Recent reviews by Shortchimp

10/10
Shadow of the Erdtree is easily the most ambitious dlc that they have ever released, and thankfully in my opinion, probably their best dlc yet (never played bloodborne however). The best parts of elden ring return in this expansion, with not only more unique areas to explore, but also probably the hardest bosses fromsoftware has done, with of course, some of their best they have ever made.

Story
As of writing this review there hasn't REALLY been a full breakdown of the lore of the dlc, but I have done all of the character questlines, read most of the item descriptions, and fought all the bosses so I have a general idea of the story. Without going into spoilers, most of the character arcs were really good, diving into the groups slowly losing trust of each other over their own goals, either teaming up, or going against each other. The main storyline is also SUPER detailed like how I would expect from elden ring lore. While it didn't answer all of my questions I had, specifically with Melina, it answered who tf Miquella was, and his motivations that led to everyone else's story to go the way they went. Again, won't spoil cause I know game is new, but it is easily worth diving into the story of this game, as it has the intrigue, helped Mohg beat the allegations, and of course, made me ask more questions than answers which depends on how you view that.

Characters
For the main bosses, Messmer was easily the one I had the most questions for, and with confirmations that we FINALLY got with him, he was easily the most interesting of the bosses. He also just had a really cool character story that connected with other side characters in the game like Hornsent and such, with themes of revenge and betrayal of their own mother to a lowly tarnished such as yourself. Other bosses like Bayle were also such a joy to dive into their lore, but the final boss in particular was not only a surprise, but also a changer for how their story is, completing their arc alongside Miquella over what their motivations were and how they affected the game as a whole. For the NPC questlines, they were all interconnected apart from a few, which made their stories a ton of fun to dive into as they struggle to live without the blessing they thought to highly of. Of course some still try to believe, but others start going to their old ways, even falling victim to the thing they tried to prevent, like how the drive to revenge caused them to never be satisfied till all are gone. I loved diving into the lore, and while yeah it is a bit weird the direction they took for the finale storypoint, I still think it was an amazing story with a conclusion to those characters... even if it also created new questions and left some plots unanswered, specifically with again, Melina (even though we can fill in some gaps about who she was with Midra).

Gameplay
Of course, Elden ring gameplay was something I already loved, but now they took the difficulty and cranked it up to an 11. For starters, one aspect I think they improved a TON was exploration, as a ton of areas connect to other areas that are not only jaw dropping, but also had the world design that I think was even done better than base game. The game scales with the idea that you are bringing your endgame character, so of course they introduced the blessing system to not only scale your character back to how you were lvl 1, but to also incentivise exploring, since you already have all the upgrade stones you need, you probably already have your build set, and you don't find cookbooks or other smaller finds that interesting anymore. They still nailed the reward system for an open world setting, as I found a ton of new spells and weapons I utilized not only for their usefulness, but also how damn cool they were. I also really enjoyed the blessing system, as it allowed the bosses for this dlc to easily be the hardest they ever have been, but still allowing the exploration side of elden ring to be utilized, meaning you can just go out, find blessings and come back even stonger for the bosses. Talking about the bosses, they were really damn exciting in this dlc, and had some of the best bosses fromsoftware has ever made. The final boss, Messmer and bayle to be specific were so peak, and other bosses like the divine beast were also so damn good it was insane. Of course there were some bleh bosses like the commander, who was the only time I felt like the boss just needed a rework to actually be fun for the way fromsoftware obviously intended, and fighting him normally meant dodging a move that literally has a 2 frame window to dodge or else risk getting hit. Even with some of the ok bosses, this dlc still had some of the best, and of course with how difficult they were, made beating them oh that much more satisfying. One thing that I think is underappreciated is how they tackled the biggest complaint of base game of how catacombs were all the same. In this dlc, not only is the catacomb only really repeated like 2 times this dlc, but had really unique mechanics this time. The other caves had new designs of ice and fire, which added a ton, but also gave you an idea of what to expect in the cave without looking up the loot list.

Music
Really good. The best songs were with The final boss, Messmer, Rellana and the divine beast. Of course as a fromsoftware game, the best songs were the boss themes. Even the ambient songs were pretty good at setting the tone of the area like the forest. Also the Avatar's theme transitions were just chefs kiss.

Last Positives/Nitpicks
-Performance was poor, most areas were fine, but some areas did dip to 50 fps at most, and for the final boss one attacked dropped to almost 25 fps which was insane (luckily was very easy to dodge).
-Do wish they explained the blessing systems better, I can tell some players didn't understand it and complained about how crap their max lvl character was doing.
- Would had liked a new ending atleast.
- Would had liked more sorcery spells that weren't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Conclusion
Shadow of the Erdtree for me paid off as easily the best dlc, if you can even call it that and not an expansion, fromsoftware has made. For those complaining about the difficulty, especially early on, just explore and find blessings. If you are saying the final boss is hard then well... ok you got a point. For $40 you are basically getting a sequel to elden ring, and this is EASILY the golden standard for what an expansion to a singleplayer game should be like alongside cyperpunk 2077 and witcher 3's expansions.
10/10

7/10
Dark Souls 2 is easily the black sheep of the souls titles from fromsoftware, and it earns that reputation easily. However, it is still, a fromsoftware souls game. Even with all its flaws, it is still a good game... BUT, it is still, a bad souls game.

Story
A surprisingly good story for how panned this game is. While dark souls 1 is the beginning of the age of fire and ds3 is the end, DS2 takes place in the very middle of the age of fire. Dark Souls 2 is easily much smaller in scale compared to the other 2 souls game, as you are set in a castle that has no bearings to the era, with a time difference so large from ds1 that everyone forget gwymns name, the first cinder lord. It is also much more personal, with your character and the undead curse with how hopeless everything is, even if you try your best. Nobody believes you apart from 1, and it is your struggle that overcomes everyone's expectations. All of the characters struggle to accept the reality that they can't change what is going to occur, with death so close at the door, the only thing they believe they can do is wait, as trying is worse than just accepting fate. Apart from that, the story is a bit messy compared to DS1, and isn't as rich as future titles like ER or DS3, however it has the best personal journey for your character with the struggle to cure the curse that nobody has ever accomplished curing. Of course talking about the whole story would take too long, but the tldr is the war against giants that vendrick caused, even if they were probably weren't going to attack to begin with. Curse gets to Vendrick, vendrick is now a sad, sad, wondering cursed giant.

Characters
DS2's characters is SUPER mixed compared to other titles. For the non hostile NPC, they either range from interesting to downright bland with their story. Aldia was added in scholar, and I can't see who well this game would had done without him cause he had the more interesting dialogue out of the other NPCs in this game by far. Emerald herald, who takes your firekeeper role, is very interesting just like all the other firekeeper. What seperates her is the fact she wasn't ORIGINALLY a firekeeper, and only became one to test you out and see the journey you would take. Vendrick's story and inevitable depressing confrontation was also handled really well. Vengarl was a interesting dialogue as he is stuck beneath stone that he will never escape, and lastly Lucatiel, who had the best of the questlines surrounding a talkable NPC. The other characters suffer from having either super disappointing questlines, or none at all and turn into more bland shopkeepers who sell you ♥♥♥♥. I can't tell if they were just not given the thought to have interesting characters, or if they didn't realize the time it takes to add their lore, so only focused on a few NPC and gave the rest just a "want to buy something?" plot. For the boss lores, they are very interesting like all other boss lores. While the story is much more confusing for what happened with all the bosses that weren't vendrick, they were still captivating.

