Recent reviews by Baby Kaiju

I've been on the fence about 76, on one hand it IS better than it was. Without doubt the game is substantially better as a whole but it not without flaws, both old and new.

76 launched with no living NPCs, this was broadly criticised and so they added NPCs, however the issue is the story and setting, the vibe was never made for this. The problem with kneejerking design wise, is somethings simply don't fit very well and this is perfectly clear in 76. Communities of settlers, raiders, ghouls and whatever else have popped up and just kind of exist, the timeline is ♥♥♥♥♥.

The world feels very much disconnected between the intended loneliness and devastation with...Gary, a random settler NPC who wanders past as the game laments the end of mankind...

On a technical level it's kind of a mess, it's not awful, but it's also not great. The whole card system is at best awkward and at worse, straight up frustrating. Changing builds, respeccing remain awkward even now and that's always going to be a sore spot. Packs are a lot more abundent and perks have been redone to be a lot more interesting.

Gameplay is...Solid, firmly in the well worn treads of Fallout 4 with some extra variety in weapons but not enemies. The crafting system is pretty fun but like everyone else, rather grindy and resources without Fallout 1st fill your storage quickly.

Camp building is janky but fun, some people have made some truly awesome camps...Shame a lot of that creativity is paywalled by the FOMO cash shop...

Graphics wise, it's okay. The pop in is frankly poor, even at max distances, shadows will creep and texture issues are uncommon but are absolutely there. The world can look great, the lighting and atmosphere in places like 'The Mire' are gorgeous and genuinely very immersive. The various biomes are solid, from the resplendent greenery of 'The Forest' to the alienesque plants of the 'Cranberry Bog' , they are distinct and cool for it.

Story wise, both vanilla and dlc are a mixed bag. At best it's still fallout 4 style and at worse...It's still fallout 4.



TLDR
Buy it on a discount, avoid Fallout 1st and enjoy it with each season would be my recommendation.

So far...So good, it certainly deviates from the OG assassin creed formula as all of the rpgcreeds do, that said compared to Odyssey and Origin, this has the best intro IMO.

Treat it as a viking simulator with the occasional AC sauce and it's fun!

Too many DLC, too little game

Why is BLOOD a DLC?

AND BUGGED

I must preface this with a simple, unavoidable fact.

Bannerlord will never be finished.

Politics, endgame, in-depth systems. All are lacking, all will remain lacking. Mods help but they do not fix.

If you like a battle sandbox with very very mild rpg systems (in a purely statistical improvement kind of way) than Bannerlord is for you.

If you want a medieval rpg with a living world, then Kingdom Come: Deliverance is over there

I will preface this with the fact I have not yet finished SOTE, I've hit and beaten "Commander Gaius" and that is what spawned this review.

Positives:

As a whole, I think the DLC is frankly superior to the base game; The map is packed with dungeons, field bosses, events and plenty of loot. I genuinely found it enjoyable just exploring.

The legacy dungeons are a cut above base Elden Ring as they are all unique with some new gimmicks thrown in, fun little hidden spots and decent opposition.

Some of the bosses are fantastic, reaching almost to my personal standard for best Slave Knight Gael from DS3.

Rellana, sister of Renalla, wielder of twin blades of magic and fire...It's hard to ignore the easy comparison of Pontiff Sullivan but frankly I find her superior. Her moveset while punishing is clean. Nothing feels unfair and while she hits pretty damn hard, she isn't going to kill you instantly. Death will come but it will come as a result of several mistakes.

Messmer the Impaler, a very solid fight, visually awesome and though certainly hitting a little bit closer to what i'd call "This is just two shot'ing".

Bayle the Dread, rival of Dragonlord Placidusax and frankly the reason for a new found love...Igon! I cannot reasonably mention Bayle without mentioning the NPC Igon; What could of easily been a throwaway character for a revenge plot, cemented itself in (meme) memory for his bellowing cries, his hyping of the Player Character (A TRUE DRAKE WARRIOR) and stupidly impressive voice work. While the fight is truly fantastic and cinematic as one can desire, the addition of Igon makes this a fight I will not forget.

Items, Consumables and Everything Else(tm)

The new weapons are broadly speaking incredibly fun, from the rather unique Smithscript weapons whose entire gimmick is being tossed to the less overt 'Light Greatswords' whose moveset might be the best I have seen.

Spells vary from very powerful to laughably bad, yes I am looking at you Armour of Thorns wannabe.

The armours also pretty good although the issue of armour tints not matching for some Fashion Souls is still prevalent, plenty of sets are very pleasing. Plus the addition of the Shadow Vulgar Militia helm piece which just happens to look strikingly like the Thrall Hood totally did not sway me.

Consumables and Tools are ok, nothing has particular stood out to me.

