Recent reviews by suul

A Way Out is a fantastic short co-op game for 2 people to enjoy, and while it isn't the best at any mechanic within the genre, it does everything well enough to constitute a enjoyable gaming experience at a very good price when it's on sale.

Using a scale of 1-10 with 5 being average (a IGN's 7)


Overall: 7/10 - above average game, not a must play but a very enjoyable one
Main scale: Story: 8/10 Gameplay: 6/10 Characters: 7/10
(Minor scale include smaller factors I thought were important in making this review and are reflected within the main scale)
Minor scale: Atmosphere: 6/10 Cinematic: 9.5/10* Dialogue: 5/10 Love: 10/10

With the worst score out of the 3 main factors at a 6/10, the game play is average, it is a split-screen co-op with the most action ever being shooting mechanics which use the tried-and-true methods of game play, there isn't anything innovative about playing the game itself. However just because the game play is average doesn't mean its bad, it just makes me focus more on the story and the characters which I like to think was intended. The addition of mini-games was a very nice thing to do, and rather than remembering the gunfights or escapes I had within the game, I feel myself remembering the large amounts of fun mini-games I played with my friend.

Next comes characters at 7/10, as much as I liked the main characters within the story, I felt that personally the dialogue was not it for me. Call me a Asian-VA addict, but my subjective opinion on the voice acting was that it was at best average, and at worst sub-par similar to Hollywood banter, where it feels like it's missing something in each take but overall was decent. I like the main character's ambitions, history, and personality was fully laid out at the beginning which was later expanded upon, making me easily more attached to a series that I had previously had no intention learning about.

Finally comes story at 8/10, and it is a very movie-like plot. With dramatic flair and a shocking twist, if this was originally a movie script I would not be surprised. But oftentimes, when a story is told within a medium of a game, I like to ask myself "could this have been a book instead?". With A Way Out, I can confidently say that no, this game can be only told through the medium of a video game despite having a relatively simple story. I have experienced many stories from books, to manga, to light-novels, to the Final Fantasy of writing, to the gacha game levels of absolute horrible writing, and yet A Way Out has a unique story that definitely has some influences similar to action films like Mission Impossible, yet have somber and heartfelt moments like those of The Last of Us. Of course, the story is not as good as the influences I just mentioned, however, there is no denying that A Way Out has a unique story that has it shortcomings due to the lack of game time in my opinion.

Honorable mention at Love being at 10/10 as I could definitely feel the passion of the game studio within this game. Playing it actually made me appreciate the work they put within this game, and despite its flaws, I still very much enjoyed it.

Another mention at cinematic because ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, even I learned something new about game design with this game. An example is the Hospital level, the seamless transition between 2 players playing individually made something in my brain click and by god did I love that. I haven't played It Takes Two yet, but I would be surprised if this didn't appear there, it is a godsend to do seamless transitions without feeling one player is hogging too much of the screen and I wish other games took note of this.

After finishing this game, I took a day to think about it. Despite the seemingly harsh review I give of it, I highly recommend this game to any person who wants to have fun with a friend. I am glad I got to play this game and I will try out It Takes Two.

Its a good game I suck at

I Lost Ark

FFXIV is not perfect, however it does best at what people love it to be; a MMORPG that respects your time.
If you don't like the core concepts of what makes an MMORPG; the grind to greater achievements, gearing and raiding, as well as being part of a large community online, then no other MMORPG no matter how perfect can really make you like the genre. But I will say that FFXIV has definitely shifted my viewpoint on the genre of MMORPG, and if you are unsure you are able to try out the free trial with no restriction to game time, but it will restrict your level and story progression which require the full game and expansions.

As a long time young (18 y.o. as of now) MMORPG player who grinded Maplestory and WoW back in the early 2000s
Final Fantasy XIV:
- is a great casual MMORPG with more horizontal gameplay that feels rewarding than most MMORPGs
- has challenging vertical content, but it isn't a priority nor will suck your time away
- has a great, supportive, and understading community
- great music and story, but the story isn't required to play the game
- isn't pay to win, rather pay for cosmetics and convenience
- better suits the older generation than the younger
- has a great dev team behind it supporting the game for the years to come
However, if you are looking for a MMORPG to solely pvp in, I would not recommend FFXIV.

The real friends were the 2002s we got in the queues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZtepNkPzcM

Totsugeki!

It's decent for a PC port considering how bad Square Enix messed up the Nier Automata port.
60+ fps on a stable rate fullscreen with occasional stutters during cutscenes which isn't very noticeable.
I am playing on a 144hz 1080p monitor running on a 2060 gpu on a laptop, I am getting stable frames even in really dense fights.

The one thing that is annoying me is that the quest indicators are sometimes bugged, you have to reenter a area for the bug to go away.

If you have fps issues go to your nvidia control panel, select the exe, disable vsync and hard cap it to 60fps.

I'll review the story after I finish it.
Til then, I'll be enjoying this game with the music and voice acting being absolutely superb.

I tried this out for a bit and I gotta say, I love being the bard in games with voice chat.

Note: This was my originally intended review, but with the review bombing going on I held off on posting this review. The section about the graphical issues has been removed for now until Square Enix finish their Steam patch.

