2018 in gaming so far....

[CritialGaming]

It requires an adjustment to get used to TICO controls, and these days most people would rather just ***** about it than making that adjustment, therefore missing out on some great games in the process.

As much as I love The Last Guardian there are major problems with it, and I don't blame people for ditching it. Trico's A.I. is fine once you realize how it functions, but climbing Trico feels like shit. It doesn't have the same organic feeling climbing a colossus in SotC does. If it had just transported the Shadow climbing mechanic to Guardian it would've been great, but since you're magnetized to him instead of having a 'hold' button you're constantly struggling with the stickiness of the kid ontop of the funky camera angles. This translates to the regular platforming as well, where the only tension comes from whether or not the kid is going to grab onto a ledge, since you're depended on the game to auto-grab.

Also, that fucking awfull narraration that ruins every scene it's in. God, I wish they could patch that out.

Well that really sucks from the sounds of it. They don?t make nuanced, physics-based climbing like SotC had anymore; apparently not even Team Ico themselves.

Having said that, the gameplay of SotC largely revolves around that climbing mechanic, whereas TLG it?s only a means to an end if I?m getting the right impression. Perhaps it would?ve been too frustrating when Trico is supposed to feel like a ?safe place.?

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

What are you using to sprint? I have mine set to holding O like Souls, since it already starts with a dash and keeping it held continues that with a sprint.

I had sprint set to R3. I normally use R3 or R2 depending on the game. The overall controls just never felt as tight as the top tier action games to me. I swear the block was laggy or inconsistent or something, there'd be several times I knew I blocked in time but Kratos just didn't. As the game goes on and you get better moves and stuff, it just overall requires less precision and the enemies do literally become easier as they are lower level (in comparison to your level). The controls really show their issues in that beginning stretch where if you try to play in a fun way (constantly attacking, dodging, blocking), you're gonna die lots due to the controls. You can just do cheap stuff like axe throw to get through those tough early fights but that ain't fun. Plus, I really hate how Kratos and enemies will just glide across the ground to land attacks; it's super noticeable on the Kratos' cleave attack and I recall how one of the valkyries had a spin attack that just honed-in on me when I was far enough away to not need to block.

As much as I love The Last Guardian there are major problems with it, and I don't blame people for ditching it. Trico's A.I. is fine once you realize how it functions, but climbing Trico feels like shit. It doesn't have the same organic feeling climbing a colossus in SotC does. If it had just transported the Shadow climbing mechanic to Guardian it would've been great, but since you're magnetized to him instead of having a 'hold' button you're constantly struggling with the stickiness of the kid ontop of the funky camera angles. This translates to the regular platforming as well, where the only tension comes from whether or not the kid is going to grab onto a ledge, since you're depended on the game to auto-grab.

Also, that fucking awfull narraration that ruins every scene it's in. God, I wish they could patch that out.

Climbing isn't perfect but it was quite easy to sorta find the sweet spot. Going up the hind legs was always smooth for me and going up the tail as well (when you have to jump to it). Climbing on creatures have never felt perfect yet IMO from Shadow to Dragon's Dogma. It was always a bit finicky at times in every game I've played with such a mechanic. I never had an issue with the kid not holding on but there were a few times when it was hard to get off as he would keep grabbing back on. I kinda don't understand the complaints of people saying they couldn't get Trico to go the right way because Trico is the one actually leading the boy. There was one time I did actually get Trico to go the complete wrong way via commands because I couldn't figure out this one puzzle.

I'm not a fan of the narration, I get they put it in there as "hint" mechanic but it definitely ruins some of the mystery.

 

[CritialGaming]

What are you using to sprint? I have mine set to holding O like Souls, since it already starts with a dash and keeping it held continues that with a sprint.

I had sprint set to R3. I normally use R3 or R2 depending on the game. The overall controls just never felt as tight as the top tier action games to me. I swear the block was laggy or inconsistent or something, there'd be several times I knew I blocked in time but Kratos just didn't. As the game goes on and you get better moves and stuff, it just overall requires less precision and the enemies do literally become easier as they are lower level (in comparison to your level). The controls really show their issues in that beginning stretch where if you try to play in a fun way (constantly attacking, dodging, blocking), you're gonna die lots due to the controls. You can just do cheap stuff like axe throw to get through those tough early fights but that ain't fun. Plus, I really hate how Kratos and enemies will just glide across the ground to land attacks; it's super noticeable on the Kratos' cleave attack and I recall how one of the valkyries had a spin attack that just honed-in on me when I was far enough away to not need to block.

