Druagord
A big improvement over Dreamland 3. Mixing powers is fun and level design is solid.
Way too short buy n64 standards through
Way too short buy n64 standards through
1998
Feels like a mobile game before mobile games were a thing
2003
You know those movie tie in games from the early 2000s? You know, you were a kid, so you'd rent them, play them, think they're okay but never think about them again?
That's Wario World, except its somehow a first party Nintendo Game.
That's Wario World, except its somehow a first party Nintendo Game.
1997
I must admit I am a bit frustrated that Nintendo decided to port this while some obvious classics like Super Smash Bros and Perfect Dark are still missing from the NSO.
But regardless game preservation is game preservation, even for middleware slop.
Maybe that sounds severe. This game is pretty good tbh. Nice vibe, drives nice. But the lack of drifting seems to conflict with the design of the tracks.
Really this game's biggest failing is existing in a world where F-Zero X exists.
But regardless game preservation is game preservation, even for middleware slop.
Maybe that sounds severe. This game is pretty good tbh. Nice vibe, drives nice. But the lack of drifting seems to conflict with the design of the tracks.
Really this game's biggest failing is existing in a world where F-Zero X exists.
2023
Im not super big into 2.5d fighters. I find that I prefer either 2D sprite based fighters or full 3D fighters. That being said this game has a really cool vibe, a banger OST. A unique story mode, and really cool art direction. Also points for the extensive tutorials
The best of the 2.5d SFs, easily.
The best of the 2.5d SFs, easily.
2009
There's definitly some first game syndrome here but it's insane just how much Demon's Souls got right on its first try.
This game is oozing with atmosphere, challenge and charm. This game is every bit as complete an experience as the latter games are.
I strongly reccomand this, especially the PS3 version.
This game is oozing with atmosphere, challenge and charm. This game is every bit as complete an experience as the latter games are.
I strongly reccomand this, especially the PS3 version.
Despite being a sequel, this really just feels like an "ultimate edition" of P4A.
Is it improved? Well the story mode didnt put me to sleep, so I'd say yes. Its nothing special but enjoyable enough
Also why does Junpei look like Adachi?
Is it improved? Well the story mode didnt put me to sleep, so I'd say yes. Its nothing special but enjoyable enough
Also why does Junpei look like Adachi?
Skyrim is similar to FF7 as in they were the most popular RPGs of their respective generation, many people's first RPG, and eventually had their reputation attacked, and them even being a good game has been put into question.
I'll be frank here, unlike FF7, which what it received has been outright character assassination based on supplementary material that shouldnt affect the quality of the original game. Skyrim is actually deeply deeply flawed game, and quite frankly the score I'm giving it seems perhaps too high.
First of all, its an incredibly basic game, with most quests devolving into go fetch something in a dungeon. And these dungeons are the problems. They're not inherently bad so much as, there's too many of them. And they swarm you with an insane amount of enemies you have been killing for way too long, especially those stupid dwarven robots I hate oh so much. This would be exarcebated in Fallout 4. Beyond this, the game cruely lacks player agency in many scenarios where it would seem obvious where to add it. For example, when X character says "we're having beef with Y faction". When your Dragonborn goes there, he immediatly gets attacked by mindless enemies who decide to kill you on sight without you ever having a chance to say, initiate a conversation, bargain with them, side with them, or anything. No this game is just made to be a dungeon crawler rather than an actual deeply involved world, and that's a shame, cause while I havent played them, I know that the previous entries, Oblivion and Morrowind, offer a lot more substance in that regard.
This is a very harsh blemish on this game, but I also reject the idea that Skyrim is completly devoid of substance, many quests in this game are actually very good, notably the civil war quesltine and the faction quests. And the core gameplay is also pretty good, even if simple, I found myself actually quite enjoying the combat, looting, questing etc.
What brings this game up is ultimately, THE VIBE. Skyrim is beautiful, the open world is beautiful, and walking in it feels better than pretty much any open world out there, bar perhaps Breath of the Wild. This game nails so much so high that I end up quite minimising its eggregious flaws, and I just look back on my time with it as a lot of fun.
Ultimately, yeah, it's baby's first RPG, its a shallow kiddie pool, its even frustrating in some regards. But it is an experience I am beyond glad to have lived. Ever since I started this game I always put the OST on spotify whenever I go for a walk and I will for quite a while.