Gameplay
Now here is where it gets super controversial and what causes the label of "worst souls game" comes from. The gameplay of DS2 is very... mixed? Saying that EVERY aspect of DS2 is worse is just plain wrong. A ton of new mechanics in this game become staples in future titles. Power stance, SLIGHTLY moving with drinking (you still slow down to a stop mid way thru tho), the MUCH larger build variety in this game, respeccing character, SO many new mechanics in this game were just pretty good and are used in future titles to be improved upon, like power stance of course, and moving while drinking. However, this was a very experimental souls game, which means there were a ton of new mechanics introduced that were just plain ass. The most obvious one is roll I-frames being tied to agility stat, which is just a terrible mechanic that thankfully does not return, as it forces you to invest into a stat you didn't need to before just to match I-frames of previous titles. Animations like going thru fog doors, opening levers or doors no longer give you invulnerability frames for the first 2-3 seconds, which means areas that spam you with enemies are now REQUIRED to kill, as running past means getting killed before you can even get past the door. Going back to that, the runback in this game was just INSANELY terrible. This game has the WORST enemy placement in the series, with many areas forcing you to fight 3-4 enemies at the same time, and punishing you for even THINKING of running past them. The game forces you into a playstyle of pulling them one at a time to handle them, which quite honestly wouldn't be that bad if they weren't in your way to ACTUAL BOSSES. Runback is the worst mechanic in any souls game, and DS2 makes runback the worst I have ever experienced with far distances, forced encounters just to have another chance. the only mechanic that I truly believe they did not intend, but makes these 3-4 enemy jumping you bearable was that after killing them around 15 times, they stop spawning in for the rest of the run, which I believe they did to prevent farming, but in reality makes you not stuck on some runbacks for actual days, especially in areas like Iron Keep that throws 15 enemies in front of you, with a fog door that punishes you for running past them at all. I was able to get past this area purely cause they stopped spawning in period, as the boss was already hard to begin with. For the bosses in general, they were overall worse in DS2 compared to future titles. Many of the bosses were either too easy, too bland, or have terrible runback. There were some really good bosses, primary from the DLC, which had not only interesting stories, but had some of the best DLC in the game and were overall MUCH better compared to base. Most of the DLC felt higher quality then base, but they also introduce optional bosses in 2 of the dlc that quite frankly, were trash. The other bosses were probably the best in the game though.
Music
Still really good, just like other souls games. A ton of the songs were really good, but some were a bit generic for my taste (or were too easy to hear their full song). Songs like what played after finding Vendrick, Majula, Skeleton Lord theme (even if his fight was ass), Aldia's theme, Allone's them and the ruin sentinels' theme.

Last Positives/Nitpicks
-The PC port is ASS. no steam cloud save, streaming the game was terrible, terrible kb+m controls with a crap double click you have to constantly reset to fix, no PC overlay, so many aspects of this pc port lacks a ton of the modern features the other titles and even DS : remastered have.
- You get jumped by dark spirits... alot. You even get attacked by actual players even if you are turning hollowed.
- losing max hp after death is cruel and I am glad it doesn't return at all later titles, as running out of ways to restore humanity would had made segments of this game near impossible without grinding for more.
- ♥♥♥♥ Frigid Outskirts
- Some areas in this game was BEAUTIFUL. But some were also really ugly, which with the level design, was really inconsistent.

Conclusion
This game is still a pretty good game, as even when I tested out some other indie game souls game, I craved for how good DS2 is compared to those titles. However, comparing DS2 to other formsoftware titles shows just how weak this game is compared to the other souls games. The experimental aspect of this game and sloppy feeling of this game makes way more sense once you realize that Miyazaki did not direct this game, and barely had his input of the development of this game. You can easily tell, as tons of aspects of this game lacks the polish that the other titles contain. Even with that, I like this game a ton, and to call it a bad game is laughable. But would I recommend it as a first title compared to the other souls game? probably not.
7/10

9/10
Dark Souls 1 is easily a masterpiece, containing some of, if not the best level design I have ever experienced with beautiful visuals, story with beautiful lore, and of course really amazing combat even if its successors are much smoother than this game. With the near perfect DLC its hard to knock this game, even if its 2nd half starts to trip at points compared to the 1st half.

Story
Dark Souls story, specifically the lore surrounding it will always be one of the best stories to deep dive into, even if while experiencing it can be challenging to consume compared to other games. The basic story revolves you, the chosen undead, attempting to relink the fires by killing Gwyn, who currently sits at the throne himself. Beyond that basic premise, you mainly learn the story by environmental storytelling, character dialogue and of course with classic souls tradition, through item descriptions. Having to through the age of fire after the war against the dragons with the new "and now, pretty dead" lords, with the inevitable of the fires burning out, requiring you to relink the fire and delay the age of darkness. My ending was relinking the fire, but quite honestly I do prefer the "evil" ending of age of darkness where you do not relink the flame, as I feel like even if we have to enter the age of darkness, a new flame will always re-ignite. It is a beautiful story even if it isn't an obvious story compared to other game. This game's constant theme of futility, and the constant push to face the impossible to achieve your goal is an amazing theme. WIth the DLC they further expand the darkness humans have, and the consequences of being fully consumed by their darkest desires, and if our futility for power is a good or bad thing. I didn't even dive into the characters yet, who have their own really interesting lore and story by themselves. Overall I really love Dark Souls Lore, as DS3 and ER lore as well, they were all such a joy to experience, and even a better joy to deeper dive after finishing the game, with the only one (haven't played DS2 or bloodborne yet), that I didn't enjoy deep diving as much was sekiro. I still think I enjoyed DS3 and ER lore a bit more as they seemed much much more fleshed out and more enjoyable to deeper dive, as I felt like apart from the main story, deep diving some characters was cut much shorter than I thought they were, as they are much more ambiguous on who they are, so their story is pretty short for some of them compared to future entries where the most minor character has such insane lore that you have to step back a bit.

Character
Like other souls games, are some of the best characters in any game. For DS1, some of the characters that I personally loved were Artorias and his companion Sif, Gwyn's tragic tale, Logan (might be mage biased but loved his inevitable downfall of his chase of forbidden knowledge), Solaire (duh... although didn't kill the red eye chaos bug first NOOO), and classic patches of course. I haven't even gone through ALL the characters I loved but they were easily the best ones that stuck out to me, even with some others like the lore behind Seath, Gwynevere's false presense and such, I can go on and on. Your character is mainly a pretty vague "chosen undead", whose origins is pretty much up to whatever you want it to be as it doesn't matter, only you ended up in a cell. Fighting your way up from the title of some random undead to the one who relinks the flames is so damn satisfying, and stays a theme throughout the souls game. While like I said before some characters don't get as much fleshing out as I thought they would have compared to future titles, they were still the quality of souls lore that I crave for, and even while typing this review I am watching an hour long lore video on DS1.

