Recent reviews by Bloboloblob

It's the first time i want to write a review for a game i have played only two sessions of yet, but damn, emotions arrived quicker than expected and i finally understand the obsession that some friends are dragging with them for a lifetime about it. You must avoid all spoilers as possible to live it at the maximum quality immersion level that may make you cope by stress-eating dozens of burnt marshmallows at your camp while contemplating your own existence (positive)

But by avoiding to mention spoilers in most positive reviews, lots of people don't expect in this space exploration game full of fascinating family-sized handcrafted planets to have some gameplay exigencies that may be worth mentioning for some players ; notably the fact that many unexpected cosmic phenomenons are time-dependant with things like current planet placement in the galaxy, and it may require several retries to witness them as desired. You have to not be afraid of that (or learn to persevere on the spot) to truly enjoy the whole experience and quest for fascinating discoveries that makes puzzle out the lore.
Special mention for not featuring any unecessary distractions of collecting/crafting, and being all about seeing, going, meeting, and acknowledging.

The game feels both welcoming and friendly and doesn't forgive at all taking any life-threatening risks ! And leaving your native planet on a spaceship is one in itself. It's both a blessing and a curse. Prepare to die.

Now if my poor heart can take it, i have more alien worlds to explore and astronaut friends to meet :)
Update 7 hours later: Help, i am suffering a thousands death trying too hard
Update 30 hours later + the DLC: I am crying, i keep living so poetic things in the harshness of this universe.

I do not know how to properly make a review on this game because i'm hugely biased and obsessed... Making alt characters is a bit unhandy, because of the main quest required to unlock basically everything, and i'd say the game encourages to do litterally everything with all existing classes on only one character, which is surprisingly very doable (unusual in MMORPGS and very welcome !)
The base game (50 first levels roughly) is like worldbuilding, and some stuff may have sometimes been a bit long or facepalm-worthy (it starts reaaally manichean and such), but the further you go in expansions, the more awesome it becomes. Shadowbringer my beloved... (don't buy it by itself, if you buy Endwalker you have SB and previous expansions along)

As a Final Fantasy game ? I played a lot the 8th and 9th ; at first the MMO setting made it feel a bit different, but let's be honest, final fantasy games were always a bit different from each others and involving grinding levels and stuff, so it's actually very fitting and the main quest featuring a lot of solo content makes it sit perfectly well in the series (Not Like Some Other MMO Games, Yes I'm Talking About You Elder Scrolls Online You Feel Wrong) and there's also a Ton of more or less hidden references to previous games, sometimes quite directly yet well integrated in the lore ! (okay some old re-explored boss themes sometimes feel gratuitous even if very welcome, but so many original songs are worth making me listen to them in loops for days anyway.) Of course there has been many final fantasies so far and you won't necessarily get the refs to all of them, like 5th and 6th and all.

There's potentially several things to tweak in the parameters to make the game really comfortable and less confusing, but once it's settled it feels like home.
I gotta precise i've been introduced to the game by a friend who already had lots of affects and tips about, i don't know how it's like when trying it alone without any guidance. It's true that several things may not be very instinctive, i guess it can feel like lots of old games on that.
Some content is very hidden, like i thought i had finished exploring most endgame stuff and realised i had missed whole areas with several raids and huge stuff... whole reputations and all. Quite different gameplay stuff too ! And some very original like my Beloved Blue Mage who starts with 1 spell (water.) and must steal every monsters and bosses abilities to become deliciously overpowered !

Also buying on steam instead of the official website links your account to steam permanently and makes all nonsteam buyings incompatible so maybe don't do that, it's unhandy for nothing.
And don't buy anything before trying out the free trial that lets you play for years without subscription until level 70 which is the two first expansions whole. Which is a LOT of content, doable totally unpaid, you can like, max more than a dozen classes without counting your money time.

This thing is just too vast to write a quick review on it but i'll try anyway. I don't remember how hard it is to start the game unfamiliar with it, and have access to only 0.02% of the content of the game at the very beginning, having to unlock a whole lot of things, not seeing much of the immense depth the game truly has, both in matter of gameplay and lore, and of emotions. I do think it takes quite of a big time to start getting into more emotional territories.

But damn, once you're in like me, you really stay. I don't feel like i'll ever decide to drop the game. It is Alive and will remain so in years to come, with always, always more to explore, to understand, to live, and customise (so much customisation potential). The devs are really good at listening to the community and taking their baby to whole new heights, and experimentations that they will never cease to polish.

The entire content of the game (except few appearances either made by the community or in prime access) is available for free - i have never spent Real Money other than for one cool accessory once, which directly went into the pocket of the player who has created it. Well, for some things buyable with the payable currency, you may have to trade with other players who paid in your place, so there can be some relic or mods farming in order to earn stuff, and using places like the warframe.market really helps to make it easy to find buyers, but really, yeah, you can go as far as anyone else really without spending a thing.

Also some of the lore is so. it's so. and some designs. and concepts. i'm wow you know. and i want more.
and i Will have more, and that's beautiful.

