radleysgamereviews

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Honest Review of Baladins 3.5/5

Time. Time moves by slowly yet one day you look back and it's 10 years later. You might even say to yourself "where has the time gone"? Well in Baladins this is something you don't have to worry about because you are continuously stuck in a never-ending time loop trying to save life as we know it!

Want to watch my review? Click the link below! If not, keep on reading!

Baladins is a fantasy role playing game where your choices matter. You begin by choosing from 5 different characters: A Bard, Pyro, Cook, Dancer, or a Luxomancer. Once you pick your adventurer, you are thrown into the world of Gatheric to prepare a Peace Festival. However, things go awry, and you awaken a time bending dragon who is furious that you have forgotten the true meaning of the festival. He proceeds to eat all of your items but it's not enough for him to leave. He then eats time itself and you are sent back to start all over with one mission… learn the true meaning of the Peace Festival.

This is where your story begins. You now get to decide how to go about your mission to figure out the true meaning of the Peace Festival. To achieve this, you start by moving your character in any direction you desire by using a limited number of move points or MP. There are 4 different towns you can visit while moving around Gatheric, each having many unique locations. Inside these locations you can use action points, or AP, to talk to NPCs to further your knowledge of how-to bring peace back to the land or upgrade your characteristics by doing practices and challenges. Almost everything you do in Gatheric requires you to roll 3 dice, plus the number of skill points your character has, to determine if you pass or fail. Upgrading your character's skill points will help guarantee success. Be careful though! If you aren't successful in bringing peace to the NPCs by the end of week 6, you are sent back in time to start over again.

Usually at this point I begin to describe the game in further detail, but I feel like if I did that, it would spoil the game. So, I will leave you with this. There are multiple options you can take in Baladins with a variety of outcomes to successfully bring peace back to the land, have a successful Peace Festival, and restore the time continuum. There are 80 NPCs to meet, 35 rumors to hear, and over 135 items to give to the dragon to make him go away. Best part of all of this though, you can choose to do this solo or with friends!

Baladins took me by surprise, and I found myself enjoying the challenge to bring peace back to Gatheric. However, as much as I loved it, I also found myself despising the random encounters in this game, which is why I'm giving Baladins a 3.5 out of 5. To complete the game there is a main set of quests which are pretty straight forward, but there are also random encounters that need to happen to complete these main quests, and some took me HOURS to encounter. If I had a friend or two playing with me the random encounters might have been easier to get, but playing solo was a struggle. I spent multiple time loops strictly looking for these encounters and it got old real quick. At certain points I wanted to give up on the game that's how frustrated I was getting. I did however push through and finished the game in 15 hours which probably could have been done in 10 without the difficulty of finding the random encounters.

Now that the bad is out of the way, let's get into the good stuff. Baladins is a beautiful looking game with easy gaming mechanics. For $25USD I felt like we were given a lot of gameplay and with every story being possibly different, you can play over again and get a different experience. I know I didn't meet every character or hear every rumor so if I wanted to play again, I could get a totally different game. I also quite enjoyed the role-playing aspect and having to role dice to determine my luck. The story line was fun and whimsical as well and the NPCs brought a lot of character into the game. I loved learning their backstories and solving their problems and returning peace to all the NPCs!

If you love DND, Tabletop Games, or any kind of role-playing games I would recommend Baladins to you. I have been looking for this style game for quite some time because I have always wanted to try out a role-playing game but was too afraid to join a group out of fear of not understanding how to play. Baladins took the process slow and got my feet wet with the genre and now I'm hooked. After playing, I joined an online tabletop game because I loved it so much.

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Forever in our hearts

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Honest Review of Gourdlets 7.5/10

I have never played a strictly sandbox game before, but when I heard Gourdlets had no objectives, no currency, no grinding for materials, and to just create a cute world, I knew I had to check it out. So, let’s dive in!

