110 reviews liked by Doaks
This review contains spoilers
The Last of Us Part II is a difficult play. As great as so many people say it is, it left a poor first impression online. After elements of the game leaked out of context it was already on mighty thin ice with skeptics, so the risky narrative decisions which fueled the game left a bad taste. After the storm calmed down online some valid criticism was left on the table. This is just some thoughts on why I really enjoyed Part II, and hopefully I can explain my perspective on some of the more controversial elements. It may be the most important game I've ever had the pleasure to experience. It challenged my view of this medium, the way stories can be told, and most importantly it tested my own emotions and understanding of them. This replay made me realize that I would not trade this experience for any other version of the story.
A large part of the conversation around this game revolves around two things: Joel's death and the perspective switch to Abby. Naughty Dog was so successful in creating characters that people truly loved, and that brought backlash with this decision. I believe Joel's death not only was the natural next step this story would take, but it was also a very powerful way to trigger multiple connected stories we see. It sparks Ellie's revenge, what she thinks will bring her closure after the loss of her chance to forgive Joel. And Abby's desire to find closure with her own father, after her revenge failed to bring any sort of peace. Characters in The Last of Us are authentically flawed, they are practically made to be disagreed with. Characters I once despised slowly grow on me until a moment of suspense when I catch myself realizing I've grown to care for them. As Abby struggles to rediscover her humanity in the face of carrying out a deplorable act, we do the same. Growing to learn the person she is inside, the person she wants to be again. As that same act befalls Ellie we follow her plot of revenge, each step into the darkness she takes disconnecting us (and her) from the person she once was. While you watch their many internal struggles, you may find your own. Understanding or even forgiving those who have wronged you is a difficult task, especially when it is someone you love.
In regards to the ending, I simply cannot understand the sentiment that sparing Abby was a mistake. Just the same as Part I, the end of this game subverts the surface level plot for the real backbone of the story it was telling. In Part I the goal is to create a cure, to deliver Ellie to the fireflies and end the outbreak. Right at the finish line Joel abandons that goal in favor of the story the game was always really about, the unconditional love of a parent for their child. In Part II Ellie's goal is to get revenge against Abby, and at the finish line she does the same, this time for the story of forgiveness, not forgiving Abby, but forgiving Joel. That's not to say that this forgiveness narrative was the big point it was trying to tell you, the story of these games are very complex. Trying to unwind all of the subtext and underlying narratives is part of what makes these games so interesting to talk about. They are interwoven with many different driving forces. And with how much more complex Part II is than the first, there are so many different reasons Ellie could have chosen to spare Abby. At least part of it has to do with remembering that the finial conversation she had with Joel was hopeful and good, Ellie accepting that she didn't need to do all of this for Joel because he did truly love her unconditionally. Had Ellie killed Abby at the coast, I don't think she could have found the light again. Ellie was never Joel, she couldn't do the interrogations he did, after torturing Nora she was shaken and killing Mel left her in an even worse state. On the inside she was still the girl we knew, even after all she did to get to Abby.
I don't think we'll be able to find this divisiveness around a story decision with many other games. When we lost Joel and are later forced to play as his killer there's a real tension. The discourse that came out of Part II was a lot of suggestion around how Naughty Dog could have chosen to structure these two perspectives differently. A majority of videos and criticism talking about how if they had moved segments it would make for an easier experience. At the time of my first playthrough I loved the game, but I agreed that the switch in particular was a poor choice. Yet I've changed to believe that playing the full 3 days as both Ellie and Abby allows us to become fully engrossed in both of their journeys separately. I think if we were to switch between the two it would make for a more comfortable experience, but we would never be able to fully enter either character's point of view. If it were structured any different I believe it would lessen the impact of what I understand they were trying to do. To Naughty Dog's credit, they do a great job of making Abby's sections worthwhile for those who struggle to warm up to her. Her gameplay sections are far more bombastic and her set pieces are something special. If I could I wouldn't change a thing, even though I struggled with it on my first playthrough. And I think that's the point, we shouldn't fear struggle and discomfort because that is were so many impactful stories lie. We've created a culture that games are a comfortable escape, so when something is uncomfortable we tend to reject it. But if we can welcome that discomfort I think we can grow into better people.
Apart from the story though, nobody is arguing. The Environment of Seattle is uniquely overcast and wet. A great location for the blossoming nature which grows from a broken city. Gustavo Santaolalla's soundtrack is mesmerizing, and perfectly placed to elicit memories associated with each track. Combat is disgustingly realistic, it flows fabulously in both stealth and aggression. The AI is criminally underdiscussed, Stalkers are absolutely terrifying, Humans are super dynamic always keeping you on your toes. Remastered's inclusion of the new mode "No Return" is far more fun and repayable than the combat encounters available in the original. Dialogue is authentic, it can feel messy just like any real conversation. Performances from the actors shine through with their little nuances from highly detailed capture. Ashley Johnson and Laura Bailey gave it their fucking all and you can see it in every second. The art direction is also top-notch. This remaster doesn't do much to improve the visuals, which isn't bad but I feel like they could have called it a "Director's Cut" or "Definitive Edition". The remaster is more about the new content than any visual upgrades. Lost Levels are a fun insight for those who like a look into pieces of the development (I also highly recommend the Grounded II doc on YouTube). I hope we can all agree that even if it did not land for you, Naughty Dog were ambitious this narrative. Something rarely ever seen in the AAA space, they looked at the formulaic stories coming from other large studios and scoffed.
I'm grateful we have studios like Naughty Dog that take risks. We need developers who reach for heights never gone, who want to do things that challenge you and the way you think about games. If The Last of Us Part II didn't work for you, that's okay. At the end of the day it's divisive for a reason, Naughty Dog took a risk that they knew would be polarizing for a portion of their fans. I'm glad it worked for me, both parts have meant so much to me over the last few years. I'm patiently awaiting their next game. If anything is clear to me it's that Naughty Dog and Neil Druckman care about telling stories, they understand the power this medium has to tell unique stories. I'm okay with the pain and heartbreak this story brings, because it is also full of hope, love, and humanity. "Beyond faith in pain, I want faith through pain."
A large part of the conversation around this game revolves around two things: Joel's death and the perspective switch to Abby. Naughty Dog was so successful in creating characters that people truly loved, and that brought backlash with this decision. I believe Joel's death not only was the natural next step this story would take, but it was also a very powerful way to trigger multiple connected stories we see. It sparks Ellie's revenge, what she thinks will bring her closure after the loss of her chance to forgive Joel. And Abby's desire to find closure with her own father, after her revenge failed to bring any sort of peace. Characters in The Last of Us are authentically flawed, they are practically made to be disagreed with. Characters I once despised slowly grow on me until a moment of suspense when I catch myself realizing I've grown to care for them. As Abby struggles to rediscover her humanity in the face of carrying out a deplorable act, we do the same. Growing to learn the person she is inside, the person she wants to be again. As that same act befalls Ellie we follow her plot of revenge, each step into the darkness she takes disconnecting us (and her) from the person she once was. While you watch their many internal struggles, you may find your own. Understanding or even forgiving those who have wronged you is a difficult task, especially when it is someone you love.
