Review Sideed

Sideed, meaning eight in Somali!

Alright, this is for sure a bit out of order, but fuck it, I'll circle back to the seventh review eventually.

Review the eighth from the StuffMax team (a.k.a Me, Myself and I) is...

Salty death, over and over...

Dark Souls III!

Third (and supposedly final) game in the dark fantasy series published by From Software and spearheaded by Hidetaka Miyazaki, Dark Souls III sets out to be the ending the series deserves, attempting to blend all the best parts of the games that came before it, and create the final masterpiece Souls game in the epic saga.

As always, it is my aim to find out if they've succeeded.

Let's find out!

First Impression

Like nearly every other Souls series game, Dark Souls 3 wastes no time in breezing past the company logos and getting directly to the ominous, near abyssal screen harboring only the games' title.

Unlike previous games in the series, Dark Souls III doesn't accompany this simple and dark start screen with haunting and lulling music, no. Dark Souls III leads in with a beautiful angry and horrifying orchestral swell, full of tortured chanting and beautiful bell work weaved within, setting one's blood racing for one final trip through From Software's salt mines.

Once entering a new game, players are treated to a glimpse of the decaying and truly hellish world that has been left by the folly of those who came before, as well as their role in saving it before the last dregs of fire die, and the world fades into darkness.

The character creation has become solidly more robust, and the beginning stage of the game sets a proper tone for how you're going to be spending the rest of the game.

Crawling out of a coffin after you done died again.

That said, the opening cutscene is a tad on the threadbare side, and not in a way that the Souls series usually handles so well. As opposed to providing exposition while still leaving things vague enough to draw your own conclusions, Dark Souls III opens in such a way that more leaves you a bit confused, and doesn't do much for your imagination other than creating the hope that further exposition will increase your understanding of the situation.

8.0/10: While the start of the game does a very good job of hyping you on an emotional level, the opening is somewhat lacking in terms of hooking you from a storytelling position. On some plane, this works, as the lack of information naturally invokes a form of curiosity, but for people with less investment in the series who aren't coming from older games, it may be a bit harder to get into the world off the bat.

Overall Presentation

Dark Souls' dark fantasy Berserk/Lovecraftian fusion beast of an aesthetic reaches its fever pitch, going above and beyond on the towering spires, horrific bloody tentacle beasts, filthy cretinous backstabbing peasants, and stoic, almost soulless armors ranging from the shiniest of the shiny to the most grody and grimy. The goal of the Souls universe generally seems to be the strongest attempt at making a medieval world that nobody, right mind or otherwise, would want to live in and damn does Dark Souls III hit those notes.

Just don't see me. I'm not here. Not here at all.

In just as many ways though, the vistas and arching stonework sprawled across the kingdom of Lothric can be absolutely breathtaking, with there being moments of legitimate beauty amongst all the filth.

The games menus and text styles suit the mood and tone of the game throughout, and the muted colors of the HUD ensure that there's nearly no point where your immersion is broken by bright colors in this dark, dark world.

To keep you solidly immersed, ambient noise and music trade out at constantly proper moments, at a rate so natural that you almost never notice.

9.5/10: Dark Souls nails it's intended look and feel on every note. If there is anything damn near perfect about this game (and damn near every other Souls game), it is this. That said, there comes a point where things begin to look a bit same-y due to the color tone of the game, but that's easily something overlooked by the time it occurs.

Accessibility

The Souls series is not a series for everyone. Gaming has a reached a sort of position where it has become so popular that most games attempt to appease all comers, which, while benefiting the overall continued presence of gaming in the public eye, has the downside of making most big-name games these days almost feel like they are holding your hand and guiding you along until you're at a point when you don't need it anymore.

And then they may keep holding your hand.

The Souls series does not believe in that philosophy.

That said, Dark Souls III does make more of an effort to make the game more accessible to those who may have been turned off by the Souls games original style of simply pushing you into a spike covered room filled with ravenous zombie wolves, and shutting the door, living it to you to tear a key to the door in the ceiling out of the stomach of the biggest baddest wolf in the room

And when you finally climb out, there are more wolves.

And the breath fire, cause why not.