TLDR: The shallowness of its core gameplay is overpowered by the beautiful world it lets you lose yourself in.
I'll be frank here, unlike FF7, which what it received has been outright character assassination based on supplementary material that shouldnt affect the quality of the original game. Skyrim is actually deeply deeply flawed game, and quite frankly the score I'm giving it seems perhaps too high.
First of all, its an incredibly basic game, with most quests devolving into go fetch something in a dungeon. And these dungeons are the problems. They're not inherently bad so much as, there's too many of them. And they swarm you with an insane amount of enemies you have been killing for way too long, especially those stupid dwarven robots I hate oh so much. This would be exarcebated in Fallout 4. Beyond this, the game cruely lacks player agency in many scenarios where it would seem obvious where to add it. For example, when X character says "we're having beef with Y faction". When your Dragonborn goes there, he immediatly gets attacked by mindless enemies who decide to kill you on sight without you ever having a chance to say, initiate a conversation, bargain with them, side with them, or anything. No this game is just made to be a dungeon crawler rather than an actual deeply involved world, and that's a shame, cause while I havent played them, I know that the previous entries, Oblivion and Morrowind, offer a lot more substance in that regard.
This is a very harsh blemish on this game, but I also reject the idea that Skyrim is completly devoid of substance, many quests in this game are actually very good, notably the civil war quesltine and the faction quests. And the core gameplay is also pretty good, even if simple, I found myself actually quite enjoying the combat, looting, questing etc.
What brings this game up is ultimately, THE VIBE. Skyrim is beautiful, the open world is beautiful, and walking in it feels better than pretty much any open world out there, bar perhaps Breath of the Wild. This game nails so much so high that I end up quite minimising its eggregious flaws, and I just look back on my time with it as a lot of fun.
Ultimately, yeah, it's baby's first RPG, its a shallow kiddie pool, its even frustrating in some regards. But it is an experience I am beyond glad to have lived. Ever since I started this game I always put the OST on spotify whenever I go for a walk and I will for quite a while.
TLDR: The shallowness of its core gameplay is overpowered by the beautiful world it lets you lose yourself in.
2008
Fighting is cool bit removal of modes and weird choices regarding equipment? Makes it inferior to the previous 3.
Star Wars characters rock through
Star Wars characters rock through
2020
Halfway through my playthrough of this game, I was redpilled on Bluepoint's Shadow of the colossus remake. Then I heard about how many people didnt like this remake so I booted up the PS3 original.
Night and day. I am not touching the PS5 version anymore, vibe is totally off.
I wont shame you if you play this as its still a good game inherently but please play the PS3 version if you can.
I will review Demon Souls proper once I'm done with the PS3 version
Night and day. I am not touching the PS5 version anymore, vibe is totally off.
I wont shame you if you play this as its still a good game inherently but please play the PS3 version if you can.
I will review Demon Souls proper once I'm done with the PS3 version
This review contains spoilers
Between the release of Remake and Rebirth, I had come to accept that ultimately, no matter what it was going to do, the FF7 Remake was never gonna live up to the original. FF7 is such an absolute classic of a game that I kind of equate it to a book, and a Remake was always gonna be like a movie or tv adaptation. And even good adaptations are never quite as good as their original books. I like the early, good, seasons of Game of Thrones, but if you actually read A Song of Ice and Fire, you’ll realize that even they mangle up the story in quite a few ways.
With that said, the FF7R project goes beyond what adaptations usually do where they poorly translate a few things here and there, and it outright goes into weird timeline shit that really displeases a lot of people. Myself included. I mostly liked Remake but the ending just left a sour taste in my mouth. Even so, I went into Rebirth with the expectation “hopefully the damage isn’t so bad”. With that said, I came off rather satisfied off these expectations.
Points that are shared in common with Remake
+Presentation is top notch, game looks and runs great, voice acting is fantastic, characters act like how the characters I liked from the Original would act.
+Mechanically a solid RPG, with the in depth customisation of the original materia system mostly intact, but with the added benefit of each character being its own very distinct thing.
+Combat is very fun and rewarding, even more so in Rebirth with the speed receiving a noticeable boost.
+Whenever the game IS being faithful to the original, it does it insanely well and is a joy to behold.
-The filler is generally a nuisance, with it always coming off as interrupting the pace of the story.
-Short sections of the original being turned into hour long dungeons with shitty puzzles just sucks, sometimes less is more.
