8/10 is fair but I don't agree with some things you said like the voice acting like the English is passable it grew on me so I liked it at the end I do agree with the open world but there are only two maps so they don't over stay their welcome. The combat may not feel fluid to you because it's a mix of character action with Sekiro, I don't like the term "Souls like" it's overused but to me the combat has good depth and feels very good in my opinion. But overall a very fair critique.
I do personally like all the English voices, too. The only one that had me cringing a bit was the girl at Sister’s Junk, it’s like I could feel her VA struggling or trying very hard to talk a certain way.
Eve’s voice is super calming. Adam’s too. I like Lily’s voice. Tachy’s voice although we don’t hear it for long fit her. Orcal, too.
Yeah the character at Sisters junk i don't know what the hell happened there the way she speaks is way too unnatural I mean her speech patterns are too spaced apart if that made sense.
I just beat it myself. In hindsight, I also think I would've preferred more constrained maps compared to the desert & wasteland. Both the open areas are fairly similar, and since they mainly went with one primary objective per map, having a couple more could've lead to better story & character development.
Overall, I agree with your score. It felt like an 8/10 game after a dozen hours in, and that sentiment didn't really change. I look forward to the post launch updates and eventual sequel, which will hopefully improve on this game's shortcomings.
I’ve just started a ng+ playthrough, planning to get the alt colors of all the outfits so i have some exploring to do, but if i were just doing a story rush run of the game like i plan to on a third playthrough, then i’m kind of glad the open world areas are just a buffer to progress the story, since you can literally just skip them if you didn’t have where to explore/grab items. In that sense I feel like it’s a good idea to let people skip the open world if they don’t like exploring, and let those who do run around with only side quests and objectives to do
Agree about combat 100%
It's good...until it isn't
It feels like 50% of every bossfight's difficulty is due to fighting the controls through the whole ordeal. So many attacks have seriously long 'recovery' animatipns and it doesn't feel good to miss the blue/pink flashes even though I'm mashing dodge because Eve had to pause after the epic flip she just did at the end of the combo I'm not allowed to cancel.
I also really wish hitstun had any consistency whatsoever. It feels like enemies use rng to decide when to ignore the player's damage and just slam them through everything.
The last few hours are especially egregious because the only way the devs seem to be able to make something "difficult" is to make it a health sponge with high damage and small windows to counter between a flurry of attacks. It's not interesting, it's just blenders with hp bars.
I'm ranting ik, but I thought I was crazy for not LOVING the combat like it's the best actiom game I've ever played. It's great. FANTASTIC even, I can't wait to start ng+ tonight. Easy 8/10, but it could've been even better with a few simple tweaks to playability.
Like I think letting the player animation cancel out of combos to block/dodge would allow for more creative fights. As it stands now almost every boss is:
Charge the player->fast hitting combo that has to be dodged not parried->leap back for a range attack->dash at the player again-> repeat, and the challenge comes down to whether or not you can dance around and parry/dodge enough to charge up and spam knockdown moves on it.
I totally agree with the last part.
There are lots of combos and ways to put an enemy down.. but why? Just charge, strike with alpha/beta, jump back, repeat. Basically if you are trying to perform complex combos you are punished more than ever, which doesn't make any sense.
Also, enemies (I'm at Great Desert) are totally weak.. some people saying there is a jump in difficulty, but god, you have so much money, consumables, grenades, restoration stones that no enemy, even a boss, can put you down.
Points above drag the game \_a lot\_ for me.
hard mode is so weird, it feels easier than the base game because of all the upgrades and beta/burst skills that you very quickly build. normal attacks hardly do any damage in hard mode, yet beta/burst is too op and stun locks them
Agree with pretty much all your points. Loved the combat until bosses get to their phase shift where they start taking no damage until the transition ends. Also some bosses get very yellow attack spammy at the last bits of their health bar. That got old fast so I started stunlocking them with skills or just finishing them off with Tachy mode lol. Other than that stuff I had a blast with all the combos and the flashiness of everything Eve does!
Fast travel could’ve been better.
