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Recent reviews by Ímþ®óvîšâ†ó®

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1 person found this review helpful
446.8 hrs on record (92.4 hrs at review time)
Early Access Review
For an "early access" type game (as of when I'm writing this review) that almost 100% reminds me of Phasmophobia but rewritten for a different regime (namely various tombs in Egypt as opposed to normal street houses etc), it is indeed amazing. Dare I say, it is in my view at least, a must have for anyone who at the very least, loved Phasmophobia and/or are just fans of Egyptian lore and thus don't mind exploring tombs in a horror style kinda setting.

Putting it simply: You play the role of an Archaeologist, with the ultimate aim each session, which is threefold, of: Firstly, infiltrating an Egyptian tomb, seeking to recover a very valuable artefact, found within the inner sanctum's sarcophagus of that tomb; Secondly, before entering that inner sanctum of the tomb, you need to be able to successfully guess the type of enemy Spirit/Guardian (or "Mejai") at the entrance of that inner sanctum that is likely to hunt you once you have made that guess, and Thirdly, successfully escaping the tomb alive, with said artefact already in your possession.

I'll attempt to explain how Forewarned technically works:
  1. Firstly, once you have started the lobby and you've spawned on the map, you start off with a minuscule amount of equipment shown within an Archaeologist's Bag on a table that you'll need to open up, which you will need to consider taking with you (e.g. Torchlight, lighter, flashlight etc), because it will help you explore the tomb and fulfil your main objective/s more effectively. Do not worry, because when you have levelled up and have hopefully gained enough gold from your many expeditions, you'll be able to upgrade your equipment and/or hopefully purchase better items that hopefully makes things much easier in the long run.
  2. Secondly, this is a game that can be co-oped between up to 4 people, much like Phasmo. But in co-op games, there is a notable option in the lobby menu, where you (as lobby leader if in fact you are one) get to decide if any of the total gold picked up by one or however many is shared amongst your teammates, or is it "finders keepers". Additionally, you'll be given separate tables with your own bags when you spawn in, and of course, there's an option in the lobby where you as an individual can decide whether to share your equipment with other players or if you want to be the only one that uses those items before you spawn in.
  3. Thirdly, in co-op games, if you die, you become a mummy, but here's where things get interesting, as on death, you are given the option to decide to spawn back into the tomb, as either a helpful mummy who helps your remaining teammates get their objectives etc, or you can be an evil mummy whose main objective is to kill any currently living Archaeologists still within the tomb, essentially turning the rest of the session into Left 4 Dead 2.0 style pvp gameplay if you decide to go the evil route, which may even allow you to be as devious as you wish, should you wish to play it that way.
  4. Fourthly, unlike Phasmophobia, while alive, you'll be more heavily relying on your ears each session as you need to be alert to figure out what sounds are being played out within the tomb. Completing optional objectives helps to make this task easier. Consider that, if you're intending to access the inner sanctum.
  5. Fifthly, during your explorations, the Mejai haunting the tomb, will make various noises intending to scare you or otherwise to raise your heartbeat up a notch, do not be afraid as you will actually not die from those events, you will only die (outside of the Mejai catching you during its hunt mode phase that is), if you've either taken too much damage from a trap, fallen into a hole or have been killed by a hostile enemy (e,g, a reanimated mummy etc).
  6. Sixthly, after you've had your fun exploring most of the tomb, dealing with the many traps and collectables etc and other portions of the tomb you have discovered, you have two choices (aside from "leaving" the session altogether if you can't handle it that is) in terms of exiting the tomb, you can either, leave the tomb and thus successfully escape with what you've already gained, OR you can attempt to put your greed to the test and attempt to guess the correct Mejai at the inner sanctum entrance. The latter will be explained next.
  7. Seventhly, If you guessed correctly, you will get a very limited time to grab all the gold found within the tomb, take a picture of the inner tomb if you want, as well as grab the Artefact from the Sarcophagus - in either case, the whole tomb will begin to close, and the name of the Mejai that you guessed correctly (let alone if you have successfully acquired the Artefact within the inner sanctum), will begin to hunt you in its physical form. However, if you have guessed wrong, not only does the inner sanctum remain sealed along with what is in it, but you end up taking some damage as a penalty, and the whole tomb begins to lock as the Mejai begins to assume its physical form in order to hunt you down. THIS is the part (the Mejai's hunt phase) that you want to be on the highest alert for.
  8. Eighthly, make sure you have already read the Research tab of your journal/log/PDA carefully as it is the only given source on how to successfully survive the Mejai's hunt if in fact you guessed correctly. During this particular phase, you will need to be on the lookout for a Blue Lever (similar to the one that you activated to initially enter that tomb in the first place) because that lever will spawn randomly within the tomb somewhere and it's on you to find it. Once you have found it, hurry and activate it while you are on the run from the Mejai, and you still hopefully have created enough distance to do so safely, then immediately make your way to the tomb entrance, and do your best to evade the Mejai if it's behind you while doing so, however, if it so happens to be guarding the exit or otherwise guarding your path to that exit, then you'll need to be strategic accordingly in order to to get passed it, or if it's already spotted you, to try to avoid its instant-death attack. If it catches you, you die, and you won't get a second chance during the session.
  9. Ninethly, in co-op games, even if the Mejai kills its intended target, it's not going to stop there, as once the Mejai's entered hunt mode from the moment the tomb door initially locked, it will not stop until all alive players, are dead (basically at that point it's Phasmophobia on Nightmare mode). However, if the player that died, had some equipment on them that you want to take with you while alive like the Artefact for example, then you'll need to find where that player died and attempt to loot his/her body for it while on the run.
  10. Tenthly, IF your expedition was successful, then you'll be rewarded with some xp and all of the gold you collected within the tomb, to have in your personal lobby stash permanently, until you have spent it at your leisure. You'll also get to view any artefacts both rare and otherwise and/or Lore papers that you have acquired whilst within the tomb that will be on display for you if you're the lobby leader, as the lobby will show only the lobby leader's acquisitions. Higher difficulties and timed expeditions yield extra gold and XP.

