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Recommended
2.5 hrs last two weeks / 478.2 hrs on record (220.7 hrs at review time)
Posted: 10 Oct @ 3:19am

I think a lot of people are comparing this game to Destiny 2, and many of the complaints people have about the game (aside from monetization) feel very reminiscent of the early Destiny/Destiny 2 days. For example, the story is quite convoluted and lackluster. We chase a McGuffin ("the ironheart") through most of the campaign, and never really get any clue as to what it does, is capable of, or why people want to harness/destroy it. There are plenty of "don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain" dialogue moments, especially anything that Alpha says. But I get the impression that the overall story is a work-in-progress that is intended to be expanded upon throughout the seasons, as more characters are added.

The gameplay is quite fun, especially with endgame builds. Gameplay style across Descendants is quite varied, skills and gunplay feel quite good (though I'm not used to over-the-shoulder 3rd person shooter gameplay). Endgame builds can make you feel almost godlike in many circumstances, and I love that kind of power fantasy gameplay. It feels a lot better than Destiny, where everything's power is only slightly relative to your character power level. In fact, TFD's endgame builds feel almost like Diablo 3 builds (which I also love), where you can wreck things quickly and easily.

There *is* quite a grind to get things you want and you'll be cursing the dice rolls on some things, but... The grind isn't something that truly bothers me, I like having goals to chase in the game. I mean, there's hardly a guaranteed drop for raid-exclusive items in Destiny 2 either, but nobody seems to truly complain about drop chances there. And Nexon seems to be required by law to clearly state what the probability distribution is, so you know what you're getting.

One complaint I have is aesthetic: the movement and idle animations for all the female characters are the same, there's nothing personalized per-Descendant. I think if they took some cues from the sitting animations at character selection in the main menu, they could come up with some well-suited idle and movement animations for each character which fit their personality and style. For example, Bunny seems like kind of a hyperactive character (which suits her gameplay loop as well) and she could have some bouncy or easily distracted idle animations. And a character like Gley seems more quiet and reserved, so she could have animations to reflect that. It's overall not a big complaint but once I noticed some of the same idle animations across any female character, I couldn't un-see it.

I understand others' complaints about the monetization, but everything on the store aside from cosmetics and experience/gold boosts can be found or researched in-game, albeit with a bit of grind. Most of the monetized products are effectively shortcuts to things players can accomplish in their own time. I think the pricing *is* too high, but it's totally doable to play the game in full without paying a dime. But I'm personally happy to pay a bit now and then to support the developer.

Also I do have to praise the developers. I only started playing recently, but I've been looking up older gameplay videos and patch notes and it's quite clear that the developers are listening to the community and trying to improve the game based on community feedback. It's rare for a developer to pay so much attention to what their community wants. I have to give props to Nexon for their dedication to making a good game.
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1 Comments
WolfPax 22 Nov @ 12:26pm 
i agree man, ive tried this on console recently and it has improved alottt compared to before, devs that listen to their commmunity are the best!