If this game simply had better net code it would be a free 5 stars. This is a PERFECT baby’s first fighting game like it was for me, everything about this game feels perfect as a fighting game for me. Almost everything is reactable so the game forces you to focus more on neutral and neutral is where I think this game shines, the threat of super dash plus all the other bull shit other characters can do is exhilarating. The neutral is so intense, and not to mention the combo structure is so free form, picking up a character doesn’t feel like you’re gonna spend a year just learning a new game, most characters play the same so it’s easy to pick up and play, but that doesn’t mean the game doesn’t have depth. The depth character offers is crazy high. The game is the epitome of low skill floor but insanely high ceiling

While I do think it’s a solid experience and it being super influential is a major factor as to why it’s beloved I think as someone who started the series out with the later games it falls flat for me. The areas aren’t that interesting to look at even tho they are admittedly well designed (in the fist half, the second half is designed like ass) I find myself not interested in those areas and more focused on the bosses in these games, and for me this game is the weakest in the series when it comes to bosses (yes even worse than demon souls for me) this is a good first experience/game but I don’t think it ages well

One of my least favorite games of all time.
All this game does it cheapen the otherwise great narrative of Lisa the painful. Tries to rebrand Brad from a tragic abuse victim who unfortunately continues the cycle to be a good dad??? Answers and changes character motivations for no apparent reason other than not to leave any stone unturned? Because leaving things to the imagination is a bad thing and doesn’t enhance the experience am I right? I honestly don’t think there is any argument for this game being good beyond it’s solid gameplay, beyond that it honestly feels like bad fan fiction

If you’re an edgy lonely 13 year old? Oh boy have I found your favorite game of all time, but for the regular person who doesn’t spontaneously combust when they talk to person this game is gonna be asssssss

I played on the switch so I won’t talk about the gameplay since I know that version is complete dodo, but I will be talking about the first week and a half since I dropped the game after that (although I do know what happens in the story later and I still don’t find it interesting)

Week 1: probably bottom 3 game experiences I ever had either be the bad gameplay (switch issue) or the garbage story, sorry if I sound pretentious or condescending but Neku is just Shiki Ikari but for babies, he is too forced in his approach and his dialogue reeks of someone trying to push the themes of the game with 0 nuance. Shiki on the other hand felt like a complete insult to people who have had to deal with inferiority complexes such as myself. I really don’t get her existence, the game goes out of it’s way to be as slow as possible for Neku’s character arc (which I didn’t like but I applaud the dedication for creating a full RPG for a single character’s story) but Shiki? Nah her character arc is done within a single day. I won’t go very in depth on Shiki but I elaborate on my issues with her

Eri’s inclusion completely ruined Shiki’s character arc for me, because instead of having Shiki develop into a person with more social confidence to be herself the game makes it seem that she needed the validation from Eri for her to grow out of it, from my experience (and from a lot of others who had to deal with the same issues) the opinion of the other person doesn’t matter to people with inferiority complexes in fact it makes them more dependent on the validation from them. What if the person you have an inferiority complex to doesn’t view you in a good light? What if you will never meet them? What if someone that you have those feelings for is with you in an abusive relationship? The way the game handles it is far far too clean compared to how big the issue is in the real world. The only real way I found on how to combat an inferiority complex or self hate is to start working on yourself. You change the wording of how you talk, instead of self deprecating humor you talk as if you’re a god in a joking way. Instead of trying to seek validation from others you find validation from within, that’s how you deal with that and not how Shiki dealt with it. That’s why it feels like an insult when Shiki finds validation from her friend instead of finding it from within.

Note: if you find Shiki a character you relate with and love I’m happy for you I would not wish to take that away from anyone, this is just some random girl on the internet ranting about a video game character that she didn’t like.

Jeez that was a long rant about Shiki if you couldn’t tell I don’t the character. After that day the game kinda lost me with no hope of return, maybe week 2 and 3 are good but who knows. The game just lost me by this point. Overall a very bad experience, probably never gonna pick it again after that train wreck of a first week. Happy if you liked the game as I know this game means a lot to a lot of people, I just didn’t.

Now you might look at this score and think I’m on crack, the only reason it’s this high is because this is single handedly the best zombies experience on any COD game hands down. I do not care about multiplayer or Campaign. The zombies mode is honestly too good, you have DE, Gorod, SOE, Origins, all in one game. Not to mention you also have customs so even if you miss idk mob of the dead? You can play it. That’s not even to mention the other maps, ZNS is a flawed but extremely good map, the BO1 and WAW maps are also extremely helpful for beginner, there is literally something for everyone in this game when it comes to zombies. Just perfect

This game’s gameplay flows so smoothly, it’s honestly just perfect. I don’t think from software will ever top this game combat wise, the story is fine nothing to write home about but I do appreciate From actually trying to do a traditional narrative, it was definitely worth a shot and it wasn’t half bad for their first attempt. If they continue with the traditional narrative as a norm in the future they might start cooking. But back to the highlight of the game, the bosses, they’re the peak of From design, even having a boss rush and hard mode variants which honestly just cements this as my favorite souls game no questions asked