Coelacanis
2022
This review contains spoilers
After 7 months of on and off playing, I finally rolled the credits on Pokemon Violet. There was so much of this game that I was in love with, but its visual performance issues gave me bad motion sickness that prevented me from playing it as often as I wanted. I had this issue in Sword/Shield as well, but I had a worse time with it in Violet because of how much I was enjoying myself (and therefore pushing myself to play) otherwise. I really wanted to immerse myself in this game, but I couldn't because I had to pace myself carefully so I wouldn't get sick.
For this review, I'm going to focus on the positive things about Pokemon Violet because truthfully I don't have anything else worthwhile to say about why the game frustrated me without being a broken record. If it was not so painfully evident how much this game was rushed, it could have been the best Pokemon game yet.
Paldea was a region I really enjoyed spending time in. I tend not to like open worlds but it was just big enough to feel like I was on an adventure but not so vast that I was overwhelmed by details. The landscapes were conceptually varied and beautiful even when the graphics fell short and the way wild Pokemon were incorporated into them was often very clever. I loved the music at every point, it was some of the best they've ever made for a Pokemon game.
The biggest advantage to the open world was the three story paths: Victory Road, Starfall Street, and Path of Legends. I was interested in all three and appreciated how they filled the map in a way that felt pretty natural. I tried my best to spread my exp over as many Pokemon as possible so I wasn't too over-leveled at any point but I inevitably ended up trivializing some battles anyway. It didn't feel as bad I feared because I was focused on the plot rather than how easy the battle was.
I loved the story's main NPCs (Nemona, Arven, and Penny) and it was easy to get attached to them and get invested in their problems. Arven's story made me actually tear up on more than one occasion and Nemona being her unhinged self made her a great rival. The way everyone came together in Area Zero paid off really well with their dialogue and banter. It really felt like me and my weirdo friends were getting into something good.
The side NPCs were even better and I was in love with the presence of adults of this world. There was an emotional undercurrent in this story about the loss of youth and struggling to find joy and purpose when the freedom of childhood is gone. With so many adult Pokemon fans who grew up with the original Game Boy games being old enough to relate to these feelings, it genuinely felt good to have these NPCs in the game. I'll never expect to be able to play as an adult in a mainline Pokemon game but it's cool to imagine that there actually is a place in these worlds for us as Pokemon trainers and students too.
The Pokemon that were new to Gen 9 were overall super cool. There were some exciting freak designs in this batch and while I didn't fall in love with every single one, I always saw what they were going for. A lot of them were very inspired and it was a delight to see them in motion both in battle and at picnics (even those rancid sandwiches grew on me).
I wish this game had gotten the development time and money it deserved and that they had prioritized patching the game more after release. For me it came down to a major accessibility issue. It was really disappointing to not be able to fully enjoy this game because I knew I could have. I don't see myself being able to play the DLC, nor do I think I should pay for it if they're not going to fix the base game, but I am going to hold out hope for Gen 10 being better. If I could ask for anything, it would be that they stop rushing these games.
For this review, I'm going to focus on the positive things about Pokemon Violet because truthfully I don't have anything else worthwhile to say about why the game frustrated me without being a broken record. If it was not so painfully evident how much this game was rushed, it could have been the best Pokemon game yet.
Paldea was a region I really enjoyed spending time in. I tend not to like open worlds but it was just big enough to feel like I was on an adventure but not so vast that I was overwhelmed by details. The landscapes were conceptually varied and beautiful even when the graphics fell short and the way wild Pokemon were incorporated into them was often very clever. I loved the music at every point, it was some of the best they've ever made for a Pokemon game.
The biggest advantage to the open world was the three story paths: Victory Road, Starfall Street, and Path of Legends. I was interested in all three and appreciated how they filled the map in a way that felt pretty natural. I tried my best to spread my exp over as many Pokemon as possible so I wasn't too over-leveled at any point but I inevitably ended up trivializing some battles anyway. It didn't feel as bad I feared because I was focused on the plot rather than how easy the battle was.
I loved the story's main NPCs (Nemona, Arven, and Penny) and it was easy to get attached to them and get invested in their problems. Arven's story made me actually tear up on more than one occasion and Nemona being her unhinged self made her a great rival. The way everyone came together in Area Zero paid off really well with their dialogue and banter. It really felt like me and my weirdo friends were getting into something good.
