Recent reviews by ibbigbigbigby

Don't let the name fool you, the game goes deeper than its cutesy aesthetics may lead you to believe. It's a creature collector with fun "combat" that isn't agonizingly easy, and a level cap setting that temporarily lowers your level back down if you're ever too overlevelled for a match, letting them stay challenging while also still gaining XP. Bosses also scale with the amount you've defeated. I recommend choosing the frog if you're looking for a challenge, they're the only starter that doesn't one-shot straight out the gate without setup at any point (rabbit does later, shorts does immediately). If you're itching for a new monster taming title, this is easily among the best.

The game is only missing mostly animated sprites and a few side-events/areas, the main story is done. It's also completely compatible with the Steam Deck, but you have to manually transfer your save from the demo if you start from there, just FYI

I heard this was old and should just be skipped for the sequel. I figured that meant the sequel looked more modern, but they're exactly the same in that regard. Unless you're just playing for the combat, there is no point to skipping, but even then I'm pretty sure there's no difference aside from not being able to use high-level spells. You also won't be taught how to play in the sequel, they'll assume you came from this one. The cast in this game is also pretty cool, most of which don't come back in the next game.

There's a second part called Siege of Dragonspear that people will advise to avoid. It is meant to serve as a segway to the sequel, but the plot points it introduces are never resolved. Companions who aren't in the sequel will also eventually leave during this, but gives some closure as to why. It didn't leave me overleveled in the sequel, but that might only be because I played a multiclass. It would probably be beneficial if you play on difficulties higher than Core Rules.

And don't choose half-orc or you'll end up with a vastly inferior potential companion. This is told from experience

When you're creating your character, unless you're roleplaying your own backstory, select the Dark Urge from the premade characters (they're fully customizable) for a more interesting plotline. You're kind of just... there, otherwise (unless you play as the other premades, which are companions-- not ideal for a first run).

It's turn-based in case you hate those with a passion. I don't think anyone needs to be convinced to try the game, lol-- it's worth full price

It's not as good as Origins, but it's not bad. The game has some interesting aspects that set it apart from other RPGs:
- Hawke is like Shepard (Mass Effect), you guide their personality but they're their own character. Personality types always remain in their respective slots, and red is best don't let anyone tell you otherwise
- Your choice of character class can result in a different companion. The canonical choice is definitely the mage, but the better companion is with the other classes. Also, the later cutscenes only make sense if you're a rogue. Gender doesn't matter
- Settling for mages with healing skills is the biggest mistake of your life in this game. If you don't NEED a dedicated healer in the team, you are playing the game wrong and may be punished severely for it, especially if you decide to be the dedicated healer yourself. Do NOT. Use a dedicated healer EVERYWHERE, guards have better things to do, and do EVERYTHING they ask or you will regret it
- This is the only game I have ever seen where you can hate on a companion at every turn and gain their loyalty and/or have them fall in love with you-- as long as you do it consistently (and flirt in between-- every opportunity is clearly indicated; words aren't enough, though). Since every character is morally grey, I recommend taking this approach since I doubt you'll get to in any other game. Just keep in mind that romances are meant to blossom before finishing Act II

The balancing kinda pissed me off-- regular enemies are way too easy, while stronger enemies/big waves are astronomically more difficult. Unless you're really good at D&D-based combat, I don't recommend going past Normal. If nothing mentioned above peaks your interest, I honestly don't recommend the game because the next ones are ass. Otherwise, I'd generally recommend what I've recommended for the best experience

And it's fine on the deck, just copy your control scheme over from origins. They're exactly the same

I played this out to fill the hole the Mass Effect series left after finishing it. This game is good and chockful of content to boot, but just a heads-up: if you're looking to play through an entire series, this isn't what you're looking for. By itself, the game follows a simple story that keeps you invested with the characters that stick with you along the way, as you'd expect from a BioWare franchise. They're kind of tropey, but endearing in their own different ways, though that doesn't mean you'll like them all. The combat is dated, but I enjoyed it-- I don't think it would detract from your experience unless you don't enjoy the rest that the game has to offer. And it's fine on Steam Deck, it just needs a control layout since there isn't one by default (just use/modify a community one). It might crash a handful of times but it's very rare.

Play if you want to experience a classic RPG, but keep in mind this is undoubtedly the peak of this series. The sequel is decent enough if you really want another, but Inquisition sucks and Veilguard takes after it, making it even worse coupled with modern writing.

This last bit is important if you decide to give this game a shot: there is DLC that you can import your main save into. To put it vaguely, if you die at the end of the main story, importing to the DLC will retcon your save, reviving you and altering your choices. If you decide to play the sequel afterward, any sense of continuity will be destroyed and NPCs will recount a series of events that never happened in place of your actual choices, unless you import a save where you never started the DLC.

