Thelonious Monkey

Have you played or seen any of Resident Evil 7 yet? I don't play much anymore, but I've been watching RadBrad's playthrough and this **** is awesome. It reminds me of outlast quite a bit as well, but with a resident evil twist of course. The boss battles are pretty ****ing sick as well.

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Fallout 4

This one is a bit of an awkward title to include in this months theme, because I've found myself going back and forth about whether or not Fallout 4 is a great game. I still stand somewhat in between that opinion even though I've got over 100 hours in the game. It really tries to be a phenomenal sequel to the previous installments in the series, but at the same time, it still takes away from what we truly love from Fallout games. The feeling of isolation, loneliness, despair, and lack of hope. Fallout 3 was perfect for everything it wanted to offer. A broken and destroyed city filled with little to no life left. Fallout 4 attempted the opposite and wanted to bring across the feeling of hope and rebuilding, but for me, it just didn't work. Not as much as I hoped it would anyway.

Though I can't fault the game that much, because it is still a really fun game, and offers enough content to allow for such a shift in style. On the other hand, Bethesda did do what they do best with the Far Harbor DLC. I've played it myself, and it really adds what Fallout 4 needed. A dark and close to little world to live in with the survivors basically fighting themselves to survive. Offers a really well written side story as well. I'd certainly recommend trying the DLC if you really feel Fallout 4 wasn't what you wanted.

I suppose on another spectrum, part of what turned people off of Fallout 4 was a mix of its rusty release with the uncertainty of whether the game was even going to start for people, and the fact that even if you got the game to run, it was very choppy and felt like it hadn't been optimized for any PC users. I don't know what the experience was like for people that played on console. I'd imagine its a much better experience. I can't really fault Fallout 4 for that though, since that seems to be a trend with Bethesda games in general. Luckily that's what we love and hate about the company. Good games, bad optimizing skills.

I would still strongly suggest that if you're a fan of Bethesda and the Fallout series, check this game out. Don't just write it off because people have explained their disappointments. It's just got what you want with a Fallout game. The combat, the essentials, the world, it's all there. It just lacks what you would find in Fallout 3.

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Dirty Bomb

Me being as big of a fan of FPS games as I like to credit myself for, I'm actually surprised that I didn't find any reason to play this game before recently. That's more because I had no idea the game even existed. Not only that, but it's completely free. So, why not pick it up right?

Well, I played a few rounds and instantly I felt really good about what the game had to deliver. It's pretty much what you'd expect from a free to play first person shooter, but the added twist is the class selection, the customization, and the fact that it really is a true and blue free to play. You can technically put real money into the game if you want, but it doesn't stress it when you are interested in getting new and cool items.

Usually games like this try to paint a picture that if you put in a lot of real world money, you'll be super OP. Well, this game doesn't do that.

The game focuses a lot more on team based gameplay over being the top of the leaderboard. There are some really well designed maps and some really funny dialogue coming from the classes. Much the same to be said for Team Fortress 2. Which...is also free to play.

Honestly, I don't really have a whole lot to say about this game other than I'm surprised I didn't pick it up before now, because this game could easily take up a lot of my time in the coming months.

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Planet Coaster

When it comes to games that rely heavily on player decisions and strategy, I'm completely on board. Games like Rimworld, This War Of Mine, all those style of games. Well, Planet Coaster certainly takes the cake for being one of the most fantastically made roller coaster sims to date. Now, don't get me wrong, I know there are a lot of people that are hugely into the Roller Coaster Tycoon games. The only complaint I've heard from those fans is that there just isn't the real sense of accomplishment or management in those games. Alas, Planet Coaster brings that and more.

You basically have several different game modes, but the most challenging and most rewarding is the survival mode where you are given a starting wage, and you have to decide which rides you want to build, and research new rides and items, along with paying off loans if you took a few loans to start off. I typically try to only take one loan when I start, but when you get to the harder difficulties, it's much more cost effective to use every last cent you have before getting into loans.

Some of the best parts of the game is the access of pure absurdity. The game plays a lot like the Sim games do where the people and characters have unique traits, and they don't fear the fact that the individual characters are weird as ****. You'll get people that throw up all over the place because they can't handle a roller coaster (which you can make some terrifying but brilliant roller coasters). Then you have to hire janitors and mechanics to keep your park running nicely and efficiently.

