Tag Archives: Singleplayer

Games

Dark Souls Switch Review

Leave a comment

Dark Souls REMASTERED?

Today we are reviewing Dark Souls Remastered for the Switch. I played the highly anticipated original release when it hit the Xbox 360 in 2011 but never made it to the finish. Now that From Software quickly remastered the game, I’ve decided now’s the perfect time to dive back in. The real question was: which console? The Switch version has had much debate on the internet as to whether or not if the game has actually been remastered in any way. I figured the PC version would be the safe bet in terms of best visuals, but I found the idea of playing Dark Souls on break at work to be intriguing. Is it worth it for both newbies and veterans alike? Let’s find out.

Dark Souls Familiar Beginning
Familiar for more reasons than one

Souls Reborn

While most player’s experience with the Souls’ series began with Dark Souls; the true beginning of the series was Demons Souls:
an action RPG where you designed a character, navigated difficult dungeons, and fought intimidating bosses. Demons Souls was PS3 exclusive because Sony owned the IP for the Demons Souls series. For some reason we never saw a true sequel, and instead ended up getting a multiplatform spiritual successor which manifested itself as Dark Souls. It was so much so a spiritual successor that it may as well have been a true sequel in every sense of the word.

The main innovation with Dark Souls was the Castlevania-esque world map layout as opposed to the linear Megaman-esque structure of Demon’s Souls. Demons Soul’s flew under the radar and was considered sleeper hit earlier in the PS3’s lifecycle, despite sharing the same Metacritic score as Dark Souls. Dark Souls was From Software’s chance to try again and start fresh with the larger potential offered by having a multiplatform audience. Here we are now and Dark Souls receives a remaster before Demon’s Souls.

Demon's Souls was the Spiritual Predecessor to Dark Souls
Demon’s Souls online servers shut down February 28, 2018. Demon’s Souls was extremely similar to Dark Souls

Block, Roll, Attack, Repeat

The Souls series has been known primarily for its gameplay above all. The often challenging and rewarding combat, particularly, is what has drawn in the game’s popularity over the years. There is a pretty wide arsenal of weapons and weapon styles offering a wide variety of melee playstyles. For those who are a bit shy and want to try something different and perhaps a little easier; there’s a variety of ranged options such a Pyromancy, Sorcery, Miracles, and archery.

Despite the large variety of weapons and magic options – the combat usually goes the same way. If you prefer melee, you will block or roll around (or into) the enemy while trying to stab their back. Backstabs are considered critical hits and will deliver significantly more damage. If you’re ranged, you will find yourself trying to save projectiles for tougher opponents so you can kite or cheese them; meaning to attack the enemy from a spot where they cannot reach you.

Ultimately all of the encounters (including most of the bosses) work within framework – depending on your stats and weapons. The overall feel of the combat is arcadey; which is refreshing when stacked up to games of today (ubiquitously using combat similar to the Arkham games for example).

Anor Lando looks about the same this time around in Dark Souls Remastered.
Don’t fear the Phantom

Action or RPG?

There is a very intricate stats system in this game. If you’re invested in melee you’ll likely be investing your points into stats boosting HP, stamina, strength, and/or dexterity. The story is similar for the schools of magic and their related stats. Of course, you’ll be able to mix and match the stats to fit the playstyle of your choosing. Do you value being quick and being able to dodge with ease? Would you prefer being slower yet able to block incoming attacks with a shield? Or would you prefer to avoid being attacked altogether and launch projectiles from a range?

In the end it doesn’t matter much because the stats system is merely a way to limit the number of ways you’re allowed to tackle a situation. They could have just have easily designed the game in a way that removes the RPG mechanic. Instead they could grant you weapons, spells, and health as you progress through the levels. An example of this would be From Software’s latest offering: Sekiro.

The Switch Question

As usual, the Switch version of this multiplatform game offers portability at the expense of graphics, sound, and online multiplayer.

Most Switch owners by this point have culled their expectations when it comes to multiplats. The Switch is cheaper than its competitors and is handheld so it’s only fair to expect some downgrades. The real question is how significant are these downgrades – and is this version of Dark Souls even remastered graphically? The answer isn’t so simple. As someone who owns Dark Souls for the 360, I was able to directly compare myself. Docked or portable – the framerate was more stable on Switch. Not just that, but the dynamic resolution and sharpened textures gives the Switch version a cleaner look. Having said that, it’s no where near what you’d find on the PS4 Pro, Xbox One X, or the PC.

