AlexTheLemon
70 Reviews liked by AlexTheLemon
Undertale Yellow
2023
Absolutamente Peak Gaming
Eu posso ter passado horas em certos bosses e eu não me arrependo de nada
Absolutamente tudo eh perfeito, Lore, Referências, Personagens, Batalhas
E tudo isso de graça
Eu posso ter passado horas em certos bosses e eu não me arrependo de nada
Absolutamente tudo eh perfeito, Lore, Referências, Personagens, Batalhas
E tudo isso de graça
Undertale Yellow
2023
This review contains spoilers
the side npcs and combat from what I played is good, I unfortunately couldn't care less about literally any of the main cast except axis and dalv. so mad the game in my neutral run made me act like I gave even the slightest shit about martlet. the flowey fight phase 2 was pretty fun.
Undertale Yellow
2023
This was... surprisingly refreshing!
It has been a while since I last interacted with anything related to Undertale, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out about the recent release of Undertale Yellow. I have seen the demo some years back and never expected it to be finished - but here we are, and the wait paid off!
The developers did a really good job at imitating the charm and characters of Toby Fox - of course it doesn't feel the exact same, but I've still grown to like the characters here in their own ways. The fights and music of Yellow are also pretty unique; a highlight were the respective final bosses of each route, which all surpass their Undertale counterparts (in terms of their fights) for me. However, I'd like to add that as of the time of writing (I played Version 1.1), the final boss of the Genocide Route still feels too difficult with the optimal equipment, to the point where it can get really frustrating. Skill issue? Maybe, whatever. I just think it's really demoralizing for the average player.
A thing I really like about Yellow is that it serves as a prequel to Undertale and is not set in an alternate universe like many other fan projects. It doesn't conflict with the original lore and adds more depth to it instead - very nice! Can't say much more about this aspect since it's a spoiler-free review, but let's just say the writing of Yellow definitely made me enjoy the universe of Undertale a lot more.
Overall, I consider Undertale Yellow to be a must-play for every fan of the original game out there. Just don't play it before Undertale (if you somehow intended to do that). That's all for today. See you.
It has been a while since I last interacted with anything related to Undertale, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out about the recent release of Undertale Yellow. I have seen the demo some years back and never expected it to be finished - but here we are, and the wait paid off!
The developers did a really good job at imitating the charm and characters of Toby Fox - of course it doesn't feel the exact same, but I've still grown to like the characters here in their own ways. The fights and music of Yellow are also pretty unique; a highlight were the respective final bosses of each route, which all surpass their Undertale counterparts (in terms of their fights) for me. However, I'd like to add that as of the time of writing (I played Version 1.1), the final boss of the Genocide Route still feels too difficult with the optimal equipment, to the point where it can get really frustrating. Skill issue? Maybe, whatever. I just think it's really demoralizing for the average player.
A thing I really like about Yellow is that it serves as a prequel to Undertale and is not set in an alternate universe like many other fan projects. It doesn't conflict with the original lore and adds more depth to it instead - very nice! Can't say much more about this aspect since it's a spoiler-free review, but let's just say the writing of Yellow definitely made me enjoy the universe of Undertale a lot more.
Overall, I consider Undertale Yellow to be a must-play for every fan of the original game out there. Just don't play it before Undertale (if you somehow intended to do that). That's all for today. See you.
Who doesn't love Hatsune Miku?
As opposed to other characters, Miku can't dig on her own and is confined to using an unique weapon - her signature leek, which allows her to dash through enemies and break walls behind them. This dashing mechanic can be very powerful if used properly, as Miku can also move diagonally and each consecutive hit in a chain deals more damage than the previous one, but if you're not careful enough it can also make you end up in the middle of a bunch of enemies! Furthermore, she is balanced by taking damage on missed beats (similar to Aria), this definitely punishes you good enough for mashing while being swarmed (and I'm speaking from experience). Something else that's really cool in my opinion is how Miku's outfits change depending on the equipped armor, as she never actually wears armor and her dress just changes accordingly! She's also just a fun character to play overall, even if she has a bit of a learning curve because of her gimmick.
The DLC also adds 15 new songs to the game, 13 of those are already existing songs like Ten Thousand Stars, but there's also 2 new compositions, Too Real and My One and Oni. For the most part, I believe the chosen songs are a great fit and are a lot of fun to play, even if the BPM of some take a while to get used to - especially the fast pace of Can't Make A Song took some adjustment time.
This collab is a great gateway for anyone interested in Necrodancer and an easy recommendation for Miku fans in general!
