Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
It should still be in the cards, though Nintendo might be more adamant about having their way, since they thought Ubi should have held off on releasing Sparks of Hope
Was planning to beat Ghost Trick yesterday but ran out of time so it spilled over to 2024. But I guess having a good start is neat even though I played all chapters but the last one in 2023 lol.
Currently having 3 games on my to buy list during Q1
Prince of Persia
Unicorn Overlord
Princes Peach Showtime
so I could beat some games I bought last year, because I bought many of them
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bought
Jan
#1 Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series [NSW]
#2 Stormgate (kickstarter) [PC]
#3 Prince of Persia - The Lost Crown [NSW]
#4 Batman: Arkham Trilogy [NSW]
#5 Spiritfarer [NSW] (already have it digitally, so strictly a collection purpose)
Feb
#6 Eastward: Octopia [NSW]
#7 Pikmin 1+2 HD [NSW]
Beaten
Jan
#1 - Ghost Trick [NSW]
#2 - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown [NSW]
Feb
#3 - Super Mario RPG [NSW]
#4 - Hoa [NSW]
#5 - Little Nightmares II [NSW]
Bought 2 Octopia - the Eastward expansion.. it had a discount if you pre-ordered it.. I was not really going to play it right now but I wanted to show support for the devs by pre-ordering it and diving in at a later date - I did try it out quickly though and it's charming farm-sim.. Stardew Valley lite sort of.
I also picked up the Pikmin collection since I got a 30% discount at a retailer.
Beat Super Mario RPG, Hoa and Little Nightmares II - a little bit dissapointed in Super Mario RPG, but I get that it was kind of a product of it's time. Little Nightmares 2 though was amazing and Hoa.. beautiful to look at but not much depth. Very basic platformer with easy puzzles. And also short.
1. Spider Man 2 (PS5)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
3. Kuru Kuru Kururin (GBA NSO) 4. Persona 3 Reload
What an experience. Persona 3 Reload is dark, but also bittersweet. Lots of heavy themes, but also lots of lighthearted moments and friendship between the cast members. I'm glad this remake exists, because I struggled to continue with P3P after only a few hours. P3R is an incredibly smooth way to experience P3, and the changes they made to Tartarus were especially helpful.
This is one of those games that sticks with you for a bit after you finish it. With my weekend coming to an end soon, I actually took a step away from games and did some work after beating P3R. Still, time marches on, and there are more games to play. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is installed and ready to go, so I will start it before the night ends.
4. Ori and the Blind Forest
Lovely game. I had this in the backlog for a while, and the couple times I tried it, it didn't really click. However, last week it finally did and now I beat it! The movement was really fluent and satisfying. That combined with the soothing artstyle made for a chill experience. The game wasn't very difficult, because you can place save points everywhere and upgrades are quite easy to find. WIthout any of the map marker upgrades and just by looking at the map a bit I ended up with 95% completion. Some minor spoilers here: One thing I don't understand is why the tree killed the baby birds. It gave the big bird a good motive though, but I felt like the tree was the enemy afterwards. Especially after the bird died restoring the tree. Lastly, the upgrade that let you launch yourself of projectiles and enemies was amazing! My fav upgrade in the game and in general a really unique upgrade that I hadn't seen in any game before.
5. Splatoon 3: Side Order DLC
As a big Splatoon fanatic, I was really looking forward to this one. And righteously so apparently! It's great to see the Splatoon Dev team try something new, especially given how 'moldable' Splatoon's gameplay is.
Speaking of that gameplay, it certainly is still amazing in this format as well. The chips provide nice variety, the OST slaps as usual, the only thing that could have been improved some more is the variety, but for a first-time attempt in a DLC I'm fine with it. I beat the tower with all 12 palettes and still want to go back to experiment more. I hope they decide to include a roguelite mode in future installments as a mainstay!
7. Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Episode INTERmission - In preparation for ReBirth, I wanted to try playing through Remake again but there were just too many things in my docket. Then I remembered that in the 2 and a half years since I paid for the PS5 upgrade for FF7R, I never played Yuffie's story. So I figured now's a better time than any. I really enjoyed it. Her gameplay was super fun, and turned out to be a nice introduction to ReBirth.
I'm not really a rougelike fan because the idea of rng just ruining a run is slightly annoying to me. However, I like poker. I like the statistical chances of getting certain hands and pushing my luck so this game interested me big time when the most recent demo was put up on steam. I played the demo for 20 hours. I was hooked. I had to delete the demo cause I was playing it too much and was only experiencing a small portion of the game.
Then the full game came out and 60 hours later I have my early contender for Game of The Year. The idea of mixing and matching jokers and tarot cards to help build an "engine" to score point is so perfectly done. You have so much control to play how you want to. You may not get the jokers you want in a run but there are so many useful jokers that you can put something together and still win a run while learning how to utilize different jokers in the future. The hardest challenge of the game comes with the boss blinds and their impacts on your gameplay. This is the one blemish on the game as it comes close to unraveling the fun of Balatro. It's very hard to stomach getting to say the 7th ante and going up against a boss blind that debuffs 2/3rds of your deck cause you spent so much time creating a deck of hearts with jokers that boost heart cards. Even tougher when you have a well oiled machine of jokers and you get that boss blind that forces you to sell one. However, those moments do not happen very often. It's at the point of being annoying but it doesn't ruin the game.
Simply put, this game is a blast to play. I found myself wanting to do just one more run late at night to see if I can do something new. Which, I have to say is important. Most will immediately jump at flush and straight hands. That's fine. But keep doing that and you will hit a wall. You will feel bored. Mix it up. Force yourself to mix up what hands you want to focus on because it will make you learn and play different jokers. Trust me in the long run it makes the game more exciting. I'd be shocked if this game doesn't pop up on some game of the year lists. (9/10)
9)Star Wars Starfighter SE
Knocked out my replay . Still one of my all time faves, got all but one story medal(will go back and grab it at some point). Just tight, well paced and a good time
1) Riccchhhhhaaarrrrd Metal Wolf Chaos XD
2) Toree 3D
3) Piczle Cross Adventure
4) Macbat 64
5)Metroid Prime Remastered
6) Good Job!
7)Golden Sun
8) Crash 4
I can finally post this, first game beaten in 2024:
Soul Hackers 2
AKA the most mid Atlus release I’ve ever played. I know some posters wanted this on Switch, but if you ever thought “man we are missing out on SH 2!”, well, don’t.
Its not bad. It just exists. Purely based on its gameplay and combat mechanics it’s fine. Its snappy, works well. Fusing demons remains being fun. If you look at the rest, it’s just mediocre. Level design is boring, quests are very mundane, story isn’t great either. When you’ve seen a lot of great Atlus release, it’s rough to see these poking out as well.
Awesome. Storywise there are some iffy bits, but everything Kiryu was fantastic. Gameplay is great. RPG mechanics are improved. One of the better LAD games.