The side NPCs were even better and I was in love with the presence of adults of this world. There was an emotional undercurrent in this story about the loss of youth and struggling to find joy and purpose when the freedom of childhood is gone. With so many adult Pokemon fans who grew up with the original Game Boy games being old enough to relate to these feelings, it genuinely felt good to have these NPCs in the game. I'll never expect to be able to play as an adult in a mainline Pokemon game but it's cool to imagine that there actually is a place in these worlds for us as Pokemon trainers and students too.
The Pokemon that were new to Gen 9 were overall super cool. There were some exciting freak designs in this batch and while I didn't fall in love with every single one, I always saw what they were going for. A lot of them were very inspired and it was a delight to see them in motion both in battle and at picnics (even those rancid sandwiches grew on me).
I wish this game had gotten the development time and money it deserved and that they had prioritized patching the game more after release. For me it came down to a major accessibility issue. It was really disappointing to not be able to fully enjoy this game because I knew I could have. I don't see myself being able to play the DLC, nor do I think I should pay for it if they're not going to fix the base game, but I am going to hold out hope for Gen 10 being better. If I could ask for anything, it would be that they stop rushing these games.
This review contains spoilers
I’ve always loved the idea of dating sim games but I rarely actually enjoy them in practice. I inevitably get bored, frustrated, or burned out by repetitive scenarios that don’t go the way I think they will. Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side: 1st Love is the first game of its type that I actually rolled the credits on. It’s been years since a game has kept me up late on a work night the way this one did.
In Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side: 1st Love, you play as a teenage girl making everyday decisions about school, jobs, and relationships through all three of your high school years. Each week, you decide what to focus on (studying, club activities, exercise, etc.) and it either raises or lowers relevant stats on each day of that week. Your schedule is also something that needs to be managed and you can’t pay attention to everyone/everything you’re interested in at once. By prioritizing one activity, you are inevitably passing up on others, so your approach to raising certain stats or fostering certain relationships is important to your end result when you reach graduation.
As a game, I really enjoyed this system. The pacing had good momentum, the dialogue boxes were kept short, and I didn’t feel like any part of the game overstayed its welcome. I easily became invested in my life at the school (the voice acting and how it sounded in the DS’s tinny speakers made conversations feel more intimate somehow) and I looked forward to seeing how things would play out. At times, things even got pretty dramatic between me and my friends or potential boyfriends. I had a blast when it did, but it also made me hyper-aware of the parts of this simulation that were troubling.
As the year progresses and your relationships become more challenging, there is a demand put on you to succeed in all things. By about half way through second year, I was starting to feel like the story was an exercise in becoming the perfect people pleaser. By that point, I knew which boy I was hoping to end up with and the pressure was steadily rising to always say the right thing, touch them only at the right time, wear the right outfit for their tastes, and to consider the needs of everyone in my social life when deciding how to spend my time. Rarely was I ever given the same courtesy in return. Regardless of how well I thought things were going, the boys wouldn’t hesitate to say mean things if I messed up in minor ways. When you act the way you’re expected to, everyone likes you just fine. But if you take a risk on addressing someone with more familiarity too soon, inviting them to someplace new, or even if you have a different opinion on something than they would, it’s a setback in your relationship with them. They will express their displeasure directly to you for these things and you’re expected to adjust yourself for them if you want things to work out, but there are negative consequences if you are the one to reject them. The player character’s kid brother is your relationship “guru” and he shows up to let you know when you’re neglecting literally any boy and he tells you to get your act together before anything bad happens. Neglected boys will interfere with your successful relationships, so everyone must be placated.
To achieve the ultimate placation, you have to go on dates with everyone and act the way they want you to. The dates start to get grindy after a while because it entails repeating conversations and giving the same “correct” response every time. That was actually really funny because the boys show preference for consistent and agreeable girls but if you dare to wear the same outfit more than once, they will complain even if they approved of it before. All of these boys suck so bad, they’re the worst.
By succeeding in making everyone else happy, you get what the game communicates as a positive outcome. That part feels pretty yucky, but did I expect better from this 2007 DS game about high school dating? Absolutely not. Like I said before, I was loving the drama and the mess was genuinely a fun ride. “Failing” relationships and changing my approach was part of the experience and it made the narrative feel alive. The characters are reactive to your choices, so it was more entertaining to make different choices as I went along. I only played through a single time, but it’s apparent to me that there are many different approaches to this game and there is still a lot I didn’t see. I’m not sure I’ll take the time to play through again, but I am curious about what a new playthrough would look like now that I am familiar with the mechanics.
