Dark1 Linux, Tech, Gaming

My Review for Accel World vs SAO.

Well, Reki Kawahara two most popular works collide together in this game. Does it some how work? Or is it an abomination that should never existed? Let's get into the pros and cons to find out!

Pros:

- World aesthetics (The mixing of Elfhiem fantasy setting meets the cyberpunk feel of Accel World mixes quite well surprisingly)

- Combat (Many different characters with many different combat styles)

- Verticality to the world (Because it takes place in Elfhiem combat and travel takes you from the ground to the air and everywhere in between. Something Lost Song was not able to do well at all.)

- Story (The pacing at which the story unfolds is very even and does not feel like its told in just major plot dumps all at once)

- Party Selection (Mix your SAO and Accel World characters all you want or have one that is comprised totally of one show totally up to you!)

- Voice Acting ( Solid Japanese audio as the is the one area that has always been good in the SAO games)

Cons:

- Graphics (its using a game engine that works on the PS Vita so keep your expectations in check)

- Performance (It was laggy as all hell on the Steam Deck. Performance would degrade the longer you played, though I was playing with default proton so Proton-GE or other branches might fix that issue.)

- Quest Tracking - (Having a vast area to travel that has a very vertical element to it the quest tracking isnt always clear when looking at way points. You can be at what you think is the way point but its actually above you or below you etc)

- Combat (If you didnt like Lost Songs combat you will not like this ones very similar)

- Story (Any twist in the story is very easily to foresee coming)

So Accel World Vs SAO is honestly a very mixed bag of a game. I will unequivocally say that it is better than Last Song. When compared to the list of other SAO games I would say its better than Hollow Fragment and Lost Song, but not better than Hollow Fragment, Fatal Bullet, Alicization, or Last Recollection. As an overall game i would give it a 30 out of 50. ( a 6 or 3 out of 5 for you traditionalists.) It is definitely a game made for fans of Reki Kawahara work.

3 months ago | [YT] | 1

Dark1 Linux, Tech, Gaming

So after a month of using the Minisforum NUCXi5 as my daily driver (Linux Machine of course) the question is do you folks wanna see a review of it?

4 months ago | [YT] | 0

Dark1 Linux, Tech, Gaming

Game optimization done right! A solid 60fps on a Radeon 780m with high settings.

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5 months ago | [YT] | 2

Dark1 Linux, Tech, Gaming

So I want to do a bit of an experiment with it coming to the middle of year here shortly. You guys are gonna get to vote on the hardware/OS combination that Ill be using as my primary machine for the next month. All content etc will be done on that machine and OS. So get to voting!

5 months ago | [YT] | 0

Dark1 Linux, Tech, Gaming

So my take away from #NintendoDirect and the info on #NintendoSwitch2

- Great to finally see even more real 3rd party publisher support for Nintendo means more games for more people to play
- The improvements look very evolutionary and iterative over the OG Switch
- Backwards Compatibility
- OG Switch games will have improvements cool
- Overall design etc looks good and refined
- $80 for digital is fucking insane and given how rarely Nintendo discounts their games quite annoying.
- $90 for physical is even more fucking insane to me, I get the physical game market is much smaller than it use to be, but damn that price. Looks like i'll be picking and choosing my Switch 2 game a lot more carefully.
- $449/$499 Given world economics, supply chain nonsense for the last 5 years or so, and more than likely a continuing partnership to us Nvidia, and their current insane GPU pricing (I have yet to see a official hardware confirmation on chipset.) This price point really doesnt bother me.

Honestly my take is kinda of mixed on it. I am glad for the better support from 3rd parties, backwards compatibility, and still offering physical games, but damn that mark up on game titles (digital and physical) just is a pill hard to swallow.

7 months ago | [YT] | 2

Dark1 Linux, Tech, Gaming

So here is another review for the game ICEY, a funny, action filled sidescroller.

