Recent reviews by Xirlio Merazul

Hades meets Pokemon in a roguelike party-based creature collector RPG. Very cool game, strategy is mandatory, has zones with bosses at the end of each zone, which are quite annoying to deal with. Has some souls-like mechanics thrown into the mix as well. I suggest you try it out and give it a good chance, one of the better games out there!

BEFORE YOU BUY
Understanding the system requirements: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rK-w789fnc
Update the DLL files: https://youtu.be/jVDMY8DAbn4
Monster Hunter Wilds Full Optimization Guide FOR RTX3060 -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Gq7agh56Y

TLDR:
Game is created similar to a Final Fantasy or a God of War game, it's basically a movie that plays itself for the most part (at least the story). First 4 hours were extremely easy even for a newbie to the Monster Hunter series. Super casual oriented game.
The actual game begins AFTER you've finished the main story and the credits roll, that's when you start getting rank 4+ hunts and the map finally isn't all sand and caves...

For anything above 1080p and High settings (with Ray Tracing especially) you need at least the following system specifications for a good and stable framerate without DLSS turned ON (DLAA; High Raytracing; High settings overall at 1440p; FRAME GEN ON) RTX4070, Intel i7-13700F, 32GB RAM DDR5 (4400Mhz). The game was shipped with outdated DLSS, FG, FSR and XeSS .dll files so make sure you update them if you want the best performance possible.


Actual review bellow:
Rey Dau is the point where the difficulty spikes up considerably, up to that point, the game can be considered pretty easy. But damn, Rey Dau was a pain for me as a newbie into the Monster Hunter series... Up to Rey Dau I haven't died once, but he killed me twice and doubled my clear timer.

Some other monsters from the main story that are a pain are Nerscylla, Guardian Doshaguma, Arkveld and Zoh Shin, they're all in the later chapters, but Rey Dau was the point where the game started to get a bit more difficult for me, although after Rey Dau, most monsters were back to normal difficulty, until some in Chapter 2 picked the difficulty back up.

The optimization is not as bad as people are making out to be... while it is certainly not properly optimized you just need an RTX4070 or AMD equivalent to actually get it running properly (at 1440p) without having to use DLSS. Frame Gen however is basically mandatory, which is very annoying. Also make sure you update the DLSS and FG .dll files since Wilds got shipped with outdated files, you'll thank me later, it's quite the difference in performance and frame smoothness. A 2000$ system is basically mandatory if you wanna play some of these new games because you also basically need a 13th gen i7 or AMD equivalent to not bottleneck your GPU.

What I dislike the most is that Capcom basically kind of "white lied" with the recommended system specs. IF the 3060 can't get to 60 without DLSS and Frame Gen, how can the recommended specs ever hope to reach constant 60?

Anyway, the game is definitely very good overall and while the story is absolutely abysmally boring, AFTER you finish the game, the ACTUAL game begins... However, THE problem I have with the game, is that for the first 3 hours, I've barely played anything. There are way too many cutscenes, this is basically a movie for the first 3 hours and the cutscenes and pseudo-cutscenes where you can't do anything but move camera or do a QTE are... plenty to say the least, however what I hate in said pseudo-cutscenes is the fact that you are unable to sprint on the mount to speed said cutscenes up, you are WALKING for the entire duration in some of these. The entirety of the story is forcing you into cutscene after fricking cutscene, without being able to deviate whatsoever from the route or even dismount in vast majority of cases, because these are basically hard coded pseudo-cutscenes and you're not actually playing, but you do have access to gathering materials and looking around with your camera... if only the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ map wasn't so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boring with sand and caves being most of the story maps...

Other than this, the game's fine, it's way easier than Monster Hunter World however, so it seems like they went with a heavy focus on making sure this game is initially very newbie friendly and I guess kind of cool at the same time. And this is coming from someone that has only recently gotten into Monster Hunter World and the Monster Hunter series as a whole.

I've just begun to dip my toes into Wild's high rank hunts and I can safely say, that the game truly only begins AFTER you've finished the main story with the boring forced cutscenes.

