Recent reviews by Xedhadeaus

There's a Shopto website you can go to that is basically gamestop for europe. They had the game bundled for about 46 dollars, which is lower than greenman even with coupons. If you are upset it's 60, maybe look over there.

I played Battle Network 1, 3, 4, and 5 before. Because I was in school in those days and it was relatively easy to get them because that was the age when girls thought boys who play video games were max cringe, so people would sell their games to look like more of a man. Meh.

This collection features the games that introduce the soul and cross systems instead of the style and armor format that the first three games have had. I personally feel chips have been somewhat tuned in Battle Network 4 to balance how well these chips could have done in combat. And it was alleviated and made unnecessary in Battle Network 5 and 6 respectively.

Battle Network 4... Is just as boring as I remember story wise. I got lucky and got the souls I wanted on Blue Moon in my first playthrough. Regardless of that, the patch card system allows you to enjoy every soul available in game without owning it at the cist of an HP loss bug. The patch cards offer more, but if the game bores you to death, you can use patch cards to spice things up, and help you huff some copium so you don't need to worry about being mad about missing them and needing to hopefully get them in another playthrough. Three tournament arcs the game.

Battle Network 5 is a breath of fresh air, and ungodly busted if you can properly time your chaos unison charge attacks, I guess Capcom came back to the just make it fun mentality they seem to have while making games. Liberation missions are fun, but if you played Double Team DS you may be spoiled by the slight changes there. Because if I recall you can upgrade your partners there. Maybe you can here but I don't remember how I guess.

Battle Network 6 is basically just a love letter. Painfully easy, fun as ever, catchy boss maps, infinite turns on soul cross unless you get hit by the weakness. New beast mechanic, Using other navis at will. "I think you could do this in Double Team DS too" It's a nice romp to run through, and it's probably why people prefer this game... Absolutely busted mechanic of placing Navicust programs off grid. If you like any Battle Network games, You'll enjoy 6. I promise!

All in all, it's a wonderful series I'm glad I got to play again. And now I can shove videos at people and have them see how good it is without needing to explain from someone else's perspective. If you like card battlers and puzzlers, this is an amazing grab.

There's a Shopto website you can go to that is basically gamestop for europe. They had the game bundled for about 46 dollars, which is lower than greenman even with coupons. If you are upset it's 60, maybe look over there.

I played Battle Network 1, 3, 4, and 5 before. Because I was in school in those days and it was relatively easy to get them because that was the age when girls thought boys who play video games were max cringe, so people would sell their games to look like more of a man. Meh.

Anyhow, I really don't understand why people don't give Battle Network 1 and 2 more praise! I know the map in the first game is confusing, and you can't run, and there is armor. But having 10 of each chip is so delightful to plow through enemies without needing specific types of chips. Battle Network 2 has a lot of "Who am I supposed to talk to." moments, but that game is pretty solid with no frills either. While blasting through them without needing Buster Max mode, I have a newfound appreciation for them.

Are these games superior to playing on GBA?
-If you don't have any of the toys, or the patch cards in 4 and above, or access to the download cards and etc, yeah. If you don't have Battle Network Starforce on DS or Double Team DS for Battle Network 5 or 4.5 at all, you'll be mostly satisfied with the included content here. Obviously if you've ever tried rom hacks around the series... no these aren't better.
-But if your interest is telling people about the series and giving them a no frills way to enjoy the games and playing online with people who want to be competitive then this is it.

That being said... I have seen a few people having bugs in Battle Network 2 that has screwed up their save, as travelling back to the school has them prompted to talk to everyone, and no one is in the room. That's really unfortunate and I hope they find a fix for it.

Playing through these has gotten me back used to saving often. It was a lot of fun, and because the game is filled with some enemies your folder might not be prepared for, It's highly suggested that you save often too.

Easy recommendation, fun games with loads to do. I wish I could see the look on everyone of the people I met playing these games faces when it was announced. Steam Deck, and then this. What a great gift to fans of good games.

Humble Bundle is your best bet to grab it.

Gotham Knights is just a hammer on a nail on why I never really liked or cared for Batman... I'll get into it later but something about the game really seems to ring true to it, but in a way feels like he was selfish enough to not think things through for one second and do what... everyone would have wanted him to do.

