บทวิจารณ์ล่าสุดโดย Sobiul

Great game, highly recommended!

"Diana, she..."

Had they sold this as an "Interactive Visual Novel, I would have given it a perfect score. But its pretending to be a game with multiple plot holes, with an almost inconsequential character build, I just can't recommend this.4/10


The short of it is: Disco Elysium offers some of the most interesting characters and peculiar situations. However, I can’t deny that the game & story did not allow me to roleplay as a detective as mentioned in the store page, and internalizing the thought of racism, sexism and drug abuse was nothing more than fancy labels for buffs & de-buffs.




The Illusion of Being A Detective.

Just to be clear, I don’t have a problem with the ending of the game. My issue is with how the big reveal was handled in the story.

The steam store page said that I get to roleplay as a detective. I didn’t. I was role playing as Harry who happens to be a detective. What's the difference you ask? Roleplaying as a detective meant that I could solve the mystery. If I just worked every evidence, every witness and every crime scene as hard as possible, I could cut through the lies, useless information and determine the actual killer. Indeed this is how I felt in the first 24 hours of my play through. It was the last 5 hours that betrayed the illusion of being a detective.

"How did this happen?" Well, only after completing a series of talk-quests and scripted events, it was only then that the crucial evidence and a vital crime scene unlocked for me to finally begin to unveil the killer. I do remember successfully analyzing that ‘special’ window in the middle of the game, but it actually didn’t give any useful information to learn about the killer. All it gave was another run-around quest which made that whole process useless.

"How is this a bad thing and what’s your point?" This means that I could never really solve the crime no matter how hard I try. I was locked out of solving it until I completed all the wild goose chases the developers had prepared for me.

"But that's how games are, there is a start, middle and end, right?" NOT when you’re role playing as a detective. Detective games are driven by what information the game gives you and what the player can deduce from it. Disco Elysium intentionally withholds information that you should be able to ‘detect’ early on until the game has run out of content to delay you with. You’re not role-playing as a detective as advertised. You’re just playing a visual novel that has a ‘detective’ theme.



Catchy Labels & Self Identity

In many reviews I have watched & read how in this game 'you can be a racist, sexist, narcissist or whatever tickles your fancy'. I don’t find this to be true. This is not a criticism of the game as this is not really heavily advertised by the publisher nor the developers.

In the game, I equipped & developed the thought of being a racist. "What happened?" Well, I got some buffs and de-buffs. But I never felt the game changed around how my character’s mind was built. Sure, there would be occasions where I can insinuate some racist theories, but these were far & few and didn’t change the behavior of my environment around me.

Another interpretation of this system that I have read is that 'it's about forming one's self identity, the story and the scenes, all of these are just ‘background’ for your character to exist in.'. I partially agree with this. The replayability of the game is building a different Harry. But how much does that matter in a murder mystery when the clues and involvement-of-characters barely change regardless of your character build?

It's my opinion that the value of one’s character is reflected by the people around him or her. Even if you take every opportunity to say some sexist, racist crap in this game but so little changes / reacts to it then you’re not really a sexist or racist. All you got is some unlocked dialogue options.

If you’re looking to buy this game because of this constantly mentioned feature, please tone down your expectation. Being a sexist or a racist in this game isn’t actually being one. It's all just a fancy label for buff & de-buff packages.

Let's wrap this up because I already hate myself for having to write a negative review about a game that has opened new doors for me. Disco Elysium feels like it asked me to run around like an idiot for the first part of it. Once I was done with 80% of its content and the game was satisfied with my demonstration of effort, it finally threw me a bone and location-access to actually solve the mystery rendering my 80% effort as almost useless.

This is my first CRPG, a non-combat experience dealing in dice and percentages. Disco Elysium taught me that I can play these kinds of games and that I shouldn’t shy away from them. It has successfully introduced me to a gameplay that I didn’t know I could enjoy.

I play action RPGs & FPS games all the time, and I can look away from the awful writing and execution of the story from time to time because I know it's not the focus of the gameplay. With Disco Elysium I just can’t. Not this time. It failed to deliver a detective gameplay like it promised. It failed to give a cohesive story between my first 24 hours and my last 5 hours. With games like this, story & execution IS its bread & butter. The dialogue is just the means to an end.

