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1. Unpacking (Switch) - 7.5/10
2. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch) - 9.5/10
3. Ori and the Blind Forest (Switch) - 8/10
4. Advance Wars (Reboot Camp) (Switch) - 8/10
5. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (Reboot Camp) (Switch) - 8.5/10
6. Super Mario Sunshine (3D All Stars) (Switch) - 7/10
7. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (Switch) - 8/10
8. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch) - 9.5/10
9. Art of Balance TOUCH! (3DS) - 9/10
10. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) - 8/10
11. New Super Mario Bros. (NDS) - 8.5/10
After replaying NSMB2 earlier in the month, I really wanted to visit the original DS game. This is the only "New" game that I have never beaten (although I played a level or two around the time it originally released). Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot just on the mechanics alone. From enemies to level design to platforming challenges, there just seems to be a lot more variety here than in 2 as well. The mini and mega mushrooms aren't thrilling as far as powerups go, and they aren't utilized a ton, but they're still a little fun. I found the last world weirdly challenging in spots, but maybe I'm just not that skilled at the platforming. Not too bad overall, and quite a solid experience.
A short and cute tribute to Kirby's Adventure with a hint of Yoshi's Island in there. A solid 8/10.
#16 - Otogi Katsugeki Mameda no Bakeru: Oracle Saitarou no Sainan!!
At the tail end of last year, the other Good-Feel office released a game not related to a Nintendo IP, which seems to have gone under the radar even in Japan. Seeing as a Western release is probably not happening, I decided to finally import the game!
Our story starts with Bakeru, a tanooki boy who can disguise himself as a human, rescuing a little child at night. She warns that Japan is being taken over by some sort of "calamity festival", and that you should seek out three heroes who can help. You find them... and they can't be arsed to help out. But you do get their powers, and you're told of the 7 Herb Princesses who can cleanse the land with some sort of healing chant. After defeating the big-bad behind the festival and attempting the chant, the true culprit, a baby 7-tailed fox, is revealed, whom you chase into space for the final confrontation. In all, despite not understanding the story and relying on DeepL, the game generally has some humerous dialog, with some solid characterisation.
The game is a 3D action-platformer, best described as a spiritual successor to Ganbare Goemon with a hint of Kirby and the Forgotten Land / Super Mario 3D Land mixed in. Stages are around 10-15 minutes long, with an emphasis on defeating enemies and engaging in light platforming as you aim to reach the taiko drum at the end of each level. Before the drum unlocks, however, you have to find and destroy three magical lanterns first - levels usually have more than three, though, so you don't need to find them all. I'd wager the level design is somewhat like if you took The Wastes Where Life Began from Kirby and the Forgotten Land and stretched out a bit more, with wider, longer areas complemented by more linear challenges from time-to-time.
Unfortunately, this means that some challenges ("here's a load of enemies, have fun") can feel repetitive across levels, with some areas feeling unnecessarily big at times. That said, each level is visually distinct as you travel across Japan, so it never felt too bad, and the levels which choose to focus more on platforming are very good in comparison (rather than just "good" - there's no levels I would say are poorly designed here).
Bakeru can attack enemies with his bachi (taiko drum sticks), using L / R to hit using the left / right bachi respectively. There's a bit of a combo system, but you'll mostly get by through button mashing. He can also transform using ZL, with each transformation unlocked as you defeat the three heroes in the opening quarter of the game. Bakeru can turn small to fit into tunnels and gain a flutter jump (of sorts), turn into a samurai for improved close-range combat, utilise a magical fishing rod for multi-hit mid-range combat, or don a gun and rollerblade shoes for long-range combat. Using said abilities drains your magic meter, which you can replentish by defeating enemies. Alas, these all feel rather overpowered and trivialise around 50% of enemy encounters, particularly the fishing rod ability. The magic meter doesn't drain fast enough in my opinion, and the fishing rod can cause the FPS to absolutely tank. Thankfully, the game does recognise this and gradually makes enemy encounters harder (e.g., enemies that spot you from far away, or block projectiles), but some underlying balance issues remain in my opinion.
The other issue I do have with the gameplay is the way dashing / dodging works. Both are mapped to Y, where holding it makes Bakeru run, but not before he does a dodge roll first! Trying to run and make tight jumps but instead rolling off into the abyss is rather annoying, as it turns out! I do understand why this was done though, as there are no other buttons left!
Every level has three souvenirs to collect and five facts (about the area of Japan you're in) to find. Don't question why the facts are given by a little child dressed as a yellow turd. In classic Good-Feel fashion there is a lot to collect, but most aren't too onerous to find, particularly in the non-platforming levels. On occasion you'll engage in racing, shooting, or kaiju wrestling matches, which are a fun distraction. The latter has a series of upgrades to unlock, which is nice. Across all levels, the music and visuals are rather nice: while the game does repeat level music (like Yoshi's Woolly World), it does this just infrequently enough to become a problem. Unfortunately, as I alluded to earlier, there are major FPS issues here - and unlike in Princess Peach: Showtime!, these issues do occur during gameplay as the FPS wobbles from 60fps down to 25-30fps. A shame, as the game feels rather snappy by Good-Feel standards otherwise.
Outside of levels, you eventually unlock a ship to navigate Japan with. Here you can buy masks and enter codes from the internet, or marvel at the "Wall of Collectibles". It's nice to see the ship fill up with everyone you rescue, which is nice. The ship also marks the point at which the game becomes non-linear, presenting groups of levels at once which you can tackle in any order you please. Overall the game is pretty nicely paced, with a solid runtime of 12-15 hours for 100% (including some optional boss-fight rematches). While levels are long, the game does place the smaller non-platforming levels in just the right spots to avoid the game feeling like a slog.
In conclusion, Mameda no Bakeru is a solid action-platformer and follow-up to Ganbare Goemon. Unfortunately, some balancing issues, repetitive enemy encounters and FPS woes are a solid dent on an otherwise well put together game. Without FPS issues this'd be an 8/10, but alas I must dock some points so this gets a - still very good -
7.75 / 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)
And Yet It Moves (27/02/2024, 6.5/10)
Mario Golf (GBC) (15/03/2024, 7/10)
Psalm 5:9-13 (17/03/2024, 8/10)
Crypt of the Necrodancer: SYNCHRONY [DLC] (18/03/2024, 8/10)
I've played Sifu a ton before but never to the end so I started a new save and finally finished it between the longer stuff I'm playing. A fun and short game about a martial artist taking revenge on the killers of their father, running through five levels and beating the shit out of a variety of goons and cool bosses. You start out at the age of 20 and whenever you die you can be resurrected and age a little bit (max age is somewhere in the 80s I think). Every 10 years your damage grows a bit and your health decreases. Pretty simple but effective concept. I'm not massively into roguelites but I do enjoy it when it's somehow incorporated into the story in a diegetic way like it is here. You gain exp from defeating enemies and use it to unlock different skills. If you unlock a skill a set amount of time across multiple runs, you unlock it permanently but the older you are the fewer skills you can unlock.
The combat system feels somewhat similar to the Arkham games like the dev's debut Absolver it has much more depth in the way you can chain attacks, break defenses and also get stopped in return. It strikes a real nice balance of making you feel empowered by letting you take down some regular enemies in three hits and mixing in some more difficult ones. This gives the game a nice back and forth where you have to constantly pay attention and gives it this nice martial arts movie feeling. The bosses are a highlight and where the game really pushes you to use everything you've learned.
Another thing I really liked was the visual presentation. The five stages are fairly generic martial arts settings: Slums, a night club, a museum... and full of references to iconic movies. But they also do a lot of neat tricks to blend (in-game) reality with fiction. At one point you're running through a series of rooms with funky light and run into two mini-bosses. You defeat them, a door opens up, you walk through it and then you're standing in the middle of a snowy mountain path. Occasionally you unlock shortcuts and sometimes you get keys that unlock doors in previous stages. It's stuff like that and the aforementioned mechanics that keep the game fresh and interesting despite its limited scope.
I feel like some people skipped it because of the roguelike elements but it's honestly not that bad and on the lowest difficulty you can basically brute force your way to the end. Though it's obviously much cooler if tear into everyone like a wizened martial arts master.
Mario Sunshine Surprisingly controlled way better than expected and wasn't that hard. From the thing i have heard people talk of this game, i genuinely expected something way harder.
The setting of the game was a welcome surprised as well as the hub world, being one of the best.
Overall an 9/10 Xenoblade chronicles 3 quite possible the biggest surprised i have ever experience with how beautifully the story is told, especially the ending. Like i had zero expectation, but ended with one of the best JRPG i have ever played, rivaling with nier automata.
Easy 10/10, absolute cinema Mario 64 It was fun, would give it a 8/10.
Rise of the Tomb Raider Was a fun action game, with a decent story, but the gameplay and visual were improved greatly, compare to the first game. Also the set pieces were extremely fun.
Hey hey, my first post on Famiboards! (months after making my account...)
Anyhoo, I went a little crazy during the eshop sale last December, and I had plenty left to play even before that. Tagging this to come back to and keep a record of everything I finish this year. I don't have a ton of time at home, but I'm hoping I can get some good play time in during my work commutes. Just have to keep myself off Pokemon long enough to finish other stuff.
2024 Completed List: Pokemon Scarlet: Indigo Disk
Light Fall
Pokemon Ultra Sun
Finally finished something else!
... And it's more Pokemon. I figure, if I can't keep myself off my shiny hunting addiction in what little time I do have, then I'll at least play stuff while I'm running Dynamax Adventures.
... And since I was shiny hunting anyway, might as well play another game that might further it, hence Ultra Sun. I played the original Sun back when it came out, but it was actually pretty fun going through this again. I didn't realize quite how many story changes there were, but they didn't do a whole lot for me to be honest. On the other hand, I forgot just how pretty this was! Newer Pokemon models obviously look much better, but I think this is one of the best looking 3DS games out there. I'll be listening to a few of those city themes for awhile, too. Glad I gave it another run, and it's left me with a desire to finish revisit some other older titles as well.
That said, I'm guessing I'll finish Tales of Symphonia next? Been playing the remaster through Steam, and I'm getting fairly close to the end, I think.
1. Light Crusader
2. Prehistorik Man
3. Golden Sun/Lost Age
4. Quest for Camelot (/)
5. Mario Golf GBC (/)
6. ToeJam and Earl
7. Gargoyle's Quest
(/) =Half Complete, when I use excessive rewind.
