Recent reviews by Banaaf

This is by a mile my favorite game at the moment. If you don't mind the grind of farming that Minecraft can provide, this game should be on your radar. The building is a ton of fun, getting the materials in order is a chore. There is a ton of different things to do in this game, from taming dinosaurs, cooking different kibbles to tame dinosaurs faster, taming wild dinosaurs (passively or by knocking them out depending on the dino), building massive fortresses, raiding peoples bases, clearing caves of wild dinos, doing boss fights if you choose to summon them. The list goes on, it is a big time sink, so we be warned, but with the added breeding systems and regularly adding new dinos there is generally something to look forward to. The special events that are run can be fun, although sometimes the rewards don't merit the time spent to obtain them. (So many hours for that easter bunny constume for my Procoptodon [Kangaroo]) I have put in around 2000 hours and dont regret it yet, have played on full PvP servers, Primitive PvP servers, Center Map servers as well as the original map and have enjoyed most of it. There are the hazards of toxis servers that come with any survival based game. The anti cheat seems to have improved it a bit, but there are still some brutal servers out there. There are also some issues with disappearing dinos as well as bodies falling through maps, rendering issues once you develop a massive base with hundreds of dinos (if you can get that far). All of the lag and nonsense aside though, still worth the time, game is beautiful, tons to do, I recommend playing on a PvE server or modded server to learn the ropes. Also, ARK Survival of the Fittest is out there which is always fun, different pace of play.

UPDATED REVIEW 2/26/2018

Tons of new content has been added to this game and it is incredibly addicting, always something to do as stated above. Lots of new maps have been added (paid DLC which I am not a huge fan of, but bought anyways). Some of the issues in this game have been around since it was in early alpha testing and still have not been addressed, may others have. People were building under terrain, hiding bases inside surface textures that were bugged....."floating" baby dinos so they wouldn't consume food...all kinds of weight exploits so you can basically farm infinitely...there are still unfixed weight exploits which I was using up til the day I quit on PvP for a while, and yes they still work. All the big tribes and long-time players know these exploits and use them everyday, giving them the edge over any new players who are ignorant to them existing...

Most game breaking glitches are being addressed, however, there are so many exploits and work-arounds that it is unfortunately a very broken PvP experience. Large "mega-tribes" basically run the PvP servers (yeah that's most games, I know), even if you rise to the top of the server you play on, they can simply transfer onto your server and destroy everything you have over night. There is no good player tracking mechanism to allow for retribution either, Steamnames are used for the tracking, yes you can get someones unique steam ID, but how many 123 accounts do you intend to add to a spreadsheet to stay on top of what is happening on your server? Due to this, I quit playing the PvP servers, went to PvE. On PvE, there are still many issues...including players pillar spamming maps and blocking critical access points.

ARK Developers have been okay about replying to tickets when people are blocking off key elements to the map and doing extremely game-breaking things, when the appropriate proof is provided in the ticket. Tickets regarding personal issues, ie, stuck dinos, lost dinos, lost structures, falling beneath map and losing all gear....still a complete lack of response from their end, I believe they stopped looking into most stopped dino inqueries? I could be wrong on that... I have had screenshots of stats, levels, parents, everything that should be needed in order to get something replaced in the event of something disappearing due to a glitch at server restart....Yet, never had a solid response one of these tickets. I had sets of twin dinos, where one twin disappeared, the other remained yet I was told the dino couldnt be replaced by the replier to my ticket....It is a mixed bag as far as ticket resolution, read around and judge for yourself...I played since game launch and I never received what I felt was adequit follow-up on a ticket inquery

Long story short, this game is incredibly addicting...it is incredibly fun....you will never want for things to do. If you want an optimal PvP experience, learn the game mechanics, befriend as many people as you can (it is hard in a game where backstabbing people is extremely beneficial) and then try to get a decent sized tribe of your own started...alliances are not a bad way to go but an ally can screw you over in a heartbeat if you pick the wrong one...A couple of beta tribes can successfully hold a server, I did it with a group of friendly tribes (pre-server restarts). We held off several mega-tribe attacks, ultimately we did end up getting wiped...then the tribe that wiped us was banned for cheating...too late for us as our stuff was already dead...

I am sour on the game, hence the more negative tone of this update to my review and not really speaking to the content of the game so much as Im speaking about the issues with it...There is tons of neat stuff to do on the ARK, the story is lacking as far as in game, however, I found it interested watching videos of compilations people made explaining the explorer notes, which explains why the DLC maps exist, etc....its kind of cool...I would wait for this game to be on sale in a bundle and not purchase at full price with separate DLC if I were to invest in this game knowing what I know now

If you do try the game, enjoy, it is addicting and fun if you like a time sink...hope this review was helpful....it was definitely wordy :P

Still can't believe this game is free. For those of you turned off by that statement alone, keep this in mind. As of right now none of the in-game purchases are for items or abilities or anything that will give you an edge for making microtransactions. All of the shop items are merely skins and various other cosmetics. This is a dark dungeon crawler with some nice graphics, very similar map to Diablo II, able to layover the screen by pressing TAB. To be honost a lot of this game reminds of Diablo II, from the style of play to the waypoint systems, the scrolls of identify and town portal, and even the casting and a lot of the classes available. That being said, it is very well done and IMO is what Diablo III SHOULD have been like. The leveling system is interesting on here. Most of the skills available are given on socketable gems, which can be leveled up along with your character. These sockets can be removed and sold/traded/stored at your convenience, making the amount of socket slots available on an item more valuable than ever. Also it is interesting that these gems are not class specific, although, some are clearly intended for certain characters. Another great function on this one is all of the runes available. For instance, there are runes that can make a Normal (white item) turn Magic (blue), you then have a rune that could be used to add another Modifier to the weapon (random modifier). Another rune will reforge that item with random modifiers. There are many other runes that I have yet to experience. The currency in game is fragments of runes and scrolls that can be stacked to form complete runes and scrolls, which are then used to benefit your character. The skill tree is immense, still working out whether that is a good or a bad thing (I am a bit intimidated, but also excited). I have not taken the time to count the items on the skill tree, but I would venture to guess it is over 250. It is a lot to take in, but I also kind of like it due to the fact that 'cookie-cutter builds' should be less prominent. Take all of this with a grain of salt as I have not invested major hours on here yet and am only a level 25 overall. Just started another character that hasnt cracked level 10 yet. I believe the level cap is 90, maybe higher, I have not looked this up either to be honost. All I can say is if you enjoy Diablo II, give this game a shot. I am going to be spending a lot of time on this one.