In regards to the ending, I simply cannot understand the sentiment that sparing Abby was a mistake. Just the same as Part I, the end of this game subverts the surface level plot for the real backbone of the story it was telling. In Part I the goal is to create a cure, to deliver Ellie to the fireflies and end the outbreak. Right at the finish line Joel abandons that goal in favor of the story the game was always really about, the unconditional love of a parent for their child. In Part II Ellie's goal is to get revenge against Abby, and at the finish line she does the same, this time for the story of forgiveness, not forgiving Abby, but forgiving Joel. That's not to say that this forgiveness narrative was the big point it was trying to tell you, the story of these games are very complex. Trying to unwind all of the subtext and underlying narratives is part of what makes these games so interesting to talk about. They are interwoven with many different driving forces. And with how much more complex Part II is than the first, there are so many different reasons Ellie could have chosen to spare Abby. At least part of it has to do with remembering that the finial conversation she had with Joel was hopeful and good, Ellie accepting that she didn't need to do all of this for Joel because he did truly love her unconditionally. Had Ellie killed Abby at the coast, I don't think she could have found the light again. Ellie was never Joel, she couldn't do the interrogations he did, after torturing Nora she was shaken and killing Mel left her in an even worse state. On the inside she was still the girl we knew, even after all she did to get to Abby.
I don't think we'll be able to find this divisiveness around a story decision with many other games. When we lost Joel and are later forced to play as his killer there's a real tension. The discourse that came out of Part II was a lot of suggestion around how Naughty Dog could have chosen to structure these two perspectives differently. A majority of videos and criticism talking about how if they had moved segments it would make for an easier experience. At the time of my first playthrough I loved the game, but I agreed that the switch in particular was a poor choice. Yet I've changed to believe that playing the full 3 days as both Ellie and Abby allows us to become fully engrossed in both of their journeys separately. I think if we were to switch between the two it would make for a more comfortable experience, but we would never be able to fully enter either character's point of view. If it were structured any different I believe it would lessen the impact of what I understand they were trying to do. To Naughty Dog's credit, they do a great job of making Abby's sections worthwhile for those who struggle to warm up to her. Her gameplay sections are far more bombastic and her set pieces are something special. If I could I wouldn't change a thing, even though I struggled with it on my first playthrough. And I think that's the point, we shouldn't fear struggle and discomfort because that is were so many impactful stories lie. We've created a culture that games are a comfortable escape, so when something is uncomfortable we tend to reject it. But if we can welcome that discomfort I think we can grow into better people.
Apart from the story though, nobody is arguing. The Environment of Seattle is uniquely overcast and wet. A great location for the blossoming nature which grows from a broken city. Gustavo Santaolalla's soundtrack is mesmerizing, and perfectly placed to elicit memories associated with each track. Combat is disgustingly realistic, it flows fabulously in both stealth and aggression. The AI is criminally underdiscussed, Stalkers are absolutely terrifying, Humans are super dynamic always keeping you on your toes. Remastered's inclusion of the new mode "No Return" is far more fun and repayable than the combat encounters available in the original. Dialogue is authentic, it can feel messy just like any real conversation. Performances from the actors shine through with their little nuances from highly detailed capture. Ashley Johnson and Laura Bailey gave it their fucking all and you can see it in every second. The art direction is also top-notch. This remaster doesn't do much to improve the visuals, which isn't bad but I feel like they could have called it a "Director's Cut" or "Definitive Edition". The remaster is more about the new content than any visual upgrades. Lost Levels are a fun insight for those who like a look into pieces of the development (I also highly recommend the Grounded II doc on YouTube). I hope we can all agree that even if it did not land for you, Naughty Dog were ambitious this narrative. Something rarely ever seen in the AAA space, they looked at the formulaic stories coming from other large studios and scoffed.
I'm grateful we have studios like Naughty Dog that take risks. We need developers who reach for heights never gone, who want to do things that challenge you and the way you think about games. If The Last of Us Part II didn't work for you, that's okay. At the end of the day it's divisive for a reason, Naughty Dog took a risk that they knew would be polarizing for a portion of their fans. I'm glad it worked for me, both parts have meant so much to me over the last few years. I'm patiently awaiting their next game. If anything is clear to me it's that Naughty Dog and Neil Druckman care about telling stories, they understand the power this medium has to tell unique stories. I'm okay with the pain and heartbreak this story brings, because it is also full of hope, love, and humanity. "Beyond faith in pain, I want faith through pain."
Comix Zone
1995
On one hand (the one holding the pencil) this game is GORGEOUS. Not only some of the best graphics on the Sega Genesis, but some of the best graphics in a 2D game I've seen! It really does feel like a playable comic book, and the animations don't cheap out either as this is some of the most fluid 16-bit movement you'll get, on par with the Genesis Aladdin's animations easily. There's also humorous speechbubbles and you even see your playtime when you pause.
Unfortunately on the other hand (the one holding the controller) the gameplay is still fine but the combat feels mashy despite the wide range of skills Sketch has access to. But maybe that's just me being bad. What isn't me being bad is the game's obtuseness with what you're supposed to do at times. A lot of the solutions involve using your rat friend but the game won't tell you that beforehand, and just knowing about Rat isn't enough in some situations, one I remember was a switch for a lava platform that was so confusing I just damage boosted past the puzzle.
I think if Comix Zone ironed out its gameplay a bit, it would have been far more successful, but as-is it's simply a hidden solid title to play from the Sega Genesis library, and a recommend for anyone who loves sprite animations and gorgeous sprite work in general.
Unfortunately on the other hand (the one holding the controller) the gameplay is still fine but the combat feels mashy despite the wide range of skills Sketch has access to. But maybe that's just me being bad. What isn't me being bad is the game's obtuseness with what you're supposed to do at times. A lot of the solutions involve using your rat friend but the game won't tell you that beforehand, and just knowing about Rat isn't enough in some situations, one I remember was a switch for a lava platform that was so confusing I just damage boosted past the puzzle.
I think if Comix Zone ironed out its gameplay a bit, it would have been far more successful, but as-is it's simply a hidden solid title to play from the Sega Genesis library, and a recommend for anyone who loves sprite animations and gorgeous sprite work in general.
Emily is Away <3
2021
I think I enjoyed this one more than the prequels. The story was more engaging and exciting, though the replays for the other ends are still far too repetitive to do it over and over.