Gargoyle's Quest NSO.
For an early Gameboy game, this is actually some really solid stuff. It's short, hard but not unfair, and has really good control.
The first time I ever heard of this game was back in 2019 on Jeremy Parish's youtube channel when he was just doing Gameboy World and it always looked cool to me but I just never really had the mind to go out and seek it. But the opportunity came when this masterpiece dropped on Gameboy NSO... only for me to put it off for a year more. (What can I say, I had options.) Having played the SNES sequel first, I gotta say going back to this first entry is not as jarring as I thought it'd be.
Firebrand controls really well and to match the more simple controls and physics, the levels and enemy designs feel perfectly suited for his limitations. You never feel like you're suffering from a lot of the early gameboy jank you'd expect from a game released in the first year but that's just that early Capcom quality for you.
I finished OVERLORD: ESCAPE FROM NAZARICK.
A metroid like, which I 100% in around 10 h.
The game had a fine game flow, but also has a bad map, I think sometimes performance issues
and 3 times a got a force close of ti.
I do not know why it would have performance issues, since neither the graphics are to complex nor has it large areas
loaded at a time or many effects or enemy's on screen.
If you told me this was form the vita or 3ds I would think it is possible to run it on those machine.
Two of the force close were after fast traveling, which after I allways saved before. There are plenty of Save points.
It has different difficult settings. I played on normal, but besides at the first boss, which took around three tries it was never to hard.
With the different available Weapons, you have the ability to switch up your game style, so that it not always the same.
Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley: Good soundtrack and pretty graphics, not very exciting gameplay. I played through this with our son and think he enjoyed it more than I.
Toem (+ DLC):
not exactly my type of game. Cozy vibes, but very checklisty gameplay.
Donkey Kong Country 3 (103%): started playing on NSO on a whim and went for full completion. This was one of the later SNES games, and one that I ended up playing a lot since we never got an N64, and a Playstation only when the PSone had released. I only had a vague memory of the postgame stuff, so it was nice to go through that again.
Vampire Survivors: I saw the fireworks and I guess that counts. One could continue this game forever I suppose, but I feel this was a pretty good note to end on.
Just finished Persona 5 Royal after 115 hours, the first Persona game that I play.
I'm not the gamer that value story over gameplay, but I really enjoyed the game due to its great story and characters. The main cast was great and after so many hours it really felt like you've spent a whole school year with them.
The gameplay was good, but I expected more. I think it was really, really easy even on Hard. Unlike SMTV were I put a lot of thought in fusing personas in P5R I just fused without caring at all. The palaces were interesting, but mementos was lame as hell imo.
The story was legit great but
I really didn't like anything that happened after Shido's defeat. Up until that point the game had an almost realistic take on the jrpg genre with a bunch of teens battling corrupted and influential adults. Then suddenly the game introduces a holy grail God and becomes a jrpg clichefest of our team saving the world from a malevolent entity. On top of that nothing seemed to change even after defeat. IMO Shido's defeat would be the ideal point of ending the story.
11) Klonoa Door to Phantomile
Man, did not expect the story to swerve that way. Fun quick platformer tho if it was that tricky in easy mode I’m sure base settings would’ve driven me nuts
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
9)Star Wars Starfighter SE
10) EDF2025(ranger normal)
1) The Last of Us Part I (PS5) 2) The Last of Us Part I - Left Behind DLC (PS5) 3) God of War (PS2) 4) Tetris Effect Connected (PC) 5) Trials HD (XSS) [Replay] 6) Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck) 7) Need for Speed Underground (PS2) [Replay] 8) The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PS5) 9) 13 Sentinels - Aegis Rim (NSW) 10) Penny’s Big Breakaway (Steam Deck) 11) Jusant (XSS) 12) Froggo’s Adventure: Verdant Venture (Steam Deck) 13) Pokémon Crystal Legacy (GBC)
14) Halo: Combat Evolved (Steam Deck) [Replay]
If this isn't a lovely little blast from the past, then I don't know what would be.
I got an Xbox in eighth grade, right after the release of Halo 2. I spent hundreds of hours in Halo 2, not only online, but also playing the single player campaign over and over and over. Naturally, I had to check out the first game since I loved the sequel so much. So I went on to play that game's single player campaign over and over. I couldn't tell you how many times I've beaten the first Halo, but it was enough that even after at least fifteen years, I knew every line of dialog, every story beat, and every enemy encounter. Playing it again felt like coming home.
Halo CE is a straight-up fun game. This is a console FPS perfected. Level design leaves a bit to be desired, and there's something to be said about how the back half of the game is literally nothing but backtracking, but none of that matters when the core gameplay is as fun as it is here. Every weapon feels good to use, the different grenade types offer a lot in terms of strategy, and enemy encounters are dynamic in a way that is beyond impressive for a game from 2001. This time around, I even found the infamous Library to be an absolute blast. Shotgunning Flood in the face while that smug little blue ball happily calls himself a genius is wonderful.
I do have a criticism to make about the writing and voice acting, though - they're both bad. Shockingly bad. This is something that improves as the series goes along, but some of the lines (and line reads) from Cortana are just awful here.
One of my favorite games of all time is the Return of the Obra Dinn. Case of the Golden Idol doesn't reach those heights, but it is a game in the same vein in a genre that is not very replayable so it is very muh appreciated. All of the nasty Britisher characters give the game a distinctive feel and the mysteries are fun to figure out. I recommend it to anyone who likes solving mysteries.
I played through the Lemurian Vampire DLC. Apparently I should have played through the other one first, but it was enjoyable enough. The story felt more like an appendix than a story in it's own right and the visuals were much worse than the base game however so I'm not sure how quickly I'll play the Spider of Lanka.
I needed a break between long games so I've just been playing some nice chill games I can finish in a sitting or two recently. Been on bit of a Game Pass tear.
Last weekend I beat Jusant. Beautiful artistic direction and very interesting mechanically. I do wish they pushed the mechanics a bit further and had some more intricate, varied puzzles, but that would probably go against the relaxing vibe they were going for. There was also some incredibly interesting worldbuilding in here. The attention to detail in how the language evolved to incorporate sailing terms and other things that would logically be important to them was especially fascinating. But it's a short game, and most of it is background story that's told through letters you find scattered around, which is a bit of a shame. The actual present time story in the game is still nice (and minimal), but kinda generic. Personally preferred the early game stuff to the turn it takes later on, where the Journey inspiration becomes a little too on the nose. Anyway, lovely game that I do recommend.
Today I beat both Venba and A Short Hike. They're both very short games, an hour to an hour and a half each. And I'm a bit late to the party on the latter. But I did enjoy both. Especially Venba - it told a very poignant story that touched me quite deeply. There were some real heartbreaking moments in there. I also love cooking, so the light puzzle gameplay of piecing recipes together from partial instructions was more engaging than would appear mechanically on the surface. It was a wonderful way to celebrate a culture and relate some very personal feelings. And the food looked delicious, so I might actually try to make some of it now! Also... the soundtrack was surprisingly banging. And not the type of stuff you typically hear in video games. Seriously, give some of it a listen here
I've compiled a list of smaller games on Game Pass that I'm gonna tackle the rest of the weekend. Over the next couple of days I might try to finish some combination of Firewatch, Dordogne, Superliminal and Unpacking.
About to start a riot in here: I just fully replayed Yoshi's Island for the first time since I was a kid, mostly ignoring the collectibles in the hopes that would make it a better experience. Instead this revisit had the opposite effect and my opinion of the game fell drastically.
It's aggravating as hell. Much messier level design and so much meaner than Mario despite technically being "easier" due to how hard it is to actually die for most of it. Very few levels resemble cleanly designed platforming courses that don't sprawl in all directions and drown you in enemies. Those few and some of the more clever castles are probably my favorites (the ones that set you loose on a key hunt in a big open area or have minutes-long platform rides not so much). Most of it is kind of like a Good Feel game that kicks the shit out of you instead of just letting you vibe. I get the sense that because its mechanics are so generous with the flutter jump and the health timer, a lot of things were allowed to fly here that wouldn't be in Mario. ...Also the transformations are ass, but I think everyone already agreed on that.
It's not actively bad, but of all the Nintendo platformers on the SNES I'd place this almost dead last, above only Dream Land 3.
About to start a riot in here: I just fully replayed Yoshi's Island for the first time since I was a kid, mostly ignoring the collectibles in the hopes that would make it a better experience. Instead this revisit had the opposite effect and my opinion of the game fell drastically.
It's aggravating as hell. Much messier level design and so much meaner than Mario despite technically being "easier" due to how hard it is to actually die for most of it. Very few levels resemble cleanly designed platforming courses that don't sprawl in all directions and drown you in enemies. Those few and some of the more clever castles are probably my favorites (the ones that set you loose on a key hunt in a big open area or have minutes-long platform rides not so much). Most of it is kind of like a Good Feel game that kicks the shit out of you instead of just letting you vibe. I get the sense that because its mechanics are so generous with the flutter jump and the health timer, a lot of things were allowed to fly here that wouldn't be in Mario. ...Also the transformations are ass, but I think everyone already agreed on that.
It's not actively bad, but of all the Nintendo platformers on the SNES I'd place this almost dead last, above only Dream Land 3.
About to start a riot in here: I just fully replayed Yoshi's Island for the first time since I was a kid, mostly ignoring the collectibles in the hopes that would make it a better experience. Instead this revisit had the opposite effect and my opinion of the game fell drastically.
It's aggravating as hell. Much messier level design and so much meaner than Mario despite technically being "easier" due to how hard it is to actually die for most of it. Very few levels resemble cleanly designed platforming courses that don't sprawl in all directions and drown you in enemies. Those few and some of the more clever castles are probably my favorites (the ones that set you loose on a key hunt in a big open area or have minutes-long platform rides not so much). Most of it is kind of like a Good Feel game that kicks the shit out of you instead of just letting you vibe. I get the sense that because its mechanics are so generous with the flutter jump and the health timer, a lot of things were allowed to fly here that wouldn't be in Mario. ...Also the transformations are ass, but I think everyone already agreed on that.
It's not actively bad, but of all the Nintendo platformers on the SNES I'd place this almost dead last, above only Dream Land 3.