The Bad

Scudutree blessings as a whole are messy, missable and potentially a source of significant contention. Fights are either matched well or overwhelming depending on your level. It's an awkward system that I think frankly hurts the flow. When exploration must be done to make a boss 'fair', you lose some of that Dark Souls magic where the issue should always be *you* not the boss.

Some spells are incredibly poor, useless to all but the most devoted of challenge runs.

Some items are...Copy pasted, particularly the "Bonny Butchering Knife" while is a direct copy of the existing Butchering Knife with a new ash of war. Very underwhelming.

Craftables are heavily incentived and yet their ingredients are often pointlessly difficult to gather in any sort of decent number. Without spending dedicated hours, you won't have enough of certain ingredients to always have X on hand, and subsequently they end up forgotten. This is particularly frustrating as the new bombs are pretty awesome.

Now for the big one...

SOME BOSSES SUCK

The Divine Beast is a battle of patience with a camera that cannot sit still and a beast that might be attacking or undergoing a seizure. It's a pain and it is frustrating.

Ancient Dragon-Man (yes it's real) is just...Sad. It's an NPC fight that has no buildup, no lore and is just kind of there. It's not good, it's not bad, it just is.

Last but certainly not least.

Commander Gaius, the pig riding bane of fun and quite possibly the WORST boss in SOULS history.
Move aside boring Bed of Chaos, there is a new failure in town.

At Scadu +13, with 60 Vig (the softcap) and medium armour, he can one shot with his opening attack. A literally charge from a pig.

Dodge forward? Get hit 90% of the time.
Dodge backwards? Hit everytime
Dodge right? Hit 90% of the time.
Dodge left? Hit 50% of the time

The entire fight is frankly awful. The pacing is stupidly aggressive, which is particularly frustrating as he easily 1/3s your bar if not more.
There is no enjoyable back and forth, no careful timing to i-frame through and get a stab. It's just pain. The hitboxes are atrocious which is APPALLING.

Fromsoft seemingly forgot the mantra of "Hard but Fair" and went with "♥♥♥♥ You in Particular"

This is coming from someone who has solo'd, no summons, SL 125 or equivalent, every souls except DS2, including Bloodborne.

TLDR: Play it, have fun, and summons a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ when you hit this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Hopefully I can find the desire to return after the pig bastard.

I love this game, it's a fantastic rpg. The origins really help set your place in the world and can really help to establish your motivations from an rp standpoint. The gameplay is a bit stiff but fun regardless and I truly adore the writing.

HOWEVER THE STEAM VERSION IS A GLITCHY, BUGGY, CRASHING MESS

I can't say I enjoyed this, as one can see from my time. The enemies, which are numerous and oddly fast felt rather spongy on hard+. A shotgun shot to the leg should blow the leg off as far as I am concerned. Overall a very bleh experience, neither great nor terrible.

So far a decent hero shooter. However, and this is a big one, the monetisation and quasi-fomo style shop is very concerning. Matches do not grant currency and for f2p players the only way to get the payed suits (which are over tuned) is via the beginner challenges. Which are time locked.

The maps are very disappointing and over-all give the effect of human sized robots as opposed to skyscraper sized mobile-suits. The maps are also very plain, a lot of greys with little to no rhyme or reason. It would take a hell of an imagination to see these locations as actual places in the real (in universe) world. Additionally there is only a very small roster of fairly small maps...

None of the locations are relevant to fandom. Even the suits themselves are disappointing.

The RX-78-2, the one everyone sees, the mascot of the series is simply named "Gundam". Keep in mind several others are also named Gundam 'X'.

The cosmetics are lacklustre, with most skins being very underwhelming palate swaps and the few with effort are very overpriced.

TLDR: Probably a cash grab, enjoy and uninstall when you've had your fill.

This might actually be the worst recreation of a boardgame I have seen from an official license. Please play in real life, or on table top sim.

Avoid.

What can I say about Valheim?

Valheim is an interesting game, one that both feels old and refreshingly new.
*The world is pretty, but not graphically impressive.
*The combat is fun, but clunky.
*The mechanics are varied, but limited.

and yet...It works.

Valheim is perhaps the greatest callback to earlier games. No microtransactions, no internal ads. Simply a game of passion and charm. Like minecraft, the story of Valheim is your own. Your adventures, your success' and your failures.
Exploring new places, fighting new enemies and building bases that declare your place in the world.
I have only just began my adventures. In my twenty hours, I have fought tiny dwarf like creatures. Had two separate occasions of a troll demolishing the stone tower, which I claimed as my own. I have sailed to new shores, and subsequently ran desperately back to my boat to flee to safer pastures.
I have found new resources, new materials, began farming. Built a watchtower. Destroyed a watchtower.

I would highly recommend Valheim, both for singleplayer and co-op.

P.S If you touch my carrot farm, I will throw you into my troll pit.