Despite all that I've said here, please bare in mind, that Forewarned, as of the posting of this review, is still currently in Early Access, so there is still more content to be posted and/or stuff that may need fixing (e.g. for me so far at least, it's the radiation device not working properly and the fact that immediately hiding in a standing Sarcophagus during hunt mode, doesn't always work when the Mejai enters its physical form since it can detect your position, and even kill you through it). But I for one, have faith in Forewarned's potential despite that.

Forewarned is by far, the most enjoyable when playing it with friends, much like Phasmo in that regard.
Posted 23 May, 2022. Last edited 23 May, 2022.
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2 people found this review helpful
512.7 hrs on record (20.5 hrs at review time)
I'll add a "SUMMARY" note at the bottom of this review, if you can't be bothered reading my rather in-depth points.

Advantages: Believe it or not, I really enjoy this game (and this is coming from someone who doesn't own nor have any desire to own any Ubisoft games generally speaking, but this is the exception that I will own), great story, can choose between male or female of any 3 warrior types (i.e. Knight, Viking or Samurai) challenging but magnificent combat system (for anyone familiar with the Soul Calibar games on PS2/PS3/PS4, you're going to love the Guard Impacting and Guard Breaking as this game has those particular mechanics in it as well), and while not exactly the greatest edition, the Emblem and Warrior customizations can be pretty fun sometimes too. Additionally, I can even use my newly-acquired Steam Controller to play this game, which is bloody cool!

Having said that though, the game actually falls pretty short for the following reasons (a.k.a The Disadvantages).