It's certainly not going to control like a Bayonetta, DMC, Vanquish, etc. or even the old GoW's which are probably all hand-animated. This is more in line with SoulsBorne or even TLoU, which have more physical deliberation to their control inputs. I definitely noticed the early enemies being tougher than the old games but I didn't die much more than playing the early games on harder difficulties. The axe throw is a crutch early on and it takes forever on purpose, to discourage cheesing. I alternated between light/heavy axe attacks and melee to build stun.

I also left my block on L1 and it feels snappy enough. My biggest responsiveness issues had to do with context sensitive stuff or special attack transitions, especially with Rune attacks where it seemed they didn't always want to start, but I'm wondering if my meter wasn't always full as sometimes it's tough to tell. I don't know why, but after taking a month or so break from the game and coming back to it, I'm playing better than ever.

I was playing a blend of games in between, including Bloodborne, The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, fighting games, etc. so maybe it reset my muscle memory or something. I was at a Valkyrie and beat her, then fought an ancient and realized there were several alternate strategies built into the environment to beat it easily, and it really helped dissolve any outlying reservations about the combat and design. I started tinkering more with gear, experimenting with other enemies and mixing up attacks more, especially with Atreus and realized within the same upgrade level I took a break at that there were easier ways of beating them.

Most of the purple bar enemies are also there as an optional extra challenge, or converted to elite if you allow them time on the harder difficulties.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

It's certainly not going to control like a Bayonetta, DMC, Vanquish, etc. or even the old GoW's which are probably all hand-animated. This is more in line with SoulsBorne or even TLoU, which have more physical deliberation to their control inputs. I definitely noticed the early enemies being tougher than the old games but I didn't die much more than playing the early games on harder difficulties. The axe throw is a crutch early on and it takes forever on purpose, to discourage cheesing. I alternated between light/heavy axe attacks and melee to build stun.

I also left my block on L1 and it feels snappy enough. My biggest responsiveness issues had to do with context sensitive stuff or special attack transitions, especially with Rune attacks where it seemed they didn't always want to start, but I'm wondering if my meter wasn't always full as sometimes it's tough to tell. I don't know why, but after taking a month or so break from the game and coming back to it, I'm playing better than ever.

I was playing a blend of games in between, including Bloodborne, The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, fighting games, etc. so maybe it reset my muscle memory or something. I was at a Valkyrie and beat her, then fought an ancient and realized there were several alternate strategies built into the environment to beat it easily, and it really helped dissolve any outlying reservations about the combat and design. I started tinkering more with gear, experimenting with other enemies and mixing up attacks more, especially with Atreus and realized within the same upgrade level I took a break at that there were easier ways of beating them.

Most of the purple bar enemies are also there as an optional extra challenge, or converted to elite if you allow them time on the harder difficulties.

I knew going in God of War was going to be more deliberate and I was playing Monster Hunter just prior to GoW so I wasn't used of something like Bayonetta. Monster Hunter is even more deliberate than Souls. The only control issue I recall having with Souls was DS1 with it occasionally "queueing up" inputs from mashing one too many buttons, I don't recall Bloodborne having that issue though. Sure the sprint/jump controls aren't intuitive or anything, but it works and you can get used to it. Monster Hunter I only had a control issue specifically with the bow dash move. But yeah, overall I just found GoW not as responsive or accurate as it really should have been. Unless my R3 button input is a controller issue (which I don't think so), there was at least 10-20% of the time when Kratos wouldn't sprint when I pressed it. I did see in a thread somewhere else that there is a Rage issue with triggering it and also an issue with weapon switching and runic attacks. I never experienced those issues as I didn't really get into the game that much to wanna master it or playing super optimal as towards the last 3rd, I was kinda done with the game and just wanted to finish it at that point. There was lots of little things that about the combat that I just didn't care for like how most enemies from the heavy draugrs to the travelers to the trolls are designed to ignore most of Kratos' kit so you really can't do the "fun" stuff to them.

 

[CritialGaming]

Spoiler

It's certainly not going to control like a Bayonetta, DMC, Vanquish, etc. or even the old GoW's which are probably all hand-animated. This is more in line with SoulsBorne or even TLoU, which have more physical deliberation to their control inputs. I definitely noticed the early enemies being tougher than the old games but I didn't die much more than playing the early games on harder difficulties. The axe throw is a crutch early on and it takes forever on purpose, to discourage cheesing. I alternated between light/heavy axe attacks and melee to build stun.