Not that the game has gotten any easier. But whereas you had to figure out most everything but the basic controls on your own before, the game creates a more forgiving initial environment, with a more comprehensive guide to the controls, faster access to healing items, and super quick access to hub area where you'll spend the majority of your time, in addition to more plentiful checkpoints (bonfires), and the ability to warp from checkpoint to checkpoint, removing the hassle of traveling and backtracking.

So the Souls series now gives you a knife and shield, and the first room doesn't have spikes anymore.

That does make the sudden face first dive into pain a bit more jarring, though.

5.0/10: Dark Souls hasn't changed much in that it's not a big fan of helping you along the pathways of it's world, preferring you buck up and fend for yourself until your strong enough to eat everything that slithers in front of you, but at least it will point you in the right direction for once. And the game's relatively intuitive to get into.

Graphics

Dark Souls III is not the strongest graphical outing on today's systems, but man oh man, does it make use of what strength it has. Where the game isn't as powerful as far as character models and such go, the expanses of Lothric be they disgusting or beautiful are absolutely fantastically rendered, no matter what kind of environment the game throws at you.

From the high castle walls illuminated in the sun being ever so slowly eclipsed, to the unfortunate swamps buried deep below, and ranging to the hauntingly beautiful frozen preserved city of those

who reside above, Dark Souls never lets up on environmental excellency.

In addition, the models for the nerve-wracking boss characters, the excellent particle effects, the trails of light that follow the ridiculously violent swings of weaponry and the fantastic textures of the various equipment all stand out as wonderfully crafted, with excellent design picking up for the few times where less powerful graphics can't manage.

8.5/10: While not the most powerful graphics in the current-gen yard, Dark Souls III makes use of everything it has in fantastic ways. Still, the occasional moments of clip and some rough looking human sized models and faces occasionally stand out as low points.

Sound

The Dark Souls III soundtrack is absolutely stunning, ranging from creepy to pulse pounding, horrifying to haunting, and with some callbacks to older tracks in the serious, even makes tasteful but firm use of nostalgia. There are very VERY few moments where the musical direction doesn't work, but they do exist. But they are thoroughly outnumbered by the constant solid work.

The groans and screams of the unfortunate souls that populate Lothric come across as just as tortured as you would wish to avoid on any day, a solid note in an overall excellently handled example of vocal direction.

The game's characters come across as thoroughly untrustworthy no matter where you are, a feel the game tries to employ with gusto to remind you that nowhere is safe, and you truly don't feel safe anywhere, a fact not helped by the drops in music that leave you with little but ambient noise and silence.

When combat is the name of the game, DSIII does not disappoint, with clangs, bangs, slices, wet thuds and crushing snaps rendered with every excellently animated swing.

9.5/10: DSIII's sound direction is impeccable, easily on of the highest points of the game, with nearly no misses.

Controls

A duel! Please don't stab me...

An area where the Souls series has increased in fantastically, whereas Dark Souls controlled like a well thought out tank, Dark Souls III controls like a finely oiled sleek war machine, movement excellently responsive and hand position quite intuitive, with the minor changes to button layout making certain control decisions feel much more natural.

Offense and defense are handled by the shoulder buttons, with new Weapon Arts taking the place of series staple charge attacks when wielding a weapon with two hands.

Items, dodging and rolling, jumping (which is a bit on the shaky side) and confirmation controls are

mapped to the face buttons, with easy access to a quick menu and emotes on the PS4 touchpad (I've only played this on the PS4, so I am not aware of how the quick menu or emotes work on the X1, though I imagine they're controlled by the Start and Back buttons.)

These smoother controls with less input lag fit the increased pace of the game, where a bit more fast twitch reaction is required of the player.

Despite the increased pace of the game though, attacking is an action you commit to, so it's important to give thought to that when choosing to swing, as swinging wildly or at poor times are an extremely easy way to see that familiar glow of a bonfire far faster than you would like...

8.5/10: Dark Souls controls excellently, fluidly, and comfortably, though some may find the combat buttons being on the shoulders as opposed to the face of the controller a bit off-putting. Also, jumping, while better than previous entries, is still a bit on the unfortunate side.

