#you visually see her freedom's effect on the land in the cutscene

[zazikels]

the audacity this man has to say "fixing act 2" when fucking tacked on thaniel's bullshit was shoehorned into act 2 but Ketheric being recruitable was axed. But you know, because they care so much about making a good game you can pinpoint exactly where they jankily cut Ketheric's recruitment out because you can still persuade him and then it just fucking snaps into the railroading and he'll have complete personality shifts during both his boss fights. Are you kidding me..........................

[operationrainfall]

Title Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris Developer Aquria Publisher BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Release Date July 10, 2020 Genre Action RPG Platforms PS4, PC, Xbox One Age Rating ESRB – Teen Official Website

Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is Aquria’s fourth time developing a game for the franchise, the previous titles being Infinity Moment, Hollow Fragment, and Hollow Realization. According to Sword Art Online Game Series Producer Yosuke Futami, this game will be the last title in the SAO Gameverse for the foreseeable future. How well does Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris stack up to Hollow Realization, the game I consider to be the best in the franchise? Will the Gameverse end with a bang or a whimper? Well, let’s find out.

Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris starts off with a scene familiar to fans of the light novels and anime. Kirito wakes up in an unfamiliar land, with no memory of how he ended up there. He meets another boy named Eugeo underneath a giant tree known as the Gigas Cedar. From there, Kirito learns about the world around him, known as Underworld, and how Eugeo’s friend Alice was arrested by the Axiom Church (the governing body of the Human Empire) for breaking a law in the Taboo Index. Eugeo wants to search for Alice, but his Calling, which is like his life’s mission, prevents him from doing so. His Calling is to cut down the Gigas Cedar, but it seems impossible to do it in his lifetime. Kirito realizes this Axiom Church may have a way for him to escape this world, so he helps Eugeo complete his Calling, teaching him how to use a sword and helping him get stronger along the way. With Kirito’s help, Eugeo completes his Calling and is able to choose a new one, and he chooses to be a swordsman. Now that he has his new Calling, Eugeo sets off with Kirito to head to the capital of Centoria and bring Alice back home.

I cut a lot of stuff out, but that’s basically what happens in the beginning of the game. Now this is where I have to call Bandai Namco Entertainment America out on their false advertising. For as long as I can remember, Bandai Namco Entertainment America has promoted this game as following the storyline of the anime faithfully, and this is just not true. The game follows the general outline of the story shown in the anime, but certain events are changed and characters omitted from the story. For example, Volo Levantein, who is the top student at the North Empire Swordcraft Academy, is supposed to come into conflict with Kirito in the story. However, he is noticeably absent in the game’s story. They also introduce Medina Orthinanos during this storyline, a Gameverse original character who was not in the light novels and anime. Much of the events that occur at the Swordcraft Academy involve Medina, and these events definitely do not occur in the anime. Another thing I want to point out is that the anime storyline only occurs in the first chapter of the game. After Chapter 1, it’s all original story from there. There are 6 chapters in total. I don’t see how Bandai Namco Entertainment America thought it was okay to promote the game as only playing through the anime story when the anime story is only a small portion of the game.

While we’re still talking about the anime story, I need to point out the length of Chapter 1. That chapter is way too long, and it’s basically one big tutorial. It took me about 24 hours to complete the first chapter, and the problem is a majority of that time was just talking and no gameplay. You don’t unlock most of the gameplay aspects until Chapter 2. So until Chapter 2, there’s no multiplayer, character creation, and no freedom to travel to different maps. A majority of the chapter is talk to Eugeo, do a sword skill test, kill a monster and repeat. You can break up the monotony of things by doing the few side quests available at the time, but those can get boring due to them being either gathering quests or monster hunts. Also, some events that were very impactful in the anime, lose their effect because of the way they’re adapted in the game. There are four ways this game tells the story: visual novel style with animated character art, cutscenes using in-game movement, cutscenes using pre-defined movement, and CG animated cutscenes. In the first chapter, they even show stills from the anime. The worst of the storytelling options is the in-game movement cutscenes. The characters are stiff and their faces exude little emotion. And they used this specific style to adapt certain important scenes from the anime, like that infamous scene involving Raios, Humbert, Ronie, and Tiese. While the anime did a great job conveying the seriousness of this moment, the game made it less so with stiff movement, bad lighting and sad looking effects. I would’ve preferred if they went all-in with the original story instead of trying to adapt some of the anime.

The saving grace of this chapter are the events involving Medina. You get to see the discrimination she faces due to her family name, and how she’s working to overcome this. I felt so invested during her scenes that it felt like they passed by in a flash. Once her events in the first chapter were over, it was back to the usual boring routine.

After you finally finish the first chapter, the game original storyline starts in full gear. Certain events happen and now Kirito and his friends have to find a way to cut down a giant tree that sprouts in the capital. With this new tree comes a surge in monsters across the empire. Many friends join the Anti-Cedar Task Force (ACTF) in order to help quell the threat, including Medina. Medina joins so she can bring honor to her family name, and she’s willing to do anything to achieve this goal. She butts heads with Alice due to their differing methods in how to defeat monsters, and the mystery of why the Orthinanos are called defects still looms. Medina’s story takes center stage in these chapters, and her goal evens serves as a point of conflict between her and Kirito at a certain point.

It was interesting discovering what happened to the Orthinanos family and seeing Medina grow as a human being. I certainly enjoyed the original story more than the story in Chapter 1, and the ending was able to surprise me, which was a pleasant surprise. There are also supplemental events which you can view in Kirito’s Tent. Here, you can view events not shown in the main story. These events give more exposition to some characters and also give some more information on Underworld. I haven’t watched them all, but the few I’ve seen were interesting. Overall, I’d say the main story was decent. I enjoyed the addition of Medina Orthinanos, and certain characters like Kayode Norlangarth were very entertaining. It was also great how most of the cutscenes were fully voiced. But the slow pacing of Chapter 1 story takes a lot of willpower to get through.