Gameplay
Souls gameplay as usual, which is the same loop that I loved even with Elden Ring. Of course being the 2nd one in the series behind demon souls, the gameplay isn't as smooth as future titles, but it still holds a special place in my heart, as the one thing that it is STILL unmatched in is with the level design oh my GOD is it good. Firelink Shrine and how it connects to so many areas in the game was so beautiful to experience. Even apart from that aspect, many areas in this game were such a joy to go through and was easily the best out of any of the souls games I have ever played so far. Now of course the infamous 2nd half does falter a bit in this department, which is a bit of a theme with this game quite honestly. Going back to the souls gameplay, the basics of dodge attack is still here, and while my main build was INT magic focused, I still liked to stick close as range was not the greatest with not only the pitiful range, but also lock in range being pretty short. Magic in this game is pretty good, and while variety in animation is pretty bland as you are just sticking your magic stick in the air, there was still plenty of variety with spells, and it was rare for me to stick to casting just 1 spell, as with the pretty bleh lock-on magic tracking, certain spells worked better in other scenarios. For melee combat it is much slower compared to DS3 and ER, and lack the fleshed out art or additional abilities of other titles, or power stance and such. Even with that it is still immensely satisfying to be rewarded for successful dodges and exploring to find new gear and spells that make your life in the age of fire easier. For boss design, DS1 has a ton of amazing bosses that still stand out in the series. While peak wise future titles achieve much better boss designs, DS1 still has really damn good with Gwyn, Artorias, Manus, and the rare feat of a really good duo boss of Ornstein and Smough. While I love DS1 bosses, there are still some issues I have, primarily with how easy a ton of the bosses felt like. The 2 main reasons are the pretty small health pool that get shredded by how strong you can get in the game. Not only that, bosses almost never have a delayed attack, so reaction is much easier to handle which is a good thing, as less memorization, but with the smaller health pool means bosses end faster than I would had hoped. Lastly I don't think any of the bosses have phase 2, which makes their already short fights REALLY short. Apart from that, these bosses still trump 95% of other boss fights in any other game I have played action wise, and their design alongside lore were such a treat to experience, even if I felt like ♥♥♥♥ for killing Sif.

Music
Bangers after Bangers oh my GOD. Gwyn's theme, Firelink Shrine theme, Seathe's theme, the Ornstein and Smough theme, so many songs in this game were just amazing especially with Gwyn's plin plin plon. Souls has always had really strong songs, and DS1 does not disappoint or hold back at all. While some areas were pretty quiet to soak in the environment, some areas could had used some songs to enhance the environment I felt, even if they did I would had probably complained either way.

Last positives/Nitpicks
- Gwyn's low health bar (common theme) made me feel a bit bad so used mainly sword as a mage even if it meant dying over and over, as I really loved his boss fight, not only mechanic wise but design, lore and music wise.
- Magic's lock on was trash in this game, it seems to aim for the enemies head instead of body, so it was very easy for the spells to miss early on.
- Entrance to DLC felt a bit too ambiguous, and if I didn't have a guide I would have 0 clue how I would figure it out.

Conclusion
Dark Souls 1 is easily a masterpiece, and even if it stumbles a bit 2nd half, is still peak gaming in my eyes. The Souls series is seriously unbelievably good and its crazy to see that the first dark souls game still holds up unbelievably well, with unmatched level design especially with the interconnected firelink shrine areas.
9/10

7/10
Alan Wake is a... Interesting game I will say. Quite honestly This game has some of the most interesting and really intriguing storytelling I have ever heard from any other game, while also having some pretty big flaws in not only the way the story is told, but ESPECIALLY the way the gameplay is.

Story
EASILY the best part of this game and the only real reason to play this game basically. The story of Alan Wake is the type of story where if someone asked you to explain it, you will go into a tantrum waving your arms around explaining many different story points and what is going on, even as you don't really understand what is going on... and man is it exciting. The story is mainly a ton of references but purely exaggerated like the cop who shoots first asks later, even if a civilian is in the way, or the twilight zone being called night springs, and so much more. You follow Alan Wake (duh) who slowly comes into the realization that the path he is walking, the story he is experiencing, EVERYTHING, is a set story that Alan has already written. You find manuscripts throughout the game which at first may seem like collectibles, but in reality are pieces of story that WILL occur, or has already occurred word by word. There are even moments where a character will read what Alan wrote, moments later experience that right after, then you are able to read a manuscript that explains in detail his death and his reaction to it. Themes wise is mainly the struggles of Alan as he is told countless of times that his imagination is just in his head, only to realize that they will never understand crazy as well, they also AREN'T crazy. There are some issues with the story however without going into the worst part of this game I will discuss later, the game is honestly a bit TOO tame in the early episodes apart from stinger episode finales, and has a bit of a pacing issue throughout. Even if you were to erase the gameplay part and focus on the story, the way it is told can be a bit rough as simply, the voice acting can be pretty meh at times, and doesn't even improve at all till the DLC chapters, which ramps up the craziness in the story. Talking about the DLC chapters that I will just combine, they are honestly pretty good and I would personally say, are better than the main story, as it starts to embrace the better parts of the story telling and not just slowly walking with an old women explaining she has been waiting for you, which isn't that interesting compared to being FLIPPED OVER AS ALAN YELLS AT HIMSELF TO DIE BY WRITING NEAR IMPOSSIBLE STORYLINES THAT SHOULD KILL HIM BUT DON'T, that is the better parts of the story in this game, when it embraces its crazy side, not when it changes the pacing to go into... more on that later.

Characters
There are 2.5 really good characters in this game, Alan (duh), Barry, and Sarah, kinda. Of course Alan Wake is easily the best character in this game... its HIS story so he writes himself to be the center of the universe who only HE can save the world, only to realize his writing is the reason everything is going to ♥♥♥♥ and people are dying around him due to his writer knowledge that cause and effect is essential in writing, even if it costs his own life. Barry is the 2nd best character in this game, as he plays the comedic best friend role for Alan who gets the most screentime from any of the other side characters that questions, but also sides with Alan. Without Barry there would legit be no other character I would care that much about apart from antagonists, and while he is a bit generic with his writing, he was interesting enough to where I enjoyed whenever he was alongside Alan. Sarah is the .5 good character, as quite honestly while she tags with the other 2 pretty often, she is kinda bland and wasn't that interesting of a character. There is one redeeming factor, she has a gun, and she can actually aim with it holy. The other characters are stereotypical, which makes sense, but are interesting enough to not be TERRIBLE to watch.