Difficulty

You know, I want to go particularly in depth for how hard this game is, but I kinda think it's common knowledge that the Souls series prides itself on its difficulty. Now, I didn't find it to be particularly hard, but that's coming from having beaten every other game in the series and being used to this level of difficulty. And there is a lot to be said for how even one person joining you in jolly co-operation will make certain portions of the game far easier.

That said, when playing solo, the game has not remotely fallen off in difficulty, not even a little bit.

Enemies are faster, hit harder, and things that made previous games easier like stacking armor to make your swings unstoppable or racking up nonsensically powerful magic nukes don't have anywhere near the same impact that older games seemed to allow.

And bosses seem to be harder than ever, now with new phases and forms that they assume mid fight, disgustingly powerful grab attacks, teleportation and generally being a million times bigger than you, and reaching you from across the world.

Also, sneak attacks and poison and evil everywhere.

Expect death. And expect it often.

8.5/10: Death is a constant in the game, but almost never is it cheap and not a result of you fucking up. This is for sure a game you should only come for if you're looking for challenge though, as you can't select your difficulty, and on new games, it only goes higher.

Replayability

One of the highlights of the Souls series is it's replayability. DSIII is a bit on the disappointing side as far as that goes, as there isn't much reason to continue playing once you've finished the game besides the challenge of the increased difficulty, as unlike in other Souls games, not much changes as far as your rewards and character interactions go when you start a new playthrough.

420 Praise It!

But if challenge and joining with people in jolly co-operation (or not so jolly invasion) is your game,

then feel free to get yourself in there!

That in mind, there are at least 3 planned expansions coming up, so the game does still have life beyond the first thrill of success. But as that hasn't be released yet, we can only anticipate excitedly.

7.0/10: The game isn't as full of cool surprises on later playthroughs, but the joy of victory and the thrill of jolly co-op (or invasion, if that's your thing) make replays worth it. Plus, it's really easy to miss stuff, so it's nice to find what you missed the second (or third) go-round.

Story

Dark Souls III's story surrounds the struggle of  you, the reborn Ashen One, conglomerate of all those who failed to link the fire and save the world as you rise in a last ditch effort to use the souls of the Lords of Cinder (the big baddies spread across Lothric) to give energy to the First Flame before it's snuffed out, and everything goes to hell in a handbasket....

Well, more to hell in a handbasket. A lower circle.

Aaaaand... Well, that's about all you get, story-wise. There are some more threads and such, connections to previous games, but the game does it's damnedest to let you know that any story you gather is almost conjecture. And while in some regards, that can be the beauty of the Souls series, it doesn't work if the game doesn't give you much to formulate ideas with.

There's plenty of fantastic lore in the item descriptions and environment, but very little by way of what's happening as the main story progresses.

Now, admittedly, there are fans who have likely looked harder than I have, and gleaned a much more complete story, but admittedly, I didn't really feel like enough was given to have a satisfying and fulfilling conclusion.      

5.0/10: The lore of the Souls series is always strong, and it's a solid base, but the game feels too vague to even enjoy the regular art of Souls theory-crafting.

Fun Factor

I still don't like these odds...

All that said, we come to the most important part. Is the game fun?

Hell yes.

The story is not solid, sure, there's a solid chunk less content, and damn is this game sometimes like beating your face against a wall until your blood transmutes into pure rage-induced salt.

But between the beautiful world, extensive lore, dope armor and weapons, cool attacks, fending off invasions, Jolly Co-operation, and the sweet, sweet taste of victory...

Man.

There's pretty much not a damn thing like it.

I just wish it was longer. I wish there was more.

9.5/10: I have every intention of going home and swinging in to this game later this week. Maybe even tonight. My one gripe is it's over too soon. Good thing there's both New Game + AND incoming DLC!

SCORE

And so, we reach the goal-line!

Survey says....

THE VERDICT

DARK SOULS III SCORES A

79.0

A GREAT DAMN GAME

Woo. Yeah!

Dark Souls III is a really solid game, and despite the score, I love it way more. Maybe I'm getting better at this bias thing!

Anywho, I will revisit this game once the expansions drop, and see how it looks to me then!

WOO! Just before deadline.

Alriiiiiight.