Unless this game is on 75% OFF and you really really really really really really want to experience this, then I can’t recommend this to someone like myself. This all boils down to how curious you are of what transpires in Revachol.






S P O I L E R
D I S C U S S I O N
A H E A D






Plot Holes IMO

Alright, (1) so the workforce union decided that the best way to protect a wanted witness from being found was to stage a gruesome lynching for the entire country to see. Did they not think for a second that this is going to invite so much investigative force that what they aim to hide will undoubtedly be found? (Technically I’m not victim blaming the Hardie Boys as the victim was the hanged man. I’m just calling out plain stupidity here)

(2)What was the point of Klaasje hiding the fact that she knew the true trajectory of the bullet? In the middle of the game she was already helping the 2 detectives and somehow she failed to share this information and YOU, as the player, was locked out of finding this through your own curiosity. The game is furnished with so many words and yet they wouldn’t let Harry ask for any more information about the bullet trajectory from the witness.

(3) The Hardie Boys tried to put the blame of the lynching on them to make the investigation difficult thus hiding Klaasje. Successful in delaying the investiagation, it seems that they failed to remember that the ‘victim’ of the lynching was a leader of a band of war criminals armed to the teeth- teeth wrapped with the finest body armor. It seems that they failed to think about the possible backlash from these war criminals who thought their buddy was hanged. Did they not think that a successful & quick investigation was going to protect them from the fury of Wild Pine’s deployed security?

Funny thing to me is, I believe if Klaasje & the Hardie Boys came clean to the war criminals they might have even hunted down the killer themselves.

(4) Harry told his police squad to F%ck off, so they weren't there to help during the violent encounter, BUT also at the same time they were just watching Harry go about his way? 'Being told to go away' was a lame excuse for not helping when in fact they were there the WHOLE time.

Recommendation:This is a must play for anyone who wants to continue the story of RE7. Tension has been drastically reduced by mostly wide open spaces, brighter scenery, abundant resources - and traded it for more exploration, plenty of crafting and weapon upgrades, which brings Resident Evil’s new format to its full potential.


Resident Evil is a horror, suspense game that challenges a player in both resource management and puzzle solving. For the longest time, Resident Evil games follow the adventures of long loved characters, the same evil corporation, and almost always a predictable “plot twist / big reveal” in the end.

Resident Evil 7 & 8 breaks the mold (pun, lol) by introducing a new protagonist, Ethan Winters, running on a more grounded story, a father trying to save his family, fighting an enemy not so directly related to the Umbrella. And the best part for me was that I would have never guessed that plot twist in the end. Never. Ever.


Thank goodness for modders.

I have only one complaint about this game. It does not allow adjusting the field-of-view, at least in the time of writing. Thank goodness for modders! I was able to find an easy fix to adjust the FOV and stop myself from throwing up over my keyboard.

Recommendation:If you’re a fan of the franchise, and you must play all of their games then grab it during a sale. If you’re new and looking for an introduction into the world of Dishonored, and you noticed this game because it’s the latest of all its titles, DONT.
Just buy either Dishonored 1 or 2.


Dishonored is a first person, stealth game that encourages its players to study the level, patrol routes, enemy locations and master the use of its interactive environment to create opportunities and achieve your objective.


Billie Some More

Before I share my criticisms of the actual game, I just want to say that Death Of The Outsider made me realize Billie Lurk is one of the most underutilized characters in video game franchises. Her questionable past, her life of danger & travel can just set up any story at any location other than Karnaca.

Arkane Studios, instead of exploring the full potential of Billie’s life, did her dirty by throwing her in this short but otherwise amazing experience.

Ms. Rosario Dawson voice acting, as usual, is top notch. She was never dull, nor overbearing. Her performance expressed Billie as the mistress of quiet aggression.


We’ve Been Here Before

Literally though.

Death-Of-The-Outsider reuses its maps but with revised guard locations and patrol routes. One of the maps, I distinctly remember, was lifted straight out of the second Dishonored game. There are just 5 missions in this game by the way.

You’re probably thinking “The previous dishonored games reused maps as well, so this shouldn’t be a problem”. Yes it shouldn’t be. But when a game is this short and you repeat the same area on 2 consecutive missions, then the repetitiveness becomes apparent. Instead of feeling challenged once again, it feels more like a chore the second time around.