Points that are unique to Rebirth
+Side characters are generally improved, I found myself to enjoy most of the unimportant people in the story quite a lot more beyond just the avalanche crew.
+Sidequests are an improvement from Remake and 16, while not especially great, they do feel just “good enough” that I felt compelled to do them here and there.
+Yuffie and Cait Sith are massively improved from the Original. I enjoyed both characters quite a lot more.
+Queen’s blood is pretty fun
-While this may be fixed in Part 3, Cid seems to be massively whitewashed from his original portrayal.
-Ubisoft towers, no one likes these, just stops, just have the activities already on the map.
-While I like that unlike 16, the game isn't afraid to indulge in some mini game silliness here and there, having some of them so frequently mandatory does take away from their inherent nature as mini games.
-The party feels like the biggest bunch of enablers towards Cloud’s obviously unwell mental state to the point where it's hard not to see them as complete idiots. Him literally attacking Tifa results in absolutely nothing.
-Dyne’s death is absolutely butchered.
-The final dungeon is awful, like holy shit that was tedious, and the final boss sucks too besides the final final part with One Winged Angel playing.
-Remake’s confidant “THE TIMELINE IS FREE TO OPEN NOW” doesn't mean much when Rebirth still largely follows the plot of OG. And the few possible differences that could be interesting are either aborted (Rufus’s deal with Cloud), saved up for Part 3 (Glenn and Wutai), or just bad (changing Nibelheim from a skinwalker town to a refugee camp, thus making Shinra feel far less eerie).
-While not inherently a fault, I feel like this game puts off most of the load of the actual major deviations on Part 3, thus making that game have a far heavier load to eventually carry.
Now I want to say, what ultimately does leave a positive taste in my mouth with the game is…..strangely enough the ending. Which I hear is many people’s most hated part.
It’s not the same as losing Aerith the first time of course, it was never going to be, but what is there instead is equally as intriguing, as it is horrifying. Cloud feels like a more lost person than he’s ever been, which is what always drew me to his character. I get why a lot of people don't like it, but I don't care, for me it landed, far better than anything at the end of Remake.
Ultimately, I’m giving a fairly high score, but if Part 3 messes its landing, I will have to bring this down, because the entire FF7R project now rests on its shoulders, should they be able to carry the weight.
With that said, the FF7R project goes beyond what adaptations usually do where they poorly translate a few things here and there, and it outright goes into weird timeline shit that really displeases a lot of people. Myself included. I mostly liked Remake but the ending just left a sour taste in my mouth. Even so, I went into Rebirth with the expectation “hopefully the damage isn’t so bad”. With that said, I came off rather satisfied off these expectations.
Points that are shared in common with Remake
+Presentation is top notch, game looks and runs great, voice acting is fantastic, characters act like how the characters I liked from the Original would act.
+Mechanically a solid RPG, with the in depth customisation of the original materia system mostly intact, but with the added benefit of each character being its own very distinct thing.
+Combat is very fun and rewarding, even more so in Rebirth with the speed receiving a noticeable boost.
+Whenever the game IS being faithful to the original, it does it insanely well and is a joy to behold.
-The filler is generally a nuisance, with it always coming off as interrupting the pace of the story.
-Short sections of the original being turned into hour long dungeons with shitty puzzles just sucks, sometimes less is more.
Points that are unique to Rebirth
+Side characters are generally improved, I found myself to enjoy most of the unimportant people in the story quite a lot more beyond just the avalanche crew.
+Sidequests are an improvement from Remake and 16, while not especially great, they do feel just “good enough” that I felt compelled to do them here and there.
+Yuffie and Cait Sith are massively improved from the Original. I enjoyed both characters quite a lot more.
+Queen’s blood is pretty fun
-While this may be fixed in Part 3, Cid seems to be massively whitewashed from his original portrayal.
-Ubisoft towers, no one likes these, just stops, just have the activities already on the map.
-While I like that unlike 16, the game isn't afraid to indulge in some mini game silliness here and there, having some of them so frequently mandatory does take away from their inherent nature as mini games.
-The party feels like the biggest bunch of enablers towards Cloud’s obviously unwell mental state to the point where it's hard not to see them as complete idiots. Him literally attacking Tifa results in absolutely nothing.
-Dyne’s death is absolutely butchered.
-The final dungeon is awful, like holy shit that was tedious, and the final boss sucks too besides the final final part with One Winged Angel playing.
