I wish there was a "Magicka" like spellcrafting/combination system in a game, like true freedom of combinations, it doesn't even need to be balanced just fun to experiment with.
I mean, in a single player experience, does balance really matter that much, as long as it’s fun to screw around with? Honestly, being able to do crazy shit in a video game is a draw for me, rather than a turn-off
Yeah and more slots to use it baffles me when I see a game with 30 or above spells and you have only 3 slots to use them . Oh wait I forgot I wasn't on console, still could be done with a wheel type.of system
I really respect Mortym's class when reviewing games. Even when he doesn't like a game, he's still proper enough to highlight the good and bad without screaming and being overly dramatic.
@@stanislavkimov2779 I go to Metacritic and browse through the list for a couple minutes. RPS, RPGamer come to mind as some of the better ones, Eurogamer, Edge in the past but I haven't been to them in years. All the best reviewers usually don't do scores. Steam reviews, I look at the most elaborate ones, and frequently sort by negative, I find those more helpful than hypeviews. In general, I put much more value on word to mouth than individual reviewers. I'm, one could say, very active on reddit - but not r/gaming, that place is for tweens. I've been rather knowledgeable about the good and bad of Forspoken days before this video here went up, and I wasn't even really interested in the game on RU-vid, I watch Escapist / Yahtzee, sometimes IGN quicklook, but they don't really inform my buying decisions. And this channel of course. 90%+ of the gaming content I watch is game design and deep dives, not reviews if you take your information from places where fanboys are just screaming at each other, you're probably doing something wrong and also might just have accidentally clicked on r/gaming
He essentially reviews games for a living and a hobby but he essentially says in the beginning of the review "focusing on the main story takes about 12 to 15 hours with the open world section adding another 30 to 40 hours". In his Steam profile page he has put in 48 hours into the game. So there is a pretty decent amount of content in the game.
Thanks for making this review, Mort! I had been hoping Forspoken would be more enjoyable and interesting than this, so I'm really glad you took the time to 100% it because it gave me all the info I needed to choose whether to play it or not. Essentially, my takeaway from this is that Forspoken isn't a bad game per se, but to me it looks like a game we would have seen in the late 2000s/early 2010s (e. g. Assassin's Creed, Mirror's Edge, that kind of thing). And for that time, those games were great and enjoyable, because some dozens of hours of content were more than enough for the not-as-high asking price, and they all did something quite new for that time. I feel like Forspoken falls flat because it doesn't necessarily do something entirely new with its gameplay. Watching gameplay of it made me just want to replay Assassin's Creed or Horizon Zero Dawn, rather than try the game out for myself, so there's the issue imo.
That was my thought: why play this unless you have no good Assassin'c Creed games left to complete, or you 100%ed HZD already. And since this AAA game looks like a AA game, I might as well buy Praey for the Gods or Generation Zero or a host of other AA and indy titles that arguably do most of the same but better and way cheaper.
Man your out here doing the lords work reviewing busted "AAA" games. Most honest review I've seen for this title especially pushing the 100%. Appreciate the honestly and perseverance to get through games like this lol. 👍
Morti always brings it. I've watched nearly a dozen reviews and yours is the first to even talk about crafting beyond "you can make fingernails." Also thanks for your perspective on Frey's characterization. It blew me away how many people were trashing her as "miserable" and "unlikeable" and "constantly refusing the call" when I'm like "She's 20 years old and never grew up in a safe and loving home. Constantly either on the streets or in the foster system. It's not out of character that she'd develop an outlook on life where she assumes nothing will ever work out ever," and I've never been homeless. It's just basic empathy and character writing understanding that's needed. Also, I'm sorry you went through that and I'm glad (I'm assuming) things got better for you. I played the demo and there were things I liked and didn't like.... For example I had the exact same problems with combat and the "open world" you did. I find this is an issue with Squeenix's modern "rpg" combat mechanics these days. Another reason why FF16 will probably be a 'pass' for me - but that's another kettle of fish. I think I'll get the game but over $90 bucks ($93 Canadian on the PS5 Store!) is absolutely unacceptable for ANY game imo, so I'll be waiting for a deep sale. (Hey I wrote this before I got to your ending and damn, right on! :D) Glad I found this channel when I was looking up info on Pathfinder WotR after I got it for PS5. Hasn't disappointed me yet.
