Recent reviews by daze

the best game to ever grace my steam library.

Hey, this is Daisy, and welcome back to First Impressions;
To put it simply, this game gave me mixed signals. I played for about an hour and the whole way through I felt a distinct lack of polish in it's execution and a particular lack of content that made the game feel like it was constructed with a lot of care.

At first impressions I try and give games a fair shake and see just how deeply I can grabbed on just first contact with a game, and I certainly do think Caliber is one of those games that has a certain potential to it, but I very quickly started to get warning bells ringing in the back of my head that this game was deliberately attempting to extract money from me -- now let me be clear, I know *all* games are doing this, but a good game is capable of putting a blanket over that feeling and hiding it in a closet, Caliber however felt oddly similar to CSGO clones in it's delivery. Rather simplistic game play with an extremely large character roster who seem like they'd mostly operate the same to eachother locked behind a premium currency which while not impossible to gain in game requires a ridiculous amount to attain a new operator.

I know this next red flag doesn't land for a lot of players but as a woman something that gives me the ick is when a game puts it's extremely small female cast behind an extremely high pay wall, and Caliber is unfortunately a great example of this happening. More games need to allow you to pick a female recruit or base character.

This game is another example in my opinion of a game which could benefit from a low initial price tag to discourage the devs from making the game feel so aggressive with it's monetization, including showing a screen at the end of every match displaying "what you could be earning" if you bought Premium.

WE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ DID IT DIVERS

Tumblr reviews of this game:
From user "dragonkid11"
- I think Armored Core has fully taken over me now, 'Reactor Online, Sensors Online, Weapons Online, All systems nominal' no longer tickles my brain.

'Main System, Activating Combat Mode' however makes me want to bath in someone's hydraulic fluid.

From user "kobadashi"
♥♥♥♥♥ from a lobotomized mech pilot

From user "e1dritchqueer"
okay armored core is fun and all but when are they adding the buttplug support

Seemingly in response to the post above;
From user "foone"
Because I know there are a lot of people who have Feelings about being a mech pilot, I'll just share the guide qdot wrote to hook up AC6 to a buttplug.io compatible sex toy of your choice:
(I will not link this here.)

From user "jaxspades"
Trans women yearn for the mechs

From user "catboybiologist"
Every trans person should be issued a giant death robot tbh, it would solve like 90% of the world's problems I think

From user "shumercury"
"The corporations lied, keep ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ in her gay ass"

From user "fatestayyuri"
ac6 would be much improved if your handler was a woman

From user "demilypyro"
*Looks at two mechs shooting eachother* damn. trans infighting. hate to see it

I could write a long-winded review of the game and it's mechanics but I'd be wasting words. The engine is fantastic, the game is beautiful, the unit combat is fluid enough, it's an overall great Total War game.

But I would be beside myself to say this game is good without it's community. So, my second point: Get the mods for 1212 AD and realize the main game is boring in comparison.

I don't believe there is much to say. It's a modern Total War game with an insane following. It's well-made, being updated to this date, based in an interesting setting, and really, really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ big.



For the Empire!

Shogun 2 did not have much draw to me originally. It felt bland, "another Total War game of filler content," on first contact it was little more than a rehash of old game development strategies and was more-or-less and for better or worse a precursor to Total War: Attila, given the graphics engine and various items like ranged unit nerfs. But, after quite a while of playing it on and off I could find myself enjoying it *throughly*, it has various things going for it which I will list later in the review in more detail.

But first, an explanation of my feeling son the game originally; It felt like a throw-away game. The horrible love-child of various other Total War titles meant to stave the fans over until the new modern releases of the Total War series. A cash-grab, and me having my opinions on companies and whatnot, I didn't like that feeling sitting in the bottom of my stomach as I played it. These feelings were born of a few things, including but not being limited to:

1. Small map size.

Compared to various other Total War titles, the Japanese map is small, and I know, Japan is an island nation but even for a map of Japanese territory at the time, this is small. Several islands were left out and extensive territory to the farther north was completely ignored, despite the fact that the Shogunates rule did reach there in historical records.

2. Unit rehashing.

There is hardly any unique units to any faction, the only changes seen between factions units is a difference in name and stats, "Chosokabe Bow Ashigaru, Ikko Ikki Warrior Monks," and so-forth and so-forth. Further more every model in a unit was more or less the same. Yari Ashigaru all wore the same hats and lamellar armour, now not only was this boring, but it wasn't Immersive. Japanese clans did not have uniform armies, the first nation since Rome to acquire such uniformity was the Ottoman Empire.

