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Started playing about two months ago (as a mage), probably got about halfway through and then stopped. It just didn't feel right anymore. I considered finishing it, but I'm still on the fence.
The atmosphere is more cheerful and warmer, but it still has a hint of gloom. The sun feels cold, Shanalotte and the cat seem a bit off, and the blacksmith just got lucky. But that's probably because my perception of the world is darker than Alex's. I agree with everything else (except for the PvP, since I don't play it, and the rating, since I didn't finish the game). And you can also change the character's gender in the game!

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
I wanted to write a huge, very detailed review full of all my numerous impressions with different, but exclusively positive nuances. For certain reasons, I won't do that; instead, my verdict will describe this image:

If I have any reason to live on, it is to play the rest of the games in the series when they are released on PC.
Formally – 10/10, factually – the most wonderful game, the best of all that I have ever played. Despite worsening health problems, increased emotional suffering, and, consequently, a decrease in the level of receiving positive impressions, I still received incredible pleasure from playing, admired the setting and music, enjoyed the gameplay, and fell in love with the characters.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
I liked this part less than the two previous ones. Maybe it’s because of me, maybe I just got tired of the format, or maybe the plot and its execution were really weaker than before. In addition to the plot itself, the trials seemed less interesting, and some game moments even caused slight irritation. What I liked more was that the set of characters as a whole was better; there wasn't anyone who would leave me completely indifferent, which cannot be said about the previous parts – there were plenty of such people there. However, individual characters didn't appeal to me as much as in the first two games. That is, in terms of characters, there is a kind of balance on my side. The character I liked the most in this part is Kokichi Oma. I admit, he gave me chills and even inspired a small nightmare. Monokuma, as always, is very good, but the departure of the previous voice actress greatly affected his image.
Despite the drawbacks, I still enjoyed playing. Separately, I will note the mini-games that are unlocked after completing the game – I liked them, and in my opinion, they turned out to be more interesting than similar content in the previous parts. 8.6/10.

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
I didn’t expect much and didn’t think that an indie bartender simulator would be interesting, so I was pleasantly surprised by the fallacy of my assumptions. An intriguing setting, decent music, more or less interesting characters, and their interaction with each other.
The main heroine generally appealed to me, but her personal problems that began in the middle of the playthrough somewhat spoiled my overall impression of the game. 6.5/10.

Subarashiki Hibi ~Furenzoku Sonzai~

This is a rather complex novel due to its intricate structure, abundance of philosophical reflections, and references to classical literature; however, in my opinion, these are not its strong points.
The narrative is divided into a prologue and six chapters, all of which depict events from the same period through the eyes of different characters, gradually revealing more details of the plot.
Down the Rabbit-Hole I
The prologue is important for understanding the concept but isn't very interesting. At this point, I considered giving up reading it.
Down the Rabbit-Hole II
Here, finally, an intriguing element appeared, along with the desire to continue reading.
It's My Own Invention
This is the peak of this novel. There was a lot of interesting, disgusting, creepy, funny, and simply amusing content – everything mixed together in the colors of the main character’s madness.
Looking-Glass Insects
A short chapter that left more questions than answers. But overall, it served as a good addition to what had already been read.
Jabberwocky I
With this chapter, the decline in satisfaction from reading began, caused by the lack of mystery and intrigue present in previous chapters.
Which Dreamed It
Deus ex machina is not my thing. A complete disappointment.
Jabberwocky II
An addendum to the previous chapter. An amazing and somewhat inappropriate happy ending for such a seemingly dark novel.

6.5/10, could have been much better. Deep philosophical reflections are certainly fine, but that's not why I read. In this regard, I would have preferred the ending after the second or third chapter – the novel would have ended at its peak, and I wouldn't have had to tediously finish the second half.

