-By Nick Morrow Welcome to another edition of Tomorrow Reviews where I will look over various movies, shows, games, and anime and break them down Today the topic will be based on the resurgence of the infamous Cyberpunk 2077 *This review will contain mild spoilers for the first act of the game* _________________________________________________ Back from the Dead Like the mythical phoenix, Cyberpunk 2077 was an existence that rose from the ashes, rising to greater heights. Without a doubt, the complete rise and fall of this game will be looked back upon for ages in the gaming community. From the false marketing, bug hell, powerful, obvious labor of love, and the resurgence due to the Edgerunners anime in 2022, this game has been through it all, yet it still managed to become one of the highest-selling games of all time. Due to the game going through a renaissance of sorts with the recent next-gen patches (1.6 being the latest), the massive success of the Cyberpunk Edgerunners anime on Netflix, and the upcoming Phantom Liberty DLC, it was time to give this game a review with looking at what the game was originally supposed to be at launch two years ago. Story Looking back, I remember how sad I was in 2020 when the game first launched. Due to all the backlash with the unplayable state of the game for many platforms, it was sadly lost that Cyberpunk 2077 had an amazing story, easily worthy of being a full-blown movie. While not on the epic narrative levels of CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher titles, Cyberpunk managed to craft a fascinating tale that blows others out of the water. As one of the rising star mercenaries in Night City, the setting for the game, V and his crew are given a job that will change the course of his life forever; steal a valuable relic from the head of the corporation running Night City. As in most heist scenarios, the job goes horribly wrong, and V finds himself fighting to survive the repercussions. It’s in that last line “fighting to survive the repercussions” where the poignant nature of the story shines. Through a twist of fate, terrible luck, and being swallowed by the chaos that is Night City, V’s unwanted parting gift from the failed job is another mind forced into his body. A shared existence that by all accounts will end in only one way: V’s death. Now stuck with the ghost of Johnny Silverhand (played by Keanu Reeves), a Night City legend and terrorist, slowly taking over his body against his will, V is pitted in a race against time, the city, and death itself as he frantically searches for a cure. Despite V being the main character, Johnny is the heartbeat of the story. It’s their relationship/forced partnership that gives Cyberpunk’s plot such an engaging element. Every main quest is focused on the mystery of how to remove him from V’s head while adding more layers of depth just into how messed up of a place Night City can truly be. That balance is the treasure of the story as the player can see and feel the desperation of V’s situation, yet every quest illuminates the stark contrast of his dying body with how vibrant and alive the city is. Between going to pristine night clubs, run-down districts, barren wastelands, and high-tech corporate buildings, V and Johnny’s journey show the player the thriving, bustling existence that is Night City in all its splendor. Throughout that journey, Johnny acts as a fly on the wall, subtly pushing V forward in which the player can either try to shoo him away or bond with him. Other games and stories have used similar plots, but Reeves’ visceral depiction of the charismatic, unhinged terrorist alongside V’s slow degradation paints a fresh new picture on the take. Some of the best moments of the game come not from the gameplay but just sitting and watching the two of them argue about what the other wants, V’s impending doom, and Johnny’s grudge against the corporate powers that control Night City. Characters From poor conspiracy theorists, talking vending machines, AI Car services, and the main cast itself, every character in the game is stellar, breathing life into the complex nature of Night City. Every character except for one. V, the main character himself. Despite being fully voiced and given many dialogue tree options for how to handle conversations, there is never a consistent vibe with V as a character. Acting as an odd mix between the standard, personality-less, silent protagonists of old and the newer, customizable heroes like Commander Shepherd and Inquisitor from Bioware titles, V is just kind of there to be a voice that drives the plot and action. Everyone else around him from Jackie, Jonny, Judy, Panam, and others have a fleshed-out vibrance to them while V doesn’t. Ironically, that never seemed to be an issue until the release of the Edgerunners anime adaptation where audiences could follow David Martinez, another solo merc like V that got swallowed in the chaos of Night City. Seeing David struggle with all the various aspects of the city and form his own personality around his trauma made V, the superhuman merc, seem shallow in comparison. Apart from V, all the characters in Cyberpunk are amazing as each one acts as a puzzle piece to the true main character of the game: Night City itself. Every new interaction with a new character seems to bring to light another aspect of the world and the city they inhabit. Judy shows the technological side of the city while characters like Jackie and Panam allow V to see the cultural aspects of certain groups in the city. As mentioned earlier though, all characters fall short of Johnny Silverhand who is without a doubt the best character in the