The Batlord

OMG I never did that! Now I wanna go play my OG XBox copy of Fable. Memories of hunting zombies endlessly to power level all your **** to max and then playing most of the game a deformed hulk. I love how in Fable 2 a female character turns into an East German bodybuilder when maxed.

__________________

Key

It's so awesome. They blame each other instead of you even though your character is obviously the one cheating. It's so funny. Marrying Lady grey is also a lot of fun since it is beneficial.

Oh I know! But god damn I felt badass with a gun and trench coat with long braided hair and big muscles.

Key

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare

I very seldom talk about this game here, though I imagine I have posted about it a few times in this journal. Anyway, let's talk about Chivalry: Medieval Warfare.

Here's the thing, there are a couple of things I look for when I'm playing a game. It's not just "this game is good" for me. I have to be fully convinced that not only the game is good, but the team behind the game take this as their passion, and not their job. Many times I've played games that I thought were fun to play, but ultimately it led to me realizing that the devs were in it more for the money, and not for the game. I'm not saying this happens all the time, because obviously with over 100 games in my library, I've found many many games that I've come to love that fall under the former category. With that little rant aside (my apologies), when it comes to gaming, the game has to not only be fun to play, but it's gotta be exciting, it's gotta run well, and it's got to at least have some character to its graphics. Why am I mentioning this? Well, with talking about Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, the points I laid out here are pretty much the points I will touch upon in this next paragraph or two. But yes, before you read, if you are already curious about playing this game, go pick it up. It's worth your time. And it's a lot of fun.

So, what exactly is Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. Well, for starters, it came out in 2012. Back in that time, I'd say this game garnered some popularity amongst PC games mostly. I don't think the community for console is entirely that strong. But i'm entirely biased seeing as I don't know anything about the console side of it. However, even though it came out 6 years ago now, I would safely say that it could match up to today's standards. Gameplay wise, you basically go at it TF2 style, but in the medieval era. You'll have classes that can be equipped with a bow and arrow, or a sword and shield, or a two handed sword. Or what have you. You run around killing other people in armor and I have to admit, the fighting is pretty tough in this game. With having to control a sword and bow and arrow, you'd understand then that the game gives you that weight on your character. The fighting isn't quick, you have to be strategic with how you throw your weapon at the other team. There will be a lot more strafing and less full on combat. Just think like the combat from For Honor, but 2012 style. You have to think about your combat choices before making them, and simultaneously, you have to anticipate your opponent at all times. One bad move and you can add a kill to their kill count. It can be tough. But it is oh so satisfying once you get it. I've put a couple of hours into this game because it's basically one of those games I come back to when I'm in the mood for something a little different, but fun. So touching on the points really quickly, I've laid out that Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is not only fun to play, but it is also oh so exciting, every minute is tense. And I love it. And you can also add on that their is a lot of character and care in the graphics. You really feel submerged in the medieval era, and all you hear in the background is other players fighting each other. No music, or anything like that. Just you and a bunch of knights in armor fighting to the death.

Now, how does the game run? Well, surprisingly, or unsurprisingly depending on who you are, the game runs exceptionally well. I probably couldn't say the same when it was released back in 2012, because back then, my computer could hardly run anything without slowing down. So going back to it with my current PC really does add a lot of bias. However, I've also watched people play the game on Twitch and Youtube, and it still has no issues with framerate etc. Sometimes it can be difficult to find a match that you want, but other than that, I'd say the game certainly runs well, especially since it was released that long ago.

So what's my general consensus on Chivalry: Medieval Warfare? Well, as I said before, it's definitely worth buying and playing. It can be a **** ton of fun if you get a bunch of friends together. Fighting alongside other knights in armor that you know can really be something spectacular. I really hope this game continues to be popular, because if I hadn't mentioned it already, the servers are practically always full. It's got the TF2 "curse" in which it probably will never die. So, that's always a positive in my book. So yeah. get it. Let's play together.

Key

Fallout 3

God damn I am so ****ing excited to talk about Fallout 3 again. It has been a little while since i've really dove into a true review for this game. I know I wrote a pretty lengthy one once before in this journal but I really will not turn down the opportunity to talk about it once again. Now, I know the general consensus is that Fallout: New Vegas improves on a lot of what Fallout 3 brought to the table, but we have to remember that Fallout 3 isn't all about the mechanics or the weapons or what have you. A lot of the enjoyment we all get out of Fallout 3 is the fact that it's places in a post apocalyptic version of Washington DC. It kind of gives you an eery and depressing feeling when you walk in the DC Mall and all the buildings are in ruin. You just slowly step through each and every corridor and then you start finding things that you are familiar with in real life. The Lincoln Memorial for instance is a great example since he's seen without his head in this game. Sort of makes you wonder if that could ever happen in our society. Or when you walk up to the Washington Monument and you see that it is falling apart and nearly in ruin. How about even the little buildings surrounding the mall. And yes, you can also find the White House in this game. Well...what's left of it anyway. You basically find a crater but still, it gives you an eery and depressing feeling each time you launch the game. You feel alone. Truly alone.