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds

Obviously, I didn’t fully explore the potential of this game and didn’t try playing it on higher difficulties, trying to understand all the nuances of the mechanics, but I think it’s fair to give it a low score because I didn’t feel like doing so. I wouldn’t play it without a gamepad.
3.5/10

5/10
Decent graphics and atmosphere – the grimdark, gore, and bleakness fit the Scandinavian lore. The initial feeling from the combat is good – the hits “feel” impactful.
What I didn’t like: the incredibly stupid “puzzles” involving finding letters from surrounding objects what? (perhaps this is explained by the fact that the heroine is a touched-by-autism individual?), the plot – a touched-by-autism individual is looking for a bunny, the combat – button-mashing and circling around groups of slow, dumb enemies. And when I realized that there was nothing new and wouldn’t be anything new, and since I’m not interested in Scandinavian lore and cool stories from it, I dropped it. It’s just not my kind of project. I read the plot “twist” online later.
And one thing really annoyed me – at the beginning of the game, they say that if you die several times, it’s game over. On the internet at the time of release, they also warned – game over, save deletion, be careful, guys! And only a few months later did I accidentally find out that this was a lie and that there was no game over, and it’s impossible to die at all. The developers should be given a good beating for such jokes.




I’m not a fan of the Lord of the Rings and Assassin’s Creed-style gameplay, but the first part unexpectedly appealed to me and I gave it an 8 – the gameplay was very pleasant and engaging.
Here, at first, I didn’t see anything new, although cutting down orcs was still just as easy and fun. Then they added some more interesting elements, then about 15-20 hours passed, and I already thought it was the end, but I was moved to the third map and it turned out that the game had just begun)) Here, finally, they allowed me to recruit orcs into my army again, as in the first part, to pit them against other orcs, and so on. It was fun at first, but it started to feel monotonous. When I completed everything on the third map, two more new ones opened up and the two previous ones were unlocked))))) They, by the way, are no different except for the “climate” – the color of the ground texture. On each of them, you have to monotonously recruit orcs, upgrade orcs, kill orcs, capture orc fortresses, and for those who want even more activities with orcs, the developers offer to capture orc fortresses from other players online. And suddenly it turned out that the fantasy for the main quest also ran out, and the quests began to repeat one-to-one with the quests from the main quest on the previous locations, only with a slightly different narrative.
In the end, I couldn’t stand this monotony and dropped it again. The first part took about 15-20 hours, which felt a little short, but in reality, it was perfect – it ended before it could get completely boring. Well, this part is, perhaps, the quintessence of Ubisoft’s “towers” – endless grinding of orcs, collectibles, levels, fortresses. Then I read online that there is also a next act, where you have to defend fortresses or something like that, and there is even more grinding)))
There is also a point about the controls. Sometimes I had some problems with climbing onto a wall or jumping off it – either the character doesn’t stick to where it should, or, on the contrary, it sticks and starts circling around the ledges. These are problems with the Assassin’s Creed-style parkour and poorly placed “hitboxes” of walls and rocks, which I simply labeled “console crap” in my head. At first, on the first city map, this happened rarely, but over time, such things started to happen more and more often, and they were especially annoying in moments when a couple of dozen enemies were shouting at you and rushing at you. Again, I don’t remember anything like this in the first part; it is remembered for its perfectly balanced, smooth gameplay, where you jump on a horse, jump off it in a few moves without any effort, cut down a pack of enemies, jump back on, and almost don’t lose speed.
In general, the first 10-20 hours – 7.5/10, everything that follows – a stretched-out, somehow stupid, autism created by some debauched Ubisoft marketer, a 2/10.