If this would bother you as much as it did me, as funny as this might sound out-of-context: do not die. No matter what you have to do to avoid it. If you want play both the DLC and the sequel, dying means having to choose between retaining your choices in the main game or the DLC, which just sucks. If you are not planning on the sequel but want to play the DLC, using a new character will not import significant decisions you made and sets them to a worser default, which kind of hampers the experience. It's just in your best interest to stay alive, and as devastating as it might be to, you kind of have to to enjoy everything this game has to offer to the fullest. You have been warned

Bad. Bad! BAD!!!

I'd always heard about this series being good, but I always dismissed it as some horny soap opera since most just talk about the romances. But damn was I wrong. I am a sucker for good characters and their flavour text, and this game has it in abundance, all voiced too, and well, which is such a rarity. I remember hearing the end was bad, too, so I was reluctant to get into it. It's not.

This series is timeless, especially with this edition giving it modern visuals, and I pray this doesn't get another sequel because we all know it would be absolutely terrible and a disgrace to the amazing job they did with this series. It is an experience you will likely never find anywhere else.

I went into this expecting it to be a difficult shooter and using a mage-like class instead, but after locking in the default no-magic class in the first game by mistake, I discovered an interesting truth: this series was not designed to be challenging. And don't misunderstand-- I avoid shooters like the plague because my aim is absolutely terrible. But after walking through a giant mass of enemies and shooting them one-by-one with a shotgun on Veteran, I needed combat to be more mentally stimulating and switched to the hardest difficulty, Insanity. Made the game more fun for sure. Battles were slowly feeling like just a nuisance before it, which isn't ideal.

Regarding each game in detail:

--- 1 ---
The first game was never any trouble whatsoever, not even at the final boss. I only ever died when I was messing around running straight into them, or letting snipers shoot me in the head. That only kills you on Insanity, so you might want to play it straight off-the-bat if you want enemies to actually be threatening. You can get an achievement for sticking with it without having to restart, too. I know I regret not doing so... And you can change your class at the beginning of the next game, so consider trying the Soldier class out before resigning yourself to magic because the first game is super easy anyway. Bring Wrex and Liara to Noveria for flavour text. Use the Citadel elevators with different combinations for more. Bring Ashley and Kaidan to Virmire for the optimal experience.

--- 2 ---
In the second game, almost every boss/final stage is actually challenging, but never feels impossible... for the most part (Insanity only, wouldn't be very engaging otherwise). I play on the Steam Deck though, and taking cover is changed in this game in a way that makes it very easy to accidentally get yourself killed trying... I might just suck, though. Yet I beat the game on Insanity. Do yourself a favour and play on Insanity. As for flavour text:
- Consider recruiting everyone first before doing sidequests by advancing the plot, as bringing people you normally get later on can make them very interesting. This is especially true when rescuing a father from a ship infested with geth-- just keep in mind, though, that there may be consequences to this that you may not realize can even exist. But they're expected to happen, FWIW. Up to you. But decide before the IFF. And don't bring Archangel to the ship if you want dialogue, they don't say anything.
- Bring Archangel and their friend on both recruitment missions in Illium for an unusually larger amount of dialogue. The Citadel too, for a special staircase convo. Consider taking Archangel on the cab, too. Their friend has no dialogue.
- Bring Zaeed to the special missions for flavour text on the ship, if there's no one else you want to bring. Keep in mind what I mentioned earlier.
- Bring Archangel's friend to the ritual for a peak comedy reaction.
- Bring Miranda and your romance (if you have one) after the seeker swarms at the very end, specifically in that order, for special dialogue and to spice up the final cutscene. It might also save a life...
- The new characters don't rejoin you in the next game, they only cameo, so it's not worth save scumming if they die. Their deaths also make the next game more interesting. And everyone can die. Do with that information what you wish.

--- 3 ---
The third game is the only one that is actually designed to be difficult. On Insanity, I think some are intended to only be beatable by using heavy weapons on the ground. I'm almost certain the game never acknowledges their existence until the final battle. It's definitely still worth playing on Insanity, just make sure to look around on Palaven. There's a new roll mechanic implemented, but from my experience on Steam Deck, it is a curse. What I said before about accidentally dying very easily in the second game is even worse in the third. Want to take cover? Nah, you roll and get shot while exposed, aaand you're dead. Using a panel? Nope, roll, enemies in hiding run up and fill you with holes before you get back up, you're dead. Running? Nope, roll. Now you're dead. Vaulting? Roll. You vault after too late and get gunned down in the open like the degenerate you are. This might seem unnecessary to go through, but sometimes you have to rush through enemies to progress. The encounters can actually be really difficult, so failing a winning attempt because the game keeps making me roll was incredibly frustrating, especially because you usually die within 2 seconds on Insanity (I'm not exaggerating--and I'm playing the class intended to take hits. Do not invest in health boosts on Insanity). You can't rebind Steam Deck controls either. Playing on PC with a keyboard is the best way to play if you have that option, I think.