Optimization needs some work, but they are expecting you to have a high end system for anything above 1440p without DLSS use, however again, Frame Generation is basically mandatory even for the 4070 at 1440p (IF you do not want to use DLSS that is).

My System Specifications:
RTX4070
Intel i7-13700F
32GB RAM DDR5 (4400Mhz)

Here are my first 3 hours of play time on release https://youtu.be/LDN4vfFCDAU

Keep in mind that I was streaming this with 40,000 Kbps CBR bitrate at 1440p, which is very taxing as well. Like I've said, the game's optimization is NOT as bad as people are making it seem, but they do expect you to have at least my system specifications for this game to properly run without DLSS (I've tested it and it's solid 60 1440p on High settings), however Frame Generation is basically mandatory. And again, make sure you update the DLL files for DLSS, Frame Generation and FSR, they released the game with these being outdated, you'll thank me later for the extra performance and smoothness.
If you want to play this on an RTX30 series of AMD equivalent, you probably need at least a 3070 for some decent framerate even with DLSS turned on, so keep that in mind.

Highest settings need approximately 6GB VRAM (game only; that means your system is using about 7-10GB VRAM at this point depending on what you're also doing in the background) which means you need a 12GB VRAM GPU (preferably the RTX4070 or AMD equivalent) for this to perform well on your system and a 13th gen i7 or AMD equivalent, like I've said previously, to not bottleneck your GPU. That said, keep in mind that I have premium AI controlled fans from Lenovo, which are really good, and this game is keeping my GPU in 80c on high settings 1440p.

DO NOT turn on Ray Tracing, it turned my fans into airplane jets and warmed my nuts during -6c degrees outside. (and you also need 6GB VRAM bare minimum for High settings with Ray Tracing High; 12GB VRAM GPU like the RTX4070 basically mandatory for stable framerate)
Also some textures look really bad and low resolution even at 1440p without DLSS on. Lots of textures need major upscaling it seems. Turn off Depth of Field and Motion Blur as they make the game look even worse.

Edit: Damn you... I enjoy your game too much for this to stay as a negative review... please make the BOT AI not be as idiotic for higher difficulties...


TL:DR This game is strictly designed for co-op and you're not supposed to play single player because the friendly AI is atrociously bad and the devs don't care.

I'm extremely pissed at the dev's decision to completely ignore this issue, especially because I am someone that enjoys high difficulty in games.

Angel of Death is literally unplayable on single player with the bots. Do not purchase this game if you wanna play high difficulty on single player... It's like they specifically made it so single player is unplayable, because the bot AI that's supposed to help you is actually literally useless.
Worst AI I've seen in any game since the year 2000 I think... Only purchase if you got friends lined up to play it with you.
If you wanna play solo, anything above "Normal" difficulty is literally impossible because of the AI bots you have on your team.

Game released in september 2024 and the AI issues have still not been fixed... I guess we need the modders to fix the mistakes and slop of game developers again.
I understand that the game is good and enjoyable overall... but only if you got someone to play it with. Again, don't purchase for single player experience, it's awful because of extremely bad friendly AI.

As someone that doesn't have friends lining up to play games with me, because they're not gamers, and a single player enjoyer, I cannot recommend a purchase. There's absolutely no reason for the AI to be this atrociously bad. If you want it to be strictly multiplayer co-op, then remove the squad bots from the game... what's the point of having them there if they're this damn useless? This game could easily be played solo if squadmate bot AI is improved at least A LITTLE BIT... just don't make them be completely useless, takes almost no effort to code that in and everyone knows it.

As much as I like the game, because the overall game is good... I can't recommend it to anyone that wants to play solo. Doubt I'll be changing this review considering when the game released and the fact that they're probably never gonna fix the bot AI.

Disconnected From the Server Simulator: Unable to Create Character Deluxe Edition.
You could also get the Day Time Maintenance: 5 Hours Edition or the Disconnect of Desperation Edition.
I got all of these and so will you, if you play the game!