I still refuse to call these games Like a Dragon in english, Yakuza 8 forever
I got into the Yakuza games with 4 and as such I prefer to play these games with Japanese voices since its not only what I am used to but I was already like 7 games in before they dubbed them again with 7. So yes I played 7 in Japanese as did I for Gaiden. This time however was the first time I had the dilemma cuz Danny Trejo is in this game and he is one of my favorite actors. So whats the dilemma? Since I was unsure going in if they were gonna stick to their guns on this being Kiryu's final game or not, and I'm keeping it vague on purpose, do I stick with Japanese for potentially Takuya Kuroda's last time or I get Danny Trejo and not only miss out on Takuya Kuroda but put up with YongYea Kiryu? I chose to stick to Japanese. I will watch all the Danny Trejo scenes once I post this review. That being said, there was quite a lot of english being spoken in the game outright and usually by the enemies walking around Hawaii.
Gonna start with gameplay and my largest complaint about 7 which was its implementation of turn based combat. Characters would get stuck on things running towards enemies, I'd get basic attacks interrupted despite being LONG past the enemy, and most importantly I hated that the characters paced back and forth in place during battle. When I saw that there was a circle area around a controlled character in 8 I had hoped the characters had gotten their ADHD under control. Unfortunately for me its not entirely fixed. The character you are controlling at that time does in fact not move, however those you do not are still walking around. WHY CANT CHARACTERS SIT STILL?! The amount of times my allies walked out of my buffs/healing and into enemy AOEs was way too high. They don't need to be moving around on their own! You can do the positioning based attacks and team ups without it. PLENTY BEFORE YOU HAVE! Oh and I've caught them walking out of my team up attack range right when I'm about the press the button too. Because of this alone I still do not like their implementation of turn based combat. Unless I put some sort of automatic equipment on a character or activate some auto skill, a character in my party in a turn based rpg SHOULD. NOT. DO. A. GODDAMN. THING. unless I hit the button. This is my hill and I will die on it! I also will never like MC death causing a game over. I will never understand it either. Everyone just becomes braindead as soon as Kasuga dies I guess. Why are Sega published games the only ones I seem to run into who use this dumb mechanic since it still also exists in persona? The game was also still pretty stingy with money payouts, even though they did increase as the game progressed. I highly advise anyone who is for some reason reading this before they are finished/in the middle of their run to get a housekeeper asap to get the money sucker ability and use it on the crown enemies. You'll thank me for that later. Also one party member was gotten WAY too late. There was not enough time to get them set up substantially so they were underpowered for the end of it. I still used them but I really didn't wanna run the dungeons to get them up to par job skill wise (they were also a good 10 levels under me).
As for things they did that I liked, they let you know if an enemy will resist your attack unlike from what I remember in the first one as awell as auto win when you're high enough level. Back attacks, teammates following up knocked down enemies, hitting enemies you smack towards them (which are skills that unlock as your bond increases) as well as knocking enemies into each other/walls/objects like exploding barrels allows the more tankier enemies to not be as much of a slog and fodder to be dealt with quickly with potentially 3 attacks in a single turn for the cost of one skill max. Jobs are VERY unique and it seems like changing jobs isn't as much of a detriment. Stats seem to be handled much differently, like when I gave everyone new jobs when it unlocked I was still beating enemies at my level with ease. I was also getting job exp increasing gear in loads, I had like 6 of the pyrodancer and martial artist gear for instance. Being able to bring over ANY learned skill with the inheritance slots allows a lot more coverage to be had which I do not remember if it was a problem in 7. Going off my hatred of "MC death equals game over despite having multiple characters who can revive you" at least here despite there being no diffiuclty option, unless it was a 1v1, I was rarely in a position where I was in danger of game overing. Plus, you can just pay money to revive at the beginning of the fight as you were or fully healed (incase you got jumped I guess?). The game also let you know what level you should be and what strength gear you should have for certain parts, which is welcome. The parts were pretty obvious when it would appear anyway so its not like it spoiled "Big fight coming! You best be ready!".
I did both the sujimon and dodokon island side content to their completions as soon as I unlocked them respectively, and I didn't really like either of them. Suijimon at least got me a beastmaster job but the actual sujimon battles felt like a mobile game so I never touched them again when all was said and done. Even though I did like the job, it has its issues. Its a barehanded weapon and its abilities use your set sujimon. Even with high rarity, max level and friendship sujimon I found the damage to fall off pretty hard and Kasuga has better jobs to use so it being exclusive to him is a massive detriment imo. Plus you can't transfer any of its skill to other jobs, including essences so it really just felt like one to level for shits and giggles.
As for Dodokon island, I disliked it even more. I'm just not a fan of everything about it. The fact you cant sleep to progress the days until its night, the monotonous resource gathering, the buildings you can use being at least 50% of assets from kamurocho/ijincho that clash hard while you fiddle around with a grid that gives me Dark Cloud vibes (that for whatever reason ran real bad while moving horizontally) and the real time waits (up to an hour) for the farm to get shit done. Oh btw, the real time farming doesnt progress if you go to the mainland. When I was finished with the whole thing I had over 6million dodokon dollars but converting it upon leaving left me with about 600,000. 6 million was again EVERYTHING I had left over after getting to 5 stars in a couple sittings without leaving. A full trip to get my full payout would be 3 days which is about 40 minutes but the payouts would vary due to who was invited. I was getting more on average by vacuuming the rich enemies (who spawn pretty regularly) in a mid game area in less time without money up gear as well. There is a reward when you beat it but it just seemed too costly for the damage it was doing. Since everything is maxxed I just either run around and do the same randomly generated tasks, gather resources from the island and farm to makes buildings to sell or sit there with my thumb up my ass until I can sleep. This is NOWHERE near as lucrative compared to the confectionary side job in 7 where I was leaving with a couple million after like 15 minutes max. Running the randomly generated dungeons and as I said above using the housemaid vacuum attack on the crown enemies and bosses was more lucrative as it takes me half the time and I get comparable payouts ON TOP of being able to level jobs and characters, so it just felt like I wasted my time with dondoko island. The other mini games like Crazy Delivery and Sicko Snap all well and good, I like Crazy Delivery way more than can collecting. Be sure to throw on "All I want" by The Offspring while playing Crazy Delivery from the optimal experience. The arcade also has Sega Bass Fishing in it, the peakest of arcade peak. By the way, did you know Gachapin and Mukku are in irl mascots? They've apparently appeared in Granblue and advertised a Kamen Rider show. That mixed me real hard when I found that out.
The story was once again the best part of the game to me and I will not be going into direct spoilers but a bit after midway through, I was getting even more into it. The game did come to a halt around there pacing wise but I didn't care, cuz I wanted the content it introduced. I don't know if its just cuz of how much time I've now spent with the series and what the side content there represents or having recently gone through a similar situation as one of the main characters with my late Nana, but it made me depressed yet at the same time happy and nostalgic. Also they remembered Dead Souls. I broke down twice during this game. Gaiden almost got me to at its end, but the dam fully broke here. I almost feel bad for anyone who jumped in on this game as their first due to this. I say almost cuz that was your stupid decision to not play what came before. I did not buy the big boy edition so I do not have access to The Big Swell, and do not know what it entails. I don't do NG+ much in games and never once in this series so I'm not shelling out for it. I'll probably just watch it. The ending of the game had me feeling some kind of way and I can't put into words what exactly it is.