The sound takes the biggest hit. It’s clear that Switch’s low storage capacity SD cards forced the developers to heavily compress the sound. If you were you play portable you surely wouldn’t notice. But if you play docked with half-way decent sound system you’ll have a hard time not noticing. The sound is completely thin and lacking in any upper end detail. I could not help but wonder if the developers went too far with the sound compression. Was there really no better way?

Ugly Tree Sprites in Dark Souls Remastered
Some of the graphical assets, such as these tree’s, could’ve used some loving

Online Concerns

As you might expect, the online experience in this game suffers due to the Switch. It’s not god-awful – but it’s far from a smooth experience. Despite the Switch offering an Ethernet adapter peripheral, most players opt to use the Switch’s built in Wi-fi out of convenience. Many players you encounter will not be using low-latency 5Ghz WiFi nor will they be local to your region. Due to this the PvP is often a laughable experience. It’s not unusual players standing in front of you will instantly teleport and stab you in the back before you’re able to react.

Dark Souls Remastered DLC Area
When in doubt – summon the help

Switch Master Race

There’s no mistake that if you’re looking for the highest definition experience – you’ll be picking this one up on Steam. On the other hand, if you value the Switch’s portability – it’s a sacrifice you might be willing to swing. Personally having completed Dark Soul 3 on PC last year – graphical or audio fidelity didn’t seem so important to me. On the other hand, I’ve never quite experienced an action RPG as rewarding or as satisfying as Dark Souls on-the-go.

If you’re able to make pragmatic and practical use out of the Switch’s portability (e.g. if you have time to kill at work), you’ll find yourself reaching for this game just to have another go at that boss you might be stuck at. To me, this offered a fresher perspective on the Souls experience than another retread with slightly better graphics in 4k (which you probably already experienced with Dark Souls 2/3 like I have).

Games

Dominions 5 Review

Leave a comment

Dominions 5 is a pretty fucking awesome game. It’s way better than you could possibly expect from an indie TBS. There is too much to praise about it. Gameplay is tits. Here are the features that stood out to me…

Features Galore

  • Many monsters (3000+) and many many (300+) special abilities.
  • Over 80 different nations to choose from, varying from Marignon with paladins, witch hunters and inquisitors to under water nations like the Lovecraft inspired R’lyeh.
  • Three Eras to play in, Early era is most magic and the late era is more technologically advanced with good steel weapons and armors.
  • Design your Pretender God and how his dominion influences provinces.
  • Design your Pretender’s blessing will affect his sacred units.
  • Multiplayer with simultaneous turns (up to 32 players).
  • Network or Play by E-Mail for multiplayer.
  • AI opponents for single- or multiplayer game.
  • Random maps with cave, mountain passes, rivers, bridges and snow when it’s cold.
  • An extensive magic system with over 900 spells.
  • Blood magic, power your rituals with human sacrifices.
  • Global rituals that affect the entire world.
  • More than 400 magic items.
  • Unique magic artifacts that all players compete for, once forged no one else can make it.
  • Mercenaries are bought on a global market.
  • Scouts, Assassins, Spies, Seducers, Corruptors, Werewolves, Illusionists and more can be sneaking in your provinces.
  • Claim the thrones of Ascension to gain special powers and eventually win the game.
  • Permanent battle afflictions.
  • Easy to Mod (2d graphics)
  • Playable on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux.

Graphics (or lack of)

The list of features seems pretty enticing, right? Well not so fast traveler – before we go on, I must warn you the graphics are pretty shitty. The sprites representing the units are so small that you can literally count the pixels. If you’re able to put aside graphics and appreciate deep strategic gameplay- you will find a lot of enjoyment with this game.

Dominions 5 has bad graphics.
I wasn’t kidding! Sprites representing units are so small that you can literally count the pixels. Despite there only being only 1 frame of animation, the game exudes charm

Despite the minimalistic graphics – I’m always drawn into the world Dominions presents. Every time you start up or exit the game presents a slow pan around one the game’s environments in the background as you gaze upon the main menu. Aided by the fantastic, epic-sounding music fit for a movie soundtrack, this game always presents a thick atmosphere and sense of adventure.

Dominions 5 has good random background generation.
A couple of examples of the inviting winter backgrounds. There are also winter, astral, forest, grassland, swamp, and underwater backgrounds as well. The random backgrounds ties into the random nature of the game. This game relies on a large amount of random elements to create a unique play experience every time.

