the date part was absolutely your mistake. It asks the day of january why would you think that it wanted the whole date?????????????????????????? And you could've read the question again to clarify
I went back to check and the question was phrased "on which date in January." While yes, this absolutely can be attributed to a misunderstanding on my part, I would still argue it could be clearer. Thanks for the feedback though! I really do appreciate it.
@@Reset-Button and about the gun and the choice to no put an autosave, you should watch "through the laser eyes" a mini doc about the game development of the game. they surface this question
@@PeterODatilo Just gave it a watch, I do like the idea that it's supposed to be a change of pace to shock you into paying more attention to things. I think that works particularly well for the puzzles where you have to memorise every object in the room. Thanks for the recommendation.
I havent been a fan of zelda for long. Recently, I've been getting into Nintendo and cant wait for my zelda journey to reach echoes of wisdom, although that will take a while. Your review has certainly convinced me to give it a try. It will be interesting to see how zelda games have evolved through the ages. Another eloquent review. Thanks!
That's exciting! There are some absolute all timers in that list for sure, you've got some good stuff to look forward to. Thanks as always mate, appreciate you.
Hello. Good video dude. I disagreed with most of what you said though. I love this game. I could play it all night long. I used to watch Monkey Magic as a kid, which is based on the same story, so when I heard they were making a video game based on it, I was dancing on the ceiling.
Mate I'm glad you got that sort of experience from it. I'd imagine that seeing a world you're familiar with from childhood rendered in such incredible detail would be really special.
If you think about it, both ways you can die in this game are directly related to something really important to the story. Spoilers ahead: The Maze Man unlocks the psychological abuse you took for Renzo Nero during the pre-production of the film and his deteriorating mental state. The Quizz Club unlocks the fact that you've accidentally / in self defense killed him. If you watch the game closely, it's all about the impact this had on her, how the time with him got you so fixated on that unreleased film and how insanely traumatic the whole experience was, and the game is all about old Lorelei coming to terms with it on her deathbed. It makes total thematic sense that these two would incur death, since those are the most sensitive topics for her.
I'm always enthusiastic about games like these. The sequels to absolute classics that aren't afraid to maintain their identity, but incorporate modern innovation for an even more thrilling title. Games like Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal are another great example of keeping the franchise true to it's name and glory, but implementing current technology that enhances the experience by creating things that could have only been dreamed of without that modern edge. I still play the Doom games with just as much enjoyment because they understood that just because a franchise is old that doesn't mean it has to die or conform with things that are successful now. Incredible albeit archaic games become extraordinary when they're not only revived in a modern era, but improved with it's new technology. Remakes are awesome, but if you can improve upon games with a modernized mutation sequels become even more legendary. Sequels that focus not on monetization and modern marketing tactics, but instead new possibilities and destinations you can take a game become some of the greatest pieces of work ever produced. Another great review. I agree thoroughly.
My favourite part about those franchise revivals are when they aren't made worse by modern monetisation, the Doom reboots are a great example of that. Excessive micro transactions are non-existent, I'm curious to see how Space Marine will fare based on its monetisation alone, especially considering Saber are planning to support it over time.
Perfectly put, its a great game for some. Two game channels I know of wax on and on in spite of all the negativity. Some people are happy with lackluster game play but, they are seriously immersed into the world with what you pointed out as the pros of Outlaws. They are ok with lackluster gameplay and probably play the game on easy difficulty. Then you have the other people just cant get immersed if the gameplay is not really good. These players "somehow" claim that the graphics are ugly which is mind boggling to me. From what I see I would give Outlaws a 7out10 just for the beauty in graphics and world building but wont buy it because I like tight and difficult gameplay.
You're spot on here, it's been super interesting to see the discourse around this game unfold. Games definitely have target audiences, and for some reason those that fall outside of the target audience for this one are particularly inclined to proclaim that every aspect of the game is terrible without ever actually engaging it.
I think this review was excellently executed. The problem almost every critic has with their review technique is that it is simply binary. Something I have never seen a critic successfully pull off (until now) is a ternary option. The neutral review. Usually, if a game is half good and half bad, it gets a bad review, rating, or some other metric of commentary. This review is truly something unique. This review admonished about the games flaws but also presented its positives amicably with alacrity instead of ambivalence or presentiment. Another great review I enjoyed it thoroughly. I enjoy your reviews because their virdicts are more ambiguous and not an over simplified number to describe the entire experience of such a complex thing. Games are art and stories to be enjoyed. They really cannot be boiled down to a mere number. Simply sharing your thoughts and experience and then asking your interlocutor to make their own decision and opinion is something I greatly appreciate. I think it's the best way to go about reviewing things like this. So, thank you for another eloquent review.