I discovered a way to enjoy Insanity despite this, however, but it's undoubtedly incredibly overpowered and I have no idea how it got in. There's a shotgun called the Venom that, when charged up, one-shots a lot of enemies in the game. Not the bigger ones and bosses thankfully, but Centurions and weaker. Their health will drop fast though, so if you use it, the battles can become a fiesta running around and stalling for flavour text, which can be fairly entertaining. Just don't run ahead or you might cut some of it off. If you want to be able to beat Insanity without a doubt, the Venom guarantees it. Going back to flavour text:
- Bring the originals to the first priority mission on Tuchanka.
- If you cheated and can do this, bring both to the dreadnought. Mind this one is theoretical, this might be nothing special. It's probably what I think, though. Otherwise, bring the duo.
- Bring the duo to Grissom Academy and the asari request.
- Bring Javik to Thessia.
- Bring your romance to Eden Prime, when confronting the Leviathan, and when the robot is mandatory. Recall the ones from the second game only cameo. Priority missions don't need to be done within a timeframe, it just advances plot. That being said...
- Avoid the sidequests until you get the crew back together, minus Wrex. They don't expire until a fairly obvious point, and nothing bad happens if you stall. I'd speak to Jondum Bau last.
- Avoid the Personal Apartment until you get the crew back together, minus Wrex, and after Eden Prime. For comedic purposes, don't meet with Ashley for lunch at the Citadel until after the gathering at the Apartment.
- When you go to the final area, dog-legs says nothing when you first arrive. Take them in the battle after if you romanced them, or whoever you did. If you take dog-legs, take Scars too for maximum emotional impact. Javik doesn't say anything special in that fight.
- Some convos between characters have multiple lines before speaking to them. Walk away and back to check. Also check afterward. "Support" ones loop, don't feel rushed to choose.
- Take your time between battles, there's no negative consequence. You might get ambushed at one point... but flavour text.

Tl;dr this game is very good if you care about story the combat segments are very very easy play on insanity try soldier then switch when importing

Just play it

I wasn't going to play this at first, hearing it has no real story. It doesn't detract from the game at all, though. It's an open-world Pokemonesque-game auto-battler, with customizable passive skills using skill gems found throughout the game. The difficulty adjustability feature should appear right after the first area in my opinion, and I'm almost certain it doesn't buff enemy keepers but it should, but it's great that it exists at all. I am eagerly awaiting the final part of the game-- in Pokemon terms, imagine if the legendary encounter segment came after the League; that segment missing is the current state of the game.

I had some gripes that may be specific to just me:
- I don't like a lot of the mismatching typings between Yaolings and their abilities. There's only two Shock lines in the entire game because of this, and one is given to you at the very beginning. I am going to make the bold claim that many who play this are going to come from Pokemon and want to use one of each type. I know it doesn't matter much since resistances are unique to each species, but type variety should exist. At the very least, that rockstar Yaoling should be Shock.
- Some areas are not worth exploring at all. Specifically the Wharf and greener forest, I'm pretty sure there's only a single chest in the wharf and it's a cosmetic, which is a total drag. If there were at least demon forms only discoverable by exploring those areas, like the Wanny line's, it wouldn't feel like a waste of time. Dispersing the townsfolk throughout those areas might be a good idea.
- The potion-wielding fire Yaoling is unkillable grouped up at higher difficulties without specifically using the Yaoling with Plague. Add an antiheal passive or make antiheal inherent to Poison or something, it sucks to be forced to use a specific Yaoling, but a passive or typing not so much
- The tournament shop should reset as often as the caravan's

Glad I gave the game a shot in the end

The premise of the game being centered around high-stakes pseudo-football was strange at first, but I grew to enjoy it and the pressure of not losing since it affects the story. It possesses a great narrative, like the popular Hades series. Give it a go if you like those kinds of things

Also it's completely compatible with Steam Deck, no text is too small to read

You might have heard or might be thinking: wow, this game has voice comms unlike a CERTAIN OTHER ONE I KNOW, surely the typical keyboard warrior is a spineless coward! This game MUST be less toxic, right?

No. It is so much worse. Think of the most toxic person you've ever met in your life and then imagine something 10 times worse. That is the DoTa community. Their tournament prizepools are massive, so don't expect to ever play a casual match in your life. No one is playing this game for fun. This is the type of game you play if you want to make somebody kill themselves-- and yes. That includes yourself