Many fan favorite characters return in this game including Kirito, Asuna, Sinon, Leafa, Lisbeth, Silica, Alice and Eugeo. The game also introduces newcomers such as Medina, Bercouli, Ronie, Tiese and more. I liked how they introduced new characters while keeping some popular characters. I question some character omissions though. Yuuki, Klein, and Agil have been in almost every Sword Art Online game to date, and now they’re noticeably absent from Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris. They’re only mentioned in passing by other characters in the game. I understand the developers wanting to remain faithful to the source material, but I believe you should be able to make exceptions as the Gameverse is already very different from the light novels and anime. I think omitting a popular character like Yuuki was just a bad move, especially since they will most likely be adding her as DLC. Mainstay characters like Yuuki, Klein and Agil should never be an afterthought or DLC. I think this was just a bad decision.

In addition to the main story, you have Bond Events involving Kirito. These events have Kirito interacting with characters like Alice, Eugeo, and Asuna doing different things like training, killing monsters, having a picnic, looking for materials etc. I found these events quite enjoyable, and seeing certain characters interact with each other was a joy. I personally liked the scenes involving Alice and Asuna, as they were constantly at each other’s throats. Alice was ruthless with her insults. The events where the girls all cook a dish for Kirito were also very enjoyable. The nice event CGs that came with them were very nice too. Overall, I found more enjoyment with the Bond Events than the main story.

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You also have the option of completing requests given by people across the empire. These requests range from killing monsters to finding certain plants and so on. Performing some requests will reveal general areas where plants and animals appear on your map. I found some of the characters giving quests to be very entertaining. Notable ones include the man who has a strange infatuation with a statue, a woman who doesn’t understand why cats don’t love her, and the girl who wants a taste of city food. While some of these characters are interesting, the quests themselves can become quite a chore. At first, I tried to do the requests as I did the main story, but at a certain point they became so boring I stopped doing them altogether. I wish these requests were more interesting and had an actual impact on the world around you.

Once you’re partway through Chapter 1 you gain access to the hub city of North Centoria. Here is where you can access your Bond Events, have dates with your party members, purchase items and equipment needed for your journey, and craft new items. Once Chapter 2 starts, Kirito’s tent is located here, and is where you access Supplemental Events and Character Creation. Character Creation is a nice touch for people who don’t want to play as Kirito. My problem with Character Creation is that it has few customization options and even though you create your own character, you’re still Kirito in the story and in cutscenes. To me, it’s jarring if you have this created character and then you turn back into Kirito for story cutscenes. If they wanted to put Character Creation in the game, I think they should’ve made the created character the main character instead of Kirito like in Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet.

When you leave North Centoria, you have access to vast maps filled with enemies and nice landscapes. You can fight monsters here, go fishing, find materials for crafting, and even go camping. Throughout the map are Fast Travel Points. At these points you can save, access the tutorial and of course, fast travel to them. There are four empires you can travel through: Norlangarth, Sothercrois, Wesderath, and Eastavarieth. Each empire has their own geographical features, so travelling through each empire always feels like a different experience. As you travel, time will progress so daytime will turn to noon, noon to evening, and evening to night depending on how long you’re in an area. There is also a weather system so it can be cloudy, sunny, and rainy depending on what day or time it is. The weather and time of day affect what monsters appear in certain areas. The time of day can affect which villagers are around and if you can accept a request from them. If you don’t want to wait for the natural progression of time, you can rest at a campfire to fast forward to the time of day you need. There are also smaller villages located in some maps, so you can also restock on supplies there. By pressing the right directional button, you can open up a mini-map on the right side of the screen. Using this, you can see where Main Story objectives are, the location of villages, fishing point, monument locations, treasure chest locations and more.

While these maps are nice to explore, I have some gripes with them. First off, showing where the treasure chests are immediately takes the fun out of searching for them and discovering them. Second, fishing in the game is lame, there’s no mini-game involved with the activity. You just press a button and the fishing is done automatically. I think they could’ve done more with the mechanic but decided to go the easy route. My other problem involves the campsites and villages. I don’t like how you can only fast forward the time of day from campsites. It’s annoying having to fast travel to a monument close to a campsite and run there just so I can change the time of day. There should be a location in villages, like an inn, so you can also change the time of day there. But for some reason you can’t do that there, so really you only go to villages to get new requests and buy items. It would’ve been nice if you could sleep in an inn in the village to change the time of day, as there is always a fast travel point located near them. I also have an issue with the appearance of Fast Travel Points. Before you access them, they have little balls of light which float above them, making it easy to notice them. Once you unlock them the first time, the balls of light disappear. I wish they kept some type of light marker on the Fast Travel Points, even after unlocking them. Sometimes it’s hard to notice these points even with the mini-map. My final gripe with the exploration involves the mini-map. While it is helpful, there is no way to adjust the opacity and size of the mini-map. The mini-map isn’t transparent, so it can sully the appearance of the nice environments. It also takes up most of the right side of the screen, so for a mini-map, it isn’t really small. I’d like it more if the map was more transparent and it took up a smaller part of the screen.