Nintendo's take on the third person shooter is now Nintendo's take on the roguelike! Side Order takes the shooting and movement fundamentals built in the multiplayer and story modes of Splatoon and presents a gauntlet of challenges to face on your trip up the Spire of Order.
Unlike the shorter, almost platforming-based levels of the prior campaigns, Side Order focuses on small arenas that would not be out of place in a multiplayer map. Each floor presents one of three possible rooms, each with its own difficulty and rewards. The rooms present different objective: destroy enemy spawning portals, protect the Splat Zone, guide giant billiards balls to specific spots, or guide a tower to a specific point by shooting at it. To successfully make it up the tower, you need to balance choosing floors that your weapon of choice can handle as well as choosing the right color chip rewards to buff your build. Sure, you can just go for easy floors, but harder floors give you more Membux to spend in a run for more chips or that get converted to Prlz, the game's currency for permanent buffs (hacks) or cosmetics for multiplayer. And even if you initially stick to the simple stuff, danger floors with difficulty modifiers can easily come to ruin your day, or a bonus challenge may load you up with specific chips...or task you to limit yourself with the promise of Membux. Combine this with three boss fights per run (all exclusive to this mode) and you have a fast paced tower climb that's easy to sink your teeth into but presents enough bite to stay engaging.
As for the story, this one is more of an epilogue to Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion rather than a story dripping with lore implications. A lot of the fun comes from the many pieces of dialogue you'll find, such as Pearl and Marina being the cutest dang couple in the elevator between floors or with the info about each weapon you unlock or the many dev diaries that Marina wrote while creating the game's setting, the Memverse. It builds upon what came before it and is interesting, but it's not going to be on the same scale nor is it trying to. And that's okay! What is here is really enjoyable! That being said, that final boss fight is pretty dang exciting, and the music as usual continues to be excellent.
My only real "complaint" is that I wish there was more. Maybe one extra boss, or a few more weapons, or a bonus boss battle in the postgame. Even so, I enjoyed my time with Side Order enough to finish a run with every palette and do a no hacks run, so I can easily say I got my time's worth out of this one.
Have I beaten Super Mario Bros. Wonder AKA the Daisy Elephant game, if I didn't reach the top of the flagpole in the final final test? What a garbage level. 8 out of 10 sections could be slepwalked and beaten blind once I got the hang of them, but then the last section actually turns you invisible while having to navigate across two kinds of platforms which add randomness to your trajectory and which for that reason don't belong in a Mario game even if you can see where you're jumping. I hate declaring anything in video games trash. But this was trash. Designing longer, harder sections around the fun badges would have been much better. So is it fair to say you beat Mario Wonder if you never got a Wonderful on the final level? I don't know. So I loaded back up on lifes, farmed myself a power-up in item storage to brute-force the fire bar section, and literally was back at the last checkpoint in less than two minutes, after which it took a few more tries to clear the Invisibility section. A disappointing blemish on an otherwise smooth ride that stands out precisely for understanding you don't need to crank up the difficulty to explore gameplay mechanics to their fullest. Challenges can have a more lenient timing window than you'd think and still be mighty satisfying because they're novel and surprising and fun.
I also beat Eastward earlier this year while it was free on NSO. You can follow my journey from skeptic to believer over the course of a couple posts here. The short of it is that despite not falling in love with everything about the game, I was exceedingly glad I stuck with it to the end. And I might end up buying the game to play its Octopia expansion.
1. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim: took around 25h to beat, but it took me around 6 months from when I started playing to finishing it today. I left it unfinished for a little over 4 months due to not liking the combat sections (to this is also my fault for trying to beat as many combat stages as possible so I could continue the story uninterrupted) and wanting to play other titles in the meantime, which probably harmed my enjoyment of it alongside me not remembering enough from the main story. Speaking of the story, I wish the game had a slightly more linear narrative, because trying to connect hours of dialogue from 13 character stories is hard.
Overall, it's good, not amazing, but good. For now, 8/10
Next, I bought Hades, Baba is you and Rayman Legends during a recent sale, so one of them will be my next game (probably hades)
I also so far dropped RE2R (it's very good, but I couldn't deal with the stress it gave me) and Outer wilds (tho I intend to return to it in the future)
5. Splatoon 3: Side Order DLC
As a big Splatoon fanatic, I was really looking forward to this one. And righteously so apparently! It's great to see the Splatoon Dev team try something new, especially given how 'moldable' Splatoon's gameplay is.
Speaking of that gameplay, it certainly is still amazing in this format as well. The chips provide nice variety, the OST slaps as usual, the only thing that could have been improved some more is the variety, but for a first-time attempt in a DLC I'm fine with it. I beat the tower with all 12 palettes and still want to go back to experiment more. I hope they decide to include a roguelite mode in future installments as a mainstay!
6. Xenoblade 3: Future Redeemed DLC
Keeping the DLCs rolling! What a fun campaign! I really enjoyed its length and how it still had a good story build-up despite how short it is compared to the base game. The music was also a standout (as is always the case for Xenoblade hehe) and the characters were also really solid. I did not expect Matthew to have as much depth to him as he had. And Rex and Shulk were amazing to have on the team as well.
As for the story, which was the main draw for most people I think, at least 75% of all the references flew way over my head given that I have only played Xenoblade 2 and 3. However, the story still gave some nice extra closure to base 3 and the ending did more for me than some parts in 3 that were supposed to be more heavy-hitting. All in all, had a great time with this one and will probably go back to further up my completion percentage and abuse Double Spinning Edge! some more.
Speaking of the completion rate though, some of the changes made are really nice like being able to see where you can get which items. (In previous games you often needed the internet for this.) Though I'm slightly conflicted on it as well as it does feel a bit too much like a checklist at times. I'd like to see it return in future games, but maybe a bit more organic.
Have I beaten Super Mario Bros. Wonder AKA the Daisy Elephant game, if I didn't reach the top of the flagpole in the final final test? What a garbage level. 8 out of 10 sections could be slepwalked and beaten blind once I got the hang of them, but then the last section actually turns you invisible while having to navigate across two kinds of platforms which add randomness to your trajectory and which for that reason don't belong in a Mario game even if you can see where you're jumping. I hate declaring anything in video games trash. But this was trash. Designing longer, harder sections around the fun badges would have been much better. So is it fair to say you beat Mario Wonder if you never got a Wonderful on the final level? I don't know. So I loaded back up on lifes, farmed myself a power-up in item storage to brute-force the fire bar section, and literally was back at the last checkpoint in less than two minutes, after which it took a few more tries to clear the Invisibility section. A disappointing blemish on an otherwise smooth ride that stands out precisely for understanding you don't need to crank up the difficulty to explore gameplay mechanics to their fullest. Challenges can have a more lenient timing window than you'd think and still be mighty satisfying because they're novel and surprising and fun.