Just stumbled over this review... and found myself one of the most informativ, spot on game reviews I saw in a very long time. You sir did a magnificent job. It's all information there, no blabbering about, no endless repeating the obvious. And you did it for 20 minutes! I'm so sick of people delivering hot air in bulk that I just had to leave a comment here. I will definitly check out your other reviews!
I think I found your channel a little over a year ago. Every once in a while RU-vid's algorithm really gets it right. You have become part of my morning routine. Thanks, for everything. Going to go shovel snow in wisdom
This is one of the best reviews I have encountered. As you laid everything on the table for us to judge if the game is suitable for our purchase. I have seen reviews that recommend on full price disregarding the platform we will be purchasing.
This is the first review I have watched on this channel, and it is great to hear a review that isn't going for cheap jabs or following the hate parade. Also I appreciate that the review is by someone who did 100%, so judging all of the content.
This is an extremely fair and well articulated review. The "Forpsoken sucks" discourse is so distracting when trying to just understand how the game actually feels to play before buying it, and frankly its exausting to the point whre I just stopped looking for Forspoken info. This video really explained well the pros and cons for the game, and Ill probably end up picking it up on PC at some point because of it. Thanks Mortym!
Thankyou, this was an insightful review. Highlights how important enemy AI is for actual differences in difficulty - which probably feels so much better than simply scaling numbers to increase difficulty.
THANK you for a actual fair review. Most people are hating for no reason other than the lead character. The game isn’t “bad”. The dialogue is typical Square Enix/ Japanese style dialogue, so I’m not sure why people are acting so surprised. But once you get into the land, I honestly felt like I was in another world. It’s really growing on me. But it’s defiantly not as bad as everyone is making it. Just another hate bandwagon. I just wanted to support the game, because the backbone is there. It’s a new IP that could become great. But unfortunately it may never happen. Square Enix have been having some issues, so I”m sure that has affected the time and energy put into the game. Not making excuses. Just saying give it a try if you like the demo. Stop listing to the haters. If you are one of those people who complains about everything being the same, and then crying over this. THIS is the reason. Companies take a risk to make something new, and then it gets hate or have unreasonable expectations. Oh well.
I saw this review after playing the demo and 10++ hrs on the full game. The reason why I cannot 100% believe on the most-common Forspoken early review just because I found some aspect of fun in the combat. However, after playing the full game, I could understand why the world is “empty” (like they said on the early review). In term of cringe dialogue / writing I found it not really well placed, but I see they are trying to give us how characters from both Earth culture and Athia culture are met, this is something could be improved. In the end, I could not agree more with your review, you are doing such amazing work by completing this game and then review it. Thank you!
I actually enjoyed the demo…I love chaotic combat in games…but I cant pay $70 for a mid game…ill wait till its down to like $40. Which might be soon hopefully…given these reviews
Great work. Probably the best review I've come across as far as remaining objective and analyzing the stuff that really matters. I still plan on playing it but not until I can get it for like $20 lol.
Great job with the video Mort 👍 A few tweaks with the storyline would've changed the game dramatically. Yes the character was down on her luck but to escape, she does run and parkour from to time. Then one day, while parkouring, she saw a small child who jumped off a building. She saved the child while dropping to her death. Then, she meets a deity who gives a second lease on life in another world. The deity grants her abilities by giving her a fragment of the deity (the bracelet) that grows with her as she grew more powerful. Her mission is to restore balance in Athea by getting rid of demigods and witches that use up the Mana of the land. During her mission, she realized that these 'witches' were previous heroes that the deity brought over, who were consumed by the power of the bracelet and lost control. They deity abondoned them and thus they turn into monsters that syphon Mana from the land to sustain their existence, and vowed revenge on the deity.
