Gaming Blog
I play a lot of video games, so I thought, why not share my thougts on them with you nice people? For full breakdowns, feel free to also check out the reviews I post on my YouTube channel!
Fallout New Vegas
Throughout my life playing video games, I had heard time and time again that Fallout New Vegas was the best game that people had ever played. The sheer volume of claims over such a long period had gotten me curious.
Was Fallout New Vegas really as good as people said or were the nostalgia tinted glasses poisoning people's memories of this cherished game? So I thought I would give it a go and see what all the hype was about and if it really stood the test of time. And spoiler alert... no, no it didn't.
It was immediately apparent when starting my playthrough just how old this game was. My playthrough was done on PC and without the assistance of mods, the game looked and ran so terribly and would literally crash every time the 2GB cache was filled, which was more than frustrated.
But I knew this, I knew the game would look old and feel old, so almost immediately, I decided to really give myself fully to the game and I downloaded the Viva New Vegas modpack in the hopes that it would alleviate my immediate gripes.
Which, to some extent, it really did. The game looked significantly better, would crash far less frequently and ran so much better. But, even with these massive improvements, I just couldn't truly get in to it.
Don't get me wrong, the majority of the praise for this game came from the story and the worldbuilding, and honestly, I can totally see why the praise was so loud. The storytelling, voice acting, worldbuilding and writing in general was actually super impressive for a game of its time.
But the questing and gameplay in general was just too dated to lend itself to immersion. Plus, in the games defence, I personally just don't care for the nuclear fallout aesthetic, so whilst it did nothing really for me, it was really well done for a game of its time.
So in summary, the game was just too old for me to really enjoy, despite some of the games shining qualities. Which does then pose an interesting question. Now that Oblivion has had a full remaster, will it escape a similar fate, or has it really been brought up to the quality we expect from games today? Video incoming.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Growing up, I had so little exposure to Final Fantasy and as a result of that I'd just never given the franchise a chance as I wouldn't know where to start. Some of the older games that everyone says are GOATED are just too old, in my opinion, to truly appreciate when we're spoilt for choice with games of today.
So when a great friend of mine suggested that I play the 2020 remake of arguably the most popular within the franchise, I thought sure, I'll see what all the fuss was about and boy am I glad that I did.
In starting my playthrough, I felt a little lost to begin with as I felt like the storytelling was pulling from lore I didn't understand and the combat system felt seriously off to me, as I had just come off the back of Dark Souls 3. But I was re-assured by viewers that each Final Fantasy was their own story, characters and world, so I didn't have to worry about lack of outside knowledge and with time, the combat system began to feel much more intuitive and I ended up really loving it.
In terms of the art style, storytelling and worldbuilding, this is what I would say I fell in love with the most. I've always been an avid fan of anime and the heavy anime influence from the character designs to the over the top cinematics really shone through, which I hugely appreciated. Plus, the legitimate 'WTF just happened' feeling that accompanied the storyline from start to finish kept things so incredibly fun.
My only complaint really, was that the level design and story was much more linear than the titles I had recently finished playing through, but to be honest, the story was so interesting and fun, that I can forgive it.
Now, I'm excited to jump in to Rebirth. Video incoming once I've streamed through it.
Days Gone Remastered
So this one was actually kind of a strange one for me and left me with a tonne of thoughts and feelings, not all of them good.
I'd heard over the years that Days Gone was one of the most underrated games of all time and a viewer of mine had requested it several times, so I was actually planning on playing it to make a 2025 "Is it worth it" style review. So we the news of the remaster came, I thought I would wait and try it then.
When it did finally release, I hopped straight in to it on stream. Visually, the game is really stunning and the Oregon forests are amazing to experience. The game ran smoothly, had an engaing and entertaining gameplay loop and the bike driving and mechanics were insanely fun.
But despite it having a lot of the right ingredients for an absolute banger, something just felt off about Days Gone. I liked the voice acting, the story for the most part despite it being a little predictable at times and the gameplay was really tight.
But the more I played, the less fun I was having. The story really dragged through Act 1 & 2 and was consistently derailed by repetetitve side missions, so by the time Act 3 appeared I was super disinterested. The introduction of new characters and plot points this late in the game was honestly a little pointless and the pacing was incredibly rushed through Act 3, like the developers wanted to get it over and done with.
So whilst I did have fun and I do recommend giving it a go, I have to say it is NOT one of the most underrated games of all time, it is good, but could have been really excellent.
Stay tuned on YouTube for a full review and breakdown!
Avowed
Avowed was marketed originally as this genertions Skyrim or even Skyrim 2.0, which was a seriously bold claim and after the echoes of Starfield's failed success still sounded in people's minds, I think most gamers were pretty hesitant.
But, since it was a day 1 Game Pass release, I thought I would reserve judgement myself and see what the game had to offer and honestly, first impressions were really solid.
Avowed takes place in the same universe and pantheon as Pillars of Eternity, a franchise which I had never acually played, but I had heard nothing but positive things about.
This already established sense of world building was very apparent to me and things felt very cohesive in world as a result of it. I'm not usually one for reading lore entries, but the more I read, the more interested in the world I became.
But beyond the worldbuilding, the gameplay itself was also really great, for a Bethesda title. I'm usually not a fan of the very rigid movement and gameplay feels of Bethesda games and that clunk definitely showed, but it was the most smooth and fluid version of that I had experienced.
And one thing I really liked on the gameplay that I hadn't seen a lot of games do is the skill, attribute and weapon system. Most games have strength for melee, dex for ranged and int for magic, but Avowed lets you up your stats for flat increases for all weapons which meant you could easily swap in and out of whatever weapon or build you really wanted to.
Beyond the gameplay loop though, whilst the game did drag a little if you wanted to do every side objective, I did enjoy the games main story and the companion quests were fairly rewarding and I actually cared about them by the end.
So, if you've seen negative reviews here and there about this game being another 'woke-show', it's really not like that at all and I had a great time.
I wasn't planning on making a full review of this one, but come let me know in stream some time if you want to see it!