There's something very wrong with the town of Silent Hill.

From the offset a world covered in endless fog, the only life being those of the inhuman, the subconscious nightmares of a tormented soul.

You, Harry Mason, are trapped in this nightmare. You are just an average man, and you only seek to find your daughter, who went missing after your car crashed on the way into this deserted village.

The unknown creeps upon you with every step you make, harsh static signifying the grotesque have begun the hunt. Can you find your daughter? Will you find her?

The magic of Silent Hill in my personal opinion comes down to the inherent setup. You are playing an average person in way over their head.

Harry is not a Action Superstar, He isn't some magical badass granted the strength of ten men while trying to defend himself from the deadly flesh colored horrors that try to devour him. Harry Mason is a normal, run of the mill family man.

This is shown through many ways, the controls for instance. They are awkward and stilted, Harry turns with the grace of a cafeteria lady placing today's slop on your tray. When you run with him, touching any object in front of him will cause him to bump into it and stagger, which opens him up to be attacked by the enemy.

In any other game, this would be a point of contention but in Silent Hill it is a strength. The awkward nature of the controls is reflective of how awkward it feels to be Harry in this dire and confusing set of circumstances. He is just a regular person trying to find his kid, and in this foggy town, bumping into shit because you can't see it adds to the atmosphere.

The game is also very confusing, which is completely intentional. There will be times where the camera angles change to these very unique, dynamic shots that disorient the player. I think these work to give a sense of anxiety, since now you have to adapt to not being able to see certain things in front of you. Certain puzzles are very obtuse, and while this is a genuine complaint I have with the game, I think it does add to the air of confusion and terror as you begin to feel trapped and isolated in the various locations you visit.

Then there's the voice acting. Many would say it's as awkward and stilted as the controls, and once again I would claim that this is the point. Most characters, especially Harry, speak in a very uncanny, unnatural tone. It gives off this vibe that maybe nobody is what they claim to be, not even the very character we're playing. It makes you question the intentions of every character you encounter, and I think it works to add intensity to the experience.

And to cap it off, the brilliant soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka fits every moment perfectly. From the harsh industrial sounds pushing you where you must go, to the more calm yet sinister tracks, it adds a unique sense of terror to the experience.

Of course I do have a few complaints. Some puzzles are pretty obtuse at points, I think the Zodiac one in particular threw me off because I kept trying to figure out if the pattern was related to the months when it was in fact, an entirely different solution entirely. These aren't so much a problem nowadays since you can look up a hint to the solution if you need it, but I imagine playing the game back in 1999 and doing these might have resulted in some major headscratchings.

Then there's the Boss Fights. They're not good. I accept that they are not the focus of the game and that is completely understandable, but most of them aren't even really a challenge either. It's very much a "shoot them until they die" type of thing, with the only challenge being the boss fight against a corrupted character and that's only because they have a gun.

Want to know my biggest complaint though, and this may sound a bit strange but... the game has too many save points.

Yeah, that is easily my biggest problem with Silent Hill, is that I can over rely on save points and hell, the game even has separate checkpoints where if you die you just start from there. It feels a bit cheap and kind of takes away some of the horror aspect that games like Resident Evil introduced with both limited save points and just limited saves in general.

By the end of Silent Hill I had well over 30 saves, because I am a paranoid fuck, but I still think that limiting that for the player would have made the game even more intense with its horror. Maybe that's what Hard Mode does? I played Normal for this run and while it was challenging, having all those saves kept me from really struggling.

All in all I'm very glad I played this one first, since in truth I don't hear about this game nearly as much as Silent Hill 2, but I've really come to appreciate its vibey horror and just the general aesthetic of such a game.

I look forward to experiencing the horrors of James Sunderland next.

Y'know, despite how hair-pullingly hard this game is, I never really felt mad while I was playing it.

The fourteenth game on my obscure games recommendation list is Kuru Kuru Kururin, recommended to me by Pangburn.

Now, despite the status of this game being "Shelved", I do want to state that I do plan on continuing to play this game throughout the year as I think it is very satisfying, however I wanted to get further through the list and this game is very simple to explain so I figured I'd review it now in a relatively short review.

Kuru Kuru Kururin is an arcadey type game that feels very unique, and is also incredibly difficult. If I had to compare the vibe I get from this game to something else I know, I would say it feels a lot like Super Monkey Ball.

The core plot of the game is that you, Kururin, have been asked by your mom to go and recover your siblings who have all gone to different locations.

You do this by using a little capsule helicopter type thing and flying it through multiple levels, while trying not to damage the propellers by hitting walls.

You have three hearts, and if you get hit three times, the capsule shatters with what is one of the most heart wrenching sound effects I have ever heard in a video game.

The name of the game is simply to try and get through the levels, and if you're good enough, try to speedrun them for the best time while not getting hit.

The levels are relatively short and because there are no lives it is all about practicing and mastering the timing in each stage until you can ace it.

Beating any stage in this game feels immensely satisfying and caused me to pop off like a madman, especially with how triumphant the Goal theme is.

While I may be putting it down for a little while, this game's cute aesthetic, rewarding challenge, and simple mechanics are going to have me coming back until I eventually beat it.

This game feels like it would be way more Backloggd-core if it was released in the US, so play it. Especially if you like Monkey Ball.

Spoiler Warning for Strangers of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin, Final Fantasy (1987), and basically the entire franchise

Y’know, it’s funny. When I initially saw the announcement for this game around a year ago, I was absolutely livid. I hated the concept of the game, thought it was going to be a besmirchment of the very first game, especially when I saw that Tetsuya Nomura’s name was attached to it. I hate most of the works I’ve played by Nomura, and I was afraid at first that this game would ruin the reputation of Final Fantasy I, and possibly the entire franchise.

Eventually as more trailers came out, and I saw how absolutely ridiculous some cutscenes were, I warmed up to it and figured I’d be having a good time laughing at it.

Never did I expect this game to deliver the emotional gut punches and resonance that it did, and those very moments as well as the game as a whole served not just to be a love letter to fans of the original Final Fantasy, but to fans of the entire series.

Before you play this game however, I heavily recommend at least playing the original Final Fantasy to fully appreciate the plot and the various references throughout this game. It’s not required, but I would definitely recommend doing so, it isn’t very long by JRPG standards, and it has many rereleases.

We’ll start with the gameplay which I’ll admit was the weakest aspect of the game for me. While there are combos and interesting ways to utilize magic and class skills, a lot of the combat amounts to mashing RB, and then RT, and then the B button. It’s a bit unfortunate given that this game has quite the bevy of available classes, all with unique abilities, but you really don’t do much with them.

I was personally a big fan of the Void Knight class, which is really just the Rune Knight with a more memeable name. You can create a giant rune shield that absorbs magic attacks and gets bigger with the more attacks it absorbs, allowing you to slash with a large magical sword and fire an energy slash back at the enemy, in some cases one-shotting them, which I did with Tiamat when I fought her. Very kino class.

Even though the combat isn’t the most advanced thing in the world, there is something inherently satisfying about seeing Jack crystalize and bash every enemy into a pile of dust and blood. It reminds me a lot of Doom, which I also thought was very relaxing.

Don’t get me wrong though, there are parts where the combat gets pretty difficult. I for the record played on the Action difficulty, which is the Normal Mode of the game. Regular combat usually isn’t super difficult, but some bosses can and will absolutely wreck your shit if you aren’t prepared. A good example is the Dragon Zombie, which if you don’t have White Mage or its promoted classes leveled up, will be hell without Holy Magic to clear up the poison or heal your health. It has a small arena, and shoots out poison goo from almost every attack, which makes it quite the hassle to work around.

Almost the entire final stretch of the game has the difficulty spike up due to more aggressive enemies coming into play and points where you do not have party members. It was a little exhausting, but not enough to ruin the experience I found.

Level Design starts off pretty lackluster with how hyper linear it was, but by the second half of the game there are a lot more branching pathways that loop back into each other, allowing for faster travel through the levels. The levels themselves look absolutely phenomenal, and as we’ll get to in the story, carry a lot of significance for not just the plot, but for the franchise as a whole.

All in all, if you like high octane action with constant snarking by the cast members, you’ll definitely like the gameplay.

Now onto the actual meat of this review, the plot.

At first the game starts out with a really comedic tone, with Jack being the most blunt and hilariously assholish man to ever exist, yet somehow having this underlying belief of comradery with his initial companions, Ash and Jed.

The three strangers meet in front of a castle, and upon showing each other their crystals and discovering their shared goals, the trio makes an immediate friendship as they set off to KILL CHAOS!!

