Recent reviews by Ragnar

Bland and boring in every way.

By any reasonable standard, a great game.

Enough content has been added to where I feel comfortable leaving a positive review. It's a solid game.

Assassins Creed Origins is ultimately a step in the right direction for the franchise, but has a LOT of issues that are hard to look past as I reflect on my time playing the game.


- Easily one of the better Open worlds for a game in years, possibly even all time.

- Graphics. Man this game is gorgeous to look at ( except fire, boy did they really ♥♥♥♥ up fire ), combined with the excellent world design, it's easy to see why they added in Discovery Mode.

- Performance. I honestly expected a lot worse from a Ubisoft PC port, but surprisingly I was able to hold 60 fps at Ultra with my 970.

- Very good sound design. Mainly for weapons, animals, and everything else that isn't voice acting.

- Decent sound track. Nothing too memorable aside from the main theme, but at least it never took me out of the experience.

( SPOILERS )

- Main Story. Unfortunately the story is one of the worst I've played through in recent memory. Initially I was sort of interested and thought ok lets see where this goes, and...... it blows. By the end of it all I couldn't really give two ♥♥♥♥♥ about Bayek, Aya, their son, or really any of the other "characters" if you can even call them that. Cleopatra's character was just so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bad, her voice actress sounded like she was falling asleep. Apollodorus sucks, who cares that he dies. Bayeks character is all over the place. They couldn't decide if they wanted him to be serious, or charming, or funny, so they tried to do all of them, and it's just so so so bad. He often has weird out of character moments where he's overly emotive for the context of the scene, either sounding too angry or happy. (maybe this was an issue with the voice actor?). The writing is just so amatuerish, I don't know how they thought anyone would enjoy this. Bayeks character arch is irrational, and unsatisfying. Also, what was the point of Aya in general really? The romance between them is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ uninteresting. They had zero chemistry, it was like watching a high school play of Romeo and Juliet. Also, why the ♥♥♥♥ didn't we get to see Cleopatra get assassinated??? That's one of the original things people expected to see in an Egyptian Assassins creed going back to AC2. Instead we get a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ scene where Aya lamely threatens Cleopatra and boom, that's it, that's the game, oh cool, guess we're all "Assassins" now. The modern day segments were equally as random and pointless as the rest of the game, and added absolutely nothing to the overall story. I could go on and on about how bad the main story was, but if you buy this expecting to experience a unique story that intertwines with the history of Egypt and the great historical figures of the time, then look elsewhere. The story gets a 2/10 from me.

- Side quests. Now usually with open world rpg's, even if the main story is ♥♥♥♥, you can usually find a few side quests that really stick with you, and can sometimes make the game worthwhile. Welp, not with AC Origins. The side quests in this game literally, and I do mean literally, could not be worse. There is NOTHING of substance here. This game is honestly one of the worst examples "fetch this, kill that, clear this place" I've ever seen. It's all just rince and repeat.

- Combat. I have mixed feelings about the combat, and it had some potential, but it just wasn't done right here in my opinion. They went for a more "Skill" based system with what is essentially Dark Souls Lite. Despite the changes, it still ended up being awkwardly as simple and button mashy as the older combat systems, with no real thought required, and even less animations than the older games, resulting in you seeing the same kill move 1,000 times by the end of the game. I ended up just sticking with Bows and the Hidden Blade mostly to avoid the pointless drawn out fights that you know you'll win anyway.



Overall I decided to give the game a positive rating because I spent more time having fun exploring Egypt than I did rolling my eyes and cringing at the dialogue. It's a cool game in a lot of ways, and although I essentially called the story a steaming pile of ♥♥♥♥, I recommend it to anyone looking to blow time in a gorgeous open world.

6.5/10

Great game.

I accidentally played half the game without a Silver Sword.


9/10

I'm having a hard time getting in to it. Everytime I launch the game I feel like it's a chore rather than something I'm supposed to be enjoying.



PROS

- It's free.

CONS

- It's free.

- Unappealing visuals. The game looks drab, textures are flat, cahracter models are dated and plasticy. Ability effects and map styling is lackluster. I know it needs to be able to run on low-end computers for the Esports appeal but at least give us some graphics options that help make the game not look like it's from the mid 2000's.

- Terrible hitboxes. I understand that in a game like this hitboxes that are 100% accurate to the character model aren't always the best thing, but I mean come on, you legitamately don't even have to aim sometimes.

- The sound design needs a lot of work. Some of the voice acting here is just terrible. Weapons don't sound punchy or solid, and sound like sounds you'd hear from a facebook game.

- Why isn't Q the default ultimate button? I don't know if you think this makes your game special or different but you're just wasting everyones time, you know we are going to change it back to Q.

- The animations need A LOT of work. Again, they just feel and look cheesy and dated, and I expect more out of a game in 2017, free or paid.

- Not a fan of the card system, although the Item system isn't as bad. The whole card system feels like another thing they just sorta threw in to say "Hey look at us we're different! see, see". Drop it, make the actual champions different and interesting enough to stand on their own.


Yes I am aware that the game is in"Beta" but there are just some things here that I dont see being fixed by the official launch. The champions feel unoriginal in both appearance and design. It really does feel and play like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Overwatch/TF2/Moba.

I don't know why I like this game so much.

I really can't recommend this game enough. Easily one of the better RPG's ever made. Fallout New Vegas has out done Fallout 3 in nearly every regard. The story is pretty solid. It can be slow at times, but when you make decisions, they feel like they actually matter. The setting is something many people used to praise Fallout 3 for, including myself, and it is no doubt one of the best game settings ever, but after several play throughs of New Vegas, I feel the Mojave has that extra bit of charm that the DC wasteland didnt have. Some disliked the Mojaves bright skies and bright City for a post apocalyptic game, but for me it just felt very right. The writing for some of the Side Quests in this game, is truly phenominal, and I hope Obsidian gets another shot at a Fallout game once Fallout 4 is out. Overall Fallout New Vegas, and the Fallout franchise as a whole is a master piece, with rich and interesting Lore, great characters, excellent gameplay, and HOURS of replayability. Expect 100+ hours per playthrough, and even then you'll still have not done everything. My playtime on steam for this is only about 128 hours as of 2/14/16, but including my time played on console, I'd say it's around 600+.

**EDIT: Having now played Fallout 4 and its overly simplified rpg elements, I've come to appreciate this game even more than when I originally wrote this.


Here is a summed up list of the Pro's and Con's of Fallout: New Vegas



PRO's

-Huge variety of weapons.

-Interesting characters.

-Extensive character customization.

-Great leveling system with satisfying Perks.

-Excellent setting.

-Good story, and a great variety of story paths and Choice's.

-V.A.T.S

-The Pip Boy 3000.

-DLC's add a good amount of content for your character to take back to the Mojave. The way the DLC story lines tie in with the main games narrative is excellent, making this games DLC some of the best I've ever played.

-Good optimization for lower end computers.



CON'S


-Occasional crashes, not as big a deal as people make it out to be. You should be fine unless you're trying to run this on an Etch A Sketch.

-Sometimes a glitch will interfere with a quest or you might get stuck in a ledge. This is also Very occasional and not a real problem at all.



If you dont already own Fallout: New Vegas, why are you still reading this, go buy it. NOW!.

10/10, Would herd Wind Brahmin Again.

10/10 would Allahu Ackbar again.