Recent reviews by holo

Absolutely enjoy this sim game. It's easy to understand, runs smoothly, and feels like you're able to achieve your goals quickly even though lots of time has passed. The DLC expand heavily on the game, too, which makes them feel worth the wait and price. (They are essentially a whole additional story mode, with items you can use in your custom builds, and they keep improving each time.) I didn't realize that the last DLC was released almost a year ago because I still play it pretty heavily.

Definitely recommend if you want an aquarium at home or love fish.

I mildly am enjoying this game currently, which is why this gets a positive. However, I have quite a lot of irritations about it I am going into detail, in case someone else is looking for this info before getting into the game. Difficulty in this game is more from things out of your control that you have to account for than anything else.

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Voice acting is hit or miss. The fact that the NPCs aren't synced to English and stare into space makes it hard to care about a single one of them. Story is best skipped. Some content scales poorly, while others are too difficult to clear due to others not knowing what to do and no real lead up to what to do in-game. Game goes from story beats to "defeat this big thing with no idea how to truly prepare" to get to the next chapter, which kills any momentum.
If using matchmaking, you will wind up being grouped with people who don't know what they are doing and who hope to join a group that knows what they are doing. It oversaturates the matchmaking pool and can make it difficult to find a successful group.

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There needs to be world scaling or something, too. People bring in lower level characters to higher level content (they can access it because they have higher level characters which have cleared it already) which can sabotage the whole mission if they aren't playing to their potential. High level people grinding for drops (which you absolutely have to do continuously because drop rates are butt) can instantly clear a lot of the content, making it feel as if you aren't able to participate.
A lot of story is in the dungeons, which can be cleared too quickly on lower levels and then sometimes ramp up HARD on higher ones.
One important grind thing is trapped behind a time lock, and is the only thing in the playable area which is. Waiting 5 minutes for a chance at someone to sit around and wait (mainly because it's a waste of time to sit around for 5 minutes in a place with no spawns/missions), but also no one to come back and help when the time comes (because missions in the area take longer than 5 minutes anyway) is really punishing and pushes people to do it later when they can just solo it. It makes no sense of a choice when the rest of the game isn't gated. 5 minutes feels like a very long time when there's nothing else to do in the immediate vicinity.

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The cash store is what it is. I wish it was a bit more standardized (currently, there are items that should go together as separate items and other things which are bundled that could also be separated with no harm done; picking one standard, i.e. having the ability to purchase in a bundle OR individually, should be easy), and that price points of currency matched closer to price points of items. There really should be a way to get paint packs or something else, especially if you're going to nickel and dime them. (Each piece of gear you can paint binds the color to that piece, meaning if you buy a certain paint you do not get it across all skins if you've used it, despite buying it.) Some items are more expensive than I would think they should be (like transfer effects and little detail things) while some other things cost far less than I would expect (certain skins and items).

The Battle Pass isn't too appealing and feels more like a random mash of whatever they thought might pull a person in. There's emotes, different skins for items *on* your character, currency for additional shops attached to the purchase of the BP (accessible only after you have bought the BP anyway; why not just put those rewards IN the BP?), paints, and weapon skins, but no skins for your characters. There are two skins in the shop which are universal that could have been in the BP as well/instead, but I guess that was an afterthought.

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There are a lot of things that are annoying about the game, but it's incredibly brain off for a lot of the earlier content and is "new", which makes it easier to play than some other games which have been out for a long time and which need QoL updates. I appreciate the real world time it takes to craft some of the items and unlock other characters because it sets a good point for a break/logging off for the day.

If you got friends, it's very easy to grind them up to your level and to get them the materials needed to grow their main more. If you're a solo player, there are often enough people in the same place to help out with things if you get stuck, but sometimes it can result in you banging your head on the wall for a bit waiting for people to show up. It's not really "open world" as some people tried to explain it as it is, but open areas you can move about. The quest pathing is relatively easy to follow, although some points later on make you feel you should go a certain way vs the way they want you to go. I wish it was more open, but there's a stunning lack of clutter if people nearby aren't doing quests that makes the bigger maps feel really empty, so it's probably for the best it's not.

Yes, you have to be in the right mindset to grind. Yes, that makes it frustrating from time to time. BUT, don't forget no one is pushing you but yourself in this game. You can always take a break without being "left behind". No PVP and no clan/guilds means it's just you logging in to complete what YOU want to do. It's refreshing in that aspect. I'm not waiting impatiently for more content, but I am mildly interested in where they can go with this.

On the whole, it's a fun game, but the little quirks irk me a lot and I have to take breaks.
Game can be pretty unfair with side quest fights, considering you know essentially nothing going in and there are minimal hints as to what maybe to bring. You may spend time redoing a dive or going back with one single item. Game can also be disrespectful of your time in this aspect.

The cooking/retrieving part is a lot of fun, as is the fish farm. Cooking events are a fun challenge and gives purpose to scavenging. There's a lot of things to get in the ocean, with new stuff popping up as you progress. Nice to see that the ecosystem thrives as you help it! Really neat addition.
I still have a ways to go in the story, but I am still enjoying myself despite the frustrations.

I'm going to be real honest: for a lot of people who play the game frequently and who have a good connection to the game, you're only going to be buying this for the ship, sparrow, and ghost. A vehicle bundle like this would be this price anyway. $15 of silver is a little less than the price of a usual seasonal bundle, which are usually 1900 silver themselves at a "discount", so technically you're getting this set cheaper by just buying it outright.

