Recent reviews by john fortnite

fortnite

Visuals 8/10 Can be brought to a 10/10 if you install some mods that replace the vanilla skyrim creatures, weapons, and armor with unique ones from Enderal. I strongly recommend Enderal Weapons and Armor Overhaul.
Graphics 10/10 I'm coming from LE, "old Skyrim", so this game looks absolutely stunning compared to that)
Voice acting 10/10 Surprisingly better than Skyrim in many ways. Tealor Arantheal's VA brings the character to life. His performance is so good it's as if he's right there in front of you when he speaks. He's just one example, but everyone in the game is truly phenomenal, even the inconsequential NPCs.
Gameplay 5/10 Can be brought to an 9.5/10 with mods, I strongly recommend this. Read on to see what I suggest after putting in 140 hours at the time of this review. (104 were on the old, non-Special Edition version)

The entire production of this game feels like it was made by a AAA studio, and honestly trumps anything Bethesda has released in the last decade (outside of FO:NV). The voice acting is absolutely top shelf. The subtleties in the world design are noticeable, and appreciated. And the story... It's just so damn good. That's all I can say without spoiling anything.


The following paragraphs will detail the gameplay, some mod recommendations, and give you a brief, spoiler-free overview of how the story is.

Right away I'll start with an analogy about the story: if you like things along the lines of Inception, Shutter Island, The Matrix, or Full Metal Alchemist, then you will absolutely love the story of Enderal.

Moving on to gameplay: If you're going vanilla (no mods), then Enderal is basically Skyrim but harder. I suppose that's okay, but you should definitely add mods to it in order to get the best experience. Specifically SkySA, True Directional Movement, The Ultimate Dodge Mod, and a timed block mod of your choice. The mods I aforementioned make the game feel like a modern action RPG that plays very similar to The Witcher 3, Shadow of War, and even Sekiro/Dark souls if you so choose.

You level up by doing quests, killing things, and crafting items, among other activities. When you reach the next character level you get a memory point, 5 learning points, and 4 crafting points. You don't level up skills the same way as in Skyrim. Instead, you need to purchase learning books & crafting books from vendors (pretty much any vendor), and then you spend the points that you currently have in order to use the book, thus leveling up your skills. So you're given a big incentive to find ways to earn money, in order to buy the books you need to level up the skills you want. Learning points are spent on your combat skills, crafting points are spent on your crafting skills, i.e Alchemy, Lockpicking, Sleight of Hand (pickpocketing), Handicraft (smithing), Rhetoric (speech), and Enchanting.

Perk trees are spent inside this meditation room that you can enter at any time from anywhere. You walk up to the perk you want on the wall then it functions like in Skyrim. You spend the perk on what you want by aiming at it. As for the perks themselves, it's mostly what you can expect from vanilla Skyrim, but there is certainly a bit more creativity with these.

Something new that they do is Affinities. Once you reach level 19, and have enough perk points invested in a two synergistic perk trees, (10 each iirc) then you will automatically unlock an Affinity. An Affinity is a specialized class that offers unique bonuses to your character. There are 20 in the base game if I recall correctly.

So altogether you'll have to actually spec your character properly, i.e, have a character build. This actually is a fantastic change as it makes each playthrough/character different, as each style of character offers a unique approach to game play. Check out the Affinities page on the SureAI wiki to get a feel for what I'm talking about.

The story of Enderal is nothing short of incredible. It's been nearly a week since I finished my first playthrough (104 hours, on the non SE version of the game), and I'm still reeling from the ending. The philosophical questions of interpreting reality, and human consciousness are primary themes in the story. And I should add that, principally, it's a very dark story.

As for what the story is actually about, you should just let the game tell you. Nevertheless, I'll give a brief summary. You, the player character, are born in the country of Nehrim, and you play as a half-Nehrimese person who is attempting to flee your home country due to some... "events" that befall you. That's all I'll say for now, as the first 10 minutes-or-so lay everything out perfectly, and anything more would be a spoiler.

Regarding being half-Nehrimese: the other half of your ethnicity will be one of the four playable races, these are Kilean, Qyranian, Aeterna, and Arazalean. Basically, a Breton, Redguard, High Elf, and a Nord, but that doesn't matter. The race you choose only effects your starting skills, and alters some of the interactions you have with characters and NPCs.

You'll be taken through the main quest at a modest pace, all the while having no idea what's really going on, even when you think you do.

Even when you think you do.

But, by the end of the game you realize the truth about all the events that lead up to that point. Or did you? After all:

"What is reality anyway?"
-Unknown

Gameplay wise, it's basically Skyrim but harder. That's fine, but you should definitely add mods to it to improve your experience. Mods like Combat Gameplay Overhaul is the major one that I would recommend, as well as some other balancing mods come to mind.

Visuals 8/10 (can be brought to a 10/10 if you install some mods that replace the vanilla skyrim creatures with unique ones from Enderal)
Voice acting 10/10
Atmosphere 10/10
Gameplay 5/10 (can be brought to an 8.5/10 with mods, I strongly recommend this)

The entire production of this game feels like it was made by a AAA studio, and honestly trumps anything Bethesda has released in the last decade (outside of FO:NV). The voice acting is absolutely top shelf. The subtleties in the world design are noticeable, and appreciated. And the story... It's just so damn good. That's all I can say without spoiling anything.

Do yourself a massive favor, and play through Enderal.

"What is reality anyway?"
-Unknown

abandoned by devs

but more importantly: the gameplay really hasn't aged well.

terrible game
cant drive my 1600 horse power super car without losing control of it and running over a bunch of pedestrians, and then getting blown up by police

(or maybe that's a good thing??)

It's Quake, so obviously it has a learning curve. Take the time to actually learn. You can do this by watching a YouTube vid or two, and also by watching the pros play. It's really not as hard as people think it is. It's just not a game that you can jump into and magically figure it all out just by playing. You need to take a few minutes to learn the basics, from there you will improve by playing.

If you good FPS mechanics then you'll do fine. If you don't have good FPS mechanics, then this game will demand that of you, and thus, you'll gain proficiency in those mechanics over time (aim: tracking and clicking, movement: strafe jumps, circle jumps, and dodging)

Also pick up the damn items. It's not hard.

Game is legitimately trash; no wall running or Titans.
C R I N G E

it make u aim gooder
hehehe hurrrr ddeeerjehehrjkhejklrhjkhkjhkjh jkkjdhglkjdsfhgkj lsk

I never realized the Nemesis Expansion DLCs were so expensive individually. Don't buy these. You should already own these if you bought the season pass or the definition edition of the game (which you should)

Furthermore, my problem now is that it spawns these orcs way too much. Seems like 2 out of every 3 new orc spawns are from the Slaughter or Outlaw tribe. Pain the ass when you're trying to complete the legendary sets for other tribes after you've gotten the ones from these two.

I never asked for this.