Gameplay
Here we go. When I said I had issues with the story, or anything with the game... its cause of this. The gameplay in this game is... really REALLY repetitive to the point of boredom at times. It gets the job done, but fails to change past chapter 2. Literally once you get past chapter 2, you have seen everything the combat has to offer, anddd there is a total of 6 base chapters AND 2 DLC chapters, which does improve the formula. You point flashlight, you wait till they burn, you shoot. Enjoy this cause you do this for basically 10 hours straight whenever there is no story telling, the better part of this game. I LOVE amazing stories in games, but this game REALLY pushes my usually enjoyed type of game, as yeah the story is great, but when the gameplay got me so tired that I began to start RUNNING by enemies just to avoid doing that really bland loop, thats when you know there is an issue. There is of course SOME things that are shaken up, there are vehicle sequences that are, meh? They are a bit floaty and doesn't control that well, but quite honestly it means I didn't have to do flashlight shoot loop so I enjoyed it for that only reason. Boss fights suck ass in this game and NEVER improve. However there is still a light in this gameplay, the Idea is really good, and at first was REALLY cool. The best parts of this game are when you deviate away from the point flashlight shoot, and start using your environment to deal with the enemies. Explosive canisters, explosive flashbang? Grouping them up to use a flare, THAT is when the combat feels really nice, which is something they obviously realize as in the DLC, you start to get WAY too many of them to handle with just a gun, but are given way more opportunities to handle them with more unique environmental kills like activating a key word that spawns barrels to blow up ontop of them, or breaking out rocks so a lighthouse can flash and kill them. Apart from that loop, the game doesn't really start to move away from that till farrr past, in the last dlc chapter which has a really damn cool section where you are on a wheel going through parts of previously gone through levels, and its trippy as well which is when this game is at its best. If it wasn't for this REALLY good story I would be singing a different tune for this game, as without expanding the mechanics, it gets stale a bit too fast for the length of the game, till finally the DLC changes it up finally.

Music
There are some good songs in this game, mainly from the old farts of asgards who have their own fictional band. They aren't memorable, but they are awesome when they play. Other than those songs the game only really uses copyright songs that fit in the conclusions of each episode, so aren't distracting.

Last Positives/ Nitpicks
- I really hope this gameplay is fixed in AW2 but man.
- Environmental kills are really fun at least.
- Only Alan Wake where the game finishes with me having more questions than before the ending.
- Why was Alan's voice actor so flat till of course, the DLC episodes, his range is insanely good and its a shame it isn't really shown till way later.
- You could tell they had fun making the story, just wish they had fun making the gameplay cause if they did this game would be actual PEAK.

Conclusion
Alan Wake is easily a REALLY good flawed game. The story this good should not be held back by this gameplay. I know AW2 actually embraces the horror aspect, but man if this game just focused on horror it would be SO damn good. The story is easily the best part of the game even if I have to wave my hands in the air like a maniac explaining what it is, but I love it as it at least makes a ton of sense and has pretty good writing to be kept interesting enough.
7/10

9.5/10
A Timeless Classic for a reason. Chrono Trigger stands with Final Fantasy VI as the golden JRPGs of that console, and maybe the golden titles of the SNES period. Playing through the game, it is easy to see why it is so loved, and with the added cutscenes, it adds so much to this game that I wonder how some sequences were even experienced without them, even if some of them are just the same sequence but instead animated to emphasize their importance.

Story
A surprisingly more complex story that I would had imagined going in, especially for a SNES game. It is a repeated tune, but the themes of existential crisis,not sitting down and accepting "fate", and of course themes around the idea of time travel, with the benefits and of course, consequences. You focus on going through all the time eras, finding out your fate due to lavos, and finding companions who tie their story to lavos as well. With how complex time travel can get, Chrono Trigger knows how to have the complexity of time travel, without overdoing it and causing a confusing mayhem that ends up harming the story more than it benefits it, as it is pretty simple to understand how the time travel works with past affecting future, changing the past changes the future, and changing the future does not change the future, but having future knowledge can help you change the present or past. There is no meeting past self (kinda), and other time plots that convolute the story, which is amazing. Considering how short this game is for a JRPG, the pacing is excellent. The game does start to falter a TINY bit towards the end, but is able to make a great conclusion. It also helps that the side quests in this game are just amazing, as they each focus on each character, and have great character developments that make each and every single one of them worth playing through. Its really hard to point at issues with the story for this game, if I had to consider ANY, it is the tiny pacing issues toward with the end which lands greatly, some of the sidequests were a bit out there to understand who to solve them, anddddd I guess I was a bit confused how the multiple endings were at first, only to realize that the most obvious one is the best ,and the other endings are gotten through actions taken during the playthrough instead.

Characters
All of the cast were done excellent. Each of the characters have their own arc that all ties in together. Each of the characters represent the time era they were in, both good and bad considering the future that lavos created. The main character, Crono, is of course a silent protagonist who is designed to be a self insert, but brave character, which works considering the era it was set in. The other characters were all written so well, as Marle, the princess turned love interest, has an interesting story not only tying with cronos and of course her ancestory, but also her family struggles with her father who both struggle to accept the death of their Mother, and finally accepting and realizing how much they care for each other. Lucca's arc as well is just excellent, who ESPECIALLY gets one of the best scenes thanks to the excellent side quests in this game, and of course her inventions that allowed time travel to begin with for cronos and the group (even if it was fate that gave them the opportunity). Frog's arc and his rivalry with Magus (and depending on your choice, his redemption or acceptance), were just amazing, especially with his struggle as the human Glenn and accepting to become the hero that his previous companion sought out to be. Robo at first didn't seem that crazy, but his side quest fleshes him out way more and makes him another interesting character in the group. Ayla is also very interesting, but is probably the weaker one considering that she lacks an interesting side quest, which the other characters get, giving them the fleshed out development they needed. Magus finally after finding out who he is was a joy to experience, and while he is a bit sidelined with some story beats, his dialogue as he has a more personal connection with Zeal and lavos made him a worthy (and very strong) companion. It is insane how well done these characters are done, and not only are fleshed out throughout the game, but with how amazing the side quests are, makes them the fleshed out cast that everyone knows of, even if not all side quest developments were made equal, they are still all amazing.

Gameplay
This was a surprise to me. The system revolves around the usual ATB system seen in previous FF games, but this time uses positioning as a key part of the combat as other turn based systems similar to this have either attack one, or all, instead this game contains move that only attack if the enemy's position are together, which plays a strong element that this game excels in, enemy and player position matters if they are hit or not. Attacks that are a straight line will only hit if the enemies are also in a straight line, and circles of course are the same and you get the point. This element makes this combat system so damn fun, as it adds a really fun aspect due to the fact enemies move around while in a waiting state, so you can either attack now and only attack 2 out of 3, or maybe wait a bit more till they group up and attack all 3 at the same time. This risk reward system while also being quick thinking of specific attacks for positions makes this system thrive really well. Of course end game attacks ignores this a bit, as the strongest spells usually attack all, but it still persists for some attacks still. The time travel mechanic is just insane to consider they made it work for a SNES game, and while some confusions happen for the side quests, the game just flows so well. There are some issues, as items are VERY basic till endgame when they start getting more strong passives, but for most of the time its mainly bigger number is better, which is fine. Finally The animations with how the party fights together with double or triple tech was a joy to experience, as their personality is expressed through how they fight, and fight together.

Music
Easily one of the best in gaming. It is easier to point out songs that AREN'T godtier, and even then it is hard to point out those so few songs that are fine. Each new song made me stop to listen to them, as while other game's OST may have 1 or 2 songs that stand out the most, nearly the entire OST in this game is the standout. Crono's Theme (main theme), frog theme, Battle theme, Corridors of Time, Secrets of the Forest, Lavos Theme, Boss Theme, I can go on and on that I might as well list the whole OST as ALL of the songs are just peak after peak to the point of being unfair.

