Recent reviews by - Arby - Hikari no seishi -

Disclaimer: Unpopular opinion.

I just passed the 120 hour mark, and need to do my part to sell this game.

Personal thoughts:
Admittedly, I was excited for this before the launch, visually if nothing else. (Love big mech stuff)
So I was on board with the idea of a sci-fi tower defense game after enjoying but not falling in love with the Sanctum games. Once I finally started the game up, over 6 months after launch (yay steam backlog) I was genuinely impressed by both how well it runs, and its impressive visual style. That said the story is lacking, voice acting is at best passable, and the translation has some hysterical oversights. But. And this is a big one. Those things are not why the game is unique. I played this game to build a military structure and defend against hoards of enemies. Not much story needed there.

That leads me to the core loop. Loot stuff, extract, build or rebuild your base, to loot more stuff. Engaging to some, less so to others, fair. Playing the looting missions definitely gets repetitive... but there's a fast loot, shooting endless hoards of robots could get repetitive, but there's a million different ways to do it with varying Xens. Or just build a monster fortress and watch the bullets fly.... the entertainment is here. Is it AAA? Fk no. But thats not why I'm here. All i wanted was a good time, and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ did I get it here.

I could go into a long rant about how much I love the building in this game, but I wont. Instead Ill close with this. I have 120 hours in it. I expect to have over 300 pretty easily. And for 20 usd, I call that a win several magnitudes in depth.

Its EDF!

Always a good time with friends and the issue with Epic is easily ignored.

if you like EDF games, just get it.

I will preface this by saying I love all things Gundam, and to that end there IS good here in this game, collecting and customizing mobile suits.

...however...

and this is a big BIG however.
I cannot recommend this game for several glaring reasons which I will provide detail for:
-the rock, paper, scissors nature of game play is completely unnecessary, and frankly bad game design. There would have been a huge improvement if this was simply not in the game.
-in games, there are several suits with extreme balance issues that are heads and tails better than others, and because its a gatcha game, you could be simply screwed by circumstances.
-while the above two reasons are bad, even getting into a match in the first place is an exercise in frustration with the frequency of disconnects, failed matchmaking, and just randomly getting a terrible host.
-because its free to play I can understand their need to make money, its important for the game to continue, but, $30 USD to make a 10 pull from a gatcha randomizer is hilariously overpriced, if it was 7, or maybe even 10 usd I could be convinced, but seeing the 30 price tag immediately sealed the NOPE in my mind.
-I personally have had a miserable experience in ranked play, which by the way is required to progress in the game and unlock purchases including weapons which would make things better. There were multiple occurences where I was below 1475 rating, and before you say "get good" one person does make a difference, but not enough to overcome 5 enemies. when you go into a "power play" waiting for a teamate to respawn, you will repeatedly get gangbanged, and there is nothing you can do about it. Getting spawn camped was a regular occurance.

I love Gundam, and the models and customization are above and beyond what Id expected, but the game is broken fundamentally, and financially. Do not buy into this, play it if you will, but dont buy in.

I wanted to get fully through this game before finally writing my review... but Im going to separate this into 3 parts:

1) A TLDR
2) Initial impressions
3) Final impressions

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TLDR
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If you're a fan of classical style RPGs - play it.
Story is a solid 9 out of 10, pushing 9.5.
Visuals are a sexy mix of pixel art and animations, which I can safely say I love the pixel art but MOST animations are only ok. Some are fantastic, but the ones you see all the time are meh.
Music is top tier for an indie title, the song Hurry! specifically has been added to my normal music playlist along with a few notable others.