I'm happy with the ending I got, which was the friendship ending with Fujii. I met her after I rage-quit the basketball club because Suzuka was being a jerk to me (again) and my best friend at the time Konno told me ON MY BIRTHDAY that she had feelings for him even tho I had been going out with him for months by that point. So I joined cheerleading and Fujii was cool from the start. We were each others’ wingman on double dates, we sold crafts at flea markets together, and we had lots of “perfect weeks” hanging out and talking about fashion. By the end, we both failed in just about everything but we did it together. We failed to get into universities, we failed to get boyfriends, and we both got so-so jobs after graduation. All things considered, I think it’s cool we got to stay together and keep hanging out after high school. Too bad girls don't have a Love meter in this game because I definitely got the best relationship outcome. Fujii told me once at the flea market that she’d marry me if she could and that doesn’t sound like a bad deal at all.
In Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side: 1st Love, you play as a teenage girl making everyday decisions about school, jobs, and relationships through all three of your high school years. Each week, you decide what to focus on (studying, club activities, exercise, etc.) and it either raises or lowers relevant stats on each day of that week. Your schedule is also something that needs to be managed and you can’t pay attention to everyone/everything you’re interested in at once. By prioritizing one activity, you are inevitably passing up on others, so your approach to raising certain stats or fostering certain relationships is important to your end result when you reach graduation.
As a game, I really enjoyed this system. The pacing had good momentum, the dialogue boxes were kept short, and I didn’t feel like any part of the game overstayed its welcome. I easily became invested in my life at the school (the voice acting and how it sounded in the DS’s tinny speakers made conversations feel more intimate somehow) and I looked forward to seeing how things would play out. At times, things even got pretty dramatic between me and my friends or potential boyfriends. I had a blast when it did, but it also made me hyper-aware of the parts of this simulation that were troubling.
As the year progresses and your relationships become more challenging, there is a demand put on you to succeed in all things. By about half way through second year, I was starting to feel like the story was an exercise in becoming the perfect people pleaser. By that point, I knew which boy I was hoping to end up with and the pressure was steadily rising to always say the right thing, touch them only at the right time, wear the right outfit for their tastes, and to consider the needs of everyone in my social life when deciding how to spend my time. Rarely was I ever given the same courtesy in return. Regardless of how well I thought things were going, the boys wouldn’t hesitate to say mean things if I messed up in minor ways. When you act the way you’re expected to, everyone likes you just fine. But if you take a risk on addressing someone with more familiarity too soon, inviting them to someplace new, or even if you have a different opinion on something than they would, it’s a setback in your relationship with them. They will express their displeasure directly to you for these things and you’re expected to adjust yourself for them if you want things to work out, but there are negative consequences if you are the one to reject them. The player character’s kid brother is your relationship “guru” and he shows up to let you know when you’re neglecting literally any boy and he tells you to get your act together before anything bad happens. Neglected boys will interfere with your successful relationships, so everyone must be placated.
To achieve the ultimate placation, you have to go on dates with everyone and act the way they want you to. The dates start to get grindy after a while because it entails repeating conversations and giving the same “correct” response every time. That was actually really funny because the boys show preference for consistent and agreeable girls but if you dare to wear the same outfit more than once, they will complain even if they approved of it before. All of these boys suck so bad, they’re the worst.
By succeeding in making everyone else happy, you get what the game communicates as a positive outcome. That part feels pretty yucky, but did I expect better from this 2007 DS game about high school dating? Absolutely not. Like I said before, I was loving the drama and the mess was genuinely a fun ride. “Failing” relationships and changing my approach was part of the experience and it made the narrative feel alive. The characters are reactive to your choices, so it was more entertaining to make different choices as I went along. I only played through a single time, but it’s apparent to me that there are many different approaches to this game and there is still a lot I didn’t see. I’m not sure I’ll take the time to play through again, but I am curious about what a new playthrough would look like now that I am familiar with the mechanics.