  • If you're running this game via Steam like myself, and you want another to join you in For Honour, then to invite anyone from your steam friends list to join you (whether for Multiplayer matches or to Co-op the Story Mode), you need to not only have them as friends on steam, but also add them to the third-party app known as "Uplay" which I guess is Ubisoft's version of steam but for games exclusive to Ubisoft. I personally find that really distasteful, in the sense having to find people whom I already have on my steam friends list, to have to re-add them again to Uplay just for the privilege of playing with them. In my view, you should be allowed to invite people from your current steam friends list who also have For Honour installed on their computer and that invited person joins in your lobby or group and continue from there, not jump through more hoops than necessary. Also doesn't help that you MUST have Uplay installed on your computer, in order to launch this game.
  • Additionally to the above point, the "Import friends on steam" link on Uplay doesn't even adequately work as the moment you try to search for others on your steam friends list who have For Honour, it shows up with nothing.
  • While the emblem customization seems pretty damn cool (in my view), the warrior customization however, actually isn't merely for cosmetics (although from what I just found out in Multiplayer it's not really a concern when it comes to duel mode, but other modes it is), considering at the bottom of the screen when you select the item or whatever you want to equip your warrior with, has stats underneath it (e.g. item grants you better stamina recovery or more hp etc) which suggests this to be an abusable tactic (once people find out how to grind etc for those over-powered items) that will definitely turn away newcomers to multiplayer games, as those who played this game alot would already have those over-powered items making them near-unbeatable in combat. By comparison though, in Dota 2, you get items to equip your hero with too, so how's that different to For Honour in this regard? The Dota 2 items you buy are for cosmetics only, they don't necessarily give you an unfair edge in combat, For Honour's bought items, unfortunately have the polar opposite effect. Until Ubisoft patches this, to fix that issue (if it already has though I'll modify accordingly), I may avoid pvp multiplayer in this game entirely. Unless sticking to Duel mode (1v1) which is fairer cause the gear stats are off etc. This could also be handled accordingly if creating a "Custom (Multiplayer) Match".
  • This point contains SPOILERS, so please do not read this bullet point if you don't want to be spoiled! In Story Mode, you'll end up having to fight Archers as well as various melee combatants. So if that's the case, how come you are not allowed to either pick an Archer class or not allowed to equip a ranged alternative weapon? If Ubisoft DID allow this feature, then Story Mode would be incredible, especially for co-op. Basically point i'm trying to make is that Story Mode does not seem "balanced" in that respect.
  • Matchmaking in PVP modes is actually pretty bad in the sense that it could take ages to find a server to host a player vs player match unless you have people in your friends list who want to battle you in vs which you can set up via Custom Match mode. For anyone wanting to do pvp in the normal sense, will be extremely disappointed with For Honor in its current state.

Therefore having noted the above, would I honestly recommend this game to any of my friends and mates? That's actually a hard question for me to answer to be honest because for example a mechanic I like (e.g. the combat mechanic), others might not enjoy and visa-versa, so accordingly, I'm just going to leave the discretion to whether you want to buy it, to those of you wondering if For Honour's worth getting or not. Simply put, decide for yourself whether you think any of the flaws I mentioned above, matter to you and decide accordingly.

In SUMMARY, I do enjoy this game for the in-depth reasons I gave above (i.e. magnificent combat system, great story, amusing customization and is steam-controller-compatable). However, I do believe this game does have it's flaws for the in-depth reasons I gave above (i.e. Having the required Uplay third-party app to launch the game, including the "Import friends on steam" link on Uplay not working, decent emblem customization but the Warrior customization is non-cosmetic and is abusable for maxing out your Warrior, Story Mode not quite "balanced", Queing for PVP modes currently takes ages.)

Thanks to those of you who took the time to read my review of For Honour, I hope you found it helpful. Cheers
Posted 16 October, 2017. Last edited 29 April, 2020.
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3 people found this review helpful
479.3 hrs on record (192.3 hrs at review time)
Please read my review on Baldur's Gate I: Enhanced Edition first as that details the general stuff about the Baldur's Gate series. This review features two specific parts: Shadows of Amn and the expansion, Throne of Bhaal. Additionally I'll give my overall experience having played both of these.

Shadows of Amn
You start off captured as a prisoner* in a dungeon underground by an unknown individual whom you have never seen before and he is basically torturing you in your cell for some unknown reason which will ultimately become apparent as you progress through this game. Only thing that will be apparent at the start is that he seems to be trying to bring out some unknown power you have. All of a sudden the dungeon itself is attacked by an unknown group, forcing your capturer/the torturer to teleport out of the dungeon allowing another prisoner who somehow escaped from her cell (gee I wonder how she did that?) and she reveals to you her name: Imoen. After a discussion about what the torturer did to you and her, she springs you free from your cell, and from there, your immediate objective at that point, is to not only escape the dungeon, but to find anyone that is currently in the dungeon to join your party to make the escape a little easier, but you can attempt to escape on your own if you wish, having others with you just makes it easier. Once you finally escaped from the dungeon (you'll end up in Waukeens Promenade which is essentially a place within the City of Amn or rather "Athkatla"), your torturer, sounding particularly happy (and evil) commends you for escaping the dungeon, the exit of which collapses behind you after escaping. Imoen who had also been tortured by that guy demands to be released and launches a magic attack against him, he retaliates with a magic attack of his own, causing half-a-dozen hooded figures to teleport in to stop it and attempt to arrest him, and after the torturer resists both the hooded figure attacks and Imoen's own attacks, they ultimately arrest both the torturer and Imoen on grounds of using magic in a place (which is later revealed to be Amn) which is prohibited. From that point you'll have two primary objectives, find and rescue Imoen who was captured and settle the score with that torturer.

