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Ment promised to post about the new Arknights, but I see that he didn't do it... Oh well.

Ment promised to post about the new Arknights, but I see he never did... Eh. 

YOU ARE AN ANCIENT, PRIMAL INHABITANT OF THE CONCRETE FORESTS.

YOU ARE BORN AND YOU DIE TO FULFILL THE WILL OF CONCRETE.

THE LAST TIME, YOU WERE BUSY DEPLOYING A CONCRETE PLANT IN THE FAR-NORTHERN BLOCK, EARNING YOURSELF A TEN-YEAR UNPAID VACATION FOR YOUR SHOCK WORK.

SOMEWHERE AT THE EDGE OF YOUR MIGHTY MIND, OCCUPIED WITH THE CONTINUOUS AND PRECISE OPTIMIZATION OF CONCRETE DATA AND FORMULAS, YOUR NAME SPINS AROUND — A NAME THAT ONCE THUNDERED ACROSS THE ENTIRE GIGAKHRUSHCH.

Endmin.

Endmin.

ENDMIN!

SOMEONE IS CALLING. APPARENTLY, IT'S YOUR NEW DEPUTY CALLING.

YOU SEE A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE CORRIDOR LEADING TO THE CHECKPOINT, AND YOU WALK TOWARD IT. A MINUTE LATER, AFTER AUTHENTICATION, YOU'RE SPAT OUT INTO THE GIGAKHRUSHCH THROUGH A SPECIAL HERMETIC DOOR THAT SEPARATES THE CONCRETE DIMENSION FROM THE STANDARD ONE.

YOU SQUINT AT THE OVERLY BRIGHT LIGHTING. WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY DID THEY SCREW A CHANDELIER WITH THAT MANY HUNDRED-WATT BULBS INTO THIS BLUE CEILING? DO YOU EVEN REALIZE HOW MUCH ENERGY THEY CONSUME?

WHERE ARE THE WALLS? WHY ARE THEY SO FAR AWAY? HOW MANY TERAWATTS DOES IT TAKE TO HEAT SUCH A HUGE LIVING SPACE?

WHY IS THE ENTIRE FLOOR PAINTED IN THIS ACID GREEN COLOR? IN YOUR DAY, THE ONLY THING THAT COLOR WAS THE POISON FOR CONCRETE-EATERS.

HAVE YOU ALL GONE MAD?!

IN TEN YEARS, YOU'VE COMPLETELY GONE OFF THE RAILS.

THIS GIGABLOCK NEEDS A TOTAL OVERHAUL, BUT FORTUNATELY, YOU ARE EXACTLY WHAT'S NEEDED FOR THE JOB.

***

YOUR NEW DEPUTY, A MUTANT BIRD-PERSON WITH THE SURNAME "PERLITSA," BRIEFED YOU ON THE SITUATION.

FIRST THING, CATCHING YOUR DISPLEASURE, SHE ASSURED YOU THAT THE FAITH IN CONCRETE IN THE BLOCK HAS NOT DIED OUT.

IN FACT, THE BLOCK'S INHABITANTS RESPECT CONCRETE SO MUCH THAT THEY'VE EVEN GIVEN IT A SPECIAL NAME.

"ORIGINIUM." BECAUSE CONCRETE IS THE FOUNDATION OF ALL LIFE.

DESPITE THE APPARENT DILAPIDATION AND CONCRETE-LESSNESS AROUND, CONCRETE-ORIGINIUM IN THE FORM OF FINE PARTICLES IS PRESENT IN ALL OBJECTS AND CREATURES OF THE BLOCK, AND IS ALSO THE BASE FOR ALL KNOWN TECHNOLOGIES.

THE GREEN COATING ON THE FLOOR IS ACTUALLY LIVING ORGANISMS OF A PLANT NATURE AND IS CALLED "GRASS." THE BLOCK'S HEATING IS AUTOMATIC AND IS PRODUCED BY THAT VERY CHANDELIER ON THE CEILING, WHICH IS CALLED THE "SUN." FORTUNATELY, ITS POWER SOURCE IS INDEPENDENT OF THE BLOCK'S POWER GRID.

THE PROBLEM OF OVERLY BRIGHT LIGHTING FOR YOU WAS SOLVED WITH A SPECIAL MASK FOR YOUR EYES.

THE PROBLEM OF PROGRESSIVE AGORAPHOBIA, ALAS, YOU WILL HAVE TO SOLVE ON YOUR OWN.

APART FROM THE UNUSUAL BLOCK CONSTRUCTION, THERE IS OTHER NEWS, THIS TIME SIMPLY EXCELLENT: IN YOUR ABSENCE, DEPUTY PERLITSA DEVELOPED A NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR EMERGENCY DEPLOYMENT OF CONCRETE PLANTS. THE PLANT CAN BE IMPLANTED LITERALLY ON ANY FLAT FLOOR AREA AT THE SNAP OF YOUR FINGERS.