Final Positives/Nitpicks
- Last Segment of the game was a bit of a dip, but still lands amazing
- This OST man...
- Having nearly ALL the sidequests land this hard is a rare achievement that not many games can achieve, and enters games like NieR Automata for amazing asf side quests.
- Having enemies die one at a time was a bit slow, but again, SNES.
- Even the smaller side characters around the world were very interesting, and the villains were well developed.
- Game is a bit easy, but with interesting battle and fight mechanics, it doesn't turn into a button masher luckily. Probably doesn't help that the excellent side quests, consequentially makes you super OP as well.

Conclusion
Again, broken tune, but this game is simply AMAZING, and easily stands as one of the best JRPGs. This game has aged so damn well that it is so easy to see why it is timeless. It easily stands with FF6 as the 2 Golden Titans of JRPG SNES games, and is easily still one of the great games to play to this date. A game that focuses on time travel and is able to handle it well is a feat. This game is an easy recommendation, and while it isn't the most complex story, its simplicity with strong themes is played to its fullest strength in this game.
9.5/10

For $8 on sale you can not go wrong with this bundle. Of course across these 3 games they are not equal in quality as some shine brighter than others, and of course, some smell like just straight up ♥♥♥♥ (looking at you DMC 2). I made essay length reviews on each of the games, which of course can't fit in the steam's review word limit (and thank god), so I'll just instead summarize what I think of the 3 games instead.

DMC 1 (6.5/10)
Quite honestly, pretty good considering its the first in the series. Remnants of what will become DMC still show in this title, as the combo system, while VERY basic is still deep enough where you are still learning new combos even towards the end. Dante's charismatic personality is still in this game, albeit not as fleshed out as in future titles (like at all, he BARELY has any cutscenes compared to future titles). Voice acting is a bit iffy, which would be fine if they knew it was meh till they attempt emotional scenes, thats when you see full force that the voice acting is just not it. Story is basic and gets you from point A to Point B, but the missions in between feel like Dante is just roaming around. What holds this game back is EASILY the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ camera controls, knowing that it was due to being a prototype RE game turned new title, you can tell as this camera likes to fight you SO DAMN MUCH. Being forced into using only fixed angles is fine, but when you are fighting bosses where the camera does not want to work with you, it leads to scenarios of getting hit by ♥♥♥♥ you can't see while the camera slowllyyy pans to the boss. Its terrible. Other than that, pretty good game.

DMC 2 (3/10)
I thought this game couldn't possibly be that bad cause how could it? DMC 1 was pretty good, all they had to do was expand upon that. Knowing the history of DMC 2 however, prototype Tomb Raider game turned DMC 2 due to popularity, didn't bring back original devs, original (unnamed director currently) removed for new DMC director who would direct DMC 3 as a way to show not only show to the fans, but to actually keep the series alive, the ♥♥♥♥ show just makes you curious on just how bad it could be... anddd yeah, its ♥♥♥♥. DMC 2 takes what made DMC 1 good and throws a ♥♥♥♥ ton out the window. DMC 1 was a bit challenging? OK fine the enemies now wipe their ass as they swing, meaning they will always miss if you sidestep. DMC 1's guns sucked? OK fine DMC 2's guns are now so damn broken that they auto juggle, combine that a ton of the boss designs now rely on you using ONLY guns now. DMC 1 combos too weird? Fine here's a new combo system that flat out sucks. DMC 1 had repeating bosses that were tiresome? Fine have these 1 time ♥♥♥♥♥♥ bosses instead, and here is a infested chopper cause ♥♥♥♥ you thats why. Dante's Personality this time around is just depressing, with the VERY few lines he has in this game just being emo-like and bland asf. His design is peak, too bad his personality does not keep up. Other characters as well are just too undercooked, and the story is also undercooked. You can tell this game was rushed out the doors to meet popularity demands. Music is bleh as well. This game is kept by the fact that there is still some DMC DNA in this game, and while the combo system is a downgrade, is still fun at times and some bosses were a bit fun as well. This game just needed more time in the oven, with an actual vision by a group of devs knowing what they want... and that is why we got DMC 3.

DMC 3 (8.5/10)
Easily the best of the 3. Gameplay FINALLY shines a ton in this game. Story FINALLY embraces its more cheesy and over the top tone that DMC 1 kinda touches on. The characters all have satisfying arcs that co-exist. This is when the series REALLY started to get really good. While a prequel, Dante's personality is just a joy to experience, especially as he develops alongside Lady and Vergil. The story is simple in concept, but of course the character's journey is where it shines. What shines the BRIGHTEST is easily the gameplay, as the fluid combos, air combos, mechanics, introduction of seamless weapon melee switching, so much was introduced that made this game's gameplay so damn good. While not the best, as DMC 5 is still the best imo, 3 is when the game really starts to let loose. This game as a whole would easily beat DMC 5 in my books if it didn't have one very fatal flaw, which is 3/4ths into the game, the pacing, gameplay, character arcs all just halt. You go from every chapter introducing a new mechanic, boss, storyline into just backtracking, fighting no new bosses, REPEATING old bosses, introducing annoying enemy types that can't be juggled or have you wait for them to allow you to attack them. Thankfully the last chapter is easily the best in the game with the best boss design from a game that already had pretty good boss designs that while aren't perfect, combine with the EXCELLENT ost in this game makes them so much fun to play through. If that 3/4th section didn't exist, this game would easily be perfect.

9/10
I will always love Knights of the Old Republic, it holds a dear place in my heart and is easily my favorite out of any star wars game, especially in terms of writing and the many, many questions the story brings into the morality and greyline between the jedi and sith. I have played KOTOR throughout my life, and especially with KOTOR II, I take something out of it, even after playing it a second time on the dark side playthrough.

Story
KOTOR II's writing is easily my favorite out of any of the star wars game, and it saddens me that the themes of this game are barely touched ever again, and only certain aspects like what happens to one who has to cut themselves from the force like in fallen order are discussed again. KOTOR II's story focuses on the exile, who was cut from the force due to becoming a wound in the force after the horrors of war have taken place. Many of the characters are what happens to soldiers after a gruesome war that they don't even know if they won or not, and the psychological aftereffects that take place. I simply love the story of KOTOR II and how it handles breaking down the black and white views of the jedi and sith (which are again, retconned now thx disney). During war, people don't see jedi or sith, they see 2 jedi with too much power for anyone to comprehend and flawed beliefs. Now of course there are some hiccups in the story, especially without the restored content mod you will just have blanks in the story that aren't explained due to cut content, and even so the plot isn't very standard, as it mainly focused on the player's journey on learning about the flaws of the force compared to KOTOR I that had a more streamlined plot to experience. With the restored content mod, the story that obsidian wanted to tell is easily digestible, and tackles much stronger messages that no other star wars games has even come close to.