Additionally in this game, among the outstanding number of quests you can undertake, you'll have class-specific quests to take on too, so for example, if your protagonist is primarily a fighter, you'll be tasked by a kind-hearted noble, with clearing monsters infesting a huge Keep and killing their leader and if you succeed you'll get a chance to become head of the Keep which you can use as your own home to manage as you see fit.
Also for example, if your protagonist is primarily a Mage, you'll be tasked by a ranger to help him defeat his ancestor Lavok in what is known as a "Planar Sphere" located in Amn. That sphere will be yours if you defeat Lavok inside of it.
Those types of quests depend upon what your protagonist's class is. Something worth keeping in mind.

Throne of Bhaal
After you have successfully completed your final objective in Shadows of Amn, it is revealed that a certain prophecy describes children (including yourself by the way) of a tainted godly blood, that will cause a wave of massive destruction destroying all in existance including each other. in order to fulfil a certain purpose. You are urged by an Elven Queen to visit a sacred grove to discover some answers as to why this prophecy is even relevant to you and what part you will likely play in it. After you have visited the grove and listened to the prophecy spoken (which also states that there is a person you may encounter at some point on your journey, who has "the face of an ally", but has "the mask of a foe"), you are ambushed by what is revealed to be a "Bhaalspawn" (that's right a Child of the dead God of Murder, Bhaal) and her troupe, whose main objective is to kill you as a Bhaalspawn yourself. Once you have disposed of her and her troupe you get teleported into what is called a "Pocket Plane" which is essentially your sanctuary for you to rest and take up challenges and even upgrade certain weapons you have into powerful items via the imp Cespanar. At that point, you are visited by a familiar individual whom you had killed in the past, after vowing to never betray you if you let him join you, he gives you intel about the Pocket Plane you are in and states that it doesn't take you to where you want to go, it takes you to where you need to be: Saradush. Once you teleport to Saradush, which is under heavy enemy attack from outside its walls you meet up with a nice woman who is trying to save the people of Saradush, which ultimately becomes your objective as well, however it doesn't just end there as there are many quests to undertake after that, which may involve you ultimately battling other Bhaalspawn that will also seek your death among others etc.

My personal experiences in playing both Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal
Both of these games provide a super thrilling challenge the likes of which no other rpg strategy game is likely to provide, because among other familiar enemies, you'll even encounter monsters/creatures you have never fought before. In my particular case, I always enjoy the thrill of battle, so doesn't matter how hard an enemy may be, I'll always rise up to the challenge. Some will be easy, others will be hard to kill depending on how you have built your protagonist, let alone your own party members.

Nothing as yet, about either of these games has frustrated me personally, but that isn't to say these two games do not have faults of some sort. If nothing else though, I would've appreciated Beamdog implementing more fleshing out of the SoD story ending, to better transition into Shadows of Amn or even towards Throne Bhaal if it needed to be so late, namely regarding a quest of some sort about getting the "Soultaker Dagger" that the "Hooded Man" had on him and bringing it back to baldur's gate to prove the protagonist's innocence, even if it meant still being declared "exiled" due to being a "spawn of bhaal".

*Please be advised, that if you have imported your character from a BG1:EE game or from having played this previously, unless you have figured out the trick to keep your items, you'll lose them all at the start, so just a heads-up about that.
Posted 16 April, 2016. Last edited 21 July, 2016.
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No one has rated this review as helpful yet
497.6 hrs on record (280.8 hrs at review time)
This review contains general points about the baldur's gate series, summaries of both the main game and the expansion which I completed just recently, as well as my own personal experiences with both games.

General Points about the Baldur's Gate series
Anyone who loves hardcore rpg strategy-based games, with a more advanced D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) ruleset, will no doubt enjoy this epic game and its respective counter-parts. The Baldur's Gate franchise hinges on the story being based on the specific era where Nobles, peasants, commoners, elves, drow, orcs, ogres and all other manner of creatures of varying strengths and abilities existed. Brilliant story and brilliant gameplay indeed.