PS: go listen to the Fortuna song, don't care about the spoil just do it

The Overlord games were some of my favourites on Xbox, and it's a pleasure to find them back. I can't properly compare the II with the first yet, as i have recently played only the second one - second which i had never finished for glitch reasons ten years ago. i suspect such impeding glitches could still happen on this PC version, better be careful with saving on multiple slots just in case.
But i think the first one was way more complete and furnished than the 2 (as well as more challenging) - the content here is good but you can consider that there is No side content other than three underwhelming quest markers and slight tower decoration. Once you've finished the game it's just... you drop it there's nothing more. But can it be a good thing to have almost just one corridor in which to play that doesn't require any grinding ? I guess it can in a way.
One thing for sure, if you have difficulties with old games graphics and gameplay clunkiness, the 2 will definitely please you more.

Just gonna say: i have Not tried playing without a controller and the idea of using the keyboard for that frightens me a bit.

How is the 2 nowadays ? Gameplay still cool as hell and sometimes varying with like minion-only stealth moments or overlord-only dangerous phase (even if things are sometimes clunky, where are these minions randomly disappearing sometimes) graphics still really kick ass (except for the talking animations and weird repetitive fades at every camera angle changes in cutscenes but whatever) and the fun level is very high (if you're not too completionnist about searching for hours the 99th person you've missed in a town, unkilled or unsubbed, which apparently doesn't accomplish much anyway apart from checking a questmark.) I even forgot how good some soundtracks are.
But i guess that overall, nothing has aged as much as some of the mean humour, because dang, there's a limit to the number of fatphobic remarks i can take, either voiced or in subtext... Massacring hundreds of innocents just because of being Evil, sure, but i draw a line there. There was was way less of this specific issue in the first game, which was more subtle and less terribly insistant at pointing fingers. So is it age ? Likely not even.

So, yeah, got the game in sale and it's incredibly worth it for the price, considering there was almost not even a price at all. I think that if you've never tried either this game or the first Overlord, one of them is worth at least experiencing once.

Minion mounts are so cool tho, pillaging and burning everything on salamander backs 👌
But you can't kick your own minions in the face anymore !!!

I'm not that much into Battle Royale games, but this really changes the genre by adding a generous layer of PVE, and making boss hunting the main objective over player frictions, which are still primordial nontheless.
The atmosphere in this environment, and the sound design, are Great.

HOWEVER. this game has been unplayable for months and i can't do anything against constant server kicking since an update. i am powerless. easy anti cheat i hate you. i Litterally can't play for more than 5 minutes which is enough only if i get killed at the beginning...
edit: thanks to a double boot windows 10 used JUST for this game, i can play without being kicked for no reason :)
update: this issue has been now fully resolved for a while. however,

What the Fork happened with the new UI that broke things which didn't need to be fixed ? i couldn't possibly understand the reasons of making a menu that shows less things than before at once and display them horizontally, voiding all ability to mouse scroll between your characters which is Horrible for PC users - but apparently it's to copy some famous mainstream cash grabbers, so like...
congratulations on your corporate enshittification i guess ?
also the game now makes me motion sick even when motion blur is deactivated. hoping this will be fixed because it's still a good game at the core, but damn, if this doesn't scare me for its future.. and present state.

Update: game's dead. straight up not compatible with my computer anymore or something apparently, i've heard they've added some sort of requirement that was unecessary and killed itself. cannot be booted. loved playing with my friend, will miss it. no idea if they'll ever revert that, will sadly boot up the game now and then to check...
I Just Wanted To Play Your Thing Damnit stop breaking it !!!!!

The title doesn't lie, easily one of the most satisfying automatisation building games (especially thanks to the ability to modify and rebuild everything at no ressource cost) with great landscapes to colonise and weird fauna (You Can Ride The Giant Bird Thing. Hell Yeah).
And the multiplayer allows to share tasks and let everyone give their best at what they prefer between exploration, advancement, optimisation, setting transportation roads... (i love trains)

Though if you're a very immersed optimisation freak, it might take a Lot of mental space even after closing the game (can be a good thing if you want to avoid other thoughts !)

Oh, and even as an early access game, it's still way more polished than a lot of "finished" ones.

J'ai d'abord joué à la version anglaise vu qu'à l'heure où j'écris cette évaluation, la traduction n'est pas encore en version 2.0 avec tous ses gros points forts ajoutés (la charge de travail pour transposer tous les textes dans RPGM2k3 -ce qui a été utilisé pour OFF et Yume Nikki- demandant du temps et étant actuellement en cours ; d'ailleurs c'est du super travail pour un moteur qui a une vingtaine d'années comme ça et peut avoir ses caprices et limitations !)

Mais de ce que j'ai vu, la traduction est vraiment de qualité (y compris l'audio FR pour les ajouts 2.0 dont j'ai eu un aperçu en avance), et comprend même de l'écriture inclusive qui est encore rare de nos jours et sert parfaitement notre protagoniste initialement anonyme, dont des indices sur ses ressentis et son histoire sont très adroitement éparpillés.