They eventually arrive in Cornelia, and make their way to the king. After bringing up their quest, with the Chancellor questioning the validity of the trio’s claim as The Warriors of Light, the King sends them to investigate the Chaos Shrine. Before they leave, Princess Sarah asks Jack if he could find a knight she knew who went missing. The knight’s name is Garland. Jack makes no promises, and the three set off.

They arrive at the Shrine, kick the ass of a bunch of monsters, and find a man in a large suit of armor, Jack concludes that they must be Chaos, but Jed realizes that their description matches that of Garland. The suited man claims they are to become Chaos, and so Jack decides to kick his ass.

It then turns out that they were neither Chaos or Garland, but rather a young woman named Neon, who was attempting to become Chaos so that the Warriors of Light could come along and kill Chaos bringing an end to its spread. She believes Chaos isn’t really a deity but rather a concept, but Jack is having absolutely none of that so he just plays his Limp Bizkit and fucking leaves.

I will admit that up to this point, I was laughing my ass off. The character interactions felt so awkward that it was honestly hilarious, but now having finished the game it all kind of makes sense.That doesn’t mean these moments aren’t funny, but that in the full context of the plot the awkwardness serves a genuine purpose.

The four return to the King, who now firmly believes them to be the Warriors of Light, and are sent to the small town of Pravoka to speak to the Mayor about the Elemental Crystals that have gone out of balance, in order to fulfill Lukhan’s Prophecy.

Unfortunately, mayor’s dead, the townspeople hate the Kingdom, and the town is now run by pirates, specifically the Captain, Bikke. Back in the OG Final Fantasy I always pronounced his name like Bike, but the actual pronunciation is Bick-kay, which was interesting.

The Warriors go to the Pirates’ hideout to find Bikke and get info out of him on the crystals, which results in a fight between the two groups. After being soundly defeated, Bikke directs our heroes to find the King of the Dark Elves, Astos, who has apparently made a deal with Chaos, as he might have more answers.

So Jack and company make their way to the Western Keep, fighting their way through the colossal fortress and arriving in a throne room to encounter… one of the Black Knight enemies from Final Fantasy II. This was the point where I initially realized this game was going to be more than just a rewrite of the first game. After defeating the Knight, the group highlights how Jack has come back, and that only Jack can fight the way he does. It seems weird given that there’s been no point where we haven’t had Jack kicking massive ass, but this moment was carefully planting seeds for later.

Astos then appears and attempts to introduce himself, but Jack in his usual temperament, backs him the fuck off and demands just the important information. Astos, chuckling in his new, more coy personality which I definitely appreciate, directs the party towards the flying fortress of an ancient civilization known as the Lufenians. The location houses the Wind Crystal, so the crew wastes no time in making their way to it.

After a bit of traveling, they finally warp to the massive scientific facility that happens to be in space, and arrive at the Wind Crystal. They find that it is being protected by the giant, multiheaded dragon, Tiamat. Tiamat reveals herself as one of the Four Fiends, and attempts to slaughter our protagonists, but one Rune Shield Sword Beam later and she’s nothing more than a pile of crystals.

However, upon Tiamat’s death, Jack notices a pixelated phantom showcasing… something that happened in the past, and then a woman appears where Tiamat died. She introduces herself as Sophia, and much like our heroes, she too has an obsession with destroying Chaos, something which starts to feel very… unnatural.

Using a terminal in the crystal’s room, she shows the locations of two of the remaining Crystals, allowing the player to decide which route they want to take.

At this point, my suspicions arose quite a bit. Firstly, one of the key things about Jack, Ash, Jed, and Neon is that their names all fit within the four character limit of the original Final Fantasy, and that their initial classes reflected base classes of that game, Jack being the Warrior, Ash being the Monk, Jed being the Thief, and Neon being the Red Mage (in this game these are all promoted classes, but they’re also the promoted classes these character’s get so it still makes sense). Sophia on the other hand has a five character long name, and is associated with Lances (she can also be a mage, but Lancer is one of her starting classes) which are associated with the Dragoon class, which didn’t appear until Final Fantasy II. There’s also the fact that she also breaks the original Final Fantasy’s norm by being the fifth party member, where the original only had a party of four. It’s just something to put players of the original on their toes, along with the timing of her arrival, but it ultimately serves a different, more obvious purpose.

Since the game went in the unusual route of having Tiamat be the first fiend fought, which is the opposite of the original, I decided my next Crystal would be the Earth Crystal where I would fight the Lich, who is normally the first Fiend fought in the original.

The plot during this part focuses more on Ash as he starts to regain his memories, remembering his old companions and how he feared them dying and did everything in his power to stop it from happening. This of course conflicts with Jack, who wants solely to focus on the mission and keeps telling Ash that “forgetting is a mercy.” Jed also starts to recover his memory, but gets ignored by the rest of the group.

Eventually they arrive at the Cavern of Earth, a boobytrapped underground temple, which hosts the Earth Crystal. They arrive and encounter the Lich, who has been polluting and rotting the earth with his darkness. He begins introducing himself, and Jack, irritated from the entire experience, jumps to punch the ghastly fiend right in the face while saying “I DON’T GIVE A FUCK WHO YOU ARE!!”

I chuckled, as it was a very funny moment.

After a relatively tough fight, victory is again seized, and another phantom is found where the Fiend was killed. Their build being very buff, much like Ash, as the phantom lies there lamenting the death of their companions.

Eventually the darkness residue begins to move towards the group. Earlier in the story, Sophia mentions that the dark mist that comes from the enemies slain by Jack and the party can mess with their minds, and make them remember things they’re better off not knowing. Ash of course absorbs the darkness with his Crystal, and starts to ease up on the memory stuff, before the party is warped back to the Fortress to go to the next Crystal.

The Fire Crystal comes next, and the party makes their way to the treacherous Mount Gulg. Neon gets a little more characterization here as the crew talks to her about if she is starting to believe that Chaos actually exists and what not.

Our heroes eventually reach the core of the volcano, where they encounter the Fiend of Fire, Marilith. After finally beating her, another phantom is left in her place, with Neon absorbing the dark mist with her crystal. Neon later accepts that Chaos is real, and vows to continue fighting alongside Jack and company. Then, just as the volcano is about to erupt, the heroes are warped back to The Flying Fortress by Astos.

Astos shows them the location of the final remaining crystal, the Water Crystal. Once again, the heroes don’t hesitate to make their way to the Sunken Shrine. On the way, Jed begins to have more doubts about the mission as he begins to recall the past, with Jack becoming more irritable the more the past is brought up.

This culminates in a moment where after killing the Cray Claw, which is a Final Fantasy V boss, Jack tries to absorb the dark mist with his Crystal, but Jed interrupts him, forcing the two of them to have a flashback of meeting each other at some place that wasn’t were they met earlier in the story.

Jack asks if this makes Jed happy and the two reconcile with a fist bump. Eventually they arrive in the Sunken Shrine, a large energy harvesting facility requiring multiple key cards in order to progress, and at the very bottom lies the Kraken.

Neon demands that the Kraken return the Crystal, but the Kraken posits as to why they need it, as they’ve been doing fine without it. This response causes Neon to clam up, but Jed comforts her before Jack goes in swinging. This of course ends with the group having a tough long fight against the mighty Fiend, with Jed absorbing the mist.

Can I just say that Jed’s voice actor, Alejandro Saab (better known as KaggyFilms), does such a phenomenal job voicing the character. Jed is very much the emotional core of the group and the performance makes him both incredibly relatable in both humorous and serious moments. Seeing him develop from the mostly comedic sidekick to a man who wants to know who he is and what his true purpose is just resonates so hard with me and I’m thoroughly impressed with how Alejandro captured the emotions of such a character.

Anyways, after completing the task they set out to do, the party makes their way to Cornelia to find… that it is covered in darkness. The villagers are suspicious of group, claiming that they serve Chaos and that one of them must be an imposter as the prophecy only mentions four Warriors of Light.

This of course pisses off Sophia, who besides Jack, has been the most obsessive in the group about forgetting the past and trying to kill Chaos. This scene, while a little awkward feeling, does elicit a genuine sense of frustration and anger. After everything the player and these characters have been through, seeing that your journey seemingly did nothing hurts quite a bit.

Jack then decides that maybe talking to the King will get them a warmer reception… which turns out to be false as the Chancellor and even the King believe that our heroes are to blame, and nearly has them executed. Luckily, Princess Sarah arrives and manages to convince her father that they shouldn’t expect for the world to immediately improve upon the rebalancing of the crystals.

This manages to save Jack and company for the time being, but that peace is short lived as the pirates from Pravoka have begun wreaking havoc in the city, with monsters appearing as well. This is because the pirates grew impatient with the restoration of the crystals, as the Wind Crystal being restored only made the raging of the seas due to the corrupted Water Crystal more difficult to work with.

