Recent reviews by Bobandy

The state that this game was released in was a travesty. I say this not specifically because it was in an abysmal state, but because it is a fact that this games world, its history, the acting and especially the story are top notch. One of the best game experiences I have had in a long time.

I look forward to whatever else CDP Red gives me and cannot wait for them to make even more improvements going forward.

Worth full price, if its on sale its a steal. Buy it.

I run a free to play Unofficial ARK cluster 3x (NA PVP & ORP) Rochester NY Cluster maintained by donations from the community playing on it, on hardware I own and maintain (not rented). (Discord link at bottom)

It is basically vanilla with server side plugins and me as admin/judge to keep people grounded in having fun.

The hundreds of people who have come and gone on my private cluster have enabled me to purchase and maintain an HPE Gen 8 rack server with 128GB of ram, 2 cpu, 4 top speed SSD, windows 2019, upgrade all my network hardware to handle packets at a commercial level and even maintain a vastly higher internet connection. And I learned tons of valuable knowledge along the way, both in the hardware, network and software management.

All because those who play on my server are looking for the experience I provide in this particular game. Hundreds of people who see beyond the problems always present in this game and wanted to play it in a way you can't on official. They gave generously making this possible for all of us on the cluster while letting me learn and I couldn't be more grateful. It was a fantastic transaction and I look forward to ARK 2 to continue this.

When I first played this I was dragged into it by friends who thought Dinosaurs and a persistent world in a game were some badass thing. At the time I tagged along because I figured it would be fun for a week or two but honestly dinosaurs never did it for me.

I didn't like that my work stayed online and was only protected by what I could provide to get me through the time I was away, it never did by the way. I didn't like that my character and Dinos required upkeep. I didn't like that some people only played to grief or troll.

I did (do) like the PVP when it wasn't offline, absurdly lopsided, mean spirited or done using every bit of cheese meta currently available.

But somehow, year after year, I keep coming back to this game.

I enjoy the process of taming Dinos and breeding them, seeking out some with better stats or colors I thought were neat, then using the math to breed all that together. I'm not good at it, but its fun. Finding someone good at breeding in this game is like finding a valuable scientist whose knowledge will open whole new areas of exploration. Once someone starts breeding you the right Dinos both PVE boss fights and PVP become vastly more enjoyable!

But taming isn't just shoot and wait. There are many different ways to go about it, some requiring buildings, some requiring other Dinos and others requiring more patience than I care to develop in myself. But its always fun and a mini game that other developers would have tried to sell you as a standalone!

Building in the game is almost a science at this point. I build boxes and rectangles, I am boring and bad at the game.

Then I find a teammate who makes elaborate multistory buildings using techniques I still can't barely comprehend with defenses built in such a devious way that having them around is now a necessity not just for survival but also to be aesthetically pleasing.

How you place storage and work areas is important, where you put spawn points and how you position defensive dinos matter in a big way.

You start at making grass huts that raptors rip open to eat the juice inside of (you and your egg laying dodo). You can't wait to get a metal base with an auto turret to blast all glowing red alpha raptors. Well, eventually you have a base made of space age tech with doors made out of force fields that open for you and can have unique passwords, and dinos that could kill every raptor on the island at the same time, yet you are still somehow farming dodo eggs lol!

The amount of life in this game is mind blowing. Literally hundreds of unique creatures with so many unique abilities I couldn't possibly list. Each one has its place in helping to make your life easier or safer.

I prefer to play ARK in the winter months in NY state. The maps fauna and atmosphere combined with the beautiful graphics can be like sunlight on your face. It may be snowing and gross outside, I may be yearning to go for a 5 mile trail run (screw that in the snow lol), but in ARK it feels warm and on my server I can put it down and come back at my leisure.

Speaking of graphics, its basically what they show above, the creatures and environment are stunning and legit look as good as the images. Take the time to look around and admire the detail put into this game.

I know many people play with it set to "potato mode" so they can pvp more efficiently...well I cannot relate to that. Turned up to 2k ultra, 144hz refresh on a 1080ti looks absolutely stunning and runs above 60fps easy. See the last paragragh to get a feel for how I feel playing this game and its graphics.

Gameplay is not a grind if you do not want it to be (at least not on my servers). As you progress, those things that were hard (eating, water, shelter, other consumables), slowly becomes easier and easier as you obtain dinos and unlock technology through level progression.

You upgrade your skills and become hardier, faster, tougher. Where before filling up a starter dino with hand tools took 20 minutes, terrified of being eaten by predators. You eventually have dinos of your own that can be commanded to protect each other and you while you clamber along on your herbivore collecting 1000x more than you could at the start in the same time.

But that doesn't ever start to feel meaningless! Those materials can be used to further progress you to a point where endgame content is achievable. Boss fights that progress a loosely told story, unlock high technology and mysterious new maps to explore where death and loss is around every corner.

This sense of danger is half the fun, you know you aren't invisible and the things you have aren't permanent if you do not take care. You could lose that prized named Dino you've had since day 3 if you aren't careful. But while that may be sad, it is extremely fun.

Ark has its problems. If you play on official you almost certainly need to find your way into a "larger" tribe connected to the "humungous tribes" and get "your tribes map" on a protected list. If you get too big and they find you, no amount of guns, bullets and dinos will stop them for long.

BUT! Imagine this, a robot 5 stories tall colored outrageously in a field (and a 2 mile high floating Obelisk overhead) fighting what amounts to a hairy Godzilla whose can be seen half way across the map and all the while you and others are harassing that captured unique beast with flying creatures and defensive structures built to slow its advance. This legit happens. It is amazing.

On official servers the latency can become pretty bad, but not unplayable! You'll be picking enemies off their dinos as they try to weaken your defenses and dropping them from the sky as they speak in proximity to you how much they love you.

Cheaters exist. But Wildcard has put an amazing effort into halting their capability. I'm not saying it doesn't occur any longer, it does, just that WC has come a LONG way in dealing with it, even if its not perfect. Much of this has to do URE4, so much of it couldn't be changed without fundamentally changing the game.

So, many of us hope that ARK2 using URE5 will solve some of those problems while building on what they currently have. Unlike most people I don't think WC made a busted game. I think they made a platform that too many people were not willing to experiment with or go outside what was simple in order to experience it in a more enjoyable manner.

I want you to come see for yourself:

https://discord.gg/fTK8jT6FDC

How this beat moonbase alpha for craptasticist game of the decade I will never understand. Luckily I didn't buy it.

Avoid at all cost.

Boring. Awful. Bland. Pointless. Definitely download it and have some freinds handy to see who can troll who the best, about all it's good for.

Awesome sandbox game. Invite friends dig tunnels, explore, and progress through the now HUGE amount of content. Worth every penny.