entire game. Gameplay After eighty or so hours put into the game and maxing out my character, I can confidently say that Cyberpunk 2077 has some of the most addicting gameplay I’ve experienced in a while. On the exploration side, all of Night City is open to the player right after the first act ends, and honestly, one can just drive around the city completing side missions, fighting mobs, and working for fixers to reach max level without picking up a single main quest. Most of the player’s time will be spent pursuing the myriad of quests in Night City. While the main storyline is on the shorter side, the vast amount of content in the side quests and gigs make up for it. It’s almost like the game subtly tells players that the point of the game is to spend more time exploring Night City rather than trying to solve V’s life-threatening dilemma. Combat wise, V is given a wide range of playstyle options for players of all types. Stealth players can become a hacking god that takes out entire groups from afar without being noticed. Trigger-happy players fresh off the Edgerunners anime can fire up their Sandys and blast away enemies while slowing down time. Players are even able to mix and match styles while becoming a cyber ninja that slices up foes with a katana while hacking enemy systems. Suffice it to say, there is a wide range of versatility for players in terms of customization for combat. That reality though, while fun, highlights the balancing issue in gameplay. Once players get a feel for the game, it is pretty easy to start mowing through enemies and quests without any issues. Even playing on higher difficulties doesn’t solve the inherent issue since all it does is make V able to get annoying killed by one random shot often by certain enemies. If anything, the game seems to want to steer characters in the direction of becoming an overpowered force of nature that can defeat hordes of enemies in seconds. Though better late than never, most if not all of the gameplay bugs that once rendered the game unplayable have been fixed by this point for PC and next-gen systems, allowing for the game to play as smoothly as it was promised to initially be. Certain features like the promised revamped cop system and the story DLC are still a ways away, but the addition of patches over the last couple of years has been a massive improvement. Verdict (9/10) Pros
Cons
-By Nick Morrow Welcome to another edition of Tomorrow Reviews where I will look over various movies, shows, games, and anime and break them down Today the topic will be based on the game Xenoblade Chronicles 3 developed by Monolith Soft *This will be a spoiler-free review* ________________________________________________________________________ The magic continues in this new adventure The Xeno series has been one of the more creative and ambitious JRPG franchises since the initial release of Xenogears in 1998, and the latest entry Xenoblade Chronicles 3 continues to showcase the laurels that have allowed the franchise to continue its success. Story: A Dark, Innovative Tale of War and Identity Standing apart from the deep yet more light-hearted Xenoblade 2, the newest entry thrusts the world’s dark realities into the players’ faces right from the onset. Set in the world of Aionios, the cast of characters find themselves literally born into a war for survival between the nations Keeves and Agnus. Given the singular purpose to fight the other side, soldiers are born and bred for war in every literal sense. Artificially created and raised in pods, these soldiers are given a shortened life span of a mere ten years, which they use to fight one battle to the next. That initial, dark premise haunts the narrative from beginning to end as the game explores themes related to the nature of war, one’s identity in the midst of war, and the purpose of life altogether. Easily standing as one of the best in the long-running series, the entire narrative is full of emotional beats, emotional (albeit slightly predictable) plot twists, and thoughtful, entertaining connections to past games in the series. That said, the grand nature of the story acts as a double-edged sword for players. Due to having a playthrough time close to eighty hours, major bits of the story end up being dragged out as the players traverse the massive world. After a massive scene leaves the player wanting more information, the game normally follows it up by making the player slog through an additional twenty minutes of exploration just to get to the next cutscene. Normally such a reality is standard fare for open-world RPGs, but with the main characters being labeled as targets for elimination by the main antagonists, such slow progression hinders an otherwise captivating plot. The real joy of the story though comes from slowly unraveling the mystery of their world. Like the players, the main cast is blissfully ignorant of the nature of Aionios. Everything from the purpose of the war, the queens they serve, the nature of aging itself, and the meaning of their lives are questions they never think to ask until a pivotal moment at the start of the adventure. Granted, while some of the plot points can seem a bit convoluted at times, especially toward the end, the overall narrative is a labor of love that shines when it counts. Characters: A Rich Cast that Carries the Game Forward While other Xeno series have relied on the traditional JRPG Structure of slowly introducing each main character of the party, Xenoblade three opts for the opposite approach and immediately throws six, unique and vibrant personalities in the thick of the story. At first, the cast seems bland and just embodies the