The only draw back to the game is the fact that if you get a large enough park, the game starts to slow down. Even people with better computers than my own have been experiencing lag once you start getting so many moving parts going at once. But...unfortunately that is the cost of having every piece in the game be its own sentient being. Everything moves as its own, but when meshed altogether, you do run into some lag issues. Of course, if you get that far into the park building, it's probably time to start over on a new difficulty anyway.

Overall, I've put a good 6 hours into it, but that low number is due to me sometimes just not being in the mood. It truly is a great game, and any fan of the Roller Coaster Tycoon games should certainly get this one. Especially if you're huge into the management style games like I am.

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

you should play overwatch

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Music Blog / RYM / Last.fm / Qwertyy's Journal of Music Reviews and Other Assorted Ramblings

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As it would turn out, I'm far too busy to do a monthly theme, so Ki's Picks is concluded. I did enough. Not satisfied with it but oh well.

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Breath of the Wild (Full Review)

Once again, full disclaimer that I've been playing the Wii U version. From what I've heard, there really is no difference between the Wii U version and the Switch version give or take a few better graphical objects.

Now, Breath of the Wild, what do I think of it? Well, I would say that it is easily the best game that has come out for a system in the last 10 years, and easily the best Zelda game ever made. The Legend of Zelda has been around for a very long time, and it's very rare for Nintendo to put out a bad Zelda game.*

*Even if some people didn't like some of the games in the series.

When it comes down to it, Breath of the Wild is a brand new open world game in the form of a Zelda world. Much like Skyrim and Fallout have done the genre as well as they can, Breath of the Wild takes the open world genre to a new high, and any other open world games should hope to be as good as Breath of the Wild. When I think of an open world game, I think "open and free." But as we've seen with games like Skyrim, there's still some hand holding with the map always telling you where to go. On the topic of other Zelda games in this sense, you start to realize that every single Zelda game before Breath of the Wild are not "open and free" and the amount of hand holding does loosen a bit, but it is still there. Breath of the Wild however takes that hand holding completely away, and within the first 15 minutes of the game, you are let free and are free to explore the entire world of Hyrule. I would say I was quite pleased to finally get an open world that really takes the open world concept the proper way. And if you're worried about the world being too huge, well one of the big positives for the game and the reason I already have 50+ hours into it is the fact that while you're adventuring, you're rewarded for it at every turn. Whether it's finding new weapons, new armors, new potions, etc, you pretty much feel the sense of satisfaction whenever you make it to the top of a mountain or cliff. Sometimes you'll literally climb a mountain and won't find anything, but with how important it is to get a vantage point for your next adventure, these offer the best possible way to plan out your next "leap of faith" into something interesting.

The reason the adventure aspect is done so well in this game and doesn't feel monotonous like other open world games is the fact that Breath of the Wild gives you all the tools you need for survival at the beginning of the game pretty much. You aren't having to go to a place and realize that you aren't allowed there yet. Stamina and HP aside, there are literally no limitations to what you can do in this game. Feel like fighting that bad guy? Do it. Feel like climbing that mountain? Do it. This once again gives you the freedom of choice and freedom of exploration that 99% of open world games do poorly.

The game like I mentioned heavily favors the sense of adventure over everything else, and as I mentioned, you're rewarding for it. But I know there are some that fear that the game feels far too big, and there's too much to do scattered all over. Well, if that's what you're worried about, put that thought aside. In the 50+ hours I've put into the game, I never felt like I was trapped with so much to do, in fact, it's more of a positive if there is too much to do, because it makes you come back to the game and find something new. Which is another big plus. A lot of games that claim to have "a lot to do" tend to go the route that "a lot to do" means "a lot of the same things." Although you find a lot of chests and weapons in Breath of the Wild, nothing really feels the same, because every obstacle or thing you discover tests a certain part of you that has to plan ahead in order to accomplish it. The process of planning things out gives you creative ways to take on the endeavor that you've been put up against. Making the obstacle feel its own, and unique.

Graphically, and this is strictly speaking from the Wii U version, is phenomenal. Like I mentioned a week or so ago, the common complaint of the game is that it does have some frame drops when in a heavily full area of the map, but it doesn't happen often enough for me to really consider it a complain. Nintendo will hopefully release a performance patch that makes this the number one priority. Because honestly, that's the only issue I've had with it.