Characters
KOTOR II's characters, especially the cast (and especially one character), are super strong. KOTOR I's cast also had strong overall characters, with some weak ones like Juhanni. KOTOR II's companions are almost all super strong, with the weak ones writing wise either being mira or the disciple, which is a character I didn't experience as I did male all 2 runs. Diving into all the character's backstories can unmask a really engaging story to uncover, and the big ones that stood out are Atton, Bao-Dur, Handmaiden, HK-47 and ESPECIALLY, Kreia. I could easily write a whole essay on Kreia with how interesting her story is to the point where I believe the story and Kreia are one of the same. The one thing I love about the entire cast in KOTOR II is that while they all share pains, especially those who were involved in the war and Malachor V, there is also one common theme... Their beliefs CONSTANTLY clash with each other. KOTOR I's crew easily became friends with each other no problem, but every time you experience a cutscene in the ebon hawk in KOTOR II... the companions while they have some sharing moments, tend to argue, fight against one another, yell over who is right or wrong, aruge about the morality of sending your troops to war knowing they will die no matter. Every time I went into the ebon hawk and saw a cutscene was about to play I would always be excited cause most of the cutscenes are just a joy to experience. While a TON of the scenes with the crew were simply cut, the restored content mod brings these scenes back again and even at some points, enhances them to match what the developers wanted to show till the time issue came sprinting in. Atton's past about being a skilled jedi hunter, HK-47's remarks on how to kill a jedi, Bao-Dur's horror stories of having to build machines that will haunt him back for the war, Visa's home being taken by her, Handmaiden trying to understand why her parents left her, G0-T0's reveal of who he is, and my god Kreia's teachings and her frustrations with both the sith's arrogance and the jedi's lack of action causing them to never understand wars they think they are helping by not interfering, but are instead blinding them of what is really going on around the world. The characters are easily a highlight of this game, and with all the restored content, makes this game a memorable experience.

Gameplay
KOTOR II's gameplay utilizes the same format as the predecessor, a turn-based RPG with dnd mechanics, but makes the dnd mechanics invisible enough to where if you don't understand them, you will never know they even exist. Understanding DND mechanics (specifically 3rd edition, which is similar enough to 5e that I was able to quickly exploit the mechanic), the game was a ton of fun to play through. It is a shame this style of combat is considered out of date to others, and I am glad that BG3 showed that DND mechanics can still have its place in the market, but if there is one issue with the gameplay, is what I said before. If you understand the DND mechanics, the game can easily be broken into bits. While as a kid I was unable to understand what was going on, so the difficulty of the game was balanced enough, now that I have played through BG3 and can finally see the invisible DND mechanics that run this game, the game became a bit TOO easy. The issue with the mechanics of this game is that the enemy AI are simply too weak, and the abilities the game gives you can make the game easily broken no matter if you choose to go all lightsaber or all force ability. Going all combat focused with lightsaber, stacking attack turns with double lightsaber, master flurry and master of speed giving an additional 2 attacks per turn makes many fights trivial, as 97% of the enemies weren't balanced around you doing 5 attacks each turn. Going all force means you will have so much wisdom that no enemy can resist your force powers, and will almost always fail your insanity checks which takes them out of combat, then spam force storm or any other offensive force ability to wipe out literally any amount of enemy thrown at you. The only time the game throws a challenge is when the enemy you are forced to fight has a ♥♥♥♥ ton of health, high damage output and a high DC roll, making you have to rethink what force abilities to use, and having to use your more defensive abilities just to survive. Apart from those few, the game doesn't really give you a reason to stray away from those 2 strategies. Apart from the difficulty, I love the mechanics of this game to death, and will defend it from anyone who says that it is out of date, but it is easily breakable.

Music
KOTOR II's ost is pretty damn good. the composer was able to recreate that feeling of star wars, which the KOTOR I was also able to recreate. Overall I do like KOTOR II's ost better, as there are some standouts that I just enjoy a ton, but KOTOR I's ost is still super memorable for a reason. There isn't a song I will listen outside of the game of course, but the ost added a ton to this game and I give it credit for that. The battle themes, main theme, final boss theme and especially the rebuilt jedi enclave song are the ones that stand out to me the most.

Last Positives/Nitpicks
- not taking into account, but the additional planet restoration mod, M4-78 is in my opinion, not a mod you should have installed as a first playthrough. The planet is really bland gameplay wise, and while the song is pretty good, the voice acting was just terrible as it is obviously amateur, with a writing difference that easily stands out with how much worse it is compared to the base game's writing. I am glad they brought this planet back, and at a mod's perspective it is massively impressive, but compared to the rest of the game stands out as a fault, and should only be experienced as a curiosity, not as a first playthrough planet.

9/10

After it took me only a short time from heart of stone to blood and wine ( ok well... 4 years to be exact), I Finally got myself to sit down and play blood and wine, and holy crap I have no idea why it took me so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ long to play this near perfect expansion! This expansion can easily be considered Witcher 3.5, and it would be hard for me to see you not love this expansion if you also loved the base game as well alongside heart of stone, with many aspects of the game just nailing the same feeling I had with the base game while being set in a much more high fantasy setting.

Story
Very amazing story, while I do think Heart of Stone's story is a tad bit better, it is still a story I will remember down the line with the grey line between vampires and humans, the friendship with Regis, and the connection between the sisters, while trying to consider who is the lesser evil, the vampire who is killing many for one girl, or the girl who is killing many for a personal rivalry. While it starts off as simple as can be with Geralt being contracted to kill a mysterious monster, it quickly turns into a much more complex story that has even Geralt question his moral compass as he further solves the mystery. Even with the best possible ending, it is impossible to have the pure fairy tale ending where everyone's problems are magically solved, someone has to take the noble sacrifice for those they don't even know. There are so many amazing questlines in this game, and even apart from the really amazing main questline like one where you enter a fairy tale, even the side quests are just as amazing as well, with great writing and even more humorous questlines like Geralt trying to deposit from a bank where he is declared dead. I love Heart of Stone, and I do prefer that expansion's main questline, but the one thing it was missing were the amazing sidequests that witcher 3 is easily known for, and blood and wine not only delivers but exceeds with some quests as well. I didn't do ALL the side quests as some were obviously there for power gain and would require more work than I would like, but I did the ones with story content as reward and I loved them all.

Characters
Easily some of my favorite. Base game of course had the best overall characters, Heart of stone had my favorite antagonist, but Blood and Wine had some of my favorite companions alongside Regis and the relation between the Anna and the sister. Regis especially my GOD did I love his character, as while he was a friend to Geralt, he also tried his damn to protect his other friend as well as a way to have a peaceful resolution, but no matter what he did, there are no fairy tale endings in this universe, and what regis did to help those he doesn't even know will forever be burned into my memory. The other characters as well were all just fantastic, and the only real complaint I would have is that I wish the main antagonist vampire would had been a bit more fleshed out, even though he has a fantastic backstory and character development, I feel like maybe a couple more hours with him would had fleshed him out to the same level as Gaunter O'Dimm was in heart of stone. Overall were an amazing addition to blood and wine, and easily had way more memorable characters in comparison, just not THE memorable character antagonist like mentioned. Lastly The story with Anna was just wonderful, and even if the ending splits depending on what you choose, the ending I got was the one I am very much satisfied with. Even her captain, side quest characters, other higher vampires and such were written so well, and I just hope witcher 4 has the same level of writing that witcher 3 and ALL of the expansions had previous.

