Recent reviews by A Nameless User

instead of building a thopther, I slingshot my character across the desert dunes using a grapple hook and suspension belt while looking down at the poors traversing the sands on foot as if I were Sky Hulud

Here are words I never would have expected to write, having finished The Veilguard just after coming off of an entire series replay: although I enjoyed some of the visuals, gameplay, and lore reveals, I ultimately just wanted the characters to stop talking.

Throughout the entire game, characters only talked at the player. At each other. The entire game, the player character talks at their companions. Why is that bad, you might wonder, when dialogue is a pillar of the franchise? Because little to no dialogue is written naturally. Nearly the entire cast treats you, the player, both as someone who is dumb as well as an unlicensed therapist.

It would be one thing if these issues stemmed from an overuse of painful exposition, but in case you have trouble with understanding nuance, they have fortunately written every character to ever only say what they mean with one exception. Literally. I don't think I'm being facetious.

Puzzles are a returning feature from preceding games, although to call them challenging or engaging would be insulting you, the player. So, conveniently, BioWare was more than happy to have their cast of companions constantly tell you the solutions to a problem you could solve if you had literally any moment of silence.

Yes, Bellara, I understand that this magical hexagon in room A that I can interact with needs to go to the hex shaped hole in room B, which is also conveniently the only other thing of note in the area.

In case that sounds tolerable enough, BioWare wanted to make sure you had no excuse for not rushing between exposition point X to set-piece Y, to therapy point Z. Characters will constantly remind you of what you're needing to do, just in case you forgot what you were supposed to be doing between sentences.

"Rook, there's the ghoul with the dagger," one character will helpfully chirp, just in case you forgot that you had in fact spent the last ten minutes chasing a ghoul with a dagger. What's that, an enemy ahead? "Rook! That might be the ghoul with a dagger! Remember? We're looking for a ghoul! And a dagger!"

But this helpless feature is not only limited to missions, and is extended to literally any piece of dialogue. "Rook, your team is the key to unraveling all of this. Take care of their problems and have their back, and maybe... they'll have yours." Thank you, game writers, I do understand the concept of a friend. However, in case you don't, the game helpfully prevents you from having any real opinions or friction with your 'found family'. What do I mean by that?

You literally cannot disagree with companions. You cannot offend them, and most egregious of all, you cannot even challenge them. Gone are the days of pushing companions, such as Alistair in Origins, to accept that the world is ruthless, or to face the consequences of their actions as with Merrill, Loghain, or Blackwall. Instead, you, a supposed nobody, always know just the right things to say to unhelpfully diffuse and defang the situation.

Rather infamously, two companions in the Veilguard will be introduced and say some unfriendly words, only to act like friendly acquaintances during the next conversation. Best buddies! There is no turmoil or conflict, no traces of dissonance within the party. Everyone simply gets along, and they all love you because you, the player, paid for the game.

BioWare seemed to have the goal of offending nobody, and ensuring that everyone could feel represented. Because of this, nobody is actually being represented and I feel insulted that the game writers didn't have the confidence to tell a meaningful story about classism, racism, sexism, religious schism, and literally any other -ism that has been present in the rest of the franchise.

I have no issues with inclusive representation being a focus in games and other media, especially not in Dragon Age. The franchise was literally created by David Gaider, a gay man. The presence of LGBTQ+ writing in the series is not a surprise, given we had Leliana, Zevran, Anders, Sera, and Dorian. What should be controversial, however, is how poorly written everything in this game is. That includes their attempt of queer representation.

A storyline involving coming to terms with who you are is fine and all, but if your character's personality boils down solely to two traits, you have written a bad character. Fortunately, nearly the entire cast can be distilled down to two traits, so it isn't limited to the aforementioned queer representation. One likes coffee and is tormented. One is chipper and afraid of death. One is ~quirky!~ and... well, exists, I guess?

Bonus points for reaching this point of my review. You have earned, "Emotional dialogue, here! Funny quip! Quirk, quirk! Harmonics!" Speaking of harmonics, the soundtrack is pretty good! But, unfortunately, you would never know it because they only ever let you listen to an 8 second loop of different tracks. How they fumbled the score on top of the writing, I'll never know.