As opposed to other characters, Miku can't dig on her own and is confined to using an unique weapon - her signature leek, which allows her to dash through enemies and break walls behind them. This dashing mechanic can be very powerful if used properly, as Miku can also move diagonally and each consecutive hit in a chain deals more damage than the previous one, but if you're not careful enough it can also make you end up in the middle of a bunch of enemies! Furthermore, she is balanced by taking damage on missed beats (similar to Aria), this definitely punishes you good enough for mashing while being swarmed (and I'm speaking from experience). Something else that's really cool in my opinion is how Miku's outfits change depending on the equipped armor, as she never actually wears armor and her dress just changes accordingly! She's also just a fun character to play overall, even if she has a bit of a learning curve because of her gimmick.
The DLC also adds 15 new songs to the game, 13 of those are already existing songs like Ten Thousand Stars, but there's also 2 new compositions, Too Real and My One and Oni. For the most part, I believe the chosen songs are a great fit and are a lot of fun to play, even if the BPM of some take a while to get used to - especially the fast pace of Can't Make A Song took some adjustment time.
This collab is a great gateway for anyone interested in Necrodancer and an easy recommendation for Miku fans in general!
The Vagrant
2017
There isn't much to this game besides the art (even that is well done, but not interesting), so I abandoned it.
The art is good and clearly inspired by Vanillaware but not really as evocative or interesting. These look like copies of Vanillaware characters, rather than being unique designs in this style. It is all certainly pretty to look at though.
The combat is mostly responsive, but very basic and spammy. It plays like a much less interesting version of Odin Sphere and I think it is actually broken until you unlock the roll in the skill tree.
Double-tap and hold to run is a bad choice.
The Map in this game is astoundingly bad. It works like Odin Sphere or Valkyrie Profile, but the relative locations on the map have nothing to do with the actual world, so you will exit an area on the right, the map shows it looping down and around to enter the top of an area across the world. It is really strange and makes the map and objective markers on it pointless. Other small problems like campfires (save points) and warp tablets (save point + fast travel) having the same icon on the map also sort of point to a poorly thought-out system.
The narrative slid right off my brain. It feels like a bunch of excuses to send me on fetch quests with no real throughline holding things together (at least up until I abandoned it).
I could have almost gone with two stars on this game... it isn't necessarily bad it just isn't doing much of interest in any regard.
The art is good and clearly inspired by Vanillaware but not really as evocative or interesting. These look like copies of Vanillaware characters, rather than being unique designs in this style. It is all certainly pretty to look at though.
The combat is mostly responsive, but very basic and spammy. It plays like a much less interesting version of Odin Sphere and I think it is actually broken until you unlock the roll in the skill tree.
Double-tap and hold to run is a bad choice.
The Map in this game is astoundingly bad. It works like Odin Sphere or Valkyrie Profile, but the relative locations on the map have nothing to do with the actual world, so you will exit an area on the right, the map shows it looping down and around to enter the top of an area across the world. It is really strange and makes the map and objective markers on it pointless. Other small problems like campfires (save points) and warp tablets (save point + fast travel) having the same icon on the map also sort of point to a poorly thought-out system.
The narrative slid right off my brain. It feels like a bunch of excuses to send me on fetch quests with no real throughline holding things together (at least up until I abandoned it).
I could have almost gone with two stars on this game... it isn't necessarily bad it just isn't doing much of interest in any regard.
Playing this game as a kid in 2009 actually did permanent GOOD damage to my brain and changed the rest of my life in ways I think no other piece of media will ever be able to achieve.
Its quite good as a character-driven story, but often struggles between balancing its various parts.
There are three main story beats that Fate is juggling. First you have the more lighthearted daily life stuff with going to school, running errands, and other activities not really related to the Grail War. This is mostly packed in the beginning of each route but often continues for too long or crops up later in the story where it cuts into the better content.
Second there's the character-driven core of the story. Shirou's inner tensions about heroism, the motivations and struggles of the Grail War's various participants, and the many conflicts where these interests collide. This is easily where Fate is at its strongest.
And finally, there's the more magic and lore-focused elements of the story where the writers are trying to explain how everything functions and why the Grail War operates the way that it does. This ends up being a mixed bag as, while some explanation is necessary, it often ends up getting bogged down in unnecessary and time-consuming details that end up being the magical equivalent of technobabble. It gets even worse in Heaven's Feel where Fate begins exploring the Grail War's origins and history, pulling a whole bunch of stuff from thin air that was never hinted at before and bombarding the reader with endless explanations that only marginally help make sense of it all.
