gaming – Page 110 – Savior Gaming

Red Dead Redemption 2 First Impressions

First let me say this is by no means a comprehensive review. I played about 5 hours and these are simply my first impressions but I will have a full review later next week, there is a lot of ground to cover in this game both literally and metaphorically and I don’t want to miss anything. That being said I will post links to the game on Amazon for those that want to help us out and buy the game, since it is already being touted as the game of the year, and by some the game of the generation. So without further wait, here we go.

First, I should state I am playing on PlayStation 4 on a 4k t.v. and the game is possibly the most beautiful I have ever played. From the snow sticking to your cloths and the mud and the dirt clinging to your horse. I thought many of the praises people sang in this department were exaggerated, they are not. You are in for a treat here.

All the graphics in the world however mean nothing if the story and controls mean nothing. The story so far is solid but to be 100% honest I have no played enough to truly comment on this. I won’t say how it starts to much as I don’t want to spoil it, but the start of the game sets it up nicely and will teach you how things work fairly well, tho I do wish some things were explained a bit better, but that is strictly a personal thing. Half my friends have this game and I am the only one to think so.

The controls, well truly this is the best a horse has ever controlled in history of gaming I think tho admittedly the carriages are a bit stiff and I did get one stuck. Aside from the one thing the controls are fluid and responsive, the aiming works amazingly and I never felt like me dying or falling was anything other than my own fault.

As I said earlier this isn’t a full review and much of this could change, but as for now I don’t see any way this isn’t game of the year as it is absolutely amazing so far. Picking this one up seems to be a a great call. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory, and remember feel free to check out the links for Amazon.

Xbox One

PS4

Project Highrise: Architect’s Edition

As always, time for a full disclosure moment. I did receive a review copy of this from Kalypso Media for which I am extremely grateful and honored. These things are pretty limited so being chosen is pretty cool. That being said, lets get to the nitty-gritty of it all.

First the game is a business sim and tower builder. I played it on PlayStation 4 but it is also available on Xbox one and the Nintendo Switch as well as Steam and comes with the Las Vegas DLC as well as the content packs for Miami Malls, Tokyo Towers, London Life and Brilliant Berlin.

Graphically the game is not the greatest looking however the graphics are perfect for what they are trying to represent. Watching the characters go about their daily lives in their offices or apartments is a pleasure. The sound falls into the same category with elevators making a satisfying ding or hearing the slots on the casino floor. None of the noises ever feel annoying or out-of-place. The sound and graphics aren’t the best out there, but they fit the game, get the job done and are quite enjoyable.

The game play however is where this game is at its best. You have plenty of options to choose from when you start from money to the background and even the amount of space you have to work with. And for those that just want to build there is an option from the start for unlimited money which had led to some impressive things being built by people who aren’t me as you will see soon enough.

My first go was an office setting. I started out by building a small entrance to welcome people and a place to buy some lunch.

From here as a small profit started to come rolling in I added to it quite a bit with more offices.

Each office requires certain things to be present in order to move in and stay happy, for example a water service for delivery or phone line. As you advance they want more expensive services like copying services. For me the different types of buildings you could go for actually acted like a difficulty setting with offices being pretty easy. Next I set up an apartment complex.

This was actually a bit more difficult for me as they want more stuff from the very start. Still quite manageable tho, as you can see I managed to set up some parking and stores. This was really my only issue with the game. You can’t actually just set up an apartment complex or office building as you will need to add stores and restaurants as well since some of the other building options are locked behind having an assortment of those.

Another major thing people should rightfully be worried about are controls. Many games like this simply do not control well on console, which makes sense and is understandable. It has far less buttons and no mouse. I am happy to report however the controls work just fine. Obviously they are most likely better on PC, but I never had any issues controlling or building things.

Now for the end, is this game worth your hard-earned cash? Short answer, yes. This is honestly the best tower building game I have ever played and I happily sank many hours into it and will sink many more. If you like the management genre this game is great and allows you to build many interesting things. Of course the game isn’t perfect and if you aren’t a fan of the genre this game won’t hold much for you, but if you have been waiting for this style of game to hit console there is no reason to wait, 9/10 must buy for fans of the genre. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

As always if you want to support the blog and pick the game up you can do that here at Amazon.