I also beat Eastward earlier this year while it was free on NSO. You can follow my journey from skeptic to believer over the course of a couple posts here. The short of it is that despite not falling in love with everything about the game, I was exceedingly glad I stuck with it to the end. And I might end up buying the game to play its Octopia expansion.
lol I did the entire game in coop, which makes it such that one player will always have a crown icon above them to indicate that they are the leading player. The icon stays on even when you are invisible, which greatly trivialised that last section.
I often maintain the New series gets too much flak from haters. These are quality games, and the designers are top of their craft. But even I have to admit they were running out of steam by this point.
The issue here isn’t that it is a bad game, that it is irritating, or that it isn’t engaging. The issue here is that 80% or so of the ideas are derived wholesale from New Super Mario Bros. Wii, with barely anything changed between them. A poison level might have become a lava level in between titles. Maybe the wallpaper had been replaced. But you can tell this was a refinement of the previous game, and as such a lot of the surprise is lost.
I am not talking about the aesthetics either. 3D World shares a lot of the same visuals as 3D Land, but the former’s level design takes advantage of the change to multiplayer, and finds way to put its own spin on the formula.
U is not that. U is content with replicating what worked with Wii with barely any changes. Maybe in a vacuum it might be better than that game, but as someone with over three decades of experience in Mario, it left me feeling kind of empty.
And that’s with me visiting this game twelve years after the fact. I can only imagine how much more disappointed I would be if I had played it on release, as the fourth 2D Mario in a row in barely six years, on top of all the other 3D Marios sharing similar ideas.
U is fine. It’s a good game. But 2D Mario had definitely gotten into a place of complacency by 2012. I am glad to be over that.
I’ve been aching to finish FFVII for the last 27 years. It was kind of an elusive white whale to me. I had experienced the entire title through osmosis, and I can’t help but admit the hype made me feel cynical. Playing it now, it absolutely merits it.
FFVII is a SNES RPG with polygons. So much of what makes the title memorable has its roots in the formula Square had concocted to perfection in the mid-90s. It’s a game that understands what makes RPGs a very peculiar storytelling format, and it leans into that with aplomb. The game can be a very ugly mess at times. Square was churning out magic with so little. So much of its initial appeal has its roots on the fact that 3D graphics were the new thing in 1997, and that luster has worn off in the two decades since.
But FFVII is so much more than its exterior. What makes it so memorable is its writing, and fully fleshed world its characters inhabit.
And this is one of the most memorable casts ever created. Cloud may be the poster anime big sword guy, chimaera’d from many sources beforehand. And yet I can’t help but love him and the rest of the gang (Reeve and Cid excluded). I can understand why they have remained well beloved since then.
FFVII is not my favorite FF. I actually think the game part has regressed from what it achieved in the SNES, particularly with level design (the background are a fucking pain to parse). But it’s definitely in the upper echelon of them, and the hype it got was warranted.
It makes me actually sad, having played this now. This title is so particular, so peculiar, so rooted in the kind of company Square was in the nineties. It’s an art piece truly of its era. Advent Children, Crisis Core, Dirge, Remake, etc. FFVII has been milked by its own authors for so long, always searching to reach the same heights. And I fear this is a fruitless endeavor, because the people who made FFVII in 1997 have changed themselves. Even if Nomura and Nojima are still involved with the projects, their impetus is not the same. These are no longer trailblazers trying to make an oeuvre in a new format. They are authors reaping old successes, twisting them for whatever their new interest is.
That’s fine. You are free to revisit old ideas and work with them again. But the focus behind their objectives is different, and it’s why I cannot jive with their new projects, but can fall in love with the original, even a quarter century after the fact.
P.S. I still have to do Ruby and Emerald weapon, but those require so much Materia grinding I might as well just post my thoughts already. Not touching Chocobo Breeding, that’s just stupid.
10. Samba De Amiigo Party Central- Oh boy did I miss this series and I'm so glad the motion controls worked for me. I would play this until exhaustion, that's how much fun I had with it. My biggest two grips about it are I wish there were more Latin and Sega music already in the game. ( I know that goes against DLC buying though) and I did try out the button controls and I could not always mimic the motion gestures for that. There was a story mode that I completed so because of that I will count this as "completed", but there are achievements and for the first time in forever I am looking forward to clearing all of them so this will be in my rotation.
11. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk - No surprise here that the music is fantastic, I had almost the whole OST stuck in my head for days after. Obviously, a Jet Set Radio fan here and even though I still want the real thing, this was a fun little run through. There's a good number of collectables to get and I really did like earning new graffiti tags. Story was interesting enough and I did like the fact you could switch characters after a certain point. However, every time a new chapter would start I would have a crash so that was highly annoying and the fighting in this game is just not really good. Exploring the world and doing all the tricks felt really fun though, I think I exhausted myself with this game right now, but I ended up liking it more than I thought I would.
12. Super Mario RPG- Now this is a replay, but it's been over a decade since I last played it. I'm pretty sure I liked this more when I first played it. It just doesn't hit the highs for the other Mario RPG series for me. I always greatly appreciate using the Mario squad here as a team and I really do like the different types of bosses in this game. Ended up using Geno more this run too. Also did like the extra bonus rematches too, so not a bad way to spend a few days on.
That's my mini drop for now, I was hoping to add another game or two, but I really want to play Unicorn Overlord. So, I probably won't be back in this thread until I beat that. lol
Wanted to replay the OG FF7 before playing Rebirth, it's been absolutely years. It's still a classic, but I feel like I'm a bit less fond of it and more critical now. I think the game actually kinda peaks in Midgar and never quite hits those heights again. The translation is not particularly great. The minigames swing wildly between ok and absolutely obnoxious.
It's still FF7 though, warts and all. It's never been my favourite FF nor will it be, but you can see the ambitions they couldn't quite realise at the time, so early in their experimentation with 3D hardware. It seems dated now, because it is, but you have to appreciate how revolutionary it was at the time*.
Since this was just a quick replay before Rebirth, I skipped a lot of the side stuff this time round. Sadly, no stupid Knights of the Round combos. In some ways I didn't do myself a favour on that front, because there's a lot of good side content in the game that rounds it out, but I'd rather experience that in Rebirth and Part 3.
I'll briefly dip into the Switch port. It's a ok port and the boosters were nice - 3x speed is an absolute godsend, the game isn't quite as molasses-slow as FF9 but it does drag a bit, disabling encounters is nice for some annoying sections, and I did use the HP/MP/Limit booster to just blast through the final few bosses since I was a little impatient and I know the end of the game extremely well at this point. My biggest issue with it was an annoying menu glitch, where menuing too fast could cause the cursor to skip options, so I was constantly having to try to be artificially slow just to avoid that. So not a perfect port, but it does the job.
