The below is copied from the currently playing OT -
Completed Stellar Blade on Story mode in just under 80 hours for my first play-through. Found every collectible except for one damn soda can which I missed at the end and did every side quest.
- Visuals - 9.0/10 (excellent)
- Audio - 9.0/10 (excellent)
- Combat/Gameplay - 10/10 (superb)
- Story/Characters - 8.0/10 (great)
- Overall - 9.0/10 (excellent)
Loved Stellar Blade from beginning to end. Combat/gameplay is superb with only a few pet peeves for me but no actual negatives. Boss fights are insane to say the least. Some good action sequences/set pieces. Great exploration and platforming. Soundtrack is excellent with good voice acting and great sound effects. I do wish there was more tracks during the wide open map areas as it’s just one main song that loops unless you’re near a camp or something specific like a quest.
Visuals looks excellent, loved all the different environments and maps. Great character models and excellent animations. Loved the design of the characters especially the enemies. Just freaking nuts some of the designs they came up with. Interior areas or linear areas do look better than the two open world map type areas. Great game and level design. You always feel like you’re progressing with new skill trees opening up, new gear, upgrades and more. Menus could be more organized for suits and whatnot. It’s just one long list you have to scroll through. Minor complaint though.
Hoping for an expansion and for this franchise to be a trilogy. Would love for that to happen. Will be playing on normal mode when I start new game plus on Thursday while im waiting for Hellblade 2. Simply loved this game and every hour of it. First game in three years since Outriders that I want to replay immediately after completing the game which I almost never ever do. Can’t wait to see all the new stuff added in new game plus and how I do on normal mode.
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To add to it though. Started new game plus on normal this past Friday and did a speed run in order to get the bad ending which I did last night (Saturday) but can't lie, the final boss is insane in terms of difficulty spike. By far the toughest boss I had to fight in the entire game to where after dying four times including using the WB pump to revive myself twice in each fight, I decreased the difficulty to story mode because there was just no way. Not a fan of one hit kills at all in any fucking game because what's the point in building up my character and trying to get overpowered if I can die in a single shot/attack? Like, WTF?
Anyway, completed that and today, started another new game plus. Just made it to Xion after 6+ hours. Playing on hard mode now which has been pretty easy thus far including the few bosses that I have fought. I did die once jumping off a ledge into the water in Eidos 7 but landed on the wooden plank that I moved closer to the ladder but other than that fuck up, no issues thus far but in all honesty, im not expecting to have any until the final boss.
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Outfit wise, im using the mk3 variant of the outfit you start the game with. It's red/black/silver. I was using the cybernetic bondage outfit on my speed run and for the end of the first playthrough. What a great fucking outfit. Hehehe. Another one that's nice is the one you unlock when collecting all 49 cans which I did last night. Forgot the name of the outfit.
Overall, have done and completed everything in the game. Just need to get the third ending which will then give me every trophy and yes, my first ever intentional platinum trophy. In all honesty, I have never cared about trophies (or achievements) but when I completed the game this past Tuesday, it said I completed 39/45 trophies or some shit like that. Once I completed new game plus with the second ending, I ended up with 43/45 trophies so I figured why not go for the platinum?
Loving Stellar Blade. Looking forward to seeing the boss rush mode that is either rumored, speculated or maybe Shift Up said something about it? Not even sure to be honest but that seems like an easy decision for the game. I would like to see them add more skills and perhaps more exo-spines because I have 30+ skill points, over $200K in money and plenty of resources. I have maxed out everything except the sword power which I have five levels to go and one final level for the stage two of the tumbler.
Haven't played and completed a game 2+ times in a row back to back since Outriders three years ago. Really hoping that Stellar Blade sold very well because I want this IP to be a trilogy.