BoltGSR
way better than its predecessor but weirdly overrated in the fandom imho. edgeworth's "dilemma" is the definition of trying to squeeze blood from a character stone, and everything takes about ten times longer than it should.
2018
Incredible battle system, visual style, and soundtrack, and in its best moments it shows how much fun you can get by putting JRPG trappings around smaller-scale stories. Tressa and Alfyn's stories both suffer from having to pull a final boss out of nowhere, but they were also both fascinating to play through as a "main story" for an RPG. I am, however, completely baffled by how hard they made it to see the party banter and by pretty much everything to do with the final dungeon, from its esoteric unlock requirements to its massive difficulty spike paired with a lack of save points.
2020
Definition of "liked not loved." There's a lot to like here, mind you! I think the cast of characters is a lot of fun, the soundtrack is pretty catchy, and it's a good on-ramp to the world of Picross. But the actual mysteries are pretty limp, and the game flings so many puzzles at you that the pace of the story is way out of wack. And even if you are here for the puzzles, they sort of top out at difficulty relatively early on.
I was also frustrated that the game's focus slowly shifted from Honor to Scout as it went along; I found Honor a much more interesting character, and Scout's backstory and conflict to be pretty generic sci-fi conspiracy stuff.
I was also frustrated that the game's focus slowly shifted from Honor to Scout as it went along; I found Honor a much more interesting character, and Scout's backstory and conflict to be pretty generic sci-fi conspiracy stuff.
I really like DGS2 - it's got the unique privilege of being a direct Ace Attorney sequel, picking up its predecessors' plot beats and relying on the player to know where all the characters stand. This lets it tell a really energetic story by the series' standards, bringing both games' overarching plot to a close while still having time to slip in some great mysteries and incredible moments (case 3 is probably one of the best cases in the series.)
The one big gripe I have is that because it has so much plot to run through, and it relies on the player knowing and caring for its characters, it loses some of the character focus that made DGS1 so unique. Three years later I keep thinking about the massive reveal/twist at the end of the third case that basically nobody reacts to beyond the brief cutscene it takes place in. It should shake a good chunk of the cast to their core and instead they're kind of like "damn, that's crazy! Oh well."
The one big gripe I have is that because it has so much plot to run through, and it relies on the player knowing and caring for its characters, it loses some of the character focus that made DGS1 so unique. Three years later I keep thinking about the massive reveal/twist at the end of the third case that basically nobody reacts to beyond the brief cutscene it takes place in. It should shake a good chunk of the cast to their core and instead they're kind of like "damn, that's crazy! Oh well."
2006
the first indie game that really made me realize indie games were something that went beyond 15-minute flash games. this game is good, simple fun: you are a ball, you bounce around through various levels connected by a hub world, sometimes you get new materials you can turn into and that changes how you bounce around. the vibes are incredible.
someone at level-5 keeps trying to make "small-scale layton with individual mysteries" happen and it's not going to happen. half the fun of a layton game is watching the plot get gradually more and more absurd as it goes on before you get to the end and everything is wrapped up in a ridiculous plot twist, and that's entirely missing here. also way too many puzzles are just "haha there's a trick answer =)".
most disappointing game of 2017 for me
most disappointing game of 2017 for me
my parents bought this at Sentry in the electronics section and I'm not sure why
it's impossible to give a rating to this game
2012
i played this game on pc with a mouse and keyboard when it first came out, which is probably the worst possible way to experience a game that's already shaky. the level design in the campaigns ranges from awful to forgettable, and the story is taking itself just a little too seriously. there's an incredible third person action-shooter under the hood though. mercenaries mode is just this side of being gunz the duel 3
1993
it's physically uncomfortable to dash in this game on a SNES d-pad, the localization is word salad in places, and there's a good reason the game came with a strategy guide in the manual. then again, this game more than any other captures the feeling of taking part in some kind of myth or fable for me. things just happen and everyone has to live with them, and i think that's great.
still a pretty great game like hotel dusk but you can really feel the change in localization team. everything just reads a little less naturally, a little less characterfully, and in a game like this that's everything. i didn't like the ending when i played it back in 2012 but i get the feeling i'd appreciate it a lot more now.
feel like every profile should have at least one 1-star review and this is mine. my parents got it with the gba and it was maybe the first game i remember actively being like "this is bad" in the moment and not as a thing i came to realize after finishing it
2013
it's a solid zombie story. the gameplay was fine from what i remember of it. it's truly baffling to me how it became The Game That Proves The Worth Of The Medium. one time i posted about how i had a good time with the game but felt its attempts at being really narratively heavy fell apart because the game was also encouraging me to crawl around like a worm after every cutscene looking for ammo and collectibles and people got really mad at me
i revisit this once every couple of years, rarely finish it, but have a blast running around as the world's worst jedi and casting force speed and then running into a wall so fast it knocks off 20 health. this game slaps