Gameplay
Blood and Wine adds some new mechanics, mainly the usage of greater mutagens to utilize the new mutation system. The new system does change a ton for the build I was running, mainly when I grinded to get the freezing aard upgrade, which switched up how I played the game a bit. Apart from that the gameplay stayed the same, but of course I always loved more endgame witcher combat as that is when you not only start to utilize the upgrades more, but also utilize the potions, bombs and such which were essential when I played on Death March difficulty. Gameplay is still very strong for me from this game, and blood and wine improved it a ton as well. The new emphasis on vampires as well made the new encounters a ton of fun as well. I know people criticize the combat a ton for saying its too mashy, but I feel like if you play on the much easier difficulties is when you face that problem, but raise the difficulty much higher, you suddenly realize you can't just march head first into battles and actually require pre preparing and proper magic usage to deal with the harder fights in the game. Overall the gameplay is still super fun to play through, with of course some minor gripes I have with it, mainly lock on camera and the INSANE damage scaling of death march (seriously I would get 2 shotted by some rather small enemy mobs even with having quen on).

Music
Blood and Wine's OST is just insanely peak. Battle theme, Blood and Wine theme of course, The Slopes of Blessure, The Beast of Beauclair, On the Champs-Desoles , and ambience as you just explore were all just fantastic.

Last Positives/Nitpicks
- I love how vibrant and much saturation is in the world as you explore, making you realize how dark and dirty the inner plots and politics are in the world even as they try their hardest to mask it all.
-Death March Scaling is... insane at times
-Prayers Witcher 4 holds this bar that Witcher 3 had set (and launches in a proper state unlike cyberpunk)
-Greater Mutagens were a bit annoying to grind for, so I didn't dive too deep into the new mutagen system. Probably easy if I NG+ and found the mutagens naturally.
-I do hope the next game improves on the skill tree to have more unique abilities instead of stat increases.

Conclusion
Blood and Wine is easily one of the best expansions any game as ever had. I have finally finished all the main content from the game I hold so dearly, and after all of these years, can finally rest this game for whenever I do a NG+ run for the witcher 4 hype train or not. While the story was a tad bit lesser compared to heart of stone, having every other aspect just be better makes this my favorite of the 2 expansions. I will look at heart of stone as the best story and antagonist of witcher 3, but blood and wine has the best gameplay and companion of witcher 3.
10/10

7/10
Baldur's Gate I allured me mainly to play the rest of the DND games, as I fell in love with BG3 quickly on. While BG1 is practically different in nearly everything apart from setting and a much, much older dnd ruleset to follow, I still found a bit of the charm I had while playing bg3 as well... with some outdated mechanics and storytelling along the way.

Story
Baldur's Gate I starts off with a pretty strong opener, you are the son of a mage who is suddenly being attacked by assassins and need to leave the home you lived at for so long, just to watch your father be murdered by forces unknown. Stuff like that can get me super pumped, but once you leave the first chapter and onto the rest of the game by being introduced to your potential companions ( I played with the canon party for the entire game just for bg2 continuity reasons), you do start to realize some shortcomings of the way the game is structured. There are still exciting moments in the story, the iron shortage, sarevok, the reveal near the ending of the game are very exciting points of the story, but the writing at times isn't the greatest compared to previous stories I have experienced, and worse of all, literally nobody has any reaction to what you do or anything you have to accomplish apart from repeating "good guy do good thing!" or "you do bad I don't like that!". While the main quest line has its moments, its the side quests that really hamper the experience with how inconsistent the pacing of any of them are or just how worth they are in a story telling way. Most of the sidequests until you reach baldurs gate is basic "fetch me this please, kill this please" and just ends with no lingering effect. Maybe this is cause of how BG3 handles side quests that I notice it way more, but it is pretty random if you are doing a side quest that is worth it or not. However there ARE pretty good side quests, for the base game I did really enjoy the one with the B queen (if that is a side quest or not idk). I did not play SoD as I heard that the writing is terrible there, but I did play through the tales of the sword coast, and I would like to split it into two parts. One half of it is the durlag's tower, which has really good writing and a very engaging storyline of a man struggling with the past as you explore the dungeon. On the other half you get to explore an island, which has some of the worst writing I have ever seen in terms of a jump between two different storylines. So many obvious jumps and turns, character motivations make no sense and you are forced to basically resolve the scenario in a matter that leaves things to be desired. BG writing can be a bit over the place, but I do hear BG2 writing kinda outclasses it so I do hope for that. Overall good writing, but too spread out to be considered noteworthy imo.

Characters
The characters in this game are pretty interesting... Till you finish their very short quest, then they turn into one liners who do nothing but tell you the same comment, same joke, react to the same way till the end of the game. There ARE very interesting companions, but they were added in the enhanced edition and as a way to play through bg1 in a more original way I played with just the canon party instead (I am so sorry Rasaad the monk your backstory was so damn interesting as well but had to remove you for minsc sadge). I do know that the biggest problem that bg2 fixes a ton is companion chattering, cause my GOD BG1 companions that are NOT new from the enhanced edition have 0 flavor, and once you finish their questline are just blank slates with like 5 lines to say something new. I really wish I played with a custom party instead but I had to experience these companions just for continuity sake my playthrough. They do each play distinct as the dnd classes are varied of course, but other than that I could had probably done with a custom party and had the same experience, but would had kept minsc at least as I did enjoy his 5 lines the most... and Jaheria as well you can stay.
Gameplay
While this game is very old, it still has the charm that I was looking for in what I would imagine, a dnd much game. While this game uses the DND 2nd edition, which is VERY different than DND 5e that bg3 uses, it still holds a ton of similarities, but enough differences that took me awhile to get used to (AC is better when lower instead of higher for example). The combat in this game has a huge gap imo, as lower level has you being kinda forced into a cheese strat, where the main strategy is to have EVERYONE using ranged attacks, as nobody can survive a hit yet, and just looping them till they die. This is pretty annoying, and It doesn't really change from that till mid game when you start getting your abilities and spells in place. mid game the combat DRAMATICALLY improves, and you start to feel the excitement as you plan your next moves with the pause-real time combat system. However, end game basically turns back into a bit of a cheese, as you start encountering not 1, not 2, not 3, but like 20 traps all at once. While yes, thief can just disarm them, sometimes those traps are literally 2 ft away from the enemies, forcing you to pull them anyways. That is when you quickly realize the best way to handle the enemy over preparing, is to over prepare yourself... but throwing fireballs and ice storms off screen so the enemies get damaged, but won't engage for some reason. Especially the end fight where the boss basically summons a ♥♥♥♥ ton of high level enemies and has literally 10 traps waiting for you, throwing fireballs and forcing him to come to us so we can jump him was the main strat I had to use. In Durlag's tower especially requires the most cheese ( apart from the demon knight he was a pretty interesting boss design). Once you figure out that enemies won't engage when attacked off screen, it starts to turn into your main battle plan, and unless reasons force you to use a different strategy, most of combat boils down to that, which does get a bit boring after awhile, as while playing on hard difficulty, fighting the enemy head on is certain death for a companion, which in this game and ESPECIALLY with the canon party, insanely hard to recover from, as with the lack of a cleric, the only way to revive is to walk allll the way back to a chapel to revive, and even then their stuff is still on the ground so you have to walk back and reorganize their ♥♥♥♥ for them. Overall a ton of the mechanics I did enjoy, but being a much older version of DND, some mechanics I am glad are either much improved 5e, or removed outright ( Thanks for the much better trap detection and having really cool magic synergy that isn't just stun enemy is good in bg3).