Jokes aside, if you don't mind having another job or playing casually, you could definitely play this game.

Just beat the wolf boss Lingxuzi....


System Specifications:
RTX4070
Intel i7-13700F
32GB RAM DDR5

NOTE: CPU utilization during 4K Very High gameplay hasn't gone past 40%. GPU utilization was sitting between 70 - 90%.

NOTE 2: Don't think about 4K Ray Tracing ON unless you have an RTX4090.


Here's what this game is:
Elden Ring + Sekiro + Nioh


BUY THE GAME BRO THIS FEELS SO FUN TO PLAY AND IT LOOKS SO GOOD!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XxBICKMlLs

Good thing they added this.

If my rig can barely pull 54FPS on average on 1440p, with dips into the 40s it's a big yikes.

i7-13700F CPU
RTX 4070 GPU
32GB RAM DDR5

DLSS Quality at 75% with Frame Gen Off on Very High - These were the recommended settings by the way

For the record, Cyberpunk2077 on basically the same settings and a heavy reshade+ 200 some mods with upscaled textures and heavy traffic mods gets me like an 80fps average, in 1440p, with almost maxed out Ray Tracing.
Seems like Black Myth's gonna need some heavy performance patching.

Unsure if you're able to view the image bellow, but there are the exact settings.
It seems like, at least the benchmark tool, only uses half my VRAM for whatever reason and my GPU wasn't at full utilization either.

https://ibb.co/xjS0hCY


Update:

If you wanna put your DLSS quality at 50% and turn on Frame Gen, increase FPS cap to 120 and turn Ray Tracing to max on Very High, on the exact same PC specifications that I have you can get an average of 87FPS on 1440p. With an 83FPS average on full Cinematic, maxed Ray Tracing I haven't had drops bellow 70FPS. My RTX4070 temp level hasn't gone past 80c on a 10 minute loop, but my Legion tower case has extremely good fans and AI fan control, so keep that in mind.

No CPU or GPU over/underclocking was applied during either benchmarks.

The game doesn't loose a whole lot when it comes to visual quality either so this is still acceptable but I don't know how the extra latency from Frame Gen will affect gameplay.

Here is the image for the last benchmark results

https://ibb.co/H7HwqQ6

Pro tip:
Before you say this game is a crypto miner, learn to use your damn PC and how to optimize your in-game settings. Might also wanna take your time to understand what you've read when you've read it.

On a more casual and explicative note, please set your FPS max to 60, going to 120 will make your GPU and CPU overheat and utilize 100% of both.
I'm using an RTX4070 and an i7-13700F, while playing in 1440p Very High, setting maximum FPS to 120 made both of these overheat and my utilization jumped from 50ish% to 100% constant. The same happens in 1080p. Just set your FPS to 60, learn to troubleshoot...

There's no such thing as an extra application being installed with your game. I've checked multiple times. These weirdos are spreading misinformation like crazy.

Stop complaining about the game when it's very much a user error. Also might wanna understand what you read when you read something as well... for those complaining about data theft.


Fun fact of the day:
Most of the bad reviews are from USA citizens. Take it with a grain of salt, but the 30+ reviews I've looked into all have either private profiles, VAC banned accounts, USA accounts or people that didn't give away their country but have a youtube channel shared, and if you look, it's USA. Funny how you can research so easily to see if they're review bombing just because it's an Asian game and half of the reviewers are incompetent.


P.S:
I've played this during CBT, but I don't really recall them saying anything about a 3 week seasonal wipe, I might've missed it though.

I've changed my review from "recommended" to "not recommended" because of the 3 week seasonal wipe alone, it makes me not wanna recommend the game. Unsure why they would do this, but it will completely ruin their game in the long run. I'm glad I didn't spend more time playing this in the first week, it was the right call for me.

TL:DR
Don't play unless you don't mind having your progress wiped every 3 weeks or so (unless they change it to like 3-6 months and even then, they have no reason to wipe on the pve servers in my opinion).

