Vito

Report #24

Hello fellow assassins. My usual approach is to post every 3 games I’ve completed. Since this time that includes two really long games I haven’t posted in 3-4 months time, which I find unsatisfying. I’m thinking of changing to bi-weekly posts for my reports, esp. seeing how most of the games left in my backlog are on the longer end as well. Reading the Traveler’s last post gave the last push. I’ll try to update every 2 weeks, regardless of my progress, and see how that sits with me.

Reviews

Aviary Attorney

6.4 hours, no achievements
★★★★☆

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Release Date: 2015

Aviary Attorney is a detective-VN set in 1848's Paris. Talk of revolution is in the air, when attorney JayJay Falcon and his assistant Sparrowson attempt to solve a mysterious murder case. This is only the beginning of bigger events, however…

I very much enjoyed the old-fashioned sepia art style. It fits very well for the time period AA takes place in. Insted of humans, everyone is represented by different species of anthropomorphised animals: a lot of different birds, but also rabbits, elephants, wolves… I am a fan of well made anthropomorphised animals (no, not furries), so this hit right home for me. The ton of bad jokes were intentionally so bad, that I enjoyed them again. This games makes a great effort of not taking itself too serious, while still telling a serious story.

Is there bad in it? Some, yes. It's a bit too short for my taste and I would have loved to see more than just one case as a kind of prologue. It has no controller support, which is a bit unfortunate, since I like to play/read VNs with a controller.

Achievements: None.

Verdict: Recommended.


Dungeon Siege 2

84 hours, no achievements
★★★★★

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Release Date: 2005

Dungeon Siege II is an action role-playing game from almost 15 years ago. It's a classic RPG, where you manage a party of up to 6 people on a journey to save the continent of Aranna from ancient dangers.

I've played the first Dungeon Siege but never finished it and finished the third (and last) part of the series last summer. It's almost the same as the first one and both have little to do with the gameplay of the third. A prominent comparison would be to the Diablo series (but don't tell that to Diablo fans…): Hacking away at enemies in various dungeons, without much story. I mean, there is one, but it's really much in the background and there are no long dialogues explaining it or whatever. Almost all of the lore is contained in tomes, which you find on your travels -- whether you read them is up to you. That just was the way back then. Very linear, no choices.

So, why give it the elusive perfect rating? The gameplay works well, I had no big issues. I think the game aged okay, because it's not so dependant on graphics. There are several great improvements in the engine compared to the first Dungeon Siege. It is fun to fight trough your enemies and always hope for better items to drop or for rare set items to complete your collection. The little bits of story were still enough for me to shape the world and your companions; I liked some of them very much at the end while detesting others.

Most importantly however: I think the game came at the exact right point in my life. I had little time to play the last months and bigger gaps in between. DS2 doesn't require you to stay focused all the time, it was perfect to play after a long day of work. It's linearity doesn't leave much room for choices, but sometimes that's a relief. You don't have to concern yourself with moral questions, or which ending to choose, you can simply … play! Nonetheless, I think it caters to a niche audience. And maybe I wouldn't have had so much fun with it a year ago. It's hard to describe :D

Hints: I think some hints are in order. Make sure to visit this page to learn how to play the expansion with Steam and how to adjust the resolution (careful, this doesn't work for the main menu, only once you start a game). Mild spoilers: While you can skill anything with any hero, stick to one or two areas. A disproportionate high number of enemies is weak to fire magic, so make sure to have a proficient fire mage in your party .

Achievements: None.

Verdict: Read some reviews and have a look at ingame footage. I think it's an absolutely great game, but definitely not for everyone.


Currently playing

  • Dungeon Siege
    Dungeon Siege

    40 hours playtime

    no achievements

I had so much fun with DSII that I decided to give DS another go. There is a DS-mod for DSII, I decided to play that to keep the gameplay improvements of DSII. Downgrading to DS was just too unappealing. I finished the main story and continued with the expansion today.