Dishonored 1 and 2 made me feel like I was traveling to different places. Every darn time I’d get off that tiny boat, I just knew there was a mystery to be discovered. That feeling did not follow into this game.

In my opinion, the level or the map defines most of a stealth game's experience. When that level is repeated, essentially I feel that I'm doing the exact same thing as before ran at slightly different timings. It didn’t sit well with me to pay 50% the amount of a full priced game for only 30% of its predecessor’s content. So I recommend that you get the game when its at 50% off.


What’s up with the frame rates?

I couldn’t get the game to run on 144hz with vsync on. I could disable vsync but I was getting nasty screen tea—--
—---ring. This is a 4 year old game and its previous title, Dishonored 2, was able to hit high frame rates without much screen tearing. Couldn't they be bothered to fix what their customers payed for? I just don’t remember this issue with Dishonored 2, and these 2 games run on the same game engine.

Let me be clear, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I say all of this as someone who loves the Dishonored world. It is easily an 8/10 for the likes of me. But if you’re new to this title, its still a good stealth game. The story & characters do lose a lot of its value without one’s love for the franchise.

Recommendation:Running on a smaller, more grounded story, combined with multiple world-spawned challenges, Days Gone offers both an endearing story and a satisfying gameplay. It may not carry the title of a popular, long loved franchise, but it’s a shining example of what Bend Studio can do. BUY IT.


Younger Brother You Say?

YES.

Red Dead Redemption 2, being the older brother, tells a deeper, more thought provoking story. He tells the story just a bit slower than his younger kin. He stops from time to time, wandering into other things that may or may not be a part or even relevant to what his story is all about. But in the end, he gives a strong finish that can only be told in a mean, slow burn.

Days Gone, on the other hand, is rather quick with his tale. He does take his time in the beginning to properly introduce everyone. Once that is done, his story brings you along on a wild motorcycle ride, country town shoot-outs and zombie chases. Like his older brother, he also gets side tracked with his story. However, the side stories never felt irrelevant or out of place with the characters and the world they live in. Everything feels cohesive, it all just blends together.

Vigor in Youth

Where Days Gone out did Red Dead Redemption 2 is the in-between moments. I’m talking about the time I spent exploring, or simply travelling between two camps to begin a quest. Bend Studio added dynamic layers of multiple world challenges, such as vehicle fuel & durability, zombie hordes, wolves and marauders. These challenges spawn randomly to create a memorable experience.

Inhale

In a gas stop, I remember watching my fuel gauge climb slowly, as a horde of zombies inch closer and closer to me, wondering if I’d get to ride out of there on a full tank or inside a zombie’s full stomach. And just as the horde caught sight of me, the refueling animation stopped. Right before a zombie swipe would graze my shoulder, the throttle kicked in and I got away.
Exhale


Days Gone’s small open world, felt truly alive. There were times it just caught me off-guard. And in those times, if I find the means to make it out alive I just know there would be another moment in the game worth remembering.


Other than recommending people to play this game, I also recommend that you crank up the difficulty just a bit. This helps bring world mechanics to life. Days Gone was a real surprise, I have heard praises about it, I just never imagined that it would be this good. BUY IT.

Recommendation:Dishonored 2 offered more sense of exploration & discovery than some other massive open world games. It offered a freedom in approach that tied perfectly with the level design without making the level too generic. If you’re into stealth & chaos, planning & freestyling at the same time, Dishonored 2 will deliver.

Recommendation:The puzzles are still not puzzles but just ‘procedures’ that you need to figure out the correct sequence (unlike in the old games before the reboot). Combat was not as ‘spot-on’ as the 2 previous games. The story was slightly interesting but just couldn’t be relevant to the game. Get it on discount.

Recommendation:If you’re into mind bending, sci-fi & mystery stories filled with memorable characters - then this collection of cut-scenes with a few button presses here & there is exactly for you! If you need an engaging gameplay then you may want to take note of a few things...



I wasn’t frustrated that it’s a walking simulator, I was frustrated that it had all the ingredients NOT TO BE A walking simulator and still Death Stranding ended up as one. Let me explain


One step away from NOT being a walking simulator

Before I bought and played this game, I went through dozens of STEAM reviews to see if it’s a game I will enjoy. So many members of our trusted steam community said that this game is a “walking simulator”. At first I found this hard to believe, but over-all Death Stranding was well loved by fellow gamers so I pulled the trigger.