Combat wise... Don't pick hard mode unless you intend on fully abusing mechanics and abilities. enemies will casually Do Eddie Gordo dance moves when you decide to try to get rid of annoyances, while multiple people season your back with bullets. If you're a stealth god, ignore this. But after you get a suit that fills your momentum after you fall below half health, you can freeze spam just about everything and get your just desserts... I just don't think it's worth it. You will waste bars getting staggered out of your best moves, you will watch enemies side step and dark souls roll through your best moves, and near the end game, enemies will just teleport away and irritate the heck out of you. Your bonus for playing on hard? Bragging rights I guess...

Gameplay feels like an open world version of your favorite hero game, protect these areas, solve murders here and there, stop a deal, deal with the police, etc. because of the traversal abilities granted through Knighthood, which is basically becoming batman tier, you'll probably forget what the ground and streets are like, and it'll sometimes feel like the PS2 era Spider Man game, where you're in the buildings and rooftops so often that the ground feels like the wrong place to be. Getting around is satisfying, and the repeated crimes in known areas of the city don't feel as bad as they ought to because... it's the city, money moves fast, so if that is understood it makes perfect sense that they're trying to rob the same stupid bank a few days later.
-Progression feels just okay though. Interrogating enemies and doing some of the bonus objectives just feel like a box to check, and you'll need to do it to progress and beat the game.

Story...
I love it and hate it. Ignore this paragraph if you hate spoilers. It's not direct, but it is enough.
Gotham Knights feels like the reason you'd punch your Dad in the face. If you were a person with a family to take care of and foster the first and last choice you'd make wouldn't be to die... And for Batman... They were both of them. The game features four Heroes in training filling in the shadow of their mentor until they become good or resourceful to cast the shadow on their own. You can see each and every one of them cope with their loss in their own way, and fall inward toward each other in order to remain tall enough to take on criminals and remain righteous enough to cast a shadow like his. All of this is fine, but the glowing eyed black Pitbull gets another shot at life... and he throws it away faster than someone who is unwrapping a Christmas gift. Everyone has this cutscene driven individualism that is grown from the loss of this man, and instead of realizing he's got a family to protect, he basically does a 360 and heads right back on death row. I'm sorry, but if I gave a fraction of a damn about my family the last thing I am going to do is have my loved ones beat some sense into me, and then die... AGAIN! It makes all of their cutscenes hurt twice as much. Quadruple for Red Hood, because he knows that pain and is living through it. Top it off... Batarang brain dies in a machine he could have probably autopiloted instead. Dude is a bigger clown than Joker. Think of how much more you'd appreciate your mom or dad if they died, and came back a week or month later. And how much it'll floor you if they chose to die again after all that time... crazy

Literal Batman moment... I swear I don't get why people like him. Aside from that, it's a good romp and play on getting used and extorted by everyone, teach the young heroes about how much they're going to be taken advantage of. It just stings.

Didn't co-op the game, can't tell you how that is. I started as Red Hood, then went to Batgirl because she can revive herself twice, gets med kit boosts, and her ultimate skill heals and attacks. When you respawn in game, you lose materials. Maybe even your blueprints, since it's harder for Batgirl to die, she's kind of the obvious choice in my opinion. If dying wasn't penalized the way it is, trying others would be absolutely fine.

If you have access to games like marvel ultimate alliance 1 and 2, or better yet, X-Men Legends 1 and 2, play those instead. The game isn't bad, but if you're looking for fluid combat, and not just light attack heavy attack, range attack, dodge, counter, and skill use, than other hero games give you more of that without subjecting you to the snail's pace momentum skills fill up at. (without a good armor skill) The infrastructure is really good, the story hits the feels, graphics are pretty sharp, repetition makes sense, but the combat is just a little too slow to say I'd like to experience it again. If meter was easier to grow, you could plow past garbage enemies. but as it is, shield enemies, drone spawning enemies, gunners, and teleport assassins all leave you in a place where you're dodging more than you fight. And yet again... stealth gods can ignore this. You can smoke bomb your way around Gotham and silently take out enemies even after you're seen. It's just now what I'm there for.

It's not a bad game, it could be, and could have ended so much better.

It's good, but if you're here for combat and play alone, the game feels drastically different than what you'd imagine it to be.

