Recent reviews by kmpt

I didn't play Mass Effect series before, so I don't have any sentiment for it ;) Mass Effect Andromeda is pretty simple and enjoyable action packed aRPG. You will play as human Pathfinder Ryder, his/hers goal is to find new home for humans (and other allied races) in Andromeda Galaxy. You can visit over 100 planets, solve mysteries of ancient Remnant race, befriend new Angaran allies and fight against Kett threat. Story is good but it lacks plot twists and choices could have bigger impact. Main quests are interesting, companion quests are nice but tasks are pretty boring. Gameplay is enjoyable. Shooting is fun, there are enough weapons & armors to keep you entertained. Exploring is satisfying, I like solving remnant puzzles & detective minigames (scanning for leads) especially. Character developement is too simple for my liking. You don't allocate atribute points, you only pick active & passive abilities. I don't like that there are over 100 planets but you can explore ONLY SEVEN worlds... why make so many when >95% is unavailable? The game is pretty repetitive, shooting & exploring is fun but how many enemies can you kill before you get tired of it? I wish you could support colonists (more meaningful side quests & activities), build some structures (you collect so many resources along the way but you only craft weapons, armors and augments), do some espionage activities (and weaken Kett activity in the sector) etc. Another issue is difficulty level... ME Andromeda is too easy! I didn't have any trouble in random encounters and boss fights were pretty easy too but took longer to beat. Even though I've installed few fixes I still encountered bugs and glitches.
Graphics looks very good! Some planets are lovely (Kadara, Havarl!), others are just ok but none of them is ugly ;) Most characters looks nice and sounds good. Unfortunately most weapons sounds lame.
Overall, Mass Effect Andromeda is pretty good and enjoyable aRPG. You should give it a try if you like casual aRPG and you're not afraid of shooting hundreds of enemies ;)

PS. I've played with lots of mods for better experience and I advice you to do the same!

I've never been a huge fan of cRPGs with isometric view (sure, I've played all classics but I can't say it's my favourite type of RPGs) but I had pretty good time with Pillars of Eternity. Story is decent but it doesn't offer anything you haven't seen in other games. You will play as The Watcher, a hero with peculiar gift, who tries to stop ancient cult and find solution for Hollowborn Crisis. You can recruit some heroes along the way or hire thugs at the inn (max 6 people in your party). When you progress with the story you will get your own stronghold that gives various benefits. Quests are pretty interesting, sometimes you can pick a side, spare or take someone's life, help or refuse to help for your own benefit. Some of these choices will affect your reputation and epilogue.
Character creation is complex, there's so many abilities and talents to pick that it may be a little hard for beginners (there's a ton of good builds on obsidian's forum though). Most classes are pretty standard but chanter, cipher and priest might be considered as something new. I've finished the game as a Paladin-tank but I've also tried ranged Cipher and shock Druid, all of them were satisfying. Combat system is more intuitive and easier to learn than D&D system but still... might be hard for beginners. At first I had to lick my wounds after every combat but when I've reached lvl 10 it was much better so don't be disencouraged if you're struggling ;)
What's wrong with PoE? AI and scripts doesn't work great. When I fought in tight spaces my characters didn't engage in combat properly. Most of the time I had to pause and give commands manually. As I said before the game isn't easy and it might be a huge obstacle for people who didn't play cRPG before. There are some technical issues and minor bugs (like long loading/saving times).
I've enjoyed Pillars of Eternity very much. Main story and quests were interesting, character creation was complex and gameplay was quite nice. There were some flaws but overall it was very good experience.

On the one hand this remake is decent & faithful to the original, but on the other hand the structure of singleplayer campaign is deprecated. Once again you will play as Tommy Angelo, a cab driver that found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up in criminal organisation. Tommy starts slow, doing small jobs but in time he rises in the hierarchy and becomes trusted worker of the mob family. Story is really good, you can feel like you were watching a good gangster movie. Tommy is likeable hero, same goes for his companions Sam & Paulie and big boss mr Salieri commands respect. Gameplay is fine but some elements are outdated (like medkits). I like that you can hide behind cover now and driving cars is much easier (do you remember a race from original Mafia? It's not a nightmare anymore, hooray!). What's not enjoyable? Like I said before I don't like the outdated structure of singleplayer campaign. Side missions & activities are non-existent! This game is begging for tailors, weapon shops, car dealers where you can spend your hard earned blood money... it's shouting for fights for territory, collecting protection payments, doing bank robberies and other illegal activities but nobody is listening. When you're done with singleplayer campaign there's literally nothing to do. Sure, there's free ride mode where you can explore City of Lost Heaven freely, collect hidden cars and look for collectibles... sounds exciting, right? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) What else? I get the feeling that remake is much easier than original Mafia. Cops are far too easy to lose. Hand to hand combat is not exciting. There are some minor bugs and FPS drops but it's nothing that would ruin your experience.
Overall it's really good remake but it's begging for more side content.

PS. Is it me or Paulie sounds like a duck?

Fort Triumph isn't bad but it's not great either. Singleplayer campaign is pretty light and funny; your merry band of heroes have to defeat fallen paladin and safe the Kingdom. You will take command of three squads up to 5 heroes each, they will visit various locations on a world map, collect resources, capture towns and fight dozens of enemies. Sounds familiar? You are right, gameplay reminds Heroes of Might & Magic series. The main difference is the type of combat: you don't hire regular units, only your heroes participate in combat. They have quite a bunch of useful abilities and can kill enemies with deadly surroundings. For example: you can use wind spell to crush your enemy with a fallen tree or kick large boulders to stun them. What's wrong with Fort Triumph? There's nothing particulary bad about this game but as a whole it didn't knock me down. Economics are too simple and lack depthness. Combat is fun but there are only four hero classes available (this game is begging for a priest/druid class!). Campaign is pretty short (it took me less than 10 hours).
Overall Fort Triumph is solid, simplified HoM&M clone. It can be enjoyable if you don't expect god knows what. I'd rate it 6/10.