I'm happy with the ending I got, which was the friendship ending with Fujii. I met her after I rage-quit the basketball club because Suzuka was being a jerk to me (again) and my best friend at the time Konno told me ON MY BIRTHDAY that she had feelings for him even tho I had been going out with him for months by that point. So I joined cheerleading and Fujii was cool from the start. We were each others’ wingman on double dates, we sold crafts at flea markets together, and we had lots of “perfect weeks” hanging out and talking about fashion. By the end, we both failed in just about everything but we did it together. We failed to get into universities, we failed to get boyfriends, and we both got so-so jobs after graduation. All things considered, I think it’s cool we got to stay together and keep hanging out after high school. Too bad girls don't have a Love meter in this game because I definitely got the best relationship outcome. Fujii told me once at the flea market that she’d marry me if she could and that doesn’t sound like a bad deal at all.
2021
Toem is a game in which you solve puzzles by using your camera. The idea is straightforward: Talk to everyone you meet, find out what they need, and try to solve their problem. The main way is of course through taking pictures, but the game treats the camera more like a multi-purpose tool with entertaining possibilities. The game's charming writing embraces the nonsense of doing favors for needy strangers and never takes itself too seriously even when it gets a little emotional.
Each completed task you do for someone gets you a stamp on your Community Card which eventually allows you to move onto the next area. In addition to task-giving characters, each area is also packed with animals and objects to photograph for the completable Compendium book. Fully completing each area is not mandatory to progress, but I was impressed how tasks in later areas would build off of photos I had gone out of my way to get at the time. The experience of fully completing an area was satisfying and I felt compelled to do so out of genuine enjoyment and curiosity. I'm not a completionist type of player because I find that kind of thing exhausting, but in Toem it was handled with good spirit that didn't feel overwhelming. Each area has a little more to offer than the last, but it always felt like an appropriate amount of effort to me. This game paces itself well with there being a casual order of operations to some of the tasks. It always kept me on my toes as I traversed the area. There is more to this game than meets the eye for anyone who wants to spend time with it.
I savored Toem and its post-credits bonus level to 100% in about 9 hours, which I would guess is pretty slow for a game of this size. I spent some time lost in each area trying to get back to places I had been to before but couldn't remember how. Those with a bad sense of direction like me will probably find that frustrating. An in-game map would probably help with this and I admit I was occasionally wanting one, but I don't think it's exactly necessary. There are a lot of things to discover in each area that are easy to miss. Backtracking multiple times and taking "wrong" turns is often beneficial and the moment of finding something that was cleverly hidden is so satisfying. Overall I recommend this game if you like relaxing atmosphere and to-do list style of managing objectives. The hand drawn art style and soft music create a very gentle presentation that made me feel connected to the world and its characters as I got to know it on a detailed level. Completing Toem's final area felt a little bittersweet, but not for long thanks to the post-credits bonus level (which is a step up in every sense from the main game and totally worth getting to).
Each completed task you do for someone gets you a stamp on your Community Card which eventually allows you to move onto the next area. In addition to task-giving characters, each area is also packed with animals and objects to photograph for the completable Compendium book. Fully completing each area is not mandatory to progress, but I was impressed how tasks in later areas would build off of photos I had gone out of my way to get at the time. The experience of fully completing an area was satisfying and I felt compelled to do so out of genuine enjoyment and curiosity. I'm not a completionist type of player because I find that kind of thing exhausting, but in Toem it was handled with good spirit that didn't feel overwhelming. Each area has a little more to offer than the last, but it always felt like an appropriate amount of effort to me. This game paces itself well with there being a casual order of operations to some of the tasks. It always kept me on my toes as I traversed the area. There is more to this game than meets the eye for anyone who wants to spend time with it.
I savored Toem and its post-credits bonus level to 100% in about 9 hours, which I would guess is pretty slow for a game of this size. I spent some time lost in each area trying to get back to places I had been to before but couldn't remember how. Those with a bad sense of direction like me will probably find that frustrating. An in-game map would probably help with this and I admit I was occasionally wanting one, but I don't think it's exactly necessary. There are a lot of things to discover in each area that are easy to miss. Backtracking multiple times and taking "wrong" turns is often beneficial and the moment of finding something that was cleverly hidden is so satisfying. Overall I recommend this game if you like relaxing atmosphere and to-do list style of managing objectives. The hand drawn art style and soft music create a very gentle presentation that made me feel connected to the world and its characters as I got to know it on a detailed level. Completing Toem's final area felt a little bittersweet, but not for long thanks to the post-credits bonus level (which is a step up in every sense from the main game and totally worth getting to).