Another sequel, the first part of which I generally liked and gave it a 7 plus, but it had many technical problems, a not very well-balanced balance for a survival horror, and an overall feeling of mediocrity, a lack of novelty.
I didn’t expect that the second one would be a solid 9/10 for me.
The plot itself is quite simple and fits into one or two sentences, but it is presented very well, there are about ten characters, they are well-written – you believe them, you feel sorry for some. I really liked the villain you meet at the beginning of the game; the best content is probably with him. I liked the development and the character of the protagonist in general – in the first part, he was some kind of random nobody.
Extensive open city locations, where it is interesting and useful to explore every corner, are replaced by smaller “story” locations, and always at the right time – not a single moment in the game bored me; overall, it is played in one breath.
I played on the hardest difficulty and it turned out that I chose correctly – the balance of weapons, ammunition, enemies, and stealth is close to ideal in a survival game. This means that all types of weapons and methods of killing are used throughout the game, you almost never have a maximum amount of ammunition and supplies, and you save every bullet, and when you gather more ammunition, you get a boss fight or something similar, lol. At the same time, there are almost never situations where you have nothing left and you can’t cope with the enemies, and you sneak around like a bum for three hours, trying to loot something from the garbage. And there are no inflated health bars for enemies. The only thing is that there are a lot of first aid kits, but this doesn’t really matter when you are killed in a couple of hits in melee combat and when success is directly proportional to the skillful use of ammunition, so the ability to “tank” will not help you anywhere if you can’t kill the monster.
At some point, I separately noticed that I really like the animations of the protagonist – they are super well done, as is the way his appearance changes during the game, becoming covered in scratches, dirt, and bruises, etc. This is not a new feature in 2017, but I haven’t noticed such detailed development anywhere before, although it is essentially a small detail that is not even emphasized. However, the animations of the enemies are also good, and in general, the graphics are very pleasant and well optimized.

One of the best games of 2017 and a solid recommendation for everyone who loves survival horror. Not a 10 only because there is nothing fundamentally new or surprising, everything else is close to ideal in the genre.

Since I am a well-known (supposedly) stats nerd, I was pleased to see the introduction of a new theme in the League - YEAR IN REVIEW 2017. I didn't expect to say this about this game, but it's very well done, I approve. I even laughed at some moments. I'm a little sad that I haven't played much in the last two years.

No, they definitely don’t trust you.

Another sequel, the first part of which was barely a 6 out of 10. It had a decent idea, but it was implemented in a dull, grindy, and unbalanced way – overall, it was low-quality content.
The second part was reworked quite a bit; they added a plot and mechanics for each scenario, and they added deck-building. It became interesting and fun. And if you (re)play each level for gold, which isn't very difficult, then the playtime also increases from short to a sufficient length to be enjoyable, but not so long that it becomes tedious. Of course, some people on the internet can't handle the battles and complain about their difficulty and quantity around the second half of the game, but I don't really understand how you can't handle a three-button rhythm-based combat system in a couple of hours at most.
It's slightly buggy, and the design might annoy you in a couple of moments. Otherwise, it's a solid 8.



I stumbled upon mentions of this visual novel somewhere, saw a high rating on Steam, downloaded it just to try it out, and it turned out to be good.
The concept, plot, and implementation are an 8 out of 10, the graphics and music are a 9, and the atmosphere and presentation are a 10. At first glance, it seems like a typical game, but it's more likely to be satirizing the corresponding clichés. I don't want to go into too much detail to avoid spoilers; I'll just say that I would never play a random dating sim, let alone post about it in this thread.
The only major downside is that it's too short, max 5-6 hours, I would have liked it to be longer, at least two or three times longer. If it were longer, it would also be deeper, and there would be more content.
No overall rating, because it's controversial, but as an expert on experiences, I liked it, and it's clear that it was made with heart.

The visual novel itself is free on Steam. Nebula, you probably shouldn't read it.

The sky probably shouldn't read this.

Essentially, it's a psychological horror.

The content of this product may not be suitable for all ages, and viewing it at work may be inappropriate.

Hmm, yes, indeed, it's better not to read it.
Out of similar games, I've only played the popular Endless Summer. It wasn't very good. I just laughed at the ending I got.

Hmm, yes, indeed, it's better not to read it.

I agree. Judging by the reviews, about 70% of the content is something like that, if not more.

I enjoyed both the seventy percent and the thirty percent.

Of similar games, I've only played the popular Endless Summer. I didn't really like it. I just got a kick out of seeing which ending I got.

Despite the outward similarity, it's not the same at all. And it's better not to read it – for completely different reasons.

