I have a handful of friends that have tried to rope me into D4 since itās release, but the shakiness of the launch and the MTX always sort of deterred me from an outside looking in perspective. Although, the most recent DLC has probably been about the closest Iāve been to taking the plunge. Interested to hear some more of your thoughts on those aspects as you play through the game.
I myself have just completed a play through of Bully: Scholarship Edition. Itās one of those games that has been in the dusty corner of my steam library for eons, and I ended up just taking a dive into it on a whim after Backloggd lost my daily journal notes for Final Fantasy IV and I got completely lost one what I was doing following a recent home moveā¦ (I will never be using Backloggd for session journalism ever again because of such.) I can recall trying to pick this game up a couple times over the past decade, but would get stuck early on due to some buggyness when interacting with a gate, and I didnāt really care enough to troubleshoot. Looking at a lot of the modern discussion, it looks like many need some type of patch to playā although it also looks like Rockstar made some adjustments within the past year so unsure if that has impacted anything. Regardless, this time around my experience was incredibly smooth on Linux, and I had really only one instance of game disrupting bugā getting stuck on a black screen between a cutscene and gameplay transition. For how much of a mess this game has historically been on PC, I was really surprised to have so few issues. Could be Rockstar tweaks, could also be Linux & Proton.
Overall, really fun game that scratches that GTA itch in a fun, different spin. I donāt think there are too many other games out there that tackle this sort of rough, delinquent school setting, so itās really cool to see here & in a narrative style that Rockstar does best. In many ways, it does boil down to a āGTA but youāre a kidā kind of feel, as the game appears to use a similar engine as earlier entires, and the core Rockstar DNA is there. The story is serviceable, as you work through narrative archs with all of your school cliche factions and earn their trust, or submit them to doing your bidding. The Prep & Greaser chapters are both really great, but the later ones start to feel really rushedā especially the final chapter in particular. It can be easy to miss some things too, as the chapters serve as a seasonal time skips, and if youāre not on top of doing all the extra missions or collectables, some can become unavailable as you move out of a chapter. On the flip side, I think that type of system is great for encouraging replay ability. (I almost want to revisit Chapter 3 just to experience some of the unique detention mini games present in winter.) The minigames themselves are a little simple & uninspired, even for 2006/2008. But the bulk of them do a really good job in helping build up the identity of the setting, and frequently reward you with some character progression in the form of better slingshot accuracy, more melee and grapple combos, better dialog interactions with the generic NPCs, and better bikes. Even if the game is relatively smaller in scope compared to the GTA entries of the time, what is present all does a really great job in immersing the player within the world. Even if some of the gameplay elements are a little shallow, they are frequently complemented with some of that fun, edgy Rockstar dialog that gets a reaction. Likewise, side quests always felt worthwhile to do, both because you never truly know what is and isnāt a side quest, and that you are always rewarded with some sort of item or benefit, and once more get a great dose of NPC dialog & setting enrichment. You get a ton of fun costumes and clothing optionsā but get in trouble for breaking the dress code, which again I think is super flavorful. I also really enjoyed the way progression was consistently displayed through the main characterās dorm room. As you play through the story, various items start to get displayed along the walls reminding you of some of the past story beats that youāve moved through. Itās a really fun way to reflect the character progression of the protagonist, as you move through being the new kid to the king of the school. While I do think some aspects of the game have aged poorly, and in some cases problematically, I can chalk most of these things up to the game being 20 years old, and leaning into edginess during the pinnacle of Rockstar catching the ire of governing bodies.