About to start a riot in here: I just fully replayed Yoshi's Island for the first time since I was a kid, mostly ignoring the collectibles in the hopes that would make it a better experience. Instead this revisit had the opposite effect and my opinion of the game fell drastically.
It's aggravating as hell. Much messier level design and so much meaner than Mario despite technically being "easier" due to how hard it is to actually die for most of it. Very few levels resemble cleanly designed platforming courses that don't sprawl in all directions and drown you in enemies. Those few and some of the more clever castles are probably my favorites (the ones that set you loose on a key hunt in a big open area or have minutes-long platform rides not so much). Most of it is kind of like a Good Feel game that kicks the shit out of you instead of just letting you vibe. I get the sense that because its mechanics are so generous with the flutter jump and the health timer, a lot of things were allowed to fly here that wouldn't be in Mario. ...Also the transformations are ass, but I think everyone already agreed on that.
It's not actively bad, but of all the Nintendo platformers on the SNES I'd place this almost dead last, above only Dream Land 3.
I like it a fair bit more than you but I find it funny how hard people try to rationalize the aggravating design in that game. And i'm not talking about the baby crying, I mean like the tons and tons of overly long, bad levels that are almost meant to troll you out of your 100% completion. I don't think Nintendo is good at making completionist games in general but Yoshi's Island is particularly frustrating, because I actually like the concept of basing it off how good the player is at playing, but it does it so poorly.
Finished Unicorn Overlord and Crypt Stalker. Crypt Stalker is a short but pretty good Castlevania clone. Definitely worth the asking price. Unicorn Overlord is definitely my GOTY so far which is surprising because the game didn't click at first but definitely one of those games that make you sad that it is over.
1. Another Code 1
2. Another Code 2
3. Saga of the Moon Priestess
4. Mystery Switch game. (A good 2d platformer game. Not a banned game.)
5. Mario Vs. Dk
6. Apollo Justice
7. Dual Destinies
8. Spirit of Justice
9. Star Ocean 2 Second Story R
10. Princess Peach Showtime
11. Unicorn Overlord
12. Crypt Stalker
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.
It's a goddamn disgrace we hadn't had a game like this since the N64, but what a comeback. It is too early to say how it will be remembered, but for myself, this is the most addictive strategy RPG I have ever played.
I was very skeptical about the game when I first played the demo due to all the tutorials. Unicorn Overlord has to introduce so many mechanics and systems it can be an overwhelming to learn all of them. But the moment you get to the free-form exploration, it feels liberating.
The game has a very strong core loop where you engage in liberation quests, which ensure you raise your rank which then lets you expand your army. On top of the natural character progression, it sells the idea of building a resistance from nothing extremely well.
What I love most is that a lot of it is actually not mandatory. You’re given a lot of freedom on how you proceed, even if the game encourages you to do a critical path. I ended up getting Rosalinde way before I was supposed to, and I imagine you can recruit Bestrals early too.
I ended up spending over 115 hours just on this. I could have shortened that time a lot by skipping a lot of the optional quests or even the battle animations, but Unicorn Overlord is a game brimming with passion from every corner that I couldn’t bring myself to do that.
This is one the prettiest games ever made. The art, animation, and level of commitment to every aspect of the presentation is palpable. It’s no wonder it almost bankrupted Vanillaware, because they made a project with an amount of dedication that other devs would have flinched at. That it came out like with obvious cut content (rapports are very underdeveloped, on top of the hot spring mechanic I have often mentioned) yet still feel so complete is telling of the amount of stuff to do. And whether you want to engage with all of that or not is liberating.
I’m more of a mechanics than a narrative guy, so I guess it’s not surprising that I haven’t mentioned much of the story. It’s definitely not something on the caliber of Matsuno, but what it lacks in complexity it makes in texture. The continent of Fevrith is full of details. Every town has a purpose. The archive repository has entries for so many characters and details that help make it feel like a fully realized world. I spent hours just reading the encyclopedia, something which I last did in FFXII?
Such richness in world building makes it easy to overlook the relatively simple plot. Unicorn Overlord is not a very surprising narrative, but its characters and setting are so well realized it allows you to get engrossed into it easily. I don’t know if Vanillaware will make a continuation. There are some hints of places where they could work on a prequel, but considering how long this project took, I cannot imagine they’re eager to revisit the concept.
With that said, I think they absolutely nailed this concept. It may not be Ogre Battle or Fire Emblem, but its mixture of both branches of strategy, on top of the love poured into the project at every level, makes it something unforgettable.
nIghts INTO dREAMS: It was awesome to play another Sonic Team game during their prime, you can really see their creativity flowing here. It reminded me of when I played Klonoa in just how unique the visuals, music, and gameplay all are. Granted, I do absolutely suck at it, but at least I did better then Sonic and the gang. 7.5/10, wish I could rank it higher but it’s just too short IMO, maybe the sequel is longer IDK
Almost without realizing I had made it to the end of Minishoot' Adventures so I had to quickly finish it. It's basically a twin-stick shooter wrapped in a Zelda-like structure. Pretty neat and well-executed concept with fun dungeons and bosses. Though I didn't particularly care for the experience based upgrade system. I also realized that the theming is quite important to me in games like this. The little space ships work here but they obviously don't have that much character. Still, it was enjoyable nevertheless so I did everything except the post-game stuff.
Metroid Fusion (NSO): Great game and great music, although I had a hard time getting used to the slow and clunky movement coming from Dread. Also, I feel like offensive upgrades are mostly irrelevant as most (late) game bosses are inmune to those; It seems like they are designed mostly for further exploration, which is completely fine. Oh, and thank Arceus for the NSO's rewind feature, otherwise I probably would have quit the game a few bosses ago. Can't wait for Metroid 6.
I debated on whether to class these two as a single game or not, as they're so linked to one another in terms of story, gameplay, and so on. However, after thinking, I feel the differences between the two - and the time difference between finishing both - are enough for me to count them as two different experiences in a way I wouldn't for, say, Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
GAME 20: Another Code: Recollection - Two Memories
Nintendo Switch | Finished 07/04/24 | 4 Hours Played | 6/10
Of the two games in this 'recollection', this is - unsurprisingly, given its early DS-game origins - the one with far less 'meat' on its bones. Yet, I still had a fairly decent time running through its relatively short length. One that was chill, and easy, enough to never present anything too tedious or poor (despite the one awful motion-controlled puzzle early on in the game). It's a highly self-contained experience, limiting itself to a tiny cast of characters, and what is ostensibly just a single - rather repetitive - house environment throughout. Whilst I appreciate this in a sense, it did make it so that some of the emotional beats it wanted to go for weren't really hitting. Having only a single alive character to interact with through most of the title means a lot of the two main ones going "I remember this!" followed by a However, the story's concepts are intriguing - grasping topics darker than I really expected, whilst still keeping things light enough - and as my experience with the second game shows, it sets up a lot of things that would later get better payoffs. It's very much a 'Prologue' in that sense, which is strange to think of considering its standalone original.
As for gameplay, there's similarly little to be said here. Its puzzles are few in number, and simple-yet-satisfying to solve. Its third-person 'Life is Strange' style of navigation works well in helping the world feel more 'real', but the really quite poor camera controls definitely let it down. Overall though this isn't a game you really play for its gripping puzzles or anything; it's something to relax with after a brutal, blood-pumping ride like Sekiro. The teacups to Sekiro's hyper-coaster.
GAME 21: Another Code: Recollection - A Journey Into Lost Memories
Nintendo Switch | Finished 14/04/24 | 7 Hours Played | 7/10
Where the first game felt like a 'Prologue', this feels far more akin to a full game in its own right. It copies over all the gameplay conceits from the former, whilst expanding greatly on its cast, location variety, story variety, and so on. Even had two puzzles that had me thinking a fair bit, which was nice after breezing through so many beforehand. Though, again, it has one particularly awful motion-controlled puzzle (where you have to tilt your controller a specific way to unlock a door) that simply did not work.
Either way the story's what matters most here, and this game's cast of likeable characters throughout - ones that are far more proactive in what they want and do - makes for a more engaging time overall. Whilst its story shares many of the same themes as the first, it expands on them to offer more interesting questions and more genuinely emotional moments. There's a lot of warmth here, even if said warmth is a bit shallow at times. The setting's also quite nice as well, putting its clearly low-budget to good use to create a really cozy area to explore. If there's one thing I'd say the first did better, it's that it let things breath more between long dialogue sequences; a lot of this second title is going from one long conversation to another. Nice conversations with fairly decent voice acting, mind you, but long.
Overall though there was clearly a lot of love for the source material in these two remakes. Something obvious in the overall experience's wonderfully-presented credits roll. I may be weird for it, but something like that can really elevate an experience for me. Any which way, I'm glad that I looked over these games' niche presentation, as I found the whole package to be a worthwhile, cozy, time.
1) The Last of Us Part I (PS5) 2) The Last of Us Part I - Left Behind DLC (PS5) 3) God of War (PS2) 4) Tetris Effect Connected (PC) 5) Trials HD (XSS) [Replay] 6) Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck) 7) Need for Speed Underground (PS2) [Replay] 8) The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PS5) 9) 13 Sentinels - Aegis Rim (NSW) 10) Penny’s Big Breakaway (Steam Deck) 11) Jusant (XSS) 12) Froggo’s Adventure: Verdant Venture (Steam Deck) 13) Pokémon Crystal Legacy (GBC) 14) Halo: Combat Evolved (Steam Deck) [Replay]
15) Pocket Tennis Color: Pocket Sports Series (NGPC)
My first Neo Geo Pocket game! This is the Retro Handhelds Discord Game of the Week, where each week they pick a different game to play, and the only requirement is that it takes less than two hours to beat. I might start doing more of these, as a way to broaden my retro horizons.
Pocket Tennis Color is a game that came out for the NGPC in 1999. There’s not much on offer here: eight characters, a few different courts, and two game modes - Exhibition and Tournament. Gameplay-wise, it’s not super deep; you can choose between a standard shot and a lob, and the CPU is pretty easy to beat by just playing the corners. The visuals and audio are pretty darn good. Visually, it looks like a GBC game, but they added a pseudo-3D effect to the ball when it goes up and down. It looks cool and makes this game stand out from a game like Mario Tennis. The music tracks are short and loop often, but they’re so catchy that I never got annoyed with them.
