3/5 review of Lies of P
Was a fun 3/5 for me though. Played most of it alongside Nat which was really fun, leapfrogging over each other in progression because you 3-shot a boss that the other took an hour or two on (and vice versa), getting to a later boss and being like oh you're going to hate this. Love 2 be friends online
I used the Police Baton handle w/ a greatsword blade for the whole game basically because its heavy attack animation is sooo perfect for me. Loved it. Interesting ground for game design discussion too since it doesn't have the instant settled, amalgamated acceptance of the Fromsoft formula's different parts; like, I didn't play Shadow of the Erdtree and evaluate every atom of the systems because I already knew them not just from Elden Ring but from every other Fromsoft game.
Review:
"A really good collection of boss fights with a very hit-or-miss game around it, but it has enough fun ideas that I came away kinda positive on the whole thing. Durability seems like a bad idea but it ultimately it added a nice texture to the combat, mediating long you can just keep brawling without some upkeep. Throwables are actually kinda useful, which I've never really experienced in a Soulslike. The Wet Boy Technology (WBT) is awesome. Switching handles & blades for different weapon animations is awesome. When you get into the groove, blocking feels great. The opera house level and some other environment spots are gorgeous.
So much of the game is just remarkably solidly executed, which really throws into contrast how flat-out lame the translation/writing is. There IS a good story in among all the material, but I guess that's for the fanfic writers to draw out and actually tell well, cuz the game isn't gonna do it. The Creepy Puppet aesthetic never goes anywhere non-cheesy. Areas get more and more devoted to retreading Fromsoft aesthetics without much rearrangement (well... I guess it starts pretty devoted to the Yharnam streets aesthetic, so that's really just a whole-game thing). A lot of the general level design/minor enemy placement feels like it has no reason to exist - plenty of enemies do very, very little to actually threaten you. There's a lot of good too, but for too much of it, it just feels derivative, like a cover song that makes you just want to listen to the original.
Also, I took off half a star for the fucking horrendous sequel link. Jesus christ. MCU-ass shit."
https://www.backloggd.com/u/fontiago/review/1965770/