Explorative freedom is something I need to put here first. I think that the traversal sandbox that these developers have put out for people seriously takes a front seat to what people are willing to go through to get more, chaining gliders to gain altitude, ziplining extremely far away, camps wherever you want if you have enough points. It just works. The freedom afforded to you through exploration and discovery is probably the best I've seen a game do to date outside of maybe an MMO, or Xenoblade Chronicles X. You can literally make a mess, and perhaps in the late game, that's what you were supposed to do.
...Now I'm imagining some of the more annoying fights like the golden tiger with ziplines surrounding the battlefield, and picking up and moving all of them every time the monster runs, and that potential for big brain teamwork, or even just a good well thought out setup can change the game in ways we might not even be thinking of until giving the game a fair shake. But you're most likely going to have to play the game to consider thinking that way. Maybe you will, maybe you won't

Wild Hearts is a very cool game that feels like what you'd get if you'd crash elements of Monster Hunter, Dragon's Dogma, and Toukiden together... and I know everyone who is familiar with any or all of these titles are probably figuratively pitching the tent, but if you're only here for the combat experience... please listen.

Wild Hearts has some pretty aggressive tracking.
Sometimes monsters will backdash and basically punish you for using a weapon and not having enough Karakuri points to protect or propel yourself to safety. I would attribute it to what I call in Monster Hunter Rise: Wirebug Checks. Where you take unnecessary amounts of damage when you don't have a spare wirebug for wirefall and the like. But it's slightly a bigger issue, because creating openings and countering your opponent with Karakuri is one of the most satisfying things to do. So if you're not looking to be a fast weapon wielding character, or making springboards everywhere to get around some of the more egregious tracking moves enemies have, you're going to have to rely on tight evasion windows, or putting your weapon away fast to use a slide that has a bigger window for evasion.
-It's a personal gripe so to speak, and in multiplayer it's almost unnecessary. Because everyone has their own shares of Karakuri and it isn't a long winded episode of dodging a monster tantrum to a point where you'd have less threads than you would online. The tracking some monsters have is a lot more noticeable offline, because of the extra work needed to avoid the torrent of hits that will hit if you don't last minute dodge it for I frames.

Huge hitboxes do not help bring this problem anywhere further from irritating. There will be a few "What hit me" moments, or "that didn't even touch me" moments where you kind of just eat poo because you aren't playing the game the way the game wants you to. And a few of the hallmark bosses in the game saddle in on these types of problems, so instead of feeling like the game might progress into a style that is reminiscent of monster hunter, where tight evasion is a reward, and a lot of the more difficult armor skills to earn grant you the luxury of not needing to depend on wirebugs to escape, this game doubles down on it. Ideally, you WILL be a Karakuri slinging master with Karakuri return skills, Karakuri thread attack recovery increases, and maybe even passive recovery.
(Before you think of it, there is a ninja weapon type in the game that has absolutely phenomenal evasion potential, jump evading and cancelling, and a hook mode that allows them to evade toward and away from the enemy at the cost of stamina. It's an absolutely refreshing class to try, it just didn't hit as hard as I wanted, and the evasion mode put me further from the enemy than I'd have liked to, so I stopped using it.)

Next big issue. Latency.
If you're playing online, summon the glider on the ground, do the flight animation empty handed then fall to the ground... you're a victim of latency. Building fusion Karakuri with latency in a pinch is one of the most "I guess I'll just die" moments in the game, where a well placed firework, shield, harpoon, wall, bomb or etc would make your quest less stressful, but instead you have a 6 high pile of nothing, or realize that the game instead decided to place your Karakuri in horizontally in front of you, wasting your well earned points and essentially catching you with your pants down.

Because the game handles faints the same way Nioh does, reviving allies doesn't cost faints, but reviving players too often makes their gauge MELT! It's honestly not a big deal, but in my opinion the multiplayer experience is almost always more favorable than single player because at the least you have meat shields and other targets, as well as people to revive each other when you get the occasional attack that kills you dead before you can even touch the ground (tiger charge hitting twice) and being grounded and attacked before you can recover. It doesn't happen that often, but honestly a team helps with that issue so much, especially when one hint the game gives you is "Use Tsukumo as bait" A player team does that better, and I'm really sorry for all the console players who haven't paid for online, because if they aren't harpooning enemies to death, or have a DPS so high that the trap Karakuri doesn't decay so fast after multiple uses, then they're not sharing the online experience of players actively keeping those aggressively atrocious mechanics in check. So even with latency, a team is better.

Also, big also, these issues might exist for the sake of crossplay. Which I will admit I am more than willing to accept if it means I don't have to convince people to play on the same box I'm playing on. I'm so freaking tired of that!