There’s not much on offer here in terms of depth, that’s for sure. It’s a fun game to check out, though; especially if you like tennis games.
6. Captain Tsubasa: Rise of the New Champions (3/10)
I just... I don't get why it's so hard to make a good Tsubasa game. Just make some kind of arcade version of FIFA with Tsubasa characters and a mode with a light story that get you through a championship or something. This is not too far from this ideal, in a way, but the story is far too prevalent for a football game, with scripted events during matches that ruin all the fun. You can play really well and then the game will make you take some goals just because it adds drama, it's annoying. The gameplay is not awul on paper, but it's not really fun to play because there is a weird input lag and also because it runs like shit on Switch. The game also made me realize that, despite all my love for Tsubasa, Yōishi Takahashi is a pretty bad character designer. A lot of them straight up look like they're the same dude but with different haircuts or small facial characteristics.
7. Unicorn Overlord (6,5/10)
I liked it but at the same time found it quite underwhelming. Obviously the art style is great (despite some kinda lame character design choices), and it's very solid in terms of gameplay, both during battles and in the overworld. The gameplay loop is very addictive, albeit a bit repetitive and it quickly became the game I played while listening to podcasts. But at the same time you have a lot of depth to it, you have to compose your units, "program" them to act in combat and manage equipment, which is great (but can feel overwhelming at first).
What I really disliked, though, is the writing : both the story and the characters are extremely basic. Which is not necessarily a flaw for a strategy game: a lot of times the character design and the gameplay is what gets you attached to the characters (I don't know if that's clear, but in Fire Emblem, for example, wyvern riders are strong in attack but weak in defence, so you have to protect them on the battlefield, which can be revealing of the character and also allow you to compensate in your head for the simplicity of the visuals by making up little stories and relationships). But here, since you have multiple characters in units, too many of them, and too many classes as well, it's hard to get attached to them. They just feel like pawns used to get to the goal. So, without personal involvement, I went through the game basically in "auto mode", especially in its second half, and I was kinda sick of it by the end.
8. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (9,5/10)
I won't be too long on this, because @Plum basically summed up my thoughts on the game, but what a great experience! I had some friction with it here and there, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a real tour de force. The work on the music is wonderful, the combat system is still so great, I really loved the writing (especially the work on the characters, and especially how they wrote Yuffie, who behaves exactly how a teenager would in a group of adults), and even clearing out each of the maps didn't felt like a chore to me. I had pleasure doing everything the game was offering me, and loved it from the first minute to the last. Or almost, because the last dungeon is a bit too long and uninspired. And that ending... just wow.
Aerith's death (?) was so much more moving to me in this than in the original. There is especially one moment after she dies that floored me: you're into combat, this is playing, and every character enters combat with their limit break full because they're sad and angry that their friend is dead, except for Cloud because he believes she's still alive. This is simple but it made me cry so much. And I also cried when Cloud and Zack where reunited because I just love the dynamic between those two.
The three or four years between now and the last part of the trilogy will be long.
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1. Hentai Golf (0/10)
2. Hitman: Blood Money – Reprisal (6/10)
3. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All (7,5/10)
4. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (10/10)
5. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations (8/10)
6. Captain Tsubasa: Rise of the New Champions (3/10)
7. Unicorn Overlord (6,5/10)
8. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (9,5/10)
12. Halo 3 [Master Chief Collection] (Steam Deck/PC): Not gonna lie, I'm finding this series as a whole frustrating because I keep coming so close to really liking these games, but they just keep ending up one third "this is actually pretty fun" and then two thirds "complete slog", ranging anywhere from "keep throwing yourself at a sea of enemies until things happen to fall into place and you reach the next checkpoint by sheer luck, except also the checkpoint sometimes just decides not to trigger for some reason" to "figure out what you're meant to do/where you're meant to go via unhelpful instructions and poorly-signposted level design". The clever part is that they're very good at making sure the third of it that's actually pretty good always bookends the games and sorta smooths over your overall impression by playing some cool electric guitar over a get-hype set-piece. I just wish the visual language of this series gelled with me more
Anyway, drive-by one-liner I thought of halfway through: More like Mid-ster Chief, amirite? Gottem
13. Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (PC): Fallen Order is a pretty fun time that mostly hits the right notes; there's some frustrating elements that I think could have been smoothed over, some story beats that feel out of place or rushed, and there's some major "the everyman main character is by far the least-interesting part of the cast" syndrome (seriously, what is it with Respawn and pairing cardboard cutout-tier dudes with bursting-with-personality robot sidekicks?). I also kinda felt like the game was setting up a "was told he can trust only in the force -> learns that no, actually he can trust his friends" arc for Cal that it never really brought to a head. Overall it's the kind of game where I had fun pretty much mainlining the 15-ish hour story with the occasional poking around here and there, but it's also not exactly something that left me raring for more or eager to dive into the sequel right away
One complaint that isn't exactly unique to this game and veers more towards the dreaded "straight-up just talking about Star Wars on the internet" danger zone, but I can't not mention it: Star Wars is just so reliant on stories about Jedi that somehow escaped "the purge" and I'm over it. Like I get it, they're written into a corner because the Original Trilogy iconography is so emblematic of the franchise and obviously everyone wants to play as the super-powered space wizards with laser swords because, well, duh. But every time they play this card, it makes it seem even goofier that the original movie had people calling the force a hokey dead religion or that you had dudes like Han Solo thinking the Jedi are made up when in practice it feels like you couldn't go 5 feet without tripping over a Jedi "in hiding" waving a lightsaber around and picking fights with Darth Vader. And that's not even getting into the concept of Inquisitors; now it's not just Vader publicly Sith-ing it up but a whole gaggle of evil magic laser sword folks are also in play because ... reasons. At this point I'm gasping for a new Star Wars game that's neither about an Order 66 survivor nor set during the Empire's rule
Also on the second visit to Kashyyyk, I made a note in my phone that simply reads "This game is just Skyward Sword but Star Wars". Make of that what you will
14. Virtual Boy Wario Land (3DS): The release of Red Viper, a Virtual Boy emulator for the 3DS that supports stereoscopic 3D, finally gave me the incentive to start checking out that system's library. And naturally, VB Wario Land seemed like the place to start, since it's the one Virtual Boy game where the consensus is "no really, it's actually pretty good".
It definitely plays more like a sequel to Mario Land 3: Wario Land than the Wario Land 2, 3, and 4 that would come later; levels are mostly linear with no branching pathways, there's more conventional power-ups rather than transformations, that kind of thing. My overall impression is that yeah, VB Wario Land is pretty good for what it is, but also that if this was the best the Virtual Boy had to offer then I can kinda see why it didn't catch on. I will say that the 3D is pretty neat though; 3DS games didn't really wow me all that much tbh, but here the effect really pops in an impressive way. Maybe something to do with the simpler color palette making it more noticeable?
Also y'know that meme about Cloud wondering why Tifa doesn't wear her cowboy hat anymore? That's me but about Wario and his safari hat. They should bring that back
15. Demon Turf (Steam Deck/PC): So I'm gonna have a lot to say about this game, largely because it's kinda 3 games in one and I wanna gush about all of them, but the bottom line is this game rules. I think it might genuinely be my favorite 3D platformer ever outside of Nintendo's and Rare's output, and even then it's still competitive with some of their stuff. Where a lot of recent 3D platformers (esp. in the indie space) are largely looking backwards and kinda center their whole pitch around "hey, remember the '90s?", Demon Turf brings its own style and personality that feels wholly its own and does so with a really refreshing level of confidence; a true hidden gem that deserves to be talked about more
The main game. In my experience, it's really hard for a game to make a bad first impression and then win me over, but that's exactly what this game managed to pull off. 3D platformers are maybe my favorite genre, and as a result I've played my share of indie collect-a-thons in my day; I'm pretty used to them starting off promising and then sorta fizzling out. By the end the first world, I kinda got the sense that's what Demon Turf was gonna be. By the end of the second world, I found myself reconsidering. By the end of the third world, I was kinda in love. Demon Turf is the rare instance of a game that just kept getting better the more I played it. I'm really not usually the 100% completion type, especially not when that involves any kind of speedrunning or beating par times (something Demon Turf is big on), but believe me when I tell you I got every dang achievement in this game and would have been happy to keep going
In terms of what it actually is, the main campaign has sorta a Mario Galaxy-esque set-up, with most levels trending towards linear platforming challenges but also occasionally taking a more open-ended approach. The biggest hook outside of the art style (a kind of Paper Mario approach, 3D worlds with 2D character models) is that the levels don't have set checkpoints. Instead, you have a set amount of flags per level that you can choose to set down just about anywhere to create your own checkpoints. I think it's a brilliant idea; not only does it create this tension of choosing whether to place a flag after a particularly challenging segment or keep pushing to see if you can get even further before you burn that safety net, but it also removes the concept of "points of no returns" because every flag, including the one at the start of each level, also becomes a warp point you can use to backtrack to earlier points in the level in case you missed an optional collective and want to go back for it
It's also maybe the most robust, feature-rich indie 3D platformer I've played, by a decent margin. There is a lot to do here and it's all at least pretty good, which is rare in my experience. There's the 4 main worlds, and those each have a harder "B side" version of their levels that unlock once you beat that world's boss. There's also a set of about 20 challenge levels hidden away in a corner of the hub world, and a dozen or so neat "arcade levels" you unlock by finding collectibles in the hub that largely riff on classic 3D Mario levels, such as one that's Tick-Tock Clock but there's a rising tide of lava, and another that's one of Sunshine's secret levels but in advanced darkness. There's also a soccer-golf minigame and even a photo scavenger hunt side quest
On Steam you can also download user-made levels and that's pretty neat; I haven't delved too deeply into that, but someone made a really good replica of Bob-omb Battlefield and included all the stars, translated into the game's own mechanics
My main complaints are
I think the more open-ended levels/segments are generally markedly weaker than the more linear ones, and I say that as someone who otherwise typically prefers the 64/Sunshine style of gameplay to the Galaxy/3D World style
The power-ups you unlock can be kinda cumbersome. You can only have one equipped at once (there just ain't enough buttons on a controller otherwise) and can either cycle through them in a set order or use an unwieldy weapon wheel to change between them, both of which can be awkward to do on the fly mid-platforming
I just don't think the combat is very fun, and I don't think this game needed combat or boss battles at all. You can't directly damage enemies and so instead need to use a "shove" move to push them into spikes or off ledges; this can be frustrating but still wouldn't be that bad, except levels frequently stop all the action until you clear an area of enemies, which brings the pacing way down
Fortunately pretty much every one of these issues would be addressed in....
