Friday, August 16, 2019

Year 2 in review and stats

Games played: 14
Games beat: 11*
Games abandoned: 3
Total hours played: ~370 hours
Games purchased and not played: 10

Review Totals:
5 stars - 5
4 stars - 3
3 stars - 1
2 stars - 1
1 star - 1

*See Golf Story

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

Store Page:
PlayStation 4

Total play time:
~80 hours

My thoughts:

Intro:
Happy to be back (again)! 3rd time back in and I finally beat ARR (A Realm Reborn)!

Graphics:
I have a love/hate with these graphics. Not offensive to look at, but definitely feeling date in 2019. The character animations driving me up a wall. And the art design (when i comes to outfits) - I can't stand.


Sound/Music:
When there is music it usually doesn't disappoint. With the chocobo (mount) music turned off the field is definitely too quiet. The sound effects are grating; they all seem low quality "simple" effects.


Gameplay:
Since I am playing it 5 years after launch, there is a TON of things to do and that's great. Thankfully I was able to join a great "free company" so that adds to the fun. And knowing someone who is 40 levels above you and knows everything about the game definitely makes getting (back) into the game much more doable.

This time around I concentrated mostly on the +! side quests (these side quests open up additional things to do in the game), main mission quests (these progress the story forward) and leveling roulettes (run a selection of randomized dungeons with 3 other people - great/fast way to get experience). The side and main story quests are mostly done solo - which i enjoyed, but once you get into 4 or 8 person dungeons I felt like I was a 2 pound dog on a leash running with Usain Bolt. Didn't hate it, but I never knew what was going on nor did I feel like I actually contributed to anything.


Story:
The story in this game developed worse than an RPG my friends and I made on the PS1 using RPG Maker. I know they were stumbling from the disastrous initial launch of FF14, but wow.


Outro:
After 5 years of playing on and off (but mostly off), I finally beat ARR! I will keep playing but only until Borderlands 3 releases. I'll be back though...


Rating:
3/5 stars.

Next game?
Borderlands 3
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Outer Wilds

Store Page:
Epic Game Store

Total play time:
3 hours

My thoughts:

Unfortunately I wasn't able to hack-it and beat this game. After playing about 3-5 hours the game made me anxious and I couldn't continue. I wasn't feeling it.


Rating:
N/A stars.

Next game?
Went back to The Division