Anyway, onto Rebirth, I'm looking forward to seeing what has changed... and to play a modern version of the middle of FF7 that strains less against limitations of technology and experience.
* I will say a certain plot point had already been done arguably better elsewhere, like Phantasy Star.
1.- Great Ace Attorney
2.- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Torna the Golden Country
3.- Live A Live
4.- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
5.- Metroid Fusion
Currently Playing:
1.- Advance Wars: Reboot Camp 1+2
2.- Starship Troopers Terran Command
3.- Star Wars Dark Forces Remastered
Graceful Explosion Machine is a game I'd owned since the Switch's first year, but I never got to finish it between BotW, MK8D, Puyo Puyo Tetris and Splatoon 2.
So I restarted my save file, and buckled down. GEM looks like a sidescrolling shooter, but it has the tempo of a character action game. You're less concerned about finishing the stage, and more about managing your weapon cooldowns in order to reliably chain combos and rack up your score. I might have gotten a little hooked to chasing those full marks, lol.
1. March 3rd: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (9/10)
Why remake Final Fantasy VII? That was the question on everyone’s lips when this project was first announced, close to 10 years ago. A genuine attempt to modernize a classic, but why? For fun? For profit? A way to give fans a new way to relive this truly seminal work? Or a cash-in, profiting off of nostalgia - a not unheard of motivation to remake or remaster a game? With Rebirth, Square truly gets the last laugh. Because this is not nostalgia bait. This is not a cash-in. This is a passion project.
It is being made abundantly clear in every fiber of Rebirth that no one, absolutely no one, loves FFVII more than the people who created it. The amount of love, respect, care and attention to detail that the game contains in order to adhere to the source material is absurd in its impressive, expressive splendor. From how Yuffie humming “I’m so bored, I’m so boooored” in her theme song and Aerith taking Cloud to Kalm’s clock tower, to the grand, imposing sights of the Junon cannon and Gold Saucer, as well as the intense encounters with the undead in the Gi cavern, this is through and through an FFVII-ass FFVII game, in the greatest and most profound way possible.
The game is of course not exempt from criticism. Please be wary of critique that can be very light spoilery regarding overall impressions: In Remake, several liberties were being taken with the source material, to the game’s utter detriment. Not only did it introduce the Whispers and all of the overly complex nonsense they came with, the game also altered some important story moments for the worse. This actively soured the game for me. Rebirth does have plenty of detracting changes to the OG. But while I actively disliked the changes in Remake, they are but minor blemishes and annoyances in Rebirth, mostly due to none of the changes coming near the utter travesty that was the President Shinra scene in Remake.
But otherwise, I just can’t sing praises enough here. The battle system is as good as it’s ever been, the soundtrack rips so unbelievably hard that I can’t possibly comprehend it, the locations are varied and just teeming with life, the characters are so, SO well-realised and written with utmost care, and the game just sports such a sheer feeling of adventure in the best and most JRPG-esque way possible. As far as I’m concerned, Rebirth is a modern classic that raises the bar and stands head and shoulders above every Final Fantasy game that has come out since IX.
Awesome. Storywise there are some iffy bits, but everything Kiryu was fantastic. Gameplay is great. RPG mechanics are improved. One of the better LAD games.
Before playing Origins, I wanted to get into the original first, it’s been… 18 years since I played the GC release? Its still heaps of fun. Unbalanced decks can still overturn you. I also like the fact that we don’t have to listen to the terrible English VA’s.
Finished in 2024 #12: Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Master System)
Why did I play this when I had already finished the fan remake? I dunno. I was bored and wanted something short to play. While I won't call this one as good as the Genesis version, its a neat, more traditional take on Sonic. Don't think I'm excited enough to explore the rest of the 8-bit Sonic library!
I just couldn’t tear myself away from it. I know that it’s pretty much supposed to be a game where you play it in multiple sessions and sort of reflect on it in between, but I was in full binge mode and devoured the entire thing in one go, from Thursday midnight to Sunday night. I think the longest stretch of playtime was Saturday, from 7AM to 3AM.
I just couldn’t tear myself away from it. I know that it’s pretty much supposed to be a game where you play it in multiple sessions and sort of reflect on it in between, but I was in full binge mode and devoured the entire thing in one go, from Thursday midnight to Sunday night. I think the longest stretch of playtime was Saturday, from 7AM to 3AM.
13. Rolled credits on Dragon's Dogma. While the game isn't over and has a fairly intriguing post-game I feel like I need to write about it.
Dragon's Dogma to RPG games is what Deadly Premonition was to survival horror. It's flawed, it's janky, it's often annoying, yet it's an unforgettable experience.
It's pretty clear that developers weren't given budget or time to fully realize their vision: the game (PC version at least) is glitchy, lacks a lot of QoL features, barely has any story or characters, and just sorta ends. Yet despite this, developers had ideas, and in the world where every game feels like same it counts for far more.
Dragon's Dogma feels very inspired by Dark Souls with some obtuse mechanics and strange online play, but instead of just copying ghosts and bloodstains like many did, it instead creates new weird things to toy with: having a party where you can hire other people's "pawns" into your entourage is the biggest change to a real-time RPG formula I've seen in a while, for example.
The battle system is usually cited as the game's biggest thing, and unfortunately it seems I basically missed out on it by playing as a mage. While towards the endgame it was fun, comparing my experience to others now that the credits have rolled it seems that the magic system is a little less interesting than any other fighting style, requiring you to usually stand in one place for a few seconds to cast a spell; few dozen seconds for an advanced spell.
However, even with that, the sheer chaos surrounding me when having four characters on the battlefield was really fun to witness and engage in.
If I were to just list off features of this game as though this were a back of the box it'd sound like a pretty shit game. It doesn't have that many unique quests, and those that it has can just end upon stumbling onto an invisible trigger. It's characters are barely there and I can remember like 3. The inventory system could be way simpler. The enemy roster is fairly small. The story has you complete a few quests before it just decides to end. Everything about this game is just a little annoying. And yet it's the little touches that absolutely elevate it:
The myriad of secrets, choices, discoveries and strange things is incredible. It's a fairly short game, around 30 hours if you do the story and a few quests here and there, and this fact absolutely saves the game that otherwise would be repetitive and slow. I almost want to start a new playthough just to see the quests I missed because I was too busy going forward which led to the deaths of some important NPCs, for example. I won't grade this game because I don't know how. I can SAY bad things about this game and they are objectively pretty meh, but what this game does well it does so well that you'll walk away from it with nothing but feeling of accomplisment or even curiosity for your future playthroughs.
It might not be the best game, but right now it did one thing it needed: it sold me on Dragon's Dogma 2.
I wasn't the biggest fan of the N64 growing up, but I have to admit Blast Corps is a ton of popcorn fun. The N64 jank is there, but instead of bothering me, it just enhances the silliness of monster trucks and giant mecha wrecking crap. We need more Rampage-likes in this world.
