Recent reviews by ZveR1k™

My original review:
Brought to you by "Embracer Group"

I decided to give it the courtesy of a proper full review since I liked the 1st game.
I will start with the positives:

Optimization: The game actually runs pretty well.

Graphics: Significant improvement over the 1st game, although it’s not next-gen by any means. The only negative is way too much bloom and fog effects.

UI: Kinda better, but marginally. Still missing a lot of QoL features.

Now the negatives:

Bugs: Like, c'mon, who forced you to move the game release to an earlier date? There is nothing particularly game-breaking, but the sheer amount of soft locks during the side quests (especially in the Kuttenberg region) is baffling. Soft locks aside, I can't even access certain traders. They are located behind closed doors at all times, and when I try to reach them, I’m all of a sudden trespassing and treated as a criminal. Although, during one specific side quest, I can reach one of them without issues.

AI: If the AI in the previous game was, let’s say, riding a short bus to school, the AI in this game also picked up a few new mental disorders. I can talk to a quest NPC in his house, and the moment I’m done talking, he screams at me that I have invaded his private property and am trying to rob him. The AI can just stand in one spot sometimes for days, or multiple NPCs can spawn within each other and stay there the whole day. NPCs are constantly saying weird and inappropriate lines. It’s hard to tell if it’s scripting bugs or AI issues.

Main quest: A huge step down in the storytelling department. Overreliance on MacGuffins, convenient plot twists, and leaps of judgment. Just the sheer lack of logic and continuity errors sometimes kills all the vibe. For example, Katherine’s character, before we join Zizka, is absolutely obviously a spy. Why doesn’t Henry say anything when she is nonchalantly eavesdropping on the conversation about "we’ll attack first thing in the morning"? The whole string of subsequent events is just a ♥♥♥♥ show. Katherine manages to reach and tell everything to Zizka, and in a few hours, Zizka manages to assemble the troops, plan, and execute a perfect ambush. Henry, during the cutscene, sees the ambush and AGAIN doesn’t say ANYTHING. After that, the same Zizka doesn’t send out scouts or patrols, and a huge army just sneaks up on them. That’s just one of the many, many, and many examples of bad writing and storytelling. This whole game feels more like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Hollywood movie or a low-budget sitcom. And these never-ending dream sequences and "T’challa" convos with dead step-daddy are just the cherry on top.

Side Quests: Absolute hit or miss. Some quests, like Mouth of Hell, are pretty cool, but the majority are just boring fetch/kill/carry quests, and even the cool ones are, for the most part, ruined by bad game design and mechanics. Like that quest about "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥" or Romans—whoever wrote that quest doesn’t know what they’re doing.

Combat: Simplified. Why, you might ask? Who knows. Combat in the first game wasn’t hard to begin with. Now you’re just master strike fishing. Feints were hamstrung due to the reduction in the number of attack angles, especially if you’re not using swords. At least they kinda fixed shooting, and it’s a very big "kinda." Targeting is still junky. They somewhat fixed combat against multiple opponents, but in the most stupid way—by throttling the rate of enemies’ attacks. They sometimes stare at you for 5–10 seconds before attacking.

Mechanics & perk reworks: Again, hit or miss. Improved Alchemy and made it more intuitive while simultaneously ruining the balance of the game—same for the newly added blacksmithing. Also, someone put a ♥♥♥♥ ton of stock into the "Hardworking Lad" perk. The sheer amount of carry stuff quests and activities is obnoxious. Outfits were a cool idea but poorly executed, especially since the game keeps removing and changing them during quests...

Now the juicy part, the DEI: Vavra instantly caved, like the little ♥♥♥♥♥ he is, as soon as DEI Benjamins started flowing into his pocket. Retconning established characters and shoehorning the most obnoxious, preachy, and self-righteous pricks from slave-trading countries (FYI, Mali has an active slave trade to this day) into the main story is part of the deal these days.

P/S Nevermind, I just checked the early life section of (((Vavra))), no more questions. LMAO

The true GOAT and grand daddy of survival shooters is back in its full glory

I've been playing this "MMO" (though it's more like a co-op RPG) since launch, on and off. Most of my hours aren't logged on Steam, and over the years, I lost my original account. I can safely say, its a pretty good game.

Honestly, more people should give it a go. The original eight storylines range from decent to insanely good (mostly the Sith Empire, duh), and you can experience them for free (with some restrictions on mechanics). Also, if you're simply a Star Wars fan and want to experience probably the last piece of franchise/lore that wasn't adapted for "modern audiences," this is it.

I need to add a disclaimer for new & returning (like myself) players specifically. To avoid any toxicity towards you (dont ask me how I know it), just look up gearing guides on youtube before going Arena, same for end game PvE content like operations. Also, check out Stasie's guide if you're interested in GSF.

