Recent reviews by Porpoise

This game is not worth full price. If it is not at least 30$ do not buy.

This is one of the lazier games I have seen come out from a AAA dev that I thought was better than this. The polish is only in the cut-scenes and the character creator. The open world is on par with amateur game devs making an open world using pre-made assets copy pasted in a high density to hide how lifeless the areas actually are. In the first DD each area in the game had an identity, caves felt unique, fields were designed in a way that made each feel like their own zone, and the various road ways were visually distinct from each other. In DD2, I couldn't explain to you any of the areas because they are all the exact same assets and environmental pallets. Ruins, caves, rocks, trees, EVERYTHING is just a copy paste that you will see countless times without having to retread the same path (the caves are trash). Not to mention the packs of enemies (read: goblins) are so close together that most of your time is spent cleaning up the trash rather than traveling the country side, the lazy boring country side.

The camera, even after maxing out its distance from the player character, which is still RE:4 remake levels of close, is way to close for comfort. There is a reason for this of course. If they pull it back any further the game will have a fit since it chugs horribly when too much stuff is on screen, or in the general area, or just because the wrong particle effects are going off. The performance of the game can swing from pretty decent to PS3 sub 30 FPS for so many various reasons. It makes me wonder if I should slap on the 60FPS cap to help the game run smoother even while having a decent system (5800x3d + 4080 + 32gb ram). Armored Core 6 looks better AND runs better even with some of the insane things that can be happening by comparison to whats going on in DD2. But don't worry, much like the many other poor performing titles that get dumped onto an unknowing audience, there are guides you can follow to mod the game into a more playable state. Exactly what I want to be expected to do for a new 70$ game.

Combat is too easy, combat has been simplified further than DD1
Pawns feel worse than DD1 (why???????)
The plot sucks (haven't beaten the game, don't care, spoilers have shown me more than enough)
The "talking" scenes with NPCs are mind bogglingly terrible for a 70$ game, I'd rather have the Souls experience of little to no mouth movement than the Capcom RE "lip movement" if thats what they want to call it
The vocation options are too limited considering this is a squeal where they should be expanded instead
There isn't enough changes/upgrades to the game's systems to feel like anything had a positive change from DD1

I'm sure there are more things I could harp on but I'm gonna be real, this game sucks. Again, for 70$ you could have a plethora of better games in your hands, even having more than just 1. Do yourself the favor, if you want to play Dragon's Dogma, just play the first. If you want the new paint job with the lesser experience and are willing to shell out 70$ for it, then by all means buy this new scheme to squeeze those nostalgia dollars from your cheetos ridden fingers,

This game was fantastic. Amazing characters, engaging story options with a wide variety of outcomes, and a simple yet robust implementation of the DnD E5 systems. If CRPGs interest you then BG3 should be a game you want to put as much time into as you can.

To be fair, the game has a few cracks that start to show a little too often in the final act. Rushed story lines, events triggering incorrectly or bugging out, and certain plot points being rushed over can sometimes pull you out of the otherwise amazing experience that is BG3. That said, I would still rate the game an easy 9.5/10 as the hard work and love put into the game far outshines its flaws.

Thank you Larian Studios for crafting one of the best continuations of a series that I had thought to be forgotten.

Very fun game. Constantly switches up the card game mechanics and makes each new trail an entertaining challenge. I recommend trying to go in as blind as you can for this one.

An open world RPG with the typical Souls gameplay. Some new additions add a lot of the basics and the wide open world has plenty of hidden treasures in every nook and cranny. A year ago I was of the mind set that this game might not turn out to be anything special, but the more I play the more I enjoy the game as a whole.

Personally, I love the way the game allows the player to do anything they set their mind to. There are very few barriers aside the occasional "boss that blocks the way" or "lock gate requiring some action to pass". I feel like Fromsoft has really learned how to incorporate all the good ideas from their past Souls games and rolled it all up into one amazing package. If there is one thing this game does well, it's empowering the player by giving them a plethora tools for any which way they want to build their character. Both melee and ranged combat feels engaging while allowing all sorts of mixes when it comes to build and skill variety. This helps combat the meta builds by allowing for more mix-ups since you won't know what someone has up their sleeve until they slam it into your face.