Truthfully I find it hard to say too much about a game like this. I played the GBA original and was very fond of it, though it never came across to me as anything but a solid title. Good, but not spectacular.
The same is true for the remake. The level design is still good, with levels regularly requiring speed of thought and speed of reflex to succeed. I'd recommend that anyone who plays this game does so with the intention of getting all the presents in each stage, as that is where the level design shines the most. The Plus levels also help to keep things fresh, even though they are even more bite-sized then the initial set.
This is was all true of the GBA original, but what about the stuff the Switch version brings to the table? The two new worlds slot in very nicely, bringing fresh mechanics and challenges while upping the world count to a nice and round eight. If nothing else I think this shows NST are indeed capable of iterating on this style of Mario vs DK, should it be decided to be followed up in the future.
The game looks nice as well, though admittedly it does feel a little basic coming off of Wonder. Definitely feels like they riffed off of the Super Mario 3D World style in Super Mario Maker 2, though again, it looks fine.
I did enjoy the redone music. I always thought that the original had a solid OST, and the remake elevates it. Mario Toy Company 1 and 3, the Mini Mario level theme, Spooky House 1, Mystic Forest 2 and Twilight City 1 are my personal faves, though I believe Twilight City is one of the worlds that got a new composition entirely? Bit of a weird piecemeal approach but on the whole I have no complaints.
The new CGI cutscenes are also really nice. If Nintendo ever decide to do an in-house animated short or movie, I wouldn't be opposed to them looking like this.
I will say though, it's a little disappointing that some of the dialogue that Martinet recorded isn't in the remake. Having Mario shout "Stop, come back!" between nearly each world is a little boring when the original game mixed things up with different levels of exasperation. Mario doesn't laugh at DK, nor does he ask if he is okay after the original final boss encounter. It's not massively vital but I think these little flashes of character are something that didn't need to be removed.
That being said, I do get why they removed the Toads stamping on DK's hand when he is hanging on to the girder. Even in the original that seemed borderline psychopathic!
In the end I didn't try the co-op feature, nor did I do the Expert levels. I was satisfied and ready to move on. I feel like this is one of those games that, if sold at a lower price or on a discount, it would be a no-brainer for most. I myself managed to get it on a discount.
In this economic climate I can see why some would hesitate however. Which is a shame, as this is a good game - it's just that your mileage may vary on whether or not it's worth the full investment.
In any event, I hope this game does well and convinces Nintendo that a follow-up in this style is something that can be a success. The Lemmings-esque follow-ups didn't really appeal to me at all, and I'd like to see NST take a crack at really pushing this style forward and seeing where it can go.
It'll also be interesting to see if they bring back Pauline for any sequels - though having her as a kidnap victim might seem a bit rote in a post-Odyssey landscape.
I also personally hope they freshen up the artstyle for a successor. Budgetary constraints might prevent this, but if a follow-up can base its style of the boxart of the original GBA/DS boxarts that'd be amazing. I think the DS games did try this, but hopefully they could take it further and really give it a cartoony feel:
So, yeah. Good but unspectacular! I'm glad I revisited this one after two decades, but I don't think it will leave too much of a lasting impression.
Tekken 8 Story Mode
Baldur's Gate III
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
Mario vs Donkey Kong 2024
I’ve been aching to finish FFVII for the last 27 years. It was kind of an elusive white whale to me. I had experienced the entire title through osmosis, and I can’t help but admit the hype made me feel cynical. Playing it now, it absolutely merits it.
FFVII is a SNES RPG with polygons. So much of what makes the title memorable has its roots in the formula Square had concocted to perfection in the mid-90s. It’s a game that understands what makes RPGs a very peculiar storytelling format, and it leans into that with aplomb. The game can be a very ugly mess at times. Square was churning out magic with so little. So much of its initial appeal has its roots on the fact that 3D graphics were the new thing in 1997, and that luster has worn off in the two decades since.
But FFVII is so much more than its exterior. What makes it so memorable is its writing, and fully fleshed world its characters inhabit.
And this is one of the most memorable casts ever created. Cloud may be the poster anime big sword guy, chimaera’d from many sources beforehand. And yet I can’t help but love him and the rest of the gang (Reeve and Cid excluded). I can understand why they have remained well beloved since then.
FFVII is not my favorite FF. I actually think the game part has regressed from what it achieved in the SNES, particularly with level design (the background are a fucking pain to parse). But it’s definitely in the upper echelon of them, and the hype it got was warranted.
It makes me actually sad, having played this now. This title is so particular, so peculiar, so rooted in the kind of company Square was in the nineties. It’s an art piece truly of its era. Advent Children, Crisis Core, Dirge, Remake, etc. FFVII has been milked by its own authors for so long, always searching to reach the same heights. And I fear this is a fruitless endeavor, because the people who made FFVII in 1997 have changed themselves. Even if Nomura and Nojima are still involved with the projects, their impetus is not the same. These are no longer trailblazers trying to make an oeuvre in a new format. They are authors reaping old successes, twisting them for whatever their new interest is.
That’s fine. You are free to revisit old ideas and work with them again. But the focus behind their objectives is different, and it’s why I cannot jive with their new projects, but can fall in love with the original, even a quarter century after the fact.
P.S. I still have to do Ruby and Emerald weapon, but those require so much Materia grinding I might as well just post my thoughts already. Not touching Chocobo Breeding, that’s just stupid.
With my Gold Chocobo and all Weapons dead, I've finally finished Final Fantasy Five plus Two! Proving once and for all that Chocobo Breeding is unnecessary and dumb!
FFVII is now in my top three of mainline FFs. I will revisit it one day to do a true 100% run, but for now, we say goodbye to Cloud and company.
Finished in 2024 #12: Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Master System)
Why did I play this when I had already finished the fan remake? I dunno. I was bored and wanted something short to play. While I won't call this one as good as the Genesis version, its a neat, more traditional take on Sonic. Don't think I'm excited enough to explore the rest of the 8-bit Sonic library!
Not to dampen your enthusiasm, but be prepared for the fact that Sonic 2 8-bit is a mean game that absolutely hates you and will happily show it at every opportunity. Playing on Master System mitigates it somewhat due to the bigger screen (the first boss is basically RNG on Game Gear), but the level design is still horrifically unfair and obnoxious.
And if you don't get all the emeralds - and they're very easy to miss - you get a bad ending and skip the final zone. The bad ending suggests Tails, who is kidnapped in the intro, is dead, but his ultimate fate is left ambiguous. Enjoy!
Finished in 2024 #13: Super Mario World Widescreen
Happy MAR10 Day! As the name of this hack suggests, this is Super Mario World...in widescreen! I played the extrawide mode in pixel perfect mode, meaning we had a 50% boost in horizontal resolution on a 16:9 display. This in and of itself is a technical achievement and is worth trying just to see it in action.