Fate has a very strong core and I think its character-driven conflict alone makes it worth reading. But it often strays away from its strengths in ways that undermine the experience. Sometimes its just a distraction that interrupts the flow of everything else happening, but at other times it grinds the story to an awkward pause and muddles the core focus rather than giving it additional clarity.
Still, give it a shot. I can absolutely see why the series became so popular in the first place and its reputation is well deserved. Just know that you may have to put up with a handful of rough patches along the way.
There are three main story beats that Fate is juggling. First you have the more lighthearted daily life stuff with going to school, running errands, and other activities not really related to the Grail War. This is mostly packed in the beginning of each route but often continues for too long or crops up later in the story where it cuts into the better content.
Second there's the character-driven core of the story. Shirou's inner tensions about heroism, the motivations and struggles of the Grail War's various participants, and the many conflicts where these interests collide. This is easily where Fate is at its strongest.
And finally, there's the more magic and lore-focused elements of the story where the writers are trying to explain how everything functions and why the Grail War operates the way that it does. This ends up being a mixed bag as, while some explanation is necessary, it often ends up getting bogged down in unnecessary and time-consuming details that end up being the magical equivalent of technobabble. It gets even worse in Heaven's Feel where Fate begins exploring the Grail War's origins and history, pulling a whole bunch of stuff from thin air that was never hinted at before and bombarding the reader with endless explanations that only marginally help make sense of it all.
Fate has a very strong core and I think its character-driven conflict alone makes it worth reading. But it often strays away from its strengths in ways that undermine the experience. Sometimes its just a distraction that interrupts the flow of everything else happening, but at other times it grinds the story to an awkward pause and muddles the core focus rather than giving it additional clarity.
Still, give it a shot. I can absolutely see why the series became so popular in the first place and its reputation is well deserved. Just know that you may have to put up with a handful of rough patches along the way.
I like Saber
This review contains spoilers
The Last of Us Part 2 is undeniably beautiful, expansive, ambitious, and epic. I basically hated it, unfortunately.
The gameplay is identical to the original with some minor changes. Each of the two characters you play as has slightly different abilities and a different suite of weapons, but the variety allows you to play either of them basically however you want to. All of the UI and control complexity remains from the first with all of the same negatives. There is a bit more to the melee combat (dodges and counter attacks) but it feels very sluggish and targeting is off a lot of the time. The melee combat basically plays like an extremely bad version of Bloodborne.
On the upside, using shivs to get through doors is no longer a thing!
Narratively, the game is a train wreck. It has a ton of content that is irrelevant to what seems to be the theme of the story, a ton of mixed messaging around how you are meant to feel, and the narrative itself is fairly rote and predictable.
The game begins with an extended introduction where Joel and Ellie's current situation is laid out and Abby kills Joel (I actually don't think this is a bad narrative choice). You then play as Ellie in Seattle over three days up until your revenge quest leads you to a confrontation with Abby. Now it is Abby's turn over those three days until you meet up with Ellie. Then, after a non-resolution, you play through a low-key farm scene, followed by Ellie continuing her pursuit of revenge in Santa Barbara and the finale of the game. This is all punctuated with flashbacks, showing you the history of the various characters in the game as they relate to Abby and Ellie as well as why Abby killed Joel to begin with.
So. I think it is supposed to be a tale of revenge and cycles of violence in a world driven almost entirely by violence culminating in two people paying dearly for that cycle and deciding to end it. This sounds fine, but the execution here is incredibly poorly done.
Most of Abby's section is unrelated to this theme (she already got her revenge and doesn't even know Ellie is around for 75% of her playtime) and seems to exist purely to make you identify with Abby and her friends, presumably in order to feel worse about having killed them all as Ellie (but... I guess I should only feel bad for killing the people who have backstories? not the nameless masses I chew through otherwise? So is the theme that only targeted violence is bad?). Even at points where the stories should obviously affect each other (when Abby is in the basement of the hospital while Ellie is killing Nora upstairs) they just don't.
New factions (The Seraphites) and characters (Lev and Yara) are introduced that don't have anything to do with the theme other than I guess to further motivate that Abby doesn't deserve death?
Abby's story could have been about how her revenge didn't solve her problems or something, dealing with fallout from going rogue or the trauma of what her group did, giving you some insight into Ellie's possible future that would actually add to the game's theme, but it just doesn't and ends up feeling too long, kills the pacing, and is completely vestigial.