I feel like uninstalling on this sacred number of minutes played is the play.

OK... I lied, I had to play more than 69 minutes.

The DLC is not as hard as people say. 3 of the early bosses I've fought, Divine Beast Dancing Lion, Rellana and the assassin guy in the cave... I forgot his name because if you have the sentry torch that fight becomes a joke. Rellana is compared to Malenia because they share a couple of attack moves and/or patterns, however she's similar to Pontiff Sulyvahn from Dark Souls 3, at the same time, she fails at being both. Let's just say Rellana feels like a nerfed version of Malenia due to the Pontiff similar moveset, very overrated boss and not as hard as people say. The Divine Beast is a cringe fight that's mostly hard because it shoulda never gotten out of testing phase and onto full release, the boss flies around into the air a lot of the time and pushes you into the walls or ruins your camera angles, while at the same time having mostly area of effect attacks with huge hitboxes. Is it a hard fight? Not really, you'll mostly die because of bad camera angles and the boss being big and in your face so you can't see what it's doing cause it keeps pushing itself into you on the regular. is it unfair? Yes. Is it a good boss? not even close, I actually hate this boss fight, it's one of the worst bosses in the game because of how bad the camera angles are and how much you're being pushed into the walls of the small arena you are forced to fight in.
The assassin dude in the cave that goes invisible is ruined by a single item, namely the Sentry Torch, which reveals invisible enemies, a mechanic mostly used during your trip to find Malenia at the Haligtree. This fight is a joke.
Out of the 3 bosses that I've fought and beaten so far, Rellana is easily the better and more balanced NPC, a boss fight that is actually kind of enjoyable.
When I look at a boss I want it to be a fight to remember it, an enjoyable epic fight that is hard for GOOD reasons, like Malenia. Malenia is hard because she's unforgiving, she's ruthless and she's a good boss, even though a little too unfair at times, depending on what moveset you encounter on the random switcheroo the game does every fight. So far, Rellana is the only one that's a memorable fight. The assassin boss dude I've found multiple copies of him roaming around the outside areas of the DLC, which makes no sense.
I kind of have a problem with Rellana, mostly because people compare her to Malenia and say she's actually a harder boss... which is so obviously not the truth... For Malenia I've had to use everything I've had in my inventory, Dung Eater(+10) summon as well (I'm on my first playthrough, don't judge) and it took me 3 full days to actually manage to beat her... hours upon hours of frustration which ended in a satisfying win (44 tries counted; I'm using a dual claw bleed/cold build + bloodflame blade; I dual wield raptor claws with hookclaws and was forced to respec 5 times just to beat Malenia; no prior research). Rellana took me 3 tries without even summoning, Malenia forced the summon out of me ... How can people even compare the 2 in difficulty?

There's a Hippo boss which I have yet to fight, but I already know of it because I've found the elite version of it... I've also seen a couple of Furnace/Fire Golems, so I'm expecting a boss that looks EXACTLY like that as well... Which again, is sad... what is up with the enemy variety.

Speaking of which, let me talk about some issues the DLC brings to the table:
1. most of the trash npcs are strong, to the point that the bosses are a joke
2. some elite npcs are way stronger than the actual bosses, which makes absolutely no sense
3. some of the most found items in the DLC area, which is supposedly a level 120+ area, are the smithing/somber smithing stones 1-6 which is absurd considering the level of the area, at this point you should be maxed on somber weapons (+10) and maxed on normal weapons (+25); what is the point of the absurd number of stones you find?... makes no sense
4. the majority of the npcs you will find scattered all over the place are as follows: 1. scorpion (3 types... small... medium size... bigger size.....) 2. zombie types (zombie with pot on it's head... zombie with fire ball... zombie that runs and hugs you and hits you in melee...) 3. those little pots with legs (also the bigger ones similar to Alexander) 4. some weird lumps of flesh (which also come out of the pots??) 5. those assassin's you find early in Caelid 6. a couple of different types of birds 7. a couple of different types of dogs...
You see what I'm getting at... they repeated the same enemy over and over like they just grabbed them by hand and threw them in without a care in the world. Enemy variety is extremely bad in the DLC area, in my opinion. To the point that after 4 hours of running around of half of the entire DLC area, I got hella bored of seeing the same enemies. Like for example that knight dude with a shield and a big hammer... I saw like 10 of those, I ain't even joking. There's also big knife dude in a village.... multiple copies of him.... It's actually sad how little effort they've put into giving us proper enemy variety.
5. Scadutree Blessing and Revered Spirit Ash, 2 items that are only usable in the DLC area, 2 items that in my opinion should have no business being created in the first place. They ruin the pace of the DLC, they force you to gather them as well, why? Because if you don't have them you do literally no damage in the DLC area. Which is why they ruin the DLC in my opinion. The HP and Damage scaling of the DLC npcs is silly to the point that I'm beginning to question what the hell were they thinking when they tested this. Did they even test this?