3. Lazily implemented campaign.

This may just be from me having experience in other prior and latter game sin the franchise, but comparatively the Shogun 2 campaign was, lazy. A few basic goals and positions of intrigue to capture. Certain items in diplomacy like Closed Borders and Trade lacked any real depth, and the clans around you always seemed to have a certain non-malleability to anything you proposed, making options like "Make Vassal" almost completely useless.

Now with that list out of the way I suppose I should finally get onto why I would definitely recommend the game.

1. Unit rehashing 2; Electric Boogalo?

Remember how I complained about unit rehashing? Well, I actually ended up kind of taking that back. After playing the Oda and learning what a difference those rehashes and changes actually do make to the units in question it put the whole thing into perspective. Instead of making armies of Samurai and attempting to keep an economy afloat as I essentially tried to field whole armies of feudal Asian Mercs, I was able to recruit doom-stacks of Oda Yari Ashigaru and Oda Bow Ashigaru without putting a single drip of economic strain on my country, and furthermore, they weren't bad. This isn't to say they were good but as the Archers grew in experience there was a swift learning curve, I started to notice almost every arrow flying from a peasents bow hitting a target in a mass of enemies, and the same with the Yari Ashigaru, the Yari Wall could be the bane of armies if played correctly.

So, after this eye-opening experience with the Oda I started to play the Date, and then the Chosokabe, and then even Hojo, and I enjoyed min-maxing each factions specific area of expertise. Breaking the enemies line with No-dachi Samurai, slaughtering hordes of enemies with bow-samurai and Ashigaru with the Chosokabe, and blowing my opponents to bits with the Hojos siege equipment. It all just felt so natural and well implemented in the games progression.

2. Multiplayer

Whilst the Multiplayer in this game is all but dead that is not to say it is any less brilliant. the Avatar Conquest and Multiplayer Campaign game modes are both excellent installments of a multiplayer landscape, Avatar Conquest allowing for various pathways of natural progression in your armies and the Multiplayer Campaign just being fun in general, this is where the simple or "lazy" implementation of a Campaign shines. Simple goals for simple fun.

3. Visuals.

The maps in Shogun 2 are simply beautiful, cinematic fortresses, mountains, clouds, smoke, blood, grass, every aspect of the maps are simply stunning whilst also providing a perfect canvas for the slaughter of your enemies. The maps while also being beautiful are not massive and therefore allow much more close-threaded combat.

And in simpler words, how can you turn down the idea of forcing Samurai to fight for a cool ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fortress.

Now this game does certainly have flaws but it is still a crucial and enjoyable part of the Total War series, even if it was forgotten to a degree. But, while I do recommend it, there are certainly better Total War games now-adays (which also have flaws in their own rights.) But if you got a few bucks to spare, buy this game.

An absolute gem of a Star Wars game, old but truly amazing.
There's very little to be said, the ship combat is iconic and fun, the battles are thrilling and engaging, the modding community is genuine and alive, and, glory behold, it recently received a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ update, a whole decade or so after release. A classic that anyone with grounds as a Star Wars fan and RTS fans would be besides themselves to play.

I can recommend this game.

Stellaris is the answer to the question we've all asked as Sci-fi, High-fantasy, Space-gothic fans: "What if I could be in control of that?" To rule an interstellar empire to see how the workings of multi-planetary governance feel and the complications presented in this special scenario. Stellaris is a empire creation sandbox, you can make whatever you want with only a few limitations on your civics and ethics. Want to make an Alien covenant which uplifts smaller species into vassal states for it's greater divine good? Go for it. Want to be a direct democracy peoples commissariat which leads with the principles of warfare that your civilization had upheld for so long? ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ do it. Want to be an ironfisted emperor and create the most powerful interstellar empire upon which the sun can never truly set? Be my guest.

But I would be beside myself in lies if I didn't admit this game would not be what it is without the modding community keeping it afloat. The constant ebbing and flowing creativity and genuine genius these people employ in complicating, modifying, beautifying, and improving the game is awe-inspiring. So, without a shadow of a doubt, I can recommend Stellaris.

I wanted to like it again, I really, really did. I played it for several hours on this new account, but now, not even a days worth of time in, and I feel as if I've exhausted the games content. The Red Legion story-line being gone was the largest hit to my moral for this game. It was a well crafted story with interesting encounters, it was also a strong introduction into Destiny as a game. However, that wasn't all. There was certain planets which I seemed to just, not be able to travel to anymore. No matter what I did I couldn't seem to find the option to travel to Titan, or any of the other beloved maps I used to play on.

This game is great, and I wish I could suggest it, but the utter lack of content would make it an overt waste of time and effort to get into. It's promising on first contact but degrades quickly over-time. Play it with your friends if you really want to play it still.