A masterclass of story telling and character depth.

The world building was great, even tho you never really leave the bar (or your house for that matter) the game still does a solid job at making Glitch City and engaging town that feels lively (and quite dangerous at times).

All Characters you interact with have a solid amount of layers on them, and what makes them even more likable and organic, is the fact that they also interact with each other and are not limited to Jill, which leads to certain revelations and connections to feel really charming. (Someone has to put a restraining order on a certain press chief tho, he's a dangerous individual lol)

As for the gameplay itself, it was quite interesting, being able to mix drinks and serve them, which ultimately affects the endings you get is a cool idea for a VN, it felt very interactive, even more so the fact that you're getting little bits of character story by doing so,

The music is also nice, and you can certainly control the mood of a conversation by switching songs. (There were a couple of songs that were not of my taste unfortunately, but most of them were great.)

As for the art direction, I was always fascinated by the effort put on pixel art games, the art on this game was great, which also contributes to the world building at times (the attention to detail is great)

And you also get to play a side scroller Touhou minigame! (if you're up for the task, that is, lol)

All in all it's a really fun solid VN.

I played on the Twilight difficulty (hard) and it was a challenging game for me, but rarely did I feel frustrated at a situation or fight. I died a lot, but most of them were due to careless error. Checkpoints were generous so even deaths didn't lead to much loss of progress which would be my biggest issue with these type of games.

All boss fights are against other humans and many of their fights can get pretty intense. Some feel unfair at first, but it feels great to learn their attack patterns after a while and successfully parry stuff. In regards to the parry mechanic in general, it's not really needed against the mob enemies. Their health aren't very high in general so simple combos can quickly dispatch them. Boss fights on the other hand really emphasize the need to parry. Their attack chains are very long and deal heavy ki damage (stamina) even if you block them. Even a successful parry however doesn't necessary turn the situation around since they recover fast and can quickly continue another attack chain. Oftentimes, it takes multiple parries to deplete their ki and leave them exposed to a critical attack as opposed to the grunts which just need 1-2 parries.

My main issues with the combat is that too much of the actions are tied into ki. Blocking damage and dodging can quickly deplete the ki gauge which makes parrying more important than I'd liked. Fortunately, less of an issue for mobs. Camera can also be a pain to deal with. Being pinned against a wall or object will make the opponent invisible so you can't even see the attacks to properly respond.

I did enjoyed the open world stuff, but it has those types of maps where you’re not really exploring for hidden secrets. Nearly everything of importance are shown on the map. Even then, I just enjoy going through the scenery and seeing some parts of Japan’s locations recreated in the game. Kyoto in particular has a lot of pretty sights. Gliding around is fun as well. The maps aren’t too big and the collectibles never feel overwhelming either. This segment reminds me a lot of Ghost of Tsushima which had open world elements that I found relaxing to complete.

There's a ton of loot scattered throughout the game just like in Nioh. It was annoying at first, but I learned to just ignore them for the most part. I only upgraded my main weapons if I get a new legendary one. I only bothered checking the armor if I find myself dying multiple times to the same boss. Having an auto-sell function and being able to filter out specific rarities to sell is a nice QoL though.

What did surprise me though was that I found the story to be very intriguing. Taking place during the Bakumatsu period, the game did a good job reflecting a lot of the political issues and developments during this time. You can make key decisions at various points to change the timeline and create some what-if scenarios compared to actual history so that’s also interesting. You get perspectives on both sides of the two major factions and both have likable characters so it's not a clear cut answer of who is in the right.

Character missions are entertaining in general. I liked the story behind them and many of them could fit very well into the main story due to the content. While most of them are of the serious nature, there a few amusing ones as well.

One issue with the story though is that there’s a strange disconnect with what goes on in the main story and the side stories. Due to the game’s structure, you can shift alliance frequently and do missions on behalf of the “other” side which puts allies as enemies. They might say something about it afterward, but the characters still continue to act as allies of sorts. It's best to think that the player character is a Ronin that plays both sides and while characters might be frustrated with that, they'd understand.