Now the stuff that is actually good, there are new weapons and such, which are really cool and enjoyable to use. The animations for them are very nice and the movesets are actually good. But that's about it so far and I've been through the area for around 4-5 hours discovering about 50% of it. Some of the new talismans make no sense considering the level of the area (which should be 120+ considering it's after Mohg). Like this one talisman giving +5 arcane... what is the point of this at this level of the game? It makes no sense, it's like they want new characters to rush the DLC area to get these early game and then run back to base game cause they can't handle the DLC at early levels anyway... I don't understand what Fromsoft was thinking when they've made this DLC.

I expect the Mesmer fight to be a good one, it better be good, considering how often he's mentioned... cause I'm starting to doubt my money investment here to be honest... the DLC content pales in comparison to the base game and it feels very much rushed so they can make quick money off of the much expected DLC.
(Update spoiler: It's good.)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9su65gvMyc

Update: As of right now, I've fought Romina... you already know what I'm going to say about her. She's Malenia 2.0 but with a large body, she has the same exact problems Divine Beast Dancing Lion has and is a really bad boss design because of it, she's also much faster than Divine Beast Dancing Lion and kinda has a lot of Malenia's moveset.

Update after beating most of the bosses and reaching the last... you know... R and M(not spoiling this one). Get the DLC, there's so much more to see once you actually manage to uncover the map... too bad the map is kinda badly designed and a lot of things you can miss by simply not being in the correct area to discover what you need so you can cross in another area...


As of 07/31/2024 I have just beat the final big boy of the DLC, you know, the "Consort". No spoilers, but please don't quit. It's super satisfying knowing you're done with the fight of the century.

TDLR: Will I recommend it? Yes. After 30+ hours into the DLC alone, I can safely say that the DLC is very much worth it and it adds some very much needed content on top of the base game. Though the damage of the NPCs in the DLC area is still off the charts.

How to -> Start New Save / Create New Main Pawn and Character
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbXMuQtP4lU

First Hour Impressions and Day 1 Performance Check
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jRJVLAH_lA

Testing DLSS3 Enabler, Prologue Skip, ReShade, Nvidia Game Filter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOVj2Pzz4_g

After checking my in-game fps, I'm sitting at around 60-85 pretty much constantly on Quality DLSS maxed graphics on 2560x1440 screen resolution with Ray Tracing on.

Update: After 3-4 hours into the game, in Vernsworth, I've had dips to 44fps, nothing unplayable, same graphics options.

My biggest issue so far is the game crashing on boot when trying to add ReShade to the game...

Quick Update a few days later... I've been hit by a reality check with the game's performance issues. I think I've crashed like 3 times within 5 minutes last night, so I suggest you wait on performance patches before buying or get the game on sale. I'll still recommend it because it's a great game, when it actually works.

System Specifications:
RTX 4070 12GB GPU
32GB DDR5 4400MHZ RAM
Intel i7-13700F up to 5.2Ghz
Windows 11

Get the game, don't pay attention to the reviews, check for yourselves if you can run it or not, you have 2 hours to refund anyway if it does end up poorly.