-Remake’s confidant “THE TIMELINE IS FREE TO OPEN NOW” doesn't mean much when Rebirth still largely follows the plot of OG. And the few possible differences that could be interesting are either aborted (Rufus’s deal with Cloud), saved up for Part 3 (Glenn and Wutai), or just bad (changing Nibelheim from a skinwalker town to a refugee camp, thus making Shinra feel far less eerie).
-While not inherently a fault, I feel like this game puts off most of the load of the actual major deviations on Part 3, thus making that game have a far heavier load to eventually carry.
Now I want to say, what ultimately does leave a positive taste in my mouth with the game is…..strangely enough the ending. Which I hear is many people’s most hated part.
It’s not the same as losing Aerith the first time of course, it was never going to be, but what is there instead is equally as intriguing, as it is horrifying. Cloud feels like a more lost person than he’s ever been, which is what always drew me to his character. I get why a lot of people don't like it, but I don't care, for me it landed, far better than anything at the end of Remake.
Ultimately, I’m giving a fairly high score, but if Part 3 messes its landing, I will have to bring this down, because the entire FF7R project now rests on its shoulders, should they be able to carry the weight.
2002
The game looks amazing. I'll give it that.
Otherwise
-Absolute slog with the worst inventory system in the series by far. Like reducing the inventory space to 6 is bad enough but no, you have to go and make some items take two slots, and you have to remove inventory boxes.
-Largely useless to the lore despite prequels being all about recontextualising actual lore. Resi 5 and 8 are somehow better at being prequels than this game. No this guy has a one off villain that dies
-For being a game all about working toghether, Billy and Rebecca never feel like they earn them "being a duo". Rebecca somehow has more chemistry with Chris in RE1. Billy never comes back anyway so quite frankly, he probably died in Racoon City during RE2 and 3, if not by the zombies, by the nuke.
-The very existence of RE1make make this game unappealing to play. The entire time you'll be playing, all you'll be thinking is: holy shit I wish I was playing RE1make instead. And you should. Its actually peak RE, unlike this game.
Otherwise
-Absolute slog with the worst inventory system in the series by far. Like reducing the inventory space to 6 is bad enough but no, you have to go and make some items take two slots, and you have to remove inventory boxes.
-Largely useless to the lore despite prequels being all about recontextualising actual lore. Resi 5 and 8 are somehow better at being prequels than this game. No this guy has a one off villain that dies
-For being a game all about working toghether, Billy and Rebecca never feel like they earn them "being a duo". Rebecca somehow has more chemistry with Chris in RE1. Billy never comes back anyway so quite frankly, he probably died in Racoon City during RE2 and 3, if not by the zombies, by the nuke.
-The very existence of RE1make make this game unappealing to play. The entire time you'll be playing, all you'll be thinking is: holy shit I wish I was playing RE1make instead. And you should. Its actually peak RE, unlike this game.
Competent at the task it is asked to do: have F-Zero on the GBA.
But completly unremarkable otherwise
But completly unremarkable otherwise
2009
Final Fantasy XIII is quite.....infamous to say the least. And it's somewhat deserved.
First of all, let's establish, what exactly is the appeal of an RPG. I would say its player choice. The fact that no one will play exactly the same is quite commonly told. Some are more than others and that's fine. I don't think it's the be all end all way to judge an RPG.
To list the positives. The characters are annoying and unlikeable yes, but fairly well written and very well voice acted. It's a gorgeous looking game, and the soundtrack is pretty good. And its world, seems, keyword here, intriguing. The combat is also fairly enjoyable if a little too automated.
FF13 is not bad because its linear (I love FF10). It is bad because the world is completly gated off to you. At no point does it feel like you're interacting with the world in any way shape or form. You are going through unnaturally formed video game levels. "The Hallway" is literal in this sense. Other very linear games, like The Last of Us disguise this hallway by making the environment feel lived in, FF13 does not. You do everything at every conveniently placed robot, shopping for everything, saving etc.
The early game teases you with decent 3 person combat but then gates you off and forces you to have 2 people in your party severly fucking over the substance of battles. And even when you get more than 3, it is not until 20 hours into the game that it gets any sort of party customisation.