Story wise, you still are met with the typical (some would say cliche, but it's not cliche) story with Link and Zelda. I won't give any spoilers, but I will say that this particular story feels a lot more personal and emotional than the other games before it. I've found myself not only getting emotional from the cut scenes, but just running around while you look at the "ultimate task" in front of you, you're just met with a sudden sense of dread and loneliness. You really start to feel like you're on your own, and you pretty much are for the most part.

Now, one of the things I really wasn't expecting with Breath of the Wild though I'm so happy it happened, is how ****ing difficult the game is. If you take a game say like...Dark Souls, and made it perhaps a few notches less difficult, you pretty much have Breath of the Wild. I've probably already died at least 100 times, due to either being unprepared, being careless, or just not realizing that the difficulty for this game is hard, which is super out of character for a Zelda game in this era.

With everything I have said so far about this game, I truly feel like there is so much more I could talk about. As I have mentioned probably once or twice, I've put about 50+ hours into this game so far, and I don't even feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what this game has to offer. That's how massive this world is. And the main reason I love it so much is because of how you feel like you're discovering something brand new every time you play the game. Whenever I turn on my Wii U and start of Breath of the Wild, I don't have a set idea of what I want to accomplish for that play session, because I honestly have no idea what to expect out of that play session. That sense of not knowing anything, and just going in and playing, is a big reason why it's so addicting. It feels brand new every time you turn on the system. That's how it feels for me anyway. Because the feeling of getting into a brand new game over and over again is the biggest reason why this game has done so well. Nintendo should be truly proud of the game they've made, because it's easily the best game not only that they have made, but the best game that any developer has made in a long long time. I'm a small amount hesitant to say that because we've seen a lot of great titles over the years, but I know for a fact that this is the best experience with a video game that I have had in the last 10 years.

If I were to give this a rating, i'd obviously give it a 10/10. The funny thing is, it's not too rare to see people giving this game a perfect score. Hell, I've seen people and myself included wish they could rate higher than a 10. The game deserves all the praise it gets. The hype was real and exceeded for me personally, and if you haven't played it yet, definitely do yourself a favor and find a cheap Wii U, and get Breath of the Wild. I only say that because the Switch is still fairly expensive, and in its current state, it's not worth the money just for Zelda, though if you do get it for Zelda, you'll love the hell out of it.

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Part I: 1-5

I'm still hanging onto the Breath of the Wild hype train, and if you don't like it, you don't have to read it. But it's been a very very long time since I've been so enamored and thrown deep into a game like this. I'm not typically the biggest fanboy of open world games for the fact that there just seems like too much to do, though it's not unlikely that I'd put a lot of time into them. Games like Skyrim are games that sure, I put about 20-30 hours into it, but then I got bored after a while and after feeling like I didn't really have as much freedom as I was hoping for. Breath of the Wild makes me a believer that the open world genre can flourish and continue to do so. There's just so much packed into this game that it's nearly impossible for me to say anything negative about it, and that's a rare thing when it comes to a game of this nature. I had several things to say about Fallout 4, and I think I was a bit of the same way with Fallout 3, but I don't seem to have any issues with Breath of the Wild in that regard. So before you, I'm going full on clickbait article, and I'm going to lay out the top 10 reasons why Breath of the Wild is truly the great game that it is. I know you've probably been convinced by now that this is my favorite game of all time, but if you've yet to hit that conclusion, well...read on. Hopefully I'll convince you this time.

1. Adventure!



I think for the longest time, the open world genre as a whole needed something new and refreshing to make the genre stand out again. I can't say for certain that most open world games have lacked that sense of adventure, but I can say for certain that with my experience with most open world games, the sense of adventure is technically there, but with set quest markers and a "hand holding" mechanic thrown in to tell you where to go at all times. Breath of the Wild as I mentioned in my previous review takes away the hand holding and "quest line" per se and let's you adventure on your own. Other open world games like Skyrim and Fallout 3 have the world to explore, of course. But when you play those games and compare it to the feeling you get when you adventure in Breath of the Wild, well...you start to realize why Breath of the Wild does it better.