Venons-en au coeur du sujet: les designs graphique comme sonore sont au poil. Il a y des passages, des phrases, des réflexions qui vont me hanter un certain temps pour sûr...
Etant une personne concernée par les questions de genre, santé mentale et la place dans une société évoluant dans des directions inquiétantes, c'est très parlant ; et même si je ne suis ni une personne qui dépend du tabac pour écraser son anxiété, ni une personne Autrichienne, j'ai pourtant eu l'impression de l'être sur le coup.
Un certain nombre de mécaniques originales ajoutent à l'expérience, y compris certaines dont on ne peut avoir connaissance durant la première partie et qui ajoutent à la rejouabilité (et peuvent faire du bien en améliorant des situations !)

Les sujets abordés sont très durs et peuvent taper fort, mais les développeurs en ont conscience et préviennent, laissent le choix de retirer d'avance une scène spécifique pour les gens avec une sensibilité animale, et ont laissé quelques censures adroites qui n'édulcorent en rien les situations. J'ai quand même dû prendre une pause avant de recommencer après la pire des fins, parce que ça gigote les émotions en tous sens vu comme j'étais engagée pour les personnages très vivants.
Les bonnes intentions des développeurs ne s'arrêtent pas là, puisque si vous n'êtes pas d'humeur à chercher la petite bête pendant un moment pour trouver toutes les fins, et avoir plus rapidement accès à tous les aspects de l'histoire pour mieux en décrypter le sens, l'un·e d'entre eux a même posté un petit guide officiel (en anglais) sur Steam pour aider à trouver votre voie (bien qu'il ne trahisse pas divers secrets trouvables dans certains chemins, voire même la rencontre d'un personnage entier)
Pour la durée de vie avec ledit guide, j'ai pu explorer la plupart des possibilités sur deux jours pleinement concentrée dessus (et en connaissant déjà très bien l'épilogue, vu que j'avais joué à la version démo avant que le jeu ne sorte)

Il y a un grand soin au détail, et jeu m'a surprenamment parfois même laissé prendre des décisions complètement déraisonnables, rendant mon personnage plus terrifiant dans sa passivité que la menace qui l'entoure (insister pour parler tranquillement à une personne en danger au lieu de l'aider ? haha..... le jeu dit ok, assume)

Spéciale mention pour le fait que repousser de teigneux oiseaux à coups de godasses fait un petit bruit de pwêt.

This game was my best friend at the time of this review ; its very high level of immersion will easily detach you from reality for hours. Sometimes i jump in for the adventure, sometimes for some fights, sometimes for customising my stuff - but most of the time, just even for the atmosphere... to sail, to watch the waves, to feel the breeze, and feel freedom on these vast seas. Meeting friendly crews that will play sea shanties and drink with you and share its fish, is also always a pleasure.
Though if you want to join the game, please be a good pirate, and have manners... Violence doesn't exclude politeness, and if you intend to stab me and steal my treasures, it will be mostly forgiven if you have done it in a pleasant, cordial way.
(And Set Your Loud Microphones to Push-To-Talk to Preserve Immersion You Noisy Animals, or get muted)
For ones wondering, attacking people is absolutely not mandatory, you can become a merchant emissary and be kind and love the world. And hope people will be kind to you, though. (Edited note: you can now play in single player mode ! For the price of 30% of earnings only)

Can note that every time you start a new game, even if you have kept all of your unlocked customisations (equipment appearances and titles) and storyline checkpoints, your ship and inventory are renewed. I thought it was bad at first, but it's actually not: you always start freely with a fresh ship, you don't have to pointlessly hoard consumables without ever using them so go wild, people are all born equal, and such.
You can even drop your unused food, planks and cannon balls in a storage crate at outposts for the next players to pass after you quit a game, that makes happy pirates.

About actually annoying points, this game requires linking an xbox account to steam, and once you've chosen a character appearance (via infinitely renewable RNG rather than full choice), you can change its body type and skin colour only by deleting your entire pirate profile (can't have more than one) or paying a potion with Ancient Coins (real money or rewarded with season renown levels.) Even with this RNG character system, most people still pick the same type of thin guys anyway, unfortunately. I wish i could switch, but, welp.
Even with that, frankly the whole game is very very worth it.

Juste jouissif. La campagne vous laisse une liberté de destruction absolument jubilatoire au milieu d'un scénario à l'ambiance agréable, mais en plus les lois physiques hors du commun de ce jeu sont appliqués en multijoueur. Un sniper vous fait des misères en haut d'une tour ? Faites lui faire une belle chute en posant des explosifs ou en frappant la base du bâtiment au marteau !
Surtout que maintenant que le jeu a été libéré des chaînes impitoyablement mauvaises de Games for Windows Live, il peut enfin entrer dans les annales des jeux incontournables pour moi, et les serveurs multijoueurs sont de nouveaux habités (occasionellement, rejoignez la communauté qui organise des événements chaque semaine)

Batailles épiques, duels héroïques, et fabuleux fracassages de crânes. Ce jeu mêle toute la subtilité des bottes secrètes et autres techniques de combat raffinées avec l'immense brutalité du défonçage de gueule le plus cru qui soit.