Warriors of the Faith

Dominions 5 is massive so the best way to describe it without getting too verbose is that it’s Risk with magic. You pick an age, pick a nation design an aspiring God (called a ‘Pretender’), pick or generate a map, build an army, collect gems, research magic, seize thrones, conquer your enemies, and become God. When you engage with enemies on the map, you will be taken to a battle visualization reminiscent of old Total War games. A match go could go anywhere from two dozen turns to 200+ turns due to the dynamic nature of the game. This game’s amount of content is so enormous because they built upon the previous games with each sequel rather than starting from scratch.

Dominions 5 has big maps.
Most of the time you will be looking at a map to command your troops and build your empire.

Glancing on the game’s map is daunting at first. There are a lot of icons but not a lot of information. To make things even more intimidating is a general lack of intuition in the control layout. For example, it might take someone a couple minutes to figure out that if your unit is capable of sneaking (which many are), your unit will not attack unless you manually tell them to by holding ‘Shift’ when giving the Move order. If you select multiple commanders at once, your selection is saved when you click on the commanders later. Occasionally players will forget to unselect previously selected commanders and end up giving an unintended order without realizing. Nuances such as these add up to create what many players would consider to be a confusing play experience.

Dominions 5 frustrates some people.
Another satisfied review from your typical gamer

Not Your Grandma’s TBS

The way I see it; you cannot have a game with great depth without it seeming at least a little bit complicated on the surface. Observe the user review posted above. It’s difficult for me to speculate, but I suspect the individual was suffering from brain damage. Starting the game is as simple as clicking “Dominions 5” on Steam. If you’re the kind of guy who doesn’t like to read the manual or play a tutorial: Great! Then just play the game and learn through trial and error like I did. DasTactic has some great YouTube videos that will teach you how to play in about 30 minutes. A little patience will yield great rewards such as insanely huge battles or fun random events that occur turn to turn.

Dominions 5 has cool random events.
Lucky me – the circus has come to town! Random events in this game will range from great disasters (your lab randomly exploding and taking out your magic treasury) to greatly fortuitous events such as stumbling upon a fortune, strong magic item, or a unique hero specific to your nation.

Your experience in this game will be dictated by thousands of dice-rolls conducted under the hood each turn. These dice rolls will determine for example: the results of your battles, good luck events, bad luck events, and if a patrolling squad finds spies or not. Nearly every aspect of this game is determined by some element of luck, but that does not mean that strategy isn’t the determining factor. In this game’s battles you will not have direct control over the battle so must win by properly preparing your armies and giving much forethought to the tactics you dictate to your units.

300 Vanarus Vikings are led in their assault by my Pretender, Odin, versus the 1400 Undead Sceleria

More Battles Than Varg can Shake his Stick At

Once on the battlefield, your units have a mind of their own. They will follow the orders you gave them on the map screen to the best of their ability while simultaneously acting in their own interest when necessary. This creates battle replays that are very entertaining to watch because you literally watch your strategy unfold before your eyes as you watch helplessly. This is also very stressful because you are unable to do anything if things start to deviate from the plan. Of course if things all go to plan you’ll find yourself with a sense of satisfaction you can’t find in any other game. Every unit in this game can experience and power. Commanders even have wide variety of equipment slots which means this game is also a deeper RPG than most RPG’s.

Our Armies Clash in the Middle while my Priests Banish the Undead from Afar

Larger battles in the game will feature thousands of units. Different nations present a very large unit variety and interesting battle counters. If you observe the battle in my screenshot above, you’ll notice my priests obliterating the Undead army with pillars of light. In another battle my mages are fighting underwater merman by utilizing water-breathing amulets. Playing in a multiplayer match with 12 other nations will inevitably lead to a series of unique and interesting battles requiring you to constantly think about your tactics and strategies short-term and long-term. Given Domionions 5 is FFA-oriented and there is no diplomatic victory; everything in this game really boils down to the battles.

Despite being vastly outnumbers, the 300 Vanarus Vikings stood strong against Sceleria

When all is said and done, Dominions 5 is game that in many ways limited by your own imagination. My review doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what this game has to offer. If you really wanted to, you could get 25 friends together and play the most insanely huge and fantastical strategy game you’ve played in your life. It just comes down to if you have the time. I find myself still playing this game a year and a half after it’s release, and I have no plans of stopping.

Dominions 5 Store Page on Steam