BUT THERE'S BAD NEWS TOO: ATTACKS BY CREATURES FROM OTHER FLOORS HAVE BECOME MORE FREQUENT. ALSO, IN SOME AREAS OF THE BLOCK, FOR UNKNOWN REASONS, ANOMALOUS SELF-ASSEMBLIES OCCUR, INITIATED BY BLACK-WORSHIPPERS LED BY A CERTAIN "N.E. FERRIT." YOU NEED TO URGENTLY TAKE PART IN THE DEFENSE OF THE "VALLEY IV" BLOCK WHILE THE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE STILL HOLDS.

FORTUNATELY, YOUR TRUSTY SHARPENED PIECE OF CROWBAR IS STILL WITH YOU. AS IS YOUR UNIQUE ABILITY TO DESTROY ENEMIES WITH INFINITELY CRYSTALLIZING CHUNKS OF RAW CONCRETE.

AND WHEN THE ENEMIES RUN OUT, YOU CAN FINALLY GO TO YOUR HOME PLANT.

THE OUTPUT OF THE CONCRETE PROCESSING PLANT INCLUDES EVERYTHING THE BLOCK'S INHABITANTS NEED. MEDICINAL PILLS MADE FROM BUCKWHEAT, "CITROM" CANDIES, BATTERIES MADE OF "KR0NA" GRADE CONCRETE, COMPONENTS FOR CLOTHING PRODUCTION. NONE OF THIS NEEDS TO BE PURCHASED SPECIFICALLY.

CONCRETE, FIBERGLASS, IRON, AND COPPER FOR THE PLANT ARE EXTRACTED BY AUTOMATED MINING MODULES; YOU ONLY NEED TO PLACE THEM AND CONNECT THEM TO THE POWER GRID. MOST PLANTS ARE AUTOMATICALLY GROWN AND HARVESTED IN HYDROPONIC MODULES.

FOR MILITARY NEEDS, THE PARTY ALSO REQUIRES HIRING EMPLOYEES AND EQUIPPING THEM WITH WEAPONS. THIS IS DONE THROUGH THE IMPORTED "GACHA" SYSTEM, WHICH IS POSSIBLY THE ONLY, ALBEIT SIGNIFICANT, ECONOMIC DRAWBACK OF THE CURRENT PRODUCTION.

OTHER MATERIALS ARE EXTRACTED IN MANUAL OR SEMI-AUTOMATIC MODE. THE SEMI-AUTOMATIC MODE IS IMPLEMENTED, FOR EXAMPLE, AS FOLLOWS:

DOSSIER ON KEY EMPLOYEES:

ENDMIN

THAT'S YOU. THE CITIZENS ASSURE THAT YOUR OUTWARD RESEMBLANCE TO PENGUINS IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL AND THAT YOU SHARE NO COMMON BIOLOGICAL ANCESTORS.

DEPUTY PERLITSA

CALL SIGN "GOOLY-GOOLY-GOOLY." ACCORDING TO THE DOSSIER, IN CHILDHOOD SHE FELL INTO A CAULDRON OF CALCULATORS, AND SINCE THEN HAS THE ABILITY TO RAISE TEN-DIGIT NUMBERS TO TEN-DIGIT POWERS IN HER HEAD.

FIELD AGENT CHEN

TRANSFERRED FROM AN ASIAN GIGABLOCK FOR POOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE. DUMB AS A CONCRETE-EATER, BUT HER PHYSICAL EDUCATION GRADES ARE EXCELLENT.

 

AND ALSO CITIZEN LEVATINA (THE BLOCK'S MAIN CONSUMER OF FROZEN MREs), THE UNDERAGE BANDIT ROSSI FROM THE HOSTILE BLOCK OF MACARONI-MAKERS, THE OLYMPIC ATHLETE SVETOSNEZHKA...

AND OTHERS.

NOW, WITH THIS BRIEFING, YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO.

Finally closed the gestalt that I opened and left unfinished 15 years ago.
Anyone who played it knows that everything after was only worse, except perhaps for the quests—though here they are completely primitive: go here and kill/bring something, and that's almost all of them—both guild quests and random side ones. Maybe that's just how it is, but for me, the quests in Oblivion+ never felt like anything other than something cobbled together by a schoolboy, maximally ridiculous "uncanny valley" stuff, given its clownish engine with idiot NPCs and markers.
I used to be repulsed by the Wikipedia-style "dialogues," but now I've reconsidered, and compared to what came later, it's not that bad. You can always ask almost any NPC where a certain shop or character is; otherwise, 99% of the standard question-slop can be ignored immediately—as can 99% of these NPCs—you won't miss anything, and there's no need to click through everyone clockwise. Remembering those ridiculously animated Oblivion morons who make faces, looking at your ear or the top of your head while talking with a dead-serious face, belching out one soy-flavored voice acting per race, different voicelines in different voices, and generally chatting quite primitively—the "straight to business" Wikipedia conversations aren't that bad. Persuasion here is also better than that ridiculous wheel. Over time, by the way, I first realized another of many factors as to why NPCs in the company's games look unnatural—everyone has a unique name, and if it's not a name, it's some kind of twisted contortion, sometimes reaching pure absurdity. The idea that no two NPCs in the world share the same first name is such an inorganic stupidity. As a result, everywhere you look: either some Dolbos Navpiskoniy, or Skufing Beerbelly, or Nykhus Soleus.

