Etanks
This game is a long running tabletop campaign where every island is a session that the characters get to explore and solve before moving onto the next, a rare example of an RPG where the overarching plot reserves itself until much later into the playtime.
There are systems that I wish were more streamlined but it's a great series of fantasy Star Trek episodes to watch and resolve, a format that I wish there was more of.
There are systems that I wish were more streamlined but it's a great series of fantasy Star Trek episodes to watch and resolve, a format that I wish there was more of.
I
Who doesn't love a happy ending? Especially one that ties up more loose ends than it unravels. A great sendoff for The First, all your favorites show up to help. Some people like this patch so much that they consider it the point where the game should end, like no more ffxiv story. Can't wait to keep playing!
2001
Pac Man Arrangement and Pac Attack got me through too many car rides for me to dislike this game.
1997
Final Fantasy 7 is definitely a game with swords. Other than that it's pretty much a blur. I wish the blue magic spells given to the player were paced better like in 5.
It was good! Some laughs, some jams. Nearly the only other thing I can say about it is that you have to be very in the zone to distinguish the jokes from the hints, never mind the fact that without a long term appreciation for these dumb animal characters (see, even that is an in joke), this would be a waste of time and money.
2006
First Ys Game, only cleared with Yunica on Normal.
I had a fun time! Obvious highlights are learning the boss mechanics and patterns, but the in between floors of normal enemies was super satisfying to cleave through and jump around.
The story I'm sure has greater impact if you are familiar with the series, but there were enough beats for me to appreciate on their own with minimal context (some guy named Adol gets involved at some point).
Single gripe is that for a "climb the tower" type game the story beats put a substantial pause on the action. I can't harp on these spots too much because a game with good gameplay shouldn't be dinged for also having the gall to want to tell a story as well.
Also the final boss felt very silly strong to the point where the game gives you an auto revive once accessory as if to offer an apology/out for the fuck huge attacks, but once you learn the fight it's hardly even a blemish on this experience. Other characters sometime maybe.
I had a fun time! Obvious highlights are learning the boss mechanics and patterns, but the in between floors of normal enemies was super satisfying to cleave through and jump around.
The story I'm sure has greater impact if you are familiar with the series, but there were enough beats for me to appreciate on their own with minimal context (some guy named Adol gets involved at some point).
Single gripe is that for a "climb the tower" type game the story beats put a substantial pause on the action. I can't harp on these spots too much because a game with good gameplay shouldn't be dinged for also having the gall to want to tell a story as well.
Also the final boss felt very silly strong to the point where the game gives you an auto revive once accessory as if to offer an apology/out for the fuck huge attacks, but once you learn the fight it's hardly even a blemish on this experience. Other characters sometime maybe.
You'd think this was a couple more entries down the road as the castlevania exploratory style is cultivated to a near perfect form featuring great progression, enemy and environmental variety, and satisfying new weapons and powerups earned simply by defeating enemies. Aiding replayability with a true "blue mage" protagonist.
Moving and fighting at its core is fun in this game. Though secrets are a tad sparse compared to previous entries, it builds on true ending conditions from SotN, and rounds itself out with fun albeit basic bonus modes.
It fights against gba hardware to deliver catchy tunes, and impressive spritework. judged on these merits alone it is a worthwhile experience but it's also a game that is fun and presents itself with the flair of spectacle that was waning in this era. It's fun to play a game where you can defeat movie monsters as a bishounen euro man.
Moving and fighting at its core is fun in this game. Though secrets are a tad sparse compared to previous entries, it builds on true ending conditions from SotN, and rounds itself out with fun albeit basic bonus modes.
It fights against gba hardware to deliver catchy tunes, and impressive spritework. judged on these merits alone it is a worthwhile experience but it's also a game that is fun and presents itself with the flair of spectacle that was waning in this era. It's fun to play a game where you can defeat movie monsters as a bishounen euro man.
2002
Man if you don't pick Staff and actually try to use magic you are not going to have nearly as fun a time because holy shit the combo moves are so bad compared to final mix stuff.
Alright game.
Alright game.
No one will believe you if you say this is your favorite Musuo.
Good "theming": One Piece story's most dynamic beats get their box checked. Great stage variety visually and mechanically as you more from Romance Dawn to a simpler time when a Warlord of the Sea was the arc villain.
Great Mechanics: Presents a good mix of genre conventions and innovations to match the theme. Combos balance flashy animations with slight variation in utility. Leveling character accommodates the wide cast and gates progression in single player to a solid degree of pacing.
A nice soundtrack to wrap it all together. That's a one piece video game I can stomach playing. Back to you Jan.
Good "theming": One Piece story's most dynamic beats get their box checked. Great stage variety visually and mechanically as you more from Romance Dawn to a simpler time when a Warlord of the Sea was the arc villain.
Great Mechanics: Presents a good mix of genre conventions and innovations to match the theme. Combos balance flashy animations with slight variation in utility. Leveling character accommodates the wide cast and gates progression in single player to a solid degree of pacing.
A nice soundtrack to wrap it all together. That's a one piece video game I can stomach playing. Back to you Jan.
A lot of fixes from BOTW while still falling into the big issues, switch performance, enemy scaling, subpar combat.
The freedom offered by devices and weapon fusion helps to alleviate these problems with more interesting puzzles within the world. The game is a constant stream of awarding the player with "Smart Boy Points" you did it you're so smart!