Look out for new video content on the StuffMax youtube channel on Saturday!

Yep.

Review Fünf!

Today's review number is brought to you by: Germany. Thank you, Germany.

Moving on.

The (supposedly) triumphant return! Alrighty. Let's jump right into it.

Today's review iiiiiiiiiiiiiis:

Cause colors and stones aren't good enough anymore.

Pokemon X and Y! (but mostly X, cause that's what I got!)

The next chapter in the seemingly endless saga of children leaving their homes to catch super-evolving monsters to pit against each other in a worldwide battle for dominance, these sequels look to do what the prior games in the series did, but better!

For those select few determined to live under a mountain of soundproof rocks and/or born yesterday, Pokemon is a long beloved turn based RPG franchise published and owned by video game giant Nintendo, developed by Game Freak, and created by Satoshi Tajiri. It is the second most successful video game franchise in the world, and X and Y collectively are the sixth generation sequels of the main series.

Anyway, this is supposed to be the next step in evolution for Pokemon as a whole.

But is it?

Let's ask the review!

First Impressions

Expansive!

The first thing this Pokemon game hit me with was an option to change the language of the game. This is an idea I generally feel more games should have, as too many games simply don't make it out of their native countries *cough*Japan*cough* and selfish as it sounds, if I'm going through the trouble of importing the game, then dammit, I want to be able to read it!

Granted, I didn't import this, it was an american copy... But still!

Anywho.

As Pokemon games have progressed over the years, their introductory sequences have gotten more and more intricate. X and Y seem to take a sort of side road to this trend, choosing to go straight to the start screen rather than presenting an introductory scene first. However, the game takes advantage of the two screens of the 3DS to present a small showreel of sorts on the bottom screen, showcasing some of the new features of the game.

Now personally, I was a fan of the little intro sequences, so to see it delegated to a sort of accompaniment for the start screen is a tad saddening, but it's not too much to get beaten up over. The showreel isn't all that great anyway, only giving a sort of half baked look at how the new features work.

However, once you pass the start screen, the game makes it apparent how much larger in scope they are attempting to take the handheld franchise. The game begins much like every other, with the game's resident professor introducing you to the world of Pokemon, an allowing you to define your character. But the sequence itself is wonderfully rendered, the shift from sprites to 3D models working rather well off the bat. After being treated to a walk through a museum of sorts that helps show a bit of Pokemon history, you are shown to a mirror, where for the first time in handheld Pokemon history, you can change the look of your character.

Once you've chosen a gender, a look, and a name, you head into the world, where you're treated to a nice little sequence following the view of a bird pokemon flying around your room before crashing into you and waking you up so you can start your adventure.

As a whole, it is a solidly more animated experience than I am used to with Pokemon, and is very welcome, certainly making me look forward to what else is in store.

8.5/10: While sparse in terms of hyping up the game pre-start screen, the actual introduction of the game is well animated accompanied by fitting music, and does a good job of getting you set for the adventure at hand.

Overall Presentation

Vast!

If there is one thing that X and Y do well, it's presentation. The game, particularly for a 3DS game is very pretty, with a huge landscape, vibrantly animated characters, good use of camera angles, and very attractive menus.

The game's main aim seems to be to invite you into a world where adventure is the name of the game, which, as most Pokemon games do, it does a very well. The game feels large and alive, with various characters to interact with and grow with, and while character development is pretty much non-existent, the simplicity of the game makes that mostly a non-issue.

Everything in the game moves with a sense of life, Gamefreak spared no little detail it seems, especially when it came to animating the titular critters, be they battling, or simply jumping for joy when you play with them.

The land of Kalos is supposed to be very inspired by France, which shows very particularly in the first half of the towns of the game, something that lends itself to some pretty architecture.

The music, while fairly common fare for Pokemon games, is catchy and happy, and does a solid job of getting itself stuck in your head when you aren't paying attention.

My favorite part of the game's presentation however, would have to be it's presentation of the Pokemon League itself. Each Gym simply gets more and more intriguing and cool as you go along, and when things finally culminate in the Elite Four and the Champion, things reach a nearly epic level of cool. Not quite epic, but it certainly has it's foot in the door. In general, the league has a very good sense of ramping up and building to the final battle, one I enjoyed.