The combat based on hit chances, which I remembered as being absolutely hideous, also turned out not to be that bad. A relatively small value in the weapon skill is already enough to land hits decently, and moreover, enemies aren't damage sponges that you have to hack for 5 minutes like in Obli. For this, thanks to the lack of auto-leveling—in this part, you can calmly level up, even suboptimally, and experience no difficulties. There is some conditional minimum tuning of monster grades based on your overall progression, but it's minuscule.
All sorts of magical effects, abuses, and so on—I didn't use them much because I barely leveled magic—but they are here, and they are clearly the boldest and coolest by the standards of all Bethesda creations; you can't argue with fans on that, and they were cut from subsequent parts.
The cave clearing isn't as excessive as in Obli+. There are enough of them, but minimum are mandatory for quests, and they themselves aren't confusing copy-paste labyrinths taking three hours, but quite manageable.

The little world is disgusting enough, with bug-mushrooms-deserts and plague mutants, with janky houses, with ugly local red-eyed elves inhabiting it—now it's clear why they are so wretched in this setting—but then again, as fans say, it has its own taste; you can't deny its uniqueness, whereas subsequent parts devolved into maximum generic. It's as if a different company made this part, it differs so much from the rest of the line.
Some people seem to praise the plot, or rather its delivery, and the presentation of this very little world. I didn't see anything special here. Some would say you need to read the books, but that is, of course, complete madness—absorbing hundreds of volumes of in-game graphomania about god knows what, written by literary monkeys on stimulants during a crunch week.

I'd give it a 7, maybe a 7.5 at its best moments.
The feeling that you're playing an extremely outdated relic almost never leaves you, with gaps in gameplay and design, ergonomics, and many individual moments. But alongside this is a sense of old-school boldness in character progression and the overall look of the product, more freedom and a more unique vision.
But overall, the main plus is that it's just chill to play. You walk around, do something, click, nothing much is required of you, no fuss or hysterics with portals to hell or dragons—just a slow feeling of decay in an already uncomfortable world where you gradually poke around. I think this effect is achieved, ironically enough, in no small part by the aforementioned flaws regarding combat, quests, and Wikipedia.

They make faces, look at you now in one ear, now on the crown of your head, while talking with the most serious face.

🙂😧😠😐😫😒🥴

It's a pity I didn't write my review after finishing the game, because there was something to tell...
1. I agree about the dialogues. At the beginning, you can read them, but then you just skip everything except for rumors. There is sometimes useful information there. Perhaps there is something in the advice as well; I don’t remember anymore. Sometimes I was also interested in the "occupation" of NPCs, but that's it. On the other hand, it's nice that you can ask each person and talk about different topics, unlike in new games where there are only two or three lines. It would be good to improve this system, and maybe it would be okay. By the way, some quest-related NPCs were immediately revealed due to this (lack of conversation topics). Well, bribery is a good thing if you have money.
2. I agree about the quests; they are boring. There are those that stand out, like the barbarian under paralysis or the guy in the water whose pants were stolen, etc., but overall, everything is quite monotonous in terms of execution. In this aspect, Oblivion looked better; the quests were still more interesting, at least some of them. Apparently, because they started to include elements of plot.
3. The combat is fine; I never understood the complaints about it. People probably leveled up one skill but used another, or didn't level up their weapon skills at all. I don't remember any difficult moments with this, except for a couple of cases. First - the initial cave, where a barbarian with a hammer sits at the end and knocks you down with one hit, and fortunately finishes you off with the second. Second - the super-guard from the Tribunal DLC, from whom you later loot cool (quest?) gloves. This guy is really strong. Third - the ugly mobs from the Blood Moon DLC, but they aren’t so much difficult as annoying, and there are many of them.
4. I agree about the dungeons. In Oblivion, this is complete garbage, and there are only two or three types. Here, at least, there is variety and differences in general. I actually explored approximately half of them, besides, I forgot about the fortresses that I left for later. ☹
5. I agree about the world; it differs from the rest, and this is a plus, although the color palette doesn't bother me particularly, and even the swamp looks nice.
6. I don't remember the plot very well, but the final location is cool.

