Crit_Nerd
2016
There's a rule I've imposed upon myself in the past few years: "If you're not enjoying it, stop playing it". This unfortunately falls under that category. I think the pixel art and music are spectacular. I thoroughly enjoy the writing as well. It got a few chuckles out of me, but also knew when to take itself seriously. I'll probably watch a walkthrough just to see how it plays out.
The biggest barricade was the gameplay. Even when a dash was added, movement never felt right for me. It was fluid, no doubt, but just didn't click with me. I got a little over halfway through it and I got this on sale, so not a huge loss for me.
The biggest barricade was the gameplay. Even when a dash was added, movement never felt right for me. It was fluid, no doubt, but just didn't click with me. I got a little over halfway through it and I got this on sale, so not a huge loss for me.
2018
So as far as I can remember, I've never played any roguelikes. My concern was the grindy nature would bore me out within a few hours. I was half right about this, but I'll get into it a bit later.
The vast amount of weapons, skills, mutations, aspects, and biomes provide so much variety (Especially with DLC), I was really enjoying the first few hours. The gameplay loop was working and I was in. At about the 10 hour mark and multiple failed attempts of some very good runs, I was getting tired of it. The game wasn't fun anymore. I just wanted to complete a run just to say I had done it. So I used assist mode. Sure, it wasn't an "honest" run, but I'm really glad this option was available for those who just want a more casual experience. It allows more people to enjoy the game.
I've come to learn that these kinds of games are better going little by little and not a constant binge. I think I'll hack away at this throughout the year and see if I can attempt an "honest" run down the line. For a first roguelike to experience, this game certainly is a good one to start off with! The artstyle is great, the writing is quite funny, and the gameplay is slick.
The vast amount of weapons, skills, mutations, aspects, and biomes provide so much variety (Especially with DLC), I was really enjoying the first few hours. The gameplay loop was working and I was in. At about the 10 hour mark and multiple failed attempts of some very good runs, I was getting tired of it. The game wasn't fun anymore. I just wanted to complete a run just to say I had done it. So I used assist mode. Sure, it wasn't an "honest" run, but I'm really glad this option was available for those who just want a more casual experience. It allows more people to enjoy the game.
I've come to learn that these kinds of games are better going little by little and not a constant binge. I think I'll hack away at this throughout the year and see if I can attempt an "honest" run down the line. For a first roguelike to experience, this game certainly is a good one to start off with! The artstyle is great, the writing is quite funny, and the gameplay is slick.
A lovely visual upgrade with a variety of controller options to please just about anyone. It's paced pretty well in the beginning and then becomes rather tedious to backtrack. There are some rather brutal stretches where I could have used a save point here and there, but I would say these were faults of the original and not due to the remaster. It's pretty much the same game, but with a new coat of paint. If this is how Prime 4 will look, then I'm excited. I hope the others in the trilogy get this treatment too, as the second game is my favorite. We'll have to wait and see, but it's nice having solid 2D and 3D Metroid representation on the Switch!
Another victim of the "Games I bought before I had photosensitivity problems, but got on sale for cheap luckily". I can't believe there isn't a toggle for the white flashes that happen every other text box. It's just painful to look at unfortunately.
This game takes a lot of elements from recent metroidvanias and makes it a thing of its own. Movement in this games feels great, especially once you get all the abilities. The combat also has some flexibility that allows you to make some cool combos. I did find the parrying window to be a bit too narrow for my liking. I appreciated customization with the difficulty as it made for an enjoyable experience, aside from a few strange bugs.
I honestly wanted to 100% this game, but it only tells you how much you collected and it's not indicated on the map what rooms have items that you're missing. So I was circling back a lot and then felt like I needed to consult guides and at that point, it wasn't fun anymore. I still very much enjoyed this overall!
Also, fuck Ubisoft for locking an item finding amulet behind a deluxe edition and also trying to require users to connect to their service for a SINGLE PLAYER experience. Luckily, you can avoid that in the switch version, but I always rolled my eyes when I had to keep skipping over that every time I booted the game.
I honestly wanted to 100% this game, but it only tells you how much you collected and it's not indicated on the map what rooms have items that you're missing. So I was circling back a lot and then felt like I needed to consult guides and at that point, it wasn't fun anymore. I still very much enjoyed this overall!
Also, fuck Ubisoft for locking an item finding amulet behind a deluxe edition and also trying to require users to connect to their service for a SINGLE PLAYER experience. Luckily, you can avoid that in the switch version, but I always rolled my eyes when I had to keep skipping over that every time I booted the game.
Going to give this the same rating I gave the base game. The new Emblems really are the saving grace as the tools allow for more opportunity for each playthrough to change. The options are more endless than ever before. These are worth it, even if some of their maps are way too big.