Want to watch my review? Click the link below! If not keep on reading :)

You start off with a small plot of land and a singular Gourdlet. You are told from the very beginning that Gourdlets are simple beings and are not picky with the world around them. Basically, they are just there for the good vibes and fun times. Then the game gives you a quick rundown of all the building features and options, and when that’s done you are sent on your merry way. That’s it, that’s the game. A simple sandbox.

However, I want to dive a little deeper into the game without giving all the details and I feel the best way to do this, is with a list.

Outdoor Decorating

Like I said earlier, you are given a very small piece of land to start, and you’ll realize pretty quickly that you’ll run out of room. Thankfully, the game gives you a few land and path options to expand in any way you want as well as being able to place those paths in either a straight line or sketch alternative. Once you have grown the land to your liking (or left it the way it is), you can begin exploring the different categories to make a perfect town, some of those categories being housing, decorations, and foliage. While the decorations and foliage are pretty self-explanatory, houses and buildings have a pretty cool feature! You can decorate the inside!

2. Indoor Decorating

Just like the outdoors, you are given different decorating options to choose from, but of course for indoor features. Some of the categories are appliances, seating, tables, wallpaper, flooring, and much more. Each house/building only has one room to furnish and depending on what size structure you picked, will determine how big the size of the room is. Something that I missed with my video review is that they have indoor fencing options which basically is like placing a wall. I prefer using tables to build walls though, because you can place things on top whereas the indoor fencing you cannot, but that’s just me. The wonderful thing about this game is you get to decide how you want to build.

3. Gourdlet Customization

Lastly, Goudlets are able to be customized! You can pick any color imaginable, like really, any color. From neon blue, to bright orange, to deep red, you will never run out of color options. They also have a reasonable number of cute accessories to put on your adorable veggie friends. Essentially, all of your Gourdlets will be different, or you can make them all the same.

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Instantly I fell in love with my new vegetable friends, and I felt like each Gourdlet that arrived in my town had their own unique personality, which made me love them even more. And if that wasn’t enough, the decorations, furniture, and landscape features are so eye catching and colorful it made me want to dive right in. The hard part of this all, I really don’t have any knowledge on sandbox games, which made it difficult to come up with a score for Gourdlets. So, I had to take a different approach with my scoring. Usually, I base my score on gameplay, storyline, character development, if it’s easy to play for everyone and price. This time however, I will be basing my score off of graphics, building mechanics, number of items to choose from, and price.

With that said, I will be giving Gourdlets a score of 7.5/10.

First and foremost, Gourdlets is $4.99USD, which in my eyes is an amazing price for this game. Seeing a price for a game be so affordable for so many people is something we don’t see often anymore. As for the graphics, I personally love the pixelated style. I think it gives off a very nostalgic vibe and as a 90s kid it’s just something that will never get old to me. Building mechanics are ridiculously easy and not having to grind for money or materials was amazing. I feel like every city builder game I play these days requires a ton of grinding and it’s starting to get old. Where I think this game falls short however, is the somewhat lack of items, items being exclusive to indoor/outdoor use, and the single room houses/buildings. I’ll give a quick example. I wanted to build a boardwalk with arcade games and rides, problem was the arcade machines are indoor exclusives and there was only one ride. Now I could build a building to be my arcade, but the options were either a tent, a house, or a huge townhall looking structure. I honestly would have loved to have a building that was designed look like a shop to be placed on my boardwalk or even around town. This kind of brings me to my last point of single room houses/buildings. The indoor fencing is just not cutting it for me when it comes to dividing the floor plan. Being able to have multiple rooms would honestly be a game changer. Could you imagine being able to have a restaurant looking building and, on the inside, have the ability to design multiple rooms to be a kitchen, dining area, and maybe even add on a few bathrooms. That alone would bring the game to the next level.

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Overall, if you are looking for a cozy sandbox game with super chill vibes, a game to kind of turn your brain off for a little while, this is the game for you!

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Honest Review of Fields of Mistria 10/10

I bet you're thinking, this is just another Stardew Valley, and I would be lying if I said that wasn't my first thought as well. However, I was so wrong! Fields of Mistria is far from Stardew and it all starts at the beginning.