Grand Theft Auto V

My first impression was very good; the gameplay, visuals, physics, and features were all improved compared to the previous installment; in short, the game evolved. During the initial phase of exploring the game, it was enjoyable to simply drive around the beautifully designed and detailed city. I particularly appreciated the first-person perspective; this new feature turned out to be very useful and something the series had been lacking for a long time. I drove cars according to my mood, switching between different modes, but I preferred to shoot from the first-person perspective, as it was much more enjoyable. However, despite the presence of certain positive aspects, overall, GTA V seemed tedious to me. I have always considered the ability to play in free-roam mode – driving around the city, engaging in shootouts, surviving, etc. – to be the main theme of this series, but I found it interesting to do this in Vice City, in 3, a little in San Andreas, a few times in IV, but now, not anymore; this form of entertainment has lost all interest for me. In addition, the plot seemed weaker compared to other games in the series. The characters themselves, although I liked the ability to switch between three of them, were less appealing than the previous protagonists. Trevor could have been an interesting character if the developers hadn't taken his personality to the extreme. Franklin was the most normal of the three, but he was also quite boring. As for Michael... I'll just say that his sarcasm got on my nerves. Annoying guy. 6/10, I'm too old for this series.

Fallout 4

Contrary to what is shown in the picture, I would like to give it a "thumbs down," as my impression of this game was extremely unpleasant. I played ~100 hours of Fallout 3, 100+ hours of Oblivion, and ~1000 hours of Skyrim; here, my final save showed 20 hours, and I can add ~5-10 hours from the first attempt before I restarted, so in total, 25-30 hours, and that alone says a lot. One might think that, as in the case of GTA, this series has run its course for me, but that is not the case. I would gladly play another hundred hours in Skyrim if it didn't crash every five minutes, for example. The Setup
Well, let's start with the fact that there's another damn vault. In the first and third games, it was minimal; let's do it one more time. In the first, it's understandable why. In the third, too – it's like a revival of the series. But now, why return to this again? This severely limits the possibilities for the plot/backstory/role-playing and is much weaker than the usual starting option – the character is just "someone" from the wasteland, which was good in the second and New Vegas. I never liked the vault and considered it a flawed method of setting up the plot. I play a post-apocalyptic game and want to play as a resident of these lands, not as a character from a bunker. But okay, specifically this is my subjective five cents, and it's not particularly important. What is important is this: the main character is the mother or father of the antagonist, and he is searching for him throughout the game. Mother, father, son – this is the basis of the entire plot. Many RPG fans complain about The Witcher because there is no way to create your own character and you have to play as a pre-made character, but what is here is even worse. If Geralt is at least a decent character, then playing as a middle-aged person from a bunker who has just lost his spouse and is looking for his kidnapped son in the post-nuclear wasteland, I had no desire to do so. I used a mod for an alternative start, but even then, I couldn't avoid references to this in every dialogue. Don't do that; the Bethesda games I've played weren't known for their deep plots, but ruining their main plus, namely the ability to play as whoever you want and however you want, is the last thing they need. Dialogues
- Question
- Sarcasm
- Agreement
- Disagreement
That's all the answer options; there's not much to add. Plot
I could say a lot of unflattering things (the screenwriter should be fired), but I will only highlight one point. When I went down to the institute, I involuntarily rolled my eyes. I somehow reconciled myself to the absurd teleportation for this setting, but when I saw their complex, I immediately thought that this faction/location was simply a foreign body; it simply shouldn't exist. And, again, let me play a post-apocalyptic game normally, without all this nonsense. I've never been a fan of this genre, but if I'm going to play it, can I get a genuine experience? The conversation with the "Father" and the subsequent development of the plot turned out to be predictably terrible. Engine
It's old. All the same bad and clunky animations, bugs, and so on. Overall, it's not a huge minus, but I expected much more from a 2015 game. It seems that the developers are abusing the same engine and are not even trying to do anything new. Gameplay
The shooting has become better and more interesting. Perhaps that's where the pluses end. My subjective opinion is that the perks divided into levels are not a great idea; I didn't like it. Moreover, the connection to certain stats doesn't make any sense at all (for example, the charisma stat is required for a loner, and the weapon and armor crafting stat is also required). In addition, many perks/stats give various bonuses for V.A.T.S., but I have never liked this feature and have always found it to be completely terrible. And now, the best part – the Workshop and settlements. I have always believed that it is better when there is some mechanic in the game than when there isn't, but this game made me think about the opposite. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the developers, having come up with this new mechanic (it is important to note that it is quite poorly implemented and, in terms of quality, is more like a not-so-good mod), decided that they had made a breakthrough in the field of game development and decided to put it in half of the quests. I simply exploded every time I had to build something for a quest, and the last straw was the attack on the Castle of the Minutemen by the Institute. When the character tells you, "General, we are being attacked right now, strengthen the defenses," and the game forces you to go wandering around the Commonwealth in search of junk to dismantle, it's something incredible. When I got tired of this mechanic, I simply gave up and, for the first time in these games, used the console to brute-force my way through these quests. First, I advanced the quest stage to the next one to avoid this, and when the "attack" began (the essence of which is that enemies spawn in random places on, of course, teleporters), I yawned at such a lazy design and used the console again – I ran around like Yagami Light and killed everyone with the "kill" command. Separately, I'll note about helping settlements – it's some kind of cancer. You come, and the guy tells you a repeating phrase about how ghouls/raiders/super mutants are bothering them, asks you to clear them out, and then rewards you with a hundred caps. And so on, every time, on repeat. Even if you were in the location for this quest five minutes ago and already cleared everyone out. And it wouldn't be so bad if this were just an optional quest, but no, you have to complete it and do it many times, while independently searching for these stupid settlements. Ugh. 4/10. Skyrim > Oblivion > New Vegas > Fallout 3 > Fallout 4

