I want to be positive and I’m trying to remain optimistic, but somehow I just know it in my bones that they’re going to further Fallout 4 the franchise and strip away even more skills and attributes. Hell, maybe they’ll get rid of dialogue entirely.
The sequels just felt too busy, as though the developers tried to jam so many activities and variance into every inch of the map that it wound up feeling extremely chaotic as a result. Even the soundtracks of 2 and 3 seem to reflect this feeling. It’s like they had a lot of pressure on them to deliver everything bigger and better than before, and it took a lot of focus off of what made Spyro so charming in the first place. The games have no chill.
Spyro 1 levels felt like mystic worldspaces to explore, with room to breathe and pretty sights to enjoy. 2 and 3 just feel like dense puzzles, with ladders and layers and tunnels and ledges, and this thing tieing back to this thing, and this thing opening up later once you get this other thing, and it just didn’t feel very organic or authentic. It was like running around in the inside of a clock.
Spyro Reignited is a beautiful remake. The vibe and ambience of some of those levels is absolutely unreal. This has to be my favorite one, hands down. Spyro 1 was on an entirely different level in terms of mood. 2 and 3 just don’t hit the same, but there is still some great atmosphere.
First one has the best Alchemy system of the three, which only got progressively worse with each entry. I also felt more satisfaction researching monsters and their strengths/weaknesses prior to encounters in 1. The other games for whatever reason didn’t quite scratch that same itch, but were obviously better in most other ways. All in all, I think I liked 1 and 3 the most.
Still just a heavily modded Skyrim playthrough that still remains perfectly lore-friendly. But I’m strongly considering playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance soon. Unfortunately for me, the prospect of modding the hell out of Morrowind again is also calling to me.
There are few things more zen than sitting in your ship, thrusters off, in an undiscovered system on the other side of the galaxy. It’s humbling, isolating, and beautifully zen.
Gothic 1 and especially 2 were absolute gems. Clunky as all fuck - especially the first one - but they were hugely impactful on me and way ahead of their time. The soundtrack from Gothic 2 still lingers in me today and makes me feel the way it made me feel even then.
I made some shit ass choices on my first playthrough of ME2, during the final mission. Precious Tali took a bullet to the face because of it. I forced myself to live with it and made more sensible choices the next time around. I don’t believe I lost anyone the next time, but when it came to the Kaiden (accidentally called him Carth there for a moment) vs. Ashley, I definitely let Ashley go boom on that second playthrough and every consecutive time afterward as well. Kaiden is moody and a little annoying to have around, but at least he’s not a fucking dickhead like Ashley.
I got into it a few years back and nearly finished ARR. I found the storyline and cut scenes really engaging, and felt like I was a part of something. But I tried to pick it up and start fresh about a year ago and the bastards oversimplified my class (Summoner), and I swear they even further nerfed the low-mid level difficulty, making me feel most days as though I was playing on creative mode. For those who don’t care, though, the storyline, world and music (holy fuck, Limsa at night and Ul’dah at night are absolutely soul stirring) are really something special.
I will likely try the game again with the upcoming graphical upgrade, but I fear I will always feel too behind on the story and won’t be a part of the entirely new storyline/age that is slated to begin with the next expansion. That graphical upgrade will be huge, though. I play a ton of old games myself, but sometimes FFXIV feels like it’s running modern character models over PS2 environments and grass textures. It deserves to cast off some of that jank and show how beautiful it’s natural world can be.