I also left my block on L1 and it feels snappy enough. My biggest responsiveness issues had to do with context sensitive stuff or special attack transitions, especially with Rune attacks where it seemed they didn't always want to start, but I'm wondering if my meter wasn't always full as sometimes it's tough to tell. I don't know why, but after taking a month or so break from the game and coming back to it, I'm playing better than ever.

I was playing a blend of games in between, including Bloodborne, The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, fighting games, etc. so maybe it reset my muscle memory or something. I was at a Valkyrie and beat her, then fought an ancient and realized there were several alternate strategies built into the environment to beat it easily, and it really helped dissolve any outlying reservations about the combat and design. I started tinkering more with gear, experimenting with other enemies and mixing up attacks more, especially with Atreus and realized within the same upgrade level I took a break at that there were easier ways of beating them.

Most of the purple bar enemies are also there as an optional extra challenge, or converted to elite if you allow them time on the harder difficulties.

I knew going in God of War was going to be more deliberate and I was playing Monster Hunter just prior to GoW so I wasn't used of something like Bayonetta. Monster Hunter is even more deliberate than Souls. The only control issue I recall having with Souls was DS1 with it occasionally "queueing up" inputs from mashing one too many buttons, I don't recall Bloodborne having that issue though. Sure the sprint/jump controls aren't intuitive or anything, but it works and you can get used to it. Monster Hunter I only had a control issue specifically with the bow dash move. But yeah, overall I just found GoW not as responsive or accurate as it really should have been. Unless my R3 button input is a controller issue (which I don't think so), there was at least 10-20% of the time when Kratos wouldn't sprint when I pressed it. I did see in a thread somewhere else that there is a Rage issue with triggering it and also an issue with weapon switching and runic attacks. I never experienced those issues as I didn't really get into the game that much to wanna master it or playing super optimal as towards the last 3rd, I was kinda done with the game and just wanted to finish it at that point. There was lots of little things that about the combat that I just didn't care for like how most enemies from the heavy draugrs to the travelers to the trolls are designed to ignore most of Kratos' kit so you really can't do the "fun" stuff to them.

What do you consider ?fun? stuff? I lit up a troll the other night with pretty much every special I had active and it took them all quite definitively. I think part of the problem is you already made your mind up and didn?t really care. Same with Souls.

For example, I?m sure on the other hand you could say the same to me about Bayonetta or something similar whose game design I?m less than ecstatic about, so I play it in a way that just ?gets me through it?, but that?s how matters of taste often are.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

What do you consider ?fun? stuff? I lit up a troll the other night with pretty much every special I had active and it took them all quite definitively. I think part of the problem is you already made your mind up and didn?t really care. Same with Souls.

For example, I?m sure on the other hand you could say the same to me about Bayonetta or something similar whose game design I?m less than ecstatic about, so I play it in a way that just ?gets me through it?, but that?s how matters of taste often are.

Why would I go into a game with my mind already made up? Everybody goes into everything with some biases, but I'm not going to try something I'm pretty sure I won't like just to then be able to ***** about it. I go into just about everything hoping it'll be great and my new favorite thing. If this new GOW was just more classic GOW, I wouldn't have even given it a try because I was done with not only that gameplay but with the story itself.

There's so much you can't to just about any enemy in the game that isn't your standard weak cannon fodder draugr. You can't juggle a heavy draugr or an ancient or a traveler or a troll. You can't freeze them with your axe (and then kick them into a wall to shatter), you can't trip them with throwing your axe at their feet, etc. The way enemy super armor (aka poise) works, you can't really stagger enemies unless you completely finish a combo, which is hard because they'll almost certainly attack in the middle of your combo attempt. Yes, you're right that the runic attacks do allow you unleash (and stagger enemies) but then every encounter just comes down to you doing Kratos' highest burst damage at the start and finishing whatever is left with your normal attacks. Putting "magic" attacks (runics) on cooldown vs a magic resource meter like the past games makes combat very MOBA-ish. Against most enemies, most of Kratos' kit is useless and you just end up spamming runics, looking for an opening to do the cleave attack, do the shield parry, or go for a possible stun and then finisher. New GOW has a lot of breadth (there's lots of different moves) but very little depth because there's only a few of the moves that are even worth doing and/or accomplish different things.

I put a good 200 hours into Monster Hunter World (1st time for me playing a MH game), there aren't any posts of me complaining about its combat not being like Bayonetta. In fact, I've made a few posts saying how it does much of the Souls combat shtick better than Souls like stamina and deliberation.