There seems to be an attempt to humanize the WLF (Abby's group) and make you feel like Ellie shouldn't just kill them, but they are a group that indiscriminately kills anyone coming into their territory and leaves corpses around as warnings. They also ruthlessly kill any of their own members who show any mercy towards the Seraphites, who they are at war with. The game is written as though the WLF is redeemed by the fact that they have names, joke with each other, and some of them are pregnant. The fact that the game seems to want you to feel bad for killing them as Ellie but also to feel justified killing them as Abby when they turn on her is completely mind boggling.
Flashbacks in media normally serve to re-contextualize something, giving the viewer a different perspective on a character or event. Almost all of the copious flashbacks only seem to show that Ellie and Abby have friends...? I guess? They are universally just flashbacks to time spent with people we already know they care about. They occasionally give you some insight into relationships (Owen and Abby) that is obvious or pointlessly motivate some character trait (Tommy is a sniper!). There is a ton of buildup for a particular flashback (Ellie and Dina's kiss, which they already showed as an E3 teaser anyway!?) that really has nothing to say about any of the characters or events.
Two flashbacks in the game actually serve a purpose related to the story and theme, one that illuminates why Abby wanted to kill Joel and one that illuminates why Ellie decides to let Abby live at the very end of the game. The rest serve to extend the playtime pointlessly and are all very low-stakes and boring, since even when there is gameplay, you know it can't have any effect on the main timeline.
So even though the theme for the whole game seems to be "Revenge and cycles of violence are bad," the way everything is handled really just makes it "killing people you know is bad, but not always." Which is pretty dumb.
Additionally the final flashback tries to reframe things around Ellie's inability to forgive Joel and how her anger was partially because that chance was taken from her, but the rest of the game has even less to add to that so it only makes the ten hours you play as Abby and most of the characters that are added feel even more pointless.
The greatest strength of the first game (I mentioned it in my review) is that the gameplay is so in line with the theme and narrative the game explores. Your struggle and desperation to find resources and survive mirrors Joel and Ellie's struggle as they attempt to reach their goal. It puts you in Joel's shoes and effectively prepares you for the decisions he makes at the end of the game.
The Last of Us Part 2 convinces me that the team (Neil Druckman?) had no idea what made that game powerful and successful. Part 1 cribs its narrative from post-apocalyptic fiction (specifically The Road), which is a genre that outlines verbs that map incredibly strongly to gameplay -- specifically Resident Evil-style survival horror gameplay. Part 2 skews so far from this that it really feels like they stumbled into this successful formula, rather than intentionally targeting it. As if they applied really great technical execution to what was already on the page and it worked out.
Part 2 is not at all about survival or desperation, so scavenging for scraps and making do with what you can find runs much more counter to Ellie and Abby, who are just smashing their way through anyone in their way. The sole area that felt really good to me was when Ellie first gets to Seattle, where the scavenging gameplay turns into a hunt for clues to the group Ellie is chasing and how to get to them. The rest of the game absolutely could have been structured this way (Ellie using the theatre as a base of operations to hunt down Abby's crew and an alternate approach to Abby's section) and the narrative would have aligned more successfully with the gameplay.
Along with the initial Seattle area, the game does have some super strong moments. The village assault during Abby's section stands out as a cool set piece even if the boss fight at the end is uninspired. Most of the level design in the game doesn't work quite as well as the first game though. I found the stealth/combat arenas to be largely less interesting and expressive, with what felt like more triggered events and unavoidable firefights.
I liked The Last of Us Part 1 much more than I thought I would and this game was an extreme disappointment to me. I would write paragraphs more about the problems with the narrative (I didn't even touch on Dina, Mel, Jesse, or the pointless extra Santa Barbara faction that gets introduced), but there really isn't a need to.
People like this game, so maybe you will too, but I honestly cannot recommend anything about it.
The gameplay is identical to the original with some minor changes. Each of the two characters you play as has slightly different abilities and a different suite of weapons, but the variety allows you to play either of them basically however you want to. All of the UI and control complexity remains from the first with all of the same negatives. There is a bit more to the melee combat (dodges and counter attacks) but it feels very sluggish and targeting is off a lot of the time. The melee combat basically plays like an extremely bad version of Bloodborne.
On the upside, using shivs to get through doors is no longer a thing!
Narratively, the game is a train wreck. It has a ton of content that is irrelevant to what seems to be the theme of the story, a ton of mixed messaging around how you are meant to feel, and the narrative itself is fairly rote and predictable.
