South Park: The Fractured But Whole (2017)

I played Stick of Truth only a few months ago, so I went into Fractured But Whole with high expectations.

Fractured is still a good game. Its gameplay is drastically different, but once you get used to it, it is an improvement over the old game.

The story has all the quirks and raunch that a South Park fan should expect.

However, I think, unlike Stick of Truth, the pacing and even a few running gags are a bit off. Part of this is because Fractured is about triple the length of Stick of Truth. While Stick doesn't overstay its welcome, I think Fractured has many segments that just go on a bit too long.

Some examples include the content focused around Scott Malceson, who really is a one-joke character, and that bit is driven into the ground. Moments with the main character's family are too extreme for my taste, quickly losing any humor the absurdity of their situation had.

But there are many jokes that land. I love the dynamic between Craig and Tweek, there is a great arc with Butters, and Cartman has a running gag with your superhero back story that works really well.

A final note, where Stick of Truth made efforts to keep all the kids' imaginative play mostly ingrained in things they could do with items to be "magic," Fractured But Whole is completely off the hook with them having regular superpowers. I think this meant the moments where they interacted with adults lost some of their humor that the first game had.

Overall, I think Fracture But Whole is an enjoyable game, but not an amazing game. Your time is much better served with Stick of Truth.

Primer juego de South Park que termino desde PS1 y me pareció excelente. Reconozco que siempre he seguido la serie y me gustan los RPG del tipo tactics -aunque no soy un experto, solo tengo experiencia con XCOM y otro puñado- y que esto contribuye a mi evaluación.

El juego parece ser una temporada de la serie, lleno del humor característico, referencias y muy buen gameplay, especialmente las habilidades de cada uno de los personajes de SP, las locaciones y secretos que hacen referencia a temporadas antiguas de la serie.

Mi única queja es que se extiende demasiado y que las primera 10 horas (!!!) parecen tutorial.

Rating: 8.5/10

I rated the first one a 9 and I think that's mostly because of the South Park charm and the novelty of them actually getting it right while making a good RPG. Looking back I don't think it was really deserving of a 9, probably a solid 8. Sometimes I just let the high of something get to me. Actually a lot of the time I do.

I only mention this because this is a better game and I'm giving it an 8.5. It still nails the South Park charm; it's funny, gross, dumb, intelligent and unpredictable. It's cool that they went to the superhero craze this time and actually made the game deeper to accommodate it.

The battle system is improved and more tactical. Character customization is better with the ability to equip some items and the dual class, etc. The game is longer, the quests are better. In so many ways this is a jump up from the original.

But it's still kind of a decent RPG wrapped in a great show. None of the systems in place are especially deep (combat is easy and not as compelling as other games that employ similar styles), and the character customization is not really deep enough to stand up with the great RPGs. I'm not going to touch on every little thing in the game but none of them really call attention to themselves as something compelling.

To its credit, none of the systems are bad. They all functions together well and make a game that seems deeper than it really is. After all, throw enough shit at something and it makes it more complex. It works here. The original felt a little shallow (but fun!) and this does a better job.

I also think that the novelty has worn off for me. We know that they can make a great South Park RPG, and now they've done it again. They made a sequel the way a sequel should be made, but I can't imagine this in the pantheon of fantastic RPGs.

I've never bought a video game full price before, let alone on the day of release. I've tended to run about 3 to 4 years behind on video games, anyway, but my love of South Park (in general) and the Stick of Truth (in specific) had me eying the preorders in the months leading up to release. I thought, even then, I could somehow avoid buying the game until a sale hit, but when it actually released, reality reared its head and I put the $60 down.

I felt uncomfortable with the purchase until I hit play, and all bad feelings evaporated.

A more polished, fuller game than its predecessor, despite feeling leaner on quests (not sure if accurate or just how I perceived it), The Fractured But Whole flops you back in the shoes of The New Kid. The kids are still playing their pseudo-Lord of the Rings fantasy riff, but there's a rumble in the underground: Superheroes.

You enter the fray, with your mighty farts at hand. Yes, farts are still important, although now they're used for specific purposes more than being a fairly key part of battle. Battle is actually the biggest change from SoT; you fight on a grid, with movement and attack reach considerations. You have to chess it a bit--plan several steps in advance to avoid wasting precious turns and items.

I often view battle as having a specific rhythm. Whether it's a real life fist fight (not that I have experience with that), a Gwent heads-up match, or a Final Fantasy-style turn-based lobbing back-and-forth of spells. Rhythm. Movement. A dance between two (or more) forces.

And it's this rhythm that transfers with a sequel. If you've fought in one Lego game, you can step into any of the Lego games and get something with the same rhythm--even if one game uses swords, another wands, another guns, etc. Hell, even a game like The Witcher III--which became open world after having been closed levels--feels akin to its predecessors because of the battle mechanics.

But this expectation doesn't really hold with the second South Park game. It takes a different mindset to plan out your attacks, to upkeep health, to measure whether a less effective attack spread out against multiple foes is better than a stranger attack on one. And if you can't attack on a turn, what is your best use of turn? Where should you end up on the grid to be able to attack later?

I'd consider it a deeper, stronger battle mechanic. At the same time, it lacks the fluidity, humor, and beauty of its SoT counterpart. I could dock it for some of the things it lacks, but ultimately, I had myself a helluva good time in the week I spent playing through it, and I reckon it'll be one of those games (like SoT) I return to on a yearly basis.