Weapon balance is... probably what I'd attribute to a Monster Hunter World problem. Most of the weapons are properly balanced there, but let's agree on the fact that a lot of weapons saw gross amounts of utility provided they were near a hill, or they had a running start. So weapons you would shrug off become absolute sledgehammers in the right situations, situations you can create yourself using Karakuri. So, if you think a weapon is lacking, try to take them out there and do some gymnastics with each mobility oriented Karakuri, you might be impressed. What I will say doesn't feel as balanced... Karakuri thread generation. some weapons can just get so many hits that they recover like candy, and others are... a drought in comparison. Being that you're either going to choose between being evade Jesus and using Karakuri to do it, it might take a few weapons off the table for you with that in mind, especially when some Karakuri fusions just stop enemies cold. if you don't even have the 5 to 12 Karakuri to do it? Feels bad man...

There are so many good things about this game, but in the long term I do feel like the developers are in a rut. Because if they fix the hit tracking and aggressive AOE attack spam the monsters sometimes have, the game won't even be or feel the same. And if you think of it that way, everything coming after this will be more evade perfect Karakuri sinks that may frustrate you, especially offline.

Once you either get someone to play with, get great Karakuri regeneration skills, or get the perfect counter to Karakuri, you'll notice the potential the title has even though the mechanics seriously feel like they're stepping on your toes. Some people complain about the peacock, you can spam fireworks to stagger it out of pretty much every move, the rainbow flame chicken is easily countered with harpoon spam. And in a group, the trap Karakuri is an absolute showstopper.

Get EA Play.
Try it!
Maybe buy it.

I don't think I've ever been more disgusted with a game in my entire life...

Way of the Samurai 4 is one of those games that should have had their scope and mechanics minimalized on the PSP. It shares fluidity and also resembles a game like Valhalla Knights in scope and animation. It is a pretty big game in a small world, and it has every right to be ambitious as it is... but this entire game feels like everyone involved ran with scissors in both hands while making the game! Let me do my best to explain.

Way of the Samurai 4 is basically the rouge lite version of groundhog day. The game feels incredibly similar but your character or characters consistently progress multiple stories that basically get forgiven when done poorly, failed, or even if you decide to kill the people involved. It's a very carefree presentation on its surface, but things like your crime rate, weapons, gear clothing and skills are passed down, and essential parts of the story are also passed down across what I'll quickly regard as generations. There are several paths and little interesting parts of the story that take foot, and the easiest way I could describe it to you would be... "Deathloop without time powers" Where you suffer through the game, get stronger, better, smarter until you can do more about it.

"Wtf Xed then why are you not recommending the game!?"

This game... is a cumulative mistake of sins of the past...
Checkpoints that make you hate yourself? Check, Very thoughtful mechanics seemingly implemented to make you miserable? Check. Area boundary mechanics that make you lose all progress in a mission because you killed someone too close to the boundary line, so you left the room, and when you go back, every enemy respawned, all your items are gone, and the game spits on you by saying bonus rewards lost because you left the area and came back? CHECK! Bonus mechanics that encourage you to randomly be prepared for a side quest, but if you miss the main quest item, you lose the bonus anyway? Check. Were you going to pick up all those swords after besting everyone in combat!? Let me show you a cutscene, and take you out of the area, making all of the loot impossible to get! Did you accidentally loot a body wile trying to pick up a bested opponents weapon and item? (which is fine, but looting a body is not) Get dropkicked by an npc, and put in jail!

Look...
There is so much going on for this game... and I would love to see what these people could have done with a more forgiving engine, lock on system, camera, being prompted about leaving an area to avoid getting penalized for poor game design, just everything. But This game puts me back in a child state, where my heart drops when I find out about limited continues after getting so far into a game. This game is downright robbery if you ever tend to get more out of it. You're going to wish you had more agency when attacking, you're going to scream MOVE!!! when your character falls in love with a lonely character on one side of the map when there are 8 other guys who would prolong your spirit meter if your character would stop running into them with more force than their gosh darn weapon swings!!! You're going to let out so much air when your character bends down to loot a body when there are almost 6 people waiting to turn you into a pinhead! Or let out your least charitable explicative when your character drops the food you were trying to gobble on the floor.