Now, all that is well and good. The atmosphere again is just, to me, one of the most important things about this game that should never be forgotten. You just continuously walk through ruins of buildings and monuments and you just wish things could go back to normal, but you're so immersed that you just don't care. But on top of the atmosphere, one of my all time favorite things about this game is the fact that it is an RPG and you can basically do whatever the **** you want. If you want to kill a quest giver, do it. You want to help some ghouls out? Feel free to do that as well. It's that pure Bethesda freedom that we all know and love, and it's applied so brilliantly in this game. I mean, yeah you can follow the story if you want, but unfortunately the story isn't exactly one of the strong points of this game.

You start off as a child, you become older, look for your father, and help your father by either committing suicide, or killing someone else. I wouldn't say I was particularly disappointed with that since they did add in the Broken Steel DLC which allowed you to just explore everything. And that again is easily one of the best things about the game. Goes back to what I said about the freedom. You can just play however you wanna play. Hell, you don't even have to do the story. And honestly, I really wouldn't recommend it if you really just want to enjoy the game for what it offers on the side. All the side quests you can do are worth doing, and speaking of the Broken Steel DLC, you should also play all the other DLC's for Fallout 3 as well as they are all equally fantastic in their own rights. I've played them all so I say that with absolute certainty.

Often times there are games out there that just strike me the right way in all the right ways. I remember it was a few years ago that I actually played Fallout 3 for the first time. And that first experience was everything I needed in order to experience and enjoy this game to the absolute best of my ability. And I did. I genuinely had the best time playing this game for the first time. I had always wondered what it was about this game that everybody seemed to love, and I still remember to this day that I had started a file on the original Xbox 360 version, and I had played about 10 minutes before I turned it off. Man, had I known what I would've been in for, I would've kept playing. But that's also what sort of prompted me to play the game again later in life because I think I appreciated it more then I would have had I played it back then. I experienced it at an age where history was a pretty cool thing, and seeing our nations history all in ruin just felt very ominous and depressing. And I ****ing love it.

There's a lot more I could probably say about Fallout 3, but honestly it really doesn't need much more convincing. Everybody I know that has played Fallout 3 understands why the game is so ****ing great. I've rarely ever heard somebody give the game a poor review, especially if they've played it fully before like I have. They understand why people praise it, and those people are awesome people in general.

And I know there have been people that have been asking for a remaster of Fallout 3. But honestly, I feel like that could potentially ruin its charm. The game the way it is is wonderful. Because honestly, the only thing that really needs to be fixed with the Steam version is the fact that it doesn't even run unless you mod it. I mean, the mod is easy to obtain and easy to install, but it's still annoying.

Anyway, yeah, Fallout 3 is great.

Key

Ori and the Blind Forest

Y'know, honest to God I genuinely feel like this is the best looking platformer ever made. And not only that, but I'd also go along the lines of saying that the game itself plays like one of the absolute best platforming games ever made. So, if you've never played Ori and the Blind Forest, you are certainly in for a treat.

The story, it's pretty simple. You get separated and have to find your way throughout the entire world. With that comes a lot of challenges like not being able to get through a certain wall, to quickly platforming while climbing upwards while a waterfall of water nears toward you more and more. Sound exciting? Oh it is. On it's own visuals, Ori and the Blind Forest is one of the those games that you wouldn't expect to be as exciting as it is. Because when you look at it, you think "ooh, this looks nice." But no, the game is absolutely exciting and the reason for that has to be the awesome upgrades you get throughout your journey. As you kill enemies, you get a sort of experience and once you hit a certain threshold, you get another point to spend. The skill tree is really neat too. Probably one of my favorites in a video game:



It consists of Spirit Flame, Wall Jump, Charge Flame, Double Jump, Bash, Stomp, Kuro's Feather, Climb, Charge Jump, etc etc. These all have a place in this game and you sometimes have to use a combination of them in order to get where you need to go. I say that because I have seen some difficult play forming areas in this game. It makes it all the more exciting when you figure out the right combination for the jump.

So yeah, the game is a lot of fun. And it's perfect that I'm bringing this game up again, because we now have a sequel coming for this game as well, and I am extremely excited to see what that has in store.