The setting is better, I enjoyed being part of a world in recovery between disasters versus a dead kingdom. Instead of Link's protagonist status being a secret and characters just treating you like a helpful weirdo, you are now treated with a reasonable level of respect, with a tone of familiarity that it felt much better to just talk to characters and engross yourself in the world.
The game is at it's best in the first 80% of you running around to the different settlements of Hyrule, solving problems big and small with the ingenuity of a one man tabletop roleplaying party. Completing the main quest and side adventures felt better because the rewards felt far more substantial.
Dungeons are a step up, implementing "dungeon item" like puzzles with your companions' abilities, which are added to your repertoire of skills at the quest's completion However the game won't fully commit to the puzzle box design of the series' past. To do so would feel like limiting the player's freedom that has been established in the game's structure.
The last stretch of the game is the weakest both gameplay wise and narratively. You've grown substantially more powerful but the threat level feels the exact same. The final set of challenges are on the weak side which hampers the heightened stakes being presented. The story starts off pretty good! You've got a good set of mysteries on your hand to figure out. But as things start to reveal themselves, the dialogue and writing nose dives as characters will spell out exactly what transpired in the most dry fashion imaginable.
The game needed 2 more sky islands the size of the starting area to explore and harvest for unique resources and treasures. The depths are good to go down if you have a goal in mind. The moment to moment exploration and interactions are good, but feels like every element was boosted to 80% instead of any particular aspect reaching near perfect potential.
The freedom offered by devices and weapon fusion helps to alleviate these problems with more interesting puzzles within the world. The game is a constant stream of awarding the player with "Smart Boy Points" you did it you're so smart!
The setting is better, I enjoyed being part of a world in recovery between disasters versus a dead kingdom. Instead of Link's protagonist status being a secret and characters just treating you like a helpful weirdo, you are now treated with a reasonable level of respect, with a tone of familiarity that it felt much better to just talk to characters and engross yourself in the world.
The game is at it's best in the first 80% of you running around to the different settlements of Hyrule, solving problems big and small with the ingenuity of a one man tabletop roleplaying party. Completing the main quest and side adventures felt better because the rewards felt far more substantial.
Dungeons are a step up, implementing "dungeon item" like puzzles with your companions' abilities, which are added to your repertoire of skills at the quest's completion However the game won't fully commit to the puzzle box design of the series' past. To do so would feel like limiting the player's freedom that has been established in the game's structure.
The last stretch of the game is the weakest both gameplay wise and narratively. You've grown substantially more powerful but the threat level feels the exact same. The final set of challenges are on the weak side which hampers the heightened stakes being presented. The story starts off pretty good! You've got a good set of mysteries on your hand to figure out. But as things start to reveal themselves, the dialogue and writing nose dives as characters will spell out exactly what transpired in the most dry fashion imaginable.
The game needed 2 more sky islands the size of the starting area to explore and harvest for unique resources and treasures. The depths are good to go down if you have a goal in mind. The moment to moment exploration and interactions are good, but feels like every element was boosted to 80% instead of any particular aspect reaching near perfect potential.
2023
As good as a release for a AAA fighting game can do in 2023.
Solid base game
Good singleplayer content
Good multiplayer
good dlc release schedule
A lot to hammer out but leagues better than 5 at launch.
On god please play a character with an invincible wakeup.
Solid base game
Good singleplayer content
Good multiplayer
good dlc release schedule
A lot to hammer out but leagues better than 5 at launch.
On god please play a character with an invincible wakeup.
I hold a lot of respect for this game as a dweeb that co-hosted a podcast about it for a year of my life.
As a gacha, it had the sense to have you roll for weapons that bestowed characters with limit breaks as opposed for rolling for the characters themselves. This means that you could build up your favorite characters as updated mechanics steadily made them stronger and stronger throughout the game's lifespan.
The content of the game was pretty abysmal for the first 2-3 years of its life, as the difficulty was a flat check of needing the proper offensive and defensive options to kill event bosses. Slowly yet steadily, the game grew into a very distilled teambuilding sim by which your options opened up through increasingly more generous banners and more powerful skills becoming readily available.
The setting and characters serve the premise well enough for a fanservice title, sadly it never does anything more interesting with it's concept of meddling in the stories of past games. I think if the story had a bit more meat on the bones, I could've recommended it to fans with a stronger sentiment than "it gets fun 5 years of free pulls in".
Overall, what kept me coming back til the game concluded service was seeing the flashy animations of 2D sprites and 3D effects to represent events throughout the series' history.
As a gacha, it had the sense to have you roll for weapons that bestowed characters with limit breaks as opposed for rolling for the characters themselves. This means that you could build up your favorite characters as updated mechanics steadily made them stronger and stronger throughout the game's lifespan.
The content of the game was pretty abysmal for the first 2-3 years of its life, as the difficulty was a flat check of needing the proper offensive and defensive options to kill event bosses. Slowly yet steadily, the game grew into a very distilled teambuilding sim by which your options opened up through increasingly more generous banners and more powerful skills becoming readily available.
The setting and characters serve the premise well enough for a fanservice title, sadly it never does anything more interesting with it's concept of meddling in the stories of past games. I think if the story had a bit more meat on the bones, I could've recommended it to fans with a stronger sentiment than "it gets fun 5 years of free pulls in".
Overall, what kept me coming back til the game concluded service was seeing the flashy animations of 2D sprites and 3D effects to represent events throughout the series' history.
Pretty sure this game broke my brain but I had a decent enough time playing it that I booted it up several times as a kid.
I'm loving it