Recent reviews by Clint Eastwood

For those of you that tried Persona 5, expecting to like it and bounced off like me, I whole-heartedly recommend this game to you. This game, despite coming out earlier, avoids a lot of the pitfalls that frustrated me with 5.

Here's a list of things that irritated me with 5, that 4 addresses.
-Characters are not shallow or one-note cliches.
-The cutscenes are actually enjoyable
-dialogue does not feel forced or as 'cringe' despite being more goofy
-everyone doesn't inexplicably hate the main characters to an unrealistic degree
-The game has a faster flow to it outside of battle with social link stuff. You're able to do activities within the first week from what I recall as opposed to 5 where it takes a while before you have complete freedom.
-The main plot is more engaging

'controversial' opinions
-I actually prefer the combat more here. Only thing I miss are the baton passes from 5. Overall I prefer the way combat works more here. same for the way you obtain personas and such.
-I enjoy the more procedural/randomized way that dungeons work in this game as opposed to more narratively fitting dungeons present in 5(they still narratively fit in 4, but are not entirely pre-constructed the way they are in 5)


tl;dr if you bounced off 5, give Persona 4 Golden a try! You may be surprised!

also an additional note: if you generally are tired of RPGs and such and find RPGs tedious with combat at times;
DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TRY AN EASIER DIFFICULTY
you can also change difficulties later. I found the combat a bit frustrating at times (but every shin megami/persona game has some cheesy one-hit kills and such). Just change the difficulty if you're feeling frustrated, just allow yourself to enjoy the game first then worry about difficulty

I have a lot of mixed feelings for project zomboid. As someone who has bought this game twice, and been a part of the community for about 7 years, I am thankful for the opportunity and ability to have played this game. There are so many things about this game that I love. Everytime I play, I have a new story, or a new memory of how I holed up in this one building and made it a fortified beast of a house. There are so many reasons I can recommend this game for.
But one thing I do have an issue with as a buyer is the updates. Yes, the developers have been actively developing this game since the start over 10 years ago. Unlike many developers from that era of greenlight/early access, they have continued to support this game even til now.
however, one thing I cannot stand is how, again, this game has been in development for 10 years.
I have no clue why the community is so willing to give the developers slack for this after literally 10 whole years. I do not know a single game(besides this one) that has done such little development while in early access.
I know they have added vehicles, and in depth mechanics on things as mundane as dirty clothes or specific wounds/treatments, as well as even changing from 2D to 3D animated character models. While I know these are actually pretty big updates, and were probably time consuming to develop, i still feel like it is taking wayyyy too long.
These are all great changes, and even arguably necessary to fully simulate a zombie survival scenario. And I deeply appreciate that as a consumer of this game.
But it has been atleast 7 years since they have removed NPCS from the game entirely(unsure on specifics as I do not recall NPCs when I started playing).
NPCS were promised from the start to be a planned feature of the game, but again the game has been in development for over 10 years. I feel like it is no excuse to not even give updates if they are actually planning on adding NPCs, but no word there either except for their planned release schedule.
also why is this community so toxic towards the NPC debate? I bought this game specifically for a zombie survival experience INCLUDING NPCS. I bought this game 7 years ago in anticipation of them adding NPCs, and yet this community is so quick to bash anyone that even *asks* about NPCs, just do a quick google search of "NPCs Project Zomboid" and tell me how many of the posts are people asking genuine questions getting toxic responses.


TL:DR its a wonderful experience playing this game, but know going in development is painfully painfully slow, do not expect this game to have everything anytime soon but look at it as an investment. hopefully that investment will pay off for the both of us :)))

Do yourself a favor, buy this game, especially if you played the original. If you have played the original i recommend getting the original soundtrack DLC. This game has left the goofiest grin on my face while playing and I love it. However, as a tip, don't play hardcore for your first playthrough. I played it to have a 'limited save" playthrough for authenticity, but I recommend starting with normal mode first to get a feel for the game, then starting hardcore.

I Hate This Game
It's stupid and I love it.

oops

I have never spent more time trying to get a game to actually run properly than I have with this game.... and it's a AAA game devloped by a big name company. I am deeply disappointed with how broken Bethesda's games always are. Their games are honestly jokes. If you're playing on PC, I do NOT recommend this game.... however. if you happened to play on XBOX ONE/PS4 where there is still mod support(even if minor), I would recommend this game. The gameplay is fun and all, but I havent gotten to really experience it yet for PC


EDIT:
It took them an extremely long time to get the game in a working order, but it is finally in a recommendable state. I am changing my recommendation BUT I am still keeping my original review up because Bethesda needs to stop relying on fans for their games to just 'work' much less be playable.

(I put Spoilers because it could reveal some of the magic of experiencing it for the first time(which I mean thats what spoilers do but hey))
I have more hours clocked than is registered to my account, i'd say I've clocked 10 hours max, but thats thanks to my compulsive desire to complete and see everything. Note I am not into visual Novels, or really into Anime/general Japanese culture(despite my current PFP, because JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is good beans). But this game is actually very.... yeah, I can't really put it into words. I fully recommend this if you're into big twists, Surreal Horror/Psychological Horror, and Meta-Fictional Literature.


Also, I recommend messing around with the game's files for a full experience
Go to: This PC> Local Disk(C:)> Program Files (x86)> Steam> steamapps> common> Doki Doki Literature Club
most of the files are in that folder, but some are located elsewhere, like the "Characters" folder

Honestly a good story, not as good as season 1, but honestly don't know how you could top it. I hate how this game gives even less of an illusion of choices mattering, because sometimes they genuinely feel pointless. for example characters getting shot either way if you choose a. or b. season 1 atleast delayed the person getting shot for a few episodes or something.
But genuinely a good game to have a part in

This Game still hits me hard 4 years after knowing the ending... Really a fun journey through the whole thing

The Soundtrack to this game alone is worth it... But this game is actually phenomenal, and what I'd consider a great spiritual successor to SimCity and the franchise. Buy it my mans, what're you waiting for??