After 50+ hours of gameplay, the community is right - It is a walking simulator.

Truth be told, it is the terrain that IS the star of the game. It is the very object Sam must conquer on his first trip to any given location. The tone of the game has me always preparing for a trip, bringing ladders, PCCs and other gadgets that will make the trip possible. Being a stingy courier, I would always survey the terrain for the route that would not require me to build anything or spend any of my gear.

After reaching all delivery points in the game, I have the burden to report to you that you can complete deliveries without crafting a bridge or laying down ladders. This is the point where I realized that the community is right and that this game is a walking simulator. There was always this small footpath that allowed me to get from point A to B, or a shallow point in the river that I can cross without a bridge, Or I would always find climbable rock formations negating any use for ladders.

So now what? Well, there are 2 things I ask for this kind of gameplay:
1. Create a terrain that will punish me for showing up without the proper tools. This will encourage me to prepare tools, which on the other hand will incentivize me to fulfill more deliveries to stock up on materials for tools. I feel this will create further relevance to the game loop rather than just to move the story forward.

2. As a compliment to item 1, upgrade the MAP presentation. Instead of just a simple satellite 3D photograph, add in distinctions between flat & walkable terrain (green dots maybe?), steep climbs that will drain stamina (yellow dots perhaps?) and finally unclimbable rock formations (red dots imaginably?) with respect to Sam’s current location & elevation on the map. This will aid the players on how to tackle the road ahead. If this sounds familiar ,its because this system was already implemented for navigating rivers & creeks. They just need to use it for the world map.

Yes, I asked that we increase the difficulty but also request that we add features to give the players a fair fighting chance against this challenge. After successfully completing a delivery with this system in place, I feel this won’t only unlock a cutscene but also reward the player with a sense of achievement.


Horrible Boss Fight Design

So the game tells me “Alright man, you’ve got an upcoming boss fight. Better get ready.”. There I was thinking, “How do I prepare for a fight when I don’t know what I’m fighting? Do I load up on typical ammo & guns? Or do I need to bring hematic weapons to fight BTs? I’m not going to bring half and half only to ditch the other half of materials that I don’t need. That’s just wasteful.” This is even more wasteful for someone trying to build up materials to complete the highway network.

Long story short, the game won’t tell you what you need to prepare for until you actually walk into the fight. If you’re thinking that ‘you can always walk into the fight, learn what you need and then restart the game so you can enter the boss fight actually prepared’, I say to you this ’It’s terrible game design to ask for players to restart a match while trying to establish this game message of “always come prepared”.’ For a game that is built on immersion, restarting a game absolutely breaks immersion. I find it hard to believe that this is the proper way of coming in prepared to enter a boss fight.

Some of you who have played the game will undoubtedly say ‘The game will provide you with what you need while in combat! Quit whining!’ - Let me start my reply with ‘Thank you for bringing this up. This exactly reinforces my point that this game constantly reminds me to come prepared but at the same time the game consistently provides me with what I need so I never really have to come “prepared”.

Boss fights consists of ‘aim your weapon at them and shoot. Shoot. Shoot some more. Stop shooting once they are dead. All boss fights in this game are as basic as that - nothing more. Before you say it - YES I played this game on hard difficulty setting and offline mode. I thought hard mode would bring the gameplay to life - and boy was I wrong.

That giant humanoid-BT combat tried to mix things up by introducing a position-rotating weak spot. I can’t say that rotating the target point did anything for it since the boss moved so slowly. There was no gameplay in changing the target spot, all I had to do was simply move my crosshair to another point of its body. Position-rotating weak spots work best with small bosses that move faster, forcing gamers to time their shots and better position themselves to create openings for a solid hit.


Double Edged ONLINE sword

The first two chapters of the game, I played with online mode enabled. I was enthusiastic to run across some marker or item left behind by a fellow porter. I have never experienced online “multiplayer” mode in such a way and it was a joy to behold.

Just like any other delivery, I prepared my tools, planned my route and headed out to conquer the wild. Just as I approached this beast of a mountain, I noticed all the ladders, and climbing tools by other players laid out for me. All I had to do was simply choose which ones I will use.