9.5/10: The game is exactly what it is supposed to be as far as presentation, an upbeat adventure through a new land, an image brought to life with vibrant lands and people, and generally happy music. 

Accessibility

The amount of Pokemon is too damn high. And this ain't even all of em!

Pokemon stands tall as one of the most comfortably accessible games of all time. The game is very happy to guide you through the easy steps to playing like a Pokemon master. The world is simple, and the depth of story is not so massive that you need prior entries to jump in. The hardest thing as far as I can tell is trying to keep track of the admitted overabundance of creatures to catch in order to catch 'em all.

Once you've gotten comfortable enough with the game, it's fairly easy to jump into the multiplayer world as well, ranging from competitive battling to trading with friends.

9.0/10: An immensely welcoming experience, Pokemon does not ask much of you to get into it aside from remembering your critters' names. And you can give them nicknames if you want, so even that's not too hard. There are a rather immense amount of critters though.

Graphics

Grand!

Pokemon X/Y have taken the 2D landmarks of Pokemon, and dragged them rather comfortably into the 3D world. The transition has been excellent, to say the least. The land of Kalos is a large, beautiful world, containing more depth than has ever been possible in a Pokemon game, and an ambitious sight on a handheld game.

The game doesn't skimp on the vibrant colors, which create a bright and adventure filled feel that is always pleasant, and very appealing to the inner child. Graphical glitching is non-existent, and the game runs smoothly at nearly all times, only truly slowing down when the 3D is active during battle.

The game makes plenty of use of new camera angles, and various effects to truly make the world come to life, and this doesn't just hold true when exploring. In battle, the new camera views are plenty, creating a dynamic battle feel that is much appreciated in a turn based outing such as this.



Battle effects aren't often skimped on either, be they the subtle but well implemented weather effects, the wind blowing through the sky during the new "Sky Battles, or the extremely widely varied attacks and expressions of the Pokemon themselves, ranging from simple and direct, to dynamic and action packed.

9.0/10: A beautiful vibrant sight, with very little to complain about, if anything at all, aside from slowdown during battle while 3D is active.

Sound

Sound quality is very solid in X/Y, with catchy music and a series of well fitting sound effects.

Town music and the battle effects are of particular note, as they really help fill out the world each in their own way.

As a whole though, the soundtrack comes off as a bit generic from time to time, and if you've played one Pokemon game you'll understand, battle effects aside, the little beeps and boops, while charming, don't do much by way of standing out. This is a bit unfair however, as I am admittedly holding it up to other Pokemon games...

On it's own merit, the soundtrack does get stuck in your head fairly easily.

7.5/10: A great piece of work, but nothing overtly stand-out within it, X/Y's sound seems to take an "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" sort of approach to things.

Controls/Gameplay

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can...

A solid part of the appeal of the Pokemon games, at least for me, comes from the simple, but fun gameplay. Players walk around the massive world with a starter friend, running into the innumerable powerful creatures roaming the land, battling them, and catching them for the eventual end goal of catching 'em all, and raising the best to put a beating on the main antagonists, and then usually the Pokemon League.

It being a turn based sort of RPG, battles are handled via random encounter, whereupon which a player will choose to either fight, run, or use an item. Pokemon are limited to 4 total attacks, and then the player uses said attacks to either wear the opponent down and capture them using one of various Poke Ball items, or defeat them to gain experience to get stronger.

X/Y follow the good ole formula, with some nice upgrades. In older games, it was something of a pain to heal up your Pokemon out of battle as using an item involved going into the menu, selecting the item, which took you to another menu which had your list of Pokemon, then selecting one and healing it, which would take you back to the first menu, starting the process over. In this edition, thins are far more streamlined, with your Pokemon's status and such being shown next to the item list when using an item, so no more multiple screen back and forth type experience.

In battle, one can now hold down the L shoulder button when picking an attack to see a solid description of what it does, aiding in strategy with moves one is unfamiliar with, as opposed to having to go into a menu mid battle to check status, then moves, then so on and so forth.

D'aww.

