Dying Light 2 Stay Human - Review

 

I finally stopped playing The Elder Scrolls Online long enough to get into a new game that I have been very excited about playing - Techland's Dying Light 2 Stay Human. As zombie games have been done to death the original passed me by but was not going to let the sequel do the same. 

Anyone reading this blog (I thank you), knows that I am a healthy eater and only enjoy the best quality ingredients and food - if you believe this you actually have not read my blog before, welcome! I have been partaking in shall we say certain plants of the earth that make me feel chill, when this happens I reach for Deliveroo (bad Barry). Instead, I make sure I have food at home to avoid this, one such thing I have taken to is steak sandwiches in garlic ciabatta, it is epic. There is lots of it, tasty and extremely filling. Playing Dying Light Stay Human I found myself asking was there enough and was it filling?

  

Story

The story has you take on the role of Aidan, a pilgrim, wandering the wastes after the release of COVID across the world, no I'm joking it's a virus that infects people and essentially turns them into zombies. But to Aidan that does not matter, he is on a mission to find his sister and will do whatever it takes to find her. There will be a lot of tough decisions to make and there are a lot of people looking for help that will change the city of Villedor for better or worse. There are parts of the main story that don't always seem to make sense but are not enough to pull me out of it all. There are also multiple endings so is certainly not a one-and-done.

The game separates itself from the zombie genre by making it about the people, their lives, and struggles  - it is very human and easy to make connections with them. The main story is great don't get me wrong but the side stories are so much fun, some made me laugh others nearly made me cry. I did not want to try and complete every story to gain trophies but to enjoy Villedor for as long as possible. 

Overall a fantastic set of stories woven together in a very satisfying way, the biggest disappointment was coming to the end of it all.

Visuals

The visuals are out of this world and made me feel the same way as when I first played The Last Of Us on Playstation 3. There were a lot of critics very negative about them as a whole but being honest playing it on the Playstation 4 Pro just made me want to see how it looks on the PlayStation 5. Nature has started to reclaim a damaged city, the two mix well together especially when you land on a high rise and see a garden growing on top of it.

It is all based in a city so is to a degree hard to diversify the landscape but I feel Techland did a great job of it. In makeshift towns, people live in relative safety on rooftops, and there a large bridges spanning bodies of water. The first area of the game is so different from the main part of the city it is overwhelming when you first go there, but I loved that, wondering how was I going to get to the top of that building and navigate the roads below. 

Overall the visuals were amazing, to me the city was as big of a personality and important as many of the characters I came across. 

Music 

The soundtrack is as close to a masterpiece as is possible. The music moves from the fast beat, heart-pounding music that actually knocked me off balance when on occasion when playing, there are more somber reflective pieces and of course, those creeping dread tracks where you know something bad is about to happen. The soundtrack is carefully crafted by Olivier Deriviere, who was worked on more than a few great titles including; Streets Of Rage 4, Vampyr, Remember Me, Alone In The Dark, and Of Orcs and Men.

Even listening to the soundtrack as I type this I cannot believe how much was packed into less than ninety minutes. It was of these lucky occasions where I find it challenging to pick out my favorite tracks as I loved the whole soundtrack, some really standout pieces for me were; 'Run Jump Fight', 'The Good Doctor', 'The Last Parkour', 'Monsters We', 'The Renegades', 'The Mark' and 'New Beginnings'.

Overall a phenomenal soundtrack that once again has me asking why do they not get noted as part of game reviews when they are such an integral part of games?

Gameplay

The gameplay has a lot of RPG elements combined with some Far Cry and Mirrors Edge. It's a lot of elements to throw into one game but I do feel it worked. Combat works pretty well, for the most part, the infected are mostly easy prey unless you get a few coming at you, that said as soon as the more crazy variants appear all bets are off, especially at night when the rooftops become your friends. The human enemies start easy but later that AI gets pretty good at blocking and weaving around your attacks which in groups can be tough if you are not prepared. The weapons in the game are all beaten up looking but some can really pack a punch if you are willing to upgrade them even better. The only sad thing is that there is no repair option so don't get too attached, unless you are willing to get the Korek Charm which is one of the developer's tools, in my opinion well worth the effort in getting it. Attachments can be upgraded with the right parts and money. There is also the option to craft med kits and explosives, who knew a tennis ball grenade would be so powerful?

There are a lot of skills to unlock, which can be with a little effort unlocked in a single playthrough. The skills are broken into combat and parkour. The more you do in the world the more experience you gain and can unlock points. Some complained there was so much focus on this, to me it was like playing Metroid, finding an area I could not reach, getting the upgrade later, and coming back later to overcome it. 

There are a number of tools you will have access to in the game and is certainly worth unlocking all of them as soon as possible. The tools change the way you can move around the world and also gives you access to inhibitors that help increase your health and stamina. For me, hands down the paraglider was the best it feels really cool flying through the skies and once upgraded is even better.