2. The Best In The Series



The Legend of Zelda series has been around for so long, and Breath of the Wild has become the 19th rendition of the series in the long line of amazing games that Nintendo has brought to life. Now, this was the thing I was skeptical of, but was quickly ridden of the skepticism, and that skepticism goes along with the added thought that I was sincerely hoping Nintendo would take this release as seriously as they have the rest (give or take maybe a few games) and by god they did. If you remember back to the days of the original Legend of Zelda and even Ocarina of Time, you'll come to realize that it has been quite some time since we had a truly unbelievable experience with a Zelda game. Titles like Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess and even Wind Waker were all fantastic additions to the line of games, but they as well still had that hand holding aspect where you know that you're on a specific path. Perhaps Wind Waker a little less as with the boat mechanic, you felt more adventurous. In Breath of the Wild, Nintendo decided that it'd be a good move to go back to their roots and create a game that brings back that open-ness like we received in the original game. They achieved this and so much more just based on that aspect alone. They didn't just make a Zelda title that takes everything good about the series, but it also allows that very concept to flourish in the best possible way. Breath of the Wild has everything any Zelda fan would want and more, and that's why I truly believe it is the best version of Hyrule that we have ever gotten. Some may disagree of course, but that's my opinion and mine alone.

3. Graphics



Although I am aware that the Nintendo Switch offers a slightly better looking experience with Breath of the Wild, but since I've been playing on the Wii U, I'm only going to comment on what I think of the graphics in that game. And good lord, this games is ****ing beautiful. When you use your imagination and give yourself the thoughts of what you'd believe would work and what an open world Zelda game would be like, you'll quickly find that your imagination has become a reality. Every single time I'm running around, or riding a horse along the paths and mountains of the enormous version of Hyrule, I'm finding myself just looking at the scenery and noticing every single little detail that Nintendo provided to make the experience something truly spectacular. I've found myself thinking "man, I wonder what the world would look like if Nintendo did..." and then I find that little detail into the game. Nintendo should be praised on all counts for providing such an environment that only comes with a company that takes great care in every single detail in every single nook and cranny.

4. Not Boring



Another thing I was worried about in the back of my mind when the release date of Breath of the Wild was getting closer and closer was the sincere hope that the game doesn't end up being boring after a few hours. I can say for certain that after 60 hours into the game, I have not once been bored or without something to do. I mentioned this in my previous review that the game offers so much in every nook and cranny that you'll find yourself with so much to do. But that's the beauty of it. The simple fact that I've put that much time into it and I'm still finding exciting things to do? Well that just shows true masterful craftsmanship toward a game that I don't think we've ever seen. My past experiences with open world games prior to this one was the fact that after about 70-80 hours, you're already done with the main story line and are just doing side quests just to fill that void of needing something to do. Breath of the Wild improves on the fact that open world games are meant to have exciting things to do at all times. You can fight what you want, go where you want, climb what you want. It just goes back to my previous point that adventure is truly a breathtaking experience in this game.

5. Emotions



Something wonderful that I wasn't expecting with Breath of the Wild is how emotional the main story is. I've played through a pretty good chunk of the main story by now, and I have to truly praise Nintendo for not only offering a beautiful rendition of the traditional Zelda and Link storyline, but for also offering that extra amount of emotion and captivation that truly brings this story to life. Just from the get go, you are given the basis of the story, and instantly you're taken away and put into an emotional state that I simply was not expecting. This is also made better by the fact that the world is filled with so much lore and architecture from past Zelda games that you really feel an emotional connection to it, especially if you've been playing Zelda games from the beginning. Something about seeing a full world filled so densely with Zelda lore, and in the ways they're presented, well it gives you an unbelievable sense of loneliness and despair that I believe the Zelda story needed for quite some time. It's that same feeling you got when you played through Majora's Mask for the first time. That feeling of dread and darkness is once again brought to life in Breath of the Wild, and i'll tell you. It's a wonderful feeling.

debaserr

Breath of the Wild is definitely one of my all time favorites by now too. I really hope the DLC is good.

I just wish the switch didn't exist, because then we would have Breath of the Wild with touchscreen inventory controls.

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They say the DLC is going to add more dungeons and extra stuff, so that on top of what we already have is going to be amazing. It also looks like they're consistently going to keep stuff coming in throughout the year. I believe what we have right now is just the beginning of what Nintendo has planned for this game.