Recent reviews by .bebuzzu

cackuza

For its short runtime, Caput Mortum manages to balance its charming aesthetics, bite-size tension and clever little puzzles on the razor's edge from start to finish - a succinct piece of art that wears its inspirations well

Great game, very short but lots of gear to find. Played with 3 friends and we had a blast. Very charming designs and the ability to rub your grubby little fly hands together is the best thing ever put in a game

I knew this game wasn't going to be for me from the word go, but I wanted to give it the chance, because its monster hunter. I love monster hunter. I cannot see most of this game as a positive though. There are some positive things about it, but they absolutely needed to put a lot more work into it to make it enjoyable. It looks, plays and sounds like sludge, its messy and cluttered, too easy, and void of a lot of personality.
The performance has massive links to how depressing the experience was. More optimization would have went a long way. I hope the next mainline release realises that having 4 Hirabami in a map at once does not make a game fun.

i'd like a personal apology from mr howard for this one

Edit after completing the normal and true ending: I feel pretty awful for still not liking this game all that much, after every forgiveness of janky combat, subpar atmosphere and lacking narrative because deep down there is something good here. Many pinnacles that the game reaches are severely underhanded by its mounting number of flaws

The most important part: yes, the sandbox elements are *fun*. They are clearly designed to be the core part of the game. Fun in asterisks, because I haven't convinced myself of it fully, or if it is just the most digestible part of the game. Nevertheless THIS is Dragon's Dogma, THIS is what people will play for. Combat, exploration, its right here. Go wild. Big monsters are cool

It's disheartening to say that this is the only field in which I would recommend this game. Even so, it's difficult. It's honestly something I feel you can only decide for yourself because of how divisive it is

While exploration can be fun, there are little notable locations and the sparsity of environmental markers can create a repetitive loop. Combat, while still a blast to fight big monsters for the first few times, falls to the same fate; large enemies become very easy, very fast. Both this and exploration can landslide into being unrewarding pretty early on

Surely more of a me problem than anything else but I just can't get with any of the vocations. They feel so fragmented and having to unlock the hybrid classes is kind of baffling to me, especially since the means of doing so are all incredibly boring

In the narrative department, this game is a hard flop - stings a bit extra because I loved the original's story so much. Maybe its cliche in essence, but the story it actually tells is pretty well put-together and very much supported by its overarching themes, the gothic fantasy elements, the worldbuilding and its own lore. In that sense DD2 can't be more unlike the prior game if it tried. The way the plot unfolds is painfully uninspired with a less than forgettable cast, there's not much happening that requires the investment and thinking that the game wants you to believe you're giving. The true ending made me pull faces I've never pulled before. The story feels tacked-on as an afterthought to its marketable "set pieces"

The pawn system is fine at its core, sometimes it feels like they've patched a hole in one side of the ship and haven't realised the other side is leaking. At worst, there is so much more that could have been created within this system. Their very limited voice-banks (having only one voice per gender per inclination) contain some pretty dismal writing. Really wish their 'guidance' feature was a specialisation and not a permanent thing, but I know its easy to dismiss

Little pains that aren't dealbreakers, but again could change the experience of the game; the changes to the health system can make healing items redundant entirely which is a weird one, as they don't heal beyond the decreased cap anymore, camping or resting is the new solution. The musical score is there, I guess. Nothing new is particularly memorable, which is a shame. Voice acting in general is poor and indistinct. Gear is severely limited by vocation and the options for looking how you'd like has decreased tenfold. The visual wyrmforge effect is vile. The affinity system amounted to more or less nothing? Maybe I missed something here

In the end, people will want to play this game for its core systems, and its flaws can ultimately be forgiven because of those few high highs, which are more often than not rare and circumstantial or player-created. If it looks like your thing, it's probably worth trying. I'm not going to deny that I had a decent time with this game. It just didn't meet my anticipations as an evolved DD title