There are lots of things to buy and craft but you never feel overwhelmed and a lot of what you can do depends on your own playstyle.

Parkour! This is huge in the game, climb, roll, swing your way into anywhere but one wrong button press, and you become road pizza quickly. If there was a weakness in the gameplay I would say it was parkour as sometimes Aidan did not always seem to respond to button presses which turned more than a few things to failure. It did not happen often but when it did I was left a little frustrated. That being said movement as a whole is pretty good and the fact you can climb almost everything gives you so many options to reach places. 

The game has you pick a faction that offers some great rewards on both sides and can really change the landscape of the game. Two things I thought were really cool are the option of a plus game and calling for a random real-world player to come help you if the need arose. 

Overall the gameplay is fairly solid, a few crashes here and there and a lack of responsiveness with controls were frustrating but not game-breaking.

Final Thoughts

So, after dropping 60+ hours how did I feel? Sad but in a positive way. With the exception of a few questionable stories the overall story and side stories with really great. The visuals were awesome and never got bored of exploring Villedor.  The music was stellar and really for me is what video game music is all about. The gameplay had a few shortcomings but nothing game-breaking or that ever affected my wanting to play. This one gets a solid 4 out of 5

The Elder Scrolls Online - Review

 

Where have you been? Did you die and come back to life? Why over 6-months without a single game review? Alright, enough with the questions. There are lots of reasons - well no, there is actually just one; The Elder Scrolls Online. While I love The Elder Scrolls Oblivion and Skyrim an online version of Elder Scrolls just did not appeal. Last year my partner in crime (and honorary penguin) really wanted to find a co-op game to play together, we both decided to take the risk and purchase copies, and after that, time disappeared - rapidly.

I'm trying to be healthier this year, and by that, I mean not eating and drinking sugary things every day, so in that regard, I am winning. Sometimes you forget just how mind-blowing some things can be, for example, Peanut Butter M&M's. I love peanut butter in almost all forms, so wrapped in chocolate and candy is pretty awesome. The only thing is once I eat one, quickly ten boxes are gone. Playing The Elder Scrolls Online I found myself asking did I have a problem?

Story

The main story is pretty good, and while it does have a note of familiarity to it, it still manages to stand out from others. I'll aim as much as possible to keep this all spoiler-free. We all know that races, cultures, and classes can clash from time to time (or often) and that the only way to bring them all together is to have a big bad they can all fight. That will work, right? Well as it turns out no, in a world embroiled in war and politics no one is willing to do anything just in case one of the others swoops in and tries to take their land. Luckily, there is one person who can bring them together, you. Playing the main story made me feel for all those UN and Corporate negotiators,  everyone has a bone to pick and special something they need before they will consider throwing their hat in the ring.

While the main story is good what really brings the world to life are the side quests. Of course, there are the standard fetch quests - much of the game is populated by people who are really struggling with health, love, fortunes, and in the more extreme cases destruction of their home. The voice acting is amazing and genuinely brings a level of realism that I have not experienced in an online game before. The one potential downfall here is that you can do literally anything in any order, as the quest difficulty scales to match your character. This means it's entirely possible to play the stories in each of the three alliances (Aldmeri, Daggerfall, and Ebonheart) out of order. I would highly recommend doing a little research on the best chronological order to play. If you're not too worried about the story, it won't matter much - but if you do, you'll notice some discrepancies in terms of NPC attitudes to you based on the chronology. 

If the hundreds of side quests are not enough there are also player-created guilds and the classic guilds the Elder Scrolls players will be familiar with; Thieves, Dark Brotherhood, Fighters, Mages, Arena, and Dawnguard. Each has its own missions, and ranking system, and if that is not enough the player-created guilds also offer daily and weekly missions, stalls for players to player buying and selling, banks, and more.

Overall a very solid main story, with tons of side quests with new content being added almost every few months.

Visuals

I knew going from console dedicated games like Skyrim and Oblivion that visuals would be dialed back a bit for The Elder Scrolls Online, To be honest, though I was quite impressed by them. The world is huge and the topography of each area can vary a lot from one to another. If you look at Skyrim it is snow-filled, and mountainous, the towns seem smaller and there is a lot of nature. Then Alik'r Desert is at sounds but not as visually boring as some games can be, there are bazaars, hidden oases, and even bustling cities. Then there is Greenshade, lush forests, trees that are so large a city full of people can live in them. That is just a brief snapshot of the types of lands there are to explore.

Character creation has come a long way in the Elder Scrolls, it has always been a staple but sometimes characters do not always look the best. This has changed now with Elder Scrolls Online, people look more realistic than before, tons of customization including the ability to dye clothes and add new styles to create a very unique character.

Their game has a lot of enemies and when I say a lot I actually mean tons. Each new area can have a very different set of enemies. Playing it felt like the enemies had more of The Witcher 3 level of details rather than those seen in Oblivion and to a degree even Skyrim.

