Recent reviews by Goofy

For an Early Access game, Risk of Rain 2 plays more like a full game than several released games that I have tried in the past. Having played the original Risk of Rain, I can say Risk of Rain 2 not only matches the quality of its predecessor, but also surpasses it in many ways (and literally in terms of dimensions). Many of the items and enemies from the original have returned from the previous game, but the characters are different.

Each of the characters in this game has an entirely different feel to them, so I suggest trying all of them until you find one you like. Personally, I like all of them except for the Mercenary, although his damage output is rather satisfying when played properly. Keep in mind that this game is essentially a run and gun with a few exceptions, so you should almost never be standing still.

In terms of the difficulty, there are 3 base difficulties which you select from ahead of time. I believe the difficulties are Drizzle, Rain, and Monsoon (Easy, Normal, and Hard respectively). Until you get the hang of the game and several of the item/character unlocks, I really would recommend Drizzle, as you'll need some time to get used to the kit of the characters, and you'll have an easier time getting unlocks. Also, although you select those difficulties, there is a separate difficulty scaling based on the length of time your game has been going on for. Initially, there will be a lull in waves of enemies, but as the time progresses and the difficulty increases, enemies spawn stronger, more frequently, and in larger numbers. Difficulty also increases with each pass through the teleporter.

Note: HAHAHAHA difficulty appears to be INFINITELY scaling, so you will never always be too strong to die.

Currently the game has no ending, but entering a celestial portal will allow you to obliterate yourself from existence, ending your run but granting you 5 Lunar Coins, which persist through all playthroughs.

TL;DR:
Risk of Rain is a game where if it moves, you kill it. Unless it's your ally. Then use them as your meat shield while you shoot/slash down the mass of enemies in front of you. Recommended to start on Drizzle difficulty to help speed up unlocks and get used to the game mechanics. In-game difficulty increases with time during the survival run. Celestial portals are rewarding when you need lunar coins/want to end your run for a reward.

I absolutely used to love this game, but now I won't touch it for several reasons. The previous company, Wonderstruck, deeply cared about their game before becoming a part of Larian Studios, while I'm not certain about Monumental's devotion to the game.

First off, let me start off with why I loved the game in the past. This game has looked gorgeous even since it was called Oort Online back in Early Access. It evolved from a creative building game into the survival game that it is now (which I am ultimately grateful for). The vast majority of the community was exceedingly friendly, helping others get started, get access to portal networks, and teaching them tips and tricks. They originally had very fair crafting recipes, a grindy but ultimately satisfying level progression system, and decently thought-out material progression.

The main reason I gradually lost interest is that the original studio ended up listening to a few vocal, sometimes toxic players who wanted things that many others did not want. One of these changes resulted in the developers changing brick crafting recipes to require an extra type of resources, and in larger quantities than before. For a game focused heavily around building, this was a slap in the face.

The second reason was the Square Enix publisher buyout. When Wonderstruck (the previous studio) sold publishing rights to SE, the game ended up with a forced release date. The game, however, was at least 6 months from being ready to release when v1.0 hit. It also released with a price point higher than Minecraft, but with less content and minimal modding support because it's an MMO. The modding that is done is QoL stuff like meteor markers and texture changes.

The third reason involves the supposedly poor design of the game's back end. Wonderstruck touched upon this at one point before dedicating all their work to working with Larian Studios on Baldur's Gate 3. There is a flaw with the game that makes the creation of new items or mechanics exceedingly difficult. From my perspective, this makes it sound like they failed to create a scalable solution, which ultimately set this game up for failure.

To top it all off, most promises made on this game have been broken...by both companies. Wonderstruck was extremely dedicated to their game and absolutely would have added these had they not ended up working with, then becoming part of, Larian Studios. However, they were almost always behind schedule. Monumental on the contrary has promised frequent communication, and so far that has really only included regular server maintenance. It does sound like Monumental has plans to eventually develop the game, but 2 years have passed and the only update so-to-speak has been color-changing Exoworlds, something created by the previous company just before the hand-off.