Overall, Morrowind is better than Oblivion. The latter is good only because of its physics and quests.
PS: And recently, I came to the conclusion that exploring Fallout games from Bethesda is much more interesting than scrolling through The Elder Scrolls.

And did you play the DLC?

Glad we came to an agreement.
I finished Bloodmoon; the main questline for werewolves felt a bit tedious in places: visiting nine ancient obelisks, clearing out the ice castle, and especially the final labyrinth – I started the expansion with a fully enchanted katana and was able to complete everything on maximum difficulty with one-hit kills, but they gave the monsters in the lab a million HP, which just made it annoying to click, heal, and spam healing spells, so at that point, I lowered the difficulty by 100. Otherwise, it's not bad considering the game.
The trading campaign seemed quite interesting, with branching paths and gradual village development, and the quests themselves are good; you can see that they tried to move away from the default faction format of the vanilla version and add some fun elements. Probably one of the most enjoyable things overall in the game. The Thieves’ Guild is also great; it’s easy and pleasant to steal, and you get a lot of money.

I didn’t have enough energy for the Tribunal; after finishing Bloodmoon and the main werewolf storyline, I barely touched it, and it generally felt kind of mediocre. A huge, empty city, boring sewers – as a result, I only cleared out the Dark Brotherhood early in the game to defend against assassins, and that was pretty much it. I tried to find an army of goblins there, but I got lost, shrugged it off, and went home.
Vivec also seemed incredibly awful to me, simply impossible to navigate, but over time, I got so used to it that I could even run through it without flying, and then with boots and flight, it became even easier. I was surprised at how my final impression of it differed from my initial one. Mushroom houses are much worse; it's unpleasant to even go into them, and the model glitches on wall and staircase terrain.

reduced the difficulty by 100 at this point

100% understanding
0% judgment

I probably lowered it too.

The Tribunal is smaller in size, but there's Dwemer dungeon and all sorts of stuff that I don't even remember. In the end, you just return to the city and kill someone. I didn't like that I couldn't teleport items to my house, and as a result, I think I left some loot behind. But there were top-tier artifacts that I ended up using. I had a pikeman in medium armor. By the way, I joined House Redoran (they seem to be the best).

Yes, I have the same situation with Vivec. He looks ugly, but eventually you just memorize him and fly around in boots. And the mushroom houses are too narrow; you enter and bump into a wall, not knowing where to go. But they are interesting to look at from the outside. Ultimately, all the normal cities are in the west. Ald'ruhn appealed to me the most, although Balmora is also pretty good.

===================================== By the way, wouldn't you want to update the images or write the game titles in your old reviews? Because in many posts, the artifacts aren't displayed, and it's unclear what game we're talking about. This applies to some messages from other users as well.

Turgor
Don't confuse it with the Void... Trying to play the Steam version as is resulted in a break of аж five years, and only recently I got around to playing the original.
A hardcore Russian eroge with ancient sonnets, an opening from "The Lusiads," terrible 3D models, and the vibe of Khrushchev-era apartments. Why do we need this in the age of Japanese visual novels? Why do we need these awful faces, a deposit simulator with interest, WALKING, and many other strange game design decisions? Gamers are racking their brains, but since there's just so much Russkiness in me, I have a simple and obvious answer – so that we suffer and think.
So that we believe in suffering, or rather, feel it – here’s your crappy mechanic. So that we think, not just watch – here are the creepy models. So that we feel our helplessness – here’s random chance, so strong that it can completely ruin a playthrough. Complete immersion, like a prolonged binge – at first it’s hard, then you start to enjoy it, then you sit with red eyes at three in the morning, and the thought that you should stop doesn’t even occur to you.
What useful thing could I say… It’s something special, that’s for sure. The plot is summarized in two or three sentences, the characters occupy at best 10% of the screen time, monotonous gray locations, one or two choices per game, and you could put a failing grade on it and end it right there, but as a result, we get 10 (!) full-fledged characters (for an average AAA RPG, 5 is considered "a lot"), another ten secondary ones, a cozy world that you initially need to force the player into through the thicket of ancient graphics and crazy gameplay, and then you won't be able to pull them out, one of the most skill-based combat systems, if not the most, and about a hundred reasons to THINK. Do you often think? I don’t very much, especially when playing games.
And against all this, there’s the question: where is the second part? Or at least a decent remake? We already have the third Moor, but there isn’t even a second Turgor... Sigh.
I would rate it excellent with many drawbacks.
And in such cases, a tier list seems appropriate

Title

Uta > Yuna > Bezimyashka > Echo > Ire > Ava > Ima > Ole > Yani > Eli >>> Aia

I had a pikeman in medium armor. By the way, I joined House Redoran (they seem like the best guys).