TDLR: While some of my issues with the combat were remedied, my largest issue of characters not sitting still was not so I still do not like this turn based combat and a party member was received too late into the game. The story was good despite the pacing issue around the middle but on the whole, well done. The two larger minigames the game introduced were not my thing and there were much better ways to get funds for these dragon quest ass gear prices. The new jobs were unique and the changes to the job system made switching jobs more advantageous than detrimental. I found the repeatable dungeons that they expect you to run if you want to get the best weapons, tedious and dull due to their randomly generated nature. Despite it coming off as I had more gripes than likes, the game is still largely fantastic. I'll have to check my rankings again but I'll definitely be putting it up there. Please play as many as the other games as you can before play this, don't be a slave to fomo and don't be an impatient baby. Put in the work and it'll be worth it.
I got into the Yakuza games with 4 and as such I prefer to play these games with Japanese voices since its not only what I am used to but I was already like 7 games in before they dubbed them again with 7. So yes I played 7 in Japanese as did I for Gaiden. This time however was the first time I had the dilemma cuz Danny Trejo is in this game and he is one of my favorite actors. So whats the dilemma? Since I was unsure going in if they were gonna stick to their guns on this being Kiryu's final game or not, and I'm keeping it vague on purpose, do I stick with Japanese for potentially Takuya Kuroda's last time or I get Danny Trejo and not only miss out on Takuya Kuroda but put up with YongYea Kiryu? I chose to stick to Japanese. I will watch all the Danny Trejo scenes once I post this review. That being said, there was quite a lot of english being spoken in the game outright and usually by the enemies walking around Hawaii.
Gonna start with gameplay and my largest complaint about 7 which was its implementation of turn based combat. Characters would get stuck on things running towards enemies, I'd get basic attacks interrupted despite being LONG past the enemy, and most importantly I hated that the characters paced back and forth in place during battle. When I saw that there was a circle area around a controlled character in 8 I had hoped the characters had gotten their ADHD under control. Unfortunately for me its not entirely fixed. The character you are controlling at that time does in fact not move, however those you do not are still walking around. WHY CANT CHARACTERS SIT STILL?! The amount of times my allies walked out of my buffs/healing and into enemy AOEs was way too high. They don't need to be moving around on their own! You can do the positioning based attacks and team ups without it. PLENTY BEFORE YOU HAVE! Oh and I've caught them walking out of my team up attack range right when I'm about the press the button too. Because of this alone I still do not like their implementation of turn based combat. Unless I put some sort of automatic equipment on a character or activate some auto skill, a character in my party in a turn based rpg SHOULD. NOT. DO. A. GODDAMN. THING. unless I hit the button. This is my hill and I will die on it! I also will never like MC death causing a game over. I will never understand it either. Everyone just becomes braindead as soon as Kasuga dies I guess. Why are Sega published games the only ones I seem to run into who use this dumb mechanic since it still also exists in persona? The game was also still pretty stingy with money payouts, even though they did increase as the game progressed. I highly advise anyone who is for some reason reading this before they are finished/in the middle of their run to get a housekeeper asap to get the money sucker ability and use it on the crown enemies. You'll thank me for that later. Also one party member was gotten WAY too late. There was not enough time to get them set up substantially so they were underpowered for the end of it. I still used them but I really didn't wanna run the dungeons to get them up to par job skill wise (they were also a good 10 levels under me).
As for things they did that I liked, they let you know if an enemy will resist your attack unlike from what I remember in the first one as awell as auto win when you're high enough level. Back attacks, teammates following up knocked down enemies, hitting enemies you smack towards them (which are skills that unlock as your bond increases) as well as knocking enemies into each other/walls/objects like exploding barrels allows the more tankier enemies to not be as much of a slog and fodder to be dealt with quickly with potentially 3 attacks in a single turn for the cost of one skill max. Jobs are VERY unique and it seems like changing jobs isn't as much of a detriment. Stats seem to be handled much differently, like when I gave everyone new jobs when it unlocked I was still beating enemies at my level with ease. I was also getting job exp increasing gear in loads, I had like 6 of the pyrodancer and martial artist gear for instance. Being able to bring over ANY learned skill with the inheritance slots allows a lot more coverage to be had which I do not remember if it was a problem in 7. Going off my hatred of "MC death equals game over despite having multiple characters who can revive you" at least here despite there being no diffiuclty option, unless it was a 1v1, I was rarely in a position where I was in danger of game overing. Plus, you can just pay money to revive at the beginning of the fight as you were or fully healed (incase you got jumped I guess?). The game also let you know what level you should be and what strength gear you should have for certain parts, which is welcome. The parts were pretty obvious when it would appear anyway so its not like it spoiled "Big fight coming! You best be ready!".
I did both the sujimon and dodokon island side content to their completions as soon as I unlocked them respectively, and I didn't really like either of them. Suijimon at least got me a beastmaster job but the actual sujimon battles felt like a mobile game so I never touched them again when all was said and done. Even though I did like the job, it has its issues. Its a barehanded weapon and its abilities use your set sujimon. Even with high rarity, max level and friendship sujimon I found the damage to fall off pretty hard and Kasuga has better jobs to use so it being exclusive to him is a massive detriment imo. Plus you can't transfer any of its skill to other jobs, including essences so it really just felt like one to level for shits and giggles.
As for Dodokon island, I disliked it even more. I'm just not a fan of everything about it. The fact you cant sleep to progress the days until its night, the monotonous resource gathering, the buildings you can use being at least 50% of assets from kamurocho/ijincho that clash hard while you fiddle around with a grid that gives me Dark Cloud vibes (that for whatever reason ran real bad while moving horizontally) and the real time waits (up to an hour) for the farm to get shit done. Oh btw, the real time farming doesnt progress if you go to the mainland. When I was finished with the whole thing I had over 6million dodokon dollars but converting it upon leaving left me with about 600,000. 6 million was again EVERYTHING I had left over after getting to 5 stars in a couple sittings without leaving. A full trip to get my full payout would be 3 days which is about 40 minutes but the payouts would vary due to who was invited. I was getting more on average by vacuuming the rich enemies (who spawn pretty regularly) in a mid game area in less time without money up gear as well. There is a reward when you beat it but it just seemed too costly for the damage it was doing. Since everything is maxxed I just either run around and do the same randomly generated tasks, gather resources from the island and farm to makes buildings to sell or sit there with my thumb up my ass until I can sleep. This is NOWHERE near as lucrative compared to the confectionary side job in 7 where I was leaving with a couple million after like 15 minutes max. Running the randomly generated dungeons and as I said above using the housemaid vacuum attack on the crown enemies and bosses was more lucrative as it takes me half the time and I get comparable payouts ON TOP of being able to level jobs and characters, so it just felt like I wasted my time with dondoko island. The other mini games like Crazy Delivery and Sicko Snap all well and good, I like Crazy Delivery way more than can collecting. Be sure to throw on "All I want" by The Offspring while playing Crazy Delivery from the optimal experience. The arcade also has Sega Bass Fishing in it, the peakest of arcade peak. By the way, did you know Gachapin and Mukku are in irl mascots? They've apparently appeared in Granblue and advertised a Kamen Rider show. That mixed me real hard when I found that out.