Fell Xenologue is okay. The story takes itself rather seriously and presents a bleak world with stakes (Something I really can't say the base game's story had at all). There are even some twists that I didn't see coming. The new characters are fine. How they function as units is serviceable. The new classes don't seem that intriguing to me and the fact you have to do the Xenologue every save file seems like a slog and dampens the re-playability of it.
I think if you could just get the characters from the get go in a new save file or even with NG+ (Which is still sorely needed), then this would have been perfect. The new Emblems are definitely worth the price, but that's just about it.
Fell Xenologue is okay. The story takes itself rather seriously and presents a bleak world with stakes (Something I really can't say the base game's story had at all). There are even some twists that I didn't see coming. The new characters are fine. How they function as units is serviceable. The new classes don't seem that intriguing to me and the fact you have to do the Xenologue every save file seems like a slog and dampens the re-playability of it.
I think if you could just get the characters from the get go in a new save file or even with NG+ (Which is still sorely needed), then this would have been perfect. The new Emblems are definitely worth the price, but that's just about it.
This review contains spoilers
Pretty much what I wanted the base game to be. It wraps the trilogy nicely, although there are a few lingering questions that I won't get into here. Gameplay is as solid as ever. Soundtrack is incredible. I think my only nitpick is that character progression is tied to items you find which is done through exploration and side content, and as somebody who just wanted to get through the narrative before doing the side content, I found myself getting stuck constantly because my party was never strong enough. I think the series we know it is about to change, and I'm certainly intrigued to see what happens next.
2020
This review contains spoilers
Basically did the main story, but I enjoyed the game enough that I will go back through some of the side content until I grow tired of it.
I enjoyed the overall vibes of this game. Each capture was an interesting puzzle to pull off. Not all the tools are great and I didn't like how they were reincorporated into the finale. It makes sense in theory, but applying them to time sensitive scenarios where mistakes count had me a bit annoyed. I'll see if I can do better on a second attempt.
The story definitely caught me off guard. While the artstyle for the characters felt very cutesy, there was something much more sinister under the surface, literally. The finale took a sharp turn, but I think pulled it off well. The cast is made up of fun characters with their own quirks. I'm curious to see how the side content adds more to them if at all.
This was certainly a charming game for what it's worth. We'll see if I have the patience to catch them all or not or if I can save everybody on the second attempt. I had enough with the game to want to give a try.
I enjoyed the overall vibes of this game. Each capture was an interesting puzzle to pull off. Not all the tools are great and I didn't like how they were reincorporated into the finale. It makes sense in theory, but applying them to time sensitive scenarios where mistakes count had me a bit annoyed. I'll see if I can do better on a second attempt.
The story definitely caught me off guard. While the artstyle for the characters felt very cutesy, there was something much more sinister under the surface, literally. The finale took a sharp turn, but I think pulled it off well. The cast is made up of fun characters with their own quirks. I'm curious to see how the side content adds more to them if at all.
This was certainly a charming game for what it's worth. We'll see if I have the patience to catch them all or not or if I can save everybody on the second attempt. I had enough with the game to want to give a try.
2020
I mainly played this back in 2020 and finished up the free DLC that came with the Farwell Edition. The new content definitely makes the base game a fuller experience. It certainly took a bit to get back into the swing of things and there's a certain storyline that's a bit tedious at times. Overall, this game is a great cozy game, but it will pack an emotional wallop.
2019
This game was a pure delight. I didn't really try to 100% everything because for as small as the area is, it's quite robust and I look forward to playing this again on a lazy day.
It was a lot of fun unraveling this narrative. The ability to pick and choose which parts to play at your pace is the greatest strength of this game. It was great when I was able to piece things together. It's better not knowing much going in. There are some things with localization and design choices I don't really care, but I was able to look past them after a while. The combat (On casual) is mainly a breeze luckily, but also had its fun. If you're looking for a solid sci-fi narrative to dive into, this is certainly one to look into.
This review contains spoilers
I had been wanting to get to these games for a long time. One of my best friends had hyped it up and for the most part, it was incredibly fun. The cast is made up of great characters and I enjoy the variety of dialogue options that can be used to handle situations. I found it funny whenever an answer I thought would be funny would generally end up being the renegade options. I would say the third game is the best gameplay wise, but the second one is my favorite overall. I didn't look up anything on how to do the suicide mission correctly and I was devastated when I had losses. I'm really looking forward to replaying this to just mess around, but also get back into the world, which is well thought out. I skipped the Citadel DLC so that I will have something to look forward to and from what I've heard, it's a blast. This trilogy is incredibly special and it won me over quickly and has become one of my favorites.
