Recent reviews by Jintek

So...

I know a lot of people know I'm a huge fan of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls and have spent over 1000+ hours on PS3/PC doing challenge runs of all kinds. I still have exactly 38 videos of Dark Souls challenges I'm waiting to upload that some of which have never been done before, at least on video on YT. But I've been asked what I thought about Dark Souls 2 and why I've only completed it twice on PS3 and lost interest in the PC version a couple hours into my SL1 Deprived run. And why I basically stay away from any discussion whatsoever about it.

Well, the reason is I'm EXTREMELY disappointed in almost every aspect of the game except mass Soul crushing in the menu. All skill/knowledge based-balance has been striped out in stronger favor of stat allotments, and the primacy of "player skill and knowledge" to play the game all the way through in a types of various styles and challenge is basically gone, this speaks strongest in relation to the challenge running scene and PvP scene on DkS1 vs. DkS2. So rather than me ranting and raving, and in the end frothing at the mouth about this game, I'll let these three videos say what I would say in much better ways and without all the anger I'd inject into it. The loss/lack of Miyazaki basically destroyed this game completely vs. previous entries, period.

This video by Matt here I 100% agree with, other than the fact I would argue (from a challenge running and PvP perspective, it's a far greater step backwards than he describes here)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UScsme8didI

This is furthering my thoughts on the gigantic steps back taken in movement calibration, animations and just skill-based play in general. All from my bro Martyrs who I attribute to be one of the best PvP players out there and was the main guy who helped me be competitive in PvP at ANY base-Starting Level vs. any SL char I fought in PvP. And keep in mind he got everything spot-on in his analysis of the Beta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ6SqmwXx2o

And finally, the reason why I don't talk much about Dark Souls 2, as I share Martyrs' thoughts on this issue here as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHGgPdXi4k4

In closing, if you watched all that. I will say that IF they fix nearly everything mechanically atrocious about this game vs. the previous game's I might give it another real go. And I'm hoping and praying the "not supposed to happen DLC" brings with it just that and better content overall to echo the quality of the formers. Which is the reason I bought it still.

So, Souls fan forever, signing out of DkS2 and saying my peace (sort of) until issues are fixed or I wait for the next "Miyazaki-Souls game" or just BloodBorne and wave goodbye to it forever if it stays this way.

*Note that this is just my personal preference and opinion, I'd be more than happy to hear objections, arguments or criticisms to it. But to each his own, and to my mind in retrospect this sequel, like Batman: Arkham Origins, should have never happened. It was a cash-in while the real "next-gen game" was being made.

After roughly 4000+ hours in this game over all the console versions. I still feel like nobody ever quite explained it as well as Greg Kasavin did, so here's his review. Notice this is the GameCube version he's reviewing, and all versions have very slight differences, but the XBLA version added the most "features" so to speak, and that's mainly what we got with this version. It fixed a lot of things the XBLA port got wrong from the arcade and DC/GC versions. My only nitpick is, they didn't include online co-op which the 360 version had, which hopefully they'll patch in at a later date. And there are people who have latency issues with the game at the moment so hopefully that's fixed fast. I also really hope Treasure VAC protects the game at some point as well. Another sad thing I guess is, the previously announced Trading Cards are now no longer happening, apparantly, the store page isn't even listing them anymore even though Treasure themselves confirmed them...

So, best review of the game ever - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4fzFvQzWtw

Go buy it!

Edit - Has Steam cards now, just to be clear and updated. And the artwork is actually great!

Right now, not worth the price, at all. The game isn't even true 16x9 widescreen, game has unexplainable lagspikes on my brand new 700 series GPU Gaming Laptop. And the combat itself feels more frantic and "beat to the punch" based than actual super fast paced methodical skill-based combat. Has good ideas, and my opinions can change on the complexity and eventual mastery, but right now it's just "feels" too frenetic to be any real skill-based 3rd Strike (if you will) type gameplay. So it's a good pick up and play game.

Soundtrack wise, it leaves a lot to be desired. nothing really to say there, nothing is really good at all...

Visually, it's a minimalist type paintery style, sort of, but I don't particularly think it excentuates the raw gameplay as much as another artstyle could. But heh, it's unique, and it looks alright.

Multiplayer should be fun at least.

Anyway, just my first impressions. But definitely not worth a $15 pricetag imo, much better games at cheaper or exactly that price. And Volgarr The Viking remains the undisputed king of recent Indie games recently with Race The Sun at #2 imo.

So anyway, yeah, 7/10 if you want a score.

It's like a crazy minimalist hybrid of Star Fox/F-Zero crossed with Super Hexagon's speed and reflex driven twitch aspects. My only real complaints are the bugs at the moment with achievements and some other stuff. I liked the older leaderboard stle they had in previous versions, and the soundtrack could be a lot better and perfect the experience. Overall, great game and I'd highly recommend it if you're into this sort of thing. Has great level editing tools as well as what will be a great user-created level portal. I'm not a fan of "luck-based" procedural generated levels but hopefully that can be eliminated by user-created levels at some point. I'd also like a static leaderboard alongside the daily leaderboard, for best players overall. And hopefully in time all of this can be worked out in some way.

But yeah, go buy it, one of the best indie titles to release on Steam recently and worth the time and money.