I highly recommend this if you're looking for a really fun platformer that has a pretty deep and original story. Plus, using a controller feels really nice with it.

Key

Radical Heights

From the title and the image alone, you honestly wouldn't expect this game to be in the battle royale genre, but it certainly is, and it deserves it spot. Radical Heights is yes, another battle royale game, but this one is surprisingly different enough to warrant its own existence in the battle royale world.

When you think of battle royale, you tend to think more realistically and less about the cartoon-ish graphics. Luckily, Radical Heights sort of turns its attention away from the realism, and makes a game that looks and feels like you've just jumped into a 80's action movie. From the character customization all the way to the soundtrack, this game goes the extra mile to ensure that it is legitimately trying to pull off an 80's action movie, or even a game show, which I think is a bit more fitting as a description.

I mean, just listen to this and you'll see what I mean:



This is the music that plays when you get thrown out into the battle and are shooting your way down the ground. What's really awesome alongside that is that you don't have a parachute or anything. You just skydive and crash on the ground and start playing. I love that solely because not only does it make the matches go quicker, you don't have to worry about where you land most of the time because you land so quickly and people already start looting and running away. So mostly no danger wherever you land.

The game itself plays like a typical battle royale game. You land, you loot, you fight, you win or lose. I myself have not won a single game, but I average close to 3-4 kills almost every round. The gunplay makes it fun so it's pretty easy to get a kill, in my experience at least. I've also gotten into the top 10 many times, but god damn those last minutes of the match are definitely stressful. No idea where anybody is while also hearing gunfire in the distance. Most if not all battle royale games have that, but it's great when it is included.

You're probably also wondering about queue times. Honestly, every time I have played this game over the past few months, I've never had issues finding full servers. I think that's a credit to the games originality because it's getting people to come back over and over again. I haven't played it much lately but if it's been updated recently, I may have to check it out. It's still in very early stages, but from what we have right now, you can expect this game to be one of the top dogs in battle royale. I mean, Realm Royale is probably going to hit that place first seeing as its popularity has not died out, but I think Radical Heights will be close behind it.

So, I'd say this game is great. Yeah it's another battle royale game, and I know we've been getting thrown a lot of those lately. But I appreciate the aesthetic and all the originality this game oozes. It's a lot of fun to play, and you don't really feel too bad when you lose because the matches are so easy to get back into that you hardly noticed you lost. Hope to see it succeed in the future.

Key

Subnautica

I feel like I've talked about this game recently. Either that, or I just played a lot of it recently and it's still fresh in my head. Anyway, Subnautica. What's not to love about the concept alone? You are stranded in the middle of the ocean, and you have only you and your wits to help you survive. It may sound like your typical survival style game, but once you've played in ultra high graphics and you have to survive under water in the dead of night, you'll realize that this isn't just your typical run of the mill survival game. This game is also a horror game as far as I'm concerned.

Basically, as I said you are a guy who crash landed on this water planet and you have only your tools and your wits to help you survive. You can basically get right under the water as soon as you play, hell the game recommends it. You also start off very close to where you crash landed, and you can see your ship just out in the distance. And yes, you can go to it and explore it. The game just straight up wants you to explore its beautiful underwater world. And it's exciting from the first minute to the 30th+ hour. I'm serious. This game never gets boring. There's a twist and turn at every place you reach and it's just you and the ocean.

With the gameplay itself aside, there's something to be said about the developers of this game. We're talking about Unknown Worlds here. They in the past have developed Natural Selection and Natural Selection 2, and now they've taken on Subnautica. Now in case you didn't know, this game actually first came out in way early access, and it's made itself all the way to a full complete game. I gotta hand it to the developers for continuously updating the game to completion. It's always a shame to watch a game get stuck in early access hell. Unknown Worlds were fortunate enough to not only have an original survival game idea, they also managed to get the funding necessary to finish it. And let me tell you, watching this evolution has been a truly magnificent sight. I've watched it all the way from the beginning, and to play it now on a super ultra graphics capable computer, it changes everything. It's so good, and the developers deserve all the praise they can get.

Now, I want to touch on the gameplay a little bit more. Because I forgot to mention that while you're underwater, you will come in contact with things you've probably never seen before. And it's really ****ing terrifying to see a huge shadow in the distance with spikes and you can't see anything in front of you other than the moonlight coming through the water. Because again, you're literally underwater the whole game. So I do want to touch on this: if you do have issues with being underwater for any reason, do not play this. You will get so submersed in this game that it will literally feel like you're swimming under water yourself. I highly recommend playing the game with really nice headphones because you want to be able to hear everything around you. Fish in the distance, sounds coming from somewhere, the water pushing waves around you. Again, you get very immersed. It's almost scary.