PS4

Switch

Xbox

Red Dead Redemption 2 Spoilers are Sadly Happening, but not here.

First I feel obligated to say this, this is my opinion on the fact that spoilers are being out there, this is not a place where you will find those spoilers. So if you want those spoilers, keep looking. If you are worried about them, you are safe.

As with all big releases, leaks and spoilers happen. Now to an extent what people count as spoilers is a bit weird and vague, like a map really isn’t a spoiler. It tells you nothing of the story or what happens when you get there, it is just a map. Some generic game play also isn’t a spoiler. Sadly like all other stuff if you know where to look other stuff is being leaked, some of it clearly a joke like ” Arthur kills john” which we know isn’t true. However this trend of ruining big triple A titles really needs to stop, especially considering chances are the ending will most likely be everywhere by the time the game launches, much like the ending to GTAV was. So as always everyone, be kind, don’t ruin the damn game, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

G-Star 2018

Coming up in November is G-Star 2018 in Korea. For those of you like myself that are not familiar with it, here is a link with some info. G-Star. G-star seems to be similar to American E3 with events set up for the press and companies to show off upcoming products as well as having an E-Sports event.

I actually heard about the event when i was asked by a representative of Intragames if i would be attending and if i would be interested in visiting their booth, which sadly for me being in America that really is not a realistic trip for me to be making as much as me and @torstenvblog would have loved to have gone. Mostly I am sharing this so that hopefully others can keep an eye out and learn about another even that features all kinds of games. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Suikoden Series

The Suikoden series is one of my all time favorite series. The series involves the 108 stars of destiny and true ruins. Each game tells a different story of a different ruin, but they all have that much in common. The combat is a typical turned based as you can see below in Suikoden 2.

This is in no way meant to be a review or an exhaustive explanation of the series. No that would require me to take each game one by one as they each deserve as they each have their own strong and weak points and they each have their own individual stories, tho it is worth pointing out that many characters do appear in multiple games. This was simply a quick over view to point this out. For years there has been a movement to get this series going again, literally it’s called http://suikodenrevivalmovement.com/. Well recently in a random and surprise move as reported by numerous websites and you can easily go there and verify it yourself, for the first time in 4 years the Japanese Suikoden website has been updated. For more on that visit https://gearnuke.com/konami-relaunches-suikoden-portal-website/.

This is exciting for fans of the series because it signals Konami may be interested in reviving the series. The only other real explanation is possibly a hack job but I have my doubts on that. Regardless for fans of the series there is some hope, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

For those that are interested in the games and helping us out,here are some links for the Suikoden game series on Amazon.

Why DLC/Microtransactions Aren’t Going Anywhere, and it is our fault.

In gaming today you will basically certainly see the debate about DLC and in-game transactions. Is it good, is it bad? Should it count as gambling? Shouldn’t companies sell complete games? In my day we got the entire game and alternate costumes were awarded for doing stuff! These are all things we have heard before. Hell many of us have probably said them. But why do these things exist? We all know its money.

There are good aspects to it tho. For example games have been $60 for years and haven’t gone up in large part because of DLC and in-game transactions. It allows companies to continue to profit off a game after release and more importantly profit off used games as well. This allows them to deal with the very small, if any profit margin from selling games at $60 when they should probably cost $70 or $80.

Another good aspect is stories can continue, The Witcher 3 for example had DLC that extended the life of the game for over 100 hours probably. It allows new weapons and enemies or even game modes to be introduced. Don’t worry, I understand there are bad things and I will get to them next.

The down side of things however is it also encourages companies to bombard you with offers for stuff or even to leave things out and sell them to you later. Not every company does this, but to say it doesn’t happen is insane and naive. Another issue, as we have seen in Assasin’s Creed Odyssey, is them selling you experience boost to level up faster and it is not the only game this has been seen in. I have heard from numerous people “Yea but it is a fun grind so its ok” but that is hardly the point. The point is they intentionally designed the game to sell you that experience booster. Just because some people are cool with that grind doesn’t mean it wasn’t designed that way or that others aren’t going to buy it.

They aren’t the only company that does stuff like this, they basically all do it. EA is pretty much always getting the brunt of these joke because of their over indulgence of doing things like this. You also see a ton of games selling skins and loot boxes to the point you can’t even turn many games on without them saying hey come buy one, in game advertising is becoming rampant.