The party is then ordered to stop the attack on Cornelia, and as they soon discover, the pirates themselves have been turning into the monsters, due to succumbing to the darkness. This eventually results in a rematch with a possessed Captain Bikke.

After his defeat, Bikke reveals the fact that the impatience of the pirates caused them to be possessed and that while he tried to keep them under control, he too lost control. He went to try and find Astos, but he was nowhere to be found.

Bikke then charges the heroes to find Astos, as he believes he is the only one who can find a solution to the massive spread of the darkness, telling the heroes to follow the ominous white bats that have been spotted throughout the game as they are Astos’ creations. Bikke then passes on while the heroes go seeking Astos.

Eventually they find a large ancient tower, and begin to regain memories about a race of people called Lufenians, with Sophia noting things like how she “never made it this far before”. The group discusses how the Lufenians were apparently a civilization that existed along with Cornelia, but surpassed it in regards to technology until one day disappearing altogether. Yet for some reason, they believe themselves to somehow be connected to the Lufenians in some way, with exception to Neon who says she was born in Cornelia and given a Dark Crystal by Astos at some point in time. She fears she can’t be trusted, but Jack says as long as she’s willing to help them, he has no reason to send her away.

The group begins to think that the darkness could be because of the Lufenians, and continues up the tower to encounter an Iron Giant which has apparently beaten up Astos. After turning the synthesoid creature into scrap, Jack tries to obtain some answers from Astos, especially after he keeps regaining more memories of his connections to Lufenia, and questioning his mission about killing Chaos. Astos tells him he’ll give him the answers he seeks, but only if he kills more creatures that have suddenly appeared in a weird modern skyscraper-like building.

Jack and the crew investigate the location, and start to firmly believe that this is definitely being caused by Lufenian interference, which makes the entire party believe that Astos is in league with the Lufenians and is perpetuating the cycle of darkness throughout the land. After encountering a Behemoth, which Jack recognizes despite never having seen the creature before, he crystalizes it… but then it turns into a makeshift Bahamut, coming with its own Megaflare. After managing to defeat that, Jack regains even more memories, finding out that the crystals he and the others bear are not merely for purifying the Elemental Crystals, but for retaining their memory data, and that Jack’s crystal is now completely full, meaning that he can no longer protect himself from remembering the past.

Our heroes, called “Strangers” by the Lufenians, are apparently a part of a project to find a way to balance light and darkness in the world of Cornelia.They are sent in to prevent the creation of Chaos, which is an element created when darkness mixes with negative emotions as it results in an uncontrollable circumstance, which causes the Lufenians to reset the timeline and send the Strangers back to get better results.

Astos being in league with the Lufenians leads the party to go to an area called the Terra Tortura. This was the part of the game where I fangasmed hard because Terra Tortura is… The Floating Continent from Final Fantasy VI. You have to go and destroy three statues in order to open the main gate, and the statues are directly referencing The Goddess, Fiend, and Demon from that game.

Actually on that note, most areas in this game are in reference to the other games, most of which is aptly described in the loading screen’s little journal entries called the “Fool’s Missive”. It turns out that the various areas are related to “Dimensions” with those Dimensions being the other games. For example, the Sunken Shrine level is in reference to the Mako Harvesting Factories of Final Fantasy VII, while the Crystal Mirage level is in reference to the worst part of Final Fantasy III. Meaning that the Lufenians have been pulling these areas from those worlds for some purpose.

Back to the story though, once we destroyed all of the statues and unlock the final gate, we finally encounter Astos. He reveals that those white bats that have been following him are actually Lufenians whom he transformed with magic. He was born in Cornelia, but was allowed to travel with the Lufenians to see the various Dimensions, eventually being brought back to be a part of the project as an organic reconnaissance unit. However, after having to see the timeline be reset, and being one of the only characters to retain his memories of the past resets, he has come to hate the Lufenians.

Jack demands that Astos give him a purpose, an enemy to fight, but Astos states that he has no enemy for Jack. Astos then asks who he is to Jack… with Jack recovering some memories about knowing Astos, but his uncertainty leads him to say that he is merely the King of the Dark Elves, and nothing more.

Astos finally snaps, and goes all out against the party. This was easily the second hardest fight in the game for me as Astos is not just capable with magic, but is a master of martial arts and can mix both to deadly effect. However, after his initial defeat, he goes all out and transforms into THE FIRST CANONICAL VERSION OF THE ULTIMA WEAPON!! with a design that mixes the VI, VII, and VIII designs all together, and he uses familiar attacks like Flare Star and Antimatter. Unfortunately, he is much easier as Ultima Weapon Origin, but the fight is still cool as shit.
Astos is defeated, and begins to pass away. Jack tragically regains all of his memories of Astos, things like Jack’s line earlier in the game “Nothing a bit of spit can’t handle” being something that Astos said to him about his own injuries in a previously reset timeline.

Astos initially thought of himself as nothing more than an item to be used whenever the heroes needed, but Jack and the rest of the party grew to see him as a friend, and due to the constant suffering, Jack proposed a plan with Astos and the others to end the Lufenian’s grip over Cornelia for good, utilizing as many exploits as they could like Astos’ retaining his memory.

Before departing back to Lufenia to begin the plan, Jack entrusts Astos to guide the group to this end by any means necessary. Astos states he’ll simply forget, but Jack promises that he won’t.

Unfortunately, Astos winds up being right about his assumption, but does his best to get the warriors on the path towards completing their true goal. However, Astos grew resentful of being forgotten, despite knowing that it wasn’t Jack’s fault, and it led to him giving in to the growing hatred inside of him.

Todd Haberkorn’s portrayal of the character absolutely nails the rage and emotion that fuels Astos’ final speech, and was a mastery of voice work. Usually I can recognize Todd’s voice in most of the things he does, as I’ve usually seen his more comedic high pitch voice roles like that of Jaco and Death the Kid that this deeper, more distant voice he gives to Astos was stunning to me. He truly brings out the anger and frustration of a man who has been through time loop after time loop, abused like a tool by a civilization who sees you as only a means to an end, forgotten by the friends he made who trusted him with their ultimate mission.

As he dies, the Lufenian Bats die with him, and he directs the heroes to fight back against Lufenia and save the Cornelian people from the constant repetition of the timeline.

So, with nowhere to go off of, the heroes head back to Cornelia, which has all but been consumed by the darkness. The King and Queen are dead, along with most of the soldiers. Princess Sarah is alive, but is headstrong in not abandoning her people, something which Jack sees as suicidal… so he punches her in the gut to knock her out. It’s kind of a standard thing in media, but it was definitely not something I expected.

Jack has the soldiers and the party escort the Princess out of the city while he takes on the hordes of monsters on his lonesome. As he does, he winds up rescuing civilians to escape along with the princess.

As they exit the city, the Princess realizes that her initial mentality would have meant the death of her and all of the Cornelians who will depend on her guidance during these times, and the party ponders where they will take the remaining civilians.

However, the darkness winds up being too strong and corrupts the soldiers and the townsfolk, resulting in all of their deaths, including Sarah… who happens to also be holding a Dark Crystal.

Both her and Jack remember one of the timelines that was reset, where the two of them were very close to one another. Jack introduced her to the song that she would go on to play on her Lute in the future timelines. At one point, she asks what his name is, with it being Jack Garland.

At the end of the memory, it is revealed that Jack gave her his previous Dark Crystal so that his memories could be truly restored during the plan he set up with Astos.

She asks him if it was worth it to try and change the world, before passing away in his arms…

What happens next… was probably one of the most heartbreaking moments in any video game for me.

Ash, Jed, Neon and Sophia all turn their weapons on Jack, as Jack questions what is going on. They tell him that he needs to take in the darkness and rage, and begin to attack him.

Jack, or rather you the player, are forced to singlehandedly murder these characters that you have grown to love and care about throughout the course of this game. You don’t want to do it, but they give you no choice.

This was the part of the game where I almost cried, as it was such an utterly painful moment for me. Slowly killing each and every one of the members of the party, doing those critical attacks which no longer feel satisfying but rather agonizing as Jack screams and cries that he doesn’t want to do this, and me feeling in my heart that *I didn’t want to do this.

All of the fist bumps, all of the chitchats while walking through the levels… it was all gone. Jack had to kill them… I* had to kill them, all in order to get the power to defeat the Lufenian’s for good.

To become Chaos.

Jack questions where he should go, before being reminded by a memory of Astos that one of the Lufenian’s primary pickup points was the Chaos Shrine.

The final level is a solemn reprise of the first level, with Jack wandering through the shrine on his lonesome. Muttering to himself about how he’ll make the Lufenian’s pay, how he’ll make them suffer.

He eventually arrives at the pickup point, and enters into the wheatfield seen throughout the game. Voices of Lufenian’s tell him that they’re going to reset the timeline as he screams that he’ll destroy them as he begins attacking their crystal computer matrix.