Check out more Underworld on Page 2->

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The combat in this game is quite enjoyable. You perform regular attacks by pressing the square button, evade and perform aerial attacks by pressing the cross button, and press the circle button to guard attacks. If you input a direction at the same time as a guard, you can also parry attacks. In addition to regular attacks, you can perform powerful Sword Skills to help decimate your foes. In order to utilize these skills, you hold the R1 button and choose from the palette of skills you set. Using Sword Skills requires the use of SP, and there are 3 bars in the SP Gauge, each bar equaling 100 SP. This gauge replenishes over time, and also recovers much quicker while using regular attacks. You can unlock more Sword Skills by utilizing skill points in the Skill Tree of a certain weapon. Skill Points can be obtained by leveling up, killing certain enemies, and also by completing quests given by monuments throughout the empire. These quests are hunting quests, and can be redone. Note, that not all monument quests give skill points. There are multiple weapons to choose from such as One-Handed Swords, Bows, Dual Blades, Katanas, Maces etc. I ended up using Dual Blades most of the time. With the right timing, you can chain together Sword Skills with a Skill Connect and cause even more damage to enemies. If your party members use a sword skill after yours connects, a Chain Burst occurs. Chain Bursts have 3 levels (4 once you unlock a special skill). Each level causes more and more damage to your enemies and gives you a chance to put them in a Hazard state. When your foe is in this state, they’re stunned and take more damage. From there, there are three other states: Broken, Fatalized and Downed. You can put the enemy in those states by pressing the cross button or using certain sword skills. When the enemies are Broken and Fatalized, you can juggle them using regular attacks and Sword Skills. When they’re in a Downed state, it’s similar to the Hazard state, but they take more damage. It’s fun to take advantage of these weakened states and brutalize foes.

If you parry or evade attacks at the right time, you can fill up your Arts gauge. You can see the current capacity of your Arts gauge by pressing the triangle button. Once the gauge is full, you can perform three different options: Finishing Arts, Super Arts, and Ally Skills. Finishing Arts involve a special cutscene where the character attacks the enemy with a unique skill. Enemies are immediately put into a Hazard state after this, so you can take advantage of this and really put a hurt on your foes. Super Arts slow down time and allows you to utilize Sword Skills without consuming SP, so you can beat on enemies with multiple skills in a row. Just know that there is a cooldown time while doing this, so you can’t use skills like Starburst Stream multiple times in a row. Ally Skills requires there to be 3 or 4 members in the party. Each member of the party hits the enemy with a special skill, each time hitting them with a higher level Chain Burst. The final attack features Kirito and their partner which causes a level 3 Chain Burst. I tend to use this option whenever possible, as I found this did the most damage in the shortest amount of time. My problem with this option is that it doesn’t always work. When you use it on stationary enemies like a Clamp, it won’t activate cause the enemy has to be launched in the air for it to work. The Ally Skill will also cancel out if the enemy dies before it completes, so it feels like a waste when that occurs. Ally Skills are fantastic when they hit, but when they don’t activate it’s pretty devastating as you have to build the Arts gauge up all over again.

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  You can also utilize abilities known as Sacred Arts which have a variety of different effects. These Sacred Arts can be used for attacks, healing, to increase movement speed and even to help platform in certain areas. The elements I used most were Light, Wind and Metal. Light is used for healing, Wind is used to increase your jump distance and Metal can be used to create platforms you can climb on. There are 3 levels of Sacred Arts for each element, and you unlock higher levels by finding certain monuments scattered across the Human Empire. There are still some Elements I haven’t fully upgraded.

Your party can consist of four characters: Kirito and 3 other members of your choosing. Each character has their own EX Skill. The EX Skill that’s set determines what support abilities the party member has. The three general roles are Attacker, Defender, and Supporter. After these are more specialized roles such as Tank, Healer, Berserker, Scout etc. In order to unlock these classes you need to find certain statues while exploring the world around you. I found the most useful setup was to always have a Healer and Defender / Tank in the party. The third party member can be whatever you want after that. I liked that you could change a party member’s EX Skill to fit your needs. For example, I changed Leafa to a Tank and Sinon to a Supporter. They were both originally Attackers.

The most interesting aspect of the combat is the Record system. With this system, your party members learn what to do in order to complement your play style. For example, I like using Chain Bursts, so whenever I used a Sword Skill, I would press the L1 button and switch to a party member and have them use a Sword Skill. After doing these actions enough times, the party member would record a tactic like “Never Miss a Chain Opportunity.” So now, whenever I would use a Sword Skill, I wouldn’t have to order the party member to use a skill anymore, as they would perform the action themselves. Once my party members learned what to do during fights, battles became a breeze. Note that if you switch party members, the tactics one character learned wouldn’t transfer to another character, so you’d have to teach the new character what to do all over again. This Record system has a lot of potential, and I think if you had enough time and patience, you could realistically teach your party members how to win fights by themselves. There’s a lot of depth to this system if you’re willing to really work with it.

There is also a Duel System in Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris. These are usually one-on-one duels between Kirito and other characters like Alice. These duels have modified mechanics such as forced lock-on. The enemy will mostly guard your attacks and you will have to find openings to damage them. While these duels seemed cool at first, they can get annoying because you can’t run during duels. So you’d try to chase down an opponent but they’d backflip away and you could only slowly plod toward them. You can dash at them by pressing the cross button, but doing so would cost SP you could be using for Sword Skills. So Duels are a hit and miss for me. The idea of it is great, the execution could use some work.

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While I really enjoyed the combat in Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, I felt fights were too easy at times, especially the boss fights. Before in Hollow Realization, you’d need to devise plans and watch out for certain attacks if you wanted to win. In Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, you could easily win so long as your Tank and Healer did their jobs and everyone used their Sword Skills when needed. The most difficulty I had was when certain party formations were forced on you, where sometimes a Tank and Healer were not available. There were also some boss fights that were immune to attacks until you put them in a Hazard state. There’s a lot to love about the combat in Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, and I think Aquria did a great job with it.