Maybe Valhalla Knights was this bad too... but in those games, you could mix classes and boost your stats so high that you could mow through the stupid parts of the game without blinking. But this game doesn't let you do that, so you'll lose out on some samurai points, which unlocks more stuff to make continuing and using characters more fun. And granted... not every mission has conditions where you need to defeat 20 enemies to succeed, but both times I've encountered this. I've literally considered going out of my way to make sure people know how irritated I am with it. And look... if you can literally tell whatever character you're playing as "Give me the sword, I'll do it better" then it's not a good game... I honestly feel like a water jug slicing body pillow enjoying roundbelly could do better... They won't drop food when struck, they won't move more than they cut when spending meter, and they won't get thrown around.

I haven't tried easy mode, I did a scenario in normal and I'm playing through hard mode, and there's another difficulty but... until I get indestructible controllers I'm not ready. Maybe I am and these beat 20 enemies at once quests are just unbalanced and not worth the trouble. I want to like it, but it's just cascading folds of failure, and once something breaks, every little thing starts getting to you. Items remedy quite a bit of it, but please try to kite enemies away from doors, keep your crime rate low or very good, and try to pick up things before clearing the area.

Guess what I'm probably going to do later...? SUFFER MORE AND TRY TO GET THROUGH IT AGAIN...
Don't be like me... it's not a good game. I just see what it could be and play it anyway.

It's okay...

I know, my game time and my review really don't match up. I'll concur. It was an easy game to get all achievements with so I just gave in. Another big appeal is cloud saves. One big reason why I cared to play it over the third again was because of that. For whatever reason it doesn't have remote play together despite it asking to press F2 on some pages for multiplayers. Bummer.

I played on Steam Deck. The major problem it seems to have is that cutscenes from the main campaign have a memory leak type of effect on it. Watching too many cutscenes in a play session will freeze or hang your device in a way that renders the experience impossible unless you quit or reset the device. Playing missions in free mode alleviates the issue by a lot. As for the version of proton used. Proton experimental is the way to go.

I think the main draw I have on the game is that I can't help but feel like the special attack changes have made the game feel more like meter management than actually doing attacks. dashing in between combos to skip attacks in the string doesn't happen, so doing strong finishers in combos requires you to follow through the combo the old fashioned way. And because both parameters for S ranking missions are on the lines of, kill fast, kill quick, there is less room for fancy combos and more incentive to plow the field as efficiently as possible. And in my opinion, it makes a lot of characters and moves lose appeal. Powerful attacks and power states are things I ended up favoring more than the combo extension moves that were free to use in Pirate Warriors 3.

Basic combo structure feels more natural is something I can admit. Jumping in the middle of a combo to do a launcher is something I wouldn't mind having adapted to the regular series at all. A stamina bar being allowed to be chained and depleted completely is another thing I'm okay with. And the first tree being usable for every character does alleviate a lot of the neglect a lot of characters typically get if you prefer others. So in my opinion, these changes are good.

I won't lie to you, One Piece Grand adventure was my first One Piece game, and it does bother me when so many characters in this series are seen but not playable. I had a hope in my stomach to play as Eneru and shock the entire battlefield with lightning ravens and pummeling everything to dust with Amal. I feel like after watching games like Warriors Orochi exist as well as Dynasty Warriors 9 that they could really add a lot of these characters easily, but may not want to because of a small amount of significance.

Treasure mode honestly was more of a drag than it needed to be. And it wasn't because it was bad, but because it was only three scenarios, and each of them were extended by playing key missions in them. it felt more like a chore when the area you sought to complete expanded by 8 missions sometimes, as the differences between each are distinct, but on seemingly random stages. Nothing is wrong with this, but I really don't know why there was much of a need to only make 3 areas if it was pretty much only separated by difficulty. I feel other versions of this I have tried did a lot better.

All in all it's an alright game. But I don't feel like the changes are worth losing a lot of the mechanics and appeal the game before it had. And the criteria for getting the best clear time leads to bad habits, like combing over peons, missing sub quests, ignoring strong foes and etc. So it kind of steps on its own toes when it comes to content, and the playstyle they encourage. I ended up favoring Ace and blazing through the game because his attacks were fast and deliberate, and his dash was very effective at rushing everywhere I needed to be.

Get it if you must, but if you don't need the latest, there are better titles.

It's fine...
Dusk Diver was a bundled game from fanatical. Lots of Rogue lites or whatever was in it. So depending on your tastes, this may be a hit or miss.