Suddenly, the darkness within Jack manifests into a physical form that calls itself Chaos. Jack, pissed off and claiming himself to be Chaos, faces it off in the final encounter.

The big meme about this game was all about how the mission was to “Kill Chaos” and stuff, but at the end of the game you do so much more.

You don’t just kill Chaos…





YOU MAKE CHAOS YOUR BITCH!! AND TAKE ALL OF ITS POWERS AS YOUR OWN!! THE LUFENIAN’S TELL YOU THAT THEY’RE IN CONTROL AND YOU SAY “FUCK YOU ASSHOLE, THIS IS MY WORLD NOW!!”

As Jack attempts to destroy them, they disconnect themselves from Cornelia, as Jack gets pulled back in time by the Four Fiends, revealed to be our party members.

The plan was a success. Cornelia is finally free.

They admit that they remembered the plan far earlier than Jack did, as evidenced by those earlier lines like “Jack’s finally back” and “Only Jack can fight like that”, things that in the situation they were initially stated in didn’t make much sense, but those seeds were planted to make that ending twist much more impactful, which is something I love about this game.

It all sets up for a “how” situation, since Jack’s identity was spoiled long before the game came out, and I think the way they handle steadily building up questions for the player is phenomenal.

The group asks what the plan is now, and Jack states that now they’ll be the ones to train the actual Warriors of Light and fulfill the true prophecy, to truly save Cornelia once and for all.

The game then ends with Garland, sitting on his throne, as the Warriors of Light (which includes the specific one from Dissidia) arrive to fight him.

He truly did it his way.

While the story might seem convoluted, I think the emotional beats hit hard nonetheless. This game did an amazing job at making me feel joy and pain throughout the story, and it really captures the essence of friendship and comradery that some of the best Final Fantasy games are known for.

At the end of the day, while I’m sure a lot of people will simply discount this game for seeming schlocky and being a stupid edgy mess, I think this game tries to do something that a lot of games don’t do anymore.

It tries to be genuine.

I recommend giving this game a shot, though be warned that the PC Port (which I unfortunately played) is incredibly unstable and frequently suffers from crashing, even on high end PCs. You are better off playing the console versions of the game if available.

The people who worked on this game truly created a celebration of 35 years of Final Fantasy that I believe should be experienced by all. A respectable entry in the long lasting series that despite having “Final” in the title, will likely not be ending anytime soon.

They did it their way, and this review is my way of showing my appreciation of a project that I initially doubted would hold unironic value to me.

As I write this review with the relatively mild headache caused by me facepalming for around 2 hours straight last night while playing this, I feel like I've escaped from some form of torture.

Mega Man X is one of my favorite games, a fun short romp of a 2D Run & Gun Platformer with great music, great level design, and a decent challenge for the first playthrough.

How do we go from that to something like this?

Well, I was going to say "the lack of Keiji Inafune's involvement", but considering Mighty No. 9 is a thing, I'm not willing enough to wager that that was the reason.

Though the fact that he apologized for this game's very existence is telling.

Either way, we end up with what I currently think is the single worst Mega Man X, actually fuck it, the single worst Mega Man game to ever exist.

The story is nothing to write home about, it's a very uninteresting story about another scientist, Gate, getting infected by the Zero Virus from the last game. He goes crazy, creates an entity called "The Nightmare", and sends 8 Reploid Investigators whom he created to look into it. If that first part sounds familiar, that's because that's literally the plot of Mega Man X3.

Gate was apparently a scientist alongside Alia back in what I would assume were their university days or some shit, but he was ridiculed for his methods and eventually removed I think.

There's not much to go off of there because the game, both being terribly translated as well as vague, keeps me from understanding what actually went on.

But that does not compare to the gameplay, which in an homage to the very first Mega Man, is host to the most bullshit designed levels I have ever seen. Every single stage has some sort of gimmick that makes it completely unplayable unless you have suit upgrades or a particular weapon, with the only exception being Commander Yammarks stage.

Blaze Heatnix's stage has you fighting 4 separate donut things, one of which is literally impossible to defeat unless you have Infinity Majinion's weapon or Metal Shark Player's.

Metal Shark Player's stage is just a ridiculously long and played out instant kill fest, that also has spikes for literally no reason than dickish design.

Infinity Majinion's stage while not the worst, is just lazily designed, there's nothing interesting except the giant robot shooting things at you, platforming wise it's one of the most dull stages I've ever experienced.

Shield Sheldon's stage has an annoying laser puzzle gimmick that extends its time by a large margin, Blizzard Wolfang's stage is riddled with fucking avalanches, Rainy Turtloid's stage gimmick is literally just constant damage.

All of these are of course made worse due to the impact of the Nightmare. Y'see, the Nightmare is like the stage effects of the first X game... except they don't benefit you at all, and the game doesn't really clarify when they're on or not. Do not be fooled, the Red coloring doesn't actually clarify shit because even if you go to a non Red colored stage, the Nightmare will still be in effect. So what was the point of the color. I have no idea, it doesn't make a difference.

The Nightmare just adds more shitty gimmicks to a game with shoddily designed levels. From flaming meteors to metal boxes and bug robots. It's just a cavalcade of unnecessary additions that make the game harder for no reason.

The worst blight to me however, are the final stages. The first final stage is literally impossible to even start unless you have specific upgrade chips (or Suits) because the jackass who designed this thought that putting a bunch of spike walls that are too tall to jump over normally was a good idea.

The rest of the final stages follow suit with this ridiculous spike-obsessive design.

For the record, I hate spikes as a video game obstacle. They are, in my honest opinion, the laziest designed obstacle in all of games to create a sense of difficulty. Instant kill obstacles all fall in the trap of feeling cheap and this game is just loaded with that. Every death to the overload of spikes in this game just feels like a fucking fluke. Like, how the hell is anyone supposed to deal with this.

I could go on and on about how the bosses in the game suck, how Gate is the worst Mega Man boss ever conceived, how bringing back Zero and Sigma feels super fucking stupid, go more indepth on how stupid the Rescue and Chip systems are, but that would require me to care enough to want to keep going on and on about this until the heat death of the universe.

Mega Man X6 is the video game equivalent of a punch to the face, and I can still feel my jaw being left wide open in complete disbelief.

I knew the game would be bad, I knew it would be this awful thing, BUT IT STILL LEFT ME DISAPPOINTED!

Don't play this game, don't waste your time on this. The original Mega Man X is right there, play it instead, or X2, X4, or X5.

Just, don't waste your time like I did.

2012.

Imagine a young preteen boy living out what was one of the worst years of his life. Puberty was settling upon him, causing massive changes to his body and mind, a torturous calamity the result of aging in the physical sense. This kid was a dumbass clown, never taking the right things seriously, never taking the right things jokingly.

An amoeba of borderline incel like emotions, harboring feelings for every pretty girl he'd lay his eyes on regardless of if their character was good or if he was even being reasonable in his attractions.

During one of the most emotional and terrible times of his life, the man who would eventually become his brother in law got him several Christmas Gifts for the Xbox 360 he had gotten maybe only a year or two prior. There were many games, Gears of War, Batman Arkham City, etc.

But chief among them was Fallout New Vegas.

2009-2010

Jump back a few years to when the boy was younger. He had recently left public school to enter what would be a hellish and depressive 3 year stint as a homeschooler. His half brother had recently returned into his life after mostly being out of the picture. At this point of his life, the boy was losing connection with his social life, becoming an isolated little shrimp who dare not speak to others in complete social fear. Alone, every day in his house, learning propagandist Christian homeschool work. Just him, and his brother, a recovering alcoholic.

One day, the boy and his father go to the basement where the brother lived his days out. He was playing a particular game on his Playstation 3, wearing this Abe Lincoln hat in game and wandering this devastated yet familiar landscape. The brother talked about it being the third entry in the Fallout series, and mentioned that a new game would be coming out called Fallout New Vegas.

2000-2009

The boy is born, his life shaped by his parent's love for old media. His dad really loved old music like Frank Sinatra, and once in a Blue Moon, the boy and his dad would watch an old picture together, something that made the father very happy.

The boy spent a lot of time with his mom in this time, his parents were divorced around his second to third year of existence you see. The boy would visit her work place and her parents frequently, the D.C. area was very familiar to him.

It felt like home.

2009-2010

The boy recognizes the setting of this third Fallout game to be a destroyed version of his home, with music playing that reminded him much of songs his father and him would listen too.

2011

The brother would leave and join the military. The boy never felt so alone before in his entire life.

2012

The boy returns to school, his social awareness crippled by years spent languishing on Youtube alone and being brainwashed by the Christian agenda.

He meets friends he would keep for what is currently the remainder of his life.