And I just ran around with one-handed weapon + shield at first, then switched to a two-handed weapon. I also leveled up alchemy and teleportation/flight spells, but in the end, I wanted to become the head of all guilds, so I had to level up a bunch of magic and other stuff. I played through Hlaalu, although I didn't know that they wouldn't accept me into other factions later, but even if I did, I would have gone there anyway.

In the end, all the decent cities are in the west. Ald'ruhn appealed to me the most, although Balmora is pretty good too.

Balmora is the base; despite its Arabic vibe due to the faction architecture, it’s centrally located, and everything is convenient there, so it will definitely be among the top choices. Sadri Mora somehow appeals to me as well, although there are only mushrooms and a fort. Probably because of the nature and transportation, and the fact that everything is conveniently located in the fort, although I saw an opinion on the internet that, on the contrary, the map there is incredibly confusing. But I don't understand such people; literally, the entire fort is a spiral staircase with three guilds, 10 meters to the exit to the street or a teleporter from any point of interest. And 30 meters to the street to the tavern with thieves.

By the way, do you want to update the images in old reviews or write down the names of the games? Because in many posts, the artifacts are not displayed, and it is unclear what game we are talking about. This applies to some messages from other guys as well.

Yes, I probably wouldn't remember some of them without pictures myself.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword 🧝‍♀️

Finally beat one of the entries. Not the best or most well-known one, but it's considered the first in the fan-made timeline that got canonized. Though in reality it doesn't really matter, given the different worlds, details, and all that, but I'd like to believe that with this fictional paradigm it'll be easier to piece together the picture of the game series in my head.

As for the game itself, in my opinion this is a true gaming adventure, exactly what one should be. Partly because the gameplay is fairly balanced and varied, there are no overloaded mechanics, no suffocating bloat, or anything else that might get old after ten hours (except the backtracking lol). The scale isn't very big, but in this case it's hard to call that a downside. 
We start in a cozy little town floating in the sky. By the end of the game it'll feel like home. You could even add it to memes about childhood gaming "hangouts." And the town music contributes to that, as does the menu melody. There are about 30 characters in it, and while they don't have multi-page backstories, that many dialogues, and all that, each one is memorable thanks to their appearance and a couple of lines that easily reveal their personality. Most of them have quests, and nearly all of those serve one specific purpose. Some are pretty funny, even with choices. Besides that, there are a few amusing situations and dialogues, to some extent even relatable. Generally, the Japanese know how to do this kind of thing, I think, which is why it turns out so cool. 
Briefly on the story: we're training at a knight academy, and at the start of the game we have to win a competition among students to earn the title. After that we watch cutscenes, maybe do something else, and at the end a tornado swoops in and carries Zelda away from our cozy island down somewhere below. We have no choice but to set off in search of her, descending beneath the skies... 

Besides the town, there are three main locations (forest, volcano, desert) set on the ground, and as the story progresses they expand. To put it briefly, the visiting pattern goes like this: town-forest-town-volcano-town-desert-town-forest, and so on.  We get to them on a big bird that lets us fly in the sky. So you leave the town, summon your pet, and freely fly around the sky area, which has a couple of useful islands, secret chests, and even enemies. Then you land at the location you need. Overall, the mechanic is good but debatable, since it's backtracking for the entire game, and that's the only thing that might start to get on your nerves. That said, you don't need to fly every five to ten minutes unless you want to. The main locations differ greatly from each other — the forest has an underwater sector, and in the desert you can ride a boat (go figure), plus there are time stones that change the environment around them. There are also temples everywhere, where you usually "take an exam" on using new items. There's also a temple at the end of the game where you need to apply all the knowledge you've gained throughout the whole playthrough, and that moment is genuinely awesome.  

As in other entries, skills gradually appear here, unlocked by obtaining items. And even at the 60-hour mark, the game still has ways to surprise you. Most of them are needed for story progression, of course, but you can also use them to find secret cubes (chests), and some even for earning money, like the gust bellows (for a fee you can "vacuum" one of the houses in town). Though the freedom in using them certainly isn't as big as in the newer entries, but that's understandable. And if I'm not mistaken, almost every new item is needed to defeat the boss encountered right after obtaining it. The same gust bellows was used to "dig out" a scorpion hiding in the sand.

The gameplay itself isn't just running around and fighting — you also have to think, and sometimes I thought a bit too much (guess I've gotten a bit dull from other games). And I'm not even talking about puzzles as such, but simply about finding the way forward, because there aren't many hints in the game (apart from some general ones from the NPC partner), and sometimes you don't understand what to do next. I really liked that. Occasionally I had to sit with bosses too, since it's far from always just hitting them like in Souls-likes and other games. Besides that, there are mini-games, almost all of which I completed (couldn't max out the bamboo cutting, and not sure I cleared the minesweeper on the big field). You can also catch insects needed for potion upgrades. To upgrade items, you need to hunt for resources, either by farming them from mobs or just finding them in specific spots. By the way, in town you can sleep until night, and stepping outside you'll find monsters roaming around while the residents stay inside their homes. I found the game segment near the end amusing, when stealth suddenly appeared in the game, needed for literally 15 minutes. Although there was a similar segment in the spirit realm, but the situation there was different.