Most Tarkov players are having 30-40 fps on Streets and meat riding Nikita into the sunset, but will be complaining about day 1 Early Access game that was built on UE5... You people are precious.

As far as the game goes: played only for about 1hr before work and had a blast. Game loop is fun and addictive.

My setup:
GPU - 7900XTX;
CPU - 7800X3D;
RAM - 32GB;
Resolution - 2k;

Performance wise:
90-110 native, everything on high, and 180-210 w/ FSR & Quality preset.
Didn't have any crushes so far.

Updated review after 0.2 Night Ops:
Games moves in the right direction. Realistic day/night cycle, with proper lighting changes is a great addition to the game.
Things that I would love to see in the next big update:
Live weather changes
More loose loot and lootable areas
AI improvements (Still getting one shotted through 50-80m of jungle vines and trees sometimes)
QoL improvements for inventory and UI in general (UI looks and feels dated)

One thing that will improve overall experience greatly is allowing only one faction of humans on a server for PvE, and the PMCs of other two factions should be AI that will be doing "questing" and "looting" in the different POIs across the map.

Just hot garbage of a game. MP experience is the most tilting experience I have ever had in my life, SBMM & EOMM completely ruined this game for me. Every lobby I am in, is filled with CDL/groot skins, "iridescence" wonna be streamers/pros. On top of that, inconsistent ttks and horrible hit reg makes it almost impossible to consistently win gun fights on m&k. Almost every single gun sounds and feels like a wet fart.
This game has no personality and vision behind it. Every design decision in this game is made so they can milk the last dollar from you on yet another abhorrent bundle that nobody asked for (yeah I'm talking about you Nicki Minaj, Snoop or another ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ass raper bundle), what a pathetic lemming you need to be to own one of those. I would refund this game in a heart beat if I knew that you can do it within a week on Steam, since its a DLC and not an actual game.
I hate myself for caving under pressure from my buddies that were hyping this game up and buying it, and this is my pledge:
"I am will be a forever *** if I buy another CoD game."

One of those games that you sit to play for an hour, and like reading a good book, you tell yourself "couple more pages", after some time you realize that its been 10 hours...
In all seriousness, easily game of the year.

Back during the release I had some game breaking bugs, so I just tossed & forgot about it.
Fast forward to 2023, I got a video in recommendations on YT. It was going on an on about how much Cyberpunk 2077 has changed and you need to try it out. So I did and oh boy was I surprised. Literally the same problems as before. Bugs left and right, textures are not loading, everything is "soapy" in a distance. Spare yourself time & nerves don't buy it, it DOESN'T worth it.
Yeah, still no Steam Workshop...

Update 03/08/2023
I managed to fix some of the "game-breaking" issues with the game, primarily problems with textures, and modded the game to make it more "player-friendly", or simply to improve "quality-of-life".
Still though, I wouldn't recommend this game at this specific moment. Most of the problems with game are still present:
- Crazy amount of bugs during quests
- Clipping
- Just bad AI (from pedestrians and traffic, down to main quest NPCs)
- Bad LOD at the distance, resulting in "soapy" textures
- LowRes textures/models for non important surfaces, objects and effects.
The simple fact that you need to install 20-30+ mods just to make game more enjoyable and pretty, can & should steer away most of the people from this game.

FYI I'm running 3080 & 5900x, video settings are max'd.

After beating all souls games and bloodborne multiple times w/ different builds, I can safely say - Elden Ring is just the worst out of them all. Definitely a beautiful game, but thats about it. Open world is just doesnt work, after a while you just running thru the enemies, its not rewarding to kill them (besides a rare exception here and there). Unlike linear souls games, when you have to go thru the enemies to get to a certain point. As far as lore goes, I'm not that deep into the game to judge, but looks like a typical souls game. Either a God or a being that trying a ascend into the godly hood ♥♥♥♥♥♥ the world up, and its up to you to fix it thru becoming a god yourself or continuing the work of the prev god, or paving the road for humanity. Kinda getting derivative after 5 games. 23.18 pebbles out of 18.25 stones.

As usual horrible DLC policies; 20$ for content that should be in the base game;

Update 8/30:
After spending a bit more time in the game - its not EU IV, but a really good game. Although can't recommend because of the DLCs. Just wait for the sale and get all required content to enjoy the game.

Update 9/7:
So after searching for discounts on the DLCs, check out "isthereanydeals".

Can recommend. A pretty stiff learning curve, but as soon as you passing that, a great strategy emerges, with surprising variability, options and captivating gameplay.
Pros:
Just overall great strategy game
Interesting gameplay mechanics
Historical accuracy
Cons:
Predatory DLC policy - 20$, on average, for a couple of buttons
Verdict:
Because of the DLC prices - wait for the sale. Unfortunately, you'll need them to enjoy the game.