Recent reviews by @itzbustercherry

LotF has a lot of things in common with Elden Ring, but it's also unique in its own class. I can't help but feel the Elden Ring vibes as I've gone through the tutorials, the areas, and the few bosses I've faced. Instead of Scarlet Rot, you're always in between the living world & the underworld. I appreciate this approach from a puzzle perspective. Some obstacles are removed by holding up your lantern to determine if you can continue in the underworld. It's been good so far, and I feel like the customization of the weapons will be fun to play around with.

7.8 Hours in - The nuances of LotF are growing on me - I've tackled 4-5 bosses, each taking 1-3 attempts to finish. I'm currently running the Deluxe Edition starter build - Str/End/Vit. It's been enjoyable so far, and I've been able to scour the map for some other weapons. I look forward to changing into a Radiance build later on, but really want to Unga Bunga for a few just because it's a DS game. There are some elite enemies that irritated me for a bit, but once you learn their patterns, they're less troublesome. There's a good variety of melee/ranged enemies that you encounter.

Absolutely cherish these titles. I grew up watching a friend's older brother play Final Fantasy 8 for hours. FFX was my entry to the final fantasy verse. It was probably the first game I connected with. I had to play X-2 purely because of the connection/lore and the mysterious ending in the FFX (not trying to spoil). X-2 was lovable in its own way, and it was much different, yet still bringing so much back from the original. Where FFX was super serious, X-2 deviated and went on to be much lighter within a twisted serious plot. It's the only game I went back through and replayed start to finish and felt the same level of enjoyment as the first time. The lore behind Sin was wonderfully crafted, and I am very hopeful that they will continue with an extension of this game like it's been teased. This game deserves it.

My only gripe is that FFX-2 will not open on Steamdeck. FFX runs wonderfully, and I was pleasantly surprised the integrated mods for speed, power, auto, etc, are keyboard shortcut enabled so I could bind them to my back triggers. As much as I loved the original, I put 200+ hours into it and do not wish to experience the same investment in terms of time lol. I hope this helps someone if they are considering it!

FFX: Steamdeck - Playing through again now
FFX-2: I played through this on the PC client - it crashed every once in a while, but the autosave feature is super nice to protect you!

People are being too harsh. This game isn't meant to be deep into the story or into any one thing. It's meant to be an open world RPG that you choose how quickly you want to progress through the main story, side quests, or just random map reveal. There is obviously some boundaries/gates to certain areas until you've "unlocked" the option to travel there, but it's been fun. I am playing Dead Eye first time around. The skills are pretty straight forward, and just enhance the gameplay without overcomplicating it. Some games incorporate skill systems that feel consequential, whereas this provides a good base for you to build off of with more skills. It's interesting, fun, and doesn't take itself too seriously. Story reminds me of Skyrim's depth. It would be easier to connect if the characters spoke vs the narrator, but I don't really care for the story of this game much. I get the concept of what we're trying to do and skip through most of the dialogue unless it's choice based. 4 hours in. it's fun to pickup, okay to put down after that period and come back to it again tomorrow to continue the exploration. Enjoy if this is what you're looking for. Stay away if you want a story-rich rpg story that you can connect to. This isn't it.

boom