typical tropes for JRP and anime characters. There is the pacifist that is a skilled fighter, the rude, slow-witted meathead, the sassy female character, the know-it-all with glasses, the bubbly girl, etc. As time goes on, those initial labels aren’t lost per se, but they evolve through rich, dynamic interactions with the cast. That experience of seeing the characters slowly shed those cliche labels was one of the more enjoyable aspects of the game. Each character has their own emotional story and ghosts that need to be overcome throughout the course of the journey that blends in well with the main narrative. Topics surrounding survivor’s guilt, duty vs morality, and regret are heavy ideas handled with great care through the evolution of the cast. Thankfully, these character arcs never seem like filler content but instead add to the overall richness of the narrative experience. In light of the great characters sprinkled throughout the game, the lackluster personalities of the main villains become more egregious. While the dark narrative surrounding the villains carries great weight, the initial batch the cast is introduced to doesn’t carry the same weight. While there are good ones later down the line, the main batch the players deal with just don’t have the same presence villains from the past entries like Jin, Metal-face, and ID had. Despite the shortcomings from the antagonists, the bonds developed by the main cast throughout their journey of discovery bring a genuine sense of pleasure to the story. Gameplay: Revamped for Maximum Enjoyment Just like the past entries in the franchise, the combat in Xenoblade 3 can be appreciated differently depending on the player. For some like me, the slower-paced auto-attack system never captured my interest in the earlier entry. Yet, there are plenty of others that will notice the new tweaks made to it and love it. Overall, combat in this entry is the most ambitious and chaotic it has ever been, but in a good way. For example, right from the moment the full cast gathers, all six will be active, controllable members in combat. Upon first glance, there will be too much going on in combat, but that feeling will generally fade after getting used to the party mechanics. The main appeal of combat this time around though comes with the new class system. After a little while into the game, party members will be able to switch roles and classes that allow them to use different weapons. Each class possesses its own special arts and skills that can be learned upon mastery and used with other classes, offering even more diversity in battle. For the most part. abilities can instill a variety of effects, such as buffing, debuffing, doing critical damage from different positions, or placing a status effect to combo into a chain attack. While they fall in the territory of spoilers for the story, there are a plethora of other options usable in battle that give combat a rich flow missing from the past entries that help offset the slower auto-attack system. Verdict (9/10) Despite the great success from previous entries, the Xenoblade franchise builds on an already established, great formula to create another innovative title. With a vibrant, well-developed cast, rich, engaging story, and innovative gameplay, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 joins the ranks of the previous great entries in the series while possibly being one the best made. -By Nick Morrow Welcome to another edition of Tomorrow Reviews where I will look over various movies, shows, games, and anime and break them down Today the topic will be based on the game Edge of Eternity developed by Midgar Studios *This will be a spoiler review* ___________________________________________________________________ An ambitious labor of love that fails to hit the mark. Not many small gaming studios have the resources and dedication to create an innovative, large-scale RPG with a compelling story, engaging gameplay, detailed graphics, and a vibrant musical score. Midgar Studio’s passion project, Edge of Eternity tries its hand at incorporating as many of those elements as possible with mixed results. Story: More isn’t Always Better From the moment players boot up Edge of Eternity and begin their journey through the shoes of siblings Daryon and Selene, they are presented with the game’s best selling point: its undeniable charm and love for JRPGs of old. Two classic plots intersect in this tale of family and sacrifice as the world of Heryon is in the midst of a two-sided war. On one end their planet is seemingly on the verge of destruction as a technologically advanced race, the Archelites, have invaded, pushing the people of Heryon to the brink. On the other end looms an even greater threat over the people of the planet, the arrival of the deadly disease known as corrosion. This zombie-like infection slowly eats away at a person’s body and senses until they are reduced into monsters willing to attack anyone, including their loved ones. Both conflicts are brought into view as Daryon, a soldier for Heryon, defects from the war after receiving a letter from his sister, Selene, that their mother has been infected with the corrosion. As such, the two siblings begin an adventure to search for a cure. In the initial phases, the idea of traversing a war-ravaged country looking for a cure to a deadly disease sounds full of promise. Daryon’s jaded view from the war and Selene’s optimistic view of finding a cure were perfectly primed to come to a head, but that grounded conflict gets lost as the scales escalate to divine proportions. The inclusion of higher stakes is not an inherent problem as many RPGs