As for how it affects the game, it makes the game both easier and harder. Increased visibility makes certain hazards and platforming challenges easier to anticipate, but enemies spawn in sooner and that can crowd the screen. Add in a touch of emulator lag (I played it on the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro via Retroarch) and I might have had a more difficult time on the whole? I think I'll stick with the original for future playthroughs, unlike how, say, the widescreen Sonic remakes have replaced the originals for me.
Finally a second game completed this year, this was a pleasant surprise! I recently bought a Saturn, and as hardware it's shocking to think Sega ever saw it as a serious competitor to the PS1 or especially to the N64. Virtual Hydlide is a good representative of the system, in that it shows that once you get past the initial impression, there are still good things to be found.
Virtual Hydlide is the Saturn's answer to King's Field. The main difference here is the game has Roguelike as well as Soulslike elements, with procedurally generated maps and item placements. Virtual Hydlide has many flaws and is barely held together, but somehow is compelling enough to make you want to push through them all and see it to the end. I especially loved the visual style and the later dungeons as well as the boss designs.
I haven't tried Hard mode yet, but I would strongly recommend playing on Normal over Easy. Easy is too easy to the point where it becomes boring and uninteresting.
I wasn't the biggest fan of the N64 growing up, but I have to admit Blast Corps is a ton of popcorn fun. The N64 jank is there, but instead of bothering me, it just enhances the silliness of monster trucks and giant mecha wrecking crap. We need more Rampage-likes in this world.
I don't know how to count rogue-likes because I'll never 100% them, but I've beaten quite a few runs so whatever.
A fun time, but not as addicting for me as it is for other people. Balatro is really famous to explain and there isn't much to it, but what's there is great. Basically just counting it here for count's sake.
I feel like I'm bad at completing games and often start on another game before I finish the one I am currently playing.
I have many games that I only have ~10 hours left to go in, maybe I should just pick a month soon where I go through those games.
Anyways, I'm still into puzzles lately.
These are the latest additions to my list:
7: Hexcells Infinite (PC) (23-02)
8: Picross S2 (Switch) (08-03)
9: Picross S+ (Switch) (11-03)
1. Super Mario RPG (Switch)
2. Metroid Fusion (NSO)
3. Super Mario 64 (3D All-Stars, Switch)
4. Dredge (Switch)
5. Baten Kaitos I (Switch)
6. The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (NSO)
7. A Highland Song (Switch)
8. Super Mario Sunshine(3D All-Stars, Switch)
I enjoyed this less this time than I did back in 2020, when I revisited it for the first time since the original release. I can certainly see the positives, including a fantastic hub and some strong early levels like Ricco Harbour. But the game's rushed development is enormously apparent and I have absolutely zero desire to ever attempt 120 shines.
For now I'll prioritise Baldur's Gate 3. When I finish Act One, I'll take a break to play Unicorn Overlord. I'm going to keep playing a shorter game alongside whichever RPG I have on the go, so it's either Chants of Sennaar, Bayonetta Origins or Prince of Persia next.
• A Highland Song
• Baldur's Gate 3 (now playing)
• Baten Kaitos I
• Baten Kaitos II
• Dredge
• EarthBound
• Final Fantasy II
• Final Fantasy III
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
• Metroid Fusion
• Star Ocean The Second Story R
• Super Mario 64
• Super Mario Sunshine
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Super Mario 3D World (+ Bowser's Fury)
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Chants of Sennaar
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Ristar
• Crusader of Centy
• Bayonetta Origins
• Unicorn Overlord
10. Splatoon 3: Side Order
After hundreds of hours of multi-player it's nice to have some PvE content to return to. I feel my time with Splatoon 3 is coming to an end and honestly i'm a bit sad about that. The seasonal updates aren't so interesting to me anymore and the added Salmon Run unlockables are tied behind a monstrous grind that almost feels like a slap in the face to the players.
While I wish there was more variety in Side Order: more objectives, bosses, and rooms, I finished the final palette feeling hopeful that Splatoon will continue to offer fresh singleplayer content in the future. Whether they update The Spire now or save it for a more fleshed out experience in Splatoon 4, I'm excited for the future of this franchise. To feel so hopeful after being on the brink of complete burnout has made Side Order totally worth the price of admission to me.
1. Light Crusader
2. Prehistorik Man
3. Golden Sun/Lost Age
Golden Sun and Golden Sun the Lost Age:
For a GBA RPG, this game still impresses and astounds. Usually with handheld RPGs of this era, you expect a truncated plot and truncated stakes, but no. These games decides to split one classic console RPG in two! And I gotta say, wow does it deliver on the epicness. Even if it isn't the most complex plot it can just hit hard on those base emotions. I love the cast, though they are unnecessarily chatty in the 1st act; thank goodness they fixed that in Lost Age.
The world of Weyward is so interesting, and I love how generally unexplained it all is. There's so much of the past that's left in the dark, and that to me just makes me more invested. Just by Mind Reading people you can see so much, but still be left with more questions. Weird thing to be excited about, but I love unsolved mysteries.
But the meat an potatoes of this game is the djinn and class system. It's poorly explained, and incredibly complex, but the best part about it is that you can stick with the base classes and still have a really good time, albeit one needing maybe just a bit more grinding and brute force. But when you get it, hooo boy do you feel so free. Free to take the whole cast in as many directions as you want, with none being too overpowered. Honestly, spent so much game time just messing around with class combinations.
Glad to knock this one off the bucket list. The praise I heard over the years did not lie about its merits. (Though I am glad both games came to NSO together. I get that it was technical limitations that made them separate games, but I can say I would not have enjoyed being left hanging with Golden Sun 1's ending.)
Credits rolled for me two days ago and damn!! What a wonderful game. The difficulty gets absolutely crazy by the end and you really feel the rhythm while making each jump or dash. The scenarios are beautiful, the music is amazing, the characters are great, and the journey you have with yourself while playing is very emotional.
Forgot that I finished Birth the other day which I guess says almost everything.
I like the way it looks and sounds and feels, a weird, eerie and macabre collection of puzzles that reminded me less of traditional point and click adventures but more something like Gorogoa with its almost dreamlogic-like structure. But while I liked the texture, so to speak, it didn't really do much for me with its abstract exploration of loneliness.
I started up one way and ended up another and while I was going from strange yet familiar place to another, collecting bones and organs, I never felt like there was something connecting what I was doing. I don't regret playing it and it's short enough but other people clearly got more out of Birth than I did
I'm counting Ironcast as finished, because I've gotten my fill. It's a curious mix of turn-based battler with mechs, roguelike and match-3 puzzler. The battle system had potential, but it is weighed down by the progression system. It takes too long to build up a unit that can actually finish a run, and most of the time the game feels like it's more about grinding for those persistent upgrades instead of managing what powerups you get to push through the myriad challenges. Just feels like you don't get a lot of options that you don't specifically grind for. Overall, not bad, but not quite good.
