Recent reviews by Gabriele

Finally... After Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV is a pleasure to play - its story unfolds like in a well-written book and brings you in along with its characters and adventures.

This title is a drastic improvement from the previous three, a good JRPG of a past age.

Can't wait to dive in further.

New and old.

It feels like a 90's Steven Spielberg-made video game to be played on SNES, but improved UI except for the map which should be bigger and show all aside from the zone where you are located - also, I think players should have the option to craft more than one item at a time.

I found one bug where I got stuck in between 2 platforms while I was performing an action (had to go back to main menu) - other than that it is enough optimized to be a demo and it shows enough areas to be explored - I wish I (or the game) could run faster for quicker exploration.

I haven't tried it, but it offers a second player option to tag along on the same screen - that's nice.

A lot of dinosaurs, aliens and troglodytes. it seems you can upgrade your village and hire your villagers' services to fight local fauna.

Salt and Sacrifice is an RPG with its predecessor style - Salt and Sanctuary - that didn't follow the Dark Soul formula and instead went through a Monster Hunter approach.

Compared to Salt and Sanctuary, it lets players have a more relaxed time fighting new bosses by farming the equipment from the previous ones that appear as mages, hence Monster Hunter vibes rather than Dark Soul - you lose your gathered ''salt'' for leveling if you don't use it before getting killed - you can cheese ''former bosses / mages'' by kiting them one against the other (at least in the first zone).

It has huge improvements on cooperative gameplay as you can even play from the same PC/station, plugging two gamepads for example (PVE, PVP, split screen, couch coop, etc... are all on the table).

The ''story'' doesn't look to me as appealing as SKA Studio's first game SaS, as it seems it unfolds almost all in the beginning - Salt and Sanctuary's was better narrated perhaps (?).

Combat system is similar - if not same - as its first one, but you get upgrades much faster - or at least that is my impression, not something that I dislike as I go for an easier gameplay, but it strides further away from its predecessor - and I guess this might be one of the main reasons why this game has mixed reviews on Steam at the moment.

All in all I like it and Salt and Sacrifice doesn't have anything less than other Metroidvanias/RPG/etc... on the market.

A classic, underrated because in between FFVII and FFIX - which stories are among the best FF's.

Its level up system might be weird as it detaches from the normal leveling up (monsters kind of level up along with your characters, so it is counter intuitive as you progress), but mechanics of collecting magic (draw) from mobs altogether with teaching new abilities/stats/etc to your summons in order to power up your fighters is still original in a good way to this day - hence underrated - same goes with how you gather money, by completing missions as a member of --- .

The main mini game is also a manner of improving your stats, it is linked to the combat system more than other FFs in my opinion.

I am not much into shooter-games myself and I got it because it was discounted at -100% (guilty as -not- charged)... and everyone telling it is a great game - but the first, before the latter, eh oh...

It is an amazing game, fluid and easy-to-pick gameplay, no bugs (only the ones in the story, I mean), plenty of options from the menu to fit all types of comforts and challenges. Excellent graphics (amazing graphics granted this classic is 20+ years old).

What makes me give to such an artwork a 'thumbs up' is the dystopian atmosphere, story-telling and care in every little detail which you can see when you roam from one area to another.

No wonder the Steam platform was and is a big success for Valve.

My opinion.

Big demo... such a big chunk of game that makes it non-sense if you buy the game and then don't like it.
Great game btw (vampire survivor and 90' s diablo inspired)

One of the best RPG out there. Its gameplay has not aged a day since its release.

Salt and Sanctuary. But better displayed, with 2.5 art and seemingly with more variety.

Final Fantasy are forever.

A videogame that made me like gaming like years ago.

Precise and unforgiving combat, which you can approach in different ways depending on how you distribute 3 stat points given per level (30 max lvl atm).

According to players some 'classes' are easier than others from what I read - like long range classes are easier compared to the melee ones...
...although I have a warrior full plates ''with 18 stat points on faith'' that I never use and have already completed the endgame twice vs Echo Knight thanks to blocking and gaining life on hit received and given and neither roll nor parry - which has a really small window and even if parry is more rewarding combat wise, it is still too much of a roulette for me compared to block.

Aside from Hit Points, Stamina, Focus and Equip Load, the remaining stats like Dexterity, Strength, Faith, Intelligence (forgetting some, aren't I?) are all about what items you will use in-game, for example an enemy drops a stave that requires 42 Intelligence and you are a warrior with 42 Strength and you cannot use it, but can do with a large sword that requires 42 Strength.

All this stat points allocation made me remember a bit ''Salt and Santuary'' as well as ''Elden Ring'' for combat and world, but painted and isometric.

Surely it has some room to improve class balance wise, QoL, etc... but developers are implementing already some of the feedback received - see last patch about inventory for example, which makes inventory less cumbersome.

The story so far is compelling, you start on a ship, you get stranded, you make way to the local city, and discover an intricate net of machiavellic politics, factions and NPCs - which have amazing voice overs to top with the game art that really makes you dive into a painting.

What I am most worried about: developers said this game is gonna be their ''Lord of the RIngs'', and I cannot be happier as LotR has a great story, read all books I dunno how many times when I was a kid, BUT... they could have said ''Baldur's Gate III'' marketing wise as LotR is more of a book for me and from what I read on Steam ''Baldur's Gate III'' is where the gaming industry should go.
I don't want a great game half brought to life by marketing directors with in-game currencies or many extras with a billion paid DLCs, I want a great game that is on the market for a full price and that's it.
I am saying this because the last update removed certain items from in-game shops to upgrade your equipment to full and these crafting mats are hard to come by... no big deal you might say, game is Early Access and they might be easier in future... but then here we go, you have a timer when crafting ores into ingots that may vary from a few minutes to half hour atm.
NOW, a timer to get crafting materials, scarcity to get them and them mats removed from shops in last patch, which fixed many QoL things btw, these three things together are blaring a huge alarm that this mesmerizing so far game is more in hands of marketers than developers that love games. Please be like Baldur's Gate III.