The combat is generally fine (there's a shield and dodges, and rolls seem to be out of combat only), though it was unusual playing on a gamepad and took time to get used to. At first I tried fighting with motion controls, and the feature seemed cool, but I quickly decided to drop it. Maybe some moments would've been easier, I don't know. Early on, the spiders annoyed me because you had to finish them off, which I struggled with, especially after a break when I completely forgot how to do it and had to look it up online. Some bosses also took time — I'd sit there for half an hour at times. Though with HP upgrades it gets easier, and only at the very end might you hit snags again, since bosses start taking away more than one heart per hit. But the most annoying one was the huge demon I had to fight three times. He's not particularly hard, but there's a nuance that really stressed me out, and because of it I had to replay the fight, since it's timed. That's the only suffocating moment in the entire game.

The biggest flaw I'd call getting the best shield in the game. All the previous ones could be found/bought and then upgraded at the blacksmith, but the last one is only given for completing a trial. It consists of a boss rush, which I dropped without a second thought, without even trying. Why bother grinding through eight bosses in a row that I'd already beaten, when the game was almost over and only the final fight remained (two fights). The shield is cool, of course, because it can't break, and that's actually a great feature, especially in the battle with the last boss. But my upgraded one was decent too, since it recovered after a few seconds when I ran away from the enemy and didn't use it. In the end, I defeated the villain without issues, though not on the first try. Maybe on NG+ all those things are more useful.

Verdict: a good game, but I'm sure half of the other games in the series are even better 🧝‍♂️

PS I'll highlight the two most memorable moments:
1. There was a funny and romantic quest in town about a ghost living in a toilet(?). It was unexpected and a bit creepy
2. The "vacuuming" ability was originally a quest where a woman asked you to clean her house because she's lazy and usually waits for strong wind to just blow all the dust away (that's a quote), and her son scolds her for it and doesn't want her wasting money on a hired helper lol

My experience with FromSoftware: I really enjoyed Dark Souls 1 and 2, Sekiro is one of my favorite games, but I dropped Dark Souls 3. Elden Ring felt like DS3, only with an open world, which is a double negative in my opinion. When I left the starting area, I thought the graphics were decent, but that impression quickly turned into disappointment due to the empty world, which I had no desire to explore. Just wander around wastelands where mobs and structures are scattered semi-randomly – even in Skyrim and Oblivion this was implemented much more interestingly; at least there you could find something to loot in caves and there were variations in gameplay + you could imagine your own adventure. Moreover, in an era when Sekiro and Stellar Blade exist, they should be ashamed of such combat... I didn't play it for long and dropped it. Maybe I'll try again if I don't have any other alternatives.


I don't know why, but Chinese developers seem to have trouble creating interesting stories. They pile up all sorts of things on a universal scale, but it's not very engaging, especially considering that almost all side quests are like those from MMORPGs - random fetch quests with NPC clones. Compared to other Chinese gacha games, Endfield stands out favorably due to the factory building system, but that alone isn't enough to prevent interest from fading. For now, I still log in daily to do dailies.


Apparently, you need to be a connoisseur of streaming... It just didn't click for me + when the music appeared in memes, it seemed funny, but here it even irritated my ears with its repetitive beat. Dropped it.


There is such a thing as chewing gum - essentially, it's an imitation of eating; you chew and chew, but you don't get full, and there are games that imitate playing. At first, I wanted to say this about Haven, but at some point (~when I finished the Castle and moved on to the next parts), my opinion changed for the better.

+ In terms of narrative, it's a worthy continuation of the main storyline; there's no feeling that it's a random horror game.
+ After Wesker was killed in part five, Chris remained the coolest character, and he is portrayed quite well here.
+ Contrary to my initial impression, I surprisingly liked the protagonist. He's cool.
+ Good graphics and detailed levels. The winter landscapes are magnificent in places.
+ Fat Albert and his sisters are amusing.
+ I liked how the atmosphere of the locations changed depending on the level and type of lighting.
+ They did a great job with the doll: despite the time limit, to defeat her, you need to move slowly, carefully looking around, contrary to the intensity of the situation.
+ The ball mini-game is fun.
+ The last level is awesome; it reminded me of the fifth installment - which I enjoyed the most in the entire series.
- I didn't like having to go back and forth in the village.
- Lady Dimitrescu seemed ridiculous, but I blame this on the way she chased the player along a fixed route, i.e., really like an NPC. You shoot her in the back, she gets angry, slowly turns around, starts walking towards you, and you run into a safe room and say "I'm in the house," and she has no choice but to turn back.
~ MiSide was scarier) Although it was also funny to see that the developers directly borrowed the location with dolls from there.
~ I played it in Japanese, even though it's not a very suitable voice acting for this setting. I tried playing it in English, but it turned out to be unpleasant to my ear. Considering that I can watch old American movies without any problems, I assume that the problem lies in modern voice actors...
~ The guns have weak sound; it feels like they are not firearms, but just firecrackers. Nevertheless, there are no complaints about the shooting itself – you can even knock down an arrow flying at you!
~ The additional storyline that unlocks after completing the main one is less interesting, especially since it's made of reused assets, but it's still decent.