Alien vs Predator (1994 arcade game)
So I was on my way back home from picking up the newest Transformers comic, and I was like, "Why don't I stop by the arcade to play a quick round of F-Zero AX?" When I got there, someone else was using the F-Zero machine, so I figured I'd try something else to pass the time. I ended up choosing this, and... I didn't expect it to be so FUN? I didn't even know this game existed before today!
It's a beat 'em up by Capcom, where you can choose from two Predators, soldier guy, and soldier girl, to fight Aliens and Weyland-Yutani creeps. Lots of great set-pieces, bosses, tons of weapons you can pick up and use... a total blast! I must have spent 1000 yen worth of 100 yen coins. Almost lost all my progress scrambling for my last 100 yen coin during the last boss fight, but I beat it! Was not expecting to just... play through an entire arcade game today, but sometimes that's just how things work out!
Oh, I played that F-Zero AX race afterwards too. Great fun!
1) Signalis
2) Gnosia
3) Sylvie miniature
4) Another Code: Recollection
5) Sonic the Fighters
6) Celeste 64: Fragments of the Mountain
7) Neko Can Dream
8) Spare Parts: Episode 1
9) Dead Names
10) 2/29
11) Alien vs Predator (1994)
I feel like I'm bad at completing games and often start on another game before I finish the one I am currently playing.
I have many games that I only have ~10 hours left to go in, maybe I should just pick a month soon where I go through those games.
I'm the same way. Dedicating a month to finishing games like this is actually a great idea. May give that a try after I eventually get through Xenoblade 3 and FFVII Rebirth.
Another handful of games finished off, so adding some thoughts on them below!
12. Final Fantasy IX (Switch)
I thought this one was great! I got addicted to equipping the different weapons and armor to characters and having them learn the abilities, thought that was a cool addition that maybe makes you stick with a 'worse' statistic item for a bit in order to ensure your character knows a spell it has attached before instantly scrapping it and moving on to the next thing. The synergy system where you trade in / combine older weapons at specific shops to get improved weapons with new abilities was also fun and made me hold onto basically everything in case I might need it to synergize in the future, lol. The characters were almost all very memorable and had fleshed out backstories...the story overall I really enjoyed as well. I didn't do nearly as much of the side content as I could - I started at the end working on the Chocobo digging stuff but at that point it would've been just to find the ultimate weapons for each character and as it ended I already finished the final boss on my first try due to a bit of grinding - which, once again, I'll say I feel so fortunate to have been able to drastically reduce the time I spent grinding, mainly due to the speed up and one hit kill boost I applied to get everyone around level 60 by the end of the game.
Also, I enjoyed how much more readable the backgrounds in this game felt vs. VII which was somewhat hard to parse as far as where you could enter/exit a room; I feel like if VII was released as the third PS1 FF it would've been almost perfect (and I know it's still incredibly well regarded despite that) because they've just iterated and made the gameplay / feel / mechanics so good by this point.
The last thing I want to point out that I really thought was great was how they split the party up at times throughout the story; sometimes in the NES/SNES games they'd split your party up and it felt very arbitrary for whatever reason, and inevitably I'd end up with a group that I just didn't use as often because they were underleveled, which would wind up hurting me at the end of the game - that didn't happen here. Every time the party wasn't 100% together I didn't even really think anything of it because of the way the story progressed, so I felt they did a good job there. Yeah, all in all, really enjoyed my 38 hours with this one, and would be SO down for a remake if that rumor ends up being true!
13. Mega Man 9 (Switch)
Not a TON to say about this one - wanted to play something short before jumping into something longer, and this was next up in the Legacy Collection, so decided to play through it. I had a good time with it, soundtrack is phenomenal, some of the stuff being gone like the charge shot and slide was kind of odd but thank to the checkpoints in the collection I was able to push through. The NEXT game, I had an even BETTER time with...
14. Mega Man 10 (Switch)
I wasn't initially planning on diving RIGHT into the next Mega Man game, but given it has a very short length on HowLongToBeat, plus the fact that it was the last one in the Legacy Collection, I figured I'd knock it out - and I'm so glad I did! I definitely enabled the Easy Mode and because of that it only took me maaaybe 2 hours, but gosh some of those instant-kill spikes being covered made it a much more fun experience for me. Another great soundtrack here, fun bosses, and I thought the stage designs were cool here, too - some stuff that hasn't been done a ton in Mega Man's classic series before (that I can remember). Good time! Wouldn't say that I'm a big Mega Man classic series fan but glad I played through them all, and will have to go grab a copy of Mega Man 11 now to round things out.
15. Halo: Combat Evolved - Anniversary (Xbox Series X)
Okay so this one has been in my backlog for AGES - when I was a kid, I didn't have an Xbox, and was only ever able to play the multiplayer at a friend's house a few times, but I've always wanted to play through the campaigns in this series, so I figured I'd switch things up and give it a shot. And I had a good time with it overall...some nitpicks: I know it's been discussed but I definitely feel like some of the second half of the game is very repetitive in terms of level design (lot of similar looking buildings, corridors, enemies) and it doesn't help that a chunk of the levels have you backtracking through them in basically a straight line. The tiny flood enemies were also kind of a pain, I felt like the shield took a bit too long to start recharging, and The Library level took waaaay way too long - I eventually just started running past the enemies to progress the level instead of wasting my ammo on them. Oh - and not having any kind of sprint made the movement feel super slow, especially in the earlier levels where you have wider areas to roam around - I might have spent a bit longer searching for skulls / those little cutscenes if it didn't take as long to get from A to B. And I also feel like I would've had a better time if I'd played through it in co-op with a buddy. But all that said, the story was interesting, the music was incredible here, and having only played Halo 3 on 360 back in the day I thought it was great hearing the genesis of some of those tracks...I'm glad I played through this one and am looking forward to going through Halo 2 at some point in the near future.
16. Spyro the Dragon (PlayStation 5)
One more shorter game before I dive into something that should take a bit longer - I've had the Reignited Trilogy sitting on my shelf for a while and had never played a Spyro game before so decided to go through this one. I was immediately bummed out by this not having ever received a PS5 upgrade - the 30fps lock and the loading times (not terrible but just not what I'm used to on PS5) were disappointing. That said, I did enjoy this one enough to go get 120% completion and the platinum trophy! The characters (it's basically just Spyro plus 80 dragons which all feel similar, just some of them have accents) were pretty forgettable, the music was enjoyable but nothing noteworthy stuck out; the levels were fun for the most part, but I did feel like I couldn't get the jump/glide timing right at times - sometimes I'd leap from the same platform twice and reach the ledge I was going for once but not the second time. Overall, glad I played this one and will definitely play 2 and 3 from this collection down the road, and I'll keep an eye out for other games in the series when I'm in game shops in the future, but not gonna go out of my way to give them a shot.
