and the next quiet moment with your favourite companion.

Inquisition tries to fix this problem, to try and make the whole package reach for the same high bar. To make the set pieces not something you'd just rush through to get to the meat that came after them. But the problem is it also for some reason came with this mountain of MMO busywork tedious filler, and while mods do an excellent job of cutting down on a lot of this, there currently exists no way to remove this entirely, as its too woven into too many systems to be completely cut out. Like a tumour on the stem of where one's brain and spine meet.

If it was possible to remove all of that stuff, then you would have here BioWare's opus. One of the greatest RPGs ever made. One of the greatest achievements in gaming. But that isn't the game we have. And I can't weigh my feelings on a game based on the 30 hours I enjoyed, if there was another 20 hours of boredom so overwhelming it risked swallowing me whole. Maybe you disagree and that is okay.

And while there are plenty of holes you can poke into Inquisition, I'm still sort of in awe of how well it all holds together, despite the visible duct tape barely holding the skeleton in one piece. Unlike Mass Effect which felt like a trilogy of games with a clear vision, the Dragon Age trilogy is kind of a big mess, with Dragon Age 2's problematic development well documented (it is also way way better than I think the reviews give it credit for, but that is a conversation for another day). As Inquisition referenced things as far back as the first game - probably the most disconnected from the trilogy - as old faces returned to play major roles and close out past threads, as new developments threaded backwards into previous games, you just gotta take off your hat I think.

In a way though, that just sorta makes it all the more heart breaking that the main descriptor I'd levy towards Inquisition is that its honestly just sorta dull.

Oh well, onto Trespasser I go and then I am finally free.

This is a review after 45ish hours of Zenless Zone Zero (ZZZ from here on out), but I'm also going to caveat that right now the game offers three chapters, two interludes (and then a bunch of other stuff around that, too). Each chapter and interlude presents its own closed narrative, but there are wider narrative threads which are seemingly going to be explored forever more as new patches are rolled out, so I can't truly give you a complete review of this game at this time, just my feelings for this game at this point in time.

Alright, with that preamble out of the way, here is more of it. I’d always avoided gacha games, I already actively dislike free to play models in general, and hearing the horror stories over the years of just how predatory gacha games were, meant I never had any interest in engaging with them. However, I think a lot of people have found Summer 2024 in gaming a bit of a funk. A red hot opening four or so months, giving away to a bit of a gaming wasteland (outside of the indie space anyway). So one night with no games taking my fancy, I saw the ZZZ icon on my PS Dash and I’d been seeing a lot of buzz for this one, so I gave it a download…

I was not ready for just how good this turned out to be. Like don’t get me wrong, it isn’t high art. A lot of it has a sort of previous gen double AA JRPG vibe, with its small environments with limited interactive elements, each area requiring a brief trip into a loading screen to access, with a story that is mostly pretty small scale, told for the most part sort of like a visual novel and combat takes place mostly in the same few environments, broken up by a board game like pacing mechanism which feels very low budget.

But what it does have, is a core combat system refined to near perfection, and a surprisingly rich set of interlocking systems, that carefully unfurl like a flower over your 30 or so hour journey, so you never feel overwhelmed by it all but end up with granular build craft choices that go beyond some games I paid the sixty dollar entrance price for.

Beyond that, every character has such an interesting kit, with deep build craft options to really focus every character into a specific role of your choosing and a really expertly tuned core gameplay system that anyone can pick up and play and really enjoy, but with more than enough hidden depth so those who really want to push against this game and express true mastery can absolutely do so.

Also, while the story may be pretty small-scale JRPG fluff, with a lot of archetypal characters, the game bleeds good vibes and just has such a strong sense of style and identity. And when there are proper cutscenes, they are really premium and go so damn hard, and there are more of these than you might expect, too.

In terms of monetisation, based on my experience with other free to play games, and the gacha horror stories, I figured I wouldn’t be able to take a step in ZZZ without it pushing an advert in my face asking me to buy something. Instead I walk away still not entirely clear what ZZZ’s business model actually is?