Which brings us to Christmas of 2012 once again.

At first the boy was not interested in this Fallout New Vegas, his cousin had ruined first person shooters for him, constantly tearing away his freedom from his own devices in order to play schlock like Modern Warfare 3.

There was a trauma that happened, we won't go into the details, but it severely impacted the boy for the rest of his life, even now.

Fallout New Vegas is what carried him through it.

It's what carried me through the difficult times in my life.

Fallout New Vegas is a game that is so heavily focused on showing both the consequences of your actions while simultaneously telling you to move on from the past and keep living.

Despite its post apocalyptic world, the people of New Vegas are always trying to keep going, with the backing track of songs like Jingle Jangle Jingle being very much about continuing forward through life, while other tracks like Blue Moon and Ain't That a Kick in The Head show the positive consequences that showing affection to another person can bring.

All of these songs brought together by the calm yet caring voice of Mr. New Vegas, who despite not being real in both the game and in real life, comforted me greatly and made me feel like I was wanted. That I belonged somewhere in this twisted awful place in my life.

I spent a lot of time with my companions, one in particular being Craig Boone, the soldier who lost his wife to slavery. Even to this day I sympathize with his character. This is a man who has had to suffer so much pain, even outside of just his wife and unborn child being enslaved and him mercy killing them. He's killed innocent people under orders, despite not wanting too, and at the end of the day he can atone, and be loved.

Many of the companions fit with this central theme of moving on from the past and embracing the choices you make. Veronica, Raul, Cass, Rex, ED-E, Lily, Arcade, and that's not even getting on the DLC companions, all of them have to learn to either move on or accept the past.

I think that's why this game has the draw it has, and honestly why it's so beloved by the transgender community. I'm not going to speak for them honestly, I am a cis male, but I think I understand why they love it so much.

The freedom of being able to carve your own path forward, and leave that past behind, having the choices you make find you a place to belong, I get it.

I think a part of me is very sentimental over this game, despite its various bugs and gameplay issues, but you'll have to forgive me it's almost been 10 years that this game has been in my life.

Fallout New Vegas is very much about making a new chapter in your life, and honestly...

It saved mine.

This review was inspired by one of my friends, who I've been told has said that "A lot of people claim Sonic 3 & Knuckles to be the best of the Classic Era, but nobody explains why that is."

Initially this was going to be something where I'd play 3 playthroughs of S3&K and Sonic CD (A game they consider better than S3&K) to compare how both handle their explorative aspects, but after just playing a few acts of Sonic CD, I just cannot waste my time doing that as it's a game that I think is shallow in every regard. Either way, I think I can explain well enough the various reasons, as I did take notes for this playthrough to note what makes Sonic 3 & Knuckles special.

To start, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a game that heavily rewards exploration and replayability while not being outright hostile with its objectives, level design is lengthy but in a way that doesn't halt Sonic's momentum.

The big complaint I hear about S3&K is that it's "too long", which I feel is an incorrect statement. S3&K's length is to the strength of the inherent rollercoaster nature of Classic Sonic. Many levels have you blistering through most of it within seconds, before having you stop to do some platforming, which gives the player time to fully explore their surroundings to find hidden power ups or Special Rings, before thrusting them yet again into another rewarding burst of speed.

The best comparison I can make is that S3&K's level design shares a similar philosophy to Nirvana's music. With Nirvana's music there is a clear rollercoaster type of design of "Loud-Quiet-Loud" segmenting the song. If the Loudness of the song was just on its own, it would get very annoying, but if the Quietness was also just on its own it would be boring, thus the combination of these elements, with the quietness enhancing the loudness creates the great tracks. So too does Sonic 3 & Knuckles do this with its level design, with Fast-Slow-Fast, which this entire analogy went to explain.

This not only is rewarding to play but also caters to what I think is the major pull to Sonic 3 (I'm just going to call the whole game Sonic 3 at this point because that's what it is.), it's an actual adventure. No longer are we warped off screen to be sent to new zones that have no correlation to one another, this game has actual transitions that show us going from place to place. Acts now directly lead into each other, giving the game a great sense of continuity and flow. The story cutscenes themselves, while minimalistic, feel larger than life and express an interesting narrative better than almost any other Sonic game.

There is only really one low point in the entire game, which is Sandopolis Act Two. Easily the one mire this game has, a level that's slow for the entirety of its runtime and based around a gimmick involving Ghosts and stuff, easily the worst level... but considering that it's the worst level in a game filled with gems like Hydrocity Zone (the best Sonic water level), Flying Battery, and Lava Reef (all levels that made it into Sonic Mania btw) I think it can get the pass, especially since other Sonic games have way, way worse.

Back on the topic of the explorative nature of Sonic 3, let's talk Chaos Emerald hunting, which has never before been more rewarding to complete. Unlike the prior Sonic games which required a ring quota, and to possibly find a checkpoint in the case of Sonic 2, Sonic 3's Special Rings are placed throughout the levels to allow the player multiple chances in a single stage to gather the 7 emeralds and unlock Super Sonic.

This is easily my favorite way of going about emerald hunting, and something I'm glad Mania kept over the "Ring at the End of the Stage" from Sonic 1 and CD or the Checkpoint system from 2. This just feels more in line with the things you do with the blue dude, as searching through the levels to find hidden goodies has been a trope since Sonic 1.

I'd also like to say that compared to something like Sonic CD's robot generators, the level design actually accommodates the player to get these and doesn't just fucking softlock you from getting the best ending when springs send you to the end of the stage.

Blue Sphere is, in hindsight, easily the best of the original special stages from the Classic Era, with only Mania's special stages beating it out in my opinion. The levels speeding up over time, gathering around the center of a group of spheres and turning them into rings to collect which helps to give the player continues and lives through increasing their score. I still think overall that Special Stages are antithetical to the inherent design of Sonic, but if they had to be in these games, I'd like them to be either Blue Sphere or Mania's Races.

On that note though, Super Sonic has never been more rewarding to earn and play. All of those Fast-Slow-Fast segments are made super fast, allowing you to completely annihilate enemies and the level itself, doubly so if you get the Super Emeralds and get Hyper Sonic, who himself has a screen nuke double jump. I did not get Hyper Sonic for this review though, mostly because he does hurt my eyes with his seizure inducing rainbowness. Still, I love getting him.

Let's talk about another thing unique to this game (unless you count the mode in Mania), Sonic's Insta-Shield. This ability, which is activated when you press the jump button twice, gives Sonic a brief few frames of increased range as well as invincibility which allows him to kill any enemy in the game that isn't a boss without taking damage. Orbinauts, the little spiky bois, are now nothing more than another obstacle to take down rather than a sit and wait. It is a move with a lot of versatility and makes Sonic, easily the weakest character to play in the game in regards to abilities, very unique. There's also the Elemental Shields, which while not only defending Sonic from their respective elements, gives him a secondary move to replace his insta-shield, be it a fiery dash, a bubble bounce, or an electrifying double jump.

This game is also the first mainline (fully) playable appearance of Tails and Knuckles, both characters being like Sonic but with their own unique way of traversing levels. Tails can flat out fly, allowing for exploration to be a breeze, and Knuckles can glide and climb walls, but can't jump as high as Sonic. These two characters provide oodles and oodles of replayability for the game, as they have their own Super, and in Knuckles case Hyper, forms with Tails being easily the most broken with his, and I quote SomeCallMeJohnny with this one, "FLICKY ARMY OF DEATH" which absolutely obliterates boss fights.

If you want an answer as to why this game is considered not only the definitive Classic Sonic experience, but the definitive Sonic experience in general, I can tell you: Sonic 3 is bigger, better, and uncut. It has that size, and it knows how to use it. Incredibly replayable, a grand journey, and rewarding gameplay. It's no question baby, it's the tops.

Anyways Sonic CD and Sonic 4 suck, good night.

The first game I'm playing off of my Obscure Game Recommendation List, thanks to JamesBuc.

Considering there are only two reviews on here, and one of them is by YourDadReviews so that doesn't count, it seems like I'll be charting relatively untouched territory here.

First, what I want to say is that I'm honestly impressed with how this game gives every single button an important function in controlling the Power Shovel (looking this up, that is actually what they are called). The left and right bumpers move the vehicle, the circle button and the square button fold the bucket down and up respectively, the triangle and x buttons raise and lower the entire lift, the up and down buttons raise and lower the extension part holding the bucket, and the left and right buttons are for changing your direction. It's a very unique system that kind of reflects how these things work in real life, or at least how I'd imagine they'd work. Every button serves to work the Power Shovel so you can achieve maximum efficiency, and honestly in concept I think it is actually an amazing idea. Execution on the other hand can be hit or miss.