The game’s graphics and art design are hit and miss. The character designs are great, especially for characters like Asuna, Sinon, Leafa, Silica and Medina. Their outfits are eye catching and memorable. However there is an awful lot of clipping, like hair going through clothing and arms. This is especially true for characters with long hair like Asuna and Administrator. It’s a minor issue, but one that bothers me still. The weapon designs in the game look great. I enjoyed how the recreated weapons from the light novel such as the Night Sky Blade, Blue Rose Sword and Osmanthus Blade. The weapons look memorable and are pleasing to the eye. The character models are done well, weapons look great and the environments you travel through look good. Some of my favorite parts of the game involve entering a new area and seeing previews of the new environment you’re going to explore. The normal enemy designs are forgettable. You’ve got giant lizards, giant bats, walking mushrooms, big birds etc. However, boss enemies like Commander Gunther and Kayode Norlangarth look very good and unique. I wish normal enemies had as much care put into their designs as the story bosses have.

It feels like the developers paid more attention to character models and the overall environment as certain other aspects feel neglected. The biggest example of this are torches. The flames the torches emit look something you’d see in a last generation game. I would hope they’d put a little more effort into the small things like that. It isn’t a Sword Art Online game without event CGs, and like previous games, this one is filled with them. You usually see event CGs during certain parts of the main story, and during Bond Events. These CGs are well drawn and pleasing to the eye. Seeing these are like rewards for actually doing Bond Events or getting to certain points in the story. I do wish there were more CGs with other characters interacting with each other and not just with Kirito, but they still look good. I think the game looks nice, but it does have some issues.

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Next, we have to talk about the music and sound design. While there aren’t any groundbreaking composed tracks, I believe they are all implemented well. The tracks that play during tense moments like an enemy attacking or very emotional scenes during the story really help to convey the urgency and the feelings of the scenes well. My personal favorite tracks are the game’s main theme, the arrangements of the main theme, and “Scar/let”, the game’s theme song, which is performed by ReoNa. “Scar/let” is definitely the standout song in the game, and when it finally plays in the story it’s a great moment. The sound effects in the game are well-done too. It’s very satisfying hearing the sound of your weapon hitting the enemy or a Sacred Art blasting a foe. I think the music and sound design were done well in this game, not groundbreaking, but done well.

The final verdict on Page 3->

SILICA HOW?!

Now I’ve been playing Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris since day one, so I’ve played the game when it was version 1.01 all the way to its current iteration of 1.05. This game had many technical issues when it first launched. There was a ridiculous lag when inputting actions, long loading screens, framerate issues, a wonky camera and even a game breaking bug (which has been fixed in the latest update). For example, when I tried to move Kirito forward before, there was maybe a 3-4 second delay between me moving the analog stick and the character actually moving. This would affect my timing with my Sword Skills too, so this type of input lag was unacceptable. In version 1.05, the input lag has been fixed, but I had to point out how bad it was when it first released. The long loading screens are still present in the game, even with the latest patch. They aren’t as long as before, but they’re still noticeable. The loading screens normally are longest when transferring from a map in one empire to another one, or during a transition in locations in a story event. The camera used to be very erratic when I first played the game. It would move around like crazy if I used certain Sword Skills and sometimes would make it very difficult to keep an eye on the enemy. As of version 1.05, the camera is much better and doesn’t go as crazy. However, it still goes slightly erratic when in tight spaces like a tunnel or if you’re fighting by a wall. The framerate in the game is still spotty, even with the latest update. The game tends to lag when running around in the field, when you’re fighting multiple enemies and during some story cutscenes. This issue was much more noticeable in version 1.01, and it has improved in the latest update. However, the framerate is still an issue that still needs to be addressed in the future. The game itself is pretty good, but it is definitely marred by some technical issues.

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We now come to one of the big issues with Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, the CUBE shop. The CUBE shop was implemented in version 1.02 / 1.03 of the game, and is a gacha shop. You utilize a CUBE ticket to obtain a random item from a pre-determined line-up. These items range from clothing dyes to weapon skins and costumes. You can obtain CUBE tickets by completing Daily Missions which are updated every day. These missions are usually very easy such as deal a certain amount of damage or jump a certain amount of times. I don’t like how this is the way you can obtain unique outfits for your characters. In Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, you could obtain outfits by crafting them using Asuna’s store, all you had to do was grind for materials. Now getting these outfits is left up to chance and I feel is just a horrible idea altogether. A gacha system like this has no business being in a full-priced, $60 game. Here’s the real kicker – if you’re not connected to the internet or if the Sword Art Online game server is down, you aren’t allowed to use the items you’ve obtained from the shop. I found this out by chance when I played the game while waiting for an update to download. They wouldn’t allow me to use the weapon skins and outfits I obtained from the shop. Not only did they implement a gacha system in a full-priced game, you can’t even use the items unless you’re connected to the internet. This was just a bad decision, and I hope they fix this system in the future.

Oh yes we did Sinon.

I enjoyed my time playing Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, especially after all the recent updates. The game has a decent story, very fun combat, a well-implemented soundtrack, beautiful environments and great looking characters. However, it is still affected by technical issues, an absurdly long first chapter, a questionable use of character creation, the omission of characters such as Yuuki and the CUBE shop system which shouldn’t be there in the first place. It took me about 121 hours to beat the main story while doing side missions and Bond Events as well. Once you beat the story, you can tackle Raid Dungeons, try to test your mettle against high level foes, try to get high rarity weapons or even try to unlock all the event CGs. So there’s still some things to do even after beating the game. Would I recommend paying $60 for this game? I would only recommend doing that if you’re a hardcore Sword Art Online fan like me. If you’re not, I recommend waiting for a sale or waiting for the technical issues in the base game to be mostly fixed. If you do decide to take the dive, know there’s an immense amount of content waiting for you.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3.0″]

  Game copy purchased by the author.

REVIEW: Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris Title Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris

[terryblount]

DOOM Eternal PC Review: The End Is Nigh

The tagline of the game is “rip and tear, until it is done”, but ripping and tearing is only a portion of what the game has to offer. The DOOM Slayer has been unleashed upon earth to destroy everything that is evil in his path. You can rip and tear demons in half, or pull their freaking head off. You can slash and stab them in the jugular, or in the brain. You can shoot them in the face and break their necks. You can force feed them explosives and pull their disgusting eyes out. You can smash their head with your bloody fists or with your feet, stomping them until there’s nothing left. Hell, you can even reduce them to a puddle of blood and guts.