Final Fantasy VII (Switch) - 01/06/24
Mega Man 7 (Switch) - 01/08/24
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (Game Boy) - 01/10/24
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (PlayStation 5) - 01/21/24
Final Fantasy VII Remake Episode Intermission (PlayStation 5) - 01/21/24
Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion (PlayStation 5) - 01/28/24
Katamari Damacy Reroll (Switch) - 02/01/24
Picross S: Genesis & Master System Edition (Switch) - 02/01/24
Yakuza Kiwami (PlayStation 5) - 02/12/24
Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii) - 02/17/24
Mega Man 8 (Switch) - 02/18/24
Final Fantasy IX (Switch) - 03/04/24
Mega Man 9 (Switch) - 03/07/24
Mega Man 10 (Switch) - 03/07/24
Halo: Combat Evolved - Anniversary (Xbox Series X) - 03/10/24
Splatoon 3: Side Order (Nintendo Switch) - 2/29/24
Happy Leap Day! Took me over a dozen runs with over half of them being with the Splat Brella...but my first run was completed and the credits rolled. Roguelite as a side mode works really well with Splatoon. EPD5 definitely has some Hades fans because some mechanics to adjust your runs exist here, though it is the opposite of Hades' where it can actually make it easier and more customizable for those that just want to go through runs as quick as possible and bring the rewards to the main turf war and other ranked modes.
All about replayability. Splatoon lore enthusiasts will get a kick outta this too. I'll definitely finish this with all weapons over time.
1. Star Ocean The Second Story R (Nintendo Switch) - 1/1/24
2. Sonic Superstars (PC - Steam) - 1/4/24
3. Shantae (Nintendo Switch) - 1/5/24
4. Shantae Risky's Revenge Director's Cut (Nintendo Switch) - 1/8/24
5. Deathloop (PS5) - 1/18/24
6. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo Switch) - 2/1/24
7. Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary (Nintendo Switch) - 2/13/24
8. Penny's Big Breakaway (Nintendo Switch) - 2/26/24
9. Splatoon 3: Side Order (Nintendo Switch) - 2/29/24
Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen (Nintendo Switch) - 3/12/24
Got this finished in the morning of 3/12 (12/3 for Fami overseas) but this is what I have to say:
"Wolves hunt in packs!"
"They're weak to fire!"
"Hear ye, hear ye!"
"Gran Soren...the beating heart of Gransys"
It took me about 10-15 hours to understand the appeal of this game's flow, the vocation system and how flexible it can be, and of course the pawns. It runs pretty well on the Switch (900p docked and native 720p handheld) despite being 30fps. It's 30fps on all consoles iirc. Combat is straightforward and exploring the world was pretty cool with my squad and taking down cyclops and griffins among other creatures.
I am going to not invest in the postgame as I can tell it will be pretty substantial and the sequel drops next weekend so I'm going to go all in on that one. I'm curious if there will be any call back to this one in the sequel too. Anyway, game is good!
1. Star Ocean The Second Story R (Nintendo Switch) - 1/1/24
As announced on Mar10 Day, the Game Boy Colour version of Mario Golf is now on Switch. As a fan of Mario Golf, I had to give this one a try!
If you've played any Mario Golf game, this one plays the same - the same aiming and power mechanics, the same camera system (just in 2D), and whatnot. The big addition starting with this game was the RPG story mode, which returned in the GBA sequel and more recently in Super Rush. You start as a rookie, clearing tournaments, training up with others, completing minigames and finding secrets, as you try to challenge Mario for the title of Grand Champion. This mode allows you to level up your character the way you see fit (drive, fade/draw, accuracy) - unlike Super Rush, stats will decay over time if not managed carefully, an interesting change.
The game has 5 main courses, with a cute overworld tying them together. If you challenge in-game opponents you unlock hidden areas, which is a nice touch. None of the courses particularly stand out except the final "Mario World" course, which is definitely rather disappointing. Some courses stray towards haphazardly placing trees/bunkers around, which did get a little tiring. That said, the story mode is cute - you do learn a bit about golf (not just the in-game golf mechanics) through solid practice minigames and chatting to NPCs. The former could've done with better indication of what is expected from you, though.
The only major issue is depth perception and estimating your trajectory, given the 2D visuals. Obstacles that seem far away on the map end up being much closer to you than they first appear, while the reverse ended up being true at points! This generally feels a little less "pick up and play" as a result, as it requires better knowledge of how golf plays in real life, particularly to estimate your trajectory. As a result, I did start using a few rewinds here and there towards the end of the game. This is exaccerbated on the "Mario World" course, which has holes designed to resemble Mario characters; neat in theory, but an utter pain to play on as a result!
In all, I did enjoy this, but I don't see myself coming back to it. A solid
7/10.
Yooka-Laylee (05/01/2024, 7/10)
Buckshot Roulette (06/01/2024, 8/10)
Another Code: Recollection (19/01/2024, 8.25/10)
Saga of the Moon Priestess (24/01/2024, 7/10)
Super Kiwi 64: Doomsday [Update] (26/01/2024, 7.5/10)
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (03/02/2024, 8/10)
Mario vs. Donkey Kong (15/02/2024, 8/10)
Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (22/02/2024, 8.5/10)
There are a few legendary video game IPs that have been stuck in limbo for a while, unable to adapt to the shifting trends in video games. Contra is one of those games.
Operation Galuga is a completely ok run'n'gun experience, but so much of it is just "Remember Contra 1?" that it becomes absurd. Contra has had a pretty good video game library through 80s and 90s, and but it seems the game couldn't care less about those games and just tries to be a sequel to Contra 1, which doesn't really make it good because there were already sequels to Contra that were much better games just because they tried to push the series forward.
Operation Galuga does try to add a few new things such as an RPG-like shop where you can spend your credits on upgrades. Not a game-changer, but will likely help those who don't just want to try and beat the same game over and over without some kind of insentive. Weapons can be stacked twice for a more powerful version of the weapon, which is also a pretty cool system. Aside from that, however, I wish it was allowed to be a NEW Contra game.
You know the drill: it starts in a jungle with a base boss, there's a waterfall stage with an alien who keeps swinging its arms around, there's a lab with crushers and an alien hive.
There are a few levels that don't follow directly in Contra 1's footsteps, but more than half of them do, and it's regrettable. Would you want a new Mario game to consist of a bunch of references to the original Super Mario Bros and barely anything else?
The game isn't unpleasant to play, but for some weird reason it completely forgoes games from the series which tried to do more with the formula. Due to that it doesn't even come close to the sheer madness that was Hard Corps and feels stuck in some weird parallel timeline where it's a remake of some beloved game that never got a sequel. When it actually stands on its own two feet it's a really good experience with some good ideas and bosses, but when playing it, it won't be long before it will just toss all that to remind you of an almost 40 year old game.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