Overall the visuals are solid, which considering the sheer size of the game is a rather impressive achievement. 

Music

The music much like the game itself is vast, with some great fantasy, choir, and orchestral pieces scattered throughout the two and half hour soundtrack (this just covers the base game). The music was composed by US-born Brad Derrick responsible for almost every part of the Elder Scrolls Online music along with creating the music for Warhammer Online: Age Of Reckoning. Canadian-based Jeremy Soule penned the opening track For Blood, For Honor, For Glory and has worked on a large back catalog of games including; Oblivion, Guild Wars 2, and Dungeon Siege 2.

The soundtrack is great, and if you want to space out and relax it is great to listen to, also looking to feature a couple of tracks for our wedding in September. My favorite tracks include:

For Blood, For Glory, For Honor

The Three Banners: Fanfare

Omens In The Clouds

Dawn Gleams Of Cyrodil 

Moth, Butterfly, And Torch Bug

Oath And Malacath

Stendarrs Mercy

Onslaught At The Gates

Overall a great soundtrack by itself but even better as part of the Elder Scrolls Online world.

Gameplay

This is going to be tough, really tough as there is a lot to cover, and being honest I am probably going to miss something. That being said I will do my best to provide you with a screenshot of the gameplay on offer. Above is a map of the world of The Elder Scrolls Online, thanks to Game-Map.com for going to great effort to capture everything to date (as of this posting). The reason for me showing it is to truly capture the size of it and tell you that exploring everything will take time, a lot of it. 

I have a certain biased when it comes to Online Games and MMORPGs in general, I like playing with myself (oi oi), but I don't like to rely on others to help finish a mission or potentially the game. So with that being said no I really mean this when I say, this is the best MMORPG for people who don't like MMORPGs. While of course with any online there is a focus on the social aspect, you can, for the most part, do everything solo, apart from Dungeons which have a great matchmaking system and there is no need to even chat, with a lot of groups you will find a natural simpatico. On the off chance, you don't most dungeons can be finished in around fifteen minutes and then you can team up with others.

Combat! There are many classes to choose from and it is not limited by the race you pick which is pretty nifty. Each class offers its only positives and negatives and I found myself at times comparing it to Monster Hunter World, lots of time in menus making adjustments to give the best loadouts. It can be a bit overwhelming but there are plenty of guides out there to help you build the right character for you. There are skill and attribute points, make a mistake, want to change up skills? No problem, go to the shrine, fork over some of your hard-earned coins, and presto all reset. The game offers the best first-person and third-person views which become massively helpful later when you start taking on dungeons and need to see everything. The game never rushes you and lets you find your own way in the game, this is quite helpful when it comes to combining moves and working out tactics.

Something for everyone. Some people want to stay away from combat and be a humble chef, an alchemist, a blacksmith, or maybe something else altogether. The Elder Scrolls Online offers this all and more, some people don't want to spend time gathering and leveling up their cooking skills to make a legendary recipe. That's okay, go to a guild shop and search it for what you're looking for, nothing there? Plenty of guild traders around. Still nothing? Then join a guild, join a few and soon you will find what you need for a price. Interested in antiques? Go scrying for and digging up antiquities. 

Home is where your heart is, but also where your loot and homewares are. Previously in the Elder Scrolls you could purchase homes and decorate them to a degree, The Elder Scrolls Online is on a whole other level. You make things for your home, buy or get others to make them, and they can then be placed wherever you want and with a lot of precision. It is a great way to take a few minutes to relax unwind and if you have the coin have workstations in your home rather than going to the market square. The level of precision includes movement and rotation by single degrees, with some players adding entire floors to their residences thanks to the availability of walls, wooden panels and more.

I have not been paid or sponsored to say this, however, the first thing you should do after getting set up by ESO Plus. It will give you access to almost all content, and get some free rewards, and this is the big one that gives you have a sack that can carry an infinite number of ingredients, which you will need or risk having to run back and forth to towns and cities to trade. It does cost a monthly fee, but if you get into the game it's well worth it.

There are a few elements to the social part of the game; guilds, dungeons, and PVP. The guilds are great to find other players to help with dungeons and give advice on helping you improve. There is a match-making tool for dungeons for the most part other than a 'hi' there is no big need to communicate. PVP can be fun-free for all if you are looking for it and you can be rewarded with gear only available from doing it. That being said it can be a little mismatched in the same way GTA V Online used to be. The social aspect can be as relaxed as you want or a heavy investment depending on what are you looking to get out of it. 

Final Thoughts

So, after 400+ hours how did I feel?  The main story is solid and even in places where it slips a little the characters themselves along with the tons of side missions more than makeup for it. The visuals are really impressive, especially for an online game and one that is as large as it is. The gameplay is solid and the only real drawback is that the only way to take full advantage of the game is to buy ESO Plus and PVP perhaps being a little unbalanced. Overall this one gets a solid 4 out of 5 and yes I will be playing more of it in the future.