You play as the Slayer, the one – the only – humankind’s rage, its will to persevere, to overcome that which would threaten its survival. The Slayer is uncompromising; a relentless being of extreme violence that knows no signs of hesitation. He cuts through the demon hordes like a sickle through a field; his fury surpassing their own. He is faster, more unyielding, an avenging angel, the right hand of Doom here to save humanity from its sins. He is the DOOM Slayer and his fight is… Eternal!

Scary Stories For Baby Demons

DOOM is no longer a brainless first-person demon killing simulator. That was DOOM 2016, which was excellent by the way. DOOM Eternal offers the same and more compared to its predecessor. One of these new things the game has to offer is story. Yes, you read that right; DOOM now has a story. A very simple story, but a story nonetheless. I will keep it rather simple as the game has a lot of lore for you to dive into. You can even read a lengthy back-story regarding the history of the Sentinels.

This is Novik, your King. But no King can hold back the Slayer.

In the time of King Novik, ruler of Sentinel Prime and Argent D’Nur, as the Argenta secured peace through dimensions across time and space, the Slayer is found by the Night Sentinels outside the castle walls. The Sentinels, defenders of the land, found the Outlander bloodied, clawed and near death, mumbling of impending Doom and the forces of Darkness. By Argenta law, he would be given a second chance to fight for his freedom in the Coliseum. With his mind crippled with rage, he proves his worth and emerges victorious. “Rip and Tear” they shouted as he pushed beyond mortal wounds and certain death. And so, the Slayer is born!

“If you continue you will bring down the heaven’s wrath. You are but one man – they are no longer your people to save!”

King Novik warning the Slayer

It’s been eight months since the events of the previous title, when the Slayer awoke to, once again, destroy evil. Demonic forces have overrun earth, wiping out 60% of the planet’s population, under the now-corrupted Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC). The Slayer returns to earth to quell the demonic party by destroying the Hell Priests. The Hell Priests are powerful magicians who work for the corrupted former leader of the Slayer’s society. Her name is Khan Maykr!

Graphics, Controls And OMG The Optimization Of This Game

Visually, the game looks great. It’s not THE best looking game, however, it’s certainly a looker. In some rare occasions, you will stumble upon some low resolution textures. On the other hand, the game uses a brighter palette of colors compared to the prior game which was a bit darker. Locations and enemies also look crispier, though some enemies might look a bit less menacing than before.

In a second this demon will look less menacing without its head

The controls are perfect and this is probably the first time I didn’t have to change any key bindings. There is no mouse acceleration or smoothing, and to be honest I don’t even remember if there even is such an option in the settings. I only played with mouse and keyboard, so I have no idea whether the game runs/works great on a gamepad.

“Saving your people will not bring you peace, only make the burden you carry worse.”

The Betrayer advising the Slayer

Now what about optimization you might ask. Well, in case you haven’t already read John’s Performance Analysis, it is simply amazing. Seriously, this is probably the most optimized game I played in the last few years. With all the settings maxed, I had stable sixty frames per second at all times. I did not encounter any stuttering, nor crashes or bugs of any kind. The only issue I rarely had was clipping through objects or walls during the finishing animations. That’s about it. Phenomenal work from id Software.

Audio, Music And Voice Acting

The voice acting is all right. Nothing extraordinary and it’s not like the game has many dialogues or cutscenes anyway. While you can see much more of the Slayer this time, you will not hear him talking. At least not in a conventional way. Though, there is a setting that enables “Slayer pain grunts“, meaning you will hear him grunt whenever he receives damage.

The game features a photo mode and the Slayer is all about posing.

The music is fantastic and it fits the title just perfectly as long as you are akin to heavy metal music. Most of the music features heavy metal riffs and a choir of heavy metal vocalists. Demonic chanting and loud electric guitar sounds will also accompany you through the slaughter and mayhem.

All weapons feature unique sounds and some of them sound very familiar to the previous title. The rest of the sounds like ripping, pulling or even using the chainsaw on the demons are great as well. There are also sound notifications for equipment recharging, meaning you will hear a sound whenever your grenade is ready for use.

Ripping And Tearing, No Sewing

DOOM is probably among the most legendary first-person shooters in the world. The series always featured exceptional shooting mechanics and DOOM Eternal is no exception to the rule. The game performs and feels great. Shooting demons with any weapon feels smooth and natural. It basically feels just right. All the weapons have unique characteristics, with each having its own strengths and weaknesses. Each weapon handles differently and they all have recoil. And while the weapons do not feel arcade-ish, you should not expect a military simulator.

“If Sentinel holy blood is spilled on these grounds..you will lose all sovereignty here!”

Deag Grav taunting the Slayer.

Just like the previous game, most weapons in DOOM Eternal have two different attachments, which you can find scattered in the world or locked behind doors. For instance, the combat shotgun features a grenade launcher and an auto-loader. The first attachment shoots grenades, obviously, and the second provides the capability of rapid firing. You can change attachments on the fly and all attachments can be upgraded. They even have a mastery challenge. Thus, upon completion, your selected attachment becomes even more powerful. Now some of these challenges might be bothersome for some people. Thankfully, though, mastery tokens can be found scattered around the game’s world, however they are only available in the late game.

I never really liked this weapon, but know I do. Microwaving demons was never so fun!

Lastly, what would DOOM be without gore, blood and guts? I adore the gore in this game. It is extremely satisfying watching bullets shred your enemies’ flesh off their bodies, ripping them in half and stabbing them in the ear with their own arm. The visual damage/wound system is spectacular, and probably the best in a first-person shooter. Still, I believe that Resident Evil 2 Remake did it slightly better.