I honestly thought the question "On which date in January did Renzo Nero expect your arrival at Hotel Letztes Jahr?" made it pretty clear it was talking only about the day of the month, but maybe that's more of an american thing to refer to the "date" as the day. I actually got super mad at the last question in the club though, which I thought was worse than that question. When it asked for the "code" we got from the minotaur statue back at the other maze, i thought it was clear because i had all the numbers and letters noted to me. So I said I was ready, only to be faced with a series of keys that didn't match the answer I had. I realized almost immediately after seeing that what they wanted, but I was unable to reference my notes anymore to actually figure out what the answer truly was, and I lost half an hour of progress because of that. I understood and knew how to get to the answer, but the game wouldn't let me. I found out later about areas to leave and save, but I managed to miss them while I fully completed the club and lost it all on the last question. The worst part was I hated going through that section already once since I wasn't a fan of navigating through there and it was really disorienting, so it wasn't even gameplay I enjoyed that I had to replay.
That definitely sounds frustrating. I understand what they were going for with the saving system, really trying to mimic something like Resident Evil, but like, man, having to repeat huge sections of the game if you forget just feels kinda backwards to me.
The music videos between the levels appear to be related to the main quest for each chapter. Chapter 1's video is a summary of the tale of what happened between the last boss and the secret boss for that level.
Dude, the date question is literally asking you for the date of the month, to which 7 is the only answer. You keep saying how it's imprecise, but it's exactly the opposite - the game is very precise, including that question and the instructions telling you that you might die so you better save. It doesn't seem fair to blame the game for something you didn't pay attention to 🤔
I don't know if I agree, "what date in January" clearly has room to be misinterpreted if you're asking for numbers IMO, evident by the fact that I was led down an alternative line of thinking by the question. The point being, yes the game is *so* precise, the fact that there are a couple moments here and there that have *some* wiggle room is a bit jarring, which was just my experience. I also talked about the fact that they mention you should save often in the video, but questioned the decision from a design standpoint as it seems to run counter to the genre in which the game fits in. Anyway, thanks for letting me know what you think 🙏
went through game. its awful. one of the most frustrating and unfun games ive ever played. from garbage movement, trash enemies, and awful design. hard just to be hard.
Lmao, you not understanding the substance does not mean the game have no substance. To a person who knows about the story everything makes perfect sense and the story is very profound. Its like going into God of War not knowing anything about the gods and back stories and complain why you don’t understand anything. Not to mention, if you really wanted to know about the story they even give you a portrait that goes into the backstory of every single enemy (even the trash mobs, tell me another game that goes this much detail into EVERY SINGLE ENEMEY) But no, you don’t wanna learn anything but just complain with your ignorance
The job of the game is to tell its story in a way that people unfamiliar with the source material will understand it. It doesn’t, is poorly written, and that’s the point he is making. Also, no one is confused by God of War’s story because-and this is important-it’s written by actual writers, evaluated by professors and researchers familiar with the subject and developed by an uncompromisingly meticulous studio. Unlike Game Science, which is too concerned with dog-whistling to the perpetually offended to develop a coherent videogame.