I am at the point where I would prefer to see offline worlds be created, as it's likely the only way I will play again. The developers already have the ability to add it but won't with the reason being that there is no money in it. Given fewer than 200 active players remain in the game, the only explanation for not adding it is the loss of revenue from micro-transactions.

This game is really fun if you like platformer games or any of the first 8 or so Mario Party games. It's a really fun game to play, especially when you have 4 players where things get hectic. That said, if you want a quick laugh, read below:

Pros:
+ True party game
+ Very fun
+ Handicap system
+ Local and Online multiplayer (can be both)
+ Silly characters
+ Dance taunting with sound effects
+ Free-for-all clown fiesta
+ Hilariously trollish
+ Tons of traps to kill your friends with
+ Black Hole projectile physics
+ Honey can combine traps
+ Can enjoy your friends' tears

Cons:
- Challenging
- Maps can be made impossible
- Rage inducing
- Bigger friendship killer than Monopoly

11/10 Would kill my friend with 4 different traps at once again.

All I can say to start is that this is a video game at it's absolute best potential.
Hands down a 10/10.

Fair warning: This game WILL give you the feels. It starts off giving them to you within the first couple of minutes, then continues to toy with your emotions as you progress through the game.

Ori and the Blind Forest takes a decent amount of time to get used to the controls, and some parts are difficult enough to make people rage, but that's all part of the fun this game brings to the table. The combat system is smooth and fair, and any damage you take will be your own fault.

While playing this game you shall test your ninja skills. Don't jump onto spikey things, don't walk or jump into enemies, and don't, under any circumstances, test the power of lasers and lava. You. Will. Die. Horribly.

Pros:
+Ori is the cutest little thing. Ever.
+Artwork/Background is amazing
+Soundtrack sets the mood perfectly
+Story will give you the feels
+Challenging, yet simple
+Replay value
+Great for casual to hardcore gamers
+Full joystick compatibility
+Perfectly smooth gameplay

Cons:
-Cannot re-access a few areas, which makes 100% completion a pain
-Must start from scratch on a new save after completing the game

Hands down I would rate this game 10/10. This is Square Enix at their best, both graphically and functionally. This game uses a paradigm combat system that really changes up the Final Fantasy gameplay. Your characters have classes which have certain bonuses, and can either attack, defend, or support. The game itself is comprised of 13 chapters of extremely in-depth story.

Pros:

+Very in-depth story, with noticable character development
+Unique and tactical style of gameplay
+Smooth animations
+Amazing scenery
+Some very epic cutscenes
+Epic fighting
+Lightning and the other playable characters are all beasts
+No real need to grind for the first 9 chapters
+If you die or choose retry in battle, come back just outside where the fight was, spare a few battles
+Has Cactuars and Chocobos


Cons: (Note that most of these are minimal and some were of Square Enix's intent to make the game more challenging)

-Abilities are specific to class
-Healer has no offensive moves, compared to other FF games
-Once you hit chapter 9, the game begins to slow down a lot
-Heavy grinding from chapter 10 on
-Auto-attack and combat AI systems can cause fatal mistakes on occasion
-Some enemies are stonger than it seems like they should be
-Linear gameplay
-A few achievement bugs
-1080p quality resolution does not display additional information on enemies

Since the combat is so addicting in my opinion, I can't say that the grinding is a bad thing, the only things that really bugged me were the auto-attack and combat AI systems because as a healer it may heal an ally instead of yourself, causing you to die, or your allies might perform the wrong ability, making the fight tougher than it needs to be. The additional information on enemies would be helpful for me if I could view it, but I prefer the challenge of having to learn my enemies' attack patterns.

The biggest con though, is the incredibly linear gameplay. This game is always directing you where to go because there is only one path to follow. Other than that, I believe the other cons I noted to be of Square Enix's intent.

For all you Final Fantasy fans that haven't yet played FFXIII yet, Lightning is basically the female version of Cloud from FFVII with Leon's gunblade from FFVIII. I can't think of another way to describe her better than that.