Overall, among all the parts, I would put this in third place after part five and the original first game. For 2021, it's very good.

A standard collection of games for a self-respecting gamer

^ November.
Nice playing games on the gaming forum…

Write down your top 10 games/series; it would be interesting to read.

It’s a pity that no one wrote anything.

Dark Souls

Well, as always, I got around to the game everyone else already played ten thousand years later.. 👴
I might have forgotten some things, since I had to take a two-year break, but I think I remembered most of it. Before starting, I spent a long time thinking about which class to begin with, although it's not that important. In the end, I decided I can play as a knight in the next part, and for now I'll pick the pyromancer. I'll say right away that I played the old original, like a cool old-school pioneer at 30fps, not like some sissy installing a patch for smoother gameplay or zoomers+ playing the remaster (besides, back in the day I paid five rubles for the game and needed to get my money's worth).

There's not much to say about the prologue, except that of course I couldn't properly kill the boss on the first try.
🔥 Then, near the Firelink Shrine, like many others, I tried looting the cemetery, getting my ass kicked by skeletons. After that I went to the town and wrecked the hollows there. I probably spent the most time in these starting and favorite locations, grinding and looting in the Undead Burg. In the end, I considered the chainmail set and a two-handed greataxe (or axe?) to be the most suitable gear for me at that point. Because of the low fps, I didn't use parrying at all, so I just rolled and tanked. The next vivid memory is tied to the first Black Knight. No idea how many attempts it took to kill him, but quite a few. And yeah, since the version is old and online features have been dead for ages, I also looked up the dragon tactic outside the game, and I'm not even ashamed. First, of course, I shot off the tail and got the sword (the Drake Sword drops from it, or whatever it's called?), which I ran around with for quite a long time. And with the bull boss, I didn't make the same mistake as in the prologue. The Gargoyles, though, gave me more trouble, and on the roof I made my biggest fail — I attacked Oswald, mistaking him for a training dummy and attacking him for some reason. In the end, I had to kill him. Why do they even add NPCs to places where there weren't any? What if it's an enemy that appeared or some crap I missed? Anyway, that was the idea. Good thing he's not a particularly important character. After that, I went down to kill various bandits and get acquainted with other locations of the game..

🐀 The Depths also seemed like a cool place, it was scary going lower and lower, and when I fell into the sewers and saw those big-eyed freaks.. well, that's probably a classic, like the first slime. I spent about half an hour to an hour killing the local drake, I don't remember exactly. 

🕷😷 Blighttown was worse, but not some utterly terrible place, although the poison at that point in the game is certainly not pleasant and really gets on your nerves. And slow walking isn't fun either if you don't have the ring. And maybe killing the spider lady took the most time, I sat there for at least an hour, although the fight itself didn't seem hard.

🐉 I don't remember the Valley of Drakes at all, but I tried to kill the big dragon several times. Maybe I went there too early, I don't even remember why or from where.

🦎 I remember Sen's Fortress poorly, although the location seems cool and teeth-grinding (for some reason I wanted to use exactly that word), considering the narrow paths, traps, and 30fps. But I think I didn't spend long there, it went by quickly. And I think it was only in this place that I learned you need to use humanity and summon phantoms for boss fights (although maybe I knew in the swamp, but forgot). Too bad the phantom didn't help me at all in this case and was sent flying by the golem five seconds after the fight started lol)

🐺🌲The garden and the lake are basically fine locations, though not particularly interesting. As for the latter, I can highlight the tower where Olam Havell sits lol) I called him that the whole game. I think I even descended to him from above, but chickened out of fighting and only decided later. His story is pretty cool in my opinion. My attitude toward the garden is similar, there are only spirits for farming and the wolf. The latter also has a good story, but a sad one. I even watched the alternative cutscene before the fight with him.. And yeah, about the garden, it's worth noting that at first I only reached the door, and cleared the second part after Anor Londo and the rest. I can't remember exactly why, but in fact it was even a plus, because by that point I had Havel's armor. The thing is, Sif turned out to be not a very convenient opponent for me and my 30fps, so I just decided to tank, putting on the strongest armor, and beat him. But before that moment, I ran around in various pieces of light armor almost the whole game, except in Anor Londo I found the Silver Knight armor and added the chest piece to my mishmash. Essentially, I ran through almost the entire game in different gear, sometimes changing things up, and on bosses I sometimes took Havel's set if problems arose.