I agree on almost everything you say. I´m so frustrated with the game, I´m not even sure that I will finish it. I played all Souls and Soulslikes (like Lords of the Fallen and Lies of Pi) and I don´t see how you can not call this a Soulslike. The speed and flow of combat especially feels much closer to Sekiro than to something like God of War. Sure, the systems are very different, yet the overall feel isn´t. I am also going through the game with mostly question marks and frustration in my head. These invisible walls are actually driving me crazy and the level design is just an objectively terrible decision. Every time I enter a semi-open forest or field area, I immediately want to quit, because I already see myself running against invisible walls for two minutes just to maybe find a small opening. It is absolutely unclear what areas are actually "in the game" and what areas are not, because everything looks the same. This is by far the single worst point, which alone just makes it not fun to play. The worst part is, that I actually do like the exploration rewards which give you more a general stat boost or crafting materials (compared to elden ring, where you often get weapons for builds you never play). Yet, doing the exploration in these levels feels like an absolute terrible chore and I constantly think that I just want to find this chest and get out of here. The bosses are neatly and partially spectacularly designed, yet I also never had the same rush of emotions when beating them as I had recently in shadow of the erdtree. Their difficulty is mostly defined by their huge health bars and it really just becomes a war of attrition instead of thrilling and cinematic fights (like in Sekiro). Also, there are small details that are absolutely mindblowing to me. The parry spell lets you duck down a bit, so that some enemy strikes sometimes just literally go over your head. Yet, you have to successfully parry to get mana refund on the spell and other perks like damage increase. Who the hell came up with this duck down idea, then tested it and then implemented it? It is so ridiculously unneccessary that I also just keep asking myself "Why?". I can forgive that the story is not explained well and that you never build up a relationship with the characters. It is probably targeted to an audience familiar with the original story and I also never really have a strong story connection in the Souls-games. Everybody who claims this should win Game of the Year, please go and play Sekiro, which is an actual masterpiece of an Action-RPG. If Sekiro is too hard, then just git gud, but don´t put these games into the same category in terms of quality. They are absolutely miles apart.
No build diversity. The cutscenes are unrelated to the plot. No landmarks? Hyperlinear in one breath, and too convoluted and branching in the next. Pretending the skill tree is percentile increases? The set bonuses are inconsequential??? Each of these claims is just so twisted and snarled and factually untrue it actually makes the rest less offensive. Caus then you go into a mountain of pure emotional reactions, fluffed up tenpenny words like it's critique. Bugs and problems assailed you, yeah, frustrating and grating, I'll grant. I'm not saying don't have emotional reactions, I'm imploring you to recognize the difference between /that/ and critical engagement. Don't take yourself so seriously as a critic when you know you're new at this. Don't try and draw on historical comparison to something the devs actively downplayed, as if that one point of connectivity is the grand historical record of video games in and of itself. Especially when you've even heard the term character action, can tell BMW is trying to be a much more stripped down take on action combat, but can't tell why a narrow but widely modified moveset puts it outside the range of a Bayo or DMC game as much as it's distant from Souls combat. I was impressed with your willingness to engage on Pacific Drive, since it's close to but not quite like a lot of things. Seeing that angle be the exact line of failure in this piece is so disappointing.
I'll admit this one does sting a little bit, but I will say I really respect this criticism, I'm definitely gonna take this to heart moving forward. The one thing I will say is I feel like, especially in the first paragraph your paraphrasing at least partially misconstrues some of what I said. The points about build diversity being fundamentally lacking I do stand by 100%. Apart from set bonusus, weapon and armour upgrades are fundamentally little more than slight increases to weapon damage and defence. Those set bonuses only act in specific conditions, and again, their only consequence is a "slight increase in damage when poisoned" or "reduced poison damage," things along those lines. I don't see how that conflicts with what I said, the bonuses you recieve from both the stat increases and set bonuses are so minimal that they are not felt in game, thus, inconsequential. The skill tree as well, I don't know what you think I am twisting here, there are 108 unlockable skills in Wukong, and apart from unlocking the stances, only 6 modify combat at all, even then they only impact the heavy attack. Every other node in the skill tree is something along the lines of, "decrease stamina cost when sprinting," or, as I said in the video, "slightly increase critical hit chance." I'm unsure what you mean when you say I'm "pretending." I don't think that a linear structure, pathing through levels 1 through 6 is necessarily divorced from the incredibly twisting and unclear level design. To progress you have to go from point A, to B, to C in a linear fashion, but what the game lacks is clear directive to notate that is the case. The sprawling pathways are almost always side objectives that do not lead you back to the main path, yet the game again, does not clearly notate the main path, despite it *definitely* being there. I don't think the structure then is unlike that of a linear game, yet the level design is far more egregious. I also never said that the cutscenes didn't relate to the plot, I was talking about the vignettes in between chapters, which, again, do not relate to the immediate story this game is trying to tell. Regardless, I do see your perspective, and your point about historical comparison is definitely valid, something I will take in to consideration for the future. Thank you for the criticism, I really do appreciate it even if this burns a little lol.