The story was once again the best part of the game to me and I will not be going into direct spoilers but a bit after midway through, I was getting even more into it. The game did come to a halt around there pacing wise but I didn't care, cuz I wanted the content it introduced. I don't know if its just cuz of how much time I've now spent with the series and what the side content there represents or having recently gone through a similar situation as one of the main characters with my late Nana, but it made me depressed yet at the same time happy and nostalgic. Also they remembered Dead Souls. I broke down twice during this game. Gaiden almost got me to at its end, but the dam fully broke here. I almost feel bad for anyone who jumped in on this game as their first due to this. I say almost cuz that was your stupid decision to not play what came before. I did not buy the big boy edition so I do not have access to The Big Swell, and do not know what it entails. I don't do NG+ much in games and never once in this series so I'm not shelling out for it. I'll probably just watch it. The ending of the game had me feeling some kind of way and I can't put into words what exactly it is.
TDLR: While some of my issues with the combat were remedied, my largest issue of characters not sitting still was not so I still do not like this turn based combat and a party member was received too late into the game. The story was good despite the pacing issue around the middle but on the whole, well done. The two larger minigames the game introduced were not my thing and there were much better ways to get funds for these dragon quest ass gear prices. The new jobs were unique and the changes to the job system made switching jobs more advantageous than detrimental. I found the repeatable dungeons that they expect you to run if you want to get the best weapons, tedious and dull due to their randomly generated nature. Despite it coming off as I had more gripes than likes, the game is still largely fantastic. I'll have to check my rankings again but I'll definitely be putting it up there. Please play as many as the other games as you can before play this, don't be a slave to fomo and don't be an impatient baby. Put in the work and it'll be worth it.
The Mummy
2000
Konami is out here once again proving you can make a good licensed video game. It's a puzzle game where you can swap between the 4 main characters and each of them have different playstyles. There's 17 stages and each stage is broken down into multiple levels. It looks decent and has some music from the movie. But, man... Is it brutal. You make one wrong move or use an item somewhere you were not suppose to or out of order and most of the time you can not beat the level. You'll have to start from the beginning of the level if that happens.
This could very well be the most flawed game I've liked this much. The combat and dungeon design are some of the worst I've come across in the genre, and the gameplay offers nothing else. The story is nothing special. The game is laughibly easy. But the strong emotional core, delightful musical songs and the utterly disarming charm of its writing make it very much worth experiencing. Cornet and especially Kururu deserve a special spot in my gaming heart.
Its always tough rating something that is a package deal.
Rhapsody 2 is a good game, I have little nothing bad to say about it. It going to a more standard turn based system from the grid based of the original was something I was all for. Kururu, Crea and Cello were great and I generally enjoy seeing progression in their characters. I also like seeing timeline progression ins media such as here where it follows the children of the previous entries characters. Despite having a similar goal to the first, Kururu want to find her "prince", it didn't feel like a retread or rehash in the slightest. I think what threw me off the most was the songs weren't in english unlike in the first despite this coming over to the west 20 years later. Either they didn't have the resources/want to translate or the songs were only translated in 1 cuz we couldn't have our kids in the 90's listening to Japanese songs cuz its bad or something.
Rhapsody 3 on the otherhand... What were they thinking?
The story is presented in 6 separate stories with a connection as thin as a piece of fishing line. In general I just prefer a single hallway of a narrative for lack of vocabulary. The only ones I gave a rat's ass about were stories 2 and 5 and 5 even had the internal chapter titlecards which makes me think this game was initially just going to be this story but they couldn't make it a "real game" length. 6 itself is bonus or so the game told me but I did it anyway cuz I might as well (I regretted that decision). Because of this structure, you won't be doing much exploring and you'll be seeing the same few places throughout most of the stories and the game very much felt more like it was a dungeon crawler than what came before. At least the dungeons were more like Rhapsody 2 instead of 1's barely distinct box room labyrinths.
The combat has changed once again. It is still turn based but now theres this 4 row system that at max is 16 characters on the battle at once. Thats now potentially 16 characters you need to keep geared and skilled up, and you will be spending majority of your time in this game grinding to do so cuz both exp and payouts were laughably low imo. The characters not in the front now also cannot be controlled so don't rely on them to come in clutch, or do anything really. The only way to control them is if they are a puppet and that in turn requires you to give up the front member's turn to issue commands to them. Doesn't help that for most of the chapters you're starting out at level 1 and naked. Its not like the game is difficult, the previous tow weren't either but bosses have, and like to spam, massive aoe attacks and enemy hp values felt VERY bloated to compensate for your potentially massive in battle party. If the difficulty of bosses in any given chapter has a graph it would similar to a wooden roller coaster where its a bunch of peaks and valleys. That final story is the worst of it in terms of grinding as its just the dungeon and final boss, even if it does scale to your strongest member it still takes way longer than it should to level a mid 30's character to even 50 when fighting enemies in the 150's. Even with auto battle I could feel my eyes glazing over more half of each chapter and when I got to bosses I just let jesus take the wheel for some of them and hoped rng would be on my side to beat the bosses and end my purgatory of grinding.
I honestly believe only story 2 and 5 are worth your time, but you gotta do all that came before to get to 5 anyway so my condolences. 3 will be used as an example in my future discussions with people for "if it aint broke, don't fix it" cuz this change was not needed in the slightest and feels like they just wanted to flex how many things they can have in battle at one time.
TLDR: Rhapsody 2 is good and should be played if you liked 1 but if you do want to play 3, I hope you like a lot of grinding
Rhapsody 2 is a good game, I have little nothing bad to say about it. It going to a more standard turn based system from the grid based of the original was something I was all for. Kururu, Crea and Cello were great and I generally enjoy seeing progression in their characters. I also like seeing timeline progression ins media such as here where it follows the children of the previous entries characters. Despite having a similar goal to the first, Kururu want to find her "prince", it didn't feel like a retread or rehash in the slightest. I think what threw me off the most was the songs weren't in english unlike in the first despite this coming over to the west 20 years later. Either they didn't have the resources/want to translate or the songs were only translated in 1 cuz we couldn't have our kids in the 90's listening to Japanese songs cuz its bad or something.
Rhapsody 3 on the otherhand... What were they thinking?
The story is presented in 6 separate stories with a connection as thin as a piece of fishing line. In general I just prefer a single hallway of a narrative for lack of vocabulary. The only ones I gave a rat's ass about were stories 2 and 5 and 5 even had the internal chapter titlecards which makes me think this game was initially just going to be this story but they couldn't make it a "real game" length. 6 itself is bonus or so the game told me but I did it anyway cuz I might as well (I regretted that decision). Because of this structure, you won't be doing much exploring and you'll be seeing the same few places throughout most of the stories and the game very much felt more like it was a dungeon crawler than what came before. At least the dungeons were more like Rhapsody 2 instead of 1's barely distinct box room labyrinths.