The biggest hurdle to getting into Power Shovel does come from this complex control style. It's very unorthodox compared to many other arcade type games. Everything you do has to be carefully and procedurally maneuvered through, or else you fail. It's one of those things where I do have to wonder if the complexity is truly worth the hassle if it makes the game feel sluggish despite its arcade design.

Ultimately, I think it is worth the hassle, because it allows for one of the most entertaining arcade games I've ever seen. If you play Power Shovel, don't bother with the training stuff outside of learning the controls, because the real meat of this game is in the jokey Part Timer Mode. This mode has you doing all sorts of odd jobs with your Power Shovel like destroying some rich asshole's car to scooping tons of curry onto plates to driving over the abyss while platforms disappear beneath you for no explained reason while the hitler-stached otamatone yells at you in Japanese to the sound of the music also yelling at you in Japanese. Truly the pinnacle of human experience.

Nonetheless, these little challenges in Part Timer Mode are both comical and genuinely engaging for me, and if a game manages to do that, I'm in for a good time. I think my only gripe was the driving game, because there are platforms that disappear and reappear ala Mega Man, and the Power Shovel has kind of funky controls in regards to driving. They're reversed, so Left pushes you right and right pushes you left and you have to hold both to go forward. Just feels a little odd to control when you're on a time limit.

Well, this was pretty short, but the game is not very long, and given it's an arcade game, finishing it isn't really required to enjoy the whole package. I want to again thank JamesBuc for the recommendation, and I hope more people try out Power Shovel, it's a pretty solid time.

I wanted to write a review about this game for over a month at this point but always find myself not feeling fully committed.

At first I felt like I didn't want to go all in with the hate because truthfully speaking I speak rather caustically about any game I play, including those I enjoy, and I truly do want to have a more positive mindset when it comes to game criticism.

However, seeing the amount of "opinions" about this game on twitter that range from painfully ignorant to just boldface lying has put me in a position where I feel like I need to let loose and just be the asshole I am meant to be about this utterly corporate, hollow and soulless product.

Fire Emblem Engage is easily the Marvel Movie equivalent of a Fire Emblem game in the worst possible ways possible and I can only look at some of the defenses for it as by people who consume product endlessly without actually considering what it is that they're taking in.

"The story is bad but that's ok because all Fire Emblem stories are bad," is not just a bad argument but just a flat out untruth that dismisses the nuanced stories of games like Genealogy of the Holy War, a game whose first half is entirely focused on political grabs for power that bring the protagonist into conflict with those he deemed allies and results in a twist that I still find incredibly impactful even a year after playing it.

It also dismisses the game preceding Engage, Three Houses which while not perfect, has had enough intrigue about itself that people are still debating which of the paths was the "morally correct" one. If a game can still generate discussion nearly five years after its release, it must have some sort of value.

Hell, Shadow Dragon which I just played this last month has better story telling than we get in Engage. People really want to try and say that Fire Emblem plots are bad have just not played the fucking series at this point. That's not even an elitist angle, I've only played maybe 6 to 8 games in this series, but even I can tell that the idea that "all Fire Emblem stories are bad is bullshit"

So, what is wrong with Engage's story? I know I just vented about the honestly moronic argument being made for it so what exactly is the flaw? In truth the basic premise isn't so much the problem but rather the delivery.

The game has a simplistic "defeat the Evil Kingdom and the Evil Dragon in charge of the Kingdom", but the problem simply lies in the fact that the game does not get the player to give a single fuck about it. Even in other FE games where the "defeat Evil Dragon" setup is in place, the intrigue is made through the character reactions to Fire Emblem's inherent themes like the suffering of war, loss, and hope. However, Engage's characters are... not characters to put it as nice as I can. They are a bunch of traits stitched together that don't make up a nuanced individual. Even those that I liked like Alcryst barely felt like people.

So when you put these non-characters, with a simplistic plot, does that automatically make it bad? No. A good example of this I think is Final Fantasy V. That game is relatively simple in how its story is presented and the characters don't wind up having a severe level of depth, but what makes it work is how it uses its humor and light-heartedness to sort of be a self-parody, making it a whimsical entertaining ride from start to finish (Even then FFV still has actual character beats that feel genuine and well written regardless).

Engage appears to have this trait at the start but by the time you reach the second country the plot tries to take itself seriously and... it doesn't work.

The plot being flat, the characters being flat, and no real sense of self-awareness or witty self-parody results in Engage being an extremely dull experience, which is what I would say if the final third of the game didn't piss me off nearly as much as it did.

To sum up my thoughts on the narrative, I want to quote a friend of mine more versed in Fire Emblem than myself, "Engage doesn’t just have a simple plot. It’s a simple plot full of simple characters told in a simple way with simple themes conveyed through simple expression" - @fortayee, 2023

Onto the gameplay, it starts off relatively ok before falling off the deep end hard after you visit Solm.

The game has barely any objective variety with 20 Main Story Chapters being Defeat Boss maps, 5 being Rout Maps (which includes maps where you start with a different objective only for it to become a Rout Map), and 2 Escape Maps.

Adding on the paralogues brings it up to a whopping 34 Defeat Boss Maps, and 6 Rout Maps (not accounting for DLC because I'm not spending an additional thirty dollars for characters like Camilla and the Fire Emblem Heroes one).

The early to midgame maps were pretty, pardon the pun, engaging (I played on Hard Casual), though I couldn't really think of anything standout. After Chapter 16 though the quality definitely begins a sharp decline.

Chapter 16 is a funny map and begins the trend of encouraging turtling tactics. Instead of trying to make interesting plays, given the sheer amount of both bosses and bosses with the ability to use Engage attacks, you might as well just concentrate all of your forces in one area and take the map excessively slow as you tackle each obstacle one at at a time.

Compared to earlier entries like Shadow Dragon or even something like Sacred Stones, it never feels like it is ever beneficial to spread out your party to multitask obstacles because the sheer amount of enemies along with Engage attacks being particularly devastating just doesn't encourage that kind of play.

This turtling trend continues for pretty much the rest of the game, with Chapters 17 and 25 feeling like the only exceptions, with 25 finally actively punishing the player for doing so.

This isn't really helped by the fact that the back half of this game is filled with Fates like gimmicks that result in levels being less interesting or just plain annoying to progress through.

Every level involving a Fell Shard made me groan because it either meant that the mechanic would involve removing what was making the Chapter interesting like Chapter 23's Meteors which basically made the interesting setup of vast narrow pathways become a giant open map instead, or Chapter 22 where you have to gather all the Emblem Rings only for the map to become a Rout map anyway.

I think my least favorite of the Chapters easily goes to Chapter 24, not just because it involves time travel but also because of the avalanche mechanic being both annoying and trivial.

You wanna beat the map (without just warp skipping), it's simple. Instead of taking your army through the three separate lanes, just turtle them all up in one lane and move them up and down when the avalanches come. Oh, that's forgetting that the chapter also has a time limit. 2 Chapters away from Endgame and the game suddenly feels like implementing a mechanic that will never be relevant again outside of DLC (if it becomes relevant in the DLC in the first place). It's not even really a challenge it just feels... pointless.

Honestly that's the apt word to describe Engage, it's pointless.

Mechanically it doesn't really push the series forward in any real meaningful way. The Emblems are a neat concept but they're never going to return in any future game, if anything they're really just the FE equivalent to Pokemon's current usage of transformation gimmicks that are picked up for one game and then dropped for the next generation. The class change system isn't really anything new, I honestly hazard to think of anything meaningful at all that this game provides.

Nostalgia? I guess, I mean the Emblem Paralogues are easily the best parts about this game, but that's more to the credit of the original games more than anything.

It can't be the characters, because they're not characters at all.

The gameplay is just standard modern FE...

So what gives this game the excuse for being so... nothing.

That's not even going on the 30 dollar DLC, which again is absolutely horrid how they're handling it. It's the same problem I had when Pokemon Sword & Shield did it. For a game that is so unconsidered in my opinion, making additional content that you cannot buy separately from each other for 30 dollars is ridiculous.

I should not have to pay for Camilla or the Heroes one if I want to have Soren or Edelgard. Also, locking the Silver Card behind DLC is also a dick move too.

What else can I foam at the mouth about? The Somniel?

Like the rest of the game it's pointless, and while I know someone will say "well the Monastery in Three Houses is also pointless", I'd argue at least the Monastery fed into what that game was about. The Somniel feels like a complete afterthought, especially considering you can use a lot of its functions on the world map anyway.

Being real I just cannot write a concrete review on this game. It frustrates me too much for me to not just start barking like a rabid dog whenever I see it or discussion about it. I'm honestly hoping it'll get me put down like Old Yeller, bullet to the fucking brainstem.