@@Reset-Button Yeah, I was heated and just grabbing spicy moments with the first batch, since, you know, youtube-gamer-brain is a hell of an indolent beast. I trust you're sane enough to peel off the kneejerk aspects of me just snapping off an angry comment - I kinda don't like what I wrote once I cooled off, but, that's life. Okay, so. I genuinely think you're misreading the skill/gear system here - It's a game with a very unified baseline combat state. It's not concerned with AoE, aerial states, elemental types, status effects, so on. Bonk, dodge, big bonk, and various types of Setup - Pillar and Thrust go here, as does Cloud Step or Immobilize. Fundamentally, those are what you're dealing with. To use early game examples - if you use the pilgrim set and focus into smash, you're not bothering with light combos, you're only concerned with mobility and charge speed. Or maybe you've noticed that Cloud Step has a crazy short cooldown, so you go for Ebongold and focus your skill points into the spell itself - Unlocking the ability to do charge strong attacks in the invis and re-emphasizing positioning as a concern for where you place the decoy and where you yourself will stand. Now, should the game have put Yin Tiger in a much more accessible spot, early on, to allow more flexibility? Oh gods yeah. The everything-is-a-secret design intention is a bit annoying, this game does NOT respect your time at all, can't disagree with you there. But there is playstyle support and design in here. The skills are just... Much more difficult to be polite about. Stamina : Make basic actions cheaper, refill faster, DODGE OFFSET, Better Basic Dodge, cheaper jumping, more focus from dodges, get armor from dodges, Perfect Dodges Explode. Martial : Longer Attack Range, Bonus Focus On Second Hit, Charge Up Bonus Damage While Sprinting, Cash out longer combos with more damage, armor during finisher, Enable Movement And Much Better Attack with Mobile Spin, Enable Heavy Attack with Mobile Spin, more rewarded focus for spin, less stamina cost for spin, bigger focus bonus for deflections. I'm not gonna keep beating the dead horse - While a majority of those are Technically "Just percentage increases" just those options alone massively change what you favour or get out of particulars of the back and forth of regular combat. Without some of those later martial ones, I never bother to go for the full combo, just use whirl-spin's offensive form or one-two-dodge. Once I tried fully speccing into the tree, combat as a whole felt very different - Same for if I was favouring a stance over the basic. It's one of those what you get out is what you put in things, which is my actual point here. Anyways. I'll unplug the ND Engine for a bit and skip the level design stuff - I don't really disagree, I just found the juxtaposition ill articulated. And the plot stuff.... Eh. You know how we don't do Spiderman's rogues origins in every video game, and the repeat players get shortened every time till its just a "You know whats going on" kind of handwave - JTTW is like that. It's a pulpy set of vignettes with good wordplay, but since it's a trend setter, people treat it like high art. It's not. It's just comic books. But it also means that with every retelling, more and more gets cut out - You see this same pattern with RO3K stories, too. It's a funky quirk of chinese storytelling that this happens, in video game forms, at least.
@@jamesdempsey1330 Hey I appreciate this response, and I definitely see what you're getting at here. I think the main problem that I had with the combat here and its complexity is that it seems to be quite veiled from the player through systems that aren't really explained. I still don't really understand what "seeing through" an enemy even means. I don't think that these games need to hold your hand, but the mechanics at play here definitely feel somewhat obscure, could be a translation thing, I'm not sure. I think I agree with your point about the skills probably being a little more in depth really looking at them closely, but again in my experience I didn't really feel like they impacted the way I engaged with the combat all that much, but I'm certainly not opposed to admitting that's more on me than the game itself. I just wish things were more clearly laid out and articulated, which I felt was an issue that permeated the whole game, at least for me. Regardless, it's been good to hear your thoughts on this mate, I'm really glad you've done this. It'll definitely help me going forward, so thanks a lot for that.
yo creo, que fromosof tiene la barra demasiado alta, por eso todos los demas juegos se quedan cortos. el juego esta muy bonito, pero sekiro es mucho mejor juego. y lo peor de todo asi como dijiste es el level design, super confuso que no dan ganas de explorar. Buen review estoy deacuerdo con la mayoria. le doy un 8/10 por el esfuerzo de que es independiente, pero realmente seria un 7/10.