The combat has changed once again. It is still turn based but now theres this 4 row system that at max is 16 characters on the battle at once. Thats now potentially 16 characters you need to keep geared and skilled up, and you will be spending majority of your time in this game grinding to do so cuz both exp and payouts were laughably low imo. The characters not in the front now also cannot be controlled so don't rely on them to come in clutch, or do anything really. The only way to control them is if they are a puppet and that in turn requires you to give up the front member's turn to issue commands to them. Doesn't help that for most of the chapters you're starting out at level 1 and naked. Its not like the game is difficult, the previous tow weren't either but bosses have, and like to spam, massive aoe attacks and enemy hp values felt VERY bloated to compensate for your potentially massive in battle party. If the difficulty of bosses in any given chapter has a graph it would similar to a wooden roller coaster where its a bunch of peaks and valleys. That final story is the worst of it in terms of grinding as its just the dungeon and final boss, even if it does scale to your strongest member it still takes way longer than it should to level a mid 30's character to even 50 when fighting enemies in the 150's. Even with auto battle I could feel my eyes glazing over more half of each chapter and when I got to bosses I just let jesus take the wheel for some of them and hoped rng would be on my side to beat the bosses and end my purgatory of grinding.
I honestly believe only story 2 and 5 are worth your time, but you gotta do all that came before to get to 5 anyway so my condolences. 3 will be used as an example in my future discussions with people for "if it aint broke, don't fix it" cuz this change was not needed in the slightest and feels like they just wanted to flex how many things they can have in battle at one time.
TLDR: Rhapsody 2 is good and should be played if you liked 1 but if you do want to play 3, I hope you like a lot of grinding
Hitman: Blood Money
2006
The best part of playing Hitman: Blood Money is that it makes me feel smart. Stealth assassination games are hardly in short supply these days, but none provide the same satisfaction as Blood Money. Getting in, eliminating your target, and getting out without drawing attention is never easy, and when you pull it off you feel like you’ve emptied a casino’s coffers with a pair of twos.
I miss this era of gaming, when jank felt fun, and we laughed at it instead of posting screeds on reddit about “dogwater AI”. One of my favorite moments from my recent playthrough featured me injecting lethal poison into my target while his guards stood idly just inches away. Their sight lines were perfectly blocked, allowing me to do the deed and saunter away scot-free. When I type it out like this it sounds silly, but when you’re in the moment, assuming the role of Agent 47, it’s absolutely exhilarating – and perhaps just a little hilarious too.
In any case, Blood Money is never boring. Looking back, there are so many memorable missions. Christmas party at Playboy mansion? Check. FBI witness protection scene in Suburbia, USA? Check. Redneck mobster wedding? Check. Hit in New Orleans during the middle of Mardi Gras? Check. Some missions are better than others, of course, but they’re all bangers.
As a newcomer to the series, the story didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It felt like a meandering thread that barely connected the wildly varying missions. If you told me IO Interactive designed the missions first and made a story connecting them later, I would not be the least bit surprised. It’s for the best, though: I’ll take strong, filler-free gameplay over boring story-focused missions any day. Oh, and shoutout to the ending, which features probably the most gratifying credits scene in the history of video games.
Hitman: Blood Money is a surprisingly deep game. Most levels allow for multiple ways of achieving victory, and I’m sure speedrunners have had years of fun seeing how fast they can get in and out while achieving a Silent Assassin rating. It’s a game full of secrets and subtle variations. Never has getting away with murder been this much fun.
I miss this era of gaming, when jank felt fun, and we laughed at it instead of posting screeds on reddit about “dogwater AI”. One of my favorite moments from my recent playthrough featured me injecting lethal poison into my target while his guards stood idly just inches away. Their sight lines were perfectly blocked, allowing me to do the deed and saunter away scot-free. When I type it out like this it sounds silly, but when you’re in the moment, assuming the role of Agent 47, it’s absolutely exhilarating – and perhaps just a little hilarious too.
In any case, Blood Money is never boring. Looking back, there are so many memorable missions. Christmas party at Playboy mansion? Check. FBI witness protection scene in Suburbia, USA? Check. Redneck mobster wedding? Check. Hit in New Orleans during the middle of Mardi Gras? Check. Some missions are better than others, of course, but they’re all bangers.
As a newcomer to the series, the story didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It felt like a meandering thread that barely connected the wildly varying missions. If you told me IO Interactive designed the missions first and made a story connecting them later, I would not be the least bit surprised. It’s for the best, though: I’ll take strong, filler-free gameplay over boring story-focused missions any day. Oh, and shoutout to the ending, which features probably the most gratifying credits scene in the history of video games.
Hitman: Blood Money is a surprisingly deep game. Most levels allow for multiple ways of achieving victory, and I’m sure speedrunners have had years of fun seeing how fast they can get in and out while achieving a Silent Assassin rating. It’s a game full of secrets and subtle variations. Never has getting away with murder been this much fun.
To get it out of the way, Metal Gear is my favorite series. While I didn't have many issues whilst playing the collection and I can understand that people wanted more, saying the ports outright suck due to your own overzealous imagination is not something I can get behind. Yes this collection is pretty barebones in terms of graphical touch ups but I'm someone who chooses to play games on actual hardware so I'm not drooling over playing something like MGS1 in 4k. I didn't notice framerate problems either, even in MGS3 but it takes some massive drops for me to notice those. The issues I did run into will be given in detail when talking about the game in question. But the short of it is, the games themselves are fully playable but I ran into issues in 2 and 3 that I never had on ps3 Hd collection or in the ps2 versions in all my years of playing that do not have anything to do with the 360 controls I am not used to.
In terms of Master collection specific content you have the entire screenplay and master books which while cool, I'd rather have those in my hand instead of on my tv and only skimmed them due to that. You got some music tracks too with a selection that could be described as random, however I don't turn on my consoles to listen to music so I never gave them much of a listen. I can just pull up songs on youtube or use these things called CDs of the osts I have should I ever want to listen anyway. On PS5 much like the Battle Network Legacy Collection, each thing has its own icon and install instead of it being one all encompassing package. Other language versions are options but in my experience some had to be downloaded as did the digital graphic novels but the main games (MG 1,2, MGS1, VR missions, 2 and 3) were on there from the get go. Pressing L1+R1 brings up a menu which you can use to pause cutscenes (thought it takes a few seconds) but I only had it work in MGS1. A shame cuz I really could have used it when going for no alerts in 2 and 3 since I couldn't get the usual reset code to work.