The truth of the matter is this will never go away, and the reason for that is honestly ourselves. The fact is we spend billions on this stuff a year, and that is why it exist in the first place. Simple economics is, if there is a demand for something someone will supply it. If there is no demand, the supply will try up. Now obviously you will never convince millions of gamers to stop buying things they want, so you will never get rid of DLC or microtransactions.

Clearly some companies have gone to far, and I do miss the days when I bought a game and got everything in one neat little package, but this is the world we live in and it does help keep the cost of games down. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

American Truck Simulator

This game actually has a funny story behind how I got it. See I didn’t buy it, but it isn’t a review copy. A guy in a Facebook group I am in was like “hey who wants it, post a funny gif, best one wins” and I won pretty much by default. Even better I am fairly sure he was from somewhere in Europe and I am an American, so I enjoyed that as well.

Also if you are curious about the other version of this, I did review that. Euro Truck Simulator 2

Now, on to American Truck Simulator. First you should know, I am not going to bash this game. Most people who played it do not. It has amazing scores on Steam and great reviews in other places, and rightfully so. The game looks good and its fun to watch the scenery fly buy as you drive across California and other west coast states.

The controls are also nice with them making the trucks control quite realistically without relying on simply making the controls unresponsive or sluggish. They are smooth and responsive without losing that feeling of driving a huge truck, and it does change based off your trailer. I also enjoy that you can put your own music into the radio and have it play in-game. It is a nice touch that adds to the immersion of it all.

The game however isn’t perfect, no game really is if we are being 100% honest. The game can get repetitive and if you aren’t into this style of game you will get bored really fast. Also if you are playing with a mouse and keyboard driving can be a tad weird at times because they aren’t are precise as driving a real car when it comes to controlling your speed. The game also does a poor job of teaching you things like how to turn your lights and windshield wipers on, two things you will obviously need. Thankfully its just a quick google search away.

That being said, I know I got the game for free but if I had paid for it, I would be quite happy with the purchase. If you are trying to decide between the two honestly go with what country you are from. My biggest issue with Euro Truck was having no clue about their traffic laws and kept driving down the wrong side of the road ( which would have been the correct side in America) and I don’t have that issue with American Truck Simulator and that makes the game far more enjoyable for me. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Final Fantasy 6, Why Its Only An Average Game.

As I promised this morning here is an opinion that will probably annoy a lot of people. Final Fantasy 6, is only an average game. The story is good yea. The first 3/4th of the game or so is really good, the traveling around, the war itself. Kefka is a pretty demented guy poisoning people and even managed to demolish the world and take it over. For more details on all that check here.

This is where many of my issues come into it tho. First Kefka taking over the world and all was 100% accidental. He had no intention of destroying half the surface of the place like this and clearly if that is true taking over the world this way was also not the plan. You can’t really claim this guy is a great villain when his plan wasn’t a plan but a happy mistake.

After this point in the game the entire rest of the game is negated and pointless. You wake up on an island, your party scattered. You will now spend this entire section of the game finding and recruiting people you already recruited. Maybe. Why maybe? Well many of them are now option characters, some of those important characters from the first part of the game you can now go beat the game without. There is no trick to this by the way or game glitching needed, they are simply optional.

This brings me to another issue I have. There are 14 characters in this game, 11 main characters and 3 optional. Sort of, as stated before after the world is destroyed you only need to recruit 3 characters. (Celes, Edgar and Setzer) That is it, after those 3 are back in your party it is actually possible to go finish the game. You can go collect the other 11 main characters and 3 optional characters (and Gogo and Umaro have 0 backstory by the way and Mog isn’t much better) so aside from being strong are pointless.

Hell even Shadow and the other characters aren’t exactly well made, tho some for their time are greatly done. Much of the game tho is busy work simply to add play time. Now the game isn’t by any means bad, but to say it is great or even one of the best is insane to me. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Anyone interested in checking this out and helping us out here is a link to Final Fantasy Anthology on Amazon.

Final Fantasy Anthology

5 Best Final Fantasy Games

Yesterday I did the 5 worst Final Fantasy games, today I am doing the 5 best. This is completely subjective obviously, and admittedly the list is pretty much the same list most fans would make. There is one game that did not make the list and I will forever defend it as being simply a mediocre game. That comes later on today tho when I upset a bunch of people by not praising Final Fantasy 6. But without further waiting, here you go, and in no real order.