follow that format after starting with a more grounded plot. Where Edge of Eternity fumbled the ball was the pacing for that escalation. The first half of the game is this slow steady build of the mystery surrounding the corrosion, but there are several jarring plot jumps where the story jumps from one plot point to the next in seconds without any proper lead-in. One such example is after recruiting the fourth party member. Upon finishing the dungeon and seemingly moving on to the next part in an established plan to cure the corrosion, the story jumps to a new location, introduces a new character, and sets the characters on a new quest that will take over the rest of the game. While that is the most egregious offender, several other jarring moments exist that make the story’s pacing feel like it’s going too fast or too slow, resulting in horrid inconsistency. Characters: Untapped Potential By far, the most charming aspect of this game goes into the siblings, Selene and Daryon. While their personalities (and color palettes) act as foils to one another, they portray one of the best sibling relationships in gaming. Kudos to the voice characters and writers for crafting a wonderful sibling bond that can be felt throughout even the smallest interactions between them. Both the main story and side quests alike are chock-full of hilarious interactions between them that add life to the party. Sadly, the game fails to deliver more than just fun interactions between the characters. Despite the rich core of each character from the siblings to a destined war hero, a tragic aristocrat, a devious spy, and a selfish sky pirate, the game chooses to lock many of the layers of depth for the characters behind, meaningless side quests and inn scenes. Fascinating moments such as finding out the main duo are adopted and further exploration into the tension behind two main characters are left to optional side conversation rather than being woven into the main narrative. Two of the main characters even feel like add-ons just to fulfill the obligation of having a full cast, which is a shame because Fallon and Theia are great additions on paper that are never fully explored. Overall there feels like much was left on the table where this cast of characters could have been one of the best in ages. Gameplay: Close but No Cigar Fueled by the classic turn-based RPGs of old, Edge of Eternity employs a new twist by mixing grind-based battles like in a tactical game with the classic turn-based formula. The beautiful integration creates a more dynamic flow of battle that traditional turn-based systems don’t have. That innovation behind this system is hurt in the face of poor ability progression for several of the characters. Most of the game, Daryon and several other characters feel like they’re using the same, effective yet boring skills while Selene and Fallon get more exciting ones. Even when new abilities are introduced, like the super moves, they are left lacking with poor presentation. As with most RPGs, much of the game is spent on exploration and random side quests. Many of which add great layers to the world of Heryon and the lore. The lore additions act as a double-edged sword as they fill the world out more, but at the same time, they make the plot of the game seem like it doesn’t fit. Quests like helping a village fight off waves of rabid animals and hunting mystical beasts seem to fit better with the dynamic of the world than appointed chosen ones destined to wreck everything. Graphics: Labor of Love Sometimes making love that secret ingredient in any creation can carry it a long way. The world of Heryon is a beautifully created landscape with lush forests, vast mountain ranges, and boundless fields that instantly catch the eye. Each area is a delight to explore as you roam the lands on a Nekaroo (an adorable cat to mount) looking for treasure and taking in magnificent sights. Despite the dire nature of the journey, the vivid scenery adds another serene aspect to the adventure. The praise for the graphics ends there as the character models range from basic, to beautiful, to just wacky. Some moments during cutscenes the fact this game was made by a smaller studio becomes vividly apparent (while nothing close to the nightmares of the Mass Effect: Andromeda debacle) as characters’ body language and facial expressions don’t match up. Other times though everything seems crisp and polished, making you marvel at how well-made the game could have been if given a full budget to rival other studios. Verdict (6/10) Edge of Eternity is ultimately an ambitious labor of love that fails to hit the mark. Within the scope of this 40–60-hour adventure, there are both high and low moments throughout the adventure leaving an odd taste. While the beginning is rife with intrigue and appeal, that initial charm begins to wane as the story goes on. -By Nick Morrow With the last few years of the gaming industry seeing a boom in tactical RPGs like Fire Emblem, Triangle Strategy, Divinity: Original Sin 2, XCOM, and even the upcoming Marvel’s Midnight Suns, more and more games of that genre are becoming part of mainstream culture. Square Enix’s DioField Chronicle looks to take advantage of that surging wave and add another entry into the growing tactical RPG realm, but the game’s stiff, uninspiring narrative makes it fall to the wayside rather than stand out. Aimless Presentation In DioField Chronicles, players will take up the mantle of leading the Blue Foxes, a newly formed mercenary unit, under the control of Duke Hende and led by longtime friends Andrias and Fredret. As a war of resources between nations erupts, the Blue Foxes find