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Initial impressions
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I had read some poor reviews regarding the combat, so I had mixed feelings going in. Upon discovery the level system reminded me of Chrono Cross in that it would always be a challenge, I loved the art, but had no idea what was going on nor what to expect. I'd say for the first 5-7 hours I explored, and re-explored the 1st region trying to get all the stuffs, and was worried most of the time commitment would be grinding things, as the story by that point hadnt hooked me. The music however just burrowed into my head, so I couldnt well put it down. Rolling back abit, the very beginning has a nice set of scenes introducing the main characters, and we go from one to the next seeing what their lives are about before the action starts... I immediately fell in love with Sienna. Shes amazing even now after completion, she has a few scenes where you can stealth...or not... your choice. It wasn't until a specific event that I was fully engaged, but I still stuck with it.

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Final Impressions
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The part that I cant get over is how well the story is fleshed out. The world building, setup, and trickling of details was just fantastic. The writers here not only wrote a good story, but they wrote it in a format that kept the player engaged, and let them figure out details on their own which pay off later, I cant stress enough how happy I am with it.

Characters are interesting, integral to the plot, and all unique, and having 8 of them in a party means customization! Some characters I think you get to late for them to matter or have big parts, but all have their niche. Several of the personalities Ill never forget, Im lookin at you Magnolia.

Combat is both complicated and straightforward, easy to do, hard to master. Fights in the endgame are just as challenging as they are in the beginning but for different reasons, and some of the bosses will throw wrenches into your nicely laid plans. Sky Armor fights are neat and very reminiscent of Xenogears, but I always felt they were missing... something? IDK what, but it feels incomplete.

There is probably more to be said here, but I think Ill come back to this with more formulated thoughts....



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Play it, it is truly a testament to the good games that have come out of the crowdfunding era.

2 thumbs up.

Zelda / Souls game with an attention to detail and intrigue Ive not seen in years. A very quality experience.

Just try it. Free trial contains 1000 hours of content easily by itself, along with one of the best stories ever written, if that's not enough to get, and keep you hooked, then this isn't for you.

Its a solid Stardew-Crossing-Portia-Moon... With its own unique twists...
I wont spoil anything, but just know that I dont regret my purchase (which is a rare thing to be said in this time of ♥♥♥♥♥♥ developers making ♥♥♥♥♥♥ games and charging an arm, a leg, and both kidneys for)

So take my play time according to steam with a grain of salt. I, admittedly, pirated Satisfactory at the beginning (financial issues) but after putting over 300 hours into the illegal version, I bought it on Epic. On there according to adding all of my save files together, I have over 2000 hours.

Time spent does not a quality product make though... so here's the meat.

BUY SATISFACTORY.

It is hands down the best gaming money I have spent in the last 5 years. Visuals, world, intuitiveness of gameplay, interesting and unique things to see and do, Satisfactory has changed gaming in a very positive light. Combat may be a bit dull, but the devs have acknowledged this and intend a revamp before 1.0.

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Visuals:

If you watch the videos or streamers, you can see for yourself really... Lighting, textures and flora are all gorgeous, the map is sculpted to a terrifying degree, only Conan Exiles even comes close in my opinion. Each biome is diverse, and worth exploring, if not all being worth building in evenly.

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Audio:

I have the audio off mostly... so I cant give a valid opinion here.

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Gameplay:

Lets face facts if you're interested enough to read this either A) you've played Factorio, B) a friend pointed you here, or C) you are just the kind of crazy this world needs, and in the case of C, here goes. Factorio is an isometric factory building game, Satisfactory is a bit less complicated, but equally entertaining, first person 3d version of. This combination is stark
by itself, even if the game was not also so beautifully rendered and worth exploring, but adding in the other aspects you suddenly have something magical.

Starting with nothing, suffering through the slog that is the first couple hours, only to finally become self sufficient brings a feeling of accomplishment I don't often feel from games... Then you come upon the more complicated systems regarding Coal / Steel, Oil, and the Electronic age.... each a taller task than the last... and each requiring an explosive increase in equipment and scale.... by the time you hit Tier 7 your factory can be viewed from space in all likelihood. The transition you can see from open, lush, and wild world... to an industrialized superpower is something to see for yourself, and I encourage you to do so.

I want to see how creative you can be, get it, play it, and review it yourself.

Just get it.