This dlc/expandalone (that I guess is now just included with the game?) is a textbook case of a developer looking at the weaker elements of a game and going "right, guess we didn't need that stuff anyway" while doubling down on what actually worked and getting some more mileage out of already-made assets and mechanics. Combat and boss battles? Completely gone. Power-ups? They cut them down from 4 to 2 and they're always available via separate buttons. Open-ended areas a bit too directionless and confusing to navigate? Now every level sees you just focusing on getting from point A to point B. They also brightened up the vibe, going for a more vaporwave-y(?) aesthetic with lots of blues and pinks versus the dark and sometimes hard-to-read look that some of the base game's worlds could have, which I appreciated
The result is all-killer no-filler. While Neon Splash is overall markedly shorter than the main game, it's also much more focused; the platforming and level design is all-around tighter and punchier, streamlining and polishing the best aspects of the original campaign. The definition of short but sweet
OK, so you know those extra-hard checkpoint-less levels that show up at the end of most 3D Mario games? Well imagine that, but instead of ~12 segments, there's 50 of them. And also there's a Getting Over It/Only Up aspect where if (when) you miss a jump, you can fall back through previous segments, all the way to the bottom if you're really unlucky. Now you're starting to get a picture of what the PC-exclusive Demon Turf Tower is
Except also there's some vaguely roguelite-ish elements. While the levels and level order aren't randomized or procedural, this mode does see you lose most of your core abilities until you reach certain floors; so for example, you don't even have a double-jump until you clear the first five floors without it, at which point you permanently unlock your choice of either 2 normal double-jumps or one big double jump. And so it goes every 5 or 10 floors or so, slowly expanding your skillset as you grind away and manage to crawl ever so slightly higher
It's frustrating. It's demoralizing. It's brutal. Getting 30+ floors up only to just barely clip a laser or spike and have to restart, or bonking a jump and watching yourself fall back down through multiple floors, can be downright heartbreaking. I love it, even though tbh I really only managed to beat it because one of the last upgrades you unlock gives you a free hit that regenerates after 5 unpaused minutes, meaning you can technically take an infinite number of hits so long as you can find somewhere safe to post up for a while. My successful run clocked in at over 2 and a half hours (note that the timer stops when you're paused) and according to the in-game leaderboard that somehow still puts me in the top 150 to ever reach the top. It's quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever done in a video game, and also probably one of my most memorable video game experiences because of that. And I'm not gonna lie, there's a tiny voice in my head whispering "hmm, top 150, eh? Well then, how hard could it be to get in the top 100 next time" into my ear
Kotor (PC) (3rd play-through)
Kotor 2 (Steam Deck) (3rd play-through)
Halo: Spartan Assault (Steam Deck)
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 (PC)
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood (PC)
Bully: Scholarship Edition (Steam Deck)
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PC)
Yooka-Laylee (PC/Steam Deck)
Death Stranding (PC) ( I beat the story late last year but I have since doubled play hours grabbing all the achievements and I continue to grind away at LLL delivery ratings ).
Anyone here play PokéRogue? Relatively new release, browser game, exactly what it sounds like. It's a Pokémon rogue-like where the only thing is battles, though there is some light story (rival, boss battles, some Lore™, etc.), and you catch and hatch new stuff to flesh out your team. I guess I can count this towards games completed because I beat the classic mode today lol, which unlocks endless mode. A ton of fun, and really challenging towards the end. Give it a try! https://pokerogue.net/
This is why my entire playtime with Captain Tsubasa has been the demo, where I just destroy Tsubasa over and over. Take that, super special main character dude!
Where a lot of recent 3D platformers (esp. in the indie space) are largely looking backwards and kinda center their whole pitch around "hey, remember the '90s?", Demon Turf brings its own style and personality that feels wholly its own and does so with a really refreshing level of confidence
It was a bit random when this Diablo-like, from many of the same devs as the original Titan Quest, had an Xbox port announced. Since I had an Diablo itch that needed scratching, I figured I'd give it a try.
First off, the port itself. It's sadly not very good. There's no native current-gen version, and it targets 30fps by default but at least there's an option to unlock the framerate. That said, the Series S struggles to maintain 60 with lots of enemies on screen, which is disappointing because the game isn't really a looker in any way. It's not necessarily ugly, but it's not pushing any technical envelopes and it's bizarre the game struggles so much. I also experienced frequent crashes when loading in new areas, and one of the expansion areas had a shocking visual glitch that made me glad I don't have photosensitive epilepsy.
Despite this, the game itself is reasonably solid. You can pick two classes and mash them together to make your own build, which is nice. I feel like the game does get the balance of complexity right so I could build something that felt reasonably competent while still needing to make actual choices regarding skill points and items. The combat is fairly fun and the loot feels good. The controls on the Xbox gamepad were usable, though inventory management was a little annoying.
It does fall down on a few things though. The maps for the game are static with no randomisation anywhere beyond the game apparently occasionally blocking off certain paths. Many of the maps are frequently annoying to navigate and the map is frankly awful. I feel like this hurts replayability, because I now know where most stuff is - the game seems designed to make you explore but once you're done with that, you know where everything is, including the shrines that give you special devotion points you can spend on a constellation map for more buffs and abilities, in a not completely dissimilar and dull fashion to Altars of Lilith in Diablo IV. It's an odd choice for a game of this genre and not one I liked.
The game has a twist on the post-apocalyptic scenario by having two groups vying it out with humanity in the middle. On one side are the Aetherials, ghostly spirits who invaded the world by possessing people and now do lovely things like raising the dead and doing mad science to turn people into monsters. On the other is a cult dedicated to ending reality because it's basically made out of the creator god's guts and, well, would you want a planet made out of your intestines? So that's kinda interesting, but the plot is weak and the game shoves text dump lore notes everywhere that are a chore to read and aren't even voice acted or anything so you can't listen to them as you run around. I imagine the game probably didn't have the budget for that but it's kinda tiresome. There's a few interesting sidequests that deal with the realistic ramifications of living in a post-apocalyptic world - the paranoia and hopelessness of the situation, but the main plots never got me interested in any way beyond 'neat, more monsters to fight', which is a fair motivation for a game of this genre but these games can do better.
The music is extremely meh too, just sorta random vaguely moody tracks that seem to play everywhere but are really forgettable. Honestly it feels like a game best played to do some farming when you can just zone out listening to better music or watching something.
I got my character, a Necromancer + Shaman based around pets to the level cap of 100 and called it there for now. Maybe I'll go back to it when the randomly announced third expansion comes out later this year, or if the mood takes me to try a new build. The game's build diversity does feel impressive, a definite point in its favour.
Overall the game is ok. Not one of the greats of the genre, it's too janky and unpolished for that, but at least it shies away from the more skeevy live-service aspects of something like Diablo IV, and doesn't have the mind boggling complexity and new player unfriendly aspects of Path of Exile. I feel like the Xbox version is a harder sell than the PC version, which is frequently on sale for dirt cheap and has modding support (including a mod that recreates Diablo 2 in Grim Dawn).
Back to waiting to see if loot 2.0 fixes Diablo IV, or for whenever Last Epoch comes out on console.
Finished Final Fantasy XVI. Took me 43 hours and I’d say I probably enjoyed a fifth of that. To its credit, it is very good at dangling the proverbial carrot in front of your face, making you go along with all of the repetitive stuff to experience the few hours of good. It is gorgeous and a joy for the senses with some of the most impressive vistas and set pieces in the series. But overall it’s one of the most frustrating, at times boring and disappointing game I’ve played in a while. I was actually looking forward to it, mostly due to the staff who have worked on some great games in the past: Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy XII, Legend of Mana, Vagrant Story. Barely anything I loved about those games I recognize here. Fair warning, this is going to be pretty harsh and very long since I played most of it on the big screen with my girlfriend watching and we ended up talking about it a lot.
Let’s start with the characters and story. One of the few great successes of FFXVI is its beautifully rendered world with characters that act in a natural and mostly believable way. Visually speaking, it’s nice to have a fantasy game with designs that stand out without being garish and fit the world without being boring. Everyone is pleasant to listen to and look at, perfectly likeable and charming, occasionally even funny. There’s a real warmth here between the main cast which pays off in spades towards the end. I want these characters to succeed and to be happy. Sadly, they’re just not that interesting. It’s not that they’re lacking in personality (well, most of them) but all their edges are extremely sanded down. There’s this prevailing feeling throughout that the developers tried to make the characters more layered but mistook negative emotions or character traits for flaws that they have to overcome. The only one that bucks this trend is Dion who is great, one of the rare characters who actually seems to struggle from his internal conflict and doesn’t just talk about it. Wish we got more time with him. The villains are more straightforward: They’re all extremely one note and boring but they sure do love to talk a lot.
Narratively and in terms of characterization there’s just so many baffling choices that start out as soon as you finish the intriguing intro from the demo. After a time skip you meet some characters and Clive gets to play the reluctant hero for several sloppily plotted hours before he finally decides to Answer the Call. The disconnect here is palpable: You have to play a third of the game to experience Clive learning about how bad slavery is for him to make up his mind even though he was a slave himself for 13 years. Luckily, there’s no point in dwelling on this because this theme is more or less dropped from the main story anyway (the fact that his family used to have slaves is also quickly brushed aside). From that point onwards Clive remains static to the end, only shouting some platitudes about living in freedom and the power of friendship. And the emotional impact from the intro? Pretty much undone almost right away. The same happens to other characters. Anyone remotely interesting is dragged away after a short while and if they come back they’re not half as interesting as they were before. But again, it’s not like anyone could have any tangible effect on Clive or challenge his beliefs in the latter half of the game. It’s all about showing what a good yet sometimes sad boy he is. Does the main cast ever have an argument about anything substantial? As shallow as it feels in the first third, at least there were different views clashing. It’s such a perfect example of constantly kneecapping your own narrative aspirations in order to make your story as inoffensive as possible.