That infuriation stems from the desire for a better product and to not just be placid and eat up this corporate schlock like it's pig slop. Three Houses, like it or not, was at least doing something interesting, compared to this fucking mess.

I think to me, the moment where my hatred for this game was ensured was after the aforementioned Chapter 22.

The plot does bla bla bla, it's not really interesting but then Alear becomes an Emblem. The Fire Emblem.

And I guess something snapped, something inside of me.

It was a realization, that if it hadn't done it by the time of Fire Emblem Fates, that Fire Emblem had truly jumped the shark.

Not only that, but to have Marth, the guy who carries his version of the Fire Emblem with him for two entire games (and two remakes), be the one who makes that statement... god it's just so awkward and stupid.

And then of course all the times the game would suddenly redeem villains for no reason only to kill them off, which includes the main antagonist... I don't know I think I just fucking died inside.

Can you tell this isn't a review? This is just me spewing out everything because I've been needing to explode about this game for so long but held back.

Fire Emblem Engage is the Modern Fire Emblem game. It is exactly the soulless trashy game that people used to claim Awakening was, it is the endpoint where there is simply no true creative juices left. My only hope is that the next Fire Emblem game is not as nearly as rife with the corporate MCU Filmesque energy as this one was.


Positives:
The music was fine, especially the remixes of classic tracks.
Visually it is very pretty (even if I hate most of the character designs)

Good night Backloggd. I need to just lie down for a while.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

You are a lone boy. With only your trusty steed by your side, you take on a quest that will ultimately lead to a grim end for yourself.

You convince yourself that it is all worth it, in order to save the girl. Nothing else matters.

You enter the empty, isolated wasteland. An unnamed region lacking any other sort of true sentient life, besides that of the Colossi.

These massive, diverse beasts are the only beings standing in the way between you and your goal.

You slay them, with full force and brutality as their black blood spurts out in a pure violent display.

Accomplished, you do not feel. You have killed a creature that was simply minding its own, living a life far removed from any conflict before you arrived and toppled it.

You notice that your arms, legs, and face grow darker and more smudged the more you kill, your clothes more soiled and worn.

This pact with the voice from the heavens is slowly corrupting you from within, as with every colossi you slay, your heart darkens as their souls seep into your own.

Shadow of the Colossus is the purest form of "The ends justify the means." With how after every Colossi dies, there's a sad, ominous choir singing a haunting melody, as if every fight was a funeral procession, or how the emptiness of the world results in this pure "I only care about what I need to do" mentality as you desperately hunt down the beasts is expertly put forth through the cinematics, and world design.

For a 2005 PS2 game, this game is gorgeous, and its visuals help to show a world that has been battered and beaten, but still alive.

I still wind up with at least one complaint however.

As much as I am well aware that the gameplay isn't really the most important aspect here, that would be the presentation, I do think the controls in this game feel very clunky and unnatural. I can understand it for when you're climbing the Colossi, since that makes sense, but even basic platforming or even getting on the horse is an incredible fucking hassle at points.

Other than that, this game is a thematic masterpiece with an underlying narrative that begged to ask gamers if killing these creatures was the right thing, an entire decade before Undertale even came to be.

Personally, I thought that killing the Colossi brought no satisfaction, and it shouldn't. They were mostly just doing their own thing before I came and slaughtered them.

How you perceive satisfaction in combat is what will ultimately define your view of this game.



P.S.

Agro is Best Horse!

So this game is finally on here, and I can talk about it.

Firstly, funny story here, I tried to get this game on IGDB several months ago when it came out. I got footage and pictures of the game, but the IGDB person who handled it said "it wasn't a video game". I guess the joke is on them now.

D*SCO(ep) is a audiovisual game experience, with an emotionally dense OST conveying the tale of a dog sent into the vastness of space on their lonesome.

You play a variety of styles, from a single button charge for sending a rocket to the stars, or flying in a 3D space throughout the stars.

The personal highlight for me being Gigaslammer 9000 DX, a sort of Space Invaders inspired game where you hit baseballs at these green enemies and attempt to get the high score. I'm not a score guy, but the crunchiness of the sound effects as well as the intensity of the backing track (which I believe samples Kanye West) gets one in the mood to slam. Here's a video example that I made for IGDB to prove this is a video game.

All in all, a game I think anyone should experience.

I'm glad it finally got on here.

You are blood.

Blood of a young girl murdered within a Quantum Prison for Troubled Youths. Blood oozing through the cracks of the prison to set the others free.

I am not the best at giving very insightful thoughts onto most games, I'm very much a neophyte in that regard but what I can tell you about this game in particular is why I gel with it.

Quantum Bummer Blues is a game very much rooted in the macabre, as much of the writing paints the picture of a very violent and unsettling world that our unnamed female protagonist has had to live with for several years. Lobotomies, begging for release, possibly even being assaulted for her sexuality. This prison is one of both the mind and soul.

Much of the game (as I interpreted it, I believe this game is vague enough to result in many interpretations to its meaning as I imagine that is the intent.) is the dying thoughts of the murdered girl, as we wander through very bizarre visual rooms, some shaped like a husky, others being what appears to be a human heart. All the while having thoughts of parents abandoning her to this place, and wanting to be freed from the torment.

We start in very simple geometric rooms but soon evolve to these more strange and specific designs that very much gives the vibe of life flashing before your eyes. The music as well gives this feeling of nostalgia washing over you but the hum of static and numbers never truly goes away.

If you'll pardon a personal anecdote here, this game reminds me of something that happened to me only a few months ago. I went to get a routine blood test, as you do when you have a family history of diabetes and heart disease.

These always make me nervous you see, because I hate needles and seeing blood leaving my body. As the doctor shoved the needle in I felt an indescribable pain. Soon I noticed my world fading to black, fuzzy like an old black and white film. My ears began to only hear the staticy noises.

I felt the closest to death I had ever been in my entire life within that moment, but I still didn't pass out.

The fear though, the sheer terror of that moment has stuck with me ever since that day, and I believe that same fear can be found within the contents of Quantum Bummer Blues.

The state between living and not living, self harm in order to survive, this game has an approach that I believe most games wish they could attain.

The gameplay itself as someone else has pointed out is very reminiscent of Libble Rabble, and I would find myself having to agree. The game rewards you for circling around the microbes you can absorb for points by letting them grow bigger to absorb them for even more points without raising the amount of blood drain you have.

It asks you at various points to prioritize which resource you will sacrifice in order to survive, self harm being one of the many ways to regain blood in order to progress.

You can even use this risky shot maneuver that will drain a lot of blood fast, but can also help in giving tons of points as well as speeding up the process of making the microbes larger.

It is also very difficult, and I have not beaten it as of this review (I did use the coloring book mode to see how far I got, and I was very close to the end with my last scored playthrough). I think the difficulty is fine, the game asks the player to reevaluate their approach to video games as a give and take system and I can appreciate how it does so.

Edit: I forgot to add in a part, but the amount of cool things that high level players can do is awesome, Heather's High Score Run Video gave me a lot of insight and is how I was able to improve my skills and get as far as I did.

Personal recommendation when you play the game: play on keyboard. I had been playing on Xbox One controls for most of my playthroughs and outside of hurting my thumb, it is not remotely as precise as keyboard controls.

Quantum Bummer Blues is definitely a game I recommend for people who want to see a very intriguing take on the results of violence, law enforcement, among many other things, as well as a unique gameplay style that will test you in ways few other games can. It's definitely MeCore that's for sure, and I'll have to look into Heather's other games in the future.

P.S. Gonna go listen to that Johnny Cash album later, love that guy's music.

A man stares longingly into the mirror, shadows cast along his face, hiding his intentions not only from us, but from himself...

"Mary... Could you really be in this town?

A woman's reply, a message delivered from the past beckons the man to a mysterious and desolate ruin.

"In my restless dreams, I see that town."

He slowly walks through a fog laden path, unusual sounds echoing as he gets ever closer to his destination.

"Silent Hill."

He arrives at a graveyard on the edge of the lakeside town, a forgotten hallow ground.

"You promised to take me there again someday. But you never did."

The letter guiding him is past tense, the voice deceased. And yet that voice says,

"Well, I'm alone there now... in our 'special place'... Waiting for you..."

Where the horror for Silent Hill 1 came mostly from the visceral and graphic visuals, an intensely industrial soundtrack, and the occult themes, Silent Hill 2's comes from a much darker, more personal place.

Silent Hill 2 at the start gives you a very familiar setup. You are a lone man, entering the town looking for someone, child and wife respectively.

You are, or at least seem to be, a typical everyman. Both Harry and James are very standard American names, with only five letters. Both have a very similar designs, here's Harry's and James'. In fact James looked even more similar in his original design.

Both men had sickly wives who died before the events of the game, both are very awkward in their mannerisms and how they speak, and both are drawn into circumstances they cannot initially fathom.