I bought this game on sale as I was only familiar with the 3rd game partially and while I enjoyed the narrative and piecing together the cases, the pacing of the game dragged for me. Maybe it's because the characters that stuck around I really didn't care for (With the exception of one), maybe the trials went on a bit too long. I got the other games at the same time, so I think I'll have to space these out just so I don't feel burnt out by them. I enjoyed it for what it was.
This game caught my eye at SGDQ this year and learning that it was a metroidvania had me even more excited as I found the gameplay to be interesting. Now, I've played my fair share of metroidvanias of all different shapes, sizes and difficulties. I kind of wished this game had difficulty options because if you choose not to explore and press on ahead, you will be punished, and this game is quite punishing.
I'm all for a good challenge, but it's been a while where I've been nearly in a fit of rage because of some of these bosses. Attack patterns that in the later half of boss battles require precise windows to dodge, hitboxes that don't match the size of the attack, and having low health because I didn't explore the entire map before this. I did my fair share of exploring as I put 20+ hours into this game (Most of it from boss battles), but I always felt I was lagging behind, even if I was collecting things along the way.
I got to the second to last boss and after a certain number of tries, I just sat there thinking that I wasn't really enjoying the game anymore, which is a shame. The game has solid art direction, an interesting weapon and armor system, and a decent OST. The game is exactly how the developers intended it to be, and that's fine. It got to the point where I felt like I was bashing my head against a brick wall. It's not the worst metroidvania I've played, but it certainly was the most frustrating.
I'm all for a good challenge, but it's been a while where I've been nearly in a fit of rage because of some of these bosses. Attack patterns that in the later half of boss battles require precise windows to dodge, hitboxes that don't match the size of the attack, and having low health because I didn't explore the entire map before this. I did my fair share of exploring as I put 20+ hours into this game (Most of it from boss battles), but I always felt I was lagging behind, even if I was collecting things along the way.
I got to the second to last boss and after a certain number of tries, I just sat there thinking that I wasn't really enjoying the game anymore, which is a shame. The game has solid art direction, an interesting weapon and armor system, and a decent OST. The game is exactly how the developers intended it to be, and that's fine. It got to the point where I felt like I was bashing my head against a brick wall. It's not the worst metroidvania I've played, but it certainly was the most frustrating.
I should preface with I'm not a fan of the Monster Hunter series. I gave one game a few hours and just couldn't get into the gameplay loop. I heard good things about this spin off, tried the demo and enjoyed it, along with the game being on sale for $20 so I got it. The thing that hooked me was the combat system. It's more than type matchups. You have to be actively paying attention to what you're fighting against. It's the highlight of the game and the thing that kept me going.
This game takes aspects of the main Monster Hunter series and applies them to this game well, such as having different weapon types, chopping off certain limbs and appendages, and creating weapons and armor from the monsters you've fought against. The designs were cool and I always looking forward to seeing what I could make next as I progressed through the story.
That being said, while the game had a plethora of side content or things to properly utilize, I never really found myself interested in doing it. For the most part, I was doing side content just be going through the story at first, but then I hit a wall and it felt like I had to do it. The story itself is fine I suppose. I'm not a huge fan of having a talking cat being the voice for the silent protagonist and kind of found it grating as it went along. It was a means to an end, and it certainly ramps up the stakes as it goes along.
I got to the final boss today and decided after a few attempts that I was going to stop there. I didn't really find myself enjoying the game and I wasn't interested in grinding to get to the ending. I think if I was a fan of Monster Hunter, I would have been much more interested in exploring other aspects. You don't need to be a Monster Hunter fan to enjoy this game though. This game got a lot of praise and I certainly understand why. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I've got other RPGs I've got a greater interest in checking out than this one.
This game takes aspects of the main Monster Hunter series and applies them to this game well, such as having different weapon types, chopping off certain limbs and appendages, and creating weapons and armor from the monsters you've fought against. The designs were cool and I always looking forward to seeing what I could make next as I progressed through the story.
That being said, while the game had a plethora of side content or things to properly utilize, I never really found myself interested in doing it. For the most part, I was doing side content just be going through the story at first, but then I hit a wall and it felt like I had to do it. The story itself is fine I suppose. I'm not a huge fan of having a talking cat being the voice for the silent protagonist and kind of found it grating as it went along. It was a means to an end, and it certainly ramps up the stakes as it goes along.
I got to the final boss today and decided after a few attempts that I was going to stop there. I didn't really find myself enjoying the game and I wasn't interested in grinding to get to the ending. I think if I was a fan of Monster Hunter, I would have been much more interested in exploring other aspects. You don't need to be a Monster Hunter fan to enjoy this game though. This game got a lot of praise and I certainly understand why. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I've got other RPGs I've got a greater interest in checking out than this one.