Like any game there are some downsides and failures. The online can disconnect you from the host for seemly no reason which can be annoying when trying to help a friend or just simply invade. Some of the reuse of enemies can be disappointing but overall there is a wide variety of enemies the game has to offer. And the largest complaint currently (I imagine there will be a fix at some point) is the performance issues where you will experience large frame stutters in certain areas most likely do to the game loading assets as you move around the world. I would be lying if I said this hasn't caused me some serious grief and gotten me killed more times than I would like.

Overall, I highly recommend taking the time to play through and experience all this game has to offer if you are a fan of the Souls series.

A friend purchased this for me as a joke, and that is exactly what the game is.

There are 4 levels if you include the tutorial. The AI are just aimbots and will shred you as long as you are within their attack range. At least your have health regen, even if it is incredibly slow. They also just walk at you once you aggro them. The fighter jet level is not enjoyable and will take as long as it takes for the poor lock-on/tracking of your missiles to eventually hit their target. The game sound is, like many games of this caliber, rough. Its loud and needlessly distracting. And for some reason certain sounds will just stay the same volume no matter what you do in the options. Its worth noting every human enemy just shouts "Allahu Akbar" and there are random chants heard on the final level. None of which are mixed properly and are more than likely just grabbed from some sample site.

Now for the actual shooting. Its bad. You can hit people behind walls as long as you peak with your right shoulder and have the cursor on the target. This will let you bait the AI as long as you can hold a left side corner. The movement is awkward and will punish you if you ever try to use the dodge function. But no worries, sometimes your character will dodge roll for seemingly no reason. This will get you melted if any AI are in range and boggles the mind why it is in the game since you move better without the dodging.

The level design is basic, bland, and overall uninteresting. Note, the fighter jet level is just a flat desert.

Overall; the game is bad, no one should pay for it, and you should avoid it. If you are looking for a laugh or possibly "fun", look elsewhere.

A hard, unforgiving dungeon crawl.

Risk of Rain 2 is amazing and I love it. Great follow up to the first. Can't wait to see what else they add in to spice up the cluster heck.

But it doesn't have Acrid so thumbs down. Adding Acrid will fix this.

EDIT: They added Acrid, its a masterpiece.

Though it is a very pretty game with great music and design, Gris is just too boring for me. There is zero risk with little to do other than walk in the direction the game wants you to. You may have more freedom later on once you start gathering powers but after 30minutes I gained 1 power which only made me walk slower, but at least the harmless sandstorm couldn't have a chance of blowing me away anymore.

If you are looking for a moving piece of art with zero risk then this is for you, but it just isn't for me.

Pyre is fun but really drags on with how much needless dialog there is. Though I like the story and basically every character, there is a lot of time wasted just repeating what we already know. Once a certain Sap shows up things get really bogged down with him needing to be apart of everything that happens along the way, and boy does he get a lot of screen time. Other than how long and numerous the dialog scenes are, they are actually pretty good content wise. Like I said before, I liked every character, even the enemies. SuperGiant has always had a knack for writing characters and making them feel like they have their own lives/motivations.

Now for the gameplay, its a bit of a mixed bag. The "actual" gameplay is pretty fun but the matches you play are seperated by 5-20+min of other gameplay mechanics. Things like talking to allies, talking to a orb, talking to enemies, talking to a slug, and sometimes a rare test/encounter. You can also click on everything inside your caravan which I highly recommend. Through out the game you are given a multitude of choices which can change how you view the story unfold, though I'm not entirely sure what may or may not happen depending on what you do. Its worth noting that there are a few times where the option you choose nearly has no effect on what happens next so who knows.

Now for the "actual" gameplay. Its Rugby/Basketball/Handegg with magic~~~~~
Leveling up doesn't help stats as much as it helps with special abilities. Its pretty fun and on higher difficulties will give you a healthy challenge. I wish there was a bit more variety in the gameplay since you will be spending a good porition of your play time replaying the same teams in arenas you have already fought in.

In a way I somewhat don't recommend this visual novel with a sports game tossed in but it was fun so I'll give it a thumbs up.