Recent reviews by Ark Andom

Was great for the first few hours and then the MOMENT I get to the capital the FPS shoots itself with a shotgun. If they fix the performance, this would be a positive review, but I can't recommend a game that runs like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ even on my PC which is relatively good.
EDIT: Seeing as I have now finished the true ending of the game, I shall add on to this review (which is tbh made in anger at the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ performance I was suddenly getting hit with.)
I still don't think I'd recommend this game at full price. Runs like garbage a lot of the time, there are MANY QoL things from the first game that they removed in this one for SOME REASON (Such as being able to manage your equipment from shops and vocation guilds so you don't have to run between buildings every time you change something.) Only QoL that they've added I can even think of are the Ox Cart "fast travel", more portcrystals in base game, and the Lantern/healing items having a shortcut so you don't have to pause just for those.
Post-Dragon is cooler in this game (iykyk) but the actual ending of the first game is MUCH BETTER. Spoilers; this game doesn't even have a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ proper final boss. You spend hours in post game farming Wyrmslife crystals to buy the best gear and upgrade them, and then it's just an interactive cutscene. You literally can't even draw your damn weapon.
Actually, regarding to the story in general, I think it's bad in a different way then the first game. You don't even get to see the dragon before the final fight against him in this one except for a flashback so it really ruins the moment. After you get to the capital you are just running some errands and then you are told to go investigate a guy in the neighboring country. You go there, do some more errands, and then you fight the dragon. There is barely any stuff with your Beloved, too. Not even awake for the Bargain scene. Then I went and talked to mine after getting to Post-Dragon and they're dialogue wasn't any different. Actually, this reminds me that basically no NPCs change their dialogue for PD, not even the damn Dragonforged, not even after the evacuations. Also, continuing on with NPC rants, you may see that for the logo/cover of the game you have the arisen flanked by pretty woman with bow, and a furry lady. Pretty woman actually gets a quest line, while afaik I only had one quest for the furry. Why in the world was she on the cover? It would have been better to put, like, Sven on there, or that mercenary guy. The furry wasn't important at all.

TLDR: I was hoping for A LOT more from this game. I was looking forward to them making a game as good as the first but with a better told story, but they ♥♥♥♥♥♥ it up. I would say "Hopefully Dark Arisen level DLC will fix some stuff" but frankly a lot of ♥♥♥♥ needs to be added for free, like a hard mode. Oh, and fix the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ specialization scrolls being handed out, I was waiting to be given Forager and never got it so I went the whole game WITHOUT A SPECIALIZATION.
Guh.

This game is great. Good voice acting, liked the art, and you can even beat the game without ever needing to slay the princess (I did a waifu run, don't judge me. Also waifu tier list is Thorn, Prisoner, Damsel.) Also had a satisfying ending.

9/10 game. Just needed one or two more "no slay" routes imo, but also the game is called "Slay the Princess" so I'm not holding it against it.

A really fun game, I'll occasionally start it up to play one of the daily levels available. Liked the main story stuff, managed to get at least a single manly tear from me. There's also co-op now, though when I tried it with a friend a few months ago it was a bit buggy, it was still fun. The community made maps are also great (the ones I've played at least), some even having first person or where you can play as the creeper.

Absolutely love this game. Yes, ARR takes a lot of willpower to get through, it took me 4 tries over 7-ish years to commit enough to get to Heavensward. If I'd been in a vacuum, knowing nothing about the game, I probably wouldn't have managed the last time either. But I'd spoiled myself on some random Shadowbringers (and other) stuff and I realized:
"I want to know the context for that."
"I want to know why 'A smile better suits a hero.'"
"I want to know for whom the storm weeps."
The game didn't disappoint. I've felt so many varying emotions while going through the story that I had to hold myself back multiple times to not message a friend about the latest thing.
If you find yourself wanting to get into the game because you hear the story is good, JoCat on youtube made a nice video about how he came to like FFXIV over 400 hours or something, and gives some different solutions for people struggling. For me, it was the promise of seeing awesome scenes far in the future, and another mutual interest I'd be able to talk to people about.
For you, maybe it will be that dating sim mode they should totally add so we can finally bring Y'shtola, G'raha, and Alisae on a date.
Either way, I "sorta" recommend doing the Free Trial before actually buying the game. Pros are obviously that it's free, and you have all the time in the world to clear through Heavensward, which is "where the game picks up". (Personally I feel like it picks up in the later ARR patches). Cons for the trial are you won't be able to try all the classes they've added since HW, and you'll be capped at level 60 so if you are the type that hates to waste EXP like me you'll be tempted to level other classes.
I shall end this review with the following: This game is a tale of loss and fire and faith. Forge ahead to the end, and you'll probably find this to be one of your favorite stories told in video games.

Personally I find the control setup annoying (Moving with just mouse and then all abilities are on QWERASDF with some classes using I think ZXC?).
You immediately are forced to choose an "advanced class" without really exploring a "base class" at all. Some of the "classes" only have one "advanced class" too, so if you wanted to play with a bow then you have to play the male gunner or whatever, and can't make a female bow user. I think there is *supposed* to be other advanced classes, but they just decided not to add them in yet(?).
Didn't like the UI.
Multiple currencies, I think. I already gave up by the time I unlocked the option to spend money.
Didn't like what I've seen of the story, either. Spoilers if you care but why tf didn't the priest guy with his eyes closed during the prologue just frickin kill you? Clearly you are some chosen one since you opened the doors, deactivated the invisibility on the city, and got a literal prophecy or some ♥♥♥♥. He just tells you where you need to go and then reveals he's actually a demon to the camera. The mercenary guys were just stupid (yes, probably supposed to be like that so you can be glad they get killed). They also put in a useless "choice" to try and save the asshat leader but it doesn't even matter what you choose, so why bother?
There's also a cutscene where a horse ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ jumps over some cliffs (or would those be chasms?) to the other side which is higher in elevation all while also pulling a cart, just because it got spooked by some fire???
Also, while I obviously can't give my own experience from Lost Ark since I gave up trying to enjoy the game when I got to the first, I hear that later equipment upgrading is only a % chance success instead of guaranteed. I HATED that in Black Desert, and is one of the reasons I stopped playing BD. I loved how the combat with Mystic felt in BD, but the upgrading stuff was one of the things that killed it for me. Learning about it being a thing in Lost Ark probably meant it didn't even have a chance for me, even before I finally managed to play.
Last complaint is that I wanted to play a cool female gunslinger. Why TF am I stuck with a huge ass?! Why tf aren't there some body sliders?!