Overall, had a really fun time. Finished the game at about 70ish hours and not going to bother with the post game Midnight difficulty stuff. I only did one mission for the trophy and while it wasn't incredibly difficult compared to Twilight, the boss had become a damage sponge annoyingly. More parries are required to deplete the ki gauge as well.

Amé este juego, es lo más parecido a Rurouni Kenshin que jugué en mi vida, jugas toda la época final del shogunato Tokugawa (el gaiden de Kenshin), hasta el cambio de régimen. Todos los personajes, organizaciones y clanes históricos aparecen con su personalidad y sus sidequest para hacer. Cumpli el sueño de niño de hacerme parte del Shinsengumi, entrené con Okita y con Saito, la parrie gatotsus( iguales a los que hace en Kenshin) a Saito, increíble, como un niño chico me sentí.
Respecto al sistema de pelea, es lo mejor que tiene, lo más pulido, es como jugar un Soul Calibur RPG por la variedad de armas, y las técnicas y estilos de cada arma, impresionante.
La música de combate es muy buena por momentos.
El mundo abierto está ok, las sidequest estan muy bien, y los enemigos también.
La customizacion del personaje es muy buena también y la cantidad de skins que tenés también.
El final es muy bueno, muy al estilo Rurouni Kenshin.
Lo único que le mejoraría es el modo online, para poder jugar en el mundo abierto con alguien más.

En fin juegazo y aguante Japón, lo mejor que vengo jugando en 2024.

A Frustratingly Terrible Eyesore.



I had high hopes for FFXVI as I thought the series would become good again after the inconsistent previous offerings, but guess I was wrong.

Granted it had it's excellent moments manly from the Kaiju like battle, but ultimately the game was a boring exercise.

Braindead repetitive gameplay, that lacks any depth.
Lackluster and boring characters that barely have any substance to speak off.
The MC is a edgy empty husk.
Suffers from severe performance issues to a point where it overheats your PS5 console.
Barely felt like a game as there was too much cutscenes for this game of thrones wannabe narrative.

In conclusion FXVI is a ambitious game that failed to meet expectations and execute most of it's ideas.
Barely felt like a Final Fantasy game, but more like a generic hack and slash game that you find in 7th gen.
A failure of a JRPG, 9th Gen and a action game.

I pray that Final Fantasy 17 won't be like this.

100% everything (will do Challenge run later)

There is something undeniably fun about Ratchet and Clank games, and it is the amount of destruction and chaos you can achieve playing these games, it's simply unrivaled in my book.

The humour is still there, Clank's laugh is still there. Collectibles and the RYNO is here too.

Oh yeah, Rivet is a great character, definitely one of the best I've seen in a RAC game.

Also, in a time where PC ports have been getting the L lately, this port was surprisingly capable.

Man I wish Sony and Imsomniac would consider porting the other games to PC too.

Rivet/10 would RYNO∞ all over the place with infinite ammo

A game that drags for 3 chapters only to dump everything in the last 2 chapters, this game has severe pacing issues and strange priorities.

I kinda don't like the retcons too much, it borrows too much from previous entries (like Sky and Crossbell) for a severe lack of identity that kind of hurts many events in the past.

Setting that aside, I did enjoy my time spent for the most part.

Played on nightmare (Game was very easy, too much broken stuff lol) and aimed for the most completion (83% achievements on Gog)

A masterful sendoff and redemption arc for the Trails franchise.

As some that loves the Trails franchise, but loathed Cold Steel 4 with a passion, Reverie is a wonderful return of glory for the series, as well being the perfect send sendoff of the Crossbell and Cold Steel games.

C route in particular is hands down the best written thing to come out from this franchise since Sky SC.

True Reverie Corridor is just a blast.

Looking forward to Kuro games in the future.
Well done Falcom.