 

[CritialGaming]

What do you consider ?fun? stuff? I lit up a troll the other night with pretty much every special I had active and it took them all quite definitively. I think part of the problem is you already made your mind up and didn?t really care. Same with Souls.

For example, I?m sure on the other hand you could say the same to me about Bayonetta or something similar whose game design I?m less than ecstatic about, so I play it in a way that just ?gets me through it?, but that?s how matters of taste often are.

Why would I go into a game with my mind already made up? Everybody goes into everything with some biases, but I'm not going to try something I'm pretty sure I won't like just to then be able to ***** about it. I go into just about everything hoping it'll be great and my new favorite thing. If this new GOW was just more classic GOW, I wouldn't have even given it a try because I was done with not only that gameplay but with the story itself.

There's so much you can't to just about any enemy in the game that isn't your standard weak cannon fodder draugr. You can't juggle a heavy draugr or an ancient or a traveler or a troll. You can't freeze them with your axe (and then kick them into a wall to shatter), you can't trip them with throwing your axe at their feet, etc. The way enemy super armor (aka poise) works, you can't really stagger enemies unless you completely finish a combo, which is hard because they'll almost certainly attack in the middle of your combo attempt. Yes, you're right that the runic attacks do allow you unleash (and stagger enemies) but then every encounter just comes down to you doing Kratos' highest burst damage at the start and finishing whatever is left with your normal attacks. Putting "magic" attacks (runics) on cooldown vs a magic resource meter like the past games makes combat very MOBA-ish. Against most enemies, most of Kratos' kit is useless and you just end up spamming runics, looking for an opening to do the cleave attack, do the shield parry, or go for a possible stun and then finisher. New GOW has a lot of breadth (there's lots of different moves) but very little depth because there's only a few of the moves that are even worth doing and/or accomplish different things.

I put a good 200 hours into Monster Hunter World (1st time for me playing a MH game), there aren't any posts of me complaining about its combat not being like Bayonetta. In fact, I've made a few posts saying how it does much of the Souls combat shtick better than Souls like stamina and deliberation.

You compared the controls to top tier action games, of which even the classic games with far less deliberate mechanics were closer to than the new GoW; hence the Bayonetta reference.

I just did half of the Muspelheim challenges last night and got a rounded sample of enemies. Some fell easily to even normal attacks, while others required specials to kill quickly, and some like the shielded Draugers required a break before you could do anything. L2+R1 with the blades will grab the annoying Nightmares for a one hit kill, etc. There seemed to be quite a bit of variety in terms of what?s useful or most effective, and they were all enemies from the main story at one point or another.

Of course, ?fun? ultimately depends on the player, which ties into personal taste. I had fun with each one so far, in different ways. I like that there?s a quick and simple way to take down the most annoying enemy imo, just as I enjoyed using specials and shield breaks on the tougher ones. The only mildly frustrating part after clearing the first three gates involved having to kill a number of enemies within a circle that kept changing locations. It took a strategy of both baiting and avoiding knock-back attacks, or knowing what the range was to knock them into the ring on a death blow.

 

[Yoshi178]

The Last Guardian? Seriously? I've heard nothing but crap from that game.

We rarely get games like The Last Guardian

That's for sure!

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

You compared the controls to top tier action games, of which even the classic games with far less deliberate mechanics were closer to than the new GoW; hence the Bayonetta reference.

I just did half of the Muspelheim challenges last night and got a rounded sample of enemies. Some fell easily to even normal attacks, while others required specials to kill quickly, and some like the shielded Draugers required a break before you could do anything. L2+R1 with the blades will grab the annoying Nightmares for a one hit kill, etc. There seemed to be quite a bit of variety in terms of what?s useful or most effective, and they were all enemies from the main story at one point or another.

Of course, ?fun? ultimately depends on the player, which ties into personal taste. I had fun with each one so far, in different ways. I like that there?s a quick and simple way to take down the most annoying enemy imo, just as I enjoyed using specials and shield breaks on the tougher ones. The only mildly frustrating part after clearing the first three gates involved having to kill a number of enemies within a circle that kept changing locations. It took a strategy of both baiting and avoiding knock-back attacks, or knowing what the range was to knock them into the ring on a death blow.

Compared to say the better action games whether fast like Bayonetta or slow like Monster Hunter, the responsiveness and accuracy of the controls just wasn't there. I died so many times because of the controls as I was trying to have fun in that early game instead of playing cheap and the controls just aren't up to snuff IMO.