My only gripe is that the bodies of your enemies will immediately disappear after you kill them. I really don’t understand why this happens, especially since the  game runs so well. I doubt it would have made a significant difference in frames, even if they hadn’t removed the ragdoll from the bodies. Thankfully, the blood decals stay a bit longer.

Glorious Glory Kills

Guns are not the only weapons available for the Slayer. Doing enough damage to the enemies puts them in a stun state, in which you can perform a glory kill. A glory kill is basically a very brutal execution. These executions have different animations depending the angle you initiate the glory kill. Therefore, you will see different animations from the front, the back, the side and from above.

Screaming wont help you Mr. Arachnotron. Don’t you know people hate spiders?

Most glory kills are being performed with the newly acquired Slayer blade, the Doomblade. This extendable blade is mounted on the Slayer’s left arm and it can only be accessed and used through glory kills. The rest of the executions are being performed by the Slayer’s hands or feet, and let me tell you they are god – damn – glorious. In case you don’t like them, you can completely ignore them. You can even disable the visual notification glow that appears on enemies when they are susceptible to a glory kill. Just keep in mind that all glory kills provide health pickups.

The Chainsaw, Enemy Weaknesses And Difficulty

The Slayer has a chainsaw which won’t be used to cut down trees. Instead, he can use it to saw demons in half. The chainsaw works almost the same as it did in Doom 2016. You can use the chainsaw on demons and by doing so they will spawn ammunition for all your guns. You can also use the chainsaw on big bad demons, however, it will consume/require more fuel. The chainsaw is a vital part of the game and it’s almost impossible for the player to avoid using it. Still, and if you are brave enough, you can try not to. If you run out of ammo, the game will automatically equip the chainsaw and you can use at any time (as long as you have enough fuel).

It looks like this demon is in pain, but in reality, demons love the chainsaw! Otherwise, why would they leave fuel lying around everywhere?

This time around, most enemies now have weaknesses, especially the larger demons. The Revenant, for instance, relies on its shoulder mounted rockets to deal damage. If you destroy them, it will effectively impair the demon, giving you an advantage over it. On the other hand, some enemies have more specific weaknesses. The Cacodemon, for example, can be easily staggered by throwing or launching grenades directly to its filthy mouth. As such, specific weapons will be more effective to specific enemies. In case you don’t optimize your enemy encounters, and since ammunition is rather limited, you will most probably need to refill your weapons by using the chainsaw. Ultimately, this means that players who like playing the game with only one or two weapons may find it a tad more difficult.

“My soul remains guarded, you can’t…”

Deag Nilox last words before meeting his demise.

Which brings us to the next point; difficulty. The game is not very easy, even on the normal difficulty, and on higher difficulties the game becomes insane. On Ultra-Violence, which is the hardest difficulty, I had to strategize before engaging in combat. I also had to pick up every available resource I could find in order to survive.

Doom Eternal features many different types and variations of demons. As such, the game will throw you different enemies to slaughter, something you will easily notice in later levels. The enemies are also more aggressive than before. Forget about standing still; you will be dead in seconds. Thankfully, this is balanced by the Slayer’s movement, which is faster compared to the previous game. Also, the double jump and dash abilities are available from the start. Finally, and even though the boss fights are very few, they are quite fun.

Where Does He Keeps All These Stuff

But wait, there are even more weapons with which you can create pandemonium. The game offers two different kind of grenades. The first is the classic explosive grenade and the second is the frost grenade. Another new addition is the flamethrower, or more like the tiny flamethrower, which is attached on the Slayer’s left shoulder. It releases small bursts of flame which can ignite enemies for a limited time. While the enemy is on fire, any extra damage will spawn armor pickups. All equipment have unlimited uses, but they need time to recharge. You can upgrade all equipment with different currencies, and by collecting secrets.

Damn, some demons will eat anything. This Mancubus is choking on his own power core. Bon appétit you big fat ugly bastard.

An Armored Suit Made For A God

What would the Slayer be without his armored suit, the Praetor Suit? Well, a very scary angry naked dude. The Praetor suit is not just cosmetic. The suit can be upgraded via tokens, crystals and runes. You can increase health, armor and ammo capacity. You can also further augment the suit with certain new abilities. The suit is also customizable with different skins, which you can unlock as you progress. You can even wear the original DOOM suit, though please do me a favor and do not wear that pink unicorn Twitch skin monstrosity; I beg of you.

Did Someone Call For Samus?

As I have already mentioned, DOOM Eternal is a bit different than its predecessors. The game now features platform elements. As such, you will be jumping, climbing and solving logical puzzles. Heck, you can even swim this time around. A significant portion of the game is figuring your way to the next fight, and a lot of times you will have to complete a series of challenges in order to achieve that. I am pretty sure many people will not like it. However, and in my humble opinion, it is a nice change of pace. None of these platforming sections are really hard though some of them may annoy some players.

Vinyl collection is one of the many pastimes of the Slayer. He loves his vinyls.

There is a ton of secrets to discover, like power-ups, lore, collectibles, and more. Many of these can be found “organically” while you progress. However, some others are well hidden. Extremely well hidden I might add. Not only that, but some are hidden even behind environmental puzzles. Therefore, I would recommend purchasing the upgrade that shows all the secrets in the map as soon as you can. Otherwise, you will be in a world of pain and… well… you are already in Hell. Speaking of map, the game features an awesome and very easily accessible Metroidvania-like map. For what it’s worth, I had zero issues with the map and I never got myself lost. My only issue was with the lore collectibles as you have to open the menu, and read a bunch of text. The previous DOOM game did it better by having real-time narration.

The Floating Fortress

The Fortress of DOOM is a space station designed by the people of Argent D’Nur. It was originally intended as a base of operations for the Night Sentinels. The fortress is the Slayer’s safe haven and he even has his own personal quarters.