The game begins with an extended introduction where Joel and Ellie's current situation is laid out and Abby kills Joel (I actually don't think this is a bad narrative choice). You then play as Ellie in Seattle over three days up until your revenge quest leads you to a confrontation with Abby. Now it is Abby's turn over those three days until you meet up with Ellie. Then, after a non-resolution, you play through a low-key farm scene, followed by Ellie continuing her pursuit of revenge in Santa Barbara and the finale of the game. This is all punctuated with flashbacks, showing you the history of the various characters in the game as they relate to Abby and Ellie as well as why Abby killed Joel to begin with.
So. I think it is supposed to be a tale of revenge and cycles of violence in a world driven almost entirely by violence culminating in two people paying dearly for that cycle and deciding to end it. This sounds fine, but the execution here is incredibly poorly done.
Most of Abby's section is unrelated to this theme (she already got her revenge and doesn't even know Ellie is around for 75% of her playtime) and seems to exist purely to make you identify with Abby and her friends, presumably in order to feel worse about having killed them all as Ellie (but... I guess I should only feel bad for killing the people who have backstories? not the nameless masses I chew through otherwise? So is the theme that only targeted violence is bad?). Even at points where the stories should obviously affect each other (when Abby is in the basement of the hospital while Ellie is killing Nora upstairs) they just don't.
New factions (The Seraphites) and characters (Lev and Yara) are introduced that don't have anything to do with the theme other than I guess to further motivate that Abby doesn't deserve death?
Abby's story could have been about how her revenge didn't solve her problems or something, dealing with fallout from going rogue or the trauma of what her group did, giving you some insight into Ellie's possible future that would actually add to the game's theme, but it just doesn't and ends up feeling too long, kills the pacing, and is completely vestigial.
There seems to be an attempt to humanize the WLF (Abby's group) and make you feel like Ellie shouldn't just kill them, but they are a group that indiscriminately kills anyone coming into their territory and leaves corpses around as warnings. They also ruthlessly kill any of their own members who show any mercy towards the Seraphites, who they are at war with. The game is written as though the WLF is redeemed by the fact that they have names, joke with each other, and some of them are pregnant. The fact that the game seems to want you to feel bad for killing them as Ellie but also to feel justified killing them as Abby when they turn on her is completely mind boggling.
Flashbacks in media normally serve to re-contextualize something, giving the viewer a different perspective on a character or event. Almost all of the copious flashbacks only seem to show that Ellie and Abby have friends...? I guess? They are universally just flashbacks to time spent with people we already know they care about. They occasionally give you some insight into relationships (Owen and Abby) that is obvious or pointlessly motivate some character trait (Tommy is a sniper!). There is a ton of buildup for a particular flashback (Ellie and Dina's kiss, which they already showed as an E3 teaser anyway!?) that really has nothing to say about any of the characters or events.
Two flashbacks in the game actually serve a purpose related to the story and theme, one that illuminates why Abby wanted to kill Joel and one that illuminates why Ellie decides to let Abby live at the very end of the game. The rest serve to extend the playtime pointlessly and are all very low-stakes and boring, since even when there is gameplay, you know it can't have any effect on the main timeline.
So even though the theme for the whole game seems to be "Revenge and cycles of violence are bad," the way everything is handled really just makes it "killing people you know is bad, but not always." Which is pretty dumb.
Additionally the final flashback tries to reframe things around Ellie's inability to forgive Joel and how her anger was partially because that chance was taken from her, but the rest of the game has even less to add to that so it only makes the ten hours you play as Abby and most of the characters that are added feel even more pointless.
The greatest strength of the first game (I mentioned it in my review) is that the gameplay is so in line with the theme and narrative the game explores. Your struggle and desperation to find resources and survive mirrors Joel and Ellie's struggle as they attempt to reach their goal. It puts you in Joel's shoes and effectively prepares you for the decisions he makes at the end of the game.
The Last of Us Part 2 convinces me that the team (Neil Druckman?) had no idea what made that game powerful and successful. Part 1 cribs its narrative from post-apocalyptic fiction (specifically The Road), which is a genre that outlines verbs that map incredibly strongly to gameplay -- specifically Resident Evil-style survival horror gameplay. Part 2 skews so far from this that it really feels like they stumbled into this successful formula, rather than intentionally targeting it. As if they applied really great technical execution to what was already on the page and it worked out.
Part 2 is not at all about survival or desperation, so scavenging for scraps and making do with what you can find runs much more counter to Ellie and Abby, who are just smashing their way through anyone in their way. The sole area that felt really good to me was when Ellie first gets to Seattle, where the scavenging gameplay turns into a hunt for clues to the group Ellie is chasing and how to get to them. The rest of the game absolutely could have been structured this way (Ellie using the theatre as a base of operations to hunt down Abby's crew and an alternate approach to Abby's section) and the narrative would have aligned more successfully with the gameplay.
