Recensioni recenti di Doc Shaftoe

I'm only a few years late with a review of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. I've been reading Season of Storms lately and it's got me wanting to dive back into this masterpiece of a game. When this game was released I operated under the assumption that I would need to have played The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings to understand the plot. I was incorrect. The game picks up right away and establishes the story's background and wastes no time in its world-building. We learn right away who Geralt is and why he's doing what he'd doing. It's a truly engaging story and a masterpiece of role playing. By the end of the game I felt as if I wasn't a player controlling Geralt. Instead I felt like an observer watching a dramatic adventure unfold. Every action in game and every dialogue selection seemed natural and entirely in-character. Nothing felt wasted, from the first side-missions that teach you the game's structure to the final mission of the game.

The first time I beat the game I'd never read a single Witcher novel. This game made me want to explore this world and these characters further, and I started a second playthrough after I finished the books. I cannot think of a single game that does a better job of tying every aspect of a larger fictional world together. The writing in the game is superb and I found myself enjoying character interactions much more with knowledge of everyone's backstories. Despite having completed the game only a few months before, it was like I was playing an entirely new game. CD Projekt RED managed to infuse nearly every inch of their game world with deeper meaning.

This is truly an experience unlike any other.

I cannot say enough good things about this game, so instead I'm going to focus on the few areas I found lacking.

Combat in this game is very engaging, but the mechanics are different enough from The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings that anyone making the transition will feel out of place for a time. Geralt can occasionally feel more like a boat than a player character, even with the tighter control scheme that was introduced post-launch. For most people this will be a non-issue. It's easy enough to get in the flow and start dancing around your opponents like the master Witcher you are. For anyone coming off of any of the FROM Software games, ie the Dark Souls franchise or Bloodborne, the controls aren't as tight or precise and that could be off-putting. Geralt will also soft-lock onto targets in front of him during combat. If you're looking for a game where you've got ultra-tight precision control over your character, this probably isn't it.

While alchemy is just as important in The Witcher 3 as it was in the previous Witcher games, it's handled very differently and, outside of rare situations, isn't particularly necessary. Odds are you'll be using potions and decoctions during boss fights and monster hunts but you'll rarely need to use them when wandering the open world. The alchemy mechanic is also less complicated than TW2, you can consume potions during your fights and the toxicity level drops very quickly. The potions themselves have incredibly short timers. Consequently, you can use more potions more often. Which if you're coming from TW2 takes some getting used to.

Roach's unpredictable behavior is absolutely a game feature and is working as intended.

None of these are game-breaking issues, just things to be aware of if you're coming to The Witcher 3 from the previous game. At this point, you can also find a plethora of mods available that tweak and tighten the gameplay further to really craft the experience you want. Mod installation isn't particularly difficult, but it is a little time consuming. I'd argue that you should play through the vanilla game first and then do a modded run through NG+. If you're anything like myself or my friends, you'll be itching to do a NG+ playthrough as soon as you finish the game so there are no worries there.

Do yourself a favor and buy the Game of the Year edition. This is one of the few games where I would argue that the completely optional DLC should be mandatory. It's the most satisfying character journey I've ever experienced in a video game. You will not be disappointed.

One of the most common themes I've found in the negative reviews is a willfull ignorance of what the developer's intent behind the closed beta is. They're not selling the game in a finished state, they're offering consumers the chance to join the QA team and bugtest their game. A game like this requires large sample sizes to evaluate changes, sample sizes they can't get with a small studio's testing team. If you have the opportunity to purchase one of the founders packs, you're not buying a demo or early access to the finished product, you're buying a test-bed. If you want to test the game and help build its future, buy in and enjoy. If you only want to play a finished game, look elsewhere.

Now for the review.

Worlds Adrift is a single-shared MMO based the exploration of floating islands. Everything is physics driven, from the characters to the animals. The main character of this game is your ship, not the character you run, jump, and swing around with. Everything is devoted to the construction and enhancement of your ship. Understanding how to build a capable flying machine is the most important part of the game.