Anyway. Yeah. Play Subnautica as soon as you can. It's good.

Key

This post is going to be getting some special treatment because it is time to finally get to two of the absolute best RPG's I have ever played. Yes, I am of course talking about Divinity Original Sin & Divinity Original Sin 2. Now, the reason I decided to do this as a double feature instead of their own separate posts are for two reasons. One, I consider both of these games to be true masterpieces for a lot of the same reasons as each other, so I feel like combining the opinions would allow for far less monotonous repetitiveness. The second reason is because while Divinity Original Sin is the first in the series, you could literally play either one and get an amazing experience. However when it comes to true quality, I think the sequel certainly takes it one step further.

Now, what is it that makes Divinity Original Sin & Divinity Original Sin 2 worth the hype it gets? Well, everything. Honestly. Think of a traditional RPG. What do you want from it? Freedom? Check. Full character customization with varying stats and attributes per character? Check. Do you want a humongous open world filled to the brim with really interesting side quests, a great main quests, and perhaps the most NPC's I've ever talked to in any RPG? Check and mate. I'm serious when I say this: I think Divinity Original Sin & Divinity Original Sin 2 are the best RPG's we've seen to date in this particular genre. I've not seen any other game pull off the little itty bitty details that truly makes this game shine. You can actually figure things out in the game that the developers purposely put there for you to find and use. Like using the teleport spell to fully skip the first part of the game because you just teleport all your characters over the castle wall and out to the bridge. You can do it, because I have. Or maybe you just feel like having a conversation with one of your party members, and another party member gets offended by what you said to the other one. It happens with NPC's as well and it's great because your whole party will have something to say about it in some way. Makes dialogue choices really interesting and sometimes fun and a little goofy. But hey, that's the charm.

Next to the gameplay is of course the graphics. I'm a little bit biased of course because I actually full played through Divinity Original Sin 2 before I ever played through Divinity Original Sin, but I also picked up the Enhanced Edition, so your first experiences may have varied depending on when you played the original. But, I will go on record as saying that both of these games are breathtakingly good looking. For it to be in the style of RPG that it is, i.e. mostly top down, graphics may seem like something you wouldn't focus much on, but you'd be wrong in that case. A lot of games tend to focus more on graphics in this gameplay style because it's something to focus on while fighting everything. So god damn I'll just show you:



I know it may not look like much but for people that have played it, they'll understand what I mean when I say the game is absolutely beautiful. So many different mixtures of seasons and textures that makes the world feel alive. It's not just some dead graveyard. The world lives around you and you feel it.

But not only does the game look great and feel great, the combat system is also one of the coolest things to be implemented into an RPG like this. When I actually went into Divinity Original Sin 2, I don't really know what I was expecting in terms of combat because what I had seen on Twitch etc, I had fortunately been able to avoid most of the fights because it was usually just on in the background. However, I was very surprised to find that they went with a turn based style combat, and god damn it works so well in these games. I will say from experience, regardless of which game you play, the combat is going to feel really good. You have to be somewhat crafty and smart to really get into the combat, because not only are you trying to make sure you can take the enemy down, but you're also trying to make sure that none of your party members actually die. Resurrection Scrolls are tough to come by early in the game so just be careful. But the game continuously throws different environments and different styles of fights, so I'd also highly recommend trying to make a pretty well rounded party. Like....have one party member be an archer and necromancer for instance. I basically ended up having most combinations taken care of in just four characters because I leveled up certain things per party member. My main character had 3 different styles of fighting in just one row of abilities. It made the game a lot more fun too because the combat was always different and interesting.

I have a combined 100+ hours of total gameplay between the two games. Unfortunately, I did sort of rush through my first playthrough of Divinity Original Sin because I had already experienced the sequel and it ruined it slightly. But I still heavily enjoyed the game and think its a masterpiece of its kind. But I say without hesitation that not only are these two games worth your money, they are also worth your time. You are going to have an unbelievable experience running through cities and taking down bad guys with your powerhouse team. I'd even go as far as saying that this may have been very close to the best gaming experience I've ever had. Fallout 3 still takes that cake, but very very very just slightly.

Key

Divinity Original Sin 2 (cont.)

I figured since I was talking about this game, I thought I'd go ahead and post my current party lineup for those that are curious. Keep in mind I'm by all means not an expert on this type of stuff but my team is certainly a powerhouse right now:

First we have my main character, Sage. Level 16.