Along with the initial Seattle area, the game does have some super strong moments. The village assault during Abby's section stands out as a cool set piece even if the boss fight at the end is uninspired. Most of the level design in the game doesn't work quite as well as the first game though. I found the stealth/combat arenas to be largely less interesting and expressive, with what felt like more triggered events and unavoidable firefights.
I liked The Last of Us Part 1 much more than I thought I would and this game was an extreme disappointment to me. I would write paragraphs more about the problems with the narrative (I didn't even touch on Dina, Mel, Jesse, or the pointless extra Santa Barbara faction that gets introduced), but there really isn't a need to.
People like this game, so maybe you will too, but I honestly cannot recommend anything about it.
Helldivers 2
2024
I finally understand what it feels like to be a stormtrooper
Persona 3 Reload
2024
Ever been interested in the Persona series? Start with this one!
As a big fan of Persona 3, Reload was the game I was looking forward to the most in 2024 alongside Infinite Wealth, so I did the same as with IW and held off on watching trailers past the announcement one entirely to experience the changes for myself. When the release date came closer, I began to see more and more doomposting for Reload and even considered holding off on buying it because of how negatively this game was treated by others. I'm glad that didn't get to me in the end and I could form my own opinion of the remake of one of my favorite games.
First off, the presentation in Reload is amazing right off the bat, ranging from the upgraded artstyle to the dynamic menus and improved character models, it's just so very pleasant to look at. This also includes animations - the Ultimate moves of the characters look super cool. As someone who only ever really played Portable before, the upgrade in presentation was a huge point for me. Sure, the updated environmental design of the overworld is great, but the cherry on top are the revamped Tartarus blocks. The floors are no longer mere reskins with the same layout, now every block has a detailed new look and a different pattern. Tartarus changes don't stop here though, like the previous top-down camera has been turned into a proper third-person one, which I believe adds to the immersion a lot, despite being so seemingly insignificant at first. Furthermore, exploration is incentivized with mini-bosses being accessible in ordinary floors now alongside the addition of lucrative floor-specific events like locked or special chests. Can't forget the revamped Golden Hands in Reload either, as they provide a large amount of XP now (like in Persona 4) instead of dropping items. A great change for everyone who hated grinding and the new Great Clock random event can boost two of your teammates' levels on a whim, so no one has to fall behind! I believe the new Tartarus has something in store for everyone, so even if you were turned off by the gameplay in the original, giving it a second look might be worth it...
Voice acting in Reload is top notch. I don't share the somewhat popular sentiment of Yukari and Aigis sounding worse than their original counterparts at all, they're probably even my favorite new castings. That being said, personally I wouldn't say there's a single bad casting within the new voice actors, I enjoyed all of their performances. Emotional scenes got me tearing up several times, I got shivers during others. Not to disregard some of the original actors, but Reload really elevated some characters for me, just with their new performances (Yuko, Chidori and Fuuka are great examples). Also love how every social link is completely voiced now, it's a huge boost in immersion. As for social links in general, I'm glad the new Link Episodes exist, they're basically mini social links for the male party members and give you some insight into their life. A great way to add some interaction with them to the game without replacing the already existing social links! The SEES hangouts during nighttime also fulfill a similar role in giving your teammates more screentime without taking up meaningful time (considering the abundance of free time at night in P3), this also includes new events like several study sessions with the team. Those activities aren't just for fun though, you gain new passive abilities for the other members or gain extra knowledge points while studying with the others, the integration is seamless.
The new soundtrack is... good! Not much to say here, I like the remixes of the original songs and the new songs are bangers. Color Your Night is one of the very best vocal tracks in the series and It's Going Down Now still stays hype after listening to it over and over. Shoutout to the new remix of Changing Seasons.
There's a whole lot more to unpack about this game, but for the time being I have said everything that was on my mind. My thoughts are still pretty hazy, despite completing Reload hours ago, but I hope you could get something useful out of my review either way. As always, thanks for reading!
As a big fan of Persona 3, Reload was the game I was looking forward to the most in 2024 alongside Infinite Wealth, so I did the same as with IW and held off on watching trailers past the announcement one entirely to experience the changes for myself. When the release date came closer, I began to see more and more doomposting for Reload and even considered holding off on buying it because of how negatively this game was treated by others. I'm glad that didn't get to me in the end and I could form my own opinion of the remake of one of my favorite games.