Resident Evil Revelations 2

The gameplay is boring and monotonous; there is nothing fundamentally new or interesting. The regular monsters and bosses are not memorable at all (except for one, but more on that below). The plot is weak. As a long-time fan of the series, I was, of course, pleased to immerse myself again in the familiar setting and see Claire, Barry, and Moira, but even a slight feeling of nostalgia couldn't save this game from the not-so-good work of the scriptwriters.
But there is a plus, since the setting is a city on an island in a fictional Russian-speaking country with a thematic nod to the Soviet Union, I couldn't help but laugh at some moments.
For example, when I was walking through the factory, a sound recording started playing in a room, in which, in clear Russian, the following was said:
"The working day is over for today, rest, but don't relax, tomorrow awaits hard work."
Moira then said, "What the hell is he saying?", which only added to the comedic effect.
And further, I don't even need to play this game to see something like this in reality:

Authentic in their squalor locations:

Inspiring posters:

The face of a healthy person who ended up in the CIS space:

A worker who has had a few too many drinks from the aforementioned factory:

Just funny:

These moments don't blend very well with the horror and are generally so-so, but, strangely enough, they made playing this game not so tedious.

Separately, I will highlight the enemies called Glasp
I must admit, they bothered me a lot and seemed to me to be the scariest monsters in the series of all.
The reason for this is as follows:
— They are invisible;
— They insta-kill;
— They dash away when you hit them;
— They blur the screen;
— They make a very unpleasant and sharp sound;
— They have long and thin legs, and this is one of the most unpleasant things for me when it comes to design;
— The death animation is very nasty (they break the hero's spine and spam cockroaches on him)
Once, I almost dropped the game because I didn't want to go through them. And here I ask myself: were they well made or not? On the one hand, they performed the role of mutants in horror brilliantly, and on the other hand, I wanted there to be fewer of them... Seriously, there were too many of them.
5/10
My expectations were met – it's approximately the level I expected.

A few words about the games I tried and dropped.

Civilization® VI
It's terrible. To put it bluntly, it's like the fifth installment, but worse in every way. Even if we forget about the gameplay and style (the series has never been known for its beauty, but here the developers really hit rock bottom), how could they make the graphics even worse? It felt like this game was made for smartphones.

Black Desert Online
As expected, I liked the character editor. Lots of customization options, beautiful textures and models, and the animations in the game itself also seemed pretty good. What can I say? I wish there was more of this in other games.
As for the gameplay, balance, economy, and other elements of the game, I can't say anything because I deleted it 5 minutes after creating a character. Why?