Know that you not only have the option to complete this game solo, but you also have the option of completing it with friends and/or other party members which you can also choose to have come on your journey with you.
If you're feeling super hardcore and are also brave enough to meet any challenge with your super over-levelled protagonist character/created party members, you can also try to complete this game on its hardest and newest difficulty "Legacy of Bhaal", but know that you will not be able to change your preferred difficulty if you chose LoB difficulty at the start of your session.

Summary of the beginning of Baldur's Gate
You start off in a place known as Candlekeep (your hometown) raised by your foster father Gorian and at some point he becomes increasingly concerned that you're in danger, so he urges you to leave candlekeep with him in the hopes that you'll be safer and shortly after leaving Candlekeep, Gorian and you are ambushed by a gang of thugs and Gorian fends them off himself so you can escape, sacrificing himself in the process.
A girl named Imoen offers to join you as your primary objective is to set out to find who the the leader of those gang of thugs really was that killed Gorian. From then on, the story can unfold in quite a few ways depending on what you decide to do next after that.

Summary of the beginning of the Siege of Dragonspear Expansion
After successfully beating the final boss of the main game (which henceforth declares you, the "Hero of Baldur's Gate"), you start off in an underground tomb underneath the Baldur's Gate city, accompanied by Imoen (who, if you recall from the main game, offers to join your party after you left Candlekeep), any other party member who was with you in the main game if at all, and the Flaming Fist (who are essentially, the military army you encountered inside the Baldur's Gate city from the main game when you first entered it), with your first primary objective, being to locate and bring to justice in any manner of your choosing (i.e. kill outright or leave alive long enough to have em taken into Flaming Fist custody) a certain avid follower of the Final Boss whom you defeated in the main game.
Once that's over with, your party members leave you to go on with their lives, while you and Imoen then end up within the Royal Ducal Palace bedroom of Baldur's Gate, for some rest and respite, until out of nowhere, some unknown assasins infiltrate the bedroom where you and Imoen are. intent on killing you.
However, Imoen is the one that takes a critical hit from said assasins, to the effect that a poison attack leaves her near death. Unconfirmed rumours then start flying around that it was the charismatic warrior, Caelar Argent, and her "Holy Crusade" who may have been behind this.
Accordingly, your new primary objectives for the rest of the game are two-fold: Firstly, to find out who specifically sent those assasins after you, and; Secondly, to also kill the respective perpetrator of those assasins, by any means necessary.

My own personal experiences playing both Baldur's Gate and the expansion, Siege of Dragonspear
I personally enjoy the thrill of being able to enter into battle wondering if I have enough weapons and armour attributes to survive the encounter. Having certain characters (or possibly other friends involved) as party members are also a great help.
When I do end up surviving said battle, my created character gains varying amounts of experience and sometimes upgrades, but when I don't, I either attempt to find other avenues of defeating that which had defeated me the first time or if I've exhausted all options, then I attempt to avoid having to fight it if I can.
Another thing I enjoy about this game series also, are the varying "relationship" dialogues that can happen between a created character and a certain opposite gender party member. The relationship between your protagonist and the opposite gender party member will either keep going or break up with you (even to the extent of leaving the party if bad enough) depending on how you respond to their dialogue with you.

Only thing that has frustrated me about this game series off-hand however, is that whenever a party member wants to go on a specific quest and you chose to let him/her into the party, but after a while when he/she realizes that your party is either "too good/bad" for him/her, he/she abruptly leaves the party and never returns, thus that quest that you originally accepted regarding that party member that abruptly left, remains permenantly unfinished for the rest of the game.

Addtionally, something that has really started to bother me about Siege of Dragonspear inparticular, is that while the gameplay itself is brilliant, the story itself lacks certain aspects which would have otherwise completed it fully. The most obvious example of this which immediately comes to mind, is that none of the relevant NPCs in this expansion explain nor even admit at all, to who actually sent the assasins to the palace to kill you near the start.

Other than all that, overall this is quite a great game and a great introduction into the epic Baldur's Gate franchise. You can also expect a similar kind of experience described above, in both BG2 Enhanced Edition: Shadows of Amn, Throne of Bhaal (Expansion) and the newly developed BG Expansion: Siege of Dragonspear DLC.
Posted 19 March, 2015. Last edited 21 July, 2016.
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