I think the main idea is that you unlock characters via the slot machine system, and while there is a pity system in place, there is only duplicate protection to a certain point and most of the pity thresholds kick in long after the number of pulls any free to play player could likely reach, unless we're talking staggered pulls over weeks, or months. When you run out, you run out (until the next event or whatever is added into the game to give you the materials you need for another free pull - but each pull is like spitting into the ocean). The only other option then if you want to keep pulling is converting real world money into premium currency to buy more pulls. But the thing is, there is no punishment as far as I can tell in just… not doing that?

I got through all the content with the characters I had access to just fine. I unlocked every A Rank Agent and three S Rank Agents in my time playing, which are the highest tier of Agents currently (although what separates them, I have no clue) and two of the S Ranks I barely used, as I didn’t like their playstyle. In fact, two of the starter agents you get, Nicole and Anby, ended up being two of my most used Agents and carried me through some of the hardest content I had access to at this point in the game.

Also, more importantly perhaps, the game never actually explains to you how to convert these currencies or suggests this is something you should do. When you do figure out how, they haven’t really done anything to make this monetarily attractive at all. I guess the whole business model is just sort of working on an assumption that whales gotta whale and they’ll figure out how to dump money into the game regardless, so the game just leaves the rest of us alone? And don’t get me twisted, if that is the model, this might be the best free to play model of all time.

And obviously I’m not here trying to gaslight you to tell you its a good system. You can clearly see the places where certain things would be unlocked or earned if it was a premium title, that aren’t earnable cause it needs to feed the gacha engine, and that sucks. Like I don’t think any free to play game is better because its free to play, but I just think out of basically any free to play game I’ve played, this has absolutely the best free to play model I’ve experienced and I can’t believe I am saying that given all I heard about gacha games.

I think my overall net spend I believe has been about 15 quid (a battle pass, a currency pass and a welcome bundle), and at no point did I ever feel like I needed to buy these things nor did I feel pressured into buying these things. In fact, it was the opposite, I was having such a wonderful time and was so confused by the fact the shoe never dropped where it suddenly demanded I pull out my wallet, I instead felt more like I was giving a goodwill donation for all the hours of enjoyment this gave me otherwise for free.

And honestly, I guess it does pay off in a way, as instead of walking away from ZZZ feeling like I’ve been robbed blind telling you to avoid this predatory sinkhole at all cost, I feel like I’ve walked away from ZZZ robbing it blind. I played one of the best games of the year, for free! If this post inspires you to pick up ZZZ too, and maybe buy a battle pass, a currency pass and a welcome bundle and then you go on to tell a friend about the great time you had, who then also downloads the game and buys…

Oh….

Yeah, actually, maybe the business model behind this game is genius after all.

Hopefully more free to play games take note.

@Pizzamorg Interesting. I couldn't really get into ZZZ, but the production quality of it is undeniable. Are you considering playing Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail at this point, given how thoroughly you enjoyed your time with ZZZ?

Genshin felt similar in terms of how it was like getting a AAA exploratory action-RPG for me,, but you had this mix of currencies and whatnot on the side that didn't really seem to impact one's ability to just enjoy the game. I didn't spend a dime on it and managed to enjoy 20 hours or so of an absolutely massive game.

I think, at this point, my main reservation is that none of these games are on portable systems I own. If they went to the Nintendo eshop or Steam, I could see myself pumping many hours into them over time.

Funnily enough @Ralizah I just came from "taster sessions" for both, loading them up on my console and giving them both an hour to impress me. I'd honestly say neither of them grabbed me right out the gate like ZZZ did, but I think Genshin absolutely isn't for me (it just feels like a BOTW clone with gacha mobile game systems layered over it. I dunno if it develops into something better, but that's the first impression it chooses to make).

HSR might be my thing, but I think I need more time with it. I am usually Mr Turn-Based, but I dunno if its just because I came from a combat system I loved in ZZZ (or maybe HSRs combat just isn't great), but my word it all just felt so slow, like there was an input delay to every press and standing there taking turns just isn't as exciting as the dynamic, non stop adrenaline rush battles in ZZZ.

I do think HSR is doing some interesting things with turn based battles even during that opening hour, with the automated attacks which cheat the turn based system, the shared pool of resources forces you into a sort of disciplined combat rhythm which makes it feel more tactical rather than just spamming your biggest moves, the integration of Genshin's elemental stacking thing (which isn't really in ZZZ) and the way you can use an ultimate to interrupt an enemies turn.