Ultimately, I cannot recommend this game although I did enjoy playing some of it. The sole (ha) well-written part of the game is the conclusion to Trespasser, over 10 years ago. They answer (poorly or not) many questions I have had since the franchise first released, which is nice enough. It's a shame that I found myself continuing the game exclusively for the codex entries, and that I wanted nothing more than for different characters and factions to shut up and die during the ending.

Unironically, this is a good game. What’s even better is the story behind its development!

Look up what the CEO, Takuro Mizobe, wrote on note.com 3 days before the game released.

“The budget doesn’t exist until we hit 0,” and “If we don’t go bankrupt in 3 days, I’ll try to make another interesting game.”

the rusty love story you never knew you needed

Dwarf Fortress has been in continuous development for over 20 years and available to download for free the entire time.

In that span of time, it has inspired many games ranging from Minecraft to Rimworld. Despite the extensive influence it has, Dwarf Fortress is definitely one-of-a-kind.

Elden Ring ahead,
therefore
rolling, O rolling

This is my first souls-like game, but is still one of the best single player open-world games I’ve played.

Even though it took me a long time to figure out what exactly was happening in the game’s story, the process of uncovering everything is something that is really rare in media.

There were several moments when I learned something about the game’s plot that literally left me with my mouth hanging open, saying “oh my god.”

I’m somehow still not done yet, but even so I highly recommend it. This is easily one of the best single player experiences I’ve had!

And god, let there be rolling.

tl;dr: Wrath of the Righteous improves on every single aspect of Kingmaker, and is an excellent game with an unprecedented amount of player agency as well as a fantastic set of interesting villains and heroes.

p.s. if you liked Kreia from KOTOR II, you'll love a certain character in this

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As a big fan of cRPGS (and story-based games in general), I really enjoyed Pathfinder: Kingmaker despite all its flaws. Although Kingmaker suffered from having some weirdly placed humor or twists, a bizarre overall plot, and an unclear overarching villain, it still had (some) thematic depth. That said, it was the mechanics which made that game shine. Gameplay captured what it feels like to play a real table-top game, the good and the bad.

So with all that said, I can now tell you that Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous takes every single issue I had with Kingmaker and savagely beat them until they somehow became things of beauty. The character companions have much more nuance, aren't annoying, and don't feel unnecessarily crammed down your throat.

The story and themes are actually existent in this game, and there are some pretty good moral quandaries. The mythic system is woven into the narrative, and your choices all throughout the game help inform events down the road. The game is helpful enough to highlight keywords in important dialogue, occasionally shedding light as what earlier decisions led to X happening instead of Y.

The gameplay is pretty much the same, with some much needed improvements made such as the implementation of a real-time/turn-based mode toggle. You can smash that button all throughout combat without restraints. Another big improvement is management decisions show you a general overview of possible consequences, as well as a better camping/rest system which doesn't require an inventory constantly full of camping supplies.

Narratively, this is easily one of my favorite games of all time. I'm blown away by how well written and nuanced the story is. Plenty of games have taken similar premises and done nothing interesting with them. The initial stakes are clear near immediately, and it doesn't take long until you can really feel the pressure as someone fighting on the verge of the Abyss. The scope and scale of the game is ever-expanding, and it all feels incredibly natural and satisfying.

While there are some classic chaotic stupid characters, there's also (in my opinion) a solid cast of characters whose motivations might keep you guessing as you go searching for answers. Not every question needs an answer, but if you dig deep you may find a really enjoyable experience like I did. Overall, if you like games like Dragon Age: Origins or Pillars of Eternity, you should feel right at home here.

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Overall, my 438 hour playtime was just from one playthrough on Iron Man mode in Core difficulty (one save, death nukes said save). While there's some parts which may seem like bloat, if you're looking for an engaging story with some good mystery and excellent gameplay, I highly recommend this game. Fair warning though, a certain point will come where a set of puzzles will drive you to madness. Just google a spoiler-free solution, it's not worth trying to work that out alone.

A beautifully terrifying game, that spoke out to the curiosity and dread inside me. Absolutely one-of-a-kind experience made with care with an equally wonderful score.

This is probably the best written game I’ve played, next to Planescape: Torment. From the very start when I argued with my necktie and had to have racism explained to amnesiac me up until the finish, I was drawn in by the excellent writing and characterization given to every aspect of the game. If you ever have the time and excuse to try it, go for it: it’s totally disco.