Oh man ICEY is one interesting experience of a game. The best description I can think of is a Metroidvania meets Bard's Tale or The Cave. Where the narrator is very much part of the gameplay, atmosphere, and more. So let's just get into it.

Pros:
- Art style- It's an anime inspired art style the character designs, of Icey and other enemies and characters fit nice in with the themes and asethetics of the game.

- Narrator, The narrator in this game makes it so enjoyable honestly So like The Cave the Narrator will say as an example "And Icey goes to the right" You as Icey can decide to go to the left instead and the Narrator will comment on it.

-Combat, Combat is one of those seems simple at first, but the more you get into it the more you realize that its easy to pick up, but hard to master, with various attacks and upgrades available to you as you make your way through.

Sound- Good music, Decent voice acting nothing to really complain about here.

Extras- If you decide to go against the narrator and do some of your own exploring you find fun little Easter eggs for the game. (Like one room that goes over the varying different styles of Combat styles ICEY went through before settling on the one shipped as the final product.)

-Short- This game can be completed in about 1 sitting takes about 2 hours to do one run through. Though given there are multiple endings etc there is definitely replay value here.

Cons-

-Short- If you arent about replayability or exploring might not be for you.

-Narrator sometimes you will wish would shut up.

Other than those few quibs, with the game I think this is a fantastic! It goes on sale quite frequently during Steam's sale events. But it is also only 10.99 and all current DLC for it is totally free (soundtrack, and new levels with the UCEY DLC.) As far as an actual score on my scale I would give this a solid 42/50 (8.4, 84, or 4.25 stars, for you weird traditonalists) This is a game to hold up as an example of how to do DLC, and have a fair price in the process for the game. Excellent work to the devs!

7 months ago | [YT] | 3

Dark1 Linux, Tech, Gaming

So for the first game of the year you folks will be getting the chance to decide where I'll be starting 2025 gaming.

10 months ago | [YT] | 0

Dark1 Linux, Tech, Gaming

So here is one of the first written reviews (available both on GOG and Steam to read, as well.) It is for Beyond: Two Souls .

Oh David Cage games, they are essentially the Sword Art Online of narrative focused games. What do I mean by that? I mean that they are very love them or hate them. Now I wont be commenting on the politics that can get thrown into this game because of the main character's actor. You can come to your own conclusions and thoughts on that. I will be solely commenting on the game. So onto the Pros and Cons!

Pros -

- Graphics (Given that this was originally a PS3 game on PC it still looks fantastic)
- Character Animations ( The movement of characters in story sequences and facial animations and lip sync is really good again given this is a 10 plus year old game now.)
- Choice/Consequences (the story does diverage and branch depending on those choices.)
- Sound ( Voice acting is fantastic, overall audio is good, decent soundtrack)
- Story ( All I can really say while it takes a bit of turn into left field when everything is fully explained, the dynamic between Jodie and Aiden is easily the selling point as it relates to the story.)

Cons-

- Gameplay (QTE and David Cage about sums it all up.)
- Story (Once full explained youll either love it or hate it again the typical David Cage trope, and the bouncing back and forth of how the story is presented can make the story feel even more confusing.)
- Length (for the gameplay style its about 10 to 11 hours which can feel long and they could have shaved it down to probably 9)


So overall I think strictly speaking Beyond: Two Souls as a narrative driven game is good IMO. So if you like the choice consequences, branching narrative styles games this should be right up your alley. If you hate QTE's or David Cage or both, this game will definitely not change your position at all.

10 months ago | [YT] | 0

Dark1 Linux, Tech, Gaming

So it would appear that most of you would like me to post and share reviews that I do on both GOG and Steam. Well for the games that are available on both you will get both. Though GOG ones will be more condensed down version of the Steam ones due to GOG have a character limit on their reviews. So next question which game ya want reviewed?

11 months ago | [YT] | 2

Dark1 Linux, Tech, Gaming

Most of my gaming is done on Linux/PC Would you folks like me to do reviews on GOG, Steam or Both?

1 year ago | [YT] | 1