This item is currently unavailable in your region

Your country is restricted from accessing our service.

That's why. It's 2018, and they're sending me to play on a Russian server. When I heard the localized voice of a random NPC, I just quit and deleted the client. If we forget for a moment about some of the most toxic players in the world and the (in my opinion, based on past experience) bad administration of the project, this will be a constant reminder during every moment spent in this game.

Premium server - a place for development and battles for those who value comfort in the game and the atmosphere of a closed community.

This made me sigh and grimace at the same time.

Final Fantasy XIV
I played it for just under ten hours, and it seemed a bit boring. I liked that you can level up multiple classes on one character, but otherwise, it has a weak editor, tedious quests, not very interesting skills, etc.

DARK SOULS™: Prepare To Die™ Edition
It's too demanding. Who knows, maybe in 20 years there will be systems on which it will run properly.

Dark Souls: Remastered will arrive on Steam on May 25. The original, unforgettable gameplay and lore will return in high-definition detail running at 60fps and 4k resolution. Rediscover the journey to rekindle the flame and dive deeper into the darkening world than ever before.

I'll try this version when it comes out, if I haven't finished parts 2 and 3 by then.

Far Cry 3

I can't say that I particularly enjoyed anything specific, and perhaps conceptually, Far Cry is outside the realm of things that interest me, but it's quite decent for a one-time playthrough without significant time investment.
Comparing it to Fallout 4, which I recently played, creates a somewhat awkward situation, as in what seems to be a shooter, the skills, crafting, and even the plot are better than in what is supposedly a full-fledged RPG.
I liked that almost everything here worked normally and without any problems caused by a buggy engine or shortcomings on the part of the developers, but some aspects could have been done better. For example, I would have liked the ability to save and load from the exact point where I left the game. In addition, I was sometimes very annoyed by the loot system related to picking up weapons – very often, I would want to loot a corpse, but instead, I would pick up some crappy AK-47 instead of my modified assault rifle. But these are minor issues.
7/10
I didn't feel a particular desire to explore the island, but it's hard to say whether the game is to blame for this or it's just me.

NieR:Automata

I feel a certain disappointment at the completion of this title, but not the kind you usually get when good things end, nor the kind you get when you're disappointed by wasted time. In this case, it's a longing for a once-in-a-lifetime experience that has passed. I "chose" a not-so-ideal time to play Automata, which led me to play it in a bad mood, in fragmented sessions over the course of more than a month, despite its relatively short playtime.
Visuals
Of everything I've played up to this point, Automata easily surpasses other games in terms of the beauty of its animation and environment. Everything is done magnificently, making it simply pleasant to be in the game. The only downside is the small number of locations. Those that exist are used very effectively, but this point still doesn't go unnoticed. I doubt this was done intentionally and suspect that the reason lies in a lack of budget, but who knows?
Music
Again, it's impeccable. The OST itself is one of the best I've heard, but in addition to that, its masterful use in the game should be highlighted separately – it's roughly the same level as in the most emotional moments in my favorite visual novels, with the caveat that this is a game and it's more difficult to achieve.
Characters
A curious fact: there aren't that many named NPCs here, which would seem to make walking around the city locations in a clockwise direction not very meaningful, but even the randomly encountered and unnecessary machines for the main plot have some kind of unique feature, whether it's their manner of speech, visual differences, or a peculiar character. But what can you say if support units have more significance for the plot, gameplay, and even character development than any "companion" in a Western RPG?
Gameplay
For myself, I'll highlight only one negative – the inconvenient mouse control during hacking, which is sometimes very infuriating. And in general, I expected a little more from the "Touhou mode." Otherwise, it's very good, engaging, and diverse.
Plot and presentation
The prologue is magnificent, both in terms of intrigue and gameplay – both components work in perfect harmony with each other.
The main story, well, in one word, it's engaging.
The ending is very effective and emotional.
The plot and setting in a broader sense are also very interesting, although I admit I didn't understand everything.
9.5/10
p.s.

The most difficult choice in my life

When Mortulus writes about his progress or Diablo again, I feel like an incredibly original person, almost a genius.