Recent reviews by Tommy the Commie

Hmm hmm what to say other then being ever so slightly disappointed... The last unlocked achievement even told me to 'accept my fate' before it crashed again, took that as a sign and uninstalled.
It didn't seem to have much framerate issues on my end or aren't too bothered by these and although I was a little reluctant to review this game at all since I can't say I have seen a whole lot thanks to the constant crashes (every 5 minutes) after a certain point in the game. But from what I can tell this has got to be one of the more linear Final Fantasies which in and of itself is not a bad thing per-say but still a far cry from the former part's more open world adventure. Combine that with tedious long dragged out combat scenes and having no real party members other then them occasionally being semi-assists that amount to doing nothing to low supporting damaging attacks. Add the more plain looking medieval-fantasy aesthetics and overall worse graphics then it's predecessor and it all somehow gives you that feel you play a Souls game or even a ripoff of that instead of the next Final Fantasy.
Now it ain't all bad as it's music combined with some of it's cutscenes are pretty topnotch though and those are what still remind you of still playing a good old FF operetta.
So I do hope they eventually get around to fix the constant crashes or framerate issues for everyone else just to see it's story through.
But to leave 170Gb of deadweight laying about on your computer is a bit much even for my tastes...

Well... I hate to look a gifted horse in the mouth but still wanted to warn anyone contemplating getting this game at it's full or in fact any price because what we have here is quite abysmal : /
I'll first admit I have only ever played Dragon Age Origins so I've been out of the loop and don't know how good or bad the other parts in between were but this is nothing like the original.
To briefly sum it up:

-Combat: Roll-dodge simulator (which some of yous may find peak gameplay but it's not for me)
-Story/writing: (the latest) Saints Row
-Graphics&Customization: Breeders of the Nephelym but everyone is as flat as their personality and there's literally only a slider for bulge (I ♥♥♥♥ you not)
Oh yeah and your party members are just 'assists' that let you do all the work kind of like FF16 (I do so hope it's not a trend...)

I think we can safely conclude Larian Studios rescued the Baldur's Gate title from BioWare in the nick of time.

"You go through the maintenance room, it'll get you to the trucks. It aint easy but it's quiet." -Danny Trejo

To be short: Short but sweet and after finishing it'll unlock a nice little demo of the upcoming game that takes place in Hawaii.

Sadly, comparable to a game like Mordhau: it's focus is so much on customization that this in fact becomes it's only redeeming quality.

Other then that it's just not of this time anymore if you start comparing it to where it's copied from (Grand Theft Auto) but even if you don't, I'm sure it is not quite what the diehard fans of this particular spinoff would've wanted either... in fact this part of Saints Row would've been acceptable as an actual Saints Row 4 instead of the SR4 that people got at that time honestly.
After two entire playthroughs I can safely conclude there's no difference in the one choice you can make in the story either, thankfully/sadly the game isn't all that lengthy either but it's quite the buggy mess that constantly crashes almost more so then older Saints Row games did.
It's not all bad as the playable map is large enough and unique from your typical Steelport and had it's moments but it's just not great... that being said the music was topnotch though especially Tumbleweed Radio, Dos Ochos and Outrun.
In fact a great improvement to your usual mandatory 'yoyoyo ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gangster rap' from the older parts.

Day in the life of a true Baldurian Geezer:

Wake up and meet the wife Karlach.
Lae'zel the lil princess isn't she bootiful?
Time to take Asterion to football.
Revvv up the Nautiloid wheyyyy!
Quick stop at Last Light Inn and load up they plate,
Get a Balor Ale.
Ruined Battlefield looking lovely today lads!
Just a bit of banter (this sentence alone might've just summed up the entire game)
Poutine makes a 38th quickload better...
Ethel made a good ol' pie look at that!
Karlach made BBQ lovely!
Pop down and have a couple of Frostkiss pints with the lads
And finish up in the Wyrm's Rock Fortress of dream.

Pretty much your Yakuza 3, 4, 5 or 0 set in a 'historic' setting but can be very much enjoyed even if you don't know or dislike history since it's all anime bullshieet anyway where freshly cut or shot down foes get back up their feet like nothing ever happened after suffering fatal wounds. Don't get me wrong though there's quite a few people dieing within it's story as usual but just the overall combat is typical japanese like that. You'll spend a lot of time eating your pain away when hurt which I can't say is unrealistic but it's like those old River City Ransom beat em up games: fight, eat, repeat. A formula all the yakuza games had anyway, so that didn't bother me or anything but do know what you'll find here if you're not familiar with these games or was expecting something else like say a Ghost of Tsushima.
The main deal is it's humor and all the substories and minigames that can be done but you could decide to skip a few or even all of these and still have a grand time with a more fluent main story that way (just a harder time completing it on say a hard difficulty without some 'grind' or preparations in unlocked combat skills).

That being said I always thought of the Yakuza series as something familiar other then just 'River City Ransom but 3D' but I couldn't quite put my finger on it until now: it's essentially Gintama.
You're an oddjob self-exiled ronin instead of a robinhood yakuza this time around that's the main difference and you'll be helping or disrupting all kinds of exploits in and around town all the while having a main goal to figure out who's behind your father's murder. It is however to the player how fast or slow-phased this can be done.

The presence of Haruka gave me quite a jumpscare as she is literally what ruined the series for me but the good thing is that she is way more optional this time around and she and her manor can be largely if not completely ignored (A big difference from the dreaded Orphanage of Yakuza 3).
Another fellow I didn't quite miss was this Komaki the 'karate kid trainer' guy, he too is there but here's hoping he gets pancaked by a palanquin someday but other then that all the characters are amazing in their own right.

It's overall another great edition and perhaps one of my favourite yakuza games so far even but it's not without it's common quirks and shortcomings in both wacky combat or graphics department though considering it's a remake of an older game that finally saw a release and translation one could look past that stuff after giving it a good few hours.

There seems to be alot of folks complaining about it's graphics or combat mainly if not the mandatory xbox controller overlay when played with any controller, which I admit has been confusing for me as well especially with all the quick-timed-events in some of the cutscenes and minigames.
The only real downside for me personally was that some of the pre-order extras got bugged and cannot be retrieved to this day... because I've got this pre-order edition from a friend I went the extra mile and mailed Sega about it but they point towards Steam and Steam back to Sega in a long story short: I couldn't retrieve these because of playing the US or Canadian version on a EU based Steam account apparently. Now I realise even before this problem occurs that I should not be within the EU but well.. I do hope they might fix it one day but it's not something that prevents me from playing the main game either so it's no gamebreaker. In fact all the free downloadable content doesn't seem to be affected interestingly enough only the pre-order or paid ones are.

So there's a lesson in that :P

...Kislev :DD

Minecraft for men.

What happened to all the Stone?