I wouldn’t mind it as much if it weren’t for everyone delivering every line with the theatricality of a Shakespeare soliloquy. FFXVI is (almost) fully voiced and the actors add so much gravitas in order to make you care about the most mundane and overwritten stuff. Adding flourish to the language of the world you’re trying to create is one thing but this is just verbosity for its own sake. I’m pretty sick of media that uses lore and worldbuilding as a substitute for good drama and FFXVI is no different. And for all the effort that was seemingly put into creating this world, it’s shocking how bad it is at conveying anything remotely interesting about it and how it affects the characters. A lot of the backstory is told in these weird history lessons by Vivian or tucked away in the Active Time Lore menu, an in-game encyclopaedia for lore goblins who would rather read a wiki. Another manifestation of the game’s propensity to tell and not to show. Meanwhile, the plethora of side quests is more concerned with making you talk to people about boring stuff like ancient recipes or how to make steel or whatever. And whenever there’s some larger (yet simplistic) moral point behind the stuff that you’re doing, they make sure to spell out for you (like in the kitchen knife or broken scales side quests). Clive’s audible exasperation at being a glorified errand boy was often my own.
Bad pacing aside, basically everything plays out the exact same way: You get some story, walk directly to a quest marker, get some more story, maybe have a fight, walk back, repeat. You can really tell that this was made by the MMO team because quest structure is an absolute repetitive slog. And if this wasn’t enough, this is also a common problem in the non-optional mainline quest. The way they break up some of the larger side stories in small chunks that unlock as you progress the main quest hurts as well. There’s some good stuff, mostly in the late game, but they would have worked so much better as longer and continuous quest lines. As it stands, there’s a lot of really trite stuff in the first two thirds that only pays off towards the end. If I hadn’t been told about this, I’d have just skipped the sidequests at the end, which is some of the game’s best content.
I also have to wonder why there’s such a big world to begin with when it’s hardly used. Having a button for Torgal to show you where to go in the linear stages is the funniest thing ever though. Anyway, there’s no need to deviate from the critical path because it’s not worth exploring and there’s nothing engaging in terms of traversal. You always have way too much gil with nothing to buy, too many crafting materials to spend on the linear upgrade system and enough ability points to mix and match your move set to your heart’s content. There’s just no friction in any of the game’s design and nothing to break up the monotony. You’re being railroaded so hard in every aspect, it would have made more sense to make it entirely linear rather than this weird half-measure.
Now to the meat of the game, the combat. They made a big deal of it and despite some reservations I was initially on board with it. It started off promising when you get a basic set of abilities that feel fun and good to execute. The humanoid bosses are, in true character action fashion, a rare highlight. Then you get a new special move palette… and then another… and then another… and none of them really change how you approach any of the fights. Combat largely plays out the exact same way: You spam cooldowns as they become available to break the stagger gauge so you can spam more cooldowns. Your one weapon is extremely limited and the mobs don’t require much variation. The only thing that will make you miss the dodge is the visual noise from a thousand effects on screen. There’s no elemental affinity/weaknesses, no status effects, no resource management in the form of mana or AP, no customization or control over your party members (aside from Torgal who is a glorified launch for mobs and borderline useless for bosses). Just very little that would add some sort of strategy to how you approach fights. Late game they add another wrinkle which is fun but by that point it’s a bit too little too late. It sadly falls short as both a character action game and as an RPG. The Eikon fights run into the same issues but I see them more as partly interactive cutscenes and “victory laps”. They’re not mechanically engaging but awe inspiring in no small part thanks to Soken pulling out some excellent themes. There’s one fight in particular where the readability is very bad and it goes on way too long but otherwise you can tell that a lot of effort was put into these.
For all the obvious and not so obvious ways FFXVI draws inspiration from Game of Thrones, in its heart of hearts it just really wants to be DBZ with big kaiju. It’s only when it finally drops the pretence about any thematic depth or the large scale human conflict, when it relegates all of the “difficult” stuff to the side quests and focuses mostly on the human (melo)drama, that it comes into its own again.
In isolation I could have easily ignored or forgiven some of these aspects. Even in its own series there’s plenty of entries that are bad at one thing or another and I still end up liking them. But when you’re playing for this long, constantly prodding at the game to wrench any kind of enjoyment out of it and coming up empty most of the time it ends up having a compounding effect. From the outside FFXVI appeared like such a confident effort. And then I finally got to play it myself and it’s like a Frankenstein monster of different genres and ideas it rarely commits to. There was a lot of discussion about whether it is a “Final Fantasy” game or an RPG in the first place. The question should be “Why is this an RPG?” Is it because it’s Final Fantasy so it must be an RPG? Every “RPG element” here is just extremely shallow, undercooked or pointless. Based on the developers’ comments and some of the stuff in game, my most generous interpretation is that they initially had more planned but had to strip it down and streamline it considerably. Either because things didn’t mesh with each other, they ran out of time or didn’t want to further hurt the pacing. It would at least explain why the economy is completely busted or why combat variety is so lacking.
I wouldn't say that I hated the game, as negative as I've been here. I wouldn't have finished it with all of the sidequests and most of the hunts otherwise. There's moments when everything comes together which are peak Final Fantasy. I can see why some really enjoy it but for me it just failed to come together. When the credits rolled, my girlfriend and I looked at each other and went "that was it?" It was an expensive looking, loud game devoid of anything compelling to say and with very little interesting to do. It’s all texture, no substance, a 40+ hour slog spread so thin you’d be forgiven to forget the few instances when it rises above pretty mediocrity.
Good review, had a lot of the same problems with the game. Characters not having really flaws really bothered me especially because earlier Final Fantasy games were so good about that, it ruined the hype of the Devil Trigger scene for my completely because the game doesn't even really blame Clive for hurting his brother. It's actually crazy there's a scene in this game where you first go to the ex slave village and the scene is there to remind you of just how good a king Clive's dad was and how sad they are they can't be his slaves anymore ... instead of anything but small platitudes considerations towards them. Or that Joshua ignoring Clive is never really explained outside some vague mission shit .
I felt this issue less in AC because at least positioning seemed to matter somewhat and bosses had a more satisfying push and pull. Skills being on cooldown also didn't make me feel like I was missing all of my effective tools while waiting for them to reload. Though it's been a while since I played it...
Good review, had a lot of the same problems with the game. Characters not having really flaws really bothered me especially because earlier Final Fantasy games were so good about that, it ruined the hype of the Devil Trigger scene for my completely because the game doesn't even really blame Clive for hurting his brother. It's actually crazy there's a scene in this game where you first go to the ex slave village and the scene is there to remind you of just how good a king Clive's dad was and how sad they are they can't be his slaves anymore ... instead of anything but small platitudes considerations towards them. Or that Joshua ignoring Clive is never really explained outside some vague mission shit .
The "Accept the Truth" moment is genuinely so funny in hindsight. But yeah, there's a lot of moments where they wanted to have their cake and eat it too: Be seen as super serious and mature but at the same time brush over all of the uncomfortable stuff.
I gave this one a shot from the recent SNES NSO game drop. Somehow after 30 minutes I beat it, so on the list it goes! Can't really comment much on it, the game is a simple party/fighting game using characters from Ufouria: The Saga. Unfortunately the game is pretty awful - there isn't enough depth to the combat (and combos don't trigger reliably 90% of the time anyway) and no real content asides from very similar arenas, although it looks and sounds good. One of those 5/10 classic games you'll forget about quickly, I suppose.
#18 - Tsugunohi
The recent Switch release of Evil God Korone (a game that I'm not too interested in) brought the Tsugunohi series to my attention. This is a horror games series that has been running since 2012 in Japan, and late last year 10 of the games were ported to Switch in a single bundle. I'm surprised I'd never heard of this before - so... how are they?
The overarching premise of the series hinges on the idea that it is a sin to enter the spirit world, and humans who do so are subject to a grim fate. Unfortunately, as humans industrialised and built more infrastructure, the world between the human and spirit world has become blurred... and so individuals find themselves unknowingly comitting sins. Each game lasts between 15-45 minutes and involves some poor, unsuspecting individual slowly being drawn into the spirit world over a number of days, before dying in some horrible manner. I suppose a cat also meets a grim fate too...
The gameplay in each game is remarkably simple - just walk left. Literally! On each day, you walk from left to right, observing the environment and occasionally advancing through some dialog. As you advance towards "the hexed day" (where you die!), the environment becomes more corrupted... and with it, the jumpscares start to increase. Most aren't that scary, at least for me - the handful that are well-timed (i.e., not predictable) were pretty good though. Indeed, the later games tend to have more jumpscares, which actually serve to make the game more tense. This is one of the few horror games that does the ballsy thing of jumpscaring you multiple times in a row in quick succession, which did catch me off guard a few times!
I do wish the games varied the structure a bit more - it did get perhaps slightly repetitive knowing how each game would play out. Some games don't have the best monster / spirit designs, such as "The Cat Ghost", but none were laughably bad and indeed they improve remarkably as the series improves and the production value increased.
That said, although most jumpscares didn't make me jump, the overall atmosphere is top notch. The game makes great use of ambient sounds like wind, footsteps and directional audio, and although some games repeat the same "monster" sounds a little too much, the games are overall very creepy and tense to play through. I have to give credit to the whole ending sequence of "The call from Showa", which had me wincing as that stupid little girl kept getting closer to the screen! The game sports a strange, pseudo-realistic art style which complements the atmosphere - this is one of those very "Japanese" looking games, for lack of better words.
The Switch version collates 10 entries in the series, from the original three through to "The Ethereal Railroad Crossing", plus one of the VTuber crossovers. There's about 4 hours of content here, particularly if you replay some of the later entries to experience their second loop. While not replayable afterwards, for £5 this is a respectable amount of content for a horror game of this type. The Switch port has no issues to report.
Of the 10 games, "The call from Showa" is probably the best - a fascinating plot, some neat twists with a very tense ending, and a few well-timed jumpscares to boot. Also up there is probably "A Closed Future" and "The Whispering Toy House". I'd probably put the original and Ai's Silent Cries (the VTuber crossover) last, if only because I didn't find either particularly scary or interesting. Indeed, it was interesting to see how the series evolved from the original 2012 entry, with more jumpscares used but a greater focus on lore/storytelling; and although the game isn't always scary, it was a blast to see the story play out in each scenario.