Dusk Diver is sort of a persona feeling quick shot of a game. Characters to talk to, help you grow and assist you in combat. It's a nice combat romp, but at the normal price you'd be practically insane not to buy other games for the price. It's not bad by any means, but games like Tales of Berseria, Devil May Cry, Ys, and other action RPGs would do a lot better for you long term. I know it says I have 24 Hours in the game, but that was just me going for all achievements because it was pretty easy to grab.

If you can get it really cheap, have at it. But frankly I swore it was going to be more than what it was. Game isn't too balanced, so focusing on hits after enemies guards are broken is the thing to do. Keeping your combo meter up to maintain your devil trigger like state is pretty fun, and if the mechanics were part of a bigger game, there would be a lot more value overall. Because it is somewhat addictive.

You could do a lot better than this. And it's no insult to the game... There's just better.

(I bought the game and Sunbreak for 29 dollars.) It's worth it at full price even, but I had it on Switch already, and don't have any people who play regularly enough to justify double dipping. Lately I've been meeting more people who talk about games, and not play them.

Monster Hunter: Rise (MHR) is a solid entry into the series. Changes enough about the gameplay to stand away from the other titles, and remains to be the best series to fight against monsters with other hunters.

In typical Monster Hunter fashion, you are granted the ability, now more than ever, to address and even eliminate some of the mechanics you may not like. Hate being dizzy? Stun resist 3, hate running out of items in combat? Free meal 3, hate sharpening 4 times before it's finished? Speed sharpening 3. The ability to craft armor and decorations to accommodate your playstyle has never really been better, and the expansion has done a lot to make sure you don't need to scream at the melding pot any longer.

Furthermore, the latest update has granted the ability to take AI teammates with you on quests. I would imagine Switch users without paid online would benefit most from this. But if you remember quests like Ancient Leshen in Monster Hunter World, the ability to have more bodies on the map with you may quite honestly be what is needed to not have that hopeless feeling when the same vine cage is the only reason you die. I also sincerely hope that with this addition that games made in light of their legacy like Generations Ultimate would carry this change. As there are heaps of content in that game that become painfully arduous without others.

The palamute is another worthwhile addition to the series. I'm not going to say it's more useful than a palico in a group, but when you're in a pinch, using the palamute to make a quick escape so you can fast travel back to camp is a very very applicable use for them. It'll save you a few carts, and even salvage a few quests. Just... don't expect them to be worth anything if they're haunted by magnamalo's status effect. (They just run in circles chasing a purple flame, and won't respond to you calling them)

Wirebugs...
I think Wirebugs are a grand testament to the ability to grant agency to players. Mobility is basically increased hundredfold,
Attacks are a bit more snappy and don't need hills to proc, but they do a LOT less damage compared to some of the aerial shenanigans you could do in older games. But it also limited the ability for high level players to use their skills...

And... Switch Skills
The previous thing about wirebugs have become a lot less relevant because the ability to load skills on your armor has been so easy, allowing the wirebug whisperer 3 skill to alleviate some of the slowdown they introduced, while switch skills add another level of resource management and freedom to your playstyle. Sunbreak adds a scroll that allows you to switch between the two, granting access to two playstyles on the fly and enabling some situational utility that I haven't really seen since the days of Phantasy Star. It's not as free is it has been in some games over there, but it's a welcome addition to player agency and combat fluidity.

The gathering hub and multiplayer structure has taken a serious hit in comparison to Monster Hunter World, However. Player Lobbies are back at 4, from 16, meaning everyone in your lobby better be doing what you're doing or they're taking up much needed space. Which went perfectly well in the days of adhoc party. I could just be spoiled though. Another hit is in the matchmaking. The SOS system World has is absolute lightyears ahead of its time, and this system is a painful reality check of that. I don't know if the Switch servers couldn't handle it or whatever, but on Rise, you basically pick a quest you want to do, and pray someone else is already doing that quest, or randomly join a hunt. For clarification... in World, you basically got a list of hunts people were already in, and you could select from them the ones you were willing to join. Easily refreshable, you could see how long they've been on it, their weapon class, rank, hunter name and ID... it was literally people dialing 9-1-1 and you being on dispatch. The ONLY positive thing I can say about these multiplayer sessions is, if you get booted from one or someone leaves disconnects, whatever... someone else can join. In World, if that happens, a slot says left the quest, and no one else could join in those slots again. So if someone gets disconnected in a hunt they really needed help with. They'd have to restart or hope for the best. Lots of Behemoth hunts were basically ruined because of a bad connection. This game fixes that and I hope it's here to stay.