This is the Slayer’s private quarters where he keeps some of his collectibles. Here’s also where he jams!

The fortress works as a main hub where you can initiate missions, master levels, re-play missions, unlock upgrades and collectibles. You can even see some of the collectibles you picked, decorating the walls. There are also several easter eggs to be found within the fortress.

Is DOOM Really Eternal?

The first DOOM is probably my favorite game, and that’s because it holds a very special place in my heart. But, if I had to choose one without being sentimental, I would probably choose DOOM Eternal. I am a creature of habit and I do not usually like change. DOOM Eternal is different, but not in a bad way. The game offers exactly the same as before and even more.

“For millennia, we have survived. Made others sacrifice in the name of our prosperity. Who are you, a human, once a mortal, to defy our traditions?!”

Khan Maykr preaching to the Slayer.

There are only a few new things that aren’t optional; the rest are up to the player. Hell, you can even finish the game in a couple of hours if that’s what you want. You don’t like cutscenes? You don’t like puzzles and collectibles? You don’t like finishers? You don’t like RPG mechanics? Just skip them all.

Are you ready to face your fears? Are you strong enough to enter the gates of Hell? Even if you are not, he is!

Of course there are some things you cannot completely avoid, such as sections of platforming and the use of the chainsaw for ammunition. So, if these are a major issue for you, you should consider keeping your money for something else. Maybe Resident Evil 3 Remake? On the other hand, if you don’t really mind these things, you will most likely have a hell of a time.

Seriously, think of all the games Bethesda released the last few years. Bethesda needs this game to be a success if they ever want to crawl out from the hole of disappointment (in which they already live in comfortably). And, well, here comes id Software and single-handedly saves Bethesda from its… doom.

Lots of tools to experiment

Great shooting mechanics

Excellent wound system

Numerous collectibles

Amazing optimization

Variety of glory kills

Superb soundtrack

Beautiful locations

Enemy variation

Superb controls

Cool story

Bodies vanish into thin air

No in-game audio for lore collectibles

Platforming might be bothersome

Frequent use of the chainsaw can be annoying

                Computer Specs: CPU: i5 4440, GPU: Palit 1660Ti OC 6GB, RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 16GB, HDD: Crucial 275GB MX300, OS: Win7, 1080p

Playtime: 10+ hours total, this an estimate since the Bethesda launcher does not keep track of the time played.

The post DOOM Eternal PC Review: The End Is Nigh appeared first on DSOGaming.

DOOM Eternal PC Review: The End Is Nigh published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[game-refraction]

Game Review: Pyre (PS4)

While Fantasy Sports Leagues are nothing new, I’m pretty sure that discussions about them don’t involve horned creatures, talking dogs, or earning one’s freedom back via some sort of fantasy based basketball, but maybe they should. Pyre, the latest from Supergiant Games, feels like the twisted offspring of NBA Jam and The Banner Saga as the fast action sports elements of the game are wonderfully married to its gorgeous character and environmental artwork. Pyre is a title that at first glance was something I put off until I kept hearing just how good it was, and boy were they not wrong.

Pyre takes place in the Downside, a gorgeous yet tragic land of exiles, cast down from the glory of the Commonwealth. It is here, as the Reader, that you will rally your companions to earn back their freedom through the Rites, a mystical game of basketball that takes place in swamps, snow capped mountains, and among patches of thorny vines, a far cry from that of hardwood stadiums or neighborhood back alley courts.

Supergiant has packed Pyre with a tremendous amount of back story and lore, so much so that should you seek it out, you will learn of every character’s past, present, and what their motivations are for taking part in the Rites. The game also does a great job at giving each and every character a proper ending, allowing you to know exactly what they are up to when you eventually complete the story, and this is true for every single character you encounter, even the shopkeeper.

You play as the unseen Reader, a character who is recruited by the Nightwings, a team who have entered the Rites to earn back their freedom and it turns out that you can also read their mystical book that explains the history of the Rites. You can also read the stars in the sky which in turn indicates where the Rites will take place. While the Rites are where you can earn back your freedom, there is a catch, and it’s one that plays further into the story despite any victories you may have there.

The Rites themselves, are a 3 on 3 sporting event where you’ll need to grab an Orb and deposit it into the oppositions pyre on their side of the court. You’ll do this by simply running, jumping, or throwing it into their goal. The Orb drops into the middle of the court and you can either race towards it or play defensively and attempt to recover the Orb. In order to recover it or just put the hurt on the opposition, you have Aura attacks that work offensively or defensively. When not handling the Orb, each character has an Aura circle around them that varies in size, and also have attacks that vary in type and purpose. By making contact with either form of your Aura, the opposition will be temporarily banished, unable to return to the match until a cooldown has expired, and this rings true for scoring a goal as well, as the player who scores cannot return immediately to the match. This prevents any team from using a single character to steam roll the other, it’s a design element that creates strategy on how to recover from not just your success but from your failures as well.

Despite the matches being 3 on 3, you can only move one character at a time. You can pass the Orb back and forth as many times as you want, but the restriction placed upon player movement is intentional and one that makes matches more strategic than what Pyre is attempting to borrow from the typical sports genre. You’ll also need to watch out for structures that are built into the level and several of them can be moved around to create defensives. These can also block attacks, but should a character be leveled up and learn a specific skill, they are able to attack through them. The Rites also do not need to be won in order to advance the story, as the game doesn’t really have a failed state and the story will keep going regardless of your victory. However, if you want, you can simply restart a Rite should you be about to lose, thus keeping your perfect record intact.