Another awesome video! I'm glad more people are discovering how good, indepth and relatable your reviews are. Much love and wishing you a growing, productive year ahead!
The main problem with the enemies that i have seen is they are designed like dark souls enemies (aka slow ish movement, not much ground to cover) while you have DMC Like movement. I don't know if the devs intentionally designed them like this or it's just an oversight i don't know.
I think it's probably due to difficulty making the magic combat as seamless as they could. Devs, in my opinion, tend to over compensate in that arena for the sake of making the combos seamless and the player feel powerful. But it's hand holdy to me. You may be on to something.
I bought this D1 amd just recently platinumed it I really enjoyed it mostly bc of the combat/parkour After seeing reviews from ytbers i like i noticed they're saying some things that are not true but it's not their fault because they completed the game to probably just 50% completion and so they miss out on many things the game has to offer This is also an issue for most open world games, the experience will be vastly different for every player depending on how much they explore it Also the dualsense support on ps5 is probably the best outside of some sony games
I can't complain about a wonderful review, that actually critiques the experience itself, rather then parroting the same words 90% of reviewers shout. I in fact love that you did such an amazing job going much further then surface level, and providing an actual proper review. Though I personally find it worrying that not alot of people are finding parallels between Forspoken and games like Prototype and Infamous. Where the story isn't made to be incredible, it's just serviceable, not bad or great. But a focus that is on how you traverse and have incredible powers. The best overall part of the game is purely mixing your magic spells together to crush everything in front of you. Enemies aren't exactly there to be a challenge, their just a means to make you as a player feel like a demi-god. It's like watching a stupid summer action movie, your there for the action, not the plot.
Hi Mortym! The combat looks pretty fun, but the rest kinda meh. It's a pass or a deep, deep sale for me. Thanks for the review - they really help when it comes to my game buying decisions.
Thanks for the review. I heard of the game but I had no clue what it was. Maybe I'll buy the "complete edition" in a few years... when it is on sale. :)
This is the first review I've seen that says really anything about the game. I have been very skeptical of the pile on since the game looks really fun to me and the criticisms have been kind of baffling if not incoherent. Nearly all videogames are badly written, cringe, and have a dull narrative. I've even seen people call the game ugly, which is absurd. Honestly everything you said is what I anticipated and I will still play it on sale. A lot of games (Diablo for example) have simple combat, nothing else to do, and just a grind in an uninspired world. Games like this have their place.
Since Cyberpunk 2077 I’ve really waited and seen all manner of reviews both pro/con/in the middle…and for Forspoken I’ve done the same and to me this feels like an over-priced meh! At best to wait till it’s around 10-15 dollars and if u have loose change lying around and are bored then maybe get it. I did love ur review…it’s fair…balanced…zero theatrics…and may u grow everyday. Subscribed.
Thank you! That's a great review! Some reviewers are pointing out, that it would be more fun to run through the story to get all of the branches asap and start exploring the world only after that. Do you agree with this approach?
Kind of, you're gonna need at least fire before you can really navigate most of the map anyway, but fire and water will get you all but a handful of places.
I'm having a lot of fun with the battle system. I don't know about the opinion on the difficulty. Maybe I don't play a lot of games, while not on the harder side, the game does provide a challenge outside of the main story boss battles. You can get destroyed if not careful. I noticed the gameplay, you showed a lot of gameplay using one spell and holding charge, but I feel the enemies were more aggressive with their attacks on my playthrough which wouldn't allow that. What difficulty did you play on?