⤜ ⤛

That’s it for my first post 2019. Felt a bit more chaotic than usual. Maybe next time I’ll talk about a bit about my gaming resolutions for the year, but for now I don’t want to overstay my welcome. Happy backlog assassinating to everyone!

So long,
Vito

MouseWithBeer

Very happy to hear you enjoyed Aviary Attorney for the most part ^^

I will highfive myself for giving a good suggestion and remembering that it was you that I gave it to :D

Vito

Yes, it was a very enjoyable suggestion. I had a lot of fun playing it and was a bit sad that it was over so quickly. I’m glad that I followed your suggestion :)

JaffaCaffa

Glad you liked Aviary Attorney! It’s one of those games I see a lot of people writing off right away, but think many would appreciate the humour.
While I was excited to try it because of the premise (love puns/Sherlockian mysteries), I too was pretty apprehensive about whether I’d actually enjoy it as much as I’d hoped since VNs aren’t my usual cup of tea. It never occurred to me to see if my VNs had controller support tho, usually a half hour into it I get tired of hitting the space bar..I’ll have to keep that in mind!

Nice detailed review of Dungeon Siege 2 as well. :)

Vito

Thank you for your kind words concerning the DS 2 review. It was pretty hard to boil it down to a few points after playing it for almost a quarter of a year (wow, that sounds even longer when you put it that way.)

I can understand disliking the particular style of art, but I think otherwise AA is definitely a game everyone can enjoy, even without a big interest in VNs – I haven’t read a lot of them either.

Trav

So glad you went for the new posting schedule Vito! I hope you find more inspiration in frequent updates along your way, as opposed to completion reports. And I bet everyone here will enjoy seeing you post more often too. :)

Most importantly however: I think the game came at the exact right point in my life. I had little time to play the last months and bigger gaps in between. DS2 doesn’t require you to stay focused all the time, it was perfect to play after a long day of work. It’s linearity doesn’t leave much room for choices, but sometimes that’s a relief. You don’t have to concern yourself with moral questions, or which ending to choose, you can simply … play!

Now you’re speaking to me right here. This is the stuff of (gaming) life for me and that pick-up-and-go factor is huge when your focus is all over the place in life. I’m frankly surprised you found exactly that in a long campaigned RPG. I know I played Dungeon Siege 3 in co-op with a friend several years ago and enjoyed that, will have to keep a look out for opportunities to pick up DS2 on the cheap maybe.

Vito

I’m happy with the result as well. My usual approach worked well as long as I had a lot of shorter games to play, but I think there aren’t too many left now. Thank you for the kind words :) I’ll try to make many nice and regular updates from now on.

[…] that pick-up-and-go factor is huge when your focus is all over the place in life. I’m frankly surprised you found exactly that in a long campaigned RPG

Hahaha, true! I’ve never seen it that way, but it makes perfect sense. It’s actually the last place where you would look for something like that. I had a lot of fun with DS3 as well, but be aware that the gameplay is hugely different!

Bangledeschler

I also just finished Aviary Attorney not that long ago and enjoyed it myself. If you are looking to try more like it, AA follows a very similar formula and gameplay (possibly based on) the Phoenix Wright series. It combines both seriousness and comedy in a court based mystery game. The only difference I found was there was no time constraints. i.e. you can’t progress until you have found all the necessary clues/evidence.
Great progress/update, I am looking forward to seeing more. ^_^

Vito

Congratz on finishing Aviary Attorney! Thank you for the suggestions, I actually did know that it probably took some inspiration from that game, but couldn’t remember the name. Unfortunately I only own a PC and afaik there is no port to PC, am I right?

Great progress/update, I am looking forward to seeing more. ^_^

Thank you, I hope I’ll be able to meet your expectations :)

Trent

Oh wow, Dungeon Siege. That sure brings me back…single days, in my old townhouse with a roommate, using the first Windows PC I’d ever owned (I had Macs before that). Played that game for hours from front to back, and it was great! :D