I didn't do those challenges obviously because I wasn't liking the combat much. I'm not sure how they work but how much "fun" you can have with most enemies is largely determined by the level difference between you and the enemy.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

The Last Guardian? Seriously? I've heard nothing but crap from that game.

We rarely get games like The Last Guardian

That's for sure!

All you have to do is follow Trico, he's leading you instead of the other way around.

 

[Yoshi178]

The Last Guardian? Seriously? I've heard nothing but crap from that game.

We rarely get games like The Last Guardian

That's for sure!

All you have to do is follow Trico, he's leading you instead of the other way around.

i'm just going off dunkey's word about the game.

you know, like how you're going off Dunkey's word about Octopath traveller? you did quote someone else saying you were going to post that exact same video after all.

 

[Foxcubwendigo]

Personally, I think 2018's been pretty great. We've had Octopath Traveler, Jurassic World: Evolution, God of War, Ni No Kuni 2, Monster Hunter: World, the remake of Shadow of the Colossus and the re-release of Pokemon: Crystal... All good stuff.

 

[Casual Shinji]

i'm just going off dunkey's word about the game.

you know, like how you're going off Dunkey's word about Octopath traveller? you did quote someone else saying you were going to post that exact same video after all.

People need to stop going off anything this guy says about games, since any game can be made to look great or terrible based on how that particular person edits the footage.

 

[Yoshi178]

i'm just going off dunkey's word about the game.

you know, like how you're going off Dunkey's word about Octopath traveller? you did quote someone else saying you were going to post that exact same video after all.

People need to stop going off anything this guy says about games, since any game can be made to look great or terrible based on how that particular person edits the footage.

i actually enjoy Dunkeys videos. they're pretty funny, but it's obvious that they are all purely for comedy and nothing more.

i wonder if Phoenix knows this?

 

[Casual Shinji]

People need to stop going off anything this guy says about games, since any game can be made to look great or terrible based on how that particular person edits the footage.

i actually enjoy Dunkeys videos. they're pretty funny, but it's obvious that they are all purely for comedy and nothing more.

Uh noooo, they're his overview of the game and are no more purely for comedy as Yahtzee's videos are. Just because he brings it in a comedic way (which only involves him putting on a funny gangsta voice) doesn't mean it isn't a review of the game. And he edits it to make it look either good or bad, like with that recent Octopath Traveler video where he showed perfectly decent dialoge out of context (and badly dubbed) and criticized it as bad writing. There was also the time he criticized The Last of Us for not having the climbing and jumping of Uncharted, and then when Uncharted 4 came out he complained about it having so much climbing and why it couldn't be more like The Last of Us.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Only game I played from this year I thiiiiiiiiink is God of War. Which was great. But I do have a tiny wee bit of criticism that hasn't been brought up outside of some obscure searches. Which is the...wait, I don't know if it counts as a spoiler, should a spoiler be counted as a spoiler when it is essentially disappointment spoiler? Well...

Spoiler: I wouldnt want anybody elses disappointment being robbed by silly old me...

There's a realm table with a dial that points to all 8 realms, but you can only ever visit 5 in the whole game, while moving the dial to the other choices just gives you a message saying you're blocked from visiting there. This is like having selectable map areas in an RPG that never get used in game. I was expecting fantastical journey's through these realms, only to find out they're basically blue-balling me. And I don't know if it's worse that they could be either DLC or for the next game, neither are preferred. Though the developer has adamantly denied any plans for DLC. It was a strange sort of let down.

Been a good year for lizards though.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Only game I played from this year I thiiiiiiiiink is God of War. Which was great. But I do have a tiny wee bit of criticism that hasn't been brought up outside of some obscure searches. Which is the...wait, I don't know if it counts as a spoiler, should a spoiler be counted as a spoiler when it is essentially disappointment spoiler? Well...

Spoiler: I wouldnt want anybody elses disappointment being robbed by silly old me...

There's a realm table with a dial that points to all 8 realms, but you can only ever visit 5 in the whole game, while moving the dial to the other choices just gives you a message saying you're blocked from visiting there. This is like having selectable map areas in an RPG that never get used in game. I was expecting fantastical journey's through these realms, only to find out they're basically blue-balling me. And I don't know if it's worse that they could be either DLC or for the next game, neither are preferred. Though the developer has adamantly denied any plans for DLC. It was a strange sort of let down.

I've heard this complaint labeled at the game by others, and I'm a bit puzzled by it. I mean, it's not like the game is lacking in content/length. Even the variety in scenery is pretty wide. But then I don't know if people thought this game was going to go through the entirety of Norse mythology and then move on to the next, because I've also heard complaints about..