The homeless perspective was very well done, I agree with that. Everything else about her was utterly unlikable. I was fine with her being surprised and generally nuts about finding out she was able to do magic; I would be too. My beef with Fray as a character is the way she incessantly acts like petulant child being taken on a trip she doesn't want to go on. As a 30 year old man that shit is grating as hell for me. You are in a fantastical world with amazing powers and the ability to save the people suffering there, yet she's acting like her mom is making her go to the Dentist. Normally bratty characters like this have an arc where they become less of a piece of shit, and she does, but by the time Fray wants to actually be a hero I no longer cared. All this game shows to me is that the studio behind it learned NOTHING from Final Fantasy 15 and how boring that fantasy world was, and all they did was replace the party members with a talking scarf. And the car with magic parkour. I'm glad I bought the physical version of this game so I can sell it for 30$ and play Dead Space instead. Looking forward to Final Fantasy 16.
I was watching a review on hogwarts legacy, and they were describing the magical ranged combat and some of the other activities, and I realized that it sounded like forespoken, but much better and without the $70 price tag.
Before the game came out, I felt like there was something off putting (maybe even "wrong") about the combat, but I couldn't put my finger on it. After watching this I know what it is: if you combine a high-mobility movement system with a ranged combat system, you end up with a game where someone can just kite-and-bite all of the enemies down. From the footage here, that looks like it was exactly what happened. Also, and I can't confirm, but apparently if you buy the deluxe upgrade on Steam, you cannot get a refund for the DLC even if you get a refund on the base game.
Thank you, thankfully there are a bunch of other games I am anxious to play such as Tower of Time and the new Solasta expansion. I can wait for this to go on sale.
Not sure if I will play it, but just like Farcry Primal and everytime a game receives such memes and bad reception, I've to check a proper unbiased review. Subscribed. ( I tried the demo and i had no idea what was going on)
If you don't care about character or story and love interesting combat, there is fun to have here, but unfortunately, the slow start killed me. Optimize the settings and turn chatting to minimal. You really need to b-line to the 2nd spell and then you can enjoy the open world.
Thanks for the detailed review!! Especially with RPGs you cant always get the best impression from the opening hours (which most reviewers base their review in that opening impression). Ill wait until this is in the bargain bin to pick it up.
If you were actually homeless. I’m sorry to hear that. I enjoyed your review and I’m happy that you are no longer homeless 👍🏻 I am enjoying Forspoken. It’s a JRPG and it shows. I also use Japanese Dialogue.
What about this is next gen? On PC it doesn't actually look better than plenty of games that came out years ago, it's just ridiculously poorly optimised.
I was trying to 100% this game but burnt out after those repetitive gameplay in an empty world. Anyways, your review was totally worth to watch !! Great job !!
This was a really well rounded review. Respect for trying to cover aspects overlooked by other reviewers, and mentioning positives while still providing a strong list of negatives. Easily the best review I've seen of this game.
Agreed. This was a review well done. Currently playing through the game and IMO, everything mentioned in this review is pretty accurate for me thus far.
Thank you for the review and, in particular, relaying your perspective on the protagonist's origin story and its portrayal. I remember you've made it be known about your homelessness growing up in a previous video, so I was wondering if you'd make mention of it in regards to the game. As always, the content you post is appreciated.
The fact that you could empathize with the character in a personal way was really touching, I had no idea that was something you struggled with. Your content is fantastic and I hope you have moved past that stage of "hopelessness" in your life.
@@ewjiml they're typical stereotypes for a reason because a lot of people deal with it or have done something along those lines. Just because it didn't resonate with you doesn't mean he's weird for feeling so. How can someone who's been homeless be so damn judgemental?
@Ewjiml that's funny cause you're talking to someone who's most of my family has been and I've met a lot of homeless people. Where im at you can find one damn near begging on every corner. Don't assume you're a small minority that's struggled, a lot of people struggle. People struggle a lot more than you realize more than likely.