And finally... Rampages...
Rampages seem to be this game's idea of the old siege missions, where a absurdly large monster would head your way and attack the city or town, or be on their way to do so... I will humbly admit that some of those battles weren't very fun or eventful... (Lao Shan Lung, Zorah Magdaros) and this event seems to try to preserve that dread and urgency while not having to create monsters players will inevitably doze off grinding. And it does serve that purpose. No unnecessary monsters were made... But it still puts players to sleep.

I think this game reveals a lot about the amount of freedom Capcom is aware they've given to players. Because of this, some of the deaths feel a lot more cheap than they would in other games, and instead of groaning about a DPS check... the game took the liberty of combo-ing you to death in what I will call wirebug checks, attacks that will most likely kill you the first time you experience them without having a wirebug charge to escape. Monsters in Sunbreak often have follow up attacks in addition to the aforementioned checks, and normal old school weapon styles don't cut it as well as they did before. Your counters will be countered, your dodges will be retaliated against, you will get pinned, thrown into the air, and even punished for using your wirebug escape at the wrong time. The price of freedom is more rules to encourage you to ride the line even more. Once you get the hang of things, some of the otherwise overwhelming attack frequency will become easier to deal with, and you'll be happy Capcom could give you more to do while still managing to make monsters behave more naturally, even though it feels like monsters are very good at knowing where you're going to be.

Happy hunting if you do pick it up... I'm always looking for more people to play and chat with.

Good luck, Charlie.

Kitaria Fables is fun, simple enough to get into, but it feels like somewhat of a tease.

With modern games the way they are, Kitaria Fables seem a little more old school. No leveling up, very gear based, chests for backtracking, and respectful of your investment. The first thing I noticed was the mirror in your room, and was irritated with the fact that normal gear isn't up for transmog in your wardrobe. It would be pretty nice if it was, as some of the more cute outfits are weak, and armor is what gives you the HP you have, in addition to defenses.

I think the feature that attracted me the most was the combat. A farming game with nice combat that didn't make me fall over if I want to explore and harvest and mine... You get half of that here. As farm based as you think it is, the only trees you can cut are in town, (and on your farm as an inconvenience), and the only rocks you can farm are in town, near and in the mines, and outside a mine you cannot enter, (and on your farm as an inconvenience). So... to those of you ready to pounce for that, temper your expectations.
-The combat is pretty okay, unless you're fighting the strong monsters, it's mostly forgiving until you get to the insects that inflict slow, and the rock throwing monsters that stun. Those are the only times I've died aside from sheer carelessness. quite a few of the spells are powerful, but if you're interested in life steal, which is the most convenient way to heal, you will probably heavily lean toward skills in endgame, as weapon attacks and skills apply that.

Mechanically, it's pretty nice, but if you get bored of having to wait for your plants to grow, and walking slow, the money loop will infuriate you. Things cost a great deal, so unless you're farming monsters for keys which are otherwise expensive to make, or running up and down the same hallway to farm amber, you're going to be in and out of bed passing time so your plants grow faster, and that is pretty boring. I sincerely think experience farming would have done this game a lot of good.
-Another thing that I feel isn't right, is that the way to upgrade your backpack is from a rare store that appears at random days or areas. So if you're not aware of the pumpkin merchant, you're going to be walking around with an inferior bag, and be forced to manage your items better, or trek back home to sell and store items more often than you'd like...
-This problem is magnified with the fact that you need rocks, wood, and coal to repair two of the three large chests in your farm. If you're not someone who runs amok and does whatever, this might not bother you, but I basically set aside the time to chop all the wood and rocks to get closer to having more space first. Though as far as I'm aware you really don't need more than two chests if you make what you can and keep the food in the chests placed in both major towns.

At the end of the day, I like what they set out to do. I do wish two of the monsters weren't basically armed with insta kill attacks if you don't have the latest armor in either tree. As taking multiple hits from staggering attacks is absolute pain... But you also get a few skills that do the same thing, so it's fair when you're aware of it.
-A very good infrastructure for a game, but I humbly hope they do more to incentivize playing the way they may prefer, as I found myself often thinking of ways to efficiently grind, rather than have fun, because I've either, run out of things I cared to buy, craft, grow. Or, I had no idea what the triggers for a quest were, so I just ran amok with nothing to do. Hopefully if they make more games, they care a little more about that. Maybe leveling up, mastery for wearing certain armor, or using certain weapons, transmog for crafted gear, etc.