I see why people keep saying Kojima didn't want to make any more MGS games. You can see some elements of the series getting a little bit too repetitive here. And he pushed the perception of this series with a bold statement in MGS2. I keep wondering how I'd feel about this game If I didn't play the first two MGSs.But that doesn't take away from the revolutionary gameplay of this game. It sets a bar that even recently released stealth games miss. Although the main themes of the story were basically shared by the last 2 games. Kojima manages to make it hit even harder in this one. With a more personal journey for this game's Snake.

Holy shit that was so fucking good!

I bought Sekiro on release almost 5 years ago, and tried to play it; keyword here being 'tried', because I fucking sucked. I genuinely did not understand how the game works or what exactly it expected me to do. I tried playing it countless times and each time I got stuck at either Lady Butterfly or Gyoubu. I thought the game was just too hard for me, and that my skill level simply was not adequate for this game. Then, I decided to give it another try a couple of weeks ago, and for some reason the combat finally 'clicked' for me, probably because this time I went in not caring much whether or not I manage to finish it this time, which made me play without panicking or worrying much. That was the key. Once I understood the combat and stopped panicking -and got rid of the muscle memory I had carried over from other FromSoftware games- every encounter became a breeze. Some bosses were very difficult initially but again once you understand how a certain boss works you can pretty much just finish it hitless.

That's really the beauty of Sekiro. At the core of its combat is an intricate dance, and once you learn the choreography of that dance, it becomes one of the most cathartic gameplay experiences you could possibly have. No game has done combat like this, and no game has done sword fighting like this.

If it wasn't for the Dragon Rot being an extremely underwhelming mechanic, and the game trying to push crowd control with a combat system that is simply not designed for it, I would not have hesitated to rate it at a perfect 10.

There is no game like Sekiro, and if you are stuck with frustration like I was, do yourself a favor and just keep trying. It is really worth it once you get the hang of things.

Hesitation is defeat.

Remember when Naughty Dog used to make games like Jak & Daxter and Uncharted while not being held hostage by a egotistical Zionist who believes he can do no wrong and a bigger company who so desperately wants the same 7 franchises they've relied on heavily since 2017 to be cinematic video game showcases so they can easily translate them into movies and TV shows because said-company's previously existing movie/TV IPs have either underperformed or is forced to have shared custody with the Mouse™?

On a completely unrelated note the Last of Us Part II is a very nothing remaster and they're now announcing the new cast for season 2 of the show.

Finally played the most popular FF game and it certainly deserves all the praise.
I was hooked from start to finish with only some frictions here and there.

I was kinda disappointed with the gameplay after FFVI. While each character in VI had a unique fighting style, like the Blitz with its combo-like attacks and the Bushido techniques, the gameplay here is just more or less standard Final Fantasy.
The Materia system is certainly more flexible than the Magicite, and it allowed for ease of swapping out party members without the loss of your most used magic (although I was always spending 10 minutes trying to optimize what Materia to equip to each character)

I also liked the many minigames they added and the gameplay sections that differed from JRPG gameplay, like the motorcycle chase and the Snowboard. While some parts of those lacked polish (which is understandable for an early PS title) it added to the charm of the game.

The story was amazing and had some nice twists and turns, though I was spoiled a couple of plot points (you know which), those moments didn't lose their impact.

The dungeons were kinda disappointing, being mostly going from point A to point B, with branching paths every once in a while. There was a couple of dungeons that were pretty cool actually, like the Temple of the Ancients and the last dungeon, but other than those two, the rest are just forgettable.

The boss fights were all great and I didn't have much issue with any of them, and they all had pretty cool designs, especially nearing the end of Part 2.
The final boss has to be the most stressed I've ever been while playing a video game.

Definitely glad I've played this game and it is certainly a must-play.