Spoiler

.. the game not letting you fight Thor and Odin.

 

[CritialGaming]

The Last Guardian? Seriously? I've heard nothing but crap from that game.

We rarely get games like The Last Guardian

That's for sure!

From the comments -

Airsh Bornely
Coming back to this video after finally playing it myself. Part of everyone's problem was not knowing that he HAS TO SEE YOU pointing toward the direction you are wanting. I quickly figured this out while playing and it's a shame many didn't learn this
4 months ago
161

MasterAlucardGV
this video won't fly for people who played the game, eh. i know you're doing lots of stuff purposely
1 year ago
68

I think the main problem is many unsuspecting people think he?s being serious, and would take his opinions at face value thus using that as a basis for their own opinion of a game or whatever. That?s how misinformation is easily spread on the internet.

A basic disclaimer would go a long ways in cases like this.


*edit* if he is being serious, then he really gives the Worthy a Buy dude a run for his money in ways that are worthy of epic face palms.

 

[CritialGaming]

Only game I played from this year I thiiiiiiiiink is God of War. Which was great. But I do have a tiny wee bit of criticism that hasn't been brought up outside of some obscure searches. Which is the...wait, I don't know if it counts as a spoiler, should a spoiler be counted as a spoiler when it is essentially disappointment spoiler? Well...

Spoiler: I wouldnt want anybody elses disappointment being robbed by silly old me...

There's a realm table with a dial that points to all 8 realms, but you can only ever visit 5 in the whole game, while moving the dial to the other choices just gives you a message saying you're blocked from visiting there. This is like having selectable map areas in an RPG that never get used in game. I was expecting fantastical journey's through these realms, only to find out they're basically blue-balling me. And I don't know if it's worse that they could be either DLC or for the next game, neither are preferred. Though the developer has adamantly denied any plans for DLC. It was a strange sort of let down.

I've heard this complaint labeled at the game by others, and I'm a bit puzzled by it. I mean, it's not like the game is lacking in content/length. Even the variety in scenery is pretty wide. But then I don't know if people thought this game was going to go through the entirety of Norse mythology and then move on to the next, because I've also heard complaints about..

Spoiler

.. the game not letting you fight Thor and Odin.

Apparently SMS didn?t hold back on anything planned for this game as far as content (although the upcoming NG+ might be a different story). Reading this [http://gearnuke.com/god-of-war-director-explains-some-realms-not-playable/] also leads me to believe they are planning something very superfluous for the sequel, in that you will be accessing the same world plus the blocked realms, although the ground already covered might change significantly in some ways.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

i'm just going off dunkey's word about the game.

you know, like how you're going off Dunkey's word about Octopath traveller? you did quote someone else saying you were going to post that exact same video after all.

i actually enjoy Dunkeys videos. they're pretty funny, but it's obvious that they are all purely for comedy and nothing more.

i wonder if Phoenix knows this?

I wasn't going off just Dunkey's word. I've seen gameplay of Octopath, it's looks like super standard JRPG from 25 years ago that decides to not evolve. Much like I wouldn't play a FPS today where you can't look up, I'm not going to play a game rooted in bad game design that was bad game design when I was a kid. I know how the battle system works, you still do the same thing over and over again every fight, there's the one strategy you constantly do. I also know that your party members not in the fight don't get experience (dated game design) that only leads to more boring grinding, which is something not in Dunkey's video because I just don't use Dunkey's videos. Plus, that wasn't even his "review" of the game because it wasn't a Dunkview, which I'm fully aware of.

Spoiler: I wouldnt want anybody elses disappointment being robbed by silly old me...

There's a realm table with a dial that points to all 8 realms, but you can only ever visit 5 in the whole game, while moving the dial to the other choices just gives you a message saying you're blocked from visiting there. This is like having selectable map areas in an RPG that never get used in game. I was expecting fantastical journey's through these realms, only to find out they're basically blue-balling me. And I don't know if it's worse that they could be either DLC or for the next game, neither are preferred. Though the developer has adamantly denied any plans for DLC. It was a strange sort of let down.

The thing I hated regarding the realms was...

Spoiler

That Jotunheim, the Giant realm, was so underwhelming and of course, short. You know you need to go there probably even before the halfway point in the story. Every time you think you can actually go there, the game is like "nope, the princess is in another castle". Then, you finally get there and you don't do anything but walk for like 5 minutes.