First off, the presentation in Reload is amazing right off the bat, ranging from the upgraded artstyle to the dynamic menus and improved character models, it's just so very pleasant to look at. This also includes animations - the Ultimate moves of the characters look super cool. As someone who only ever really played Portable before, the upgrade in presentation was a huge point for me. Sure, the updated environmental design of the overworld is great, but the cherry on top are the revamped Tartarus blocks. The floors are no longer mere reskins with the same layout, now every block has a detailed new look and a different pattern. Tartarus changes don't stop here though, like the previous top-down camera has been turned into a proper third-person one, which I believe adds to the immersion a lot, despite being so seemingly insignificant at first. Furthermore, exploration is incentivized with mini-bosses being accessible in ordinary floors now alongside the addition of lucrative floor-specific events like locked or special chests. Can't forget the revamped Golden Hands in Reload either, as they provide a large amount of XP now (like in Persona 4) instead of dropping items. A great change for everyone who hated grinding and the new Great Clock random event can boost two of your teammates' levels on a whim, so no one has to fall behind! I believe the new Tartarus has something in store for everyone, so even if you were turned off by the gameplay in the original, giving it a second look might be worth it...
Voice acting in Reload is top notch. I don't share the somewhat popular sentiment of Yukari and Aigis sounding worse than their original counterparts at all, they're probably even my favorite new castings. That being said, personally I wouldn't say there's a single bad casting within the new voice actors, I enjoyed all of their performances. Emotional scenes got me tearing up several times, I got shivers during others. Not to disregard some of the original actors, but Reload really elevated some characters for me, just with their new performances (Yuko, Chidori and Fuuka are great examples). Also love how every social link is completely voiced now, it's a huge boost in immersion. As for social links in general, I'm glad the new Link Episodes exist, they're basically mini social links for the male party members and give you some insight into their life. A great way to add some interaction with them to the game without replacing the already existing social links! The SEES hangouts during nighttime also fulfill a similar role in giving your teammates more screentime without taking up meaningful time (considering the abundance of free time at night in P3), this also includes new events like several study sessions with the team. Those activities aren't just for fun though, you gain new passive abilities for the other members or gain extra knowledge points while studying with the others, the integration is seamless.
The new soundtrack is... good! Not much to say here, I like the remixes of the original songs and the new songs are bangers. Color Your Night is one of the very best vocal tracks in the series and It's Going Down Now still stays hype after listening to it over and over. Shoutout to the new remix of Changing Seasons.
There's a whole lot more to unpack about this game, but for the time being I have said everything that was on my mind. My thoughts are still pretty hazy, despite completing Reload hours ago, but I hope you could get something useful out of my review either way. As always, thanks for reading!
Lies of P
2023
I had a really good time with Lies of P. It is mimicking a lot of things from the SoulsBorne canon but it plays the part extremely well and even has a few tricks of its own that make things interesting.
This game plays a bit like Bloodborne and a bit like Sekiro. It is very parry heavy, though I found the parrying to be not quite as forgiving (though also not quite as necessary) as in Sekiro. There is some Bloodborne in there as well though -- blocking temporarily costs life that you can regain by attacking, similar to the rally system.
Lies of P executes all of this extremely well. This is the first game in this genre that I have played that I would truly say plays as well as a From game does. The weapons feel heavy but responsive, attacks feel fair, and though the bosses are mostly pretty easy (especially if you summon help) many of them feel like they could fit into a souls game, in terms of abilities and strategy.
The similarities do end there, however, for better and worse.
Some of the systems are really cool. Weapons you find along your journey are split into blades and handles, which can be mixed and matched. The handle provides the moveset and stat scaling for the weapon. The blade provides the form factor and damage types. The system breaks down a little bit in that certain handles are usually going to be better for certain weapon types, so your choices are more limited than they seem. Additionally, the advance weapons (special damage type) only really scale with advance handles, so if you are going that route (as I was) you are even more limited. I liked playing with this system, but broader upgrades for the handles and more ability to feasibly form combinations would have gone a long way.
Similarly, equipment is streamlined to the point that it basically doesn't need to exist. You can make a few choices about status effect resistance or type damage resistance, but it feels perfunctory at best.
The damage types themselves felt good though. Acid, Fire, and Electricity each have some weapons and equipment that apply them and have special effects. Additionally they work better or worse on different enemy types, which I enjoyed. Swapping to a new weapon type when entering a new area based on the enemies I found there gave me a bit of a Monster Hunter flavor, with preparation having a larger part here than in other Soulslikes I have played.