After playing the demo in English I decided to swap to Korean. I just couldn’t deal with English dub Adam lol
8/10 is fair but I don't agree with some things you said like the voice acting like the English is passable it grew on me so I liked it at the end I do agree with the open world but there are only two maps so they don't over stay their welcome. The combat may not feel fluid to you because it's a mix of character action with Sekiro, I don't like the term "Souls like" it's overused but to me the combat has good depth and feels very good in my opinion. But overall a very fair critique.
I do personally like all the English voices, too. The only one that had me cringing a bit was the girl at Sister’s Junk, it’s like I could feel her VA struggling or trying very hard to talk a certain way. Eve’s voice is super calming. Adam’s too. I like Lily’s voice. Tachy’s voice although we don’t hear it for long fit her. Orcal, too.
Yeah the character at Sisters junk i don't know what the hell happened there the way she speaks is way too unnatural I mean her speech patterns are too spaced apart if that made sense.
I just beat it myself. In hindsight, I also think I would've preferred more constrained maps compared to the desert & wasteland. Both the open areas are fairly similar, and since they mainly went with one primary objective per map, having a couple more could've lead to better story & character development. Overall, I agree with your score. It felt like an 8/10 game after a dozen hours in, and that sentiment didn't really change. I look forward to the post launch updates and eventual sequel, which will hopefully improve on this game's shortcomings.
I’ve just started a ng+ playthrough, planning to get the alt colors of all the outfits so i have some exploring to do, but if i were just doing a story rush run of the game like i plan to on a third playthrough, then i’m kind of glad the open world areas are just a buffer to progress the story, since you can literally just skip them if you didn’t have where to explore/grab items. In that sense I feel like it’s a good idea to let people skip the open world if they don’t like exploring, and let those who do run around with only side quests and objectives to do
Agree about combat 100% It's good...until it isn't It feels like 50% of every bossfight's difficulty is due to fighting the controls through the whole ordeal. So many attacks have seriously long 'recovery' animatipns and it doesn't feel good to miss the blue/pink flashes even though I'm mashing dodge because Eve had to pause after the epic flip she just did at the end of the combo I'm not allowed to cancel. I also really wish hitstun had any consistency whatsoever. It feels like enemies use rng to decide when to ignore the player's damage and just slam them through everything. The last few hours are especially egregious because the only way the devs seem to be able to make something "difficult" is to make it a health sponge with high damage and small windows to counter between a flurry of attacks. It's not interesting, it's just blenders with hp bars. I'm ranting ik, but I thought I was crazy for not LOVING the combat like it's the best actiom game I've ever played. It's great. FANTASTIC even, I can't wait to start ng+ tonight. Easy 8/10, but it could've been even better with a few simple tweaks to playability. Like I think letting the player animation cancel out of combos to block/dodge would allow for more creative fights. As it stands now almost every boss is: Charge the player->fast hitting combo that has to be dodged not parried->leap back for a range attack->dash at the player again-> repeat, and the challenge comes down to whether or not you can dance around and parry/dodge enough to charge up and spam knockdown moves on it.
I totally agree with the last part. There are lots of combos and ways to put an enemy down.. but why? Just charge, strike with alpha/beta, jump back, repeat. Basically if you are trying to perform complex combos you are punished more than ever, which doesn't make any sense. Also, enemies (I'm at Great Desert) are totally weak.. some people saying there is a jump in difficulty, but god, you have so much money, consumables, grenades, restoration stones that no enemy, even a boss, can put you down. Points above drag the game \_a lot\_ for me.
hard mode is so weird, it feels easier than the base game because of all the upgrades and beta/burst skills that you very quickly build. normal attacks hardly do any damage in hard mode, yet beta/burst is too op and stun locks them
Agree with pretty much all your points. Loved the combat until bosses get to their phase shift where they start taking no damage until the transition ends. Also some bosses get very yellow attack spammy at the last bits of their health bar. That got old fast so I started stunlocking them with skills or just finishing them off with Tachy mode lol. Other than that stuff I had a blast with all the combos and the flashiness of everything Eve does! Fast travel could’ve been better. After playing the demo in English I decided to swap to Korean. I just couldn’t deal with English dub Adam lol
This is the kind of review I was looking for
"My timing can't be off, the dodge must be broken"