In all, this is a new Japanese horror series and creator I'll have to keep my eyes on, alongside Chilla's Art. A respectable
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)
And Yet It Moves (27/02/2024, 6.5/10)
Mario Golf (GBC) (15/03/2024, 7/10)
Psalm 5:9-13 (17/03/2024, 8/10)
Crypt of the Necrodancer: SYNCHRONY [DLC] (18/03/2024, 8/10)
After seeing success on Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color, Camelot followed up Mario Golf and Mario Tennis with Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance sequels. These games would follow the same formula as their predecessors. The console games would provide a Mario spin on traditional sports, this time with extra Mario wackiness and a decidely GameCube era aesthetic. Meanwhile, the portable games would offer a sports RPG with a Mario focused finale.
Mario Tennis: Power Tour follows most of the same beats as the GBC game. You once again take the role of the newest player at the Royal Tennis Academy. The GBC player characters are now your coaches, and you are up against a new generation of players. Your goal remains the same: climb the ranks of each class, win the Island Open, and earn the chance to take on Mario World's best across both singles and doubles play. As you play, you level up, allowing you to choose Stat boosts fitting your desired playstyle.
Locations and characters from the GBC game have been remade in a pixel and pre-rendered art hybrid reminiscent of Camelot's Golden Sun games. While some novelty is lost from reusing the same world, some extra character beats and some follow-ups from the previous game add to the experience, though you won't be missing a ton if you haven't played the GBC game.
The focus is still on strong tennis gameplay, this time pulling from the mechanics of Mario Power Tennis. All the standard shots return, but now you can pull off Power Shots after a meter charges up from your rallies. With both powerful offensive shots to mess up your opponents and defensive shots to return out of range returns, using a Power Shot at the right time can be the key factor in deciding a point. Almost too key - the balance of matches in the endgame skews a tad too much toward countering an opponent's Power Shot with your own or using your Power Shot before they can to score a goal. Tennis is still core, and a good rally is still the most important, but this new element adds some wackiness that can be fun at times but get in the way of the core gameplay at others.
Power Shots are earned via a series of mini games that steadily unlock throughout the story. Each mini game offers experience points in a specific category, and reaching different level combos unlocks different moves for you and your doubles partner. Most of these moves are distributed amongst the cast starting with the Senior class, with the Mario cast having their shots from the GC game. Each of these mini games are separate from the basic loop. You aren't playing tennis here - instead you may be running on a treadmill and jumping over obstacles, or you may be collecting Coins while spinning up and down on machinery, or you may be climbing up ropes and dodging electric shocks. As a kid, I remember finding these games a fun change of pace. As an adult, I find them to be distractions from the core tennis gameplay, something I do because they're kind of fun but mostly to raise stats you have no other way to raise.
If we're talking GBA Mario sports games, I give the nod to Mario Golf: Advance Tour. This is also a sequel to the GBC game, and while this means you do visit most of the game Golf courses (so your mileage may vary on the novelty factor), the story ends up being a more narratively satisfying follow-up to the GBC game, featuring the old cast in more significant roles. Additionally, Advance Tour preserves the connectivity with the GC Toadstool Tour, letting you unlock extra Mario characters on GBC and letting you bring your GBA character to the GC courses. The tennis games, however, feature no connectivity. Power Tennis and Power Tour are both standalone experiences - no unlockables and no character transfers. While each still works on their own, I can't help but feel that something is missing because of the severed connection.
This review focused mostly on how Power Tour is different from the other portable Mario sports games in a more negative sense, but don't get your wires crossed - Power Tour is still a great tennis experience with strong base gameplay, solid RPG mechanics, and a visually impressive presentation. If you like the GBC game, you'll definitely like this. And if you prefer the wacky elements introduced in Power Tennis over the more straightforward Tennis 64, then Power Tour will give you more of that action.
Needed to do some unwinding so I've been playing some feel-good games. Finished Gorogoa, which is always one of my go-to games when I need something uplifting. Also played through Blanc with my girlfriend, which wasn't a solid game in terms of mechanics and readability, but it's very cute and sometimes that's all I need.
Now going through Oracle of Seasons, and sneaking in some Pokemon Crystal Legacy in the meantime.
8. Final Fantasy 7 VII ReBirth - I am in the midst of writing my full thoughts for the ST, but boiling it down, FF7RB is a reminder of what games used to promise. Epic adventures with twists and turns, new monsters to fight, new stories to discover, new lands that feel like they’re lived in. It’s an adventure with the density of a 90’s JRPG, despite the fact that this only “retells” the middle sliver of the original Final Fantasy 7’s story. And yet, despite this initiative, perhaps Square Enix was overambitious in their delivery, because I felt there were certain missteps that are easily fixed, or shortsighted problems whose solutions are present later in the game.
I think I'm gunna take a break with games for a little while. Infinite Wealth, Dragons Dogma 2, maybe even Peach Showtime idk, they're all on my radar but to quote Kyle Bosman, I'm full right now. Forgive me, but I don't want anything else.
This is my favorite FPS ever. It was tons of fun beating up demons. I was skeptical when I learned about needing to kill demons to get ammo but it really, really works. The need to continue to kill demons for ammo, health, and armor made the game even faster than Doom 2016. The player feels like even more of a badass as you hunt demons as much as they hunt you. The controls were excellent, as good as possible on a controller.
You can tell that this game was made for highly experienced PC keyboard and mouse users. I played the game on the easiest mode because I just don’t have the time to replay fights over and over. I dropped Doom 2016 9/10ths through because I kept getting killed at the end of a 30 minute fight and just stopped having fun knowing I had a 30 minute slog in the hope I luckily find health or get a glory kill before I face that last demon. I didn’t want to repeat that downer.
I’m glad that I didn’t because I had a ton of fun. It was worth my money. I enjoyed the platforming and secret hunting parts as they were a nice change of pace from the battles. The easiest mode was plenty hard. I still died many times, especially in the later levels. The extra life system makes dying less frustrating as well as rewarding exploration and secret hunting.
The Switch game is a visual stunner, both in handheld and docked mode. I am aware that it looks more blurry than a PC running at 4090 graphics card. However, you don’t notice FPS and pixels when you’re playing the game as you’re having too much fun beating up demons! It objectively looks good in motion. You need still screen shots or maybe side by side screens to tell the difference. Panic Button seems to have programmed the port to display stuff in high resolution when it’s not moving fast but downscale to lower resolution for stuff in fast motion when you won’t notice it. It’s a stellar port for a stellar game.
I really enjoy how fundamentally Doom Eternal is an arcade game that happens to have lore. The player can choose to read the lore or not. No cutscenes. Just how I like it. It’s an old school arcade game whose gameplay loop has more in common with Super Mario Bros. than boring “cinematic” walking and cutscene fests like God of War PS4. That is a good thing.
In hindsight, Doom Eternal feels like a magnum opus, love letter, and swan song for id Software. They haven’t put out any software now that their parent company is owned by Microsoft. I doubt we will ever see another id Software FPS as Microsoft seems incompetent at managing entertainment software projects. They’ll probably lose all their staff through a mixture of normal turnover and crass layoffs and end up like Rare. At least they put out an all-time classic for their last release before being absorbed into Microsoft.
9.5/10 - this is as good as it gets for the FPS genre. I wouldn’t argue against a 10/10. I’ve never had this much fun with an FPS and I’ve been playing them since Pathways Into Darkness on the Mac in 1993.
Two of the games I beat this past weekend were Dordogne and Unpacking. Both short, I think like three and a half hours each?
Dordogne told a really sweet and touching story. It's also probably one of the prettiest games I've ever played. Other games that try to imitate certain painting styles, like Okami and Skyward Sword, just don't do it for me. I never felt that any of those prior games achieved the look they were going for. I could always see the polygons, the hard edges and the pixels, and it would take me right out of it. But Dordogne... I can't even tell if I'm looking at a watercolor painting or a 3D model half the time. So many times I'm sure that I'm looking at a backdrop, and then it moves and rotates. Truly incredible.
I don't think Unpacking is nearly as good, and there really isn't much challenge to the game (unless you don't recognize some of the tools or cooking utensils), but I find that I have a surprising amount to say about it. Challenge isn't really the point of course, it's supposed to be a therapeutic zen-like experience. And for such a simple game on the surface with no plot or really even characters, the level of... uh... "environmental storytelling" on display, I guess you could say lol, was quite impressive. The way the game works by default, you have to sort all the objects into location first, and only after that the incorrect ones will get highlighted. There were some impressively subtle beats communicated using this mechanic.
Spoilers for Unpacking's "story" ahead:
Like, you seriously get a great sense of who the main "character" is by all the items she owns and the phases of her life. Avid artist and cosplayer. Then she gets into a relationship and moves into a minimalist, hyper-modern apartment that's really different from any of the living spaces up to this point. Up until this level, you'd always need to hang her college diploma up on the wall. But in this level, the correct spot for it is stashed away in the cupboard. Basically had to put away who she was and live a life that wasn't really hers.
This gets built on in the next level, where suddenly... there's only one toothbrush instead of two. And all the photos in prior levels had to be hung up on the fridge or on the wall, but this time, one of them is getting highlighted as incorrect. When I figured out the right spot for it was stashed away in a drawer, it hit me that it was a photo with her old partner. Real gut punch
Eventually she moves into a new place, and what's this... different looking boxes? Someone new is moving in! And you can tell it's another woman from the clothing. It was such a sweet moment going through the lowest parts of her life and now witnessing the rebound and rebuild. And the final level, when I finally swiped over to the last room, and it was a baby room... hit me right in the feels
I'm going to count this one even though it says I started my file Jan 2020 .______.
Finally finished Pokemon Sword. Don't have much to play while I wait for some games to arrive, so I figured let's knock it out, shouldn't be too long. It really wasn't. Like 16 hr to the credits, including post championship stuff. I had two badges when I picked it back up two days ago. And honestly it wasn't as boring as Scarlet, which I played last year. I remember being super put off by the railroading initially but it really isn't that different from the DS games (where in like SoulSilver they do pretty much the exact same thing -- unlike the originals, you can't miss the map card, flash, the burned tower, anything really, and they removed context for stuff like Chuck's wife giving you Fly so instead you have another random person walk up and say "hey, take this for no reason"). That honestly doesn't bother me as much, knowing what to expect after almost 15 years of the same discourse. It's not like Sword is a massive departure from every game that followed Platinum.