Onto the games themselves:
MG1 and 2- These are the ones from MGS3 subsistance/HD collection but ripped out and made its own launcher. They even still use the mgs3 save screen. Yes NES Metal Gear and Snakes revenge are in the master collection too but I will NOT play the NES one again and refuse to touch Snake's Revenge. As far as MG1 goes, I've never been a fan of it. It very easy to get yourself suck either due to missing a prisoner, card, ammo what have you and the hitboxes on the pitfalls were always absurd at best. Yeah I get it, old game design but still I find MG1 to be more annoying than enjoyable which is why I've only played it a couple times. I can only take so much near unavoidable damage cuz everything respawns on a screen change. As for Metal Gear 2, its honestly shameful how little I've played this one cuz it cannot be overstated how much of a step up it is compared to 1 and its where you see what the series will become take form. Still WAY too much backtracking especially at the end, and while MGS1 is close to a 3d version of this game, they were smart enough to cut back on it aspect. The other old game design aspects still apply but the addition of the radar at least let me be mostly prepared for the enemy on the other side of the screen change.
MGS1- Still my favorite game and always will be. No problems while playing for me other than johnny has pants on for some reason after Meryl knocks him out. Its the ps1 version complete with its weird texture warping quirk games on that system had. You can make fake save data for Mantis' stuff so this version is 1000% better than the pc release you can buy on GOG and its not up for debate. I didn't see these loading issues with cutscenes people keep bringing up either but even I'm not blind enough to not notice the fuzzyness the game had at times. I also went through VR missions and thats all I have to say about that cuz I never cared for VR missions. Integral is there too and it was my first time playing that version. While its cool to be able to listen to the TAPPY main theme at whim via codec instead of on a third playthrough (my favorite rendition), its not as novel now that youtube exists. Yes I know about Meryl's new costume in it but I pretty much went back to the original MGS1 after that initial playthrough.
MGS2- Still MGS2 where its 1/3 codec conversations despite being 3 feet from each other and why the codec has a bad name. If people weren't bitching about these games being some sort of 720p over the promised 1080p I wouldn't have known, and tbh I still didn't notice much. This was my first time experiencing the new controls that where part of the 360 version of the HD collection. In MGS2 they were fine but even after several playthroughs I still kept trying to play the game the normal way with pressure sensitive buttons that don't exist. It took me several playthroughs and a snake tale to internalize that the coolant spray uses the right stick now and not square. Being able to click the left stick to raise and lower your weapon is something I think is a good idea actually. Other than that I did have the game freeze on me twice for several seconds, one time on two different playthroughs and both on Big Shell while the Tanker had no issues. One of those times was during the Harrier boss and the other while escorting EE where you need to put out the fire. Both of these involved fire effects now that I think about it. As I said these were FREEZES not crashes, they sorted themselves out after like 5 seconds but in all my years of playing this game on PS2 and later ps3, I never saw this before. It reminded me of playing games with scratched discs but mine aint scratched even if somehow EVERY game that I order online is loose in case when I take it out of the mailbox without fail. Since it is the HD collection version it also means you don't get the best optional content in the series, SKATEBOARDING with a kick ass rendition of the main theme!
MGS3- While MGS1 is my favorite, I do think MGS3 is the overall best entry and because of that I have nothing much to say. The game is still amazing and I didn't notice any stock footage, apparently the reason why the original collection was delisted in the first place, missing. Here is where the new controls really screwed with me the most. Honestly kind of felt like it wasn't reading what I intended when trying to slam vs grab. I had a similar freeze moment like I did in 2, once while swimming and once during the bike sequence. The flashback scenes towards the end did look a bit fuzzy as well and some animal models in the food screen looked pretty rough but special mention goes to The End's parrot. I also missed a Kerotan on my first run and I have no idea where so I'm PISSED. And it should og without saying but its the HD collection version so no second disc bonuses. Even the previous bonus of MG1 and 2 are their own things now so its truly just MGS 3 subsistence diet edition.
I do hope a volume 2 happens whether its of similar barebones ports or not. MGS4 deserves better than to be locked on the ps3 though other than Peace Walker I can't imagine what else they are gonna put in it. Will they just throw in the definitive edition of 5? Will they actually go all in and put Portable ops and the Acid games on here? Ghost Babel (though that should have been in collection 1) Revengence?? Lord only knows. I'm just happy more people can play these great games now on more current platforms and don't have to either decide between starting with the likes MGS5 which is an awful decision or something unlike any of the other games like Revengence. As it stands I could see myself using this collection for MGS1 replays but for 2 and 3, ignoring the convenience of already having this collection installed and system set up, I don't think I see myself playing these versions over the ps3 hd collection or ps2 releases. I can't so easily overwrite almost 20 years of conditioning for pressure sensitive inputs.
In terms of Master collection specific content you have the entire screenplay and master books which while cool, I'd rather have those in my hand instead of on my tv and only skimmed them due to that. You got some music tracks too with a selection that could be described as random, however I don't turn on my consoles to listen to music so I never gave them much of a listen. I can just pull up songs on youtube or use these things called CDs of the osts I have should I ever want to listen anyway. On PS5 much like the Battle Network Legacy Collection, each thing has its own icon and install instead of it being one all encompassing package. Other language versions are options but in my experience some had to be downloaded as did the digital graphic novels but the main games (MG 1,2, MGS1, VR missions, 2 and 3) were on there from the get go. Pressing L1+R1 brings up a menu which you can use to pause cutscenes (thought it takes a few seconds) but I only had it work in MGS1. A shame cuz I really could have used it when going for no alerts in 2 and 3 since I couldn't get the usual reset code to work.
Onto the games themselves:
MG1 and 2- These are the ones from MGS3 subsistance/HD collection but ripped out and made its own launcher. They even still use the mgs3 save screen. Yes NES Metal Gear and Snakes revenge are in the master collection too but I will NOT play the NES one again and refuse to touch Snake's Revenge. As far as MG1 goes, I've never been a fan of it. It very easy to get yourself suck either due to missing a prisoner, card, ammo what have you and the hitboxes on the pitfalls were always absurd at best. Yeah I get it, old game design but still I find MG1 to be more annoying than enjoyable which is why I've only played it a couple times. I can only take so much near unavoidable damage cuz everything respawns on a screen change. As for Metal Gear 2, its honestly shameful how little I've played this one cuz it cannot be overstated how much of a step up it is compared to 1 and its where you see what the series will become take form. Still WAY too much backtracking especially at the end, and while MGS1 is close to a 3d version of this game, they were smart enough to cut back on it aspect. The other old game design aspects still apply but the addition of the radar at least let me be mostly prepared for the enemy on the other side of the screen change.
MGS1- Still my favorite game and always will be. No problems while playing for me other than johnny has pants on for some reason after Meryl knocks him out. Its the ps1 version complete with its weird texture warping quirk games on that system had. You can make fake save data for Mantis' stuff so this version is 1000% better than the pc release you can buy on GOG and its not up for debate. I didn't see these loading issues with cutscenes people keep bringing up either but even I'm not blind enough to not notice the fuzzyness the game had at times. I also went through VR missions and thats all I have to say about that cuz I never cared for VR missions. Integral is there too and it was my first time playing that version. While its cool to be able to listen to the TAPPY main theme at whim via codec instead of on a third playthrough (my favorite rendition), its not as novel now that youtube exists. Yes I know about Meryl's new costume in it but I pretty much went back to the original MGS1 after that initial playthrough.