Doesn’t sound like a problem? Okay, let me tell it in another way. Let’s say you’re playing Dark Souls, Borderlands or any other game. You’ve leveled up your character! You did all the work to give yourself the best fighting chance against that next boss battle! Then you arrive at the boss fight only to find that it’s already dead, killed by another online player saying “I killed it for you. Hope you like it, so send me a ‘Like’, thanks!”.

The online system is very innovative and a totally fresh experience. However, it removes the importance of the game crafting & building mechanics. As I have mentioned earlier, I didn’t need tools as all deliveries can be done without crafting anything. Even if you DO decide to add relevance to the crafting system by using them regardless of necessity, the online mode constantly feeds you ladders & bridges crafted by other players. This made me feel the crafting & building system to be less relevant to my own gaming experience. So, I turned it off.

With everything said, I enjoyed Death Stranding. Its storytelling is unrivaled compared to the few other games I’ve had the privilege to enjoy. However, it’s the gameplay where it comes out short. It doesn’t hold a candle to other Kojima Classics like Metal Gear Solid or Metal Gear V. If you’re big on deep and rich story with plenty of cut scenes to flesh out the tale, then a full price would not be a tough pill to swallow. But if you are curious about this title but need an engaging gameplay with a rewarding game loop, I urge that you get this game at a discounted price. 7/10

Caution:My positive review of this game is going to take a few swipes at games even I liked & praised. It’s that good.


A Story That Never Over Reached

I don’t know about you but I’m all fed up with ‘saving the world’. Rescuing humanity from the clutches of an evil organization it does not know about, I’m looking at you Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Valhalla (insert your own example here, thank you very much). How many triple-A titles have I gone through that must save the world? To put it bluntly, I don’t care about saving the world not that I have anything against the world but because I just can’t relate to it. When relatability goes out the window, the impact of a good story is just lost, the writers will need to work extra hard to catch any form of emotional response from me.

Enter Metro Exodus full steam ahead. It wasn’t about saving the world, it was just about saving our own skins. Finding necessities for the people you love, building a place for your family. Now this I can relate to. The story hit close to home.

Ragged & torn to pieces, Artyom was rummaging through an old hospital to find a cure for a fellow Metro Escapee. The purpose of your act isn’t as grand as saving the world, but it was more relevant to me than any other world-ending-heroics plopped on to my lap by half-efforted writing from bigger developers.

Not Just Quest Boards With Limbs

The TLDR of it is that the people who wrote the character expositions in this game feel like they know what human interaction looks like. I could cite games with amazing stories but suffer from this syndrome like Horizon Zero Dawn & Control, but to be fair with other developers, this whole dull exposition dump has been an accepted standard practice. Still, Metro Exodus’ method is a true standard for endearing characters to the player.

Metro Exodus is built on moments where Artyom is walking with a fellow Aurora passenger telling him about his or her life and ideas, or Artyom going co-op with another ranger to survive the immediate danger all while exchanging one-liners. Conversations felt like real life conversations. Characters didn’t dump their back stories on to you because you commanded them through a dialogue tree. Everything felt natural, told at the right time.

Weapon of Purpose

A shotgun should feel like a shotgun, and the same goes for pistols, automatic rifles. Each weapon offering their advantages & disadvantages. They shouldn’t be level gate’d. This was my problem with Cyberpunk’s weapons system - I find hand guns with higher levels than shotguns, naturally I use the one with a higher damage number to improve my character’s body-dropping power. Though weapon leveling is a popular industry standard for video games, it is my opinion that this needs to be replaced with something better.

Instead of players experiencing the difference between weapons types, the game quickly turns into a number hunting for that one golden gun with the highest random generated damage value. Instead of creating variety, I get this monotonous lottery experience.

The weapons customization of Metro Exodus is how I envisioned the perfect weapon progression system would be. It’s not about praying that a gun with a high stats will drop from that last big creature that I just killed. Weapons never encroached in each other’s territory. Each weapon type had its area of use. Metro Exodus’ weapon progression system allowed players to tweak weapon stats and not break realism with ridiculous weapon level discrepancies.

So you’re still here. Thank you for reading all of that. ONE LAST THING - Don’t believe those who tell you that “if you don’t play this game in the highest difficulty you didn’t play it at all”. Find the difficulty setting that challenges you, Metro Exodus is a personal journey. You won’t regret it, 10/10.

--Completed the Enhanced edition in 20 hours, that is where I'm basing my opinions--