Look, I got caught up in the "Pokemon started going down hill with XY" stuff, but looking back that's not even close to true, if handholding and difficulty are the primary arguments. They've been doing the same things since 2010. I just took off the nostalgia glasses for a sec to look at this one objectively and found Sword to not be as bad as I thought. I put it far above Scarlet. Not sure why I waited almost four years to play it either.
I should mention too, haven't loaded into either dlc yet. I hear that redeems some of the lousy post game, so looking forward to seeing how true that is.
It's been a while since I've given an update, so I'm rectifying that!
17. Undertale (Switch)
Somehow I've never played through this one even though it's been on my radar since it released almost a decade ago - and despite having seen a good amount of its gameplay from random YouTube videos over the years, after finishing my playthrough, I still felt surprised by how things played out! I ended up doing the 100% pacifist run, sparing everyone, then doing the postgame bits to get the 'true' pacifist ending, and am really glad I did. The writing and humor are tremendous and really carry the gameplay (which I still think is pretty good) - and the soundtrack is amazing! I bought it on vinyl ages ago when it was restocked and have been waiting until I finished the actual game to give it a spin. Honestly, I don't think I have anything else to say about this game that hasn't been expressed by anyone else who's played it, but man, what a great experience. Only took me around 8 hours to get through and now I'm very much wanting to play what's been released of Deltarune.
18. Wario Land II (Game Boy Color)
This one is kind of funny because I remember buying it as a kid but I couldn't quite remember if I had ever actually finished it; when I booted my cartridge up, I found that I had a save right outside of one of the final boss fights against Captain Syrup, but I hadn't actually beaten her - and with that being the case, that meant I never would have known there were so many branching paths and different endings! I ended up going through every available stage and saw every ending I could (although I definitely didn't collect all of the picture panel pieces or treasure - 70% and 52% of those, respectively). I liked this one more than the first Wario Land for sure - felt more varied in its level design and gameplay to me, plus the branching pathways (and the fact that the game shows you the map for that once you beat one of the final boss fights) was pretty neat. Will definitely get around to playing 3 and 4 at some point in the near future. This one took me around 8 hours as well.
19. Mega Man X (Switch)
Now this felt like a breath of fresh air coming out of the original Mega Man Legacy Collection! Did I instantly enable rookie hunter mode? Yes. Did I have a better time with the game for it? Most likely...! I ended up collecting all of the armor upgrades (which feel so great) and all of the sub tanks and finished this one in just under 4 hours. In playing through the original Mega Man Legacy Collection, there aren't a ton of them I feel like I'll ever want to go back and replay - maybe MM2, MM5, possibly MM10 - but this first game in the X series will definitely get played again. Looking forward to going through the rest of the series!
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
21st game finished for 2024: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, which reinforced my love for the top-down Zeldas, their brand of dungeon-puzzling adventure still unmatched by other titles on the market. Truth be told this was a little more obtuse than I remembered, and a lot of my progress came from already vaguely knowing what to do. But it still felt like a grand adventure! Playing around with the seasons to open up spots on the map was always fun, as was jumping around with Roc's feather. Holodrum is possibly the least interesting setting a Zelda game has ever taken place in, however.
Not sure when I'll get to its counterpart, but that is definitely in the cards.
Finished Botany Manor earlier. It's a cute, almost bittersweet puzzle game where you're a botanist in the late 19th century. You walk in and around the eponymous manor and grow a variety of plants in order to complete a book you want to send in for publishing and discover the protagonist's past while doing so. Notes, letters, diagrams, images, books are the building blocks of both the story as well as the puzzles and they blend together somewhat so I never felt like one was getting in the way of the other. The puzzles are clever at times but not overly complex and I was never really stuck, which leads to it being a tad bit on the short side. It took me like 3h to see everything and I enjoyed it but it's the kind of game I'm most likely going to forget in a few days and then be like "Ah, that game was nice" in a few years when someone mentions it.
I have very mixed feelings on this game. It starts out great, and most of the game is between good and great, but really doesn't stick the landing. It has great atmosphere and a relatively unique setting. It's the closest any Soulslike has come to From's efforts, but it is let down by it's latter third and bosses which end up being more frustrating than fun and frankly, elicited little satisfaction when I beat them, especially when you beat a phase 1 only for the boss to refill its health for phase 2. By the end I was so done with the game that I gave the true final boss a few earnest tries before picking the bad ending where you don't have to fight it. I'll watch the other endings on Youtube.
It's a shame because it has some nice little additions to the formula, like dropping the game's equivalent of souls (Ergo) outside of boss arenas, or mixing and matching weapon handles and blades. The combat is mostly solid, but I found the perfect block system to be way to precise for me to really get a handle on it, and many of the later bosses just rely on weird timings for multi-hit attack strings which I was never, ever going to master, which was probably a big source of my growing frustration. I found it way more difficult than any From game for this reason alone, even though the levels themselves are more benign, with plenty of shortcuts and a largely linear design (too linear, in my opinion, but it is what it is).
The final area though is a massive slog. It's still linear with very limited exploration, but is just way too long and the setting is kind of boring. It completely wrecks the game's actually relatively tight pacing up until that point. It's also weirdly malevolent compared to the level design that came before, and even for a final dungeon it feels kind of incongruous with what came before.
I don't want to say that Lies of P is bad. I do think that, outside of aesthetics, it's nowhere near the quality of a From game but I accept that if I was better at parrying like the game clearly wanted me to be, I'd probably have had a better time. But it's still an impressive facsimile, even if it's so blatant in trying to ape its inspiration you can't help but compare it to Souls, and for me, it's definitely an unfavourable comparison.
1. Octopath Traveler II - 9/10 - 110 Hours
2. Metroid Prime Remastered - 8/10 - 45 Hours
3. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes - 7.5/10 - 102 Hours
4. AI: The Somnium Files - 8.5/10 - 41 Hours
5. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles - Steam - 97 Hours - 9/10
Finished this a few weeks back but forgot to update the thread. I enjoyed it more than AA4 but slightly less than the original trilogy, mostly due to the pacing being too fast in TGAA1. There is also a lot of asset re-use throughout both games, which isn't awful or anything but isn't really ideal either.
The trials/investigation were top-notch as always and I think this had the two best 'first trials' in the series. The jury system was new to me, but I think it was already in AA5/6 before this? It's a fine addition.
Oh, and I appreciated all of the extras that came with this collection. It's always cool to see behind-the-scenes stuff.
I felt this issue less in AC because at least positioning seemed to matter somewhat and bosses had a more satisfying push and pull. Skills being on cooldown also didn't make me feel like I was missing all of my effective tools while waiting for them to reload. Though it's been a while since I played it...
Oh yeah, I was mostly joking. I do think it's an issue in Astral Chain, mainly because the way the ranking system works incentivizes using multiple moves across multiple legions, even though the hotkey approach basically doesn't make that difficult at all so the system doesn't make sense for the game. And there are some parts towards the end where hotkeys make things a bit superfluous. But I agree, Astral Chain makes a surprisingly good combat system around hotkeys. Especially since it's mostly about spacing and combining legions in unique ways. Also had a decent amount of difficulty compared to most modern action games, at least I remember the Arm legion and the final boss and some of the sub bosses kicking my ass.
I try to structure my posts as reviews but truth be told I'm a little baffled as to how to approach this game.
I know nothing about DND, I've played only a few games of its genre, AND I feel like it was overhyped to me. I'm probably not the person to ask about this game. That said, I've enjoyed it a lot.
It's one of the busiest games ever made. While I could spend some time just chilling in Yakuza or whatever, this game has had no downtime in my almost 90 hours of playtime. It feels absolutely enormous.
I've enjoyed the story and after both Original Sin titles feel like it's the strongest Larian outing to date. While not too different from those titles in presentation or story, it's just much more confident and a little less silly. I felt like Original Sin titles tried a little too hard, yet this game only had one really obnoxious NPC and they were a really minor character. Pretty much every story beat and joke landed, and there were some really hard-hitting moments.
I'm not sure I liked the combat, though. Divinity titles used a far more approachable system which I wish was the case here, but instead it felt like for half the game I was trying to understand it. At times it felt like reading Wikipedia with how you click on help and just mouse over words that lead to other words. There are several things to balance at the same time and it never feels like the game warrants it considering most of the time you can replenish everything between each and every fight and not even feel the minor resource drain. It also doesn't help that it seems DND doesn't have your usual RPG number-go-up formula which leads to some headache-inducing choices when it comes to equipment and, later in the game, led to me mostly ignoring tons of equippables I would pick up unless they were super rare.
The game knows that and does try to make each encounter unique, so at times it feels like a cRPG take on something like Undertale or Lisa: games where each encounter would usually be seen once and never again just to showcase a character, a gimmick, or a puzzle.
It's also a bit of a shame that the game is still quite janky. From often weird subtitles that either display wrong or lines that repeat to the stealth system which feels absolutely borked there are a few things that left a bit of a poor taste in my mouth. While game reacts to a LOT of the things you do, it's very noticeable when it doesn't (non-lethal takedowns seem to barely be accounted for, for example)
This post is kinda negative, but in truth there are only so many words with which I can say "characters and story are good". It's true that I've not enjoyed the game aspect of the game that much besides the exploration, but I still absolutely understand why people connected with it and can comfortably place it in my top 3 games of 2023.
I definitely hope that this game's success gets developers to make more RPGs of this kind and not water down their imsims and cRPGs thinking that causal gamers won't get it.
Toodee And Topdee
Brilliant puzzle game where you control two characters each of them operating in a different plane. Toodee in 2D perspective and Topdee in isometric.
Is an ingenious idea with many levels and various different mechanics that progressively get introduced. The music is ace as well.
The only thing I genuinely hated are some auto-scrolling levels that totally changed the approach of the game. This is the kind of game that you carefully inspect the level to find a solution and suddenly those levels make you do that in a couple of seconds. Thankfully they were only 5 of them.
Highly recommended for puzzle lovers.
8/10
Huntdown
Fantastic run and gun game, love letter to Contra and Metal Slug. Graphics, music, gameplay were all top notch. I thought the bosses (20 of them!) were a bit bullet sponge-y which makes replaying them when you lose a bit annoying.
The last boss has two phases both super long and frankly I didn't even care to beat it. So technically I didn't complete the game, but I don't care.
Fantastic action game.
8/10
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