Tl;dr Nier Automata is a 30+ hour game that is a must buy for people who love an intricate story and well written characters but also want to experience action packed combat with stunning music, most reviews done by youtubers and journalists don’t give it justice due to most of them not completing the entire game.

More Tl;dr
Pros:
10/10 Music
10/10 Plot
10/10 Characters
10/10 Thighs
10/10 Yoko Taro
9.9/10 Gameplay

Cons:
♥♥♥♥♥♥ graphical issues that were never fixed by Square Enix for years
(They announced a patch for the Steam version that will hopefully fix the problem)

You have to commit to the first 19 hours before the story starts to really hits you

The switching perspective that makes the gameplay unique can make some people “disoriented” and “dizzy” which means that this game might not be for you. However, all of this is experienced within the first hour of the game so if you feel like you are seasick while playing this game even with motion blur off, then you can refund it.


Now for the spoiler-free detailed review.

Nier Automata is a game about androids made by humans to face off the machines made by aliens that took over earth, but you start to realize that not all machines are killers and some even disobey their alien overlords to try to copy human culture and form their own societies. Nier Automata has 26 endings, with 20 joke endings, 5 real endings (ABCDE), and 1 depressing ending (Y). You have pretty much finished the game when you finished ending E and you are free to spend the rest of your time buying the achievements so you get the 100% on Steam. Most people that don’t give 10/10s are the people who only played through ending A, expected the next main endings to be a New Game+ with no additional content and stopped playing, so do not trust every negative review before you decide to buy this game.

Despite Nier Automata being a sequel to Nier Replicant/Gestalt (which is getting a remake releasing 4/23/2021) you do not need any prior knowledge of that game in order to feel the full emotional experience of Nier Automata. In fact, playing Replicant/Gestalt only makes you more depressed in this game with the easter eggs as well as the related side quests.

Speaking of depression, you see a lot of people talk about how emotionally wrenching this game is, which is very true, but they tend to focus it all on the story which isn’t true. The environment is very well detailed compared to other games even after 3 years, and the sort of gray color scheme that the world is painted in helps contribute to the depressing story. The voice acting is also very phenomenal with both the english and japanese voice acting being outstanding in their own way, but both have voices filled to the brim with violent emotions and it really helps one “immerse themselves in the game”. The music is also stellar with Keiichi Okabe producing some of the best game music in the decade, if you watch a documentary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhTSy9OTWv0) about him, he mentions that putting vocals in game music in his early years was a cardinal sin, and he was one of the first people to pioneer the usage of vocals in the japanese gaming music industry which means that his integration of music and vocals to be the best in the field.

Moving on to music, the language spoken in the music are based on a made up language (Chaos Language) which were thought up by the game and music producers on their spin of languages in the future, as Latin integrated to other societies to become the base of their language, they did the same spin with most of the major languages. In the music you can hear Future english, french, german, japanese, and more. And with Emi Evans brilliant singing, it sounds very angelic and sorrowful further complimenting the game’s excellence.

So I’ve said many positive things in this review, which makes sense since I am very biased for this game, so I will talk about some the glaring issues that some people may have with this game and I will add my counter argument to them for you to decide if its good for you to buy this game or not.

Firstly, people look at the anime girl on the cover and say “I’m not some weeb, this game isn’t for me, this game will probably be like many animes and pander towards fan service.” Well I wished that it had more fanservice, because after completing the game anyone would need it. And while the anime girl might put off a westerner at first, I assure you that this game’s story is unforgiving and you will cry at some point or another, be it during the game or 2 years later while listening to soundtracks. We shouldn’t judge people on how they look, so why not the same for games? Indie games don’t look like the next triple A game but that doesn’t mean people judge those games to be bad based on their graphics and trailer.

Secondly, people complain about the switching perspective, saying that it disorients them and it’s very confusing. Personally, I thought it was fine and the people mostly complaining about it weren’t people with motion sickness rather it was people who never played a lot of games in the past decade. The transitions between perspectives are smooth and don’t jump around all over the place and while it might confuse you for the first few hours of playing the game, you’ll get used to it pretty quickly.

(REMOVED PARAGRAPH ABOUT GRAPHICAL ISSUES, until Square Enix release the patch just use the FAR mod if you have any troubles)

Finally, people complain that the side quests and the playthrough after ending A are repetitive and feel boring. The side quests are mainly there if you want to learn more about the world and others are just there for farming material to 100% the game without buying the achievements. One of the side quests unlock ending Y and is an easter egg from Replicant/Gestalt so side quests aren’t irrelevant and not all are boring. Ending B, which you play through after Ending A, is a 5+ hour playthrough of ending A through another perspective, which might seem repetitive, except that the Ending B playthrough adds new perspective to the story from the person you can controlling this time, to the a machine you killed during your first playthrough.

Nier Automata is a hidden gem of the gaming industry, it is amazing to play and experience with the story, music, and lovable characters. You’ll meet everyone from a genocidal robot to a genocidal androids, music full of anguish to peaceful tunes, and depressing story to uplifting conclusions. The best tip I can give for you is “More than one waifu, will ruin your laifu”.

Thank you for reading my TED talk.

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