MGS2- Still MGS2 where its 1/3 codec conversations despite being 3 feet from each other and why the codec has a bad name. If people weren't bitching about these games being some sort of 720p over the promised 1080p I wouldn't have known, and tbh I still didn't notice much. This was my first time experiencing the new controls that where part of the 360 version of the HD collection. In MGS2 they were fine but even after several playthroughs I still kept trying to play the game the normal way with pressure sensitive buttons that don't exist. It took me several playthroughs and a snake tale to internalize that the coolant spray uses the right stick now and not square. Being able to click the left stick to raise and lower your weapon is something I think is a good idea actually. Other than that I did have the game freeze on me twice for several seconds, one time on two different playthroughs and both on Big Shell while the Tanker had no issues. One of those times was during the Harrier boss and the other while escorting EE where you need to put out the fire. Both of these involved fire effects now that I think about it. As I said these were FREEZES not crashes, they sorted themselves out after like 5 seconds but in all my years of playing this game on PS2 and later ps3, I never saw this before. It reminded me of playing games with scratched discs but mine aint scratched even if somehow EVERY game that I order online is loose in case when I take it out of the mailbox without fail. Since it is the HD collection version it also means you don't get the best optional content in the series, SKATEBOARDING with a kick ass rendition of the main theme!
MGS3- While MGS1 is my favorite, I do think MGS3 is the overall best entry and because of that I have nothing much to say. The game is still amazing and I didn't notice any stock footage, apparently the reason why the original collection was delisted in the first place, missing. Here is where the new controls really screwed with me the most. Honestly kind of felt like it wasn't reading what I intended when trying to slam vs grab. I had a similar freeze moment like I did in 2, once while swimming and once during the bike sequence. The flashback scenes towards the end did look a bit fuzzy as well and some animal models in the food screen looked pretty rough but special mention goes to The End's parrot. I also missed a Kerotan on my first run and I have no idea where so I'm PISSED. And it should og without saying but its the HD collection version so no second disc bonuses. Even the previous bonus of MG1 and 2 are their own things now so its truly just MGS 3 subsistence diet edition.
I do hope a volume 2 happens whether its of similar barebones ports or not. MGS4 deserves better than to be locked on the ps3 though other than Peace Walker I can't imagine what else they are gonna put in it. Will they just throw in the definitive edition of 5? Will they actually go all in and put Portable ops and the Acid games on here? Ghost Babel (though that should have been in collection 1) Revengence?? Lord only knows. I'm just happy more people can play these great games now on more current platforms and don't have to either decide between starting with the likes MGS5 which is an awful decision or something unlike any of the other games like Revengence. As it stands I could see myself using this collection for MGS1 replays but for 2 and 3, ignoring the convenience of already having this collection installed and system set up, I don't think I see myself playing these versions over the ps3 hd collection or ps2 releases. I can't so easily overwrite almost 20 years of conditioning for pressure sensitive inputs.
Contra: Hard Corps
1994
(This is the 97th game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet/blog is in my bio.)
It surprised me to see the very positive reviews about this game online. Usually, I find that my thoughts on these older games align for the most part with consensus, or are even more positive. With Contra: Hard Corps, the follow up to 1992's excellent Contra III: The Alien Wars, I stumbled upon a game where I found my time to be significantly less fun than it seems to have been for many others.
I'm not gonna dive too deeply into it because I "only" played the game for 3 hours, but as someone who thought that Contra III definitely was among the 3 best games to release in 1992, the amount by which I disliked Contra Hard Corps was very surprising and easily my biggest disappointment out of the 1994 playlist. Why? Level design would probably be my number one answer to that. For a game that is as fast-paced and action-packed as Contra games tend to be, there were a LOT more moments in this game where you couldn't skip dialogue or certain scenes. For a game made to be replayed constantly, this had me bored out of my mind after the 10+ failed attempts each area took me. Then there is the bosses and mini bosses in each level, which felt unfairly designed here more than anything. Where Contra III's bosses usually made me feel like I mastered them after a while and could reliably get past them, bosses in Contra Hard Corps just seem to constantly corner you or have attacks that are just barely avoidable by a frame and overall feel way less reliable to beat. Weapons seem to do less damage here than in Contra III as well, which means for a lot of fights with basic enemies, you can't just "run and gun" your way past them, but instead have to stop, aim and shoot, which for a game like this really isn't something I should ever be forced to do.
There is no stand and shoot diagonally button for starters. Controls are not tight either. If one projectile comes at you, they are reliably dodgable, but two or more and I found myself praying to the Contra gods that my input would allow me to dodge them. Even if you do, hitboxes seem too large and you get hit anyway.
It's things like that that just made this incredibly frustrating to play. I can't say I enjoyed any of this. It felt like a less clever, more unfairly punishing Contra III with worse visuals.
Clearly, I'm in the minority with that opinion, but unfortunately this was my experience for a game I was looking forward to.
It surprised me to see the very positive reviews about this game online. Usually, I find that my thoughts on these older games align for the most part with consensus, or are even more positive. With Contra: Hard Corps, the follow up to 1992's excellent Contra III: The Alien Wars, I stumbled upon a game where I found my time to be significantly less fun than it seems to have been for many others.
I'm not gonna dive too deeply into it because I "only" played the game for 3 hours, but as someone who thought that Contra III definitely was among the 3 best games to release in 1992, the amount by which I disliked Contra Hard Corps was very surprising and easily my biggest disappointment out of the 1994 playlist. Why? Level design would probably be my number one answer to that. For a game that is as fast-paced and action-packed as Contra games tend to be, there were a LOT more moments in this game where you couldn't skip dialogue or certain scenes. For a game made to be replayed constantly, this had me bored out of my mind after the 10+ failed attempts each area took me. Then there is the bosses and mini bosses in each level, which felt unfairly designed here more than anything. Where Contra III's bosses usually made me feel like I mastered them after a while and could reliably get past them, bosses in Contra Hard Corps just seem to constantly corner you or have attacks that are just barely avoidable by a frame and overall feel way less reliable to beat. Weapons seem to do less damage here than in Contra III as well, which means for a lot of fights with basic enemies, you can't just "run and gun" your way past them, but instead have to stop, aim and shoot, which for a game like this really isn't something I should ever be forced to do.
There is no stand and shoot diagonally button for starters. Controls are not tight either. If one projectile comes at you, they are reliably dodgable, but two or more and I found myself praying to the Contra gods that my input would allow me to dodge them. Even if you do, hitboxes seem too large and you get hit anyway.
It's things like that that just made this incredibly frustrating to play. I can't say I enjoyed any of this. It felt like a less clever, more unfairly punishing Contra III with worse visuals.
Clearly, I'm in the minority with that opinion, but unfortunately this was my experience for a game I was looking forward to.