When the writing is like "wink wink, I'm in a fantasy world, I got magic, what's next, dragons?!@?!?" ... makes me think the writers don't believe in their own world they've built and are embarrassed that they're just doing another trope fantasy.
it's called a whedonism and you can thank marvel movies for making it so popular. It's basically anytime a character acknowledges the wacky situation they are in without actually contributing anything worthwhile. They are especially annoying when they are used to interject levity into a serious situation because they are afraid of letting the audience experience unbroken tension for more than a couple seconds
I think it goes a bit beyond being embarrassed about their work. Cynicism and smugness are apparently mandatory ingredients for the main characters in these sort of projects. At this point, I almost believe that most fantasy and sci-fi creators out there, be it comics, video games, tv shows, movies or books, really dislike their target audiences. That's the only explanation I can come up with for these legions of bitter, unlikable protagonists. "Think you're going to get some standard likable hero in this story? Well, you're not, you're getting this mean-spirited nihilist who doesn't give a shit about anything or anyone. Have 'fun' with that, you pack of losers. Oh yeah, that'll be 70 dollars, before tax, so pay up, I got bills coming due!" - The writers of Forspoken and whole bunch of other pop culture projects out there....
@Mushinronja If that is, in fact, accurate, this is still a huge problem for the developers. As Josh Strife Hayes has pointed out, the first two or three hours of a game is vital, that's where you want your best stuff -- that's what players are using to judge whether or not they will "invest" more time and energy into your game. The old "just ignore the first half of the game, it gets really good after that" schtick doesn't really work, the vast majority of players make their decision at the 2 or 3 hour mark, if not earlier.... EDIT: I just noticed this additional note that Tonald made in the pinned comment. Seems right to me: "I can't overstate how bad the first 1-2 hours of this game are. I talk about it immediately in the video, but it must be said again. Square, get with the times man. Things don't need to be so hand-holdy and scripted."
I mean, to be fair man I don’t think you need to 100% a game tk say if you like it or not. If I’m not liking the first quarter of a game then why would I continue playing it. I’m speaking from just a non critic perspective btw. If it can’t hook you at the start then it’s already personally failed to me.
@@flameron1 I always believe you should aim for relative percentage cause if you 100% every game. Games with massive Times to beat or MMORPGS in general become unrulily issues. Kind of a moot point either way since it really feels often like many jornos play like the first level (assuming they play any of it at all) before cranking out a score.
If, at some distant point in the future, the game is reduced to about 15 quid or dollarydoos (depending on region) it is worth a look in. They had some solid boss design, combat gets to be fun at the halfway point. If you know the protagonist is insufferable going in, she is just slightly irritating sometimes.
I’m genuinely shocked that the studio who made the irredeemably boring world of final fantasy 15 learned NOTHING from the feedback they got on that game
@@yvvxn same, if you actually take the time to explore and give it a chance without the rushing it, the world is quite enjoyable to immerse yourself in and definitely beautiful to look at. My only complain so far is the performance, on quality and ray tracing
This is a fantastic and very thorough review and that's what I love about your videos. It's easy to say that the game sucks because the dialogue is cringy and the combat is boring. But you actually went to great lengths to explain why certain aspects of the game are bad and why you can't recommend it because of the absolutely insane specs while still providing poor performance. Good job sir!
I agree. A lot of the other reviewers just made fun of the game to get a laugh out of it, but didn't do any critical analysis as to why the game isn't that great. Even if they did, they didn't describe the problems of the game so well as Mortismal Gaming did.
@@melodyseverything6999 Big yes. I've gotten exhausted with the extremes and arbitrary stances people take. Mortym's style reminds us why stuff an X/10 system is flawed and outrage farming neglects to frame games in the full context of their systems. We can't expect stellar gaming experiences on par with the best of the vets on one hand if all we are willing to do is absolutely crucify the work of clearly growing developers on the other.
