ELDEN RING

First time playing a From Software game

Genre: RPG
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2022

Well after all the hype surrounding this game I have to give it a try. The problem is I already know what I am getting myself into and really I don't know where to start. So let's start at beginning. On what is this game all about. It's basically a ring got broken and divided into bad guys and pieces of the ring makes people into beings called The Tarnished. Ok you got me. I wasn't even paying attention to the story anyway. 

This is a souls game from the makers where their art is making games difficult in nature. There is no sugar coating it. Elden ring is hard and there are bosses around every corner that will make you die multiple times again and again. I love the combat with a small caveat. I put on cheat engine to run with god mode on and one hit kill. I could decided to off that but after that I got bored.  Since you start of as a small level character and you need to slowly needs to level up by killing anything you see to get runes. Runes are use to level up your character. It is a basic RPG trope. The more runes you get the more your character levels up. The harder the bosses the more rewards you'll take. But what this game is most known for is the crushing difficulty when you lose. When you lose you will lose all the runes that you collected and you will have the chance to get it again unless you died before that and then you are out of luck. 

As you can see from the map*. The game is huge and there are a lot do and see. You'll spend hours exploring either by walking or with your horse torrent (which I suspect a lot of PC players will do if they want to check out this game before buying it) There are a lot of points of interest that you can go and you will have you "oh my god" moment every step of the way. Well that's about all the nice things I can say about this game that critics are calling masterpiece in game design 

Okay now comes the bad part. Aside of the difficulty of combat which I am not blaming them since it's a design choice. This game doesn't actually give you anything. You are basically there all by yourself. This makes a lot of people who doesn't have all the time in the world (like me) frustrated on where to go next. Some times we just want to have a clear path saying you should go here next or you should do this. But this game makes it super difficult by actually sending you on fetch quests on finding something without actually telling you what makes what goes. I think a lot of players who in my mind are blind thinking that this game is great. This game is actually an ultimate time waster by asking you to go round and round until you have the right key or something to make the game go. Unlike Zelda there is a clear goal in the end. You can go anywhere you see on the map. Have some fun with it and when you are ready you can go and face the final boss. Over here is different since you are encourage to explore and see where it leads you. They make the game hard to navigate since a lot of places are block by doors, chasms and keys that you need to find

Which brings me to the thing why I don't think I'll ever will like a souls game. This game is build upon mechanics upon mechanics upon mechanics. There is a lot of things you need to learn like weapon loadout, spells, how heavy your armor sets is, all the items and crafting. They do teach you this but there is a lot of information overload when it comes to this. It all can seem a bit to overwhelming for me. 

So that is conclusion of my review. I don't see this game getting as high praise as it does since a game to be the greatest of all time needs to appeal to the masses (or maybe not). But I know that this game doesn't deserve a 10/10. The problem is that the people who review these games are die hard fans of games like this and it can be misleading to the rest of the common folk. Like me I played with cheats and I still had a great time after 20 hours it has given me but after that I felt uninspired to go anywhere since I am lost and this is too complicated to be considered a good time. Will I revisit this game again. Probably when I get a second monitor and probably in a couple more years you will get me to revisit this game. Or probably not. I don't know. But for now I give this game an E-Rank. Since the E stands for Elden itself... This game doesn't need to be easy but at least accessible to people who don't have time to burn to spend all year to be the elden lord

*Credit to Powerpyx.com

Pocky and Rocky

Its a shooter which is very unique 

Genre: Shooter
Platform: SNES
Release Date: 1992

You play as a girl or a racoon and need to fight bad guys by shooting paper or leaves to them. The game is very enjoyable. The difference than most shooters is that you can control your speed so that you can stay at the place or move if you want. I played until the first stage until I calls it quit. I give it a C-Rank. 

Pieces

A literal puzzle game 

Game no: 456
Genre: Puzzle
Platform: SNES
Release Date: 1994

This is about a puzzle game where you need to put puzzle pieces before your opponents put the puzzle pieces together. Its basically 1 v 1 but on puzzles. During that time you will get power ups like taking an opponents pieces away. Hints and stuff. Overall is it an okay game. B-Rank after finishing a round with the computer  

The Peace Keepers

A Final fight ripoff

Genre: Action
Platform: SNES
Release Date: 1993

You play as 4 guys who needs to stop a bad guy from doing something I guess. The fighting is good. Each of them have their own power. Other than that the game is freaking hard. The bosses hit you like a ton of bricks. Played the game with all characters. I give the game a D-Rank. Best to be played with others 

F9

In keyboard terms in means "Refresh"

What is it about?
The Furious team needs to stop a new bad guy from taking over the world 

The Good
Action is over the top as usual
A lot of throwback  characters from all past franchises

The Bad
The story is dumb, the action does make sense. The funny thing is that did say what they do is not real

The Ugly 
In the end they became a family there is no resolute in the end. A lot of unanswered questions. Probably in the next movie

After Credits: Yes

Verdict: A movie where you leave your brain 

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

The end of the trilogy 

Game no: 455
Genre: Action
Platform: PS4
Release Date: 2018

The final chapter of the Tomb Raider reboot saga. Lara and Jonah finally found the lost treasure that Trinity is looking for. You start the game in a globe trotting adventure across multiple different locations with lush scenery. 

This time you explore a lush rainforest jungle but the same Tomb Raider gameplay where you gather resources. craft weapons and materials and explore tombs. Controls are tight and the action is fast paced. I think the only thing that change from the past games is that the bow and arrow are a bit to sensitive and now underwater sections are longer. I love every moment of the game when I am playing the game. IT is fun. Action and stealth sections is great. They also have a difficulty slider so you can make this game as easy or as hard as you want. 

There are a couple things  I didn't enjoy about this game. One of the facts that this game is more cluttered and tight at the same time. The stages are so overwhelming with things to do but yet I don't feel like doing anything. I just wanted to finish he story as fast as I can. Another thing is that I have an issue is that there is a lot of cutscene in this game that playing a section for a couple of minutes will involve another cutscene for another couple of minutes. It is so annoying since it makes me fall out of the action. The story is hit and miss. I wasn't interested then and the ending was a bit anticlimactic 

Finish the game until the end credits. I would give this game a A-rank since it was fun and I enjoyed my time 

Tomb Raider vs Uncharted which is better

I say if you want action gameplay without too much thinking. Go uncharted. If you want a realistic settings and systems that come into play take Tomb Raider. I've played both and each is fun in it's own way.

Batman The Long Halloween Part 2

The ending this stick as well

What is it about?
Continuation of part one where a lot of questions is answers 

The Good
All the plot points are tied up 

The Bad
There are too many characters here so the plot is all over the place
Batman wasn't as much here than the first movie 

The Ugly
Nothing much 

After Credits: Yes but not sure what is the next movie 

Verdict: A fun second part