You arrive in Mistria after an earthquake that shakes the townsfolks to their core, no pun intended. They of course have asked you to help and in return have given you a plot of land to grow crops and raise farm animals. You think all of this would be overwhelming, but Fields of Mistria takes it slow and teaches you everything you need to know in an unconventional tutorial. This tutorial takes a few in game days to complete through multiple different quests, but by the end you'll have all the tools you'll need to help the town as well as yourself.

While you are doing the normal farming sim gameplay: chopping trees, breaking rocks, fishing, and catching bugs, you learn about the mysterious magic that is in the land. This magic is tied to everything you do. So, the more you chop, break, fish, and catch the more magic that is stowed upon you. Eventually, you'll learn some pretty cool things with this magic, but I won't tell you what it is, so I don't ruin any surprises.

Just like many farming sim games, you'll be interacting with the townsfolks of Mistria and completing quests for a majority of them. These quests don't have a time limit so you can get them done as quick or as slow as you want. There is literally no pressure. I do recommend doing them in a timely manner however, to not only increase the town level, but to also boost your relationship with many of the romanceable characters, because let me tell you... they are HOT!!! You will not have a hard time picking a future husband or wife, or maybe you will because the options will be too hard to pick from. Regardless, marriage is currently unavailable while I am writing this review so you will just have to admire them from afar.

Now it's time for my review... 10/10 game HANDS DOWN and this is still just an early access game! Not only is this my first 10/10 game that I have reviewed, but this will also be my game of the year for 2024. From the inclusiveness, to the storyline, to the cute graphics, and to the gameplay itself, it really has it all. I absolutely love the customization for my character and the ability to change my appearance at any point. I adore the crafting and all the recipes that are currently in game. The farming is simple and easy but still enjoyable. Mining is fun with a small challenge of defeating creatures as you go further down in the mine. Raising animals is adorable and the ability to breed rare colors is exciting. The quests keep me engaged in the game and give me a purpose. With all of that though, my favorite part of the game has to be decorating the farm and my house. I cannot get over how cute everything is, the number of different items there are, and just the ability to be able to decorate it anyway I want.

So, if you are looking for a new farming sim game, this is the one! Best part... it's so reasonably priced at $13.99USD!!! I really can't recommend this game enough!

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Honest Review of Ooblets 9/10

As a cozy gamer the main thing I look for is how relaxing and stress free a game is and Ooblets is the definition of a cozy game.

The simplicity of Ooblets is what makes the game so cozy and addicting but don’t take the word simplicity as a negative. There is so much to do and so many amazing creatures to find that this game will have you playing for hours on end! Ooblets is a combination of a farming sim, creature collecting, and deck building game and starts off like many others. You have come from a far-off land to start a new life, one filled with amazing creatures. You arrive in the colorful world of Badgetown with nothing to your name except the clothes on your back. You meet the mayor and the rest of the town folks and almost immediately you have to make your first decision… what club do you want to join and who’s going to be your first Ooblet companion! There are four different clubs to choose from; Cute, Strong, Smart, and Outdoorsy and each club has a special token that grants you exclusive items to purchase later in the game (you can obtain all the club tokens so don’t stress too much).

After you pick your club, you get to see your new home, or should I say shack surrounded by junk and more junk. After some small talk, you are given a short tutorial on how to farm and sent to bed. Farming and scavenging are a crucial part of Ooblets and absolutely should not be overlooked in game play. Crops are used to battle new creatures and cook meals and scavenging is your main source to obtain material for fixing buildings and such. I highly recommend hoarding in this game, you never know what you might need and not all materials are easy to find.

The next day is when the fun really starts to begin! The mayor gives you missions to complete that help you navigate your new surroundings as well as learning how to battle with your new companion. Battling in this game is completely unique from any other game deck building game I have played because you are actually having a DANCE BATTLE! Winning a dance battle allows you to accept a seed from your opponent which you then plant on your farm. After a day or so your seed will have grown into a new Ooblet and joins your team! Up to 8 will follow you at a time but don’t worry, you will be able to have a lot more than that.

