Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019)

With Star Wars' popularity ruining itself with each new film addition, I'm hesitant to spend time on new video game offerings. I assume they're all palatable to the masses without taking much risk.

This is true so far, with Fallen Order wearing its inspirations on its sleeve; Dark Souls, Uncharted and Metroid. I haven't experienced anything I haven't found elsewhere. Yet, it has so much panache and accessibility that it opens the door to soulsborn dynamic in a way that invites me in without too much punishment.

Also, my lightsaber is orange.

Welp, I'm into this for the time being.

Completed on Xbox Series S, which apparently was really fortunate because the loading times on Xbox One/PS4 are pretty bad, and I can see why: even on Series S the loading was starting to annoy me a little bit.

I enjoyed the game for the most part, both the "Uncharted" and the "Dark Souls" type of gameplay are decently implemented. Can't say I appreciated the fanservice at the end, which was completely unnecessary.

A good game overall, maybe top 3 of Star Wars games. Recommended even if you are not a total fan of the franchise.

Managed to see this through and overall I am glad I did. Through most of the game it challenged your limited abilities with Dark Souls lite mechanics to punish for bad tactics and force you to fight more carefully. But it had good final moments of fun: throwing waves of baddies at you in classic Star Wars fashion and having you mow them down to feel like a badass Jedi.

The smaller scoped story gave them a chance to focus on the characters and their history and not about the imminent threat of world altering plot. The slower Dark Souls pace gave quiet moments of self-reflection and meaningful conversations among the cast. Not everything has to be about Death Stars, fleet battles, or fleets of Death-Star-Star-Destroyers (sigh, really disappointed by that movie). The main villain was well portrayed and it was great whenever she appeared. I was fairly disappointed by the final, final confrontation. They cheated and undermined what they had created and took away an interesting moral dilemma. Maybe that's just falling back on standard Star Wars fare but it was lame. It also felt like it was stolen from Rogue One

I would welcome a sequel.

Generally enjoying this game but at the hairy edge of dropping off. I am intrigued by the story exploring the aftermath of Order 66. I like the core characters and the acting is really good. There are a lot of good ideas here but also enough rough edges that turn me off after putting in 10 hours. I am not good at Dark Souls games but there is definitely an input lag that feels like the controls are fighting against me. Too many combats or platforming sequences are just irritating as it feels like the game didn't properly recognize a jump or dodge or a block and now I am dead.

On the plus side, I really dig the Uncharted/Metroid feel combined with short periods of combat. BD-1 is also a fun sidekick. Cal is not a "Force Unleashed" Jedi and this blends well for a game that challenges his limited abilities and sets it apart from the other non-stop action, Jedi themed games that have come before it.

My experience during the first hour of this game is WILDLY different from my experience with the next 3 or so hours. (I'm around 4 hours in.) I think I wasn't initially prepared for just how metroidvania this game is. The first planet you are able to explore frustrated me beyond belief. I've since been back there, and it's still bothersome--I think it has to do with the layout. There are very few visual cues as to what leads where and how to get to places. Really not a fan of that planet, so having that be my introduction to how exploration works in this game bothered me.

Otherwise, things are good. It's a heavy mix of Souls and God of War, all wrapped up in a metroidvania package. And Star Wars. It's pretty cool. The platforming feels good, puzzles are relatively fun, and combat--while relatively simple--is pretty satisfying. I'll probably see it through to the end :)

I hate the way Cal runs, though.

Decided to solve a puzzle today in game while I was waiting for Valhalla to install and ended up playing for a few hours (Valhalla was ignored). I think this has just accidentally become the next game I'll put the majority of my time into.

It's a bit janky at times and the combat isn't as intuitive as it could be (Cal also feels clunky in his movement) but it is still a lot of fun and the story is doing a good job of keeping me interested.