• The ship, sparrow, and ghost are neat in design. Falls back to F1, but it also has some hints, especially in the ship, of Le Mans. The sponsors are fun, including a pouka on the front and side. Shaders are real fun to slap on them as they come out smooth and how you'd expect. The only way I could see them improving it would be adding lighting in some way.

For those of us struggling with the game, however, this pack makes a lot of sense. There are a LOT of exotics to unlock as a new player (I've been playing pretty regularly for almost two whole years now and still have a ton to acquire; this is getting better for new folks, but still) and no real direction in what is "the best" to spend your currency on ("most bang for your buck") without doing a lot of research, which should be unnecessary (having a support system in-game would go a long way). Additionally, not everyone has the time to grind certain aspects nor have the capacity for grouping as there's no LFG in-game and everything is essentially third party.

A lot of experienced players do forget that the exotic cipher required to get these items takes time to complete and, in most cases, you are locked to receiving one a week. The only other ways to get a cipher is with the fancier expansion pack or leveling the season.
As a newer player, there were a lot of weeks where I had a cipher and was working towards getting a weapon, but other aspects (spending glimmer on other things as an example) made it impossible for me to acquire a weapon a week. If you did not spend your time maximizing certain aspects, you will not be able to unlock something within that week and would lose out on gaining another cipher. Luckily, they made the change recently where you can hold more than one at a time, but the glimmer issue still remains as most of these exotics require half your glimmer hoard to buy.

There are several weapon exotics that they definitely want you to game for, which you should. It's part of the experience of getting those certain exotics. But there are others that are simply not worth that time and effort and which do not have that same connection. These three definitely fit that definition. It feels like they were just thrown into this pack for a giggle, but it makes sense to include them as such when they, even though they are older, are locked and not thrown into the pool for random drops.

All of that said, the name of this bundle is absolutely misleading. It is not a "starter pack". It's really a generic bundle of items they used to justify the cost. If it was truly a "starter pack", there would absolutely be enough materials included in this pack to masterwork at least one piece of gear. If it was a "starter pack", you'd see some synthweave templates, because even the base level gear is locked behind that feature and there's no way to change your look without grinding them out. If it was a "starter pack", you'd be seeing something more useful than this for sure.

The ship, sparrow, and ghost, while nice, do nothing to improve the gameplay. They do nothing to help you get started in Destiny nor help you feel more included in the game.
The exotics included are baseline weapons. One of them had whispers of being used more often, but the other two are just for fun. On the whole, adding them to your arsenal will only really help move the meter on your Guardian Rank requirement to have 80 exotics unlocked.
The materials included are not enough to masterwork a single item, something which is vital for new players seeking to actually achieve the power fantasy provided by Destiny.

It would have been better to allow people to select the exotics they could get from the archive, meaning you'd be giving them the raw materials to do so. (The major holdback of this is the fact that glimmer is capped and they removed the easiest vehicle for glimmer transfer, the rainmaker.) It would be better to have a "starter pack" that includes enough to masterwork a whole set of armor. It would be better to have a lot of things as a "starter pack" than what we see here.

To summarize:
This pack is definitely for people wanting the vehicles, the exotics listed here, or some mix in-between. It's not a starter pack and is misleading to call it such. I cannot recommend it because it makes it harder to trust Destiny to be a playable, functional game when the corporation part does stuff like this. There are better ways to offer new players an easy leap into the game.

Destiny has a problem with being hard to get into and start. Things like this do not help that issue, but make it *worse*. Asking the players what they want to see is important. Taking our feedback is important. I sincerely hope that they take these reviews into account when judging what to do with these things since we'll never see a player feedback survey or something like it.

This game has gender fae'd into my heart and I am ok with that.

Cute things dancing delightfully to groovy music that never fails to feel new. And a strong anticapitalist story? Hell yeah.

Game is alright, but gets repetitive the more they want you to stick to playing *just* Destiny. FOMO is a huge driving factor of the game. A lot of rewards which should just be drops for doing activities, as they are older event items or used to be easier to get, are still priced at full for new players with no chance of a discounted pack.

Game says it's "free-to-play"/"absolutely free", but really should be "free-to-start" as all new content is usually locked behind a paywall and you cannot join your friends without buying the content. The new player experience drops you off with no connections or anything to help you play more experienced content as there are currently no or minimal matchmade activities for the higher content (such as raids, etc) in-game.
Additionally, the easiest way to figure out the game is to leave the game entirely to look up guides, find sites to assist, or find videos from streamers and even then it can be confusing and hard to understand for someone completely new to the genre.

There are a lot of veterans who play this game who prefer the game in the way they know it, but there needs to be some give *sooner* for new players, especially when the game is being pushed hard to pull new people in who can become new revenue streams. I would love to recommend it, but it's clear players are solely another product to be sold or used for consumer fodder only. :(

Slimes go bouncy

Lovely little game which requires minimal brain input to it until you're ready to accelerate yourself to push your limits. Nice variety and a wide amount options!

This game, while replayability is sort of whatever (depends on what you want to do), is freaking amazing. It feels like an interactive, super immersive comic book at points. I keep recommending it to people because of how fun and exciting it is to play.

Pros: Not very complicated to play/really straight forward; crazy ass plot twists that still make sense/things that shouldn't be believable, but are; lots of excellent and harmless jokes; wide variety of baddies

Cons: Replayability is limited to redoing missions or doing massive slaughter modes for more DP points and bragging rights; unfortunately feels very short

Really hoping for a sequel or some other type of game with the new movie coming out!!