Music
Pretty good. Not the best I have heard, but overall I liked the ost in this game. They fit really nice into the setting, and while some do get annoying like the inn theme repeating a bit too obnoxiously, I really enjoyed the battle songs and other ambience songs in this game.

Conclusion
Overall I really did enjoy BG1 a ton. Is it masterpiece? No I don't think so, but I will still look at this game with a positive outlook, and hopefully, a better point of view after I play BG2, which supposedly does fix a ton of the writing and companion issues I had with BG1 (and high level spells yay). Do I recommend BG1? If you enjoy pause real time I do, but it isn't the easiest recommend as it really depends on the taste of having to play with old ass dnd mechanics and outdated gameplay mechanics. Looking past that, you do generally get a good game, just missing some sauce that would make it REALLY good. But for a 1998 game, still really damn good.
7/10

10/10
If you told me at the beginning of 2023 that there would be a game that would come out, from a game series I didn't know about or even have interest in the genre at first would completely stomp out tears of the kingdom for me, I would call you insane. However after playing both of course and FINALLY finishing baldur's gate 3, I can safely say that 2023 was not only one of the best gaming years (in terms of quality), but baldur's gate stands out as easily the best game to come out not only that year, but a game that will be remembered for centuries. Baldur's Gate 3 has given me the same feeling that Witcher 3 had in terms of how polished the game can feel with how large of a scale the game is, and while around act 3 there can be some hiccups, I still love the crap out of this game, and even while writing this review I am considering a replay already.

Story
BG3's story as a concept is very simple, you have a mind flayer in your head and you want to cure it. The paths from there expands so much that each playthrough can be considered their own story, which is exactly what a game focused on DND should be like. While yes there are still key points in the story that everyone experiences, the path there or even the choices made can vastly change what happens in the story. The game splits itself in three acts, and each of the themes and story beats of each of the acts vary so much in terms of tone and what is going on around the world with the first act being focused on mainly the goblin camps, act 2 focusing on the moonrise towers, and act 3 focusing on gathering allies. As the story goes on your party starts to realize just how big of a threat you are against, and with how many twists and turns occur during the story as the path of mind flayer world domination marchs ever closer, the story is just a treat to go through, and impossible to fully experience in one playthrough. The game's themes mainly point towards pretty strong themes like loss, corruption of power, and giving up ambitions that will do nothing but repeat the cycle you are trying to break. The characters each represent a specific theme and story all by itself, but in general the main thing each character experience is having to give up their ambitions to become so much more than they were destined to be. The companion's trust in each other is how they are able to beat even the gods without sacrificing their own humanity.

Characters
Easily the best part of BG3, the characters in this game are nearly all written beautifully, with amazing arcs with how they change as the story progresses, and the thousands of possible interactions with them as you progress throughout the game and depending on how you treat them. When I said nearly all are written beautifully, I mean all of the origin characters are easily the best characters in the game, and like 1-2 characters who join you later do drop a bit around act 3, specifically halsin whose character arc ends after act 2. Jaheria and Minsc were just amazing additional characters who join much later, but have interesting developments on act 3. I did not experience Minthara in my first playthrough as I was mainly playing as a wizard with good morality, so I missed her (and didn't know you could save her while siding with the druids). The origin characters however are just insanely well written, and all of them are top tier in terms of writing. The easy best ones are Astarion, Karlach and Shadowheart, who experience the biggest moments in the game, albeit in a very sad manner that teared me up for all of their scenes. Lae'zel and Gale are also amazingly well written, and Wyll's arc is also really well done, but of course the best character in my opinion for story arc was easily Astarion, who started off as someone you thought would just be this weird vampire cliche, turn into a tragic character who doesn't know how to express his feelings towards you, and hides what he feels behind fake laughters. Shadowheart's arc transform was also insanely well done (and in my playthrough, had a great romance story arc as well), and my god was Karlach's arc on trying to find the cure to her heart was done so damn well, and made even better with the patches. There are some unfortunate issues with the characters, specifically with some side characters whose arcs are built up, only to not really have a satisfying conclusion. The most obvious one I always look at was Zevlor, who I theorize didn't even show up to the studio for act 3, and didn't even have voice lines at the end. Other than that, I LOVED the characters in BG3 so damn much that even after finishing that first playthrough, I spent the next 4 hours just watching their cutscenes on youtube. A ton of the characters are also very much ambiguity, and you can't really list many of the characters in a black and white "good or evil". While a few CAN be straight up those 2, it is far and few between, and only really given to characters who have little to no screen time, as even the villains have motivations on why they do what they do, and have compelling reasons for their actions. Lastly I just want to give a shoutout to any of the goated side characters in this game, some of the tieflings, and especially barcus you had my favorite of the side characters who grew from act 1 all the way to act 3.

Gameplay
BG3's gameplay is easy (and kinda hard) to explain. Simple terms, it is turn based RPG, but focusing hard on the DND mechanics it is based off. While whenever people heard turn based they think final fantasy or pokemon, but my god the combat gets so complex and I LOVE it for that. The reality is the combat uses turn based combat, but uses almost a queue system with who goes first based on initiative, and each player's turn has them using a huge selection of options depending on the environment, their armor bonuses, spells learned, abilities, the potential of DND abilities are realized in this game and it is simply beautiful. While some may find the combat overwhelming, I emplore that you stick to the combat like I did cause once it clicks you just get addicted to the system. Playing as a wizard, the amount of spells is just endless with crowd control, massive aoe spells and being able to roleplay as a book nerd in dialogue were just so much fun to play through, and having the companions each have unique classes that synergize with your character was just so much fun to explore. There are some small delays as the game went on, especially as the battles got much much larger, but they didn't ruin the game for me.

Music
Soooooo many memorable songs in this game. House of hope, Twisted force, Final Act, Theme song, any battle song, There are so many amazing songs on the ost that it is easier to name the ones that weren't good. I want to live, down by the river, legacy of bhaal, oh my lord so many songs pop up that it is just INSANE.

Last Positives/Nitpicks
-Performance does start to dip act 3, nothing unplayable, but noticeable.
- The side characters who DID have really good story arcs were just insanely good (looking at you barcus)
- The game's difficulty was mainly knowledge based, and once you figure out the game, it can prove to be a bit easy (which is how games should be)
- I can tell how people complained about the ending without the patches, but with those patches it really made the ending super satisfying (depending on how your playthrough went of course)
- Purely in my coop playthrough, not being able to complete some companion quests does kinda suck especially for some of my friends who never finished their solo run, so they have no idea about their storylines. Those who did complete the quests it didn't matter as much.
- Coop does introduce some bugs that required a reset, which was a bit tough. Singleplayer bugs mainly affected performance for me, and SOME quests having issues with progressing
- I do wish there was a way to change the camera height manually
Conclusion
... Just buy the game.
10/10