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark was huge surprise for me, I've heard it's good but I didn't know it would be so addictive :D You will play as a bunch of arbiters (law officers) who were trying to do their job but got involved in something bigger. Story was fine and characters were likeable but the best part of the game was character customization and tactical combat.
Character customization was great, you can pick main and sub class, passive abilities and counter skill + a whole load of equipment. I loved the freedom that you were given, you could create any combination of classes you dreamed of (casting melee warior? sure! vampire archer? no problem! assassin healer? why not!). Turn-based fights were very pleasant. You had to take care of more than dealing raw damage (some status effects could change the course of battle!), be cautious with every step (enemies could drown you and push you off the ledges) and use your abilities wisely (well timed sniper shot could save your ass). AI was pretty good even on normal difficulty; enemies were efficient in using abilities and drowning my units :/
Graphics were simple but the game had it's charm. Level design was uneven, some levels were fuzzy making treasure chests hard to spot.
What went wrong? The game seemed to concentrate too much on main story... I wish there were more side quests and activities. There's crafting but there's not too many recepies available. You earn dozens of thousands of cash but there's nothing to spend it on. When you find your perfect roster of characters and craft best equipment there's not much to do instead of grinding for XP.
Overall, I had great fun and I can strongly recommend Fell Seal to everyone who's looking for good tactical game and fun character customization.

Shining Resonance Refrain isn't bad but it's not great either... it might be good entry point if you're new into JRPG genre but seasoned JRPG fans might feel bored after few hours.
You'll play as Yuma Ilvern, a boy who inherited power of Shining Dragon. Story has it's ups and downs but overall it's fine. Main character is bland but his fellows are pretty good (Marion backstory is interesting). The biggest asset of this game is lore, in my opinion it's great! I loved dragons & dracomachinas, Dragoneers playing their armonics and the world's mythology. Gameplay was satisfying but I felt like something was missing... I'd love to see more advanced character developement and more interesting combat. What was the biggest issue for me? Grind! It becomes tiresome after some time and it's required to beat late-game bosses (thanks god there are master eggs that give ridiculous amounts of experience). Also side quests are pretty boring and they tend to repeat quickly (citizens will give you the same quests over and over again, what the hell?!).
Overall, Shining Resonance Refrain is pretty solid (average?) game with interesting lore. Sure, it's not the best JRPG available on PC but it's worth checking out if you're new into the genre and you like dragons.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 has everything I'd expect from good sequel. Gameplay is enhanced, there's a new class and a new vehicle. New soldier class (grenadier) is very useful, it's great to deal with enemies hidden behind cover and destroy vehicles. New vehicle (APC) doesn't have much firepower but it can transport your soldiers through battlefield which works great on bigger levels. Another improvement let your leaders command one allied unit making it follow them. There're new customization options, new orders (including ship orders!) and a lot of bonus items to unlock. All of these changes make the game deeper and more pleasant to play. Story is interesting; this time you'll play as commander Claude Wallace who leads Squad E during Federation-Empire conflict. You won't get the chance to fight emperror himself but you can invade imperial capital, which is fun ;) Except main story there's a lot of bonus content. You can get to know your squad mates better thanks to squad stories (they are great!), you can play skirmishes, visit training grounds/armory etc. Graphics looks much better than it used to be in Valkyria Chronicles, escpecially characters. Level design is good for most of the time but there're some weaker moments. What went wrong? AI acts stupid from time to time, there're some minor bugs/glitches and some maps take too long to finish.
Overall it's really good game. I enjoyed Squad E story very much and I became attached to characters. Gameplay was even better than it used to be in previous VC game. I can recommend it to everyone who's looking for engaging turn-based/tactical game.

The Two Valkyria DLC was a positive surprise. I didn't expect I will get the chance to play as enemy champions... and I didn't think it'd be so much fun! As the title suggests this addon tells the story of two Valkyrias: Selvaria (VC antagonist) and Crymaria. There's a combat map where these two fight against each other and that duel seals Crymaria's fate.
When you beat this DLC both Valkyrias join your squad and you get Chiara & Nikola as well. These characters are really powerful and fun to play. It'd be hard to beat expert skirmishes without their help.

This addon is fine but it's nothing new... you could play similar episode in previous Valkyria Chronicles game. Your squad is supposed to secure enemy supply line but ends up on enemy beach resort. Beach scenery is nice and cutscenes are amusing, especially Raz & Kai episodes. Combat maps are pretty simple, I didn't have any trouble beating this DLC. When you kill all enemy aces you unlock new swimsuit/bikini costumes for you characters. I must say this little trip to the beach was a nice break from pretty serious main thread.

Captainless Squad is different than the most of VC4 DLCs. As the title suggests you will be playing secondary characters deprived of commander support (that means no orders and less CP!). There are three combat maps and a lot of cutscenes. First map where you come looking for missing rescue dog Ragnarok is pretty conventional but the second one where you have to confront unbeatable Valkyria is fun and tough. To unlock the third combat map you have to kill all enemy aces (they are pretty hard to spot, I had to replay each map 2 times before I was able to spot them), then you will play difficult mock battle against your commander Claude and the rest of the crew. I think it's the most challenging DLC that VC4 has to offer. Play it at your own risk :)