Agnol117
A solid entry in the Zelda franchise. I played with button controls the entire time, and they were fantastic.
The story in this was fantastic. However, the map design wasn't updated at all, and there are a lot of maps with endlessly respawning enemies, and it's just frankly not fun.
2018
I want to like this, but the stories are fairly lackluster, and the gameplay isn't anything groundbreaking (it's great in boss battles, but kind of tedious in regular encounters).
2021
Overall, this was a solid game. The level design was nice, the art style was lovely, and combat and exploration were both fun. The only real issues I had with it were that certain boss fights just felt like they lasted way too long (not as bad as Samus Returns and it's "bosses can only be meaningfully damaged by counters" long, but still, they dragged), and the EMMI sections weren't great. They relied on a lot of trial and error gameplay or getting lucky with positioning, and that just doesn't feel like good game design. That being said, I wouldn't say those two things detracted from the game enough to recommend against it, and if you're a fan of Metroid or of the genre in general, I highly recommend this game.
2013
A decently fun game. I wish there was more variation in what the traits did (and less that were just jokes), but otherwise, it's enjoyable. I'll probably grab the sequel when it's out of early access.
Decided to play through all the Castlevania games in chronological order, skipping the PS2 ones because they're exceptionally terrible. So I started here. As it turns out, I'm really not good at the "Classicvania" style games. All the ones I've played and loved were the more "IGAvania/Metroidvania" style ones. This is a decent game for an NES platformer, but it's got really stiff controls and rather obnoxious level design.
Even accounting for the fact that it's a Game Boy game, this game is actually bad. It's got even worse controls than the NES games (to be expected), and has certain jumps that require more precision than can be reasonably expected. It does have pretty good music, though.
It's better than The Adventure, but that's not saying much. Mostly the jumping is improved. That said, it's still not a great game. The music is still far better than it has any right to be, though.
1986
It's fine. It's a decently fun game, with good music for an NES game. That being said, it hasn't really aged well.
2021
It's fine, I guess? The dungeon crawling is adequate, but doesn't really hold my interest, while the visual novel parts are really fun but tied behind dungeoning. Were combat more robust, I might have stuck with it, but as it stands, it's just not grabbing me.
Not a fan. I enjoy the base game, and honestly this was a decently fun story, but that story is tied up in stupid maps with annoying gimmicks. I played through it to unlock all the characters in the regular campaigns, and I have no plans to ever come back to it again.
2017
A true masterpiece of a game. I've played through it twice, once barely accomplishing the first ending, and just recently getting the third. It's a fantastic game, and everything about it is lovely. The art is great, the music is great, and it's challenging but fair in a way that most other games only aspire to be. Genuine 10/10 game here, and I recommend it to anyone who likes Metroidvanias.
Unpopular opinion, but Johto/Gen II is my least favorite generation. This was me giving these games another shot, but I just cannot stand them.
It's fine, I guess? It's a competent third person shooter, and the gunplay is fun. It just doesn't do anything beyond that to stand out or make me want to keep playing.
This review contains spoilers
Having finished all four routes:
If you're only going to play one route, play Verdant Wind. If you're going to play two, play Verdant Wind and Crimson Flower. If you're going to play three, add in Azure Moon. Silver Snow is entirely redundant.
Azure Moon is the most "Fire Emblem" of the routes. It's got a deposed prince fighting an evil empire. About the only thing it's missing is a dragon as the final boss. It's also a fairly unsatisfying story -- Dimitri's character growth is handled poorly, and the actual villains of the story are just kind of forgotten about after part one.
Crimson Flower is a very flawed route. You can tell it's unfinished -- it lacks the animated cutscenes the other routes get, it's four chapters shorter than the other routes, and it just sort of ends with no resolution (other than an epilogue panel promising the real villains will be dealt with in the future). That being said, it's an interesting chance to play as the villains, even if it's not necessarily the best execution of that concept.
Verdant Wind is hands down the best route. You get actual backstory on the world and the major conflict, you get to actually finish both major conflicts in the same route, and the ending chapter isn't a stupid, out of nowhere "twist."
Silver Snow is Verdant Wind but missing a chapter, no real "lord" character, and a stupid final boss. Only play this if you're a completionist.
As a final note, Byleth's lack of voice lines is really awkward in some points, mostly the romance bits at the end. I sort of get why they made this choice, but it's a bizarre one, and it really hurts Byleth as a character and as a story vehicle.
If you're only going to play one route, play Verdant Wind. If you're going to play two, play Verdant Wind and Crimson Flower. If you're going to play three, add in Azure Moon. Silver Snow is entirely redundant.
Azure Moon is the most "Fire Emblem" of the routes. It's got a deposed prince fighting an evil empire. About the only thing it's missing is a dragon as the final boss. It's also a fairly unsatisfying story -- Dimitri's character growth is handled poorly, and the actual villains of the story are just kind of forgotten about after part one.
Crimson Flower is a very flawed route. You can tell it's unfinished -- it lacks the animated cutscenes the other routes get, it's four chapters shorter than the other routes, and it just sort of ends with no resolution (other than an epilogue panel promising the real villains will be dealt with in the future). That being said, it's an interesting chance to play as the villains, even if it's not necessarily the best execution of that concept.
Verdant Wind is hands down the best route. You get actual backstory on the world and the major conflict, you get to actually finish both major conflicts in the same route, and the ending chapter isn't a stupid, out of nowhere "twist."
Silver Snow is Verdant Wind but missing a chapter, no real "lord" character, and a stupid final boss. Only play this if you're a completionist.
As a final note, Byleth's lack of voice lines is really awkward in some points, mostly the romance bits at the end. I sort of get why they made this choice, but it's a bizarre one, and it really hurts Byleth as a character and as a story vehicle.