This is fully intentional.

James Sunderland is specifically designed to make the player think that they will have a similar experience to Silent Hill 1, making the player feel comfortable and safe.

However, as the game progresses, we begin to see how wrong we are.

When we start, James seems like the voice of reason. When he encounters the other lost souls within Silent Hill, he always tries to rationalize their actions, or explain why their way of thinking is wrong. Like when he tries to convince the traumatized and abused Angela Orosco to not commit suicide, or the eeriely creepy murder denying Eddie Dombrowski that he shouldn't kill people just for saying rude things.

Of course, this façade of rationality immediately breaks the moment these characters insinuate that he is no different from them, causing him to get strangely defensive and angry. His tone of voice becoming way more icy, showing a side of James we didn't know was there.

And it's that side of James that makes us realize... this man is hiding something.

His lack of sanity.

This is something you'll start picking up on when you first go through the Woodside Apartments near the start of the game. As you go through, things begin to appear that... don't make realistic sense. Such as the favorite clothes of Mary appearing in front of a spotlight in an empty room. James himself even comments on this, finding it extremely disconcerting.

However, it's once we enter the Otherworld that the clues become more evident. The locales we enter are covered in a gloomy green and blue cloth, different from the harsh orange and red rusty metals from the first game. The cloth stitches together feeling much like that of a solitary confinement cell or a straightjacket.

Now of course in Silent Hill 1 we would simply attribute this to being a part of the dreams of Alessa and her powers distorting the town... but in Silent Hill 2, there is no Alessa.

These dreams belong to James. From the various monsters encountered, to the rain and water drowning out the world, to even an entire character made from his subconscious to try and please him, all of this springs from James' mind.

The most terrifying of all being, of course, Pyramid Head. This thing is terror incarnate. Regardless of the fact that it is slow, and doesn't follow you that frequently through the game compared to contemporaries like Mr. X or Nemesis, it is both thematically and visually much more horrifying.

Every time it appears, things go wrong. It hunts James down like a dog, carrying its gigantic butcher knife or spear. Killing and what appears to be fornicating with the other monsters seen throughout this horrific mental landscape.

There's a point around just halfway through the game, where you get chased by it through a dark narrow hall, and... man I don't want to spoil it but it just... it just fucks me up so bad.

On that same note, you do get a companion character early on and while I initially thought that this would take away some of the isolation that I felt in the first game... man it paid off heavily in the end.

I don't want to go further into what the plot is like, but to summarize, Silent Hill 2's horror is James Sunderland. The darkness that lies within us all, the scary parts of ourselves we hide not just from the world, but from ourselves

This game makes me wonder what my Silent Hill would be like and... man, I'm so glad this shit is fiction.

Spoilers for Klonoa

Given the remake collection that came out recently which I've seen has a very mixed reception, I decided to look into the original Klonoa: Door to Phantomile.

Two of my closest friends, Simon and Luke, were both big fans of this game and told me about how it has a lot of emotional resonance with them. So, I went in optimistic about how the game would go.

At the start the game is relatively simple and sweet, the plot isn't particularly deep at this point, as all we know is that something has crash-landed from space into a nearby mountain top and Klonoa and his friend Huepow go to investigate.

The game controls like most other platformers, with one sole exception being the central mechanic of the game, the Wind Ring.

With the Wind Ring, you can press the shoot button to fire a Wind Bullet that will grab an enemy towards you and blow them up like a balloon. While in this state, you can throw enemies like projectiles to take out other enemies, or use them to give yourself a double jump, which when combined with Klonoa's natural Yoshi like Flutter Jump, will allow you to reach all sorts of heights.

This mechanic is inherently neat and reminds me of another platformer I played this year Hameln no Violin Hiki in how using enemies in this game reflects using Flute in that one. Door to Phantomile uses this mechanic in spades to create all sorts of interesting plaforming challenges and puzzles for the player to face.

I would say that as I kept going through the game I didn't find it to be overly difficult or overly easy for the most part, and our journey remained simple.

We find that the embodiment of evil, Ghadius, has captured Laphise, the Moon Diva with the help of his underling Joka. They intend to drown the entire world into nightmare, giving me a lot of Kirby vibes at the start.

So we quest along to stop Ghadius and Joka, and attempt to make contact with the other Kingdoms in order to stop their evil.

And while we finally find the Granny we were looking for, the person who would tell us how to stop Ghadius... Joka reveals he was hiding in wait and find out that an Amulet we obtained earlier in the story was at Klonoa's grandfather's house.

Klonoa makes a mad dash through a secret passage to return to his home, and sees his Jiji safe and sound.

Before his home is evaporated by Joka, and his grandfather passes on claiming that it is Klonoa's destiny to stop Ghadius.

It is very rare in media for children to show death, especially in such a upfront way. Often times you get the Disney Death where it's not actually death but a temporary state for the character to be in that builds stakes, or a Disney Villain Death where the character dies off screen or is rather implied to have died.

In Klonoa though, the game has you look death in the face, and it is a turning point for the game's tone and direction both in gameplay and story.

Levels become far more aggressive in nature, and longer. The challenges within being far more complex than what had come before while the plot itself slowly becomes more existential and sad. A reflection of the complicated emotions and turmoil that follow when we lose a loved one, perfectly encapsulated in gameplay.

When I think of how difficult the final four levels are, and how frustrated I was, I imagine Klonoa's feelings. How frustrated he feels with how he couldn't do anything for his Jiji, how sad and angry he is.

And then at the end, after you beat the final boss, it's revealed that... Klonoa never existed in this world to begin with, and was brought here by Huepow to save everyone. Everything Klonoa knows, the death of his grandpa, his friendship, his childhood... it's all ripped away from him.

I genuinely wonder how kids who played this growing up felt when they got to the end of Klonoa and saw the heartwrenching cutscene of him and Huepow trying to stay together while the black hole pulls them away, both crying and screaming like any child would when they're forced to leave a friend behind.

I know I almost cried, and I am a 22 year old man who suffers chronic depression.

I do have some complaints, some minor, some major in regards to the gameplay itself.

In regards to major complaints, the boss fights aren't particularly good. All of them have this waiting game feel to them and drag out for way longer than necessary, the Joka fight in particular being my personal low point with this game, being a fight with a cutscene transformation every 3 hits on the boss that you can't skip, and a gimmick with changing the floor tiles colors that while neat at first, quickly wears out its welcome and becomes very obnoxious.

Klonoa also doesn't really have invincibility frames, like at all. This one is mostly a nitpick but I cannot count the amount of times where I'd get hit by an enemy only to suffer knockback and hit another enemy and take damage while Klonoa is still flashing. It's definitely annoying as fuck, and led to a good amount of deaths, though I'll admit that a good number of them were my fault.

Vision 5-2's gimmick was also something that was annoying and only grew more annoying with time. It basically accentuates that waiting game problem by basically putting progression to a halt every 10-15 seconds because it becomes nighttime and you can't grab enemies and a ghost fish tracks you down wherever you go.

Also aiming through the 3D felt weird at time, again another nitpick. It's mostly the camera in this case because despite being 2.5D, it definitely sometimes feels like even if you're directly in front of an object you're aiming at in the background (or behind an object in the foreground), you'll sometimes miss because the camera angle makes your positioning look wrong.

At the end of it all, the question is, did Klonoa resonate with me?

I'd say so. The ending in particular caught me off guard with the sheer amount of emotions and existentialism that I would not have expected from a kids game.

Klonoa deals with complicated issues that I think most kids should be allowed to see and experience, and it deals with it in a very mature and respectful way that I think a lot of other media doesn't. So I'd say that if you haven't already, try Klonoa.

Of course getting it physically is probably going to be impossible given the price ranges, but emulation is the next best thing. Just don't buy the remake, this game is very pretty for a PSX game and from what I've seen the remake butchers the artstyle and makes it look so bad and bland.

P.S.
The voice actor for Klonoa in this game deserves a raise, being able to express the emotional range of a character who speaks mostly in gibberish as well as them is something I wish I could do.

On a different note, this is going to be my last review for a while. I have played well over 50 games this year, and we are only halfway through 2022. I have been making this Backloggd account my job for the past 6 months and it has honestly burnt me out from games to the point where I feel I have no enjoyment while I'm playing them and only get it after the fact during the review.

That is not how I want to be so I will be taking at least a 2 week break from reviews and new games in order to get an actual job and replay some of my favorites to get a nice refresher without feeling obligated to review. When I come back to reviews I don't know what will be next, whether it's on my Obscure Game's list or not.

Regardless I would like to say thank you to those who read my reviews. You are what makes this site worth coming to and I myself need to spend more time reading other's reviews for a while instead of writing my own.

Take care for now!