themselves as key players in a game of medieval, political intrigue and conflicting ideologies with varying degrees of morality. On the surface, all those aspects seem appealing. After the effect Game of Thrones had on the mainstream medieval landscape, a game that looked to dive into a world with similar mechanisms was one of the game’s best selling points. Sadly, that potential was never lived up to due to the bland direction the game takes its story. Like many tactical games, DioField Chronicles employs an episodic mission-style format. Here, the plot of the story and the actions of the characters revolve around an upcoming mission that slowly adds more layers to the overall narrative. While games like Fire Emblem have found great success in this style for decades now, the execution falls flat here. From a narrative perspective, DioField Chronicles suffers from stiff storytelling presentations where cutscenes and interactive dialogue between characters are replaced with drops of world lore exposition with still shots of the world map in the background. The information given at the start of each mission feels like someone is reading a wiki page about a region or group rather than letting the story flesh out those details organically. By doing so, the story feels aimless and weightless. The players just feel like they are going from one mission to another for the sake of the game rather than the story presenting a real point to any of it. That is the real crime presented in this game since you can tell the developers wanted to create an engaging, thought-provoking narrative. While the delivery is weaker than expected, there are solid moments where you can see some of the deeper themes of the story in play, but they aren’t properly developed by the rest of the narrative. Characters with no Heart No game is perfect, and many cliché or predictable stories have been saved through the effort of heartwarming characters that drive the narrative forward. Sadly, DioField Chronicles has no such characters on display. Each character introduced barely has any personality or depth to them within the game. Sure, they have likes and dislikes in terms of the world around them, but overall, they seem hollow. Even Andrias, our protagonist, exudes nothing but dullness while failing to ever allow us to connect with his plight or motivations, and none of the other characters have any better luck. Like the narrative for the game, all the characters are introduced with a quick bio about whom they are through a narrative exposition dump without allowing the story to fully flesh them out. Worst of all, each new addition to the Blue Foxes occurs not because the characters have formed interesting bonds with the group but rather because the game just wants it to happen. While such an approach is hardly new in gaming, just something particularly clumsy about how DioField Chronicle handled it. Even the central hub where the characters interact is bland and hardly promotes meaningful interactions between any of them. Time is mainly spent with Andrias having shallow conversations that give slight insights into other backgrounds but nothing truly substantial. Original Gameplay Lacking a Punch Employing a real-time system, combat within battles comes out as the most interesting part of the game. During battles, you feel like a tactician managing the flow of combat with quick directions to your units to control the flow of battle. At first, figuring out the balance between the clunky controls and the real-time system can be a hindrance, but once you figure out how the game is meant to be played, combat can feel exciting as you position units for optimal damage. Sadly, that excitement fades as the game progresses. Despite being a war game, there is hardly any diversity in terms of enemy units, meaning that the tactics needed to defeat them never evolve. Furthermore, the ability system offers a few new wrinkles to combat but hardly anything that changes how the game is enjoyed as you progress. In time, you begin to get worn down by the repetitive nature of combat as it offers nothing to help the players continually invest in. After investing hours and hours into the game, the endgame tactics feel the same as the beginning. Most mission objectives despite the state of the world will fall under just wiping out the enemy or escorting someone. There is no creativity in the missions, and that begins to take its toll. Intriguing World but bland Level Design The world of DioField shows its grand potential as the island nation is engulfed in a resource war as rival countries from across the sea invade. With battles occurring in cities, forests, snowfields, and other vibrant locations, only the sky’s the limit in terms of level design. Sadly, that differing maps hardly add to the variety of the battles. Unlike other tactical games, ideas like elevation and terrain hold no additional effects in battle. In truth, each battlefield may as well be a flatland with just a different coat of paint. Verdict At a glance, DioField Chronicles looks to be Square Enix’s next exciting tactical RPG rife with a compelling story about the morality of war and politics. Ultimately, the aimless storytelling devices, shallow characters, stagnant gameplay, and bland maps divert from the deeper themes and creative ideas that you can see that the story wants to develop. 6/10: Mediocre Pros: Engaging tactical combat Interesting world politics and intrigue Compelling themes Cons: Poor character interactions Stale story Bland level design |
Book ListThe Order: Shadows of the Apostles Archives
November 2022
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