Characters will earn experience and level up which allows them to learn a few skills that make them a bit more effective in the Rites. This can result in better movement, more effective ways in which their Aura can be used, or causing banishment to last far longer. To further make their efforts more potent you can also equip Talismans that add additional perks like causing more damage to the pyre on a goal or boosting some of their existing stats as well. Each pyre has a base health of 100 and certain characters will range from 15 to 30 damage each time they score a goal and said Talismans can also be used to increase that base health as well. Talismans can also be upgraded to be far more effective and you’ll do this by using items you can procure from the shopkeeper as you earn money from selling other items or by achieving certain tasks during the Rites.

There are also constellations that appear later into the game that unlock ever so often and these will boost the amount of experience you earn as you level up your roster, but at a cost. Each constellation has a side effect like increasing the opposing team’s speed or stamina or allowing banished players to immediately respawn. You can choose to select as many of these as you see fit and adding more and more will increase the percentage of boosted experience you will earn.

The cast of characters you can recruit to your team may be small, but this limited roster is extremely well fleshed out and can make choosing who to include in your three man team a rather tough choice. There are times, however, where you won’t have access to certain characters so you will need to make sure that each character is used to learn how effective they can be. There are also individual trials that each character can access to earn them an item that benefits their stats. Some of these trials are fairly easy while some took me almost an hour to complete and made me frustrated with a few characters for several hours after.

You’ll start your adventure with Hedwyn, Jodariel, and Rukey Greentail; a human, a horned girl, and a talking dog. Hedwyn is your typical balanced character that is useful to learn the in’s and out’s of the game. Jodariel is slow but has a large Aura and a very effective dash that can be leveled up. Rukey is extremely fast and has a jump attack that you can use to jump right in the pyre from fairly far away. I found that despite how effective someone like Jodarial can be defensively, that speed, in the end, is the best stat to utilize.

You’ll soon be joined by a vagabond girl whom you will choose a name for her that rhymes with Gray. In my case, I chose the name Kae. She, like Hedwyn, is fairly good at everything and can work as a replacement when you won’t have access to him. There is Ti’zo the small imp who can dart around the court fairly fast and has a very interesting way to understand his dialogue. Sir Gilman, a wyrm Knight was hands down my favorite character not just to use, but in the story as well. His excitable nature to prove himself is so well handled and the speed at which he can move around on the map can truly make him a life saver. Pamitha Theyn will join your team when you encounter a race of bird people who have quite the history with the Commonwealth, as most characters will, and Pamitha can fly on the court, making her very useful in levels that have a lot going on design wise. There are also two characters that join you in the late game that I won’t be talking about so that to leave a bit of mystery about these very effective late-comers.

Right from the start, you will be a passenger on a mystical wagon that has a history with the Nightwings and it belongs to a mysterious benefactor that has put forth a mission for the current Nightwings roster. The wagon can travel from place to place and eventually you’ll get upgrades to traverse oceans and the ability to just fly from place to place. The wagon also comes with the Minstrel, a man who is acting on behalf of said benefactor, and one that explains much of the lore throughout the game.

The opposing forces that you will do battle with in the Rites usually consist of counterparts to your full roster. You’ll encounter people that resemble dogs to those that are dogs themselves; which were my favorite opponents to interact with. There are also the Crones, Curs, Demons, Saps, and more, giving you a wide variety of fantastic characters to interact with that are wildly different from one another.

Despite the variety of not only its characters and its locations, Pyre is visually consistent in the mood it offers. The levels themselves feel like a mix of H.P. Lovecraft and older animated films like the Lord of the Rings and Fire and Ice, with a bit of Dr. Suess thrown in for good measure. Characters have static images for their cutscenes and wonderful animations when on the court during the Rites. While not all the art is fantastic, as the images during the credits are somewhat lacking, the game never feels unpolished.

Each character has their own music attached to them and this is very apparent when taking on other teams as they each not only have very distinct personalities but drastically different music as well. As for vocals, there is only one character that actually has spoken dialogue as everyone else has a made up language that is used to initiate their written dialogue. This initial burst of nonsense chatter isn’t new to videogames but it does help add to the wonderful personalities that come with such a diverse cast.

Pyre, for the most part, is a single player game that does have some local multiplayer to enjoy with friends but does lack any sort of online matchmaking. You can tackle CPU opponents should you want, but should you look to play with friends, they’ll need to share the couch with you, which isn’t a bad thing, but online battles could have opened this game up to a much wider audience. The best part of the versus mode is that you are able to play with all central characters featured in the game, even those you faced off against during the campaign.

I only had two main issues with the game that do affect my overall score on the title. The individual trials felt as though they highlighted the weaknesses that each character has a bit too harshly, and while I know these trials are meant to make you understand how to overcome such weaknesses, they tainted a few characters for me for several hours. My final issue is mainly the repetitive nature the game takes after the first time you complete a freedom Rite. The narrative then takes an approach that causes the game to feel grindy and much of what occurs after that supposed ‘final’ battle is repeated again and again. While this opens the game up for some of its best storytelling, the rinse-recycle-repeat way in which the game then follows starts to affect the overall gameplay. I wasn’t wishing the game to end or anything, but so much of the way in which the game operates is repeated far too often in the very same manner.

Apart from those flaws, Pyre is a remarkable title that has a very interesting premise and its merging of sports and fantasy is something I don’t think I’ve seen handled in this particular way before. Sure, there are games like Blood Bowl that combine sports and fantasy, but Pyre is a very different beast in its own way. The characters, the locations, and the dialogue are wonderful and nothing feels out of place despite the very different genre’s that are being fused together here. Pyre may speak to you in different ways as you may enter the game wanting its fresh take on the sports genre or its character and lore building that may feed that fantasy need of yours, but regardless, it is a wonderful marriage of solid ideas with some really fun character moments that makes Pyre a real winner.

Pyre was reviewed via a $26.99 digital purchase on the PlayStation store.

All Screenshots were taken on a PlayStation 4 Pro and formatted for this review.

Game Review: Pyre (PS4) was originally published on Game-Refraction