The world design is a pretty big disappointment, unfortunately. There are a lot of cool environments with circuitous routes through them that make sense given the chaotic state of the city. Each area, however occurs in a strictly linear fashion. They unlock like chapters and you tackle them in order, only really returning for plot events that essentially turn previous areas into new levels. Lies of P has basically none of the exploration and self-determined area order that the best entries in the genre provide.
It does work ok with the very linear nature of the story and the journey that P is on here, but it just isn't as satisfying as it could be even though the levels themselves are fun to fight through. It is telling that this is a major negative to me, but most everything else about the game is strong enough to make up for it.
Lies of P has a premise that didn't initially appeal to me, but Neowiz leans so hard into the Pinocchio story that you have to respect it and things actually end up being pretty compelling. I really like all of the crossovers with the book and it was fun to see what was going to come up given that my knowledge of the story is vague at best. The world they explore here of alchemists and puppets with hidden agendas and opaque history ended up feeling very cool to me for most of my playthrough.
I liked this game a lot and will probably return to it for another playthrough at some point. Despite the lack of autonomy and choice for how to tackle things, the gameplay itself is so solid that things just feel really great. I am looking forward to DLC for the title and will be paying attention to whatever Neowiz comes out with next!
This game plays a bit like Bloodborne and a bit like Sekiro. It is very parry heavy, though I found the parrying to be not quite as forgiving (though also not quite as necessary) as in Sekiro. There is some Bloodborne in there as well though -- blocking temporarily costs life that you can regain by attacking, similar to the rally system.
Lies of P executes all of this extremely well. This is the first game in this genre that I have played that I would truly say plays as well as a From game does. The weapons feel heavy but responsive, attacks feel fair, and though the bosses are mostly pretty easy (especially if you summon help) many of them feel like they could fit into a souls game, in terms of abilities and strategy.
The similarities do end there, however, for better and worse.
Some of the systems are really cool. Weapons you find along your journey are split into blades and handles, which can be mixed and matched. The handle provides the moveset and stat scaling for the weapon. The blade provides the form factor and damage types. The system breaks down a little bit in that certain handles are usually going to be better for certain weapon types, so your choices are more limited than they seem. Additionally, the advance weapons (special damage type) only really scale with advance handles, so if you are going that route (as I was) you are even more limited. I liked playing with this system, but broader upgrades for the handles and more ability to feasibly form combinations would have gone a long way.
Similarly, equipment is streamlined to the point that it basically doesn't need to exist. You can make a few choices about status effect resistance or type damage resistance, but it feels perfunctory at best.
The damage types themselves felt good though. Acid, Fire, and Electricity each have some weapons and equipment that apply them and have special effects. Additionally they work better or worse on different enemy types, which I enjoyed. Swapping to a new weapon type when entering a new area based on the enemies I found there gave me a bit of a Monster Hunter flavor, with preparation having a larger part here than in other Soulslikes I have played.
The world design is a pretty big disappointment, unfortunately. There are a lot of cool environments with circuitous routes through them that make sense given the chaotic state of the city. Each area, however occurs in a strictly linear fashion. They unlock like chapters and you tackle them in order, only really returning for plot events that essentially turn previous areas into new levels. Lies of P has basically none of the exploration and self-determined area order that the best entries in the genre provide.
It does work ok with the very linear nature of the story and the journey that P is on here, but it just isn't as satisfying as it could be even though the levels themselves are fun to fight through. It is telling that this is a major negative to me, but most everything else about the game is strong enough to make up for it.
Lies of P has a premise that didn't initially appeal to me, but Neowiz leans so hard into the Pinocchio story that you have to respect it and things actually end up being pretty compelling. I really like all of the crossovers with the book and it was fun to see what was going to come up given that my knowledge of the story is vague at best. The world they explore here of alchemists and puppets with hidden agendas and opaque history ended up feeling very cool to me for most of my playthrough.
I liked this game a lot and will probably return to it for another playthrough at some point. Despite the lack of autonomy and choice for how to tackle things, the gameplay itself is so solid that things just feel really great. I am looking forward to DLC for the title and will be paying attention to whatever Neowiz comes out with next!
Super Castlevania IV
1991
To me Super Castlevania IV is no better than Rondo of Blood, but I have to admit that it has something quite special about it. Whether it's the music, the atmosphere, the fact that it's a remake of the first game, the last "Simon Belmont game" and or that it realy knows how to take the time to pay homage to itself... I think it's easy to say that this is a "different" game. You know what I mean.
the thing that really stuck out to me was how in the X-ray shots they always had half-full bladders 💀
No subtlety. No substance. Where is the Silent Hill I grew up with? Two stars because some of the logs were unintentionally funny to read.