Final Fantasy Tactics (PlayStation One)

yup, Final Fantasy tactics. Of course the PSP version is also great, and arguably is even better than the PS1 version I reviewed. I haven’t reviewed that one but regardless the War of the Lions is an absolute amazing game. The story was far more adult than other games in the series and most people never seemed to realize it not only was full of social commentary on the typical haves vs the have not of society but also how many things in history just aren’t what they seem or we are even told. All in all, this game is worth playing one way or another. In fact this might be my favorite Final Fantasy game.

Final Fantasy 9 (PS4)

Next up is FF9, an amazing game also from the PS1 era. It was a golden time for Final Fantasy, with 7 being a HUGE hit of unexpected proportions, most people don’t know they actually were working on FF8 and FF9 at the same time. The characters are great, the story magnificent and graphically it holds up well even now. Many people debate whether or not 7 or 9 is the better game, and truthfully I can’t choose.

This one is a bit of an argument waiting to happen since people seem to love or hate this game. The story is much debated at times even with many people thinking Squall is dead for most of it. (He isn’t confirmed here) I mean he was hit in the damn shoulder. Tho the games junction and card game make the game very breakable, you can actually get Squalls ultimate weapon on disk 1. Regardless I love the game and like most people I still hold out hope we get an HD remaster, tho I doubt it happens.

Final Fantasy 7 retro review

Look you knew this game would be here. By now if you don’t understand why this game is on the list nothing I say is going to make that happen. It brought the RPG and Final Fantasy games to the main stream and basically solidified them as a staple of the gaming community. Also a fun fact, I was one of the first people in America to finish this game. My brothers friend worked at Wal-Mart when the game released and I got the game almost a week early and finished it in a weekend. By the time the game released I was halfway through my 2nd play through.

Final Fantasy, the original. This game isn’t necessarily the best in the series so much as it is the first, and that is why it is here. Without Final Fantasy for the NES man of the favorite games of RPG fans everywhere may not even exist. I remember arguments of people discussing what was better this or Dragon Warrior (Now dragon Quest) Years later the 2 companies became one which is rather funny to me. Final Fantasy and the light warriors however were the first FF game, and many of the things within it became major parts of the series such as crystals, the characters becoming job classes and even Garland (the first boss) being used in FF9.

Before I go I should point out I made this list once before, so feel free to check that out and see how my opinion may have changed. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Top 5 Final Fantasy Games

The 5 Worst Final Fantasy Games

We all know the Final Fantasy series, many of us have played it, but we have all heard of it. Most fans have arguments over the best ones, is it 7? 9? 10? Well how about the worst? Here is my take on that, so in no particular order here are my 5 worst Final Fantasy games.

Final Fantasy Adventure, if you want to know more about the story click here. The game is actually credited for spawning the Mana series, which really is something to be thankful for. But this game for me was horrible. The attack gauge annoyed me how you had to find magic just did nothing for me and all around calling this a Final Fantasy game was just misleading.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Now we all know I LOVE Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions. But this one? I hated it. In fact it was one of the few games I ever returned the same day. The story of a kid finding a magic book and getting transported was silly, the law system where in fights you couldn’t do certain things or you would be arrested, the whole thing was just a train wreck for me.

Final Fantasy 2. The game did introduce things that became trademarks like chocobo and Cid, but the leveling up system basically was all about what you did. Take damage to increase HP do or do damage to increase strength. This honestly truly ruined the game for many people including myself.

Final Fantasy 13. You can just go ahead and count the entire 13 trilogy here. None of them were all that great, but 13 itself was horrible. It was beyond linear, it capped your leveling up in each chapter the characters were forgettable and some (looking at you Hope) were flat-out annoying as hell.

Here is the one that will get me in trouble, it always does and people always get upset. I don’t care, this game is one of the worst in the series.

Yes Final Fantasy 12. The story isn’t great but the real death of this game is the gambit combat system. I have won boss battles while not even holding my controller. You can legitimately set your gambits up then just walk around. The updated version is a bit better since you can speed it up so it doesn’t take as long but this is truly not a good game. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.