On top of everything I have just mentioned there is also decorating, crafting, and new clothes for both you and your Ooblets! This game really has it all and more. You can choose to follow the missions and continue the story or just farm and battle new Ooblets for as long as your heart desires! However, I would choose to do the missions at some point because there are 6 regions to explore, and you wouldn’t want to miss all of what Ooblets has to offer. And with that I had to give Ooblets a 9 out of 10!!! This game is truly what cozy gaming is all about and the devs do a great job with updates and holiday events!!!

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Honest Review of Teal Mask DLC 3/10

I know I might get some hate for this but... underwhelming would be an understatement for The Teal Mask DLC.

Yes, there were a few new variant Pokémon and even a few new Pokémon that were introduced during the storyline of the DLC but that can't make up for the lack of storyline. To start on your new adventure, you head to the school where you meet the new professor, Briar, and are paired with three random NPCs to go off to a new region called Kitikami. Those NPCs you maybe see a handful of times, but they have no real purpose other than to be the randomly selected few to go on a new adventure. When you arrive, you meet the siblings Kieran and Carmine, and are immediately faced with a Pokémon battle with barely any time to explore or set up a proper team for this new region. That should have been my first clue that this DLC was going to lack content.

After the battles and some talking you finally get to set off on your new adventure and have one main storyline quest to follow. Without spoiling anything you are basically set free to explore the region with no clear direction on how to get to your first quest other than a pinpoint location on your map. I spent most of my time rock climbing to find these locations because pathways were very unclear. Continuing on the storyline you find out about the history of the region and about the Pokémon Ogerpon which is the main Pokémon of the DLC. Honestly the backstory of Ogerpon was the one and only interesting part of the storyline. While finding out about this history you battle the same two NPCs over and over again until the final battle where you get to catch Ogerpon and then you battle those NPCs some more. I was so bored of battling the NPCs that my team was made up of my highest level Pokémon so I could get through the battles as quickly as possible. Once you have Ogerpon the main story line of the DLC ends and you can either head back home or stay longer to complete Kitikami pokedex and receive a few more side quests to complete. In the end I chose to shiny hunt where I actually ended up finding a shiny Morpeko but the shiny hunting quickly ended because I was extremely frustrated with continuously running into small Pokémon because you couldn't see them over the tall grass.

So would I recommend the DLC… no. I think I wasted my money on it for only receiving a few new pairs of clothes, a few new Pokémon, and a crap storyline. Hopefully Part 2 of the DLC can redeem Part 1: The Teal Mask because so far, I give this DLC a 3/10.

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Honest Review of Faefarm 8/10

I was so excited to get my hands on this game and that excitement never faded as I played for hours on end!

Right off the bat you get to customize your adorable character and the options were amazing and very inclusive. Once you finish making your character you're transported into the charming world of Azoria. You get introduced to the mayor and get your first look at your new house and farm. Like most farming sims, your farm is covered in rocks and trees, and you get the wonderful task of clearing out the area. You are given tools fairly quickly and can start right away on this daunting task or you can follow the quests given to you. I chose to follow the quests and I'm glad I did because the beginning quests were actually the tutorial. The devs of Faefarm did a great job with the tutorial because I didn't even realize I was doing one until the end of chapter 1. That's the other cool part! This game has chapters!!! Faefarm is not just a farming sim. This game is so quest oriented that it had me addicted for hours just trying to complete the quests. There are even side quests to complete including romancing characters! I barely touched farming in the beginning stages of this game except for when a quest made me harvest a crop or if I needed food for stamina. As the game progressed and I needed more money to buy furniture for my home or an adorable new outfit, I eventually turned to crops as my main source of steady income. Crops aren't the only source of income however, there is fishing, critter catching, and mining for crystals to turn into polished crystals that sell for a ton of money. Once your pockets are lined with money you can set off to buy better tools from a handful of NPCs and with better tools comes more quests available to you.