What I would give to play this from first experience again… also I wanted to comment this like 16 mins in and you beat me to it during the giraffe scene. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GAME ❤ I cannot forget that it was your very copy of the game that let me experience this. For that you have my gratitude and love. King 👑 Great video
Bro this is one of the coolest and most inspiring games ive played in years. Sure the visuals, spectacle, and gameplay is super flashy and stylish, but it's also built on extremely profound and meaningful ideas. If this kind of game isnt for you, that's fine, but as a person who really loves souls games, this is a perfect balance of difficulty (aside from the last few bosses they made me want to pry my nails off, but were very satisfying to beat). If you don't fully immerse yourself, big shock, you'll miss out on the fun to be had. I just listened to music while playing and turned that off for the fantastic cutscenes. also every secret felt worth it to me. some really cool armor, key item, staff, spell, etc. I think you may have just not experimented much because there are absolutely many different builds you can use. and yeah, the staff is the main weapon, just like Sekiro having the katana. Idk what some people expect this game to be, but for me personally, it is more than I could have ever asked for. Only thing I'd agree on is some of the artificial difficulty on certain bosses (I managed to beat most of the harder ones first try...idk how to be honest, I just locked the fuck in and got lucky) and also how your character is silent. I wish he had dialogue, but its not something that ruins the game for me. It just means that I have to pay more attention to everything else. I dont know how you can say the characters werent memorable. Every single encounter was interesting. Also invisible walls are annoying, and I understand the gripes about level design and visual design, but you're comparing it to fromsoft, who have had years and years to hone their design philosophy and choices. this is game sciences FIRST GAME. Which dosent excuse them from all criticism, but it does mean that what they have created is nothing short of a marvel. So I feel that calling it "disappointing" when nobody knew what to expect, is really dishonest. Just seems like standards are unrealistic for a game like this. It delivers exactly what it promised. I keep editing as I watch, because some of these complaints are actually just a lack of patience. I died one time to the giant ball, and it pissed me off sure, but I learned and took my time to get past it second try. The carts are pretty easy with all the abilities you should have by that point if you thought about your build and skills. It takes awhile, and that last cart is a PAIN, but it's just another challenge to be overcome. So much complaining it makes me think you had a note pad out furiously writing down issues you had instead of just getting back up and engaging with the game. If you didn't like it, why play it? Just to give an angry review? Just unfortunate.
I appreciate you putting the time in to write this. I am happy for you that you got some enjoyment out of the game; I wish I could say the same for myself. I went into this game with the intention of making a video about it, and I was really excited for this game based on its marketing. It's definitely okay to say that the game just "isn't for me," but the way the game was described before launch does not align with the final product IMO. I'm "disappointed," because the game was marketed and sold as a character action game based on Journey to the West, "definitely not a Souls-Like," and what I got was an uneven, directionless boss rush with some cool visuals. That's broadly fine, but I really didn't enjoy it, obviously evident by the video. So I'm faced with an issue now, I've played a game that I was really excited for with the intent on making a video about it, I really didn't like it. So do I present my honest opinion, or say what everyone else is saying to avoid backlash? I understand people love this game and I'm happy for them, but my perspective is something I haven't seen in the conversation, and wanted to put it forward as such. I don't think I should only review video games that I love, as it's important to me to have balanced opinions on these matters. I want to understand what makes these games tick, and Wukong just didn't work for me. I understand your pespective on that matter though. Thanks again for the comment, hope you have a great day mate.
If you took that article seriously you’re a fucking joke lmao it’s been proven that they’re just haters of the game who didn’t even play the game past chapter 2 lol
@@ewanfraser Yeah, and it sounds like a lot of complaining and whining about the first game that studio has ever put out. It delivers exactly what it set out to, I think it's disingenuous to call it a disappointment. Sure there are issues, but it is an absolutely breathtaking game and experience. To sit here and gripe about every aspect of it just makes me think he had a notepad out and was getting mad at getting his ass kicked and getting lost instead of enjoying the journey. Literally missed the point of the game.
@@zaclovesschool2273 I agree that its wrong to say you are disappointed. You make a fair point about it being their first game. And its amazing. I just think many of these criticisms are fair. You haven't pressed a button and had it not register? I sure have, especially heal and immobilize. The lack of a map sucks although the shrines provide some guidance. The levels look really similar and it blend into each other. I think you can say a game is great but still criticize it.