Progression is based around acquiring knowledge points and blueprints to pass through natural barriers called windwalls. Both are currently only found through exploration. Knowledge is used to unlock a procedurally generated blueprint, whereas blueprints found in the world are either for upgrades or components (like windows or stairs). The blueprints allow you and your crew to build a more capable airship which allows you to pass through more difficult walls.

The story is rather barebones but it will doubtlessly be fleshed out a bit once the game's actual release draws near. Despite the barebones plot, the game is about stories. Your story as a player or your crew's story. Once again, everything is very barebones but still enjoyable.

The game is buggy right now. Issues with the physics and collision can lead to unfortunate, hilarious, and sometimes infuriating deaths. However, knowledge once acquired cannot be lost. If a blueprint is left unused in an inventory, it can be lost, but if used, it will be tied to your character. Materials are easy enough to farm, and unlike other crafting-based games, it never takes longer to harvest higher tier materials.

Griefing is a problem, but one that bossa is aware of. They're currently working on ways to balance the system without making piracy completely unplayable. In the 26 hours I've spent playing the game, I've never actually run into a griefer. However I count myself lucky, and other players must be approached cautiously. Solo play is also lacking in substance compared to crew play. Being a member of a crew allows for much faster exploitation of knowledge and resources. Multiple crew members specialized in different disciplines gives crews a definite advantage over solo players.

Bugginess of the early build aside, it's an incredibly fun game. It's a lot of fun to explore cave systems or just swing around a clustered island. The base mechanics work well and combine to create an enjoyable overall experience. As stated above, if you're interested in helping to build something new, this game is for you. If you want to play this game but don't want to deal with unbalanced gameplay or bugs, wait until closer to release. Bossa is listening to its beta testers, but they're a small studio and these things take time.

I hope this helped.

There is no honor in a game called For Honor.

Buyer beware, if you're looking for an intense dueling game, you've found it. The 1v1 mode is one of the best melee combat games I've ever seen. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend any other part of this game.

The matchmaking system is entirely skewed towards high-level players and makes entry-level play as enjoyable as shaving with a cheese grater. The skill-based balance found in the duel mode is thrown out the window in favor of gear-based stat boosts and a revenge mechanic that gives players a boost to health, damage, and defense. With the right set of gear, players can earn the revenge mode when fighting one on one. Not that you'll find yourself fighting one on one in the larger game modes. More often than not you'll find yourself running from two or three opponents who, unless you have the gear to survive it, make the game a respawn screen simulator.

Unless you're looking for a sparsely populated dueling mode, I'd give this game a pass. At least until the matchmaking system is fixed.

And, as I'm sure the other reviews have pointed out, the peer to peer matchmaking system is abysmal.

I haven't played more than an hour or so into the game, but I've enjoyed the hell out of it so far. For everyone complaining about bad frame-rate, disable the in-game MSAA. The difference was light and day for me. The game runs just fine otherwise.

Played since launch, no crashes and no complaints. The game is everything that was promised and more, IE. a gargantuan playspace filled with procedurally generated content. Sure some of it looks repetative, but then that's how the real world works too. Most of the differences are fairly subtle, and I'm fine with that. The game is about the experience of your journey, not about fulfilling objectives and reaching a finish line. If you're the kind of person who's sunk a respectable amount of time into games like Elite Dangerous, odds are you'll enjoy No Man's Sky. If you're the kind of person who needs someone to hold their hand to complete even the most basic of tasks, look elsewhere for your entertainment.

There's enough to do and see that no one will be able to see all of it in one lifetime.

Too many people have overhyped the game to themselves, and now that it isn't the second coming of Christ, but a reasonably well-made indie game on a larger budget, they're burning the house down.

Be aware however, that the combat is terrible. Once you get used to how it works you'll be able to hold your own, but it's a plodding and loose shooter both in space and on land. The flight controls are clunky if you're coming from a game like Star Citizen or Elite Dangerous. It's not a sim, so don't expect to fly like one.

The first hours are also difficult given the lack of tutorial or real explanation on how the different game systems work. You'll need to figure a lot of it out for yourself, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

This game takes some getting used to, but once you do it's a fantastic experience. All in all, I highly recommend No Man's Sky to anyone with an interest in survival games (there is a survival element to this) or exploration/adventure games.