Other new features include Sky Battling, where one can only battle using Pokemon capable of flight, the PSS (Player Search System) which makes it easier than ever to find your friends wirelessly and battle, trade, or whatever suits your fancy, Super Training, where one can participate in mini games, to add extra points to Pokemon's statistics, and the Pokemon-amie mini game, where players can take a breather to simply sit and play with their Pokemon, generally garnering affection and such, and building a bond. This bond shows in game, as Pokemon gain more experience, survive attacks that would normally defeat them, dodge and land critical hits more often the more your Pokemon loves you.

In addition, there's also perhaps the most infamous update, the Mega evolutions. Pokemon holding a certain type of stone are capable of undergoing a temporary evolution that makes them a super-powered version of themselves, with various effects, sometimes changing typing, the stats or abilities of the Pokemon and most radically, their appearance, going quite over the top. Designs range from terrible to awesome, and as a whole, they have the potential to turn battles on their head with the drop of a dime.

Personally, I like them.

One also now has the ability to nearly completely customize their trainer by visiting boutiques around the game, changing clothes, hair color, putting on contacts for eye color, and generally making the avatar of your choice. Something of great excitement for me.

There is also the competitive battle aspect, where players get online, and battle players around the world with the best they have to offer, which has it's own huge levels of depth.

In all, the gameplay comes together in an excellent fashion.

Plus... You can finally move diagonally. The world as we know it is changing. It's a brand new frontier.

10/10: Pokemon gameplay at it's best, X/Y take the Pokemon formula, which was already excellent, and add enough changes and innovations to make it refreshingly different, and yet oh-so-comfortably the same. And you get skates! And diagonal motherfucking movement!

Difficulty

Difficulty? In a Pokemon game? Pfft.

At the very least, the game is one that doesn't require any real difficulty, as simplicity tends to be the name of the game, so no difficulty kind of works for it. Kind of.

1.0/10: LOL, difficulty. Right. Okay. Sure.

Replayability

Pokemon is a very social game, and restarting reaps no benefits to battling or anything in the endgame, so restarting the game to beat it again serves almost no purpose other than to re-enjoy the game. It is a game I would beat maybe one more time though just to try the adventure with a different team.

1.0/10: Any replayability the game has comes from self imposed challenges, or nostalgic enjoyment and the like. No actual reason to restart.

Story

Click here for all you need to know.

...

Yep.

...

No, but in all seriousness, Pokemon X/Y follow the adventures of you, the trainer, as he/she journeys around Kalos to become the best of the best amongst Pokemon trainers. Journeying alongside you are four hometown friends who help through your journey, one of whom is your primary rival.

Along the way, you run into Team Flare, a group of fashion focused terrorists who seek to create a world for the super elite, using the powers of the Pokemon of Life and/or the Pokemon of Destruction: Xerneas and Yveltal.

Of course, it becomes your duty to stop them, and afterwords, finish your journey to become champion.

Along the way, lessons are learned about friendship and the environment.

Standard Pokemon fare, to be honest.

5.5/10: Rolling face first back into "if it ain't broke, don't fix it territory", Pokemon X doesn't do much to distinguish itself from other games in the series save for a slightly better sense of exposition.

Fun Factor

Kersplooey.

And wouldn't you know it, it's that time again. The whole point of even playing a game, fun, in numerical measurements accompanied by text.

And, very unsurprisingly, Pokemon does not even come close to failure in that regard, appealing to all kinds ages and types of people, an enjoyable romp through utopian fantasy where all of life's problems can be handled by trusting in your monster buddy and battling it out so that everything works out in the end.

Exploring the world is a treat, and the social aspect is excellent as always, with the battling and trading being the major draws for the game after all is said and done.

10/10: Pokemon X/Y stands extremely strong as a fun time from beginning to end and then some.

And so, to the score!

THE VERDICT

POKEMON X and Y SCORE A

71.0

A GREAT DAMN GAME!

While it's not the best in it's class...

C'mon. It's Pokemon. It was bound to be really good, at the very least.

With that out of the way, got one more that I'm gonna try and push out this week. Here's hoping that works out.

Also, considering changing my score system somewhat, making a change to perhaps the difficulty section or something.

Something to think about anyways.

Yep.