☀️ Anor Londo. A dreary place where it's boring to run around, especially on such a scale. It was right before the double boss that I took a break, so after resuming the game I had to go through a serious trial. First, I ran to them hollow, memorizing their moveset and training, and then I summoned a phantom to help me and tried to kill them. In the end, it took about 4-5 attempts, and that's considering I killed the fat one first, since in that case the loot drops from the second one and it's supposedly better. Yeah, I looked that up too) And in general, I googled what humanity is for, because I guess I forgot about it quickly at first, and after two years even more so. By the way, by that point I already had the Black Knight Sword, which I ran with for the whole game. In my opinion, it's the best weapon, and it's not entirely clear why you'd need anything else.. Although here I also found a halberd and realized it helps a lot against certain enemies and is very good as a secondary weapon. 

👻 New Londo Ruins is also a decent location, I remember meeting ghosts for the first time and running away lol) In general, only they can cause problems, given their ability to fly through walls. Otherwise, it's basically fine, a gloomy place, to be honest. Maybe HeroesWorld in the DS world would look exactly like this.. 

🧙‍♂️ I didn't really like the Archives, although at first they seemed fine. Maybe it's because going deeper into them is easier than coming back and getting arrows in the ass from all sides. And you can barely reach the chest on the bookshelf. It's funny that I died several times to the crystal lizards, of which there are only a couple. There's not much to say about the grotto, just golems. And yeah, I also slipped off those bridges a few times, but I did reach the blue titanite on the invisible path on the first try. 😎

💀 The Catacombs are a fine location, although it can look scary in places. But once you learn it, it's easy to run through. The best place for leaps of faith and hidden secrets. The Tomb is basically the same, but even scarier, and it stays that way lol)

👿 The Demon Ruins and Izalith seem kind of small, like the grotto and maybe a couple of the last locations. +there's no real zest to them. The places with bright lava are ugly, the rest seems fine. 

🍄 The Hollow is a funny thing, like a location from a platformer. I died several times while chasing the lizards. The Ash Lake seems like a completely pointless place, although the scenery there is pretty. 

🎨 The Painted World is a good location, almost like the starting ones, but in snow. Too bad there aren't many like it. And I think a mob got bugged somewhere there, because I heard sounds through the wall but couldn't find it.

⚔🥨 The DLC about Artorias. I wonder what IQ you need to get into it? I don't rule out that by reading the description you could figure it out, but before that you have to go across the lake past the hydra and find the lady. And what if you never found or saw her? A tough question, but it would have taken a lot of time. Overall, it's not bad, although in reality they mixed the forest and the catacombs. I killed the knight relatively quickly, but I spent more time on the final boss. Thank goodness for the phantom and Havel's armor. I know there's a trick to kill him with a bow, but in the old version you can't aim downward lol) 

I killed the game's final boss on the first try. Well, actually, I almost killed him, but I remembered I hadn't summoned the phantom as I wanted, so I died on purpose to summon him and win together. But it's pretty strange that such an easy enemy is at the end of the game.. or maybe I just became too cool? 🤔

As for the game, I liked it. Even back when it came out, I was drawn to the atmosphere, the design, all those cool knights, the gloominess, and so on. Too bad I partially missed the lore, putting off reading item descriptions for later. I'll watch a video on the topic sometime. I was pleased by the presence of characters with their own stories and quests; it brightened up the journey through the game world. And most importantly, I'd like to highlight the level design and how the locations are connected, especially the central ones. It's really cool when you go to one place, clear a location, and then return to the start, but from the other side, and you're like "Wow, so that's where this door/passage led!" In regular metroidvanias, it's not as cool, given the limitations of 2D and the fact that it's just a shortcut. Here, such things are perceived not just as a way to cut the path, but as something more and more interesting. By the way, by the end of the game I was level 100, maybe a bit higher. I ran the whole game with a two-handed weapon, only occasionally using a shield. I used different armor, and from magic only healing and teleport came in handy, although I also burned slimes with fire in the sewers. I upgraded all types of weapons. Too bad the next parts are considered worse, but I hope the combat there is at least a bit better 🙃
PS I added a bit to the zelda post..

It's a pity that the following parts are considered worse, but I hope the combat there is at least better 🙃

In 2 it's good. In 3 it's a shift-key pressing simulator.

Due to low fps, I didn't use parrying at all

Noob. Parrying is easiest in the first one.

But it's quite strange that there's such an easy enemy at the end of the game... or maybe I've become too cool?

Nah, Gwyn is an easy boss.

It's a pity that the subsequent parts are considered worse, but I hope the combat there is at least better

They are considered so. But a specific person might actually like them more than the first one. Out of all three, I like the second one most (yes, I am one of those perverts).