At this point in the game, you can either continue these quests or start decorating your house and your farm! The options are limitless when it comes to decorating!!! There are so many styles and colors to choose from and the furniture you get to build are so cute. I will say building was not easy at first and decorating took some getting used to but overall, the mechanics weren't terrible. I enjoyed decorating my cozy home and the ability to expand my house is always a nice feature to have, but the coolest and probably the most appealing part of decorating your house is that certain furniture increases your health, stamina, and mana (your magic power). When you begin the game, you have very little of these three so decorating becomes crucial because dungeon crawling is a big part of completing quests. The monsters in the dungeons are unique and not overly challenging, but they are not to be underestimated. Many can come at you at one time making it overwhelming if not prepared. This is where cooking and potion making play a big role. Eating a cooked meal restores your stamina (and some foods give you extra powers as well) which helps you continue through the dungeons whereas potions help restore health and mana. Do not, I repeat DO NOT go into a dungeon without any food or potions! You will not be able to make it to the end and the end of the dungeon is the coolest part that you won't want to miss!!!

All of this doesn't even scratch the surface of things you can do in Faefarm! The possibilities are endless and there is no one set direction you have to go in. That's what I think makes this game so great. You play at your own pace and enjoy everything Azoria has to offer. If you are quest oriented, you can dive right in and beat the game and farm later. If you enjoy the simplicity of farming, then you can do just that and dungeon crawl at your own pace. Personally, I did a combination of the two because I wanted to take my time with this game but not go too slow that it took me forever to see some of the coolest parts. The reason I give this game an 8 out of 10 is because of the confusing building/decorating mechanics, the lack of NPC dialogue, and the fixed camera angle. Besides that, I would say this is one of the top contenders for farming sim of the year!

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What games are you planning on reviewing next and which are you excited to try?

I have two written already that I just have to post. FaeFarm will be my next review and then after is the Pokémon DLC: The Teal Mask. I just started playing Moonstone Island and I’m really enjoying it so once I get a few more hours under my belt that will be up next!

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Honest Review of Paleo Pines 5/10

I was so excited when I heard about this game, but that excitement didn't last too long once I started to play...

The controls are clunky and clinking on things is more difficult than it should be. I felt like I was spinning around in circles to pick up one item. The tutorial didn't feel complete and left a lot of question marks. I actually had to look up quite a number of things to progress in the game because I was just so lost. Even more confusing then then the tutorial was the missions. It would tell me to do one thing, I would search the entire map trying to figure out how to complete it, go to sleep when it got dark, and then when I got up in the morning the game would explain to me how to complete the task it told me the day before. Overall, it's a slow learning process and the beginning of the game is very slow.

Now for the good. Once I figured out the general idea of how to do the missions and understood a little more of the game's mechanics the game did start to get fun. The dinosaurs are ridiculously cute and the fact that you can use them to help you in game is an awesome feature we have yet to see in a farming sim. Even the whole process of befriending a dinosaur is fun and exciting because it's not just walking up to a dinosaur and bam your friends. You have to play your flute in the right tune and learn which foods it likes for a chance to be friends. Not to mention there isn't just one single color per dinosaur. There are rare ones you can find which in my opinion makes dinosaur hunting even more exciting! The farming aspect is your typical hoe the land, sow the seeds, water the seeds, and harvest the crops so nothing new there. Building pens for your dinosaur friends is super easy as well and there are ways to customize pens to fit each dinosaur needs. Beyond customizing pens, I haven't seen much other customizing options, but this game is more geared towards the dinosaurs themselves so personally I don't see that as an issue.

In conclusion, I would rate this game a 5/10. I don't hate but I also see myself completing the game once and trading it in. If you love dinosaurs or the idea of a companion helping you farm/complete missions, then I would say go ahead and give this game a try. Otherwise, it's not worth the price nor the aggravation to try to figure it out.