@@owenlindkvist5355 elden ring's combat system is redundant too. And lot of people copy the most OP set up. Which also resulted in a boring gameplay. But why is it the GOTY? And I ain't saying Forspoken is in the same level as E.R because it isn't. Anyways all of RPG games have redundant combat system.
I think the game, level design and writing are just harder to pull off. The production art and some other aspects are just so labour intensive that these can get neglected. It's a pity this didn't work out as well. It seems like it had immense potential. The art on this title really pulled through. Great review, as always!
I really don't think the visuals are good honestly. The Witcher 3 ray tracing update looks vastly better and that game is nearly a decade old at this point. Not only is the fidelity just better imo, but the world isn't even comparable. It is so much more alive, it tells a story everywhere you look and go, and just feels so much more real and lived in. Also we PC players really should not reward these pseudo console exclusives that are very obviously built from the ground up for a specific console and the devs do the bare minimum to "technically" release it on PC but it barely runs or runs so much worse than it should because it's essentially being emulated or running on some compatibility layer. As someone with a full custom loop 7950x 4090 PC, I have as much computational horsepower as anyone possibly could at the moment, but I just refuse to pay the same price for a game as someone on PS5 or any console that runs better than a top 0.1% PC. It's just not a PC game at that point IMHO.
I don't think I've ever heard him say that he would just never recommend the game (on PC). The price is absolutely outrageous in Germany, at least. 20 bucks more than a AAA title (80 instead of 60) is too much for virtually any game. It'd be a hard sell for the newest GOW or Eldenring, let alone that game.
@@shadyrecords4386 es ist aber was anderes 80k für ein Benz zu verlangen oder 80k für ein Dacia. - metaphorisch gesehen Ich habe letztens ragnarok durchgespielt. Wenn ich alleine die Gesichtszüge und Grafik Vergleiche, sieht es aus als wäre forspoken ein Game aus 2013. oder eine „Switch Edition“ das ist grauenhaft
@@masterImac ich wollte das Spiel nicht verteidigen.. im Gegensatz.. für mich ist das der absolute gaming bodensatz😆 und es gibt weiß gott genug Gründe die nicht für forspoken sprechen.. wollte halt nur anmerken das man das bei andern spielen auch schon hätte kritisieren können (Ausnahme ist hier die pc version.. die soll ja scheinbar auch so teuer sein😳 das war mir bei ersten Kommentar noch nicht bewusst)
1st time listening to your reviews. Great first impression. Thank you for reviewing after 100 percent and playing on hard. I find it makes it more detailed and helpful over most initial reviews
looks like playing the Witcher 3 for the 4th time will be more interesting and rewarding than playing this for the first. I purchased the Witcher 3 6 years ago, so now it is free! Toxicity build this time?
Scan and the entire sreen is filled with icons. We can't have people not know exactly where they need to go. And so the game just becomes a pretty task list with a mediocre protagonist. I was hoping devs would take a hint from Ghosts of Tsushima or the success of Elden Ring when it comes to not clogging up the screen.
2:46 Having been homeless in the 80s in Silicon Valley, I can concur and sympathize. It sucks especially when working minimum wage jobs and being harrased by the police sitting on a park bench. Worked for food at resturants cleaning lots and trash. You're thankful for every meal and a chance to get clean. Never resorted to stealing or digging in trash. Now a retired tech...
For people who are struggling with the dialogue being grating and happen to be multilingual, play it in another language. In every other language I've tried, all the characters, but most especially Frey are immeasurably more likeable despite being at the core the same characters with the same motivation.
@@angelcrush3320 Well that's unfortunate to hear. I speak a few languages but the German dub isn't one I could have said anything about. On my list to learn to speak it at some undetermined, unspecified time in the future, but for now its moonspeak to me.
Forspoken is very much this generation's Watch Dogs. A game claiming to be the "next evolution in gaming" but it's just a really beautiful generic open world game that has a forgetable story and never had a chance of living up to the hype. It's a disappointment that nobody will care about after a year or two.