And even its absolutely worthless because of how the classes work in this game. Each character gets 3 in the early game, and gets access to the other 3 later. But theyre absolutely worthless because you have to level them up from the beginning with increased xp requirement. This means that you have to keep with the classes initially given to each party member. And then you realise, that actually, with this setup, only one party combination makes sense: Lightning-Hope-Fang. Because A. you're not allowed to switch Lightning out, B. it's the only combination that gives you every available class at once.
OH BUT GRAND PULSE
Grand Pulse is an open field where you can hunt monsters. It is more fun than most of the game, but it's way too little too late, and you can get the exact same thing from FF10, or even FF15 and 16, and its much better.
I'm not gonna pretend like this game is the sole catalyst for the downfall of Final Fantasy or some other retarded take, but It's not a very good game.
First of all, let's establish, what exactly is the appeal of an RPG. I would say its player choice. The fact that no one will play exactly the same is quite commonly told. Some are more than others and that's fine. I don't think it's the be all end all way to judge an RPG.
To list the positives. The characters are annoying and unlikeable yes, but fairly well written and very well voice acted. It's a gorgeous looking game, and the soundtrack is pretty good. And its world, seems, keyword here, intriguing. The combat is also fairly enjoyable if a little too automated.
FF13 is not bad because its linear (I love FF10). It is bad because the world is completly gated off to you. At no point does it feel like you're interacting with the world in any way shape or form. You are going through unnaturally formed video game levels. "The Hallway" is literal in this sense. Other very linear games, like The Last of Us disguise this hallway by making the environment feel lived in, FF13 does not. You do everything at every conveniently placed robot, shopping for everything, saving etc.
The early game teases you with decent 3 person combat but then gates you off and forces you to have 2 people in your party severly fucking over the substance of battles. And even when you get more than 3, it is not until 20 hours into the game that it gets any sort of party customisation.
And even its absolutely worthless because of how the classes work in this game. Each character gets 3 in the early game, and gets access to the other 3 later. But theyre absolutely worthless because you have to level them up from the beginning with increased xp requirement. This means that you have to keep with the classes initially given to each party member. And then you realise, that actually, with this setup, only one party combination makes sense: Lightning-Hope-Fang. Because A. you're not allowed to switch Lightning out, B. it's the only combination that gives you every available class at once.
OH BUT GRAND PULSE
Grand Pulse is an open field where you can hunt monsters. It is more fun than most of the game, but it's way too little too late, and you can get the exact same thing from FF10, or even FF15 and 16, and its much better.
I'm not gonna pretend like this game is the sole catalyst for the downfall of Final Fantasy or some other retarded take, but It's not a very good game.
2024
The original Persona 3 was always a flawed masterpiece to me. It started very slow, it didn't look very good, even by PS2 standards, even by Shin Megami Tensei PS2 standards actually. Most of the early social links aren't really all that good and didn't make a very good case for the mechanic. The PS2 version didnt allow you to control party members, and I know what they were going for (you're a leader, not an omniscient god controlling everyone), it just didnt really work.
But if you stuck with it, you found out it was actually an extremly well written slow burn with a very solid RPG system. And it contained some very good tear jerkers in there too.
Persona 3 Reload is a surgical improvement of this flawed masterpiece to make it as good as it could possibly be.
The Graphics aren't just improved to be the standard on modern platforms, they are improved to bring make a more expressive world and get you invested faster. The improvements to combat make it flow as good as Persona 5 and makes you endear to the combat more and makes the slow early months of the game much more enjoyable.
The expanded material put into this is all more than welcome, giving a lot more personality to otherwise neglected aspects of the narrative.
And all and all, it's the best version of this absolute classic.
As far as I'm concerned, this is THE gold standard for video game remakes. If they ever remake Persona 2 or 4, the example set by this game should absolutely be followed.
But if you stuck with it, you found out it was actually an extremly well written slow burn with a very solid RPG system. And it contained some very good tear jerkers in there too.
Persona 3 Reload is a surgical improvement of this flawed masterpiece to make it as good as it could possibly be.
The Graphics aren't just improved to be the standard on modern platforms, they are improved to bring make a more expressive world and get you invested faster. The improvements to combat make it flow as good as Persona 5 and makes you endear to the combat more and makes the slow early months of the game much more enjoyable.
The expanded material put into this is all more than welcome, giving a lot more personality to otherwise neglected aspects of the narrative.
And all and all, it's the best version of this absolute classic.
As far as I'm concerned, this is THE gold standard for video game remakes. If they ever remake Persona 2 or 4, the example set by this game should absolutely be followed.