Focus on Finesse and Constitution with some Strength. She's the scoundrel in my team so that's why I have her equipped with daggers. Her skills are:

Aerothurge: 2
Geomancer: 5
Huntsman: 1
Hydrosophist: 2
Necromancer: 2
Polymorph: 3
Pyrokinetic: 1
Scoundrel: 3
Summoning: 2
Warfare: 3

Equipped with mostly heavy damage dealing abilities like Battering Ram, and Tentacle Lash. Also has a lot of scoundrel moves like backstabbing etc. Fun to play.



Next up we have Ifan Ben-Mezd. On my very first playthrough of this game, I had also chosen Ifan, but he was an archer that time. This time I decided to focus on more heavy damage dealers and it seems to be working out nicely. He has a focus on Constitution and Finesse. Most of his abilities are healing moves, summoning moves, and aoe moves. Makes for some fun situation in combat.

His combat abilities are as follows:

Aerothurge: 0
Geomancer: 3
Huntsman: 0
Hydrosophist: 2
Necromancer: 3
Polymorph: 4
Pyrokinetic: 1
Scoundrel: 3
Summoning: 5
Warfare: 5

And next up on the list is my mage, known as Beast



I did decide that when I started this playthrough that I would have a full on mage on my team, and god damn Beast certainly fits the bill. I'm stoked that I equipped him the way that I have because he's really powerful in some tough situations. He's equipped with a lot of aoe abilities as well as the teleport spell which comes in handy, especially in combat. He's also got the Staff of Magus ability which is really nice.

His combat abilities are as follows:

Aerothurge: 5
Geomancer: 2
Huntsman: 2
Hydrosophist: 3
Necromancer: 2
Polymorph: 3
Pyrokinetic: 4
Scoundrel: 2
Summoning: 1
Warfare: 0

And last but certainly not least, we come to Sebille. I don't know if anyone else had the same experience as I have, but Sebille always became my strongest character somehow. Then again, I do have her focusing solely on Strength.



I gotta say, running a full on Strength build with a character is really fun. But god damn it can be really OP in some combat situations. Fine with me though, I just love having a weapon that can do 70-76 damage per weapon. And I have her equipped with 2.

Her abilities bar is also pretty interesting because I have the damage dealers like Battering Ram and Crippling Bow and the like, but I've also got her equipped with healing abilities and Raise Bone Widow. I gotta say as well, Raise Bone Widow is so nice if your character is also very strong.

Her combat stats are as follows:

Aerothurge: 3
Geomancer: 1
Huntsman: 0
Hydrosophist: 1
Necromancer: 2
Polymorph: 0
Pyrokinetic: 2
Scoundrel: 1
Summoning: 2
Warfare 4

So there you go. For those interested, there's a pretty good look at my current team on Divinity Original Sin 2

Key

The Music of Divinity Original Sin / Divinity Original Sin 2

Honestly, I didn't expect to continue to talk about these games, but for whatever reason, I keep feeling the need to add more to what I have said already. But in fairness, my previous post was more-so me just boasting about my badass team currently. So, apologies for that. Anyway, I want to talk about something that I think goes often missed when discussing these two games. And that is the music. Or just the soundtracks in general for both of these games. Part of the reason I get so immersed into these games is because the music is simply breathtaking. It's very minimal but it really has an effect on the game that I feel would not be present if the music wasn't so good. Instead of just making random tracks for different places, the music just feels like it fits with the game, and not something that's alongside it. I mean god damn, I'm constantly humming the loading screen music all the time. It's so ****ing good and it's literally just the loading screen:



I know I said loading screen but this song is also the main theme for Divinity Original Sin 2, I just happen to always be in the loading screen when the music picks up. But honestly, Divinity Original Sin also had a fantastic main theme. I don't know which one I like that much better, but I will say I love the one in Divinity Original Sin 2 just a tad bit more. But anyway, here's the one from the first game:



I'd say both songs are pretty similar, but let's not kid ourselves. These songs just reek of originality and fits both games seemlessly.

Now, moving on from the main themes, I want to talk about another track that I absolutely fell in love with the minute I heard it. It's of course the music you hear on Rivellon when you land there.



Literally what this song says to me is that it's time for a real adventure to finally begin. This is of course after the tutorial area of the game, which in itself can take up to 30 hours to complete. Just the best thing to hear when you are on new territory and you're ready to take your team and fight your way through the island. It's truly remarkable.

I would also like to add an honorary mention to the music on The Lady Vengeance in Divinity Original Sin 2. I think it probably has to be my absolute favorite track in the game. It takes everything I want to hear from the soundtrack and does so in a really cool and interesting way: